50 ' Minnie Throop England 



government loans, the majority of the investments were in pri- 

 vate industry, especially in railroads and manufacturing."^ This 

 harmonizes with the data for this crisis as given by the preced- 

 ing tables, which show the disturbance to have been chiefly in 

 textiles and minerals. 



England experienced a "protectionist" crisis in 1883. Vege- 

 table food is the chief sufiferer. The lack of protection in Eng- 

 land and the protection of food in other countries, conjoined 

 with increasing American competition in agricultural production, 

 wrought the ruin of English agriculture. The fall in the price of 

 vegetable food is best shown by comparing its index number at 

 dififerent periods: in 1873 it stood at 106, in 1883 at 82, in 1893 

 at 59, and in 1903 at 62.- 



The crisis of 1884 in the United States was, as is well known, 

 a railroad crisis. Speculation centered, therefore, in metals and 

 implements. 



Textiles, in the crisis of 1890-93, suffered in all countries. So 

 slow was their recovery after the crisis that all other lines of 

 business were well tmder headway again toward boom conditions 

 before the textile industries began to improve.^ 



In conclusion, table LI is given, showing which groups of com- 

 modities, according to the threefold test, on the average suffer 

 most from crises. England and Germany agree in giving textiles 

 a prominent place. The depression of English agriculture due 

 to competition with new lands accounts for the sensitiveness of 

 vegetable food. In this case, as heretofore, it seems best to con- 

 sider the great changes in food prices as a cause rather than an 

 effect of crises. The extremely rapid industrial development of 

 the United States has caused speculation to center in those enter- 

 prises which make heavy demands upon metals and implements. 

 The industries of the United States more than England work 

 with raw materials ; hence metals are more fundamental in this 

 country and more influenced by general speculation. In the 



'Taylor. Promotion before the Trusts. In Jour, of Pol. Econ., 12:386. 

 'See Appendix, table C. 



■^See the writer's article, Speculation in Relation to the World's Pros- 

 perity 1897-1902. In Univ. Stud. (Univ. of Neb.), 6:88-89, January, 1906. 



90 



