The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-10

Collapse Of m English Colony Established
ON the Lines Of .Looking Backward"

Collapse OF an English Colony Established
ON h Lines Of Looking Backward"
The communist colony established
three years ago at Clousden Hill. near
Newcastle-on-Tyne. of which disciples
OF Looking Backward" Bellamy had
great hopes. has just come to an I'M
timely and unexpected end.
Those who launched the novel scheme
and they included men of education
and intelligence-are now convinced
that Utopia is as distant as the millen-
MUM.
The gardens and green houses. the
fruitful fields and the residential house
Of Clousden Hill remain, but under al
tered auspices. The settlers are dis
persed over the face OF the earth. sad
der and. II may be. wiser men.
A Zech named Kapper was the orig
inator of the colony. the capital. or the
bulk OF II. in the first place coming from
one rand in Sunderland. while believers
In Krapotkin's principles. contributed
small sums. and the colonists. when
they were able to do II, made some
financial sacrifice for the good Of the
cause.
A lease Of 20 acres for so years was
entered upon, and when the land had
been broken by the first workers the
settlement grew until there were rs peo-
pie on IL. including the wives and chill
dren of the colonists.
They were OF various nationalities-
Germans. Danes, Belgians and Britons
and they were of many trades. Six
gardeners were of the party. one shoe
maker, one compositor one COOK, one
engineer. two laborers and a m
An initial blunder was the neglect of
regulations. 1t was to be a s~elf-govern-
ing colony. of course. but as things
turned out each man nae a notion of his
own as to what should be o n who
should do II.
Thus. after the gardens were once
brought into condition to give a return.
jealousy began to make itself felt. A
few would work when they liked. 9th
ers would not work at all.
The tailor declined to ply his trade
for the welfare of the %colonists, pre-
ferring to work i'm the garden. where
his efforts were not of much account.
Some would spend the day writing ar
ticles for the socialist organ at home
and abroad.
With an utter lack of unanimity the
retrograde movement set in, and one by
one the colonists withdrew. .
There was nc breakup and abandon
ment of Clousden Hill. but the muster
at the common Dime table became
smaller. IL a retired settler desired
monetar assistance before his emoval
to some more humdrum part of the
WOIld III III was ~ ~
ter whether hat colonist had on his
initiation contributed financially or not.
A professor of literature in the Univer-
sity of Brussels, n of the most earn
est theorists of all. gave up in despair.
He had put money in the colony. but
did not grudge it. nor did he ask for
it's return when he recently said Good
bye" to his brothers.
During the last few days two gard
eners, members OF the colony, have Sc
cured possession of the land, its build
ings and it's crops. They intend to con-
duct il on something approaching the
ordinary business lines, though they are
their employees.
A visit to Clousden Hill a day or two
ago enabled the writer to make the
acquaintance of the only settler at
that time on the estate. Very pic
turesque was Franz Seidlach. in his
bare feet and open shirt. A young Aus
trian journalist. who had refused to
learn to kill under his native colors,
he appears to have voluntarily seen
service under the French flag in Africa.
He a not long Joined the brother
hood at Clousden. but intended to re-
main at work there under the new aus
pices. chiefly with the object of going
through a course of studies in English
at Newcastle during the winter nights.
Franz. who has o languages at
command, is DESTROYS of knowing En-
glish prior to writing a new philosoph-
ical work, to be entitled "A Theory Of
Happiness"
A student and an enthusiastic So
cialist, Seidlach attributed the failure
of the communistic colony to the fact
that the theorists who promoted 1T
looked only to the good qualities of
mankind, forgetting the i'll. "Egotism
Is inherent in u.s." he added. and II
is idle TO pretend not to be conscious
of it,"
In a later journey to the settlement
the writer found Frank Starr. the sec
rotary and treasurer, at home. Starr,
a bright young fellow, Is a compositor
by trade, and no stranger to Fleet
street.
He frankly owned tina the colony
had failed and thought the cause of
it's non-success was our poor human
nature. All wanted to lead and none
would follow.
Then, though the gardens and fields
had done well and all the produce had
found a ready market, better results
still would have been obtained IL the
settlers were competent workmen. The
shoemaker had kept the colony we'll
shod. but the tailor would do nothing
sartorial and. being the poorest gard
ener of all, would persist In following
that most ancient trade.
Good or bad at their calling. many
had shirked work or had only done II
when and how they pleased.
Producing the account book. Mr..
Starr found that at the last balance the
total value of the settlement was re-
turned at e1 1858 los 71sd.
OF course. the man who advanced
capital in the first place was entitled
to a claim on this money. There had.
however. been no %nancia trouble over
the ~disbanding of the colony. None
went there with a view of making
money. and IL a few were the poorer for
IL they had gained experience and
added Mr.. Starr. health. which, as
Emerson says. Is the first wealth.
In conclusion he said he had had
enough of communism. w were a
bit too previous. In another existence
say 5000 years hence-a communis-