Lesson 36

The cost of government

If a nation is essentially disunited, it is left to the government to hold it together.
如果一个国家本质上是分裂的，那么维持其统一的重任就落在了政府身上。
This increases the expense of government, and reduces correspondingly the amount of economic resources that could be used for developing the country.
这增加了政府的开支，并相应地减少了可用于发展国家的经济资源总量。
And it should not be forgotten how small those resources are in a poor and backward country.
并且不应忘记，在一个贫穷和落后的国家，这些资源是多么微小。
Where the cost of government is high, resources for development are correspondingly low.
在政府成本很高的地方，发展资源相应地很低。
This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with that of a private business enterprise.
这可以通过比较一个国家的地位与一个私营企业的地位来加以说明。
An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business.
一家企业为了维持经营，必须承担一定的成本和费用。
For our purposes, we are concerned only with one kind of cost—the cost of managing and administering the business.
为了我们的目的，我们仅关注一种成本——即管理和行政业务的成本。
Such administrative overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of government in a nation.
企业中的这种行政开销类似于一个国家的政府成本。
The administrative overheads of a business are low to the extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to behave in a way that best promotes the interests of the firm.
企业的行政开销之所以很低，是因为在企业中工作的每个人都可以被信任，能够以最能促进公司利益的方式行事。
If they can each be trusted to take such responsibilities, and to exercise such initiative as falls within their sphere, then administrative overheads will be low.
如果他们每个人都能被信任去承担这样的责任，并能行使属于其职责范围内的主动权，那么行政开销将会很低。
It will be low because it will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job, without having another man to check upon what he is doing, keep him in line, and report on him to someone else.
它将很低，因为有必要仅由一个人照看每项工作，而无需另一个人去核查他正在做的事情、监督他保持规范，并向其他人汇报他的情况。
But if no one can be trusted to act in a loyal and responsible manner towards his job, then the business will require armies of administrators, checkers, and foremen, and administrative overheads will rise correspondingly.
但是，如果没人能被信任以忠诚和负责任的态度对待工作，那么企业就需要大量的行政人员、检查员和工头，行政开销也会相应增加。
As administrative overheads rise, so the earnings of the business after meeting the expense of administration, will fall; and the business will have less money to distribute as dividends or invest directly in its future progress and development.
随着行政开销上升，企业在支付行政费用后的收益将会下降；企业将有更少的资金用于分配股息或直接投资于其未来的进步与发展。
It is precisely the same with a nation.
对于一个国家来说，情况正是如此。
To the extent that the people can be relied upon to behave in a loyal and responsible manner, the government does not require armies of police and civil servants to keep them in order.
在人们可以被信赖以忠诚且负责任的方式行事的程度上，政府不需要警察和公务员大军来维持他们的秩序。
But if a nation is disunited, the government cannot be sure that the actions of the people will be in the interests of the nation; and it will have to watch, check, and control the people accordingly.
但是如果一个国家是不团结的，政府就不能确定人民的行动是否符合国家的利益；因此，它将不得不相应地监视、检查和控制人民。
A disunited nation therefore has to incur unduly high costs of government.
一个分裂的国家因此不得不承担过高的政府成本。