Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-12-26
HISTORY on PANICs.

some students of the history of the
finances OF nations maintain that panics
come and ro with tho regularity OF
sun spots They cvcn fancy that there
may Doc some connection between the
storms 0n the heavenly orb and the dis
urbancgs n our mundane sphere.
Whethcr there ls sufficient ground for
this suppositilu or not. 70 Is clear that
the rum of each Individual furry in D.
u8ncIu circles is so nearly IKE every
other. as TO suggest that they au arc
the results of the operation OF one law.
and not Of chance.
This fact is strikingiy apparent in
the following enumeration. by the New
York Evening Post. OF the main events
in the several paulcs of this country;
First. the failure of an important
bank or Institution ohio life and
trust Boa 1857. JAY Cooke a Co in 1873.
'Nitchelrs bank and the Erie railway
in 1898. the knickerbocker trust conn
pany In 1909.
Second. run OF deDositors ON the
banks
Third ID day of outright and hope
2O 1873. July 20 1903. October a. 1907
when bank officers are iu as bad a
fright as bank depositors. and when
lending Institutions refuse credit Tor "a
fcW hours To- interests who are entitled
tO TO- ana who cannot survive the day
without &C..
Fourth. partial or complete suspen-
sion of payments Bog the banks-rcfusal
to cash notes iu specie In 1850, and With
Lr.N HHH FrHf 81 d
itors in 1873, 1898 and 1907.
Fifth boarding of money in large
amounts, by savings banks, out-of-toWn
Institutions and Individuals leading
along with the restriction Of cash pay
ments TO depositors. 90 offer Of a pre-
MUM on currency paid I'm bank checks
Tn 1857 this took the form OF a discount
on bank notes.
sixth very large import OF foreign
gold. bought at premium and paid for
by sale of securities and commodities
90 foreign markets at a heavy decline
of price We brought I'm Sl5.000,000 Eu-
ropean gold in the panic of 1878. t56.-
600. 900 iu 1893. and something like $50.
100000 this year
Seventh. demands on the govern
ment Go do something This resulted
in 1857. Boo Fernando Wood 8 proposition
for eXtravagant public works la New
York city. to employ workmen out OF
n job, in 1878. iu Secretary Richardson's
Illegal issue OF S26 10000 Cancelled legal
tenders. and this year. at the same
point of the series of events. I'm the
treasury's note and bond issues
Eighth, a sudden Improvement In the
situation due 10 receipt OF foreign gold
I'm quantity and 90 waning panic; ac-
companied by rapid recovery on the
stock exchange and by numerous pub
Tie statements by financiers that all
the trouble was past that the panic
was mere furry, and that business
conditions win be I'm a month or two
just what they were before the panic.
Ninth, a food OF propositions from
everybody 10 reform the currency and
prevent future financial reaction by act
ol Congress. No such legislation bar
ring the repeal Of the silver purchase
act in October 1898, was ever passed
boz the session following the panic.
Tenth. realization by the whole COM
muuity that an era had been closed
boz American finance. and that a Ions
period OF reaction must be undergone
In preparing for the process Of recon
struction. Labor disturbances lnvari-
ably accompanied this stage OF the
episode"
Then the account goes on to say.
after the more on less prolonged period
'fN'N'N''f'' l'-1Ju HtHlrht, ueht-pay-
ing. economy and Invention Of labor,
saving devices, a time has come-sev-
eral years after the panic day-wheu
America suddenly discovered that its
newly accumulated capital and its vast
resources had once more placed 1t IN
control OF the international markets. It
was after that discovery that we Wit
messed 1866. 1870 and 1897.
From the figures presented q seems
10 take about four years 20 fully re-
cover from the shock OF arst-class
panic. unless some great national dis
turbance, like the Ciyn War prolongs
the agony. Il remains TO be seen whetb-
er this rule holds good this time.