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WEALTII OF E)IPIRE, AND HOW IT SHOULD liE USED 313
production. letters. telegrams. packets, and parcels being
aU employed in productive business as well as in the
processes of consumption, and the same remark apply-
mg td postal and money order business. But in any
case the amount does not. seem enormous for the postal
work of so huge a state as the United Kingdom. The
remaining expenditure for civil government comes to
about 100 millions, one-fOJ..lrth by the central govern-
ment and three-fourths by the local authorities. This
is aU that is paid for judges and law courts, for prisons,
for the collection of revenue, for Foreign Office,
Treasury, Home Office, and the other offices of central
government i and for the miscellaneous work of local
government. including sanitation, the management of
roads and markets, police, and the thousand and one
odds and ends, excluding always education, which is
separately dealt with in this analysis, and one or two
items such as harbours, where the expenditure is really
a charge on business, or like gas and water, where these
happen to be municipalJy managed, as these are dealt
with under the general headings of Gas and Water.
In spite of all that is said about municipal extravagance,
with much justice as I should admit, still on a general
survey no great economy on this expenditure seems
possible. The remark was made to me long ago by
Mr. Walter Bagehot that to some extent the expendi-
ture by local authorities in a state is a test of relative
civilization. The more advanced a community is, the
more it requires of its local authorities, which constitute
the real and effective government in matters that
pertain to the daily life of the people, and where the
people come into contact with the government. The
central government in its foreign business, in managing
army and navy, and in supervising administration gener-
ally. does not come in contact with the masses in their
daily life as the local authorities do. If, then, we find
our local government costing a great aeal. we may
accept the fact as a proof of the advanced condition of
the community. As we get richer. should that be our