This brings us to the second phase of the question--the _creation_ of false appearances, which is, in truth, the highest form of manipulation. When so-called inside selling is going on, great business is reported by railroad and producing corporations; dividends are increased, and public expressions of confidence emanate from men of high standing in the financial world. The effect of all this expressed optimism is, market-wise, of a negative character. When it is most prevalent and most decisive, prices halt or even decline. This period and action represents selling at the only time when advantageous selling is possible. In the main the truth only is told about existent conditions, possibly about the near future. Nothing else is necessary; but nevertheless the sellers are anticipating, not the events of the next week or the next month, but of a more remote period where they see probabilities in regard to which a discreet silence is maintained. The constantly recurring cycles of prices, the alternate inflation and depression, must therefore be traced to something far more important than the grossly exaggerated potentiality of mere manipulation. Principal Crises of the Last Century. That crises in the financial world have occurred at more or less regular periods is a matter of history. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century ten of these readjustments have occurred. In 1812, after ten years of prosperous conditions preceding the war of that year, business fell off materially. The real panic, however, occurred in 1814. Washington was taken by the British on August 24th, 1814, and suspension of specie payments was general in the following two weeks. In 1824, the protective tariff enactments were followed by general inflation in all lines of business. Two years later, in 1826, a general depression occurred with many failures. The depression at this period was even greater in England than in the United States, and many writers attribute the entire trouble to European business reverses, but it is probable that we had been living beyond our means and that this fact, to say the least, aggravated the disturbance. In 1837, after six years of good times, another crisis occurred. This depression was attributed to various causes. The great New York fire of 1835, the loss of charter by the United States Bank in 1836, and the calling in of $37,500,000 of government deposits by President Jackson, are all given due consideration. The actual panic, however, did not appear until May 10, 1837. All the banks suspended specie payments, and securities,--in fact all properties of whatever kind--fell rapidly in value. The most plausible explanation of this crisis is over-speculation in land. The other evils mentioned might easily have been rectified by the recuperative powers of a growing country, had the more serious element of wild inflation been absent.