The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-10-03
SOME THRIFTY PEOPLE.
Millions OF Dollars Accumulated-Th
Career and Business Operations of tn
Harmonists.

| harmOntsc.
There has always conferred about the
sect of Harmonists a halo of interest
because of their peculiarities and seclu-
sive tendencies. The founder of this
rich colony, located at Economy. on the
banks of the Beaver River, was George
Ray, who was born in Wurtemburg in
1870. Believing he had divine call
and was charged with restoration of
the Christian religion to its original
purity, he organized colony on the
model of the primitive church, with
goods and chattels in common. This
soon involved him and his followers in
trouble with his Government, and COM
PEELED him to transplant the community,
in 1903, to the United States. They
settled first on the COnnequenessing
Creek, in Butler County, where they
founded the village of Harmony and
employed themselves in agriculture
and manufacture. By industry and
thrift they acouirefc wealth
and in 1915 they removed in a body to
Indiana. where they purchased and
located upon $4,000 acres of land along
the banks of the Wabash River. The
| settlement of New Harmony was even
more prosperous than the first had been.
but the climate was not satisfactory,
and in 1924, after numerous councils,
they sold out and moved back to Penn
sylvania, this time locating in Beaver
County, on the right bank of the Ohio
River. where they purchased $500
acres of beautiful farming lands and
where they soon afterward laid out the
town of Economy. Here is where they
are located at present, surrounded by
peace and plenty.
They are strange people-do not be.
lieve in marriage, but all live together
as brothers and sisters and practice the
strictest morality.
In 1885 the question of marriage was
the leading one in the community and
| about two hundred members withdrew
because they favored marriages and es-
| tablished the town of Phillipsburg; but
the new colony did not prosper, and
after few years of struggling they
sold out and disbanded, dividing the
proceeds OF their sales equally among
all the members.
In the meantime the Harmonists were
gradually becoming more and more
wealthy, until at present they own
jointly and in common lands, stocks,
bonds and herds, the value of which is
estimated at 100000. Besides own
ing all of Economy and large part
Beaver, they own an entire county in
Dakota. in the valley of the Red River
of the North.
Out of their surplus moneys they
built and equipped the Pittsburgh &
Lake Erie Railroad, running through a
rich and fertile country from Pittsburgh
to Youngstown, and owned the con-
trolling interest in it until the road was
sold to the Vanderbilts. 1t is said that
on this deal alone they made seventy
five per cent on their investment, as
the road turned out to be one of the
best paying lines in the country. II is
matter of history that at the time the
war broke out, in 1861, they converted
all their bonds and available property
into money and buried it, using the
treasure afterwards in paying for the
building of the railroad. The pay
ments thus made put in circulation an
immense amount of silver, many of the
pieces dating back to 1900.
Owing to the law prohibiting mar.
rage the sect has gradually diminished
until at present it consists of only thir-
teen men and forty women. all of them
well advanced in years. They employ
over three hundred servants and farm
hands, and these, with their families,
make quite village. Everything is
owned in common. The grocer, the
baker, the butcher, and the milkman
go the rounds every day and supply the
different families with the necessaries
and a few of the luxuries of life.
Nothing can be purchased in the
village of Economy, and it is
probably the only town in the world
where man can not, even if he de-
sires, spend money They are extreme
ly liberal and philanthropic, and are
constantly doing acts of benevolence
Their houses, which are all exactly
alike, are an equal distance apart and
are at uniform distance from the village
street. They are painted pure white
and have no front doors. claiming that if
they had these cOnveniences the women
folks would spend too much time
looking at and gossiping with passers-
by. A good story is related in this con.
nection that the president of the COM
munity score of years ago imagined
that there was too much familiarity be-
tween the young men and maidens. and
so promulgated an order that all fe-
males appearing on the streets after
dark must carry lanterns. but still the
merry-making continued. although no
lanterns appeared. This caused an in
vestigation, which developed the fact
that the worthy old gentleman had
neglected to order that the lanterns
should be lighted.
As stated, there are now only thirteen
men and forty women left of the once
large colony. and they being old it is
likely that the law against celibacy will
cause the determination of the colony
in few years more. According to their