w reorganization; the successive
augmentations of the force brought its total effective, in 1866, up to a
regiment of twelve hundred and ninety-eight men, divided into two
battalions of six companies each. The efficiency of the organization was
greatly augmented by the introduction of steam fire-engines in 1873.

* * * * *

By the law of December 29, 1897, all the communes of France were
authorized to suppress their octroi duties upon "hygienic beverages,"
wines, ciders, beers, perry, hydromel, and mineral waters, and replace
them by others, after December 31, 1898. As the entrance duty upon these
_boissons hygieniques_ constituted a very important fraction,--in Paris,
in 1895, sixty-eight million five hundred thousand francs out of a grand
total of a hundred and fifty-five million six hundred and one
thousand,--the question of supplying this deficiency in the municipal
budget is exciting discussion. In case the octroi is not suppressed
altogether, the communes are obliged to diminish the tax in certain
proportions, according to their population and their locality,--the
cider-producing departments standing on a different footing from the
wine-growing ones. To replace the octroi, they are given their choice of
five other taxes--upon alcohol, or upon horses, dogs, billiards, clubs,
and various other articles of luxury. It was generally predicted in
Paris that the consumer of alcoholic beverages would not experience any
benefit from the removal of this tax.

Under the ancient regime, the octroi, like most other imposts and
duties, was in the charge of the _fermiers generaux_, who obtained the
royal authorization to enclose Paris within a wall to facilitate its
collection. Consequently, one of the first manifestations of the
Revolution was the demolition of these barrieres by the people, on the
very day of the taking of the Bastille. On the 1st of May, 1791, at
midnight, all the gates of Paris were thrown open to the hundreds of
vehicles, boats, and barges which had been waiting for weeks for this
moment of free entry; a triumphal mast was erected in honor of the
Assemblee and to celebrate the abolition of "the most odious of
tyrannies;" the National Guard, under Lafayette's orders, paraded around
the demolished barriers in the midst of the universal rejoicing. But,
seven years later, the necessities of the municipal finances constrained
many of the thus emancipated cities, Paris included, t