The Republican journal., 1879-02-27
The Oneida Community. A Difficult Case
for Moralists and Legislators.


state of the ''Oneida Community" or as
| they call themselves, Perfectionsts"
| This community was founded some years
ago by John Humphrey Noyes, and is
now in very tlourishing condition in re-
/ spect to its worldly goods and material
| surroundings. These people are com
| munists, in the simplest and most direct
meaning of the word-that is, all their
| property is held in common, being man
aged by the most competent members for
the general good. And not only are their
real and personal properties merged in a
j family relation also, without any limita-
ton. No man has any wife to whom he
can lay special and exclusive claim 40
woman is required or expected to devote
/ herself TO any one husband The rela
/ ton of the sexes, ike property, is in com
mon. So long rs a woman and man
mutually please each other they live to
! gethcr; when they cease to do 50, they
! separate and form new relations. or live
/ without any companjonship of the kind,
as they please
( The reader must not Jump at the con
/ clusioH that these people, because OF their
/ violation of the laws of morality, as
/ commonly understood, are dissolute, I'M
/ thrifty, or blaueworthy in other respects.
/ On the contrary. they have large tract
1 Of the most beautiful and fertile land in
the state OF New York, located in Oneida
/ county. This Land, with their accumu-
1 lated personal property, is worth at least
| half 4 million, and is owned by three hun
4 bred persons. about equally divided in
/ number between men and women. The
/ grounds buildings, &c, are patterns of
neatness and thrift. They engage largely
| in certain sptcialtes Of manufacture, such
as the making Of traps for animals. the
I manufacture of silk, canned goods, Sc
Their business is managed with superior
SKILL 50 that the property constantly ap-
/ preciates in value. Leaving out their
moral, OF immoral, adiuncts there are no
more unobjectionable people in the En-
| pire state attending strictly to their
| own business. letting their neighbors
alone and steadily refusing to De drawn
| into any controversy or contest. The
/ children born are cared for and educated
at the expense Of the community. The
state of New York, unlike most other
states, does not make a penal offence of
the relation in which these people live, so
that the criminal law cannot be invoked
against them
1t might naturally be supposed that
this peculiar community has its tounda-
ton, like Mormanism, in ignorance and
tyranny, and makes its proselytes among
the uninteligent. But such does not seem
TO be the case John Humphrey Moves,
the founder OF the oneida community.
graduated at Dartmouth college in 1870
studied law and theology, and was H.
censed to preach. He subsequently, eX-
perlenced "a second conversion" became
what he called a 'perfectionist,' and de-
voted himself to the labor Of forming this
community. These people are we'll read
and intelligent, have libraries, newspa-
pers, and two well fitted printing Offices
The most intelligent Of the young men
are sent to the best schools in the country
As we stated at the outset Of this art-
cal, there is Just now considerable excite
Ment in central New York in regard to
Its existence, and an evident intention to
make war upon this community with the
expectation Of Wlping it ont entirely. DR..
Mears, Of Hamilton College, is the head
and front OF the present movement. A
meeting held last week at the Syracuse
University was quite largely attended
by divines and others prominent in the
Episcopal, Methodist and Congregational
churches. Sentiments were expressed by
nearly all the prominent gentlemen pres
VIZ, ucllulCldupil VI lut community, cDdG-
acterizng it as a foul blot upon morality
and the civilization Of the age The fol
lowing resolutions We're presented, and
after discussion adopted.
Resolved, That it is the urgent duty Of the PEG
Pile Of the State to take and press measures for the
suppression of the immoral features OF the Oneida
Community.
Resolved, That committee be appointed, to
whom shall be committed all questions Of fact or
law relating to the Oneida Community and of
measures which ought to be adopted and to report
at a future conference which the committee will
call.
What form this movement against the
community may ultimately take can only
be conjectured. The great difficulty which
their assailants will find will be that of
making out a sufficient case against them
to excite popular indignation, or to call
for legal interference If an attempt shall
be made to invoke the law, it will need to
be in the form of special statute, as no
enactment now exists which can be made
to apply to their case. The fact that the
members of the community are practical
non resistants will make the work the
more difficult for those who endeavor to
effect their suppression. Except in the
matter of their peculiar tenets in respect
to the laws of marriage, they are good
citizens, peaceable, law abiding and re-
spectful to the authorities. They do
not offend like the MOrmOnS nv aytan
sive proselyting; their community having
grown almost entirely by the natural in
crease of their population, admissions to
outsiders being almost entirely, if not
wholly denied.
The people of the country will look
with no small interest to the result of this
crusade against apeople whose enterprise,
thrift and general characteristics present
SO much that is commendable, and yet
whose 6ailV life and associations ara thoSa