December 3, 1893





Record   and   GuÍde.





713





CpíÍjIeD 10 l^L EsTWE. BuiLDifÍG Afic.rliTEtrTvJi^E .Kousrrfou) DErøR^nai,





ESTi^USHED ■^MAR.CH ?1*J^ ISb^







PRICE, PER TEIR VH åDrANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Pu.blished every Saturdæy.

TBLKPHOWBI   ....   CORTLAHDT 1370.

Coiimiunications sbould be addressed to

C. W. SWEET,  14 & i6 Vesey St

J. 2. LINDSEY, Business Manager.

"Entered at tlie Fost-offlce at New YorJe, N. F., aa second-class matter."





VOL, L.





DECEMBER 3,  1893.





NO. 1,2!I0





THE Stock Market received the iiews of the deatli of Mr. Gould
iuuch better than ît has oftea taken unfouniled rumors of
that eveut; but this is probably due to the support usually given to
stocks to prevent a bad break ou a piece of news likely to encourage
large professional operations oii the short side. It does not neces-
sarily follow that the deathof Mr. Gould must disorganize prices,
but it comes at a time when prices are already disturbed from other
causes; and if the settlement of the Gould estate, which is koown
to be so extensive iu active securitie.'í, requires any large realiza-
tions, they wlll be an additional burden to a market which now
does not too readiiy absorb offerings. It is announced that Mr.
Gould put his estatf in trust in iike manner to Moses Taylor and
Mr. W. H. VanderbiU for the benefit of his immediate family, and
i£ this proves to be true, it wiU help matters Jjy removing the fear
that the market mîght have at &ny moment to take large blosks
of securities while the estate îs in process of settlement.
The most proiuinent cause of weakness in prices is the esport
of gold at this season, and that weakness must continue so
long as gold continues to go out and uiitil there is good promise of
the recurrence of such exports being distant. There is no end of
talk about the country's beĩngable toafford theae shîpments, which
is about as sensible as telling the owner of a fallen house tbat Iie
ought not to mind because there are still plenty of bricks in the
country. Prices go down on gold shipments, not merely because
of the sentimeutal fears of security-holders but because they must
owing to the distnjrbance of credits, as surely as a pillar must fall
'if tbe base is knocked away. Gold is always at work as a basis of
credit. The gold that is shipped thîs week was not idle money in
the Treasury, but represented the gold bills for which it was paid
out. Those bills were in the banks as a basis of credita of agood
many limes theii í'ace and cannot be issued again except against a
new lot of goid. It is the disturbance of these credits ihe inarket
feels, the result being aggravated, of course, by the operations
of traders who watch for just such movements. Three
months hence, of course, the gold shipments of the
present day will not only be without infiuence but almost
forgotten. But at the time of their goinggold exportsmustalways,
for the reasoũs given, have a bad influeuce on concurrent quota-
tions. The doings of the conference at Brussels have more înterest
thau infiuence; lÊ it were possible to imagine that it could lay ihe
bãsis for an international agreement for au extended currency use
of silver, that would be a great bull card for American securities ;
but its failure to do anything could not come as a surprise or a dis-
appointment, because no one ever e.vpected tbat it would result in
practica! benefit other than merely opening tbis great discussion.
Consequently if, as it is now believed it will, the conference adjourns
witliout agreement, that fact ought not to depress prĩces, except so
far as it may be taken as an intimation that ibis country must con-
tinue to export gold until a remedy has been í'ound for what are
admitted on all sidea to be defects in our currency.





/^NE of the moat startling movements in prices which have
^-' recently taken place in London has been the active specula-
tion in South Africau aecurities. The chief run has been on the
Rand gold mining sharea, many of which bave rîsen from lOO to
301) per ceut l'rom ihe lowest prices ruling before the revival of
activily. The production of gold last month is officially reported to
have been 112,167 ounces as compared with 107,S.'>0 ounces ia Ihe
preceding month, and 72,793 ounces iu the corresponding
month last year. The activity ia quite as marked in
the shares of two leadiug Qiaraond companies, but in
these cases has apparently less justification. The import-
ance of these rises, however, to the genera) public is
ÍDsignificant compared with the great advance which has taken
place in South American securilies—amounting iii some cases to
over 20 per cé^t.    In some instauce theae advances have been





brought ahout artiíicially. AfFairs havo undoubtedly improved in
Argentina witbin the jiast yuar. Trade has qitietly but steadily
tíxpanded, aud finaneially the position has aettled down to some
extent, although no attempts have been made to grapple with the
really serious difificulties of the situation. Despite the improve-
ment, however, it is ciaimed tliat the recent fali in the price
of gold was due to manipulation, and that is quĩte untrustworthy
as au indication of any improvement in the business or
poiitical situation. The reports of the nnions of skilled
trades in Great Brĩtain show no signs of improvenienc
in their respective labor markets. On the contrary, tbey again
show a considerable increase in the number of the unemployed.
The aggregate of the memhers of societies sending in reports is
about 2(i8,000, and of tbese nearly 30,000 are shown to be out of
work against only about 17,000 the month previous. The building
and cabinet-making trades are tlie ouly induslries that can be called
prosperous, while tbe ship-building, iron-founding and pattern-
making trades are very depressed. The bears are in full sway iu
Berliu, and they have been helj)ed particularly by the unfavoralbe
reports received from tbe iron and coal districts in Westphalia and
Silesia. Dismissals of workingmen are eApected on a arjge scale,
and reductions of wages are already taking place. The latest report
is that the negotiations for a German-Russian treaty of commerce
wilt come to nothing. It is assertPd tiiat the Russiau Commissĩon
will give no consideration tothe Germau demand for a reduction of
import duties on iron and coal, but tliat, ou tbe contrary, Russia
intended to raise part of her import duties by establishiũg a mini-
mum tariff. Tbe fact that the recent Hungarian cabiuet crisis
ended în a decided Liberal victory has prcduced a very favorable
effect ou the Vienna bourse, and consequently the prices of stocks
and bankshares haverisen. Dr. Alexander Weckerle, whoseclever
mauagement of the finances oE Huugary did away with the deficit,
and whose energy wilh regard to currency rel'orm  procured the

support andapproval of all parties, is the new Premier.

-------•--------

IF anybody has been able to urge a valid reason, on public
grounds, for refusing to permit the Manhattan Company to
extend its tracks from the Ninth Aveaue road, along Cortlandt
street, to the Pennsylvania ferry, we have yet to find it. The
oulypretence of objection was that concerning Mr. Jay Gould. It
is as impossible, bowever, to run a city on the principle of doing
the opposite of what Mr. Gonld wants, as it is to condtict the affairs
of the nalion on tbe principie of doing just the opposîte of what
the foreigners want us to do. The Manhattan road is the best sub-
stitute for rapid transit that the city possesses; and while it exisfs
it shouid be granted all reasonable opportunifcies to make its service
more efĩicient. No one can deuy the public utility of such an
extension. A large proportion of the people that come to and
leave tbe Pennsylvania ferry house- use the Manhattan road. At
present they are obliged to trudêo a couple of crowded blocka to
thé station, whereas under the proposed arrangement they conld
pass immediateiy to the cars without delay, without bother, and
wifchout any additional expense. lí bj means of the spui- the
Ninth Avenue road can iiuprove its service in any other way,
that would be an argument in favor of granting the privilege,
for any such unobjectionable means of improving a service tJiat so
much needs improvement ought to be taken. Consequeniily the
fear which some newspapers have expressed that the company
has someultcrior designs in proposing theextension is a fear which
we hope that the event will justify. As to property-owners on the
sfcreet, who naturally enough are objecting to the exiensioo, their
case Ís perfectly simple. The law amply protecfcs their interests.
In case they refuse to give their consents, the Supreme Court can
decide whether this refusal ought in the public interest to be linal.
If, in spite of their protest, the road is built, tliey will be able to
collect pleuty of damages from the company.

-------------m--------------

MR. CHANDLER'S Comniittee is evidently determined to
restrict immigration. We regret to see with how much
apparent readiness the public seem willing to support any off-hand
proposals of a prohibitive character, as though immigration were
not an euormously potent fa.-tor in our uational life. It is, indeed,
one of the very last matters to be drasticalty treated in a hasty
manner, or handed over to the politicat tinkers who, unfortu-
nately for the country, do so much of the national repairing which
should be intrusted only to skilled and thoroughly quahfied work-
men. Upon inveatigation it may, of course, be found to be wise to
put some restrictions upon immigration, or, what is the
same thing with an importaut dilîereuce, to qualify immi-
gratiou. But what the character of these resirictions or
qualifications should be, cannot be detei-miued in an
oíî-hand way in the easy method which the Chandler Com-
mittee is pursuing. Its determinations, as reported, are based
upon an absence of investigation whicb is ludricous when the
importance of Iho subject coiicerned is cousidered. To prohibit
imraigraiion for twelve months, as Senator Chandler ijroposes
shall be done, becauae of the fear of chulera next year, is to con-
found things that may be connectedbut are not related one to the