The times., 1899-07-18
Joncs, soeIalist Experiment.

The mayor of Toledo. Ohio, is a Socialist
and he believes in the brotherhood of man.
One Of the schemes to which he is now
lending his assistance is the beginning of
cooperative Colony On the shores of Lake
Erie, fifteen miles from Toledo. The col
ony will possess about eight thousand acres
of land.
One feature Of this enterprise. which is
radically different from some others of the
same sort, is that the colonists are not to
engage entirely in farming 1t is thought
that a town may be built for the carrying
on Of manufacturing and commerce, and
the community is to be placed on the lake
so as to get the advantage OF the steamer
trade.
This is a good thing from one point of
view and not so good from another. The
disadvantage of an agricultural colony is
that the members of the community often
know nothing about agriculture, and farm
ing without plenty Of knowledge and eX-
perience is probably the most unremuner
ative task in the world. Some of the the
orists who have tried communistic farming
have preceded very much or the principle
of the gentleman farmer who wrote to the
agricultural paper about dehorning hy-
draulic rams Some weird stories are told
of the Brook Farm experiment Louisa
Alcott in her paper on "Transcendental
Wild Oats" tells how, at harvest time,
some call CT the spirit" waited all the
men away and Mrs Alcott. with the as
sistance of half dozen children, harvested
the crop in clothes baskets and brown linen
sheets. No wonder that when some inter-
ested visitor asked if there were any beasts
of burden on the place that devoted and
long suffering housewife glancing up from
her labors over the stove replied. only
one womanw The wives of some of the
| early transcendentalists had a hard time
! of it. In this particular enterprise the only
person who did not lose money was the
| one practical farmer who had been retained
as a sort of guide through the agricultural
wilderness.
There is therefore, an advantage in the
manufacturing as opposed to the farming
community of Socialists Many Socialists
have been mechanics and superintendents
| OF factories, and have been driven out of
profitable employment by some economic
chance or other. They are commonly con
scientious and earnest men, who expect
nothing from the enterprise except Il COM
Portable living for themselves and their
families and chance to help in solving
the great problem of labor and capital.
They would thus Be competent to organize
and direct Il manufacturing establishment
and there are several cooperative factories
in England which are standing proofs of
the possibility OF putting such a plan In
successful operation. The disadvantage
would be the cost of the plant" which
would be considerable Whether this cost
would prove great enough to wreck the
enterprise without considerable fund at
the beginning is question which expert
ence Will have to settle.
One institution in this country proves
that operation can exist successfully. at
least for time, and that is the community
of Shakers In spite of the tremendous
disadvantage under which their scheme Of
life is carried on. they fiourished in con-
siderable numbers for some generations.
and their communities still exist. though
steadily dwndling. This is due partly TO
the exodus CT native population from the
regions in which the Shaker was recruited.
The foreigner does not take to Shakerism,
either industrially or theologically. But in
most districts peopled by Americans of a
staid and sober religious belief there could
be found enough disappointed men and
women to make up respectable Shaker
settlement and agree to live a ceiibate life
for the sake Of food. shelter. and work for
the rest of their days. The economic sue
cess Of the Shakers is based on one thing