Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/459

Rh wood, iron, leather, and paint were such, that he could not compete with Clermont manufacturers. So the wagon-shop was closed, and carriages and vehicles of every description were brought over from Clermont. The cost of these vehicles had been a heavy drain upon the resources of Issoire. The octroi alone would not remedy this, for nothing short of absolute prohibition of outside purchase would revive the wagon-trade. So the mayor proposed that by another bold stroke the dying industry should be revived, while at the same time the citizens of Issoire should be prevented from paying the octroi. It was enacted that no citizen of Issoire should own any sort of vehicle—wheelbarrow, cart, wagon, barouche, carriage, or droschke—unless said vehicle was made in all its parts at Issoire, and bore the signature of the mayor and the seal of the Common Council. This saved the city many thousands of francs, for, now that the people no longer drove over to Clermont, the Clermont merchants sent goods to Issoire: and, when they entered the gates, the Clermont people paid the charges of the octroi.

When the first Issoire wagon was finished, the maker had put such a high price upon it that no one would buy, and the reviving industry began to faint again. The wagon-maker said that he couldn't help it. Unless he could in some way get wood and nails at special prices his wagons would be out of the reach of all buyers. A few of the Common Council were in favor of releasing the wagon-maker from the octroi on articles used in the manufacture of wagons, but the rest were unwilling to do this—because to buy these materials outside is another drain on the prosperity of a town. At last they arranged a compromise, by which the city gave an order for a new street-sprinkler and twelve rubbish-carts, to be paid for from the public treasury. They had no need for a new sprinkler then, and five rubbish-carts would have been enough. But a liberal order like this made the wagon maker contented, and a generous policy was necessary to start anew the wheels of trade, which, in spite of all their care, were frequently becoming clogged.

Once more the treasury was nearly empty. The citizens of Issoire, accustomed to having their taxes paid by the people of Clermont and Lyons, would not submit to any form of direct taxation. Had the Common Council said: "We must have so much money; we propose to take it from your pockets by a pro rata assessment," the people would have risen as one man and put the opposition candidates into office. Direct taxation is a confession of barrenness in expedients. Where money is to be raised, it should always be collected from foreigners, if possible. This is a maxim in political science, and all successful financiers from Julius Cæsar down have acted in accordance with it.

The falling off in the Clermont trade, due to the new wagon