One of the
ugliest details of the time was the resolute attempt of the
parasites to seize the whole amount of the abnormal profits they
wrung from the Government and from the people. For it must not
be forgotten that the whole nation had to pay their prices. It
is estimated that prices in the main advanced about 100 per cent
while wages were not advanced more than sixty per cent. It is
not strange that these years of war form a period of bitter
antagonism between labor and capital.
What went on in the woolen business is to be found more or less
in every business. Immense fortunes sprang up over night. They
had but two roots: government contracts and excessive profits due
to war prices. The gigantic fortunes which characterized the
North at the end of the war are thus accounted for. The
so-called prosperity of the time was a class prosperity and was
absorbed by parasites who fattened upon the necessities of the
Government and the sacrifices of the people.
CHAPTER XII. THE MEXICAN EPISODE
That French demagogue whom Victor Hugo aptly called Napoleon the
Little was a prime factor in the history of the Union and the
Confederacy. The Confederate side of his intrigue will be told
in its proper place. Here, let us observe him from the point of
view of Washington.
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