Gentlemen in Crisis: The First Century of the Union League of Philadelphia, 1862-1962 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS177 ing point in Ohio history, when the state passed from its frontier phase into economic maturity. The final group of three essays focuses on capital information in commercial banking (Donald Adams), and on the profitability of investments in Ohio and Indiana canals (Roger Ransom), and midwestern railroads (Jeffrey Williamson). Adams, building on J. Van Fenstermaker's work (1965), finds that commercial banking prior to 1860 made little contribution to economic development. Ransom reaches a similar conclusion for the canal projects, which earned high returns in the first decades but could not compete with railroads . Williamson's lengthy and highly technical analysis of "social savings" on midwestern railroad investments in the Gilded Age is meant to complement Albert Fishlow's book (1965) on the same region in the ante-bellum decades. This essay, taken from Williamson's book, Late Nineteenth-Century American Development (1974), concludes the volume by bringing the story into the age of industrialization. Methodologically, a few contributors follow a standard narrative approach, interlacing their story occasionally with descriptive tables. But most authors are from the ranks of the new economic historians and their essays, or more aptly their research reports, are theoretical and laden with econometric equations and synthetic statistics. Some familiarity with economic theory and statistics would seem to be necessary, therefore, to obtain the full benefit of this book, although any scholar could draw upon the wealth of new information. Students of Ohio history will benefit the most because of the heavy concentration on the Buckeye State. The emphasis is understandable, given the fact that four of the twelve contributors , including the co-editors, are colleagues in Ohio University . If nothing else, this volume is a tribute to the calibre of scholarship among economic historians in this school. Robert P. Swierenga Kent State University Gentlemen in Crisis: The First Century of the Union League of Phihdelphia, 1862-1962. By Maxwell Whiteman. (Philadelphia: The Union League of Philadelphia, 1975. Pp. xii, 386.) This is the first scholarly and detailed study to be published on the Union League of Philadelphia (ULP), an important Northern institution originating in 1862, which promoted sentiments and policies in favor of Union victory, emancipation, use of Black troops, and Lincoln's reelection. Two earlier histories covering the first 20 years (published in 1884) and the first 40 years (1902) were more 178CIVIL WAR history limited and less critical, and this is the first work using manuscript sources extensively and an awareness of modern critical standards. The war and Reconstruction are covered in the first 166 of the 272 pages of narrative. Among the contributions of this work are: 1.Whiteman shows continuity between prewar abolition, antislavery , and Republican party movements and the ULP by demonstrating that many of the personalities of the earlier movements played leading roles in the founding and activities of the ULP. He also shows that Unionist and War Democrats played significant roles. 2.The book describes the publication activities of the ULP which were more extensive than comparable efforts in Boston and New York. Whiteman identifies for the first time many publications of the ULP which appeared without its imprint. 3.The genesis of the ULP is traced to the growing tension within Philadelphia club life of 1862 over the war and emancipation. 4.The book shows the prominent role played by intellectuals in the ULP, ideologically and in publication activities. 5.While some have seen the Union League movement as merely an instrument of the Republican party, Whiteman shows that the ULP was itself a coalition of tendencies and one of the forces struggling to shape Republican policies. In drafting the statement of organization, affiliation with the Republican administration was deleted, while stress was put on the general goal of supporting the war and the Union. The ULP also served to widen the UnionistRepublican coalition by attracting individuals who would not attach themselves directly to the Republican party. 6.Whiteman correctly differentiates various types of Union League groups. He distinguishes the few, big city organizations like the ULP and the Union Club of New York, founded by prominent persons who were often associated with the United States Sanitary Commission and pro-war publishing programs. Their club...