FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>   >|  
theorists account for the suffering by the ratio of the currency to the population, claiming that a larger circulation of money will fill the empty pockets of the needy, forgetting that money circulates only through the very channels of trade which something else has stopped. It is quite true that any financial legislation involving uncertain results contributes materially to the doubt which stops the machinery. All efforts to make money worth less by legislation have invariably extended the period of hard times. Almost every conceivable cause has been assigned, or given as a partial explanation, for the stagnation of trade. A careful analysis of these recurring periods in the history of our country in 1837, 1848, 1857, 1873, 1887 and 1893, shows many partial causes of disaster in exchange, affecting the peculiar nature of each panic, yet one especial cause is evident in them all. That cause is large investment in fixed capital from which no immediate returns can be expected. _The chief causes of hard times._--Prior to 1837 there was a rapid development of new country, as shown from the greatly increased receipts for public lands. Every new home involves a permanent investment of somebody's savings to the extent of at least $1,000. With the settlement of every new region a considerable waste in real estate speculation is found. A similar expansion of territory occupied by settlement immediately followed the Mexican war, and was a chief cause of reduced capital and consequent lack of employment. The crisis of 1857 was preceded by enormous waste in the Crimean war. To that was added the loss of a season's labor in a bad harvest and increase of cost of living, reducing profits. The latter cause was incidental to this particular season, but added materially to the suffering. In this country there had also been an extensive enlargement in iron works and woolen factories without corresponding products. The panic of 1867, felt widely outside of America, was preceded by immense waste of property in the civil war of the United States, a considerable portion of which expense, on both sides, had been borne in Europe, either during the war or immediately following, through the sale of bonds. The panic of 1873 followed immense investments of wealth in fixed capital, as illustrated in the Northern Pacific railroad, previously mentioned. Between 1865 and 1873 30,000 miles of railroad were built in the United States alone. This p
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
country
 

capital

 

materially

 
States
 

United

 

preceded

 

suffering

 

season

 

investment

 

legislation


partial

 
immense
 

settlement

 
railroad
 
considerable
 

immediately

 

profits

 

reducing

 

harvest

 

increase


living

 

crisis

 

speculation

 

similar

 

expansion

 
estate
 

region

 

territory

 

occupied

 

enormous


Crimean

 

employment

 
Mexican
 

reduced

 

consequent

 

investments

 

wealth

 

illustrated

 

Europe

 

Northern


Pacific
 
previously
 

mentioned

 

Between

 

enlargement

 
woolen
 

factories

 
extensive
 
property
 

portion