292 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



financial, industrial, and commercial depression that had never been 

 equaled. 



In the United States the phenomena antecedent to the crisis were 

 enumerated at the time to be, " a rise of prices, great prosperity, large 

 profits, high wages and strikes for higher ; large importations, a rail- 

 way mania, expanded credit, over-trading, over-building, and high liv- 

 ing." The crisis began on the 17th of September, 1873, by the failure 

 of a comparatively unimportant railway company the New York and 

 Oswego Midland. On the 18th, the banking-house of Jay Cooke & 

 Co. failed. On the 19th, nineteen other banking-houses failed. Then 

 followed a succession of bankruptcies, until in four years the mercan- 

 tile failures had aggregated 1775,865,000 ; and on January 1, 1875, 

 the amount of American railway bonds in default amounted to $789,- 

 367,655. 



The period of economic disturbance which thus began in Germany 

 and the United States soon extended to France and Belgium ; and 

 thereafter, but with varying degrees of severity, to Great Britain (i. e., 

 in the latter months of the succeeding year), to the other states of 

 Europe, and ultimately to the commercial portions of almost every 

 country. The testimony before the British Parliamentary Commission 

 (1885-'86), however, shows that the depression in Great Britain was 

 not at once universal ; but that, on the contrary, production, employ- 

 ment, and profits, at such great manufacturing centers as Birmingham 

 and Huddersfield, were above the average until 1875. 



By many writers on this subject, the depression and disturbance 

 of industry, which commenced in 1873, are regarded as having termi- 

 nated in 1878-'79 ; but all are agreed that they recommenced, with 

 somewhat modified conditions, and even with increased severity, in 

 1882-'83. A full consideration of the larger evidence which is now 

 (1887) available would, however, seem to lead to the conclusion 

 that there really was no termination of the abnormal course of events, 

 the marked and definite commencement of which is assigned to 1873, 

 but that what has been regarded as a " termination " was only an " in- 

 terruption," occasioned by extraordinary causes, varying locally, and by 

 no means universal. Thus, a failure during the years 1879, 1880, and 

 1881, of the cereal crops of Europe and most other countries of the 

 world, with the exception of the United States a failure for which, 

 in respect to duration and extent, there had been no parallel in four 

 centuries occasioned a remarkable demand on the latter country 

 for all the food-products it could supply at extraordinary prices the 

 exportations of wheat rising from 40,000,000 bushels in 1877 to 122,- 

 000,000 in 1879, 153,000,000 in 1880, and 150,000,000 in 1881 ; while 

 the corresponding values of the amount exported rose from $47,000,- 

 000 in 1877 to 8130,000,000 in 1879, $190,000,000 in 1880, and 

 8167,000,000 in 1881. There was also a corresponding increase in the 

 quantity and value of the American exports of other cereals, and also of 



