5 



In my own State, in fact in my County of Essex, so famed for ear- 

 ly and late activity and industry, one of the most reliable and pow- 

 erful, and faithful statesmen and soldiers of the revolution, Timothy 

 Pickering, tells us that in his day the soil of that oounty yielded to 

 the acre 28 bushels of wheat, 117 bushels of corn, 52 bushels of 

 barley, 518 bushels of common potatoes, 900 bushels of carrots, 

 1,034 bushels mangel wurzel, 688 bushels of Swedish turnips, 783 

 bushels of beets, 654 bushels of onions, 30 tons of hay grown on 

 6 acres, and the yearly average of 40 acres for many years was more 

 than 120 tons. To the fertile lands of the west these crops may 

 not seem extraordinary, but to the east they were, and are far beyond 

 what can now be reached by the most skillful fertilizing and the 

 highest cultivation. In our own day the soil may have lost its fer- 

 tility, industries may have multiplied, the paths to wealth and com- 

 fort may have become more and more varied, but agriculture holds 

 its former place still, and taxes our ingenuity and secures prosper- 

 ity. In the great trials that have befallen our generations, trials in 

 which not only the wisdom of the wise, but the fruits of the indus- 

 trious are needed to sustain and develop the country, which the 

 valor of the faithful saved from ruin, the wealth which has been 

 drawn from the soil has enabled us to maintain our financial honor, 

 and solve many a vexed financial problem. The position held by 

 us in the commerce of the world was watched with interest and 

 anxiety during all those years in which the power of the people to 

 bear the great war debt was a matter of painf ul doubt. At the close of 

 the war the financial facts of our country were against us. Gold was 

 at a premium. Our exports were comparatively small. The bal- 

 ance of trade was against us, and our supply of gold was constantly 

 drawn on to pay our foreign bills. Then it was that the most 

 thoughtful and patriotic American citizens turned to the growing 

 industries of the country for the solution of the financial question 

 which was so universally discussed and so seriously considered. 

 Not to our vast revenues alone did we turn, but to that producing 

 power of our people, which might find a foreign market and fix ex- 

 change in our favor. The men who had fought bravely now toiled dili- 

 gently, and ere long exports increased rapidly, gold was removed 

 as a commodity from the market, the balance of trade was in our 

 favor, and the American people ranked among the large importing 

 nations of the earth. The solution of our financial policy had be- 

 gun, and has been continued until we are of one heart and one mind 

 on this all important question. Once more has agriculture contrib- 



