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Jnne 11,1898 Record and Guide. 916 #^L_________ Oev&teũ to R£\L Estwe . BuiLdi(/g Aí
(Ttl\ESi PRICE, PER YEAR IN IDTAIVCE, SIX DOLLARS. Pnblished every Saturday. TaXÆTBOim] .... CORTLANDT 1370. Oonununicationg should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St. J. 7. LINDSET, Business Manager. "Entered at the Post-offlce at New Tork, JV. Y., as seeond-class matter." VoL. XLIX, JUNE 11, 1892. No. 1,265 IN addition to a 'gloomy outlook, the Stock Exchange has to encounter the disappointment of the public at the results to tbe railroads of last year's crops and from the coal deal, Anyone who had a year ago predicted such results would have been recclved with scoffings. At that time everything was of the rosiest tint, all stocks were to pay dividends, and those payiiig them already to increase them. The railroad managers did their best to encourage that view. The outcome has been, the matter considered as a whole, that the passings of dividends have more than ofîset their increase or renewal. It is not surprising, then, that the public look askance at railroads' stocks when they consider either the near past or near future. That there is plenty of money in hands eager to invest ic is evident, not only by the bank returns, but also and more emphatically by the way in wl)ich new loans with ample eecurity though promising but small veturns are over-subscribed The supply of investments of sterling quality is unequal to the demand. The industries, too, are the only class of stocks active and in any sort of demand. It is not that buyers have any sentimental preference for the industrials by any means, but that they are the only securities in the speculative class that offer chances of profit. The railroads have failed them and they are turning to others, Having last year over-discounted their expectations, the public are now discounting their disappointments, They are as likely to overdo the last as they did tho first. As yet they liave not done that. The condition of the railroads, as a whole, cannot be considered at all satisfactory if judgment may be made from current reports, putting aside the losses wliich may be expected from flood, interrupted farming and the conse- quences both of those will have on general business. Atch- ison led the advance last year because of the peculiarly favorable position it was in to profit from the early crops; to-day it is endeavoring to effect a compositioD, with what result i8 stiU in doubt, with its income-bond creditors; on the Eastem Trunk lines where the policy is generally more wise and peaceful than elsewhere, rates are low and uncertain; Southern roads are affected by the poor conditions of business in the territories they explore; the Northwestern roads, even thebest of them, stand in an attitudeof the gravest suspicion towards eachother, refraining from distributing enlarged profits to their stockholders in order proba- bly that they may be financially strong should any of their competitors assume a belligerent attitude; in the Southwest the aggressive policy of Missouri, Kansas & Texas threatens mischief to itself as well aa to the other roads in that region, wliile the threat of Atchison to eut rates wholesale shows how demoralized matters are there, and lastly the coal combination has to undergo the ordeal of the courts, to say nothing of investigation elsewhere. The pic- tvire is almost dnrk and true enough to suggest that an improve- ment must be at hand. The attitude of the public, however, toward railroad stocks, not an unnatural one uuder the circum- stances, is likely to endure^for some time, and stocks must suffer in consequence. Of course, it is not a permanent one. When the Bituation improves public buying will put up stocks again, and the expectations and dlsappointments of last year will recm- as they have before, but at the moment not only is the inciting cause of a buying movement unapparent, but there is much to deter buying, and by the same reason to encourage selling. very unfavorable. Trade, no doubt, is comparatively quiet, and profits are upon a restricted scale; but still it is claimed that if accidental circumstances could be eliminated the result would not be so very unsafisfaotory, The decline in the prices of commodi- ties is in large measure but the accompaniment of a shrinkage in the value ot the raw materials, while the volurae of the exports has been máterially affected by labor diflficulties, among which the strike of the Durham coal miners is most important. There is not anything to cause apprehension in the financial position, fov if there were money would not be the drug that it is at present in the market. Finally, there is certainly a large volume of investment business in progress. Any new issues of a sound character are quickly absorbed at high prices. In fact from the brokers with a big inv.estment following no complaints are to be heard, and they give best expressions to the real opinion of the public. The main diffipulty isnot theabseuce of business but the scarcity of sound investments, which can be brought to yield a fair rate of interest, say from 4 to 43^ per cent. Nothing, however, can infuse lifeintothespeculative issues. Every now and then attempts are made to stimulate them [into activity, generally by making the most of the extreme cheapness of money; but these efforts meet with no public support. The memory of receut financial frauds is still too tender. THESE are dull days on the London Stock Exchange. The banker's clearings on stock exchange pay days for the first four months of this year do not make a very good showing. Com- pared with last year when business, although very profitable, was rendered active by the after consequences of the Baring crisis, the returnsshow a decrease of about $125,000,000, or T per cent, while compared with 1890 w.hen stock exchange speciilation was at its height to more than $535,000,000, or 23ií por cent. Moreover, practically the whole of this difference is due io a falling off in pftísstûBHir'í \jcwbbhMxko, Yet tÉ« gcueml otAiâitiMiB ara uot ^ NO one who has foHowed the testimony given before the Supreme Court Commissioners relative to the plan of the Rapid Transit Comraission can doubt vevy much what the report of the former will be. The failure of the dissenting property- owners to pvoduce any convincing testimony that the plan is necessarily injuvious to property has been complete; and this was not because the dissenters were not energetic, capable and deter- mined. Every effort was made to obtain expert testimony which would prove conclusively that foundations would be endangered, and that the interests of Broadway property would be vitally threatened. On tbe whole they managed to scrape together a better class of evidence in favor of the secnd of these propositions than in favor of the flrst; but in neither case was the evidence sufficient to deter an intelligent jury from passing favorably on the Com- mispion's plan. It is fair to describe the result of the hearing as a great triumph for the Commission. If its work has not escaped criticism, it has been because no speciflc scheme for rapid tiansit can escape a great many objections and objectors; and this is par- ticularly true of any scheme which proposes in any way to alter the existing state of things on Brokdway. In the flrst place, there are a number of property - owners on that thoroughfare who are chronic "kickers." Broadway is fov them sacred ground ; any change must be for the worse. This class shades into another which is timorous rather than savagely dis- sentient in the face of a proposed plan. They know Ihat their Broadway property is very valuable and they are afraid that some- thing will make it less valuable. Consequently, without ever tak- ing the trouble to investigate any deflnite plan, they permit their names to beusedinopposition. Thesetwoclasses, combined withthe simple indifferents, have always in the past bcen sufficient to defeat either in the Legislature or the courts the wisest proposals, and they have done their utmost to defeat the plan of the commission, But at last it appears as if a scheme had been outlined which is not vulnerable on its legal or engineeving side, In certain vespects it is of couvse something of an expeviment, but a fool, as Erasmus Darwin says, is a man who never makes an experiment, This experiment is backed by the best engineering and railroad talent in the country, If it can be caiTÍed out it will be a good thing for New York ; it wiU be an equally good thing for Broadway. It offers better promise with less risk than any plan which has been proposed before. That is why The Record and Guide favors it. GOVERNOR FLOWER has appointed William J. Fryer and Cornelius O'ReiUy, of thiscity, and Leou Stern, an architect, of Rochester, N. Y., commissioners to draft uuiform buildiug laws in tbree classes applicable to the varioua cities in this State, except- ing the cities of New York and Brooklyu, The flrst named of the commissioners is, under the provisions of the law, the chairman of the commission, A meeting of the commissioii will be held in Albany this coming week to lay out its work, One grade of building laws is to be prepared for cities exceeding 75,000 inhab- itants ; another for cities between 35,000 and 75,000 ; and another for cities having less than 35,000 inhabitants. The commission is to report its work to the next Legislature on or before tlie 15th day of January, 1893. The commissioners are to sevve without pay. They have the power to employ legal counsel and the services of such persons as may be necessary, which together with printing and other expenses in the pro^ecution of their duties must not exceed in the aggregate the sum of $5,000. The necessity for suitable building laws for moderate size and small cities has been recognized for many years past not only in this Státe but in all the States in the Union. The subject has been wrestled with by national bodies of builders, architects, fire-under- •wrîtears, flrø^H'giuiBBrs aTjû ottier orgaíiipátionB, but' ho practi
