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An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith · 1776 (composed/publication period); modern imprint not specified beyond a 1852 reprint primary

passage 786 of 803 · BOOK I. > L.21,333,333 : 6 : 8. In the course of the second Punic war, the As was still further reduced, first, from two ounces of copper to one ounce, and afterwards from one ounce to half an ounce; that is, to the twenty-fourth part of its original value. By combining the three Roman operations into one, a debt of a hundred and twenty-eight millions of our present money, might in this manner be reduced all at once to a debt of L.5,333,333 : 6 : 8. Even the enormous debt of Great Britain might in this manner soon be paid. (39/56)

in brief
Another index-style continuation covering Labourers, Land, and many other terms (e.g., Law, Lawyers, Leases), without connected sentences forming an argument.

strictly connected with the interests of the society, 106. Labour the only source of their revenue, 112. Effects of a life of labour on the understandings of the poor, 327.

Land, the demand of rent for, how founded, 21. The rent paid enters into the greater part of all commodities, ib. Generally produces more food than will maintain the labour necessary to bring it to market, 61. Good roads and navigable canals equalize difference of situation, 62. That employed in raising food for men and cattle regulates the rent of all other cultivated land, 64, 67. Can clothe and lodge more than it can feed while uncultivated, and the contrary when improved, 68. The culture of land producing food creates a demand for the produce of other lands, 73. Produces by agriculture a much greater quantity of vegetable than of animal food, 79. The full improvement of, requires a stock of cattle to supply manure, 93. Cause and effect of the diminution of cottagers, 95. Signs of the land being completely improved, 96. The whole annual produce, or the price of it, naturally divides itself into rent, wages, and profit of stock, 106. The usual price of, depends on the common rate of interest for money, 147. The profits of cultivation exaggerated by projectors, 154. The cultivation of, naturally preferred to trade and manufactures, on equal terms, 155. Artificers necessary to the cultivation of, 156. Was all appropriated, though not cultivated, by the northern destroyers of the Roman empire, 157. Origin of the law of primogeniture under the feudal government, ib. Entails, 158. Obstacles to the improvement of land under feudal proprietors, ib. Feudal tenures, 159, 160. Feudal taxation, 161. The improvement of land checked in France, by the taille, ib. Occupiers of, labour under great disadvantages, ib. Origin of long leases of, 169. Small proprietors the best improvers of, 170. Small purchasers of, cannot hope to raise fortunes by cultivation, ib., 171. Tenures of, in the British American colonies, 235. Is the most permanent source of revenue, 345. The rent of a whole country not equal to the ordinary levy upon the people, ib. The revenue from, proportioned not to the rent, but to the produce, 346. Reasons for selling the crown lands, ib. The land tax of Great Britain considered, 348. An improved land-tax suggested, 349. A land-tax, however equally rated by a general survey, will soon become unequal, 352. Tithes a very unequal tax, ib. Tithes discourage improvement, ib.

Landholders, why frequently inattentive to their own particular interests, 106. How they contribute to the annual production of the land, according to the French agricultural system of political economy, 275. Should be encouraged to cultivate a part of their own land, 350.

Latin language, how it became an essential part of university education, 321.

Law, the language of, how corrupted, 302. Did not improve into a science in ancient Greece, 325. Remarks on the courts of justice in Greece and Rome, ib., 326.

Law, Mr. account of his banking scheme for the improvement of Scotland, 130.

Lawyers, why amply rewarded for their labour, 44. Great amount of their fees, 300.

Leases, the various usual conditions of, 349, 350.

Leather, restrictions on the exportation of unmanufactured, 271.

Lectures in universities frequently improper for instruction, 320.

Levity, the vices of, ruinous to the common people, and therefore severely censured by them, 332, 333.

Liberty, three duties only necessary for a sovereign to attend to for supporting a system of, 286.

Lima, computed number of inhabitants in that city, 233.

Linen manufacture, narrow policy of the master manufacturers in, 266.

Literature, the rewards of, reduced by competition, 56. Was more profitable in ancient Greece, ib. The cheapness of literary education an advantage to the public, 57.

Loans of money, the nature of, analysed, 144. The extensive operation of, ib.

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topics: justice as a virtue · property, inheritance, and title

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations · Adam Smith · 1776