From time to time we will run columns by former publisher Jerry Robinson.  We go through the archives to find suitable content for our present day readers.  Jerry passed away in May of 2014 after more than 60 years as owner/publisher of this newspaper.

Nobody has ever given us a clear picture of why we have boom and bust cycles in the economy of the United States but the fact remains that we do have them and will probably continue to have them.

    We were discussing this situation with one of our readers the other day when he suddenly remembered a clipping he had been carrying around in his wallet for the past nine years that pertained to the subject. 

    It was a chart of the economic cycle of the United States. It appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1946. According to the Trib writer, the chart was first made prior to the Civil War. The original was found in an old desk drawer in Philadelphia in 1902.

    We have no way of knowing, of course or of verifying this fact but careful scrutiny of the chart, which we have reproduced here, will reveal some startling statistics

    The original chart started with the year 1810 but it was cut down to get it into two columns. 
   By starting with the year 1850 you get the early panics about which our grade school history books told us. (ed.note)It is prescient in that this column was written in the mid fifties but the chart expresses cycles for the next 50 years. Compare how accurate it might have been.

     Those panics of 1857, 1873, 1894 and 1929 are all a matter of record.  The top line or “A” indicates good times and high prices. The “B” years are low prices and hard times. The “C” years are panic years or deep depression years. Now take a look at the chart.

To clarify, here is the very top line.
1850 ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 1900 ’10 ’20 ’30 ’40 ’50 ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 2000

    The chart was apparently made up originally by someone interested in the stock market as a guide to when best to buy and sell. But is interesting to also note on the “B’ line for the years 1861, 1897, 1915 and 1942. We had a war or were about to enter one. 

   Don’t get us wrong. We don’t claim this chart to be anything more than interesting but we do think it is truly that.