A STATE OFFICIAL ON EXCESSIVE TAXATION. 649 



they were $1.89, in 1890 they were $2.15, and " in 1897 the esti- 

 mated per capita expenditure reached the alarming amount of 

 $4.95." That is to say, the combined expenditures of the State 

 and national governments gave a rate as high as that prevailing 

 in France before the outbreak of the Revolution. " The tendency 

 to increase," says Mr. Roberts, commenting on these figures, " is 

 a persistent one. In 1881 the amount expended by the State was 

 $9,878,214.59; in 1884, $10,479,517.31; in 1887, $14,301,102.48; 

 in 1890, $13,076,881.86; in 1893, $17,367,335.98; and in 1896, 

 $20,020,022.47." Coming to municipal expenditures, where the 

 hand of the prodigal has been most lavish, Mr. Roberts says that 

 " between 1860 and 1880 the municipal debts of our Union increased 

 from $100,000,000 to $682,000,000, and in fifteen cities, believed 

 to represent the average, the increase in taxation was 362.2 per 

 cent, while the increase in taxable valuation was but 156.9 per cent, 

 and of population but 70 per cent. In the year 1860 the direct 

 taxes for State, county, town, and city purposes in New York were 

 $4.90 per capita, in 1880 it was $8.20, and in 1896 it had reached 

 $10.43, an increase in thirty-six years of 213 per cent." It should 

 be added that the bonded debt — State, county, city, town, village, 

 and school district — in the State is estimated by Mr. Roberts to be 

 $450,000,000. Is it any wonder that people so mercilessly plun- 

 dered feel that the times are out of joint? Is it any wonder, either, 

 that in 1896 Mr. Roberts was moved to say that, without the dis- 

 covery of new sources of revenue, " a low tax rate would never 

 again be enjoyed in this State"? Is it any wonder, finally, that 

 he declared again that if " we have not yet passed the danger limit 

 of taxation," we have reached " a point where there is a deep feel- 

 ing of unrest and dissatisfaction, and where a halt should be called 

 or there will be danger "? 



The stock explanation of this growth of expenditure is that 

 with the advance of civilization the cost of government must in- 

 crease in like degree; there must be more regulation and supervi- 

 sion of the activities becoming more numerous and complex. But 

 this means, if it means anything, that the more enlightened and 

 humane people are, the more difficult it is to maintain order and 

 enforce justice, the more inclined are they to attack and plunder 

 one another — in a word, the more barbarous they are. Prepos- 

 terous as this theory of civilization is, it is precisely the one upon 

 which the American people are acting with unparalleled eijergy. 

 While we should naturally think them moving toward a point where 

 they could get along without government, they are moving toward 

 a point where they will have nothing but government. Referring 

 to the increase of expenditures already mentioned, Mr. Roberts 



