A drawing-room that had cost $40,000,
and a bankrupt's wine-cellar estimated to have cost $7,000, were cited
as instances of the general prodigality. The Senatorial Committee of
Inquiry declared that the panic imposed ruinous losses upon landed
property, which had fallen from a quarter to even a half of its value.
In consequence forced sales, bankruptcies, scarcity of money, and a
stoppage of work occurred. House-rents fell from $1,200, to $450; the
Federal stock alone held its own at 103 to 104.
On the 13th of December, 1819, a Committee of the House of
Representatives reported that the panic extended from the greatest to
the smallest capitalists. It concluded by demanding the intervention of
the legislative power to restrain the corporation, which, spreading its
branches throughout the Union had inundated it with nearly $100,000,000,
of new circulating medium. Those who unfortunately owed money lost all
the fruit of long work, and skilled laborers were obliged to exchange
the shelter of their old homes for the inhospitable western forests.
Forced sales of provisions, merchandise, and implements were made,
greatly below their purchase price.
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