Mercantile Conditions of Crisis of 1893 93 



II. — The Mercantile Conditions of the Crisis of 1803^ 

 By frank s. philbrick 



As the crisis moved along, tliere was a vast increase in 

 business failures each month. The table in the appendix,- 

 shows that, so far as numbers go, the unhealthy symptoms 

 began to be apparent by their constancy in May, and that 

 in June the number rose to an alarming height. The worst 

 week of all (July 14-21) showed 527 failures against 179 

 in the same week of the preceding year. At the end of the 

 year the total number of .failures showed a rise of 51,5 per 

 cent over the preceding year, whereas in 1883 the rise had 

 been only 31 per cent. The total increase in the years 

 1893-95 was 35.4 per cent, and in the years 1893-96 51.5 

 per cent;^ buf the three years, 1883-85 showed 75, per cent, 

 and the four years 1883-86 70.6 per cent. Thus the crisis 

 year of. 1893, although unparalleled in the number of its 

 failures, showed a far less persistence of the fatal condi- 

 tion, and the business world showed far more elasticity 

 under the stress. 



Not only was there a tremendous increase in the number 

 of failing business houses, but quite naturally there was 

 a corresponding change in the commercial death rate, 

 which rose just 50 per cent over the preceding; in 1883 the 

 rise was only 33 per cent. The four years 1898-96 show 

 5.34 as the sums of their commercial death rates against 



^This is the fourth section of a paper on the crisis of 1893. 



''See Appendix II. 



•That is, 1894 fell 183, and 1895-96 rose 18.3. 



299 



