New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-27

ether N tri- country or elsewhere; ard ipdsrt
,be fol ure Of the vaiiou. e.tabii,hmea,s TIA.
bsre beer undertaken 70 noting more than Is
pIt dict, IN every one If bis b. ks.
The Socialist Nosemeut. which thus iates
from bpoUt 1870, Was in certain degree ongi
tal With tie parties to it 10 this country, =. II
vss ID other countries. Here a sJeci.I stimu-
lus Vas 10 doubt furnished by the publications
Of abicb Mr. Albeit Bis Dane was the author;
bat the ASPIRATIONS for more democratic social
C, Doitons, moIe eqra distribution of the adsaut-
spes Of II eIts culture nnd PHYSICAL labor, for
freedom from the CALLING aud iLhumau rela-
tions Of master and mepial, ssd from the con-
venroDsl fslsities of society, had long burned 10
rnapy hearrs, which now seized with enthusiasm
upon Il 4. new mode of sttaiting tae longed for
Utopia The hr6Or and universally with
which the idea OF Association was embraced
proved that it responded 10 re al aud deep-felt
want, while the undenia,le ability and many
siot ar. umeLts with which ii was set before the
public, did lot fail TO eolIst thousands whose
o. sire vas not 80 much to benefit society s.
themselves.
Between the years l8lO and 1916 there spraug
up three or four Associations in Massachusetts,;
five or Elk in Western New.YOrk one in New
jersey; three in Ohio; one IN Michigan; one In
Wisconsin and ole or t@o were projected in
Virginia, but we believe ne.er established.
Most Of them were organized on the principles
of lOiut-stock and Of dividing profits according
TO the time spent in labor, but some adopted
the principle Of Communism They were gen-
e1slly very short.liyed. That of Brook Farm
near Boston, lasted SIX years; that 10 Wisconsin
lasted, re think, two years. and that whose
termination we to-day chronicle, the best pro
yided and MT st tenacious OF all, Will nluber at
its death thirteen years. There yet re mains,
however in Massachusetts, the Community at
Hopedsle. which without attaining auy very
brilliant pc :unay results, still gives no slgn OF
dissolution; but this is established upon pecul-
lar religious basis. 1t will naturally be argued
that these experiments show that sslde rom
special religious doctrnes-l'ke that OF the
Strikers, for instance-it is very difficult, If got
impossible, with such materials as society nov
furnishes, to form Ass. ations for the purposes
ousiry, education and social life. We do not
de,y the force ofthis arguments bat at the same
time it should be forgotten that all OF these
experiments have been made under 6 eat dis
advantage; that not one of them has ever had
the capitol necessary to fairly organize its vari-
Gus inoustrisl ana educ 4tlOnal departments
and that they have been carried OF by persons
Only PARTIAL! competent to the work they have
undertaken. In tue failure of them al there ii
nothiIg 70 demonstrate that under proper con-
ditiops AID with the requisite means, success
msy not be achieved. SoWe of these conditions
are certainly possessed by the new French
American Association, whose establishment Is
Low going forward in Texas und II the superu-
tendence of Mr. Victor Conslderalt; aud We
trust the event may prove that it possesses
them all.
The great practical difficulty in these expert
ments has been TO secure 10 the III mbers a
due sense of personal responsibility and due
vigilance for the common good The Immediate
spur of sef.iDtere-t not being so directly 'elt as
in the ordinary mode of life, and the needful
of food and clothing being tolerabIy GER
tain the mass of the members have not been
impelled to work so diligently or to save so
carefully as if everything depended on the toll
and economy of the day, or as If an employer
were overlooking them. Thus shittless aud
careless way of going on has too ofoen grown up
in the Association, and while few have borne
mere than their fair share of toe toll and care,
others have borne less. This defect might per-
haps be obviated by more stringent system of
compensatng the services OF the parties; but at
the same tine the truth il indisputabie that IN
an Association piuehing economy can less easily
be practlced Than in isolated life. Keep people
apart, and they can bear privation and want If
not with facility, without complaints but bring
them into genial and natural relations, and what
before was luxury becomes simply necessary.
They require to be better fed and better housed,
and TO have much more leisure for the social
pleasures and opportunities of culture put
within their reach Between Association aud
poverty there is natural contradiction; and
we suspect that the former eau never be CON-
pletely realized until the progress of science,
invention and industry has endowed society
with sn abundance of wealth of e,ery kind such
as We now scarcely imagine
That so l.fty and satisfying sn ideal of social
bfe will one cay be fully at aimed it would be
impossible to soubt. Indeed it is intimated 10
ali traditions and foretold in all prophecies. 1t
is the dictate of common sense, the essence Of
democracy and The promise of religion. Every
thing which increases the power Of Man over
Nature is a step toward it; everything which
expands bis intellect or stirs noble emotion ia
his heart, is pledge Of its final advent and it