The fact that this country seems to be only half as liable to them
as England, is perhaps due to the fact that the extent of our
resources, and the greater ratio of increase of population make it
much harder to overdo in the work of production here than in
England, and to this must be added the greater strength of nerves
produced by greater hopefulness. In spite of the enormous abundance
of British capital and the rashness of the owners in making
investments, there hangs over the London money market a timidity and
doubtfulness about the future which is unknown on this side of the
water, and which very slight accidents develop into distrust and
terror.
Outside those who are actually engaged in a financial panic--such as
brokers, bankers, merchants and manufacturers, who have loans to pay
or receive, or acceptances falling due, and who are therefore too
busy and too sorely beset to moralize on it or look at it
objectively, as the philosophers say--there is a large body
of persons who are not immediately affected by it, such as
professional men, owners of secure investments, persons in receipt
of well-assured salaries, ministers, newspaper writers, speculative
economists, financiers, and farmers, to whom it is a source of
secret enjoyment.
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