The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-07-28


lease of the bondage of the poor man
to pick sixty families of tradespeople in
any city that will show the contentment
happiness and social advantages of the
utopian village and plantation OF Rus
kim
There are complainers. They are
found everywhere. They are so much
In the minority here that they have
no effect on the general average of SEN
tfment. The men who have left, who
are finding the most fault are among
those who were not socialists when they
came here, were incapable of framing
their lives to socialistic doctrines and
whose departure was better for the plan
than their presence.
Il have never met more thoughtful,
serious, determined set of men in my
life. A glimpse at the library will
prove the timbe" Of the minds in Ruskin.
The books run to ethics and philosophy
1t is not an uncommon sight to see
honest souls who have put in days
hard labor for the colony in the onion
patch spend the evening digging into
the theories which make tasks for the
senior college man.
1T is my honest conviction that Rus
kin has already proved what the wage
worker will do with himself when the
time shall come when he is free man,
free to work for himself, to enjoy the
land, to profit by the fruits of his toll,
to pay hour for hour, to walk and NOT
to be driven. l know of no other place
in this country where men think, talk.
act and live as they please all on a
basis of equality all striving to better
the world by bettering themselves and
showing the common people the way
to happiness.
WANDERING PRINTERS EXPERT
ENCE
Paul Schneider, wandering printer,
is another type of man in the colony.
Schneider was never better off than the
level; he and Broome are on the same
plane in Utopia. He does not know
very much about the English grammar,
but he knows the philosophy of social
ism. He tells about it in words that
twist up his German tongue, but he
gets heap Of comfort out of his con-
viction that very soon all the world will
rest peacefully in the realization of the
theory he has read about.
Schneider says it is socialism that is
about to put Emperor William off the
throne. He expects to see a laboring
man take his place
You see, we have got 1t settled"
unused Schneider, as he kept his eye on
tne road that brings the stage coach
and is to bring sub for Schneider
while he takes day or two of sickness
and lets his pay go on. Schneider says
the fact that his pay goes on while he
is sick is one of the joys of his life.
1t is impossible for any man to prove
the justice in one set of men being rich
and another set of men boarding all
the profits of the first mans work. It
was not intended to. be SO. We are not
here for our own benefit only, but to
show to the laboring man that a CO.
operative community, where all LABOR
is worth no more than check for an
hours labor, presents a means for abol-
lshing nearly all the trouble that now
exists between labor and capital"
Schneider did not use that language,
because Schneider's language smacks of
the big words he has found in the pink
backed literature which the colony turns
out by the ton and sells in all christen-
dom. He came from Michigan at the
beginning Of the movement He saws
there Is no spot on earth where a COM
mon man, like he says he expects al
ways to be, can be as happy and work
as little as he does at Ruskin.
1T is not probable that every man
would like this sort of life, but any
man who has studied the industrial
problem can come here and find ready
made the state of things which the
books say can be established. The itch
men will tell him that 1t cannot exist
uAtil udlulc Is IuOulucu over
again and men are freed from avarice.
We insist that a course in socialism
makes mans heart so mellow that
avarice finds no resting place there and
men are as anxious to help their broth
ers as they are to help themselves This
is the way it works in Ruskin."
This was a rather pretty speech from
man who had knocked about and been
knocked about all his life To prove
he practices the unselfshness he
breaches, he picked up his weak, half
sick body and climbed up a perpendic-
ular bluff to show the track to a strang-
er who wanted to see full view Of the
picturesque home of the economic path
finders.
A PHILOSOPHICAL BAKER.
NJ F. Rodgers is the philosophical
baker. Rodgers, the baker, and BrOome
the genius, are companions. Rodgers
came to the settlement when there was
nothing but a forest, barren hillside
and an opening for a saw mill as the
inducement. Rodgers had never been
to any school except the one which