Evening star., 1903-07-22
DECLINE OF SHAKERS
ANOTHER + coMMUNIsTIC SECT
LOSING STRENGTH.
Settlement at Mount Lebanon Contains
Only 100 Persons Women
Outnumber Men.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
Is the communistic sect Of Shakers about
to pass on and become memory, like
| so many orders founded on more or less
similar ideas? 1t would seem so from the
steady shrinkage Of their numbers. The
Shakers themselves say they have no
chance OF rebuilding until the outer world
becomes calm and gives it's attention to
religion. and for this miracle they hope.
For century and a quarter they have
withstood calumny without measure. writ
ten and spoken. even accentuated in the
earlier days by violence and imprisonment
The more they were opposed the more
they thrived. Now, in this age of general
liberation. their troubles Of opposition are
ended. and they have proved to the world
their many virtues, yet they are steadily
losing ground. Never since the days Of
Ann Lee, the founder, and the settlement
at Watervliet on the upper Hudson has
the membership been at so low an ebb.
One Hundred Years Ago.
There are today in the fifteen Shaker set
Elements. in eight states. from Maine to
Florida. between 500 and 900 believers"
One hundred years ago the Shakers num-
bered 1852. Twenty-Five years later 1000
members had been added to their census.
At the end of 1899 the entire membership
Since the civil war their numbers have
steadily decreased. Only the long lives
which the faithful live has kept the de-
crease from being more rapid.
The settlement at Mount Lebanon. N. Y,
has always been the Shakers pride. not
only from its numbers, but from the value
OF the property which is owned in COM
mon. 1t is still the largest settlement. but
it furnishes striking example of the nu-
merical decline of the Shakers
Within the memory of some of the be
levers still sheltered in the great white
houses Of the village this community num-
bered 600 There were five prosperous famf-
lies, with acres set out in seed-producing
crops, and factories and mills which were
busy from early in the morning until late
at night. Now there are four families, with
only 12O members The women nutnumber
the men five to one, and the majority of
both sexes are old The mills are closed,
for the trusts have made it impossible for
the Shakers to meet competition. The seed
business is abandoned, because other seed
raisers appropriated the name Shaker
and cut prices.
Losing Ground.
Even the Shakers admit that they are
losing ground. I'VE may be running out"
said an aged elderess as she sat back in her
comfortable chair and gazed dreanily over
the green hills into the valley below Mount
Lebanon where dwell the busy, prosperous
world people-''we may be running out, but
until there is a change in the outside world
we cannot hope to build UP our numbers.
The decrease began with the excitement of
the civil war, which took our young men
away from US in sWarmS. The conflict be-
tween capital and labor, which is now rag
ing fcrccly without, Is the disturbing intiu
cnce at present Until that is ended we do
not expect many people to give heed to
our truths
The strength of principles IS not meas
ured by the number of those sustaining
them" added sister whose literary work
Is doing much to keep alive the spark of
Shakerism. We are content to work and
wait until the battle of the present crisis
has its laurels Of peace. when justice
and liberty will be re-esta biishod on broad
er and frmer foundat tions than ever before.
Then, when the material wants of the peo-
pie shall be easily supplied under vast CO.
operative systems. we believe that the
small, still voice of the Spirit will be heard
speak king to the souls of the people and
guiding all whom the Father and Mother
have prepared to the light of the City on
the Hill"