their population, that of
any other nation heretofore involved in a long and costly war. The case
which most nearly approaches ours, in this regard, is that of England,
during her war with Napoleon, from 1803 to 1815. But since the
termination of that long contest, the progress of discovery,
improvements in the machinery and in the processes of manufacture, more
effective implements of agriculture, the general introduction of
railways,[H] and other time- and labor-saving agencies, together with
the constantly increasing influence of the applied sciences, have so
augmented the productive power of humanity, that the experience of the
most advanced nations fifty years ago furnishes no adequate criterion of
what the United States can do now.

It is not easy to determine the precise ratio in which production has
been increased by these instrumentalities. It is unquestionably very
large,--not less, probably, than threefold. That is to say, a given
population, including all ages and conditions, can produce the articles
necessary for its subsistence, such as food, clothing, and shelter, to
an extent three times as great, with these agencies, as it could produce
without them. Hence it appears, that, if the people of the loyal States
could return to the standard of living that prevailed fifty years ago,
the amount of their production would be sufficient to subsist not only
themselves, but twice as many more in addition. To accomplish this, they
would have, indeed, to devote themselves more to the production of
articles of prime necessity and less to those of mere ornament and
luxury. That they have the productive energy necessary to such a result
there can be no doubt.

This encouraging view of our condition is fully sustained by official
statements, which show that the industrial products of the country
increase in a greater ratio than the population. In 1850 the aggregate
value of the products of agriculture, mining, manufactures, and the
mechanic arts, in the United States, was $2,345,000.000. In 1860 the
aggregate was $3,756,000,000. This is an increase in ten years of sixty
per cent, whereas the increase of population during that decade was only
thirty-five and a half per cent. Thus we see that during the ten years
ending with 1860--the date of the last census--the products of the
industry of the country increased almost twice as fast as the population
increased. If to this we add the remarkable fact that the value of
taxa