42 



Ira Ryner 



France and from private capitalists. This undoubtedly accounts 

 for a g'reat part of the enormous deficiency in the French budget 

 during- this period. 



JBank ^ateofJntcrestoftlie 

 jOank of France. 



from Sej/d, Sar,A of in^land /ynfe. Issue ont^lriError p.95. CharT.8. 



Agricultural interests were also booming. But here, too, there 

 was a dearth of capital. Complaints were made that farmers 

 were not able to make improvements at a rate in keeping with 

 the general advance of the times. Finally credit was resorted to. 

 In 1848 was created the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris, a large 

 credit institution. In 1852 the great Credit Mobilier was 

 founded. These credit institutions made loans to farmers on 

 land security. At first these institutions promised to become a 

 permanent feature, but just previous to 1857 they also became 

 infected with the speculative mania. 



In the United States, where the crisis is said to have originated, 

 we may expect to observe marked evidences of an approaching 

 storm for some time before the actual outbreak of the crisis. 

 But such seems not to be the case. Indeed, our foreign trade 

 was climbing up to an unprecedented height; but that was not 

 the occasion of much alarm, for our purchasing power also was 

 making rapid gains. Since the discoveries of gold in the West, 

 that article had become almost an ordinary article of merchandise, 

 so that there was nothing alarming, in the increased exports of 



