The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-11-22
THE PACIFIC
Commercial A0bertiser.
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER %.
OUR NEW YORK LETTER

N1 NSAAADAE ~ uEDEE-rlDn OI Lul
Country To-day. a walk through Broadway aDC
Broad street makes me suspect the soundness o
my statements, and lead- me TO the conclusion
that all Of us have been dreaming. / comics,
that hardly believe the evidence of my eyes
All 10 Changed. "PrO-Perity'' has come like a
spring freshet. The hard times are forgotten
Last night 1 heard a bank president say, . We
are mad the merchants are mad everybody is
mad everybody is crazy mad - The flush
times have returned. The stock market is like
a night Ut aurora bOrealis values fash up like
lights along the hOrTzJn values fash up above
the horizon. Then many values fash up, till
now a thousand values, like 80 many brilliant
sTeamers, each more daring than the other, leap
up " the zenith, filling the financial sky from
base To dome with dazzling splendor. The aver
age increase IN railway securities Is more than
i've hundred millIOns. lrOn has doubled in
price. L am told by a large dealer in railway
iron that enormous sums are being made by rail-
way officials at the expense of the roads which
they cUnCrOl. Advantage Is taken Of the rise in
price OF merchandise. he told me, rs a single
instance, that the president OF one road n~egOtiat-
ed With them for the purchase Of II, 900 tons of
steel rails nc S45 per ton just as the bargain
was Concluded and the contract was to be signed,
the market lUr steel rails went up about 81 per
ton. The railway president then said that really
be was not buying the rails for the road, but for
his own account and thereupOn the contract
was executed with him as an individual. Recent
u ~ CDbAihCN "a tDl1 " - AllIu pdILN, dnu the
profit realized was Sl20, 900. IL is needless to
say that IL the price Ol rails had fallen the rail-
way would have been called upon to stand the
loss. Gases Of this kind are not IN
Nearly every article Of merchandise has rapidly
increased in value. Workshops are busy fac
tories are running day and night merchants are
behindhand IN their orders. Three months ago
traders could not get rid Of their goods. Now
they cannot meet the supply. l can hardly ex-
aggerate the wild condition of trade. 1t must be
remembered, however, that the markets have
been bare As there was no demand there was
no supply. lrUn has gone up enormously be-
cause there was NO stock on hand. If the nills
bad been running on full time there would have
been a sufficient supply As people had made
up their minds that there was to be no more
trade, they kept their stOrehouses empty.
No one seems to know how this - boom" COM
menced. No one seems 10 know how it will
end. The prudent predict trouble. The hopeful
predict glorious times Tor ten years. The fnan-
oiaI writers are dszed. One thing Is certain, we
have still an enormous amount OF paper money
IN circulation. The legal tenders are out to the
extent OF nearly four hundred millions. and while
they are at par with gold they are still in circu-
lation. l doubt whether we can call ourselves
out Of the woods until we are strictly on a specie
basis. In the meantime, and until we reach that
basis, We shall be subject to panics and business
will oe unsettled. Aside from the great rise 10
values Of properties OF good character, 6 wide
spread speculation Is going on, not only in worth
LEES railway securities-the . cats and dogs - of
the streeE-but in mining affairs. Scores of COM
panies are being formed to work the gold and
silver mines in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and New
Mexico. The majority OF the mines are worth
less. and are managed by men who know nothing
about mining As usual, the people who invest
in them are Of the e~onfdIng sort, and unable 70
stand the loss. As nine-tenths of the business
men here are quite unwilling to accumulate
slowly, and expect to become rich at once, il is
almost impossible to check this kind Of specula-
ton. IL seemed at one time that the hard times
had taught our people u lesson, and that we
should find them conservative and sober. But the
majority forget AS soon as they learn. Many men
said TO themselves, = If we had only saved money
in previous years, we should have bridged over
the hard times. Let US not be caught again"
And now they are being caught again. At the
opening days Of the mIlliners the dresses were
more extravagant than ever, and the shops which
I'm luxuries are crowded.
The POLITICAL situation Is uncOmmonly interest
ing iust now. Although there Is hardly an issue
before tie people, there Is intense energy IN all
political matters. This city is the centre of the
business, az Tilden lives here, and here the pre-
Iiminary work for the next Presidential campaign
must be done. Affairs are dreadfully mixed up.
The Democratic party is split up, Tammany
bolts. As I once wrote you, the issue between
and Tilden 10, IL Tilden square ?"
So thoroughly convinced Is Tammany that it will
become a miserable tool IN Tilden's hands if he
be elected, II determines TO upset all Democratic
precedent and bolt. TIlden has made overtures
enough. Indeed, be will make most any bargain,
Tamnany won't trust him, bolts away, and
throws the election into the hands Of
the Republicans. And ON the other hand, the
Republicans have nominated Cornell, a - ma
chime " man, and have bargaIned with Tammsny
70 divide the spoIls IN the Legislature. George
VIM. Curtis, one Of the purest of the Republic
ans, butts the q machine > ticket in an open,
way, and he will have some following. .
Cooper, the Mayor, rs an able man. but
wanting in decision ut character. He puts down
figures, but dues not add them up. His case pre-
senIs an ~exc-llenI illustration OF the way a decent
nan may get bimse.f covered with mud. He is a
gentleman, q merchant. He Is put up for Office
by a combination Of anti-Tammany and Repub-
lican-. COOper thought that they were patriots.
they wanted the spills only. They elected
bun. lie felt grateful, and was under pledge to
help these men, They demanded all sorts of dis
nOBest and unreasonable things. Cooper was
=. Ny character will not permit me
so d. this" he said. :. Damn your character
they replied, '. We didn't elect you to show of
yOur character We elected you so you could
give Us a chance TO grab City money" Poor
CEper : He now knows what it 10 to be a poll
lie rs at LgSerheads with the men who
elected him. laughed at by his friends, and re-
zaTded as a lOOI by many shrewd men who do
not understand hrs embarassments. As | see him
riding Up town, his sad, worn face tells the tale
ol drsappOin ment, though he be Mayor Of the
Erea: city of America.
You have doubtless -een the accounts of the
by Cyrus W. Field, Of a monument to
MalDr Andre at the spot where he was executed.
There has been sumo angry talk about 1t and
sumo very bad words said Probably II was not
in very good taste for Mr. Field to undertake the
business but be is unusually fond Of sensations
haze IA tendency to make him the central
6Vure- and he has lots VI money. But the
sacred memory Of tile Revolutionary heroes
who caught Andre is now IN jeopardy. Paul
ling, Van Wart and Williams, of course, are
looked upon by every sehOolbOy as the incorrupt-
patriots who brought IN the spy. One of
our papers said the other day that they were no
better than thieves, and certainly had nothing to
boast of in the way OF virtue. To this one Of
Van Warts descendants replies, quoting a certih-
Of gOOd character gwen oy the neIghoors OF
these men. This has brought out a letter from
General King, dated 1917, and the minutes Of
the debate IN Congress over PauldIng's pension,