The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-31
NO PANIC TO BE FEARED. Why Business COlIaDse of the Old

Why Business ColIaDse of the Oid-
 Fashioned Type is Not Indicated. J. W. Van Cleave. in The Circle Maga-
 zine.
 When Bismarck declared that "the enemy who fixes a day for his attack Is never dangerous" he uttered a truth which is especially applicable to finan- cial disturbances. The business disas- ter which proclaims beforehand that 1t will strike the country on January l, May 15, or any other stipulated date need not trouble any of us. It will not come to hand Consciously or uncon- sciously we will take measures to meet it, and then when the appointed day arrives 1t will turn up missing. The preparation which we make to receive it will prevent it's advent
 The recent furry made many other wise leVel-headed persons declare that business collapse of the old fashioned recent clouds have rolled by some of these peoule are predicting that the panic will come in 1908. Perhaps if they continue roe esvIng long enough prediction will overtake realization. After the most careful scrutiny of the situation which I can give, however. l confess that l can see no signs of an approaching collanse which will even remotely resemble those which came
 le"H IeeG 1873, or 1893. In those, years took lace the financial called panics Between each of these industrial and financial dislocations (as in 1925, 1S4S, 1869, 1884 and 189O1 came milder fiurries. the effects of passed away quickly.
 The scare which came in the latter half of 1907 belonged to the 1884 and 1890 class instead of to that of any other of the five years of disaster which l have cited. Its effects have already almost disappeared. but it has given us lessons which we ought to learn.
 EVerYbodV who knows the causes of eaeh or our, panfcs, and who takes an intelligent survey of the present situ- ation' will see that almost all those causes are missing now. Today there
 No recent great war Gas the war of tS tSlS-io 3 with Englandl; which helped to 9T9g of the nasic of ISIS or the civil bie for several of the factors which aid In precipitating the cataclysm of 1875, with its consequent destruction of property and derangement of indus tries.
 No crop failures Gas in 1s87I.
 NO railroad building beyond the eountry's needs Gas in 1857 and in
 No wildcat banking Gas in 1918. 1887. No greenback endless chain>-er silver to draw gold out of the Treasury
 No adverse balance of trade Gas in 1918. 1887. 1857 1873. and 1Ss31.
 No gold drain to Europe Oike we
 
 of any kind
 No shortage in revenues Gas in 1898 and some other panic times).
 No menace of any sort or from any quarter las there was in every one of those five panic years) to our coun- try's monetary system.
 What would not Monroe. Van Buren, Buchanan, Grant, or Cleveland have given 10 De able to show a favora ble balance in the countrY's< foreign trade age of recent years? Those. were the Presidents who were in power when the great industrial collapses of the past took place. In their time the trade balance was on the other side. In those panic periods the country was buying abroad more than it was se11- pay for it. The flooding of the home market with foreiGn-made goods, to the displacement of our own products, and the wholesale closing of our facto:, ries. which the country saw in several panirs. are absent today.