Norembcr 1,1880
 

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Record and Guide.
 

578
 

ESrJkBUSHEI)^IWpH«u^ 1868.;

1)wbTED TO I^ EsTME. BuiLoiffo A^rreCTui^ M«8nlou> Deoo^twI.
Busu(ess Alb Themes or CeHbv^I \jno^n

PRICE, PER TEAR IN ADYAHCE, SIX DOLLARS,

Published every Saturday.
Telephone,          -         .         -         Cobtlandt 1870.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET. 191   Broadway.
J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
 

Vol. XLVI,
 

NOVEMBER 1, 1890.
 

No. 1,181
 

SOME of the depressing conditions which for months past have
helped the fall in prices bave, during the week just closed,
been removed. Investors and speculators are at length in posses¬
sion of enough facte to place a certain value on the certificates of
the Sugar Trust without which in the beginning they ought never
to have been dealt in on the Stock Exchange. An industrial
enterprise, however, which can earn for more than two years over 15
per cent on a capital stock of $.50,000,000 is doing a good deal more
than any railroad company in the country, and if the enterprise is
l^al and its managers trustworthy, it consequently ought to sell
for prices higher even than any it has yet touched. Wall street
has had a bitter experience with industrials in the past. The idea
of dealing in securities, the value of which was not indicated by
a published statement of eamings, so that there were no means of
ascertaining its worth, was ridiculous. There is, however, no
reason in the world why the shares of large manufacturing and
other companies should not be dealt in just as are the shares of
railroads, but it must be under tiie same conditions. Such is the
lesson of the Sugar and Ck)tton Oil Trusts. As the time is drawing
near for money to return from the interior less apprehension, also,
is being felt for the future of the money market, and although
uneasiness still existe abroad, it does not appear that the price of
money in this city will for some months to come act as a depressing
factor in the market. Railrc^d rates, unfortunately, are still low,
and railroad earnings do not compare favorably with those of last
year, but eflEorts are being made to raise the level of the former,
and last year's earnings were exceptionally large compared
with previous years. Wall street has seen a constantly falling
market for some months now. It is time that some reaction should
take place.
 

THE two dangers threatening the financial position of the vari¬
ous European countries are the stringency in the money market
and the aggressive self-assertion of the laborers. As to the former,
financiers abroad regard it with the deepest apprehension. The
prices of securities, alike in London, in Paris and Berlin, have been
continually falling. The money market in these centres, as in
New York, while not demoralized, is so stringent that operators
with engagements are very careful about incurring new obliga¬
tions. It is not considered probable that the Bank of England will
get through the year without raising its rate of discount to six per
cent. The prospect that Austro-Hungary will resume cash pay¬
ments remains'about where it was. The Hungarian Finance Min¬
ister, while admitting that he himself favored it, and that the
Austrian government strongly desired it, declared in an interview
that the details had not as yet been arranged. Much depends on
the future condition of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. The Euro¬
pean financial position, however, is not without its redeeming
features. So good and conservative an authority as the London
Economist is of the opinion that American securities, at present
prices, whether dividend-paying or not, are a purchase. It must
always be remembered in this connection that the uneasy feeling
abroad is not caused by an inflated or a depressed condition of busi¬
ness. It is due simply to the active demand for money all over the
world, for use in mercantile and manufacturing transactions,
wbich has had its reaction on the prices of securities by equalizing
tbeir value to tbat of money. The consequent depreciation bas, of
course, injured stock brokers and speculators; but it has not hurt
business men in general. The Australian strike is now generally
admitted to be a failure. Tbe organized shipping interests of
tbat colony have been able, in spite of enormous losses to them¬
selves and to tbe government, to reduce tbeir laborers to a more
reasonable frame of mind. Tbe same sort of struggle is at present
under way in tbe west of Scotland, between the ironmasters and
their employes, and apparently it is tending to a like result.
American industry, at the present time is unusually free from labor
troubles; but if present indications go for anything, the increasing
self-assertion on the part of tbe employes and the tendency of capital
 

to organize to protect itself will, both here and abroad, lead to
struggles the like of whicb tbe world bas seldom seen.
 

THE municipal campaign, which practically comes to a conclu¬
sion on tbe day that this paper is published, has not been con¬
ducted by eitber of the two contending parties with any great
amount of dignity aud fairness.   Wben Tammany renominated
Mayor Qrant, its leaders explicitly appealed to the people of tbis
city on the record that be had made.   The Mayor's letter of accept¬
ance was framed to justify this record: and the wigwam omtors,
in tbeir public speeches, pointed to it witb pride.   But tbe Tam¬
many plan of campaign was soon shifted to otber issues.   Totally
irrelevant matters, such as the McKinley bill and the Force bill,
were brought in.   Thomas C. Piatt and William R. Grace were
held up to contumely; and occasionally tbe cultured vi it of Bfr.
Bourke Cockran and Mr. Delancey Nicoll found expression in mak¬
ing pot-bouse references to their opponents individually, or to tbe
" parson's" and " lady's " campaign. The issue, however, cannot be
evaded by the introduction of national politics; neither can it be
obscured by 4th-Ward vituperation.   In tbe opinion of all good
citizens   the   Mayor   of   New   York   City   must   be   judged
by     what     he     has     done     for    tbe    metropolis,    not    by
what the Republicans bave or bave not done in Washington.   With
such a standard clearly before us, excluding as it does all extrane¬
ous issues,  it is a comparatively simple matter to sum up the
discussion which has waged around Mr. Scott's claims for election
and Mayor Grant's claims for re-election.   The former, in so far
as be protested against tbe entire surrender of our city depart¬
ments to Tammany Hall " heelers," was taking up an impregnable
position ; but in bis attempts to trace in the specific acts of the
departments examples of incompetence and unfair dealing he was
not so fortunate.   Mayor Grant's standing on the cleaning of the
streets, the subways, tbe Elm street improvement, rapid transit,
and tbe schools, is open to merited criticism; but when Mr. Scott, in
speaking in North New York, endeavors to score a point against the
city government by criticising its attitude towards street improve¬
ments in tbe 23d and S4tb Wards, be touches upon a matter in
which Tammany's work has been particularly commendable.   The
Corporation Counsel's oflSce has been very active in tbe past two
years in advancing proceedings that had been almost stationary for
years past.   Tammany's opponents bave also been unfortunate, as
we pointed out last week, in many of their criticisms on the Tax
Department.   An equitable consideration of these matters will be
greatly aided by distinguishing between the improvements wbicb
Tammany has originated and those which it has merely pro¬
gressed.   Mayor Grant and bis associates cannot claim tbe credit
of having conceived and executed any betterments of their own;
but in tbe Dock Department, in the Corporation Counsel's oflSce
and to some extent in tt.e Public Works Department, necessary
improvemente, long under consideration, have been considerably
advanced.   Undoubtedly, however, Tammany has lacked fruitful
ideas.
 

IN another column will be found a statement of the present con¬
dition of the movement to erect a new Appraisers' Stores in
this city. Of all the parcels of land for a site submitted to Secre¬
tary Windom, we believe there is only one wbicb be bas seriously
considered. We bave good reasons for believing that, as a matter
of fact, tbe Secretary does not personally favor the selection of any
up-town site. Following bis own judgment, be would locate tbe
Appraisers' Store on the Bowling Green site, where the new Custom
Housti is to be. Very strong pressure, however, from interested
parties, has been brought to bear upon the Secretary, and appar¬
ently be bas succumbed to it, and has practically put tbe matter
into the hands of a small committee of New York merchante, and
their voice will go a long way to decide which site the government
will purchase. It bas been our belief all along, in view of the fact
that the Appraisers' Store is to serve for the whole port of New
York, and not merely for New York City, that Bowling Green is
the proper place to locate it on. We believe so still. Who knows
what changes a very few years will bring in the character of tbe
district in which are situated the stores of the dry-goods men who
are clamoring for an up-town site. They may be forced to migrate
to a section more diflScult to reach from the Appraisers' Store than
tbe Battery, for it must be bome in mind in this matter it is not so
mucb distance that counte as accessibility.
 

HOW surely the philanthropic and reformatory spirit of the
day is merging into what may be broadly termed Socialism
is furtber evidenced by the proceedings of tbe Church Congress
recently held at HuU, in England. So little attention was tbere
given to either theological or ecclesiastical matters, and so much to
" Labor;" to qaestions of wages and the condition of the working
classes, that it came very near to being a Socialist Congress. As the
president, the Bishop of Durham, said in his opening address:
" The programme gives a moet conspicuous place to social quee-
tiontt.   We are asked to consider theories and probleoui: we are