Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 34, no. 876: December 27, 1884

Text version:

December 27, 1884 The Record and Guide 1299 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. PabliBhed every Saturday, 191 Broadway, N. Y. TERMS: ONE ¥EA(l, io advance, SIX DOLLARS^ Communications should be addressed fco C. W. SWEET, 191 J. T. LINDSBY, Buaiuesa Manager. DECEMBER 27, 1884. Wiiat a change would come over the business situation if a stop was put to tlie payment of (he public debt, and the surplus money in the Treasury was spent iu conatructing harbor defences, buiMiug a navy, encouraging lines of steamers to foreign countries, improving our water waya and harbors and erecting in the cities, where they are called for, new custom houses, postoffices and buildings for Federal courts. Such a policy would change aa if by magic the whole business situation, for it would create a demand for iron, timber" and building materials, and better than all for labor. It would be economy, for the government would then get the advantage of the prevailing low prices. It is so obviously the wisest thing to do that it is surprising there is not a general demand for the government to use its now worse than wasted funds to stimulate productive industries. The press of New York eeems determined not to emphasize the significance of the failures which occurred on the Vienna bourse immediately upon the announcement that Austria was about to resume^pecie payment on a gold basis. Items are given grudgingly of the suicides, failures and embarrassments; indeed there seems to be a "conspiracy of silence" touching the moral to be drawn from the attitude of Austria ou the currency question. It is now repeating the history of Germany and the United States when they der*«)netized silver in 1873, In addition to what it had previoi^fily published, the-HemM of yesterday gave the following items itf a quiet way: Vienna, Dec. 25, 1884.—The Discount Bank at Layback, Carinthia, bas failed. Itsliabit.ities are 1,590,000 florins. Two sugar factories at Badsko bave stopped work. Prague, Dec. 35, 1834.—The liabilities of the Bobemian Land Credit Company, whicb suspended recently, amount to 23,000,000 florios. Tbe assets exceed that amount, but it will be difScult to collect them. Numer¬ ous small banks are involved in the failure, and some are ruiued. The shareholders lose tbe whole amount of their investment. Unless we are greatly mistaken there is a good deal more of the same kind of news to corae from Austria. But the anti-silver papers will not see the point. As we predicted some weeks ago the cattle ranch fever is de¬ veloping itself into a widespread international speculation. The money for the purchasing of landa and cattle comes in great part from England and the continent. A railroad scheme has been evolved out of this laud aud cattle speculation. It is proposed to build a road from Cheyenne to Hudson Bay, by which route it was claimed 500 miles of water transportation to England can be saved an^ i^IO a head added to the value of tbe cattle. A dinner was given by George H. Stayner, of Brooklyn, on Wednesday evening, to ex-Secretary of War McCreary and Captain Bedford Pira, of the British navy, and others who represent an immense ranch company with stockholders on both sides of the ocean. We may expect this speculation to rage for a time to the ultimate loss of those who get in at high prices, but the meat consumers will probably be benefited by the increased attention given to the breeding of cattle. Our Chamber of Commerce is a very curious body. It opposes every measure likely to help New York in its struggle for foreign trade. It antagonizes every measure on the part of the Federal government to aid New York capitalists in establishing steamship lines with foreign ports. The Chamber has also announced wilh emphasis against the treaties now before the country, the main objeci, of all of which is to extend our commerce with other nations. steamship lines are better represented in the Chamber of Commerce than are the interests of American commerce proper. It is also a curious fact that the Journal of Comvierce and the Commercial Bulletin bitterly oppose every effort on the part of the Federal government to give our ships foreign markets. The Maekay-Bennett cable is now open for business. It is, it seems, the only direct cable between Europe and New York city. Although it has all the advantages of the recent inventions in cable telegraphy, yet it is doubtful if it will be a commercial success. The laying of the cable has, it is understood, taxed Mr. Bennett's resources very severely, and he has had to sacrifice a great deal of his property to make good the subscription to the shares which were in the name of hia brother-in-law, Mr, BeU. A cable is at a disadvantage compared with other telegraph lines in that it can'only transact business at either end. A line from New York to San FranoiECO gives and receives messages every few miles. Then the new cable is handicapped in another^way. The old com¬ panies have direct business relations and prompt connections with every city in Europe, while on this side the Western Union can supply them with messages from every point in North America, The new cable will, it is true, have the service of the Baltimore & Ohio, the Postal Telegraph and the Bankers' and Brokers', but these cannot gather one-twentieth of the business at the command of the Western Union, Hence the new company will be forced to open offices in the large cities and will in every way ba at a disad¬ vantage with its old-established rivals. Mr. Bennett is plucky and Mr. Mackay is reputed rich, but they have yet to show that they possess any business faculty outside of mining and journalism. The probable fate of the new cable will be to fall into the hands of the old monopoly at much less than its original cost. This cable experiment will probably repeat the old, old story. There is no such thing as permanent competition between natural monopolies such aa railways, telegraph lines, cables and the sup¬ plying of water and gas and the like to municipalities. The cables of the world should really be owned by a syndicate representing the several commercial nations. Private persons should not have the reporting of raarket news, nor should they be the depositors of business and family secrets. It is this consideration which haa induced every government save ours to incorporate the telegraph system into their postoffice machinery. The several governments should supply cable facilities to the people of all nations at a mini¬ mum charge. The final result of the Maekay-Bennett cable con¬ struction it is now probable will be to add just so much to the already large expense of telegraphing under the ocean. This would be a puzzling attitude for the Chamber of Commerce to assuu 3, were it not explained by the fact that wc really have no merchants, because we have no merchant marine. We have, it is true, shippers of goods, but they are Americans in partnership with'foreign shipping Hues. True, our navigation laws give a monopoly of the coasting trade to American ship owners, but the merchants who are engaged in that field do not seem to be influ- eptjal in, o^r chief commercial body. Foreigu ipWCbft!it§ aa4 How history repeats itself ! When De Lesseps first suggested the building of a Suez Canal it was pronounced impossible, and even derided in England. The London journals declared that it was an impracticable project. Iiord Palmerston, representing the official judgment of the nation, pronouncedthe scheme visionary. The great body of Englisb engineers, with George Stepheuson at their head, declared that the physical difSculties were insurmountable, and that what had been accomplished by the Pharaohs before the beginning of recorded history was an impossibility to the science of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless De Lesseps has lived not only to see his canal completed but all his English enemies confounded. Great Britain to-day has the most vital interest in this important artificial channel of trade. Americans are now assuming the same attitude toward the Panama Canal that England did to the Suez Canal. It is, we are told, a waste of money and time to even attempt it, the physical obstacles to be overcome being insuperable, From this time forth the difficulties in the way of De Lesseps will be the theme of tens of thousands of newspaper articles. The most experienced engineering experts in the country will pledge their professional reputation that the canal will never be built, and hun¬ dreds of speeches will be made in Congress showing up this latest French folly. But, notwithstanding, by 1890 the canal will be opened and will become the great channel of commerce for the shipping on the Atlantic Ocean which may have business with the ports on the east of Asia and in the Pacific Ocean. Then by the close of the century by an attraction as strong as that of gravita¬ tion the canal will fall under the control of the American govern¬ ment. The fact to be kept steadily in mind by all sensible men is that modern engineering science backed by sufficient money can overcome any ordinary physical difficulty in the way of construct¬ ing a canal. The danger is that, prompted by this feeling of hostility, we may begin the construction of a Nicaraguan canal which will involve great cost, trouble with foreign nations, and in the end be a failure, not because ir cannot be constructed but for the reason that a canal 170 miles long, with thirteen locks, will never be able to compete with a canal less than one-third the length and not having any locks. The building of a Nicaraguan canal to compete with the papama C^aal woiilcl l>e HM,^ Ptartiog a, horaQ-