THE OCTROI AT IS SO IRK 445 



a franc per pound, and the sheep went in as mutton, paying five 

 francs. It was, therefore, cheaper to take a sheep to pieces outside 

 of the city gate rather than within. 



Again, there was a curious complication in the matter of boot- 

 jacks, a humble article of domestic use, manufactured in the little 

 village of Jonas, just mentioned. If these were sent in as house- 

 hold furniture, each paid a franc, while, as wooden-ware, the 

 charge was fifty centimes. 



With the millstone-trade the results were even more remark- 

 able. One of the chief articles of export from Issoire, in its early 

 days, was the stone used in flouring-mills. In the lower part of 

 the city, close to the river Couze, there is an extensive quarry of 

 a coarse, hard sandstone, most excellent for milling purposes. It 

 had long been a saying with Issoire people, " We send Clermont 

 the wheat, and the stones to grind it." The Issoire millstones 

 were not inferior to those quarried in Cantal, and, the distance 

 from Clermont being much less, the Issoire millstone-cutters had 

 almost a monopoly of the Clermont trade. 



In the early days of the octroi, however, the wagons which 

 had formerly brought over manufactured goods in exchange for 

 millstones were obliged to go to Issoire empty. Thus their own- 

 ers had to charge for one trip almost the former price of two. 

 This increased cost of transportation brought down the price of 

 millstones in Issoire, for the competition of the quarries of Cantal 

 made it impossible to raise the price at Clermont. To do that 

 would be to divert the trade of the Clermont mill-owners entirely 

 to Cantal. In such cases, the prices for the whole region must be 

 governed by the price at the center of trade. The profits of the 

 Issoire quarry were thus materially reduced. The owners talked 

 of reducing the wages of their employes, but this they could not 

 do, for the wages were already at the lowest point at which effect- 

 ive service could be secured. The natural remedy lay in an appeal 

 to the octroi. The Council levied five centimes per kilogramme 

 on all millstones brought into Issoire. Some of the Council thought 

 this levy an absurdity, for not a single millstone had ever been 

 imported. The old proverb as to " carrying coals to Newcastle " 

 was intended to cover just such cases. But the mayor told them 

 to wait and see, and the result showed his far-seeing wisdom. The 

 quarry-owners doubled their home prices, while the octroi pre- 

 served them from loss through outside competition. Then fol- 

 lowed one of those curious surprises which lend such zest to the 

 study of French economic problems. The price of millstones at 

 the quarry in Issoire was nearly double the price of the same mill- 

 stones in Clermont, whither they were carried by salesmen from 

 Issoire. After a time Issoire mill-owners began to send to Cler- 

 mont for millstones, instead of buying them at home. It was 



