Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 54, no. 1389: October 27, 1894

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,6ctober 2l, 1894 Record and Guide. 585 established"^ IWPHSl^'^ 1B68. De/oTED to RE^L EsWE. BuiLDlf/o %cKlTECTUI\E ,^{o^JSE;riOLD DECQUATIOrf, Bilsii/Ess AtJb Themes ofGe|JeraL 1Kter.£s1. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370 Communloatlona should he addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street, J. 1. LIA''DSEY. Business Manager. Bbooklyn Office, 276-282 WAsntNGTOiSf Street, Opp. Post Offiob. "Enlered at Ihe Post-office at New Fwfc, JT. Y., as second-class malier," Vol. liv. OCTOBEli 27, 1894. No. 1,389 For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately foUowing ^'ew Jersey records (paqe 610). THERE is uotliing harder for outsiders than to get accurate reports of commercial conditions iu auy departmeut. In ninety*nine cases out of a liimdred the iuterest of insiders lies in making thiugs appear hetter than they are, and it is ouly after the lapse of a considerable time that the real truth gets out. In the East railroad reports showing better, it is assumed that busi¬ ness must have improved, and it no doubt has. But does the West follow suit? It is feared not. Eeeent reports show that Chi¬ cago's idle population is as large as ever, and the following ex¬ tract from the letter of a Chicago iirm, whose business ie a good indication of the buying powers of the working classes, on which any improvement must be based, gives a graphic picture of real conditions: " We have uever seeu business quite so dull as it is now. We have sent men out one after the other for the last three or four weeks, and they have all beeu forced to return uuablc to do any business, that is, business enough to warraut keepiug them out. We have had two men iu Indiana, three iu llliuois, one each iu Missouri, Iowa aud Wisconsin, and they all report the same condition of things—merchants iu receipt of their fall goods, stocked up iu their stores and waiting for business which has not yet developed. It is believed that a little cold weather will start thing.s, but as yet there has beeu uo such weatlier through the West. All the reports wc get on the trade situation are the same as those we receive fi'om our men; all agree that trado is very, very dull," This state of things is naturally reflected in the New York stock market, wheie Western railroad securities occupy so prominent a place aud gives a gloomy toue to movements there. There is a general expectation, too, that the unsatisfactory condition of the coal market will result in the disorganization of the pool which has held the anthracite pro¬ ducers together so long. This has been threatened a great mauy limes since its formation in the seventies, but has always hitherto beeu averted by the good sense of tbe producers. Times are different now. There cannot be a doubt that with mild weather and limited manufactures the coal trade Bufl'ers and the smaller producers most, but in a fight the case of the latter would be utterly hopeless. The position of Read¬ ing aud its ueeds for larger income may make a readjustment of percentages neces.sary, but notwithstanding all this the con¬ viction will force itself forward that short operations ou the Coalers for a big decliue are very dangerous, especially as their several mauagcmeuts have shown so much good sense and con¬ servatism siuce their bitter lesson of '77. If the coalers are a sale it is more for the same reasons that affecc other issues than for any well-grounded belief that a coal fight of long duration is imminent. The maintenance of exchange at the gold shiiiping point continues to occasion anxiety. FOREIGN reports give a good deal of space to the influence of the news of the impending death of the Czar of Russia upon prices. Berlin and Vienna, because their markets had previously been the most buoyant, sufiered most. But as a scare very seldom works twice it may be concluded that there is noth¬ ing more to be feared fi-om that cause. There is little or no change to record in commercial conditions abroad. Wherever the returns are made up there is evidence of some increase in manufactures, but the supply of raw materials eoutiuues to be so much in excess of demand that prices of none of the great staples have a show to advance. This is borne out by the Sep¬ tember trade reports of Great Britain for instance, which show imports to bave fallen ofl 3.6 per cent iu value and little or none in quantity. Exports decliued 4.2 per cent. Returns for Sep¬ tember from the French indirect taxes are the most uusatisfac¬ tory of the year, beiug nearly $2,000,000 less thau the estimate and $1,800,000 less thau in the same month laat yeai-. The City of Paris proposes within the next three months to enter the market for a loan of $40,000,000. The natioual government is soon to be again a large buyer of silver; this time for the manu factiire of medals for decoration for civic and military ser vices iu tbe colonies. Itis estimated that from seven to eight tons of silver will be reciuired: its purchase will be extended over three yeiU'S. Rouniauia i.s undergoing a mild comiiiercial crisis which is being felt in Berlin, where also stock exchange busiuess bas a further setback iu the proposal to reform the meth¬ ods of dealing iu the next Parliamentary session. This is driving to Londou, Paris and Amsterdam the busiuess that remained after the enactment of tlie boiu'se tax. German trade returns for August ^show a falling oft' of 4.9 per cent of imports and 8.2 per cent of exports. Vieuua iuterests have purchased a large estate in Galicia, ou which buriHy for oil is to be carried out on au extensive scale. About 30,000,000 of one-florin notes have heen M ithdrawn and replaced by silver. Apparently tho flrst objections to the use of silver iustead of paper are fading out of the public mind. The withdrawal of the fifty-florin notes is the next move in the currency reform of the dual Empire. The Indian jute crop pi oinises to be slightly above the average with the quantity available for export about 35 per ceut greater than last year. Statistics relating to tbe trade of Japan show that the Uuited States, while its largest individual customer, has only a small portiou of its patronage; we taks about 32 per ceut of her exports and send only 14 per cent of her imports. The Uuited States ^Consul General at Kauagarra has recently pointed out that the largest part of the American cotton used in Japan is bought in Londou and Liverpool, and naturally asks why this trade should uot be doue directly, and the profits, freights andu insurance go to Americans 1 \ PRESIDENT ROBERTS joins in the cry for the massacre ol the inuocent junior railroad secm'ities aud thereby aff'orda an illustration of tbe nonsense that may come fi'om unexpected quarters. That the financial columns of the daily press should coutaiu cawing demauds for cutting and slashiug among the junior securities of bankrupt properties is not surprising, because wheu oue sets up a cry the others are sure to follow. It is surprising, however, that some will caw as loudly as they do notwithstanding their connection with people who are responsible for the coudition which so many junior securities are in. There are many others who join in the talk about wiping out securities who might with equal taste be quite silent. Pres¬ ident Roberts uo doubt spoke as a man who cannot look mth indifi'erence on the present condition of the laUroad business, bnt it is impossible that he could have thought out the logical results of cancelling in reorganization stocks and bonds that even at the present quotations represent hundreds of millions of dollars, or he would uever have suggested that this be done. Eveu admitting that it would bo a very happy state of things if every representative of railroad property aud business was on an iuvestment basis, that coudition would only last uutil the pro¬ moter could get out some uew prospectuses. But there is a .. much more serious consideration thau that. The seciu-ities which are the subject of so much abuse are held all over the country. They have some value which the owner can realize by going into the market aud selling liis holdings. Now, if the people who hold resources counting up into the hundreds of millions of dolliirs wake up ouo day to find them carried away, would they be the only sufferers 'I In the past eighteen months there has beeu seen the results of sudden shrinkages in values, but if in the moderate period in which reorgauizations might be effected so much more representative value should utterly per¬ ish we should see a much larger [contraction of business than has yet beeu seen as a re.sult of the lessening of the resources for carrying it on. Even people like Mr. Roberts who, in the comfort of affl-ueuce, talk so glibly of wiping out, would find their fortunes imperilled, and the dividends and interest that now seem to them so sure of payment iu dauger. It is a pity that the experiment of cutting out from railroad secm-ities everything not on a paying basis could not be tried for the sole benefit of Mr. Roberts aud the Pennsylvania railroad, aud as an object-lesson to others who talk as foolishly. Holders of junior securities who may have been disturbed by this talk may take comfort from the fact that the policy of the courts of the eouutry inclines towards giving them opportnuities to obtain recogni¬ tion in reorganizations, aud that if they will combine for mutual protection all the disasters of the past few years will not fall upon them, nor they be deprived of the chances that the future may have in store for thom. THE indictment of the Atchison officials for violations of the Inter-state Commerce law, in giving rebates to shippers, by the Federal Grand Jury &hould be good uews to everyone who believes in upholding the law. If the cooking of accounts to deceive security holders could also be made auoft'oEseand actually punishable under that law, the public uiight probably be benefited. That is, however, not by any means sure, because,