It may happen, as our own experience shows, that the panic comes at the close of a fall in the price level rather than at its beginning. In 1873 we experienced one of the worst panics in our history. Yet from that time on for almost twenty-five years prices continued to fall, culminating in the panic of 1893. For three years following this latter panic prices kept on downward. Then they started upward until by 1914 they had reached such a height as to cause grave concern. Many far-sighted men predicted a severe crisis. Just then the outbreak of the Great War created a heavy demand for all sorts of products. The supply of money increased. Manufacturers exerted themselves to reap war profits. Practically every one felt the prosperity that came from the war. The entry of the United States itself in the war, in April, 1917, gave a still greater impetus to production. The heavy demands of the government, coupled with the withdrawal of millions of men from industry, pushed prices still higher, which no doubt a return to normal conditions will lower.