The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-06-14
OTHER GREAT PANICS
The Story Of the Bursting Of Big
Bubbles In the Past.
TINE HEEDEDTO RESTORE PROSPERITY
Every Bank suspended specie Par.
uscnt In IsS7-The Panic Of 1897
due 20 Exsravagance and spscs.
Iatien.

These are hard times. The country 10
passing through . period Of great nnan-
cial and commercial depression, but re-
view Of our history reveals some worse
panics than this. 1t is not circumstance
to either the panics Ct 1887 nor that Of
1857. During the first named nearly
every bank In the United States sus-
pended specie payments. No one then
thought Of sttributing the disaster TO
misgovernment. It was the inevitable
sequence Of period Of abnormal extrava-
gance and speculation in land and town
lots. Every one who could beg or Dor
row money on any terms did 30, and the
money broker who loaned his cash at
cent per cent thought he was making .
generous sacrifice. The tradesman for
sock his shop; the farmer his pillow; the
merchant his counter; the lawyer his
Office; the clergyman his church to Join
the wild scramble for swift fortunes. The
man was rated fool who would spend
his time in planting. in building, In hsms
mering iron, in making shoes. when the
path Of wealth lay wide and fiowery be-
fore him. But alasi this tsbble burst
thons9aas c. .cs...s,.sss yaaishsd In the
sir--the crisis and the panic came like .
whirlwind. M
Similar was the state Of sbings proceed.
ing the awful crash OF 1857. The times
were characterized by excessive debts
and almost incredible extravagance and
speculation. The cities and many parts
OF the country were drained Of means for
legitimate purposes. being devoted in
stead to the construction OF unproductive
railroads or absorbed in western land
speculation. The new territories and
some parts OF the western states were
almost covered with paper cities, selling
to the credulous at fabulous prices. In
Kansas alone, where scarcely one legal
title had yet been granted, there were
more acres laid out in town lots than were
covered by all the cities in the northern
and middle states. Nearly the whole
west swarmed with spectators who
neither intended to cultivate the soil nor
settle there, but who expected to realize
fortunes out Of the bona fide settler.
These operations, with others Of SINH
larly chimerical character. made money
anayoa ayaxyuhara .,d J;ya,taI tho,,
sands OF men and much Of the capital OF
the country from the business OF pro-
ducing, tending, Of course. to extrsvagant
prices for all the Decesaries OF life. But
at last the omens OF disaster began to
spread their spectral shadows athwsrt
the financial sky, the first manifestation
being regular decline OF leading railroad
stocks. But the first great blow to public
confidence was given by the failure Of
the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust COM
pany. The magnitude and Importance
Of the operations Of this institution
throughout the country, amounting to
millions OF dollars and involving 80 many
individuals and corporations, rendered
its suspension a fearful disaster. The
announcement fell like q bomb in the
money circles, and business houses began
to fall like autumn leaves all over the
country. The best mercantile paper soon
fell to discount Of per cent to per
cent per month, q condition that we
have not yet reached during the present
depression.
The crowds that gathered about sus-
pended banks and the excitement that
prevailed all over the country have no
parallel at the present time, yet nobody
then believed. nor feared, that a political
or social revolution was essential to re-
store prosperity. Neither this, nor any
other country ever saw so many years oil
great prosperity as this country has en-
ioyed since confidence was again restored
and business revived, and it continued
unbroken down to the dawn Of the pres
ent depression, interrupted only by q
short crash in 1873. The world has fur
nished no parallel to the progress OF our
country since the close OF the civil war to
the present day. The man who made q
trip through the great west during this
period witnessed what was denied to man
in any other age and in any country but
this, the wonderful processes of the
building OF great empire.
In the light of this splendid growth,
these evidences of the ability OF our peo-
pie to rise triumphant from the most aw-
full depths OF depression and disaster, who
does not feel contempt for those
gloomy pessimists and that carping
crowd of political shysters, who preach
eternal bankruptcy and ruin to the whole
country, unless there is total political
revolution. 1t takes time, and return to
q rational basls to bring renewal Of
prosperity after any great general business
disaster. No new political organization
loaded with hurricane reforms can re-
store prosperity, and any party that
takes advantage Of present conditions to
persuade people that all our business
troubles are due to bad legislation, merits
the contempt OF all intelligent men,
Tacoma Union.