1 98 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



was a special charm in the shops where prices far 

 below those at Issoire were ostentatiously fixed on 

 elaborately displayed wares. And so almost 

 before the owner knew it many an Issoire wagon 

 was loaded down with cheap goods from Clermont. 

 But although the octroi was paid at the city gates, 

 the real purpose of the octroi was evaded. The 

 money, in the first place, was spent outside the 

 city. Worse than this, the octroi, instead of being 

 paid by the agents of the Clermont merchants, 

 as the law intended, was collected, as the mayor 

 of Issoire now said, " off our own people." For, if 

 the octroi is to be collected in this way, " off our 

 own people," it would be just as easy and a good 

 deal cheaper and fairer to collect the tax in the 

 usual way, in direct proportion to the value of 

 each man's income or capital. 



Another ordinance was clearly necessary. The 

 wagon-maker at Issoire had long since gone out of 

 the business. The prices of wood, iron, leather, 

 and paint were such that he could not compete 

 with Clermont manufacturers. So the wagon-shop 

 was closed, and carriages and vehicles of every 

 description were brought over from Clermont. 

 The cost of these vehicles had been a heavy drain 

 upon the resources of Issoire. The octroi alone 

 would not remedy this, for nothing short of abso- 

 lute prohibition of outside purchase would revive 

 the wagon-trade. So the mayor proposed that by 

 another bold stroke the dying industry should be 

 revived, while at the same time the citizens of 

 Issoire should be prevented from paying the octroi. 

 It was enacted that no citizen of Issoire should 



