diminution of the hours of work [due
to trade union power]; and the excessive profits of the coal, iron,
shipping, and other trades introduced into ordinary business a degree of
recklessness which can only end in mischief."

As with the previous great bubble that climaxed in 1825, the post-1873 contraction
was lengthy. The U.K. was the senior economy and leading economists called
the period from 1873 to 1895 as "The Great Depression".

The ultimate irony was that economists were still analyzing "The Great Depression" as
to how it happened, or been ameliorated, or even avoided - well into the 1930s.

This review briefly covers a couple of reasons why the establishment stayed
too long during the financial mania that climaxed in 1873, which was fourth
in a series of new financial eras that began in the early 1700s.

From thepeak of the last business cycle with the "old" and disturbing era
of inflation, all six such eras ran for nine years. Then the data are available
to the month, which is the case for the 1929 and 2000 examples - the duration
was 116 months.

The other reasons for using the 1873 example is that the U.S. dollar was fiat
and Europe suffered the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871. Within this, Paris
suffered bombardment and siege that threatened starvation.

So there are some similarities to the recent financial mania as it is being
played out in the U.S.

As to a couple of the reasons why the crowd partied too late in 1873, one
was that the Secretary of the Treasury had immense powers to prevent contraction.
At the height of the boom, the Herald editorialized:

"Power had