FERDINAND  LASSALLE.

69
instrument  of  the  social  renovation,  dreamed  of  by  Lassalle
and  Louis  Blanc,  viz.  the  co-operative  society  of  production,
really  practicable,  and  can  it  be  hoped  that,  even  if  generously
and,  if  needful,  gratuitously  aided  by  the  State,  it  could  compete ­
  successfully  with  private  enterprises  so  as  to  supplant
them  ?  This  is  the  essential  point  on  which  everything
depends.
In  a  small  article,  entitled  “  The  Delusions  of  Co-operative
Societies”  (1866),  M.  Cemuschi,  who,  in  order  to  study  this
question  better,  had  worked  three  butchers’  shops,  points  out,
with  that  clearness  which  characterizes  all  his  writings,  the
grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  application  of  the  system.
These  are,  firstly,  the  great  complexity  of  the  accounts  ;  and
secondly,  the  difficulty  of  looking  after  the  managers  and
ensuring  their  honesty  and  activity.  M.  Cemuschi  quotes  the
following  extract  from  an  English  pamphlet,  “  Checks  on  Cooperative ­
  Storekeepers:”—“  Among  the  difficulties  encountered
by  the  co-operative  movement,  none  has  had  more  disastrous
consequences  than  that  of  finding  an  efficacious  means  of
superintending  the  accounts  of  the  co-operative  stores.”  The
selection  of  managers,  however,  is  really  the  great  difficulty.
The  head  of  a  private  business  is  directly  interested  in  the
good  administration  of  his  affairs,  but  the  manager  is  only  indirectly ­
  interested.  The  former,  in  that  he  receives  the  profits,
will  be  far  more  active  than  the  latter,  who  has  a  fixed  salary.
There  is  one  essential  truth  which  reformers  should  never
forget,  namely,  that  the  incentive  to  production  has  always
been,  and  will  always  be,  personal  interest  and  responsibility.
Self-devotion  has  its  own  place,  and  a  very  large  one,  in  life  ;
charity,  duty,  and  patriotism  have  their  heroes  and  their
n^artyrs;  but,  in  the  factory  and  in  the  sphere  of  material
interests,  these  virtues  would  soon  get  wearied  at  seeing  idleness ­
  and  selfishness  taking  advantage  of  them.  The  monk,  it
IS  true,  works  for  and  enriches  his  monastery;  and  communism,
—See  the  admirable  work  of  George  Howell,  “  Conflict  of  Capital  and
pn»  ,1"^'  1878.  [See  also  a  little  book,  full  of  information  on  the  subject,
nuued  Working  Men  Co-operators,"  by  Arthur  H.  Dyke  Acland  and
Lond!^'"  members  of  the  Central  Co-operative  Board),