M. Leon Say, at a banquet given at Bordeaux on
the 20th inst., stated boldly that to-day the grand difficulty of a Minister of Finance is not to raise the taxes, but to protect the public purse from Members who are urging on expenditure. Their efforts are represented even in the Budget Committee, and the Minister instead of contending with the "ignorant impatience of taxa- tion," has to struggle with the ignorant desire to tax and spend. This disposition is visible all over the world, and seems to accompany the advance of democracy. We presume the main Teason is that the individual voter hopes to benefit by expendi- ture more than he suffers from extra taxation ; but there is another influence at work. The bourgeoisie, who formerly ruled in all Constitutional States, really eared about economy as a 'virtue, hated large payments for themselves, and calculated the weight of every tax as they calculated their household expendi- ture. The workmen are freer-handed, and in their Benefit Societies tax themselves much more readily. They will pay " levies" with a readiness which would drive shareholders in insurance companies into a fury of denunciation. Yet the " levies" fall on themselves.
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