Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/57

58 The security of the state depends on its wealth. Its wealth depends on productive labor. So its policy should be directed to seeing that its subjects put forth their energy to the best advantage. The first duty of an enlightened state is to know its condition. Hence follows the need of statistics. All unprofitable work should be discouraged. The number of those seeking the various learned professions should be limited. (12). It would be easy to find out how many lawyers, doctors and priests are needed. The state control of education, with a rigid selection of those fitted to serve in these capacities, would do away with the evils of parental caprice. The legal system should be simplified in all its parts, in order to diminish a class of men whose gains are like those of gamesters, because their labor produces nothing. The principles of the criminal law ought to be modified. The state should remember that, by killing any of its members, it punishes itself. Pecuniary fines, or a state of slavery which gives the state control of the criminals' labor, should take the place of the ordinary penalties (60). The religious policy of the state ought to be guided by toleration. He cites many examples to prove that heterodoxy and trade go together (227). He commends Holland for offering a refuge to the persecuted, and thus increasing her wealth. So, too, the whole system of taxation should be directed towards encouraging productive industries. The trading and manufacturing classes should be carefully treated (22). On the other hand, the unproductive classes should bear the greatest burdens. Their property can only be made productive by changing hands. Beggars and idle