Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-07-04
"PANIC" TO ORDER
POSSIBILITY THAT HISTORY WILL
REPEAT ITSELF.
Financlers and Politicians of To-Day
Differ Little in Character from
Those Who we're Prominent in
Andrew Jackson's Time.

In looking back at our industrial
and financial history it is interesting
and may be profitable to know that in
1881 there was great prosperity, espe-
cially in New York city. The diary
of Philips Hone, who was mayor of
New York in 1926, describes that pros
perity as being beyond all former ex-
amples, accompanied by high rents,
vessels worth double, good prices Tor
ample crops, in fact, general prosper
ity. Two years later President Jack
son was in the midst of his vigorous
war against the United States bank
monopoly. Nicholas Biddle, the presi-
dent of that bank, was the great
fnancier' of his day, and he not only
aimed to control the financial affairs
of the country, but its politics also,
for he attempted to defeat the renom-
nation of Gen. Jackson in 1882 and
to be his successor. In 1888, Hone
speaks of ill-advised action of the
president in removing the government
deposits from the United States bank,
which he said produced an awful
scarcity of money, stocks declined
greatly in value, and in December of
that year he speaks of a panic pre-
vailing and as times being "gravely
hard" Gambling in stocks, he says,
has been carried on by brokers to an
extent disgraceful to the character of
the city" He speaks of spectators
selling stocks "to the amount of mil
lions without owning a dollar Of the
stocks, betting 1t would fall and then
taking pains by every kind of lying
and %chicanery to injure the reputation
of the stock that he may win" The
bears of the Wall street of those days
evidently had the bulls by the throat
time being.
But in the beginning of 1885 the
bulls were on top again and there was
renewed prosperity and speculation
in progress. Hone speaks of the higf
prices prevailing for rents and com
modities and the increased cost of liv
ing. "The rage for speculation II
lands in Long Island" he says, SIS on
If the bubbles of the day." He tell
us of Abraham Schermerhorn as hav
ing a farm of 40 acres, three mile
from Brooklyn, which he had offeret
for $4,000 four years before and nov
sold for $102, 900. Two years later, il
1887, however, the boom burst an
lots which sold at $3.50 were the
worth but $50. That was in April, an
on May 10 the New York banks ha
suspended specie payments,
There is a great similarity betwee
those times and now. Andrew Jacl
son was somewhat a prototype of The
odore Roosevelt, they are both of tn
strenuous type and President Roost
vent, like Gen. Jackson, is hardly sa
isfied without having a fight or han
with some n The parallel is con
plete enough even to the fact thu
both were mixed up in a controvers
with ladies Of great political ambition
for while Gen. Jackson had his Pegg
O'Neil, President Roosevelt has ha
his Maria in the Storer episode, onl
there is this great difference, for Will
the chivalrous Jackson stood by tn
woman in the case, even to the poir
of disrupting his cabinet, Presider
Roosevelt felt compelled to denQunc
the political activities Of Mrs. Store
Whether poor crops and tight none
will cause a collapse of the preseI
boom is impossible to say until tn
crop question is settled. We are no
doing business on a ten to n basis
that is the banks of the country on
hold one dollar in cash for eve s.
they owe their depositors. 1t will NJ
take much to upset such an inverte
pyramid and a great many more thing
may happen nowadays than in &c
, Jackson's time. There are indication
that the ~far-seeing frenzied financie.
have sold or are selling their specul
tive holdings and the retirement fro
: active business Of such masters
> finance as ]. P. Morgan and Rock
! Teller and Rogers and Stillman Loo
to be a warning for other people
. take heed before the pext f1nanci
' eruption occur Of course, when
: boom c~ollapses somebody holds Il
I bag and these see their property me
, way in falling prices for lack Of Blu
: ers. Those who are out of debt W
: weather the storm, If they can p
, taxes and get along with reduced i
! comes for a while. But those who a
! in debt when the pinch ome W
: suffer great losses and many will 10
their all.
We do not know that Nicholas Bi
:. die brought on the panic of 1888
' injure the prestige of Gen. Jacksc
: but we can well imagine the prese
+, disgruntled frenzied financiers allo
: ing the speculative markets to Sc
and the Republican machine poll
. clans aiding them to defeat the De
ocrats as they have done on form
occasions. 1t is comparatively ca
to produce a "rich mans panic"
frighten the voters by an appeal
LI - LWH.N.