The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-07-18

Fire Department.
The French Budget.
Were it possible to regulate finance Dy
military mandate or to control the rise and
fall Of values by the passwords of the bivouac,
those men and nations who revel in war,
keeping up standing armies in order to be pre-
pared for conflicts. and then rushing into con-
licts in order to employ the standing armies,
would have an easy time of 1t. But practical
experience teaches all what Canute had sense
enough to discover for himself, that the pillows
of the sea, moral or physical, roll not back at
any mortal's command. The great ebb and
flow Of monetary values follow law of their
own, which is measured healthily and normally
by the good works of peace only.
France has just plunged into a tremendous
and uncertain war. But the other day her
legislators were most anxiously debating the
budget They disclosed the fact that the
round product of all the French taxes and
revenues is 1,5ll ,7O9, 100 francs, Of which
total it is impossible to expend less than
554, 08S, 726 and pay all charges, pensions,
&C., or good deal more than one-third of the
whole disposable sum. There remain, then,
but 957, 029, 764 to pay the army and navy and
the civil demands, including the judiciary, the
church endowments, the various gov ern-
mental departments, &c. These calls amount
to about 84S, 100000. The remainder is
transferred to the credit of the extra budget,
and is applied chiefly to the public works.
In reference to these charges there is no hope
of Improvement unless there be a searching
reform and curtailment of the army On the
contrary they increase every year, aud at
every session for the past dozen years there
has been large party to complain bitterly
over the declining prosperity Of the country
staggering beneath the weight Of such bur-
dens. The various fixed taxes rated per
head weigh very heavily, and impera-
lively demand modification. Yet they
make up the great bulk Of the
revenue. The immortal revenue that comes
into the State yields but 173, 900, 600 francs,
while the indirect contributions on sugar and
tobacco, salt, beverages, &C., yield
626, TAI, 900 francs. One authoritative writer
sets down all the indirect returns at four-fifths
of the whole resources Of the country, and were
these large returns absolutely certain and not
liable to fluctuations and changes they would
form the right arm of the treasury. But it is
often at the very time when they are most
needed that they do not yield fruitfully. AS
matters have been recently, the floating debt
of France has risen to nearly eight hundred
Millions and overshadows the government
with continual menace of necessity for new
loan, and, If we are to believe the recent report
of M. Chesnelong on the subject, the savings
funds are more likely to exhibit deficits than
surplus. The city of Paris ran up enormous
liabilities, and, as though following her exam
pie, very many of the smaller towns and COM
munes have done likewise.
Now, therefore, pushing aside the chicanery
and make-believe of those who try to confuse
the question and draw distinctions where there
are no differences, oil these burdens rest upon
the same shoulders. The individual who pays
his share of the town or commune debt also
pays to the general government his part of the
general taxes. With the outbreak of war all
these charges are increased, at the very mo-
mcnt when the cost Of all the necessaries of
life is enhanced aud the working force
diminished. In the present year these diff
culties are enormously augmented by various
causes, foremost among which are the terrible
drought and the failure of crops, the complaint
of manufacturers in all directions, aud the
widespread trade strikes, now running into
such dangerous demonstrations as those most
recently made by bakers, gardeners,
butchers, &c. Behind the scenes there
is, after all, very little sentimentalism
in war, and while the superficial
observer may simply be amusing his fancy, If it
be truculent enough to care nothing for the
heaped up dead. the CHASTITY wounds, the
trampled, blood-polluted fields, and the tears
and desolation, and poverty and vice, with the
body and soul ruin that follows in thousand
homes, the statesman is gravely-oh, most
gravelyl-and anxiously bordering how all this
is to be paid for from the scanty store at home.
France, for instance, begins with large
loan and muster of her reserves. How shall
she end with that haunting mo,sstrnm hor-
reDdet,n, the budget Of 1871?
The railway, tho Telegrapl,, and tho Fine
Arts.