New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-06-04
A LOST PANIC.

There has been war Tor more 'h"n DIN
weeks. In some aspects II has frleh the pa
tIcncc of Americans sorely. since they couid
not see why this or that apparently necessary
movement was deferred Still. there was one
thing which has been even more distinctly de-
fcrred-the great panic which war was sure ~
cousc. II NAV be remembered that some GOOD
noonIo wrote 70 The Tribune letters Of plead
Ing ard passionately remonstrant cnarac'er
somo months ago. describing the financial hor-
rors which a war would certainly cause. some
of ,bon II may bo remembered, were so bold
os to declare that Everybody knew general
"and disastrous panic would come as soon hS
"wor began" Those people have waited II as
n,tiontIr with less reason for patience than
anybody else.
War has brought much but not panic. IL mas
educated banks and bankers by tho thousahu'
but out OF panic and not into panic IL mas
tnught them. ny sore and heavy losses IN the
rates Of interest they might have secured
little more than month ago. that panic
maker is not the wisest person on this planet
If he has 10 deal with Americans ana thcir
busincss Perhaps there could not he fonnd
six weeks ago any set OF men anywhere VINO
were moro Industriousy promoting panic, ana
therefore consequent disaster for themselves
and their shareholders. than some OF the same
New York bankers who are now scraping the
street for commercial paper nj to 80 per cent
which they would not even consider at that
time nj 6 10 I per cent. They have their re-
ward.
But mistakes In Judgment are exceedingly
human. net to say exceedingly financial. Crit
icsm of the told you-so' order would be
little cruel II II were not also in the best sense
kind The good gentlemen had n notion that
all sorts Of Americans were going to stop doing
business that Is. they were going 10 stop eat
Ing and drinking, wearing clothes and renting
houscs-if ever war broke ont. Just then 1t
did not occur 10 them that n war with Spain
and war with Great Britain might mean diff
fcrcnt things Also. It did not occur to them
that Americans had actually the audacty 10
keep on eating and drinking and wearing
clothes and renting houses when few mill
ions of colonists were al war with Great Brit
ain. as It is probable their descendants will
never DO.
At the bottom Of nil this foolshness was the
notion that business Is inherently cowarily.
But tho old saying that there Is nothing so
timld as million. except two millions. does
not apply In the least 10 the legitimate business
in which nearly all the seventy-hve million
Americans are engaged. II does not apply
10 the cultivation Of the soil. or TO tho produc-
ton ~ the food which several hundred millions
outside the United States require. II does not
apply 10 tho manufactures which are neccs-
sary 10 feed and clothe and otherwise provide
for those sevcnty-nve millions What American
business men know. or from this time 10 come
ough. always 10 know. is that n nation which
cannot be seriously Interrupted in any one OF
It's great industries by any foreign difficulty
whatever but will with certainty go on living
and eating md drinking. whether war lasts
forty days or forty years cannot be thrown
into panic by any fear OF foreign trouble. That
bugbear may as well be fled away In bank
vaults with other entirely unavailable assets.