APPLETONS' 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



FEBRUARY, 1896. 



PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 



BY DAVID A. WELLS, LL.D., D. C. L., 



CORRE8PONDANT DE L'lNSTITUT DJ FRANCE, ETC. 



II. THE PLACE OF TAXATION IN LITERATURE AND HISTORY. 



ONE of the great historians of the present century has ex- 

 pressed disappointment at what he terms the " emptiness " 

 of historical study, and accordingly inclines to the opinion that 

 guidance in respect to human affairs in the future is to be sought 

 for in present rather than in past experiences. Nevertheless, 

 it would seem to stand to reason, that when any department of 

 knowledge, especially one characterized ]by controverted ques- 

 tions, is to be comprehensively examined, with the prime object 

 of determining the best methods for human action, it would not 

 be expedient to attempt to discover or discuss any abstract prin- 

 ciples which ought to govern such action, until at least a sum- 

 mary of facts derived from experience and essential to correct 

 conclusions had been presented and made familiar, and, acting 

 on this assumption, it is proposed next to ask attention first, to 

 the place of taxation, considered as a department of knowledge, 

 in general literature; and, second, to some points of historical 

 interest, growing out of the appropriation of states or rulers of 

 the property of their citizens or subjects for real or assumed 

 public purposes. It is believed that in this way the discussion 

 at a later period of the principles growing out of the exercise 

 by governments of this great prerogative may be facilitated and 

 rendered more attractive.* 



* " No man can learn what he has not preparation for learning, however near to his eyes 

 is the object. Our eyes are holden that we can not see things that stare us in the face, until 

 VOL. XLVIII. 31 



