r of letters posted (_vide supra_, p.
33). Canada has imposed a war tax of one cent on all letters, and on
postcards (_supra_, p. 57).

[739] _Vide_ Alfred Marshall, _Principles of Economics_, London, 1907,
vol. i. p. 124.

"If I put a letter in the pillar-box rather than walk half a mile to
deliver it by hand, it is clear that I value the service at one penny at
least, and if its true value is to be taken at less than a penny, it
must be assumed that some one would have carried the letter for less
than a penny if the Post Office monopoly had been absent. But to deal
thoroughly with this question it would be necessary to enter on a
discussion of the Austrian theory of value and Marshall's conception of
'consumer's rent.'"--E. Cannan (_Memoranda on Classification and
Incidence_, p. 163).

[740] "Notre syst[e']me fiscal demande aux imp[^o]ts indirects la plus
grande partie de nos recettes budg['e]taires. Les allumettes sont
lourdement tax['e]es. ['E]crire une lettre est, malgr['e] tout, moins
indispensable [a'] l'homme qu'allumer du feu. Tant que les objets de
premi[e']re necessit['e] sont frapp['e]s, il n'y a pas raison
d['e]cisive pour refuser de laisser pr['e]lever sur les correspondances
de toutes sortes un imp[^o]t indirect, qui appara[^i]t, dans les
['e]critures budg['e]taires, comme un exc['e]dent de recettes des
Postes, T['e]l['e]graphes, et T['e]l['e]phones sur leurs d['e]penses.

"Si l['e]gitimes que soient en principe les b['e]n['e]fices de
l'['E]tat-postier, tenons pour certain que le public, [a'] moins de
quelque catastrophe impr['e]vue, ne permettra pas de les accro[^i]tre
beaucoup, et que les Ministres de Finances de demain auront beaucoup de
peine [a'] conserver le peu qui leur en reste."--_Rapport portant
fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]ral_, Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, Session
1909, No. 2767.

[741] "The widest division of public revenue is into (1) that obtained
by the State in its various functions as a great corporation or
'juristic person,' operating under the ordinary conditions that govern
individuals or private companies, and (2) that taken from the revenues
of the society by the power of the sovereign."--C. F. Bastable, _Public
Finance_, London, 1903, p. 158. Of. C. C. Plehn, _Introduction to Public
Finance_, New York, 1909, p. 79; E. B. A. Seligman, _Essays in
Taxation_, New York, 1913, p. 400, et seq.; see also Bastable, op. cit.,
p. 156.

[742] E.g. "The common mode of levying a tax on the