Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 40, no. 1023: October 22, 1887

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October 22, 1887 The Record and Guide. THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broad^way, 3Sr. "^T. Our Teleplioue CaU Is - - - - =3^ 1316 JOHN 370. TERMS: OIVE TEAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XL. OCTOBER 22. 1887, No. 1,023 Prices iu Wall street bave been ratber better tbis week. Thia was hardly expected, as tbe various deals had been completed without creating a bull market. It was supposed the Baltimore & Ohio and Reading reorganizations, and tho absorption of tbe Baltimore & Ohio telegraph by Western Union, would create a better feeling in the stock market; but every time the bulls were disappointed. Tbis week, however, with no news to influence prices, there bas been a considerably higher range of values. One good feature is the cheapening of money. The banks are now willing to make time loans at 5 per cent, on mixed collateral; hence it is easier to carry stocks than it has been. The general trade of the country continues good, but the price of iron and steel has fallen to a point which does not admit of the importation of steel or iron rails. It is noticeable, however, that many of the Western roads begin to show decreased earnings. The partial failure of the crops and the lower price for grain will undoubtedly injure the Western railroad business during the coming year. ----------•---------• We have never joined in the cry against ** boases " in politics, for we have held that wise and efficient political management was impossible unless there were *'leaders to lead" as well as *'followers to follow." But we have always objected to the kind of ** bosses" which somehow secured the control of the leading poUtical *'machines." If John O'Brien was replaced by Senator Evarts or Editor Reid, if the County Democracy was under the control of Mayor Hewitt or ex-Mayor Cooper, and the Tammany organization recognized some equally worthy citizen as its chief, there would be no fault to find. But O'Brien, Power and Croker are not the kind of " bosses " tbat will give us good local govern¬ ment. There will be a revolt eome day against tbis state of things which may involve serious consequences to the men who misrule us. _--------^---------. The local election tbis fall will present some peculiar features and there may be quite an exciting contest over more than one of tbe offices. There is a sharp newspaper fight over the possession of the District Attorney's office. The World wants Mr. Nicoll nominated and elected because of his efficient services in following up Sharp and the boodle Aldermen. But the Sun, Star and Herald are united in opposing the nomination of Mr. Nicoll because they seem to fear that the World would be all powerful in the District Attorney's office if that gentleman should be elected. The World has made quite a feature of detective criminal sensations lately, and the rival journals fear that it will have a great advantage over them if the World reporters had free run in the District Attorney's office. The war has become very bitter, and the canvass for that particular office promises to be mighty interesting. It looks as though there may be n?any surprises in store resulting from the fall election this year. The Democratic politicians are not so alarmed about the Labor vote in this State as they were some time ago. Th(^ Socialists' revolt will take many votes from Henry George in this city, and the course of Patrick Ford, of the Irish World, shows that the Irish Catholic vote will be polled against and not for the United Labor party. George and Dr. McGlynn are stumping the State, but the people who go to hear them are not by any means exclusively Democrats. Their largest audiences were in towns where there were schools and colleges. The working classes proper, the bulk of whom are Democrats, show no signs of abandoning the old parties. Still the now party excites a great deal of honest enthusiasm, while the old parties are conducting a very feeble canvass. The falling ofif in the registration is quite large and shows an apathetic feeling among the rank and file of the Republicans and Democrats. There are really no vital issuer to call out much feeUng between the two old political organizations. The defiance of the law by the Democratic Police Commissioners in refusing to give the Labor people an Inspector of Elections will give the latter an excuse for their decreased vote after the election. They will claim that they have been deliberately counted out, and they will be believed, for the three existing party "machines" are notoriously corrupt and unscrupulous. ----------•---------- The case of Chav "=5ey M. Depew has a moral which it would be well for public me» *^ o keep in mind. He waa univergally popu¬ lar, for his speeches and public utterances showed him to be a man of sense as well as wit. He is the best after-dinner speaker in the country, and that he has well-developed business faculties is evi¬ denced by hia being called to so important a position as President of the New York Central road. A number of papers have recently been talking him up as a Presidential candidate. He was said to represent the men who had brains. But his unfortunate St, Louis interview puts an end to all thought of making him a Presidential candidate. What he said was measurably true, but everyone saw how incongruous it was for the repre.sentative of one of our great¬ est railway properties to talk of panics and cyclones in business. The American people long ago came to the determination to never make a President of an exceptionally brilliant man, especially one who had become famous as a speaker, This explains the Polks, Pierces and Clevelands, and tells the story of the reluctance of the party conventions to nominate the Calhouns, Bantons, Websters and other great orators. It accounts also for the defeat of Clay, Greeley and Blaine. Men who '* wreck themaelves on expression " are never to be depended upon as candidates for the Presidency. Mr. Depew is an able man, but he " talks too much with his mouth." ----------•---------- The groundiag of the Cuaard steamship Aurania ou Monday waa not due to any one's careles3nes3, it appears, but is simply a remiader that the mouth of New York harbor needs attention. There ia no better place for engineeriug skill and river aad harbor appropriatioas to be exp3nded than upon the entrance to the principal port ia the couutry. That it can be Improved is admitted, and some work, of course, i^ done upon it, but the improvement is not sufficiently pushed. This harbor is important enough to receive the special attention of Congresg, and a liberal appropriation which is not made conditional upon log-rolling appropriations elsewhere. An adequate force should be sustained to keep the channel or channels in permanently good condition. There has been full discussion sa to tha methods of work. Let them be carried oat. If it is feasible to prepare the way for the admission of the largest vessels at any state of the tide, this country is surely able to pay for it.—World. Yet the World is continually demanding that the surplus be cut down by abolishing internal taxes and reducing the tariff. The money in the Treasury is needed not only to improve our harbor, but for any number of desirable objects. It is required for other harbors than New York—for our internal water courses, for fortifi¬ cations, new guns and war ships, and for purchasing the Western Union telegraph lines or building others in their place if the price asked is too high. The nation could spend with advantage not one hundred, but two hundred millions. It is quite true that our tariff and internal taxation requires revision, but this can only be accom¬ plished after a long debate. The first duty of Congress is to get the money out of the Treaiury. Any change in our tariff or tax laws will take six months at least to agree upon, while it will be a couple of years before the revenue will adjust itself to the new conditions. It is simple nonsense to talk of reducing the tariff in order to get rid of the present surplus. —-------•--------- On one point the public ought to make itself heard. There must be no more pension bills. No nation ever paid its soldiers such extraordinary bonuses as has the United States. Our Treasury has made paupers all over tbe country, and has enriched claim agents in a way that has become a national scandal. New public build¬ ings are required in hundreds of places. It will be a good time to do such work, lor there will be far less private building next year than there has been for the past three years. There will be large numbers of mechanics in the building trade eager for work next year, and they will be moderate in their demands. An appropria¬ tion of $30,000,000 for post-offices, custom houses and United States courts would not be coo much for the year 1888, The riots of the unemployed poor in London is not a satisfactory symptom of our times, and ought to set the rich and the rulers to thinking. The hideous poverty of certain classes in our large cities is a scandal to our civilization. There is certainly wealth enough in London to insure the working poor at least a bare living, and there is some defect in the workings of our social machinery, when people starve and die of hunger while surrounded by unbounded luxury. How absurd to talk of over-production when there are literally millions who are always on the verge of starvation and wbo are insufficiently clad. The fact is, there is an under-produc¬ tion of money, and haa been since silver was demonetized by the commercial world. The single gold unit is impoverishing the mass of the working population of the Old World. At a time when the growing commerce of the world needed both the precious metals to conduct its business silver was discarded to the consequent impoverishment of all save those who owned and controlled the gold which measured values. England, as the most exclusive gold country, has been the greatest sufferer. We have been saved from this acute distress, because of the silver coinage law. We are to have five new school houses to house the many child¬ ren for whom there are now no school accommodations. One of these buildinga is to be in the llth, two in the 12th, one in the 22d,