June 14, 1884
The Record and Guide.
643
THE RECORD AND GUIDE.
I*ublished every Saturday.
191 Broadway, N. Y.
TERMS:
ONE ¥EilR, in advauce, SIX DOLLARS.
Communicationa should be addressed to
€. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.
J. T. UNDSEY, Business Manager.
JUNE 14, 1884.
There ought aoon be a change in the temper of the stock market.
The promise of the crops is so good that unless some disaster
occurs to them there muat be advancing prices on the Exchange.
The nomination of Blaine, the receiverships of Wabash and West
Shore, the probability that Louisville & Nashville find Denver & Rio
Grande would alao become bankrupt, all conspired to make the
market weak ; but a reaction is in order and may come any time.
Still it may be delayed until after the meeting of the Democratic
Convention at Chicago on July Sth. In that case the nomination
of Cleveland would be the signal for a hurrah in the stock market.
All the crop returns are good, with probably the exception of cot¬
ton, which experts say will not be more than six million bales. All
the other crop news is of the very brightest. The returns from
the old corn belt, that is Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, tell of an
unusually large acreage of this greatest of American grains.
Three hundred and fifty million bushels of winter wheat, 146,000,-
000 bushels of spring wheat and 8,000,000,000 bushels of corn is the
latest reasonable guess as to the production of this season. With
this prospect in view there is no reason why the pricea of railroad
securities should range so low.
The newspapers have commenced their unjustifiable mis-state¬
ments about the new River and Harbor bill. The United States
engineers have given facts and figures of a most convincing char¬
acter, showing that three to four millions of dollars are needed to
improve the harbors and channels of the coast adjacent to this
city. From New London to the Raritan River there exist impedi¬
ments to commerce which deprive the metropolis of hundreds of
thousands of dollars yearly, but every representative who favors
even the most necessary appropriations is set down as a public
thief. Mr. Hewitt demonstrated to the Houae only a few days
since that $420,000 was absolutely needed to complete the work at
Hell Gate. The explosion could take place only in October, and
any less sum would be useless, as the necessary engineering work
could not be carried out. Not a journal in New York has had a
word to say in opposition to the stupid action of the House, which
finally voted an inadequate sum. As we have a large surplus in the
Treasury, to what wiser use could it be put than in improving our
harbors and waterways ? Surely it would be far better to do this
than to expend the money in swindling pension schemes.
From June 2, 1883, to June 2,1884, the United States redeemed
$110,000,000 of its bonded debt, paying for its obligations exclu¬
sively in gold. Yet in the beginning of the fiscal year the total gold
in the Treasury, certificates included, amounted to $133,709,103. On
June 2, 1884, there was of gold and certificates in the Treasury
$143,172,037, a gain in gold of $8,463,924. During the same period
our standard dollars, including certificates, held by the Treasury
had decreased nearly a million (1^939,595), that ie to say, we bad
$40,389,209 this year against §41,338,804 last year. We have thus
, paid $110,000,000, yet have increased our gold store and decreased
our silver store. As the Mining Record points oat, the govern¬
ment has profited otherwise fully $15,000,000 of gold, inasmuch as
that amount was paid into the Sub-treasury in New York in
exchange for certificates redeemable in standard silver dollars. Such
are tbe facts about the so-called disastrous effects of silver coinage.
It is now in order for the Times, Tribune and Financial Chronicle
to make some monstrous statement about the evils of that coinage,
in substantiation of which they have never presented a single fact.
"Sir Oracle" seems to be partial to Mr. Blaine. Yet it ia very evi¬
dent that were an acceptable opposition candidate in the field, the
latter would be chosen over bim, provided the election was held be¬
fore the 4th of July. The defection of the independents and the bolt¬
ing of infiuential papers like the New York Times, Evening Po$t and
the Boston Advertiser would be f.^tal to Mr. Blaine'scbances for the
presidency were the election held immediately. But it is an open
question whether the tide may not turn, as it did in the case of
Garfield, and put Mr, Blaine ahead at the close of the canvass.
There are others besides " Sir Oracle " who think that the time has
come when the United States should take its proper place among
the nations of the earth; w^ben it should have a navy, coast
defenses, a steam marine and a foreign commerce; when it should
not be forced to pay a duty of ten dollars and a half on every barrel
of flour it sends to Cuba, and when it should get its coffee direct
from Rio Janeiro instead of being forced to buy it in London.
Mr. Blaine's election would mean a total revolution in the foreign
policy of the nation. For this our people may not yet be prepared-
Next November wiil tell that story.
Our Albany correspondent calls attention to a bill Governor
Cleveland has just signed which will be criticised not a little should
he be tbe Democratic nominee for the presidency, Under this
enactment, if our correspondent states its purport correctly, all
the gas companies in the several cities can consolidate in such a
way as to create a monopoly. It seems to be understood that the
Standard Oil Company is the mover in this matter and that that
corporation wiil hereafter own absolutely all the gas companies in
this State.
But the public will be loth to believe any charge made againat
Governor Cleveland. He has stood so loyally by the reform
measures passed by the Legislature, in spite of the pressure of hia
own party frienda, that he has gained the good will of all classes of
citizens, irrespective of party differences. We have not approved
of all his vetos, especially the one postponing the commencement
of the Arcade road under Broadway, but we believe he has heen
honest and regardful of the public good in everything he haa dis¬
approved as well as approved. The real test will come in connec¬
tion with the Tenure of Office act, which has beeu so urgently
demanded by the Evening Post, the Times and all the reform
Democrats as vvell as Republicans. Should he fail to approve that
act to-day it will be charged, with a good show of reason, that he
has made a bargain with Commissioner Thompson to keep that
official in office in return for pecuniary and political help at the
Democratic State and National Conventions. Governor Cleveland
win of course endorse that bill, for if he did not it would alienate
from him the reform Republican element now so strongly in favor
of his nomination for the presidenc)'.
The Next Mayor.
The chauges brought about by the reform measures of the last
Legislature will make the next Mayor of New York a more impor¬
tant officer, so far as our city is concerned, than even the President
of the United Statea. He will wield vast, almost dictatorial, powers.
The heads of the various departments to be appointed by him will
not be subject to the confirmation of the Aldermen, nor will he be
responsible to any authority outside of the press and public opinion.
Hence it is quite time that the newspapers began to canvass the
merits of our foremost citizens 80 that there may be no mistake
when the final selection is made. Thia being ao, surely the real
estate interests ought to have something to say when the question
of the selection of the chief magistrate of the city is up for consid¬
eration. Our present Mayor and Comptroller represent the Pro¬
duce Exchange. Ex-Mayor Grace was a shipping merchant and
our otber executives have been lawyers, sugar refiners, paint mer¬
chants and dealers in leather, diamonds and miscellaneous articles.
But strangely enougb dealers in realty have never yet been thought
of as candidates for Mayor. Thia ia the more surprising as their
business brings them into direct relation with every vital inteireBt
of the municipality. To be successful they must know all about
taxes, assessments and city improvements and they are necesparily
men of affairs.
In view of these facts we venture to suggest the respected name
of Edward H. Ludlow, the president of the Real Estate Exchange,
aa a suitable person to fill the office of chief magistrate of the city.
The Ludlow family have been identified with New York since tbe
middle of the seventeenth century and it would be a return to the
better and purer era of our local politics were ila most modern
representative to be placed at the head of our city government.
Although a Democrat he bas held aloof from politics and would be
acceptable to all good citizens without distinction of party.
For Comptroller there are aeveral active dealers in realty who
could be depended upon to guard the city treasury, Richard V.
Harnett, for instance, would make an admirable Comptroller. He
probably, however, could not afford to give up hia large businesa
for any city office, in which caso John H. Sherwood would be an
excellent representative of tbe property holdera of New York, The
time hae come when the real estate interest must make itself felt
not only in reforming the business methods of our local govern¬
ment but also in improving \t&personnel.
Congressman O. B. Potter does not worthily represent his dis¬
trict in this city by opposing the Hennepin Canal project. This
improvement, it will be remembered, aims at uniting the Missis¬
sippi River with the great lakes. The canal will coat aome $7,000,-