Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 54, no. 1379: August 18, 1894

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Angnst 18,1994 Record ""and " Guide. 227 1 3m«&^2;y[filil. ESTASLIS9ED^tfvWlpH21«>1668. Deified io P^i Estwe .BulLDI^'G Af^cKitectui^e .KousEtiomDEGafjATiorf, BUSII/fSS A\'yTH£M-P OrGEfJER.^11KTER.EST. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone,......Cohtlanbt 1370 Oommuidoatlona should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. 1. LINDSEY. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Wasoington Street, Opp. Post Office. "Entered at Ihe Post-office al New Tork. N. T., as second'Class matter." Vol. liv. AUGUST 18, 1894. No. 1,379 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Depas-tment immediately followina A^ew Jersey records (page 2431. "VrATURALLY there has beeu a great deal of talk about the -^ revival of business because of tbe passage of the &ormaii Tarifi Bill in place of the AVilson Bill, deceased. As a matter of fact, the revival may be said to have begun some time ago, with busiuesa baaed on the probable uew tarift and merchants and manufacturers hoping; that the JIcRinley Act might, for all said and done, still remain in force. What is seen uow is a little extra spurt, due to the p-ood feeling evinced on the close of a, discussion with which the commnnity has been bored and both¬ ered off and on for nearly a, year. The satisfaction, however, is wholly on the eud having come to all this annoyance foraloug time to come, even should the President take the higlily improba¬ ble courseof vetoingthenieasure justaccepled with such ill grace by the House. One striking fact iu the situation is the main¬ tenance of the protective principle in our laws, iu spite of the party pledged to free trade having numerical control of both Houses of Congress aud its candidate iu the AVhite House, The coming elections will certainly not strengthen the free trade ele¬ ment 80 that it is safe to atHrm that tbere will be no lowering of duties in a geueral way for many years to come. The aduiinis tration, however, comes iu for no share of the kindly feel¬ ing that is animating the public at the moment. Ou the contrary they take up Walt Whitman and siug: "1 will make a song for the ears of the President, full of weapons with meuaciug points, and behind ^the weapons countless dissatisfied faces." While general busi¬ ness and the security market have both made response to the agreement at Washington, that of tbe former shows most sign of staying. Iu Wall Street realizing about offsets the uew buying, a condition of things that usually indicates a reaction. But as securities reflect in the maiu the commercial aud trading conditions it is safe to say that any reaction will afford an opportunity which intending buyers should not fail to avail themselves of, not forgetting, of course, that discrimination is always necessary in stock and bond purchases. LONDON bankers have cut the minimum rate of interest on deposits fiom one to a half per cent, and while this may be necessary in view of the condition of the banks, it also canuot fail to awaken capitalists to the fact that there is something else to do mth theii" money besides keeping it on deposit at the banks and gettiug au insiRuiticant return for it. All the foreign security markets have become more active, especially those at Berlin and Vienua, aud as tirat-clasa investments have for a loug time been out of sight, bnyers are turning their attention to other issues, American as well as European. Naturally Europe regards the reductions made in the tarift with favor, and in the good nature thus aroused, and the belief that trade on this side of the Atlantic must uow improve with more rapid strides, is willing to buy our securities. Victoria, Australia, which has large silver Interests, is proceediug with its land loan scheme in spite of the warning set by the Argentina and is putting forward bimetallistic theories ■with remarkable naivete, claiming that her ability to pay iu silver would relieve her of a large part of her obligations to England. Evidently Victoria wants to be avoided by lenders in future. According to mail advices the Indian jute crop promises to be better thau that of 1892; if nothing untoward occurs the esportations for 1894-95 will equal those of 1893-94. The coudition of the United States Treasury is being carefully watched from abroad. If it is not improved either as a resiUt of tariff settlement or by some act of the Secretary of the Treasuiy to increase the gold reserve the confidence of foreigners iu the coming of our new prosperity will be short-lived. Now that China and Japan are actually iu the market for money and supplies and the prospect of the stniggle betweeu them being prolouged is increased, silver and .'iilver issues are coming into favor ou tho foreigu markets. TXTE are in a time when the work of the statistical depart- ''^ ments of the government is looked for most anxiously, and this makes more satisfactory the prompt issue of the trade statement for July. Previous reference has heen made to the delay in issuing the Interstate Commerce Commissiou reports until the time had gone by wheu they could be of use to tho active business man, however interesting they might prove to the speculative political economist or the student of railroad statistics. Similarly, there has been good reason to complain of the delay in issuing the reports of our foreign commerce, by the Treasury Departmeut, though there is no reason to believe it was due to either waut of ability in that department or the absence of appreciation of the importance of giving them to the commercial world as soon as possible. The fault most prob¬ ably lay with Congress, whose members appear to be alive only to the moves iu the game of the parties aud canuot, therefore, kuow the importance of having the countiy properly informed of the proportions of its trade from time to time. Tlie promptness with which reports of their trausactions are made by tbe great trading associations of the country is conclusive evidence of the value of all facts and figures having a bearing on trade aud commerce and con¬ trast tu a striking manner with the dilaloriness of (he govern¬ ment. Auother couti-ast, not at all to our credit, was found in European counti-ies, wliere the issuance of every kind of I'eport of this nature with every manner of useful detail ia deemed of first importance, Tho bare report o( inipotis and exports for June was sent out by the Tioasui^ Department ahout three weeks after the Loudon papers had been received hero, containing elaborate siiinniarieB of similar figures, though in mnrlt more detail, of (he foreigu commerce of Great Britain i'or Ihe same mouth and also for the half year. Consequently the British returns were issued fully a month ahead of our own. Congi'ess ought to look to this matter, aud at least keep us ou ;m equality mth other countries; a little judicious extravagance would jiay in this instance. TF a carjjenter were to put a table together iu tbe way the -A. ordinary foreign correspondent fixes up his uews, the legs would stick out at the sides aud the sides themselves form a rim I ou the top. This su.-ipiciou ot the newspaper man's elumsiaess is raising doubts about the gi-eat Yellow Jacket story of the Chinese Viceroy, Li Hung Chang. The latest version of the story is tbat the great Viceroy was never deprived of bis sym¬ bolic wi-apper at all, but that finding the weather warm and the work heavy he laid it aside so as to be more at his ease, unmind¬ ful of the fact that the excitement of the times made newspaper correspondents more numerous and vigilant than usual. One of these, it is said, spj'iug tbe celestial Richelieu working iu the sleeves of the Chinese substitute for a shirt, immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had heen deprived of his official gar¬ ment by the Emperor, and accordingly made all this unnecessary bother about a very natural and harmless incident. In fact, as later reports run, so far from ciu'tailing his Viceroy's wardrobe in auy way whatever, the Emperor has added to it as a testimony of his regard and affection for the wearer a btdlet-proof coat to protect him from enemies within and from without the Empire. ———»-—_—_ JAPAN and China at war with each other and employing Western tactics, arms of precision, iroTiclads aud the other most modern and terrible results of scientific thought directed to productiou of engines of destmction is a picture that may well startle the Western powers and give them food for earnest thought. However the present conflict may end, either -with honors easy, Japan triumphant at sea and China victorious on land, or oue compelled to submission to the other, the war cannot fail to bring out latent powers and qualities that neither nation was supposed to possess before. Hitherto the wars of these counlries have beeu carried ou with bows aud arrows aud such like medieval weapons. The useof improved ai-ms cannot fail to show them how much of the power of the West depeuds upon these. There will probably be a new East hereafter, with Japan inaccessible to the invader, developing iuto a formidable sea power, having a large seaboard for Ihe trainiug of sailors and harbors for shelter and (he building of docks and ships, aud China becoming conscious of the advan¬ tages she possesses in her immense territoiy and a dense population from which may be drawn inexhaustible supplies of troops whose eflectiveness will be many times increased by the modern arms. It may be that hereafter the West will not have so easy a task as it has hitherto had in enforcing its wishes on peoples of the Orient, because they will no longer bo suuk in ancient traditions or reliant on means of defense that have satisfied them for hun¬ dreds of years. The gun which opened the war between Japan