y the Commissioner, I
give the following official statement in regard to two of the more
prominent modern implements of agriculture. Mr. Kennedy, in his Census
Report for 1860, informs us "that a threshing-machine in Ohio, worked by
three men, with some assistance from the farm hands, did the work of
seventy flails, and that thirty steam-threshers only were required to
prepare for market the wheat crop of two counties in Ohio, which would
have required the labor of forty thousand men." As it took probably less
than two hundred men to work the machines, the immense saving in human
labor becomes instantly apparent.

Again, in his last Patent-Office Report, Mr. Holloway states "that from
reliable returns in his possession it is shown that forty thousand
reapers were manufactured and sold in 1863, and that it is estimated by
the manufacturers that over ninety thousand will be required to meet the
demand for 1864"; and these machines, he says, will save the labor of
four hundred and fifty thousand men.

If the aggregate produce of the loyal States, notwithstanding the large
amount of labor that has been withdrawn from production by the demands
of the war, is actually greater than ever before, and if, as we have
already shown, the sum of that produce is three times as great as the
people of those States, using proper economy, would _necessarily_
consume, surely no one should feel any anxiety in regard to the ability
of the United States to meet all their pecuniary obligations.

I have already said that England, in her war with Napoleon, furnishes
the best criterion in history for judging of our own financial
situation; and though the two cases are far from running parallel to
each other, it may be interesting to compare them in some of their
aspects.

At the restoration of peace in 1815, the national debt of England
amounted in Federal currency to $4,305,000,000. It is impossible as yet
to say what will be the ultimate amount of our national debt. It amounts
now to rather more than one half of the debt of Great Britain, and, at
its present ratio of increase, it will take nearly four years more to
make our debt equal to hers.

Now, for the purposes of this statement, let us assume that it will take
four years more to finish the war and to adjust and settle all its
contingent claims, and that at the close of that period, say in 1869, we
shall be at peace, with a restored Union, and with a national debt as
large as that of