congestion resulted all along the railroads. Whether this, rather
than a failure in supply, explains the approach of famine in the
latter part of the war, it is today very difficult to determine.
In numerous state papers of the time, the assertion was
reiterated that the yield of food was abundant and that the
scarcity of food at many places, including the cities and the
battle fronts, was due to defects in transportation. Certain it
is that the progress of supplies from one point to another was
intolerably slow.

All this want of coordination facilitated speculation. We shall
see hereafter how merciless this speculation became and we shall
even hear of profits on food rising to more than four hundred per
cent. However, the oft-quoted prices of the later years--when,
for instance, a pair of shoes cost a hundred dollars--signify
little, for they rested on an inflated currency. None the less
they inspired the witticism that one should take money to market
in a basket and bring provisions home in one's pocketbook.
Endless stories could be told of speculators hoarding food and
watching unmoved the sufferings of a famished people. Said Bishop
Pierce, in a sermon before the General Assembly of Georgia, on
Fast Day, in March, 1863: "Restlessness and discontent
prevail....
Extortion, pitiless extortion is making havoc in the land.
We are devouring each other. Avarice with full barns puts the
bounties of Providence under bolts and bars, waiting with eager
longings for higher prices.... The greed of gain...stalks
among us unabashed by the heroic sacrifice of our women or the
gallant deeds of our soldiers. Speculation in salt and bread and
meat runs riot in defiance of the thunders of the pulpit, and