Senseless Panic

The Panic of 1873 was set off by the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., the leading American banker of its day. Because of financial crises in Europe , the Credit Mobilier scandal, and related problems, the firm declared bankruptcy on September 18, 1873. The bank’s failure set of a chain of events including the failure of many insurance companies and banks and the ten-day closure of the New York Stock Exchange starting on September 20. Within two months 55 railroads had failed. The downturn, which lasted for the rest of the decade, was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s depression took that name.

This broadside, headed “Senseless Panic,” attempts to reassure the public that the banks are not ruined and, apart from “undue expansion in the railroad interest,” all is well. It begins, “It is high time the public recovered their reason. The panic has infinitely exceeded any real occasion in the situation of affairs. … There has not been one banking or commercial failure caused by insolvency …”

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