in gold. The great divergence of the price of these two commodities in the CSA and abroad—the New York price of cotton increased more than tenfold during the war—offered the strongest inducement to evade the blockade and export them. A small amount of Confederate cotton reached the world market by way of the blockade runners or via Mexico, netting handsome profits. By 1862 federal Treasury Department agents were buying cotton, offering high prices in gold. Tobacco and cotton were smuggled through the military lines in exchange for hospital stores, coffee and similar articles. The Confederate military authorities tried to suppress this illicit trade, but at times even they were carried away by the desire to secure the much-desired foreign supplies. The disturbances of prices, their local differences and fluctuations, produced wild speculation in the Confederate States. Normal commercial activity became almost impossible, and a gambling element was forced into every transaction. Speculation in gold became especially pronounced. Legislation and popular feeling targeted speculators, but to no avail. Even the government itself felt compelled to speculate in gold. Speculation in food and other articles was equally inevitable and was much decried. Laws passed to curb the speculators had no effect. Shortages grew worse and worse, especially in the cities, leading to bread riots and significant malnutrition. Food rations in the Confederate army were cut; the cavalry was reduced because of a lack of fodder. Night blindness caused by malnutrition reduced the combat effectiveness of Confederate troops, who also lacked adequate blankets, clothing, and shoes. They read letters from home reporting on the worsening situation, as workers were lethargic and children were getting skinnier. Price controls and impressment Economic historians blame the relentless soaring of retail prices on the government's printing of more and more paper money—some $2.25 billion in all. The people at the time however primarily blamed speculators, who acquired an evil victorious image they could never shake off, as typified by the character Rhett Butler in the novel Gone with the Wind. Increasingly the farmers, who were refusing to sell their product at low prices fixed by the government came under attack. Other critics claimed the Commissary Department because of its inefficiency and corruption, the collapse of the internal transportation system, with priority given to military needs over shipment of farm products, and the lack of cloth sacks and plows and the declining supervision of slaves, deliberate destruction caused