attorney in fact. This became necessary, because, besides the property,
there were debts; and when the trustees were removed and a receiver was
appointed, the question necessarily came up how the debts should be met.
The division of the property was made by a committee of the society, who
took a complete inventory, including even the smallest household
articles; and at the time there seems to have been no complaint of
unfairness. The whole was divided into shares, of which each man
received one, and women and children fractional shares. A part of the
property was set off, sufficient, as it was then believed, to pay off
the indebtedness; but it proved insufficient, and finally each farm
given to a member in the partition was saddled with a share of
indebtedness; and as there was poor management after the disorganization
began, and as the debt constantly increased by the non-payment of
interest, there are now, thirteen years after the final partition, heavy
lawsuits still pending in the courts against the colony and its
trustees.
In 1861 the community raised a company of soldiers for the Union army,
furnishing both privates and officers. These fought through the war, and
one of the younger members after the war was, for meritorious conduct
and promising intellect, taken as a scholar at West Point, where he was
graduated with honor.
At present Bishop Hill is slowly falling into decay. The houses are
still mostly inhabited; there are several shops and stores; but the
larger buildings are out of repair; and business has centred at Galva,
five or six miles distant. Most of the former communists live happily on
their small farms. A Methodist church has been built in the village, and
has some attendants, but a good many of the older members have adopted
the Adventist or Millerite faith, which appears to revive after every
failure of prediction, especially in the West, where people seem to look
forward with a quite singular pleasure to the fiery end of all things.
On the whole, it is a melancholy story. It shows both what can be
achieved by combined industry, and what trifles can destroy such an
organization as a communistic society. It shows the extreme importance
of a central authority, wisely administered but also implicitly obeyed;
able therefore to yield, as well as to act, promptly. The history of
these Bishop Hill Communists also shows the necessity of great caution
in all financial affairs in a commune, which ought to avoid debt like
the plague, and to live financially as though it might break up at any
moment.
Not only were debt and the speculative spirit out of which debt arose
the causes of the colony's failure, but they have brought great trouble
on the people since. Had there been no debt, the commune could have
divided its property among the members at any time, without loss or
trouble; and I suspect that the possibility of such an immediate
division might have induced the people to keep together.
At any rate, the story of Bishop Hill shows how important it would be to
a community agreeing to labor and produce in common for a limited time
to keep free from debt.
THE CEDAR VALE COMMUNITY.
At Cedar Vale, in Howard County, Kansas, a communistic society has been
founded, which, though its small numbers might make it insignificant, is
remarkable by reason of the nationality of some of its members.
It was begun three years ago, and the purpose of its projectors was "to
achieve both communism and individual freedom, or to lead persons of all
kinds of opinions to labor together for their common welfare. If there
was to be any law, it should be only for the regulation of industry or
hours of work." I quote this from the letter of a gentleman who is
familiar with this society, and who has been kind enough to send me its
constitution, and to give me the following particulars: "It is now three
years since the founders of the society settled in this domain, coming
here entirely destitute, and building first as a residence a covered
burrow in a hillside. Two of them had left affluence and position in
Russia, and subjected themselves to this poverty for the sake of their
principles. Of course they suffered here from fever, from insufficient
food, and cold, and were not able to make much improvement on the place.
The practical condition now, though insignificant from the common point
of view, compared with what has been, is very satisfactory. There are at
least comfortable shelter and enough to eat, and this year sufficient
land will be fenced and planted to leave a surplus.
"The propaganda has been made among two essentially differing classes of
socialists--the Russian Materialists and the American Spiritualists.
Both these classes are represented in the community, and thus far seem
to live in harmony. There are here a 'hygienic doctor' and a 'reformed
clergyman,' both Spiritualists, and a Russian sculptor of considerable
fame, a Russian astronomer, and a very pretty and devoted and
wonderfully industrious Russian woman."
The printed statement made by the community I copy here, as a sufficient
account of its numbers and possessions in April, 1874:
"The PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY is located near Cedar Vale, Howard County,
Kansas, has three hundred and twenty acres of choice prairie land, with
abundance of stock, water, and with all advantages for successful
farming, stock and fruit raising.
"The nearest railroad station is Independence, Montgomery County,
Kansas, fifty miles east from the place.
"The community was established in January, 1871. It is out of debt now,
and has a fair prospect for success in the future.
"The business of the community consists chiefly in farming.
"Number of members: four males; three females; one child. Persons on
probation: two males; one female; one child.
"Improvements: frame house; stable; forty acres under fence; four acres
of orchard and vines.
"Live stock and implements: four horses; four oxen; three cows and
calves.
"The co-operation of earnest communists is wanted for the better
realization of a true home based on Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
"No fee is required from those who visit the community, but their work
for the community is regarded as equivalent to their current expenses.
"The principles and organization of the community can be seen from the
following constitution.
"PREAMBLE."
"_Whereas_, we believe that man is not only an individual having
rights as such, but also owing social duties to others, and that strict
justice requires us to help each other, and that our highest happiness
and development can only be attained by a union and co-operation of
interests and efforts; _Therefore_, we pledge ourselves to live
"'For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that we can do.'
"And we, whose names are annexed, hereby organize ourselves under the
name of the PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY, and agree to devote our labor and
means, to the full extent of our ability, to carry out the following:
"CONSTITUTION."
"ARTICLE I."
"SEC. 1.--The community shall be considered as a family. The members
shall unite in their labor and business, hold their property in common
for the use of all, and dwell together in a unitary home."
"SEC. 2.--Each member shall be free to hold whatever opinions his
conscience may dictate; and the community shall make no restriction or
regulation interfering with the freedom of any, except when his actions
conflict with the rights of others."
"SEC. 3.--All shall be alike responsible for the strict observance of
this constitution. Equal rights and privileges shall be accorded to all
members; but the community may temporarily withhold from a member the
right to vote by the unanimous consent of the rest."
"ARTICLE II."
"SEC. 1.--All matters concerning the welfare of the community shall be
decided by the members at their meetings, which shall be of the
following kinds: (1) Daily business meetings for the decision of daily
work; (2) Weekly meetings for the discussion of business questions, and
for remarks on the general interests and welfare of the community."
"SEC. 2.--All decisions, except as herein otherwise provided for, shall
be by a majority of three fourths of all the members."
"SEC. 3.--Debts may be contracted, or credit given, only by the
unanimous vote of the community."
"SEC. 4.--The officers of the community shall consist of a president,
secretary, treasurer, and managers. They shall be elected at the end of
each year, and enter on the duties of their offices on the first of
January following, being subject to removal at any time."
"SEC. 5.--The president shall preside at all meetings, shall see that
the decisions of the community are carried out, and make temporary
arrangements for the business of the day when necessary."
"SEC. 6.--The secretary shall record the proceedings of all the meetings
of the community, attend to all its correspondence, and preserve all the
valuable documents thereof."
"SEC. 7.--The treasurer shall hold the fund of the community, and keep
an accurate account of all money received or expended; but no money
shall be paid out except as appropriated by the community. He shall make
a report at each business meeting."
"SEC. 8.--The managers shall control the different departments to which
they are elected, decide all details of business, if not previously
acted upon by the community, and make reports at each business meeting."
"ARTICLE III."
"SEC. 1.--Any person, after having lived in the community, and having
become thoroughly acquainted with its members and the community life,
may become a member by subscribing to this constitution; provided he is
accepted by the unanimous vote of the community."
"SEC. 2.--All property which members may have, or may receive from any
source or at any time, shall be given to the community without
reservation or return."
"SEC. 3.--The members shall be furnished with food, clothing, and
lodging, care and attention in sickness, misfortune, infancy, or old
age, and the means and opportunity for a complete integral education,
and for such other necessary requirements as the community can afford;
and these benefits shall be guaranteed by the whole resources of the
community."
"SEC. 4.--A withdrawing member shall not bring any claim against the
community on account of any labor, services, or property given thereto;
but his current expenses and the advantages of the community life shall
be considered as an equivalent therefore. He shall be allowed to take
from the common property only what may be decided upon by the community
at the time of withdrawal."
"SEC. 5.--Children of the members, or those which may be adopted by the
community, shall be considered as members thereof; they shall have equal
rights as herein specified, except voting, to which privilege they shall
be admitted when the community by unanimous consent shall think best,
and after signing their names to this constitution."
"ARTICLE IV."
"Any amendments, additions to, or interpretations of this constitution
may be made at any time by unanimous vote of the community."
THE SOCIAL FREEDOM COMMUNITY.
This is a communistic society, established in the beginning of the year
1874 in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It has as "full members" two
women, one man, and three boys, with four women and five men as
"probationary members." They have a farm of three hundred and
thirty-three acres, unencumbered with debt, and with a water-power on
it; and are attempting general farming, the raising of medicinal herbs,
sawing lumber and staves, coopering, and the grinding of grain. The
members are all Americans.
They hold, the secretary writes me, to "unity of interests, and
political, religious, and social freedom; and believe that every
individual should have absolute control of herself or himself, and that,
so long as they respect the same freedom in others, no one has a right
to infringe on that individuality."
The secretary further writes: "We have no constitution or bylaws; ignore
the idea of man's total depravity; and believe that all who are actuated
by a love of truth and a desire to progress (and we will knowingly
accept no others), can be better governed by love and moral suasion than
by any arbitrary laws. Our government consists in free criticism. We
have a unitary home."
COLONIES WHICH ARE NOT COMMUNISTIC.
COLONIES--NOT COMMUNISTIC.
I have noticed that not unfrequently Vineland, in New Jersey, and
Anaheim, in California, are classed with Communistic Societies. They are
nothing of the kind; and only one of the two--Anaheim, namely--was in
the beginning even co-operative.
As, however, both these settlements were founded under peculiar
circumstances, and as both show what can be achieved in a short time by
men of narrow means, acting more or less in concert for certain
purposes, I have determined to give here a brief history of the two
places.
_Anaheim_.
Anaheim, the oldest of these two "colonies," lies in Los Angeles County,
in Southern California, about thirty miles from the town of Los Angeles,
and ten or twelve miles from the ocean, upon a fertile and well-watered
plain. In its settlement it was strictly a co-operative enterprise.
In 1857 several Germans in San Francisco proposed to certain of their
countrymen to purchase by a united effort a tract of land in the
southern part of the state, cause it to be subdivided into small farms,
and procure these to be fenced, planted with grape-vines and trees, and
otherwise prepared for the settlement of the owners. After some
deliberation, fifty men set their names to an agreement to buy eleven
hundred and sixty-five acres of land, at two dollars per acre; securing
water-rights for irrigation with the purchase, because in that region
the dry summers necessitate artificial watering.
The originator of the enterprise, Mr. Hansen, of Los Angeles, a German
lawyer and civil engineer, a man of culture, was appointed by his
associates to select and secure the land; and eventually he became the
manager of the whole enterprise, up to the point where it lost its
co-operative features and the members took possession of their farms.
The Anaheim associates consisted in the main of mechanics, and they had
not a farmer among them. They were all Germans. There were several
carpenters, a gunsmith, an engraver, three watch-makers, four
blacksmiths, a brewer, a teacher, a shoemaker, a miller, a hatter, a
hotel-keeper, a bookbinder, four or five musicians, a poet (of course),
several merchants, and some teamsters. It was a very heterogeneous
assembly; they had but one thing in common: they were all, with one or
two exceptions, poor. Very few had more than a few dollars saved; most
of them had neither cash nor credit enough to buy even a twenty-acre
farm; and none of them were in circumstances which promised them more
than a decent living.
The plan of the society was to buy the land, and thereupon to cause it
to be subdivided and improved as I have said by monthly contributions
from the members, who were meantime to go on with their usual
employments in San Francisco. It was agreed to divide the eleven hundred
and sixty-five acres into fifty twenty-acre tracts, and fifty village
lots, the village to stand in the centre of the purchase. Fourteen lots
were also set aside for school-houses and other public buildings.
With the first contribution the land was bought. The fifty associates
had to pay about fifty dollars each for this purpose. This done, they
appointed Mr. Hansen their agent to make the projected improvements; and
they, it may be supposed, worked a little more steadily and lived a
little more frugally in San Francisco. He employed Spaniards and Indians
as laborers; and what he did was to dig a ditch seven miles long to lead
water out of the Santa Anna River, with four hundred and fifty miles of
subsidiary ditches and twenty-five miles of feeders to lead the water
over every twenty-acre lot. This done, he planted on every farm eight
acres of grapes and some fruit-trees; and on the whole place over five
miles of outside willow fencing and thirty-five miles of inside fencing.
Willows grow rapidly in that region, and make a very close fence,
yielding also fire-wood sufficient for the farmer's use.
All this had to be done gradually, so that the payments for labor should
not exceed the monthly contributions of the associates, for they had no
credit to use in the beginning, and contracted no debts.
When the planting was done, the superintendent cultivated and pruned the
grape-vines and trees, and took care of the place; and it was only when
the vines were old enough to bear, and thus to yield an income at once,
that the proprietors took possession.
At the end of three years the whole of this labor had been performed and
paid for; the vines were ready to bear a crop, and the division of lots
took place. Each shareholder had at this time paid in all twelve hundred
dollars; a few, I have been told, fell behind somewhat, but were helped
by some of their associates who were in better circumstances. If we
suppose that most of the members had no money laid by at the beginning
of the enterprise, it would appear that during three years they saved,
over and above their living, somewhat less than eight dollars a week--a
considerable sum, but easily possible at that time in California to a
good and steady mechanic.
It was inevitable that some of the small farms should be more valuable
than others; and there was naturally a difference, too, in the village
lots. To make the division fairly, all the places were viewed, and a
schedule was made of them, on which each was assessed at a certain
price, varying from six hundred to fourteen hundred dollars, according
to its situation, the excellence of its fruit, etc. They were then
distributed by a kind of lottery, with the condition that if the farm
drawn was valued in the schedule over twelve hundred dollars, he who
drew it should pay into the general treasury the surplus; if it was
valued at less, he who drew it received from the common fund a sum which
h, added to the value of his farm, equaled twelve hundred dollars. Thus
A, who drew a fourteen-hundred-dollar lot, paid two hundred dollars; B,
who drew a six-hundred-dollar lot, received six hundred dollars
additional in cash.
The property was by this time in such a state of improvement that money
could readily be borrowed on the security of these small farms.
Moreover, when the drawing was completed, there was a sale of the
effects of the company--horses, tools, etc.; and on closing all the
accounts and balancing the books, it was found that there remained a sum
of money in the general treasury sufficient to give each of the fifty
shareholders a hundred dollars in cash as a final dividend.
When this was done, the co-operative feature of the enterprise
disappeared. The members, each in his own good time, settled on their
farms. Lumber was bought at wholesale, and they began to build their
houses. Fifty families make a little town in any of our Western States,
sufficiently important to attract traders. The village lots at once
acquired a value, and some were sold to shopkeepers. A school was
quickly established; mechanics of different kinds came down to Anaheim
to work for wages; and the colonists in fact gathered about them at once
many conveniences which, if they had settled singly, they could not have
commanded for some years.
They were still poor, however. But few of them were able even to build
the slight house needed in that climate without running into debt. For
borrowed money they had to pay from two to three per cent, per month
interest. Moreover, none of them were farmers; and they had to learn to
cultivate, prune, and take care of their vines, to make wine, and to
make a vegetable garden. They had from the first to raise and sell
enough for their own support, and to pay at least the heavy interest on
their debts. It resulted that for some years longer they had a struggle
with a burden of debt, and had to live with great economy. But the
people told me that they had always enough to eat, a good school for
their children, and the immense satisfaction of being their own
employers. "We had music and dancing in those days; and, though we were
very poor, I look back to those times as the happiest in all our lives,"
said one man to me.
And they gradually got out of debt. Not one failed. The sheriff has
never sold out any one in Anaheim; and only one of the original settlers
had left the place when I saw it in 1872. They have no destitute people.
Their vineyards give them an annual _clear_ income of from two
hundred and fifty to one thousand dollars over and above their living
expenses; their children have enjoyed the advantages of a social life and
a fairly good school. And, finally, the property which originally cost
them an average of one thousand and eighty dollars for each, is now worth
from five to ten thousand dollars. They live well, and feel themselves as
independent as though they were millionaires.
Now this was an enterprise which any company of prudent mechanics, with
a steadfast purpose, might easily imitate. The founders of Anaheim were
not picked men. I have been told that they were not without jealousies
and suspicions of each other and of their manager, which made his life
often uncomfortable, and threatened the life of the undertaking. They
had grumblers, fault-finders, and wiseacres in their company, as
probably there will be among any company of fifty men; and I have heard
that Mr. Hansen, who was their able and honest manager, declared that he
would rather starve than conduct another such enterprise.
They were extremely fortunate to have for their manager an honest,
patient, and sufficiently able man; and such a leader is indeed the
corner-stone of an undertaking of this kind. Granted a man sufficiently
wise and honest, in whom his associates can have confidence, and there
needs only moderate patience, perseverance, and economy, in the body of
the company, to achieve success. Nor could I help noticing, when I was
at Anaheim, that the experience and training which men gain in carrying
to success--no matter through what struggles of poverty, self-denial,
and debt--such an enterprise, has an admirable effect on their
characters. The men of Anaheim were originally a very common class of
mechanics; they have stepped up to a higher plane of life--they are
masters of their own lives. This result--namely, the training of
families in the hardier virtues, their elevation to a higher moral as
well as physical standard--is certainly not to be overlooked by any
thoughtful man.
_Vineland._
Vineland was not a co-operative enterprise. It is the land-speculation
of a long-headed, kind-hearted man, who believed that he could form a
settlement profitable and advantageous to many people, and with
pecuniary benefit to himself. Until the year 1861, the southern part of
New Jersey contained a large region known as "the Barrens," and very
sparsely settled with a rude and unthrifty population. The light soil
was supposed to be unfit for profitable agriculture; and the country for
miles was covered with scrub pine and small oak timber, used chiefly for
charcoal, and as fuel for some glass factories at Millville and
Glassborough. Much of this land was owned in large tracts, and brought
in but a small revenue. When the West Jersey Railroad, connecting Cape
May with Philadelphia, was completed, it ran through many miles of these
"Barrens," and some of the owners, tired of a property which in their
hands had little value, were ready to sell out.
Charles K. Landis had conceived the idea of forming a colony, upon
certain plans which he had matured in his own mind. His attention was
attracted to this region, and after examining the soil and the general
character of the region, he bought sixteen thousand acres in one parcel.
To this he added, soon after, another purchase of fourteen thousand
acres, making thirty thousand in all. He has bought lately (in 1874)
twenty-three thousand acres more.