--- description: For the first time in the five-year history of the Irish Free State, President William T. Cosgrave was able to announce, last week, that State expenditures have been, for a whole year, less than... title: IRISH FREE STATE: Record image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # IRISH FREE STATE: Record by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 9, 1928 4:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 9, 1928 4:00 AM CUT For the first time in the five-year history of the Irish Free State, President William T. Cosgrave was able to announce, last week, that State expenditures have been, for a whole year, less than State income. “There is cause for optimism!” cried Mr. Cosgrave, proudly revealing that while the national debt of the U. S. is $160 per citizen, that of France $456, and that of England $814, the shrewd citizens of the Irish Free State are nationally in debt but $35 each, or $104,000,000 in toto. After boasting that the unfavorable Irish trade balance is steadily declining, and that Irish mercantile business is on the boom, President Cosgrave dwelt upon the present hydro-electric development of the River Shannon, chiefly famed as a theme for lachrymal Irish sentiment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6656684/irish-free-state-record/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6656684/irish-free-state-record/"},"headline":"IRISH FREE STATE: Record","datePublished":"1928-07-09T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T19:39:25.028Z","description":"For the first time in the five-year history of the Irish Free State, President William T. Cosgrave was able to announce, last week, that State expenditures have been, for a whole year, less than...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6656684/irish-free-state-record/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6656684/irish-free-state-record/","name":"IRISH FREE STATE: Record"}}]}] ```