Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-04-22
Bedford Park, London.

TIE rev subntb which has TINS come
into existence swiftly, yet so quietly
that ,l,. building Of it has net scared
the II .,h'inpa!e heard yestern'ght nor
the sky jntks sin. ing While | write. has
gone tar toward the real'Z,ti OF 81 rne
aims not its own. ideals nat have tiih
erto faded. There is r"t Il member Of
it who w,n MD not be startled. If not
0candAliz d az any suggestion that he
or shr I, long Il to a community large
Tvs c,ai,.,ic. They would alIege, with
peri. ~ ruth. thnt they are not even nc
unu,nird "!'h TIE mai 'rlly OF their
neip'tors, iavo their own circle Of
frienus, aud e, on with their bust, ess a.
mel and women "f tn" world. y ,yrr-
thel, ~, II Is as certainly true hat u de
gree IN social evolution IN represented
by Il fo'd Park, and that il is i'll the
direction OF that cooperative LIT" which
amin red the dreams If Pore Ent"Iiln
ami : int Simon. All society, Ipdte!,
must sttan,iy aid normally advance III
that direction. For long time there
have bee n tendencies, to put more and
more Of the domestic work ont II pOn
esta liehme,t Is which all have III COM
mon. AS one bake: prepares bread for
many families, ana one laundry washes
for many, and the railway, omuibus,
cab, ply for many, SO other acc0mmo'
dations needed by all are found to he
within reach of the cooperative prln-
cipe; even the Injuries of life are found
to be largely within reach OF it. THIS
village has been rendered possible by
that pr'uciple, though it had another
aim. Houses Of similar architecture
have in recent years been built here and
there in London and other cities, but
they have probably cost their owners q
third more than they have cost here,
because the large nuraber of families
which agreed to buy ell rent houses en-
abled the landlord and founder OF Bed
ford Park to make large, therefore com
paratively cheap, arrangements for the
supply OF materials and labor, elsewhere
special or exceptional. BY this means
one Of the chief advantages of cO-opera-
tion was to some extent secured. We
have also cur cooperative stores; our
newspapers and cnrrent Literature are
obtained in common; We have billiard
rooms, tennis lawns, club conveniences,
and entertainments to considerable
extent in common; and perhaps by the
time this paper is read the Tabard may
be. supplying the Mdle d hote at rate
sufficiently moderate to place d daily
dinner within reach of families who
may find that desirable. Thus the CO.
operative principle has shown its APP
plicabillty to the requirements of the
cultured class, who are especially III
terestel in making for their families
beautiful homes, With out, as Thoreau
said, sacrificing life to its means. In
comes are largely increased when they
need no longer be expended on the
physical appliances OF comfort beyond
the actual advantage derived. To keep
a private carriage in order that it may
be used an hour or. two each DAY IS not
economy, if IN equally good carriage
can be hire1ifor the lou needed. Now
and then We hear little gossip when
some of the dishes at II distinguished
dinner party are suspected OF having
been prepared by Duclos instead OF u
private chef. but the tendency Of re-
fined society is to smile still more at
large on lays for ostentation.
But while in some regards Bedford
Park must be considered sociaiistic
village, it is almost the reverse of any
community which has been so called
hitherto, and is far away from the rocks
on which most of them have been
wrecked. No step in the planting or
development of the village has been ar
tifcial, or even prescribed; each insti-
tuition has appeared in response to
definite want. Ii was not in consa-
quence of any original scheme that the
cooperative stores, the club, or the
Tabbard Inn were built. The entire
freedom of the village and OF it's in
habitants is unqualified by aEy theory
whatever, whether social, political. or
economic.- NJ. ID. Conway, in Har-
per's Magazine.