<P> A series of bank failures followed, and the Northern Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad failed . This was followed by the bankruptcy of many other companies; in total over 15,000 companies and 500 banks, many of them in the West, failed . According to high estimates, about 17%--19% of the workforce was unemployed at the panic's peak . The huge spike in unemployment, combined with the loss of life savings kept in failed banks, meant that a once - secure middle - class could not meet their mortgage obligations . Many walked away from recently built homes as a result . </P> <P> As a result of the panic, stock prices declined . Five hundred banks closed, fifteen thousand businesses failed, and numerous farms ceased operation . The unemployment rate hit 25% in Pennsylvania, 35% in New York, and 43% in Michigan . Soup kitchens were opened to help feed the destitute . Facing starvation, people chopped wood, broke rocks, and sewed by hand with needle and thread in exchange for food . In some cases, women resorted to prostitution to feed their families . To help the people of Detroit, Mayor Hazen S. Pingree launched "Pingree's Potato Patch," which were community gardens for farming . </P> <P> The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, perhaps along with the protectionist McKinley Tariff of that year, has been partially blamed for the panic . Passed in response to a large overproduction of silver by western mines, the Sherman Act required the U.S. Treasury to purchase silver using notes backed by either silver or gold . </P> <P> President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was blamed for the depression . He in turn blamed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act . The decline of the gold reserves stored in the Treasury fell to a dangerously low level . This forced President Cleveland to borrow $65 million in gold from Wall - Street banker J.P. Morgan and the Rothschild banking family of England . </P>

What role did the panic of 1893 play in the election of 1896