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16.: From ADAM SMITH, Collector of Customs at Alloa - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith [1740]

Edition used:

Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


16.

From ADAM SMITH, Collector of Customs at Alloa1

MS., GUL Gen. 1464/10; Scott 235.

Alloa, 27 Aug. 1754

[Replies to his cousin, Professor Adam Smith, who has asked him to make inquiries on behalf of a friend wishing to purchase an office. Reckons his collectorship is worth ‘above 200 Pounds per ann.’ and does not think he would resign it ‘under ten years purchase’.2 Has addressed a memorial to the Duke of Argyll about some of his own affairs. Recommends that his cousin take a jaunt into Ayrshire, ‘it will be good for your health and amuse you’.]

[1 ]Born in Aberdeen, 1711, and known to have a wife and four children by 1752.

[2 ]In 1752 this Adam Smith received £30 a year as Collector of Customs and a similar sum as a Collector of the Salt Duty. He would possibly have some smaller offices. While it is understood that the actual income of a Collector at this time was double the official salary, Smith was suggesting initially a stiff price for his office.