THE FATE OF 1C IO DO RUM. 221 



trade, as the market of Tssoire was soon glutted, 

 and the octroi increased the cost of manufacture 

 even more than it raised the price of the finished 

 goods. The politicians said that Jacques' words 

 might be true enough in theory, but talk like that 

 would ruin any man's chances in a popular elec- 

 tion. Jacques should have remembered that he 

 was a candidate. 



The parish priest, who seldom meddled with 

 politics, declared that the address was timely and 

 patriotic, and that the real friend of the laboring- 

 man was the man who gave him justice instead of 

 patronage. What he needs is a free field and fair 

 play. Those who coddle the working-man mean 

 sooner or later to pick his pockets. He further 

 said that, in his opinion, the mayor and Council 

 were wrong in their theories of wealth. Their 

 fundamental error was this, that they were try- 

 ing to make the people of this city grow rich off 

 each other. The mayor had said that the bless- 

 ings of the octroi come to certain classes, but they 

 do not stop there. They diffuse themselves like 

 water, and their beneficent influence is felt on 

 every hand. But these benefits come to the rich 

 first, and from the top they spread down very 

 slowly. But the evil influences of the octroi diffuse 

 themselves in the same way. The only difference 

 is that they begin at the bottom with the working- 

 man, and are nearly exhausted when they reach 

 the top. The priest even marched in a procession 

 which went through the streets, carrying banners 

 inscribed " Vive Jacques, the Master- Workman ! " 

 " A bas 1'Octroi ! " " Away with Useless Taxes ! >r 



