220 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



mont merchant 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 woollen -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 whose business is it if I do? The octroi is 

 putting into the city treasury every year fifty thou- 

 sand francs more than the city has any honest use 

 for, and the whole town will go into bankruptcy if 

 this goes on for three years more. There is n't 

 money enough in the city to keep up this surplus. 

 The money cannot get out of the treasury unless 

 some one steals it out and puts it into circulation ; 

 and, if I understand you, gentlemen, this is just 

 what you propose to do." 



This speech was the sensation of the day. It 

 was spoken with a blunt earnestness such as well- 

 meaning but ignorant men are often found to 

 possess. Its sophistries were not at first apparent, 

 for the very reason that the speaker himself did 

 not know them to be sophistries. 



It was printed next morning in the Issoire 

 " fitoile," and it made many converts among those 

 who were unable to expose its errors. The land- 

 lord of the Hotel de la Poste indorsed it, because 

 the patronage of that excellent hostelry had 

 greatly declined since the cessation of the barter 

 with Clermont. Some of the manufacturers favored 

 it, for they were looking for wider outlets foe their 



