Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1901-10-12
COOPERATIVE LIVING.
&c.: ~ ISSUED By THE DEPART.
MENr or LABOR.

Many Experiments Within the Last De.
ssde- Most OF Thorn sh ovt.Lived-Mo
Communities So Run Are Free From
Dissipation and Crime.
a bulletin on the subject Of co-opera-
tive communities in the United States
has been issued by the department. OF
labor. 1t is prepared by Kew. AleNan-
der Kent, and treats of such commune
ties under three classes--conimunistic
socialistic and partially cooperative.
cooperative communities i'll the
United States says Mr. Kent, may
be classified according TO their aims
rather than their achievements.
mfr. Noyes' History of American
Socialisms gives an account of forty
five different experiments growing out
of the Owen movement in the twenties
and the Fourier movement in the for
ties, not one of which remains. AS
near as we can judge from the facts OBJ
tanned, the average life Of these expert
ments was about two years. Neverthe-
less, hope springs eternal in the human
breast and the last decade of the nine
teenth century was perhaps more prolihc
of schemes and efforts to get out of the
competitive struggle, with its pitifui
extremes OF wealth and poverty, into
the cooperative life, with its promise
of freedom from these ills, than any
priod period in Our history. 1t cannot.
however, be claimed, it is feared, that
these later efforts give any greater
promise OF success than the earlier.
Something more than score of these
are making desperate struggle to get
a foothold or to resist the disintegrating
influence of their unfriendly environ
ment, but apparently with little pros
pect of desired success. These colonies
are mostly Of recent origin. with small
membership and very meager resource:
They have, therefore. as yet but little
in the way OF achievement to relate
Their history. il they are to have {
worthy one, is still to be made"
Mr.. Kent reviews the purposes ant
experiences Of many recent cooperative
experiments, and in his concluding re-
marks says:
THE first fact that forces itself upor
the attention in a study Of cooperative
short-lived. The great majority die i.
infancy. They never become able &c
go alone. The second fact is--lookins
at the matter from the American poin
of view-that those die soonest that
ought TO live longest. In other words
democracy in cooperative community
has so far proven source OF weak
ness rather than of strength. OF death
rather than of life. There is not one
cooperative community in the country
ten years old that has popular govern.
ment. Indeed. | do not know Of one
that is much more than half this age
Those communities have lived longes,
and been most prosperous in which the
general membership has had least to dc
In shaping the government or bushes:
management. and in which an almost
military discipline has been exercised
by some central authority
After citing instances to show thai
autocratic rule has been most beneficial
In preserving cooperative communities
Mr.. Kent tells Of some of the charac
teristics Of such communities, as fol
lows:
"System in their work, neatness ant
cleanliness are also characteristic o
these communities. Their farms ar
better titled and kept, their orchard
are more thrifty their stock better care'
for and OF finer quality than that o
their reishbors. Their barns and farm
buildings generally are models of con
venience, being supplied with labor-sav
s.,xx ,a,,
for the comfort of the stock. Thci
houses are furnished also with al
modern convenicnces for tightening til
labor of the women, and when we rehec
that the men are all regular in thei
habits and never come home intoXicate
or abusive; that the wood house is a
ways kept we'll filled and the waite
brought into the kitchen. it is clear tina
in some respects at least the women G
such well-to-do communities enjo
more OF ease and comfort than thei
sisters outside, The very permanent
of the commune is an encouragement
TO indulge in labor-saving arrangement
which would not be thought OF in
temporary home.
FREE FROM DISSIPATION AND CRIME.
"Another feature common to all com
munities, whether successful or unsuc
cessful, is their freedom from dissipation
and crime. They need no jails or pris
ons. The men and women who com
pose them are with few exceptions high
minded and honorable, however vision
AIRY and cranky. Most of them hav
high ideals asd are disposed to live d.
Gently and soberly There are indivit
ual exceptions, OF course, but this is ii
rule. In the more enduring of the con
munities rSentioned it has been conspi,
uously so.
''Indeel, the Owen community at Ne
Harmony is the only one that has left
discreditable record in this respect. An
this seems 10 have been due to laxi,
in the regulations under which person
were admitted, and the absence OF an
well-conducted system of governmeI
or industry Where care has been take
10 see that candidates for admssio
were persons OF good repute, ready I
pledge themselves to whatever of d.
votion and sacrifice the needs OF Il
community might demand, there h;
been remarkable freedom from such di
sipation and vice as have developed
all ordinary city life.
"How far it is possible to secu
4