October 14, 1899.
RECORD AND GUIDE.
S4S
yM^
ESTfiBUSHED-^ m^H 2'-^ ' 668.
Dzv&teQ p HEA.L Estate .Suildi^g AFi,afitectji^e.HousoIold DEGOîtATiorf,
BtfsuJESs Affc Thèmes of GeiIei^aL lNTEfî.Esi.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS.
Publin/icd every Saturday,
TELEPHONE, COBTLANDT 1970.
Oommuzlcatione should be addressed Xa
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/. 2. LINBSEX, Business Manager.
"Mntered ai.the roit-OÇice at Ntto Xork,N. T., asseeorui-elass matter."
â– 1 .1
Vol. LXIV.
OCTOBER 14, 1899.
No. 1648
MORE than one conclusion may be drawn from the offer oE
the Treasury to pay all interest maturing on government
bonds dm-lng the current fiscal year. One is that it may be in¬
tended to offset in; some degree. the demands that the government
itself makes upon the community at this season of the year when
the pressure upoa tbe money market is heaviest; another, that it
may he intended as a warning to any who may be manipulating
the money market to adversely affect prices on, the stock market,
and a third, that the administration is anxious to maintain îts
crédit as tlie parent of the country's prosperity. Whatever its ac-
tuating reason may be, the order itself bas not been received witii
entire favor. Notwithstanding that since its publication the
rates for money bave declined, this order increases caution, be¬
cause it is taken for granted that it was not gratuitous, but was
made on représentations from high financial quarters of a serious
situation. It bas evidently encouraged the powerful party who
hâve been working for a month to bring down quotations. In tlie
past few days attacks hâve been made upon prominent issues,
Atchison and St. Paul for instance, with the apparent purpose of
discovering pregnable spots through which the list may be at¬
tacked; or, in other words, to create anew the anxiety that was
aroused by the big break in Brooklyn Rapid Transit. The bear
argument is that the upward swing tbat reached its highest point
last spring dated its beginning from the Bryan Madison Square
meeting in August of 1896, and, consequently, the natural re¬
verse action has not had time yet to complète itself. This argu¬
ment is based upon spéculative précédents. It does not follow
from it that legitimate business has anything to fear. There are
uo signs that it has been overdone; rather the contrary, wben we
are informed that the iron trade, for instance, has orders that will
fully occupy it for six or eight months to eome. It is this activ¬
ity in gênerai business' that is drawing so heavily upon the mone¬
tary resources of the country, and, coupled with the usual au¬
tumn call from the farmer, has made it so difficult to obtain
money to carry on spéculative opérations. It at the same time
helps to sustain confidence in good issues and to bold their prices.
While tbe immédiate situation is as has been just portrayed,
there Is one point that should not be lost sight of, and that is the
reported eagerness of the banks to make time loans at the good
rates now prevailing, They are rej'oicing in the time of harvest,
but do not lose sight of the fact that it has a limited period.
THAT the outbreak of actual hostilities in South Afriea was
not followed by the predicted panic on the London Stock
Exchange is due to the fact, to which we, some weeks ago, called
attention, that there has been plenty of time for préparation. As
a matter of fact the market has been preparing for any eventual-
îty for the past sis months, during which tbe shrinkage in tbe
quotations of Rand shares bas been from 30 to 50 per cent., ac¬
cording to the standing of the security. Looking at them from
the Etandpoint of hard, cold facts only, tbe position of Rand gold
mining properties is better now than it would hâve been had tbe
dispute with the Boers heen settled by diplomacy. The latter
would always bave left open ways for new disagreements and
new outbreaks. It would not bave been humanly possible to hâve
drafted an agreement that would hâve shut the door to ail Iikeli¬
hood of further trouble and at the same time bave satisfied both
â– parties. Unless all calculations err the British will at the con-
- clusion of the struggle impose its own conditions upon the South
African Republic. Tbese will undoubtedly safeguard the capital
' Invested in the Rand; but, it may be remarked in passing, it by
no means follows that the identity of the Boer State will be ob-
-llterated. The London "Economist's" index figure of prices at the
•end of September stood at 2085, the highest for any period ln five
tyears, and an advance from 2028 since the close of June. The
advance was largeiy due to further increases in prices of metals
and métal manufactures, other manufactures and raw materials
also contributed, A state balance sheet is a somewhat question-
able article, but as New South Wales has produced one it may
be interesting to take a glance at it, It claims for tbe colony as¬
sets of £152,127,802 and liabilities of £66,784,989, leaving a favor¬
able balance of £85,3'12,813. The assets include two such varied
items as £50,000,000 railways and tramways and £67,000,000 erown
lands unalienated. The public debt of France is officially re¬
ported at $5,970,965,000, or $110,945,000 iess than it was in 1895.
In tbe présent gênerai tightness of money it is interesting to note
tbe statement in a French financial journal, the "Rentier," that
the amount of idle money in the banks available for investment
or employment was never so large as at that moment. The total
sum of deposits at call on July Slst at the Bank of France and the
five other principal joint-stock banks was 1,570 million francs
5314,000,000). Al the same date of 1890 the total was only 1,114
miliions ($222,800,000). Those totals are exclusive of the de¬
posits in other banks that do not issue monthly balance-sheets.
janancial papers of Berlin are supporting a suggestion, for thë
establishment of a communal bank which will make loans to
small municipal corporations and issue their own securities
against them in bulk. By this means it is claimed that the cor¬
porations could obtain better terms and at the same time a se¬
curity be created that would be attractive to the investor. From
Jauuary 1, 1900, the eurrency of Austria and Hungary will be
changed. The fiorin aud kreuzer will cease to exist. and be re-
jjiaced by crowns and béliers. The latter coins bave long been
lu cil eulation, and being worth just one-half of the old unity, the
public has easily accustomed itself to them, though the old dés¬
ignations are still used. The European flnancial disLurbances that
began in Russia and are continued in Italy, support the view ex¬
pressed recently that the business boom abroad is oveu" and a re¬
verse movement begun.
Real Estate Trusts in Boston.
AN ACCOUNT OP THESE SUCCESSFUL .MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTIONS.
THE syndicate or trust method of investing and dealing Im
real estate has become so popular in Boston as almost com¬
pletely to dominate the market for valuabie properties in that
city. As it is in a large measure peculiar to the New England
metropolis, a brief description of it will doubtless be of interest
to readers of Lhe Record and Guide elsewhere.
Tbese trusts are of all sizes, ranging from a great organizatlon
with millions of capital to small neighborhood syndicates oper¬
ating on tbe monthly payment plan. The principal governing all
of them is essentially the same, however, the détails varying ac¬
cording to circumstances or the ideas of the promoters. In eaeh
case a déclaration of trust is drawn up and duly reeorded in the
registry of deeds. which is binding upon all the subscribers
tbereto, including, of course, the trustées.
Among the provisions common to all are those that no assess¬
ment of the stockholders shall ever be made; that they shall not
be personally Jiable for the acts of the trust; that the trustées
shall be liable only for a wilful breach of trust and eacb for his
own acts only; that the trust shall tenninate at a certain time, if
not wound up previously by action of the stockhoiders.
In some cases, the trustées are given the widest latitude in
their management of the property, with power to buy, sell, mort-
gage, improve and lease as tbey deem fit; in others they are re¬
stricted as to the amount they may carry on mortgage, or borrow
for temporary purposes. the sum they may expend ia improve-
Jlients. etc. Generally a provision is made for a surplus or con¬
tingent fund, usually limited to not more thau 10 per cent, of the
net income per annum, but sometimes left to the discrétion of the
trustées. This fund often may be invested in such personal prop¬
erty as the trustées select but the most conservative trusts limit
such investments to those allowed Massachusetts savings banks.
The compensation of the trustées Is fixed at five per cent, of the
gross income, and they are authorized to hire sueh agents as they
deem expédient and to fix their compensation. Bonds are rare-
ly, if ever, required of the trustées. The number of the latter
varies, tbree being the most popular, and in case of vacancies they
are sometimes empowered to select new trustées, while in other
trusts this is done by the stockholders. The rights of the latter
are carefully set forth în the deed of trust; in some they hâve a
large voice in directing the affairs of the trust, while in others the
business is entirely in the iiands of the trustées.
To comply with the rule against perpetuities, the trusts, expire
by limitation 20 years after the death of the last survivor of cer¬
tain persons named in the deed of trust; where these Etre a num¬
ber of boys chosen because of their youthfulness, the trust may
be given a life of nearly a century. In aome deeda of trust the