THE FATE OF ICIODORUM. 221 
trade, as the market of Issoire 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 l'Octroi!” “ Away with Useless Taxes!” 
