THERE is thus a direct and obvious connection between the motive which induces individuals to undertake such a work, and the utility of the work. Can we find any such connection in the case of a public work executed by a government? If it is useful, are the individuals who rule the country richer? If it is useless, are they poorer?
A public man may be solicitous for his credit. But is not he likely to gain more credit by a useless display of ostentatious architecture in a great town than by the best road or the best canal in some remote province? The fame of public works is a much less certain test of their utility than the amount of toll collected at them.* In a corrupt age, there will be direct embezzlement. In the purest age, there will be abundance of jobbing.* We have only to look at the buildings recently erected in London for a proof of our rule. In a bad age, the fate of the public is to be robbed outright. In a good age, it is merely to have the dearest and the worst of everything.
Abridged
* On September 17th, 1830, a few months after Macaulay wrote his essay, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened at a cost of £739,165. In its first year of operation, it turned a profit of £71,098, rising to £136,688 in 1844. The journey time from the Liverpool docks to the mills around Manchester dropped from four hours to a 105 minutes for passengers, and from twenty hours to two for freight; tickets cost half the 10s charged by coach companies on the road. The competition forced the canals to slash their rates by 30%, and the low prices and short journey times prompted the opening of new collieries and factories. The railway reduced unemployment, yet 20% of the charitable support paid out by those parish councils through which it passed also came from the railway. Such were the reliable measures of public utility that Macaulay craved. See It’s Better by Rail.
* Jobbing or jobbery is an eighteenth-century word for turning a public office or a position of trust to private advantage, that is to say, graft. Modern usage is quite different: a ‘jobbing’ gardener is simply one who prefers to take on small, occasional jobs rather than continuous employment.
Précis
Macaulay pointed out that in the public sector project managers are not affected by bad investments as they are in the private sector. If taxpayers are lucky, their money will go on vanity projects and lining bureaucratic pockets, but outright embezzlement is not out of the question. At any rate, they can expect the lowest quality at the highest price. (60 / 60 words)
Macaulay pointed out that in the public sector project managers are not affected by bad investments as they are in the private sector. If taxpayers are lucky, their money will go on vanity projects and lining bureaucratic pockets, but outright embezzlement is not out of the question. At any rate, they can expect the lowest quality at the highest price.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, besides, or, otherwise, since, whereas, whether.
About the Author
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), 1st Baron Macaulay, was educated at Cambridge University and having enjoyed success there as a writer began contributing to the Edinburgh Review, with essays on Milton and on Abolition. His father, Zachary, had been a vigorous anti-slavery campaigner and governor of Sierra Leone, the British colony specially for freed slaves. Macaulay became MP for Calne in 1830 — he used his maiden speech to call for an end to statutory discrimination against Jews — and for Leeds in 1833. He served on the Supreme Council of India between 1834 and 1838, and advised on both education and the penal code. He returned to England and to Westminster, becoming Secretary for War in 1839, and embarked on the History of England (published 1849-1861) that made him a household name. In 1857 he was raised to the peerage, but died just two years later, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Archive
Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Certain. Private. Speculator.
2 Building. Execute. Worst.
3 Motive. Much. Yield.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Lesser. 2 Rich. 3 Large. 4 Scarce. 5 Dear. 6 Little. 7 Wrong. 8 Better. 9 Useful.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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