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September 21, 1895
Record and Guide,
863.
£te^y|ifiTo(HLE^TWE.BtJiLDiKG%cilrrECTUi^>{<wsEM0iBDEi3at^n^
Bifsnfess-jufc)Themes OF GETiEiv*tI|ftraf»T.^
PfflCE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
Telephone,......Coetlandt 1370
Uommuntoatlons should be addressed to
C. W. SVv'EET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J. 1. LINDSET. Business Manager.
Bkooklyn Opfice, 276-282 Washington Street,
Opp. Post Office.
" Entered at the Post-office at Neto York. It. F., as seewnd-class matter."
Vol. LVI. SEPTEMBER 21. 1S95. No. 1,4:^0
The Ri^cord and Gviit^ will furnish yonwith daily detailed reports
o.f all building operations, compiled to snit YOnii business specifically, for
1.4 vents a day. You are thus kept informed of the entire market for yonr
goods. No guesswork. Every fact verified. Abundant capital and the
thirty years'experience of Thv. Rkcord axd GviDT, guarantee the com¬
pleteness and authenticity of this service. Send to 14 ami 16 Vesey street
for information.
AS far as the money and excliiiugo markets are concerned,
receut developments have brought out some circumstances
favorable to them. There is evidently a better demand for funds
for commercial purposes than there has "been for a long time.
This may ouly endure untilthe crops move and the winter brings
its in ter fe reuce â– ^â– itli many occupations, but it is very useful
just uo^v, because it malies rates better aud briugs idle mouey
from abroad to seek employment here. A further couseqiience
ol: this state of things is that the dauger of gold shipmeuts is
lesseued and the Treasury's position made more secure.
Of course, the final cessation of gold exports depends upon our
ability to market our products abroad iu greater quantities than
yye have dmie. This ought to be i)ossible soou, but it is a matter
upon which, as the past two or three years have taught us, we
caunot count with positiveness. As regards speculation the in¬
crease iu the call for mouey for use Iu legitimate trading chan¬
nels is uot favorable to ifc when the demand is suBicieut to
materially iuorea-seloauiug rates. Moreover, the rise iu prices
since lii.st February has been very substantial, aud uutil the
shake-up of last week, fairly contitiuous, yyithout extensive re¬
actions, so thattho.se who believe iu lower prices for tlie near
future have plenty of precedent iu pre\'iou.sniovetuents to justify
their views. We are, too, cuteriugon au other period of currency
discussion, the natural prelude umder our preseut circumstances
to the meeting of Congress in December. Although the argu¬
ment is in a large measure ore-sided, there is no oue who will
predict that the comiug session of CougTesswill see any relief
att'orded to the Treasury from that quarter, and so long as this
is the general belief the coudition ot the Treasury will be a dis¬
turbing factor iu finance and to some measiu'e iu trade.
many. Belgium, will be unwilling to bear the burden of
recovering a country it has beeu unable to protect, tbe other
powers canuot allow it to relapse into savagery, aod tbo
measures for its settlement will offer opportunities for endless
jingoism and, of course, the flow of ink.
^IR WILLIAM HAROOURT'S plau for a graduated inherit-
>^ ance tax hae beeu thus far successful. It was in force for
the last two-thirds of the Government's fiscal year, aud it not
ouly produced within $200,000 of the round $5,000,000
estimated, but the friction over disputes was much less than
was exiiected. Tlie total amount of property that became
chargeable to duty was $449,000,000, of which $375,000,000
was personalty aud $74,000,000 realty. 'J'he uext movement
in the line of iucreasiug the coutributions ot the rich to the
burdeus of the Htate, likely to be tried in Euglaud, is a tax on
unearned increments. Several members of tbe late adminis-
tiatiou were known to favor it, and in due time it will be
pressed upon the present one, perhaps to its undoing. The
report of the Board of Trade on the operation of the British
railways in 1S94 shows that the uet rtM'cnue increased 2 per
ceut and the capital 4i.2per ceut, the latter fact conipelling a
reduction of dividends to the lowest figure recorded on the
whole capital iu any year except that of the gi'cat coal strike,
1893. This matter of capital-increase is the tlirear-ening
feature in the future of the Euglish lines. The new (xovern-
ment gives Lancashire no encouragement whatever in the
matter of the Indian cotton duties. Turkey's eiuiden resolve to
"yrant" reforms iu the goverumeut of Armenia may havebeeu
influenced by the fact that she has had to come iuto the market
again to replenish her exchequer. She has nothing on which
to make a uew loan, so the conversion of the "» per cent
Custom's loan iuto a 4 per ceut stock, with the amouut increased
to give fresh fuuds to the Government is ou the boards. If the
news of anarchy iu (he Congo Free State is confirmed it is
likely to create squabbling among,England, France aud Gcr-
r I iHE Board-of Education is complaining that it cannot pro-
-*- eeed with the work of converting the old Essex Market
into a temporary school-house because it caunot get its plans
through the Department of Buildings, where tliey have beeu
since June last. Dissatisfaction witb the Departmeut continues
to be very general among architects and builders of this city,
because of the uureasonable time their plans are held awaitiug
approval. These delays interfere seriously with their several
occupations, to say nothing of the loss of time and the annoy¬
ance occasioned. Material meu also seriously feel the etfects of
the delay. This dissatisfaction will, uudoubtedly, take the form
of united public remonstrance uuless it can be removed by tbe
adoption of a speedier system of passing plans through the De¬
partment. The complaints do uot refer merely to plaus for
hirg'e and important buildings where the necessity for elaborate
verifications justifies the utmost of proper aud reasonable delib¬
eration, but apply proportionately, if uot equally, to the smaller
and uuimportant ones. The Superintendent of the Department
is reported as saying, in reference to the condition of the work
in his care, that the Department is not goiug to take auychauces
of a repetition of the catastrophe at the Ireland Building. Out¬
side the Department that statement will have very little weight,
because it is not claimed that if tbe Ireland Building had been
erected in accordance with the plans as pa.ssed by Mr. Con¬
stable's predecessor ou a sound foundation that the accident
would still have occurred. It is certain that tlio Department
has paid very scant attention to suggestions and demands for
the enlargement of its force aud accommodations. Promises,
indeed, have been made from time to time of a prompter dis¬
patch of the business of the Department, but apparently the
Departmeut has been unable to satisfy reasonable public re¬
quirements. The natural consequence is an inten.se dissatisfac¬
tion with the management of the Department in the minds of a
large majorily of the people having business with it. The con¬
clusion forced by a fair consideration of the facts is, either that
theDeparlment is in thehands of officials iudiffereut to public
necessities or the means at its disposal for doiug its work are
inadequate. Whichever is the case a prompt remedy ought to
be applied. As the matter stands uow, instead of beiug a help
the Department is an impediment to the prosperity of the build¬
ing interests of the cily.
-------------â– -------------
IT it a matter of surprise though of uo regret that advanced
socialism has got iuto discredit with tbe very people wliom
it claims it would most benefit—the working classes. The
recent Briiish elections unseated all the direct representatives
of the workiiig-meu whose opinions were of the advanced or
revolutionary orders, although maintaining some of moderate
views who repudiate auy but legal and cautious measures for the
advancement of their constituents. The distinctionisa very im¬
portant oue as showing the trend of thought among the working-
men of Great Britain. Similar results are found in the elcclious
to the General Councils in France. These elections give the
most direct expressions of the views of the people, as these
Councils are elected by universal suffrage. The chief functions
of the Councils are to preside over the Departmeuts and elect
the Senators. Yet the Socialists cirried ouly twelve seats in them
throughout the whole of France, In our owu couutry noue of
the mauy forms of Populism now find favor among our rural
population, and tbe socialism of the red flag order is apparently
begiuningto understand thatit is out of place and vain of sym¬
pathy. Coxey to-day could uot raise a corporal's guard to bear
him company to Washington. The Nihilist and the dynamiter
seem both to have withdrawn themselves into their holes, aud
the CoUectivist of tlie Teutonic school rarely tries to make
himself heard. The direct cause of the silencing of these noisy
Voices is, of course, the \yithdra\val of the support that has
hitherto sustaiued them ; tbey all existed by the grace of popu¬
lar subscription. But why tlie sympathies whieh made the liuud
generous to aid should have died out is a very interesting ques-r
.tion. Probably it is a imitter of instinct of one kiud or another,
Horror of the acts that have discredited advanced views iu the
pa.st ten years may have had something to do with it, but nol
much. The working people may have unconsciously acquired
an aijpreciatiou of the fact that thoy have gained a great deal
in receut years aud concluded that this is a good time to take a
rest and enjoy what they have gained. It may be, too, that they
feel there is something in the political atmosphere containing ;(,
presentiment of danger to national life as now organized, and
each people gathers instinctively around that form of national
representation that ofiers, as the times st.and, the beet protection
to racial or national honiogeueifcy in tbe conflict that they appear
to foresee.