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Mill eh 17, 1891 Record and Guide. •10.'} ESTABLISHED ^ IV\AR.CH 215^"^ 1868. "de/oth) to Rej^l Eswe , Building %crfiTECTdi^E ,F(ousEitoLD DEGOi^'nori, Bi/sitlEss Alio Themes ofGEKEfl*^ 1Kte!\est. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TKLEPUONE.......COKTL,VNDT 1370 C immirnications should bo addreaaed to C. AV. SAVEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J, 7, LINDSEY. Bnsincss Manager, Bkooklyn Office, 276-282 Wa.siiinuton Street, OiT, Post Office, " Entered at Ihc Post-office at New Tork, N. Y., as sceond-elass matter." Vol. LIIT. MARCH 17, 1891. No. 1,857 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Dejmriment immediately 'following New Jersey records Ipage 431). We commence in this issue the publication of a series of articles on Private Propertij. They are,from ihe pen of Pro.fessor Fichard T, Ell/, whose eontriliulioii.^t t;> Political Economy in recent years hare given him a foremost place among American investigators in this flcpartincnt o.fsrienee. The purpose of the articles is to set forth in a clear, suceinei manner the nature of private prf)perty, about tvhich aiprcscnt in tlie popular mind there are so many vague, con- .fiiseil, perplexing antl even ilaugerons notions. It is ncetllcss to say that the subject is one of the liighest interest to all intelligent citi- eens a.itl is one that slionltl partieularly engage the attention of our readers, the activity of sr> many o.f ivliom is liascd npon private ownershij} of real estate. THAT tilt? stock market k(>eps its strength in spite of the character of cnrrcnt news, must be accepted as evidence of JV Yt^ry great change of feeling on the part of investois and specu¬ lators. If there \viis not a very strong belief tliat jiiices were h)w uud generiil bii.siue.ss improving, the mnrket could not have resisted the evil iutiiieiices of the passage of the Seiguioia.ge Bill by the Senate iind the ri-port th:it the Pre.sideiit lii-sitiites tn tiike a position on the ineiisure ; the strikes iu tho iieiglibnrhood of the city with their iiccomp:iiiyiug- disorders; the cmiflict at Den¬ ver, the engngenieiit of gold for shipmeut to En.gliuid, ratt- ciitting on riiilroads, and other thiugs th.tt in times of high prices aud diminishing bu.siness would have iiiibieed iittacks.ou values with an iilniost certain .prospect of success. But as it is there has lieen a week of continued strength
artineuts and the outlook which only a few weeks back threatened a relapse into gloomi¬ ness IS giving renewed .signs of biighteuing. in.ir to grow. In France the Minister of Finance proposes to increase reveiim^ by a cluiu.sy device of check stamps, graded from ten to fifty eentiiiie.s, according to the amount of the checks drawn. This would require the depositor in a biink to have five stiiiiipetT c]ieck boolvs or to u,se adhesive .stamps. The French people iire said to have only .iust got used to the employment of checks, and it is feared that this tax requirement will drive them back to old methods. Populist schemes are very rife now in the Chamber of Deputies. One deput.y wants all foreigners excluded from the Bourse, another that deposit banks shall be limited in power to receii'e deposits in proiiortiou to the amount of paid up capital, a third would have all advertisementa and paid artich-s in newspapers taxed, and the Chiimlier of Coic- inerce of Miizamet. a large inanufactuiing centre, demands that all siieeulative transactions in raw materials and other merchan¬ dise be taxed. The new duty on wheat is 7 francs per quintal, and th it ou flour 11 fi-ancs to Iti francs. They will be levied on all cargoes shipped since November 21st. During January, while these dulies were beiug discussed, the wheat imported was valued at ip23,000,000 compai'ed with imports to the amount of .$',},000,000 iu January, 1803. It was of course all cleared iu order to escape the duty. The returns show hor e trade to be active. The Grerniiiu publie is hiird to convince that order and prosperit.y can be soon restored to Italy, consequently the qiiotiitions for Italian rente in Berlin are not as settled as the authorities in both countries would like to have them. It is Siiid that a new Italian bank mil be fiiunded with German capital and have its headquarters at Milan. Aimonncemeiit is made of the adoption by the Reichstag of the treat.v with Ru.s.sia. The governnient intentls to increase its silver in eirculatioii by lietween $.">,000,000 and $(j.000,000. Austrian exports iucieased over 10 per cent in 1893 i-ompiired with the preceding year, due to increase in price of mau.y important articles as well as to iiuantity, whieh fact gives a good deal of satisfaction to the people. The British Australasian Colonies are making slow progress towards recovery of comnieiciiil health helped by an extiaoi-dinary cheapness of the elementary articles of consumption in the prineipiil colonial centres. It is said bread is cheap, meat selling- at merely nominal prices, and rent, owing to overbuilding, costs a mere song. But the fall in values ot lands is causing many seeurities once good to become impaired. WE are curious to see the fate of the Chamber of Commerce Rapid Transit Bill, wliich is now in the hands of the State Legislature. It is, beyoud an.y doubt, the most practical and bu.siness-likeand Siitisfactory plan tlutt has .yet been formulated j and it may be regarded as representing the final judgment of business inen, crystallized uuder the pressure of public wants and the fati.suin.g investigation, discussion and scheming of the last two years. Indeed, we might go further and say of the last twenty-five or twenty-six years. The iihin, moreover, not only has the indorsement of the Chamber of Commerce and the Real Estate Exchange, two bodies whii-h represent a veiy large part of the greater merchants and bind owuers of the city, but is also supported by a pronounced publie sentijnent. Not a newspaper in the city stands iu opposition to the scheine. Not a single individual, prominent iu any of the professions or in any of the departments of commercial life, is opposed to it. There cau be no doubt that if the people of the city werf to vote upon this measure to-morrow, freed from .all obliquities of "politics," seven-eighths of the votes would be east in favor of it. In any country of the world where even a semblance of popular goverument prevails this support would insure a speedy passage of the measure. In the Empire State nothing of the kiud is certaiu. Poptihir government with us is always tampered with " politics" and modified by .special iuterests. It is therefore not by auy means sure that the Cham¬ ber of Commerce bill- will be passed. It will, of course, bo treated with superficial respect and with much consideration aud discussion, but whether it becomes a law will depend largely upon political eircuinstauees, and the intensity ot the opposition it will encounter in Albany and elsewhere from the large vested interests which alread.v occupy the Rapid Transit field in New York. Naturally they are not desirous of competition. A N explanation of the dullness in American securities in •^^ London is given by the Economist of that cit,y iu speaking •of the Bliiud Seignoi-ii.ge Bill; it says : " The fact that such retro¬ grade le.gisliition is seriously contemplated eannot fail to revive the feeling of iippi-eheusion as to the stability of American cur¬ rency aud Ainei-iean securities which was so prevalent before the repeal of the Shorniiin net." The clo.sc of ths Euglish governniental fiscal year, now neiir at hand, will pvooiibly show receipts to be below expenditures by .about si
