Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-23
COOPERATIVE LIVING
BULLETIN ISSUED BY THE DEPART
MENT OF LABOR.
Many Experiments Within the Last
Decade-Most of Them Short-Lived
Their Characteristics.

| bulletin on the subject Of cooperative
communities In the United States has been
issued by the department of labor. 1t is
prepared by Rev. Alexander Kent, and
treats Of such communities under three
classes-communistic, socialistic and par
TALLY cooperative.
cooperative communities In the United
States" says Mr.. Kent, may be classified
| according to their aims rather than their
| achievements.
"Mr Noyes' History OF American Social
| isms gives an account Of forty-five different
| experiments growing out Of the Owen
| movement in the twenties and the Fourier
| movement in the forties. not one Of which
remains. AS near as we can judge from
| the facts obtained. the average life Of these
| experiments was about two years. Never
theless. hope springs eternal in the human
breast and the last decade Of the nine
teenth century was perhaps more prolific
| of schemes and efforts to get out Of the
tremes Of wealth and poverty. into the CO.
operative life, with its promise OF freedom
| from these Ills, than any prior period in
our history. 1t cannot. however. be
claimed, 1t Is feared. that these later eff
forts give any greater promise of success
| than the earlier. Something more than a
score OF these are making a desperate
| struggle to get foothold or to resist the
disintegrating influence of their unfriendly
environment, but apparently with little
prospect Of desired success. These colo
| mics are mostly of recent origin. with small
| membership and very meager resources.
They have, therefore. as yet but little in
| the way Of achievement to relate. Their
| history, IL they are to have a worthy one,
| Is still to be made"
Are ShOrt-Lived.
Mr.. Kent reviews the purposes and ex-
| periences Of many recent cooperative ex-
| periments, and in his concluding remarks
says:
1.-THE first fact that forces itself upon the
attention, in a study of cooperative life,
| Is that most communities are very short
lived. The great majority die in infancy.
| They never become able to go alone. The
second fact iS-looking at the matter from
| the American point Of view-that those die
soonest that ought to live longest. In other
words, democracy in a cooperative COM
munity has so far proven source Of weak
| ness rather than Of strength, of death
| rather than Of life. There is not one CO.
operative community in the country ten
years old that has popular government.
Indeed, 1 do not know of one that is much
more than half this age. Those communi-
ties have lived longest and been most pros
porous In which tine general membership
has had least to do in shaping the
government or business management, and
In which an almost military discipline has
been exercised by some central authority"
Some Characteristics.
After citing instances to show that au-
tocratic rule has been most beneficial in
preserving cooperative communities. Mr..
Kent tells Of some of the characteristics of
| such communities, as follows:
System in their work, neatness and
cleanliness are also chara cteristic of these
communities. Their farms are better titled
and kept. their orchards are more thrifty,
their stock better cared for and of finer
quality than that Of their neighbors Their
barns and farm buildings generally are
| models Of convenience. being supplied with
labor-saving contriyances and every ar
| rangement for the comfort Of the stock.
Their houses are furnished also with all
modern conveniences for tightening the la
Dor Of the women, and when we reflect
that the men are all regular in their hab-
it's and never come home intoxicated or
abusive; that the wood house Is always
kept well filled and the water brought into
| the kitchen, 1T is clear that in some re-
spects at least the women of such we'll
TODD communities enjoy more of ease and
comfort than their sisters outside. The
very permanence Of the commune is an
| encouragement to indulge in labor-saving
arrangements which would not be thought
Of In temporary home.
Free From Dissipation and Crime.
Another feature common to all commu-
mites, whether successful or unsuccessful,
| is their freedom from dissipation and
crime. They need no jails or prisons. The
men and women who compose them are
| with few exceptions high-minded and hon
orable, however visionary and cranky.
Most Of them have high ideals and are dis
posed to live decently and soberly. There
are Individual exceptions, Of course. but
this Is the rule. In the more enduring Of
| the communities mentioned 1t has been con-
spicuously SO.
Indeed, the Owen community at New
Harmony Is the only one that has left a
discreditable record In this respect And this
seems to have peen due to laxity in the
regulations under which persons were ad-
mitted and the absence of any well-con-
ceived system of government or industry.
Where care has been taken to see that can
didates for admission were persons OF good
repute. ready to pledge themselves to what
ever of devotion and sacrifice the needs Of
the community might demand, there has
been remarkable freedom from such dissi-
patton and vice as have developed In all
ordinary city life.
How far 1t is possible to secure such
results In society at large, and yet pre-
serve the freedom essential to the best
character development, Is a question which
only the future can answer. So far as the
experience of existing cooperative move
ments enables us to Judge, it seems clear
that the present trend. while decided in IA
vor of some form Of cooperative effort is
increasingly averse to the communistic
ideal, and especially to life in the commu-
nal home. The problem which the future
has to solve is, How shall we secure to the
people the social and economic advantages
Of a larger cooperation while preserving
and developing the higher and nobler type
OF individual and family life? The solution
will, we doubt not, In due time be found,
and found along the lines Of normal eyo-
luton
INDORSED BY BRITISH PRESS.
Attitude of This Government in South
American Troubles.
LONDON, August 23.-The Daily Graph
ic, in the course Of an editorial on the