Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-09

| frequently to me for advice, considered
me in the light Of father. and on more
| than one occasion / was obliged to arbi-
| trate between them in their differences.
Under the new rules they soon realized
that prosperity had arrived. The laborer
was more the starving creature who
trembled lest his scanty resources would
| be devoured by greedy spectators. They
gradually began. too. to acquire person.
ality and character of their own; emula-
1t. and the colony appeared in every way
| to thrive. 1t was then an Eden, an earth
ly Paradise-that unfortunately contained
its serpent.
AS the speaker touched on this delicate
point of his enterprise / thought that
detected d smile /On his intellectual face.
Not a deprecatOry smile, but the smile
of the philosopher who. knowing men and
things, can forget and forgive. Yet II a
man has ever experienced the ipgratitude
of others 1t is certainly he.
y X
l asked the duke to what he attributed
the decline Of the colony after such q
sanguine beginning.
THE reasons are complex" returned the
duke. And he added that he considered
the system SO excellent that he did not
despair of seeing it working again.
Our colony progressed harmon;ously
dDOuI d year ago, ne eXpldlneO,
when hostilties opened through a most
casual event. One day while walking in
the wood 1 noticed that certain trees had
been cut down by some criminal hand.
Deferring to the rules I had created. 1
appealed to the society to exercise vigt-
lance in seeing that the damage to the
woods should not be repeated / even
asked that a fine that had been stipu-
lated in case of any such lack Of. vigil
lance be enforced. 1t was with consid-
erahlo 7 To
that the society had no intention to give
me satisfaction. was obliged to place
my own guardians in the wood to guard
the trees. The society resenting my tn
reference, held that 1t was perfectly
legitimate for me to protect my property
on their declining to do so. More damage
occurred after this first friction, and 1
was obliged in the end to resort to law to
OBTAIN the acknowledgment Of my rights.
ITO this accidental cause Of disturbance
of the peace other things contributed to
bring about crisis I must say that by
this time the common fund was much
ciety had begun to lose ambition and the
desire of success. This fact Is, In my.
opinion. due to several things. One of
them as I have learned by sorrowful ex-
perience, was that the Italian laborink
class. being unprepared for such a bold
experiment prosperity and comfort In life
tended to develop among them an aching
passion for luxury without the wish to
gam IL py nara work. In consequence
dissatisfaction became rampant. 1t il a
:act-I should have deemed 1t illogical
before my experience-that prosperity
and ease often serve to destroy the sober
qualities of laborcr and wither his
moral standards.
There was another cause that greatly
| diminished the hands in our colony. It
was the daily exodus Of the workmen who
desert the pillow to seek employment In
| the neighborinK factories. Industry Of
that kind Is. a rule. more remuneratiye
| and as workmen are educated and more
fitted for 1t they do not hesitate to leave
| the field for the higher wages that trade
at large offers. Once the workman
seemed to love his employ: to love the
soil. But Just on the border OF CasaIe
| Litta there are many factories arising
and the temptation to seek work among
! them is great"
Duke Litta added that he was not put-
ting brand on his undertaking. but as
| a philosopher. was expressing what
! seemed to him.: after study, were. the
causes that had produced such a negative
| outcome.
When. asked what might be his Views Of
the colony's future he became thoughtfuI.
1T is difficult" he said, Ito tell you. for
| have not formed an opinion as vet.
Considering that have given the society
q legal constitution. 1t would be impossi-
BILE to dissolve 1t. am no more the owner