Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-01-14
The Oneida Community,

! The days Of the Oneida Community
are evidently numbered. When, a few
months ego, in Difference to q tidal
wave Of public indignation which
threatened to overwhelm them, its
members consented to abandon for the
time their principal tenet of complex
marriage, as one for which society was
not yet sufficiently advanced, they
yielded its strongest point; and in their
recent action OF dividing the property
hitherto held by the whole community
into shares to lie held by j,int stock
company, We see the deliberate renun-
citation of another fundamental doctrine,
Upon these two points the whole struc-
ture OF their association--the whole
fabric Of their polity-was founded.
The cueida Community is one of the
latest, and, in certain respects, the IN ost
successful, of all the experiments which
grew out OF that general ferment of
ideas which agitated all Europe hun
dred years ago. and led, Oh that con.
tinent, to the French Revolution. and
on this to numberless societies and as
sociations in which the idea of com.
| munity of goods was a more or less
fundamental principle. 1t is difficult
to realize how widespread was the belief
that there was radical error in the ex.
listing ideas of tenure of property, and
how immense an amount of thought
| and energy was brought to bear upon
the problem how to substitute O social
| and cooperative state for the COMPETE
tive one which was and il the existing
order OF society. It was the considera.
ton OF this problem which gave rise to
| such societies as the bankers, Rappites
and Shakers, and that later on, within
the memory of many yet living, pro.
duced the great renaissance of Social
ism under Owen and Fourier and their
disciples. The years between 1926 and
1S47 saw the birth of no fewer than
seventy -four associations dedicated to
the solving of social problems. The
we'll known Brook Farm Association,
from the rare superiority of its mem
bers, was by far the most brilliant and
noteworthy of all these, and its exist
ence was prolonged to the unusual ex.
tent of six years. OF the others, few
lived beyond the second year; all died
heavily in debt, and none realized its
hope of in any way influencing public
sentiment, although for a time the lead.
ers Of public thought, both in the DEM
ocratic vnd Wing parties, had been
sensibly attracted, the one by the
doctrines of Owen, the. other by the
tenets of Fourier.
Toe Oneida Community, which, in a
certain sense, rose upon the ruins of
the former experiments, having been
founded in 1916, distinctly asserts itself
to be the outgrowth, not Of the socialist
renaissance, but of the religious revi-
walls which swept over {, county in
the years between 1880 and 1910. Not
Owen and Fourier. but Nettle.on and
Finney, it claims as its spiritual fathers.
IN the words of its founder, Noyes,
Orthodoxy ripened into Perfection
ism at New Haven, and Perfection pro-
duced the Oneida Community" That
idea which, however they otherwise
differed, lay at the root of both the
Owen and Fourier movements. 1.-THE en-
largement of home, the extension of the
family beyond the little man-and- wife
circle to large corporations" is. in the
Oneida system OF doctrine, secondary
and subordinate to the religious creed
which, by some psychological legerde-
main, has been evolved from the New
Testament teachings, interpreted by the
immediate inspiration with which they
claim to be endowed, that they have de-
duced that doctrine OF community, Of
persons out OF which arises their prac
tice OF complex marriage, and from
which they trace their second and
minor tenet Of community Of goods,
which, in other such associations, ha.,
hitherto held the foremost place.
It is this claim to advanced thought
| and superior religious light which con-
stitutes their peculiar offense. When .
! community Of people take higher
ground than the mere pecuniary vel
fare Of society, and base their action
upon the most exalted of motives.
claiming for it the highest sanction, we
have right to demand from them the
| most exalted purity Of life, the noblest
self.renunciation for the common veal.
When, therefore. they are found to be
leading Q life compared with which
Morm0nism is purity itself, it 10 no
wonder that the Indifference or curiosi-
| ty with which other such experiments
are regarded should give place to .
sentiment of universal execration, and
should lead to decided and efficient
| action. The wonder is, indeed. that
the Oneida Community has been per-
| mitted to live 90 long in the face Of the
positively upward neral tendencies OF
| the age.
It can scarcely be matter OF sur
! prise that, so soon after being forced to
yield the cardinal point in their creed.
they should find it necessary to recon-
! struct their theory Of property. Other
| societies have attained good measure
| of prosperity upon the basis Of COM
| munity Of goods; but the Oneida Com.
munity, in claiming that its social theo-
ries we're founded upon religious
| creed, had only to prove the rottenness
of the one to see the ruin of the other.
-Frank Leslie's Newspaper.
Mr.. F. J.. Campbell, the blind man
who recently assembled Mont Blanc, is
| an American, a native of Tennessee.
He lost his sight when about three
years old, was educated in the institu-
ton of his native State, and for num-
Der Of years was at the head OF the
| - DarLsnu In.