Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 51, no. 1299: February 4, 1893

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>'cl.niniy-1, 1813 Record and Guide. 163 ■ fip6^ TO 't^L E^T«E . B'JlLDlfJ'G AR,Cf(lTECTd[^E .KoUSCrfOlS DEGuF^nOJl, PRICE, PER TEAR liV ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TbLEFHOKQI .... COBTLANDT 1370. CommnnicatiODB should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & 16 Vesey St. J. 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager, "Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. li. FEBKUARY 4, 1893. No. 1,29ft IT^ROM tlie pcssimietic talk tliat has sprung' up again lately it would appear tlir.t tbe people of the United Stales are becom- iDg bears on their own country. Tlipy are in somewhat thesame condition of mind as some very wealthy people who have committed suicide under a fear that they might ultimately eod up in the poor- house. The United States is the largest producer of gold as well as of silver, it has tbe largest aica of coal deposits of any country, except perhaps China, more timber than any country except Eu.S9ia, and a larger exporlalile surplus of the most easily maiketed prod¬ ucts, namely, food stiiff.^, of any country in the world. When il.s population reaches seventy millions of people there will .stii) b« about thirty-two acres of land per bead, as against about one acre ])er head io the most densely-populated country, Belgium. Hurely these facts should limit the pessimism of tbe people. One alone ought to enable them to bear up against many miseries, the fact thit should the very worst come no one need go unburied for want of place of sepulture. In spite of so many things which should elevate and encourage, evtn if (hey held themselves witli caution, so many refuse to get out of the dismals, but continue to enjoy themselves in their own sad way. with pictures of the ruin to follow the con¬ tinued export of gold or legislation adverse to business interests. The silver law is doomed to repeal, and the courts stand in the way of interference with commerce, eitber by Slate or Federal legis¬ lative action. AVhatever else may be subject to suspicion, no one should ever be a bear on a country. Even the Argentina is recov- eiing from the awful experience it bad two years ago, and if it can show so much recuperative faculty, how little can a country like this be hurt by a year, more or less, of any currency law how¬ ever bad. Tbere was a time to fear, but it has passed away. The very fact that prices are in many departments so low should be one of encouragement. Tbe duUnes and hesitation that characterize business on tbe stock market are due to the nursing of apprehensions which recent events and conditions should remove. The more important of them have been discussed before, one of to-day and not an unimportant one is the prospect of getting the Richmond Terminal matters into a. condition of peace and respecta¬ bility. Ihat tbe securities affected have not advanced more on this announcement is due probably to the fact that tbe bands that are expected to do the work of reorganization have never spared the knife and until their plan is knowu it is impossible to tell where tbe cutting will be most severe. However, reorganizations heretofore made by those hands have stood, and it is safe to say tbat any of the Richmond Terminal securities that have declined heavily and some intrinsic value back of tbem are good to buy on the prospect of this reorganization of the property as an entirety becoming, a certainty, TTlOLLOWING on the arrangement made by the Hungarian ■^ Finance Minister with the Rothschild syndicate, au arrange¬ ment has also been made by tbe Austrian Finance Minister with the same syndicate. The loan is undertaken by the Rothschilds at 94^^ per cent. Of each emission the syndicate undertakes one-half from the flrst at its own risk, the other half at option. Upon the second half the syndicate shares Iho profit with the Finance Department. The arrangements are almost thesame as those made by the Hunga¬ rian government, the only difference being that the Austrian govern¬ ment gets the syndicate to take the emission at 1 per cent higher than the Hungarian—92, instead of 91 per cent. This is in propor¬ tion to the prices quoted on the Bourse. It ie probable that in tbe future even this difference will disappear, since Hungary con¬ tributes only 30 per cent of the Empire's common expenses, whereas its population numbers two-thirds of Austria's popu¬ lation, and its economical progress has been very great in late year.s. Austria is bound to Hungary by a treaty which is all to Ihe advantage of the latter couiihy. The Ru.'^.^iaii Budget for 1893 has been published, and the featuretbereof is the enormous estimated iucrease of about $87,1.00,000 in tbe estimated revenue. About half of thia is to be raised by new taxey, aud the other half by the estimated increase of revenue derived from existing taxes. The interesting point in this connection is that tlie Finance Minister contends thatl.'e is well within the bounds of moderation in estima ting this large increase, because tbe country has well-nigh recovered from the effects of the famine. Independent observers do not take tbis view of the matter. They maintain thatat the best it will take a long time for the agricultural population to recover from the ruinous losses which they have suffered, while many unpreju¬ diced people havo plausible grounds for the opinion that the former had for yeai-s prior to lfc91 been going from bad to worse. The con¬ dition nf the English labor ^market, according'to the latest'returns is worse than it has ever been before. Of tbe x'3 unions which send iu repoi Ik regularly. 2'^,453 members out of a total of 279,;i(il are out of work. This is an increase of 5,8-lTovpr the month before, the increase of percentage being from 8,27 to 10.2, eliminating as far as possible all those who are on a strike, rather than out of work in the ordinary sense ; there remains a )>i'oporlion of a little over 8.1 j'per cent of unemployed among the skilled trades making re- lurns. The two unions not included in theabove calculations are the Durham and Northumberland Miners' Associations, with an aggre¬ gate of 60,000 members, o! whom only 36 per cent are out of work. Coal miners are not affected in the same way as most trades by dull trade, production being reduced by the working on short lime rather than by the discharge of w^orkmen. WE are sorry to say the Farquhar hill does not contribute (o tbe settlement of our absurd Rapid Transit muddle. It adds merely confusion to confusion and conflict to conflict. If i>assed it wiil result in practically pushing back the whole question to a beginning again. New issues will he raised and new difficulties will arise which will resiiltin delay and an ultimate sacrifice of the interests of the public. For. iu the end, hasty action will be taken and the city will obtain not the great system of transit which it needs, hut Ihe first trumpery makeshift that comes to hand. Everything to-day points to ultimate mistake and failure. There is not a single indication visible that tbis city will get the rapid iransit system it ought to have. Between the Politicians on the one hand and the Manhattan Co. on the other the interests of tbe metropolis will surely be sold. There is no help for it tbat we can see. The situation is lamentable and disgrace¬ ful beyond characterization. It must be plain to everybody now that tbe Manhattan Co. has controlled all the work that has been done in the last two years, and Ihat the i ubiic could not get any¬ thing that did not come to them through that company. Indeed, no cne ought to fool himself any longer about the,position we occupy. It is farcical fo continue to discuss rapid transit as though it were a matter to be considered_cbiefly in relation to Ihe well- being, comfort and decency of tbe inhabitants of ibis city. Pshaw! it is nothing of the sort. [Rapid Transit, whether the people like it or not, is a strictly private affair, It will he settled finally as such by the Manhattan Co. and by Tammany. AVhat suiis these good individuals, we can have. What doesn't, we must do without. A vast amount of real hard kicking will have to take place if we are to get ;anything else. There is, though, one thing the people can have, that is all the delay they like. Nothing can possibly pay the .Manhattan Co. so well as the present condition of crowded cars and inadequate service. The elevated roads continue in operation while an intelligent public vapors about what It does a'td does cot desire, and as iu the end it will have to lake what the Manhatlan Co.'gives it, what does that con5[>any care? There i:^, however, one step the Rapid Transit Commissioners, might take, before they are legislated into obscurity or confusion. They should sanction at once the third track on the..pre3ent elevated structures. Presumably that step will suit the iJanhatlan Co., and certainly it would make life more comfortable to decentpeople. Tbe Oonimissioners ou^lit not to withhold their [permission because the com¬ pany will not consent to a through five-cent fare. It was ridiculous to ask for any such concession. No road lun for dividends can perform the service required for five cents, and as the Manhattan Company exists for business and not for philan¬ thropy {and controls the situation), what is the use of people making unbusinesslike demands-V If the municipality owned the Elevated roads, they could bi run to promote tbegrowtii of tbe city; bu^, naturally, no private company operates, if it can help it, in anybody's interest but its own. Indeed, iu tbis rapid transit matter, people all the time are making unbusinesslike requests upon a private corporaticn. They want tlie speediest of service, and the finest of cars, plenty of trains night and day, fares at prices that dou't pay, etc. The Manhattan Company is not a public department, but a private enterprise. If people want a public ser¬ vice conducted for the public benefit, let the inunicipaliiy go into tbe railroad business itself and let the public be the stockholders,