The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-03-08

| all a work of humanity with her, and
she comes from Denver to this town be-
| cause she realizes Chicago is about the
| present center of the earth. One home
| here will exert an influence over con-
siderable portion of the planet, and, once
started, she is confident the scheme OF
cooperative living will be generally
adopted. Beginning with small commu-
| mites, it may be enlarged to entire set
| Elements, and then to include all the
jewellers in the suburban cities The
only limit the promoter will allow is
| a final great universal kitchen with pots
and kettles large enough to supply all
| the human family.
big building, and thus have the charac-
teristics that belong to existence in
hotel. Each family will be allotted
house, with room sufficient unto the
members thereof. Each tenant is to be-
come a householder and own his rooms,
and thereby become stakeholder and a
voter in the common affairs of the COM
munity. He will select such location
as he can afford, the prices ranging
from So, 900, and he will pay on the in
stallment plan. He will meet his pay
ments very easily, so Mrs. Coleman
Stuckert proves, and still have money to
save. out ofsshis s65. This one fact is her
strongest point, since her investigations
show that the middle-class people lose
much of the chance of married happi-
ness in the cheerlessnesss of fat This
is the way she proposes to make poverty
a bearab BILE evil and ordinary success one
endless bed of roses and riches-the very
acme of earthly blessedness.
1t will be necessary to get forty-four
fa1 mi ice w tn
They will then build the village, or
unite and get some speculator to do it
for them. There VIII be some small
houses and some large ones, all equipped
and trimmed exactly alike, and with the
very latest and best conveniences that
go INFO homes. Each dweller will fur
nish the parlors, and all the rooms will
be parlors or sleeping room to suit indi-
yidual taste. The architecture will fol-
low harmonious lines, each house stand
ing close against its neigh Dor, with
lawns and paths in front and rear. So
far the cooperative system has made
nothing different from the present sys-
tenn. The revolution begins at this
point.
The central court will contain COM
mon building, where all the drudgeries
will be performed Here will be all the
cooking, heating and lighting machinery
the ice chests, the dish washers, servants
Of home life will be removed and the
domestic anarchists will find victims
only in themselves. The forty-four
families will need but fourteen people to
do all their household work, a fact found
by very elaborate figuring at the hands
of Mrs. Coleman-Stuckert. THESE people
include the baker, the professional cook,
a gardener, superintendent. two en-
gineers and the corps of helpers. This
saves the salaries OF at least eighty do
nestle servants, besides having the food
cooked economically, and in excellent
taste, and all other things executed by
the most skilled labor.
An electric carrier will distribute the
cooked meals Each house will be a
station and when the big dinner gong
sounds the colony cook will push the
button and send out forty-four smoking
dinners. Each hamper will be heated,
SO that the hot viands and vegetables
will be at their prime when the good
wife lifts them into her window. Each
matron will then serve the meal in the
common dishes or remove it to her own
china. The hamper Will then go back
for the second course and the third, I'M
til the dessert and coffee shall be
reached.
The cost? Why, Mrs. Coleman-Stuckert |
has a diagram showing it will be only
50 week for each person. This will |
give all first class eating, of course
barring trawberries at so cents quart
or radishes at 40 cents each. This will |
include all the common dishes served to
the colony, while each day each house |
wife may order for three meals ahead |
any speciality which the market affords. |
EssThese extras, OF course, will be charged |
for specially, but only enough to pay
the cost. She may also order additional |
quantities for company, at cost only |
equal to the price of the raw material |
bought at wholesale by the buyer for |
the company. So much for the eating. |
This new ideal home will also have
joint heating and lighting plant. Thus |
all the distress of fire building and fuel |
will be removed, and the gas bill will |
fade before the colony's meager assess |
ment to keep it's own dynamo running.
Each house will get its steam at cost |
from it's own boiler, and all this branch |
of the household economy will aggregate |
but SIS a month for each family. And |
there you are, according to Mrs. Cole |
man-Stuckert. The entire cost of living |
for the $65 month man and his wife |
will aggregate but $35 month, and he
has all the comforts his rich neighbor has |
enjoyed. He has lived in suite of six
rooms, eaten the best in the market,
read his paper by electric light, warmed |
his feet on steam radiator, taken his |
bath in porcelain tub, and watched |
his wife grow handsomer as she grew
older, with her face unWlrnkled by WOr- |
ry and. her constitution undestroyed by
drudgery.
These figures are applicable only to
the second-best system of cooperative
homes. Mrs. Coleman Stuckerta has draw
ings for one for the very poor They
are all equally practical in her mind.
and she is going to prove this is the
way to live by building the first one in
Hyde Park. DR.. Gunsaulus has promised |
to assist, and several men of means are
going to back the enterprise
CURRENT COMMENT,