Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-12-04
THE NEWEST UTOPIA.
A PROPOSED COOPERATIVE COLONY
IN NORTH CAROLINA.

The History of Similar AItruistic Schemes.
Successful Ones In This COuntry-M. Go
din's Famous Familistere society.
A good many years ago humanity gave
up searching for the waters of eternal life,
but the hun for Utopia goes on as merrily
today as it did a hundred years ago, and
there is every prospect that we will go on
dow the ages looking for a perfect exist
ence in an imperfect world. Tho latest
disciple of Rousseau and Ripley is K. j.
Hoffman of Detroit, who hopes to start an
altrurinn colony in North Carolina.
Tho details of tho scheme ON which the
Hoffman colony is to be founded are lack
ing, but it is to b0 Il communistic settle
mcnt, in which a sort Of military rule is
to prevail. There is to be cummuu owner
ship uf land, labor certificates are to take
the place of money and other featur If
cooperating living arc t. be adopted.
1t is easy enough to predict that T.
mans colony will be II failure, but W..
er it succeeds or not the experiment will
add something to the general knowledge
on the subject and form another argument
for the social economists Tor or against
the feasibility of such projects. If the
founder of this latest scheme has taken
advantage of the wealth of experience.
BANDED down along with the history of
former attempts in this line, he may
achieve something more lasting than has
ever yet been accomplished. A glance
over the record of the many social expert
ments which have been tried during the
last century is always Interesting.
Foremost among all such efforts toward
altrurianism was the famous Brook Farm
community, which was established in New
England half n century ago, This was
really the outcome of Il general manifesto
ton throughout the country of Utopian
sentiment, Intellectual men IN widely
separated communities seemed to be moved
by a common desire to study Cooperative
societies and get back to nature. George
Ripley, a Unitarian minister, was the
man who submitted the plan Of a social
and agricultural democracy which, after
being someY hat modified, was adopted by
the Brook furm ~cnlonist,.
A tract Is iand 200 acres in extent was
purchaser about eight miles from Boston,
and for awhile the colony prospercd.
Among those who helped to make Brook
Farm a temporary success We're several
who alterTnrd became famous and gained
high positions in she outside world by
their own individual efforts ana unnsuni
talents. Charles a. Dana, Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Hawthorne, Theodore Parker,
Francis George Shaw and Margaret Fuller
were Brook Farm culonists.
For a time life at Brook Farm was idyl-
lie. Everything was run ON u basis of hui
manity, economy and equality. They were
exceedingly democratic, those Philosophers
and poets. and their tn y was SO plaus-
ible that this sort Of social reform became
widely popular. Colonies patterned after
theirs were started in various parts of the
country. There were at least three others
in Massachusetts, as many more in New
York, and one in New Jersey, which, by
the way, lasted longer than any of the
others.
An end came to Brook Farm is 1916. A
fire, which destroyed Il large building in
which the cniOnists had sunk much of their
savings, was the Immediate cause Of dis
solution, but quarreling had previously
begun and disruption was imminent. I'm