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June 22,1895
Record and Guide.
1037
Devoted io Rej^l Estate.BtnLDif/o %^i(rrECTUR.E .HousofoiDDEOO^jm^
Bi/sn/ESs Atfo Themes opGEiJERfcl Irfrtftfil,
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Fublished eveiy Saturday.
Telephonh,.....- COBTnANBT 1370
Oommunloatlona sliouId be artdreeaed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veeey Street.
J. J. LINDSET. Bnainess Manager.
Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street,
Opf. Post Offiob.
" Entered al llie Posl-office at Ifew Tork, If. Y., as second'Class malter."
Looking beyond the mere fact of this loau, it is hard to imagine
that the great houses will approve a loau whose form at least is,
in some respects, frowned upon by Downing street and the
Chancellei at Berlin.
Vol. LV.
JUNE 22, 1895.
No. 1,423
' â– â– AN IMPOUTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
The Record and Guide will furnish you with daily detailed reports
of all building opei-ations, compiled to suit YOtm business speeificallij, for
14 cents a day. You are thus Icept informed of the entire market for your
goods. No guess ^vork. Every fact verified. Abundant capital and the
thirty years'experience of The Record and Guide jtiiaraRte the com¬
pleteness and authenticity of^lhis service. Send to 14 and IG Vesey street
for iiiformation.
ONE of the causes for the strong stock market aud the con¬
tinued reports of expansion iu trade and manufactures is
the evident weakness of the silver party in the couutry. The
conventions held in the South must have been bitterly disap¬
pointing to that party, because they uot only did not show that
the people who favored silver were eveu niiuierically stronger,
but did show that they were decidedly iufluentially weaker than
those who declared for the maintenauce of the preseut staudard.
Equally disappointing must be the efforts of the silver men to
obtain party or political indorsement iu auy ef the State con¬
ventions of either party. In fact, it looks very much as if the
ranks of the .silver men are thoroughly disorgauized except iu
Nevada, Montana aud Wyoiniuir. In view of this exhibition of
its weakness it is not surprising that iuvestors and business
men are beginning to discount the entire defeat of tlie silver
party in the coming elections. It would be too much to hope
that Congress when it uext meets will accept the situation and
pass a cuiTency reform measure that will be acceptable to the
business interests of the couutry, but there is the additioual en¬
couragement of the fact that the administration stands in the
way of any legislation adverse to them. If foreign investors
and speculators cau also be made to see that this "Ifi to 1"
bogey will surely be laid whenever it is presented to the votes
of the people, we can look for further activity both in the
seciuity markets and in the great tields of industry.
ARMENIA is apparently not to seriously disturb cither the
political or tiuaucial world. It is gettiug fcn be a matter
of wondei- how ea.si]y war is avoided in these days of big arma¬
ments; though, of course, the reason is largely in those arma¬
ments and scientific destroying forces which could iu a campaign
of half a year do more damage than was done iu half a century's
lightiiigm the old times. No ministry eould enter on war with
the gayety of former conflicts, knowing that whether its country
should win or lose, the loss iu brain and brawn, which no in¬
demnity could replace and no science could tind a substitute
for, would carry consequences nob pleasant to contemplate.
Since 1871 there have beeu many political complexities, eaeh
one of which would have been a sufficieut cause of war iu
auother age, but all of whieh were peaceably arranged. If this
should coutinue to be the ease war will be looked npou as an
impossibility, and the nation tltat gets the best of an awkward
situatiou, say as England did in Egypt, will feel safe and .secure
from interference. Because of an apparently geueral view of the
European powers that only uatioual existeuce would warraut
Betting loose the modern forces of war, the markets are showing
less and less sensitiveness to political crises. European trade
continues to improve; mouey continues, however, to increase
rather than dimiuish. It is lookiug a good way ahead to see the
world's resources well employed, and it may be accepted as cer¬
tain that the standard of interest ou investments, as well as of
current loaning rates, has undergone a permanent change. The
market is not stimulated by the aunouucemeut that China
â– will enter it as a borrower, under a Russian guarantee, aud as
a matter of fact it is highly probable that no such loan will ever
be offered. It has become an axiom that political events are
decided by the financiers; tbis event will likely attord au illus¬
tration of a reverse actiou, the politiciaus ruling the financiers.
rriHE Board of Estimate must have a very indistinct notion
-*- of what the public feeling in the matter is, if its hesitation
to supply the money requiied for the Department of Street
Cleauin is due to the belief that such a coiu'se would not be
sanctioned by the taxpayers. The citizens of New York have
become accustomed to cleaner streets, and will not tolerate for
a moment any relapse iuto the old dirty and sloveuly ways.
They know, too, that clean etreets mean the expenditure of
money, bnt so loug as the money is expended in cleaning the
streets they are not only williug that it should he spent, but â–
will insist upou it beiug spent. There is sense enough in the
commuuity to know that the largely preponderating expendi¬
ture iu this work is for manual labor, and it knows that Ihe fact
that that labor costs the city double its market value is not due
to the Department, but to an old state of thiugs fi'om which we
are experiencing a momentary relief, though still paying the
pecuniary penalty of its previous existence. However, clean
streets are a necessity, aud must bo had no matter what the
proper and reasonable cost. If any taxpayer feels aggrieved,
as all naturally will and should, tbey must apply to their rep¬
resentatives iu the Legislature to get repealed that piece of
legislative brigandage by whieh two dollars and fifty cents are
taken out of the taxpayers' pocket, to pay for a dollar and
twenty-five cents' worth of work.
THE Sinking Fund Commissioners held no meeting on
Wednesday la.st, aud so the conference with the Fu'e Com¬
missioners relative to the removal of the Buildiug Department
frora its existing locatiou, coruer of 18th street and 4:th avenue,
to the Fire Department headquarters buildiug on East 67th
street, with a view of saving rent to the city, goes over to the
next week's meefiug. It is understood that the Fire C'ommis.sion-
ei's will strenuously oppose the puttiug back into their buildiug
the Building Department, as it is claimed by them that there is
no surplus room therein, beyoud what is required for Fire De¬
partment uses. The existing possibility that the Buildiug De¬
partment may be removed from a convenient locatiou to an
iuconvenieut one, naturally suggests the questiou, why should
uot the city erect a building for the exclusive u.se of the Build¬
iug Department^ The Buildiug Department is a perinauent in¬
stitution, and its pre-seut necessities are gi-eat, and will iucrease
with the growth of population and the number of buildings
hereaftererected. Leased aud cramped quarters ueither gave
to the Department adequate facilities for tiie work of examina^
tion and inspection, uor to the public proper facilities for traus-
acting busiuess with the Department. A buildiug, covering
say two lots and four stories in height, would not furuish more
room than is absolutely required, looking fairly ahead to the
future. The city provides special buildings for fire engine com¬
pauies, for police stations, for minor courts aud other purposes.
The importance of the Building Department and the necessity
for the safe keeping of the valuable plaus and records relating
to buildiugs, require that a commodious building should be pro¬
vided by the municipality, and iu a locatiou convenient for the
buildiug trades to reach from all quarters of the city. The
entire cost for land aud buildings need uot exceed say .1>150,000.
An effort to secure such a building from the city must start from
some source, ami we call upon the various building trade organ¬
izations to move iu this matter, aud make knowu their desires
to the proper city authorities and secure such legislation as raay
be needed to accomplLsh the object sought.
TVTE are glad to be able to announce that that objectionable
' ' trade measure, known as "the bill to regulate the prac¬
tice of architecture " in New York State has failed to become a
law, uot having received the approval of Goveruor Morton.
Oue may rest assured this is not the last we shall hear of this
project. Certain architects iu New York City are possessed
with tbe idea that their professiou bas something to gain by be¬
ing made a State affair, regulated by parchment and big seals
and other legal solemnities. They desire to "professionalize"
by every extiiu.sie means possible a vocation which, indeed, is
fast becoming a. met^hanical business. Tbey want tbe State to
take a haud in their affairs and manufacture dignity for them
by establishing, at the public expense, au examination—of doubt¬
ful utility, to say the least. Natnrallytheymakctheirappealinthe
name of the "public good." It does not do in these matters to tell
the truth. It would never pay to make a frank confession some¬
what as folio w.s: We want to lim it competition as much as possible
amoug ourtselves because there is scarcely enough business to go
anuind aud we tiud that the public (uyou whom after all depends
tbe real vitality of art) prefer tawdry andshowy designs (at low
prices) to exquisite classical work (for which we have au exclu¬
sive but more costly recipe). We admit that with every class of