The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-08-12
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About Panics.

Hen. John Sherman, of Ohio, is Char-
man of the Finance Committee of the
| United Estates Senate, and he has made
monetary questions Z special STUDY. In
/ his recent campaign speech he made the
| following statement with regard TO
| panics:
| In Scptcmbcr, 1873, when the panic
| commenced, The amount of United States
notes outstanding was $3.50 200, COO, frac-
/ tional currency 81, 030, 900, and of bank
circulation $3.50 600, 900; in all $40, 000,-
! 900, or more than it had ever been before.
| The panic came With this vast sum afoat,
and Secretary Richardson, without au.
| thority of law, issued $40, O0O, Oto more OF
United States notes, for the laudabic ipur'
| pose, as he thought, Of easing the money
market. 1t nearly all went into banks,
and there remained in unbrokcn pack-
ages. If flooding a country with c'.'-
! rcncy would prevent IL panic Or stop one,
! here we had Il tria But il was only like
pouring oil N It fire 1t is dcmonstrablc
! that nearly al pan;CS, except only such
| as ale traCcabic q w.. famine or like
causes, spring from expanded GREATS,
and in many cases, from excessive paper
money OvcrprolUction is the inevita-
Bile result; improvi 'Cnt contracts, I'M
profitable enterprise and wild spccu,a-
! ton always follow expanded credits,
whether by corporations, banks or indi-
vidualS. IntlatiOn-thc very name inn
phys buoyancy, expansion, gas, destruC-
| ton; and, alas! the destruction often falls
| on those who did not breed the storm. -
Now that time has given us full view OF
the expanded credits and imprrvident
enterprises of 1873. we only wonder that
the wreck was not more overwhelming
and ci during.
This is historical assertion which can
not be contradictcd. 1t stands upon i'm
prcgnablc facts, and, rs proposition, is
susceptible of proof amounting to abso-
lutte demonstration. Whatever else may
be done or not done, the cxpcdicnt of in
1ation is the very worst remedy that
could be applied to the present cmbarrass-
mcntS of the country.
Legislation cannot bring the needed re-
! lief. If, on general average, the crops
! of this season are heavy and the prices
good, then Tic country will be in thrifty
condition once more. But it will not be
restored to its ante panic price position.
1t ought not to be. And right here is the
grand error of the intiationists. They
want to get back to Il condition of things
which was urwholcsomc and deceptive.
1t can no more return. The foolish at
tempt to restore it may cmbarrass the
country for some time, but in the end the
folly will be futile This is as sure as the
maxim that revolutions do not move
backward.
TIC interpret the panic of 1878 one
should recall the panic of 1857. Great
facts, like hatllcficlds, cannot be seen
distinctly until time has rolled away the
smoke and laid the dust. The same cause
produced both of those revulsionS, over
speculation. The price of nearly every
thing was inflated In the estimate of
values cNaggcration was the rule, and cy
actncss the rare exception. The collapse
was little else than coming down to
facts ranicS are attributed to the inila-
ton of prices, and, in property of perma-
ncnt value, to borrowing from the future,
in one way or another. The valuation of
land by estimating the revenue it may de-
vclop in the uncertain future, and the
buildin. of railroads in advance of popu
lation, burden the present by an attempt
to make the future play an unnatural part
in present affairs. "Wild-cat' spCcula-
tons are sure to sap the lifc-blood of
community. When we abandon the idea
of returning to the fevcrshncss which
prevailed during the ten years preceding
the panic, We shall begin another career
of prosperity. and not before that time
CAicag0 JonraaI.