Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 69, no. 1784: May 24, 1902

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GUIDE. ESTABUSHED^ WPHSl^'^iaSS. 'Dp/oTtB TO R,EM Zsrm. Puil.Dif/G ApcKiTEcmmE .KousnioU) DEeoR^ntJn. BusitJEss AfloTHFjiiES OF GeriER^, IjlftEl^ST- ?RICE PER YEAR. IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS Published every Saturday CoEomunlcatiocg should ho addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorK t(. If. LINDSET, Buainess Manager Telephone, Cortlandt SI67 " Entftrcd at the Fosl Offife at New York, N. Y.. as second-class matter." Vol. LXIX. MAY 24, 1902. No. 1784 IN some instances banks report a falling oH in the commercial demand for money, hut are unable to say whether this is due to a decline in husiness or to hetter collections whicli keep merchants in funds and make them independent of the market. Whatever may he the reason for this, it is certain that there is more hesitation in undertaking new operations than has heen ohservahle for some time. This hesitation is natural in view of tlie advances in wages and the increase in the cost of ma¬ terials. A continuation of demand for manufactured goods or a renewal if the demand has fallen off, would remove this hesita¬ tion very quickly, hut it is evident that something is required to supply a new or a continuing impetus to husiness. This may come over-night, hnt until it does come, the situation will be an uncertain one. As to the Stock Market, it has only heen in a natural condition this week on the days on which prices de¬ clined. The advances of Tuesday and Wednesday were forced by the initiative of a few aggressive speculators. The more conservative hesitate to move while prices are so high and the outcome of the anthracite strike and the prospective results of the agi'ieultural year are as uncertain as they now are. THE only features ot the foreign markets worthy of notice are: The steady rise in Consols, which have advanced ahout five points since we flrst caled attention to their virtues, and the manipulation of American stocks from that side of the ocean. There is not a hit of doubt that Consols will sell at par in the near future, and good prohabilities that they will sell con¬ siderably above it hefore a great while. These consummations may be delayed by a failure of the peace negotiations in South Africa, though such a contingency is unlikely, but they would be delayed only. To our mind the Boer War does not count for much in the situation; except in the way described last week, its issues have heen very largely discounted. It is now a matter of money and investment sentiment. The important facts bear¬ ing on the future of Consols are, the steady accumulation of money and the growing preference of the puhlic for high-class investment issues. An illustration, to be added to others pre¬ viously given, of the heavy demand for government and muni¬ cipal securities is furnished by the announcement that German subscriptions alone for the $35,000,000 Vienna loan offered for subscription in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland, amounted to $1,560,000,000. The city of Leipzig will soon bring out a loan of $3,500,000 at 314 per cent. Because of proceeding matters, Rand Mines are active at intervals, the movement varying according to whether the news, if such it may he called, of the moment indicates success or failure of the peace deliberations and there is naturally a good deal of discussion as to the value of the different mines. Among others the "Lon¬ don Economist " is giving attention to the matter, and its stand¬ ing and conservatism make its opinions and those of its corre¬ spondents valuable. It may interest some to know the mines the "Economist's" special commissioner on the grounds recom¬ mends and the conditions they comply with. He holds that: "The mines which the investors may look on as belonging to the very highest class of mining investment are few in number and must he located on one of the good patches of the Rand; must yield ore of rich, or medium value; have a good record over its previous history; be developed far ahead oE present require¬ ments; the ore so exposed must he up to the general average of the mine; the mines on each side of it must also he fully de¬ veloped, showing that good ore may be reckoned on near their boundaries; and. finally, a point of great importance, the deep level of the mine in question must he a payable and tboroughly developed mine." Under these exacting requirements he says: "Of the 34 outcrop mines of the Central Rand, I can only pick out 12 miles as being in this very best class. To these, as being equally sound in all respects, I add Bonanza and Durban Roode- 947 poort. The Hst of the safest Rand mines, therefore, consists of 14 properties, and is as folows: Rohinson, Crown Reef, Eer- reira, Wemmer, Salisbury, Jubilee, Henry Nourse, New Heriot, Geldenhuis Estate, Treasury, New Primrose, May Consolidated, Bonanza and Durban Roodepoort. An investor may to-day buy any of these ,sliares, and, if he so wishes, hold them with safety till the mine is worked out." Congress and Labor. FOR the second time this session the House has passed a bill demanded in the interests of labor, which shows the influence possessed at the moment by labor leaders over that body. The bill passed this week is the Bight-Hour Bill; it provides for an eight-hour day on all government work, includ¬ ing that done by private contract. The bill was reported from the Committee on Labor, and passed without either division or debate. In much the same way the measure known as the Anti- Injunction Bill went through the House, earlier in the session. Of the two the latter is hy far the most important concession to labor and the one that contains most of what is known as "politics." In adopting the eight-hour principle for government work, the House has but followed the example of politicians in some of the States, but for the Anti-Injunction Bill the States afforded no precedent, and it more than the other reveals in the domi¬ nant party a desire to cater to the mass of voters, rather than provide a solution for a difficult problem. According to its sponsors, this bill is intended to place labor organizations in the position of individuals so far as the freedom of their acts is concerned and under its provisions the exercise of injunctions to restrain the doing of acts by such combinations, provided such acts are not intended to and do not injure persons or property, would he prevented. The majority report presented to Con¬ gress explained the purpose of the bill in the following words: "It will permit men in large bodies, in the employ of companies do¬ ing an interstate business, to combine or agree to quit work when by such action they do not knowingly endanger or destroy life or property." The bill is unspeciflc in its terms. The labor¬ ing public are allowed to presume that, if it were passed, strikes could be organized, and any measure short of physical violence employed to prevent the employer from filling the strikers' places, without his being able to obtain from the courts an in¬ junction to restrain either one or the other of these acts. Yet the moment it was attempted to give effect to this presumption, the question would come up as to what was meant by know¬ ingly endangering life or property; was it merely physical or bodily injury, or any injury, such as pecuniary loss or that arising from disuse of plant, etc.? The sudden stoppage of work would inevitably work damage to the employer and there are no circumstances under which labor combinations could order a stoppage without being conscious of this being the effect of their order. To say then that the employer shall not apply to the courts for a restraining order to prevent a violation of a con¬ tract, under such circumstances, would be an attempt to deprive him of his rights that could hardly receive judicial approval. Moreover, the bill is reprehensible because it is one of the agencies that are diverting the discussion of the labor question from its proper channel^the consideration of the means by which employers and employed may he brought to see the wis¬ dom of arranging their difficulties among themselves, without outside interference and without the partiality of legislatures. Until two years ago, this was decidedly the objective point, with the courts thoroughly impartial and ready to afford protection to one side as to the other. The interference of well-meaning, but ill-advised philantrophy has since resulted in drawing apart employers and men, and has caused them to seek extraneous and mainly sentimental aid in furthering their individual views, in preference to hammering out their troubles between themselves in the business-like way that their best friends were led to be¬ lieve a year or so ago they had flnally decided to do. It hardly needs pointing out that some of the labor troubles of this spring would never have occurred if the men had not relied upon outside interference to carry demands that their merits could . never secure. Naturally the Anti-Injunction Bill has aroused the oppositloof of manufacturers all over the country, and it is probably due to their representations that the Senate, though they have now had it before them for a month or more, show no inclination to pass it. The Senate will doubtless hear from the contractors on the subject of the Eight-Hour Bill, and he equally deliberate over that. They cannot fail to see that the attitude of labor is one, and probably the most important of the things that will create hesitation in all lines of business and perhaps bring to a con¬ clusion the period of exceptional prosperity ail have been enjoy-. Ing in recent years.