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The Record and guide: v. 38, no. 963: August 28, 1886

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August 28,1886 Record and G uide. 1073 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broadwav, IST. "Y. Our Telephone Call is . . . . . JOHN 370. TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS. Communicatioiis should be addi'essed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXVIII. AUGUST 38, 1886. No. 963. between Eussia and the nations of Western Europe, France, perhaps, alone excepted. The fall in English, Russian and Hungarian funds and the excitement in the wheat and provision markets shows hovs^ serious that act was regarded by financiers and business men; but the official utterances of the Berlin and Vienna papurs seem to indi¬ cate that the German and Austrian governments were aware of what Russia intended, and acquiesced in the practical setting aside of the Treaty of Berlin. That famous compact, it will be remem¬ bered, robbed Russia of the fruits of her victories over the Turks in the last war. Her armies were in sight of Constantinople and she was in actual possession of the country up to the very gates of that city when, by the agreement of the great powers in Berlin, she was forced to surrender the Balkan psminsula, retire beyond the Danube and see two semi-independent States, Bulgaria and Roumelia, established to bar her way to Constantinople. The summer is closing with the stock market phenomenally dul and a good deal of doubt in the minds of business men as to the future. This arises from the increase in the rates charged for loans aud other signs of disturbances in the money market. All was plain sailing when money went begging at 2 per cent., but the higher rates for loans create new conditions which may embarrass business operations during the course of the fall. All the factors in the situation ought to give us a bull market for securities, as railroad earnings are increasing, gold is coming this way from Europe, while the increasing dearness of money shows that it is in demand for trading and manufacturing purposes. But somehow the leaders o£ the street either see or think they see possible trouble in the future, and so speculation halts. Business is dull in real estate circles, but this was to have been expected at the tail-end of the summer. All real estate dealers agree, however, in believing that the autumn business will be the best for many years, and that it will commence quite early. It was a good thing to get rid of Squire, and a still better thing to have General Newton in his place. The citizens of New York owe a debt of gratitude to General Newton for his work at Hell Gate and his official surveys of the proposed ship canal between the Hudson River and the Sound. Had the politicians and the property-owners been as prompt and business-like as General New¬ ton there would now be a navigable stream between the Hudson and the East rivers which would have greatly advanced the price of realty in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, as well as the Twelfth Ward. General Newton has also made wise reports on the proper way to improve our lower harbor so as to admit the incoming and outgoing of steamships drawing less than thirty feet. It is a pity that an office ere this could not have been created for General Newton, giving him the superintendence of all the improve¬ ments affecting our harbor and its commerce. However, that is out of the question, and he will, instead, be at the head of a department requiring integrity, engineering skill and good business faculties. There will be no bad work in the construction of the new aqueduct if a majority of the commissioners will back up General Newton. --------•-------- In this connection we cannot help remembering that army and navy officers often fail in the transaction of general business. They are always honest and honorable men and their engineering plans and works cannot be excelled anywhere, but the remarkable fact cannot be gainsaid that the men trained at West Point and Annapolis usually fail in business enterprises. Grant could never make any business succeed when he was in civil life. General Sher¬ man failed both as a lawyer and a banker. General McClellan, when Dock Commissioner, did not impress those about him or the city by his business capacity. Retired army and naval officers lack entirely the money-making faculty. Indeed, they have failed as absolutely in general business as did the lawyers and politicians as officers in the civil war. The lawyers were in the front both in the Northern and Southern armies when the war opened, but West Point proved itself a great military school when its graduates made their way to all the chief commands in both armies before the civil war was over. As a compensation a cousin of the present Czar, then an officer in the German army, was made King of Bulgaria. He turned out to be an able man, but he aimed at establishing a permanent throne of his own and cast his lot with the anti-Russian alliance, Germany, Austria and Great Britain, which was bent on preventing Constan¬ tinople from falling into the hands of the Czar's government. The puzzle in this case is, why Germany and Austria should submit to the dethronement of Prince Alexander when he was their puppet and represented their interests. The explanation is to be found, we think, in some letters we published from Europe last summer. All the nations, said our correspondent, are prepared for war, but Kaiser William is very old and does not wish .to die with the clash of arms ■ resounding in his ears. He insists upon every sacrifice being made to keep the peace while he is alive. The old man can- no!; last much longer, and his death will be the signal for an out¬ break of one of the mightiest wars known to history, for it will embroil every nation in Europe. --------------9 These horse-car troubles are exasperating,, and emphasize the point so often made in these columns that the conductors and drivers should be made a kind of supplemental police force, and be under the control of the municipality. There ought to be also some way of punishing these horse-car companies, when they deal dis¬ honestly by their men. Unfortunately the public backed up Hart, Lyons and Lauterbach through a misapprehension of the facts when faith was broken with the employes of the Third avenue road, and this new schedule of the Broadway road was undoubtedly part of a plan to gradually reduce the men to the same abject con¬ dition they were in before the strike and the agreement last March. The victory of the Third Avenue and Broadway companies over their employes will, of course, be followed up by the other com¬ panies and there are more strikes to be expected. These street franchises have proved very valuable. The leading lines in New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and presumably the other large cities pay from 30 to 40 per cent, upon the actual outlay on the track, building and plant. They not only can afford to pay $3.00 a day for twelve hours wcrk, but the principal lines could run their cars for three cents and still make handsome profits. The Philadelphia papers, by the way, in view of the reduction of the elevated fares to five cents are demanding that the horse-car lines of that city should carry passengers for three cents. General Newton will have a hard time of it with the politicians. He will find that nearly all his underlings represent the worst ele¬ ments in the three political machines. He cannot change them al at once, and as the incompetent and sinecurists are being weeded out he will find the politicians and their advocates in the press denouncing him in season and out of season. He will also have to fight the great contracting interest, and if he finally succeeds in cleansing his department and making it efficient, it will be by the exercise of courage, tact and knowledge of men and of the world. Mere honesty and engineering talent will not help him in fighting the corruptionist and politicians. Mr. James G. Blaine seems determined to keep himself before the people, pnd is undoubtedly a candidate for renomination by the Republican National Convention. It is this fact which gives some interest to the first speeca he delivered in the Maine canvass. As a political effort it has not much value, nor is there any particular merit in it from a literary point of view. Still it is tem¬ perate, judicial in tone, and the points it makes against the adminis¬ tration are generally well taken. But Mr. Blaine really avoids the live issues before the country. Prohibition he professes to regard as a local question; but the St. John vote was what really destroyed his chances at the last general election. Should he run again without placating the temperance people he will find they >• ill poll three votes where they did one in 1884. His outgivings on the labor question are also very vague. Altogether the speeches he is making impresses one as being delivered to show that he is still a candidate who does not wish to make any indiscreet utterances to hurt his chances. It is no discredit to Mr. Blaine that he wishes to be President. The recent appointment of Collector of this port would seem to indicate that President Grover Cleveland would not be unwilling to succeed himself. The news from Southeastern Europe is unusually important and not a little puzzling. The deposition of Prince Alexander from the throne of Bulgaria ought to mean the immediate Qutbreak of a war The Canal Convention, now in sescion, declares in favor of a State enlargement and improvement of the Erie Canal, and objects to the general government having anything to do with it; but the Erie Canal affects national interests. It marries the lake and river systems of the West to the Atlantic Ocean at the East. It ia of far less consequence to the State of New York thau it is of the region west of Buffalo. In point of fact the government should nationalize the Erie Canal. It sl^ould also build the Hennepin