246 ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

If the ordinary net revenue of the enterprise proves to be too
small to yield the stipulated rate, the general funds of the
state are drawn upon to make up the deficit. This means
that the citizens of the country concerned are made to pay
somewhat more in taxes than would otherwise be necessary,
and that this additional sum, so gathered from the community
at large, is handed over to the proprietors of the railway.
What they fail to earn as profit on the working of the line
does not result in a reduction of their revenue below a fixed
point. Such a guarantee may encourage entrepreneurs to
exploit districts the trade of which is too small, or too
fluctuating, to give sufficient inducement to take up their
development. The construction of means of communication
and transport may be of importance, sufficient to warrant its
encouragement, even before it promises a commercial profit,
or even if no such profit can be anticipated at any future
time. It may seem probable that the railway will contribute
to the general development of the district through which it
runs in such degree that, after a term of years, its operation
will become profitable. This term may be so long, or the
profit so doubtful, that it offers insufficient attraction to
entrepreneurs. The guarantee attracts to this enterprise
capital which would otherwise have been employed elsewhere.
The prosperity of the district may be so promoted by the
railway that its inhabitants largely increase their wealth, and
the revenue of the government increases without increase of
taxes. In view of the fact that the interests of the government,
 as representing the community, include the distant
future as well as the present, the increase of its revenue here
supposed need not be an immediate increase, A tax-burden
on the present citizens, to provide for the carrying out of the
guarantee, may be regarded as offset by the prosperity of a
later generation, induced through the construction of the
railway.
Looking at the matter in this light, it is natural to point
out that the interests of future generations can easily be
promoted at too great a price to those of the present generation.
 It is clear that, in order to justify such a proceeding
as is here considered, the future gain should be well assured.