Evening star., 1932-01-17

pension of specie payments by the
banks of the Commonwealth and In
some of our sister States. This result,
however much to be regretted and de-
plored, was unavoidable, having be-
come. from the operation of causes un-
necessary now to be enumerated, a
stern necessity. Thus circumstanced,
the community is suffering from the
want of a currency, the destruction OF
confidence and the numerous evils con-
Sequent on financial embarrassment.
Every department of industry has felt
and been diSastrouSly affected by the
shock; trade and commerce have been
paralyZed the merchant, the manufac-
turer, the mechanic have seen their
bright prospects suddenly blasted, and
many have been involved in ruin
which no ordinary sagacity or foresight
could avert. Many of our furnaces,
rolling mills and factories have been
closed extensive and valuable coal op-
erations have been suspended or aban-
doned and thousands of workmen are
out Of employment, oppressed with
doubt and anxiety and alarmed with
gloomy apprehensions of the future"
Recommends Relief Steps.
The Governor added: "The banks
should be released from the penalties
and forfeitures incurred by suspen-
sion, which should be authorized for such
reasonable period as will enable them
safely to resume the payment OF their
liabilities in specie. For the relief
of the debtors, provision should be made
for an extension of the time in which
execution or judgment may issue, and
the period now provided by law Tor the
stay of execution. /" The questions
submitted for your determination are
important and momentous. The rise
far above all partisan or political con-
siderations or calculations A suffering
community in the hour of anxiety and
peril expects at your hands prompt and
patriotic action for their relief
The panic Of 1873 was one which also
caused much distress, and in an an
alysis of its development, the New York
Sun published on September "a the
comment: THE truth is we have
brought it upon ourselves. We have
spent too much borrowed money and
built too many railroads on credit. We
have lived too fast"
Three days later the Sun declared as
to what it called the Wall Street
Panic: What a week ago threatened
to be a purely stock panic, depressing
the nominal value of railroad and other
stocks, may unfortunately percolate
| through every commercial artery OF the
country"
In the same issue the Wall street re-
| port announced that trade and COM
merce are nearly paralyzed."
! On September 29 the Sun declared
editorially: THE continuance of the
financial panic proves conclusively that
| our ruling financiers are inadequate,
and that the malady is beyond their
control"
In that issue dispatch from Wash
ington gave the information: THE
financial affairs of the city are in a
deplorable condition. The banks have
been drained daily by depositors, and
it is said that s250,000 was taken from
this city to Baltimore yesterday to sus-
tain certain private banking houses.
A meeting was called yesterday of all
the bank presidents and heads of bank
ing houses to consider and adopt the
plan of the New York banks in regard
to certifying large checks. $ The
contractors who have been at work on
the streets will all drop work tomorrow
unless the laborers will agree to work
and wait for their pay"
Panic of 1893 and 1894.
The panic of 1893 and 1894 is de-
clared in financial history to have been
brought about by the efforts of silver
producers in the United States to force
the use of silver in coinage Issuance
Of large amounts of silver dollars re-
oeemable in gold was sought, and the
threats resulted in serious effect on
the gold supply.
President Cleveland made the state
ment on April "a, 1894 The Presi-
dent and his Cabinet are absolutely
Harmonious in the determination to ex-
ercise every power conferred upon them
to maintain the public credit, to keep
the public faith, and to preserve the
parity between gold and silver and be-
: tween all financial obligations of the
!, Government"
In the Summer of that year business
!. was almost at standstill and fail.
ures were very frequent, but as re.
suit of drastic measures taken by the
Government, the disturbance soor
! passed into history.
, An analysis of panic causes, by Hor.
ace White, published in the Fortnightly
7 Review. June l. 1876, offered the judg.
) ment:
1T is a humiliating reflection thai
) the Anglo-Saxon race is unable TO sub,
: SiSt through a whole generation with,
/; out two or three times breaking into
commercial and financial stampede
, in which, figuratiVely speaking, hun.
dreds of thousands of people are
trampled to death, or left bruised anc
} bleeding by the Wayside. These dis.
graceful routS have latterly assumed
something of the regularity of CLOCK
work, so that people pretend to know
when to expect one by looking in The
: almanac. The years 1916, 1925, 1887
1847, 1857, 1866, 1873-each Of thest
has uShered in its holocaust of Eng
lish victims, and the alternate periods
have included America as well, so tina
: business men take into their calcula
tions a panic. on one side of the watel
every ten years, and on the other sldt
every twenty. But Notwithstanding tht
l apparent regularity of the visitation
: very few men engaged in trade escape
= when the clock strikes the dreadful
hour.
! Preceded by Boom.
.. The appearance of prosperity 1mme
! . diately preceding the panic is SO de
ceitful the activity Of trade and I'M
upward movement OF prices are SO eG
!, hilarating, that the tornado always fnd
us with every inch Of canvas spread, al
the ports open and the crew fast asleep
It is impossible to exaggerate the SUI
fering caused by these financial storms
! whose vengeance always falls witt
: greatest severity upon those least re
: Sponsible for them and least able L
= resist them-the laboring poor"
: The same magazine at about the sam
: date said that "the phenomena ante
= cedent to the crisis were the usual one
"a rise of prices, great prosperity, larg
profits, high wages and strikes for high
,, er, crowded thoroughfares, large impor
= tations, a railway mania, expande
= credits, overtrading, overbuilding an
y high living"
= q A record is given of the number Q
Z failures in that period, showing 29l5 i
u 1871. 4,O69 in 1872, 5,l83 in 1873, 5,83
u in 1874, 7,740 in 1875 and 2,806 in 1915
: The statement was made that "crise
: have been common from the great tuli
v -,,ac,,laticr, In, Holland in l626 down I