Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act
In the last days of the Benjamin Harrison administration, a number of events hurt the economy. A major employer, the Reading Railroad, went into receivership. This led to an unfortunate chain of events. Hundreds of banks and businesses which depended on the Reading and other railroads were forced to close. The US stock market went down dramatically. Fearing things could get worse European investor pulled their funds out of the US. Even so, the depression spread to Europe. Meanwhile there was an agricultural depression in the south and western United States causing the economy to become much worse. When President Grover Cleveland took office, over 4 million people had already lost their jobs. But Cleveland believed he should do nothing—the situation would correct itself.