INQUEST ON NEW HARMONY.
The only laudable object any one can have in rehearsing and studying
the histories of the socialistic failures, is that of learning from
them practical lessons for guidance in present and future experiments.
With this in view, the great experiment at New Harmony is well worth
faithful consideration. It was, as we have said, the first and most
notable of the entire series of non-religious Communities. It had for
its antecedent the vast reputation that Owen had gained by his success
at New Lanark. He came to this country with the prestige of a reformer
who had the confidence and patronage of Lords, Dukes and Sovereigns in
the old world. His lectures were received with attention by large
assemblies in our principal cities. At Washington he was accommodated
by the Speaker and President with the Hall of Representatives, in
which he delivered several lectures before the President, the
President elect, all the judges of the Supreme Court, and a great
number of members of Congress. He afterwards presented to the
Government an expensive and elaborate model, with interior and working
drawings, elevations, &c., of one of the magnificent communal edifices
which he had projected. He had a large private fortune, and drew into
his schemes other capitalists, so that his experiment had the
advantage of unlimited wealth. That wealth, as we have seen, placed at
his command unlimited land and a ready-made village. These attractions
brought him men in unlimited numbers.
How stupendous the revolution was that he contemplated as the result
of his great gathering, is best seen in the famous words which he
uttered in the public hall at New Harmony on the 4th of July, 1826. We
have already quoted from this speech a paragraph (underscored and
double-scored by Macdonald) about the awful Trinity of man's
oppressors--"Private property, Irrational Religion, and Marriage." In
the same vein he went on to say:
"For nearly forty years have I been employed, heart and soul, day by
day, almost without ceasing, in preparing the means and arranging the
circumstances, to enable me to give the death-blow to the tyranny
which, for unnumbered ages, has held the human mind spellbound in
chains of such mysterious forms that no mortal has dared approach to
set the suffering prisoner free! Nor has the fullness of time for the
accomplishment of this great event, been completed until within this
hour! Such has been the extraordinary course of events, that the
Declaration of Political Independence in 1776, has produced its
counterpart, the _Declaration of Mental Independence_ in 1826; the
latter just half a century from the former.***
"In furtherance of our great object we are preparing the means to
bring up our children with industrious and useful habits, with
national and of course rational ideas and views, with sincerity in all
their proceedings; and to give them kind and affectionate feelings for
each other, and charity, in the most extensive sense of the term, for
all their fellow creatures.
"By doing this, uniting our separate interests into one, by doing away
with divided money transactions, by exchanging with each other our
articles of produce on the basis of labor for equal labor, by looking
forward to apply our surplus wealth to assist others to attain similar
advantages, and by the abandonment of the use of spiritous liquors, we
shall in a peculiar manner promote the object of every wise government
and all really enlightened men.
"And here we now are, as near perhaps as we can be in the center of
the United States, even, as it were, like the little grain of mustard
seed! But with these _Great Truths_ before us, with the practice of
the social system, as soon as it shall be well understood among us,
our principles will, I trust, spread from Community to Community, from
State to State, from Continent to Continent, until this system and
these _truths_ shall overshadow the whole earth, shedding fragrance
and abundance, intelligence and happiness, upon all the sons of men!"
Such were the antecedents and promises of the New Harmony experiment.
The Professor appeared on the stage with a splendid reputation for
previous thaumaturgy, with all the crucibles and chemicals around him
that money could buy, with an audience before him that was gaping to
see the last wonder of science: but on applying the flame that was to
set all ablaze with happiness and glory, behold! the material prepared
would not burn, but only sputtered and smoked; and the curtain had to
come down upon a scene of confusion and disappointment!
What was the difficulty? Where was the mistake? These are the
questions that ought to be studied till they are fully answered; for
scores and hundreds of just such experiments have been tried since,
with the same disastrous results; and scores and hundreds will be
tried hereafter, till we go back and hold a faithful inquest, and find
a sure verdict, on this original failure.
Let us hear, then, what has been, or can be said, by all sorts of
judges, on the causes of Owen's failure, and learn what we can.
Macdonald has an important chapter on this subject, from which we
extract the following:
"There is no doubt in my mind, that the absence of Robert Owen in the
first year of the Community was one of the great causes of its
failure; for he was naturally looked up to as the head, and his
influence might have kept people together, at least so as to effect
something similar to what had been effected at New Lanark. But with a
people free as these were from a set religious creed, and consisting,
as they did, of all nations and opinions, it is doubtful if even Mr.
Owen, had he continued there all the time, could have kept them
permanently together. No comparison can be made between that
population and the Shakers, Rappites, or Zoarites, who are each of one
religious faith, and, save the Shakers, of one nation.
"Mr. Samson, of Cincinnati, was at New Harmony from the beginning to
the end of the Community; he went there on the boat that took the last
of the Rappites away. He says the cause of failure was a rogue, named
Taylor, who insinuated himself into Mr. Owen's favor, and afterward
swindled and deceived him in a variety of ways, among other things
establishing a distillery, contrary to Mr. Owen's wishes and
principles, and injurious to the Community.
"Owen always held the property. He thought it would be ten or twelve
years before the Community would fill up; but no sooner had the
Rappites left, than the place was taken possession of by strangers
from all parts, while Owen was absent in England and the place under
the management of a committee. When Owen returned and found how things
were going, he deemed it necessary to mike a change, and notices were
published in all parts, telling people not to come there, as there
were no accommodations for them; yet still they came, till at last
Owen was compelled to have all the log-cabins that harbored them
pulled down.
"Taylor and Fauntleroy were Owen's associates. When Owen found out
Taylor's rascality he resolved to abandon the partnership with him,
which Taylor would only agree to upon Owen's giving him a large tract
of land, upon which he proposed to form a Community of his own. The
agreement was that he should have the land and _all upon it_. So on
the night previous to the execution of the bargain, he had a large
quantity of cattle and farm implements put upon the land, and he
thereby came into possession of them! Instead of forming a Community,
he built a distillery, and also set up a tan-yard in opposition to Mr.
Owen!"
In the _Free Enquirer_ of June 10th, 1829, there is an article by
Robert Dale Owen on New Lanark and New Harmony, in which, after
comparing the two places and showing the difference between them, he
makes the following remark relative to the experiment at New Harmony:
"There was not disinterested industry, there was not mutual
confidence, there was not practical experience, there was not unison
of action, because there was not unanimity of counsel: and these were
the points of difference and dissension--the rocks on which the social
bark struck and was wrecked."
A letter in the _New Harmony Gazette_, of January 31, 1827, complains
of the "slow progress of education in the Community--the heavy labor,
and no recompense but _cold water_ and _inferior provisions_."
Paul Brown, who wrote a book entitled "Twelve months at New Harmony,"
among his many complaints says, "There was no such thing as real
general _common stock_ brought into being in this place." He
attributes all the troubles, to the anxiety about "_exclusive
property_," principally on the part of Owen and his associates.
Speaking of one of the secondary Societies, he says there were "class
distinctions" in it; and Macluria or the School Society he condemns as
being most aristocratical, "its few projectors being extremely
wealthy."
In the _New Moral World_ of October 12, 1839, there is an article on
New Harmony, in which it is asserted that Mr. Owen was induced to
purchase that place on the understanding that the Rappite population
then residing there would remain, until he had gradually introduced
other persons to acquire from them the systematic and orderly habits,
as well as practical knowledge, which they had gained by many years of
practice. But by the removal of Rapp and his followers, Mr. Owen was
left with all the property on his hands, and he was thus compelled to
get persons to come there to prevent things from going to ruin.
Mr. Josiah Warren, in his "Practical Details of Equitable Commerce,"
says: "Let us bear in mind that during the great experiments in New
Harmony in 1825 and 1826, every thing went delightfully on, except
pecuniary affairs! We should, no doubt, have succeeded but for
property considerations. But then the experiments never would have
been commenced but for property considerations. It was to annihilate
social antagonism by a system of _common property_, that we undertook
the experiments at all."
Mr. Sargant, the English biographer of Owen, intimates several times
that _religion_ was the first subject of discord at New Harmony. His
own opinion of the cause of the catastrophe, he gives in the following
words:
"What were the causes of these failures? People will give different
answers, according to the general sentiments they entertain. For
myself I should say, that such experiments must fail, because it is
impossible to mould to Communism the characters of men and women,
formed by the present doctrines and practices of the world to intense
individualism. I should indeed go further by stating my convictions,
that even with persons brought up from childhood to act in common and
live in common, it would be impossible to carry out a Communistic
system, unless in a place utterly removed from contact with the world,
or with the help of some powerful religious conviction. Mere
benevolence, mere sentiments of universal philanthropy, are far too
weak to bind the self-seeking affections of men."
John Pratt, a Positivist, in a communication to _The Oneida Circular_,
contributes the following philosophical observations:
"Owen was a Scotch metaphysician of the old school. As such, he was a
most excellent fault-finder and _disorganizer_. He could perceive and
depict the existing discord, but knew not better than his
contemporaries Shelley and Godwin, where to find the New Harmony. Like
most men of the last generation he looked upon society as a
manufactured product, and not as an organism endued with imperishable
vitality and growth. Like them he attributed all the evils it endured
to priests and politicians, whose immediate annihilation would be
followed by immediate, everlasting and universal happiness. It would
be astonishing if an experiment initiated by such a class of thinkers
should succeed under the most favorable auspices. One word as to mere
externals. Owen was a skeptic by training, and a cautious man of
business by nature and nationality. He was professedly an entire
convert to his own principles; yet set an example of distrust by
holding on to his thirty thousand acres himself. This would do when
dealing with starving Scotch peasantry, glad of the privilege of
moderately remunerated labor, good food and clothing. Had he been a
benevolent Southern planter he would have succeeded admirably with
negro slaves, who would have been only too happy to accept any
'Principles.' He had to do with people who had individual hopes and
aspirations. The internal affinities of Owen's Commune were too weak
to resist the attractions of the outer world. Had he brought his New
Lanark disciples to New Harmony, the result would not have been
different. Removed from the mechanical pressure of despair and want,
his weakly cohered elements would quickly have crumbled away."
Our chapter on New Harmony was submitted, soon after it was written,
to an evening gathering of the Oneida Community, for the purpose of
eliciting discussions that might throw light on the failure; and we
take the liberty here to report some of the observations made on that
occasion. They have the advantage of coming from persons who have had
long experience in Community life.
_E.H. Hamilton_ said--"My admiration is excited, to see a man who was
prospering in business as Mr. Owen was, turn aside from the general
drift of the world, toward social improvement. I have the impression
that he was sincere. He risked his money on his theories to a certain
extent. His attempt was a noble manifestation of humanity, so far as
it goes. But he required other people to be what he was not himself.
He complains of his followers, that they were not teachable. I do not
think he was a teachable man. He got a glimpse of the truth, and of
the possibilities of Communism; but he adopted certain ideas as to the
way in which these results are to be obtained, and it seems to me, in
regard to those ideas, he was not docile. It must be manifest to all
candid minds, that all the improvement and civilization of the present
time, go along with the development of Christianity; and I am led to
wonder why a man with the discernment and honesty of Mr. Owen, was not
more impressible to the truth in this direction. It seems to me he was
as unreceptive to the truths of Christianity, as the people he got
together at New Harmony were to his principles. His favorite dogma was
that a man's character is formed for him, and not by himself. I
suppose we might admit, in a certain sense, that a man's character is
formed for him by the grace of God, or by evil spirits. But the notion
that man is wholly the creature of external circumstances,
irrespective of these influences, seems foolish and pig-headed."
_H.J. Seymour._--"I should not object to Owen's doctrine of
circumstances, if he would admit that the one great circumstance of a
man's life is the possibility of finding out and doing the will of
God, and getting into vital connection with him."
_S.R. Leonard._--"The people Mr. Owen had to deal with in Scotland
were of the servile class, employees in his cotton-factories, and were
easily managed, compared with those he collected here in the United
States. When he went to Indiana, and undertook to manage a family of a
thousand democrats, he began to realize that he did not understand
human nature, or the principles of Association."
_T.R. Noyes._--"The novelty of Owen's ideas and his rejection of all
religion, prevented him from drawing into his scheme the best class in
this country. Probably for every honest man who went to New Harmony,
there were several parasites ready to prey on him and his enterprise,
because he offered them an easy life without religion. Even if he
might have got on with simple-minded men and women like his Lanark
operatives, it was out of the question with these greedy adventurers."
_G.W. Hamilton._--"At the west I met some persons who claimed to be
disciples of Owen. From what I saw of them, I should judge it would be
very difficult to form a Community of such material. They were very
strong in the doctrine that every man has a right to his own opinion;
and declaimed loudly against the effect of religion upon people. They
said the common ideas of God and duty operated a great deal worse upon
the characters of men, than southern slavery. There is enough in such
notions of independence, to break up any attempt at Communism."
_F.W. Smith._--"I understand that Owen did not educate and appoint men
as leaders and fathers, to take care of the society while he was
crossing the ocean back and forth. He undertook to manage his own
affairs, and at the same time to run this Community. Our experience
has shown that it is necessary to have a father in a great family for
daily and almost hourly advice. I should think it would be doubly
necessary in such a Community as Owen collected, to have the wisest
man always at his post."
_C.A. Burt._--"There are only two ways of governing such an
institution as a Community; it must be done either by law or by grace.
Owen got a company together and abolished law, but did not establish
grace; and so, necessarily failed."
_L. Bolles._--"The popular idea is that Owen and his class of
reformers had an ideal that was very beautiful and very perfect; that
they had too much faith for their time--too much faith in humanity;
that they were several hundred years in advance of their age; and that
the world was not good enough to understand them and their beautiful
ideas. That is the superficial view of these men. I think the truth
is, they were not up to the times; that mankind, in point of real
faith, were ahead of them. Their view that the evil in human nature is
owing to outward surroundings, is an impeachment of the providence of
God. It is the worst kind of unbelief. But they have taught us one
great lesson; and that is, that good circumstances do _not_ make good
men. I believe the circumstances of mankind are as good as Providence
can make them, consistently with their own state of development and
the well-being of their souls. Instead of seeking to sweep away
existing governments and forms of outward things, we should thank God
that he has given men institutions as good as they can bear. We know
that he will give them better, as fast as they improve beyond those
they have."
_J.B. Herrick._--"Although the apparent effect of the failure of
Owen's movement was to produce discouragement, still below all that
discouragement there is, in the whole nation, generated in part by
that movement, a hope watching for the morning. We have to thank Owen
for so much, or rather to thank God, for using Owen to stimulate the
public mind and bring it to that state in which it is able to receive
and keep this hope for the future."
_C.W. Underwood._--"Owen's experiment helped to demonstrate that there
is no such thing as organization or unity without Christ and religion.
But on the other hand we can see that Owen did much good. The churches
were compelled to adopt many of his ideas. He certainly was the father
of the infant-school system; and it is my impression that he started
the reform-schools, houses of refuge, etc. He gave impulse, at any
rate, to the present reformatory movements."
* * * * *
It is noticeable, as a coincidence with our observations on the lust
for land in a preceding chapter, that Owen succeeded admirably in a
factory, and failed miserably on a farm. Whether his 30,000 acres had
anything to do with his actual failure or not, they would probably
have been the ruin of his Community, if it had not failed from other
causes.
We have reason to believe from many hints, that _whisky_ had
considerable agency in the demoralization and destruction of New
Harmony. The affair of Taylor's distillery is one significant fact.
Here is another from Macdonald:
"I was one day at the tan-yard, where Squire B. and some others were
standing, talking around the stove. During the conversation Squire B.
asked us if he had ever told us how he had served 'old Owen' in
Community times. He then informed us that he came from Illinois to New
Harmony, and that a man in Illinois was owing him, and asked him to
take a barrel of whisky for the debt. He could not well get the money;
so took the whisky. When it came to New Harmony he did not know where
to put it, but finally hid it in his cellar. Not long after Mr. Owen
found that the people still got whisky from some quarter, he could not
tell where, though he did his best to find out. At last he suspected
Squire B., and came right into his shop and accused him of it; on
which Squire B. had to own that it was he who retailed the whisky. 'It
was taken for a debt,' said he, 'and what else was I to do to get rid
of it?' Mr. Owen turned round, and in his simple manner said, 'Ah, I
see you do not understand the principles.' This story was finished
with a hearty laugh at 'old Owen.' I could not laugh, but felt that
such men as Squire B. really did not understand the principles; and no
wonder there are failures, when such men as he thrust themselves in,
and frustrate benevolent designs."
It was too early for a Community, when this country was a "nation of
drunkards," as it was in 1825.
Owen's method of getting together the material of his Community, seems
to us the most obvious _external_ cause of his failure. It was like
advertising for a wife; and we never heard of any body's getting a
good wife by advertising. A public invitation to "the industrious and
well-disposed of all nations," to come on and take possession of
30,000 acres of land and a ready-made village, leaving each one to
judge as to his own industry and disposition, would insure a prompt
gathering--and also a speedy scattering.
This method, or something like it, has been tried in most of the
non-religious experiments. The joint-stock principle, which many of
them adopted, necessarily invites all who choose to buy stock. That
principle may form organizations that are able to carry on the
businesses of banks and railroads after a fashion; because such
businesses require but little character, except zeal and ability for
money-making. But a true Community, or even a semi-Community, like the
Fourier Phalanxes, requires far higher qualifications in its members
and managers.
The socialistic theorizers all assume that Association is a step in
advance of civilization. If that is true, we must assume also that the
most advanced class of civilization is that which must take the step;
and a discrimination of some sort will be required, to get that class
into the work, and shut off the barbarians who would hinder it.
Judging from all our experience and observation, we should say that
the two most essential requisites for the formation of successful
Communities, are _religious principle_ and _previous acquaintance_ of
the members. Both of these were lacking in Owen's experiment. The
advertising method of gathering necessarily ignores both.
Owen, in his old age, became a Spiritualist, and in the light of his
new experience confessed what seems to us the principal cause of his
failure. Sargant, his biographer, referring to chapter and verse in
his writings says:
"He confessed that until he received the revelations of Spiritualism,
he had been quite unaware of the necessity of good _spiritual
conditions_ for forming the character of men. The physical, the
intellectual, the moral, and the practical conditions, he had
understood, and had known how to provide for; but the spiritual he had
overlooked. _Yet this, as he now saw, was the most important of all in
the future development of mankind._"
In the same new light, Owen recognized the principal cause of all real
success. Sargant continues:
"Owen says, that in looking back on his past life, he can trace the
finger of God directing his steps, preserving his life under imminent
dangers, and impelling him onward on many occasions. It was under the
immediate guidance of the Spirit of God, that during the inexperience
of his youth, he accomplished much good for the world. The
preservation of his life from the peculiar dangers of childhood, was
owing to the monitions of this good Spirit. To this superior invisible
aid he owed his appointment, at the age of seven years, to be usher in
a school, before the monitorial system of teaching was thought of. To
this he must ascribe his migration from an inaccessible Welsh county
to London, and then to Stamford, and his ability to maintain himself
without assistance from his friends. So he goes on recounting all the
events of his life, great and small, and attributing them to the
SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD."