188 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 isa 
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 Issoire 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. 
