1 84 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



perity of a town by preventing the people from 

 sending their money away. It is a well-kpown fact 

 that individuals become poor simply because they 

 spend their money. So with cities. What is true 

 of the individual is true of the community, itself 

 but an aggregation of individuals. Nations, as well 

 as individuals, grow rich by doing their own work. 

 Commerce, as is well known, is a great drain on 

 the resources of a town as of a nation. Now, if in 

 some way we can keep the money of a town within 

 its limits, the town cannot fail to grow rich. As 

 Benjamin Franklin once observed, " A penny saved 

 is twopence earned." The great problem in muni- 

 cipal economics is this : How shall we keep the 

 town's money from going out of it? How shall we 

 best discourage buying, especially the buying of 

 articles from dealers outside? 



To meet this problem, the wisdom of the fathers 

 devised the octroi. 



In view of the prospective introduction of the 

 octroi into America (and I trust that I am violating 

 no confidence in saying that this is the real object 

 of the present visit to Europe on the part of one of 

 America's foremost statesmen), it is worthwhile to 

 examine carefully its nature and advantages. 



Years ago, before the octroi came to Issoire, the 

 city was noted chiefly for the barter of farm prod- 

 ucts. The farmers used to bring in grains, hides, 

 cheese, and other produce, which they would ex- 

 change for clothing, sugar, coffee, tobacco, and the 

 various necessaries of existence. The merchants 

 used to load the grain into wagons which were 

 driven across the country to the city of Clermont. 



