Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 54, no. 1377: August 4, 1894

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August 4, 1894 Record and Guide. 157 1 :m^. De/o-\^ to RE^L EsTME . BU1LDI^'G ^cWlTEerTUR.E .HoilSEliOlD DEQO^uM BusirlESs Alio Themes of GejJerrI Interesi . PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.! Published every Saturday. Tklkphose.......Cortlandt 1370 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. 2. LINDSEY. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Strket, Opp. Post Office. "Entered al Ihc Post-office al Kew York, N. Y., as second'Class matter." Vol. liv. AUGUST 4, 1894. No. 1,377 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Depa^'tment immediately followina Yew Jersey records {page 1791, FAVORABLE fe;itiires are becoming: more promitieut in the business situation, thougli they ave of tlie moderate forms that suggest only small improvements. They are noh to be tlespiseil, however, coming as tbey tlo in a time of such extreme depression and in a summer almost tropical in its temperature, the latter fact alone being sufficient to deter industrial revival. Amoug these encoiu-aging points are the reports that the manu¬ facturers of low-priced shoes have orders sufficient to keep them running until October nnd that the demand is growing larger in all the great iron markets. High-priced goods in the shoe lines are ns dull as ever. Dry-goods generally have seen recently some falling-ott'in demand and here and thereiu prices also. Grain markets attempt to give warrant for reports of damage to crops, but it is in such a poor-hearted way tha.t it may be taken that those likely to be best informed do not believe the growers' losses are very severe. The stock market still belongs entirely to the traders, and as these have operated ou the crop repoi'ts and the sifciuition at Washington, prices have of course suffered. Quotations continue to reflect foreigu sell¬ ing of investment issues. Last fall and the closing days of the silver discussion are recalled by the present position of the tariff bill. The deadlock now, as then, is due practically to the opposition of a few Senators to the wishes of the President and House and tbe outside public as represented by the almost unanimous press of the country, aud it is reasonable to expect the smaller party will eventnally ha-\^e to give way after satis¬ fying tbe people they represent, whether the sugar meu or their legal constituents, by indnlgiug in a large amount of bluff, tliat tbey have done all they eau for them. While the sugar men are exclaiming that their business wtII be ruined without the differ¬ ential duty of an eighth, it is being asserted on the basis of London prices, with the cost of freight, etc., added, that a 40 per cent ad valorem duty would give the home refiner the protection of a quarter of a cent a pound over the German refined, which sells in London at '29c. per cwt, lower than the English relined. If this is the fact, and the position of the country on the ques¬ tion being what it is, the assurance of Messrs. Gorman, Brice & Co. in iusistingon the Senate duties is not a particle less imperti¬ nent than that of the Silver Senators last year. "pROBABLY the most significant foreign item of the week is -t the intiuia.tion from Berlin that investors are turning their attention from Governments to other classes of securities which have been neglected for a long time, and in this connection are wafcehing the course of our tariff legislation with interest. British railroad dividends for the first half of the year have created do ilisappointments; the omis.sions and payments were equally expected. The Labor Department of tbe Board of Trade reports no material change in the labor market for June, the tendency on the wliole being rather downward than upward. Two propositions for the imposition of an income tax, coming from Badical and Socialistic Deputies in the French Chamber, having been defeated, the government finally agreed to the appointment of a commission to draw up a scheme of fiscal reform. The organ of the Credit Poncier has put forward the suggestion [that France and Germany should establish in Afi-ica a common neutral line fi-om a point ou the Mediterranean to the Transvaal, in order to cut oft England's liue of commnui- cation betweeu north and south. The writer fears that unless tbis is done British cars will be running between Alexandria aud Cape Towu in the flrst quarter of the uext century. An unprejudiced observer would say nothing could be better not only for British possessions in Africa, but for all foreign aud native possessions there, and if Great Britain can carry out such a stupendous improvement by all means let her , do it. French imports for the first half of tbe year declined $15,000,000 and her exports $21,000,000. Railroad earnings on the continent of Europe as well as in Great Britain continue faii-ly good. Business in Austria is feeling the effects of the better crop uews recorded last week. Spain is suffering from her absurd customs-fight with Germany. The Chilian budget shows a deficiency of $1,271,500 for 1893 and an anticipated siu-plus for 1894 of $1,500,000. The government has already obtained something over $3,000,000 by the .sale of nitrate grounds, the amount realized being $300,000 more than the upset prices. Further sales estimated to produce $10,000,000 are to take place in October. A N analysis of the wheat imports into Great Britain for the ■^^ first half of this year shows the sharp competition this coimtry has to meet in that trade. The total importations were 4,638,264 cwts. more than in'the correspondingperiodof 1893, and from tbis country 3,894,283 cwts. less. A good deal has been said of the cheap Argentine wheat thrown on the British market as a. result of the financial distress in the South American Republic, but as a matter of fact we were undersold by almost every wheat-producing country in the world. Germany is tbe only country sharing a falling off of imports, but her total is so insignificant as to make further reference to it unnecessaiy, Rus¬ sian, South American and Indian supplies mainly displaced our wlieat. Part of the story of our failure to maintain our shai^e of these importations is found in the/prices at which the wheat was laid down in Great Britain by other countries andthe most import¬ aut part of course. The a.verage price of the total importations of wheat into Great Britain in the fii'st half of 1S93 was 78c. per bushel, and the average prices for the chief importing coun¬ tries as follows : United States, 79c.; Russia, 77c., and Argen¬ tine, 7:ic. The average prices for the first half of this year were as follows : For total importations, 67(;.; United States, 69c.; Russia, 65c.; Argentine, 63c. An unusually large percentage of tbe total was imported iu the month of June, in which the United States, in spite of tbe fact that it made the largest rela¬ tive reduction in the prices, lost ground, aud the prices were then, fov the total importations, 63c.; United States, 64c. ; Argentine, iiU-,., and Russia, 6O1.2C. This .shows the extent of tbe competition among wheat growers, and taken in connection with the favorable reports fi'om the European harvest fields is not encom-agingto the home producer. The London Economist recently published au article showing that even at the low prices prevailing for the harvest of 1893-'94 the Argentine farmer can realize a profit of about 12^2 cen(;s a bushel in raising wheat. If this is true oiu' farmers wiU have to find ways of reducing the cost of producing the cereal on their farms. I THE Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen is likely to become aa well known as the American Railroad Union, but for very different reasons. Where the latter bas exhausted its resources and strength in an unreasonable strike of sympathy with the Pulliuau operatives, which could not from the nature of the case be successful, however long it had endured, the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen is taking steps to discipline those of its members who took part iu the Debs movement, either from sympathy or from any other cause. The rules of the order expressly forbid its members from taking part in strikes organized by other bodies, or tbe so-called sympathy strike, and its violation renders the offender liable to expulsion. If a lodge shall have so offended, its charter may be revoked. These are not imusual provisions in the laws of labor bodies, but it is very unusual, indeed, for them to be enforced. The official repudiation of responsibility for the Debs insuiTection by organized labor will have more ability to prevent the recurrence of such an absurdity and to renew tbe stability of business than anything else can do. It is highly probable, too, that American workmen, in their own interest, will have to seiiarate themselves from foreigners of anarchistic designs, aud from any organizations which may make them responsible for acts that they deprecate and repudiate, by reason of the ma,iority of the members holding violent and un-American views. It may be presumed that the native work¬ man knows that he can gaiu nothing either for himself or hie posterity by foolish strikes, part of the tactics of which are the willful destruction of pro])erty and the Jeopardy of lives. Labor that wishes to keep clear of these must withdraw fi'om organiza¬ tions that countenance them, especially snch organizations as give secret encotiragement to tbem while forbidding them in their rules. SOMEBODY has raised the question, is journalism a trade? The answer must differ according to the kind of journalism that is referred to. In this country tbere is a journalism that is a trade pure and simple, being conducted for revenue only, without any .scruples or sentiment as to the sources or nature of the revenue ; it is a casb journalism and is for hire in any direc¬ tion for cash. There is another ioiu'nalism founded ou a desire to serve humanity and make things better than they are; these I