Middletown transcript., 1897-10-02

fSSS3S<S$V Tar mas U66u 81
~ up to work by
community Of socialists, who are try
ing to prove that universal justice ma
be business success. They started i
on the text that sail labor is equal /
value" and for three years have faith
fully lived up to it. By that standar
diligent president should be paid n
more than diligent hod-carrier, an
the sculptor's chisel earns neither NOR
nor less than the barber's razor. A
hour of good, hard work. whether o
brain or muscle, is the unit of value b.
which all achievement is measured.
The practical object OF the commun
, ity is to see if the world cannot do with
out the system of hire, by which mer
are worked with no direct interest ir
. the result. In Ruskin everything be
longs to everybody; the profit of thu
community is the profit of each man
in it, and the honest endeavor of every
member-helps the other two hundred
and thirty just as much as it does him
self. Each man owns the wealth ht
helps to make, and gets the profit Of his
toll. The plan has been tested by thret
hard, struggling years, and its founders
| no longer regard it as an experiment.
They have built city without avarice
and in it's future lies the solution of the
bitter difficulties that split the world
into two angry factions, known as
labor and capital.
In Ruskin the government is literally
by the people and for the people. 1t
educates the children, pensions the
aged, provides for the sick and gives
a home and good living to all, men
and women alike, who are willing to
work for the common good. The presi-
deut gets the same recompense as the
butcher, and neither talent nor train
ing can alter the value of an hours
labor.
A journalist by the name or Way
land, who ran labor paper in Green's
burg, Ind, was the first starter of this
new Utopia. After firing all the So
alists in the country with his articles
on community property and the equal
ity of labor, he called for volunteers
who should build their own city and
control their own farms and factories.
He locked at various tracts Of land,
and finally sent an agent to inspect
an unbroken wilderness in Tennessee.
The advertised 'farming land" was
covered with huge trees and impene-
trable underbrusb. The "town" a
dark, sunless ravine, without food or
water. The ''populous neighborhood"
was reepled by few forlorn, indolent
natives and number of fierce razor
backs. In spite of this report, how
ever, Waylard purchased the property
and boomed it magni6cently in his
paper. Soon the pioneers in the cause
of socialism began to set out for this
new Eden, which they knew vaguely
as tRuskin, fifty mil west of Nash
ville."
The Iirst to arrive was E. B. Ions
ury, whose ardent socialism was con-
siderably dampened when be found him.
self in mud cabin on gloomy side
hill, with dense jungle on all sides
and 10 water within half a mile. He
might have gone back forever to capi-
tai and inequality, but his wife, fol-
lowed the next day, and a few days
later socialistic shoemaker daw ned
on the horizon and helped dig a we'll.
A month later that dismal valley con-
tanned carpenter, machinist, a bar
Der, SD emaker, butcher, cooper,
farmer, wire nail operative, black
smith and man in general, who was
put down as laborer. Not long after
the founder of the community dropped
in-and was wise enough to leave with
out ostentation or farewells, after meet
ing their exasperated questions with a
mild suggestion that the best thing to
do was to put up manufactures and
make themselves into a big city as
quickly as possible.
The community, left to itself, decid- |
ed that its one chance of future lay
in the erecting of printing establish |
ment, SO baker, barber, wire nail opera
tor and all Joined the one carpenter |
and put Up the building. That, little |
clearing and few cottages, was all |
that was accomplished that summer,
and the winter brought hunger and |
cold and utter desolation.
Lonsbury and eighteen others incor-
porated The colony under the law gov
erniDg the formation Of the mining and |
manufacturing companies. laid out
avenues. cut down trees and were very
cold, hungry and uncomfortable. After
year of struggle they decided to move
to more passable location.
After some exploring a beautiful,
fertile valley was found. Five hundred
acres of magnificent soil are now de-
voted to orchard and vineyard, corn,
wheat and oats and to the homes Of the I
colonists.
One thousand acres Of beautiful for
est land represents the stock farm. A
three story building contains the CO.
operative dining-room and the theater,
and in the library there are more than
1000 books, chiefly on socialism and
economies. The whole place radiates
cheerfulness aD energy. It would be
hard to find in the working classes OF
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