On the Crises of i8^y, 184/, and iS^y 



II 



United States we observe that the number of miles of railway in 

 operation increased only from 4,185 in 1843 ^ 5,996 in 1848.^ 



r^om STatlitical Abstract of thiUSjaOi. 



In this crisis Europe experienced a marked advance in railway 

 construction. There was also a noticeable increase in joint-stock 

 banks and an extension of the market area in England. In the 

 United States the partial dearth of capital, resulting from an 

 undue prolongation of the period of depression following the 

 preceding crisis, and a costly war robbed the crisis of its material. 



CRISIS OF 1857 



The crisis of 1857 in England, unlike that of 1847, seems not 

 to have been characterized by excessive investment in any par- 

 ticular branch of industry. True, the railway mileage increased 

 from about 7,000 in 1851 to 11,000 in 1861,- but this increase 

 can hardly be regarded as representing an outlay of capital out 



^ Statistical Abstract United States, 1902. • 

 ^\-,tv\, History of British Commerce, 307. 



153 



