treasure and moneys in a State be not gathered into few hands, for
otherwise the State may have great stock and yet starve, for money is
like muck, not good except it be spread."




CHAPTER XV

NATIONAL EXPENDITURE

_But where is the money to come from? Yes, that is to be
asked. Let us as quite the first business in this our
national crisis look not only into our affairs but into
our accounts and obtain some notion of how we annually
spend our money, and what we are getting for it. Not the
public revenue only; of that some account is rendered
already. But let us do the best we can to set down the
items of the national private expenditure and know what
we spend altogether and how._--JOHN RUSKIN.


The revenue and expenditure of the State have already been discussed;
over that the State has a direct control. Over the expenditure of the
nation the control of the State is only indirect. Though the two
questions should be kept distinct, one affects the other. Both are
vitally important and now more serious than ever in view of the huge
debt and other conditions which will exist after the War. How are we to
provide and pay for the commodities we need for the support of the
nation? Before the War the balance required to pay for the excess of