Note 55 — Chapter XVIII · GOVERNMENT UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

For example, in 1873 the Public Accounts showed a Postal expenditure of £5,000,000; but then, on the other side of the ledger, the nation was credited with £5,000,000 of receipts earned by the Post-office. The Tory financial critics could not be got to see that the only right way of comparing the real expenditure of a Government at any two selected dates is to deduct from the gross sum moneys which come in aid of outlay, and which are yet not taxes, and then compare the results.