The Portland daily press., 1896-10-24
PAID IN HOURS
A Colony in Paraguay Where Time
Is Money.
The COLONIAL COSME AND IT'S
SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

Iheroies of the Colonists Put into Practice.
A Place Where Industry Rewarded by
the Right to be Lazy.
Successful experiments on thorough
going Communicate or Socialistio lines
nave often been made-in books. Even
the books usually describe possibilities
Of the future rather than of the present.
Yet practical attempts in this direction
are now making by people who are not
discouraged by the many recorded fail
ures, and one such attempt the Colonia
Cbsme, in Paraa uay, has recently been
Visited by an Englishman who, In writ
Ing to The London Telegraph Of what he
saw there, signs his article as ga Con-
vert"
The Colonia Cosme. he ssys, is an off
shoot from an Australian society, and It's
Numbers settled in Paraguay two or
three years ago as a self-supporting agri-
cultural community. Established ON the
River Paraguay, some hundred miles
ahove Asur oion, in the midst of coun-
try described as an earthly paradise, the
cdony is succeeding beyond the settlers
expectations.
They landed from Australia with very
little to fall back upon, as thsy had sold
all their agricultural and domestic i'm
PIGMENTS and any of their remaining
possessions Will b were worth anything
fr money to take them over the water.
II was, therefore, ard struggle at the
beginning. Everything had TO be made
by their own hands-houses, furniture,
utensils, even tools.
They lost no time in starting upon the
task seu before them, and If they are now
on the path ofssucoess it ia result en-
tirely due to their own 1abors and the in
domitable energy Of their leaders. They
have built their own dwelling houses.
stores, and factories, cleared the sur
rounding ground for cultivation, and
made their own furniture, boats,
ploughs, and other farming implements
They are living upon their own produce,
smoking their own tobacco, aud using
both as articles of barter with the sur
rounding natives. They are looking for
ward to making commercial SUCCESS of
the divine weed in the shape of cigars,
and some of their men are studying this
manufacture at Buenos Ayres, with
view to developing their own produce.
From the measureless forests around
them they intend to cut down trees and
commence numbering as yet another
branch Of industry.
They EARN "TIME," NOT MONEY.
The internal and social arrangements
of this hard-working colony are simple
in the extreme. The community bene-
fits by each mans labor, and the work.
men earn. not money, but time; for
with them time is money in the most
literal sense. Their wages are paid in
hours and half hours. The labor hours
of.the colony are seven per diem, but
overtime to any extent is permitted. It
is therefore possible for a man to have
three weeks or more of overtime placed
to his credit which he can use in any
way he thinks tit. Some of the men col.
iect their time wages in this fashion and
go away holiday making; others, again,
81 m ply knock off work and rest.
In the course of ooupls OF years or so
the Executive Committee of the colony
expects to reduce the daily working
hours, and make the leisure time longer.
This will enable the oolonists to collect
time and overtime at muoh quicker rate
and permit them to 60 hOme to the old
countries for a visit.
But time thus acquired serves other
purposes than that of mere holiday
making. A man, perhaps, wants chairs
or table or utensils of some kind. He
buys these from the men whose duty it
is to make them, the payment being in
hours, which are deducted from tine bal
anee lying to his credit.
There Is curious primeval air about
this very simple system. The colony has
Its play hours also. Saturday evening
is the general relaxation time, and the
settlers have all kinds of entertainments
concerts, operas, readings, dramatic re-
oitals, and dancing. They have a -four
'shing literary society, and publish
monthly magazine and daily news
PoPoH' Aney nave no printing press,
but the hektograph comes in handy. The
children go to school and are thoroughly
grounded in the three Rs, for there are
well-educated and intellectual men in
the colony. and all are willing to help in
the promotion Of knowledge.
AS an example of how simply and
oheaply one can live there. 1T Is stated
that three mem bers Of the community
made a dug-out canoe, and, having
earned three weeks holiday, started on
the river toward Asuncion. They sold
their canoe for Paraguayan money to the
value Of rather more than 20 English shil-
hngs. and travelled home overland. Ihey
were about ten days on the return jour-
hey, lived on the best of everything, and
LOGGED in the best houses in the villages
on the way back. They tried hard TO get
through their money before they re-
turned, but they did not manage 1t and
each of them was still possessed OF lit
tie cash w han ha cyas hack tO COsmG. LII