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April 24, 1897. Record and Guide ilw6TiOpRp*^EsTAjE.BraLDijfe%^rrE(rrui\E.HousEaou>DD3a[(&iK^ , .BuiufeSB Alto Themes of GeiIer^V Irfre^T-; bP,A»C£, PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday, TBLBPHONB, - - . . . COttTLAMDT 1370 CommimloatloiiB sboulcl be addreBsed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street. J. T. LINDSET, Business Manttger. 'Entered, al Ihs Post-office at New Tork, ^. T., as second'Class mailer." Vol. LIX. APRIL 24, 1897. with uot less than eight sqnare feet af sui-face opening.upon a street or open -coui-t, light .shaft or open air, and each having at least eighty square foet of floor area aud at least ,600 enbic feet of space tlierein. The dining-room is to have at least 300 square feet of floor art."a, «f]iich is uot bo be part of a bai-- room. By subjectiny all liotels to the i-equirements of the build; ing laws or ordiuaiiee.s of the cities in which they are located, a hotel defined !ty nue law eao uo longer stnicturally differ from a hotel defined by another. The consequence is that the saloons, which were convei'tetl into so-oalled hotels by cheap and fliuL-iy rearmngements of interiors to make a legal
taiued ;is "hotels." They can nil longer avoiil the requirements for strength of floors, flreprof- ing, nccorfling to lieight, and others equally important. It is un-, derstood tha.t the Department ot Buildings will enforce the law. and is organizing the necessary inspecting force as a preliminary to caiTying out that purpose. No. 1,519 A['"TElt partially rallying from the decline of last Saturday iiuil Mouday, the Stock Market has become so extremely dull and spiritless that it presents no feature worthy of remark. Business in the rommission houses, which was active for tlie two f the nation opposed to her. and already there are indications in the dispatches from Athens that both King and people are beginning to repent theii' folly. What The final result will be no one can say, but it is hardly possible that Turkey will be aUowed to reassume dominion over the country, ^^hat is probable aud what ought to be the case is that fi-reece will change-iis king, if not the dynasty. The country will find itself sutliciently punished in the burden of debt it will have incuiTed and the deplenishment of its worlsing force throitgli the loss of life occasioned by the war. Greece beaten and powerless to longer oppose the plans of the Great Powers for the settlement of Eastern difficulties, makes the po¬ litical siriiation, and consequently the commercial situation also, much better. It is this view tiiat has .strengthened the liluropean markets since the commencement of hostilities. Actual war has diverted attention from the probabilities of war that exist in South Africa, and which, if existing negotiations to pi-event an outbreak should fail, will have far more effect upou the mai"- kets than the Eastern trouble lias had. It is unlikely that the crisis can be reached for some time, but until there are posi¬ tive assurances of improved feeling between the Transvaal and its alien residents, Soiith Africa will be watched with interest and anxiety. Not ouly would there be, iu tbe event of a resort to arms by Great Britain and the Transvaal, the commercial dis¬ aster that would follow directly from that fact, but there would always be, as long as the struggle la.sted, a fear that the sym¬ pathies of the German people with the Transvaal and their ambition to assume the lead in colonizing South Africa, would drag their government: iuto the fray, and thereby carry the war into Europe. The fact that the British government has prepared for unfavorable emergencies is the best argument that a satis¬ factory settlement of the questions in dispute will be found, but in the temper of the Putch-Africans it is by no means ir¬ refutable. THE structural r«quirementB of the Raines Law amend¬ ments relating to hotels are, first, that the laws, ordi¬ nances, rules and regulations pertaining to the building, fire and health departments shall be fully complied with. Tlieu they go ou to say that the bedrooms nccnpied by guests shall be sepa¬ rated by partitions at least, three inches thick, extending from floor to celling with independent access to each room by a door opening into a hallway, eacb room having a window, or windows OXl.V a litrlt' pa.,ssing surprise was occasioned by the revela¬ tion that there had been tampering with a measure on its way through the Ipgislatiire, so well is the public prepared to hear of crookeil work in that body. A bill is suddenly found to contain a provision never intended by it.s proposer, and dis¬ covery does not excite any indignation iu the mind of the public. This obnoxious provision is expunged and that is all. This tacit acquiescence in the corrupt methods of the legislature is posi¬ tively disgraceful, especially because it explains why sqch meth-. ods are possible at all. The legislature is no more coiTupt to-- day than it has beeu before, nor more corrupt than it will be hereafter, if the voting public continues to be so indifferent to' its character. The very bill which it was sought to suiTepti- tionsly pad with objectionable provisions was intrixluced this' session to undo the injury done to the building industry by a bill sneaked through last session i-educing the maximum height of non-flreproof buildings in the city from eighty-flve to seventy feet, and wliicli was passe<:l through some kind of undergi-ound, legislative passage whose existence is known only to a few. The bill's existence was not even suspected until it had passed both houses, antl it was too late to oppose it. Owing to these and similar irregularities no one to-day is in a position, to say positively that any particular measure, however desirable or un¬ desirable, will or will not pass, or that any particular industry is assured against adverse legislation. When the legislature has ad,iourned and its work is rounded up to be sent to the mayors of cities, ami to the Governor of the State for approval, it will be possible to know definitely what has been done, but not be-., fore. We are afraid that matters have become so bad that all who desire legislation, whether from good or bad motives, go to the agents of corruption to get it. There are a few conscien¬ tious citizens who view such a state of things in its proper- light, and with alami, but these are so few,while those who encoumge and those who are indiffei'ent to it are so many, that the first can do nothing. It has. positively got to be a question of who shall investigate the legislature. Ready as that bocly has been to appoint committees of investigation it cannot be expected to investigate itself, and if it did, we kuow ouly too well the way it would go about it. If there were anything like a decent public opinion in the State, the legislature could at least be forced to Iceep its ijonmals in a way that would enable the representatives of the public, the newspaper correspondents, to keep an intelli¬ gent idea of what is being done; but there is no such public opinion, and consequently business is conducted so as to best assist the evil pi-actices goiug on. ■ - ■ EVEN a cursory perusal of the arguments laid before Gov¬ ernor Black last IMonday for and against the acceptance of the charter prepared for Greater New York by the gi'ace of. a graceless legislature, would serve to show which side had the stronger case. A careful reading would make it sui"prising that such a document could evei- have passed a deliberative body, ex¬ cept for the political considerations supposed to underlie it The eminently able and respectable delegation that went to Albany to persuade the Governor to veto the bill providing for the gov¬ ernment of tbe consolidated city, came back satisfied that if the matter was to be decided by reason, tbey would have suc¬ ceeded in their mission. It is not necessary to repeat the state¬ ments made by the several speakei*s, they have been given to the public so fully by the daily pi-ess. Necessarily they in¬ cluded much that had been said before, but, taken as a whole, they formed such a powerful collective condemnation of the charter that they could not fail to convince. On the other hand, the onl.y defenders of the charter were its principal fi-amers. There was no public demanding through representatives to have this governing machinery put upon them. General Tracy and Mr,
