Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-15
OUR BIG NEIGHBOR.
Dwellings Cheaper in Philadelphia
Than in Pittsburg, but
BUSINESS HOUSES COME HIGHER.
A Great Year for Railroads, Whose Earnings
Make Stockholders Glad.
AN OPENING FOR BANKERS IN MEXICO

Philadelphia has reputation for cheap
rents, and justly, too, so far as dwelling
houses are concerned, but there her claim to
distinction in this particular ends. Busi-
ness house and office rents are 10 to % per
cent higher than in Pittsburg. This infor-
nation was obtained from Samuel W.
Black yesterday, who was in Philadelphia
the latter part of last week. He added:
THE water tax is considerably higher there
than in Pittsburg. For instance, ten
roomed house, with bath, closets, ETC., costs
S15 year. Here the same house would
cost $50 at least. Another difference be-
tween Philadelphia and Pittsburg is that
people there do not object to buying houses
that are in a row. Here the objection is so
strong as frequently to prevent sales, the
reason being their antipathy to parti-walls.
Although they come cheaper. the average
Pittsburg house owner or buyer wants the
wall all to himself, and would rather pay
500 to $500 more for it than be dependent in
any way upon his neighbor."
The story of increased railroad earnings is a
thrice told tale, and more than that 1t is only
repetition of the extraordinary favorable re-
turns that have been presented since mid
summer. Returns are published for the month
of September for LIS companies, which control
"a, lO4 miles of track, as compared with mile
age of q, 7l5 miles one year ago. The aggre-
gate of September earnings of the com panies
reporting is So, 56S 456, increase of ll.6 per
cent over September 1855 For August 134
companies reported gain in gross earnings
over the record for August 1888, amounting to
lob per cent. In July last, as compared with
July, 1880 the increase on gross earnings was
7.S per cent, and in June it was not quite per
cent. Only 36 roads show a loss, and these are
nearly all small lines and affe cted by special
conditions The most noteworthy are the At
lantic and Pacific, which is nearly 20 per cent
behind hand. and the Hooking Valley proper
tionately trifie more.
At the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn "Foun-
der's Day" was observed last week with ap-
propriate exercises. and an address by Charles
Pratt was naturally the principal feature.
The aim of the institute, Mr.. Pratt said, was to
give facilities for the trial of the best type of
combined academic instruction and manual
training for boys and girls from IA years of age
to IL or lS The idea was not to teach them
any trade, but to educate them to work pa
tiently and systematically in the use of hand,
eye and brain. Such as finished this course
Mr.. Pratt thought would be able to decide
what they were best fitted for in life's work.
Durir the past year, Mr.. Pratt said, over 30
persons had gone out of the institute who were
now earning average of $500 a year, or
more than the interest on s50O00O in Govern
ment bonds.
The International and Mortgage Bank of
Mexico with capital stock of SIS OO0 0OO is the
LOT m Iarr ola %o Col
low the salt trust, and one-half the amount of
the stock is to be offered to the public at $50
share. The promoters of this enterprise, says
the Wall Street Investigator are obviously
treading an untried field, and any road in Mex
leo may, like Jordan, prove a hard road to
travel We wish them Joy, and would like to
boil the peas In their boots and save them from
encounters with Mexican banditti by the way;
but they will have to fight their own battles and
pay for their ransom with cheerful spirit as
often as required. Those who are anxious to
go into the banking business in Mexico have
now glorious opportunity. Let them load up
to the muzzle with the stock. Then armed to
the teeth, each with a cooked hat and pair of
spurs, let them organize for the fray and march
into Mexico to defend their all and the banks
deposits from the avaricious hands of the Me1i-
can bandits and possible revolutionists.
One of the remarkable features about srchi-
lecture in New York at present is the rapidity
with which buildings are completed particu-
larly the great Office buildings in Wall street
and elsewhere down town. Formerly the con-
struction of such buildings was a matter of
years; now they are finished and occupied in a
few months after the foundations laid
Nine and ten-story buildings which were only
begun in June are now ready for their occu-
pants.
The Iron Age wants producers to whistle
"down brakes" and adds: while every iron
and steel manufacturer desires prices to be
maintained at a point which will yield him a
fair profit on his operations, it may safely be
assumed that there are very few who wish to
see extravagant rates prevail This satisfac-
tory stage of affairs has been reached and
passed Every point now scored in the up
ward movement is warmer invitation to idle !
blast furnaces or rolling mills to resume activ-
lty. Much higher prices will cause new enter |
prises to be undertaken where none now exist. |
Inevitably the supply will overtake the de- |
mand, then greatly exceed It, and prices will |
fall below the point of profit at even well To-
Gated and well managed works. to recover
their proper equilibrium only after the long |
and expen sive process of weedng out has been |
endured"
A New York letter says: There are rumors !
in regard to a mprehensive and far-reaching |
movement for the control of the market for |
barbed wire, but the negotiations have been |
carried on with unusual secrecy, and manu-
facturers are very reserved in regard to the
matter, so that there is but little definitely
known to the trade on the subject. The nego-
tiations are referred to in the daily press as
looking to the formation of barbed wire
trust but we are requested to state by the
parties actively identified with the enterprise
that the proposed arrangement is not of the
nature of a trust 1t is thought by some who
are familiar with the matter that it will be
brought before long to a successful issue and
that the result will be material strengthening
of the market in the lines brought under con-
troll"
ONLY TWO SALES