Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-04
The Mania Of 1851.
Letter In Doston HoraId.1

Letter in Boston Herald
In connection with the beautiful Ao-
raj display that our public gardens
have been so recently offering to the
public, a review of the excitement Gre
ated by this particular flower, the tu-
lip, some two hundred and more years
ago, may interest the public. One
would hardly suppose that the greatest
financial panic of the world could be
chargeable to the floral kingdom, and
much less to a single variety of flower.
and yet such a one occurred two cen
turtles ago, in what is known as the
tulip mania" In the year 1854. the
principal cities Of the Netherlands
were seized with a desire to possess
certlin descriptions Of tulips. and this
plunged them into speculations as gen
orally disastrous in their results as
those eliminating in the notorious
Black Friday" The rich expected
boundless wealth, and the poor, crazed
with this passion for speculation, in
dulged to the fullest extent Of their
possessions. Every one either bought
and sold or commenced to grow tulips.
Other branches of business were aban.
doned, and every kind Of property was
sacrificed for ready money to speculate
in them. The present system ofbuyer
and seller contracts may have had It's
origin at that time, as contracts were
then entered into for the purchase and
delivery of certain varieties of roots
that were never seen by either buyer
or seller. The value Of a flower ex-
eeeded its weight in gold. Every one
at first realized enormous profits no
root can be purchased to-day that
would not double or treble its value
by tomorrow. The prices given
for these bulbs can be re-
corded as the greatest demonstration
of human folly ever known in finance.
Merchandise valued at 300 forms
was given for a special variety of root:
this for a time remained Its marketa.
bic price. Another kind sold for 200
forms; a third kind was valued at a
new carriage, pair Of horses and har-
ness; twelve acres Of land was the
price Of a fourth, and so on THROUGH
the different varieties, each for a time
having its particular standard value.
Bargains for rare specimens were
confirmed by banquets, and the Door
Of yesterday were the opulent Of TO-.
day. The epidemic spread TO London
and Paris, which cities became DOS.
sessed with the fear that Holland was
TO become through these means the
great commercial center of the world.
This imitation, like all similar bubbles.
had TO burst, and the panic camc,
operating like all pauics, and differing.
only IN It's severity, in no respect fiom
those which haVO been INDUCED in
periodically ever since. Confidence
was destroyed, agreements broken.
and the cities Of the Netherlands we're
populated by haukrupts. There was
literally nothing loft tho owners Of
tulips, which q few days before were
valued at thousands Of dollars, awoke
to a realizing sense Of their worthless.
ness, and In their buyer and seller
contracts found no relief, as tho court,
refused to recognize them az legal.
pronouncing it gambling. So wide
spread was the evil that the delibera.
tive council of the Hague sought for
some remedy, but could arrive al
I, nothing which would relieve the dis.
|, tress. It's effects lasted for mani
J years, cramping to a most pitiablt
: extent. both their commercial aut
$ home industries.