148 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
lative mechanism of modern life, as has so recently happened in
Russia. the economist can afford to predict with Prospero 27
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
[eave not a rack behind.
Speculation in Times of Calamity.—In times of adver-
sity, when business is faced with an apparently cheerless future,
1t what might be called the “zero hours of industry,” the specu-
lator, who is so often falsely considered the villain of our whole
sconomic drama, clearly and unmistakably becomes its hero.
A striking example of what speculation can do in a national
crisis occurred in France in 1871, after her overwhelming de-
feat by the Prussians. In that dark hour of Frances destiny
a revolutionary commune composed of the dregs of Paris ruled
her capital ; her armies were crushed and all but her unconquer-
able soul prostrate; two of her most valuable industrial prov-
‘nces were lost; the Prussian armies stood victorious on her
soil, and she faced the huge indemnity of five billion gold
francs. If ever the outlook for French business—yes, and for
the solvency of the government itself—seemed hopeless, it was
then. And yet, as is well known, France's recovery from her
Srostration was so swift that it astonished the world. How
was this remarkable recovery brought about? Let one of the
‘oremost historians, economists, and publicists of France, M.
Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, answer this question for us:*
Let us recall the already remote years of our convalescence, after
‘he invasion, years at once sorrowful and comforting, when with the
loom of defeat and the suffering of dismemberment, mingled the joy
of feeling the revival of France. Whence came our first consolation,
our first vindication before the world? Whether glorious or not, it
originated on the Bourse. . . . When more than one political skeptic
and discouraged thinker allowed themselves to write down upon the
»7 See The Tempest, IV, 11, 152-156.
2 See “La Regence de largent.”’ in Revue des Deux Mondes, February 25, 1897,
3p. 894-895
