Knowing the people with whom he had to do, he maintained the machine as it then worked, so it still works and will continue to work; for everybody fears to remodel it, though no one, according to Rabourdin, ought to be unwilling to simplify it.

In his opinion, the problem to be resolved lay in a better use of the same forces.

His plan, in its simplest form, was to revise taxation and lower it in a way that should not diminish the revenues of the State, and to obtain, from a budget equal to the budgets which now excite such rabid discussion, results that should be two-fold greater than the present results.

Long practical experience had taught Rabourdin that perfection is brought about in all things by changes in the direction of simplicity.

To economize is to simplify.