Note 207-8 — Chapter I

Concerning the application of the above principle in industry and in the care of the poor, see infra. The advantages afforded by consumption in common, or the combination of use, have been enthusiastically dwelt upon by Fourier, and the organization of his phalansteries is based essentially on that principle. In these colossal palaces, which, spite of all their magnificence, cost less than the hundred huts of which they take the place, a ball is given every evening, because it is cheaper to light one large hall, in which all may congregate. The division of use, or of consumption also, is here developed in a high degree. When 12 persons eat at the same table they have 12 different kinds of cheese, 12 different kinds of soup, etc. Even little children are allowed to yield to the full to their gluttonous propensities, since on them depends the productive activity of the so-called séries passionnées.[TN 36] Compare Nouveau Monde, 272. The Saint-Simonists also characterize the association universelle as the highest goal of human development. (Bazard, Exposition, 144 ff.) On the danger of this development to family life, see Sismondi, Etudes I, 43.