The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-11
COMMUNITIES AND COLONIES.
SOM thing About the shakers. EDen-
I.xers, Oneidas ana other Conn
mUnlstie Communities.
New York Times.l

New York Timesl
| Scattered through thirteen States, branches
| OF eight main bodies, are seVeslty-tWO com
munitles. whose central idea is that Of hold
| ing all things In common. They number
| some 5000 persons, owning, perhapa, lsb,VOV
acres of land and stzDD00D0 worth OF prop
erty.
Perfealonists and Americans, although the
| former were organized by an Engllshwoman;
the remainder are German. The Eben- ESers,
| of Aurora, call themselves "Inspirationists,'
their present lesader-a wonan-claimlng 10
speak by inspiration, and this claim runs
back oyer n century with them IN Germany
before they became communal. The Separh--4
lists cane from Wnrtemberg, under stress OF
persecution on account OF their religious
Views. The Shakers. who are the oldest and
most numerous nf these groups were organ
ized by an Englishwoman named Ann Lee
who. while In prison for her retigiuos mani
festatons in ITO, claimed to have had spe-
cjal revelation from God. and WAS directed to
come to America. She arrived IN New York,
with eight others, In 1774 and lived in the
woods until $780, when soine unusually Affect
ca subjects OF IL revival In the nefghborhood
happened to wander to her. Her professions
OF supernatural and even miraculous powers
were kept up, and she ID still called Mother
Ann" by the Shakers and vaneratfd NY them
as u sort Of patron saint. The Shakers ana
Rappists or Harmonists are celibates, and IT
ia aIi extraordinary fact that the latter after
several years of communal life, and while
many of them were living In the marriage
relation, deliberately abandoned 1t, q few who
were unwilling to do SO withdrawing.
The Peffeetionists at Oneida, In this State,
and Wallpgford, Ct, have what they call u
complex marriage state, every woman being
considered as married to every man. They
say that there Is "no intrinsic difference be-
tween property in person and property ia
things" hence their communion extends to
themselves us well as to what they have &C
uured, aud the relationship between the
sexes is rs free ms consent can make 1t, OK
cept that any disposition to O permanent
| association between the same two persons is
repressed as being manifestation Of "sel-
fishness."
The Communists unite provision for the
wants of this life with peculiar religious mo-
tons which might be called fanatieal but
that they are entirely free from spirit Of
intolerance. Some are Spirltualists In the
ordinary seuse of the word; some look very
soon for the econd coming Of Christ and the
end of all things, while some believe the
second coming already past; they believe in
they have their own hymns, literature and
observances. and seem to be moved by de-
sire to separate themselves from the world.
The Perfectionists profess to aim ut com
plete sinlessness and some individuals
among them claim to have attained it.. All
the Communists are good citizens. They
break no laws; they add nothing to the public
charge on acco, mt Of pauperism and vice;
attempt among themselves anything beyond
moral suasion, but allow those to withdraw
who become insubordinate They have nel-
Their defalcations nor breaches of trust, and
their honesty In all commercial dealings Is as
proverbiaI as their Shrewdness, The moral
lily of their life is unimpeaehable. This must
be admitted Of even the Oneida body with the
exception Of their peculiar institution which
Is worse than the Mormon practice In its de-
moralizng influences, and justifies the pres
ent agitation against them In the central part
Of the State.
The Oneida people are manufacturers main
ly, agriculturists incidentally; the rest are
agriculturists mainly. All have shown an
extraordinary aptitude for invention and for
| economizing labor. The Shakers, who are
particularly well known by reason Of their
numbers and their many colonies, have
large variety Of trades, and the work OF all
communistic societies has an established rep
utatton both for uniform excellence of quality
and honesty OF quantity.
The. 1carians, in Iowa. were led by q
Frenchman. who spent sixteen years In
trying to realize pretty dream Of what
| he could do In founding society If he had
| half million In money; 50 his followers
4 began with 1000 acres Of land and 900 OF
debt. To escape from the later they finally
surrendered the former, and after hard work
and bitter economy, were able to redeem 1886
acres Of 1t; they are now independent. but
reduced in numbers. The Bishop Hill Colony
In Illinois, once having eight hundred MEM
| bers and eighty Thousand dollars worth of
property, was broken up by inefficient leader
ship and the trouble of debt, and their town is
falling into decay. But the societies generally
| have rigidly adhered to the rule OF having no
debt and getting property only as they earn
! 1t. None OF the communes are rich in the
ordinary sense Of the word, and they do not
| try to be.
| A bad Investment.