The Ocala banner., 1921-08-19
WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT 5 I'd
DEN DEPRESSION?

Wnlcn Dr0ugnt the great WOFlu Wdf
to an end, the people of the United
States were happy, prosperous, con-
tented!
Paraphrasing and syncopating the
lines Of the immortal Bard Of Avon,
we might we'll have exclaimed:
Now was the winter of our dis
content made glorious summer; all
the clouds that lowered Ger us were
lin the deep bosom of the ocean buried;
our brows bound with victorious
wreaths and our bruised arms hung up
| for monuments; our stern alarums
changed to merry meetings; our
dreadful marches to delightful meas
ures, grim-visaged war had changed
his wrinkled 'front.'"
Prices were high but money was
abundant which made business brisk
everywhere. We were living in
elysian!
| Never before had farm products
commanded so high price and
athwart the pathway Of the future
hung the most replendant bow of
promise of yet better times, not only
for the farmer but for all lines of
business activities.
| But suddenly, like the clap of thun-
der from a cloudless sky; yea, almost
within the twinkling of an eye, this
beckoning bow of promise was OBJ
scured by cloud as black and appall-
| ing as midnight.
| Why? What caused it?
Identically the same things that
had caused these business depressions
| in former times.
| The sudden contraction of the cur
rency by the stoppage of credits.
| Credits are the life-bIood of bust.
ness and all manner of industrial en-.
terprises.
When credits are stopped stagna,
| tion ensues.
Yet, in the face of these actual,
| palpable- facts, some men in high
places cling to the belief that a re.
dundancy and not scarcity Of money
is responsible for these periodic de
| pressions.
| Mr.. Blaine in his book entitled !:
Twenty Years of<Congress, in one
place says:
"The financial experience of the Gov.
ernment of the United States in the
years following the war is without
precedent among nations
Qnoting and replying to this para
graph Hon. Tom Watson of Georgia
in speech recently delivered in the
Unitetd States senate, said
That statement is erroneous. Just
exactly the experience which this
country went through after the Civil
War is the experience which the bank.
ers, the money changers, have put
every modern nation through after
every war; and the ruin wrought by
the contraction of the currency, the
ruin of homes and of business, the
beggaring of people who had been in
comfortable circumstances, the re-
duction of the wage Garner to the con
dition of tramp, walking the roads
begging for work, willing to work
and finding no work, has been repeat
Led after every modern war; and the
bankers are the real vultures that feed
upon the dead who fall upon the bat
tie line. Very often, Mr.. President
lit is the banker who precipitates the
wal, either to make an investment or
; to save one.
Then Mr.. Blaine takes up the
gradual progress of the contraction
OF the currency, and he writes para.
graphs after paragraphs, giving the
arguments on both sides Of the fear
ful panics, the failures, the collapse
II values. which followed upon the
contraction of the currency. It is an
instructive chapter. take the liberty
to suggest to Senators that at their
leisure they get the book from the
library. It fits the present conditions
like glove, with this exception:
Secretary McCullouch and those who
were Ia charge of the Treasury at
that time gave the people two or three
years notice that they would resume
specie payments, that the paper cur.
rency would be called in. The storm
signals flew. The beacon lights blaz.
ed, Every vessel, every ship out at
sea, had the opportunity to reef sails
and run into the harbor.
After this war there was q colossal
contraction Of the currency-tlehatad
Wnere. decided upon where? In the
open senate Of the United States, as
MT Blaine speaks OF in his book : Not
So In the House Of Representative