Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-03
FAURE ON GOVERNMENT.
The New French President Writes
 on National De bts.
The Way to Retrench-The Latest Pro- duction of His Pen Has Already Att tracted Widespread Attention
 Tn France.
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In France.
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 Francois Felix Faure is one Of the greatest living authorities on governmental finance. He has compiled tho budgets of all European nations for the benefit oi the French treasury. The following Is from an unpublished mem orandum on governmental budgets. M. Faure's greatest work Is Les Budgets Con- temporains
 A survey of the situation from financial point of view, in which the governments of the world are at present placed, reveals very strik- ingly the similarity of the prob lens pressing for solution. Indus trial crises are omnipresent, and nat urally much preoccupied by them, the governments of the world, like indi- viduals, are looking into their re- sources as well as their expenses. The end sought is the reduction of the lat ter to some measure of moderation. Whether we consider the case of France or Germany, or even that land of bound less wealth, the United States of Amer ica, the same financial questions are paramount, although they present themselves under widely varying aspects.
 Thus does final analysis demonstrate the increase in the cost of maintaining a government to be special to no one country. No matter what the form of government is, be 1t further observed, it is the constant increase in the ex- pense account that occasions perturba- tion. Governments being in not few respects subject to the same influences as private individuals, the situation might be represented as analogous to that of a man who draws more and. more upon his resources as time goes on. Nay, governments are to great degree worse off than private individ- aals They lack earning power in the sense that we speak of the earning power of an individual.
 Now the causes of this general in- crease in the cost of maintaining any and every form of government are in- flexible. They operate independently of the government. This feature of the problem renders it trebly difficult to deal with. Yet there are causes that op- crate in Q purely relative way. They operate only through temporary condi- tions.
 One of the inflexible causes of the in. crease is the rise in prices of those com modities which are manufactured solely for governments. Munitions of war, battle ships, harbors, internal improve. ments seem to be constructed and con. ducted necessarily on scale of increas- ing costliness. Again, there is the ex- tension of the functions of the modern state in directions unheard of even as late as the commencement of the pres. ent century. Finally, the increase in population occasions expense through mere arithmetical prcponderance.
 Where is this to end? Must govern. ments already embarrassed by the bur dena of budgets at present swelled to the amplest proportions look forward to the budget that is to come as a source of greater embarrassment than its predecessor? It is hardly to the point to call attention to the increase of prosperity that is observable here and there in the world. What shall be said regarding those industrial crises that periodically retard the develop ment ot the people? The point is that the increase of governmental expendi- ture is out of all proportion to the in crease in governmental resources. A mans fortune may increase at the rate of ten per cent. per year, but if his ex- penses increase at the rate of twenty per cent. a year he is a loser. Very similar is the position of the govern ments of the world.
 Who is bearing these additional burdens? The money comes out of somebody's pocket. It would be worth while to ascertain precisely who foots these bills. Any effort to establish the exact distribution of the burden is necessarily hamperod by the indirect nature of present taxations It is also surprising that special interests are permitted, as they are, to take advan- tage of the taxing power to further in dividual ends. The power to tax is ordinarily connected in the general mind with the power to raise money. But taxation will accomplish a great deal more than the raising of money. It is wealth distributing influence. In truth, it may be doubted whether the power to tax is not the whole of the power to govern.
 Viewing now the intimacy of the con nection between the power to tax and certain special interests, and following g logical method of seeking for cause