ABSTRACT
Industrial capitalism has developed to hitherto unparalleled degree the institutions of technology and money. The severe liquidation of 1920-21 might well have served as a warning that the creator was becoming the victim of his own creation. The sudden shrinkages in demand that necessitated the shutdown of large plants and the precipitous unemployment of millions, who depended upon the possession of money for the purchase of their daily necessities, were facts so unpleasant that they could not be overlooked. During the decades of intense industrial expansion, the financial system had occasionally given way, especially in 1907. Monetary disturbances then could not always be isolated; unemployment and bankruptcies frequently followed in their wake. Seasonal irregularities were surely as old as the industrial system, probably as old as the oldest economic system. Morals contributed a mite to the stabilization movement. The changing role of the state and, more important, the fears of its continuing metamorphosis doubtless contributed much to the stabilization movement.
