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Drawing of frenzied stockbrokers on May 5, 1893, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897.^[1] It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley.

Causes

One of the causes for the Panic of 1893 can be
traced back to Argentina. Investment was encouraged by the Argentine agent bank, Baring Brothers. However, the 1890 wheat crop failure and a coup in Buenos Aires ended further investments. Because European investors were concerned that these problems might spread, they started a run on gold in the U.S. Treasury. At that time, it was comparatively simple to cash in dollar investments for exportable gold.^[2] During the Gilded Age of the 1870s and 1880s, the United States had experienced economic growth and expansion, but much of this expansion depended on high international commodity prices. In 1893, wheat prices crashed.^[3]

One of the first clear signs of trouble came on February 20, 1893,^[4] twelve days before the inauguration of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, with the appointment of receivers for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, which had greatly overextended itself.^[5] Upon taking office, Cleveland dealt directly with the Treasury crisis^[6] and successfully convinced Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which he felt was mainly responsible for the economic crisis.^[7]

As concern for the state of the economy deepened, people rushed to withdraw their money from banks, and caused bank runs. The credit crunch rippled through the economy. A financial panic in London combined with a drop in continental European trade caused foreign investors to sell American stocks to obtain American funds backed by gold.^[8]

Populists

The People's Party, also known as the 'Populists', was an agrarian-populist political party in the United States. From 1892 to 1896, it played a major role as a left-wing force in American politics. It drew support from angry farmers in the West and South. It was highly critical of capitalism, especially banks and railroads, and allied itself with the labor movement.

Established in 1891 as a result of the Populist movement, the People's Party reached its zenith in the 1892 presidential election, when its ticket, composed of James B. Weaver and James G. Field, won 8.5% of the popular vote and carried five states (Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada and North Dakota), and the 1894 House of Representatives elections, when it won nine seats. Built on a coalition of poor, white cotton farmers in the South (especially North Carolina, Alabama and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the Plains states (especially Kansas and Nebraska), the Populists represented a radical crusading form of agrarianism and hostility to elites, cities, banks, railroads, and gold.

Silver

The Free Silver movement arose from a synergy of farming and mining interests. Farmers sought to invigorate the economy and thereby end deflation, which was forcing them to repay loans with increasingly valuable dollars. Mining interests sought the right to turn silver directly into money without a central minting institution. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, while falling short of the Free Silver movement's goals, required the U.S. government to buy millions of ounces of silver above what was required by the 1878 Bland–Allison Act (driving up the price of silver and pleasing silver miners). People attempted to redeem silver notes for gold. Ultimately, the statutory limit for the minimum amount of gold in federal reserves was reached and U.S. notes could no longer be successfully redeemed for gold.^[8] Investments during the time of the panic were heavily financed through bond issues with high interest payments. Rumors regarding the National Cordage Company's financial distress (NCC was the most actively traded stock at the time) caused its lenders to call in their loans immediately, and NCC went into bankruptcy receivership as a result. The company, a rope manufacturer, had tried to corner the market for imported hemp. As demand for silver and silver notes fell, the price and value of silver dropped. Holders worried about a loss of face value of bonds, and many became worthless.^[9]

A series of bank failures followed, and the Northern Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad failed. This was followed by the bankruptcy of many other companies; in total over 15,000 companies and 500 banks, many of them in the West, failed. According to high estimates, about 17%–19% of the workforce was unemployed at the panic's peak. The huge spike in unemployment, combined with the loss of life savings kept in failed banks, meant that a once-secure middle-class could not meet their mortgage obligations. Many walked away from recently built homes as a result.^[10]

Effects

The 1896 Broadway melodrama The War of Wealth was inspired by the panic of 1893.

As a result of the panic, stock prices declined. Five hundred banks closed, fifteen thousand businesses failed, and numerous farms ceased operation. The unemployment rate hit 25% in Pennsylvania, 35% in New York, and 43% in Michigan. Soup kitchens were opened to help feed the destitute. Facing starvation, people chopped wood, broke rocks, and sewed by hand with needle and thread in exchange for food. In some cases, women resorted to prostitution to feed their families. To help the people of Detroit, Mayor Hazen S. Pingree launched "Pingree's Potato Patch," which were community gardens for farming.^[11]

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, perhaps along with the protectionist McKinley Tariff of that year, has been partially blamed for the panic. Passed in response to a large overproduction of silver by western mines, the Sherman Act required the U.S. Treasury to purchase silver using notes backed by either silver or gold.

President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was blamed for the depression. He in turn blamed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. The decline of the gold reserves stored in the Treasury fell to a dangerously low level. This forced President Cleveland to borrow $65 million in gold from Wall-Street banker J.P. Morgan and the Rothschild banking family of England.^[12]

See also

• Denver Depression of 1893


• Panic of 1896


• 
  Black Friday (1869) – also referred to as the "Gold Panic of 1869"


• Second-term curse


• Pullman Strike


• Shipping during the Panic of 1893

References

Further reading

Contemporary sources

Secondary sources

External links

• 
  Causes of the Business Depression by Henry George; appeared in Once a Week, a New York periodical, March 6, 1894