IX


PANIC


Panic is the fear which makes great masses of men rush into the abyss
without due reason. It is, in fact, a mass sentiment with which there is
no reasoning. Yet at one time or another in his career every man in
business will be confronted with a stampede of this character, and if he
does not understand how to deal with it, he will be trampled in the mud.

The purely stubborn man will be the first to go under. He will say, and
may be perfectly right in saying, that there is no real cause for
anxiety. He will prepare to run slap through the storm, and refuse to
reef a single financial sail. He forgets that the mere existence of
panic in the minds of others is in itself as hard a factor in the
situation as the real value of the properties on the market which are
being stampeded. The atmosphere of the business world is a reality even
when the views which produce it are wrong. To face a panic one must
first of all realise the intrinsic facts, and then allow for the
misreading of others. It is the plastic and ingenious mind which will
best grapple with these unusual circumstances. It will invent weapons
and expedients with which to face each new phase of the position.
"Whenever you meet an abnormal situation," said the sage, "deal with it
in an abnormal manner." That is sound advice. But a business panic is,
after all, a rare phenomenon--something a man need only have to face
once in a lifetime. It is the panic in the mind of the individual which
is the perpetual danger. How many men are there who let this perpetual
fear of financial disaster gnaw at their minds like a rat in the dark?