FERDINAND LASSALLE. 
63 
social order is the direct result of the ancient régime which, 
by keeping all property in the hands of the privileged classes, 
forced all others, directly or indirectly, to give up to the rich 
and the strong the best part of their gains. Liberty was pro 
claimed only after they had monopolized everything. The 
working man, while politically free, is, economically considered, 
as dependent as the serf of the Middle Ages. Like him, he 
is obliged to deliver up the ever-increasing product of his 
labour in exchange for the strict necessaries of life, and it is 
thus that his employers have been enabled to accumulate their 
capital. Their wealth being the fruit of the labour of others, 
“ property " should to-day be called “ altruity.” Eigenthum ist 
Fremdenthum. 
But at least, replies the Economist, you would not deny 
that the head of a business has a right to some reward for his 
skill, his care, and his management, and at the same time 
should have a premium to cover his possible losses. The 
profit of the manufacturer is, in reality, merely a higher salary 
than that of the others, and it is such because it is the reward 
of the most essential service, because the success of the concern 
depends upon it, and because it is only contingent That is 
true, says Lassalle, management should have its wages; but 
in great companies is it the directors who enjoy the greatest 
benefits? No, it is the shareholders, who do nothing. In 
private enterprises, the remuneration of the owner is quite out 
of proportion to the service rendered. As regards the risk 
that is to be covered by a premium, it exists for Tom, Dick 
and Harry, but not for the entire class of heads of firms, con 
sidered as a whole. What Tom loses Dick gains ; and statistics 
prove that the total of profits is increasing and is enormous. 
The class of capitalists, therefore, receive a premium for a risk 
that does not really exist. And besides, the fact that there is 
a risk proves a defect in the industrial organization. What 
should be done, then, is not to pay a premium, but to obviate 
the necessity of paying one. This would result from a better 
organization, and what this is Lassalle proceeds to show. 
Nowadays the labourer is completely at the mercy of 
capital. It is the world upside down. Properly, asserts Lassalle,