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108 Record and Guide. January 23, 1882 "^ '^ ESTABLISHEd'^'«ARPH?I'-í'^I868. Dev&teĩ) ĩo He*,l Estwe , BuiLDir/o Ap,crfiTE(rrui\E .HolseiIold Degoratioií Bi/sitJESs aiídTheme? of GeHeivI 1;
maintain heavy eam- ings for the coming .six months or more. What their present stateismay be gathered from the paragraph that follows. Readers of The Record and Gutde will be interested to learn that in our next issue will appear as usual Samuel Benner's prognostications for the year 1892. ----------■---------- THE hullabaloo about the threatened withdrawal of theMissouri Pacific from the Western TraflSc Association and the great speculative importance which Wall Strcet has attached to Mr. Gould's slightest utterances during the past week. are distracting attention, curiously enough, from the real freight situation. The fact is, that the problem how to handle the business, present and ofĩering, is becomiug every day. for tbo railroads, more instead of less diflScult. Not only are the available cars totally inadequate, but, in addilion, terminal points are choked with loaded cars which the great liiies tínd it impossible promptly to handle, unload and return; and this condition, all their cleverness, with gangs working night and day, makes little impression upon. To illustrate, the president of an important Southwestern railroad, this week, stated to the writer that he held for a month an entire train of loaded grain cais, at an intersection of the Baltimore& Ohio Railroad, trying to send the grain over that line. The Baltimore & Ohio was unable during that period to furnish cara into which the grain could be transferred and forwarded East. Finally it was deemed most expedient to allow the loaded cars to be taken by the Baltimore & Ohio on the promise of that com- pany they would be immediately returned ; and although this occurred some time ago nothing has since been heard of the cars ! The eutire tiain isprobably side-tracked somewhere waiting for its turn to get into Baltimore. The president quoted says he has had tbe same experience -with the Vanderbilt lines, and that he found this week on coming to New York over the West Shore ,Railroad the side tracks on that line were flUed with loaded trains almost as far north as Kingston. This will serve to explain, in many cases, either a falling ofî or a non-incre3se of earnings for many Western roads during a few weeks past, because either thc-y are unable to get their cais bick when jiarted with or they are forced to hold them loaded at connecting poÍDts waiting for trains to which the grain can be transferred, the elevators being fuJl. In either cise they are depiived of the u.se of their equipment, and their earnings sÍDiply reflect the capacity of such cars as the.y arc able to keep in motion. The same gentleman reports corn await- ing shipment as ahnost limitless, witb a sbarp demand for it at all graiu poiiits. and adds that corn roads will be kept worked up to their capacity until tlie next wheat crop begins to move. THE new year has brougbt a favorable change in the stock markets holh of Berlin and Vienna. Among Austrian and Germaii iuvesrors the expectatioii that peace will be maintained is gaining ground cverv day. and confidence has been awakened by tho tavorablc iuiprcsHÍon produced everywhere by the new com- mercial treaties. In Austria particularly is the trade outlook most pr'iiiii-iiig, all tbe departments of wliich show considerable exp;i iii Berlin the stock exchange shows more activity aiid prices are firmer; but this is believed to be only a temporary bull advantage, for the stagnaney in trade does not wari'iint a high degree of successful speculation. In London the position of the security market has not a.3 yetimproved very mucb. No return of cheerfulnessis expected for some timetocome. StiU tliere isreason to supposethat the worst of the depreciation of prices hasalready passed, íor this reason if for no other, tbat in .South American stocks there is scarcely roora for a furtherfall. Theperiod of inaction maj be prolonged, but it is usual in such timts to find a gradual recovery of safe investments. In Pai'is the Panama Canal matter is again exciting attention. More tban a hundred petitions, drawn up in identical terms, asked Parliainent to concert with the government and charge the Gov- ernor of the Credit Foncier lo prepare a financial com- bination and take the d rection of a new company to be formed to complete the canal, but with the reservation that the rights of the old shareholdeis and bondbolders sbould be guaranteed. The government. however, refused to consider the petiiions. and the Chamber did notbingbut vote a resolution inviting the Minister of Justice to hasten the investigation now in process, and if necessary to institutecriminal proceedings. Thisdiscussionleaves the Panama undertaking in precisely tbe same situation as it was before. If the works are not resumed by the 28tb of February, 1893, the conces- sion will lapse and the canal, as it stands, wiU become the property of the Columbian Government. According to a good authority it would be possible to form a new company if tbe works could be purchased outright, and the claims of the present owners com- pounded with. but the share and bondholders still refuse to admit that tbeir money is irretrievably lost and would prefer to see the canal abandoned rather tban pass into the hands of other pro- prietors. --------•-------- THE trustees of Columbia College aresomuch m^re completely informed as to the nceds and conditions of their institution than any outsider can be. that their decision in favor of the site on Morningside Hill must be deemed conclusive, particularly as it ia shown by tlieir report that tbey have fully considered the alterna- tive propositions. Their reference to the accessibility of the site does not. indeed, show a very careful consideration of its desir- ability from tbat side, for Morningside Hill is undoubtedly very difficult to get. at. Students desiring to reach the col- lege would Iiave only throe methods of doing so. The first would be to get oíĩ the Eievated at 116th street and climb over the Hill, which would be a lengthy and tiresome pro- cess. Or they might get ofif at 125tli streot and take the cars across, which would leave them an unpleasant walk of some distance, to the proposed grounds. Or they might get off at 104th street and take the surface cars. In the beginning this inaccessibility would be agreat drawback, but the trustees are justified in assuming that the West Side Rapid Tiansit line must come before the expiration of many years, and when it does come, although tbe proposed site, locatedas itisonone corner of the island, wiU still be diflĩcult toreach from tlie East Side of tbe city, its comparative inaccessi- bility tvould not outweigh its luany advantages. If the trustees are able to consummate tbeir plan it wiU give Columbia a most pic- turesque horae and the West Side a most desirable improvement. The opportunity offered for architeotural expression and the moral effect of the conspicuous presence of such an institution in wbat will be some time a thickly-ijopulated district ought not to be lost. But most important of all is the increased eíficiency with which Columbia wiU then be able to fulfiU her function. In that institu- tion New York already hasa university of which she may be proud, and the excellence of its achievements and tbe value of its work JBstify many times over the request wbich it makes for pecuniary assistance. --------•-------- "l^rO reasonable objection can be taken to the form into which -^ ' Andrew H. Green has thrown his bill for consolidating New York, Kings and part of WestchesterCounties. In the case of each community the matter is tobe decided by popular vote—as itsbould be when such an important readjustmeiit of municipal boundaries and administrative macbinery isproposed. Moreover, it is only by some such provision that consolidation would have very much cbance of adoption. Brooklyn politicians and newspapers are bitterly opposed to annexation, because it will be likely to diminish tbeir influence; and as the friends of consolidation ou the other side of the river are by no means enthusiistic, its interested eneinies could doubtless create an impression that Brooklyn is unauimous against amalgamation. Tbis opposition woiild certainly be powerful enough to block the passage of any immediate consolidation bill in the Legislature, for Tammany is not enthusiastic in favor of the change, and its other friendí- lack a foHowing. The Kings County politicians may tbink it safer to pievent the passage even of tbe pruposcd measure ; but, if they oppose it, they certaiiily will have no logical ground for so doing, and they will reveal tbeir selfishness very clearly. As to the result of tbe vote, if it is ever taken. New York and Westchester will acqiiiesce, and Brooklyn will probably dolikewise, for tbe unanimous
