The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-02-23

all the lumber and lime they could provide.
All that was needed was a road from the
valley to the forest plateau that they called
the Pines Then this sclf-confldent band OF
optimistic dreamers set TO work to
build the rond. II was eighteen miles long,
though only three miles rs the crow
flies, winding around hill and through
cation to height OF eight thousand feet.
on grade OF eight feet to the hundred.
without proper tools. without even biast-
ing powder, this work was begun on oct. ..
1885, and was completed in June, 1890. Inc
road crossed the North Fork OF the Kaweah
by bridge 100 feet long. and ut the ter
minus OF the road they built small lum-
Der mill. To have built such road by con-
tract would have cost probably nearly
$4,000, but these devoted laborers were
paid only In time checks.
Tho time check seems to have been tho
most notable attempt to put into practice
the theories OF modern socialism. but there
were not lacking other aids toward real
izing 1.-The ideal OF fraternal and happy
life." An orchestra and band were
organized sporadically. For time
there was church and Sunday
school. Literary and scientific classes
we're formed. but did not last. home
circle met every Saturday night for sew
cral weeks A series Of mothers meetings
had n brief existence. and occasionally, In
spite OF vigorous protest from the extreme
~ pious. there were dances. There was. we
are told. cvon at Kawcah some friendship
and love and gaycty.
But human nature Is not changed in mo-
ment by changing its environment. and the
sturdy individualism that prompts men to
leave their homes and the society OF their
fellows to follow an ideal or to crafty an
instinct OF unrest, Is not apt to suit them
for an unselflsh. accomplishing life In a
communistic family. Gradually the classes
and friendly meetings were broken
up. Tho happy family became group
of Earring factions. Gossip and backbiting
and scandal were rampant and voluble as
in any young ladies boarding school. An
infinite depth OF social discomfort is re-
vcalcd by tho simple statement that "peo-
pie who had extra supplies bought with
their private means brought them In boxes
marked furniture and consumed them In
secret for fear OF adverse comment"
tho failure Of the kawoah colony was even
more conspicuous. There was no power to
compel obedience. so there was no obedience
and no unity OF action. Ono general meet
ing would rcscind the orders of the previous
meeting. Executive ability was almost
wholly lacking. aud there were few
mcmbers OF any business experience.
Many men would shirk their alot-
ted work entirely. contenting thep-
selves with fine mouth-filling phrases
about Living on the spiritual plane
and loving your brother" II was also
found impracticable to apportion work ac-
cor,ling to capacity. IAN accomplished
LANDSCAPE artist" says Mr.. HASKELL.
worked for months at washtub. grad
uate Of thrco Conservatives Of music did
tho cooking for days when there was a
strike in the restaurant. Every year others
picked and cannad for tho winter hum
drcds OF pounds OF fruits on shares from
adjacent ranches. Others packed shingles.
kept vegetable gardens. raised chickens.
and set type in the printing office. have
seen woman getting in tircwocd with an
axe and bucksaw in plain sight Of thirteen
men gathered for six solid hours around n
stump cXcitedly discussing rule OF order
improperly construed ut the last meeting"
The enterprise was clearly q failure and
was decadent when the United States Gov
eminent reserved the whole territory for n
public park and arrested the trustees for
cutting timber ON Government land.
The result Of these proceedings has been
practically to force the colony to dissolve.
A few members. however. still linger in
what is now only the grave OF their oncc
golden dreams Of an earthly millennium.
Their hardshps have undoubtedly been
great, and it is possible that they have not
been treated with Justice. But that ques-
ton it is unnecessary to discuss here. The
moral of the story is identical with the moral
of the failure in tho numerous similar soci-
cites OF which Mr.. MOVES compiled tho
obituary notices in his History Of
American Socialism," and it is stated as
roncisely as may be by Mr.. HASKELL {:
Under the competitive system men pro-
duce because they must work to the high
est pitch or starve, and they arc under conf
petcnt leadership. Under the cooperative.
there is no such prodding incentive to toll,
10 probability OF such leadership, and men
are not yet civilized enough to do right for
rights sake alone and to labor for the love
OF production itself"
The Thcoloeical Discussion.