Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 40, no. 1019: September 24, 1887

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September 24, i887 The Record and Guide. ICQ tret this is ave nat '^re c* THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. IQl Broad^way, l^T. 1^. Oar Telephone CaU Is • « - - - JOHN 370. TERMS: OIVE TEAR, in adrance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to e. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XL. SEPTEMBER 24. 1887. No. 1,019 Mayor Hewitt voices the general discontent of our citizens over the constant tearing up of our street pavements by the steam- heating and gas companies. New York from its situation is a crowded city, and is forced constaatly to do a larger business than probably any similar area of street surface in the world. Under these circumstances to have the streets torn up week after week is a grievous interference to business, and unless radical measures are taken will in time become intolerable. Every year adds to the foot passenger and vehicular travel of the metropolis. While the old lines of railway are steadily increasing their business new ones are constantly throwing still more traffic upon our streets. The Long Island Railroad will in a short time have terminals in New York city. "When the Hudson River tunnel is completed an enormous amount of freight will be handled on this island instead of on the Jersey shore. Then the tide of travel through the metropolis is steadily augmenting. .---------«---------. But water mains, steam-heating pipes and gas leaders are essen. tial to the city's business and must from time to time be replaced and repaired. Is not the real solution the building of a series of New York sewers, patterned after but an improvement upou those of Paris. Our present sewerage system is radically defective. It must some time be reconstructed and made adequate for the wants of the myriads who will be forced to live and do business on this island. It will be a gigantic and costly work, but when completed there should be no more need of tearing up our pavements, as the water mains, gas and steam-heating pipes and electric wires could be made a sort of an annex to a sewerage system suitable for New York. Property-holders may not like the prospect of the vast expenditures which will be necessary to give us a proper system of sewers. But if New York wishes to occupy the position it ought to hold as one of the great cities of the world the work must be undertaken some time or other. The proper function of an opposition party and its organs is to criticise and expose the shortcomings of the party in power. The Tribune endeavors to occupy this position towards President Cleveland and his cabinet, but curiously enough it defends the administration on a point where it is most to blame. There is a large surplus in the Treasury which ought to be in the channels of trade. The Democratic party is clearly responsible for this locking up of the funds of the nation. Although warned the Democratic majority in the last House took no measure? either to reduce the surplus or to spend it. The leaders were warned that the neglect of Congress would be sure to embarrass the businesa interests of the country later on, but President Cleveland would not call an extra session of Congress, while the measures taken by his Secretary of the Treasury are clearly inadequate to get rid of the large and unnecessary Treasury accumulations. But the Tribune holds to the curious theory that the business of the country is in an unwholesome state, due to a redundancy of currency, and it backs up the administration in retaining the large surplus now in the Treasury vaults. The following table tells the story of the surplus at various periods : 1886 Aupuat.................. $76,537,561 31 September. October___ November. December. 1&87. January... 67 896.3 n 01 53,^83.199 88 40,093,5*16 32 43,196.633 77 1887. February............... $19,148,975 45 March................... 31,859,983 51 April..................... 34.886,0.38 SO May...................... 33.951.693 44 June.................. 40.853.360 38 July................ ... • 45698,59115 August................ 44,760,908 86 ........... $37,780,050 87 It is understood that the end of this month will see nearly $50,000,000 of a surplus. True, this is less than in August, Sep¬ tember and October of last year ; but the business of the couutry is more active and we have at least 2,000,000 more population. There is nothing unwholesome in the general situation beyond a real estate craze in some of the far Western cities. It is true we are building rather more railroads and houses than our present means in the way of capital will warrant, but this is an evil which corrects itself. But the government should not interfere to make money scarce when it is needed for legitimate^business. The $14,000,000 which the Treasury Department is willing to dis¬ burse will afford no sensible relief, for the accumulations will be greater than the expenditures. That is, by the end of October there promises to be more money in the Treasury and less in the channels of trade than there is to-day. The Democrats have not managed our finances wisely in this respect, and their mistakes are properly texts for the opposition to emphasize. Have We a Sufficiency of Currenoy? One of the current reasons given for the recent depression in Wall street is that there is an insufficient supply of currency to transact the now active business of the country. We have been adding to our trade, opening new fields of enterprise, while our population increases more than 2,000,000 per annum. But to meet the wants of this growing population and naturally expanding trade there are no adequate additions to the circulating medium required for the much larger transactions. Curiously enough, there has been no publication of the total amount of gold, silver and paper afloat at certain given periods. Should we know what our gross currency was in 1878 and compare it with 1887, it would tell the story of the money employed to carry on the business of the country then and now. The following table is from official sources, yet many of the figiires are necessarily defective, for it is difficult to tell how much gold is retained year by year, and then there are certain seasons, as in the spring of 1886, when we exported some $34,000,000 of gold bars and coin. Still, the figures we give are approximately correct. In the table we are credited with over $500,000,000 of gold coin on July 1st last, but at that time we had also in the Treasury some $80,000,000 of gold bullion uncoined. We really have nearly $(i60,000,000 gold in the country. It will be noticed that we increased our store of gold coin, not¬ withstanding the continual coinage of the silver dollars. Many persons who think themselves well informed really believe that the silver coinage expels the gold from the country, but the very con¬ trary is the fact, as shown by the table we give below. There is no danger from the silver coinage. Total Circulation of Gold, Silver, Greenbacks and National Bank Notes, including Bullioa in United States Treasury, with estimated Population and per capita: National Silver. $85 914,970 1I»,893,565 138.859,286 164-68i6.M 19i.375,688 321.738,115 349 411.337 377.933,366 306,815.484 334,000,000 Greenbacks. $316 681 )'16 3»'' G"<1.010 316.6'<1.0IG 34*^.681.016 346 681,('16 346 681,016 316 681,016 346 681,016 346 681 016 346,081,016 June 30. Gold. 1H78................ $186,500,000 1879................ 311.500.000 1880................ 309,000,000 1881................ 436.00-1.000 1883 ............... 444.000000 1883 ............... 467,iH'0,n00 1884................ 463,500,000 1885 ........ ...... 500,000.0(10 1886................ 496,700,000 1887............... 553.500,000 The four Estimated June 30. currencies. population. 1878.................................. $910,563 676 47.500,000 1879 ................................. 1.01'^,6t7.993 48.750,0fi0 1880................................ 1,148.069.743 50.J61.000 ISn................................. 1,387.493 110 51,750,000 1883................................ 1,339.736,934 53.250,000 1883.................................. 1,390.7,53,110 54 75').O00 1884................................ 1.398,363346 56,350.000 1885.................................. 1,441,033 759 57.750,000 1886.................................. 1,458,388.682 69,3^0,000 1887............................... 1,513,844,055 61,350,000 Statement showing the Circulation of Money in the United .States, and Dlstribu tion thereof June 30,1887. bank notes. $3M,487,690 337.494.573 343.543 411 3i3,5^9 440 356.6H0.720 355.333 979 338,077.003 316,418,477 3 8.19^.083 278.663,039 Per capita. $19 84 20 79 33 03 24 87 35 15 35 41 34 85 34 93 34 6J 24 69. In Treasury. $ Gold Coin ...............193.868,915 85 Gold Certificates_______ 30,261,3^0 00 Sliver Certificates........ 8,435.133 00 Standard Silver Dollars.311.483.970 00 Subsidiary Silver Coin.. 36 977,493 79 National Bank Notes .... 3.363.585 00 Legal Teoder Notes . . 28,783,796 :9 Legal TeoHerCertiflcatas 310.000 00 State Bank Circulation.........,___ Old Demand Notes................. One and Two Year Notes of 1863 ..................... Compound Int. Notes................ Fractional Currenoy___ 551 73 In National Banks. $ 98,137.439 47 54.374.940 00 3.535.479 00 6.343,-il3 00 3.813,188 81 S5.4»0.213 00 74 4^2Mi 01 8,770.000 00 In Otber Banks and in individ¬ ual hands, $ 263.993 644 68 36.9'A497 00 138,583.5H8 00 49.113.934 no 45.M84 '30 40 251.434.991 00 343,414,877 31 .....98,697 66 57,130 00 Total. $ 658.600,000 00 121.486 817 00 145,543.150 00 261.940.117 00 75 671,753 00 379.317.788 00 846.68I.0I6 00 9.08i>,0"0 00 98.697 00 67,130 00 664,366 72 65,605 00 65.605 00 19*.880 00 193,880 00 14.758.079 92 16,333.898 37 Total ..............49%978,8.;6 16 374.811,031 00 1,048,515.994 31 1,818.860.851 37 U. 8. Treasurer's Oflace, Division of Accounts, Sept. 31, 18S7. In the above it will be noticed that we are constantly adding to our store of the precious metals, but are reducing the amount of outstanding national bank notes. Unfortunately vaRt quantities of our gold, eilver and greenbacks are locked up in the Treasury vaults and are unavailable for business purposes. We ought to have some fiscal institution similar to the national banks of other countries so that these reserves would be available iu the channels of trade. They should be loaned out under such restrictions as would insure their safety. Under our laws the Secretary of the Treasury is really the head of a large banking institution. It is in his power to make or unmake prices. It was never intended that the head of our Treasury Department should have any such authority, but some one has to say when bonds shall be bought, when the surplus shall be decreased or diminished, and whoever exercises this power is the arbiter of prices, not only on the stock, but on the general exchanges of the country. It will be noticed that in the official table given above the total currency is put down at |1,813,860,851,37, which is over 1300,000,000