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Record  and   Guîde.





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VOL. L.





OCTOBER a3.  1893.





No. 1,S84





A sv.pplem.ent, illust'rating tke Mail anã Express huilding, on
Broaãway and Fulton street,is given vyiíh this nutnber o/The
Record and Guĩde. Our readers should see that every eopy of the
paper eontains one.

THE rcaction froin tlie advance in stock market quotationa of
last week stays unpleasantly lons, so much so that it inclines
oiany to belufve in lower figures yet to come. MystTy no longer
iipjps New England. aud tlie publication of the LimisviJIe & Nasli-
villp annu^l report has created a i'rcsh crop of bears on tliat stock
with good reasoQ. The dĩu'ctors of Louisville & Nastiville in that
report seem almost to aay witb charjiinfi; candni; "More stock, (>r
no dividends." That is the only reasonable deductioii from their
figures aid statements. Tbe shorts w ho have so long been the sal-
vation of Burliũgton & Qiiinc.v p'rsist in tbeir generous tasb, and
ennble the piice 10 be rallied from lime to time. Ouiside of tliese
the uiarkeC for railroad shares ia featureloss, and more favor is
bestowed on the industrials, thougb thesi^, too, have their bad time
now, There ia scill a great wanc of public interest in the market,
and the professional element ha'i chosen to take its cue for Ihe lime
being in tbe movements of raoney; when the money rate advances
tbey sell, whcn it decJines they buy, and prices move accordingty.
As at this time of year tbere is generally alarge movement of
monpy to the mterinr in an irrea'ular stream, afĩecting rates here
as it expauds or conlracts, a marltet regulated by that movement
should change frequeotly with the balance linally againat piices.





THE Muuicipal nominatinns announced this weeb must be
reĸardpd as saiísfactory. Of course they are not by any
raeans whal they should be, but ihey are probably the best that
"boísism" and " practical politics" are libely to give us. Once,
at leaat, thequestion lias been squarely put to the citywhelher it
would rather have government by bo.'isism or by business methods,
and an iudubitable preference for tbe former was recorded at the
polls. Tammany may rightly cousider itself coDimíssioned to
govern the city by "poiitics" for " pcliiics," aod, plainly, it does.
Tbe nominations, fro'n one end of the Tammany ticbetto ilie otner,
mean poliiics: but, despile tbis í'act, tlipy ave better ihan was to be
expected, andare above tlie average. Only one of tbe names oa
the list is positively scandalons. Against ihe heail of the licket,
Mr, Gilroy, there is nothing to be said. He is admittedly a capabie
man, and has given tbe city the most eiîicient adiuinistration of
the Departmeut of Public Works tbat it bas hadforyeais. In some
directions it has been progressive; there have been no scandals and
no glaring abuses, save certain onea tliat are inaeparable frcm
the motherly insiinct of "poiitics" to louk after ĩts own. Tlie
Judicial nominationa, by far tlie niost iroticrtant of all, are good.
Mr. Levy, ttie nomiuee for Register, 'b one of the niost popular men
on tlie tickec and thei-e is no reason for fearina: tbat his adrainia-
traiion of an offĩce, io wliicb eo many of our readers are interested,
wiH be anything hut satisfactory, or tbat. in ihe end, he wiil not
attãin to Ihe Poiice Judgeship, which he covets. H<=nry D. Pnrroy,
K8 head of tbe Fire Departmeiit, bas proved himself a compeient
administrator, and meriis advancement to tbe Counly Clerltsliip.
As to tbe ReputiJican candidates, they are not quiie so well bnown
as a wbole as tbeir Taramany npponentg, hut between theni aiid
theirrivals there is room for no great preference, beyond a politioal
One—a very silly tbing ín municipal affairs, and the cause of much
of the evil which afflicts ua.





APPLICATĨON was made to the Board of Examiners in the
Building Uepartment at its last meetiníí for permi.-^sion to
RUt off the tops of i'iles on the lot at the southeast corner of 37th
Btreet and Ist avenue, at a point 2 íeet below high-water mark,
instead of cutting Ihem off below ihe lowest water line, as the
«xact letter of the law requires.   The petttion Btaied thatthegrouiid





between the lots in qu"stĩ m and the river was of such a cbaracter
that the water did not recede mure than 12 inciies betweeo the
retnrn of lides; tbat to comply with ihe law and go down several
feet lower wouid require coíîer daras to be buiit around the piles
in order to drive and cut tbem oíĩ below tbe low-water marb of tbe
river. and thusentailagreatdi^aUif unnecessary expense. The board
approved of ihe aDpHcation, as in the opinion of the members the
piles wonld always be immersedin water, There isaoruleiodecer-
mine where ihe lowest level of water between lides wiH be found
even on lots only ihe width of a street back from the bulkhead
Jine, either along the East or Norcb rivers, ae the different natural
earihs and Hllings permit the more rajiid percoiation of water
through tbe same at some points than at otbers.





The ImDaigrinon Qaeslion,

THE relation between immigration and the moral aud physical
well being of the nation ig recpiving wider and closer atten-
tion now iban ever before. and we may be certain that the mdtter
will yet he forced by labor, social reform and political activity
moie and msre before thepublic, with results impossible to foresee
at thîs moment.

Nolhing in our history attesta the enormous resourceg of this
coiiirtry as doea the ease wi h which we have absorbed and assimi-
lated so far tbe vast tide of immigration whieb bas pouied in upon
our shores anuuallv for the last ba'f century. Tn thisstreamia
direcily due our unparalleled growih in material wealth. Indeed
our prosperity is astrulv thegiftof iliis immigiation as the harTesfs
of Egypt of the Nile. Tbis fact is so patent that a great number
of people view wil.b alarm any tendency towards restriciing the
stream, believing that what bas been a general blessing in the past
may be permitted 10 continue with safety in the futuie.

Upon investigal on this may turn out to be the case. But plainly
no general view citn he quile satisfaclory, Condiiions change rap-
idly in this couniry. Tbe immigration of even one year muat
modify to some extent the conditions whicb immigrants of the
sucoeeding year have to meet, and tlie change is still greater from
one decade 10 anotber, and so on. Nut a few persons beHeve at the
present lime that immigTiition wears quite a diflfL'rent phase from
what it did fiftcen or twentv yfars ago. To tbia must be added the
change that has occurred in the lawt decade in the cbaracier of tbé
immigrants themselves. The largerimmigration of lale from Italy
and the Slav countries is amatter of couimon knowledge, attendant
upnn which thf re has been in N'ew Ynrk City in certain quarlers a
decided Inwering of tbe standard of living, a condition whicb
cannoC be isolated, but must influence socipty at large. Itisthia
phase of tbe matter wliich is receiving tbe attention of Labor
organizations, particularly at a jime when ibe poHtical wnrld is so
buay about "wages" aud the cooflitions whicb make for the
bighesi material welfare of tbe workingman. Organized Labor is
beginning lo see that Protection, one way or the nther. is only half
the question, the oibnr half beingimmigration. If to admit tbe for-
eigners' raerchandise iuto om- markets is to lessen the demand for
hnrae labor, to admit tbe foreigner himself must have the same
effect, unless it can iie sbown that there is more work to be dnne
than tbe workingmen at bome ean p-'ssibly perfoira. Wbat tbe
workmgman wishes is the highest demand for his craft and labor.
Tiiat he does not consider that that state of afî^ira exists to-lay ia
sbown by tlie agitation in progreís for a sborter wnrbing day, and
by tbe many restrictions wbich labor unions have împosed aa to
apprenticps and so forth.

Tbe Cũntracl Lahor Law was oneof thefirst leaislr tiveattempts to
exclude the l'oreigner. ThaC a furtber step was not taken is due
largely to the fact ihat iramigration directly presses souiewhat
Hiíhtly aa yet upon orĸaniz'^d iahor; and at present only orgaoized
labor receives tbe obsequinus attention of the Jegis'ator. In 18S0,
of ali tbe forfign born poputation of tbis countrv, only 13.53 per
cent were entiaged in agriculture and oniv 18.88 in manufacturps.
The professions, mercantile piirsuits, domesticsprviceand unakiHed
labor íibsorbfd tbe remainder, and,nepdless to sav, tlie Erreater part
falls into the domestic srrvice and unskilled labor classcs. Immĩ-
gration for th" past few years has been of Ihe bind that will
swell theaumbers in these two classes, andif continued too far will
turn the immigralion question over to the Social Reformpro, espe-
ciallv as thenew arrivals arecrowding into themorecrowded aiales
and into the cities ratlier than inio the cnuntry. In the North
Atlantic Siafes, 22.3 pi r cent of the populalinu is furcign born—In
New Ynilt Ihe percentage is -áQ-.'í (L'j.b;! in 1^80), ia Rbnde Island
S0.8 (.'6,7t) in 18^i0), in Jl.npaachusetts Sí'.4 {A.tl in lí-80), in New
Jereey 2^í.8 (I .60 în 1^80), in Conneclicul 24.6 (-'0.8^ in 18-0). In
the North Central States—ihe great agricultural sialee of tbe coun-
try—the percentajíe of foreign of the total population is 18.2. In
some states libe North Dabola (lá.C) tbe percealage is very bigh;
but tlie nunibpr of persons small.

Whatever may bc the trutb about the general profperily of the
coumrv. tbere can henodoubt thal vagabnTidiide is increasing, nnd
that there are darker pnverty stricken boles in our citiee now than
everi   Unhealthier ccnditiona to the body eooial prevaíl in New