Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 50, no. 1290: December 3, 1892

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December 3, 1893 Record and GuÍde. 713 CpíÍjIeD 10 l^L EsTWE. BuiLDifÍG Afic.rliTEtrTvJi^E .Kousrrfou) DErøR^nai, ESTi^USHED ■^MAR.CH ?1*J^ ISb^ PRICE, PER TEIR VH åDrANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Pu.blished every Saturdæy. TBLKPHOWBI .... CORTLAHDT 1370. Coiimiunications sbould be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St J. 2. LINDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered at tlie Fost-offlce at New YorJe, N. F., aa second-class matter." VOL, L. DECEMBER 3, 1893. NO. 1,2!I0 THE Stock Market received the iiews of the deatli of Mr. Gould iuuch better than ît has oftea taken unfouniled rumors of that eveut; but this is probably due to the support usually given to stocks to prevent a bad break ou a piece of news likely to encourage large professional operations oii the short side. It does not neces- sarily follow that the deathof Mr. Gould must disorganize prices, but it comes at a time when prices are already disturbed from other causes; and if the settlement of the Gould estate, which is koown to be so extensive iu active securitie.'í, requires any large realiza- tions, they wlll be an additional burden to a market which now does not too readiiy absorb offerings. It is announced that Mr. Gould put his estatf in trust in iike manner to Moses Taylor and Mr. W. H. VanderbiU for the benefit of his immediate family, and i£ this proves to be true, it wiU help matters Jjy removing the fear that the market mîght have at &ny moment to take large blosks of securities while the estate îs in process of settlement. The most proiuinent cause of weakness in prices is the esport of gold at this season, and that weakness must continue so long as gold continues to go out and uiitil there is good promise of the recurrence of such exports being distant. There is no end of talk about the country's beĩngable toafford theae shîpments, which is about as sensible as telling the owner of a fallen house tbat Iie ought not to mind because there are still plenty of bricks in the country. Prices go down on gold shipments, not merely because of the sentimeutal fears of security-holders but because they must owing to the distnjrbance of credits, as surely as a pillar must fall 'if tbe base is knocked away. Gold is always at work as a basis of credit. The gold that is shipped thîs week was not idle money in the Treasury, but represented the gold bills for which it was paid out. Those bills were in the banks as a basis of credita of agood many limes theii í'ace and cannot be issued again except against a new lot of goid. It is the disturbance of these credits ihe inarket feels, the result being aggravated, of course, by the operations of traders who watch for just such movements. Three months hence, of course, the gold shipments of the present day will not only be without infiuence but almost forgotten. But at the time of their goinggold exportsmustalways, for the reasoũs given, have a bad influeuce on concurrent quota- tions. The doings of the conference at Brussels have more înterest thau infiuence; lÊ it were possible to imagine that it could lay ihe bãsis for an international agreement for au extended currency use of silver, that would be a great bull card for American securities ; but its failure to do anything could not come as a surprise or a dis- appointment, because no one ever e.vpected tbat it would result in practica! benefit other than merely opening tbis great discussion. Consequently if, as it is now believed it will, the conference adjourns witliout agreement, that fact ought not to depress prĩces, except so far as it may be taken as an intimation that ibis country must con- tinue to export gold until a remedy has been í'ound for what are admitted on all sidea to be defects in our currency. /^NE of the moat startling movements in prices which have ^-' recently taken place in London has been the active specula- tion in South Africau aecurities. The chief run has been on the Rand gold mining sharea, many of which bave rîsen from lOO to 301) per ceut l'rom ihe lowest prices ruling before the revival of activily. The production of gold last month is officially reported to have been 112,167 ounces as compared with 107,S.'>0 ounces ia Ihe preceding month, and 72,793 ounces iu the corresponding month last year. The activity ia quite as marked in the shares of two leadiug Qiaraond companies, but in these cases has apparently less justification. The import- ance of these rises, however, to the genera) public is ÍDsignificant compared with the great advance which has taken place in South American securilies—amounting iii some cases to over 20 per cé^t. In some instauce theae advances have been brought ahout artiíicially. AfFairs havo undoubtedly improved in Argentina witbin the jiast yuar. Trade has qitietly but steadily tíxpanded, aud finaneially the position has aettled down to some extent, although no attempts have been made to grapple with the really serious difificulties of the situation. Despite the improve- ment, however, it is ciaimed tliat the recent fali in the price of gold was due to manipulation, and that is quĩte untrustworthy as au indication of any improvement in the business or poiitical situation. The reports of the nnions of skilled trades in Great Brĩtain show no signs of improvenienc in their respective labor markets. On the contrary, tbey again show a considerable increase in the number of the unemployed. The aggregate of the memhers of societies sending in reports is about 2(i8,000, and of tbese nearly 30,000 are shown to be out of work against only about 17,000 the month previous. The building and cabinet-making trades are tlie ouly induslries that can be called prosperous, while tbe ship-building, iron-founding and pattern- making trades are very depressed. The bears are in full sway iu Berliu, and they have been helj)ed particularly by the unfavoralbe reports received from tbe iron and coal districts in Westphalia and Silesia. Dismissals of workingmen are eApected on a arjge scale, and reductions of wages are already taking place. The latest report is that the negotiations for a German-Russian treaty of commerce wilt come to nothing. It is assertPd tiiat the Russiau Commissĩon will give no consideration tothe Germau demand for a reduction of import duties on iron and coal, but tliat, ou tbe contrary, Russia intended to raise part of her import duties by establishiũg a mini- mum tariff. Tbe fact that the recent Hungarian cabiuet crisis ended în a decided Liberal victory has prcduced a very favorable effect ou the Vienna bourse, and consequently the prices of stocks and bankshares haverisen. Dr. Alexander Weckerle, whoseclever mauagement of the finances oE Huugary did away with the deficit, and whose energy wilh regard to currency rel'orm procured the support andapproval of all parties, is the new Premier. -------•-------- IF anybody has been able to urge a valid reason, on public grounds, for refusing to permit the Manhattan Company to extend its tracks from the Ninth Aveaue road, along Cortlandt street, to the Pennsylvania ferry, we have yet to find it. The oulypretence of objection was that concerning Mr. Jay Gould. It is as impossible, bowever, to run a city on the principle of doing the opposite of what Mr. Gonld wants, as it is to condtict the affairs of the nalion on tbe principie of doing just the opposîte of what the foreigners want us to do. The Manhattan road is the best sub- stitute for rapid transit that the city possesses; and while it exisfs it shouid be granted all reasonable opportunifcies to make its service more efĩicient. No one can deuy the public utility of such an extension. A large proportion of the people that come to and leave tbe Pennsylvania ferry house- use the Manhattan road. At present they are obliged to trudêo a couple of crowded blocka to thé station, whereas under the proposed arrangement they conld pass immediateiy to the cars without delay, without bother, and wifchout any additional expense. lí bj means of the spui- the Ninth Avenue road can iiuprove its service in any other way, that would be an argument in favor of granting the privilege, for any such unobjectionable means of improving a service tJiat so much needs improvement ought to be taken. Consequeniily the fear which some newspapers have expressed that the company has someultcrior designs in proposing theextension is a fear which we hope that the event will justify. As to property-owners on the sfcreet, who naturally enough are objecting to the exiensioo, their case Ís perfectly simple. The law amply protecfcs their interests. In case they refuse to give their consents, the Supreme Court can decide whether this refusal ought in the public interest to be linal. If, in spite of their protest, the road is built, tliey will be able to collect pleuty of damages from the company. -------------m-------------- MR. CHANDLER'S Comniittee is evidently determined to restrict immigration. We regret to see with how much apparent readiness the public seem willing to support any off-hand proposals of a prohibitive character, as though immigration were not an euormously potent fa.-tor in our uational life. It is, indeed, one of the very last matters to be drasticalty treated in a hasty manner, or handed over to the politicat tinkers who, unfortu- nately for the country, do so much of the national repairing which should be intrusted only to skilled and thoroughly quahfied work- men. Upon inveatigation it may, of course, be found to be wise to put some restrictions upon immigration, or, what is the same thing with an importaut dilîereuce, to qualify immi- gratiou. But what the character of these resirictions or qualifications should be, cannot be detei-miued in an oíî-hand way in the easy method which the Chandler Com- mittee is pursuing. Its determinations, as reported, are based upon an absence of investigation whicb is ludricous when the importance of Iho subject coiicerned is cousidered. To prohibit imraigraiion for twelve months, as Senator Chandler ijroposes shall be done, becauae of the fear of chulera next year, is to con- found things that may be connectedbut are not related one to the