Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 43, no. 1106: May 25, 1889

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May 26, 1889 Record and Guide. 733 ESTABLISHED'^/i\W^CH 51"^ 1868.'__ DiV&iED TO KEJ^I EsrWE, BuiLolf/c AE^cKITECTvII^E .HoUSE1^0LD DEGORATlori. Bi/si[iEss AtJo Themes of GeHeraL 1j^tefi,est PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. FuNished evei-y Saturday. TELEPHONE, ■ ■ JOHN 370. ffconmunications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. 7. 7*. LINDSEY, Busdness Manager. Vol. XLIII. MAY 25, 1889. No. 1,106 The wisest man in Wall street must, after all, take his chances just Kke the biggest fool. A speculator may scan the crop reports, delve into railroad returns, keep a sharp eye on the iron trade and general business, have special knowledge over special wires as to rate-cutting; iu short, do everything that human ingenuity can suggest in order to know which way fclie market is .going, aud still find himself on its wrong side. Experience and ingenuity count for half the battle or less than half, or more than half, but never for the whole, as is very well shown by the fact that the shrewdest speculators in the "street" seldom escape failure in their career. But after making due allowance for the occurrence of that wliich nobody can foresee it remains true tbat so far as the outlook goes Wall street is in for a bnll campaign of some magnitude and dura¬ tion. Not that ail the conditions are favorable. The way we have been exporting gold tliis spring shows plainly that the stock and bond purchases of foreigners have a bad side as well as a good, in that our money indebtedness to foreigners is beginuing to be so heavy that we have either to make much larger exports or else send away specie. Gold is the grease wiiich ruus the Wall street machine. When gold is leaving, unless a new supply comes from elsewhere, the maciiine begins to creak. But this, under the cir¬ cumstances, is not such an important matter, for Wall street has a surfeit of money. On the other hand, the bulls liave the immense advantage of flourishing crop prospects—an advantage wbich it would be difficult to over-estimate. This infiuence lias already begun to have its effect, and fchis effect will continue. Last summer also the exceptional good prospects in all the grains except wheat was an iufluence sufficieutiy powerful to send the market up from 10 to 15 per cent., and this in spite of the fact that the over-building of railroads in the West liad left tiie Granger companies in a condition of almost unparalleled weakness. Rates were not held, earnings were low, the management the reverse of wise, and, in addition, the couutry was distracted by a political campaign. Now all this is changed. The revelations that came out as to the condition of Atchison & St. Paul led to the restoration of rates, the incoming of more conservative officials and the start¬ ing of the Interstate Railway Association, Consequently, during the next few months the bulls can advance the market, unham¬ pered by the depressing conditions of lasfc year. It is a little curious that the attitude of the business of the coun¬ try towards the crop prospects is very much the same now as they were in the beginning of recorded history, before railroads, banks, bills of exchange, or any of the paraphernalia of modern com¬ merce were dreamed of. The ancient Egyptians depended upon the Nile for their food supply. When the river overflowed, asoffc, rich sediment was deposited, upon the scarcity or abundance of which depended the prosperity of Egypt. If it was abundant, great was the rejoicing; if scarce, starvation stared them in the face. So it|is with us. Ifcistruefchatthe conditions affectingthecrops are not so simple now as then. We cannot couut upou our grain until it is inthegranary; buttheeffect is still the same. Agoodcrop causes a manifold rejoicing on the Stock Exchange; a poor oue, a period of depression and empty pockets. Walter Bagehot, the English political economist, is oiu- authority for the statement that two indispensable conditions of good business are cJieap food and cheap money. Bread is a necessity to the laborer. He cannot do without it even when it is high. When, however, it becomes cheaper he has so much more money in his pocket, and this money becomes a demand for other commodities which capitalists can meet, provided that funds are obtainable. We have a certainty of cheap money and a prospect of cheap food. Hence husiness ought to be good—a probability that Wall street is always ready to discount. We have, besidr^s, a prosperity among certain raih-oads at present, whichis exemplified hy the earnings of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western. It is reported on the best authority that that road is earning 13 per cent, on both its pre¬ ferred and common stock. With such facts and prospects backing a bull campaign. Wall street, iu all human probability, -will see lively times dm-ing the summer. We showed, last week, tbat the project of literally reproducing the Washington square arch is impracticable, and this impractica¬ bility gives fresh point to our suggestion that the memorial should have more imposing dimensions and a more conspicuous place. In order to be worthy of the occasion and of the city the centre arch should completely span an avenue, and the subordinate arches that would naturally flnd place in the piers should span the sidewalks. Meanwhile the subscription languishes, and experience leads us to believe that if an enterprise of this kind does not " go " at the begin¬ ning it does not go at all. It is always a case of retarded motion. Nearly everybody is interesfced a' lifcfcle in the project, but scarcely anybody is interested very much. In these circumstances the proper thing to do is for the city to appropriate outright as much money as may be necessary to erect au adequate memorial iu a con¬ spicuous place. Legislation would probably be necessary, bat if the city authorities united in support of a bill for tbe purpose it would doubtless become law eai-ly in the next session. Both the Evening Post and the Times have come to the conclu¬ sion that Washington square is no site for the Stanford White arch, and the Times is also of tbe opinion that only tlie general idea of the arch should be preserved, on the very good ground wliich The Record and Guide pointed out last week, that it would be impos¬ sible by the laws of physics to preserve it intact. Tbe Evening Post, after surmisingthat the ridiculous Centennial sti-ucture on Madison square was probably taken off the hands of a " busted " traveling show, goes on to say: Tlio lower end of Sth avenue is becoming more and more every year a '' retired neighborhood," and au arch wbich commemorates the foundation of the American govBi'iiment and the gi-eatness of the gi-eat man to whom above all men its foundation was due, should stand wheretheliving stream of city humanity would pass under it every day. This is the only common sense view of the matter. The city should be grateful to Mr. White for uot leaving us entirely in the hands of the Philistines, who erected those preposterous and impos¬ sible architectural farces on Madison square; bufc we trust he will undersfcand fchat the arch is fco be made permanent, not for the beneflt of the subscribers to his original structure, bufc for fche beuefifc of the city and the countiy at large. The lasfc batch of appointments made by Mayor Grant puts the gov¬ ernment of this city practically completely in the hands of Tammany Hall. The press generally, and the great part of the pubhc whose polit¬ ical affections are not housed in the wigwam on 14tli streefc, profess to be alarmed at fchis concenfci-ation of power in one political organiza¬ tion. They regard it as fraught with danger, as a long step back¬ ward from good govemment, the result of which is not unlikely to be all that can be included in the terms extravagance and bad man¬ agement. This, however, is only a superficial view, for concentration of authority—that is what the dominance of Tammany is—means definite concentration of responsihility; and wherever the public is alerfc and powerful this makes, and makes sfcrongly too, for good government. The evil with us hitherto has been that power inour municipal affan-s has not heen sufficiently concentrated, and effi¬ cient and honest government has been retarded as much by that cir¬ cumstance as by any other one thafc could be mentioned. The responsibility for mismangement could be and often has been shifted from department to department, from shoulder to shoulder, from Tammany to fche County Democracy, and from the County Democ¬ racy to Tammauy or to the Republicans. Deals were frequent and indeed inevitable, and then every political organization had reason to be silent when anything went wrong, for in a measure all were in company. Under the new regime, however, the city has to deal solely with Tammany Hall. The responsibility for fche proper gov¬ ernment of the city, both in detail and in general, rests upon that organization, and the responsibility cannot under any subterfuge be shirked. This is simply the application to city governmenfc of fche principle that i-ules in all large private enterprises. It works suc¬ cessfully in the one case. What reason is there that it wiU not do likewise in the other? --------•--------- The Mayor's appointments to office are just about what might have been expected, and what was expected when he was put in nomination. It was ridiculous to suppose that a Tammany Mayor would not use fche power of the Mayoralty fco increase fche power of Tammany Hall. So Jong as fche Tammanymen chosen by tlieMayor are'not personally disreputable nobody has a right to complain. It is not pretended tbat fche men appointed by the Mayor are disrepu¬ table, with oue exception, or tliat they are not as good as he could have chosen, bearing in mind his obligations. Above all it is absurd to use these appointments, as has already heen done, as an argument why the Mayor's power of appointment should be limited. The s1;ruggle to take away the confirming power of the Board of Aldermen was long and arduous, and the success of it was the best