Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-02-24
The NeXt Panic.

The croakers have been distributing a
considerable amount of dismal prophecy
of late The failures of two or three
banks have been sufficient to encourage
them to assure US that the beginning of
the end of thu present wave of pros
perity is ut hand. No one expects that
we are never going to have any more
hard times. The causes of them are
fairly we'll understood. An undue ex-
pansion of credit. the growth OF mor-
bid speculative spirit. the general pros
ecution of risky enterprises. the in
crease of extravagart living, several
seasons of short crops and excess of
consumption over production, are
quantities which inevitably prepare the
way for financial crashes. Seasons of
depression teach habits of economy,
redistribute labor into the useful and
productive chan nels from which it has
been more or less diverted, compel
more care in giving credits, and, in
short, pave the way for prosperity.
Prosperity in its turn nourishes the
evils which grow until they are sum-
marily and hsrshly corrected by hard
times again. Thus goes the world,
and until men gain wisdom and self
control enough not to be misguided by
prosperity, thus it will continue to 60.
That desirable era is evidently great
ways of.
There are good reasons, however, to
believe that the present economic wave
has not nearly reached the limit of its
existence. In the first place, it is not
ten years since we had the last crisis.
Panics are usually twenty years apart.
And in the second place, We have 8
safer currency than we ever had before.
In proportion as we keep that currency
safe, the severity of the depression will
be lightened when it does come, and
the time for its coming retarded. Be
sides this an unprecedented immigra-
ton of the best character has taken
place of late years. The new corners
have brought more with them than
their predecessors. and they are virtu-
ally all wealth-producers. The aggre-
gate effect of this importation of pro-
ductive labor cannot be accurately es-
timated, but is great. Then again, the
abolition of slavery has restored the
Southern States, in large part, to the
contemporaneous civiliz alton of the
country and almost doubled their pro-
ductive energy. The national debt has
been materially reduced in principal,
aud still more so with respect to the in
terest charge. The increased popula-
ton and the development of our re-
sources distribute the lessened burden
of taxation over broader ground.
There really ought to be. it seems,
more than tweny years between the last
panic and the next one.
The crisis of 1873 was fastened by
the war and the imitation of an ire
dee mable currency. Upon the twenty
years theory it should have been de-
ferred four later. The false prosperity
stimulated by the inflated, unsound
currency, took the shape of wild spec
ulation. the. construction of unneee 'sary
railroads and other things, and q
marked extravag ance. 1t was an age
of shoddy, and met its early and legit-
innate fate. Whatever Of value that age
has bequesthed to the present consists
in the warning example it has furn-
ished.
If 1--WE desire to prolong our wave of
reasonable prosperity the class # '.'''n
spoken of must be outvoted il G e., e's
this winter. The attempt to si;2iulat'-
prosperity by cheapening money is like
indulging in the fiction that the guam
tity of cloth in bolt can be increased
by shortening the yard stick.-[St.
Louis Globe Democrat.