jQue"!, 18 9S
Record and Guide.
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politics in Austria-Hungary are artecting movemtints ou the
hourse and miners' ,strikes interrupting trade.
"Entered at lh« Posl-o£ice al New Tork, N. T., as second^dase maU^.'
Vol. LV.
JUNE 1, 1895.
No. 1,420
i^i>r Brookli/n matter, see BrooMyn Department inwiediatel'y following
Neio Jersey records (page 9361.
THERE ia uolhiog yet to suggest any halt in the improvement
that has been going ou continuously for eome months uoyv.
The damage done to crops by the frost, while serious enough,
was not so great as was lirst reported. First reports are always
exaggerated. Besides, injury done now by frost is not wholly
irremediable, as it would be later in the year. Where wiuter
wheat is destroyed tbe farmer can plant corn, and where corn is
touched it can be replanted. That too much has been made in
the East of the eftects of the cold weather on Western crops is
showu by tbe more encoiiragiug' statements that come fi'om the
West auil the instauces here aud there where earnings are im-
Itroviug in a substantial way. Take those of the Atchison sys¬
tem, foi instance, yet the larger part of that system isin Kansas,
which has, accordiug to advices received East, beeu subjected
to it regular siicceasion of hot and eold blowings, tbat, if true,
would be disastrous. Of course, it would bave been better it'
(he crops in the ground bad matured and yielded well, but wbat
might to be insisted ou i,-* wbat we have pointed out, that it is
gooil, under the circumstance of failure, wherever that has oe-
iriirred, that the farmer has still a chance, and a good clianee, to
raise another croji. The agricultural results for tbe year can be
better gauged in sixty days from now. Meantime, we are jiisti-
lied in hoping for the best. The movements in tbe Industrial
j^roiip on tbe Stock Exchange are very indicative of better busi¬
ness conditions, Cordage, of course, always excepted. The
hitter imfortimate has certainly to go tlu'ougb some form of re-
<irgauization again, and itis even said that the present outstand¬
ing bonds will be asked to take an income mortgage in order
that there may be some assets available upon which to raise
I needed new funds. Among railroatl securities, Northern Pacifies
are likely to come to the front agaiu eoon under the incentive of
a plan of reorganizatiou, uot the one that has been publicly sug¬
gested, but one tbat will have more respect for the lien rights ot
the main liue bonds.
IIQUIDATION in South African mining shares, tiie coming
â– ^ holidays and the talk of a dissolution of Parliament ave all
('.out I ibntiug interruption to the bull movement ou the London
Stock Exchange. The first was inevitable, seeing the length to
whicb speculation had been carried, the secoud ciistouiary, and
the third may not have any more ground for belief than similar
talk of a year ago. While the government's iiositiou does not
appear to be the happiest, there is no predominant question on
Which the public is likely to unite to embarrass tliem from the
outside, and tbe Liberal and Kadical majority, though as usual
divided upou almost every issue that comea up, have tloubtless
that cohesivcness tbat comes from a disinclination to go to the
trouble aud expense of contesting tbeir seats. The compiled
reports of the joint stock bauks for 1S94 just published, are sig¬
nificant iu showing the continued increase of tbe enormous
masses of mouey lyiug idle in the country and a falling oft'in the
total banting capitalization owing to the unprotitable couditiou
of the business in the past year or two. Trade iu France recov¬
ered iu April, an eucouraging series of gains being reported iu
the exports and imports of that month, Tho Berliu boiusfe is
animated and reports from trade centres of the German Empire
are aomewhat encouraging. A bill before the Reichstag pro¬
poses to increase the export bounties on beet sugar to what they
were prior to May 31, 1891, aud to continue them beyond July
1, 1897, which was the date last tixed for their cessation.
Should this bill pass tjf; bounties will be : Class A, 1.25 marks;
Class B, 2 maiksj CI, prC, 1.65 maiks per lOOkilogs. Imperial
"TT is pretty certain that the bill whicli requiies the Superin-
-*• tendent of Buildings to notify the owner, agent or architeot
by mail of tbe approval or disapproval of plans within ten days
after the date of filing the same in the Department of Buildings
will not be approved by Mayor Strong, and, therefore, the bill
will not become a law. It is well that tbis should be tbe result,'
for, while we have full sympathy -with the intent of the bill*,'
which is to secure prompt action on plans flled, we are sure th^t'
the measure would defeat the very purpose that tbe promoters
had in mind, and would authorize' the Department to take more
time in considering plans that it ever assumed to take. Ninety
per cent, of pLins filed are disapproved for one reason or an- ,
other, and explanations or amendmeuts follow such disapproval'
before a permit is issued. This proposed law says in effect that'
the Department can take ten days to act upon plans. That in [
itself might, and probably would, lead to favoritism, some ap-'.'
plications receiviug immediate consideration, and others laid
by for the full limit of time, and then* disapproved on"
more or less substantial giounds. Had the bill said tbat all â– *_
plans shall be taken up in their order of filing, favoritism could
have been prevented, Tn all fairness to the Department many'
plans for sky-scraping structures cannot be properly acted upoii'
yyithin ten days, and the best interests of the public require that
ample time be allowed for the intricate calculations necessary to
determine whether a structure is safe and lawful in every part.
The extraordinary delays of late in passing upon plans, in
mauy cases no action being taken for six or eight weeka on
applications filed, have been due to a combiuatiou of cii'cum- '
stances that ever person connected with building operations
understands, and .should make allowances for. Before long tbe
Department will fully catch up in its work, and we ventui'e to
predict tbat from that time on plans will be acted upon with'.
greater expedition thau ever before was the case. The require-
meut contained in tbe bill that notice of approval oi' disapproval
should be sent by mail was a good one. This was ouce the
custom in tbe Department, but for years it has not been followed.
Recently architects bave beeu agreeably surprised to receive
postal card notices from the Superintendent notifying them of'
the fate of tbeir plans. The oldest architects had to go way
back in tbeir memories to recall when such notices came as a
matter of course. These recent card notices be.ir tbe. name of'
Stevenson Constable stamped over the printed narae of Thomas
J, Brady, showing that notification cards were in the Depart¬
ment. AVhy tbey yvere not used by tbe former Superintendent
is not half as important to know as tbe fact that the present
Superintendent is using them, much to the convenience aud
gratification of that portion of tbe public who transact business
with the Department of Buildiugs.
MAYOR STRONG will approve the bill which transfers fi-om
the Building Departmeut to tbe Dock Department the
control over new buildings to be erected on the piers and bulk-'
heads; that statemeut may be taken as authoritive. The fact is
that the Mayor was committed to this bill prior to its passage by ,
the legislature. At the hearing wbieb the Mayor gave in his
offlce last week, he learned for the first time why tbe Dock De¬
partment desires the powei' now held by another department;
that the Building Departmeut has put certain conditions on the
lessees of the piers who erect great iron framed stnictures, seven,
or eight bundred feet long, (aud many of which are two stories
in height) such as jacketing the woodeu piles above low water
mark with galvanized sheet iron, aud covei ing the undersidt. of
the wooden timbers of tbe pier with similar iron, and .between
tbe two thicknesses of the plank covering on tbo top/of the pie^^
to place a thickness of clean cinders, all .â– to the end
that tbe kindliug wood base for gregst pier " sheds
filled with valuable merchandise, should be reasionably protected
from the dame of burning oil and debris flo;;fting on the water
and made measurable slow burning in the fivent of a fire start¬
ing anywhere on the upper portion of the jtier. The Dock De- â–
partment has long felt that these requii-enVents were a reflection â–
on its dignity aud its method of pier conistructiou in wood, and â–
ao determined to get the control of the buildings away from the
Buildiug Departmeut. The Board of Education could just a.t.'
consistently ask for sole control over school buildings, tho Fire
Department over engine houses, and other departments oveif.
tbeir respective buildings. But the Mayor has committed him-'
self to the Dock bill. However, the,Mayor has takeu occasion to
say tothe Dock Comiuissionere that he requires them to pass a
resolution that all piers on which buildings are to be erected,
sballbe treated precisely in tbe manner prescribed by the Build¬
ing Department, being impressed with the practicability and
desirability of tbe metal jacketting, metal covering .ind cinder
layer. Witb this precedent understanding aa to what his. Dock
Commissioners will do, the Mayor agreed to approve the biU,