Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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August 6, 1892 Kecord and Lruide. 1'!] ĨJEV&iEÛ ly HeívL U',m Suiuũi^c /,P':-,:-ran.iUt,Housoioii'L'iiiOKí"V;^i PRICE, PER FEAR IN AOTAĨVOE, HIX DOLLARS. Publ'ĩshed every Saturda'y. TeLKPHONB .... COllTLAĨTOT 1370, Uoinmunĩcatĩous should be addresaed to C, W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St J. 1. LINDSEY, Busmess Ma'nager. "Enteredattke Post-oSÍce at NewTork, lĩ,'T.,as second-class mafíer." VOL. L. AUGUST 6 1892. NO. 1,373 VIEWED as it has been accustoiiied to be viewed the stock marlîet betrays a paradox ; there is a bull marlîet without power of ijrices to advauce, This conies from regarding: the uiar- ket as (ine of neceasity niade uji of railroad stocks, As a uiatter of fact raiiroad stocks are hea'vy, the buoyancy of prices of the past week has been due to the movement ot the Industrials, The raarket is stiíl a manipulated oiie and oiie in which the operatioDS are essentially speculative ; but if a comparisou of prices at tho close of this and last week is made it wiil be fouud that, with aii escepiion here and there like Otuaha, railroad isaues have been praciically at a slandstill, udiile the Electric Light, Cotton, Oil, Sugar, Lead and other stocks of t!ie industria! class wUich had not already made good advances, bave gone up handsomely, Tiiis proveĸ that apeculation is not by any means tĩead, as there has this summer been cause for believing, andicaiso proves that .^peculators do not care to reuew the disappointments they have already met with iu raiiroad stocks. They may have disapijointments in the Industrials liereafter, but tliey wiUnotbe the same disappointments exactly and wiU liave the cliarm of variety. Rate cutling aud increased cost of working are not good cards to bull stocks on ; these are found among the raiU-oads whicli have aiao to face the effects of a diminished crop. With so mauy miUions of doUars as have been put into iniiusU'iat corporations iu the past two or three years es|jecially, and which are in a great measure lied up iii them, it is natural to look for a movement which wiiî distribiue the responsibiUty more and huyers—î. e., peiple who accepE shares in such responsibilities—cau only be attracted by advancing quotations. THE business feeling in London ia very well described by the chairmau of one oí' the leadiug joint-stock banks, who at a recent meeíing declared that they -would iiave to go back to 1843 in order to fĩnd auy paratlel tu the preaent stagnalion in the Stock E.-íchange, This fact is controverte'iJ, but uo one denii=s the dullness or looĸs towards. ihe iinmediate future with any hop,3 oi' better thiugs. Nearly ali the ieading banks have declared decreased divideods for tbe fírîit six mouths of the year; and the same is true of nearly all tlie principal railroad companies, Other weak spots ai"e developing as time goes on. Tha cotton spinniug ÍDduatry is so depressed both in point of margin and demand that an agitatîon has been commenced not only for Issseuing the output of the spindles, but for reducing tbe cost of productĩon. Tliepresent supply of yatn "s greater thau tbe cousumplion of the looms, During the past year or so severat new miUs have started work; but on the other hand there are rather fewer looms in operation, Receutly theempĩoyers'federation met to consider tiie depressed Btate of the spinning trade. Representatives were preseut trom neariy all theimportant maiiufactiu'ing centres, and iii tbe end it was decided to ask all tbe members if they are favora.I)le to a reduction to tiie extent of lO per centin tlie operatives' wages, and also if they wiil agree to ruu only tbree days a week for a moiitb. No action has yet been taken; but thiugs canuot go on as at preseut witliout sericius trouble. Practically the same story comes from Berliu as from London—a tale of depression and duUuess, all the chiel industries of the countrics suffering from lovv prices and lack of trade. The fate of the Exhibition in BerUn during 1891 is stiU unsetiled, hut it looks now as if tlie project would be pusbed witb energy. There has been an advauce in bank shares lately vvbich, despitethe fact ihat the banking business is not flourishing, hus some reason in ít. Severai banks, not in accordance witli ibe prin- ciples of banking, but neveithelesa to their advantage, have secured large tiacts of land, liouses aiid otber real estate in parts ot' tbe ciiy wbere the Exliibition is thought likeíy to extend itself. tteveral banks have tor yeare back adopted thc polĩcy of investing largely in real estate and building operatious, All managers of trust funds, wheretbey are not prohibited by law from so doing, arecontinualiy drawu into real estate, andare ooly too oftenbitten. A dejjlorable example of this is the recent crash in Melbourne, Australia. Business in France is appareutly somewhat better than in England. Tbe receipts of the six ieading companiea for theflrst six months ot' the year sbow a small increase. THE Carnegie Company íias apparently won a victory over its eraployes; but the fight has beeu a hard one, and its mana- gers wiU probably thiuk twice before incurring such an expense and tria! a second time, In this way workingmeu often win a battle that to all appearances is lost. For tlie time being they have to return to work on the old terms; but a year later a well-timed demand wil! soraetiraes meet with acquiesceuc, providing always euch a demand is not tooespensive. This maynot iie the case witb the Carnegie Steel Company and its employea; but at a time when capital has osteusibly gained a gi-eat victory over labor, it is weli to bearin mind that the fight is a running one, that it is never wholly gained or whollj' lost, and that up to a certain point labor has done and is bound to do most of the wiuuing. Sirikes always provoke sucti bad feeling, aud often such calamitous destruction of prop- erty aud life that the voice of warning is frequentiy heard saying tbat the game is not worth the candle. Even such disinterested champions of the working ciasses as Ohai'les Kingsle/ long ago deplored their occurrence as a fuHle, wasteful and bar- barous way of obtaining their ends; but the fact remains tbat they have duvĩng the last fifcy years been one of the most powerful ageucies in that iraprovement of the wage- earners conditiou, in whicli all social scientists take such satisfac- tion—and ihis in spite of íhe fact tbat moreoften thannottheyhave bsen attended by the sarae kind of disorder aud disaster as that víbich was witnesaed at Himestead, One further point iu connec- tion with the raatter is worth noticing. If the raen return to work, as in time most of them will probably be obliged to, they will return as non-Lmiou laborers, for Mr, Frick h£S absolutely refused to recognize their union. It may occur to an impartial ob?erver tiiat such a stipulation is interferiug with the business of the iaborers. Some of the newspapers have been making a great fuss because the laborers wanted to iuterfere with Mr. Frick'sbusiness, anddedared that it was the inalienahle right of business men to manage their own affairs. Thia may be so; but why should not theae same news- papers resent this unjustiflabie denial on tbe part of Mr. Frick of the right of tlie workinen to combination. Mr. Frick, liowever, wiU prob- ably himself discover that he cannot for long prevent his eraployes fiom organizitig: and it is acarcely probabie that the uev? organi- zation wiil be any raore to bis likĩng tliau the old. Thecapacity for organization must eurely co-exist with the skOl which is needed in raost departraents of steel raanufacture. He can buy subser- viency ouly at tbe expense of efGcieUcy, and as he must have efficieucy he is uot likely to flnd his employes either unorganized for a very loug time or indisposed to strike. THE daily papers are devoting a great deal of iheir valuable space to the mauufacture of a " scare " over the introduction of tiie troliey systpiu on Columbus aveuue, and probably for a littie time to come we shall be bothered witb much sensational stuff about thenevv "infernal machine" andthe terrible certainty with which it will " electrocute" hclplesa babes and women aud citizens on theh- way to and from tlieir happy homes. Weshall bemadeloliveinlhe midst of "live" wires aiid dead bodies; shall be threatened wiih moitality at evtry tm-n until the fearful possibility of slaughter will be added to the many horrors of residence in tlie metropoiis. Of course, if we will kefp watcb doga we musn't mind if occasion- ai!y they bark at shadows. The timid, however, sliould not ailow theraselves to be frightened, and to steady weak nerves there is nothing hettei- thau a consideration of a few facts. A uumber of person?, no doubt, have lust their lives through tbe troliey system, partty as a resuit of careleasness on the part of the viclims, Xjurtiy through acciílent and the negligence of the troUey com- panies oi' their employes; but the aame thing can be urged with evn'y bit as rauch force against the railroads which slaughter thousands of people annually, against the eiectvic light. asraÍQSt títeam boiiers, stearasbipsand gunpowder, kerosene lauips, stoves and a score of otber things which, Ihoiigh tbey are of great use to tiie world, need to be Jiaiidlefl wiih care. Theyare ali dangerous and are lo be excfuded frora use by the same reasoning tliat condemns the troiley system. No ore, b'.-w- ever. would thinl: of reverting to stage coaches and tailow tips hecause accidnits liappeu on railroads and eleclric wires are dcadly attiraes and destroy iife and property. Inthecaseof all these thiugs wtí are uow guided by a moderate view of their possibîlities of danger, though at firsC, beíore they were eslahlislied as part of tbe daily macbiiiery rf iife, they were opposed and denounced in preciscly the lcrins row used by tho newspapers towards the trolley. Tljo dauger attaciied to the troUey it an accidentai cbaruclerÍHtic of tlie device; it is not always and inevitabiy dangerous any more than the iocomotive is. Tiieoreticaily, ĩt luay iiot be the best sys-