The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-04-09
Communities and Colonies.
NEW York Times.l

Scattered through the Ii States branches
of eight main bodies, are ~ communities
whose central idea is that of holding all
things in common. They number some
5000 persons, owning, perhaps. 10000 acres
of land and $4,000, 600 of property. The
Icarians are French; the Shakers and Perfec-
tionists are Americans, although the former
were organized by an English woman; the
remainder are German. The Eben-Ezers OF
Aurora call themselves "Inspirationists, -
their present leader-a woman-claiming to
speak by divine inspiration, and this claim
runs back over q century with them IN Ger
many, before they became communal. The
Separatists came from Wurtemberg, under
stress of persecution on account OF their re-
ligious views. The Shakers. who are the old
est and most numerous of all these groups,
were organized by an Englishwoman named
Ann Lee, who, while in prison for her re-
ligious manifestations in lI1O claimed to
have had a special revelation rom God. and
was directed to come to America She ar
rived in New York, with eight others, in
IVA and lived in the woods until 1850, when
some unusually affected subjects OF revival
in the neighborhood happened to wander to
her. Her professions OF supernatural and
even miraculous powers were kept up, and
she is still called Mother Ann" by the
Shakers and venerated by them as a sort of
patron saint The Shakers and the Rap
pists or Harmonists are celibates, and
it is an extraordinary fact that
the latter, after several years
of communal life, and while many of them
we're living in the marriage relation, delib-
erately abandoned it, a few who were I'M
willing to do so withdrawing. The Perfec-
tionists at Oneida, in this Stste, and WalliDg-
ford, Conn, have what they call complex
marriage state. every woman being consid-
cred as married to every man. They say
that there is no intrinsic difference between
property in person and property in things"
hence their communion extends to them
selves as well as what they have acquired,
and the relationship between the sexes Is as
free as consent can make II, except that any
disposition to a permanent association be-
tween the same two persons is depressed as
being O manifestation of "sslfshness."
The Communists unite provision for the
wants of this life with peculiar religious no.
tons which might be called fanatical but
that they are entirely free from spirit OF
! intolerance. Some are Spiritualists in the
ordinary sense of that word; some look very
soon for the second coming OF Christ and the
| end of all things, while others believe the
second coming already past; they believe in
q special nearness of God to themselves; they
have their own hymns, literature, and OBJ
| servances, and seem to be moved by desire
to separate themselves from the world. The
Perfectionists profess to aim at complete sim
| lessness and some individuals among them
even claim to have attained 1t. All the
Communi sts are good citizens. They break
no laws; they add nothing to the public
charge on account OF pauperism
batants, and do not even attempt among
themselves anything beyond moral sua
sion, but allow those to withdraw who be
come insubordInate. They have neither
defalcatlons nor breaches of trust, and theil
honesty in all commercial dealings is as pro
verbal as their shrewdness The morality
of their life Is unimpeachable. This mus
| be admitted of even the Oneida body, witt
the exception of their peculiar institution
which is worse than the Mormon practice In
its demoralizing influences and justifies thu
present agitation against them in the centra
part of the State.
The Oneida people are manufacturer
mainly, agriculturists incidentally; the res
are agriculturists mainly. All have shown
an extraordinary aptitude for invention an,
for economizlng labor The Shakers, VIII
are particularly well known by reason o
their numbers and their many colonies
have a large variety of trades and tn
work of all communistic societies has al
established reputation both for uniform
excellence Of quality and honesty o
quantity. The Icarians, in Iowa, were le
by Frenchman, who spent 16 years in try
. ing to realize pretty dream of what b
could do in founding society If he hat
half a million in money, so his follower
began with 600 acres of land and $4,000
of debt To escape from the latter the.
, unhily sulIeuuertu the lorhe1, onu ave
, hard work and bitter economy, were able +
! redeem !, 936 acres of it; they are now ind'
pendent, but reduced in numbers. Tn
Bishop Hill Colony in Illinois, once havin
, 800 members and some $500, 600 of property
was broken up by inefficient leadership an
the trouble of debt, aud their town is fallin
, into decay. But the societies generally hay
:, rigidly adhered to the rule of having n
! debt and getting property only as they ear
= it. None of the communes are rich in til
ordinary sense OF the word, and they do NJ
try to be-