Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 50, no. 1272: July 30, 1892

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July 30,1892 Record and Guĩde. 139 imf ESTWLISHED^ WARpHaii!^ 1869. ^ " OeAJeD ĨO f^L ESTAJE , SihL01//g Aĩí,C1(ITECTJ1^E .KoUSníOLD DEeOR^TtJlt BiísitíESS MÍD Themes of GeĩJeivI 1;jt£i\esî FRIGE, FER TEAR IX ADViK€E, SIl DOLLARS. Pnblîskeã ever-y Saturda'y. TĸLBPnoĸB; .... Cohti:.andt 1370. Comnniiiications should be aJdressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & 16 Vesey St J. 1, LINDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered oí the Fosl-offlce at New Yorle, N, Y., as second'Class matter." VOL. L. JULY 30, 1893, No. 1,272 THE Stock Markethas developed phenomenal strengíh, defying tbe influencea together of gold exports, rate-cuttÍDga and threatened dismetnhermentsof railroad associatĩons, to say nothing of tbermometrical conditîoas whicb would be supposed to be suffi- cient to check business were the reverse not so patently the fact. It is espected in some quarters that with the adjournment of Con- greas, the Optĩon Bill not having previously become law, will come a Btill larger advance. Stich expectations have, liowever, a way of not being gratified, On very favorable conditions the peoplø who engineei' advances are lifcely to realize profits, and their action îs Bure to be foliowed by declines. It will not be forgotten that in August last yesr tbere was a large and raptd rise in tbe prĩce of stocks on the resuĩts of tbe barveet in tbe southwest, but that that rĩse met a sudden cbeck before long, and it was not until the fall when the corn crop was assured tbat the real bull movement with tbe public as earnest participatorii came. At thîs time^Btocks are not selling by a very great deal so low as tbey weie at the same time last year when Burlington waa seventy-nine aiid Rock Island ten poiats lower ; so there is not the same grounds now for expecting even such an advance as was seen then, If Buch came it would be quite unnakural and dangerous to the busi- ness interests of the security market, There is a floaiing admission that prîces are where they are to-day as a result of manipulation. One daily paper wbîch has been bullish for a long time and aims to be a conservative guide to investors Geems ti> be made nervous by the wildness of the tactics employed and warns the tacticiaDB to "bait the book" differently or the public wĩll not come in to huy. It may not bave meant quite as much aa tbis, the expression probably being due to the reqiiire- ments of a picturesque style, but tho evidences of open manipulationwill not be loat on the cautious. For ínstance, the advance in Atcbison stoek basa greatfamily likeness to that of tbe Income 59 last year which carrîed the price to 68 on so-cailed prospects of fuH interest being paid aa a result of tbe great cropB in Kansas and other Soutbwesiern states, jast as a dividend is talked on the stock now. Before any get too enthusiastic on the stock they should rememher that since those very promisitig times the Incomes bave undergone conversion at a lower rate of interest. It is just as idle to imagine tbat tbe stock can immediately benefit ■ from that conversion or from tbe growth of Atchison's husíness aa it was to imagine Ibat the Incomes would pay five per cent. If the buBÍneBS of Afcbison grows so also do its operating and interest requírements. Other grangers and the investment issues do not take mucli part in tbe present advance. Tbe advance in the Indus- trials is not Iobewoiideredat,risky asall venturesof moneyin them has always been, because they o£fer the largeat profits both specu- latively and in dívidends, and to apublic Ihat has been eo much disappoînted in railroad Eecuritíea, the best of the Industrials—tbose that have gone througli reorganization—cannot fail to be attractive on declines. THB proceedings ovcr the Woild's Fair appropriation show how little tbere is in the p(i])ular suppo&itjon tbat our legislators always represent their constituentB, Nowhere ĩs there the slightest oppcsiiion to tbe appropriation needed to properly com- plete the exposĩtion; on the contrary, popular feeling bas lately taken bold of the Cbicago fair in the largest and kindiiest way, and now, befote all things, desires to see it a great national succpbs. Congress, however, insists upon pjaving its political game, oblivious of the S''ntimenb of the people, or of tbe evident fact tbat the ■ tepulation of the nation is at stake. Sixty foreign countries have agreed to take a part ín tbe fair. They aieour gueBts for the occa- sion, and it would he a breach of national good breeding and courtesy to give tbem inadequate or curtailed accommodation at Ohicago, which sureĩy would be tbe result of congressional close- "íl^te^Bess. Begjdes, forei^ers bave opĩy a vcrv inadequate idea ot' wbat "politics" in this country are, and are quite likely to imagine that all tbis talk about $5,000,000 ia due to tlie impoverished state of the governmental resources of a nation which hiiherto has alwaya bragged about its " surplus " and full treasury. The founda- tion of the good credit of tbis country abroad is in no small degree duetoageneri.I helief in the atrong fînancial posilion of thn gov- ernment, and anylhing that shakes that good reputation cannot he witbout evil effect. rpHE politicĩans of Brooklyn are about as unblushing and -*- fenrless a set as are often seen even in those homes of political pirates—our American municipalities. We referred last week to their brazen disrpgard of even a show of honesty in giving by vote of the CoũQmon Council a couple of valuable fran- cbises to their own " pals," and congratulated Brooklyii on the possession of a Mayor that was wijling to protect the interests of the public. Duriug the past week the Coti;mon Council, not in the least disuiayed by protests wbicb theír action had ehcitcd, passed the resolulione over tbe Mavor's veto. The reasons whereby this action was defended were worthy of the action ĩtself. Mayor Boody was denouoced as a friend of monop- olists, and a vile plutocrat, wbiie tbe Common Council announced themselves to he peculiarly soJicitous of the interests of the peopĩe of Erooklyn, So complete is their belief in bome rule that tbey would not have anybody but Erooklyn people connected witb BrookJyn institutiona. At a dinner given to Coffey, the president of the Board, who is admittedly inierested in the beneûted corporations, Daniel O'ReilIy, one of his " frienda," defended the Common Council on the following grounds; "I helieve in home nile; that as long as our citizens have money to invest, the local legislators should favor us against other States. As soon as our citizens do somethîng to give us light, for instance, which is fît for tbe city.as soon as they harvest money, thecrygoes up, ' A job, ajob, ajob I' Wheneverout-of-townmen gotafranchis'e nothing wassaid." Tbis is a fair sample of the arguments by which the action of the Common Council is defended by Ihe people, wbo directly or indirectly are responsible for such aclion, It îs an uudisguised confession that they are, so far as possible, running Brooklyn in their owninterests—so thaitheycan " harvestmoney.'' Tbemost discouragingpart of it is that they have been so accus- tomed to the abuse of power tbat they no longer are ashamed of themselves and pretend to a virtue which they do not possess. Theee pleas for unlimîttd opportunity to " barvest m"ney" are put forward undisguisedly—with the apparent conviction tbat tbey are claiming notliing more than their due; and tbey grow rigbteously indignant whsn any of the fruits are denied to them. We very much fear that before fhese pirates are superseded they wili have disposed of every source of revenue lo our municipalities except taxation; nnd wi)I have morlgaged that by accumulating debts, forwhich the muEÍcipality bas no adequate equivalent and which leave littie or no margin for future borrowing. The incident shows one tbing very clearly—the immediate neceasity for suhstituting în place of tlie Cantor act eome statute that wĩil Bufficiently protect the interest of the con- suraer without hindering the undertaking of new enterprises, It is a Bingular commentary on the vitality and value of the current discussions connected wiib municipal matters that not a ealient suggestion has been made respectíng the formulat.ng of such a piece of legÍBÍation. THE effort in Congress, the daily press and elsewbere to give a polĩtical twist to the troubles at Homestead and conuect tbem with tbeTariff isan indicatiou, íf any be needed, of theillogical argu- mentation about Free Trade and Proiection wbich we will have to euffer durin^ the process of Ihe coming campaign. It shouid be neediess to point out that thevalidity or theinvalidity of Protection is in no way concerued witb the events at the Carnegie works, If every worknian in the coutitry went out on strike it would not necessarily prove Protection faise, neither, if tho same thing hap- pened in Great Britaĩn would it demonstrate tbe faisity of Freo Trade. The question is not whether wagea are higli or whether they are low under Prolection or under Free Trade, but whether în a given counlry with given conditions wages will be higĩier under one policy than they wouid be under the other. In a recent speech Senator Allison apparently tbought he was proving aomething by showing tha,t wages are higher io thiscountry with Prutection tlian they are in Eogland with Freo Trade. A comparison of tho kind is merely an assertion of a fact that lies outside of tbo argu- ment. The indtistrial conditions of Great Brilain differ widely from the industrial condîtions of the United States. If the Senator wants to justify PrcteotioD and condemn Freo Trade be should show that Englisb wages would be h^gher tban they ai-e to-day if Protection prevaiicd in that country, and that wages in the Unĩted States would be iower tban they are to-day if Free Trade were eãtablished bfre. Tho argumentative ímplication ot his comparison is mere sophistryi ntended to deceive the unbbinîíing. Sia oppooenta oould sbow that wages under Pro-