The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-01


 that the town as whole is moro gtven to recreation than other towns of its size. that is promoters and the members fthe colony encourage recreation and pleasure. At the west aide of the park where 1t touches tho bay there is fine bathing beach, which Is crowded with bathers in the cool of the summer evenings.
 The town not only encourages phy- sicisl recreation. but it encourages mental recreation. They have pub- lie hall and regular meetings where all in the colony are invited to step into theforum and assert their views opinions and theories and defend them from all attack. They have regular organization here to encourage speak ing, reading and thought called s-The Progressive League." Women are en- couraged to speak before the League and frequently do so. The Sunday afternoon that we rode in town the League was in session and a woman member. so the blackboard in front of the building told us. was speaking on 'The Work of the League.' It is the purpose of the Single Tax Colony to broaden life. to encourage toll, but to prevent toll from narrowing life And to this end every encouragement is given to. relaxation and social en- joyment in the late afternoons and at night. What the success of the policy is. what its results are may not be accurately stated by the visitor who has not long to stay in Fairhope. He can only record his impressions of a white, clean little ccity. There are too many novelties in Fairhope, two many novelties in political science and in social life for the transient visitor to write down In cock sure way the success or failure of the innovations. He knows only that the town looks good. and the people are certainly social. and apparently happy, to a de- gree that one misses in other towns. The main street of the town. in fact the cross streets as well. are broad and spacious. The principal street Is pack cd and banked with gravel and clay. It is as if one of Montgomery County's fine roads were lined with stores and pretty homes.
 town or It's residence portion are con place of magnificent distance. Fair hopers believe in yards and gardens. {. No matter how close the cottages are to the stores and business houses, they are between flower yards and gardens. And no matter who the cottage belongs to and no matter whether 1t is a single stcry or a two-story home, 1t Is deco rated with trellises and rose vines.
 These Fairhnpe homes as a whole are more impressive than those usually fe und in a town of it's size. One misses the three or four fine houses of the rich men os the village that Is found in the ordinary village. And one miss e5, too, the poor and squalid little houses where the poor of the ordinary village live. The homes of Fairhope are not the same in style or architec- ture, but in size and construction, in cc st they more nearly reach the same general average than one is accustomed
 They claim with becoming modesty that the homes are more tastefully and comfortably furnished, that there are more conveniences in them than in those of similar towns: And they claim. too, that the people of Fairhope are Of better education, and more in touch as a whole with the uses of cul- ture than the entire population of towns built and maintained under the old order. These claims may or may not be true but they are advanced with positiveness by the men who are in- terested in the colony. There Is a cause. a reason for this, they argue. The Fairhope colony Is composed of people of education, people who have read and people who had means back in their Northern homes before they came South.
 In a way Fairhope resembles the fa- nous Brook Farm in Massachusetts of over fifty years ago, where the Tran scendalists gathered and where assem- bled every class and degree of thinkers. Chips and whetstones of nearly every nEf nf mi O n al nTinfnn fnIrnd in the Baldwin County towns as they were at Brook Farm. The community is a mosaic of thought. The whole scheme is controlled and dominated by the Single Tax idea, but there is place and room for other political and gov ernmental ideas.
 It will be a surprise to the outside world to know that only half the resi- dents of Fairhope are members of the colony or adherents to the teaching of Henry George. Membership in the col ony is given on payment of $10O. This gives both the holder and his wife the right to take part in the control of the colonys affairs and to vcte upon every question. The non-members of the col ony have equal right in the public im provements and benefits and they are no more rental for the land, but they may not~vote nor assist in fixing the rental values.
 In discussing the colony, Secretary E, B. Gaston said: We have quite a party of socialists here. They are non- cumulative socialists who believe in dis cussion and agitation in the securing of reforms and not in force. The so- cialists are not all Single Taxers and the Single Taxers are by no means all socialists. We have the true democracy hara and any man can hava any aart of an opinion he wants, provided he does not put 1t into practice in a way that will trespass upon the rights of his neighbors."
 Have you any agnostics, or what are popularly termed infidels, in the col ony?" I asked Secretary Gaston.
 Well, should say that the percent age of non-believers is perhaps higher in Fairhope than in an ordinary town of its size. However, there are two churches here with regular pastors. The churches are well supported and their congregations are loyal to them."
 The Fairhope idea originated with Eanest B. Gordon. formerly of Des Moines, Iowa. He is now secretary of the company, editor of The Fairhope Courier, and chief exponent of the idea. For the colony even before it was founded, while 1t still existed on- ly in the minds of it's originator and his assistants the motto was we will make good theories work
 The colony was primarily to put in- to effect the teachings of Henry George that ''all men have equal right to the use of the earth" It was Georges theory in his famous book, Progress and Poverty" that the de- nia1 of the right of all men to equal