Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 54, no. 1390: November 3, 1894

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MoTember 3. 1894 Record and Guide. 635 ESTA9USHED^iWPH21UAlB68. D£V&-IEl)TOR^LESTAJI.BmLDIfl'G AF!,cKHECTU!^E.KaUSnl01I)DEeffi;jTKai, Bi/snfess Alio Themes orGEjtoi^L I^/■reI^.Es^. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TbLEPHONK.......CORTLAN-DT 1370 Commuuications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vosey Street J. 2. LINDSEY. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washingtox Street, Opp. Post Office. " Enlered at the Post-office al New Ycn-k, N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. liv. NOVEMBER 3, 1894. No. 1,390 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately followina Aew Jersey records {page 654i. THE deatli of the Czar of Kussia was witliout sigiiilieance in the Europeau markets, aud om- own liail uot to sutt'er as a consequence from that eveiit. The iuHueiices of the policy of his successor have yet to be seen; it is too soon to have any opinion thereupon. Operations on the stock market rlo not en¬ courage sales, and that fact has created expectation of a rally from the depression of the past two months. Reorganizations wherever perfected will help the situation much. Notwith¬ standing all that has heen said, Euroi)e is sure to come into oiu- market as a purchaser of the uew securities, and this will re¬ lieve the exchange positiou, which continues to give auxiety. The bear attack ou the Coalers proved uot as -suecessfnl as its originators expected it would be. As a matter of fact, they were away behiod time, inasmucli as the crisis iu the eoa.l trade caused hy the demauds of Readiug aud Lehigh A'^aUey had passed about sixty days hefore they began operations. Their attention is now directed to Northwest, hut it is hardly likely that they will be more successful in that, consideriugits dividend record for the past fifteen years, thau they were last Fall in New York Central and lately iu the coal stocks, iu which the amouut of stock brought out made protitable short selling an impossibility. With the opeuing of a uew month there is some talk of improved busiuess, based seemingly more on the theory that two such bad month.s as last cannot eome together than upou any positively favorable feature in the situation. The near approach of Wiuter does not much fortify the hope of any considerable activity, if it exists anywhere, which is improbable, because tbere is so genera! a wish to go slowly, eveu on predic¬ tions. The ruddy glare that characterized views last Fall is no¬ where present to-day, which is much better and probably more indicative of sound conditions^than the previous enthusiasm was. It is betvreen the optimistic and the pes.simistic that the right view is generally obtaiued, and thi-s remark is peculiarly fitted to the business situation to-day. Gl OLD exports have revived intereat abroad in the Treasuiy '" reserve of that metal and, while all the disadvantages of haviug so amall an amouut as $60,000,000 with which to keep good official promises as to gold payments in the face of an export demand are fully insisted upon, none of the mitigatiug circumstances receive any attention, Itis still the opinion of foreign economical writers that the Treasury is violating the law aud not custom merely in allowing the gold reserve to be less thau $100,000,000. Such misrepresentations explain part, at least, of the discredit of Araerican securities iu Europe, Affairs there appear to be as mixed as they are here. While advices from Berliu indicate some nervousness regarding the soundness of affairs iu Vienna aud Buda-Pesth, based at the moment largely upou a reported advance by the Finance Min¬ ister of three millions gold to the banks in order to enable them to carry on their hausse engagements witb greater facility, news from Vienna gives no indication of trouble, but on tbe contrary an official plan for capitalizing the Danubian improvements and raising the money at low rates in the different markets of Europe is heing circulated. Further it is proposed to reduce Auslro- Huugai-iau interest rates by the conversion of the debt. This will not be possible if trouble fall upon the two capitals of the Empire. At the same time reports have heeu long contiuued that busiuess was overdone in both aud particularly iu Buda- Pesth. The over subscription, by four times the amouut required uf the Canadian loan, is only another indication of the little desire investors have for anything hut tirst-class obligations otherwise there would be no such scramble for a low rate houd. This ia also proved by the quotations for Euglish hank shares which have, notwithstanding some curtailmeut of the banks' profit-making powers, appreciated considerably in the past year. As, however, these shares were much higher iu 1891 and 1892 than now, it may be that their rise from bottom prices of last year is a sign of returning confidence. Occasionally from Aus¬ tralia comes a report that busiuess is moving toward au improved condition, though in tlie uusatisfactory form of sacriticus made. For iustance, it is claimed that in the process of collecting on defaulted mortgages in Melbourne, landlordism has succeeded to a system of general individual proiirie tor ship. This tells who hear the burden of tiuancial disaster iu Melbourne at auy rate. The Argentine Republic is still struggling witb ita national and provincial debt problems; the cui-reucy apprecia¬ tion of the past months is naturally helping her in her efforts to arrange them advantageously. Government securities being the priucipal objects of attention in all the foreigu markets, it fol¬ lows that iu the present unsettled condition of European politics and their relations to the politics of the Orieut that those mar¬ kets will be disturbed for some time to come with speculation running only in the securities directly affected by political events ov rumors. UNDER any system that could he devised it is probable tbat some gold must move from place to place, but it does seem as if a plan ought to be adopted to avoid the contiuued move¬ ment of this metal fi-om oue governmeut vaul.t to auother, espe¬ cially considering the cost uf such removals. Accordiug to a statement recently issued by the Treasury Department the i-eqmrements for gold between March and October of this year at the principal centres of commerce, and mainly, uf course, at New York, caused tbe tran.sfer of no less a .lum than $47,:f07,- .'>00, all of which was carried long distances aud much the entire breadth of the country. The expense of these transfers was very heavy, uot only in view of the weight of the metal itself, hut becau.se its value renders it necessary that every precaution shall be taken for its safe carriage. In this instance the total expense amounted to no less a sum than $93,480. Ithas been more than once urged, in fact the question always comes up whenever there is a large export of gold, that the method of eari-yiug it from oue place to another is antiquated, cumbrous and dangerous to the integrity of the gold holdiugs of the world. Where the actual metal is used iu the daily transaction of retail business, as in Europe, gold mustmove accordiug to the demand at particular places for the time beiug, but in a country like this, where the currency passed from haud to hand is almost wholly paper or silver, it does seem as if some other arrange¬ ment could be made thau shippiug tbe metal from New York to Boston and from Philadelphia to Bostou, and .so forth. It has been suggested that even foreign trade balances should be settled by some fonu of gold acknowledgment instead of by sending the actual metal across the ocean, where the danger of loss to the world, if not to the individual shipper, is real, The expense of such a transfer would only be a very small fraction of the expense of shipping metal and the danger of lose woidd be entirely removed. If this plan could be made practicable as far as the foreign shipments of gold are concerned it certainly could be adapted to the internecine requirements. RECENT events have proved the truth of Moltke's saying that only thi-ee or four people know anything about a country's foreign polities. All the rest are in the dai-k and must accepc any situation tbat is prepared for them by the domi¬ nant few. Ouly the other day, England was thrown into a con¬ dition of panic simply by the caUiug together of the Cabinet, and although it is what is called a free country, with the gov¬ ernment vested in the people through their representatives iu Parliament, no one outside of its participants to-day is justified in saying that he actually knows what occupied the attention of that meetiug. In like manner, it is ouly through reports fi-om other countries that we here learned that our State Department had been asked to join outside intervention between China and Japan and had refused. The annouucement of the resignation of Chancellor Caprivi fell like the report of a bomb on the ears of the German people. It is the ignorance of the general masses that occasions war scares. For all that the scvereign peoples know, plans may already have heen made for a general outburst to settle the differences that agitate the diflerent nations of Europe; alliances may have been made and plans of campaign akeady determined upon. On the other hand, war may be farther off' than ever. Although really possessing no actual knowledge which would justify theii- fears, the European public is keeping itself in a coudition of nervous tension, ever dreading tbat their worst anticipations will be realized. England has for more than teu years now lis¬ tened with too willing ears to the stories of weakness in her fleet, Germany, ever siuce the treaty of Versailles, has dreaded the coming ot a recuperated France on one side and a jealous Russia on the other. The war fear has been kept up in other countries according to the degrees of closeness of their alliances to the great powers. The press has constant prayers, whieh they at the same time admit are of doubtful efficacy, that war may