Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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Da(ĩatnber34,1898 ls.ecora ana ouiae. 833 ESTABLISHEH 'î^ WAR.CH 21"^ laSS. "^teD ío '^LEjtaje SuiLDir/G A^í<;TECTai^E,HoosE:>fou)DrociSfnoíi, BysitÍESs wídThemes Of ÛEíÍErvil Iji^^^n PRICE, PER FBAR IN ADVålVCE, SIX DOLLARS. Publisheã every Saturd^'y. TblbphohbI .... COaTLANDT 1370. Gommumcationa should be addreesed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & 16 Vesey St. J, 1. LINDSEY, Susiness Manctger, "Entered at the Poat-office at New York, N, Y„ aa seconã-class matter." VOL, L., DECEMBEĨÍ 34, 1893. No. 1,S93 coming year the stoek market will be æor© depreased than during the cIoBÍng one. The chief cause of the increasiugly unfavor- able state of affairs is tbe approaching close of the year, and the preparations for the settlement. It is by no means improbable that the last week of the month will aliow ratber more hopeful views to prevsiil. An improvecnenb bas lately manifested iteelf in the testile and tlie coal tradee, and experts are agreed tbat even a slight change for the better in theîroti and steel trade would suffice to impart fresh energy to the stock market. The greatest drawback to the progreas of the latter is said to be the witbdrawal from businesa of a great mauy small business men, who cannot wíDhEtand the competition of the large banking concerns, and who wouldbe seriously harassed by the new tases in cominercial trans- actions. Theír profits are so small that any diminutîon always verges upon estinction. The Ohambers of Commerce all over the Empire are joining in protests against tbe new projects of tasation, and attempt to showtbatthe proposed taxes will stríke ahard blow at small dealings. It is extremely improbable, however, that theee protests wiil come to anything. IT has happened frequently that when all the world became very bullish in tbeir views of the stock market, prices bave developed a remarkable downward tendency; but it bas very rarely happened that they went up when all the world wasbearîsh. It is juat now the case that everyone speaks gloomily, and even coneervative bankers, while denying that there is any room for apprehension, advise caution. Thie half way of saying that the outlook is bad ia more injurious to quotations than the cry of " Breakers ahead" would be. The general situation being unfavor- able and tbe public fuU of fear, it is no wonder tbat prices decline. If there îs anything to wonder at it is that railroad stocka and bonds keep aa strong as they do. Wbile tbe situation is unchanged tbe tone of tbe market must remain the eame, and any advance that professional operators mayengiaeerortbatmay followa bigdecline is sure to sufEer a speedy relapse. It will take some time to remove the danger, or what are eo thorougbly taken to be dangers, iũ the fĩnan- cial world, and meantirae their influence can only be against prices. This ia proved by the brevityand futility of the late movement in the Vanderbilt'B. In some instancés there are special causes for declines. Take Reading for inatance. The road'a earnings are equivalent to interest on the income bonds, but ever sitice the time when a decisioa on the income bond interest was expeeted, both the bonds and the stock have sold down. If the company, as iaimagined, cannotpay out to income bondholders the earnÍDgs they are entitled to, its position is likely to become a very uncom- fortable one, and its stock is likely to suffer furtber, notwithstand- ing tbe decline it has seen from the highest of the year. THAT the Sherman silver bill wiU be repealed by the present Congress is as eure as anything in the immediate future can be. The growing sentiment, wbich one can bear repeated by pro- nounced silver men who have recently changed their opinione on this point, is distmctly noticeable, and we predict that Senators Jones, Allison and tbe otber membera of tbe ailver conference wĩll find, upon their arrival, a changed public feeling on this measure wbich will aatoniahand surpriee them, even more than did the conference itself. Tbat the gold-slandard nations of Europe will consent to any change, in the face of the growing output of tbo South African gold mines which this year wili jield equal to $30,000,000, as against less than $5,000,UOO four years ago, in 1888, is extremely unlikely. The output of thesegold mines isconatantly increasing, and the best authoritiee unite in predicting a yearly produciion of §50,000,000 withínfive years. The figures, in dollars, are for the lastfive years: 1888. 18S9. 1890. 1891. 189i. $1,6Ií,8aO 87,647,380 $9,S8r,B40 $1-1,576,010 Ĩí.'í,íi0ũ.000 December estĩmated. ThÍBBhowing gives anearly doubled increase forthepresentyear. ENGLISH Board of Trade returns for November do not make a very favorable showing. Tbe decrea&e in the imporfcs from the Sgures of tbe year before amoimts to over 11 per cent, In this connection it should be remembered, however, that November, 1891, with whicb the comparison ia made, wae very exceptionaĩ, so tbat a severe drop is not, under tlie circumstaoces, a surprising matter. The figuree for the export trade sbow only a very elight falling off. In epite of all deductions wbich can be made the comparisfin is not a very profitable one, and faĩls utterly to give evĩdence of a cbanged condition in English foreign trade. In Berlin, lately, fche market appears to have abandoned itself entirely to the depression wbich has been lingering for months and montbs behind the seemingly Buccessful resistance made by the bull operators. Bank shares are particulaily low, mining sbareB have been firm, but tbose of iron and steel companies are very much depreesed. In spite of the present unf avorable outlook, ĩt is not generally belĩeved that in the ALL the presenfc talk and criticism about our quaranfcine system and what steps are neceesary to improve it, and establîsh ít upon the best scientific knowUdge o£ the day bas even yet got no further than what may be called the seaboard line. Everybody persistB in clingĩng to tbe old superstition, wbich science and exper- ience has proved false over and over again, that cbolera and any other contagioua or infectious diseaee can be excluded from a country by official alertness afc the seaboard. No nationhasyet accomplisbed the feat, No matter how rigid the quarantine line may have been, unless the exclusion of travelers of all kinds and degreea was positive and complete, the disease has effected an entry and proved in a deadly manner that rpliance upon that sort of quarantine is delusory, In many respects it îe a positive danger, for it produces a false security throughout the country; keepa everybody helplessly unprepared to cope witb the disease if it should reach them. Panic would follow the fii'st outbreak of the epidemic, and thousands of lives would be lost before organ- ization to fight the disease (which should have esieted from the flrsi) could be effected. Let any one consider for a moment what would have happened. last summer bad cholera broken out in any of tbe score of suburban towns around this city, How prepared, for instauce, were ■ towns like Yonkers or Paterson or Newark or tbe Orangea to cope wîth an epidemic, care for tbe sick, protect the bealtby and prevent the disease spreading into neighboring towneî Whatpanicwould havefollowed aeerioua outbreak in the Oranges! How quickly tbe pest would have got into New York Cityl Traffio would have been suspended on ihe railroads. and town after town would bave risen in arms agaiost the neighboring population. Instead of organizing to meet an emergency wbat were we all doing ? Trusting in Jenkins (as savages do in theîr totems), and a system of quaranline which has never yet been sufficient. Even last summer the cbolera did pass the sacred quaraniine line and get into the city, and but for goud luck and the coming on of win- ter, heaven only knows what we might bave had to face. Scores 'oî towns around New York didn't possess enough material to fumi- gate a suit of clothes. ----------■---------- WOULDNT it be wiser, if daring the next summer, when cholera is so likely to reappear, we repose a trifle less reli' anceupon wbat is done at the seaboard and pay a little more atten- tion to our internal condition? Otber couiitries have been forced to adopt thiB policy, and while all reaaonable precautions are taken at porfcs of entry, the quarantine tbere is supplemented b-^ an esten- sive, wellorganized system that coversthe wholelaud. In England, for ÍDstance, as we poiuted out a week or two ago, when a traveler arrives from an iufected port he is medicallF esamined, and if found in good health ia permitted to land and proceed to hie destina- tion. But first of all he is obliged to let the autborities know where he Íntends residing for the following ten days. The Health offîcials in tbe town the traveler is going to are at once notified to expect his arrival and keep him under surveillance for a period sufficient to exclude all possibility of danger. The traveler reports to the Health offlcers, and from day to day he is kept uuder inspection. Upon tbe flrst indication of sickuess he is removed to tbe hospital, and the room he has used and hi? effects are disinfected. A system of thís nature means, of course, organization; but it insures publíc safety. The entire countrf is ready to deal witb the diseaee. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, remedies, are all like au army aud its appurtenances, ready to be m> bilized. Tbere isno room for scare. It is something of this sort which the United States Bhould at once comraence to ÊStablÍah. The sea- board quarantine should be put under the control of the national government, and every city and town sbould be made to prepare to co-operate with the seaboard quarantine. We know how to do this sort of tbing. We had experience of the right kind withjom-.hospital service in „the war, and tbere are thoueands