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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 67, no. 1732: May 25, 1901

Real Estate Record page image for page ldpd_7031148_027_00001131

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PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. PullWied every BaturAay. TELEPHONE, CORTLANDT I37O. ■Communications should be addressed tu C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. ]. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. "Kntcrcd at the Post-Opice of New Yorlc, N. 7., aa second-class matter." Vol. LXVU MAY :25,1901. No. 1732. llic Beeord aud Guide Quarterly for the thi-ec months just ended is now ready for delivery. All the records arranged for handy ref^-eiiee. 0)ic dollar and a half a copy, or five dollars a year. The (cheapest and best system of keeping records of real estate— conveymiees, mortgages, new hnildinf/s. etc, etc. If you would lilce to see it, send a postal card to The h'eeiird and Guide Quarterly, Nos. 14 and IG Vesey st., City, TRADING in the stock market this weelc was mainly pro¬ fessional. Toward the. middle of the week there were some indications of a growth in commission orders, but this was soon blighted by a movement seemingly designed to compel bears in Northern Pacific to cover and get that matter flnally dis- po^d of. The weakness in Union Pacific while Northern Pacifle was rapidly advancing was taken to be more than coincidental and to be indicative of a renewal of the struggle that brought on tbe disaster of a fortnight previous, so that the little bodies thought it best to take themselves out of the way, and systematic realizing was the result. Wall Street must always have a theory to account for the movements of the market,' and this serves at the moment. There is, however, reason, and that is better than theory, why quotations should decline; and that is that they have not yet discounted the overvaluations made in the fever and fervor of the late hull movement. With the sobriety induced by the "Krach" of two weeks ago, has come a truer appreciation of the underlying conditions. One or two things have occurred which helped to bring this about. The continua¬ tion of gold shipments, though in small volume, is one; the absence of ofiicial promise of tbe dividends so freely declared in tbe gossip and in the daily newspapers—as for instance ia the case of Missouri Pacific, still selling at a premium—is an¬ other; doubt of all the mischief caused by the Union Pacific- Northern Pacific fight being known is a third; and, not to appear to take a more gloomy view of the situation than we do, we will conclude with a fourth, the unsatisfactory relations be¬ tween employment and labor, which is perhaps the most serious of all, striking as it does at tbe very root of the national activity. But for this the situation outside of the stock market would be satisfactory, and it may, of course, become so if the labor trou¬ ble is quickly removed. ABROAD the commercial conditions are only improved to the extent that the great representative institutions take less gloomy views than they did a few months ago and seem to be coming to a view of what is necessary to meet the require¬ ments of the situation. Por all that, it is admitted that there is still a protracted period of dullness to get over. Events that have been named to time a recovery come to pass, but do not remove the dullness. For instance, it was said that the resump¬ tion of mining on the Rand would mark a revival in European business. Well, the stamps were set going at Johannesburg with much ceremony and in the presence of Lord Kitchener, but busi¬ ness if anything is duller than it was wheu the stamps were still. The ti-ouble with predictions of this kind is that they overlook a multitude of small but in the aggregate immensely important circumstances. In this very matter it was forgot¬ ten tbat after the loss and damage done at the mines it will be necessary to find and employ a large amount of new capital hefore the Rand gold mining industry is placed again upon a satisfactory basis. 11 is thought that this new capital will more than equal the production of the mines for some time to come, though that, however, is a matter more concerning the stock¬ holders than the public at large. To the latter the resumption of mining operations is agreeable, because it ought to end the semi-scarcity of gold that has existed for two years or more— indeed, since the South African supply was cut off. On this side of the Atlantic we are more concerned with the remedies pro¬ posed for what in Europe are called the evils of American com¬ petition, which seem at the moment to focus on a revision of the tafiffs on either side of tbe ocean; and if not on this, then to a degree to meet the omission on the other. Gustav Schwab, in au interview given to the press upon his return from Europe this week, bears witness to this tendency of thought abroad. It is natural to suppose that if other nations find we are taking away their trade that they will do something to check us wher¬ ever they can, and if this cannot be done in the workshops it will be. in the parliaments. Our extended industrial system now requires that we ourselves consider this matter seriously, and there are already signs that it is the problem uppermost in the minds of our statesmen. A Vital Principle Injured. T TT r HILE those directly interested in the dispute between V V the bricklayers and the mason builders will naturally find the cause of their regret in the immediate pecuniary dam¬ age that it is doiug, the student of the labor problem is more likely to deplore it for the injury it does to the cause of arbi¬ tration, or the satisfaction of differences in the trades hy justice under the guide of reason, instead of by the exercise of force. The instance is one of particular significance. It has been cus¬ tomary for a good many years to point to the masons of New York as a body who could carry on their relations in a rational and sensible way and to hold them up as an example for all other tradesmen to follow. The benefit arising to both parties from the annual agreements, and especially of the reiterated clause providing for arbitration of all differences were so obvious that it seemed impossible that they should ever drift apart and fall back ou the barbarities known as strikes and lockouts. It is therefore all the more melancholy to find that the present struggle arises from one party—the workmen—refusing to abide by the decision of their own arbitrators. If we look back at the history of the building trade in this city, we shall find reason for surprise in the fact that it is the workmen wbo are the offenders, because their condition has been one of steady improvement under the system of agreements, annually renewed, for establishing wages and settling disputes by a competent court selected by themselves and their employers. By going back only to the strike of 1S84 and comparing the con¬ dition of the bricklayers then with what it was when the pres¬ ent unfortunate dispute arose, we can show that they had sub¬ stantial reasons for guarding and cherishing the principle of arbitration, rather than for violating it, as they have done. In 1S84 the day was one of ten hours and the pay ^i. With no rule to bind either side, the men had often to lose two or three hours of a Saturday waiting for their pay, and in the slack seasons the rate of pay was lowered, so tbat 40 cents an hour was only a nominal figure, or at best obtainable only in the busy seasons. Work was often interrupted and much bad feeling engejidered by disputes, often over trifles, and the absence of a reasonable and scientiflc method of dealing with them. The object of the strike of that year was to establish a nine-hour day, with pay at the same rate as for the ten-hour day, viz,, $4; and on that issue the men were thoroughly beaten after being out about three months. The strike, however, had one good result; it convinced both sides of the necessity of securing a stable basis upon which to work in future, and an arrangement was made for annual agreements, which has operated admirably until now. The direct results to the workmen were gradual advances of pay from 40 cents to 55 cents an hoiir, an eight-hour day, Saturday half holiday, pay within half an hour after leaving work at noon, weekly instead of bi-monthlj' payments, a regular rate of pay all the. year round and protection against arhitrary acts on the part of the employers in a court of appeals in whose constitu¬ tion and construction they bad an equal voice with the latter. Moreover, their field of labor was extended by the inclusion of the fireproofing. AU these things were obtained without fric¬ tion and witbout the loss of income that a strike always entails. With so much gained, one would think the men would have sacrificed something for a principle through which it was en¬ tirely obtained, rather tbau invite a return to the old slipshod system by which they were undoubtedly the greatest sufferers. They owed it, too, to the cause of labor in general, as well as to their own individual interest, to do everything in their power - to uphold the principle of arbitration. It is here where the greatest cause of regret is found, in the encouragement this dis¬ pute will give to those who hold that trade differences cannot always be settled by reason, and that passion and force must be the final arbiters. The moral and material advantages of arbi¬ tration have been too clearly demonstrated for this dispute to destroy it entirely, but it must be admitted that, coming, as it I