The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-08-04
chinery, including all the means of dis
tributiOn as we'll as production.


Others have suffered for the holy
cause of religious tolerance and freedom
of conscience, and still others have laid
down their lives for political liberty;
but while these martyrs and heroes
were shedding their blood for the az
vancement of humanity civilization
was fostering a demon which has grown
with its growth and strengthened with
its strength, until the greatest thinkers
of our time agree that this demon must
| be stricken from the face of the earth
or our boasted civilization will soon
decay and finally go down into oblivion
This demon is private property, private
ownership. Gradually it has enthroned
itself in high places; entrenched itself
| behind statute law, and established it.
F., self in the very foundations of church
| and state. It has been placed in the
| chairs of our colleges and universities;
it wears the ermine and the surplice; it
| is the father of competition and the
| mother of greed.
"The men in Ruskin feel it their duty
| to teach fairness both by precept and
example. They desire that their chill
| dren may be reared in more kindly
and humane school than provided by the
cannibalistic system of competition
| The providing of temporal necessities
for its members is the first care Of the
association, in point of development
yet this is held secondary in Importance
to the greater duty of education along
| the lines of social economic freedom
Hence the establishment of the news.
paper and book publishing business
! and the initiation of the College OF
| the New Economy, the corner stone OF
which was laid last Saturday.
| "Ruskin is not religious nor an anti
| religious institution, but a purely econ
omic one. We desire to be allowed to
produce our own wealth and to enjoy
what we produce. That is all. Nation
| ality Or religious faith has nothing
whatever to do with the matter. We dc
not interfere in the least with the per-
sonal and private rights of our mem
| bers or anyone else"
| Ruskin men and women are the sort
OF men and women whose dreams OF
| happiness gather more fancy from the
| picturesque spot which they call the
vale of contentment. They readily see
that 1t was a part of the plan Of crea-
tion that spot exactly like the planta-
nf Ii c1,o 1>0
colony exactly like Ruskin is determ,
ined to be. The landscape IS a picture
north, east, south or west. 1t is rugged
jagged one way, gentle aD1 pastoral
way and so still in all ways that the
day knows no sound but The arguments
OF the men in the fields, the clatter OF
the children in the book. The night has
no racket beyond The voice Of the frog
and hoot owl. This is Il change for
the men, most of whom have lived unde,
the caves of factories.
Professor Broome is positive that ma.
ture looked into the future and had in
mind the democracy of the common
! people when it prepared caves in the
hillsides where ice water should flow
from cleave in the granite The wa
ter then washed out a chamber in one
as big as a union station and made a
pool in the center Of it-a pool thirty
five feet deep, so clear that pebble on
the bottom can be seen. His theory
! then gives nature a financial turn o1
mind and declares that it was intended
that the struggling colony should use
the caves as attractions, charge adm1s.
slons and use the money for the common
good OF all who dwelled near by. Ma.
ture put the head of the pool twenty
feet above the site of the town, and
connected it with source of supply
which tears down through the village al
a gallop. Ruskin is taking the sugges-
tion which nature left, planning some
now or some way to curb the stream
and put the power into electricity
Ruskin now uses the biggest cave for q
cellar for butter and eggs
This village of dreamers backs ur
against the cliffs, which are planted
with 1000 grape cuttings from a Swiss
vineyard. It's front is on Yellow creek
flowing through fine gravel and full o
trout. Its cottages are clustered in E
1crest OF beech trees. It's children, who
came from the pavements, go to school
under the branches. It's wives have thu
porches decorated with vines, its back
yards with cannas and gladiolas.
There is no sky line above the plac,
that is not cut with the tops of The
wooded hill. The sunsets make the val
ley dark and the hilltops to the cas-
golden. l found Edwards, the musi,
teacher, alone on the wooden bridge
which leads from the outside world int
Utopia, watching one of these sunsets
He said that he did not think that {
peep into paradise would be smore. en-
trancing to common man alike hin
than a sight of Ruskin with It's top
most treetops touched with gilt.
Dodson yanked him back sfrom tn,
reverie and Edwards started willingl,
and socialistically toward the stable t.
help the hostler doctor a. horse tha
was taken suddenly and desperately sick
WILLING TO ENDURE HARDSHIrs
Y,fC {c khA