1 88 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



to the Issoire " Gazette," a long letter which the 

 schoolmaster had helped him to compose, and in 

 which he showed conclusively that the purpose of 

 the octroi was to make things, not dearer, but 

 cheaper. Said he: " The ultimate result of the 

 octroi is always in the end to reduce prices. The 

 sole purpose of the octroi on hides, for example, 

 is to educate our people in the art, so to speak, of 

 raising hides. By this education, they may, by 

 superior intelligence, experience in the business, 

 and the acquirement of knowledge on the subject, 

 be enabled to produce cowhides in such abundance, 

 by new and improved methods, that they may sell 

 them much cheaper than they do now, sell more 

 of them, and yet realize a larger profit on each 

 hide than they can do at present. If there is a 

 fair prospect that this can be accomplished, who 

 shall say that it is not a part of wise statesmanship 

 to attempt this result? Cattle-raising is now car- 

 ried on in the most primitive way, by driving the 

 cattle about as though they were wild beasts from 

 place to place on remote and uninhabited hills. 

 The octroi will tend to encourage each householder 

 in Tssoire to keep his own cow, produce his own 

 leather, thus diversifying his business and giving 

 him some new product to sell every year, some 

 new demand for labor." 



And the thoughtful men of Issoire, the leaders 

 of public opinion, saw the force of this argument, 

 and they were satisfied to submit to temporary in- 

 convenience for the sake of the industrial education 

 of the people. 



But the boot-trade was already growing slack. 



