September ■





Record  and   Guide.





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VoL. L.





SEPTEJtfBER 10,  1898,





No. 1,278





Every subscriber to The Record and Gxjidb should see that
víîth this mtmber he is suppUed with a four-page Illustrated
Supplement.

YERY little can be said of a market so narrow and so profes-
sional as that no(v seen at the Stock Excbange. The evi-
dence ĩsvery strong Ibat the public faiied to be afĩected by the
seduutive operations iii the Industrials a few weeks ago, and a sus-
tained upward tnovement in railroad stocks has been impossible
for months. Good iiews falls flat aud on ĩvattentive ears, whlle
bad is not altogether iueffiective. Sugar í'ailed to advance on the
increaĩie of its dividend, while St. Paul Common déclined a little
because of the low rate at which its dividends were resumed. If
the disappointment felt in Wall Street at the amount of the divi-
dend paid on the Common stock fouud full espression in quotations
the pric.e would be much below wliat ít is, aud
there is no doubt that support has been given to the
atock to prevent that disappotntment findiug expression in that
way. Of course the directors did the wise and conaervative thing,
and as directors are uot responsible for the fact that the stock is
seliiug above value, That ia the fault of the buyers wlio have been
so uuthinkingiy sanguine. Though the blame lies in that directîon
tlie effects of tlieir disappointment will be seen in the price, not
only of St. Paul but of other speculative issues. While it is possible
for any strong parby of professionals to make a movement either
way in its discretion, nothing has yet occurred to chwnge tbe view
previoualy expressed here o£ the course of prices in the long run.





THE coming campaign promises to lack much of the enthusiasm
and ■'polîtical" vigor which usually accompanies a Presi-
dential conteat. lu part, thís is because the polítician element wĩll
be less active than usual, for the campaign oflers comparatively
faw réwiirds for those patriots who are hot to eave the country for

,**ívhat tbai-e ia in it." Harrison beiug " in," there Ís, of course,
lilJile for hiiB to beetow upon the faitbful beyond a continuance of
£iJB favor ; and as to Cleveland, he doesn't stand in too bigh estima-
tíbn ^tíd affeciion with the mere political element of his party and is
not likely to do more tor it than the exigencies of "politics'
demand. Tbere is no reason for regretting this quietude. For
mĩvny campaigns past election has been too much an affair of
who-- can shout the party cry loudest. There has been too
jvuch of the   air   of  the   circus about   the contest,   and   tbe

' average voter wh® is not very capable of cle;ir thinking that gets
Under the surface ol things has naturally been attracted to tlie
circus where be can listen to wind instruments and see the perform-
ing animals and read big flamîng pOBters that lie so cleverly and
completely that there is pleasore even for one with his eyes open iu
íinding how much he has beentaken in. The lying will, of course,
progress as actively as ever this year, Campaign literature will be
manufactured out of bogus reports, balf-truths, one-sided presen-
tations of facts, etc, and the newspapers, wlio are always
blind in oue eye in political matters, will see nothing but
" party " iu tbe deepest concems of the nation. However, with tbe
politicían less aggressive and the circus less atttactive the probabil-
ities are strong tliat the voter may do more real thinking than for a
loug time past, and tbat caanot but be well for the country.





of acceptance may have heeu of value in clearly establÍBhing the
position of candidafces upon the questíons of the day; but,
then, tbere were obscure corners in the laud, and pubiic men were
not ao well known as they are now. Under existing coiiditi<m8
Ít ie quite superfluous for Mr. HaiTÍson or Mr. Clevelaud to waste
hís own and other people's time in stating his " positiou" on any
of the current questions, Everybody kuows about where the one
and the other stands, and we all are quite sure tbat the lettera are
to be taken in a "politica)" sense only, uot as the serious,
deliberate statements of upright gentleraen who feel in honor
bound to stick to their word in apite of tbe Devil, or be damned
by the just. These letters are written in very much the same
spirit aa an advertising cĩrcular, and are worth about as much.
They are campaign documents_. and their ouly purpose is lo
catch vote.s.





WE are sme tbat a great number o£ afílicted people are await-
ing some Presidential candidate that shall have tbe courage
to eet an example against the absurd practíce of pestering the com-
munity with " lettera of acceptance " which are of no earthly use,
not even politically, unlessit betoexhibit how adroit thewriter can
be in evasĩon, subterfuge and demagogy. In the Bigelow Papers we
aretold: " The object which candidates propose to themselves in
writing i3 to convey uo meaiiÍQg at all."    In earlier days, the letter





The Sale of the 'WoBt Side Praiicliise.

THE begiuuiug of the end of our Rapid Ti-ansit drama ie faat
approaching. Within a short time the Commission will try
to sell the francbise of the West Side route—extending from the
Battery, under Broadway, the Boutevard and north very nearly to
the city line. The preliminary work of satisfyiug legal require-
ments aud preparingthe necessary engineeriug details has occupied
about a year and a-half. Now we are at leugtb to discover whether
this flnal attempt to give ĩíew York rapid ti'ansit faciiitiesof the
best will prove succesef ul, or whether tbe public will have to rest
temporarily satisfled with an improvement of the present elevated
roads. One obstacle, of which a good deal was made iu the begiu-
ning, now no longer exiats. The plan o£ the Commission wiU not
be bampered byan unfavorable moneymarket. Anybody wbo can
offer a promising opportunity for the investment of capital will .
have no trouble about obtaining all he needs, Conaequently, the
system laid out by the Commissiou wÍU fail or succeeil on its merits
as a probable money-makiog enterprise.

Speculatious as to.the outcome of thisattempt tosellthefranchise
are notlikely to be instructive; and we donot intend to indulge in
any such fruicless guessĩng. One statement cau be made, how-
ever, iu refereuce to the matter without much fear o£ coutradic-
tion. Tbe franchise can be sold—provided tliat liberal enough
terms are oíĩered to possible purchasers. When the plan was firat
annouuced in detail by the Commissioners, all dîscussion about the
probability of selling the franchise was based upon an estimate o£
cost, whicli iucluded the whole tbirty miles or more
of route that waa laid out. The East Side line has already
been lopped ofE by aubsequent evenls, and the Wesc Side line,
about half the length of the whole system as originally
planned, is all that remains to be put up at auction. As far as this
West Side liue is concerned, the Commission could offer it under
conditions wbicb it seems to us would prove to be irresistible. Sup-
pose that in the beginning the purcbasing company waa reUeved of
consti-ucting that part of the route which would not immediately
pay, and were obliged for the first two or tkree years to run trams
only as far north as, say, 180tb street, sucb an opportuuity, unlesa
too much restricted as to time, would mauifestly have conaiderable
value. The purchasing compauy could run trains immediately
over the fattest part of the route, along which population is for tbe
most part swarmiug. It would be able immediately to get ajarge
sbare o£ the West Side morniug and evening rueh; it would step
rigbt into a sbare of the shopping traflĩc, and it would not in the
beginning bave tbe burden o£ supplying traina to moro tban a mile
or two of unoccupied land. We do not belie\ e that such an oppor-
tunity as that could be resisted. Does not this example iudicate
pretty aurely tbat tbe sale of the francbise is simply a question of
the terme ou wbicb it is oiĩered?

This brings us to the pith o£ the matter. Every cĩrcumstance
attending tbe Sale, will, we fear, work against tbe making of a
good bargain for the city. lu the first place, the Commission wiU,
of course, be very desirous to effect the sale. If tbey do not suc-
ceedin doing so all their work wili prove fruitless. From the
begiuniug they have been subjected to very sharp criticism by
many ne^î'spapers aud engineers; and they have been accused
again and again of baving autborized a plan both finandally and
mecbanicaUy impossible. The sale of the franchise wiU be the
best potísible answer to all of this criticism. Under sucb circum-
stances they will naturally be inclined to make the terms of aale
very liberal; aud they wiU bave an abundance of disinterested
reasona for so doing. Fiom the^beginning the necessity has beeu
urged ou every side of giving to New York a rapid tranait .system
without any waste of time. "Whatever is done must be done
quickly" was the advice which was freely offered, aud the faUure
to provide aiiy temporary alleviation fortbe existiug oveicrowding
gave the advĩce additional pungency. Furthermore it ba.s beeii
evident from the outaet that tbe fraucbise must be made very
tempting in ordaí to have auyone touch it. The Commiasion know
that tbey are ndfi in the position o£ men offering for sale something .
of immediate and indubitable value. It will be considered doubt-
ful whetlier Ihe traveling public o£ the city after being accustomed





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