It was under these main provisions that the Union Pacific Railroad was constructed. In their final shape they were intended to provide for the greater part of the cost of construction, while allowing the company to supply deficiencies by the issue of its own first mortgage bonds. Capitalization under these conditions would not have been excessive; the Government’s investment would have redounded unmistakably to its own benefit, as well as to that of the country, and the corporation would have looked forward to a long and prosperous career. Three things interfered to swell the cost of the construction of the road, and with that its capitalization: First, construction was carried on during a time of high prices, swollen not only by depreciation of the currency, but by artificial conditions occasioned by the war; second, the normal level of the prices paid was raised by the speed with which the road was completed; third, construction was entrusted to a construction company, the famous Crédit Mobilier. In its comparison of the prices of the years 1864–9, with those of 1860, the Aldrich Committee arrived, in 1893, at the following result: _Metals & Implements _Bar Iron _Rails, exc. Pocket _All _Year_ _Food_ Rolled_ Iron_ Knives_ Articles_ 1864 165.8 249.3 262.5 198.0 190.5 1865 216.5 181.1 205.5 218.7 216.8 1866 173.8 167.0 180.7 192.7 191.0 1867 163.9 148.2 173.2 178.9 172.2 1868 164.2 145.8 164.3 167.1 160.5 1869 162.9 139.0 160.9 157.9 153.5 These figures may be divided by the premium on gold, in order roughly to ascertain gold prices. The index numbers then become: _Metals & Implements _Bar Iron _Rails, exc. Pocket _All _Year_ _Food_ Rolled_ Iron_ Knives_ Articles_ 1864 106.6 160.3 168.8 127.3 122.5 1865 100.1 83.7 95.0 101.1 100.3 1866 124.1 119.2 128.9 137.5 136.3 1867 121.8 110.1 128.6 132.9 127.9 1868 118.6 105.2 118.6 120.6 115.9 1869 120.1 102.5 118.6 116.4 113.2[458]