June 4, im
 

The   Record  and   Guide.
 

763
 

THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

IQl BroacL^way, 1<T.1^.

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JOHN 370.
 

TERMS:

ONE TEAR, in adyance, SIX DOLLARS.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Busmess Manager.
 

Vol. XXXIX.
 

JUNE 4. 1887.
 

No. 1,003
 

Dealers say that while there has been an active demand during
the past season for all staple goods, especially cotton goods, trade
has not been active in woolens, silks and the choice varieties of
dry goods. Of course industries depending upon coal and iron
have had a good season, and the building trade has been unusually
prosperous. But the fact that cotton goods have been in demand
at advancing prices is an excellent sign, as it shows that the mass
of the working community have more money to spend on clothing.
The prosperity of the working class is the basis on which the
wholesomeness of general business depends. Things look all right
in the real estate market hereabouts, but the expected boom in the
stock market has not yet made its appearance.
 

Our private advices from Europe are to the effect that the season
is backward—cold and very wet. This is true of both the conti¬
nent and Great Britain ; hence the harvest will be late and the
crops probably deficient. This state of things accounts for the
heavy recent exportations of wheat, and the comparatively high
price of June and July deliveries. All accounts agree that there
has been copious rains throughout this country, both East and
West, but perhaps not enough to insure very full crops in view of
the previous drought. But we are carrying over a large surplus of
wheat, aud the chances are for better prices next year than we had
last year.
 

Republican will have a hard time of it in contesting the field with
Grover Cleveland, should he be the candidate of the Democratic

party.

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Bishop Potter should be credited with an idea which does him
honor, and which, if carried out, would add greatly to the attrac¬
tions of the metropolis. He wants to build a great cathedral, as
imposing as St. Peter's at Rome, but which would not represent
any particular sect, though Protestants generally would be expected
to contribute principally to its erection. It would be always free
to the public; its pulpit would be open to the able men of all
denominations ; but naturally, on account of their imposing ritual,
the Episcopalians would make more use of it than other religious
organizations. Then it would be the American Westminster
Abbey ; it would receive in its vault the distinguished dead of the
country ; thus it would be at once a temple to worship God and
glorify Humanity. It would be creditable to the rich men of New
York if we could carry out this splendid project.
 

Upon Governor Hill depends the fate of the block system of
land transfers. If he does not approve, the bill fails to become a
law on the 25th of this month. He must sign before that time.
Should he approve, it would be a serious matter to many officials,
for they will be deprived of certain fees which now supports some
and enriches others. In the absence of anything better we believe
there is a general desire that the block system should be tested. If
the Governor fails to approve, the reasons attributed to his non¬
action will not be creditable to him. The bill for short forms,
doing away with the absurd verbiage now used in deeds and mort-
ages, after having passed the Assembly failed in the Senate
through the manipulations of Senator Comstock who, although a
Republican, was more interested in the emoluments of some sixty-
five Democratic office-holders than of the interest of the owners
and dealers in real estate.
 

A good deal of interest in building circles has been created by
the discussion in our columns by experts as to whether building in
this neighborhood has been overdone. It will be noticed that those
who think there are too many houses going up are cautious busi¬
ness men who rarely risk their own money, but wait until they get
good orders from wealthy capitalists or great corporations. Those
who keep on building are firms which use their own or who borrow
money. This does not mean that they are mere speculative build¬
ers, for there are many substantial capitalists among this class.
Our own judgment is that should the present conditions in trade
prevail, there will be an active demand for homes in and near New
York during the coming fall and winter.
 

The determination of James G. Blaine to go abroad until after the
Republican National Convention meets means that he is a candi¬
date for nomination, for if he did not wish to run for the Presi¬
dency he would say so and stay at home to see that he was not put
in the field. Senator John Sherman is avowedly a candidate for
nomination. There is no other interpretation to be put upon the
speeches he has been making recently and the effort to attract
attention to himself North and South. Senator Sherman may not
expect to be nominated, but his prominence in the canvass may
make him the ruling spirit in the Cabinet of a Republican Presi¬
dent, should one of the chiefs of that party be chosen. It now
looks as though some Western " dark horse" may be the Republi¬
can nominee. Unless we are mistaken Robert T. Lincoln will poll
a good many votes in the Republican National Convention and
may be nominated. It is in his favor that he is the son of his
father, and has wit enough to keep his mouth shut.   But any
 

The Evening Post takes Bishop Porter's letter as a text to criti¬
cise our church architecture, and condemns the mammon worship
of the average wealthy New Yorker. The Roman Catholics, it
says, have one fine cathedral, built mainly from the contributions of
very poor people. Protestant churches reflect no credit upon the
anti-Catholic sects. Then the Posi further charges that rich New
Yorkers have done comparatively nothing for art or the higher
educational needs of the metropolis. There is something in this,
and an effort should be made to wipe the reproach away. A
hundred million could easily be raised by, say, a thousand rich New
Yorkers. They could give us another St. Peter's or Westminster
Abbey.   Will they do it ?
 

The prices bid at auction recently for the franchise of certain
street roads show how much the city has lost by not adopting this
plan at the beginning of our street horse-car and ferry systems.
The Record and Guide was the first paper to urge that the fran¬
chise should not be given to the highest bidder for a round sum,
but that the bids should be percentages of the receipts, the fares to
be limited to 5 cents. Perhaps a still better plan would have been
to have given the franchise to the company who offered to charge
the smallest fare. Had that been the rule transportation on the
Third, Fourth and Sixtli Avenues, if not the other roads, would
have been reduced to 3 if not to 2 cents. But the possibilities of
horse-car traffic were not realized when the charters were first
granted, and, as Mayor Hewitt pUts it, the fortunate stockholders
have got 20 per cent, annually on stock representing five times the
original cost of the roads. For this enormous profit the companies
have given their passengers dirty cars and packed them like
sardines in a box, and, when making the most money, paid only
$1.25 a day to their conductors and drivers for fourteen and
sixteen hours' work. Had the franchises been put up at auction
as they were last Tuesday the city treasury would have realized a
sum sufficient to take 1 per cent, from the yearly levy on real

estate.

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One of the live political topics of the future may be the imposi¬
tion of a tax on all immigrants. It is curious how this matter is
cropping out in so many different directions. Some of the organ¬
ized working people object to the competition of the " pauper labor
of Europe." Ardent lovers of their country and foes to foreign
Socialism look with dread upon the importation of European born
Anarchists, while others again object to the criminals and paupers
who are now coming in thrcngs to our shores. The Financial
Chronicle presents still another objection which ought to have great
weight.   It says:

We cannot shut our eyes to two facts that have an important bearing
upon this question. The first is that the average immigration at the present
time is of distinctly inferior quality to that of any former period. North¬
ern Europe has not been so drained as yet that the arrivals from Germany
and Scandinavia are generally of a low order. But the accessions from
Italy and from the French portions of Canada, to say nothing of other parts
of the world, are not of a class out of which desirable American citizens can
ever be made. Railroad men may want the Italians to use the spade; fac¬
tory owners may be glad of French-Canadian helpers; but the country as a
whole "is not benefited by the presence of either.
 

Politicians in search of live issues would do well to think this
question of foreign immigration over. A plank in a party platform
imposing a $500 tax on every immigrant would appeal not only to
the judgment of many persons but to the interests and prejudices
of large classes. Sentimentalists might object to it, but the most
serious opposition would come from large employers of unskilled
labor. Then the large class who depend on household service
would object. Even now the wages of female help is so high as to
be a serious tax on families of small means. The average Amer¬
ican-born girl wiU not go put to service, and a cutting off of the
foreign supply would have very serious consequences to the house¬
holds of the Eastern cities.