German writers often take Smith for an exponent, if not for the founder, of what they call the Rechtstaat theory-the theory that the State is mainly the protector of right; but in reality Smith's doctrine corresponded pretty closely with their own Kultur-und-Wohlfahrtstaat theory-the theory that the State is a promoter of culture and welfare; and if further proof were wanted, it might be found in the fact that in his doctrine of taxation he departs altogether from the economic principle, which is popularly associated with the Rechtstaat idea, and is supposed to be a corollary of it, that a tax is a quid pro quo, a price paid for a service rendered, and ought therefore to be imposed on individuals in proportion to the service they respectively receive from the State; and instead of this economic principle he lays down the broad ethical one, that a tax is a public obligation which individuals ought to be called upon to discharge in proportion to their respective abilities.
"Contemporary Socialism"
John Rae
"That boasted civilisation," said Paul-"the German Kultur-has thrown us back to the earliest savagery of which we hold record.
"The Orchard of Tears"
Sax Rohmer
The road to Furnes took us through what had been, a few years before, quaint Flemish villages, but German Kultur, aided by the products of Frau Bertha Krupp, had transformed the beautiful sixteenth-century architecture into heaps of brick and stone.
"Italy at War and the Allies in the West"
E. Alexander Powell
