DiotimosReading Desk

Food

Price fixing

taxe; taxer

In this food discussion taxe means an official fixing of price, and taxer la farine means setting flour’s price.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Meaning

Related words and phrases.

In this food discussion taxe means an official fixing of price, and taxer la farine means setting flour’s price. It does not mean imposing a new fiscal levy on flour. Gamelin treats the measure as the sole remedy and combines it with capital punishment for speculation. The translation’s “price controls” and “fix the price” preserve that sense. A later maximum is a particular legal ceiling; the opening demand should not automatically be treated as the entire later regulatory system.

Places to read

  1. Chapter II, paragraph 18Frenchil faut taxer la farine: a demand to fix flour prices. Gamelin proposes this alongside guillotining those he condemns.
  2. Chapter II, paragraph 27Frenchla taxe comme le seul remède: price fixing represented as the only remedy. The narrator reports Gamelin’s renewed insistence, including its exclusiveness.