are forced at last to begin selling their
stocks, at the best prices they can get. As soon as some people begin to
sell in this way, others who hold goods think they had better sell
before the prices fall seriously; then there arises a sudden rush to
sell, and buyers being alarmed, refuse to buy except at much reduced
rates. The bad speculators now find themselves unable to maintain their
credit, because, if they sell their large stocks at a considerable
loss, their own real capital will be quite insufficient to cover this
loss. They are thus unable to pay what they have engaged to pay, and
#stop payment#, or, in other words, become bankrupt. This is very
awkward for other people, manufacturers, for instance, who had sold
goods to the bankrupts on credit; they do not receive the money they
expected, and as they also perhaps have borrowed money while making the
goods, they become bankrupt likewise. Thus the #discredit# spreads, and
firms even which had borrowed only moderate sums of money, in proportion
to their capital, are in danger of failing.

#89. Commercial Crisis or Collapse.# The state of things described in
the last section is called a commercial collapse, because there is #a
sudden falling in of prices, credit, and enterprise#. It is also called
#a Crisis, that is, a dangerous and decisive moment# (Greek, krino,
_to decide_), when it will soon be seen who is to become
bankrupt, and who not. No sooner has such a crisis arrived, than
everything changes. No one ventures to propose a new scheme, or a new
company, because he knows that people in general have great difficulty
in paying up what they promised to the schemes started during the
bubble. #This bubble is now burst#, and it is found that many of the new
works and undertakings from which people expected so much profit, are
absurd and hopeless mistakes. It was proposed to make railways where
there was nothing to carry; to sink mines where there was no coal nor
metal; to build ships which would not sail; all kinds of impracticable
schemes have to be given up, and the capital spent upon them is lost.

Not only does this collapse ruin many of the subscribers to these
schemes, but it presently causes workpeople to be thrown out of
employment. The more successful schemes indeed are carried out, and, for
a year or two, give employment to builders, iron-manufacturers, and
others, who furnish the materials. But as these schemes are completed
by degrees, no one ventur