The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1920-05-11
\. c. Of |. AFTER
THE CIVIL WAR
1T TOOK THIRTEEN YEARS FOR
FOR PRICES TO REACH
PRE-WAR LEVEL

the present era of high prices to last?
is the pressing question in every
American home today. The same
question was asked almost as earnest
ly something more than a half cen
tury ago. While conditions resulting
from the world war are hardly COM
parable with those that came from
the civil war, it is interesting to OBJ
serve what happened to prices as the
result of the conflict in the 60s-how
they rose, and how long they were
in falling
Briefly, prices lose in the civil war
very much as they rose in recent
years. They fell off somewhat with
peace, maintained themselves for
about three years, and then began a
gradual decline that with one inter
mission brought them to the pre-war
basis in 1878, three years after the
wars end
With the opening of hostilities
prices were affected. Starting from a
level little below that of 1860, they
advanced more than 20 per cent be-
fore the close of 1861.
At the beginning of the war flour
was selling at s7.25 barrel, pork at
IL cents pound, sugar at about 3
cents, eggs at Is cents a dozen, and
coffee at 20 cents a pound. The sud
den cutting off of supplies from the
south along with an equally sudden
demand for war materials in the
| north, had an immediate effect on
prices. But by the next year the big
factor in civil war prices came to be
an incontrovertible paper money
standard, with a consequent premium
on gold. Specie payments were sus-
pended by the United States treasury
| in 1862. Paper money, largely N
small denomination, circulated freely
AS at the present time, there was an
atmosphere of prosperity, and al
| though there was complaint that in
creased with the mounting prices, no
body appeared to be suffering
This condition, of course. prevailed
in the north. Paper currency was is
sued by the wagon load, and by 1864
81 in gold would be s22 of the con-
federate money. Many commodities
could not be bought for any price in
the south. A dinner for nine men at
restaurant in Richmond in 1864
cost $631.50. Turkeys cost SO each:
flour, $500 barrel, and shoes, $3.50
pair.
But in the north, where the pur-
chasing power of the dollar remained
above so cents throughout the war,
prices continued to mount. BY the
middle of 1868 flour had almost
doubled in price, pork had gone past
25 cents a pound, butter had ad-
vanced from 25 cents to nearly 60
cents a pound, and other commodity
prices showed increases amounting to
more than 100 per cent. The general
average was not far below the 100
per cent mark.
The climax of civil war prices was
reached at the close of 1864 and last
ed for only a short time in 1865. The
highest point touched showed an
average increase well past 100 pei
cent. Many articles by this time were
selling for three, and some for -four
and five times what they brought al
the beginning of the war. The gen.
eral price level, PIT points, was &c
points above that reached by the
signing of the armistice in November
1918.
Early in 1865 flour was selling al
q l. l. 4
33 cents pound, butter to rs cents
and vegetables, canned goods, teas
and coffees had doubled in price
Pork had moved up from $40 barre
wholesale to $50. Coal was sellins
for s19 ton, kerosene oil for 90
cents gallon, spool of cottor
thread for 80 cents, and muslns tha
had sold for from to cents a yarC
in 1860 were hard to get at rs cent
a yard
But people who had to buy com
modities near the close and imm edi
had an experience that has not We
come to the present purchasers
Prices began to fall early in 1865 a
it became more and more apparen
; that the war must end soon. BY tn
time Lee surrendered in April of tha
year there had been decline O
twenty-seven points in the genera
plane of prices.
BY 1866 the decline was arreste
and a slight upturn movement bega
that continued for two years, a.
4 though the peak prices of the wa
were not again reached. For anothe
year prices hesitated, and then wit
1869, four years after the ending {
n the war, steady decline set in. Fc
+ the three years from 1871 to 1874
s including the panic years-the d.
d cline paused. 1t then began ono
k more and continued until 1878 thi
teen wears after the close Of the wa