THE FATE OF ICIODORUM. 2OQ 



than they are at Paris or Lyons. So much has 

 the octroi done for my countrymen." And the 

 mayor sent a message of congratulation, remind- 

 ing the people that his promises had come true. 

 " The octroi has reduced the price of boots, and 

 has demonstrated the truth of the paradox that the 

 quickest road to low prices is to make prices high." 

 The traders who had gone into bankruptcy left 

 Issoire and were speedily forgotten, except by 

 their creditors, chief of whom was Monsieur Shy- 

 lock. It did not much matter about them, in any 

 event. Their loss was the community's gain. It 

 was not Issoire' s fault that they were dealing on 

 borrowed capital and could not stand the strain of 

 reduced prices. 



After the period of congratulation was over, the 

 President of the Issoire Citizens' Foot-wear Manu- 

 facturing Association called the heads of a few of 



o 



the rival houses to his office. They agreed to- 

 gether to ask for an increase in the octroi, in view 

 of the depressed condition of the boot-trade, after 

 which they would, in view of the increase of the 

 octroi, raise the price of boots to twenty-five francs. 

 They formed a new association called the Issoire 

 Equitable Confidence Society, the object of which 

 was to prevent the Clermont dealers from flooding 

 the city with cheap boots, a thing which the latter 

 had been steadily on the watch to accomplish. 

 The Equitable Society took special pains to serve 

 Issoire by regulating the price of boots according 

 to the city's real needs. The city had suffered 

 from overproduction. Now, when any firm out- 

 side the Equitable Society tried to resume work, 



