September 17.1893





Record  and  Guide.





343







^^                ^              ESTABLÎSHED"^ MARpH 2ii^^ 186B.

OeATED ro R^^L EsrWE. BuiLDIf/O A;RClílTECTaiíE .HoiJSeiíOLD DeQORATWIÍI,

BlIsiiJessa^1dThemesofGeNeraLIUt€ĩ\esĩ





ESTABLÎSHED-^ MARpH 2\'^







PRICB, FER TEAR IN ADVANOE, SIX DOLLARS.

Pĸblisheã every Saturday.

TBIíBPHONB         ...       -        COBTLANDT 1370.

Comiuunicatioiis sbould be addresseâ to

G. W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St

J. 1. LINDSEY, Susiness Manager,

^^Entered at the Post-offlce at New York, N. T., as second-class maiter."





VOL. L,





SEPTEMBEĨi 17,  1893.





No. 1,379





ALIQUIDATING movement haa set in in tbe stoek market the
extent oí which it would be hard to calculate. Tbe day-to-day
decline con?equent on this \s aggravated by the operations of the
professional element, Recent cholera news is making people con-
eervative in tbeir management of undertakings on hand &nd very
chary in their regard of new ones. Moreover, money is hardfuing
in such a -way as to make a regular 6 per cent rate possible in the
near future; naturally money will be more desired than securities,
particularly tbose in the investment class, which pay less or whose
realîzation of that rate of interest ie uncertain, For these reasons
lower prices may BtiU be looked for in the long run. The declinea
ĩn some cases, however, have been sufflcient to make the present
expectation of a temporary rally reasonable.





PROBABLY the Board of Street Opening and Improvement
would not have requested the Commissianerof Public Works
to present a plan of the Elm street improi. ement unless it intended
to proceed in that matter withoufc delay. It ia certaiuly very much
to be hoped that this is the case. From the start there has been no
question as to the public utility of the proposed widening and
Gxtension. The matfcer was thoroughly discussed both in the press
and at public hearings; and the arguments in favor of the improve-
ment were irresistible: Why the matter has been postponed for
such a long time is one of those mysteries connected with our local
adminietration about which the oracle is discreetly silent. Perhaps
the old law compensating the Commissioners in streefc openingpro-
ceedings had aomething to do withj^the contiuual postponement of
the improvement. Under the circumsfcances, however, we need
nofc indulge in speculations as to the causes of past negligence. The
preeenfc activity is a far pleasanter and more fruitful subject for
contemplation. That the improvement is now to be elowly con-
simimated is probably due in part to the fact that the Rapid Transit
Commissioners will need the widened street for their east side
route. It haa been apparent of late that their plan of connecting
the eaet side route with the Broadway tunnel^at 14th street, evenif
good etigineering, was bad from a financial poiut of view. The fran-
chise for either route could be sold separately to far greater advau-
tage than they could be aold together, The purchasers of the west
side privilege would have all fchey could do in afcfcendíng to the
construction and operation of that Ilne of road, and if the Vander-
bilts wanted the east side route they would need four clear tracks
right down to tbe CÍty Hall. Consequently it is reasonabJy certain
that when the east side route is again laid out fche Commission will
retum to the plan of the original Belmont Commissĩon. For this
purpose it wiU need to have Elm efcreet widened and exfcended,
Thus the two improvements^will dovetail very nicely. The taek of
determining the damages to property-owners in the street-widen-
ing proceeding wiU take suoh a long time that it wiU not be any
more than underway by the fcime the Rapid Tranait Commisaion
wîll be ready for its second great task.





THE Elm street improvement, partîcularly ifyâupplemenfced by
the location of a rapid transit railroa,d along the new thor-
oughfare, will do much both for the particular itocality affected and
for the whole city, In the first place ifc will aive us what we very
much need—another broad avenue runnĩng nLrfch and eouth. The
Bowery and Broadway are by no means adjpquate to the present
traffic. Much of ifc is obliged to fcake circuipoua routee along side
atreeta in order fco make better time. The Elm afcreet ímprovement
wilt, in the first place, relíeve the pressure on Broadway. Then it
will certainly result in the opening up for busĩness purposes of that
unsavory dislrict south of Lafayette place, between Broadway and
the Bowery. Along the edge of Broadway the nide streets in that
vlcinity are already used for warehouses ; but the abominable
intricacy of the atreet system has kept it for itiie most parfc a
tenement-iiouse   district.     Dui-ing    recent   ye '   ,   wbile   there





has been a strong fcendency for wholesale firms to move
to the new warehouse section north of Spring atreet
and wesfc of Broadway, the afcreets to the easfc of Broadway were
comparatively unaffected—just because of the labyrinth which
those sfcreets made. In time tbere will be plenty of businesa to
occupy solid blocks of warehouses from fche Bowery west to the
North River, ard the sfcreet system fco the east of Eroadway ought
to be put in such a condition that busiuess will be >ttracted to fche
locality instead of being repejled from it. The Elmstreet widening
and extension raay not be all that wĩll be needed fully to open up
tbe districtin question, but it is the prerequísifce and the necessary
beginning of all thut may follow. The location of fche Easfc Side
rapid transifc eysfcem on the new street would of course coDtribute
largely to inaking it a desirable businese thoroughfare. Even if
the Blm etreet district was opened up at the present fcime the streeta
to the west of Broadway would temporarily be more popular,
becauee of their neamess to the Sixth and Ninth Avehue Evevated
roads. The new Elm etreet wíll need for its proper development a
rapid transifc route of ifce own, and if ifc can ever get such an
improvemenfc, while it ie never likely to equal Broadway in import*
ance, ifc wiU cerfcainly become only second to that thoroughfare
as a convenient sfcreet   for fche locafcion  of large andj'expensive

buildings.

----------«

IT i8 dîfficult for an impartial observer to quite appreciate all
fche fuss both parties are making over tbe Peck report,    The
precious doeument is   supposed to   have   some   magical  bearing
upon the Taríff dispute, and, in fcbe political stuff in the newspa-
pers (apparently, written largely for fools) it is twisted this way
and fchat, magnified as   gospel   and denounced as a  treacberoua
fabrication, all as though ita figurea aettled fche dispute between
Free Trade and Protection.   No one for a moment aupposes that
Peck's report has been  scientífically compiled,    At  best, it is  a
sort of rough guess which complete statistics might or might not
subatanfciate.  Theanthordoesnot claimanyhigber character for his
work.    It îs of no use to scienCe, for science does not use rough
and ready guessing as an   instrument of  knowledge.    Neither ÍB
ifc of much importance fco the public, except politically; and even
politically, it is  of no use to  any one   who fchinks;  for, suppoa-
ing   wagea   have advanced as   the report shows,  and   iu many
industries  no   doubt they   have, what of  itî   The Tariff, even
by   its   fríends,    ia   not   put   forward   as   the   oTiĩy   cause   for
high   wages.    As   other   causee   producin:'    fche    same   result
tbere   are   the   efficiency   of   the   workmeu,   natural    advan-
tagee, improvemenfcs ín machinery, combination among laborera,
etc;   and    one   of    the   firefc   queefciong   which    an   intelUgent
peraon would put fco a partisan using fcbe report for political ends
is; Which  of the  several causes which might be   operating to
advance wages has produoed tbe advance shown by Peck's fig-
ures?   The imporfcant fact which every Free Trader who declarea
that wages have decreased under ourhighTariff hasfcodemonatrate
in order to make  bis aasertion relevant and of value ie that fche
Tarifi' and nothmg but the Tariff is  direcfciy responsible for the
decrease.     Likewise the onus is on  the   Protectionisfc   to  ahow
fchat fche Tariff and nothing but the Tariff is the cause of hígh
wages in this counfcry.    Neither side atfcempts any demonsîration
of  the kind; and   without  such   demonatration   all   talk  about
higher wages here than in Europe, or aboufc increases and decreases
in wages, is meaningless.   The wages given to domesfcic " Help"
in this  country  are many times greater than similar wagea in
Europe.     Yet " Help" is nofc exactly a protected article.     The
same    is    fcrue    of    fche   wages   of   bookkeepers,   car-drivers,
streefc-laburers,    which    shows    that   wages    can    be    higher
in one country than in another withoufc the direct aid of a tariff.
Since the recent strikes in the BuÍIding Trades in thîs city, a great
many workmen have resumed employmenfc at much lower wages
than tbey  received hefore tbe etrikes, clearly sbowing that wages
can fall wifchout the intervenfcion of either Protection or Free Trade.
In other industries wages have advanced, due fco the force of com-
bination and trade conditions favorable to the employe.     Wages
are higher in Protection Ameríca than in Free Trade England.
They are higher in  Free Trade England   than in   ProtcctionÍBt
Germany.    Thus we see, fco use facts of this sort, something more
i8 needed fchan a table of figures.    That "sometbing" it is hard to
get at, for it is'hidden in a maes of complicated facts.     AIl that
politiciana and partisans give us is what appears on  the surface ;
for toe rest they truat to the unintelligence of the people and the

prejudice of party.

----------«

THERE is something repiignant to the spirit of fair play in
kicking even a cm: beyond whafc he deservea. Some of th»
newspapere and certain individuals are carrying their denunciation
of Dr, Jenkins altogetber too far. That the doctor is the best man for
the place he fills is, of course, not to be expected, forheis^a creatíon
of "politics," and "politics" we know is not the proper system for
fîlling public offices with fit persons. But the doctor is not respon-
sible either for himaelf or for the politícs that placed him where he
is.   He is in the poaition he occupies because indirecfcly the people