October 27, 1888
The Record and Guide,
827
THE RECORD AND GUIDE.
191 Broadwray, N. Y.
TERMS:
QTiE TEAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS.
Commurkicationa should be addressed to
C. W, SWEET, 191 Broadway.
J, T. LINDSEY, Buainess Manager.
OCTOBER 27, 1883.
Last week we ventured to predict that the great bear campaign
of 1883 was over, and that better prices for stocks might be ex¬
pected for a short time at least. And the course of the market for
the week has vindicated the forecast. But we do not anticipate
any prolonged " boom." There will probably be a better feeling,
for the bears are intimidated, but operators would do well to be
cautious. With failures in all departments of business, and the
price of iron going down, there can be no hope of permanently
prosperous times, which is the only real basis for a strong and
bealthy stock market. There are, it is true, aome vgry^-geo
elements in the situation. Labor is still emplQjwd-Hir^od wages,
our crops are sufficient, if not abund^ntrand our population is in¬
creasing. As soon as we ship grain, gold will conie this way from
Europe. As stocks have been sold down unduty there has been an
excuse for the recent advance in prices.
The heavy verdict of $20,000 given by the jury to Dr. Taylor for
the damage to his business and property, at tbe corner of Sixth
avenue and Fifty-third street, will be ruinous to the elevated road
syBtem if endorsed by the higher courts. These roads have been
and are an enormous benefit to New York, They have made large
sections of the city habitable and doubled the area of taxable prop¬
erty. They have, it is true, damaged some property, but the city
and not the roada ought to make that loss good. And this, no
doubt, would be the feeling were it not for the scandalous miscon¬
duct of Jay Gould, Russell Sage and Cyrus W. Field iu their vari¬
ous elevated road stock operations. But the traveling public and
tlie city of New York have benefited so immensely by the elevated
system that it would be unjust to cripple and punish the latter for
the misdeeds of certain conscienceless speculators. But of course
these court proceedings will go on, as they are very profitable to the
lawyers.
J-
Quite a number of land and building associations have been
formed recently, with the view of purchasing and improving cer¬
tain properties. Under our laws it is now quite possible to apply
corporate management in the purchase, improvement and sale of
real estate. â– There are many enterprises which might be made
profitable were they not too large to be handled by private capital¬
ists, but an association of a dozen or more persons could raise
amounts sufBcient to improve quite a good deal of real estate. The
time is coming when these associations will become very popular,
and when the Beal Estate Exchange is organized the shares of
these corporations will be regularly bought and sold, as are other
securities. Indeed, eventually no inconsiderable part of the deal¬
ings on the Real Fstate Exchange will be in stocks representing
lands and houfies.
cabal must be dethroned, and stripped of his power, and real
authority given to actual municipal leaders. The latter must con¬
trol hip own appointments, without any reference to a power be¬
hind tbe scenes. The result of the Brooklyn election ougl'ttosbow
the popularity of home rule and responsible government, and thus
force the State Legislature to so amend our city charter that New
York can also have the benefit of non-partisan and responsible gov¬
ernment. Unfortunately neither of the parties care anything for
either. A vote for the local Democratic ticket means, of course, the
perpetuation of Mr. John Kelly's power, who is, by the way, a
better man than his enemies have represented him to be. But Mr.
Kelly is no municipal reformer, and a retention of the Democrats
in power simply means the old order of things. But some day
or other responsible government will be the issue, and it will win.
The Democrats of Brooklyn have nominated as their candidate
for Mayor a reporter of the New York Sun, Some journals are
disposed to question the fitness of Mr. Hendrix because he is a re¬
porter, but this is a mistaken view of the case. To be a good
reportei one must be intelligent, alert and honest, qualities which
are Indispensable to an executive officer. The teaching which a
journalist gets in following his profession makes him acquainted
with men and things, and gives him a wide range of experiences.
The Republican nominee, Mr. Seth Low, has made for himself a
good record and his campaign is based upon his deeds. He has
met all his engagements with the public, and has endeavored to
govern Brooklyn on business methods. He has faithfully tried to
be non-partisan. A very sharp contest is now being waged between
these two young men, who are credited with intelligence, integrity
and energy in about an equal degree, the merits of either being so
indubitable as to make it a matter of indifl[erence whicb shall be
chosen, excepting for party reasons. Municipal government in
this country, as administered under party rule, has completely
broken do^vn. We want responsible government and home rule to
purify our local politics. Executive authority must be reinforced,
and the chief magistrate of a city held responsible for all his ap¬
pointments and acta. We must get rid as far as possible of Alder-
juaniorulei. The^irresppnsible "hose'-' at the hea4 pf a political
The Metropolitan Opera House.
The new building which has been so much and so variously
talked about has at last been put to the test oE use, and, as every¬
body who has witnessed a performance in it will admit, has passed
that test with great credit to itaelf.
The practical requisites of an opera house may be put in this
order—1. Facilities for seeing and hearing. 2. Ease of entrance
and egress, 3. Ample stage room. Really all the complications
may be reduced to one or the other of these three requisites, sound
construction being taken for granted.
There was some grumbling on the first night from the occupants
even of the balcony that they could not hear at all, and that they
could see nothing but the stage, and at the back of the build¬
ing there were complaints alao of ventilation. But these complaints
seem to have been mostly unreasonable, and to bave been com¬
plaints of the inevitable conditions of the building rather than of
the manner in which those conditions had been dealt with by the
architect. Of course the seats in a house of five tiers {six, counting
the half tier of baignoir boxes) cannot be of equal value, or any¬
thing like it. If they were of equal value there weeM be no sense
in making them of unequal price. That every spectator in the
house should have a fairly good view of what is going on on the
stage, and should be able to hear fairly well is all that can be fairly
asked and more than is commonly had ; and these two things have
certainly been attained in the new house. It is quite idle to quarrel
with the fact that some of the spectators in such a house can see
next to nothing of the audience. The reports concerning the
acoustics vary, as indeed is inevitable in such a house. Some spec¬
tators say that they heard very well, and others near them that
they heard very imperfectly. But there was no complaint from the
parquette or tbe boxes, and those above who did not bear well only
complain that the sound was faint. There is no complaint of any
reverberation, and no reason to believe that there is reverberation
anywhere. The house may not be a brilliant success acoustically
—that remains to be fully determined—but it is most certainly not
an acoustic failure.
After all, however, the audience at an opera is part of the show,
to many of every audience tbe chief part of the show, and one can
account for. if he cannot sympathize with, the complaints of those
who feel themselves defrauded when they can only see the stage.
The fact is that it was impossible to arrange it otherwise, even
with so enormous a parquette as that of the new building, if there
were to be five tiers above tlie parquette. The balcony would have
to be cramped more or less for the sake of the family circle, which
even then would not be a satisfactory place. And, after all,
what is tbe advantage in two galleries ? There can scarcely be
three performances a season when both will be filled, and a part of
the audience at every other performance must be more or less
inconvenienced for the sake of these. In fact, the endeavor to
secure a seating capacity of 3,000 persons in a house of which three
tiers are given up to boxes holding less than 700 persons, was a
mistake, either on the part of the architect or of his clients.
Assuming it to have been a condition imposed upon him, either
directly or indirectly, by a belief that the seating capacity of the
house would be decisive of the competition, it is bard to see how it
could have been more intelligently or skillfully met.
What is, perhaps, most admirable in the house is the perfection
of the arrangements for filling and emptying it. On the first night,
with an audience unfamiliar to the place, and as large as can be
expected ever to be assembled in it, there was no confusion, no
delay, no crowding, no stampeding. There is no public building
in New York of whicli the exits and the entrances are anything
like so ample and convenient. True, there ia scarcely any other
public building in New York free on all four sides; but the mere
fact of insolation would not make all parts of the building eo read¬
ily accessible aa they are without very careful and minute study of
the relations of the different sections of the house to their several
entrances and to each other. The only drawback to this admirable
system is the number of attendants required for so many separate
entrances, but omelettes cannot be made without breaking eggs,
^n4 in so enormously an expensive entertainment as Italian opera,