xpenses exist in both countries,
but they are not always analogous. In America the townships discharge a
variety of offices which are reserved in France to the Departments or
to the State. It may, moreover, be asked what is to be understood by the
municipal expenses of America. The organization of the municipal bodies
or townships differs in the several States. Are we to be guided by what
occurs in New England or in Georgia, in Pennsylvania or in the State
of Illinois? A kind of analogy may very readily be perceived between
certain budgets in the two countries; but as the elements of which
they are composed always differ more or less, no fair comparison can
be instituted between them. [The same difficulty exists, perhaps to a
greater degree at the present time, when the taxation of America has
largely increased.--1874.]]

[Footnote m: Even if we knew the exact pecuniary contributions of every
French and American citizen to the coffers of the State, we should only
come at a portion of the truth. Governments do not only demand supplies
of money, but they call for personal services, which may be looked upon
as equivalent to a given sum. When a State raises an army, besides the
pay of the troops, which is furnished by the entire nation, each soldier
must give up his time, the value of which depends on the use he might
make of it if he were not in the service. The same remark applies to the
militia; the citizen who is in the militia devotes a certain portion
of valuable time to the maintenance of the public peace, and he does in
reality surrender to the State those earnings which he is prevented from
gaining. Many other instances might be cited in addition to these. The
governments of France and of America both levy taxes of this kind,
which weigh upon the citizens; but who can estimate with accuracy their
relative amount in the two countries?

This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which prevent us from
comparing the expenditure of the Union with that of France. The French
Government contracts certain obligations which do not exist in America,
and vice versa. The French Government pays the clergy; in America the
voluntary principle prevails. In America there is a legal provision for
the poor; in France they are abandoned to the charity of the public. The
French public officers are paid by a fixed salary; in America they are
allowed certain perquisites. In France contributions in kind take place
on very few road