The Washington herald., 1907-07-02
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

OF sixty-two recorded community set
Elements IN the history of the United
States, only five managed 10 exist over
thirty years. These five were based first
on religious principles. and the commu-
nifty idea was only secondary. Twenty
eight Of these settlements founded In all
faith By followers Of Robert Owen, or
Fourier. or CADET fell through in less
than a year. In almost every instance
TIE colonies that the ardent theorists
tried to establish were placed in a wilder
ness. and the pioneer conditions were too
severe and life too primitive for the men
and women TO overcome. Often the COM
munity life appealed TO prospective men,
bers as a place where they could live
easily with little work, or by letting the
other members do the work. It was the
same old trouble Of Smith and his James
town gentlemen" repeated through other
centuries. Unless the law Of the commu-
nifty stated that none should eat who did
not work, there were apt 10 be many
drones In the hive. In explaining the
community lights that failed" all writers
agree that the communistic idea was not
the cause. The failure lay in bad man
agement. the lazlness of the members, the
erratic ideas on food and dress, and IN
the fact that too close companionship,
day in and day out, breeds discomfort and
lessons a persons regard for his neigh
bor
The best example Of community life in
the world IS said to be the ATnana Com
munlty Of Iowa, a cooperative associa-
ton Of 1,SJO souls, who have seven vii
lagos lying in Iowa County, between
Davenport and Des AIoines. Each men,
Der places In the common stock an
amount varying from 5000 to $4,000, and
should he become dissatisfied Is permit
ted 10 withdraw the exact amount in
vested. though. sometimes, al the discre-
tion Of the board he may be allowed a
small interest on the amount. The Amana
community owns about 26,0O acres Of
land. and several mills, including those
for the manufacture Of calico and wOOlen
goods. Besides working all their own
adult members they employ about 200
outsiders They have no child labor N
LUtlT UllllSs anu nave SEsAAS al faiis'SeA Aoi
the woman workers.
As a community, Amana IS one Of the
few that recognizes the difference in the
individual needs Of its members. Where
other like organizations allow each man
or woman in the village an amount OF
credit OF a quantity Of supplies equal 90
that of every other one, the Amana folk
have ruled that a physician, for example,
may need different food and different sup
plies than a mechanic, and that the stu
dents outfit may differ from that Of the
factory worker. A common dining-roOm
supplements the individual homes Of the
members, and improved machinery has
made the general homework a pleasure
rather than burden to the women.
The great success Of Amaua may be
accredited 70 the fact that the members
are all Of the same race, industrious
Germans, who are not afraid OF work,
and who are of the same social class.
Communistic life IS not the chief object,
the religious beliefs being given first place,
and only members admitted who are of
the common faith. Marriage Is not en-
couraged, but IS permitted. so membership
is recruited from within as well as by
immigration. Each new candidate must
serve two years probation before being
taken in. As individuals the Amanaites
have not so much land apportiOned 20
them as other residents Of Iowa, yet as
a people they seem TO be happy peaceful,
and COntented. Their $500 acres of land
are valued at 81 an acre. and they have
over 5000 acres of It under cultivation.
Their mills and factories earn S325.G00 a
year, their buildings are valued at $4,000,
and their live stock at $4,000.
The most widely known Of the success |
ful community livers are the Shakers.
They have the largest membership. num-
being about 1.000. and their communities
may be found in Maine. New Hampshire,
Massachusetts,. Connecticut, New York,
Ohio, Kansas, Georgia. and Florida. They
came first from England in IVA. Mother
Ann" Lee bringing over three or four 10
establish her faith in the New World
They settled in New York, and, Ike all
other small sects. were prosecuted BY
the larger religious denominations. By
1871 they had extended their membership
as far West as Ohio and Kentucky. They
live simply and quietly. devOting their
time 20 the pursuits Of agriculture and
manufacture. They practice celibacy, and
recruit their members from the outside,
adopting children and bringing them up in
the faith.
Ephrata, on Cocallco Creek. in Ian
caster County, Pa. though rich in poetic
history and romance, is one Of the
passing communities Through Conrad
Beissel a native OF the Palatine, body
Of Germans established this most unique
Of Protestant communities. for this is
the one where an order Of monks and
nuns practiced medieval austerity in
the very heart OF a new world that was
a refuge for believers in the Ref0rma-
tion. Their neighbOTS were members Of
tho order known as THE Woman Of the
Wilderness" or '"The Order of the Soil
tary.' In fact. so many Germans came
70 join these earlier communities that
Benjamin Franklin seriously feared that
Pennsylvania would become a German
province. Years ago the community num-
bered several hundred. Now mere
handful holds the thread of the romantic
past 70 knit II with the present In for
mer years there were five large mills
where corn was ground, timber cut. cloth
fulled, and oil pressed from linseed. Of
these only one stands TO grind -four and
meal for the neighborhood.
Once Iow-roofed community houses
sheltered cowled priests. who bent ever
illuminated manuscripts with the pa
thence and skill Of the cloistered men
who preserved learning for all the world
during the Dark Ages. In one of these
simple cells the Declaration of Inde-
pendeEce was translated into French and
German by a gifted scholar in the mo-
nastic habit, while Congress awaited the
work TO send to foreign shores Here
the wounded from Germantown and