Vagabond Editoriafs

(Continued from Page 9) land allotments was now made, and poor men could, for the first time, buy their farms in small areas of 80 acres, at reasonable prices. r have already tora yo,l J ; Panic of 1832, probably the most desperate panic we have known. They called that the canal panic. For transportation had become the order of the day, and the nation went wildly into canal building for water transportation of freight. They built them here, there, and everywhere. And they reached the height of their canal building just as the railroads began their rise to power. Everything fopped. It was this panic that Captain Marryat described, as previously quoted. The distress of. 1929 sinks into insignificance compared with such times as these, with every bank closed, the states themselves repudiating their debts, and unemployment everywhere.

Now comes a great period of prosperity for most of twenty years. Then, in 1857 came the first of the two great railroad panics. To tell the story of 1857 it is only needed to quote an editorial from Harper's Weekly in October of that year. "It is a gloomy moment in history. Not for many years-not in the lifetime of most men who read this paper-has there been so much grave and deep apprehension; never has the future seemed so incalculable as at this time. In our country there is universal-commercial prostration and panic, and thousands of our poorest citizens are turned out against the approaching winter without employment and without the prospect of it. Of our own troubles no man can see the end. They are, fortunately, as yet mainly commercial; and if we are only to lose rnoney, and by painful poverty to be taught wisdom-the wisdom of honor, of faith, of sympathy and charity-no man need seriously to despair. And yet the very haste to be rich, which is the occasion of this widespread calamity, has also tended to destroy the moral forces with which we are to resist and subdue the calamity." Wise words, indeed, but forgotten, f fear, before the next visitation of depression.

The next great panic, a*, ., lrrr, -"" the second great railroad panic. The nation went wild on its railroad construction. Roads were built recklessly in all directions, many of them going where there was neither freight nor passengers to be hauled. This was more like the present panic than any other. ft came just eight and one-half years after the close of the Civil War. ft started in Gerrnany, spread all over Europe, and then to the United States. The failure of Jay Cooke & Company, the great railroad builders, was one of the most dramatic incidents in the commercial history of this country. Railroad construction stopped and all employment incidental to railroad building and operation was prostrated. Despite an abundant harvest, starvation became general. The country became overrun with mobs. Bloody encounters between mobs and officers were frequent. The rnilitia was often used to preserve order. Murder, rape, and incendiarism was the commonest in our history. This lasted neady five years.

Temporary suspension of railroad construction created towns and cities at these terminals, contributing largely to the upbuilding of the great \ll/est, and remained as centers of civilization and of commerce when the panic ended and the railroads went on. The centralized efforts of humanity in its Westward swing was thus frequently determined, not by selection, but by the hazards of the panic, and new history thus made in the West.

The next great panic came in 1893. It lasted between four and five years, as did that of 1873 and 1832. Not as savage as the depression of '73, but much like it, and like the present depression. With an abundance of everything that goes to make life worth living, there came tremendous industrial and commercial prostration, general unemployment, and untold misery. But the passage of the Gold Act of 1900 was a direct result of what we learned during the depression of the nineties; and the lessons we learned in the short depression of 1907 produced far-reaching changes in the institution of banlring, resulting in the Federal Reserve Act seven years later. From these panics, as from all the other, good selms to come in a variety of important ways. From them we can trace the processes by which progress has been made possible, injustice has been lessened, and ideals aroused.

Grave and complete disagreement as to the cause of panics has always existed-exists today. Many great panics have closely followed great wars, and men have been inclined to attribute the panic to the war. But three of the worst panics had no possible war connection, nambly, lg3?, 1857, and 1893, while the panics of. l?64,1786, 1819, lg73, and the small depression of l92l go into the war category. Politicians always blame every panic on the party in power. Financial systems are blamed by a world of students, who, however, thoroughly disagree in their details.

My personal opinion-which, of course, is worth nothing' thus making it exactly equal in value to any and every other-would go back to that previously quoted editorial from Harper's Weekly written in 1857, and accept THAT version, that "the very haste to be rich is the occasion of this widespread calamity." The haste to be rich develops ' tremendous over-expansion, and the panic is the immediate result of the effort to collect the bad debts created everywhere by this expansion program. Certain it is that top-heavy debts followed by uncertainty, are a definite sign at the beginning of all modern panics. Most ancient and medieval panics can be traced in their origin to human misfortune; modern panics to human greed and folly.

Now for the time limit of panics. It is likely that ancient panics and depressions sometimes lasted from one to three hundred years. But in the last one hundred years the three most terrible panics, those of L837,.L873, and 1893, each lasted between four and five years, while the panic of 1929 is now going through its fourth year. Lesser panics have been shorter lived, such as 1819, 1857' and 1907.

That the panic we are now going through will develop in its ending great progressive and forward thrusts for the human race as all other great panics have done, I have not the slightest doubt. That it will teach us a lesson about how to dodge future panics, however, I do very seriously doubt. These visitations come in such cycles of time that seldom does the same generation of business men suffer two great depressions. We, who are fighting our way through the gloom of this depression will learn lessons never to be forgotten; but the next generation who will meet the conditions of the next panic, will profit little by our experiences of the present. ***

But I have taken hope and cheer and comfort from the things I have attempted to tell you in these pages, to-wit, that this panic is NOT the worst we have known, nor the longest; that, judging by the life of other great panics, this one should have about run its course; that we don't know what causes panics, so we don't know how to cure them, and the panic will just naturally end some of these days like all the others did; and that from every great depression comes developments of huge consequence and helpfulness to the human race, that makes the world a better place to live in. ***

So, the next time some guy comes up to you and says"Bo/, isn't this the dad-gummest awfullest panic that the world sygi ssqrf"-you give him the razzberry and say"Listen, feller, it's a good thing you weren't around in 1819, or 1837, or 1873 ! Now THERE were really some PANICS !''

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The Aduantages of Canec Structural Insulation

a What is Canec? Canec is a rigid, structural insulation I 66*rl "*li;b{e in standard building sizes and in thicknesses of full /2 rnchr tA inch and one inch. No lamin' ations ot layers are present in any of these thicknesses. Other Canec products are lat'h for Plaster base, tile, and indus' trial and roof insulation.

(t Vhat is the Canec dual surfacB? Canec has two dis' ZJ Eil-ilI.""-o"" side satin-smooth, the other a bur' lap texture. Both surfaces are attractive in their natural color, but may be easily and economically decorated.

O How strong is Canec?

\, breaking strength. This

Canec has high tensile and strength has been obtained without sacrificing maximum insulation values. Canec Yz inch board weighs on the average only 650 pounds per thousand square feet.

A Vill Canec stand up? Canec will last indefnitely. It attacked by vermin.

E Vhat about the price? Despite its improved features, J ffithan ordinary structural insula' tion board. ^lU CaiFli"aucts come well packed in bun' dles of convenient size. Ample warehouse stocks are main' tained in. principal Coast cities for service in carloads to dealers.

NOTE TO WIDE.AWAKE DEALERS

There are still a few Canec dealerrhipa availablc. We ruggert that you imnediately write to ur rc that we c.n have one of our reprerentative! sae you if you are interected in what ic, without doub't, the best all-around structural ingulation board on tte martet. lfete are the high lightt of the Canec Dirtribution Policy: 1. No over' crowding of territoriec. 2. Saler to relectcd dealerr in carloadr. ,. Retail pricer maintained by relected dealetr with feir proft for picL' up dealerc" 4. Intcnrive raler promotion which bringr actual pro* pectr to dealerc. 5. Locel edvcrtiring. 6. Eficient 6cld pereonnel.

HAWAIIAN CANE PRODUCTS, LTD.

215 Market Street, San Francisco, California