<P> Various administrations have closed in gloom and weakness...but no other has closed in such paralysis and discredit as (in all domestic fields) did Grant's . The President was without policies or popular support . He was compelled to remake his Cabinet under a grueling fire from reformers and investigators; half its members were utterly inexperienced, several others discredited, one was even disgraced . The personnel of the departments was largely demoralized . The party that autumn appealed for votes on the implicit ground that the next Administration would be totally unlike the one in office . In its centennial year, a year of deepest economic depression, the nation drifted almost rudderless . </P> <P> Recovery began in 1878 . The mileage of railroad track laid down increased from 2,665 mi (4,289 km) in 1878 to 11,568 in 1882 . Construction began recovery by 1879; the value of building permits increased two and a half times between 1878 and 1883, and unemployment fell to 2.5% in spite of (or perhaps facilitated by) high immigration . </P> <P> The recovery, however, proved short - lived . Business profits declined steeply between 1882 and 1884 . The recovery in railroad construction reversed itself, falling from 11,569 mi (18,619 km) of track laid in 1882 to 2,866 mi (4,612 km) of track laid in 1885; the price of steel rails collapsed from $71 / ton in 1880 to $20 / ton in 1884 . Manufacturing again collapsed - durable goods output fell by a quarter again . The decline became another financial crisis in 1884, when multiple New York banks collapsed; simultaneously, in 1883--1884, tens of millions of dollars of foreign - owned American securities were sold out of fears that the United States was preparing to abandon the gold standard . This financial panic destroyed eleven New York banks, more than a hundred state banks, and led to defaults on at least $32 million worth of debt . Unemployment, which had stood at 2.5% between recessions, surged to 7.5% in 1884--1885, and 13% in the northeastern United States, even as immigration plunged in response to deteriorating labor markets . </P> <P> This second recession led to further deterioration of farm prices . Kansas farmers burned their own corn in 1885 because it was worth less than other fuels such as coal or wood . The country began to recover in 1885 . </P>

When did railroads financial problems prompt nationwide economic panic