Chapter VII: Taxation (2)

_With three shovels we make from 600 to 800 tons a day. With one shovel we made from 150 to 250 a day. The variation from day to day depends on the quality of the material we handle._

_The ore is all washed and picked and screened before it is loaded on the cars. A very important part of the work is the work done in the washer. It requires very expensive machinery, and the wear and tear is enormous._

_We pay unskilled laborers ten cents an hour, skilled men as high as twenty-five. We work eleven hours a day. Our general foreman gets $100 a month._"

Sugar and Molasses brought in through the tariff in the fiscal year 1889, $55,995,137. The quantity of domestic sugar and molasses relatively to the quantity imported is so small, that an excise upon it in accordance with the general principle of these paragraphs is not worth while, but would be far more just and rational than to offer bounties to the domestic producers out of the taxes paid by the consumers of foreign sugar. A "bounty" in this sense is at once an abuse of a good word, and an abomination in point of fact. For any Government, which is nothing but a Committee of all the citizens to attend to certain joint concerns of all, to abstract money through taxes from the pockets of a part of these citizens in order to reward another part for carrying on an unprofitable branch of business, is something equally repugnant to Economy and Equality.

10. What, then, is the BOTTOM-PRINCIPLE in the Mode of Taxation? It is this: _Relatively low taxes so adjusted on comparatively few things as not to disturb natural prices_. The principle is simple: the problem is difficult; but wonderfully less so the moment all attempts are given up to foster any branch of industry whatever. Our legislators are not called upon to foster any industries. It is out of their beat. They cannot permanently do it, if they try; and they do immense harm while they try. Their "bounty," instead of being a gift, as the word imports, is a haphazard bestowment of other people's money extorted from them by public taxes. The problem becomes simpler every year of public experience under the practical design of so laying the public burdens as to realize to the Treasury the most money with the least possible interference with what would otherwise be the on-going of Exchanges in all directions. So relatively simple and easy has the English taxing system become, under this one leading design, that Gladstone performed without difficulty the functions of Chancellor of the Exchequer in conjunction with the far more arduous and complicated duties of Prime Minister.

_Low taxes on few things._ The opposite of this principle at either of its two points becomes at once pernicious. High taxes in general prevent exchanges altogether, by cutting in too deeply in the gain of them, which is the sole motive to them; high imposts prevent importations, and of course destroy the profitable exportations consequent to, and conditioned on, such importations; high taxes even on few things are apt to raise prices of other articles than those on which they are directly levied, and so become objectionable always, and unbearable whenever it is their purpose to raise such prices: taxes on many things, and even on few things every time they change hands, throw an indefinite burden on Exchange, whose weight cannot well be calculated beforehand, either by the consumer or by the government, through uncertainty as to the number of transfers. Once for all, and then an end. Exchanges are indeed the only legitimate subject of taxation, but not every specific and subordinate exchange. An attempt to tax all sales whatever was followed in Spain, and will be followed everywhere, by a sluggish indisposition to trade at all. Let the amount of the tax be definite, and let everybody be sure that when it is once paid government will produce no further claim, and industry will go along under heavy taxes better than under those nominally lighter to which uncertainty as to time or amount attaches. All the more advanced governments have been simplifying of late years their systems of taxation, and collecting their revenue at fewer points, and under more tangible conditions, in order to interfere as little as possible with a free industry and free exchange.

The subsidiary principle is important, namely, that all taxes should be collected by the government in as economical a manner as possible, inasmuch as all direct and indirect costs of collection are so much added to the burdens of the People. This covers two practical points: (1) the number and efficiency of the tax-gatherers, and the whole outward machinery of collection, such as the custom-houses, offices of internal revenue, and so on. These, as they concern the whole people equally, should be separated as far as possible from party politics, and the inevitable corruptions thereupon attendant. All the fiscal officers of the United States, from the Secretary of the Treasury down to the lowest tide-waiter, are liable to be changed every four years, and as a matter of fact are usually to a very large extent so changed, to the great detriment of the service and ultimate expense of the people, to say nothing of the moral losses and crevasses involved. (2) The tax-money should be kept out of the pockets of the people as short a time as possible, disbursement following quick upon collection. It is poor policy to gather taxes at the beginning of the year which will not be disbursed till the end of the year. Let the people use their funds till they are wanted at the treasury; and if the taxes do not then come in as fast as wanted, it is better to issue what are called in England exchequer-bills, and in the United States certificates of indebtedness, to be redeemed at the end of the year from the proceeds of the taxes, than to let the people's money lie idle in the treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury should have nothing to do or say about the circulating medium of the country, or the loanable price of the units of it, under any circumstances whatever. He is neither competent enough in Knowledge nor enough established in Integrity to be trusted with any such functions.

11. Should there be any EXEMPTIONS from Taxation? If the necessities of the State require it, government has the right to demand from all persons who are capable of making exchanges, and who do make them, something in the form of taxes. But it is every way better, when possible, that people of very moderate means should be exempted altogether from direct taxes; and the payment of indirect taxes is a matter more in their own option, since they are at liberty to buy much or little of those commodities subjected to an indirect tax. In the State of Massachusetts, incomes not exceeding $2000 are exempted by the law. If a house-tax should be levied, all houses below a certain grade of style and comfort should be exempted, and the tax pass up by easy gradations from those just taxed to the palatial residences of the rich. In the present age of the world, the well-to-do citizens of every country are able to bear without too great difficulty the burdens of the government, and nothing tests better the degree of civilization which a nation has reached than the care and solicitude it displays for the welfare of its poorer citizens.

12. Who pays the INDIRECT TAXES? At a court ball, Napoleon the First once observed a lady noticeable as richly dressed and as wearing splendid diamonds, and on asking her name, found that she was the wife of a tobacco manufacturer of Paris; it occurred at once to the quick mind of the French ruler, that the State might just as well have those profits as an individual; and the sale of tobacco in all its forms became accordingly a State monopoly, which now yields about 400,000,000 francs a year. That is indirect taxation. So is the British and United States tariff and excise on tobacco. Producers and dealers and bankers and companies add the tax demanded from them, and sometimes more than the tax under color of it, to the price of their wares. But it is not true that they can always realize the whole of this enhanced price. Generally they can, sometimes they cannot. If the article be one of necessity, or a luxury that has become equivalent to a necessity, and there be no other source of supply than the taxed one, then, as a rule, the tax falls wholly on the consumer, and is a matter of indifference to the producer or dealer. But the usual effect of an enhanced price is to lessen demand, and if the article is dispensable, or its consumption can be lessened, or it can be obtained elsewhere, the market will be sluggish under the tax, and producers or dealers will be likely to tempt it by lowering prices, in other words, by sharing the tax with consumers, and paying that share out of profits. This is the principle. Producers and dealers would rather the tax were off. Consumers generally, but do not always, pay the whole of it.

13. What is to be said about the DIFFUSION of Taxes? David A. Wells, an admirable and indefatigable authority on all practical questions in Economics, though perhaps less skilled in scientific classification and generalizations, several years ago made somewhat prominent in public discussion the tendency of Taxes _to diffuse themselves_. Much more has been written about this than is actually known about it. By Diffusion is meant that it does not make so much difference upon what or upon whom a tax is originally levied, because the tendency of things is to _diffuse it_, that is, to compel others to assist in paying the tax. The result of much personal reading and reflection on this point is the conclusion that taxes do not "diffuse themselves" nearly so much as has been sometimes supposed; and that, at any rate, it is a good deal better to take the taxes from those who ought to pay them, than to lay them at random, and then to trust some unknown forces to make them afterwards just. It is certain that _some_ unjust taxes cannot be diffused; for example, the protective tariff-taxes paid by the farmers upon articles of necessary consumption. These taxes have no tendency to raise the price of the farmers' produce, for _that_ is determined by the foreign market, to which large parts of the produce are exported. For such taxes the farmers cannot reimburse themselves. Taxes that affect no prices are the best of all; taxes that affect prices the least are the next best; and taxes that are _designed_ to affect prices are the very worst.

14. What are the bearings of the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION on the whole matter of Taxation in this country? We have now seen pretty fully, what the science of Economics has to say about the sources and modes and results of tax-laying: but we are bound to tell also, what the kindred but much less developed science of Politics, and particularly what the Constitution of the Fathers, has to say upon the same vitally important topics.

(1) The first power granted by the People to Congress, which is simply their agent, in that Instrument from which each of the three great Departments of Government derives all its authority, is in these words, exactly copied from the original and official parchment in every particular: "_The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States._" This grant of power, which stands first in order, is followed by seventeen other express powers granted to Congress in the same eighth Section of the first Article.

There never has been any difference of opinion, and there cannot be under such completely explicit language as this, among competent Statesmen and Commentators, as to the exact meaning of this clause, namely, Congress is given power to lay taxes in order to get money, with which to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States. That was the opinion and purpose of every member of the Federal Convention, that framed the Constitution in the summer of 1787; of Alexander Hamilton, who was first called on as Secretary of the Treasury officially to interpret it; of Daniel Webster, often called the "great expounder" of the Constitution; of John Marshall, the great Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; of Judge Story, the first copious and most distinguished commentator upon the Text; of George Bancroft and George T. Curtis, the learned and elaborate historians of the Text; and in short, of everybody else, who has earned any right in any way to have an opinion on any such matter of political interpretation.

Why, then, has there been from the first until now, a feeble flutter of butterfly wings around the clause, as if, somehow or other, it gave Congress by hook or by crook some power or other to do something _else_ than to lay taxes in order to get money for the maintenance of the national Government? As if there lay concealed in the language somewhere a power to lay taxes for a purpose precisely opposite to that expressed in the text, namely, _nominal taxes designed to prohibit any money being gotten under them_? And why did Hamilton himself, whose wings were those of an eagle, sweep low and hover uncertainly about these words, and so give color to the political historians of our time to say: "_Once more laying hold of the "general welfare" clause of the Constitution, Hamilton here argued, under color of giving bounties to manufactures, as though Congress might take under its own management every thing which that body should pronounce to be for the general welfare, provided only it was susceptible of the application of money. Though he limited this central discretion to the application of money, and stated some restrictions rather vaguely, the insidious tenor of his report was to show that the Federal power of raising money was plenary and indefinitely great._"

The true answer to these questions is a point of Grammar. The simple English infinitive, unlike the simple infinitive of any other language with which the writer is acquainted, _often expresses purpose_, as well as the action of the verb without limitation of person or number; so that, it is perfectly good English to say, "To lay taxes to pay," when the only possible sense of it is, "To lay taxes _in order to pay_." Greek, Latin, and German would use here with the infinitive the particle expressing the purpose: the English language does not. It is not true to say, that ambiguity enters this clause, through the common and elegant use of the simple infinitive in English to express the purpose; but it _is_ true to say, that superficial confusion has entered here, and a mess of bad logic. What makes it absolutely certain, beyond the possibility of a controversy, that Congress can levy taxes only in order to get money by means of them, is, (a) that is the only English of the clause; (b) the "debts" of the United States can only be paid in money; and (c) if this be _not_ the meaning of the clause, its meaning must then be plenary, and there would be no need or place for the remaining seventeen powers, "and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any Department or Officer thereof"; in other words, any other interpretation of the taxing clause than the plain one would destroy the Constitution root and branch; for, if Congress have the general power "to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States," all other possible powers are included in this, and President and Court disappear, and all other clauses of the Text are a nullity.

If the above course of reasoning be sound, and he would be a bold logician who should openly dispute it, then taxes laid for any other end than revenue are clearly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has never passed upon this bald point, for it has never been mooted in this form; but one would think, there can be little doubt how the judges would decide in any "case" directly involving the constitutional power of Congress to levy prohibitory tariff-taxes, whose avowed or clearly inferrible design it is, _not_ to get money with which to pay the debts and so on, but to cut off the possibility of getting any money thereby. The general trend of the decisions of the Supreme Court has wisely been, to leave in their interpretations of the Text the widest margin of discretion to the Legislative branch as to the best means of _raising_ revenue; but when it comes to face the question of allowing as constitutional the best means of _preventing_ revenue,--well, may we be there to see and hear!

(2) There are prohibitions on Congress in the Constitution, as well as powers conferred, and among these this: "_No tax or duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State._" This is a part of the third great Compromise of the Constitution, and was a concession to the southern and planting States to make more palatable to them the power "to regulate commerce," that was expected to be used (and was used) in behalf of the northern and navigating States. But the concession was more nominal than real, as the southerners found out in time to their vexation. To prohibit taxes on exports, and to leave in full vigor the power to tax imports, though consonant with the then prevailing delusion of Mercantilism, is no boon to commerce in general; because, any restriction on buying products is equally and instantly a restriction on selling products. Exemption from taxes on exports is a good thing in itself, but the only reason for selling exports is to take in profitable pay the imports naturally offered against them; and if these be restricted or prohibited, the restriction or prohibition applies instantaneously and inevitably to the would-be exports. A reasonable liberty of exporting is nothing, unless accompanied by a reasonable liberty of importing, because the imports pay for the exports and the exports buy the imports.

The southern States rejoiced for a time in this exemption-clause of the Constitution, for their rice and cotton and indigo found no obstacles in going out; but the only motive in sending them out was to buy something with them to bring back; and after the snare of Protectionism entangled the People in 1816, 1824, and specially in 1828, when the "Tariff of Abominations" was passed, the southern people saw only too distinctly, that taxes on imports which they wished to bring in were the same in effect as taxes on their own exports would have been. Mr. Calhoun and the others were effectually undeceived by the customary on-goings of commerce; and as the northern statesmen unwisely and unpatriotically determined to crowd this iron home in 1828, the party of the other part developed under great provocation the doctrines of Nullification and Secession, which have since caused a plenty of tears and bloodshed. One wrong ever begets other wrongs. The wretched Greed of one section of the country was own father to the wrongful Secession of the other section.

The Farmers of this country have often been congratulated on their privilege under the constitution of exporting their agricultural products without a tax. The congratulation is hollow. Of what use is it to go out free and come back manacled? The ultimate is always the return-service. The farmers are cheated. Their agricultural exports are falling off year by year solely in consequence of outrageous tariff-taxes on imports. In 1881, farmers' produce was exported to the amount of $730,394,943, and that was not one-half what it would have been under a simple and adequate Tariff for Revenues; but in 1889, these exports only reached $532,141,490, a falling off of nearly $200,000,000. This decline was chiefly in meats and breadstuffs. No wonder the farmers have been complaining of terribly hard times of late years: no wonder they are organizing "Alliances" and other machinery for reaching a remedy: they must see clearly first where the disease lies: the truth is, they are tariff-taxed to death: their foes are they of their own household: Vermont, a purely agricultural State, is the only one in the Union, that has actually _retrograded_ in property and population in the last census-decade: those excellent people have hugged the Tariff-delusion to their ruin; their senior Senator, whose name is unpleasantly connected with the national tax-laws of a generation, has never yet in the course of a long and reputable life gained a glimmer of the commercial truth,--if men _will_ not buy they _can_ not sell.

(3) The only other clause of the Constitution, which, as students of Taxation, we are bound to examine, is the following: "_No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken._" A capitation tax is a poll-tax, which may be easily "proportioned" to the Census. It is not clear, what is the meaning of the words "or other direct tax"; the Supreme Court early struggled with that question, to this apparent result, that _lands_, as the only form of property that can be "proportioned" in their appraised value to population with any considerable degree of accuracy, are the only "other" subject of "direct" Taxation. However this may be, it is of considerable consequence to note, that the term, "direct tax," as used in the Constitution, does not correspond in its meaning to the significance of the same term as employed in Economics. With us, a "direct tax" means one demanded from and paid by the person on whom it is ostensibly levied, and cannot be thrown off or forward on anybody else; while an "indirect tax" is one which can be so thrown off or forward.

Attention is called to the distinction here, in order to show that an Income-tax, while in the Economical sense it is a "direct tax," is not such in the sense of the Constitution. Objections were urged against the late Income-tax in this country, that it was a "direct tax," and so, because it could not be proportioned to the population, was unconstitutional. The point is not well taken. It remains, and will remain, after the most searching scrutiny, that an universal Income-tax, all other taxes being abolished, is the form most consonant with the principles of Political Economy, and not at all repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.

15. Finally, are there any hints and guides to thought and legislation in the matter of Taxation through an extremely brief summary of the HISTORY of Taxes? So far as the Greeks are concerned, they showed a practical good sense in their laws of Property in general, and in their laws relating to Taxes in particular. The natural march of industry and commerce was not hindered by taxation: there was no forbidding the export of raw materials or specie; no favoring of manufactures at the expense of agriculture; no hint of the future Mercantilism in any efforts to preserve an artificial balance of trade; and no taxes on imports except for purposes of Revenue. These at Athens itself were usually 2% of the value of the goods, at the ports of her subject-allies 5%, and exceptional cases of higher rates than these were regarded as extortionate.

The Romans also were sensible and moderate in their modes of Taxation. They laid taxes for the sake of getting money for the public treasury, and had no other end in view. They knew nothing of what has since become famous under the name of "Protectionism." Their taxes were both direct and indirect, but especially the latter. The chief direct tax was the land-tax, that is, a claim to the tenth part of the sheaves and of other field produce, such as grapes and olives; and also pasture-money (_scriptura_) demanded of those who made use of the public pastures and woods. In Macedonia and the other larger Provinces, in lieu of the land-tax a fixed sum of money (_tributum_) was paid to Rome each year by each community in its own way. The grain-tenths and pasture-moneys were always farmed out to private contractors or companies on condition of their paying fixed quantities of grain or fixed sums of money. The chief indirect tax was customs-duties. There never was at any time a general tariff for the whole empire, but there were customs-districts, such as Italy, Sicily, proconsular Asia, the province of Narbo in Gaul, and others, each with a sort of tariff of its own, and some with special immunities. Goods imported by sea into Italy, for example, not for the personal use of the importer, were subject to a tax, which seems to have been mainly a tax on luxuries, since pepper, cinnamon, myrrh, ginger, perfumes, ivory and diamonds, are among the dutiable goods mentioned in one of these tariffs. Sicily had a tariff-tax quite distinct from this, since one-twentieth of the value of the goods (5%) was levied on the frontier on _all_ imports and exports; and a similar tax of one-fortieth was laid by the Sempronian law on the province of Asia. These imposts, too, were leased to contractors, which gave, of course, some chance of fraud and wrong. There were other temporary taxes, like those, for instance, which Augustus laid of 5% on legacies and inheritances, and of 1% on articles publicly exposed for sale.

Green's History of England (I., 322 _et seq._) gives an outline of the taxes there from the beginning of the monarchy. As land was almost the only source of salable things in the early time, so it was almost the only thing on which taxes were levied. Danegeld and scutage and feudal aids fastened only on the land. "But a new principle of taxation was disclosed in the tithe levied for a Crusade at the close of Henry Second's reign. Land was no longer the only source of wealth. The growth of national prosperity, of trade and commerce, was creating a mass of personal property which offered irresistible temptations to the Angevin financiers. No usage fettered the Crown in dealing with personal property, and its growth in value promised a growing revenue. Grants of from a seventh to a thirtieth of movables, household property, and stock were demanded. The right of the king to grant licenses to bring goods into or to trade within the realm, a right springing from the need of his protection, felt by the strangers who came there for purposes of traffic, laid the foundation for our taxes on imports. Those on exports were only a part of the general system of taxing personal property. How tempting this source of revenue was proving, we see from a provision of the Great Charter, which forbids the levy of more than the ancient customs on merchants entering or leaving the realm. Commerce was in fact growing with the growing wealth of the people." This passage shows, that, as a matter of fact, _taxes_ have always hinged, and must hinge, on _trade_.

A few facts in the most recent movements of national Taxation in the United States may fitly conclude this Chapter and this Volume. Since 1867, Wool and Woollens have been the ass, upon whose breaking back the most conspicuous burdens have been piled; and the "McKinley Bill" so-called, still pending at the present writing in the Senate, heaps up still higher the groaning loads. The following table shows how futile is the attempt to keep out wools and woollens from such a country as ours, even by the most exaggerated barriers:--

IMPORTS OF WOOLS AND WOOLLENS.
(Calendar Years.)

--------------------------------------
| Years. | Wools. | Woollens. |
|--------+-------------+-------------|
| 1886 | $17,403,099 | $43,995,641 |
| 1887 | 15,645,020 | 45,065,986 |
| 1888 | 14,542,244 | 49,984,298 |
| 1889 | 18,696,277 | 54,080,159 |
| 1890 |(fiscal year)| 56,582,000 |
--------------------------------------

Roger Q. Mills of Texas stated from his place in the House of Representatives in 1888, that the United States grows but about 265,000,000 lbs. of wool yearly, while it takes about 600,000,000 lbs. to clothe our own people. Why should more than half the wool needed to clothe the people be taxed in such a way as to double (in general) the cost of the people's clothing? And why should Benjamin Harrison, now President of the United States, have said in that same year, in view of these elsewhere unheard-of taxes, and in view of the average climate of his country, that somehow it seemed to him _that cheap clothing implied a cheap man_? In view of the enormous natural demand for woollens, in order to keep comfortable day and night 64,000,000 of inhabitants, is it not strange, and must there not be artificial causes for it in the kind and mode of national Taxation, that the United States has but 16 sheep to the square mile, while Germany has 92, France 111, and Great Britain 339?

Senator John Sherman stated in his place in August, 1888, and again in substance Sept. 2, 1890, that a line of custom-houses on our joint-frontier with Canada was "_the height of nonsense, and almost a crime against civilization_." Well might he say this in view of what his colleague, Allison of Iowa, has recently said, namely, that the Dominion bought in 1880 of the United States 8% of its brass goods, 86% of its copper manufactures, 94% of its cordage, 88% of its gingham, 65% of its glasswares, 99% of its rubber goods, 94% of its printing ink, 92% of wooden wares, 91% of tinware, 90% of wall-paper, 72% of paper wares, 98% of ploughs, 97% of engines, 99% of sewing-machines, and 90% of miscellaneous machinery.

The imports and exports of the United States for the last two fiscal years are as follows:--

-------------------------------------------------------
| | 1889. | 1890. |
|-------------------------+-------------+-------------|
|Imports, free |$256,487,078 |$265,588,499 |
|Imports, dutiable | 488,644,574 | 523,633,729 |
|Total | 745,131,652 | 789,222,228 |
|Exports | 742,401,375 | 857,824,834 |
|Gold and Silver {Imports | 28,963,073 | 33,976,326 |
| {Exports | 96,641,533 | 52,148,420 |
|Total Imports | 774,094,725 | 823,198,554 |
|Total Exports | 839,042,908 | 909,973,254 |
-------------------------------------------------------

There two or three noticeable points from this table. First, the large relative increase of free imports over those of former years. Free articles in 1867 were less than 5% of the whole; in 1882, 30%; and in 1890, 33.9%. The Free List, so-called, has indeed been enlarged in the interval, but free goods tend naturally to swell over the taxed goods, so that in 1890 the free were almost exactly one-half of the taxed. Second, of the large total of merchandise exports, it is to be sorrowfully noted, that more than 82% of the whole is made up of the products of agriculture and forests and mines (not gold and silver); while manufactures compose only 17.8%. What ails our manufactures, that we cannot sell them abroad? We have been for 30 years under a vaunted scheme warranted to develop manufactures,--expressly designed and recommended to make them cheap and good,--under an elaborate and artificial scheme that makes everything bend, even the backs of the toiling millions, to foster and propel manufactures! But we do not succeed in selling much of them abroad, except some fractions of them to Canada. The ratio of them to the total of exports of merchandise seems to be growing less: in 1889, 18.9%; in 1890, 17.8%.

The simple truth is, that we are able to sell abroad even this beggarly proportion of manufactures to the total exports of merchandise, only in consequence of a shrewd device working within the Grand Device, namely, the so-called "Free List." Some of the little wheels within the big wheel revolve rapidly. Manufacturers do not like to pay protectionist tariff-taxes _themselves_ any better than other people like to pay them. They have by their own open confession in overt act precisely the same opinion of their deadening influence, that other people have. If, however, they can escape such taxes on the things they have to buy, especially their raw material, and _keep_ them on their own finished goods offered for sale in a monopoly market, they would be happy. Hence, the Free List. Hear Senator Dawes before the Paper-makers' Convention at Saratoga in 1887: "_There is one other feature of tariff revision much discussed at the present time which must not escape our attention, and that is free raw material. No industrial policy will promote the highest prosperity of both labor and capital in this country, which fails to lay down the raw material at the door of the manufactory at the lowest possible cost. In any new revision of the tariff this rule of preference for our own raw material must be adhered to by those who do not propose to give up the American for the indifferent policy in legislating between ourselves and foreigners._ IT WILL BE FOUND, HOWEVER, TO ADD VERY FEW RAW MATERIALS TO THE FREE LIST, FOR THE REVISIONS OF 1874 AND 1883 HAVE ALREADY MADE FREE ALL SUCH NON-COMPETING RAW MATERIALS AS AT THE TIME OF THE PASSAGE OF THOSE ACTS WERE ENTERING TO ANY CONSIDERABLE EXTENT INTO THE CONSUMPTION OR PRODUCTION OF THE COUNTRY."

Till now, we have been dealing in facts, and figures, and in careful generalizations after the inductive manner: let us, at the very last, indulge in a freak of fancy. Suppose for a moment, that all taxes of every name could be abolished instantaneously, and the Governments, like the Israelites, live on manna for forty years. What harm would ensue? What industry would decline? Who would be impoverished? What stimulus to work and save and grow rich would be weakened thereby? Would not wages, and profits, and rents, all be lifted thereby, with no damage to anybody? A child can see that Taxes from their very nature are a burden, are a subtraction from income, are a _minus_ and not a _plus_. Who, then, except from sinister motives, can imagine and represent, that Taxes are a good in themselves, a positive blessing, a spur to the progress of Society?

Taxes of some sort there must be for the maintenance of Governments, which are established for the good of all. Why, then, should not the Taxes be just as few, just as simple, just as comprehensible, just as universal and equitable, as is consonant with the single end of their existence at all?

INDEX.

A.

Abraham, 9, 384.

Abstinence, 93, 191, 338, 445.

Abyssinia, 386.

Activities of men, 1.

Actors, 4.

Act of Parliament, 127.

Act of 1624, 135.

Adams's inauguration suit, 510.

Administration, 358.

Advalorem rates of tariff tax, 489, 558.

Advantages of credit, 271.

Advantages of discount, 302.

African _macoute_, 388.

"African, the," 158.

Agent of the mill, 4.

Age of iron, 95.

Ages of stone, 95.

Agreeableness of rendering, 218.

Agriculture, 149, 538.

Allison of Iowa, 582.

Alloy, 416.

America, 3.

American capital, 166.

Ames, Fisher, 538.

Amsterdam, 165, 311, 421.

Analysis, 15.

Ancient Romans, 2.

Annual earnings, 543.

Apprenticeship, 186, 203.

Arbitration, 266.

Aristophanes, 420.

Aristotle, 47, 98, 158, 248, 381, 402.

Aristotle's Logic, 63.

Arkwright, Richard, 108.

Arlington Mills, 516.

Artisans of every name, 2.

Ascertainment, 15, 246.

Asia, 19.

Asia Minor, 333.

Asia, pro-consular, 579.

Association, 99.

Assyria and Babylonia, 330.

Astor, J. J., 180.

Astronomy, 63.

Auction, 57.

Augustus Cæsar, 392, 580.

Australia, 252, 399.

Axe, 90.

Axioms, 69.

B.

Babylonian tablets, 332.

Bacon, Lord, 63, 64.

Bailee, 278.

"_Balance of trade_," 312, 406, 452.

Bales of cotton, 345.

Ball, John, 228.

Balloon of promise, 343.

Bancroft, historian, 512, 573.

Bangor, 454.

Bank bills, 286.

Bank defined, 291.

Bank deposits, 291.

Bank discount, 299.

Bank messengers, 5.

Banker defined, 6.

"Bankers' bills," 315.

Bank of Amsterdam, 280.

Bank of England, 82, 287, 292, 350, 396, 448.

Bank of Massachusetts, 288.

Bank of New York, 288.

"Bank of North America," 288.

Bank of Scotland, 325.

Banks of Newfoundland, 180.

Barter, 364.

Bascom, John, 71.

Bastiat, 47.

Beauty of gold and silver coins, 413.

Beck, Senator, 491.

Benevolence and impertinence in trade, 239.

Bentham, Jeremy, 252, 448.

Benton, Thomas H., 494.

Berkshire Co., Mass., 260, 533.

Berlin, 3.

Berlin Geographical Society, 27.

Bernhardt, 211.

Bessemer Steel Co., 487, 491.

Best money, 395.

Best tenure of lands, 155.

Betterments on land, 173.

Bill-discounters, 300.

Bill of exchange, 278, 300, 303.

Bill of lading, 277.

"Bills of credit," 435.

Bimetallism, 415.

Bismarck, 210.

"Black Death," 227.

Blacksmith's capacity, 118.

Blades of the shears, 249.

Blaine, Secretary, 507.

"Blanket" mortgage, 284.

Blunders in economics, 75.

"Body," 78.

Bombay spinner, 201.

Bonnieres quarry, 164.

"Book of Trades," 114.

Borrow, 277.

Boston Commercial Bulletin, 563.

Boston Custom House, 564.

Botany, 63.

Bottom-principle in taxes, 567.

Bounty of God, 43.

Bradford, Governor, 391.

Bradley, Mr. Justice, 359.

Breadth of contracts, 241.

Bright, John, 199.

British colonies, 313.

British Isles, 84.

British Provinces, 527.

British Revenue Tariff, 485.

British statesman, 153.

Brokers' board, 302.

Broker's office, 6.

Bronson, 434, 436.

Brotherhoods, 226.

Buchanan, James, 447.

Bullets as money, 392.

Bullion theory, 403, 451, 453.

Bureau of Statistics, 264.

Burman Empire, 385.

Buying, 14.

Buying and selling, 4, 15, 236.

C.

Cakes of tea, 386.

Calhoun, Senator, 497, 499.

Calicoes, 105.

Canada, 179.

Capital, 92, 96, 246.

Capital defined, 93.

Capital wears out, 171.

Capitalists as a class, 233.

Capitalists of Boston, 4.

Captains of industry, 196, 244.

Carey, H. C., 103.

Carpenter's square, 38.

Carthage, 21, 84.

Carthaginians, 387.

Cartwright, Edmund, 111.

Cases and classes, 68.

"Cash accounts," 333.

Cash credits, 324, 327.

Cattle, 80.

Cattle as money, 383.

Causes of labor troubles, 238.

Cavour, 210.

Cecil, Robert, 126.

Cedars, 23, 40.

Census, 75.

Central America, 27.

Chadwick, Sir Edwin, 197, 200.

Chaldean tablets, 331.

Chalmers, Thomas, 137, 215.

Chase, Chief Justice, 356, 357.

Chatham, 210.

Chattels, 93.

Checks on market rate, 56.

Chemistry, 63.

Cheque-Bank, 321, 329.

Cheques, 303, 317.

Chevalier, 399.

Chicago, 278, 477, 501.

Chicago, fire in, 500.

China, 19, 387.

Chinese-wall policy, 474.

Christianity, 22, 30.

Christians, 10.

Church relations, 241.

Cicero, 97, 189, 248, 333, 403.

Circular credits, 327.

"Circular notes," 328.

Circulating capital defined, 99.

Civil Law of Rome, 206.

Civil war, 353.

Civil wars, 260.

Civilization, 10, 89, 252, 366.

Claims of conscience, 243.

Classes of facts, 66.

Classes of salable things, 7.

Classes of valuable things, 5, 62.

"Clearing house," 318, 321.

Cleon, 421.

Clergyman, 4.

Clerks at the clearing, 320.

Clifford, Mr. Justice, 357.

Clog of economy, 33.

"Cloth-workers' guild," 258.

Coal, 497, 527.

Cobden, Richard, 202.

Codification, 206.

Coffee and tea, 488.

Cog-wheel railway, 1.

Cohoes, 3.

COIN, 429.

Coined money of two kinds, 426.

Coke, Lord, 89.

Colbert, 404.

Colonies of New England, 249.

Columbus, 26.

Commerce, 17, 402.

Commercial credits, 49, 271.

Commercial crises, 347.

Commercial treaty of 1860, 30.

_Commodatum_, 276, 340.

Commodities, 2, 8, 20.

Commodities defined, 80.

Common law, 9, 88, 130, 205.

"Company," 4.

COMPANY OF THE INDIES, 438.

"Compete," 464.

Competition, 44, 121, 175.

"Compromise Silver Bill," 475.

Conditions of production, 99.

Conditions of a science, 67.

Conditions of trade, 15.

Congress, 256, 288, 450.

Connecticut, 100, 435.

Conrad, John, 183.

"Consolidated annuities," 274.

Consols, 285.

Constancy of employment, 219.

Constitution of the United States, 133, 178, 256, 358, 444, 474,
494, 572, 578.

Constitutional law, 429.

Continental Congress, 441.

Cooley, Judge, 113.

Co-operation, 268.

Cooper Union, 222.

Copper skewers, 385.

Copyrights, 132.

Core of money, 378.

Corn laws, 58, 177, 217.

Cost by railway mile run, 233.

Cost of capital, 161, 165, 231.

Cost of labor, 161, 231.

Costs of carriage, 466.

Costs of production, 159, 165, 397, 462.

Cotton, 105.

"Cotton City," 498.

Cotton-gin, 100.

Cottons and silks, 457.

Coupons, 337.

Court calendars, 254.

Craft-box, 226.

Craftsmen, 259.

Credit, 372.

Credit-claims, 6.

Credit defined, 275.

Credits, 8, 20, 58.

Credits are capital, 338.

Credits as taxable, 555.

Crompton, Samuel, 110.

Crossed cheques, 321.

Current rate per centum, 165.

Curtis, George T., 573.

Custom, 224.

Customs-taxes, 238, 474.

D.

Damascus, 8.

Davis, Mr. Justice, 357.

Dawes, Senator, 584.

Dawn of history, 8.

Dealer in services, 6.

Debits at the bank, 6.

Debt, its etymology, 275.

Debts of the bank, 6.

Decatur, Commodore, 482.

Decennial Census, 519.

Deduction, 62, 69.

Deductive sciences, 63.

De Foe, 100.

Demand acts upon value, 54.

Demand and supply, 369.

Demand defined, 52, 190.

Denarius of Rome, 238, 385.

Denomination-dollar, 388, 390.

Denominations of money, 372, 388.

"Depositaries," 295.

Deposit-banking, 293, 295, 297.

Deposits, 296.

Descartes, 68.

Desires, 18, 64, 75, 138.

Detroit, 491.

Dey of Algiers, 482.

Diffusion of taxes, 571.

Diminishing profits, 228.

Direct taxation, 553.

Disadvantages of credit, 271, 343.

Discount, 273.

Discount defined, 301.

Diversity of advantage, 25, 102, 117, 131, 136, 262, 455, 458.

Divine purpose, 26.

Division of labor, 252, 257, 374.

Dock laborers' strike, 313.

Doctors' fees, 204.

Doctrine of chances, 221.

Doctrine of rent, 146.

Dollar-bill, 427.

"Dollars," 359.

Domestic trade, 481.

Dorsetshire laborer, 223.

Drachm, 385.

Drawee, 329.

Drawer and bearer, 330.

Duke of Orleans, 437.

Durability of machinery, 168.

Dutch capital, 166.

Dutch East India Co., 280.

Duty, 65.

E.

Easiness of learning, 219.

East India Co., 114, 132.

Economics, 31, 40, 64.

Efficiency, 164.

Efforts, 20, 59.

Efforts and renderings, 32.

Egypt, 9, 11, 24.

Electricity and lightning, 70.

Elliott, Ebenezer, 202.

Ely, Professor, 251.

"Empire State," 286.

English recoinage, 422.

English shilling, 317.

Enlarging wages, 228.

Ephron, 9, 384.

Equation of international demand, 468.

Erie Canal, 286.

Estimates, 22, 34, 39, 43, 60.

Ethics, 64, 75.

Etymology, 37.

Etymology of "credit," 275.

Euphrates country, 392.

Euripides, 237.

Europe, 9.

Evarts, William M., 73.

Exact sciences, 63, 65.

"Exchange against," 314.

"Exchange in favor," 315.

Exchequer, 549, 568.

Excise tax, 560.

Exemption from taxes, 570.

Experience and experiments, 65.

Exports, 462.

Exposure, 15.

Ezekiel the prophet, 11, 83.

F.

Fallacies of protectionism, 503.

Fallacy A, 504.

Fallacy B, 508.

Fallacy C, 516.

Fallacy D, 520.

Fallacy E, 524.

Fallacy F, 529.

Fallen market rate, 55.

Fall of valuables, 49, 77.

Falsities of protectionism, 535.

"Farmer," 156.

"Farmers' Alliances," 519.

Farmers of United States, 577.

Fawcett, Professor, 223.

Federalists, the, 537.

Fees of preachers, 207.

Feigned cases, 65, 73.

Feudalism, 248.

Field, David Dudley, 206.

Field, Mr. Justice, 357, 360.

Field of investigation, 1.

Field of the science, 540.

Fire Insurance Co., 298.

First difficulty in money, 361.

"Five articles," 485.

"Five-twenties," 285, 355.

Fixed capital defined, 99.

Fluency of gold and silver, 401, 407.

Foreign bills of exchange, 306, 336.

Foreign trade, 454, 462.

Forms of credit, 271.

France and England, 30.

France and England in trade, 456.

Franklin, Benjamin, 436, 538.

Franklin's experiment, 69.

Fraud, 16.

Freak of fancy, 584.

"_Free breakfast table_," 488.

Free list, 583.

Freedom, 99, 112.

French "francs," 316.

French government, 56.

French lands, 156.

Fruit dealer, 366.

Funds, British, 284.

Future time in credit, 273.

G.

Gambling, 347.

Gangs of slaves, 100.

Garibaldi, 211.

General rise of prices, 348.

Generalizations, 7, 67.

Genesis, Book of, 143.

_Genus_, 7.

George, Henry, 142, 147, 151, 174.

Georgia, 441.

German Empire, 133.

German "Mark," 317, 393, 413.

Germans in Italy, 292.

Gibbon, historian, 130.

Gift, 16.

Gifts of God, 85.

Giving, 15.

Gladstone, W. E., 151, 153, 172, 568.

Glasgow, 137.

Gloversville, 103.

Glut of products, 140.

Gold and silver divisible, 412.

Gold and silver impressible, 412.

Gold coins, 409.

Gold eagle, 35.

Gold eagle of United States, 389.

Gold in greenbacks, 356.

Goodhue of Massachusetts, 496.

Gould, Jay, 204.

Government a committee, 252, 481.

Governments, 29, 267, 409.

Gradual occupation of the earth, 154.

Graduated income tax, 549, 550.

Grains, 57, 87.

Grand Device, 583.

Grand Trunk Railway, 163.

Grant, General, 358, 359, 408, 500.

Gratuitous elements, 144.

Gravitation, 363.

Great Britain, 313.

Greek cities, 384.

Greek language, 298.

Greeks, 73.

Greeley, Horace, 129.

Greenback dollar, 476.

Greenbacks, 51, 280, 290, 409, 425, 432.

Green Mountains, 519.

Green's History, 9, 580.

Gresham's Law, 421.

Gresham, Sir Thomas, 421.

Grier, Mr. Justice, 357.

Ground of taxes, 542.

Ground of trade, 25.

Grounds of production, 116.

Guild of Armorers, 226.

"Guildhall," 226.

Guilds of the Middle Ages, 258.

H.

Hamilton, Alexander, 288, 393, 415, 511, 536, 573.

"Handsome is that handsome does," 250.

Hargreaves, John, 106.

Harrison, President, 582.

Harrison's inaugural suit, 511.

Hartley of Pennsylvania, 495.

Health, 113.

Hebron, 9, 81, 83.

Henry II., 580.

Hepburn _vs._ Griswold, 356.

Herodotus, 386.

Heyd, Dr. W., 27.

Hildreth, historian, 512.

Hills of Judah, 25.

Hindoo rice, 393.

Hired men lack motives, 255, 208.

History of taxes, 579.

Hoar, Judge E, R., 358.

Holland, 280.

"Home Market Club," 516.

Home Rule, 173.

Homer, 81, 383.

Homer, Sidney, 351.

Hoosac River, 27.

Hoosac Tunnel, 286.

Horse-leech cry, 514.

House-tax, 555, 570.

Hudson's Bay Company, 114, 180.

Hull, John, 434.

Human efforts, 89.

Human nature, 363.

Hume, David, 121, 124, 326, 373.

"Hymn to the Nativity," 149.

I.

Ideal dollar, 426.

Idle capital, 191.

Iliad, 81, 383.

Illinois Central Railway, 232.

Impeachments, 253.

Imports, 474.

Improvements in machinery, 465.

Income bonds, 284.

Income tax, 547, 549, 578.

Indented servants, 248.

India, 26.

Indirect taxation, 553, 570.

Individuals _vs._ Government, 253.

Indorsements, 304.

Induction, 62, 397.

"Infant industries," 514.

Infinite Mind at work, 363.

"In God we Trust," 413.

Inland bills of exchange, 306, 336.

Inquiry, 78.

Internal taxes, 560.

International demand, 460.

"International Copyright," 212.

International exchange, 330.

Introspection, 65, 67, 71, 77.

Invention, 99, 104.

Invention of money, 366.

Ireland, 386.

Irish banks, 288.

Irish Land Bill, 151.

Irish leases, 173.

Iron Mountain, 526.

Iron in Tennessee Valley, 565.

Irving, Washington, 180.

Israelites, 584.

Issuer and bearer, 355, 427.

Italy, 150.

J.

Jack-knife, 94.

Jacob, 9.

Jacobites, 292, 422, 431.

Jamaica rum, 496.

Jamestown, Va., 162.

Jay, John, 537.

"Jealousy of Trade," 121.

Jefferson, Thomas, 415, 424, 442.

Jerusalem, 12, 24.

Jevons, Professor, 319, 381, 399.

Jews, 9, 10, 21, 24, 240, 333, 443.

Job, the Book of, 83, 397.

Jonson, Ben, 88.

Joppa, 22, 23.

Judges, 4.

K.

Kay, father and son, 106.

Kentucky, 491.

Key to unlock difficulties, 364.

Kinds of tariffs, two, 483.

Kinds of utility, 44.

King Hiram, 11, 16, 364.

King Philip's victories, 392.

King Solomon, 11, 16, 364.

_Kinkiness_, 105.

"Knit-goods Bill," 488.

Knox, Comptroller, 433.

Knox _vs._ Lee, 359.

Kountze Brothers, 328.

L.

Labor, 182.

"Labor and Capital," 183.

Labor defined, 90, 161, 184.

Laborers, 4, 184, 186.

Laborers as a class, 233.

Labor-troubles, 237.

_Laissez faire_, 252.

Land Bill, 1881, 172.

Land parcels, 146, 170.

Lands, 141.

Lapoint, Alfred, 130.

Latin Union, 414.

Law, John, 341, 436, 439.

Law of diminishing returns, 153, 172.

Law of supply and demand, 52, 53.

Laws of Moses, 443.

Lawyers, 4.

Layard, 331, 384.

Legal rate of interest, 234.

Legal ratio of gold and silver, 393.

Legal restrictions, 225.

Legal tender, 355, 356, 359.

Legislators, 4, 270, 377, 451.

Life Insurance Co., 298.

Lightning-rod, 70.

Limestone, 527.

Limits of production, 136.

Limits of value, 58.

Lincoln, Abraham, 210.

Lind, Jennie, 187.

Liverpool, 455, 528.

Loan, 276.

Loaves of bread, 379.

Locke and Newton, 423.

Lockouts, 247, 266, 521.

Locomotives, 233.

Logic, 63.

Logical fallacies, 534.

London bills, 310.

London bills of exchange, 469.

London Bridge, 2, 3, 313.

Lord Mayor of London, 265.

Losses from depreciated money, 478.

Louisiana, 438.

Lowell, 3.

Lowell and Jackson, 497.

Lowell mill, 7.

Lowell on the Merrimack, 498.

Lowering rates of interest, 234.

Lowndes, Congressman, 498.

Low taxes on few things, 568.

Lucretius, 95.

M.

Macaulay, 123, 422.

McCulloch, Hugh, 359.

Macedonia, 579.

Machinery, 197, 200.

McKinley, 508, 516, 563, 581.

Macleod, Henry Dunning, 47, 278, 292, 382, 383.

Machpelah, 82, 365.

Madison, James, 494, 537.

Magellan, 26.

Magna Charta, 444, 581.

Major Premise, 63.

Malthus, T. R., 215.

Manager at the Clearing, 5, 320.

Mania, 16.

Market defined, 137.

Market for products, 54.

Market value, 54.

MARKETS, 195.

Marshall, Mr. Justice, 358, 573.

Mason's trowel, 38, 98.

Massachusetts, 286.

Material commodities, 49.

Maximum value, 61.

Mechanics, 42.

Mediterranean, 23.

Mercantile sagacity, 140.

Mercantile system, 115, 312.

Mercantile Theory, 403, 452.

Mercantilism, 576.

Merchant defined, 6.

Merchants as a class, 9.

Messengers at the Clearing, 320.

Metaphysics, 64, 75, 242.

Methods and motives in foreign trade, 481.

Methods of mining, 398.

Metric system, 419.

Metropolitan Museum, 332.

Mexican exports, 479.

Mexican imports, 479.

Mexicans, 105.

Mill, John Stuart, 32, 63.

Miller, Mr. Justice, 47, 357.

Mills, Roger Q., 581.

Milton, 149.

"Mind-cure," 263.

Mint of Amsterdam, 422.

Mississippi Valley, 519.

Mobility of laborers, 221.

Molasses, 496.

Molasses tax, 538.

Mommsen, 238.

Monetary Conference at Paris, 73, 74.

Monetary "par," 471.

Money, 77, 361, 367.

Money a measure, 380, 415.

Money a "medium," 370.

Money a tool, 377.

Money, current, 51.

Money defined, 380.

Money divisible, 374.

Money is capital, 374.

Monopoly, 88, 122.

Montesquieu, 388.

Moody's "power-loom," 497.

Moors from Africa, 481.

Moral sciences, 63.

Morals, 113, 248.

More, Sir Thomas, 536.

Morrill, Senator, 518.

"Morrill Tariff," 521, 533.

Morris, Gouverneur, 539.

Morris, Robert, 415.

Moses, 11.

Motives of Protectionists, 493.

Motives to trade, 77.

Mountain view, 1.

Mountains of Israel, 25.

Mount Lebanon, 23, 364.

Mozart, 211.

Munn, Dr., 204.

Murillo, 56.

Muscular effort, 189.

Musicians, 4.

_Mutuum_, 276.

Myers, P. V. N., 332.

N.

Names on notes, 301.

Napoleon, the First, 134, 570.

Narbo in Gaul, 579.

National Bank, 289.

National Banks of United States, 428.

National Debt, 351.

National Labor Commissioner, 528.

Nationalism, 251, 256.

Nature, 102.

Nature of Credit, 271.

Natural agents, 85, 86.

"Natural monopolies," 136.

Nebuchadnezzar, 332.

Nelson, Mr. Justice, 357.

Nevada mines, 411.

New England, 145.

New Hampshire, 36, 441.

New Jersey, 502.

New Orleans, 438, 454.

New Testament, 12.

New York, 165, 477.

New York Central Railway Co., 491.

New York Clearing-House, 5, 7, 319.

"New York Public," 350.

Nickel pieces, 394.

Non-capital, 97.

North Carolina, 92.

Nottinghamshire, 163.

Novgorod, in Russia, 386.

Nullification, 577.

O.

Objective and subjective, 31.

Objective realities, 76.

Obligation in credit, 275.

Ocean freights, 474.

O'Connell, Daniel, 177.

Ohio sheep, 530.

"Oil Trust," 179.

Oklahoma, 221

Old Testament, 11.

Open ports of Great Britain, 474.

Operatives, 4.

Opinions on Protectionism, 535.

Orders to pay, 328.

O'Reilly's poem, 208.

Oresme, Nicole, 98.

Origin of capital, 95.

Oscillations of demand, 408.

"_Ought_," 65.

Ounce of silver, 36.

Our Lord, 12.

Outlying cases, 142.

Overseers of the mill, 4.

Owners, 38.

Oxford University, 338.

Oxus River, 27.

P.

Pacific States, 418.

Paganini, 187.

Palermo, 455.

Palfrey, historian, 512.

Paper-makers, 197.

Paper-makers' convention, 584.

Paper money, 427, 429.

Par of Exchange, 307, 316.

Par of foreign exchange, 468.

Paradise Lost, 88.

Parcels in the Clearing, 6.

Paris, 3, 57.

Paris bills of exchange, 470.

Parliament, 284.

Past time in commodities, 274.

Patent rights, 132.

Paul, Lewis, 109.

Pauper labor of Europe, 528.

Payer and payee, 329.

Peace, 29.

Peas and potatoes, 272.

Peasant proprietor, 157.

Peculiarities of Credit, 271.

_Pecunia_, 81, 384.

Pence and pound, 389.

Pennsylvania, 436, 490.

Personal services, 181.

Personal slavery, 80.

_Persons_ in credit, 275.

Petals of flowers, 70.

Pheidon, King of Argos, 384.

Philip le Bel, 404.

Philpott, editor, 521.

Phoenicians, 21.

Physical sciences, 32, 63, 64, 71.

Physicians, 4.

"Physiocrats," 141.

Physiology, 216.

Pierre and Company of Paris, 307.

Piers Ploughman, 228.

Pig-iron production, 560.

Pilgrims, 391.

Pillars of Hercules, 84.

Pine-tree shillings, 392.

Plato, 248.

Pliny, 384.

"Political Economy," 15, 174.

Polo, the traveller, 387.

"Pool," the, 2.

Poor Richard's Almanack, 158, 243.

Poor's Railroad Manual, 229.

Popular remedies for low wages, 251.

Portability of money, 411.

Porter, Dr. Samuel, 28.

Porters, 2.

Portfolio of governments, 254.

_Post hoc ergo propter hoc_, 534.

Post Offices, 256.

Potosi, silver of, 398.

Pottery wares, 502.

Pounds sterling, 310.

"Power," 91.

"Power-loom," 111.

Preamble of the Constitution, 256.

Present time in services, 274.

President Jackson, 289.

Press and Pulpit, 244.

Price, 50.

Price, Bonamy, 338, 382.

"Prices current," 50.

Prices of services, 375.

Prices under taxation, 549.

Principle of taxes, 546.

Privy Council, 350.

Probabilities, 347.

Probability of success, 220.

_Procullus_, 451.

Production defined, 84.

Products in market, 54.

Profitable exchanges, 473.

Profits, 94.

Profits the leavings of wages, 235.

Progress of civilization, 10.

Promise to pay, 279.

Promissory notes, 300.

Property, 101, 275, 545.

"Property is theft," 148.

Proportion of taxes, 544.

"Protectionism," 309, 453, 493.

Protectionism is prohibition, 486.

Proverbs, 12.

Providential elements in Economics, 362.

Prudhon, 148.

Prussians, 549.

Public opinion, 451.

"Pulpit or Platform," 22.

Q.

Quality of gold uniform, 411.

Quantity of metals, 399.

Queen Elizabeth, 123.

Questions of taxes, 541.

"Quick sales and small profits," 344.

Quittance, 354.

R.

Randolph, John, 498.

Rapidity of circulation, 372, 409.

Rate of interest in Holland, 234.

Rate of taxes, 556.

Rates of discount, 316.

Ratio of gold and silver, 74.

Raw materials, 526.

Redemption of greenbacks, 291.

Religion higher than morals, 263.

Remedies for labor troubles, 238.

Renderings, 26, 59, 76, 78.

Rent, 160, 169.

Rent defined, 170.

Republic of Mexico, 478.

Republic of Venice, 291.

Requisites of production, 84.

Return services, 138.

Revenue, 113.

Revenue rights, 134.

Ricardo, David, 146, 153, 169, 176.

Right and wrong, 65.

Rise in market rate, 55, 77.

Rise of prices, 408.

Rise of valuables, 49.

"River and Harbor Bill," 488.

Roach, John, 516.

Robinson Crusoe, 100.

"Rogues' Island," 441.

Roman coins, 385.

Roman Law, 277.