"Assuming this progress, every needed reform will infallibly follow." "True; but this presupposed progress is a work of time. Suppose it accomplished, what would you do? I am anxious to see you actually and practically at work." "I should begin by reducing the rate of postage to a penny." "I have heard you speak of a halfpenny."* * See chap. xii. of _Sophismes_, second series, _post_. "Yes, but as I have other reforms in view, I should proceed prudently, in the first instance, to avoid any risk of a deficit." "Fine prudence, to be sure! You have already landed yourself in a deficit of 30 millions of francs." "Then I should reduce the salt-tax to 10 francs." "Good. Then you land yourself in a deficit of other thirty millions. You have doubtless invented a new tax?" "Heaven forbid! And besides, I do not flatter myself with possessing an inventive genius." "It will be very necessary, however.... Ah! I see. What was I thinking of? You intend simply to reduce the expenditure. I did not think of that." "You are not singular. I shall come to that; but for the present, that is not the resource on which I depend." "What! you are to diminish the revenue without reducing the expenditure, and withal avoid a deficit!" "Yes; by diminishing other taxes at the same time." (Here the interlocutor, raising the forefinger of the right hand to his forehead, tossed his head, as if beating about for ideas.) "By my faith! a most ingenious process. I pay over 100 francs to the Treasury; you relieve me to the extent of 5 francs upon salt, and 5 francs upon postages; and in order that the Treasury may still receive 100 francs, you relieve me to the extent of 10 francs on some other tax." "Exactly; I see you understand what I mean." "The thing seems so strange that I am not quite sure that I even heard you distinctly." "I repeat, I balance one _dégrèvement_ by another." "Well, I happen to have a few minutes to spare, and I should like much to hear you explain this paradox." "Here is the whole mystery. I know a tax which costs the taxpayer 20 francs, and of which not one farthing ever reaches the Treasury. I relieve you of one-half, and I see that the other half finds its way to the _Hôtel des Finances_." "Truly you are an unrivalled financier. And what tax, pray, do I pay which does not reach the Treasury?" "How much does this coat cost you?" "100 francs." "And if you procured the cloth from Verviers, how much would it cost you?" "80 francs." "Why, then, did you not order it from Verviers?" "Because that is forbidden." "And why is it forbidden?" "In order that the coat may cost 100 instead of 80 francs." "This prohibition, then, costs you 20 francs." "Undoubtedly." "And where do these 20 francs go to?" "Where should they go to, but into the pocket of the cloth-manufacturer?" "Well, then, give me 10 francs for the Treasury, I will abrogate the prohibition, and you will still be a gainer of 10 francs."