Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-08-29
''FElL0WsHIP| FARM
Cooperative Colony Near Boston
Organized BY Socialists
LOCATED ON BEAU TIFuL SITE

0CATED ON 3 TIF;UL STE
Promoters Believe That Double Basis
81 Holding Property Viii Insure suc-8s
| cess Of scherrle Street Called Maiden
Lane Laid out For sPinsters. 55
| Forty Socialists have organized a co
| operative sett lement called Fellowship
farm, on beautiful seventy I've acre.
/ tract Of land in WestWood, twelve
miles from Boston. Here the Socialists
are planning to live and work, some
going back and forth to the city, others
raising fruit. vegetables and poultry
says>a Boston special dispatch to the
st. Louis Republic. III
Forty acres have been divided into
individual holdings, and the rest Of the
| land, with large barns upon 1t, is for
collective ownership and use. The plan
Of the settlement, which was made
| years ago, but not carried out until this.
spring, is to cultivate the personal and
social elements Of those who partici-
pate In 1t. ss3 3,.s 81
Unlike other cooperative schemes OF
| living, 1t has a double basis. IA man
| living on farm may have deed for
one Of the acres, which Is his exclusive
property, but he also has cooperative
interest in the community holdings. He
can be his own landlord, working on
| his own soil and living In his own
house, meanwhile enjoying the pleas
ure Of having congenial persons near
him and the privileges Of q big fellow
ship house, which it Is the intent Of the
leader, the Rev George Littlefield to-
build. s5 5.a3
Each Of the forty men has agreed to-:
| give $3.50 month, and when any one
person has paid In $500 he gets deed
| to his acre and is; not obliged to pay
anything more. f he is i'll or In rou-
| Die, there is an emergency fund to help
him out, and If he desires to leave his
occupation at any time he can return
| to nature and dig living out OF the
soil ID
Mr.. Littlefeld has had this scheme
In mind twenty years, but not until
the present time was he able to perfect
1t. Mr.. LittIefield Is Harvard gradu-
] ate and Unitarian minister. Before
his college days he saw much OF Dr..
Edward Everett Hale and Edward
Beilamy and was so fired with enthn-
siasm with their views that he sold his
printing business and studied to be-
come a minister. ~
/ 1.-The ministry did not satisfy me,
he said In telling the story Of his hopes
and ambitions. The Bible says. Feed
my sheep and found that most OF
4 the ministers were only taking to
i them felt that i must do something
besides talk. Preaching the golden
rule under present business conditions
\ is like trying to grow flowers in the
i subway. .5s8 81 S.iS lbs
There are Ave reasons why other
schemes OF cooperative living have
failed. u
First Groups OF people with ideals
i have pulled them selves up by the roots
and been tranBplanted rtifcially to will
derness They got lonesome and wanted
to get back to their old occupations and
ways OF living. Il 4Ss
Second Most OF the persons who form
i these schemes are not working people,.
4 They are impracticable and fanatical
i dreamers, who do not understand how to
Il do the practical things of life. sfs
Il third. Most Of the plans start with 81
common pocketbook, common land and a
common dwelling, and there is no chance
Il for the individual. NJ
Il Fourth. Some cooperative plans have
d been started, like that OF Hopedale. where
a each share had a vote instead OF each
Il man. In our scheme one man has but one
i vote, no matter how many shares he
i owns. III Ri 94s5I5
Fifth. In some cases the time was not
ripe for such schemes to prosper
The first move the Rev. MI. Little
field made in the matter was to write
an article In Ariel, q magazine which
he publishes monthly, and outline the
scheme In general way. When this
n appeared, letters from all over the
n world began To- pour In asking more
/ about the new mode Of life offered
and commencing the plan.
A large number of persons met in
4 Huntington Chambers ia October 10
hear more about the farm and make
further plans. Edward Sunderland
was elected secretary, George ID. Lit
fiefeId treasurer and Jane Moore,
Squire p. Putney and the secretary
and treasurer to act as committee to-
j buy the Westwood farm, transferring
!, the title and deed to the Fellowship
Farm association when organized and
chartered. 1t was necessary TO pay
$1,000 down, but this YVES raised and
the farm, costing Sc, 900, was bought
After this repairs were quickly start
e ed, and one OF the members ID already
! living on his acre OF ground. with his
i wife and two children.
q Hale Of the members are married
and have families. Two Gene from
Scotland and several from New York
Land Pennsylvania. Provision has been
made for unmarried spinsters, Of
whom there are three or four. al
I street called Maiden Lame has been
/ laid out for them Oh the farm.
The association viii have Its own
hank and its own Insurance.. When
there Id surplus II will be used to
help the members put up their houses.
: go.