218 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 
of France were the happiest; of all people in 
France, those of Issoire were most favored; and of 
those in Issoire, the best of all were the working- 
men, the especial guardians of the Issoire idea. 
Meanwhile the extension of the octroi to three 
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two articles 
had greatly increased the wealth of the city, and 
the city treasurer’s strong-box was so full that he 
had to make a second one, and to hire three trusty 
Clermont men to watch it day and night, and then 
three men from Jonas to watch the first three. 
What should be done with the money to keep it 
in circulation? For if it remained locked up, the 
wheels of industry would soon begin to creak, and 
creaking is a sign that wheels need oiling. 
The mayor had proposed to divide it among the 
several Equitable Confidence Societies, in order to 
encourage industry, and thus enable these com- 
panies to raise still higher the high wages of the 
men from Jonas, who were now the only laborers 
employed in Issoire. But this was objected to in 
several quarters, especially by the followers of the 
workman Jacques, who did not like to trust the 
Equitable Societies to make such a division. 
The schoolmaster wanted it divided among the 
school-children pro rata, in proportion to their 
raggedness, This was favored by almost every 
one, because it would benefit the laboring-man and 
help on the clothing-trade; but the politicians 
objected to giving money to the poor, because 
such giving tends simply to enervate. The very 
fact that a man is poor shows that he is not fitted 
to take care of money. Some wanted the city 
