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March 10,1891
Record and Guide.
365
Dented to F^E^L EsTME.BllLDlfi'G ^R.crflTEeTUnE.Ko^SEKOU>DEGQF^T10rf,
Bt/sif/ESs Aifo Themes oFGEfJERAL Il/Tt[\Esi.
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Published every '•<alurduy.
Tbi.kphonk,......CORTl-VNirr 1370
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YOL. LID.
MARCH 10, 189-1.
No. 1,356
THE .stock iiiiU'ket coiitain.s wore sigus of wholesome impi'ove-
jiieiit tliiiii liiive bcMi seen in it for some time. Tliis is
apart irom the \\ ilil movements of .Suitsar, because it will not
liave e.seajied notice that wliile the jreneral market rose wheu
that erratic star ot the specnltitive tinnameut rose it made uo
piopoi'tionate decline when it fell. Moreover, there h.-is in the
Inst week been ver.v j;ood luiviiif; of lailroad bonds, which is
iilways a, favorable indication. Wliile .''^ugar occupies most
attention the more impoitant fact i.s the strength of the
rest of the list. .Another fact that was, not uniiattiiall.v.
favoi'iibly regaitled wtis that there wei'e no orders for gold to
go out on to-day's steamers. Exchiinge was so near the
shipping point that shipments wei'e thought to be inevitable
when the da.v tor making remittances came, [f this turning
biick of gold as it may be called is due to a change of opinion in
Eurojie ou the value of loans on this side it will have a ver.x
important beariii.i; on the prices of securities lieic In gcneial
business there is also imiirovenient in a small way. but not
enough to wariaiif any lio]ic of very niaiked change until if is
clearl.v seen what loini the Wilsmi tarillbill is to liiiaM.\ take it
it is to be passed al all.
THE re])oits from European tinancial and <'oiiimercial centres
are meagre in detail, and do not contain iinyfhing that
would .idve the imiiression that the small measure of improve¬
ment lecorded last week liatl been lost, or that an.vthing had
occurred fo desfrtiy the hope that that iiiiprovemeut is only a
beginning of a betteicondition that is to last for some time. ,\
curious (inestion has aiiseii in London, that of the right of a
broker to use as collater.d securities. ]nesuinably paid fcir. left
with hiill b.v his ciistoniers. The London .Stock Exchange has
repudiated any sym)iathy «ith such a ]iiactice. and declared that
any menibei' found .uiiilt,\ of il would be evpwlled. Xotwitli-
stauding a plethora of iiioiie.\ in London and the better tone to
business there, there is a]iiiaiently no general desire to bu.v
.Americans, for which we have to thank onr ciineiicv theorists
in Cougiess. The Ereiich rhaniber of Deputies has agreed to
increase the dut.v on wheat about 40 per cent, and pending the
discussion of this (]uestion the records of the imports have not
beeu publi.shed, in ordei-. ]ii'obably. thaJ the public may
not know how Parliament is helping a gigantic sjiecu-
lation in imported wheat. The customs treaty with Russia
is ^till the great tojiic of discus.sion in (ierinaii.y and
the guiding princijile in the niovemeiit of stocks and the
I'lospecfs for business. So far the signs ai'e for an
ultimate apjnoval of the treaty in the Reichstag, and, as a consc-
â– quence, while business is ver.v sbiw, juices are strong. In A'ienna
bank and indnsftial stocks have giiinediu price, though railroads
do not share fhe advani'c. There are more signs that lludapest
is in an aih anced stale of 1.....in, and no moneyed cen're is more
cxxjectant of a coti.sei)Uent collajise than is A'ieiina ; therefore,
the colia)ise, when it does ciimc, b.v reason of ihe waiiiing that
has been given and the ]ireparatioiis that have been made to
meet it, will iiiobahl.\ be local in ils ett'ects. The goverument
will purchase the new docks opened iu Trieste iu lytH. The
Italian Minisfei' of Eiiiance has made public figures sho^-ing
that for years deficiencies have been concealed, that the.v have
grown to about ."i*:!."!,!UMl,001 (for last, year aud that the treasury
has iu consei|iu'Uce a floating debt of .'filOO.OOO.Ofio. Ever.v
kiud of eft'ort is to be made to meet this and provide for future
needs, reiluction of interest on the |iublic debt, income tax, etc.,
and some recourse to the printing press. The Argentine gov¬
erument has dei'ideil oil large eiiconoinies and the ett'ect has
been good on its securities abroad.
almost uuiversiilly done the one thing that wiis wise iiud prudent
during tlie season of jirolonged business depression through
which the cotintry has passed. Tliey have held to their proper¬
ties and maintiiiued values, though the ricissltuiles of the last
eight months have reii'jired some sacrifices and the teniiitations
and alarms iit criticid moments made necessary large drafts
upon Iheir reserve strength. Tliere is every reason to believe
that the tide has turned: that the worst is altogether past,
and that every coming day will biing improvement to all
the conditions that govern the market. ihe renting
season in the dry-goods district was a poor one, but
it is past. In the oflice district brokers without excep¬
tion report a satisfiictory demand, and in all the residence
quarters the demand is fidly up to expectations for this season
of the year. .Many report that the deniiind for small houses at
from .'i^'.lOO to )j<l,-500 per ye.ar is many times in excess of the
supidy. liut this is necessarily so. New York is every year
becoming less and less a city of independent homes and more
jiiid more a city of hotels, iipartment houses. Hats and tenements,
in which only the wealthy can iitturd folive in iiideiiendeiit homes.
Kapid Transit may again make possible another era of indi¬
vidual homes in this city—in its northern sections: but Man¬
hattan Island seems destined to become the most densely
thronged spot u)uiii the surface of the ejirtli. .Already
it contains over 7-">.0iM» people to the square mile,
while Chicago, the next most densely populated city in this
country, contains less th;iu 7,500. But cou.solidation is oneof
the events of the not distant future, and the nijin who will not
live in apartments may have a home all to liiin.stdf in Brooklyn
orStiileii Island, or Flushing or Westchester, if he chooses, aud
still be a citizen of New York City. .\s our Gossip columns show,
the house-buying sea.sou hiis begun, iind many a builder who
has with dismay seen the ]irolits fnim pit.st iirodiictirm vaiiLsh
into thin air, wliile interest and taxes be.gan to'etit into his sur¬
plus, now breathes in relief iind new hope. It will be
only in I'onfiirniiry with the haditionsof the market for things to
imiuove riipidl.\ rnini this on fill the 1st of Mi\y, and td continue
with giadiiiilly dimiiiishing activity from then to about the 1st of
Seidcniiiir. w hen file fall sinsoii will begin, i'or investment
properlies. lliere are jilenty of liuyers ami plenty of mouey, but
owners do not care to piirf with siidi property, except iit fancy
lU'ices. Ill times like these they would natniiilly think tmce
about jiartiiig witli such iiroperty until an eqiiidly good invest¬
ment could be shown them. The auction niiirket has beguu to
.show indications of the life which chaiiicterized it ii .year ago.
It is long since so large a crowd hits attended au auction sale as
faced Mr. I'eter F. .Me.ver at the partition sale of fifteen piircels,
on Wediiesdii.v, aud iilthough there was nothing startling-iu the
prices obtained, neither was there anything to cheek the pros¬
pect of a revival of auction sales.
WU.VT if lirooklyn, Stiiteu Island and ijuecns County
decide to cast their lot with New York? Tliis raises a
question of luobiibly greater material interest to New York thau
it does to either of the outlying districts which it is proposed to
consolidate with New York, It concerns Brooklyu coni]iarativelv
little. It may stimulate the .growth of Kings County in a slight
degree; but the future of that section is assured li.v its close
proximity to New York, and the facility of communication
between the two cities, and no very startling materiid changes
for Brooklyn Ciin follow immediately. But wiiaf will lie the
effect of consolidation on New York ,' The cit.v has a lociil
policy which it lias been jiursuing ardentl.v, if not urgently,
during niiiiiy .veins. This ptdic.v is inauifested in .schemes for
rapid tiaiisit, new parks, new boulevards, new sewers, aud uew
Harlem River ini]iiovenieiits. All thin.Ks have been tending
towards ]ironioting the interests of the North End or of the
North Side, as the people be.yond the llitrlem like best to call
their section. How long would this polie.y be continued after
consolidatliiu bicaine an accomplished fact? Would the nearlv
two hundred thousand voters in Kings, Queens and Kiehmond
Counties feel much interest iu the North .Side? A^'(ulld thev
vote for rapid tran.sit northward, ^^ere the decision ]diiced under
tlieir control 'I Or would the.v ^'ote to expend money for the
embellishment of new parks which tlie.v never saw and hardly
ever expect to see'? But ne must bring these questions to ii
liei'iod, or we slndl exhaust the interro.gatiou jioinls. Lociilities
are best served )).v lociil iiolitical control. But it is a very hard
thing to prevent men from constructing a ]ii.tr city when tliey see
the material lying iiround loo.se. Tlieieaii])eais to be something
bewildering or at the least dazzling to tlie averiige man in the
idea of a big city, aud if it is so big that he has to jiiiich himself
sometimes to make .sure of his ]>ersonal ideiifily he feels that his
own obscurity casts no reflection ou the grandeur of his estate.
^^PRlNf J has brmight a perceptible increase of activity to the
*-^ ieal estate market. Of strength, no increase was uece.ssary
or desirable. The holders of New York City real estate have
IF consolidation over the seveiid hundred square miles of ter¬
ritory which are to make up the future metropolis must
come, a consummation for which we confess we liave not
labored, it should bo ti uew kind of cou.solidation, something