The National tribune., 1903-11-05
SOME MoRH COMPARISONS.

be considered, for they have q strong bear
ing upon the later expenditures for pen
sions.
For four long bitter years everything ID
the United States, social, political and
financial, pivoted absolutely and directly
upon the operations of the armies in the
field. The soldiers who were fighting the
battles of the Union bore upon their
bright musket-barrels the fortunes of ev-
the soldiers were victorious every man
and woman was richer as well as other
wise happier. When they suffered defeat,
everything went down-the hearts of men
and women, the hopes Of the politicians.
and the plans of the business men. The
best and most infallible barometer was
the greenback, the Governments promise
to pay. 1t was the cornerstone Of the
whole business fabric. When the green
back was made legal tender, it super
seeded all other forms Of money, and every
transaction was based upon it 1t meas
ured absolutely everything in the coun-
try. 1t measured what a man would re-
and hogs. 1t measured the value of every
deposit in bank, every State, County and
municipal bond, every share of railroad or
bank stock, every judgment obtained in
court, every promissory note, every be-
quest, and every mortgage. When the
greenback fell the value of every one of
these fell and the whole country became
poorer. When it rose, they rose, AMI every
man and woman in the country became
richer.
1t is exceedingly interesting to watch
the fluctuations Of the greenback as
measured by gold, and see how they cor
responded accurately to the victory and
defeats that the Union army sustained.
The Government had managed to main
tain the greenback nearly at par during
the year 1861. The assemblage Of its
great armies gave strong hopes that it
would be successful In maintaining its
authority and suppressing the rebel
lion. In spite of this, the beginning
Of 1862 saw the greenbacks begin
to fall perceptibly. In January Of
that year it took S1025O in green
backs to buy S1OO in gold. The victories
at Mill Springs and Fort Donelson, in
January and February, doomed public con-
fidence little, so that the greenback rose
to 9S2 cents, taking $101.80 to buy 500
in gold. The great armies which had been
assembling began to move on the PENN
sula and elsewhere. The hopes of the peo-
pie rnse and the greenback went up in
April to 98.5 cents, but the campaign
against Richmond was not 50 successful
as hoped, nor were the operations in the
West conclusive, SO that the greenback
sank in June to $50 cents. The rebels re-
covered from the first shock and took up
offensive tactics, racing Buelrs army back
to the Ohio River, defeating the Army of
the Potomac and invading Maryland, so
that by September the greenback sank to
S4.4 cents. The victory at Autietam did
not greatly encourage the people. and the
bloody defeats at Fredericksburg and
Chickasaw Bayou, with the awful car
mage at Stone River, sank the greenback
at the beginning of 1853 to 62.3 cents, or
less than two-thirds Of its value. Not
only the value of the greenback but Gov
eminent and other bonds and the National
bank notes were terribly deprecated.
Every species OF property represented by
paper and documents was shorn of more
than one-third of its value, with probable
loss of from So, 200, 900, 600 to $4,000, OOO.-
900.
The soldiers Of the Army Of the Ten
nessee foundered through the malariOus
swamps of the Mississippi daring unheard-
Of dangers, fighting desperate battles and
capturing Vicksburg: while those of the
Army of the Potomac raced through the
hot Summer sun to head off Lee in Penn
sylvania and fight the battle of Gettys-
burg, with it's terrible butchers bill Of
"a 900 killed and wounded on both Sides
The direct financial result Of this was that
the greenback went up in August to 1915
cents, increasing the value of the green
back dollar, and of the dollars based upon
it, 1I.2 cents, making at least 81 $50, &c.,
600 profit for the men who held the money
and the securities. Thus, probably, in this
one instance was one-third Of the total
pension expenditures made for the men
"ho hciu pdpci piopcIy. 1ulS 6uEdIICe,
however, was lost by the terrible battle of
Chickamauga and the non-success of the
Army Of the Potomac, during the Fall Of
1863, to drive Lees army to a conclusive
battle. Therefore the year of 1864 opened
with the greenback to 643 cents, and it
kept on steadily falling as Grant and
Sherman pursued their bloody ways to
Richmond and Atlanta. While each of
them went persistently on, the cost Of their
progress was fearful in life and limb, and
no diminution of the rebel ability for harm
was apparent.
At that time Grant, after the appalling
loss of So 5000 men, seemed fought to
standstll before the impregnable fortifi-
cations around Petersburg, and Sherman,
after three months Of battling with ter
rible losses, was similarly halted before
the works around Atlanta. There were
not lacking those who confidently predicted
that both Grant and Sherman would soon
have to recoil before their triumphant enc
mics, and their armies be absolutely de-
stroyed in the effort to retreat In the
midst Of all this came startIingly de-
pressing blow by Early at the very gates
Of Washington, July II. The official
quotations Of the greenback on the New
York Exchange for that month averaged
1871 cents, and on the day that Early's
advance ATTACHED fhA nickafc of tho O5tb