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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1693: August 25, 1900

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August 25, 1900. RECORD AND GUIDE. 233 ;H 81","^ 1868, "bpilrt 10 I^EsTWi.BuiLMifc A^rrecTURf >{«sn(oiDDEO(npni Bu^ofESs jub Ihei^s or CE)to)^L tlftEflfSV PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Puilished every Saturday. Telbphone, Cortlandt 1370. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. ■Entered at the Post-Office at Neio Tork, N. Y., os second-class matter." Vol. XLVI. AUGUST 25, 1900. 1693. AT length the press and public are awakening to the favora¬ ble position our coal interest occupies in the world's mar¬ ket. The railroad strikes that periodically tie up operations at the great entrepot of the Welsh coal trade form the arousing note, and it is naturally and fairly inferred that our coal men may benelit from the condition of affairs in Cardiff, as our ma¬ chinists did from the great strike of the English engineering mechanics two years ago. This is all very well as far as it goes, hut the opening now presented to the American coal trade was not made in a moment or wholly by the labor troubles referred to. Our export trade In coal has been growing for some time, and our import trade diminishing. In June we shipped abroad about 220,000 tons more than in June of last year. In the fiscal year ending June SOth last, the excess over the previous year was about 2,000,000 tons, and over that of 1S97-8 3,000,000 tons. In May last we informed our readers of the regard that was being thrown from abroad upon our great coal supplies, and said: "With coal, also the United States is taking a position abroad. The rise in the price of British coal has been so great that the railroads are talking of raising freights to meet it. This has given American coal an opportunity, so that in one issue of "The Economist" of London we notice that at Leghorn, the lat¬ ter has been laid down $2 a ton cheaper than the British; that a cargo was sent up the Rhine, astonishing the German producers; and that shipbuilding circles are now occupied with the problem of constructing steamers of not less than 10,000 tons burden for the coal trade, which will require a relatively small crew; and in this way it is calculated that the cost of taking coal from this country to German ports can be reduced to ?1.50 or $2- a ton, at which rates it would be able to compete with the native pro¬ duct." This was not lay any means our flrst reference to the change that was approaching, and it will be seen, therefore, that the entry of American coal into the competition for the foreign trade has been easy and natural and much more en¬ couraging than if it arose simply from a dispute that could give us only temporary opportunity to sell our goods. The results appear in the reports of to-day which, besides indicating that there is room for more American hard coal abroad, tell us that an experimental demand has arisen in London for our soft coal from the gas companies there, as well as for ordinary manufac¬ turing services. These facts cannot but enliven matters on the stock market, because so many of the railroads, besides those strictly classed as coalers, have large tonnages drawn from the trade, and which would be benefited by a demand for freights to meet the call for coal from abroad. Besides the coalers, some industrial issues are strengthened by the reported improved condition of the iron trade, and as this carries with it an intima¬ tion that trade generally is on the mend it is not surprising that in spite of a very small business quotations were fairly strong until yesterday when the news from China caused some selling. IT is not necessary in order that our trade should enlarge that that of other nations should contract. As a matter of fact it would not do us much good to increase our trade if our cus¬ tomers became impoverished thereby. The resources of the newer countries come into play as the demand increases beyond the powers of the old to supply, so we cannot join in the satis¬ faction expressed by others at the idea that in entering it we are pushing others out of any particular field, because, if true, it would diminish our ability to profit from our own adventure. We do not, therefore, expect to see the British or other security markets tremble at the approach of our competitive feet and find in the present condition of dullness in the markets abroad a state similar to that of our own, and produced, as in our case, by the indifference of the public and not by a condition of gen¬ eral business or of finance abnormally bad for the time of the year. In fact, apart from the scarcity of gold and the constant efforts of the continental banks to increase their stores of that metal, which the resumption of mining iu South Africa ought reasonably soon to cure, to which may be added a little fear for the continued unity of purpose of the Great Powers in China, the situation abroad offers a good many points of encourage¬ ment. For more than a year now the promotion of new indus¬ trial enterprises has been severely checked by the scarcity and high rates for money, heightened by the demand for it for war purposes. There has also been a continued liqhidating move¬ ment that has gradually carried quotations down until they should have discounted all the evils in the situation. It has been announced, mistakenly as a warning of worse to follow, that the fail in value, judged by stock market quotations of the leading English railroad issues in the past year, amounts to the enormous sum of $225,000,000; individually these issues have de¬ clined from 10 to 45 points. If there is anything in market pre¬ cedent this should be a good sign, as indicating the thoroughness of the liquidation that has been forced; especially should this be so when it is added that the issues in question, with the ex¬ ception of a comparatively new one, still pay substantial, though reduced, dividends and fair returns on the investment. Manhattan and Chicago. A FAVORABLE COMPARISON—ALSO A WARNING. IN the great cities of this country where the Census Bureau's estimates of population have been published, the press have been busily at work exulting over gains that showed material progress, or endeavoring to explain away losses, relative or actual that revealed a retrograde movement. The position taken has not been always dignified, and in too many instances there has been a lack of candour in facing facts. An agreeable ex¬ ception to this rule is the Chicago Inter-Ocean, which recognizes for its own city in the accepted figure of its population a loss of pace, and instead of criticising the Census Bureau frankly ac¬ knowledges the truth and points out its causes. It says: "New York has been making tremendous strides in all directions dur¬ ing the last decade. Chicago has not. While New York has had the doors open to all comers, Chicago has driven out not a few, and has discouraged others from settling here. Capital has been assailed, capitalists have been insulted, enterprise has been crip¬ pled, real-estate values have been destroyed, building has been paralyzed, and labor has been impoverished to serve the ends of half a dozen cliques and newspapers. The census returns should surprise nobody who has taken an intelligent observation of the drift of things in Chicago and Manhattan—yes, and from Chi¬ cago to Manhattan—since 1894." It would be unwise to draw too fiattering a conclusion from this for ourselves, and much better to imitate the modesty and good sense of our contemporary by looking at the matter with unprejudiced eyes in order to see whether there is not a lesson for us in the example of the western city. It is not that there is any error in the statement quoted. No one can deny in the face of the strong affirmative evidence that New York has gone ahead. Other cities besides Chicago have deplored the facina- tions of Metropolitan life which have attracted hither so much of'the wealth and intelligence of the country. They have sought the cause in various directions, some attributing it to the greater social attractions that are to be found here by people of large means; some to the fact that New York being the financial centre—the keeper of the purse of the nation—business men of the greatest capacity are drawn here because of the larger scope offered for their capital and energies. It is true that New York offers more in quality and variety to what is called fashionable life than any other city in the Union. It is also true of people collectively, as well as individually, that where the treasure is the heart will be. But there must be something besides the pur¬ suit of fashion or of gain, potent as these are, to make a city the final domicile of those who have achieved success elsewhere. To say nothing of the many business men who have settled here permanently, and whose contribution to the greatness of the city is very large, men who have held the most dignified offices in the Republic and standing first in their native homes, have come there to accept by comparison obscure positions in the life of the community of their adoption. The fact is, that the life of the country throbs in New York, and the best can no more resist the infiuence that brings them here, than the blood in tho human body withstand tbe law that carries it to the heart. AU this is highly flattering, encouraging and satisfactory to ourselves, and increases our pride in our favored city, but it carries with it responsibilities and cannot be retained without effort. Though so favored by nature that gives us our fine climate, and beautiful land and marine scenery, and benefited by some great works that enable us to enjoy these, the physical