454 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the men from Jonas, who were now the only laborers employed 

 in Issoire. But this was objected to in several quarters, especially 

 by the followers of the workman Jacques, who did not like to 

 trust the Equitable Societies to make such a division. 



The schoolmaster wanted it divided among the school-children 

 pro rata in proportion to their raggedness. This was favored by 

 almost every one, because it would benefit the laboring-man and 

 help on the clothing-trade ; but the politicians objected to giving 

 money to the poor, because such giving tends simply to enervate. 

 The very fact that a man is poor shows that he is not fitted to 

 take care of money. Some wanted the city wall built up so high 

 that no one could see out of the town, and then to have the top 

 so beset with broken bottles that no one could climb over. A 

 few of the extreme devotees of the Issoire idea wanted the sur- 

 plus devoted to destroying the roads to Clermont, that all danger 

 from the flood of cheap goods with which that city stood always 

 ready to overwhelm Issoire would be removed forever. One of 

 the Council even wished to use it for the permanent closing of all 

 the city gates, for, as he said, " if we are good citizens we will 

 have nothing to do with abroad." 



But the private secretary of the mayor remarked that alto- 

 gether too much had been said of this matter of surplus revenue. 

 " It is a good deal easier," he remarked, sagely, " to manage a sur- 

 plus than a deficit." Then the mayor said : " It is much better to 

 have too much money than too little. That is what constitutes 

 prosperity. I wouldn't mind having a little surplus myself." 

 Then the Council laughed, and each one thought of what he could 

 do with his share of the surplus, while they discussed some plans 

 which looked toward an equitable distribution of it in places 

 where it would do the most good. 



The workman Jacques, who was now a member of the Council, 

 and who had been selected as the opposition candidate for mayor, 

 rose and said : " This octroi stuff is all bosh. It is a tax to make 

 things higher, and it comes out of our pockets. That is why we 

 are so poor. The mayor says that it is collected from the Cler- 

 mont merchants. The mayor lies. What does a Clermont mer- 

 chant care whether we pay him ten francs for a pair of boots 

 outside the city gates, or twenty francs inside, after he has paid 

 ten francs toll ? It is all the same to him. He loses nothing 

 either way, except that our ridiculous laws have lost him a good 

 customer for his woolen goods, and we have lost a good customer 

 for our wines and wheat. If I can save ten francs by buying my 

 boots at Clermont, have I not a right to save it, and Avhose busi- 

 ness is it if I do ? The octroi is putting into the city treasury 

 every year fifty thousand francs more than the city has any hon- 

 est use for, and the whole town will go into bankruptcy if this 



