ABSTRACT
In Minneapolis, C. C. Washburn and Charles A. Pillsbury were applying new methods to milling and turning the northern wheat into flour to ship to the ends of the earth. Under normal conditions the thing would have been impossible, but the times were wrought up and blindly passionate and the politicians skillful. The time was ripe for the Republican party to become a fairy godmother to the millions of Beriah Sellerses throughout the North and West. A huge barbecue was spread to which all presumably were invited. The hungriest will get the most at the barbecue. General Grant was no conventional military hero. The war was as great a godsend to Jay Cooke as it was to Grant, for alone amongst our money-lenders he realized the problems and foresaw the profits in a popular system of war financing. In certain aspects Jay Cooke may be reckoned the first modern American.
