COPY MADE BY JOHNNY SANDS OF MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN BY E. S. WOOSTER AMONG PAPERS
COLLECTED BY WALTER MILLSAP

Copy #2
of 3 copies
made

Differences of opinion among people of strong convictions are always
to be expected. When personal ambitions and political scheming come in,
some sort of trouble is quite likely to ensue.

When Kate Richards O'Hare was induced to come to the Llano Colony,
many thought this an achievement worthy of celebration. And when she
brought William Edward Zeuch there to establish Commonwealth College,
the colony seemed to be on the way to new attainments.

But the O'Hare family, which consisted of Frank, Richard, Kathleen,
Eugene and Victor were spoiled. They were accustomed to adulation. They
could not weave themselves into the fabric of colonist life. They were in-
dividualistic. Mr. Zeuch was self-centered, or perhaps it would be more
correct to say that he was more interested in his college than in anything
else.

But Mrs. O'Hare and Mr. Zeuch were very certain that they knew more of
cooperation than did those colonists who had been working at it for some
time. The colonists thought otherwise. There arose a conflict of interest.
Accusations were made and the colony was soon split wide open on certain
issues, not all of them completely clear.

However, not to go into the causes at this time, a number followed Mr.
Zeuch and Mrs. O'Hare with Mr. Harriman to Arkansas, but the machinations
of Mr. Zeuch did not cease, and it was not long until he had made an ef-
fort to undermine Mr. Harriman and the officers of the new colony. The
result, after many meetings and much discussion, was to split again. Mr.
Zeuch and Mrs. O'Hare took their college from Ink to a place several miles
in the opposite direction from Mena, the county seat.

Those who finally remained at Ink were all old colonists, a majority of
whom had worked together for several years. They set to work without delay.
They refused to take any new members, with one single exception. They wanted
to make sure that they were going to succeed. However, they did keep their
propaganda department open, and had a number of prospects.

But funds were low and everything was mortgaged, including the prospective crops. It was a discouraging condition.

The dissolution of the colony however, came about from a conviction that it was a waste of time to go ahead, that they were not likely to succeed, that past experience demonstrated the chances were against them. More than that, they were convinced that this particular style of cooperation can not make a success worth the effort. It was not in step with time, they believed.

The colonist at Ink were not untried material. They had been together for a long time. They knew the struggle, they were good workers. they had been well trained. When they made up their minds to quit, it was without rancor against one another, they merely weighed the facts and decided that they were on the wrong track.

Probably in all history there has never been a colony formed of better material. This is a justifiable statement because all were able bodied, they were few in number, there was a minimum of non-producers, they were experienced in colony life and ways.

It is a noteworthy fact, too, that while most ex-colonist will say they wished they were back in the colony again, and that most who are in want to be in some other even when dissatisfied with the one in which they are residing, these Ink colonist left their ideals or illusions or convictions of hopes ____ what ever they may be termed ____ behind. With a single exception, none went back. They made the experiment that convinced them that this method of attaining cooperation is impractical.