Fourier, Fran

ÇOIS CHARLES MARIE, ( foore -ai,) the inventor of the co-operative system, B. at Besançon, 1768. He was son of a clothier, and was brought up to mercantile employment at Lyons and Marseilles. The agitations of the first years of the revolution led him to reflect and speculate on the evils which afflict society and po ible remedies for them, and in 1808 he announced his discovery or theory in a volume entitled, Théorie des Quatre Mouvemens et des Destinées Générales, which, after exciting a nine-days' wonder, was forgotten. It was merely the prospectus of a voluminous work which he began to publish in 1822; the first portion being entitled, Traité de l'A ociation Domestique et Agricole. No notice was taken of it by the pre or by the public men to whom Fourier sent copies; nor did his compendium entitled, Le Nouveau Monde In dust riel et Sociétaire, find a better reception. By a severe attack on the principles of the St. Simonians and Owenites in 1831, Fourier gained attention and attracted disciples, and he soon after began publishing a journal, "La Phalange," for the propagation of his views. The attempt made to give practical shape to them came to nothing, but the craving for realization of his idea - a better distribution of labor and the profits of it by means of social organization - is wide-spread and deep-seated, especially in France. Fourier published various other works, and D. 1837. Fourierism, (foor're-er-izm,) n. (Polit. Econ .) A system of socialism promulgated by Charles Fourier (17721837), and which differs materially from the systems of communism strictly so called. It profe es to be based upon natural laws, and to be founded on calculations which he maintained to be the counterpart of Newton's physical system. This system, unlike communism, does not, in theory at least, withdraw any of the motives to exertion which exist at present, nor does it contemplate the abolition of private property. According to the Fourierists, there is scarcely any kind of useful labor which is naturally and nece arily disagreeable, unle it be either regarded as dishonorable, or is immoderate in degree, or destitute of the stimulus of sympathy and emulation. They, therefore, endeavor to strengthen and foster those motives for exertion that are naturally inherent in man. Society was to be formed into a ociations, or phalansteries, each comprising 400 families, or 1,800 persons, numbers brought out by very careful calculations. The phalanstery was to include everything in structure and character which could gratify the highest taste and sense of enjoyment. The pursuits and functions of the members were to be infallibly adjusted through a distribution by which each person was to be set precisely to that occupation in life to which his pa ions and propensities directed him. Life was thus to be a perpetual enjoyment; and labor, instead of being a task, was to be as much a source of enjoyment as the pursuits of the hunter or the angler. The property of the a ociation was to be held in 1,128 shares, and the whole products were to be divided into twelve parts; of which five were to go to labor, four to capital, and three to skill or talent. The capital of the community may be owned in unequal shares by different members, who would receive proportional dividends, and the claim of each person to the share of the produce appropriated to talent is estimated by the grade or rank which the individual occupies in the several groups of laborers to which he or she belongs. The remuneration, when received, would not of nece ity be expended or enjoyed in common. The system, however, as a whole, is so complex, that Fourier himself never admitted that even the most ardent of his disciples understood it; and to the last he would sanction nothing as an announcement of his views that he had not himself written. An attempt was made to carry out Fourier's views practically in the neighborhood of the small town of Rambouillet, easily acce ible from Paris. About $100,000 is said to have been expended in the attempt, which proved a failure. Fourierism is "the most skilfully combined, and with the greatest foresight of objections, of all the forms of socialism." It "does no violence to any of the general laws by which human action, even in the present imperfect state of moral and intellectual cultivation, is influenced; and it would be extremely rash to pronounce it incapable of succe , or unfitted to realize a great part of the hopes founded on it by its partisans."-Ref. En cyclopedia Britannica , art. COMMUNISM, (PRINCIPLES OF.) Fou'rierite, n. An adherent to Fourierism. Four Lakes, in Wisconsin , a chain of lakes in Dane co., known respectively as First, Second, Third, and Fourth lakes. First Lake , the smallest and lowest of the chain, is about 3 m. long by 2 m. wide, and has its outlet in Catfish River; Second Lake , about 4 m. N.W.. and communicating by means of a small stream, is 316 m. long by 2 broad; Third Lake , about 1 m. N.W. of the last, is about 61⁄2 m. long by 2 m. wide; finally, Fourth Lake , the largest and most beautiful, is 6 m. long by 4 wide, and separated from Third Lake by a narrow strip of land, upon which Madison, the capital of the State, is built. The waters of these lakes are cold and pure, and mostly navigable for small steamers. The two last are now called lakes Monona and Mendota. Four-legged, a. Having four legs. Four'ling, n. A name for any one of 4 children born at the same birth. Four Mile, in Iowa, a township of Polk co. Four Mile, in Colorado, a post-office of Routt co. Four Mile, in Kansas, a township of Morris co. Four Mile, in Wisconsin, a post-office of Fond du Lac co. Four Mile Creek, in Michigan , enters the Kalamazoo river in Kalamazoo co. Four Mile Creek, in Ohio, enters the Miami river in Butler co.