The increase in the population of the United States has been enormous, as already seen, but the increase of production has been still greater, owing to the fertility of our land, to improvements in the arts, and to our great genius for invention, as may be seen by the following table (amounts in the second column are given in millions).(141) The steady increase of the valuation of our wealth goes on faster than the increase of population, so that it manifests itself in a larger average wealth to each inhabitant. Decades. Valuation. Per cent Population. Per cent Per of of capital increase. increase. valuation. 1800 $1,742 .. 5,308,483 .. $328 1810 2,382 37 7,239,881 36 329 1820 3,734 57 9,633,882 33 386 1830 4,328 16 12,866,020 34 336 1840 6,124 41 17,069,453 33 359 1850 8,800 44 23,191,876 36 379 1860 16,160 84 31,443,321 35 514 1870 30,068 86 38,558,371 23 780 1880 40,000 33 50,155,783 30 798 If the productive powers of the country increase as rapidly as advancing numbers call for an augmentation of produce, it is not necessary to obtain that augmentation by the cultivation of soils more sterile than the worst already under culture, or by applying additional labor to the old soils at a diminished advantage; or at all events this loss of power is compensated by the increased efficiency with which, in the progress of improvement, labor is employed in manufactures. In one way or the other, the increased population is provided for, and all are as well off as before. But if the growth of human power over nature is suspended or slackened, and population does not slacken its increase; if, with only the existing command over natural agencies, those agencies are called upon for an increased produce; this greater produce will not be afforded to the increased population, without either demanding on the average a greater effort from each, or on the average reducing each to a smaller ration out of the aggregate produce.