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September 28,1895
Record and Guide.
395
^f^ -% ESTABLISHED^^ WARPHZlu."^ 1868.
Dt^teDtoR,E^LEsTHE.BuiLDi^fc AR,cKrrEenn^E,HousEifoii>DEaB(^ii^
SifsiiiESs Atfo Themes ofGejJsviI Irftraf*"!.,
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
Tblephonb,......Coktlandt 1S70
CommunloationB should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J, 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
Brooklyn Office, 276-282 WAaHiNQTON Street,
Opp. Post Offiob.
"Entered at the Post-office at Neic Tork. JV", Y., as seeond-cletss matter."
Vol. LVI.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1895.
No. 1,437
The Rkcorh and Qmov:. will fnrnish yoxi with daily detailed rep07'ts
of all building operations, compiled to suit your business specifically, for
14 ce-ft(s «. day. You are thus kept informed of the entire market for -your
goods. No guess work. Every .fact verified. Abundant capital and the
thirty years' experience of The Record and Guide guarantee the com¬
pleteness and authenticity of this service. Send to 14 andlQ Vesey street
for information.
INDICATIONS i)oiut to :i period of lower prices in Wall
street. This position is best supported by tbe fact tiat the
bull market has uow existed for six months, au unprecedentedly
long pei'iod for auy market movement, aud it is natural to sup¬
pose that the speculative spii'it ou tbe buyers' side gave out iu
tbat time. Tbe wonder is tbat it lasted so long, though the
reasons for tbi.'i are a.seertaiii.il)Ie as they bave been given more
than once here. The fact tliat the prices of -securities bave
fallen oft' somewhat aud will in all probability decline still
further does DOt siguil'ythat the general bnsiuesa situation is
not as good as it was. Taking a broad view it basnot fallen away
at all, but it should uot be surprisiug if there is a little lull in
activity as the cold sea.son approaches aud as Congress is about
to be convened, which may also be called a cold season though
in another sense. Business bas beeu so dull in Wall street that
the eschauge situation has had an opportuuity to be discussed
agaiu, especially in the light of the latest shipment of gold
which goes out uominally at cost if uot at a loss. Tbis trans¬
action particularly makes it appear as if the exchange business
is changing bauds. For some years it was done wholly by a
comparatively few baukiug houses, whicb issued their drafts
rather as a conveuieuce to their customers and as an advertise¬
ment of their businesses tbau for the money there w.as iu it.
Now some large New York mercantile bouses aud shippers are
making their own settlements, and incidentally those of the
smaller merchants who will buy tbeir bills, witb a prospect of
excbauge becomiug a regular department of the foreign com¬
mission busiuess in supplementation if not in substitution of
the baukiug bouses. It canuot be regarded as otherwise than
remarkable that the special shipments of this weet aud the
commissions pertaiuing thereto escaped the bankers.
TDRITISH trade retiu'DS for August, while satisfactory to the
-*-^ British eye as evidencing an improvement in the trade with
foreign nations, are not satisfactory to the American eye iu one
very iuiporl aut particular whicb is very evident of the fact that
we are beingundersold in the Liverpool wheat market. During
tbe first eight moutlis of this year the imports of wheat iuto
Great Britain increased about 20 per cent, the amount received
from the United States increased less thau 3 per cent, the diff"er-
ence beiug made up by larger contributions from llussia, the
^ Argentine Kepuhlic, India and Australasia. In tbo month of
August there wa.s actually a considerable falling oft'io the re¬
ceipts from the Uuited States aud Canada aud the Argentines
. also, while Russia and India took tbe market. The comparisons
here made are with correspondin,g times in 1894, but they
might be carried farther back aud ouly produce results unfavor¬
able to our wheat growers. This is a matter that ought to
obtain attention uow aud which will compel it hiter on.
The magnitude of the speculation in Kaffirs is strongly brought
out by .some figures ,just published, showing the issued capitali-
â– zation and recent market values of such of the shares only that
penult some investigation into their character. Summarized aud
rounded these figures are: Dividend nayers, cajiital .'}t32,7.^0,-
000 ; market value, $103,000,000. Non-dividend mines, capi-
tal .t;l3S,045,000; market value, !^.=>00,000,000. Land explo-
> ration, etc., companies, capital .'^70,000,000; market value,
$317,R.55,000. Total issued capital, .$250,405,000; total mar¬
ket value, $1,076,855. This quadnipling of values is not so
^ striking as the euoruious increase in the non-dividend or
* â– speculative shares, which accounts fortbe fears of a collapse
entertained by the conservative elements in tinance and the
press. At the same time it may be remarked that the gold fields
on which this mass of securities has been issued have made a
record of producing over $4,000,000 of gold in one month.
France having made money in these gold shares, the baying is
now extending to Berlin and to Vienna. A sign of the im¬
provement in the world's business appears in the form of
reports from shipping centres of freer offerings of cargoes and
the possibilities of better rates for space in the near future.
The Feud with the Building Department.
rpHE unfi-ieudliness that has existed between the architects and
-*- the building trades of this city on one side and the Depart¬
ment of Buildings on the otber ever since the present adminis¬
tration assumed control has reached a highly tenuous if not
actually an explosive stage. Prevalent ill-feelingis so decidedly
strong that probably there has not been at any time before ao
much hostility between a department of the municipal govern¬
ment aud those citizens immediately concerned m its activities
as we find to-day in the strained relations of tbe Building
Departmeut with architects and the building trades generally.
Itisuunecessary to point out that a condition of affairs like
this is not ouly deplorable but ridiculous. Conflict, indeed,
may arise between tbe head of an admistrative departmeut and
the public, but that a difference should endure between them
beyond a space of time sufficient for a clear statemeut of the
points at issue and the formluation of public judgment is pre¬
posterous. For montbs the Building Department and our archi¬
tects aud builders have been at feud with one another and to¬
day the controversy has reached the crisis of rebellion—if it be
true as many asseit that buildings are in process of construction
without a legal permit, the owners preferring to assume the
great risks attending such indiscretion to the losses they would
be forced to incur were they to await the required authorization.
The friction aud discontent we are speaking of have not
.sprung up overnight uor are they the result of an isolated mis¬
understanding. They have existed almost from the very first
day the preseut head of the Building Department took control.
In the beginning The Record and Guide was urged to denounce
certain alleged deficiencies in the new administration which were
unhesitatingly regarded as evidence of inherent incompetence
and of a certain bumptious disregard of public convenience.
Tbe new chief, it was said, had added to his well-detiued duties
the unnecessary task of scbool-masteiing the architects and
builders of tbe city—"getting them into line outside his office
door," was the pbi-ase. " If the Department isn't done with your
plans you must wait 'till it is. Your reasonable necessities are
uothing to us. Get outside the door and wait 'till you're called
for"—tbis was supposed to represent tbe atiitudeof the new
regime towards taxpayers wbo desired to have dealings with it.
At tbis early slage The Record and Guide refused to join
with the critics or meddle in any way in what promised to be a
momentary agitation. In the flrst place, Mr. Constable Jiad
undoubtedly fallen heir to a chaotic arrearage of work,
bequeathed by his predecessor, aud, at the same time, he was
placed iu command of a defective and deficient organizatiou.
Fairness required that tbe public should be reasonably patient
and we were ready to view mach discontent, iriitability and
soreness as perhaps inevitable, but certainly misplaced under
tbe circumstances. We were ready to believe (or suspend judg¬
ment until the contrary was evident) tbat within a short time
Mr. Constable would succeed in straightening out the tangled
aft'airs of his department, that every day would bring the public
and him.self into more satisfactory relationship, and that the
rapproehment would naturally reduce to proper proportions any
exaggerated estimate {if such really existed) in tbe head of an
inexperienced official of the part which the chief of the Building
Departmeut occupies in the scheme of city government.
That was months ago. Unfortunately time has uot removed
iniblic discontent aud friction, even though it may be shown
upon investigatiou that Mr. Constable has removed some of the
early causes for complaiut. Dissatisfaction is more general and
clamant to-day than ever, and in all quarters there is extremely
bitter feeling against the Department because—this is the prin¬
cipal complaint—its inexcusable tardiness iu pronouncing upon
plans submitted for its approval is causing great financial loss
aud aunoyauce to one of the greatest industries in the city, and
because—this is a secondary charge—the Department is indif¬
ferent and contemptuous in the face of personal criticism from
the sufferers. The saying is abroad that a builder now has no
rights which the Buildiug Departmeut is inclined to respect.
We frankly confess it isn't easy to get at tbe "rights" of the
trouble. The friction and dissatisfaction is evident enough,
but even those who criticise loudest refuse to put their com¬
plaints into specific shape—for publication. They assert that
they have trouble enough with a Department whicb, on number¬
less specious excuses, can harass and delay an obnoxious critic
who happens to have a building operation in progress. It is
even said, and Mr. Constable has hinted once at least in the