20 



Ira Ryner 



sold it in Europe for gold. ■While the operation lasted it pro- 

 vided a stimulus to the cotton industry and produced an over- 

 extension of credits. According to Juglar, in 1838 there had 

 been $20,000,000 loaned to -southern planters. 



Finally, however, when the monopoly had been carried to its 

 utmost limit, when cotton factories began to close down, and 

 when the European houses, realizing the impracticability of a 

 complete monopoly, refused to invest any more capital in cotton, 

 the crash came. Immediately the price of cotton fell and a panic 

 was precipitated.^ 



{fcmmodlti/ prices 



• n.tht 



li n it, d States. 



■t.H. 



finonca Raporf »fSacratary af titTrtatmy 

 r»r-/a8l ,paj*^,i/4-3l7. 



Whether or not Biddle's operations in cotton brought on the 

 panic of 1839 unaided by other causes is a question not easily 

 answered. It is more probable that the -liquidation after the 

 panic in 1S37 ^I'^tl not been complete and that a second was sched- 

 uled by the natural order of things. It is certain, however, that 

 the cotton monopoly aggravated an already bad condition and 

 was the direct cause of the reaction which spread from the United 

 States to England and from there to the Continent. 



'Sumner, History of Banking in the United States, 294-301. 



162 



