The herald., 1897-08-22

1857 which closed almost every bank on
the Atlantic coast and sent prices tumb-
ling all the way into the second year of
the war, when the stimulus of the great
operations then going on revived them.
There has been no such wreck of stocks
and real estate this time. The run on
the banks was very different from now.
The depositors were lost in the wave
of bill holders clamoring for specie when
there was none; while a depositor who
wanted his money could not be satisfied
with government notes, as now. Now,
when one gets a dollar he knows what
he has, After that panic when one got
a dollar, the question was, What is it
worth?
During that panic and for years after
it heard many people talk of the panic
of 1887, and it was universally conceded
that 1887 was worse than 1857. l have
read in the congressional records the
petitions that between 1887 and 1912 were
presented to congress for a restoration
of the deposits to the United States bank.
The state of the country they set forth
beggarsthe widest description that ev en-
John Most could write of our times.
Benner says that in 1887 mess pork was
$50 barrel in New York and in 1912 after
the five years of depression following the
panic it was $6.75. We have seen no such
fall as this in any staple.
From the best accounts we can find,
the panic of 1919 seems to have been the
worst of the series. On page 100 Benner
quotes from letter from a banker to the
secretary of the treasury written in 1880:
'The disaster of 1S19 which seriously
affected the circumstances, property and
industry of every district of the United
States, will be long recollected. A sud-
den and pressing scarcity of money pre-
vailed in the spring of 1922; numerous
and very extensive failures took place in
1925; there was great revulsion among
the banks and other moneyed institu-
tions in 1926. The scarcity of money
among the trades in 1927 was disastrous
| and alarming; 1928 was characterized by
failures among the manufactures and
trades in all branches of business La
! mentable and rapid succession of evil
and untoward events prejudicial to the
progress of productive industry caused
a baneful extension of embarrassment
| insolvency, litigation and dishonesty
| alike subversive of social happiness and
| Lively lHtellISeHl illHu IlIuSl GA-
press regret and astonishment at the
recurrence of these disasters in Tranquil
| times and bountiful seasons, amongst en-
| llightened, enterprising. and industrious
people, comparatively free from taxa
| ton, unreStrained in pursuits, possessing
abundance of fertile lands and valuable
minerals with capital and capacity tC
| improve and an ardent disposition tC
avail themselves of these great boun.
ties"
This is kind Of history that repeat
itself and it is very likely that Benner'
prediction, made twenty-five years ago
of good times at hand, will come true
The depression spends itself just as tn
upward movement does; liquidation il
over, people are hungry for in nterest AM
tired of being afraid. When this one
that and the other, begin to say they ar
making money, others begin to think the.
are, and so confidence begets confidence
and sends it rolling on in an increasing
wave.
And then what? Does anyone expec
to see it roll upward and onward in a.
eternal crescendo? When there Is n
such thing in nature, why should W
expect it? For time everyone will hav
a chance to make some money, or a
least get out of debt. We had this oppor
tunity less than ten years ago, and hoy