This was especially promoted at
the beginning of 1851 by the prospect of the Industrial Exposition; and,
as special causes, there were added, first, the failure of the cotton
crop of 1850 and 1851; second, the certainty of a larger cotton crop
than was expected: first, the rise, then the sudden drop; in short, the
oscillations of the cotton market. The crop of raw silk in France had
been below the average. Finally, the manufacture of woolen goods had
received such an increment since 1849, that the production of wool could
not keep step with it, and the price of the raw material rose greatly
out of proportion to the price of the manufactured goods. Accordingly,
we have here in the raw material of three staple articles a
threefold material for a commercial crisis. Apart from these special
circumstances, the seeming crisis of the year 1851 was, after all,
nothing but the halt that overproduction and overspeculation make
regularly in the course of the industrial cycle, before pulling all
their forces together in order to rush feverishly over the last stretch,
and arrive again at their point of departure--the General Commercial
Crisis.
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