Page:Bankers and Credit (1924).pdf/75

 November 16, the total spent by the Government, according to the Economist's weekly summary of war-time finance, published in its issue of November 23, 1918, was £8,656,000,000 and the amount that it raised by revenue was £2,220,000,000. Even if we could assume that the whole of the expenditure was for the war, and that the whole of the revenue was provided by war taxation, the latter is little better than 25 per cent. of the former, a sorry percentage compared with the 47 per cent. shown, according to Sir Bernard Mallet's calculation, in the Napoleonic and Crimean wars. But we are bound, of course, to deduct from each side the peace expenditure and revenue. If we assume this at £850,000,000 for the 4¼ years—a low estimate but therefore understating our case—the war expenditure becomes £7,806,000,000 and the war revenue £1,370,000,000, a percentage of just over 17½.

It need not be said that this is nothing like an exact calculation; war revenue and war expenditure went on long after the war period and it will probably never be possible to get two economists to agree as to the sum that was spent by our Government on the war. But at least it can be claimed that the financial effort