and virtuous." He exulted in the fact that "France alone enjoys such
a commerce,--that it exists in no other nation." He poured contempt
over political economy as "that science which quacks have corrupted,
which pedants have obscured and which academicians have depreciated."
France, he said, has something better, and he declared in conclusion,
"The needs of the people will no longer be spied upon in order that
the commercial classes may arbitrarily take advantage."[49]

The first result of the _Maximum_ was that every means was taken to
evade the fixed price imposed, and the farmers brought in as little
produce as they possibly could. This increased the scarcity, and the
people of the large cities were put on an allowance. Tickets were
issued authorizing the bearer to obtain at the official prices a
certain amount of bread or sugar or soap or wood or coal to cover
immediate necessities.[50]

But it was found that the _Maximum_, with its divinely revealed four
rules, could not be made to work well--even by the shrewdest devices.
In the greater part of France it could not be enforced. As to
merchandise of foreign origin or merchandise into which any foreign
product entered, the war had raised it far above the price allowed
under the first rule, namely, the price of 1790, with an addition of
one-third. Shopkeepers therefore could not sell such goods without
ruin. The result was that very many went out of business and the
remainder forced buyers to pay enormous charges under the very natural
excuse that the seller risked his life in trading at all. That this
excuse was valid is easily seen by the daily lists of those condemned
to the guillotine, in which not infrequently figure the names of men
charged with violating the _Maximum_ laws. Manufactures were very
generally crippled and frequently destroyed, and agriculture was