From what I remember from history class, 1893 brought a deep economic depression, the worst until the Great Depression. Could that have been the result of the tariffs?
From what I remember from history class, 1893 brought a deep economic depression, the worst until the Great Depression. Could that have been the result of the tariffs?
From my reading, there were a lot of factors, and although Tariffs may have been a contributor, there were other and more significant causes. And the underlying volatility without the fiscal tools we now have with the Federal Reserve (which was formed following a series of these "panics" in the 1880s and 1890s).
I don't seem to hear much "Abolish the Fed" talk now, but proponents of it clearly don't have a grasp of what economic cycles were like before we had one.
Lastly, the neighborhood we lived in during our time in Omaha, Nebraska still very much displayed the effects of the 1893 panic and prolonged depression that followed it. The neighborhood was a streetcar suburb platted in the 1880s, and began to be built with Victorian homes on the most desirable lots. It was only ~20% built out by the time of the panic, though, and due to the downturn (especially in railroads, which was a significant share of the Omaha economy at that time), the remaining lots weren't built on until the teens and twenties. Our home was a 1913 Foursquare, and one of the many Foursquares and Craftsmans infilling the majority of lots between the scattered Victorians.
Grover Cleveland and the Democrats came roaring back into office in 1892 and reducing the tariffs was their agenda. By the time McKinley became President in 1897, the mania for high tariffs walls was greatly subsided due to the negative experience. Yet it happened again in the 1930s. The allure of tariffs is so strong and the results so stupid that there should be a new amendment to make them harder for the President and Congress to do.
From what I remember from history class, 1893 brought a deep economic depression, the worst until the Great Depression. Could that have been the result of the tariffs?
From my reading, there were a lot of factors, and although Tariffs may have been a contributor, there were other and more significant causes. And the underlying volatility without the fiscal tools we now have with the Federal Reserve (which was formed following a series of these "panics" in the 1880s and 1890s).
I don't seem to hear much "Abolish the Fed" talk now, but proponents of it clearly don't have a grasp of what economic cycles were like before we had one.
Lastly, the neighborhood we lived in during our time in Omaha, Nebraska still very much displayed the effects of the 1893 panic and prolonged depression that followed it. The neighborhood was a streetcar suburb platted in the 1880s, and began to be built with Victorian homes on the most desirable lots. It was only ~20% built out by the time of the panic, though, and due to the downturn (especially in railroads, which was a significant share of the Omaha economy at that time), the remaining lots weren't built on until the teens and twenties. Our home was a 1913 Foursquare, and one of the many Foursquares and Craftsmans infilling the majority of lots between the scattered Victorians.
Grover Cleveland and the Democrats came roaring back into office in 1892 and reducing the tariffs was their agenda. By the time McKinley became President in 1897, the mania for high tariffs walls was greatly subsided due to the negative experience. Yet it happened again in the 1930s. The allure of tariffs is so strong and the results so stupid that there should be a new amendment to make them harder for the President and Congress to do.