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,6ctober 2l, 1894
Record and Guide.
585
established"^ IWPHSl^'^ 1B68.
De/oTED to RE^L EsWE. BuiLDlf/o %cKlTECTUI\E ,^{o^JSE;riOLD DECQUATIOrf,
Bilsii/Ess AtJb Themes ofGe|JeraL 1Kter.£s1.
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370
Communloatlona should he addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street,
J. 1. LIA''DSEY. Business Manager.
Bbooklyn Office, 276-282 WAsntNGTOiSf Street,
Opp. Post Offiob.
"Enlered at Ihe Post-office at New Fwfc, JT. Y., as second-class malier,"
Vol. liv.
OCTOBEli 27, 1894.
No. 1,389
For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately
foUowing ^'ew Jersey records (paqe 610).
THERE is uotliing harder for outsiders than to get accurate
reports of commercial conditions iu auy departmeut. In
ninety*nine cases out of a liimdred the iuterest of insiders lies
in making thiugs appear hetter than they are, and it is ouly after
the lapse of a considerable time that the real truth gets out. In
the East railroad reports showing better, it is assumed that busi¬
ness must have improved, and it no doubt has. But does the
West follow suit? It is feared not. Eeeent reports show that Chi¬
cago's idle population is as large as ever, and the following ex¬
tract from the letter of a Chicago iirm, whose business
ie a good indication of the buying powers of the
working classes, on which any improvement must be based,
gives a graphic picture of real conditions: " We have uever
seeu business quite so dull as it is now. We have sent men out
one after the other for the last three or four weeks, and they
have all beeu forced to return uuablc to do any business, that
is, business enough to warraut keepiug them out. We have had
two men iu Indiana, three iu llliuois, one each iu Missouri,
Iowa aud Wisconsin, and they all report the same condition of
things—merchants iu receipt of their fall goods, stocked up iu
their stores and waiting for business which has not yet developed.
It is believed that a little cold weather will start thing.s, but as
yet there has beeu uo such weatlier through the West. All the
reports wc get on the trade situation are the same as those we
receive fi'om our men; all agree that trado is very, very dull,"
This state of things is naturally reflected in the New York
stock market, wheie Western railroad securities occupy
so prominent a place aud gives a gloomy toue to
movements there. There is a general expectation, too, that the
unsatisfactory condition of the coal market will result in the
disorganization of the pool which has held the anthracite pro¬
ducers together so long. This has been threatened a great mauy
limes since its formation in the seventies, but has always
hitherto beeu averted by the good sense of tbe producers.
Times are different now. There cannot be a doubt that
with mild weather and limited manufactures the coal trade
Bufl'ers and the smaller producers most, but in a fight the case
of the latter would be utterly hopeless. The position of Read¬
ing aud its ueeds for larger income may make a readjustment
of percentages neces.sary, but notwithstanding all this the con¬
viction will force itself forward that short operations ou the
Coalers for a big decliue are very dangerous, especially as their
several mauagcmeuts have shown so much good sense and con¬
servatism siuce their bitter lesson of '77. If the coalers are a
sale it is more for the same reasons that affecc other issues than
for any well-grounded belief that a coal fight of long duration
is imminent. The maintenance of exchange at the gold shiiiping
point continues to occasion anxiety.
FOREIGN reports give a good deal of space to the influence
of the news of the impending death of the Czar of Russia
upon prices. Berlin and Vienna, because their markets had
previously been the most buoyant, sufiered most. But as a scare
very seldom works twice it may be concluded that there is noth¬
ing more to be feared fi-om that cause. There is little or no
change to record in commercial conditions abroad. Wherever
the returns are made up there is evidence of some increase in
manufactures, but the supply of raw materials eoutiuues to be
so much in excess of demand that prices of none of the great
staples have a show to advance. This is borne out by the Sep¬
tember trade reports of Great Britain for instance, which show
imports to bave fallen ofl 3.6 per cent iu value and little or none
in quantity. Exports decliued 4.2 per cent. Returns for Sep¬
tember from the French indirect taxes are the most uusatisfac¬
tory of the year, beiug nearly $2,000,000 less thau the estimate
and $1,800,000 less thau in the same month laat yeai-. The
City of Paris proposes within the next three months to enter the
market for a loan of $40,000,000. The natioual government is
soon to be again a large buyer of silver; this time for the manu
factiire of medals for decoration for civic and military ser
vices iu tbe colonies. Itis estimated that from seven to eight
tons of silver will be reciuired: its purchase will be extended
over three yeiU'S. Rouniauia i.s undergoing a mild comiiiercial
crisis which is being felt in Berlin, where also stock exchange
busiuess bas a further setback iu the proposal to reform the meth¬
ods of dealing iu the next Parliamentary session. This is driving
to Londou, Paris and Amsterdam the busiuess that remained
after the enactment of tlie boiu'se tax. German trade returns
for August ^show a falling oft' of 4.9 per cent of imports and 8.2
per cent of exports. Vieuua iuterests have purchased a large
estate in Galicia, ou which buriHy for oil is to be carried out on
au extensive scale. About 30,000,000 of one-florin notes have
heen M ithdrawn and replaced by silver. Apparently tho flrst
objections to the use of silver iustead of paper are fading out of
the public mind. The withdrawal of the fifty-florin notes is the
next move in the currency reform of the dual Empire. The
Indian jute crop pi oinises to be slightly above the average with
the quantity available for export about 35 per ceut greater than
last year. Statistics relating to tbe trade of Japan show that the
Uuited States, while its largest individual customer, has only a
small portiou of its patronage; we taks about 32 per ceut of her
exports and send only 14 per cent of her imports. The Uuited
States ^Consul General at Kauagarra has recently pointed out
that the largest part of the American cotton used in Japan is
bought in Londou and Liverpool, and naturally asks why this
trade should uot be doue directly, and the profits, freights andu
insurance go to Americans 1 \
PRESIDENT ROBERTS joins in the cry for the massacre ol
the inuocent junior railroad secm'ities aud thereby aff'orda
an illustration of tbe nonsense that may come fi'om unexpected
quarters. That the financial columns of the daily press should
coutaiu cawing demauds for cutting and slashiug among the
junior securities of bankrupt properties is not surprising,
because wheu oue sets up a cry the others are sure to follow.
It is surprising, however, that some will caw as loudly as they
do notwithstanding their connection with people who are
responsible for the coudition which so many junior securities
are in. There are many others who join in the talk about wiping
out securities who might with equal taste be quite silent. Pres¬
ident Roberts uo doubt spoke as a man who cannot look mth
indifi'erence on the present condition of the laUroad business,
bnt it is impossible that he could have thought out the logical
results of cancelling in reorganization stocks and bonds that
even at the present quotations represent hundreds of millions of
dollars, or he would uever have suggested that this be done.
Eveu admitting that it would bo a very happy state of things if
every representative of railroad property aud business was on an
iuvestment basis, that coudition would only last uutil the pro¬
moter could get out some uew prospectuses. But there is a ..
much more serious consideration thau that. The seciu-ities
which are the subject of so much abuse are held all over the
country. They have some value which the owner can realize by
going into the market aud selling liis holdings. Now, if the
people who hold resources counting up into the hundreds of
millions of dolliirs wake up ouo day to find them carried away,
would they be the only sufferers 'I In the past eighteen months
there has beeu seen the results of sudden shrinkages in values,
but if in the moderate period in which reorgauizations might be
effected so much more representative value should utterly per¬
ish we should see a much larger [contraction of business than
has yet beeu seen as a re.sult of the lessening of the resources
for carrying it on. Even people like Mr. Roberts who, in the
comfort of affl-ueuce, talk so glibly of wiping out, would find
their fortunes imperilled, and the dividends and interest that
now seem to them so sure of payment iu dauger. It is a pity
that the experiment of cutting out from railroad secm-ities
everything not on a paying basis could not be tried for the sole
benefit of Mr. Roberts aud the Pennsylvania railroad, aud as an
object-lesson to others who talk as foolishly. Holders of junior
securities who may have been disturbed by this talk may take
comfort from the fact that the policy of the courts of the eouutry
inclines towards giving them opportnuities to obtain recogni¬
tion in reorganizations, aud that if they will combine for mutual
protection all the disasters of the past few years will not fall
upon them, nor they be deprived of the chances that the future
may have in store for thom.
THE indictment of the Atchison officials for violations of the
Inter-state Commerce law, in giving rebates to shippers,
by the Federal Grand Jury &hould be good uews to everyone
who believes in upholding the law. If the cooking of accounts
to deceive security holders could also be made auoft'oEseand
actually punishable under that law, the public uiight probably
be benefited. That is, however, not by any means sure, because,