July 30,1892





Record  and   Guĩde.





139







imf







ESTWLISHED^ WARpHaii!^ 1869. ^

" OeAJeD ĨO f^L ESTAJE , SihL01//g Aĩí,C1(ITECTJ1^E .KoUSníOLD DEeOR^TtJlt

BiísitíESS MÍD Themes of GeĩJeivI 1;jt£i\esî
FRIGE, FER TEAR IX ADViK€E, SIl DOLLARS.

Pnblîskeã ever-y Saturda'y.
TĸLBPnoĸB;      ....      Cohti:.andt 1370.

Comnniiiications should be aJdressed to

C. W. SWEET,  14 &  16 Vesey St

J. 1, LINDSEY, Business Manager.

"Entered oí the Fosl-offlce at New Yorle, N, Y., as second'Class matter."





VOL. L.





JULY 30, 1893,





No. 1,272





THE Stock Markethas developed phenomenal strengíh, defying
tbe influencea together of gold exports, rate-cuttÍDga and
threatened dismetnhermentsof railroad associatĩons, to say nothing
of tbermometrical conditîoas whicb would be supposed to be suffi-
cient to check business were the reverse not so patently the fact.
It is espected in some quarters that with the adjournment of Con-
greas, the Optĩon Bill not having previously become law, will come
a Btill larger advance. Stich expectations have, liowever, a way of
not being gratified, On very favorable conditions the peoplø who
engineei' advances are lifcely to realize profits, and their action îs
Bure to be foliowed by declines. It will not be forgotten that in
August last yesr tbere was a large and raptd rise in tbe
prĩce of stocks on the resuĩts of tbe barveet in tbe
southwest, but that that rĩse met a sudden cbeck before long, and it
was not until the fall when the corn crop was assured tbat the real
bull movement with tbe public as earnest participatorii came. At
thîs time^Btocks are not selling by a very great deal so low as tbey
weie at the same time last year when Burlington waa seventy-nine
aiid Rock Island ten poiats lower ; so there is not the same grounds
now for expecting even such an advance as was seen then, If
Buch came it would be quite unnakural and dangerous to the busi-
ness interests of the security market, There is a floaiing admission
that prîces are where they are to-day as a result of manipulation.
One daily paper wbîch has been bullish for a long time and aims
to be a conservative guide to investors Geems ti> be made nervous
by the wildness of the tactics employed and warns the tacticiaDB
to "bait the book" differently or the public wĩll not come in to
huy. It may not bave meant quite as much aa
tbis, the expression probably being due to the reqiiire-
ments of a picturesque style, but tho evidences of
open manipulationwill not be loat on the cautious. For ínstance,
the advance in Atcbison stoek basa greatfamily likeness to that of
tbe Income 59 last year which carrîed the price to 68 on so-cailed
prospects of fuH interest being paid aa a result of tbe great cropB in
Kansas and other Soutbwesiern states, jast as a dividend is talked
on the stock now. Before any get too enthusiastic on the stock
they should rememher that since those very promisitig times the
Incomes bave undergone conversion at a lower rate of interest. It
is just as idle to imagine tbat tbe stock can immediately benefit
■ from that conversion or from tbe growth of Atchison's husíness aa
it was to imagine Ibat the Incomes would pay five per cent. If the
buBÍneBS of Afcbison grows so also do its operating and interest
requírements. Other grangers and the investment issues do not
take mucli part in tbe present advance. Tbe advance in the Indus-
trials is not Iobewoiideredat,risky asall venturesof moneyin them
has always been, because they o£fer the largeat profits both specu-
latively and in dívidends, and to apublic Ihat has been eo much
disappoînted in railroad Eecuritíea, the best of the Industrials—tbose
that have gone througli reorganization—cannot fail to be attractive
on declines.





THB proceedings ovcr the Woild's Fair appropriation show how
little tbere is in the p(i])ular suppo&itjon tbat our legislators
always represent their constituentB, Nowhere ĩs there the
slightest oppcsiiion to tbe appropriation needed to properly com-
plete the exposĩtion; on the contrary, popular feeling bas lately
taken bold of the Cbicago fair in the largest and kindiiest way,
and now, befote all things, desires to see it a great national succpbs.
Congress, however, insists upon pjaving its political game, oblivious
of the S''ntimenb of the people, or of tbe evident fact tbat the
■ tepulation of the nation is at stake. Sixty foreign countries have
agreed to take a part ín tbe fair. They aieour gueBts for the occa-
sion, and it would he a breach of national good breeding and
courtesy to give tbem inadequate or curtailed accommodation at
Ohicago, which sureĩy would be tbe result of congressional close-
"íl^te^Bess.   Begjdes, forei^ers bave opĩy a vcrv inadequate idea ot'





wbat "politics" in this country are, and are quite likely to
imagine that all tbis talk about $5,000,000 ia due to tlie impoverished
state of the governmental resources of a nation which hiiherto has
alwaya bragged about its " surplus " and full treasury. The founda-
tion of the good credit of tbis country abroad is in no small degree
duetoageneri.I helief in the atrong fînancial posilion of thn gov-
ernment, and anylhing that shakes that good reputation cannot he
witbout evil effect.





rpHE politicĩans of Brooklyn are about as unblushing and
-*- fenrless a set as are often seen even in those homes
of political pirates—our American municipalities. We referred
last week to their brazen disrpgard of even a show of honesty in
giving by vote of the CoũQmon Council a couple of valuable fran-
cbises to their own " pals," and congratulated Brooklyii on the
possession of a Mayor that was wijling to protect the interests of
the public. Duriug the past week the Coti;mon Council, not in the
least disuiayed by protests wbicb theír action had ehcitcd, passed
the resolulione over tbe Mavor's veto. The reasons whereby this
action was defended were worthy of the action ĩtself.
Mayor Boody was denouoced as a friend of monop-
olists, and a vile plutocrat, wbiie tbe Common Council
announced themselves to he peculiarly soJicitous of the
interests of the peopĩe of Erooklyn, So complete is their belief in
bome rule that tbey would not have anybody but Erooklyn people
connected witb BrookJyn institutiona. At a dinner given to Coffey,
the president of the Board, who is admittedly inierested in the
beneûted corporations, Daniel O'ReilIy, one of his " frienda,"
defended the Common Council on the following grounds; "I
helieve in home nile; that as long as our citizens have money to
invest, the local legislators should favor us against other States. As
soon as our citizens do somethîng to give us light, for instance,
which is fît for tbe city.as soon as they harvest money, thecrygoes
up, ' A job, ajob, ajob I' Wheneverout-of-townmen gotafranchis'e
nothing wassaid." Tbis is a fair sample of the arguments by
which the action of the Common Council is defended by Ihe people,
wbo directly or indirectly are responsible for such aclion, It îs
an uudisguised confession that they are, so far as possible, running
Brooklyn in their owninterests—so thaitheycan " harvestmoney.''
Tbemost discouragingpart of it is that they have been so accus-
tomed to the abuse of power tbat they no longer are ashamed of
themselves and pretend to a virtue which they do not possess.
Theee pleas for unlimîttd opportunity to " barvest m"ney" are
put forward undisguisedly—with the apparent conviction
tbat tbey are claiming notliing more than their due; and
tbey grow rigbteously indignant whsn any of the
fruits are denied to them. We very much fear that before
fhese pirates are superseded they wili have disposed of every source
of revenue lo our municipalities except taxation; nnd wi)I have
morlgaged that by accumulating debts, forwhich the muEÍcipality
bas no adequate equivalent and which leave littie or no margin for
future borrowing. The incident shows one tbing very clearly—the
immediate neceasity for suhstituting în place of tlie Cantor act
eome statute that wĩil Bufficiently protect the interest of the con-
suraer without hindering the undertaking of new enterprises, It
is a Bingular commentary on the vitality and value of the current
discussions connected wiib municipal matters that not a ealient
suggestion has been made respectíng the formulat.ng of such a
piece of legÍBÍation.





THE effort in Congress, the daily press and elsewbere to give a
polĩtical twist to the troubles at Homestead and conuect tbem
with tbeTariff isan indicatiou, íf any be needed, of theillogical argu-
mentation about Free Trade and Proiection wbich we will have to
euffer durin^ the process of Ihe coming campaign. It shouid be
neediess to point out that thevalidity or theinvalidity of Protection
is in no way concerued witb the events at the Carnegie works, If
every worknian in the coutitry went out on strike it would not
necessarily prove Protection faise, neither, if tho same thing hap-
pened in Great Britaĩn would it demonstrate tbe faisity of Freo
Trade. The question is not whether wagea are higli or whether
they are low under Prolection or under Free Trade, but whether în
a given counlry with given conditions wages will be higĩier under
one policy than they wouid be under the other. In a recent speech
Senator Allison apparently tbought he was proving aomething by
showing tha,t wages are higher io thiscountry with Prutection tlian
they are in Eogland with Freo Trade. A comparison of tho kind
is merely an assertion of a fact that lies outside of tbo argu-
ment. The indtistrial conditions of Great Brilain differ widely
from the industrial condîtions of the United States. If
the Senator wants to justify PrcteotioD and condemn Freo
Trade be should show that Englisb wages would be h^gher
tban they ai-e to-day if Protection prevaiicd in that country,
and that wages in the Unĩted States would be iower tban they are
to-day if Free Trade were eãtablished bfre. Tho argumentative
ímplication ot his comparison is mere sophistryi ntended to deceive
the unbbinîíing.   Sia oppooenta oould sbow that wages under Pro-