The chief item of expenditure (which totalled 148 million pounds in 1905) is the service of the public debt, which in 1905 cost 48¼ million pounds sterling. Of the rest of the sum assigned to the ministry of finance (59¾ millions in all) 8½ millions went in the expense of collection of revenue. The other ministries with the largest outgoings were the ministry of war (the expenditure of which rose from 25½ millions in 1895 to over 30 millions in 1905), the ministry of marine (10¾ millions in 1895, over 12½ millions in 1905), the ministry of public works (with an expenditure in 1905 of over 20 millions, 10 millions of which was assigned to posts, telegraphs and telephones) and the ministry of public instruction, fine arts and public worship, the expenditure on education having risen from 7½ millions in 1895 to 9½ millions in 1905.
Public Debt.—The national debt of France is the heaviest of any country in the world. Its foundation was laid early in the 15th century, and the continuous wars of succeeding centuries, combined with the extravagance of the monarchs, as well as deliberate disregard of financial and economic conditions, increased it at an alarming rate. The duke of Sully carried out a revision in 1604, and other attempts were made by Mazarin and Colbert, but the extravagances of Louis XV. swelled it again heavily. In 1764 the national debt amounted to 2,360,000,000 livres, and the annual change to 93,000,000 livres. A consolidation was effected in 1793, but the lavish issue of assignats (q.v.) destroyed whatever advantage might have accrued, and the debt was again dealt with by a law of the 9th of Vendémiaire year VI. (27th of September 1797), the annual interest paid yearly to creditors then amounting to 40,216,000 francs (£1,600,000). During the Directory a sum of £250,000 was added to the interest charge, and by 1814 this annual charge had risen to £2,530,000. This large increase is to be accounted for by the fact that during the Napoleonic régime the government steadily refused to issue inconvertible paper currency or to meet war expenditure by borrowing. The following table shows the increase of the funded debt since 1814.[21]
| Date. | Nominal Capital (Millions of £). | Interest (Millions of £). | |
| April 1, | 1814 | 50¾ | 2½ |
| April 1, | 1830 | 177 | 8 |
| March 1, | 1848 | 238¼ | 9¾ |
| January 1, | 1852 | 220¾ | 9½ |
| ” | 1871 | 498¼ | 15½ |
| ” | 1876 | 796¼ | 30 |
| ” | 1887 | 986½ | 34¼ |
| ” | 1895 | 1038¾[22] | 32½ |
| ” | 1905 | 1037¼ | 31 |
The French debt as constituted in 1905 was made up of funded debt and floating debt as follows:
| Funded Debt. | |
| Perpetual 3% rentes | £888,870,400 |
| Terminable 3% rentes | 148,490,400 |
| ————— | |
| Total of funded debt | £1,037,360,800 |
| =========== | |
| Guarantees to railway companies, &c. (in capital) | £89,724,080 |
| Other debt in capital | 46,800,840 |
| ————— | |
| Floating Debt. | |
| Exchequer bills | £9,923,480 |
| Liabilities on behalf of communes and public | |
| establishments, including departmental services | 17,366,520 |
| Deposit and current accounts of Caisse des | |
| dépôts, &c., including savings banks | 15,328,840 |
| Caution money of Trésoriers payeurs-généraux | 1,431,680 |
| Other liabilities | 6,456,200 |
| ————— | |
| Total of floating debt | £50,506,720 |
Departmental Finances.—Every department has a budget of its own, which is prepared and presented by the prefect, voted by the departmental council and approved by decree of the president of the republic. The ordinary receipts include the revenues from the property of the department, the produce of additional centimes, which are levied in conjunction with the direct taxes for the maintenance of both departmental and communal finances, state subventions and contributions of the communes towards certain branches of poor relief and to maintenance of roads. The chief expenses of the departments are the care of pauper children and lunatics, the maintenance of high-roads and the service of the departmental debt.
Communal Finances.—The budget of the commune is prepared by the mayor, voted by the municipal council and approved by the prefect. But in communes the revenues of which exceed £120,000, the budget is always submitted to the president of the republic. The ordinary revenues include the produce of “additional centimes” allocated to communal purposes, the rents and profits of communal property, sums produced by municipal taxes and dues, concessions to gas, water and other companies, and by the octroi (q.v.) or duty on a variety of articles imported into the commune for local consumption. The repairing of highways, the upkeep of public buildings, the support of public education, the remuneration of numerous officials connected with the collection of state taxes, the keeping of the cadastre, &c., constitute the principal objects of communal expenditure.
Both the departments and the communes have considerable public debts. The departmental debt in 1904 stood at 24 million pounds, and the communal debt at 153 million pounds.
(R. Tr.)
Army.