Queen Mary's birthday present

Joseph knew better than anyone that, historically, London had turned its gas streetlights into its calling card, raising the prestige of the entire United Kingdom and thereby attracting talent and investment from around the world.

Of course, this had also rested on the United Kingdom's own wealth and favorable investment environment. Still, there was equally no doubt that London's gas streetlight project had greatly accelerated the country's development.

Now Joseph was going to snatch this major sensation for France!

He continued painting rosy pictures for Queen Mary. "You can imagine it: Paris, which once fell asleep as soon as darkness came, will now teem with life beneath the glow of gas lamps. People will continue going out after nightfall, and shops will stay open several hours longer, bringing in higher revenues.

"At the same time, crimes such as theft and robbery committed under cover of darkness will decline sharply beneath the streetlights.

"Paris will become more prosperous, safer, and more attractive!"

There were also several advantages to gas streetlights that he had not mentioned to Queen Mary.

For instance, once they were used on a large enough scale, lighting would cost far less than candles and oil lamps, allowing more people to use lights and improving their quality of life.

In addition, inexpensive, bright lighting would greatly extend factories' operating hours. Well, in plain terms, it would let workers work overtime.

Overtime, something ordinary people loathed with every fiber of their being, represented an enormous advance in productivity in the late eighteenth century!

With the same factories and the same workers, his output could be thirty percent higher than someone else's for no other reason, and the resulting advantages in production volume and costs would rival those of a major technological innovation.

Of course, this would bring health problems for