The clue to the story of capital is to be found in this fact, too
often forgotten, that there was an economic-political division
cutting deep through every stratum of the Northern people. Their
economic life as well as their political life was controlled on
the one hand by a devotion to the cause of the war, and on the
other hand by a hatred of that cause or by cynical indifference.
And we cannot insist too positively that the Government failed
very largely to take this fact into account. The American spirit
of invention, so conspicuous at that time in mechanics, did not
apply itself to the science of government. Lincoln confessedly
was not a financier; his instinct was at home only in problems
that could be stated in terms of men. Witness his acceptance of
conscription and his firmness in carrying it through, as a result
of which he saved the patriotic party from bearing the whole
burden of military service. But there was no parallel
conservation of power in the field of industry. The financial
policy, left in the hands of Chase, may truly be described as
barren of ideas. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the
"loyal" North was left at the mercy of its domestic enemies and a
prey to parasites by Chase's policy of loans instead of taxes and
of voluntary support instead of enforced support.
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