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  proclaimed ­
  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,  considered ­
  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,