On the Crises of 1837, 1847, and 1857 21 



The loss entailed by the two panics of 1837 and 1839 in the 

 United States was enormous, considering- the rather primitive 

 stage of our economic development. Juglar estimates that there 

 were -no less than 33,000 failures involving a loss of something 

 like $440,000,000.^ 



CRISIS OF 1847 



In 1847 i^ England we have a great railway crisis. The fun- 

 damental change in permanent environment was the rapid ex- 

 tension of the railway mileage. The principal occasion, in addi- 

 tion to excess of railway construction, was the deficient harvest 

 preceding the crisis. In 1846 the Irish potato crop was almost 

 a complete failure. So great was the calamity that England was 

 forced to grant relief to the extent of several million dollars. 

 The total loss occasioned by the famine has been estimated at 

 £13,000,000.- 



In addition to the potato famine there was also 'a deficiency in 

 the supply of grain. The supplies on hand in England were 

 small and the harvests on the Continent did not give their usual 

 yield. As a result we find England in the year 1846 importing 

 3,814,666 quarters of grain and 4,356,812 cw'ts. of 'flour and 

 meal.^ The wheat crop of 1846 is estimated as the worst since 

 1 84 1. We also get an indication of the increased demand for 

 grain and flour in Europe from a study of United States export 

 statistics. In 1845 ^^'^ exported only 1,195,230 barrels of flour. 

 In 1846 the export of flour had risen to 2,289,476 barrels, while 

 in 1847 i^ jumped up to 4,382,496, which mark it 'did not again 

 reach for a good many years. In 1848 it fell back to 2,119,393 

 barrels.* The- reduction of import duties which began in 1842 

 may also have had some influence indirectly through trade bal- 

 ances upon the crisis. 



France suffered the same crop failures, with 'the exception of 

 potatoes, as Great Britain. According to Juglar, France had 



^Juglar, Lcs Crises Commerciales, 467. 

 "Evans, The Commercial Crisis of 1847-48, 55. 

 'Crump, The Key to the London Money Market, 32. 

 * Juglar, Brief History of Panics in the United States, 14. 



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