Cause Of The Panic

The distinct and unmistakable cause of the panic of 1893 was the McKinley bilí, the most infamous of all the acts of protectionism, by by which the industries, the commerce, and the politics of the republic have long been corrupted; the very delirium tremens of an industrial system by which American labor has been degraded and the ballot debauched; a system that has demoralized production anfl debilitated the national character. The measure was dictated by the men who raised the enormous corruption fund, by means of which the republican party was carried to victory in the campaign of 1888, and who saw in the operations of such a law immeasurable gains for themselves which would more than compénsate ! them for the "fat frying" to which I they had been subjected. The passage of so odious a measure, however, was doubtful even in the house of its friends, and to make it sure it was deemed necessary to enter into a corrupt bargain with the mine owners of the silver producing states of the west. By the conditions of this bargain, by which the support of these western members was secured for the .bill, the government was bound to purchase four and a half millions of silver per month, and to base thereon silver certificates payable in gold, thereby fastening upon the treasury an obligation which it could not long meet. While the McKinley act cut off the revenues, the billion dollar Congress continued to pile up the expenditures until the keen and intelligent holders of our securities abroad, saw that the time was close at hand, when if there was not a change of policy, we would not only be unable to pay in gold, but unable to pay at all. Suspicion was cast upon the nation's honor and its vile breath was feit in every money center of Europe. Right here were sown the seeds which ripened into the panic of '93. All these preparations for a panic, be it remembered, had been arranged with consummate skiU before the democratie victory of '92, in fact, they were the veritable cause of that victory. The danger of a money crisis, of a depreciated currency, had became so imminent long before President Harrison, who signed the McKinley bill and the Sherman makeshift, left the White House, that it is said that his secretary of the treasury had had bonds engraved and ready to place on the market at a moment's notice to keep intact the gold reserve. Our securities began to come home and gold to flow steadily out of the country. The purchases of silver continued and the volume of out-standing paper certificates, which must be paid in gold, continued to mount up. Secretary Foster tried by all the arts of the bookkeeper to show a good balance sheet, but it was all to no purpose. The people penetrated the subterfuge and began to prepare for the inevitable. Importations dropped off, time contracts were made requiring gold payments, people became alarmed and withdrew their money from the banks and from business and horded it. The panic followed upon the heels of the retiring administration which was saved from utter ruin by getting out of power just in the nick of time. That the panic would have followed just the same liad the Harrison administration continued in power, there can be no doubt. It was the outcome of protectionism gone mad, for which the republican party and that party alone is responsible.