A Richmond diarist recorded this conversation:
"A poor woman yesterday applied to a merchant in Carey Street to purchase a barrel of flour. The price he demanded was $70.
"My God!" exclaimed she, "how can I pay such prices? I have seven children; what shall I do?"
"I don't know, madam," said he, coolly, "unless you eat your children."
Source: America's Civil War, magazine, September 2011 issue, from the article, War Is Good Business, by David Goldfield, pg. 51.
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