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August 4, 1888 Record and Guide. 969 ex \i F
rtEi\E3T rRUE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published evei-y Saturday. TELEPHONE, - . . JOHN 370. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLII. AUGUST 4, 1888. No. 1,064 ■ Now Ready—The Index to the Conveyances and Projected Buildings published in The Record and Guide during the first six nonths of the current year. The Index is printed on extra heavy laper, and, as usual, includes New York and Kings Counties, and s the most exhaustive ewer published. The labor and expense onnccted with the laork has become so formidable that a charge of Ifty cents is made for this issue, as announced in these columns on January 2\st last. Subscribers requiring copies should send in their )rders at once. Since the Fourth of July our stoi,;k inarTiet lias been an animated ane. Prices have advanced, the market has broadened, and a great .Qany stocks have been bouglit and yold. The outlook for stock yalucs is fairly good. Investors and spoculators can buy securities vvitli entire confidence, provided there is no damage to the corn ^rop. The wlieat crop abroad will certainly be short, and conse- i^nently we \\'ill get not only fair but good prices for our agricult- ral products. It looks ay if \\-e should be impoi-ting gold again liet'ore October. "We never could nnderstaud wliy tlie real estate Iraarkel sliould always be dull in midsnimner and luidwinter. Tlie aifference of tlie seasons does not atfoct any other excliange. The stock market is sfci-ong, the wheat market is booming, aud the August cotton market exciUnl, It is real estate alone that is slow of sale because the weather is hot or cold. wliich will liit the mark better than did the McKinley National Republican platform. -------•------- So far the Presidential canvass has beeu very tame. It has excited really very Uttle popular interest. Both candidates stand well with their respective adherents. They are doing nothing to forfeit the good opinion of their friends. Still, Mr. Harrison runs a great deal of risk in speaking so often. Some day he will utter some remark that will be used to his disadvantage. The exciting part of the canvass will probably begin when Mr. James G. Blaine reaches our shores. He will be sure to say something startling. For many years past he has beeu the stormy petrel of our national politics. All things considered, we do not think he will help General Harrison's canvass. We have always thought that the one chance for beating Cleveland was the continuance of depressed trade. It now looks, however, as if we might have a reasonably prosperous fall business. The crops of Western Europe are a par¬ tial failure, and the prices of grain and provisions wUl probably be high enough to give excellent returns to onr farming community This in tni-n will stimulate the demand for manufactured goods In that case the Jlills bill will not seem such a bugaboo to th^ average worker. So far in the canvass Mr. Cleveland is unques¬ tionably ahead ; but there ia many a slip 'tvrixt the cup and the lip. i Rumors are afloat in Wall street that Jay Gould is negotiating with powerful syndicates to get rid of his interests in Missouri Pacilic, Western Union aud Mauhattan ; and, doubtless, there is bome foundation for tbe reports. Gould is really a ick man, and -wants to be relieved of the cares of any great property. It is known that negotiations are pending to merge Missouri Pacific with lines in the East aud West, wliich would make a continuous railway system along the Southern zone of the country from tiie Atlantic to jthe Pacific Ocean. A change of ownei'ship of tlie Western Union Telegraph Company would put its stock at par. It is a property which has always sold for less than its earnings would warrant, and the Gould stocks when in the hands of Gould do not command their proper figures. I But if the Manhattan Company passed into the control of people who had the confidence of the public it would be a good tiling for ■the elevated system of the city, as well as the community. The prejudice against the company is largely due to its ownership. If the new persons in charge wanted to run fast trains on the 2d, 3d and 6tli avenues, there would be no general objection to the laying of additional tracks. The roads should be extended also to the ferries. It is imperatively needed that the elevated system should be util¬ ized to the utmost. New York requires swifter transit up and down town and should have it within a year. There would be a preju- i dice against giving these increased faciUties to Jay Gould. Then the man is too sick, and his partner, Russel Sage, too old. to insist on making the elevated system what it might be. It would be a . splendid speculation if a syndicate could obtain control ovtr our elevated system. But the chief beneficiaries, after all, would be our local traveling public. As for Western Union, it will never be properly placed until it is in the hands of the general government, -------•------- While Candidate Harrison has not made a very favorable impres¬ sion because of liis loquacity, still, some of the things he has said have the right ring. He believes the government ought to help com¬ merce as well as manufactures. It is clear that if he was President he would favor tbe rehabilitation of our merchant marine and would not object to the government undertaking important public improvemtnts. The ReiDublicans started out, unfortunately, in apparently favoring free whiskey and prohibitory duties, but per¬ haps Blaine, when h*^ arrives next week, will strike the key-note of a Republican programme whicli may represent the wishes of the ma.jority of the American peojjie. Neither candidate has as yot published his letter of acceptance. It ia to be hoped that General Han-ison will have the tact and pluck to outline a set of [.irinciples The Mugwumps made a serious political blunder when they com¬ mitted themselves to Grover Cleveland's fortunes, before he was nominated for the Presidency, They should have assumed au inde¬ pendent attitude, and if the Republicans did uot comply with their demands as to candidate and platform, they could then have declared for Mr. Cleveland as a choice of evils; and their final decision would have helped his candidacy very effectually. But by comiuitting themselves to him in advance, after his dubious attitude ou the Civil Service question, when a candidate for nomiuation, they effaced tlieraselves as a factor in natiooal politics as completely and elTectually as did the Labor party under Henry George and Dr. McGlynn. But the Mugwumps are now endeavoring to make up for this tactical blunder by opposing the renomination of Gover¬ nor Hill. Judged from their reform point of view Hill is certainly a bad lot. His veto of the Election Reform bill was in the inte est of the corrupt machines of both parties, while his veto of the High License bill is indefensible from any point of view except that of the lowest sort of liquor dealers. It la these last who are the lu-iii- cipal backers of the Governor, and who will spend auy amount of money to have him nominated and elected. If HiU should secure the renomination it would put the Mugwumps in an embarrassing position. They would have to support the Republican candidate for Governor, and a " straddle" of that kind is very dangerous iu an exciting Presidential contest If HiU is nominated it wUl hurt tlie Cleveland vote, wliile not to put him in the field again will disgruntle the liquor dealers. Just at present it looks as if the con¬ test in tliis State will be close ; but as yet the odds seem to be in favor of President Cleveland. Upon the adjournment of Congrc^ss a committee composed of Senators Vest, Cullura, Plumb, Mandcrsoii and Coke will make an investigation into the dressed meat business of the United States. Tliis has got to be a gigantic, and, as it is claimed, an unscrupulous and dangerous monopoly. Fom- or five great firms or corporations control the whole business. They have been able to bully the rail¬ roads, and to get exceptiouiilly low rates for carrying their wares to market. It is charged tliat they combine so as to get the cattle for less than their value, while consumers are forced to pay extrava¬ gant prices for the meat served to them. But worse tban all it is alleged that these uuscmpulous concerns kiU, cook and can diseased animals, a practice that has led to the exclusion of some of our meat products from foreign countries. No other nation on earth gives so little attention to its food products as do the United States. Private enterprise or greed has fall swing to plunder or poison the food consuming public. The Congressional committee are mainly from the cattle producing States, and doubtless tbey will get out all the facts connected with the business. A httle paternalism is needed in this business as in many others. ----—•------- The Financial Chronicle discusses the question of trusts with a good deal of intelligence. Substantially it takes the ground occu¬ pied by The Record and Gdide months ago. Trusts are tlie natural outgi-owth of pre-existing trade conditions. They have come and have come to stay. Like all human institutions they are liable to abuse; and this should be guarded against by pubUc opin¬ ion and if needs be by law. But it is folly unspeakable to look upon them as great commercial conspiracies or that their only object is to exploit the consuming community. The trusts have been called iuto existence by the abuses of unlii^ted compe¬ tition. As a regulator of the markets of the world unchecked demand and supply has proved a failure. Unlimited competition has led to violent fluctuations, destructive of the best interests of the community. It has made prices unnaturally cheaj), to be fol- I lowed by periods when thoy were unnuUifaily dear. The corpora-
