The stock market responded with a fine upward swing. Heavy
dividends were declared by certain leading railroad and other
corporations. Indeed many high records were made by securities and so
distracted attention from that steady tide of keener inspection and
stricter regulation by the agents of the people which was destined to
unmoor and toss and injure many a financial craft. Railroads asserted
that the country needed a great increase in railroad trackage, but that
the actual treatment of the roads deterred extensions through
frightening capital. So the year 1906 wore away after having sorely
tried the nerves of the whole business world which it left in a most
justly apprehensive state.
THE PANIC OF 1907.--The panic of 1907 opened with great but feverish
activity in business. Driven by necessity the railroads adopted the
issuance of short-time notes for new capital, as the market would absorb
no long-time obligations except at forbidding interest rates. Any
signally untoward happening could promptly precipitate a panic. The
United States Treasury withdrawal of Government deposits from the banks,
and the collapse of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York were
such happenings.
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