New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-01

Community Failures More Manner
Gus than Successes.

Gus than Successes.
For many centuries there have been a few fol-
lowers of the altruistc idea that work done by
people living in a community is beneficial to
humanity than work done by the individual for his
sole interest. Each dcc-de has found some man
eager to demonstrate tbs theory. and has brought
men and eager to follow him. Failures
have been far more numerous than successes. At
jamestown in 1907 and at Plymouth in 1920 the plan
OF having all earnings placed In Il common stock
was tried without success. The Labadist Com
munity of Protestant mystlcs. hundred strong.
settled on 1000 acres in Northern Maryland in 1850.
and me Community of the Woman of the Wilder
ness was established the Wissahickon River
in Pennsylvania in 1854. Both became things
of the past Religious bodies and non-religious
bodies followed the heels of these but after a
wavering glimmering flicker these little lights of
endeavor sooner later failed.
charles Fourier the famous socialist of France,
was responsible for many community settlements
in the nineteenth century. He believed in tom-
mon holdings, with small division of profits In
his opinion the net earnings of the community
should be divided into twelve parts Five of these
parts were to go to labor four capital and three
to talent Robert Owen. of I4anark Scotland the
hrst man in the world to secure legislation that
protected women and children in factory life and
established shorter working hours was another in
sPirauon for communal colonies. Each had his
IDEAS represented in some part OF the wilderness
country of the United States
Inc most notable Communistic settlement IN the
United states was probably Brook Farm becausa
of the nigh ideals il meant to maintain o,5 boo.,
or the brilliant men and women connected with :,
IN 1881 club composed Of people who called them
'-''S Aia'SceHdehtahsts chose farm nine miles
OUT from Boston. organized stock company to
Hhahce IT, and under the leadership of the Rev,
george Ripley went in for the simple life with a
vengeance They established their lives on the
OASIS OF wisdom and purity. justice and love Poets
preachers artists teachers philosophers and ora
Tors joined and went to work in the fields side by
side with plain farmer folk. as the spirit and law
OF the colony decreed. They left the rusty frame
work of society behind them and brought great
zeal and self-sacrfce TO the task Even If thew
ud noe up the corn and assduously cultivate weeds
as mas been said. turn over the beans and mons
that persisted in growing upside down they were
earnest ana sincere, and a good cxarnplc of
orotheriness, helpfulness and high ideals in eer
eral "
hawthorne was member of the COLONY and ono
OF MS tasks was to help feed and milk the cows
IN the morning. He writes in his American Note
BOOK or his experiences, and because one covy
was especially Independent and tyrannicaI he AL
ways persisted in affirming she must belong to Miss
Margaret Fuller, for whom he had little liking
Charles A Dana. John 3. Dwight Albert Brisbane
William Elery Claiming. William II. Charming
Elizabeth Peabody Margaret Fuller and Rurru
Curtis, who so often posed for portraits Of the
Christ were members Of the colony That genial
philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott father of Louisa
NJ Alcott. meant TO live there hut the life was not
yet on n plane high he would have II and
with other kindred spirits he established the short
lived community OF Frutlands. where animal food
in any form not tolerated. where water was
the only beverage. and where early rising and cold
baths were part OF the stolCal regimen
Brook Farm did not last very long being dis
solved In 1916, though Horace Greeley. Emerson
and Theodore Parker constantly Offering en-
couragement and Inspiration. Their school had be
come famous in its time. and drew pupils from
Manila. Havana. Florida and New hnglaud The
instruction for the elder pupils wi.e Lecturers
came each Sunday and on weekdays Ripley eluci-
dated Kant and spinoza Sunday afternoons.
Pupils seated on the grass. read the "Divina Com
media In the original. and scholars did the work
OF some Of the illiterate that they might attend
classes Hawthorne wrote his "Blithedale Ro-
nance" from his experiences there and other real
romances resulted in fourteen marriages that took
place among the members The farm has been alb
sorhed IN the widening limits OF Boston and
its Identity is lost In that OF the Martin
Luther Orphan Home. which occupies the old quar-
ters
The next communstlc settlement Of Importance
in 80 far its ideals and its membership are con-
cerned was that OF New Harmony Ind. under the
immediate direction of Robert owen of Scotland
The village and the 5000 surrounding It were
purchased outright from a religious society that
was anxious to find another location owen paid
$4,000 for the whole. This was in 1922 and the
colony prosper cd, with nine hundred members on
gagged in almost every branch OF Industry that an
Independent colony might NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
manufacturing stock raising and brIcImaking All
the goods. houses and lands We're held in common
and the individual was lost in tn, general scheme
of things
Education was great factor In the plan; the
first day nurseries and schools for little children
in the United States there. Eminent men
were among the members Robert Dale owen
whose name is next only to Smthsons in the Ma
uonal Museum in Washington: William MacIure
father Of American geology; Thomas Say. the noted
entomoogist and one OF the founders of the Acad-
envy of Natural Sciences: DR. Troost who made
the finest geological and mineral collection I'm the
world, and was sent In 1910 q scientific expcdi-
ton to Jamaica by Louis Bouaparte King of IIol-
land Charles Leseur, the French naturalist: Pro-
fessor Joseph Neef, student Of Pestalozzl and n
soldier of Napoleon: Joseph ChaPplesmith the Eng
lish artist and engravar, and Frances Wright the
woman who later founded in West Tennessee the
first industrial school for negroes i'm the world
This was to be the great educational centre Of
the United States and William Mcclure contributed
$4,000 toward that end. Freedom of speech FREQ
dom of thought, were to be encouraged. and WON
ans rights was an acknowledged thing. But i'm
1921 when owens interests took him elsewhere
the colony became a ship without a master and
wrecked. colony In Pennsylvania one
in Indiana three In New York. one i'm Tennessee
and one In Ohio sprang from this. but soon went
into oblivion. Owen over again in 1soS To
il the Mexican government would not grant
lands for other communities and IN 1915 called =
worlds convention in New York to discuss his vast
schemes for the social bettermcnt ana uplifting Of
all people.
WAS he