Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1901-11-01
EQUALITY COLONY
A Brief History Showing Cor Objects ard Pres
ent Condition-Cooperative Colonies
Are Not All Failures


] The Brotherhood of the Cooperative
! Commonwealth was initiated at the
| time of the populist convention in ST.
Louis by some of the socialists who
| went there as delegates of the populist
party.
The object of the association was to
4 organize the workers into cooperative
4 colonies and by pooling their capital,
! labor and money, build homes for
\ themselves instead of working tor cap
/ italists and building homes for the
other fellow.
The organization was perfected in
4 September, 1896, by the election of a
| board OF trustees consisting OF MyrOn
W. Reed, president; n. w. LermOnd,
secretary; DR.. c. F. Taylor, treasurer;
4 Eugene Y. Debs, organizer; Prof. Frank
\ Parsons, dean; A. S. Edwards, editor;
i ". l.. Smith, master workman, and
| w. W. White, distributor. These Off
4 GERS were to purchase land and ma
chinery and hold it in trust for the as
ISOLATION, carry on an active propa-
ganda and act tor the association in
all its dealings.
Through the untiling efforts of the
secretary, n. w. Lermond, the Broth
| erhood grew rapidly Local unions
were organized in nearly every state
and territory. Pledges of money and
machinery to help start colonies liter
ally rolled III until over 100000 was
pledged and Comrade Lermond start
j ed on a search for location for col
onv NJ, T. AftYr looking over several
states he finally selected a location
j neor the head of navigation of the
j White river, in Arkansas. Pending
j his report to the board of trustees, a
convention of the American Railway
Union was held in Chicago and he
was requested to attend in the inter
ests OF the b. {. {. While there he
made an agreement with the Debs fac
4 ton of the A. X. L. to JOIN forces in
l colonizing a state with socialists and
Washington was selected as the best
state in which to try the experiment,
so the Arkansas proposition was
j dropped.
The first move toward starting a
colony in Washington was sending O..
/ +. Pelton to this state in September,
1897, to select a site. After looking
over a number of proposed locations,
that on which Equality is now stu
ated was chosen, and the watchword
was "On to Washington" An option
was taken on $50 acres OF fine land
and the final purchase was made III
December following. This land was
unimproved, being covered thickly
with brush and standing and fallen
timber and about 200 acres had to be
drained. The price paid was SO per
acre.
Il Equality colony was organized No
ycmber 1897, at the home OF Com
rade Carey Lewis The original mem
hers were ) III number two OF whom
are dead, two still members and the
rest scattered far and wide, working
for the cause of socialism.
The first work undertaken by the
eolonists was building a dixie on the
1.acre lot OF Comrade Lewis to keep
ut the tide water; next an apart
,ent house was built at the same
lace for the accommodation OF pros
Dective colonists, who were coming IN
nj the rate OF hald a dozen a day
The clearing of land and building OF
houses on the colony site was carried
ON with great enthusiasm and during
fine winter of 1SS7.S not q day was
lost. men waded through mud IN the
rain before daylight and after dark to
and from work. Machinists, talIors,