Note 2 — Chapter IX · War with the Cannibals, and What Came of It.
Reading edition
In 1864, a ship was built in New York, at the time when labor and materials, reckoned in currency, had touched their highest prices. In 1870, another ship was built in the same place and on the same model—like the former in every particular. It was expected that, as wages and the cost of materials were less in 1870 than in 1864, the cost of the latter ship would be much less than that of the former; but the result showed that this was not the case.