jctober 15,1888





Record  and   Guîde.





473









2Î7'              ^           ESTfcBySHED^MWpHSl'i^ieeS..^

Dev&'JeI) 10 f^L ES WE , BuiLDIf/G Aíî.CIÍ1TECTJI^E .KoiiSDÍOLD DrGOfl^Tiai
Bl/SitÍESS »ÍD ThEMES Of GeHeĩVI- l/íTtHf 5ĩ

FRICE, FER rEAR IN ADVAIVCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Publisked every Saturday,

TaLKPHOi™!      ....      COBTLiHDT 1370.

ConunimicationB sliould be addressed to

C. W. SWEET,  14 & i6 Vesey St,

J, î. LINDSEY, Bitsiness Manager.

"Entered at the Post-offlce at New TorJc, N. T., as secoTid-claas ntoííer."





VOL. L.





OGTOBER 15,  1893.





No. 1,283





AT the moment there are signs of a falliũg off of buying power
ia the atock market and other indicationa of an approaching
reactĩon, the extent of which willdepend on several things. There
is an uncertainty about the rate for money, which is uot satisfac-
tory, as was shown only a few days ag> when the transference of
the Georgĩa Central loau from one banking house to another caused
the rate to advanee to seven per cent. However glibly people may
talk about this deal having tied up the banks' surplus fsnds for the
day it must be deemed estraordinary that iu the money centre of
the country a transaction of its proportions should have caused
so much disturbance as to advance rates so violently. Without
any new and similar cause the rate shows a tendency to go up
under the demand which the actîvíty of the market has created,
and the calis from the interior, In ordînary tĩmes this would not
cause any remark, but the present peculiar features of the currency
are likely to be remeníbered with disadvantage to speculation when-
ever the supplies show a falling off. The attempt, too, to put up
the price of such îssues as LouÍsviUe, Erie, Missouri Paciflc, in the
face of the showing they are making ia calculated to damage rather
than better the bull movement. When such attempts are made they
only invite short sales and aasist the disorganization of pricea. The
business all the roads are to do next year as a result of the World's
Fair wiU no doubt be great, but it will not be so assuredly great as
to justify any great advance on the already high price that some
tliings are selling at, and will at any rate be better on the roads near
the scene of the faĩr than those far distant. As against theae one
or two black npecks there are the recent ability of the general
market to sustain an advance, the more cheerful tone of the busi-
ness community and the improvement in generai businesa becoming
more apparent every day. Theee all favor better_,prices for sound
Ĩ8a\ie8 in the near future.

THE lassitude which has CQntinued to characterize business of
all kinds in England during the past three months has beeu
reflected iu a continuation of the fall in the prices of commoditiest
Evidences of the general quietness which haa contributed to thia
fall ia not wantiiig. The latest retums from foreign trade show
that the value of Engĩish imports this year haa been only one per
oent greater thau laat, whilst the value of the exports has fallen
away by nine per cent. The freight traffic of the railways for the
laat quarter ahows no expausion compared with the corresponding
period last year ; and banker's clearings ahow a decrease of over
Biĸ per ceiit in London. It looks aa if there might be labor
troubles ahead for the cotton trade. Nothing came of the
recent conference between the representatives of the Cotton
Employers' Federation and the delegates of the operatives. The
iatter declined.ln a decided way to entertain tbe queetion of a five
per cent reduction in wages even during a ahort period. What
they ofEered was considered to be an impracticable proposal and
could not be entertained, viz., thatthe Federation, whichnumbera
among ite members less than haif the trade, to run Bhort time, and
the operativee would bring out the remainíng 25 per cent of the
trade. More recently the Employers' Federation has decided
unanimously to give the neceasary notice of one month for a
five per cent reduction in wages. In Franoe tariff agitation
Í8 still keeping on with unabated vigor. At the coming
meeting of the French Chambers a great battle wiU be
fought over the right of the government to make concessions in
treaties below the miiíimum tarîff. An Important meeting of
farmers and manufacjftirers has been held at Rouen, and has pasaed
a resolution invitin^arliament not to ratify any such concessious.
As the governm'íít is morally bound to defend the recent ĩ'ranco-
Swiss treaty, mt Jing such conceBaiona and signed by the Miniatera
of CommerceaníTforeign Affairs, the ratification wiU inevitably
become a cabin luestion. The parliament in voting a
minÍDamu tariff          Wied  unquestionably  that   the   miaimum





should forra a barrier against all proposed reductiona
below it. The government, when the taríff bUI was
being passed, argued its constitutional right to conclude
treaties and make concessíons without limit. The protectîonists
had no desire toupset the government, and admitted the constitu-
tional right, but M. Melîne warned the ministry ihat if it brought
any auch treaties before the Chamber it would be overthrown, for
the protectionista were a majority in the pavliament and tbe coun-
try, The government has taken up the challenge and the issue will
have to be fought out, The protectionists will defend the minimum
tariff to the last, knowing that if a breach is made the whole fabric
will be destroyed. After concessions have been made to Switzer-
land, it will be difficult to refuse them to Spain for her wine, the
United States for petroleum, and so on.





IF there was any one lesson more thoroughly borue in upon the
mind of the average New Yorker by the great concourse of-
people in thia city during the flrst three days of the week it is the
absolute futility of relying upon the elevated railroads for any
adequate extension of the rapid transit system of the city. A prac-
tical and convinciug object lesson was given of what is to be
expected from the elevated roads in the effort to transport the
larger population of future yezrs. As on Wednesday, trains
enough may be aupplied to constitute an almost unbroken Hne from
one end of the road to the other, but it will be at an espense of time
and comfort to the passenger. Beyond a certain limit every addi-
tional train împedes the general headway. The changes at statíons
cannot be made fast enough to keep the trains out of each
other's way. A single delay at any station, springing from any
of the multitude of causes from which they are constantly aris-
ing, blocks the whole line and the road becomes useless. This is
even now the frequent experience of regular patrons of the roade.
The rapid transit limit on the elevated railroads has long been
passed. In the hours when people most want to travel with com-
fort and speed the trains are most in each other'a way and travel
is sloweat. Any attempt to " increase the present facilities" of
these roads by extending their terminal facilities or extendîng the
presentlines, while it would lessen the immediate pressure, could not
be permanently adequate. The trouble is not now found to exist
at the terminals. Trains can follow each other in and out of the
terminal stations faster tban they can at the way stations where
the traffic is densest—a fact well known to the elevated raiiroad
management. The only practicaĩ increase of the facilities of
the elevated railroads that would afford a partial reali-
zation of comfortable rapid transit would be the parallel-
ing of the existing tracks by two or more additional through
tracka. Without this manner of extension the efîort to handle the
travei of thio city on the elevated railroad lines is like trying to
force a 6-inch stream thrtaigh a £-inch pipe. Just imagine, on
the other band, what a convenience, what a comparative com-
fort, an underground, four-írack, electric raUroad through Broad-
way from the Battery to tbe Harlem River would have been on
Wednesday I Imagine, again, what a parade or pageant like
that of Wednesday would look like in Broadway or the Boule-
vard—under an elevated railroad ! And if not in Broadway or
the Boulevard, where could such a parade aud review be held?
We believe that upon sober consideration of this matter om' readers
will agree that the undergi'ound road projected by the Rapid
Transit Commissíon ought to be built, iE uot by private euterpriae,
then by the city.





ACORRESPONDENT of the Nation tells us that the supeti'
ority of foreign cities, such as it ie, and eo far as he can
make it out, depends less upon their local organization than upon
the fact that there is a raore or less strong government over
them, backed by the habits and traditions of centuries. This we
believe to be true ; and it is a fact often forgotten by those who
hold up tbe municipal orgaoization of foreign citiee as some-
thing worthy of being imitated by us. We have little to leafn
from their forma of government. Our own experience in the
kind of organization that helps tbe politician and the kind of
organĩzation that hampers him is of more vaiue to us than any
very prolonged inquiry into European modeis. Fnglish and con-
tinental cities have as a rule been better governed than oui-s, not
becauae their organization waa more wisely planned, but because
social and poUtical conditions were more favorable. In EerUn,
for instance, not oiily have the citizena been more in the habit of
participating intimately in the management of their local affaira,
as shown by the large number of " honor" offices Ín the municipal
government, but the alliance between the local officials and those
of the national government has been eo close that the traditions
of tbe latter have pervaded the former. Our peculiar type of
politician would be inconceivable in such sm-roundings. The
municipalitĩes are in the hands of their natural rulers—the more
inĩeMigent classes; and the people are more or less in the
babit of eeeking intelHgence in their rulers. We are able to give a
curioue and interesting example of this habiti   Some years ago an