[525] That was Holyoake’s view (History of Co-operation, vol. i, p. 215). But, according to a passage quoted by Dolléans, Owen contemplated making an appeal to the co-operative societies to come to the rescue of his National Labour Exchange.
[526] To the workers he wrote: “Would you like to enjoy yourselves the whole products of your labour? You have nothing more to do than simply to alter the direction of your labour. Instead of working for you know not whom, work for each other.” (Quoted by Foxwell in his introduction to Anton Menger’s The Right to the Whole Produce of Labour.)
[527] See the lecture on Les Prophéties de Fourier in Gide’s Co-opération.
[528] It is hardly necessary, however, to credit him with a greater amount of eccentricity than he actually possessed, and I seize this opportunity of refuting once more a story told by more than one eminent economist, attributing to him the statement that the members of the Phalanstère would all be endowed with a tail with an eye at the end of it. The caricaturists of the period—“Cham,” for example—represent them in that fashion. The legend doubtless grew out of the following passage from his works, which is fantastic enough, as everybody will admit. After pointing out that the inhabitants of other planets have several limbs which we do not possess, he proceeds: “There is one limb especially which we have not, and which possesses the following very useful characteristics. It acts as a support against falling, it is a powerful means of defence, a superb ornament of gigantic force and wonderful dexterity, and gives a finish as well as lending support to every bodily movement.” (Fausse Industrie, vol. ii, p. 5.)
[529] Nouveau Monde industriel, p. 473.
[530] Letter dated January 23, 1831, quoted by Pellarin, Vie de Fourier (Paris, 1850).
[531] Nouveau Monde industriel, p. 26. For further details see Œuvres choisies de Fourier, with introduction by Charles Gide, and Hubert Bourgin’s big volume on Fourier.
[532] It is necessary to point out that Fourier’s suggestions for a solution of the domestic servant problem are really not quite so definite as we have given the reader to understand in the text. They are mixed up with a number of other ideas of a more or less fantastic description, but very suggestive nevertheless. This is especially true of the suggestion to transform domestic service by making it mutually gratuitous—an idea that is worth thinking about.
[533] We were thinking especially of associations like that of the painters under the leadership of M. Buisson, where distribution is as follows: labour, 50 per cent., capital 27 per cent., administration 12 per cent.
[534] Association domestique, vol. i, p. 466.