12 
THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
tion, because it lessened the force of individual interest as an 
incentive to work, and it did not lend itself to the varied com 
binations which arise from the modern organization of trade. 
“ Associated ownership ”—that is to say, the same as exists in 
the modern joint-stock companies—is, according to Mario, the 
form which best suits intensive production. It unites the per 
manent character and the powerful means of production of 
corporate ownership, to the advantages arising from the capa 
bility of division and transfer, and the individual nature of 
parcelled-out private property. Hence the ever-increasing part 
assumed by commercial and industrial societies in the economic 
world. 
Mario sets forth, with remarkable analytical force, the 
advantages offered by associated ownership, as well for the 
increase in the productivity of labour as for the improvement 
of the condition of the labourers. He did not, however, foresee 
all the obstacles which, in the present state of things, prevent 
its becoming as general as might have been hoped, if only the 
best side, which the author throws into such bold relief, were 
taken into consideration. The solution which he reaches is in 
reality borrowed from Fourrier ; the Utopia of communistic 
phalansteries appears from time to time as the ideal. Never 
theless, he has studied Political Economy most profoundly, and 
in his deductions, often very ingenious, he scarcely ever ignores 
economic principles. Unlike most reformers, he insists, as 
strongly as J. S. Mill, that the population question in reality 
governs all others. Like Mill, or J oseph Gamier, he says : 
accomplish the best imaginable reforms, spare nothing in order 
to better the condition of the lower classes, adopt laws the best 
calculated to further the growth of wealth and its equitable dis 
tribution, yet all your efforts will be in vain, if the population 
increases faster than the means of subsistence. Industry will 
in vain multiply her manufactured articles ; they are merely 
accessories. The essential thing to know is whether each year 
agriculture can obtain from the soil sufficient produce to enable 
everybody at least to be fed. 
Mario is entirely right on this point, but he relies too much 
upon preventive measures, which, as experience has shown,