Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-10-11
The Panic Passing Away.
some of the Causes which Produced IL
and the Duties That VIII Follow It.


some of the Causes which Produced IL, |
and the Duties That VIII Follow It.
The best smile we can find to de-
scribe the week of panic in Wall street,
says a New York paper, is that of a sim
pie conhagration. Indeed, it would be
almost as easy to make map of the
burned district as it was of Chicago
or Boston or Baltimore. A few streets
in the neighborhood of Wall and Broad
included all that there was of real
financial danger or actual financial dis
aster. A few daring and speculative
brokers, and fewer unsound banks and
trust companies, yielded to the flames
for which they had provided the COM
bustibles, but beyond these no business
interest suffered, and trade generally
was unaffected. Even the failure OF
Henry Clews & Co., and Howes & Macy,
added little to the excitement, and 1t
seemed apparent on every hand that
the panic was slowly dying away. In
the end it will scarcel y be regarded as
disaster-certainly not a national DIS
aster. The great lesson of the panic is,
that while it caused fear and alarm al
most everywhere, it was in reality con-
fined to those who created 1t, and it is
apparent at last that Wall street may
be convulsed to its very foundations
without involving anything beyond it.
Hereafter the bulls and bears of the
street may tear each other to pieces,
and they will only be regarded by solid
business men as so many marionettes
playing their puppet parts for the
amusement of people who delight In
witnessing the curious effects produced
by cleverly managed machinery.
The panic came almost without fore
warning, but it was the result of causes
long in active operation. The war had
left us a legacy of shams and false
growths. Though it is more than eight
years since, we were not vet free from
the fatal poison of war speculations and
ness integrity with which the people
were innoculated. And other things
grew out of the war equally hurtful
with this constitutional disease. 1t gave
us an inflated currency, which enticed
men into speculations, certain at some
time to create a stringency for them.
Overtrading, consequent upon the war
spirit of speculation, depleted the
country of It's gold and made a return
to specie payments impolitic, if not i'm
possible. Watered stocks became a
common species of fraud and rendered
shares comparatively worthless, while
their values were unsettled and uncer-
tain.
The reckless management of trust
companies and savings banks was in
keeping with the daring spirit of specu-
lation which has just caused the bank
ers in Wall street who sowed the wind
to reap the whirlwind. The constant
recurrence of defalcations by men hold
ing the most sacred fiduciary rela-
tions to the people and the government,
and the deadening moral tone among
classes Of society, tended to bring
about the crash which well nigh in
volved the country in ruin. 1t is a re-
markable circumstance that financial
houses antedating the war have fallen
because of the evils generated by the
war. They caught the infection, and,
though they seemed to fatten on the
poison, they were swept away by the
plague in the end. The results have
been fearful, but they bring with them
promise of purer health and sweetsl
strength in the future.
1t would be easy to prophesy that SC
many concentric circles of evil, all tend
ing to destruction, would, sooner OF
later, bring terrible punishment but
l it was not so easy to foresee that among
so much of the evil there should bt
even more of good. The commercial
and industrial interests of the country
are sound and secure. The nationa
! as stable as in ordinary times. All these
4 are healthful signs-especially health
full when Wall street is convulsed with
out convulsing anything beyond it. /
! was almost a tradition that when thu
1 street is sick the country is also sick
Now, however, it is astonished that i
: lacked the power to disseminate disease
1 The failures which followed each othe
in such rapid succession were only 81
many pebbles thrown into the pool
: which had no effect except to make rip
: Piles on the surface. No imitation o
the currency was needed beyond tn
wants of few spectators. The United
States Treasury gave them greenback
for bonds and refused them everything
else; but even here the Spectator
q were unfortunate, for those who mos
= needed the greenbacks did not have tn
bonds. Nothing was left to them ex
: cept to gosto the wall, and in going the.
e have SO far hurt nobody outside of tn
g whirlpool of speculation. The grea
q business interests which centre in tn
n metropolis see that they are independ
4 ent of the men who toss stocks up ant
a down, and in the future fancy share
i bought and sold upon a margin vii
have little more influence upon the mar
I ket than the triumphs of the prim
q donna at the opera.