A third fact to be borne in mind in connection with this apparent
contradiction in evidence is the source of the greater fortunes
of Cincinnati, a large proportion of which are to be traced,
directly or indirectly to government contracts during the war.
In some cases the merciless indifference of the Cincinnati
speculators to the troubles of their country are a local scandal
to this day, and it is still told, sometimes with scorn,
sometimes with amusement, how perhaps the greatest of these
fortunes was made by forcing up the price of iron at a time when
the Government had to have iron, cost what it might.
Thus we no sooner take up the moral problem of the times than we
find ourselves involved in the commercial question, for here, as
always, morals and business are intertwined. Was the commercial
management of the North creditable to the Government and an honor
to the people? The surest way to answer such questions is to
trace out with some fullness the commercial and industrial
conditions of the North during the four years of war.
The general reader who looks for the first time into the matter
is likely to be staggered by what statistics seem to say.
Apparently they contradict what he is accustomed to hear from
popular economists about the waste of war.
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