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Rh comments of two English journals, of recognized authority, on the course of events in 1872, constitute also an important contribution to our information on this subject. Under date of March, 1873, the London "Economist," in its review of the commercial history of the preceding year, says:

Of all events of the year (1872) the profound economic changes generated by the rise of prices and wages in this country, in Central and Western Europe, and in the United States, have been the most full of moment.

And the "London Engineer," under date of February, 1873, thus further comments on the situation:

The progress of events during 1872 will not soon be forgotten by engineers. The position assumed by the working-classes, and the unprecedented demand for iron and machinery, combined to raise the cost of all the principal materials of construction to a point absolutely without parallel, if we bear in mind that the advance of prices was not localized, but universal, and that the duration of the rise was not limited to a few months or weeks, but, having extended already over a period of some months, shows little sign at this moment of any sensible abatement. ''In 1872 scarcely a single step in advance was made in the science or practice of mechanical engineering. No one had time to invent, or improve, or try new things.'' The workingman is setting spurs to his employers with no gentle touch, and already we find that every master with capital at stake is considering how best he can dispense with the men who give him so much trouble. Of course, the general answer always assumes the same shape—use a tool whenever it is possible instead of a man.

The period of economic disturbance which commenced in 1873 appears to have first manifested itself almost simultaneously in Germany and the United States in the latter half of that year. In the former country the great and successful results of the war with France had stimulated every department of thought and action among its people into intense activity. The war indemnity, which had been exacted of France, had been used in part to pay off the debt obligations of the Government, and ready capital became so abundant that banking institutions of note almost begged for the opportunity to place loans, at rates as low as one per cent, with manufacturers, for the purpose of enlarging their establishments. As a legitimate result, the whole country projected and engaged in all manner of new industrial and financial undertakings. In Prussia alone six hundred and eighty-seven new joint-stock companies were founded during the year 1872 and the first six months of 1873, with an aggregate capital of $481,045,000. Such a state of things, as is now obvious, was most unnatural, and could not continue; and the reaction and disaster came with great suddenness, as has been already stated, in the fall of 1873, but without anticipation on the part of the multitude. Great fortunes rapidly melted away, industry became paralyzed, and the whole of Germany passed at once from a condition of apparently great prosperity to a depth of