[133] “In almost every other race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity, is entirely independent, and in its natural state has occasion for the assistance of no other living creature.” (Wealth of Nations, Book I, chap. 2; Cannan, vol. i, p. 16.)
[134] Wealth of Nations, Book I, chap. 1; Cannan, vol. i, p. 6.
[135] Ibid., Book V, chap, 1, par. iii, art. 2; vol. ii, p. 267.
[136] “For a very small expence the public can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body of the people, the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education.” (Wealth of Nations, Book V, chap. 1, part iii, art. 2; Cannan, vol. ii, p. 270.)
[137] Ibid., Book I, chap. 3; vol. i, p. 19.
[138] “As the accumulation of stock must, in the nature of things, be previous to the division of labour, so labour can be more and more subdivided in proportion only as stock is previously more and more accumulated.” (Ibid., Book II, Introd.; vol. i, p. 259.) It is true that in another passage he speaks of the quantity of stock which can be employed in any branch of business depending very much upon that of the labour which can be employed in it (Book I, chap. 10, part ii; vol. i, p. 137). But this observation remains isolated, while the former represents his true teaching.
[139] Cf. Cannan’s penetrating criticism of this idea of Smith’s in Theories of Production and Distribution, pp. 80-83.
[140] This is the first of the four celebrated maxims enunciated by Smith in his theory of taxation. Here are the other three: “(ii) The tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to every other person. (iii) Every tax ought to be levied at the time, or in the manner, in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it. (iv) Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the State.” (Wealth of Nations, Book V, chap. 2, part ii; Cannan, vol. ii, pp. 310-311.)
[141] This rule of payment according to ability did not prevent his pronouncing in another paragraph in favour of progressive taxation. This is an instance of a want of logic frequently evidenced in his writings. Speaking of taxes upon rent, he remarks that they weigh more heavily upon rich than upon poor, because the former in proportion to their income spend more upon house rent than the latter. But “it is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expence, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.” (Ibid., Book V, chap. 2, part ii, art. 1; vol. ii, p. 327.)
[142] Ibid., Book II, chap. 3; vol. i, p. 314.