of course, to speculation.

In July 1863, retail prices were 43 percent above those of 1860 and
wages only 12 percent above; in July 1864, retail prices rose to 70
percent and wages to 30 percent above 1860; and in July 1865, prices
rose to 76 percent and wages only to 50 percent above the level of 1860.
The unequal pace of the price movement drove labor to organize along
trade-union lines.

The order observed in the thirties was again followed out. First came a
flock of local trade unions; these soon combined in city centrals--or as
they came to be called, trades' assemblies--paralleling the trades'
union of the thirties; and lastly, came an attempt to federate the
several trades' assemblies into an International Industrial Assembly of
North America. Local trade unions were organized literally in every
trade beginning in the second half of 1862. The first trades' assembly
was formed in Rochester, New York, in March 1863; and before long there
was one in every town of importance. The International Industrial
Assembly was attempted in 1864, but failed to live up to the
expectations: The time had passed for a national federation of city
centrals. As in the thirties the spread of unionism over the breadth of
the land called out as a counterpart a widespread movement of employers'
associations. The latter differed, however, from their predecessors in
the thirties in that they made little use of the courts in their fight
against the unions.

The growth of the national trade unions was a true index of the
condition of business. Four were organized in 1864 as compared to two
organized in 1863, none in 1862, and one in 1861. During 1865, which
marked the height of the intense business activity, six more national