Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 41, no. 1043: March 10, 1888

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March 10, 1888 The Record and Guide. 293 .^^ ^ - ^ ESTfcBUSHED-^H\ftRS;H21i^^l86e. DeV^JED to KE^L ESTME . SuiLDlKc Af^Ct^lTECTvJI^E .KoUSEWOLD DEC0f(«10lJ. BUsit^ESS do Themes of Ge^eraI Ij^tti^Esi PRICE, PER YEAn IIV ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - - JOHN 370. Communications should be addressed to C. W, SWEET, 191 Broadway J. T. LTNDSEY, Bttxmes.'i Manager, Vol. XLI, MARCH 10, 1888. No. 1,043 On the 21st day of this month The Record and Guide will have completed twenty years of its existence. In commemoration of its entry upon the year in which it loill attain its majority, an extra large edition will be issued on tke 2ith inst., which will be sent broadcast all over the country, the business establishments to which it icill be mailed being those that will le of most service, not only to increase ihe circulation of Tns Record and Guide, but io bene¬ fit its advertisers. It will be read by real estate brokers, agents and investors, architects, builders, merchants, bankers, lauryers, decorators, properly owners, mortgagees and purchasers of build¬ ing materials, and its advertising columns will form an index aiid guide to thousands of firms in and out of town to refer to when they stand in need of estimates on any and every description of ivork connected with the constructio)i, improvement and alte- ation of buildings. Intending advertisers should send in their copy early, not only to insure a good position, but to avoid inconvenience aiid errors. In honor of the occasion the paper will be printed on new and handsome type. The past haa been a blue week. Stocke, cotton, grain and coffee have all had a black eye in tbe markets, and the outlook is anything but favorable to those tbat hold either Becuritiefl or goods of any kind on margins. We will soon be exporting gold, and money will become tighter as tbe spring trade develops. Wall street has been looking in vain for the advance of pricea which usually followa the disbursement of tbe January dividends, Tbe accidents have all been against the market, but the great difficulty has been the enor¬ mous mistake on the part of tbe Administration in precipitating a debate on the tariff before disposing of the surplus in the Treasury, which bas been such a menace to the trade of tbe country since last June. The occurrences of the laat week emphasizes the point so often made by The Record and Gdide that the engineers, conductors, brakemen and switchmen of the railway systems of the country should be made a part of the military or police force of the nation. Let the corporations, aa heretofore, hire, pay and employ them under rules drawn up by some board or commission called into existence by Congress. This would not add anything to the patron¬ age of tbe government, while it would forever insure us against railroad strikes, and would be even a guarantee against civil wair in the future. The journals of the country are getting very angry over the state of affairs out West, and the Brotherhood of Engi¬ neers are being denounced vigorously for their threat to tie up the raiIrog.ds of the country if the C, B. and Q. does not come to their terms. It is regarded as monstrous thai a few thousand workmen should bave it in their power to put a stop to all transportation. And this is true enough; but what are we going to do about it? The Burlington Company, ib seems, does not pay as higb wages to its employes as tbe Northwest, the Chicago and Alton, the Rjck Island and some other companies, hence there is a real grievance; but none tbe less is it dangerous to the public interest that a labor union has the power to threaten disaster lo every business in the country by stopping work on all the railroad lines. Government employfis never strike. Such an occurrence was never heard of on the continent of Europe, where so much of the railroad lines are in the hands of the military arm of the several governments. An extension of tbe powers of tbe Interstate Commerce Commission to pass on all disputes between the railroad corporations and their emplojifl would do mucb to avert these dangerous strikes. But the making of all tbe working force on the roads a part of our mil¬ itary eritablishsieot would effect a permanent settlement. There dees not seem to be one cbance in a thousand that the tariff and tax bill reported by the Ways and Means Committee -of the House will be enacted by the present Congress. It will be debated and amended, but it will be killed before reaching the Senate. Mr. Randall's position is fatal, and then the Republicans, as well as the Democrats, are apparently willing to make the tariff the issue in the pi>nding Presidential contest. The disorder in the finances will be charged by the Democrats on the Republicans because tbey would not vote to cut down the revenues, while the Republican contention will be tbat tbe Democrats would not consider any measure to spend the surplus so as to help the business of the country. We have alwaya faid that tariff reform must be effected by piecemeal; to attack all ihe protected industries at once is to induce tbe formation of a corrupt union among manufacturers, which will be altogether too powerful for tbe virtue of any Congresa that ever sat in Washing¬ ton. A bill adding to the free list could easily be carried on its merits, ao could another getting rid of imposts which yielded little revenue, and which are an embarrassment to the Custom House while protecting no vital interest. Then Mr. Hewitt's l&st year's bill for reforming the Custom House methods should also he passed by itself. But the Ways and Means Committee are trying to do everything in one bill, which includes the internal taxes as well as the tariff. It will be almost a miracle if any such measure should pass in an evenly divided House, with all the rich manufacturing corporations of the country opposed to it. Surely Congressmen are losing their beads in thinking of order¬ ing the Secretary of tbe Treasury to buy bonds with the surplus in the government vaults. Why give thia premium to the rich bond¬ holders and corporations by creating a corner in government securities ? It is the very rich, like tbe Vanderbilts and the great banking institutions, who are tbe owners of these bonds. AVe have no fault to find with them, but why should they be picked out over other citizens as government beneficiaries? We are in need of so many things, aa a nation, that it is an outrage to thus mieuae the money. Our harbors need improving; our waterways are a hindrance to internal commerce instead of a help, because the necessary appropriationa to improve them are not available. We need steamships to give us our share of the foreign commerce of our own country, and which could be turned into commerce de¬ stroyers in the event of war. We need public buildings in every State, Our enormously rich city sea coasts are not defended. We have no guns or torpedo service. Were money to be spent thus productively it would stimulate tbe depressed industries of the country and give employment to labor. The buying of more bonda in Wall street would be simply to add to the wealth of the very wealthy, and start a fresh and unnatural speculation in Wall street. But it really seemp as if llie only two classea which Con¬ gress ia disposed to favor are the millionaire bondholders and the swindling pension agents. Although Deacon White had only three backers in the Houae of Representatives when he protested against the passage of a bill ordering the Pacific Railroads to build new telegraph lines, he was right and the House was wrong. It would he the height of folly and a shocking waste of capital to build new telegraph lines to the Pacific Coast. The Union Pacific is honestly trying lo pay its debts; why cripple it still further? The newspapers are unanimous in condemning the demand of the working people for uniform wages, no matter what the expe-. rience or ability of the individual workman. This is a criticism of long standing against all tbe labor unions. They have ever since their original organizations insisted that thsre should be no dia- crimination by tbe employer between the ordinary and the supe¬ rior workman. Owners of newapapers, and professional men generally, cannot understand why the unions are po earnest in this matter. In a newspaper office the editors and reporters are paid in accordance wilh their experience or capacity, but in the com¬ posing room every compositor is treated alike and gets so much per thousand fcr tbe type he handles. One lawyer will get a thou¬ sand-dollar fee, while another, who works much harder, can com¬ mand only a hundred, and so with physicians. But there ia some¬ thing to be said on the other side. Great masses of men in one employment raust be treated as a whole. In the army every pri¬ vate gets $13 a month and his rations; the brave and faithful soldier is given no more than the coward or the skulk. The same rule obtains in the navy. On the Stock Exchange every broker is forced to charge exactly the fame commission, although one may be far more efficient than the other. Hence Chief Arthur objects to the grading aystem on the Burlington road, He wants all the engineers treated alike. It will be noticed it is never the superior workmen that get the best wages who object to establishment of a uniform rate. It is always their employers or the latter's advocates in the press. There is a good deal to be said on both sides of this interesting question. ----------» -.----- The Standard, Henry George's paper, thinks the readers of The