The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-04-21

ERATIVE COMMONWEALTH.
RY Davis II Wnifa

THE HOMESTEAD PLAN OF A Coop
ERATIVE COMMONWEALTH.
BY Davis H. Waite.
There are many socialists whose be-
| lief in the doctrine is limited to the so
| cialistic principles of the Omaha plat
postofice; in the control of light, water
and transportation by municipalities,
but do not favor communism, or the
government control of individual mat
ters, except where they directly concern
| the public welfare. With the history of
| Utah before us, no one can
| deny the immense advantage of
| cooperation to the settlers OF
new country, and for. the
development of it's natural resources,
but at the same time it is also true that
all cooperative commonwealths founded
upon community of land and property
have been failures. Those which sue
ceed financially, as the Shakers, Econo-
mites, etc., have had the aid of some
! religious or fanatical idea which dom
| mated the society and crushed out pri-
! vate judgment, and these societies have
! failed as to membership. The Mormons
and Mennonites do not belong to this
class, because they allow private owner
ship of land and personal property, sub
| ject, however, to an ecclesiastical tax of
one-tenth of all earnings, nominally vol
untary, but requisite to membership
and really enforced. Whether the pros
perity of the Mormons is due to their
| religious element, or to cooperation in
| temporal matters, or to the combination
| of the two agencies, is mOOted ques-
| ton, but in my opinion it is unnecessary
to look beyond the principle of coopera-
| ton. All new sects are assisted by fana-
ticism, which, however bigoted or un-
reasonable, binds it's believers in closer
ties. lifts them above poverty and per-
| secution and led the Mormons to travel
over trackless deserts, and build their
homes where not a blade of grass grew
and where, to all appearances, nothing
but a miracle could enable them to sus-
tain life. In it's poverty and by the
| severest economy the Mormon church
gave work to the unemployed, clothed
the naked and fed the hungry: but since
the church has become rich and power
! full, the canker of riches has eaten out
its piety. It's almsgiving is perfUnctOfy
] and from its abundance, and the Nor
| mon church, like the Catholic, and che
| >f
become a bulwark of the money power.
| SOCIALISM.
Rightly considered, socialism reduces
to practice the Golden Rule. Many peo-
| pie want no other or higher religion or
(! politics than socialism, and theoretically
! there is no objection to such believers
| organizing cooperative commemorative
upon those extreme principles which de-
mand community of property, but
such societies are not formed to any
| great extent-their most eloquent advo-
Gates almost universally confining their
material aid to figures of speech and
| such societies when formed are failures.
| To make any cooperative common
wealth success, the people must be
brought together in moderately sized
j towns. Land and labor must be in in
| innate connection and an equitable 3ys-
tenn provided for the distribution of
wealth. Thus far, all agree, beyond
| that there is a radical difference
THE TWO PLANS OF COOPERATION.
| The first plan destroys individuaiism
virtually wipes out the homestead:
makes community Of property with
title in the cooperative public; and all
labor controlled by president or execu-
| tive board, and at a fixed compensation
payable in labor checks. Similar organ
! izations have been failures in the past
| and generally in all respects; but some
times when controlled by men of distin-
guished executive ability like Rapp,
Henrici, Harris, Noyes and others. al
though the societies diminish in men,
bership, their financial success has been
astounding. The second plan, aiming 1T
practical results, refusing to follow their
extreme limits; theories whose logic has
| A0NCi AidIcl idliZeu, ttHu dVOlOlnS the
| rock upon which other cooperative COM
monwealths have been wrecked, 1as
combined cooperation in all matters of
public concern, and SO far as
practicable, in the management Of
private affairs, with a recognition
of the family relation and the right of
property. That somewhere in human
nature there is implanted love of home
some castle" however high or hum
BILE, which "the king may not enter
| without leave of the owner" and some
final resting place not in the "Potters
| Field" The second plan combines this
in one sense selfish. but universal pa
triotic and God-given idea of Individual
ism with the principle of cooperation
more or less in all business enterprises
and the municipal ownership of all pub
lie utilities. For this plan there is no
such word as fail. The advantages of
cooperation are everywhere compelling
the adoption of sOcialistic means OF
trusts and corporations whose objects
are anything but socialistic. In Color
ado, at Greeley. Grand Junction, Delta
and Rocky Ford the main features os
this cooperative plan have been COM
PEELED by necessity. No individual agri-
| culturist at these localities expects