Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 55, no. 1415: April 27, 1895

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April 2?, 1895 Record and Guide. 681 mdicial ary mind had both beep unequal to it, aa had 'jifc., 'iiniciai a u^iir^iftsa. inonths of thia year, imports , . , ^ P ., „ , ,, ,, „ .ncreased 12,000,000, with cal talent of tbe Coi^io-i/dictionary. Mr.;, „. . „ • ■ +i,„j,. ■■..V, .„.„„, . ,, i- ,, .,■' j(l States all increasing their ■"t be found in the matter of bath-room ari^ " ^ ^Bem'^1868, "itafrjED TO FHi-E^'vTE.SuiLDiTfc ^^iTECTURE.Housnfeu>DEa«fnti(t .BiTsnfess juto Themes of GeHeR^^ 1Ktebp*1< PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published eva-y Saturday. Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370 Oommunloations should he addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, J. 1, LINDSEY. Business Manager, Brooklth Office, 276-282 Washington Stebbt, Off. Post Officb. "Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." 2?0 the second. Vol. LV. APRIL 27, 1895. No. 1,415 For Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediatela following Neio Jersey records {paqe 713). BUSINESS East keeps up as well as ever, with the signs pointing to iucrease ol the improvement rather than abatement; iu the West there is uo improvement yet aud can¬ not ho until there is some assurance of a good crop and better prices for cereals. If proof of the differing conditions East aud West were necessary it would be found in the reports of railroad earnings ; for instauce, iu a comparison of tbe returns of the Penn¬ sylvauia and other representative Easteru roada with those of the Grangers. In the stock market there is a hesitation tbat should signify a reaction coming. Much has been made of Lon¬ don buying, but it will not escape the shrewd that this buying has not affected exchange rates at all, notwithstanding how high they have been for some time past, and that consequently the exchange market still needs syndicate manipulation. Part of the hesitation referred to is due to the failure of the managers ofthe anthracite coal carriers to come to an agreemeut on out¬ put and price.';. Au outbreak of hostilities among these inter¬ ests would be fatal to further advances in prices on the Stoek Exchange. The position of the Reading receivers, is, however, a proper one. The rehabilitation of the property in their charge depends on the percentage it receives in the anthracite output, and as everybody not iuimical to it has said, Reading, as the owner oE the largest amoiinb of coal lands, is entitled to a larger percentage than it has been receiving, this seems a good time to get it, especially as the changes iu the coal situation which have grown up in the last two or three years compel a read^justmeut of the percentages anyway. But a fight means lower prices for securities, temporarily, at least. AST month tbe Rand gold field agaiu ^ output hy produciug 2,800 ounces more broke its record on than in the best previous mouth, 15,650 ounces more thau in February and 19,573 move thauinthe corresponding month of last year. Onthe basis of last year's proportions these miues bid fair to produce between ¥-±5.000,000 aud .$46,000,000 this year. The Cityof Paris loan of 117,000,000 francs is uot after all to be issued en bloc, but in sums of sixteen and seventeou millions at a time, as required for public works. The bonds are to be of the same type as the loan of 1892, 2^2 per cent, which, issued at 85, are now selling at 97. By the arrangement adopted the city can obtain about the market price for the new bonds. The Bank of France proposes to extend its btLsiness by executing bourse orders for depositors withiu certain limits. Electric light is winning iu the tight against gaa in Pai-is, the consumption of the latter in 1894 having fallen off 1 per cent; as a result the gas compauy is trying various ways to please consumers, so that raany of the charges once bonio by the latter are now remitted. Theparliaraentaryiuqiury into the depressed coudition ofthe sugar trade in Austria bas of course resulted in finding tbat over-proclnction is at the bottom of it. Restriction is to com¬ mence with the growing of beet aud facilities created for enlarg¬ ing exports of the refined article. Reports from British irou aud steel trade centres indicate a decided improvement in tone of business. There is also bettering in raw aud mauufactured cottons aud firmness In silk and wool, and a movement toward increased activity among Clyde shipbuilders. It is still a fact, however, characterizing the whole European outlook, that money is cheap and iu small demand, aud the moat prominent evidences of activity are to be foiiuti where speculation is most rife. THERE are signs that; American wheat is regaining its hold upon the British market. Last year Russia and the Argen¬ tina so undersold us thi-t notwithstanding that the imports of wheat into* Great Britain increased 10,000,000 bushels, our exports of that cereal tbither decreased 14,000,000 bushels. The Board of Trade returns for March show a ditterent state of Cu,-outs had se-'i'-itp batb-T»oma or wi"-* l>"sbels; l,200,U0u blishels ; and the last, ;^,'500,000, and other countries moderate amounts. The returns for the month of March emphasize the significance of this statement, inasmuch as they show that the Russian and Argentine exports to England are falling off and our wheat taking their place. As a matter of fact, of the iucrease of 3,800,000 bushels previously mentioned as coming from the United States this year, 3,:iOO,000 belonged -wholly to last mouth. It is further observable that of this increase 3,000,000 bushels were iu wheat shipped from the Pacific seaboard. The latter fact indicates that prices did not theu warraut shipment of wheat that would h.aTe to pay for a long aud costly rail trip to the Atlantic. With the advance in price, we may expect to see larger shipments thence, too, espe¬ cially as the reports of the condition of the European crops are not wholly satisfactory. These facts justify tbe advance that has takeu place iu wheat iu our markets and should they maintain they will accelerate the upward movemeut. THE proceedings attending the selection of a jury, to ti'y Inspector McLaughlin for bribery, make a very instructive object-lesson of certain social conditions which undoubtedly contribute, in no slight degree, to produce the evil state of the police department indicated by the trial of one of its chief officials. We have not kept count of the number of talesmen examined so far iu this' case, but the unmber is large and included meu of all sorts aud conditions ahove the loivest grade— merchants, clerks, storekeepers aud the like. Yet, what an exhibition these citizens presented of either a poor education, a low order of intellect, or, in cases where neither of these defects existed, positive incivism. A majority of the talesmen examined were properly rejected because they were clearly incompetent to pass upou the evidence likely to he stibmitted to them, aud of the remainder a large number made ifc very plain by their answers to counsel that they were determined not to render any service to the city that might cost them either slight personal inconvenience or pecuniary loss. Yet the former—the ignorant —make up the bulk of our voters, who are fervently appealed to as competent guides on matters of national polity, and the latter—the iudiftereut, but fairly well educated—are, we suppose, examples of the "better element" which we all appeal to so vociferously "to come out aud as.sert itself" when our affairs hecome idiotically tangled up or positively malodorous. Is it any wonder we have corrupt police departments, as a product of the ignorance and theindifierence of citizens demoustratediu this McLaughlin case. The mau who can't safely sit in a jury box and weigh simple evidence is uot likely to vote very intelligently on the tariff or bi-metalism, and the man who can but who won't do his duty iu the jury box is not likely to do it anywhere else. Investment and Speculatiye Field. THE MEXICAN RAILROADS AND THE INFLUENCE OF TUE ADVANCE IN SILVER ON THEIR SECURITIES, The decline iu the price of silver had nowhere a more marked ettect tbau outhe securities of Mexican roads, excepting, of course, those securities that directly represented silver mining itself. To those who are uot famili.ar withtbe subject this may not appear to he a matter of very much moment. Compared with tbe loas of in¬ come and values iu other directions and as a whole it may not be . yet the Mexican railroads bave bail their p.art in bringing about the geueral result that h-ia shown itself iu our security markets. This influence will be better understood wbeu the proportions of thoae properties are better understood, wbere their securities are held and what has heeu tho direct result of the fall in silver upon their for¬ tunes. The two first can be found by examiug thebooks of reference relating to railroads and their securities, and the laat is being brought out from time to time by fhe reporta to stockholders of the proper¬ ties in question. Poor's Manual givea a list of eight railroada in Mexico having a mileage of over 5.200, made up as follows: Mexican Central, 1,876.43; Mexican National, 1.232.24; Mexican Inter¬ national, 573.04; Mexican Interoceanic, 519; Mexican Eailway. 321; Mexican Northern, 81,2,T; Mexican Southeru, 228, and Monte¬ rey and Mexican Gulf, 387 miles, Tbeae railroads earn anywhere from $30,000,000 to $35,000,000 por annum, and pay interest ou a bonded capital of many millions of dollars. These facts will no donbt surprise those who are nnacriu.iinted with the development of the great Central America Repnlillo, Practically all ofithe capital is held iu Loudon, New York aud Boston, and tbo properties are ad¬ ministered from thoao cities through an able executive on the ground. It is because the capital is so beld and administered that these properties have felt severely tbe rlocline iu tbe market price of silver. Interest is payable in United St.ates currency or in sterling, and most of the materials, equipment .and other aupplies come from the United States aud a part from Great Britain, and bave to be paid for in tbe currencies standard iu those countries. Of course that is eminently proper considering tbat the capital was originally sub¬ scribed on those bases, and tbat tho supplies sent to the Mexican railroads are manufactured with labor and of material paid for with gold or equivalents therefor. m