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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 54, no. 1394: December 1, 1894

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DcccabcT 1,1894 Record and Guide. 7J5 ESTABUSHED ^ MARCH 2iu\ IB6 8. DEV&■Id)ToflE^LE:sT^TE.BmLDTI/G AR,cifB,......Cortlandt 1370 Cominunloalions should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vosey Street. J. 1. LIA'DSET, Busineas Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 WASnixoToN Street, Opp. Post Office. " Entered at the Post-office at Kew Tork. N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. liv. DECEMBER 1, 1894. No. 1,394 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately foUowing New Jersey records (page 822). BUSINESS continues in an unsatisfactory stiite. Thero are individual merchants and manufacturers who speak cufonragiiigly of the outlook a« reflectctl in the limited I'leld tliey .snrvcy, but the outward a.si)ect of things is not encourag- ]!!.«:. 'i'liia is due largely to the fact that the teudency of the public inind is siifhth-ifc only bad news ha.s any intiuence. If it were not for this gloom it would be impossible to understand tbe decline in BurliDgton aud Northwest on the reduction of their dividend:*, in view of their prices and the value of money at the time of the reductiou, the certainty long before that they would be less aud their record as dividend payers. The remarkable iltop in the "9"! price of steel lails is accepted as a bad sign, althoiifth it shuts out outside competition and ought to bring business. But as the Carnegie drop to .^25, in Jauuaiy last, failed to give any impetus to tho steel rail bu.'dness it is argued that the recent agTeement to reduce prices need not uecessaiily make trade. AVall street leriects this humor or tendency of the public mind aud in addi¬ tion is raising the bogey of legislatiou adverse to trading and tiuancial interests when Congress meets ou Monday. Congress is such au uncertain quantity that it does not do lo speak with auy confidence as to what it wilt do, bnt a.s a set of marionettes ought to have learned from i-ecent events that measures aft'ect- ing trade and finauce are for the moment "bad politics," there is a gleam of hope that fhey avi 11 be let alone dunng the short peiiod that Congress will sit. if that is so, any farther drop will make most secuiities look very cheap, and that fact may induce a speculative movement for a rise. AVhen we remember that, witli one brief exception, the market has been heavy or depressed sinee last August, during which time business has improved aud railroad earnings have shown some tendeucy to iiici'ea.se, it seems as if a reaction should come as a uiatter of course, but, as before remarked, the times are out of joint and ordinary influences do not prevail. EUROPEAN advices generally express the belief that tbe period of very cheap money on the other side is about at au end: that the iucieastug demands for capital and the returning coufideuce of its owners will gradually advance rates to normal figures. The London ficfliioiiiisf, commenting'on the new issue of bonds by our (Tovernmeiit, says: " Unless there is a radical change in the currency system, putting gold into tlie Treasury is like pouring water into a sieve. The .Cli;,00l),000 it ma.y uow obtain will be drained away as have been the £12.000,Oli(t it obtaiued in February hist." Tbe lioard of Trade reports au improvement in the labor market for October; owing to the close of the Scotch coal miners di.spute the pig-iiou and steel trades have improved largely. The Tarirt' CunimiMee ol the French Chamber of Deputies has under consideration a most extraor¬ dinary measure. Tliisia to cmjwwer the giiveriimeiit to collect duties specitietl in any meaauie for cliaiigiiig the taritt' dur¬ ing ifs discussiiiii; in the event of failure to pass the nieasut'e importers arO to have returned to them new duties or increases. I'he idea is lo prevent specula¬ tive importations while taritt's are under discussion, bnt the result would be endless confusion in the busine.ss of importers. ■Iust now the export business of France shows sigus of improve¬ meut; in October, the exports exceeded the imports, though in the year there is a balance of .liH;o,OOO,OO0ag'ainst that country. Berliu persists iu sel liu gon the rise iutheA^icuna market haviug uo confidence in prices in the dual-em pi re. The Germau sugar trade is agitating for au iucrease in the export bounties. The substi¬ tution of silver for small paper money is proceediug .succes-sfnlly iu Austria and Hungary. Since Jnly, thirty-five million of one florin notes have been withdrawn and replaced by silver of various denominations and the grumblings of the public which were heard at first have died away. This shows that there is no real difficulty in inducing people to use silver instead of small paper. State billsof higher denominations have been withdrawn and replaced by nine inillion florins worth of bank bills. The reduced exports of agricultural pioduce have caused a falling off in the excess of total Austrian exports ovei" imports for the first nine months of this year, the same cause will probabl.v iufiuence the figures uutil the uext harvest prospects are kuown. Brazil proposes to issue a $:iO,000,000 loan for the retirement of the paper luoney issued to meet expenditures iu suppressiug the late insurrection and to meet deficiancies of revenue, but the condition of the country's finance will r.ot encourage investors to run for it. The Argentina are disappointed of the business revival which was anticipated as a result ot good crops and wool clip. Au upfriendly estimate of the cost if a French expe¬ dition to Madagascar is .'f;50,000,000 and the necessity of kee]i- iug a permanent garri.ion of 10,000 men on tbe island which can be of little direct value to France. ^ECURITY-HOLDERS are strongly suggestive of Russian ^ peasants in their capacity to bear ill-usage. They must be fatalists or they would never be eo patientunder the iii.)nries that are put upon them. As never anything practical is heard from them they may be pictured as regarding their losses from what ia erroneously called the philosophical view, and whicii ia reall,y only the sheerly stupid, and as a punishment for their sius, an act of fate against which it is useless to struggle. The latest iustance inwhich the peculiarly assinine qnality of the investor is exercised is that of the Cordage secuiities. It is not necessary to use hard words iu referring to the incorporation and manipulation of the original compauy, everyone knows how to characterize tJiat. But it seems that the reorganization was worse rather than better in character than the organization. This was carried out by the floating debt creditors who seem to have taken everything there was to take to make their owu claims good, or as gootl as the means at tiieir dispo.sal would permit, even to taking tbe collateral of the Security Company's bouds now represented by the guaranteed stock. Heavy assessments were laid upon the preferred aud common stock and all information regarding the assets aud lia¬ bilities of the old company was withheld until they were paid, it being ouly then and mouths after his appointment that Receiver Loper's inventoiy was tiled with the Court. Since the reorganization the prices of the securities of the uew conipany have coustantly fallen and there is talk of it.s inability to meet; the interest due Januai^y 1st next on $7,500,000 first mortgage bonds. The preferred stock is selling below the assessment aud the commou near it. These assessments are supposed to have realized $3,000,000, which was to be used only as working cap¬ ital. Now what has become of all that money '! The company has had to seek financial assistance within about a year of its being paid, aud in the circumstance of the cordage trade it is hardly possible that the assessment can have been wholly absorbed in the legitimate busiuess of the company. Here is a matter on which the preferred and common stockholders should demaud to be enlightened. For their owu good they canuot too soon be informed of the manner in which the old conipany was reorganizedandwhatisthefinanci.il condition of the new oue. THE question of currency reform is forging to the front. There may be two opinions about tbe expediency of dis¬ cussing it Just at this moment, but there is no doubt wliatevcr ofthe necessity of doing so sooner or la ter. The operation of tiiuU iug the requisite kind of money with wliich to subsci'ibe for the latest issue of Government bonds has shown this, aud, as an im¬ portant incident thereto, the position of tbe Treasury in the matter. A departmeut tbat holds up fo the odium of the com- munit.v an individual ora firm that makes upon it aperfectly.iust aud legitimate demand, as the Trea-siiry Department tlid re¬ cently in piiblisiiiiig the names of the people who withdrew f;oId Irom it, obviously ought to have its powers for nii.schief cur¬ tailed. No one will donbt that in jiuiiliahing the names the Treasury soughl to deter people from preseiitiug legal lenders I'or gold and Indireialy to force Ihe gold now iu the banks into the Treasury. Thisisaiiotherof I he elephantine tactics of the ponder¬ ous and blind iiolicy, nr course rather, that was inaugurated by the preseut chief of the Treasury Department. With sucli things possible the demand for rcfoiiii will bo continuous and loud and will force the matter into prominence, whether the business of the country is in a condition to stand a discussion ou such a vital aud iuiportant question or not. Mr. Carnegie has uttered a sen¬ sible word against plunging the country into this contest at this time; given ordinaiy circumstances it would undoubtedly be better deferred uutil business is on its feet again, but as it stands there is much to be .said iu favor of taking it up at once, aud so arriving at the earliest possible solutiou iu iirefereucc to holding it in abeyance and keeping the business of the eouutry at the mercy of au incompetent Treasury Department, Boiled J