Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 53, no. 1368: June 2, 1894

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Jnne 2, 1894 Record and Guide. 879 ESTABUSHEd"^ i^ARPH2lu> 1868, De/o-fED id f^EJki-Estate.BuiLDif/o A^RcKitectui^e.HouseholdDEOta^noN, Bifsii/Ess Alto Themes of GE^(ERAL IKtef^esi. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370 Conimiinlcatlons should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street. J, 1. LINDSEY. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street, Opp. Post Office. "Entered at the Posl-offlee at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter," Vol. liii. JUNE 2, 1894. No.. 1,368 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately following New Jersey records {page 9071. THERE is little to record of the stock market, except that it has lost the buoyancy apparent a week ago and dropped into a rut from which it will only be moved by some stimulating piece of good or bad news ; the direction of the movement will depend on the clas.s of the news. The unfortunate feature about dullness as marked as exists at present is that it almost invari¬ ably means lower prices, it would liave been hardly reasonable to expect that prices would continue to advance in the face of the disturbed condition of the country as a result of miners' strikes and the necessity of reducing or suspending opeiations in so many directious because of the failure in the supply of fuel. The end of the recent conferences means that this struggle must be fought out to the bitter end, and the readiness the miners have shown to resort to violence creates a great deal of anxiety. Rate cutting in the South does not improve the rail¬ road situation, except that the vigor with which it is begun raises the hope that it will be of short duration and not spread to other parts of the country. The prolongation of the tarid' discussion is another unfortuniite feature, but it may be that as soon as the battle on the sugar schedule shall have been fought out, there wUl be more dispatch used in disposing of the re¬ mainder of the bill. The business of the countiy takes an even stupid course, meantime, from which it is unreasonable to exiject it to change with the Suinmer at hand, and so much uncertaintv and anxiety prevalent. THE amount of uew capital issued in England this year is almost equal to what it was for the same i)eiTod in 1893, the diflference being that the State and municipal loans form a much larger percentage of the total than they did a year ago. The accumulations of gold in the Bauk of England threaten further lowering of the rates for money, inferring also less busi¬ ness. Ireland has always been regarded as such a home of pov¬ erty that the statement that the average premium on bank shares in that country rose iu 1893 from 140 to 155 per cent, while that for the English bauk shares rose only from 193 to 196 per cent, and that for Scotch bank shares from 173 to 180 per cent wUl be received with surprise. Unionists attribute this evidence of a growing prosperity to an increase of confidence in Irish investments proportioned on the waning of the Home Rule agi¬ tation. The London maiket continues to be nervous on the sub¬ ject of the tinancial position of the Argentines. April returns of the-Labor Depaitment of the Board of Trade indicate a slow but continued growth of activity in the great industries, the percent¬ age of labor emjiloyeil being slightly higher than in March which showed an improvement over February. French railway managers evidently are anticipating better busi¬ ness, as they are giving out large orders for new rolling stock. April trade returns for France, however, show a decline of $600,- 000 in imports of raw materials; exports of manufactures fell ott' $2,400,000; imports as a whole incieused $10,000,000. A Ber¬ lin correspondent says tliere has not been such a complete stag¬ nation there for thirty years as at present; it had even been pro¬ posed to close the Bourse two days a week. It goes without say¬ ing, therefore, that money is abundant and cheap. The taritt'war with Spain increases the depression in both countries, and par¬ ticularly in the weaker. Austria will immediately begin the withdrawal of oue florin notes from circulation and the substitu¬ tion of sUver crowns and florins therefor. Crop prospects con¬ tinue very good. A reuuirkablc comparison is being prepared, which is expected to show that the rise iu wages and the amount of taxes jiaid by manufacturers make the cost of pro¬ duction in Austria greater thau iu the United States where wages have had a declining tendency. The foreign trade report for Austria-Hungary for the tirst quarter of the year shows a decrease in exports and an increase in imports compared with the same time in 1893. npHE almost unanimous desire of the other powers to turn the -*- Silver question over to Great Britain for settlement is a very convenient way of shelving a discussion that is rapidly losing popularity, and att'ords a cover for the retreat of its one¬ time noisy advocates. Recent political conventions have shown that the Southern constituencies liave gone cold on this question, and that may explain the eagerness with which its advocates on this side of the Atlantic, who, not very long ago iu Congress and out of it, claimed that it was one that the United Stiites alone ought to adjust, joined in the reiiresentation to the recent Bi- metallistic conference in London that it was England's duty to dispose of it. So far the British authorities have shown no dispo¬ sition to take up this troublesome bantling and the pressure to do so brought on them by their own people is very small indeed. The issue of the receut Indian sterling loan indicates that there will be no change in the mint policy and that involves a belief also on tho part of the govern¬ ment that it does not despair by any means of the ultimate suc¬ cess of that policy. The Biinetallistic party in England is relatively very small and uninttuential. The conference pre¬ viously referred to contained onl.y two names of real weight, Mr. Balfour and Mr. Lidderdale, the former of whom has beeu in polite terms told liy the press generally that he does not kuow what he is talking about, aud the latter seems to have done little more than lend his name to the movement. The great English reviews have lately had very little to sa.v on the sUver question as if they were satisfied that its true solution was fouud in the repeal of the purchasiug clause of the Sherman act, which would certainly not be the case if there were any prospect of the government t.aking it up seriously, or if there existed .any great outside pressure on tlie government to take it up. The discus¬ sion has not been dropped by our own reviews by any means, but the latest to hand from London eont.aiu only one paper upon it and that in the Ftirtniijhtly, aud by a Mauchester man, which says nothiug new, except to very briefly refer to what might have been made a very interesting poiut, the proba¬ bility of Africa becoming as large a user of small silver as the Orient now is by reason of the development of a great commerce there amoug a people accustomed to relatively small values. For the moment we are not concerned with what would be the results if Eugland became a party to a bimetallistic agree¬ ment, but with the prospects of her doing so and if, as has been said, the solution of the questiou must come from the Govern¬ ment in London, the evidence is overwhelming that it is far away fi'om final settlement. WHY not establish a school of international ethics ? It is really very necessary seeing the general tendency there is to suspend the golden rule in the dealiugs of one nation with another. If not better we are prob.ably no worse than other nations, but. being no better, there is no harm in suggesting that the improvement begin at home. In the general aud dis¬ honest abuse of the creditor, of which we have heard so much in the past year or two, the foreign creditor in particular has come in for more than his fair share. In the regions where populism is strongest the mention of Lombard street has more powers of irritiition tlian a red banner would have on the nerves of the maddest bull, and iu Wall street, which ought, if only from a feeliug of sympathy arising out of the common injustice with which it and the moneyed centres of Europe are alike treated, to kuow better, there is an idea that in the reorganiza¬ tion of the manj' corporations that have lately been brought to the grouud the worst terms ought to be given to the foreign security-holder. Only last week during tlie raid on New York Central, what was thought to be the most telling bear "point" on the stock was a statement by one of the " news " bureaus that the Vanderbilts held very little of it, and at least 76 per cent, was held .abro.ad. Whetlier even the facts were as stated is doubtful, but the Street accepted them witliout question and as being conclusive that a stock so held had no hope for protec¬ tion ou the part of its management. It would be interesting to learn how the Vanderbilt management likes this implication ou its morals. It is not uncommon either to hear the simple fact of foreign ownership given as a reason why one of the securities issued by ourselves should be assessed. The principle involved iu the despoilment of the Egyptians may have had a reason for existence iu one particular ca.se, though that is questionable, but its general application is obviously wrong. One of the causes of our present comiiicici;il ditticulties is the withdrawal of foreign capital from the couutry, and the hopes of a business revival is, in the minds of people who reason out causes and effects, partly b;ised on tlie expectation of its return. It is certainly no inducement to its return to say that it cannot receive fair treatinent when it conies, aud if we cauuot reach the high plane ot houesty for its own sake, let us at least strive for the lower one of honesty for policy's sake and keep