$144,160,469. The aggregate of state, county, and town taxes in the same year was $2,409,171 07, which is a rate of 16 7-10 mills on a dollar.

We shall probably come much nearer a correct result by comparing the whole taxation, or total expenditure, with the whole population, so as to ascertain what would be the amount for each individual if the whole people were taxed per capita, without regard to their property. To apply this method first to the taxation by the National Government, I have taken the aggregate of the national expenditures each year for a series of years, excluding payments on account of the public debt and from trust funds. The object is to ascertain the ordinary rate of expenditure in a time of peace; a national debt exists in this country only as a temporary thing, the effect either of a war or of some extraordinary experiments in legislation. I have selected those years in which a national census was taken, so as not to be obliged to take the population by estimate, except in 1800; 1802 was preferred, because in the two years preceding 1800 the preparations for a war with France occasioned considerable increase of expenditure. The population of this country in 1800 was 5,305,925; in 1810, it was 7,239,814; at this rate of increase, in 1802 it must have been about 5,677,340. In a similar manner, I have calculated the population in 1845 to be 19,914,362. We have, then, the following table:

The expense of the National Government, then, is less than one dollar a year for each inhabitant of the United States. Let us now look at the cost of the State governments.

The population of Massachusetts in 1840 was 737,699; the rate of increase between 1830 and 1840 was 20 per cent. On this ratio I have calculated the population for the following years. For the reason already given, from the aggregate of expenditures for each year I have deducted the amount for interest on debt and for debt paid off.

The population of the state of New York in 1840 was 2,428,921; in 1845, according to the state census taken in that year, it was 2,604,495, being an increase of 7 1-5 per cent. in five years. The total of state expenditures in 1845, excluding interest and debt paid off, was $793,576 38; which is an average of only 30 1-2 cents for each inhabitant. diture for 1846 is but $743,014.

The estimated net expen

The population of Ohio in 1840 was 1,519,467; if it increased from 1840 to 1845 in the same ratio in which it increased from 1830 to 1840, the population in 1845 must have been 1,990,502. The whole expenses of the state government, including the legislature, salaries, support of asylums, printing, claims, &c., but excluding interest on debt and support of common schools, were but $201,471 97, which is only ten cents a head. Adding to this the money paid for common schools, the aggregate of state expenses was $484,432.03, which is 24 cents for each inhabitant. The interest paid on the public debt in 1845 was $1,077,864.97; the income from the public works (to build which the debt was contracted) exceeded the expenditure on these works by $203,704.42; subtracting this balance from the amount of interest paid, we have $874,160.50 as the annual burden of interest borne by the state. Adding this amount of interest to the former aggregate, we have $1,358,592.58 as the whole amount of state expenses of every kind; and this is but 68 cents for each inhabitant.

The population of Rhode Island in 1840 was 108,830; in 1845, according to the rate of increase in the ten years preceding 1840, it should have been about 115,000. The aggregate of state expenditures for the year ending April 30, 1845, including $25,589 paid for common schools, was $89,879, which is equal to 78 cents a head for the whole population. But the interest on the Deposit and School Funds, owned by the State, was $14,059; and

this subtracted from the aggregate of expense leaves but $75,820, which is an average of not quite 66 cents for each inhabitant.

From these data, we may safely estimate the average cost of the state governments throughout the United States at 50 cents a head for the whole population. We come now to the town or city expenditures, including those which are known as county expenses. Here we find that the average cost for each inhabitant is very much greater in the large cities than in the smaller towns and villages. This might be expected, as taxation and expenditure are meant to be in proportion, not to the numbers, but to the wealth of the community; and wealth is accumulated in the great cities.

I take the city of Boston for the first example. According to the national census, its population in 1840 was 93,383; but as we have shown elsewhere, (see page 194, this volume,) this is grossly erroneous, the true number at that period being only about 85,000. The city census, taken with great care in 1845, shows that the population in that year was 114,366, which is an increase of about 34 1-2 per cent. in five years. On this basis I have calculated the population for the years contained in the following table, which shows also the gross expenditure for each year, the amount of interest on debt and of debt paid off during the same periods, the net expenditure after this last amount is deducted from the former one, and the average of this net expenditure for each inhabitant. I add one other column as a matter of interest, though not strictly connected with our present subject; it shows how large a portion (about one third) of this net expenditure is for the support of common schools.

The population of the city of New York in 1840 was 312,710; in 1845, according to the state census, it was 371,102, showing an increase of 18 6-10 per cent. in five years. The estimate of city expenditures, excluding interest on debt, for 1846, which of course was based on the actual expenditures of 1845, is $1,563,130, or $4.21 for each inhabitant.

The population of Baltimore city, in 1840, was 102,313, its increase since 1830 having been nearly 27 per cent.; on this ratio, its population in 1845 was 116,125. The total expenditure of the city in 1845 was $659,032.36; of this sum, $312,913.88 was for interest on city debt, leaving $346,118.48

as the balance for ordinary expenditure, which amounts to $2.98 for each citizen.

The population of Providence, R. I., in 1845, estimated in a similar manner, was about 28,000; the city tax voted for this year was $81,186, no portion of which, I believe, was appropriated for debt or interest. The expenditure, then, is $2.89 for each citizen.

The materials for estimating the expenses of the smaller towns and villages are difficult to be obtained; but I have succeeded in bringing together enough to found a probable conjecture upon. According to returns made to the Comptroller of the state of New York, and published in his report, the aggregate of town taxes assessed in 1845, excluding the city of New York, was $949,271.80; of county taxes for the same time, still excluding the city and the state tax proper, was $800,000; the whole highway tax, assessed in days, and estimated at 5s. a day, was $901,186.25. The aggregate of these three sums is $2,650,458.05; and as the population of the state, excluding that of the city, according to the census of 1845, was 2,233,393, this amount is an average of $1.18 2-3 for each inhabitant. This is evidently somewhat too great to be a fair estimate for the smaller places only, as I have only excluded the city of New York, and have retained, (because the materials could not be found for applying the calculation to them separately,) the cities of Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Rochester, Brooklyn, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, and Utica. If these also were taken out of the account, the average for the remainder of the state would probably be as low as one dollar.

From a return printed in this volume under the head of Rhode Island, we find that the aggregate of town taxes voted in that state for 1844-5, excluding the city of Providence tax, was but $49,096. The estimated population of the state at that time, again excluding this city, was 86,500, so that the cost for each inhabitant of the towns was only 56 cents.

The probable population of Ohio in 1845, it has been already shown, was 1,990,502. The Auditor's report shows, that the total amount of taxes levied in that state in 1845, (excluding the state tax proper, which has been already considered,) was $1,403,169.83, which is 70 1-2 cents for each inhabitant. As there is but one large city in Ohio, and this one, Cincinnati, probably does not contain more than one thirtieth of the whole population of the state, this average is probably very near the truth. Comparing it with the averages in New York and Rhode Island, it appears safe to assume 75 cents a head as the total of town expenses, excluding the large cities from the estimate, throughout the United States. But assuming the present population of this country to be 20 millions, not more than one million and a half of them live in cities which contain more than 15,000 inhabitants each. The facts already given show that $3.00 a head would be a large estimate for the civic expenditures of these cities, as only five of them number over 100,000 inhabitants each. Taking the amount for the cities, then, at $3.00,

and for the towns at 75 cents, the general average of town or city expenses for the whole population is a little less than 92 cents. The general result of our calculation, therefore, is as follows:

Aggregate of the National Expenditures, $0.97 for each inhabitant.

or $47,800,000, if the population of the country be twenty millions.*

The population of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1841, was 26,711,059. The ordinary expenses of the British gov ernment in the same year were £24,887,729; the interest and other charges connected with the national debt made up a further sum of £28,556,324, so that the aggregate expenditure was £53,444,053. The materials for estimating the municipal expenses are very imperfect; but returns made in March, 1839, show that the annual cost of keeping up the highways in England alone was £1,267,848; the expense of supporting the English paupers, under the new poor law, in 1840, was £3,850,040. Adding these two items to the former amount, we have £58,561,941 as the total expenditure, which is £2 3s. 10d., or $9.60, for each inhabitant, four times as much as in the United States. Yet this sum does not include the ordinary civic expenses, which, in 1835, amounted to £2,000,000 for the metropolis alone; if five and a half millions be assumed on this account for the whole kingdom, which is a very low estimate, 4s. 6d. or $1.09, must be added to the average, making it $10.69; and still the cost of the highways and the poor in Scotland and Ireland is left out. Again, the support of the National church in England is compulsory, so that the tithes must be added to the preceding aggregate. With this addition, McCulloch, the highest authority on this subject, says the ordinary annual expenditure amounts to £68,000,000, and the average rises to $12.33 per head. It should further be observed, that the estimate

* Mr. Livingston, U. S. Secretary of State, attempted in 1832 to ascertain the total cost of government in the United States, and addressed circulars for that purpose to the several States and Territories. The returns were quite imperfect, but the calculation which he founded upon them, embracing the same items which are considered in this article, gave $2.15 as the average for each individual. Adding the cost of the clergy and militia, the sum is increased to $2.55. But through a great portion of this country, there is no compulsory assessment for either of these two purposes, and I have therefore excluded them from the account, except when a sum for the support of the militia enters into the aggregate of State expenditures. In 1838, Mr. H. C. Carey, of Philadelphia, made another calculation, which gave $2.19 as the average. These two results, allowing for the difference created by the lapse of years, agree so nearly with my own calculation as to afford a strong presumption of its correctness. I did not see them till the foregoing estimate was completed.