Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-12-18
THE ToPoLoBAMPo CO, INV
Latest Report from that somevh..
appointing Effort at Commn,,.

"P,' nv eh',eul 10 found colonv
and city at Topolobampo on the Pac;syy
coast, 10 the province of Sinaloa Man
leo. Mr.. Napoleon Hoagland. wh.
has just returned from a visit to Tou"o
lobampo. has this to say about the coI
ony as it is at present: ''
During the entire time that tba 90,
ony has been on the ground nov
nearly four years. it has had no hon.
or permanent abiding place of its own
Strictly speaking, the history of ~.
Credit Foncier Company's attempt !.
neither for nor against the successful
working of Integral co-operationn
the original and basic principles of tho
company. Mr.. Owen has himself do
clared that no part of his plan has ve,
been tried. Director WILDER. chairman
OF the resident board of directors fell.
me that the original plan of co-opera.
ton chad neither been tested nor
married., The colony has been an ey.
empliiication, not of integral or entiro
cooperation, but of mild or partial
form OF communism. For instance
they have had equal wages for eoual
numbers of hours work. The Nv
driver and the skilled cabinet-m aker
receive equal pay for days work
The pay consists in labor checks or
company credits, and are on The hasis
of So, or three units OF ACCOUNT for
eight hours work. These are ev.
changeable only through the COMPANY
for the labor or the labor products
commended by the company.
'rho onlnn,- :, =.
very little money. At present there
are only about 1870 people in the col.
ony. This includes women, children
aud invalids. There are perhaps
thirty or forty able-bodied productive
workers. In such a small community
it is impossible for it to become self.
supporting without exchanging prod.
ucts with the outside world. Conse.
quently, for the purchase of such COM
modlties as are not produced by the
colony, the labor checks are worthless
for the colony has produced ver, little
to sell to outside markets. 1t has been
estimated that from 500 600 to $500.
600 worth OF labor credits" have
already been issued. Nevertheless, 7
am told that their value, once very
low, is now on the increase. The
credits" have always paid for food at
the company's store, at the public res.
tanrant, or at the private tables. They
have always been receivable for wash
bills. and have paid educational and
school expenses. They are illegal
tender for printing, subscription to the
colony newspaper, and photographs in
limited quantities. They pay FOR maxi
ING or mendng clothes, boots and
shoes, for jewery work, for a physi-
clans care and medicine, for music for
social occasions, and in fact for any
services that one member can do for
another, from the making of a loaf of
bread to the building of "A house. The
people have no house rent to pay.
They own their own houses They
pay for them in their own labor. where
they do not build themselves; then,
100, they have no taxes 10 pay. The
company, by special concession, is not
taxed for period of ten years, but
after that time the individual member
L isza tfTo rUTTTaTIy
pays the taxes.
The social life of the colony has been
its chief beauty and charm. The
morals of the community have been
quite superior. The people did not
advertise themselves as saints. They
declared on the other hand that they
meant to get along without priests and
churches. The leaders do not mean
by this that they intend to get along
without paying any attention to relig-
ion. LAWYERS and secret societies are
also tabooed. They hire their doctor
by the year. He is at least expense
when people are the healthiest. 1t is
not to his pecunary interest that any
one should be sick. 1t is to his iinan-
ciul interest that all the colon lists
should keep well. There has been no
police, no jail, no calaboose no ex-
change of blows, no theft or robbery,
no seductions no wife beating. no
drunkenness to speak Of Drinking
intoxicating beverages, smoking or
chewing tobacco, cruelty to animals,
profanity and indecent language are
unpopular, among the men as well as
among the women; hence one sees as
little of any of these vices as he would
find at a well-reguiated Sunday school
picnic. The life in the colony resem-
bles nothing so much as a long-drawn
picnic where excuses have been
avoided, but where the ice cream anc
cake have all been consumed. Inc
grounds where the houses stand at La
Logia with their thickets and bowers
of fragrant Towering vines, bushes ana
trees and winding paths and open
spaces, seem not unlike park run
wild.
Fully one-half or two-thirds of the
people on the ground came during tina
first wear. They came to stay. Very
few would return to remain II their
expenses to the states were free 20
them. They like the climate the
country and the life, though they have
suffered many privations. The com
ing year will decide the fate OF the col,
ony, whether lit is to be or not to be.
During that time there is every reason
to hope that permanent organization
will be effected, on a solid basis, the
organization now in force being but
temporary makeshift, with but little
authority aud little to support 1t
Globe Democrat.
Dante.