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iZ..fc^3!»^:B'€:i::^>^j©^^2 
 
 The New Harmony 
 Communities. 
 
 GEORGE BROWNING LOCKWOOD. 
 
 1902. 
 
 THE CHRONICLE COMPANY, 
 
 MARION, IND. 
 
Hx 
 
 
 ^.lU^l-| 
 
 Copyright, 1902, 
 By GEORGE BROWNING LOCKNyOOD. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 New Harmony's Place in History - - - 1 1 
 
 The Rise of the Rappites - - - 19 
 
 The Rappites in Indiana - - 27 
 
 The Rappite Hegira ... 47 
 
 Robert Owen and the Industrial Revolution - 61 
 
 Agitation in England 7 1 
 
 The New Moral World - - - - 77 
 
 The Founding of New Harmony - - 87 
 
 The Preliminary Society - 103 
 
 The Half- Way House - - 11 1 
 
 The Permanent Community - ■ - 121 
 
 The Social System on Trial 129 
 
 The Duke of Saxe-Weimar at New Harmony 141 
 
 Two Views of New Harmony - - - 143 
 
 Community Progress - - - 159 
 
 Woman at New Harmony - 175 
 
 The Educational Experiment - - - 185 
 
 Community Disintegration - - - 197 
 
 Robert Owen's Farewell Addresses - 205 
 
 The Ten Lost Tribes of Communism - - 213 
 
 Josiah Warren - 225 
 
 Robert Owen's Later Life - - 245 
 
 Seed in Fertile Ground - - - 251 
 Appendix ------ 279 
 
Robert Owen - Frontispiece 
 
 George Rapp's Residence and Granary or Fort 15 
 
 Community House No. 2. - 29 
 
 The Rappite Cliurch - - 35 
 
 Old Fort as Built ... 45 
 
 Owen's Proposed Village - - 59 
 
 New Harmony During the Owen Occupation 85 
 
 Charles Alexander Lesueur - 95 
 
 Thomas Say, 101 
 
 Typical Rappite House - - - 131 
 
 Robert Dale Owen - 151 
 
 Frances Wright - - 173 
 
 William Maclure 183 
 
 Josiah Warren - 223 
 Labor Notes Issued by Josiah Warren 229-231-237 
 
 Richard Owen - 243 
 
 Library of Working Men's Institute, 1900 - 253 
 
 Thomas Say's Monument 257 
 
 David Dale Owen - 261 
 
 The Old Fort— Present Condition 265 
 New Harmony as It Now Appears from Indian 
 
 Mound - 269 
 
 Robert Dale Owen, September, 1875 275 
 
The New Harmony Communities. 
 
New Harmony 's Place in History 
 
 On the Indiana side of the Wabash river, fifty-one miles 
 ahove its mouth, the village of New Harmony lies within 
 the shelter of a long range of encircling hills. In summer 
 New Harmony's dooryards are shaded by a veritable forest 
 of maple and gate trees, above which, here and there, rise 
 the gables and dormer-windowed roofs of quaint buildings 
 suggestive of another country and another century. The 
 vandal hand of business enterprise has not been heavily 
 laid upon this place, and thus it happens that the New 
 Harmony of to-day bears everywhere the impress of its 
 earlier and greater years. Houses reared by German com- 
 munists in the second decade of the century, and in the 
 twenties occupied by members of the Owenite communi- 
 ties, still stand in New Harmony's quiet streets. A large 
 and handsomely housed public library, rich in the heritage 
 of collections of books brought to the place by the scholars 
 and savants of community days, — more than this, the char- 
 acter of the present population, which includes a large 
 number of the descendants of the Owenite communists, — 
 suggests a time when New Harmony was the promised 
 land of Owenism, — a social experiment station towards 
 which the eyes of the whole world were turned and not in 
 vain, if we take into account the several great movements 
 which in later years have made the New Harmony failure 
 appear a wonderful success. 
 
 Parke Godwin, in his "Popular View of Fourierism'," ' 
 divides social reformers into three classes of "architects of 
 society," as he calls them: first, the pure theorists, who 
 have contented themselves with picturing an ideal state 
 of society, without suggesting a practical effort at its at- 
 tainment, as Plato in the "Eepublic," Moore in "Utopia," 
 Harrington in "Oceana," and Campanella in "City of the 
 Sun"; second, the practical architects, as the Eappites, 
 Moravians and Shakers, who, on religious rather than on 
 economic grounds, have estalDlished societies in imitation 
 of the supposed communism of the early Christians; third, 
 the theoretico-practical architects, who have combined the 
 
12 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 enunciation of social theories with actual experiments, as 
 Owen, Cabet, Fourier and St. Simon. 
 
 By strange coincidence, New Harmony became the scene 
 of the most notable experiments yet attempted by the 
 "social architects" of two of these three classes. Among 
 religious communists, the Kappites, founders of Harmony, 
 have been most successful, and their residence in Indiana 
 marked the high tide of their growth in wealth and num- 
 bers. There has not been another trial of philosophical 
 communistic association so auspiciously undertaken, or so 
 thoroughly carried to a conclusion, as that which Eobert 
 Owen inaugurated at 'New Harmony more than three- 
 quarters of a century ago. Brook Farm has occupied a 
 larger place in literature, but as a serious effort at solving 
 the social problems of its time, it did not approach New 
 Harmony in importance. To New Harmony, Brook Farm 
 was as a playground to a workshop. Brook Farm afforded 
 temporary amusement to a congenial coterie of literary 
 celebrities who cherished romantic ideals in common, but 
 it bequeathed little to the world except their individual 
 contributions to the literature of that period. The New 
 Harmony experiment was conducted in a less romantic 
 atmosphere, but it was more earnest, thorough and satis- 
 fying;, and to the modern student of sociology it is more 
 significant as a social venture. As Owenism was the fore- 
 runner of Fourierism, so New Harmony was the forerunner 
 of Brook Farm. As Brook Farm was the center of a 
 group of Fourieristic phalansteries, or colonies, so New 
 Harmony was the inspiration of a large number of Owenite 
 experiments, scattered over so wide a range of territory 
 that they assumed the proportions of a national move- 
 ment. Robert Owen declared, Emerson says, — and Owen 
 is not the only witness to the fairness of his contention, — 
 that Fourier learned all he knew of communism from a 
 study of Owenism. If this be true. Brook Farm was only 
 a far-off reflection of the great experiment at New Har- 
 mony. 
 
 Notable as New Harmony was in its own time as the 
 scene of an ambitious effort at social regeneration, the 
 perspective of years is necessary to an adequate portrayal 
 of its importance in American history. The death-bed 
 of Eobert Owen's "social system" became the birthplace 
 of several distinct movements which have assumed great 
 
New Harmony's Place in History. 13 
 
 proportions since the story of tlie New Harmony com- 
 munisms became a half forgotten chapter in the history of 
 social experiments. There the doctrine of universal el8*J 
 mentary education at public expense, without regard tol 
 sex or sect as a duty of the state, was first proclaimed in the! 
 middle west, and through the labors of Robert Dale Owen, 
 more than any other one man, this conception of the state's 
 duty has found expression in a common school system 
 that is the glory of the republic. Through William 
 Maclure, Robert Owen and Joseph Neef, Pestalozzi's pupil 
 and the author of the first American works on the science 
 of teaching, the Pestalozziaii_ system of education, now 
 everywhere predominant, "was first successfully trans- 
 planted to this country. William Maclure's manual train- 
 ing school at New Harmony was the second of its kind 
 in the United States, and through that institiition and its 
 popular publications, the idea of tec hnical train ing was 
 first widely disseminated in this country. The infant 
 schools established at New Harmony by Robert Owen, "the 
 father of infant education," and conducted throughout the 
 lifetime of the communistic experiments, were the first of 
 their kind in America. It was in the schools at New Har- 
 mony that the theory of equal educational privileges for 
 the sexes was first put into practice. Through William 
 Maclure, "the father of American geology," Thomas Say, 
 "the father of American zoology," Constantine Rafin- 
 esque, the pioneer icthyologist of the west, Charles Albert 
 Lesueur, the first classifier of the fishes of the Great Lakes, 
 Gerard Troost, one of the earliest American mineralogists, 
 and the younger Owens, New Harmony became the great- 
 est scientific center in America, and the first important 
 scientific outpost in the west; there came such distin- 
 guished students as Sir Charles Lyell, Leo Lesquereux, 
 Prince Alexander Philip Maximilian and his company of 
 scientists, F. B. Meek and Dr. Elderhorst. New Harmony 
 became the headquarters of the United States Geological 
 Survey, with one of its own students, David Dale Owen, 
 in charge; it was the site of a museum containing the 
 remarkable collections of Say and Maclure, and of a scien- 
 tific library unexcelled on the continent. One member 
 of the New Harmony coterie of savants,'William Maclure, 
 was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Academy of 
 Natural Sciences, another, Robert Dale Owen, became the 
 
14 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 legislative father of the Smithsonian institution. It was m 
 certain of the IS^ew Harmony communities that women 
 were first given a voice and vote in local legislative assem- 
 blages, and there the doctrine of equal political rights for 
 all, without regard to sex or color, was first proclaimed 
 by Frances Wright. Through this brilliant woman, too, 
 New Harmony became one of the earliest centers of 
 the abolition movement, and spoke forcibly through 
 Kobert Dale Owen to President Lincoln when eman- 
 cipation hung in the balance. Through Eobert Dale 
 Owen, New Harmony impressed upon American law 
 the modem conception of the legal rights of women, 
 and in New Harmony was founded by Frances Wright 
 what is known as the first woman's literary club in 
 the United States. The New Harmony Thespian Soci- 
 ety (1828-1875) was one of the earliest among American 
 dramatic clubs. New Harmony in 1826 afEorded the first 
 known American example of prohibition of the liquor 
 traffic by administrative edict. Through William Maclure 
 New Harmony gave to the west a system of mechanics' 
 libraries from which dates the beginning of general cul- 
 ture in more than a hundred western communities. 
 Through Josiah Warren New Harmony originated a 
 philosophy of individualism, a rebound from communism, 
 which has had sufficient vitality to survive its author for 
 nearly a half century and to impress itself indelibly upon 
 modern economic thought; beyond this, it is claimed by 
 credible authorities that from Josiah Warren, who founded 
 the New Harmony "Time store," and originated a system 
 of "labor notes," Robert Owen derived the idea out of 
 which have grown the great labor co-operative societies of 
 Great Britain,* constituting the most successful labor 
 movement of the century. Even the religious latitudi- 
 narianism of the New Harmony communists, so bitterly de- 
 nounced in its own day, has served as a leaven of liberality 
 in religious thought itself, until the narrow type of religion 
 which the Owenites so steadfastly opposed, has in large 
 measure disappeared. 
 
 So it is that the little torch of learning long ago kindled 
 in the wilderness, made New Harmony a center of light 
 and leading while it was yet surrounded by "the trackless 
 
 •This is afflrmed by John Humphrey Noyes, and denied by RolDCrt 
 Owen's friend and biogrrapher, Lloyd Jones. 
 
New Harmony's Place in History. it 
 
 wild." But New Harmony's place in history has never 
 been adequately appreciated, and it is worth while, in 
 studying the history of the Owenite communities, to trace 
 to their source some of the movements which rose from 
 the ruins of the "social system." 
 
 It seems proper to preface a histoiy of the Owenite com- 
 munities with a brief account of the German communistic 
 colony which paved the way for Eobert Owen's experiment 
 at New Harmony, if it did not indirectly suggest it. While 
 the Eappite regime is less interesting, and vastly less im- 
 portant, than the Owenite period, it affords a strong back- 
 ground for the later experiments, the failure of George 
 Rapp's success standing out in vivid contrast to the suc- 
 cess of Robert Owen's failure. 
 
The Rise of tl^e Rappites. 
 
 In slow succession there passed through the beautiful 
 valley of the Wabash, — described by Col. George Croghan 
 as early as 1765, as "one of the finest countries in the 
 world," — the roving Indian, the Jesuit missionary, the 
 French trader, the British red-coat, the colonial soldier and 
 the American pioneer. But, strangest feature in all this 
 strange procession of invaders, there entered the Wabash 
 river one spring day in 1815, several boat-loads of Wiir- 
 temburg peasants. Eight hundred strong, clad in the garb 
 of the Fatherland, this quaint company went ashore at 
 a point near the site of the present village of New Har- 
 mony. They knelt on the bank about a patriarchal leader, 
 and with song and prayer dedicated "Harmonie" to the 
 uses of a Christian brotherhood. These were the Rappites, 
 — German peasants, primitive Christians, practical com- 
 munists, and disciples of George Eapp. As an organized 
 protest against the existing state of religion in Germany, 
 they had left the shores of their Fatherland behind them 
 ten years before. » 
 
 During the seventeenth century the German prototype 
 of Puritanism called Pietism, had caused the flame of faith 
 to burn brighter in the churches, through the ministra- 
 tions of Spener, Gerhardt, Franke, Arndt and other Wes- 
 leys and Whitfields of that revival movement. But in the 
 eighteenth century, official religion again degenerated into 
 "a multiplicity of meaningless ceremonies." The univer- 
 sities of Germany "became hotbeds of vice and infidelity." 
 On the one hand there were in the ministry those who 
 guarded against their unbelief by the assumption of zeal- 
 ous bigotry and narrow Biblical construction, — on the 
 other hand there were skeptics and rationalists filling pul- 
 pits and receiving the support of the church. 
 
 "The church now," says Hurst, "presented a most de- 
 plorable aspect. Philosophy had come, with its high- 
 sounding terminology, and invaded the hallowed precincts 
 of scriptural truth. Literature, with its captivating notes, 
 had well-nigh destroyed what was left of the old Pietistic 
 
20 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 fervor. The songs of the church were no longer images 
 of beauty, but ghastly, repulsive skeletons. The professor s 
 chair was but little better than a heathen tripod. ihe 
 pulpit became a rostrum, where the shepherdless masses 
 were entertained with essays on such general terms as 
 'Pluman Dignity,' 'Truth,' and 'Light.' The peasantry re- 
 ceived frequent and labored instruction on the raising ot 
 bees, cattle and fruit. The poets of the day were publicly 
 recited in the temples where the reformers had preached. 
 
 But in certain portions of Germany the people retained 
 their former simplicity, and stoutly resisted the encroach- 
 ments of what they considered wicked innovations. Espe- 
 cially was this true of southern Wiirtemburg, where so- 
 cieties like the early Methodist organizations were formed 
 for the conserving of piety, and a spirit of fanaticism was 
 rampant which contrasted strangely with the rationalism 
 prevalent elsewhere. There were frequent prophecies of 
 the end of the world as a punishment for the sins of the 
 people. One party of schismatics, called Separatists, dis- 
 gusted with the new order of things, set out to found an 
 asylum in Eussian Tartary, near the Caspian Sea. Joseph 
 Bimeler, at the head of a considerable following, de- 
 nounced the state as "that great Babylon," and, with his 
 associates, refused to pay taxes. Persecuted and frequently 
 imprisoned, Bimeler finally led a colony out of Germany, 
 and on five thousand acres of land in Tuscarawas county, 
 Ohio, founded "Zoar." Here this communistic society so 
 prospered that in less than fifty years its property was 
 valued at a million dollars. 
 
 Preceding and instigating this emigration, however, was 
 that of George Eapp and his religious followers, who 
 sought the religious freedom offered in the United States 
 as early as 1803. George Eapp and Michael Hahn were 
 zealous layworkers and leaders of Pietism in Wiirtemburg 
 at the end of the eighteenth century. Eapp was a vine- 
 dresser and farmer of plebeian descent, and a man of un- 
 usual strength of character. Born in 1757, he began to 
 speak in his own house when about thirty years of age, 
 giving to his congregation, which gathered from miles 
 around, the results of years of reading and careful Bible 
 study. Hahn was a man of literary talent as well as an 
 orator of great power. He did not separate from the es- 
 tablished church, but sought to reform it from within. 
 
Tbe Rise of tbe Rappites. 21 
 
 Eapp refused to cooperate with what he considered a 
 corrupt ecclesiastical institution, and though he counseled 
 strict obedience to the laws, which included payment of 
 tithes to the church, neither he nor his followers attended 
 regular services. Hahn and Eapp, therefore, no longer 
 worked together, and Eapp, with the following of three 
 hundred families which his preaching had attracted, wa& 
 compelled to endure religious persecution of no gentle 
 type. 
 
 At this time, as well as in later years, George Eapp 
 taught certain doctrines which were peculiarly his own. 
 Since the Eappites acknowledged no written creed, we 
 must accept his views as theirs. Eapp evolved a curious 
 doctrine concerning what he called "the dual nature of 
 Adam." He taught that Adam contained within his own 
 person both the sexual elements, reading literally, in con- 
 firmation of this. Genesis i: 36-37: "And God said, let 
 us make man in our own image, after our own likeness,, 
 and let them have dominion. So God created man in 
 his own image, in the image of God created he him: male 
 and female created he them." This Eapp held to mean 
 that both the creator and the created had this dual nature, 
 and had Adam been allowed to remain in his original state^ 
 he would have begotten offspring without the aid of a 
 female. But Adam became discontented, and God sepa- 
 rated from his body the female part. This is the Eappite 
 interpretation of the fall of man. Prom this Eapp con- 
 cluded that the celibate state is more pleasing to God, and 
 that in the "renewed" world man would he restored to 
 the Adamic condition. After a period of religious excite- 
 ment subsequent to the removal of the Eappites to 
 America, marriage was renounced, and celibacy became a 
 rule of community life. There is evidence that prior to 
 to this time Eapp had himself performed marriage cere- 
 monies. Passages of scripture quoted in support of 
 celibacy were Matthew, xxii: 30: "Por in the resurrection 
 they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as 
 the angels of heaven." Matthew xix: 10-13, 33-30: 1st 
 Corinthians, vii: 7-8, 35-37 and 39: 1st Thessalonians, iv: 
 3-5: Eevelations, xiv: 4. Eapp taught that the coming 
 of Christ and the "renovation" of the world were near 
 at hand. Father Eapp and many of his followers firmly 
 believed that he would live to see the reappearance of 
 
22 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 Christ in the heavens, and that he would be permitted to 
 present his followers to the Savior. It is related that 
 when Father Eapp was upon his death-bed, at the age of 
 ninety years, his last words were: "If I did not know that 
 the dear Lord meant that; I should present you all to him, 
 I should think my last moments come." 
 
 Of Jesus, Eapp taught that he was, like Adam, a dual 
 being, and that he enjoined upon his followers a commu- 
 nity of goods. In support of this position Eapp referred to 
 Acts iv: 32, in which it is said of the early Christians: 
 "And the multitude of them that believed were of one 
 mind and one soul: neither said any of them that aught 
 of the things which he possessed was his own; but they 
 had all things common." Total regeneration Eapp de- 
 clared necessary to salvation. The sum and substance of 
 his creed of conduct was: Love to God above all, and to 
 thy neighbor as thyself, without laying much stress on 
 form, letter or ceremony. Though Eapp believed in the 
 doctrine of future rewards and punishments, he did not 
 believe that this punishment would be eternal. "In some 
 far distant geological cycle the universe of matter, which, 
 like the universe of spirit, has been distorted and diseased 
 through the fall, will be restored to its former beauty and 
 happiness, and sin and suffering will finally be banished." 
 
 Before leaving Germany Eapp and a number of his fol- 
 lowers had been brought before the king for the teaching 
 of heretical doctrines and refusal to attend the services 
 of the established church. The ruler, who happened to be 
 a liberal man, inquired if Eapp and his associates were 
 accustomed to obey the laws of the state. The accusers 
 reluctantly admitted that they were. "Then let them be- 
 lieve as they please," said the king, and dismissed the 
 prisoners. Petty persecution, however, did not cease with 
 this display of royal clemency. "If we could only find a 
 land where religious toleration is enjoyed," declared the 
 Eappites, "we would wish to be there even if we might 
 for a while have to live upon roots." 
 
 Thus, in 1803 George Eapp and several associates, in- 
 cluding his adopted son, Frederick Eapp, had set out for 
 the United States, for the purpose of locating a colony in 
 the new world. They selected and beught a large tract of 
 land near Zehenople, Pennsylvania, and in the following 
 autumn, three ships, carrying one hundred and twenty-five 
 
The Rise of the Rappites. 23 
 
 families of the adherents of Eapp, had followed him to the 
 land of religious liberty. About one-third of these joined 
 one Haller in founding a settlement in Lycoming county, 
 but six hundred members remained with Eapp and settled 
 upon an estate of five thousand acres of unimproved land. 
 They set to work, under the direction of Rapp, with such 
 zeal that they soon made comfortable homes for the entire 
 population. 
 
 iln 1805 the "community of equality" was established. 
 The agreement to which the members bound themselves 
 specified that: 
 
 1. All cash, land and chattels of every member to be 
 a free gift for the use and benefit of the community, and 
 to be at the disposal of the superintendents as if the mem- 
 bers had never possessed them; members pledge them- 
 selves to submit to the laws of the community, to show 
 a ready obedience to the superintendents, to give the labor 
 of their hands for the good of the community, and to hold 
 their children to do the same. 
 
 2. George Eapp and his associates to give to each mem- 
 ber such secular and religious education as would tend to 
 his temporal welfare and eternal felicity, to supply to mem- 
 bers all the necessaries of life, to support them and their 
 widows and children alike in sickness, health and old age. 
 
 3. In case of withdrawal, a member's money to be re- 
 fxmded to him without interest; if he had come in with- 
 out capital such a sum to be awarded to him as his 
 conduct as a member would justify. (This section was 
 abrogated in 1808.) 
 
 One hundred and fifty acres of land were cleared the 
 first year, and forty to fifty log houses erected, besides a 
 large church, mills and shops. The next year four hundred 
 acres were cleared, a saw mill, tannery, store-house and 
 distillery erected, and a vineyard of several acres planted. 
 The Eappites had six hundred bushels of surplus grain, 
 and three thousand gallons of whiskey, none of which they 
 drank themselves, for it is a peculiar fact that while the 
 Harmonists were long famous for the excellence of their 
 distillery output, strict temperance has always been a rule 
 of their organization. Even the use of tobacco was for- 
 bidden. 
 
 The renunciation of the married state by the Rappites 
 dates from 1807. Persons formerly married, of whom there 
 
24 The New Harmony Conunnnities. 
 
 was a large number in ihe community, were separated and 
 placed in different establishments. From that day to this, 
 there has not been an instance of marriage among the 
 original Harmonists, excepting in a few cases where young 
 people eloped and deserted the community. The acquies- 
 cence of the society in this rule reyeals the supreme author- 
 ity of George Eapp, who was revered as a prophet and a 
 saint. 
 
 The remarkable prosperity of the community may be 
 judged from a report of the products in 1809, four years 
 after the removal to America. In that year they raised 
 six thousand bushels of Indian com, four thousand bushels 
 of wheat, the same of rye, five thousand bushels of oats, 
 ten thousand bushels of potatoes, and four thousand 
 pounds of flax and hemp, besides other less important 
 products. During this year they made their first woolen 
 cloth spun by hand from yarn. In the following year 
 the woolen factory was erected. The community now 
 included about one hundred and forty families compris- 
 ing seven or eight hundred persons. Two thousand acres 
 of land were under cultivation, and there was a large 
 surplus for sale. A visitor to the settlement at this time 
 said: "We are struck with surprise and admiration at the 
 astonishing progress in improvements and the establish- 
 ment of manufactori«s which this little republic has 
 made in five years. They have done more substan- 
 tial good in the short period of five years than the 
 same number of families scattered about the country, 
 have done in fifty. This arises from their unity and 
 fraternal love, added to their uniform and persever- 
 ing industry. They know no self-interest except that 
 which adds to the interest and happiness of the whole 
 community." 
 
 The Eappites soon realized the disadvantages of a situ- 
 ation twelve miles distant from navigation, and discovered 
 the madaptabiUty of their land to fruit cultivation in 
 which they desired to engage extensively. It is also said 
 that they desired a warmer climate. In 1813 Frederick 
 Eapp was delegated to go farther west in search of a new 
 home^ Eapp traveled all over the territory bordering on 
 :^^ -^1°' ,^°* ^°^"y ^'^°^^ ^ beautiful tract of land on 
 the Wabash river, a few miles above its mouth. In addi- 
 tion to twenty thousand acres of government land he 
 
The Rise of tbe Rappites. 25 
 
 purchased several adjacent improved farms, a total of 
 nearly thirty thousand acres. 
 
 The Harmonists sold their property in Pennsylvania, 
 with all improvements, at a great sacrifice, for one hundred 
 thousand dollars, and early in 1815 went down in hoats 
 and founded the village of "Harmonie," where a large 
 advance party had begun the requisite clearing in the 
 preceding June. 
 
Tlie ^applies in Indiana. 
 
 "When Rapp, the Harmonist, embargoed marriage 
 In his harmonious settlement which flourishes, 
 
 Strangely enough as yet without miscarriage. 
 
 Why called he Harmony a state sans wedlock? 
 Now here I have the preachers at a dead-lock. 
 
 "Because he either meant to sneer at harmony 
 
 Or marriage, by divorcing them thus oddly. 
 But whether Rapp learned this in Germany 
 
 Or not, 'tis said his sect is rich and godly: 
 Pious and pure beyond what I can term any 
 Of ours. • * •" 
 
 —Byron.— Don Juan, Canto XV., Verse 25. 
 
 All that we know of the history of the Eappite com- 
 munity on the Wabash is gleaned from the accounts of 
 travelers who visited the settlement, which immediately 
 attracted wide attention in the West, and became the 
 largest town in the territory of Indiana. The last of the 
 thousand persons who were members of the original com- 
 munity died some years ago, and the Harmonists have 
 kept no record of their proceedings. 
 
 The Eappites found themselves pleasantly situated on 
 the Wabash. The broad river which flowed before the 
 town furnished power for a large grist mill which they 
 erected some miles below. Almost opposite the settle- 
 ment lay an island of three thousand acres, afEording ex- 
 cellent pasturage for their flocks. The great estate which 
 they were to till was more fertile than the farms they 
 had deserted, and the undulating hills which enclosed 
 the river bottom furnished ample territory for vineyards. 
 Favorably to Eapp's ideas, they were further removed 
 from enervating contact with the outside world, and the 
 simple peasants were here less liable to become dissatis- 
 fied with their mode of life by the contemplation of that 
 of others. There was little in the hard life of the pioneers 
 who inhabited the surrounding country to tempt the 
 Eappites from their comfortable homes, and though the 
 squatters regarded with contempt the servile allegiance 
 of the Harmonists to Father Eapp, they must have en- 
 vied them the oasis which they soon created in the wilds 
 of Indiana at a time when the total population of the 
 
28 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 state was but a few thousand, and the life of its settlers 
 was one of constant hardship and danger. 
 
 The Eappites soon discovered, however, that their new 
 home was not a serpentless Eden. The first breaking up 
 of the bottom ground released the germs of malaria, and 
 the death rate was enormous during the first five years 
 of the settlement. While the ratio decreased m later 
 years, it is claimed by some authorities that the Eappites 
 held to a resolution made during the first year of their 
 residence in Indiana to remain only long enough to im- 
 prove the land sufficiently to make it salable. In the last 
 year of their residence on the Wabash, it was officially 
 stated that but two members of the community died, — a 
 surprisingly low death rate, showing the establishment of 
 healthful conditions. 
 
 It was not long until Harmonic began to show evidences 
 of German thrift. Numerous log, frame and brick build- 
 ings were erected, orchards and vineyards were planted. 
 Among the first buildings constructed was a large frame 
 church, having a belfry with a clock striking the hours 
 and quarters. This was replaced as a place of worship in 
 1822 by a huge brick structure. One entire block was 
 given to manufacturing purposes, and among the buildings 
 were a cocoonery and silk factory, a saw-mill, brick-yard, 
 brewery, distillery, woolen mill and an oil mill. The 
 power in several of the smaller manufacturing establish- 
 ments was derived from a tread mill propelled by dogs. 
 The brick dwelling houses erected by the Eappites still 
 stand as monuments to the faithful work of their sturdy 
 builders. The frames were made of very heavy timbers, 
 and the spaces between the weather-boarding and the 
 plastering were filled with cement and brick. Four large 
 buildings were erected to serve as community houses. 
 What was known as "Number 1" has been torn down; Num- 
 ber 2" is now a general store; on its south wall is an old- 
 fashioned sun-dial which has been faithfully telling the 
 time since community days. "Number 3," partially re- 
 built, is used as a hotel, "The Tavern." "Number 4" has 
 been converted into an opera house. A large brick house 
 was built as a residence for Father Eapp. Near it was a 
 brick and stone structure used as a granary, and intended 
 also for a fort, or refuge for the population in case of 
 invasion by the squatters, of whom the Eappites stood in 
 

 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 z 
 
 14 
 to 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 >< 
 H 
 
 Z 
 §' 
 
 
 
 
 
 II 
 c 
 
 u 
 
The Rappites in Indiana. 31 
 
 mucli dread. This structure was provided with loop- 
 holes, and was so substantially built that its defense would 
 have been easy. It was never used for other than peaceful 
 purposes. It became in later years a museum and a 
 woolen mill; now rapidly falling into decay, it is one of 
 the picturesque features of New Harmony. 
 
 George Flower, one of the founders of an English set- 
 tlement in Edwards county, Illinois, describes the village 
 as he saw it in 1819. A large portion of the land included 
 in the estate, he says, was of the best quality, between 
 two and three thousand acres being under cultivation and 
 fenced. The town consisted of several brick and frame 
 two-story houses for the use of small families, all built 
 after one model, with ample gardens, well fenced and 
 neatly cultivated, and a vast number of log cabins, neatly 
 kept. There were also five or six very large buildings, 
 three-stories high, which contained the community fam- 
 ilies, of sixty to eighty individuals each. Kapp had a 
 brick mansion, a large building, with a granary of the 
 most solid masonry, and a large brick church itself a 
 curiosity, the plan, it is said, being given to Mr. Kapp in a 
 dream. There were four entrances to the church, closed 
 by folding doors; the doors were about one hundred and 
 twenty feet from each other. The upper story was sup- 
 ported by twenty-eight pillars of walnut, cherry and sassa- 
 fras, the walnut pillars being six feet in circumference, 
 and twenty-five feet high; the others were twenty-one 
 feet high and of proportionate circumference; a surpris- 
 ingly large building, Mr. Flower declared, for this country. 
 William Herbert, a London traveler, writes of this church: 
 "I can scarcely imagine myself to be in the wilds of In- 
 diana, on the borders of the Wabash, while passing 
 through the long and resounding aisles and surveying the 
 stately colonnades of this church." There were shops for 
 every occupation, Mr. Flower tells us, represented in the 
 community, magnificent orchards of grafted fruit in full 
 bearing, and extensive vineyards. 
 
 "This singular community of Germans," Mr. Flower 
 writes, "had little or no communication with the outside 
 world, except through the miller, the store-keeper, the 
 tavern-keeper, and Mr. Eapp. All who went to Har- 
 mony, with surprise observed with what facility the neces- 
 saries of life were acquired and enjoyed by every member of 
 
32 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 Eapp's community. When compared with the pnvations 
 and discomforts to which individual settlers were exposed 
 in their hack-woods experience, the contrast is very strik- 
 ing. The poor hunter that brought a bushel of com to be 
 ground, perhaps from a distance of ten miles, saw with 
 wonder people as poor as himself, inhabiting good houses, 
 surrounded by pleasant gardens, completely clothed with 
 garments of the best quality, supplied regularly with meal, 
 meat and fuel, without any apparent individual exertion, 
 and he could not fail to contrast the comforts and con- 
 veniences surrounding the dwellings of the Harmonists, 
 with the dirt and discomfort of his own log hut, and it 
 opened to his mind a new train of thought. One of them 
 said to me in his own simple language: 'I studies and I 
 studies it,' an expression that depicts the feeling of every 
 person that obtained a sight of Eapp's colony at Har- 
 mony." 
 
 At the time of the founding of the community in Penn- 
 sylvania, a record was made of the amount of property 
 contributed by each member, and it was agreed that at 
 the withdrawal of any member, this amount, or its equiv- 
 alent, should be returned to him. In 1808, as before 
 stated, this agreement was abrogated, and in 1818, after 
 the removal of the Harmonists to Indiana, the record was 
 destroyed, on motion of George Eapp, unanimously 
 adopted by the society. With its consignment to the 
 flames, the last tie which bound the Eappites to the system 
 of individual property was dissolved. 
 
 We are not at a loss to explain the wonderful authority 
 acquired by George Eapp as leader of the Harmonists. 
 Nearly six feet In height, with patriarchal beard and stately 
 walk, he commanded the reverence of the members of his 
 sect as a prophet among them, while his cheerful and 
 kindly manner, his sympathetic and plain-spoken way of 
 talking over with the Harmonists their smallest trials, 
 made him beloved as well. Father Eapp shrewdly main- 
 tained a nominal cabinet, or board of advisers, chosen 
 from among the more intelligent members of the com- 
 munity, such as might be able to set up a rival leadership. 
 He gained great prestige by playing on the superstitions 
 of the peasantry. He professed to be guided on many oc- 
 casions by communications received in visions, as noted 
 by Flower, for instance, in building a great structure in 
 
The Rappites in Indiana. 33 
 
 the form of a Greek cross on plans supposed to have been 
 handed down from heaven. Among other traditions of 
 Eappite days still lingering in N'ew Harmony, is one con- 
 cerning the existence of an underground passage connect- 
 ing Father Eapp's cellar and the granary, or fort. 
 Through this passage, the story goes, Father Kapp was 
 accustomed to appear as from the ground, mystifying the 
 simple workmen, and perhaps leading them to helieve that 
 their labors were constantly within the range of his obser- 
 vation. It is also said that Father Rapp entered his pulpit 
 through a tunnel leading to the church porch from his 
 house just across the road. 
 
 There still remains in New Harmony what is known 
 as "Gabriel's Eock" — ^two lime-stone slabs, originally one 
 stone, ten feet by five, and five inches thick. Upon one 
 a square figure is traced, occupying the center, and upon 
 the other appears, seemingly, the imprint of two feet, — ^the 
 print of the right foot being perfect, while the forepart of 
 the left foot has disappeared. The tradition is that Father 
 Eapp informed his followers that these were imprints of 
 the feet of the angel Gabriel, who had alighted upon 
 earth to convey to the society a message from heaven. 
 David Dale Owen concluded that the figures were chipped 
 in the stone by Indians. Another theory is that the slab 
 was hewn from the pictured rocks along the Mississippi, 
 which was traversed by the Harmonist fiat-boats in the 
 extension of their trade. H. R. Schoolcraft, the famous 
 traveler and ethnologist, who visited Harmony in 1831, 
 gives a labored description of the rock. "The im- 
 pressions," he writes, "are to all appearances those of a 
 man standing upright, the left foot a little forwards, the 
 heels turned inwards. The distance between the heels by 
 an exact measurement was six and a quarter inches; three 
 and a half inches between the extremities of the great 
 toes. By an accurate examination it will, however, be 
 ascertained that they are not the impressions of feet ac- 
 customed to the use of European shoes, for the toes are 
 pressed out, and the foot is fiat, as is observed in persons 
 who walk barefoot. * * * The probability is that they 
 were caused by the impression of an individual belonging 
 to a race of men ignorant of the art of tanning hides, and 
 that this took place in a much earlier age than the tradi- 
 tions of the present Indians. This supposition is strength- 
 
34 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 ened by the extraordinary size of the feet. In another 
 sense the imprints are strikingly natural, since the 
 muscles are represented with the minutest exactness and 
 truth. This weakens the hypothesis that they are ex- 
 amples of the sculpture of men living in the remotest 
 ages of this continent. Neither history nor tradition gires 
 us the slightest information of such a people, for it must he 
 kept in mind that we have no proof that the people who 
 erected our remarkable western tumuli ever had a knowl- 
 'Cdge even of masonry, much less sculpture, or that they 
 had invented the chisel, the knife or the axe, other than 
 those made from porphyry, hornstone or obsidian. The 
 medium length of the human male foot may be accepted 
 as ten inches. The length of the foot print described 
 amounts to ten and a fourth inches, the breadth measured 
 over the toes in a right angle with the first line is four 
 inches, but the greatest spread of the base is four and a 
 half inches, which decreases at the heels to two and a half 
 inches. Directly before these impressions is a mark similar 
 to a scroll, of which the greatest length is two feet, seven 
 inches, and the greatest breadth twelve and a half inches. 
 The rock bearing these interesting impressions is of com- 
 pact limestone, bluish-gray in color." The Duke of Saxe- 
 Weimar, who visited New Harmony only two years after 
 ihe departure of the Harmonists, says: "This piece of 
 stone was hewed out of the rock near St. Louis and sold to 
 Mr. Rapp." This theory, therefore, seems to have the 
 weight of authority. 
 
 Father Eapp taught humility, simplicity, self-sacrifice, 
 neighborly love, regular and persevering industry, prayer 
 and self-examination. He also demanded that each 
 evening anyone who had sinned during the day should 
 come to him and confess his transgression. No quarrels 
 were allowed to pass through the night uncompromised, 
 the rule which declares, "Let not the sun go down upon 
 thy wrath," being literally enforced. Persons seeking ad- 
 mission to the community were compelled to make full 
 -confession of their sins, this being considered requisite to 
 the forgiveness of God. 
 
 Two periods of religious service were observed, — one on 
 Sunday, when two services and a Sunday school were 
 conducted, one on Thursday, when general services were 
 held. In the church were two bells, one of which called 
 
K 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 K 
 H 
 
The Rappites in Indiana. 3t 
 
 the people to and from their daily labors, and another, 
 said to have heen the largest imported up to that time, 
 marked the opening of religious services. Father Rapp 
 presided and preached at all the religious gatherings 
 of the community. For the purpose of making religious 
 instruction more personal, the community was divided 
 into classes according to sex and age. Four holidays were 
 observed, Christmas, Easter Sunday, Pentecost and Good 
 Friday, besides three feast days, February fifteenth, the 
 anniversary of the founding of the society, Harvest Home 
 and an annual "Lord's Supper" in the autumn. 
 
 The day's work was conducted after a fixed routine.. 
 Between five and six the people rose, breakfasted between 
 six and seven, lunched at nine, dined at twelve, ate an 
 afternoon lunch (vesperbrod) at three, and supped between, 
 six and seven. At nine o'clock the curfew bell was rung. 
 Women as well as men labored in the fields, as many as 
 fifty sometimes being employed in a body, harvesting 
 wheat, or breaking flax in the streets. Often they marched' 
 to the fields to the music of a band which was one of the 
 regular institutions of the community. On summer even- 
 ings this band, stationed in the public garden, discou^Bed^ 
 the old German hymns while the women busied themselves 
 with their house-work, the stolid peasants dozed upon the 
 door-steps, and the children shouted at play in the streets. 
 It is said that this band often played upon the hillsides 
 while the peasants labored in the valley. A hundred acres 
 of wheat were harvested by the sickle in a day, — a remark- 
 able result for that time. 
 
 John Woods, a member of the settlement at English 
 Prairie, twenty miles from "Harmonic" on the Illinois 
 side of the Wabash, visited the Eappites in 1820. He 
 says that the value of their property was then estimated 
 at a million dollars. "Each lives in his own house," writes 
 Woods, "but all dine at one hour and take their meals in 
 the same manner." Woods says that the houses were dis- 
 tributed among the Harmonists by lot, but "though there 
 was of necessity much difference in the size and equipment 
 of the various buildings, there was no dissatisfaction or 
 disturbance over the apportionment." He declared them 
 to be a most industrious people, but said the greater part 
 of them were not very enlightened. "As I approached the 
 place in July, I met their plow teams, sixteen in number,. 
 
38 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 just entering a field of wheat stubble. I was much pleased 
 with their appearance." Woods counted eighty-seven 
 milch cows going to pasture, driven by a herdsman who, 
 according to another authority, lived in a house on wheels, 
 called "Koah's Ark." "The dress of the Harmomsts," 
 writes Woods, "is uncommonly plain, mostly of their own 
 manufacturing. The men wear jackets and pantaloons, 
 with a coarse hat; the women a kind of jacket and petti- 
 coat, with a skull cap and straw hat made in the factory 
 here. As this society do not marry, I presume they de- 
 pend upon immigration from Germany to keep up their 
 numbers, as the Americans are not likely to join them; 
 most of them regard the Harmonists with jealousy on 
 account of their engrossing most of the business of this 
 part of the country." Woods' surmise as to the method 
 employed in keeping up the numbers was correct. In 
 1817 one hundred and fifty recruits from Wiirtemburg 
 swelled the membership. 
 
 Morris Birkbeck, an associate of the Flowers in the 
 Edwards county settlement, visited Harmony frequently, 
 and in his diary of August third, 1817, gives the following 
 account of a short stay there: "When I arrived on Sunday 
 evening, all were at services. I found even the tavern 
 deserted, and was compelled to call the keeper from the 
 church in order to secure accommodations. Soon the en- 
 tire body of people, which is about seven hundred, poured 
 out of the church, and exhibited so much health, peace 
 and neatness that we could but exclaim: 'Surely, the insti- 
 tutions which produce so much happiness, must have more 
 of good than of evil in them,' and here I rest, not lowered 
 in my abhorrence of the hypocrisy, if it be such, which 
 governs the ignorant by nursing them in superstition, but 
 inclined in charity to believe that the leaders are sincere. 
 
 "The colony is thrifty and useful to the community. 
 The Harmonists set a good example in neatness and in- 
 dustry. Though the population is ignorant, it is advanced 
 in the social scale perhaps a hundred years beyond their 
 solitary neighbors. 
 
 "I am quite convinced that the association of numbers 
 in the application of a good capital, is sufficient to account 
 for all that has been done, and the unnatural restraint 
 which forms so prominent and revolting a feature of their 
 
Tbe Rappites in Indiana. 39 
 
 institutions, is prospective, rather than immediate, in its 
 object. 
 
 "Strangers visit their establishment, and retire from it 
 full of admiration, but a slavish acquiescence, under a 
 disgusting superstition, is so remarkable an ingredient in 
 their character that it checks all desire of imitation." 
 
 Connected with George Kapp in the leadership of the 
 Harmonists was Frederick Eapp, who for many years 
 served as manager of the bustaess interests of the Rappites. 
 Frederick Eapp was the adopted son of George Eapp, and 
 a man of intelligence and education. He met a violent 
 death in 1834, some allege at the instigation of George 
 Eapp, incensed at his son's refusal to put away his wife. 
 A more probable story is that he was fatally injured by a 
 falling tree at Economy, Pa. Frederick Eapp contributed 
 to the community most of its attractive features. By 
 nature an artist, he was the originator of plans which made 
 Harmony one of the most attractive villages in America. 
 Had it not been for his influence upon George Eapp, 
 amusements would have been few in the place and the 
 unrelieved monotony of the community might have im- 
 pelled even the stolid Eappites to renounce their allegiance 
 and seek happier homes. 
 
 While Father Eapp was king of the community Freder- 
 ick Eapp was his secretary of state. Father Eapp con- 
 trolled internal, Frederick Eapp external affairs. Through 
 Frederick Eapp the community held business and political 
 connection with the outside world. Frederick Eapp was 
 a member of the convention which met under the famous 
 oak at Corydon and framed the first constitution of In- 
 diana, preliminary to the admission of the territory to the 
 Union. He was afterwards a member of the state legis- 
 lature. Among the important committees upon which he 
 served was that which located the state capital at Indian- 
 apolis in 1820. 
 
 Under the younger Eapp's administration. Harmony 
 became a garden of neatness and beauty in the wilder- 
 ness. The gabled roofs of the buildings were lifted above 
 the forest of black locust trees which the Eappites seemed 
 to love so well. The broad river, the vine-covered hills, 
 the fertile valley with its peaceful town, the stately church 
 and the fruitful orchards, furnished a scene of Acadian 
 beauty which seemed a vision of promise to the Owenite 
 
40 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 communists who succeeded to the ownership of the estate. 
 In the language of Mr. John HoUiday: "It would seem to 
 the traveled visitor like some quaint German village, trans- 
 ported from the Neckar or the Ehine, and set down in thi& 
 western waste like an Aladdin's palace." There were tables 
 and benches in the orchards, and on each machine in the 
 factories stood a vessel filled with flowers. 
 
 A work of art credited to Frederick Eapp still to be 
 seen in New Harmony is the figure of a rose and the 
 accompanying inscription carved upon stone to decorate 
 the doorway of the Eappite church. The reference, 
 Micah, iv: 8, reads, in the Lutheran edition: "Unto thee 
 shall come the golden rose, the first dominion." 
 
 A short distance from the village was a famous horticul- 
 tural design which visitors came miles to see. It remained' 
 as an object of curiosity during the years of the Owen 
 settlement, but the only present reminder of its existence 
 is a pleasant grove of locust trees which marks the spot 
 where it stood. A labyrinth of vines and shrubs was con- 
 structed about a summer house, rough on the exterior, but 
 beautifully furnished within. Robert Owen was told, on 
 his first visit there, that this was the emblematic repre- 
 sentation of the life the colonists had chosen. Robert 
 Dale Owen says: "It contained many circuitous walks, 
 enclosed by high hedges and bordered with flowering 
 shrubbery. It was arranged with such intricacy that with- 
 out some Daedalus to furnish a clue, one might walk for 
 hours and fail to reach a building erected in the center.. 
 This was a temple of rough material, but covered with 
 vines of grape and convolvulus, and its interior neatly 
 fitted up and prettily furnished. Thus George Eapp had 
 sought to shadow forth to his followers their final state of 
 peace and harfnony; and the rough exterior of the shrine,, 
 and the elegance displayed within, were to serve as types 
 of toil and suffering, succeeded by happy repose." 
 
 The Eappites carried out strictly in every-dav life, the 
 moral laws and religious observances prescribed by Father 
 Eapp. Any transgression of these regulations was pun- 
 ished, not by Father Eapp, but by a refusal of the remain- 
 ing members of the society to associate with the wrong- 
 doer until full forgiveness had been obtained. There is 
 no account of a single infraction of the law of celibacy. 
 In later years, elopements were not unknown, but the care- 
 
The Rappites in Indiana. 41 
 
 with which the sexes were separated prevented a frequent 
 repetition of the offense, and such transgressors were not 
 again admitted to the society, except after the performance 
 of prolonged penance. The character of Father Eapp has 
 never heen questioned, and his example went far towards 
 insuring good conduct on the part of his followers. The 
 reputation for honesty borne by the Eappites was one of 
 the secrets of their commercial prosperity. Flour, woolen 
 goods or distillery products bearing the Harmony brand, 
 were known to be of the best quality, and this fact secured 
 them trade from all parts of the country. Eobert Owen 
 said of them: "It is due to the society who formed this 
 settlement to state that I have not yet met with more 
 kind-hearted, temperate and industrious citizens, nor found 
 men more sincere, upright and honest in all their dealings, 
 than the Harmonists." 
 
 The jealousy of neighbors and the natural hatred of the 
 squatters for this simple sect, led in the early years of the 
 settlement to the circulation of reports injurious to their 
 credit. It is related that when on one ocasion Frederick 
 Eapp made his regular trip to Pittsburg for supplies, he 
 found himself denied credit by merchants of that city. 
 In deep discouragement and humiliation, he went to the 
 river side to weep and pray. He was found there by a 
 merchant, who was so touched by Eapp's dependence on 
 prayer to release him from his troubles, that he offered 
 him all the supplies he could transport in two four-horse 
 wagons. The offer was accepted with thanksgiving, and 
 in a short time the merchant was paid in full. Several 
 years later this man was on the verge of financial embarass- 
 ment during a period of business depression. When the 
 news reached the Harmonists, Frederick Eapp filled his 
 saddle bags with coin, and hastening to Pittsburg, saved 
 their benefactor from bankruptcy. 
 
 The financial management of the society was always 
 most careful. Mr. Arthur Dransfield, librarian of the 
 workingmen's institute at New Harmony, has in his pos- 
 session a letter from Frederick Eapp, concluding a trans- 
 action with William Maclure involving over one hundred 
 thousand dollars, in which Eapp gives minute directions 
 for the disposition of a balance of sixty-five cents due the 
 society. 
 
42 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 The moundless surface of the Kappite cemetery at New 
 Harmony, which occupies the site of an old Indian bury- 
 ing-ground, bears witness to the fact that the community 
 was one of perfect equality. Old and young, high and 
 low alike were at death laid to rest under the trees, with 
 only the elders as witnesses. Before morning the place of 
 burial had been sodded over, with nothing left to distin- 
 guish the spot, although a plan indicating the site of each 
 grave was retained. It is said that the exact situation of 
 Father Eapp's grave at Economy, is unknown. 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen, in "Threading My Way," gives us 
 the last information we have of the Eappites in their In- 
 diana home, describing them Just as his father found them 
 before their departure from the Wabash valley: 
 
 "Harmony was a marvelous experiment from a pecuniary 
 point of view, for at the time of their emigration from 
 Germany, their property did not exceed twenty-five dollars 
 a head, while in twenty-one years (i. e., in 1835), a fair 
 estimate gave them two thousand dollars for each man, 
 woman and child, probably ten times the average wealth, 
 throughout the United States; for at that time each per- 
 son in Indiana averaged but one hundred and fifty dollars' 
 worth of property, and even in Massachusetts the average 
 fell far short of three hundred dollars for each adult and 
 child. Socially, however, it was doubtless a failure; as 
 an ecclesiastical aristocracy, especially when it contravenes 
 an important law of nature, must always be. Kapp was 
 an absolute ruler, assuming to be such by virtue of a divine 
 call, and it was said, probably with truth, that he desired 
 to sell Harmony because life there was getting to be easy 
 and quiet, with leisure for thought, and because he found 
 it difficult to keep his people in order excepting during the 
 bustle and hard work which attended a new settlement. 
 At all events, he commissioned Mr. Flower to offer the 
 whole property for sale. 
 
 "When my father reached the place, he found among 
 the Germans, its sole occupants, indications of plenty and 
 material comfort, but with scarcely a touch of fancy or 
 ornament, save the flowers in the gardens and what was 
 called the labyrinth. 
 
 "The toil and suffering had left their mark, however, on 
 the grave, stolid, often sad German faces. Thev looked 
 well fed, well clothed (so my father told me), and seemed 
 
The Rappites in Indiana. 43 
 
 free from anxiety. The animal liad been sufficiently cared 
 for, and that is a great deal in a world where millions can 
 hardly keep the wolf from the door, drudge as they will; 
 where hundreds of millions, manage as they may, live in 
 daily uncertainty whether in the next week or month 
 (chance of work or means of living failing), absolute 
 penury may not fall to their lot. A shelter from life-wear- 
 ing cares is something; but a temple typifies higher things, 
 — more than what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, 
 and where withal we shall be clothed. Kapp's disciples 
 had bought this dearly, — at the expense of heart and soul. 
 They purchased them by unquestioned submission to an 
 autocrat who had been commissioned, — perhaps as he 
 really believed, certainly as he alleged, — by God himself. 
 He bade them do this and that, and they did it, — com- 
 , manded them to forego wedded life and all its incidents, 
 and to this also they assented." 
 
OLD FORT AS BUILT. 
 
The '^appite Hegira, 
 
 "In the twenty-fourth of May, 1824, we have departed. Lord, 
 ■with thy great help and goodness, in body and soul, protect us." 
 
 —Inscription under a stairway in Community House No. Two, at 
 New Harmony, left by one of the Rappites. 
 
 Ten years after the Eappite advance guard reached 
 "Harmonie," the Harmonists made way for the advance of 
 a more interesting social experiment. The sale of the 
 estate is curiously connected with the history of the fa- 
 mous English settlement in Edwards county, Illinois, 
 established by Eiehard Flower on an estate of twenty 
 thousand acres in 1818. Mr. Flower and his associates 
 had intimate business relations with the Eappites, and 
 frequently visited the Harmonist colony. In 1828, an 
 effort was made to legalize slavery in Illinois, and in the 
 front rank of the opposition were the English colonists 
 in Edwards county, led by Richard Flower, and his son 
 Edward, then a youth of eighteen. The anti-slavery cam- 
 paign was successful, but the activity of the Flowers was 
 so distasteful to those favorable to slavery, that attempts 
 were made to assassinate the young man. His father 
 deemed it prudent to take him to England to remain until 
 the excitement should subside. Before leaving he was 
 commissioned to sell the Harmonist property by Father 
 Eapp, who offered him a commission of five thousand dol- 
 lars. Edward Flower never returned to America, but 
 achieved great prominence in England as a participant in 
 several reform movements, notably the agitation for the 
 abolition of the check-rein on horses. His daughter Sarah 
 wrote the hymn, "Nearer, My God to Thee." During the 
 civil war Edward Flower took the platform in England in 
 behalf of the Union cause. 
 
 The elder Flower visited New Lanark, and laid before 
 Robert Owen the advantages of Harmony as a site for a 
 communistic establishment in the New World, where Mr. 
 Owen might work out in practice theories long promul- 
 gated by him. The sale was effected, the whole tract with 
 all its improvements, and most of the valuable equipments, 
 
48 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 going for less than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 Strong reasons must have impelled Father Eapp in his 
 desire to move the colony back to Pennsylvania, for this 
 sale was made at a great sacrifice, though at a large advance 
 over the original expenditure ten years before. Double 
 the sum received would have been a modest estimate of the 
 value of this princely estate and well-built town. Eemoval, 
 too, meant the sacrifice of a trade extending all over the 
 adjacent states, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans, 
 as well as the abandonment of prosperous stores at Vin- 
 cennes, Ind., and Shawneetown, 111. NordhofE catalogues 
 the Eappites' reasons for leaving Indiana as fever, 
 ague, unpleasant neighbors, and remoteness from business 
 centers, from all of which causes they had indeed 
 suffered. But fever and ague, according to the state- 
 ments of the Harmonists themselves, had about disap- 
 peared in 1824, and the Eappites ought easily to 
 have been able to defend themselves against the 
 depredations of unorganized squatters. According to Dr. 
 Schnaek, one authority states that the Harmonist property 
 had become involved, and that Eapp was compelled to 
 sell; it is certain, however, that the Eappites had suiScient 
 funds to redeem their property from any such complica- 
 tions, for within eight years after their return to Pennsyl- 
 vania, they not only paid for their estate, and erected upon 
 it the village of Economy, but were able to pay one hun- 
 dred and five thousand dollars to a party of seceders. 
 Another authority says: "I have been informed that Mr. 
 Eapp adopted this plan in order to have the new deeds 
 made out in his name, and thus hold possession of all the 
 landed property, as well as the control of the funds for 
 which Harmony was sold." There seems to be no evidence 
 to corroborate this supposition. D(Kibtless the Harmonists 
 found some difficulty in transporting supplies from Pitts- 
 burg, and Prederiek Eapp realized that a better market 
 for their products would be afforded in the east. 
 
 With the proceeds of the Harmony sale, an estate 
 was purchased in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, eighteen 
 miles below Pittsburg, on the Ohio river, not far from the 
 site of their first settlement. A steamboat was built for the 
 Eappites, and they descended the river in detachments. A 
 village was built, and called Economy. In Economy the 
 Harmonist society has remained, its uneventful history 
 
The Rappite Hegira. 49 
 
 broken only by tbe great secession of 1831-32, a brief ac- 
 count of whieli we obtain from NordhofE's "Communistic 
 Societies of tbe United States": 
 
 "In 1831 tbere came to Economy a German adventurer, 
 Bembard Miiller by name, who had assumed tbe title 
 *6raf,' or Count Maximilian De Leon, and had gathered a 
 following of visionary Germans, whom be imposed, with 
 himself, upon tbe Harmonists, on a pretense that be was a 
 believer with them in religious matters." (Another author- 
 ity states that Miiller claimed to have come directly from 
 Wiirtemburg.) "He proved to be a wretched intriguer, 
 who brought ruin on all those who connected themselves 
 with him; and who began at once to make trouble in 
 Economy. Having secured a lodgment, he began to an- 
 nounce strange doctrines; marriage, a livelier life, and 
 other temptations to worldliness, and he finally succeeded 
 in effecting a serious division, which, if it had not been 
 prudently managed, might have destroyed the community. 
 After bitter disputes, at last affairs came to such a pass, 
 that a vote had to be taken in order to decide who were 
 faithful to the old order, and to Eapp, and who were to 
 Count de Leon, before an agreement was reached." When 
 tbe vote was taken, it was found that five hundred stood 
 with Father Eapp, and two hundred and fifty with Count 
 de Leon. When Father Eapp heard the result he quoted 
 from the book of Eevelation: "And the tail of the ser- 
 pent drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did 
 cast them to earth." 
 
 "The end of the dispute," continued Nordhoff, "was an 
 agreement, under which the society bound itself to pay to 
 those who adhered to Count de Leon, one hundred and five 
 thousand dollars in three installments, all payable within 
 twelve months; the other side agreeing on their part, to 
 leave Economy within three months, taking with tbem 
 only their clothing and household furniture, and relin- 
 quishing all claims upon the property of the society. This 
 agreement was made in March, 1832, and Leon and his 
 followers withdrew to Philipsburg, a village ten miles be- 
 low Economy, on the other side of tbe river, where they 
 bought eight hundred acres of land. Here they set up a 
 society on communistic principles, but permitted marriage, 
 and here they very quickly wasted the large sum of money 
 they had received from the Rappites, and after a desperate 
 
so The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 and lawless attempt to extort more money from the Econ- 
 omy people, which was happily defeated. Count de Leon 
 absconded with a few of his people in a boat to Alexandria, 
 on the Eed river, where he perished of cholera in 1832. 
 Those he had deluded meantime divided the Philipsburg 
 property among themselves, and set up each for himself, 
 and a number afterwards joined Dr. Keil, in forming the 
 Bethel community in Missouri." 
 
 Nordhoff points out the fact that the Harmonists had 
 demonstrated in this transaction their great prosperity dur- 
 ing the few years of their existence as a community. In 
 twenty-seven years they had built three towns, and endured 
 all the expense and loss of three removals, and yet they 
 were able to produce this immense sum of ready cash. The 
 Harmonists, at the time of their removal from Indiana, 
 were reported to be worth a million dollars, and New Har- 
 mony tradition has it that bullion was conveyed from 
 Father Eapp's cellars in wagon loads to the boat which 
 conveyed the Eappites to Economy. "During this whole 
 time, moreover," says ISTordhofE, "they had lived a life of 
 comfort and social order, such as few individual settlers 
 in our western states at that time could command." 
 
 George Kapp died on August seventh, 1847, greatly 
 mourned by his people. One of his last hours was spent 
 in preaching to the Harmonist congregation from his 
 death-bed, through the open window. Shortly before his 
 death, he called the members to his bedside, one by one, 
 where he bade them good-by and exhorted them to the 
 perpetuation of the principles he had taught them. After 
 his burial, the members again signed the agreement. E. L. 
 Baker, long since dead, and Jacob Henrici, who died on 
 Christmas morning, 1893, were elected to succeed him, 
 ruling in conjunction with seven elders. Henrici was 
 succeeded in the senior trusteeship by John Duss, a young 
 man who had been educated in the schools of Economy, 
 but drifted west in early manhood. In Missouri he became 
 a school-teacher, a candidate for superintendent of public 
 instruction, and owner of a cattle ranch. Being called to 
 Economy to take charge of the schools, he became suc- 
 cessively elder, junior trustee and senior trustee and ruler 
 of the society. Strangely enough, this successor to the 
 authority of George Eapp is a married man, with two 
 children. 
 
The Rapplte Hegira. 51 
 
 The society at Economy now consists of nine members. 
 Most of the buildings in the village are now occupied by 
 tenants, the management of the place being vested in the 
 small coterie of owners. The wealth of the society is 
 variously estimated, and usually overestimated. The mills, 
 once operated at a large profit, have long been closed. The 
 society has lost considerable sums by unfortunate invest- 
 ments. A considerable amount has been expended in 
 successfully defending the society in the courts against 
 daims prosecuted by withdrawing members. The decrease 
 of members has lessened the expenses, and the oil wells on 
 the Eappite estate have yielded a steady income. The 
 Bociety is no longer a community, however, but a close 
 corporation, administered for the benefit of the few re- 
 maining members. 
 
 But for the executive ability of John Duss, it is generally 
 agreed that the accumulations of the Kappites would be- 
 fore this have been entirely swept away. Thirty years ago 
 the wealth of the Eappites was variously estimated at from 
 $10,000,000 to $30,000,000, but when Trustee Duss suc- 
 ceeded to the management of the society's afEairs, it was 
 found to be almost bankrupt with lawsuits on hand that 
 threatened to wipe out the last vestige of the vast prop- 
 erty. By strict administration of the affairs of the com- 
 munity on business principles, Mr. Duss succeeded in 
 saving several hundred thousand dollars after clearing the 
 society of debt. 
 
 if Hf if 
 
 With the other buildings conveyed to Robert Owen at 
 New Harmony was the immense church of the Eappites. 
 Tor a time after the dissolution of the Owen communities, 
 this building was partitioned off in rooms, but after 
 William Maclure's death it was presented to St. Stephen's 
 Episcopal church. The east wing was for years used as a 
 hall-room, and the room south for a theater, the walls be- 
 ing, according to Dr. Schnack, "beautifully frescoed and 
 painted." Later a part of the building was used as a pork 
 packing establishment. In 1874 the Eappites sent Jonathan 
 Lentz to New Harmony. He purchased the church build- 
 ing and the lot upon which it stood. Of the large building 
 he tore down all but the east wing, using the brick to 
 construct the wall which protects the Eappite cemetery to 
 
S2 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 this day. This wall is one foot thick, five feet high, cot- 
 ered with a heavy limestone coping, and guarded by iron 
 gates. The Harmonists gave the ehnreh lot, together with 
 the remaining material and the wing standing, to the town 
 of New Harmony. According to Dr. Schnack, they also 
 gave two thousand dollars of the sum necessary to con- 
 struct the building which, until a few years ago, was occu- 
 pied by the library of the workingmen's institute, aiid 
 is now used as a public school. According to an inscrip- 
 tion, this building was erected "In memory of the Har- 
 mony society, founded by George Eapp, 1805." With this 
 act of philanthropy, the connection of the Eappites with 
 New Harmony ceased. 
 
 Thirty years ago, a writer in the Atlantic Monthly well 
 foreshadowed the destiny of the Harmony society. "It 
 needs no second thought," he said, "to discern the end of 
 Eapp's schemes. His single strength sustained the colony 
 during his life, and since his death one or two strong wills 
 have kept it from crumbling to pieces, and converted the 
 whole machinery of this system into a powerful money- 
 making agent. These men are the means by which it keeps 
 a hand on the world, on the market, perhaps I should say. 
 They are intelligent, able, honorable, too, we are glad to 
 know, for the sake of the quiet creatures drowsing away 
 their remnant of life, fat and contented, driving their plows 
 through the fields, or sitting on the stoops of the village 
 when evening comes. I wonder if they ever cast a furtive 
 glance at the world, and the life from which Eapp's edict 
 so early shut them out. When they finish working, one 
 by one, the great revenues of the society will probably 
 fall into the hands of two or three, and be returned into 
 the small currents of trade according to the rapid sequence 
 which always follows the accretion of large properties in 
 this country"" 
 
 From a sordid standpoint, at least, we may denominate 
 the Harmony society a successful communism; its history 
 perhaps forms the nearest approach to a justification of 
 communistic association, but to what extent this justifica- 
 tion continues is a question which can only be determined 
 by a careful analysis of the primary elements contributing 
 to this success. What may be said of the Harmony society 
 in this connection may in large part be declared of all 
 religious communistic associations in America, which have 
 
The Rappite Hegira. S3 
 
 been the only successful attempts at community life. "The 
 temporary success of the Hemhutters, the Moravians, the 
 Shakers, and even the Eappites," says Miss Peabody, in 
 "Christ's Idea of Society," "has cleared away difficulties 
 and solved problems of social science. It has been made 
 plain that the material goods of life are not to be sacrificed 
 in doing fuller justice to the social principles. It has been 
 proved that with the same degree of labor, there is no way 
 to compare with that of working in a community, banded 
 by some sufficient idea to animate the will of the laborers. 
 A greater quantity of wealth is procured with fewer hours 
 of toil, and without any degradation to the laborer. All 
 these communities have demonstrated what the practical 
 Dr. Franklin said, that if every one worked bodily three 
 hours daily, there would be no necessity of any one's work- 
 ing more than three hours." Many economic ideas of the 
 present day are based upon such suppositions regarding the 
 success of cooperative labor like that of the Harmonists. 
 Robert Owen received much of his communistic inspiration 
 from the apparent success of the Eappists, and the origin 
 of every American communism can be traced to a belief 
 that these experiments have demonstrated the practica- 
 bility of communistic principles. This success, in a great 
 degree, however, seems to have sprung from favorable cir- 
 cumstances not the result of communistic association, while 
 we may reasonably enquire if there has not been, indeed, 
 a degradation of the laborer, and whether his life has not 
 been even harder and more barren of compensating advant- 
 ages than the life which the individual system would have 
 offered him. 
 
 In the first place, the Eappites, the Shakers, the Amana- 
 ites, and in fact most of the communistic societies which 
 have proved successful, secured advantages by the purchase 
 of large tracts of wild land at a low price. The land held 
 by the Harmonists in Indiana increased in value since 
 their departure far more in proportion than did the wealth 
 of the Eappites. They owned, before leaving Indiana, for 
 instance, a considerable portion of the site of the city of 
 Terre Haute, which George Eapp secured in foreclosing a 
 mortgage of something over a thousand dollars. This new 
 country, moreover, afforded an unusually profitable market 
 for manufactured goods, since manufactures had then been 
 little developed. The German peasants who made up the 
 
54 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 Harmony society, and other successful religious commu- 
 nities were thrifty and industrious. Moreover they worked, 
 not three, but ten hours a day. The Harmonists were 
 peculiarly prepared for their communistic state by their 
 previous experiences in Germany. They had little of the 
 American idea of liberty, and had endured such intqlQ-- 
 ance of private opinion and suppression of religious freedom 
 that even the rigid disciplines of the new society afforded 
 relief. In their simplicity, these peasants were pleased and 
 satisfied by the freedom from responsibility, and the good 
 food and clothing which the community afforded them. 
 The contemplation of the hard life of the pioneers about 
 them made the community seem a haven of refuge. Their 
 exclusive use of the German language furnished another 
 barrier against the outside world. Celibacy was one secret 
 of their material success. There were few children to rear 
 and educat.e^;_ this unproductive class of accessions" was 
 supplanted by the entrance of able-bodied men and wraien, 
 many of whom added considerable wealth to thai _Qf_i;he 
 society. Celibacy has been a rule of practically every suc- 
 <3essful communism. We are frequently reminded of the 
 Amana society, in Iowa, as an example of communistic 
 success under the family system. But while the wealth of 
 the Harmonists twenty years after their removal to America 
 was thirteen times as much per capita as the average in 
 Indiana, and seven times that in Massachusetts, it is shown 
 in Historical Monograph No. 1 (1890), of the University 
 •of Iowa, that the average per capita wealth of the Amana 
 society in 1890 was about ten per cent less than the aver- 
 age wealth in the state of Iowa: this after an American 
 residence of nearly fifty years, with practically the same 
 ■collateral advantages which contributed to the wealth of 
 the Eappites. The Zoarites, a communistic society in Tus- 
 carawas county, Ohio, which was until recent years suc- 
 cessful, had permitted marriage after the year 1830, al- 
 though they taught that the celibate state is more com- 
 mendable, and that this teaching was observed is shown 
 by the fact that they added only seventy-five to their 
 original membership during the first fifty years of their 
 residence in this country. 
 
 Peculiar reasons made possible the peaceful and pros- 
 perous association of the Harmonists. Among these con- 
 ■ditions was ignorance in the masses, controlled by intelli- 
 
The Rappite Hesira. 55 
 
 gence in a limited_leadership. "JacoM," says Noyes,- 
 "seems drspbseS^to give special prominence to leadership 
 as a cause of success. He evidently attributes the decline 
 of the Beizelites, the Eappites and the Zoarites to the old 
 age and death of their founders." We must also remember 
 the superstition which prevailed among the Eappites, cul- 
 tivated and directed by a theocratic head; akin to this- 
 their belief in the near approach of the judgment day,, 
 which made them careless of private effects. 
 
 We cannot over-estimate the importance of religion as a 
 cohesive force in societies like that of the Harmonists. 
 Upon religious grounds their community was founded;, 
 religion was the guiding principle of their daily lives. 
 "Religion," says Horace Greeley in his "Recollections of a 
 Busy Life," "often makes practicable that which were else 
 impossible, and divine love triumphs where human science 
 is baiHed. Thus I interpret the past successes and failures 
 of socialism. * * * With a firm and deep religious 
 basis, any socialistic scheme may succeed, though vicious 
 in organization, and at war with human nature; without a 
 basis of religious sympathy and religious aspiration it will 
 always be difficult, though I judge not impossible." "Com- 
 munities based on religious views have generally suc- 
 ceeded," said Charles A. Dana, in the New York Sun of 
 May first, 1869. "The Shakers and the Oneida community 
 are conspicuous illustrations of this fact, while the failure 
 of the various attempts made by the disciples of Owen,, 
 Fourier and others, who have not the support of religious 
 fanaticism, proves that without this great force the most 
 brilliant social theories are of little avail." 
 
 How far has the destruction of the family in the Rappite 
 and other communities contributed to the possibility^ of ' 
 individual efPacement? Is the institution of marriage 'in 
 its present form based upon and a preserver of individual- 
 ismL, Is family life as now constituted a stumbling block 
 in the way of socialism, in so-far as socialism proposes to 
 broaden sympathy for the circumscribed family circle until 
 it becomes sympathy for universal mankind? Advocates 
 of communism_haye_ almost invariably proposed to destroy, 
 change or regulate the institution of marriage. Robert 
 Owen declared that marriage based on the possession of 
 private property was "one of the ^eat trinity of evils 
 which have cursed the world ever since the creation of 
 
56 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 man." The Oneida Perfectionists "propose to abolish 
 family ties by the institution of free love." The Zoarite 
 elders opposed marriage "because it makes a division of 
 interests among the brethren." Jacobi calls attention to 
 the fact that in nearly all communistic associations at- 
 tended by a degree of success, marriage is sacrifled for 
 communism. John Humphrey Noyes cites an article by 
 Charles Lane, a Fourierist, in the Dial of January, 1844, 
 in which he says: 
 
 "The maternal instinct, as hitherto educated, has de- 
 clared itself so strongly in favor of the separate fireside, 
 that association, which appears so beautiful to the young 
 and unattached soul, has yet accomplished little progress 
 in the affections of that important section of the human 
 race, — the mothers. With fathers, the feeling in favor of 
 the separate family is certainly less strong; but there is an 
 indefinable tie, a sort of magnetic rapport, an invisible, 
 inseverable umbilical cord between the mother and the 
 child, which in most cases circumscribes her desires and 
 aspirations for her own immediate family. All the accepted 
 adages and wise saws of society, all the precepts of morality, 
 all the sanctions of theology have for ages been employed 
 to confirm this feeling. * * * The question of asso- 
 ciation and of marriage are one. If, as we have been popu- 
 larly led to believe, the individual or separate family is 
 the true order of Providence, then the associative life is a 
 false effort. If the associative life is true, then the separate 
 family is a false arrangement. By the maternal feeling it 
 seems to be decided that the coexistence of both is incom- 
 patible, is impossible. * * * That the affections can 
 be divided, or bent with equal ardor on two objects so 
 opposed as universal and individual love, may at least be 
 rationally doubted. * * * The monasteries„ and con*'> 
 vents which have existed in all ages have existed solely Ty' 
 the annihilation of that peculiar affection on which the 
 separate family is based, * * * Spite of the specu- 
 lations of hopeful bachelors and aesthetic spinsters there -is 
 somewhat m the marriage bond which is found to 'counter- 
 act the universal nature of the affections, to a degree teitd- 
 mg at least to make the considerate pause before they' assert 
 that by any social arrangements whatever, the two can be 
 blended into one harmony. * * * It is only the deter- 
 
The Rappite Hegira. St 
 
 mination to do what parents consider best for their families 
 and themselves which renders the o'er-populous world such 
 a wilderness of selfhood as it is. Destroy this feeling, they 
 say, and you prohibit every motive to exertion." 
 
Robert Owen and tf^e Industrial 
 Revolution. 
 
 "As long as he was merely a philanthropist he was rewarded 
 with nothing but applause, wealth, honor and glory. He was the 
 most popular man in Europe. Not only men of his own class, but 
 statesmen and princes listened to him approvingly."— Frederick 
 Engels. 
 
 "The interest of the life of Kobert Owen," as his friend 
 and biographer, Lloyd Jones, has said, "lies not in the 
 completeness of its success, hut in its practical wisdom and 
 devotion to principle." Yet, measured from a strictly 
 practical standpoint, the work of Kobert Owen has not 
 been without its great results. Frederick Engels declares: 
 "EveiX-SQcial movement, every real advance in England 
 on behalf of the workers, links itself on to the name of 
 Eobert Owen." Eobert Owen has been called "The Father 
 of English Socialism." The great labor cooperative socie- 
 ties of Great Britain, which in one year divided profits 
 amounting to thirty-five million dollars, and have conferred 
 inestimable benefits upon the working people of Great 
 Britain, are in themselves a monument to his philanthropic 
 labors. "His specific plans as a social reformer," writes 
 i JEofee^fe-Bf^e-Owera,- "proved on the whole, and for the 
 time, a failure, * * * yet, with such earnestness, such 
 indomitable perseverance, and such devotion and love for 
 his race, did he press, through half a century, his plans 
 upon the public, and so much truth was there mixed with 
 visionary expectation, that his name became known, and 
 the influence of his teachings has been more or less felt 
 over the civilized world. A failure in gross has been 
 attended by sterling incidental successes, and towards the 
 great idea of cooperation, — quite impracticable as he con- 
 ceived it, — ^there has been, ever since his death, very con- 
 siderable advance made, and generally recognized by earn- 
 est men as eminently useful and important." 
 
 A brief review of the social and industrial conditions 
 which gave occasion and purpose to the career of Robert 
 Owen is necessary to an understanding of his life and work. 
 
62 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 The concluding years of the eighteenth century marked 
 the beginning of an industrial revolution. Human power 
 had received a magnificent impetus from an era of great 
 invention, but this increase of power brought in its imme- 
 diate train serious results for the laboring classes of Eng- 
 land. Machinery began to supplant manual labor so sud- 
 denly and so rapidly, especially in the great cotton indus- 
 try, that thousands of men, willing to labor, were deprived 
 of employment. Factory owners began to realize im- 
 mensely upon their investments. While their establish- 
 ments were enlarged, wages were reduced, for not only were 
 the recently employed clamoring for work, but the rural 
 population was flocking by thousands to the factories on 
 account of the prevalent agricultural depression. 
 
 In many ways the whole population of England suffered 
 from this rapid transformation. The expense of machinery, 
 and inability to compete with the greater facilities of the 
 large factories, caused the extinction of the smaller estab- 
 lishments. As a result, the personal relation which had 
 formerly existed between employer and employe was de- 
 stroyed, to the infinite damage of the latter. Intoxicated 
 with the possibilities of wealth so suddenly opened before 
 them, the great factory owners gave no heed to the welfare 
 of their thousands of employes. The workmen were herded 
 together in squalid and crowded quarters, with none of the 
 comforts or pleasures of wholesome home life. ISTo pro- 
 visions were made for the education of children who were 
 employed by thousands in the factories. The intellectual 
 and moral results of such a system were deplorable. The 
 English laboring classes, but a generation before happy, 
 independent and respected, became, in effect, slaves to their 
 grasping employers. Everywhere in these large establish- 
 ments ignorance and vice were prevalent to an alarming 
 extent. Whereas the passage of an employe from a lower 
 to a higher state could formerly be effected with little 
 difficulty, under the new regime it became almost impos- 
 sible. The majority of those engaged in manufacturing 
 must, from the nature of things, remain laborers. It be- 
 came more difficult to ascend the social ladder. The 
 division of labor resulted in simplifying the task of each 
 workman, making him a mere cog in a great machine, and 
 thus rendering him more dependent. Luxury increased 
 among the upper classes, and class feeling was developed. 
 
Robert Owen and the Industrial Revolution. 63 
 
 "The rich man," says one writer, "came to labor only for 
 the increase of his capital, the poor man to satisfy the 
 cravings of his stomach." 
 
 By strange coincidence, this enslavement of the English 
 working classes came at a time when ideas of political free- 
 dom were everywhere in the ascendant. In France and in 
 America old political institutions had been shattered, and 
 flushed with their success, the people looked forward to 
 the near approach of a social as well as a political millen- 
 ium. They had looked upon monarchical institutions as the 
 source of all inequalities of condition, and seemed to think 
 that the disenthronement of royalty meant the end of all 
 unhappiness and oppression. The continent produced a 
 school of philosophers who advocat-ed a reorganized society, 
 based upon higher conceptions of public duty. In France, 
 St. Simon, "representative of a discontented and impover- 
 ished aristocracy," was the first advocate of socialism. 
 Fourier, an idealist, one of the middle class, and Baboeuf, 
 a social reconstructionist, were promulgating ideas of social 
 regeneration against which the English channel was no 
 barrier. 
 
 "England," says Sidney Webb, a Fabian society socialist, 
 "was covered with rotten survivals of bygone circumstances. 
 The whole administration was an instrument for class dom- 
 ination and parasitic nurture. The progress of the indus- 
 trial revolution was rapidly making obsolete all laws, cus- 
 toms, proverbs, maxims and nursery tales: and the sudden 
 increase of population was baiiiing all expectations and 
 disconcerting all arrangements. At last * * * 'every 
 man for himself and the devil take the hindmost' became 
 the social creed of what was still believed to be a Christian 
 nation." 
 
 "At this juncture," says Frederick Engels, "there came 
 forward as a reformer a manufacturer twenty-nine years 
 old, a man of almost sublime and childlike simplicity of 
 character, and at the same time one of the few born leaders 
 of men." Eobert Owen was born of humble parentage at 
 ISTewton, Montgomeryshire, England, May fourteenth, 1771. 
 Though fond of learning, his schooling was quite limited, 
 for when but ten years old he went to London to become 
 an apprentice to a Stamford draper. Fortunately he found 
 a well selected library in the home of his employer, and 
 five hours a day were regularly spent by the boy in eager 
 
64 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 reading. At the close of his apprenticeship, Eobert Owen 
 took service with Flint & Palmer, large retail drapers at 
 London Bridge, where he received one hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars a year and his board. Here he worked from 
 fifteen to eighteen hours a day, and managed to save almost 
 the whole of his salary, since during his whole lifetime he 
 never indulged an injurious or expensive habit. His next 
 employer was a Mr. Satterfield, with whom he remained 
 until he reached the age of eighteen. 
 
 Owen's first enterprise on his own account was a part- 
 nership with a wire-worker named Jones, who was inter- 
 ested in the new machines just invented for spinning cot- 
 ton. Into this business Owen took five hundred dollars 
 borrowed from his brother. The establishment was soon 
 employing forty men in the manufacture of spinning ma- 
 chines. As Jones was not a partner to young Owen's taste, 
 he sold out for three of the "mules" which they were mak- 
 ing. With this and other machinery, operated by three 
 men, Owen made fifteen hundred dollars as his first year's 
 profit. 
 
 Soon afterwards Owen became superintendent of a Man- 
 chester cotton mill owned by a Mr. Drinkwater. The 
 young man assumed the whole responsibility of managing 
 the factory, in which five hundred men were employed. So 
 successfully did he fill this position that the quality of 
 goods manufactured by the Drinkwater mill soon com- 
 manded a fifty per cent, advance above regular prices. His 
 services were recognized by an increase of salary, and an 
 agreement of partnership with Mr. Drinkwater, which was 
 signed by Owen at the age of twenty. In 1791 Mr. Owen 
 used the first Sea Island cotton brought into England 
 from America, which was soon to furnish a large propor- 
 tion of the raw material used in English cotton mills. 
 Soon after the partnership was formed, Mr. Drinkwater's 
 daughter was married to a wealthy cotton manufacturer, 
 who desired to enter the partnership. On the first intima- 
 tion of this plan, young Owen burned up the agreement 
 with Mr. Drinkwater, and, though he remained in his posi- 
 tion as superintendent until his successor could be secured, 
 he refused reemployment at any price. 
 
 During Mr. Owen's apprenticeship and his connection 
 with factory management, he was thrown into a daily con- 
 tact with the toiling classes which was largely to influence 
 
Robert Owen and the Industrial Revolution. 65 
 
 his conduct as an employer. He regarded with sorrow and 
 indignation the debased condition of the laboring people, 
 and with alarm the frequent riots indicative of the deep- 
 seated discontent prevailing in the factory towns. The 
 condition of the children employed in factories especially 
 appealed to him. Denied a knowledge of even the elements 
 of education, separated from all the influences of home 
 which are so important a determinant of character, chil- 
 dren of honest parents were forced to work side by side 
 with those brought from the workhouses to labor at star- 
 vation wages. These children were habitually flogged and 
 debarred from moral and religious instruction. In such 
 squalid and vicious surroundings, they grew to a sour and 
 debased maturity. Some employers attempted in a clumsy 
 way to better these conditions, but such rare efforts were 
 generally rendered useless by the ignorant sensitiveness 
 of the poor. Though the factory act of Eobert Peel (1803) 
 limited the hours of labor to twelve, and provided for the 
 elementary education of all apprentices, the provisions for 
 the enforcement of this law were so feeble as to render it 
 practically inoperative. 
 
 Eobert Owen, soon after his release from the Drinkwater 
 establishment, accepted an offer of partnership with Bor- 
 rowdale & Atkinson, a wealthy and established firm. In 
 this factory he superintended the manufacture and sale of 
 yam. During his connection with this firm he was elected 
 a member of the Manchester literary and philosophical 
 society, with which he maintained a conspicuous connec- 
 tion for many years. It was under the supervision of this 
 society, at the instigation of Mr. Owen, that the investiga- 
 tions were carried on which formed the basis for Sir Robert 
 Peel's later bills for the relief of the laboring classes. 
 
 Robert Owen's marriage was the culmination of a very 
 business-like romance. While on a business trip to Glas- 
 gow, he met a Miss Dale, daughter of David Dale, owner 
 of an extensive manufacturing establishment at New Lan- 
 ark, Scotland. Something in Miss Dale's enthusiastic 
 descriptions of this great factory, and doubtless something 
 in the pleasure which he felt in her companionship, in- 
 duced him to make a trip to New Lanark on a visit to the 
 Dale establishment. Upon his return to Manchester, young 
 Owen wrote a proposal of marriage to Miss Dale. Her 
 acceptance was conditioned on the doubtful approval of her 
 
66 The New HannoHy Communities. 
 
 father. The young manufacturer was too shrewd to plead 
 his own cause at once, unknown as he was, but trusted to 
 the results of a business venture to win the coveted con- 
 sent. He again visited the factory, thoroughly investigated 
 its workings, returned to Manchester and gained the con- 
 sent of his partners to a project for purchasing the New 
 Lanark mills in connection with another firm in which he 
 had also become a partner. The bargain was soon con- 
 cluded, the purchase price being three hundred thousand 
 dollars. His marriage with Miss Dale was soon arranged, 
 and the union seems to have been a most happy one, 
 though Miss Dale was a staunch Presbyterian in religious 
 doctrine, and Eobert Owen was, to say the least, unortho- 
 dox in his views concerning religion. 
 
 On January first, 1800, Eobert Owen assumed control 
 of the New Lanark mills, and began his illustrious career 
 as a practical philanthropist. He found drunkenness, neg- 
 lect of work and theft common among the New Lanark 
 operatives, though Mr. Dale had been an employer more 
 than usually considerate. In the town of New Lanark were 
 thirteen or fourteen hundred families, and from four to 
 five hundred pauper children. The work which Eobert 
 Owen accomplished in the training and development of 
 these miserable creatures into educated and contented men 
 and women gave to him and to New Lanark an interna- 
 tional reputation. Eepresentatives of royalty, philanthro- 
 pists and educators from all parts of Europe journeyed 
 thither to study the processes which Mr. Owen put in oper- 
 ation for the betterment of the working people in his 
 mills. 
 
 Mr. Owen first sought out the recognized leaders among 
 his employes, and explained his plans to them. Though 
 these were first regarded with suspicion, the New Lanark 
 operatives soon began to realize his sincerity and to cooper- 
 ate with him. Owen taught cleanly habits, and enforced 
 them in the town with such rigor that there were frequent 
 complaints from people with an aversion to soap and sani- 
 tation. He discouraged the credit system and established 
 a store in which the people were furnished goods at cost, 
 the saving being estimated at twenty per cent. He insti- 
 tuted a system of checks to detect pilfering, and opened a 
 debit and credit account which at the end of each year 
 served as a complete record of each workman's conduct. 
 
Robert Owen and the Industrial Revolution. 6t 
 
 and as a guide in the promotion and increase of salaries of 
 the more worthy. These were called "hooks of character." 
 
 In 1806 the United States placed an embargo on cotton, 
 and Mr. Owen was afforded" an opportunity to display his 
 real feeling towards the people in his employ, and as Lloyd 
 Jones says, "to make a complete conquest of their good 
 will." The advanced price of raw material crippled the 
 English factories, and, among others, the New Lanark mills 
 were compelled to close. To the surprise of the employes, 
 their wages were continued in full during this suspension. 
 Ever after this occurrence, Mr. Owen commanded the love 
 and respect of the workmen of New Lanark. 
 
 Mr. Owen's partners, however, did not fully endorse such 
 extraordinary consideration for the comfort of their em- 
 ployes, and while such plans were well enough as experi- 
 ments in philanthropy, they did not regard them as busi- 
 ness-like. It could not be alleged that Mr. Owen's man- 
 agement was unprofitable, since the mills, now beginning 
 to be filled with a better educated, more capable and more 
 willing class of employes, made money as never before. Mr. 
 Owen would not consent to any change of policy, and was 
 therefore compelled to form a new partnership and make 
 a new purchase of the establishment, which now sold for 
 four hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Owen 
 proceeded with his work of establishing schools and im- 
 proving the condition of the working people until the 
 members of the new partnership in turn became dissatis- 
 fied, and finally forced the sale of the property at auction. 
 Though Owen's enemies alleged that the value of the 
 establishment had depreciated during his management, an 
 exciting contest for its possession took place between the 
 old partners and Mr. Owen, who had enlisted financial 
 support from several wealthy Quakers. The property was 
 finally sold to Mr. Owen for seven hundred and seventy 
 thousand dollars. The employes at New Lanark had 
 watched with anxious interest the progress of the sale, and 
 when the news of Mr. Owen's success came, a general cele- 
 bration was held. Mr. Owen rode through the streets in 
 a carriage drawn by a long line of his workmen, and there 
 was an illumination of the town and rejoicing among its 
 people. When the books of the second co-partnership were 
 balanced, it was found that the profits of the four years. 
 
68 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 after setting aside five per cent, interest for the capital em- 
 ployed, were eight hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Two classes of schools were founded by Kobert Owen at 
 New Lanark. The infant schools were the first of their 
 kind. The higher school was for older children up to 
 twelve years of age. Very little was taught in the infant 
 schools, the chief object being to give the children con- 
 genial and helpful companionship. Mr. Owen held that 
 children should never be angrily dealt with, and corporal 
 punishment was prohibited. There was a large play room 
 in which the pupils played various games. "Teaching by 
 book was regarded as the least effectual of methods." The 
 visitors who came to New Lanark for the purpose of seeing 
 the schools in operation were very numerous. They arrived 
 "not by hundreds but by thousands annually." "I have 
 seen," says Robert Owen, "as many as seventy strangers at 
 once attending the early morning exercises of the children 
 in the school." Among these visitors were many of the 
 first persons of the kingdom, as well as numbers of illus- 
 trious strangers. The Duke of Holstein (Oldenburg) and 
 his brother stayed several days with Owen at New Lanark 
 that they might thoroughly understand the system of 
 infant instruction in operation there. The Grand Duke 
 Nicholas, afterwards Emperor of Eussia, offered Mr. Owen 
 large inducements to remove his colony to the Eussian 
 empire. Prince John and Maximilian of Austria spent 
 some time at New Lanark. Many foreign ambassadors 
 became guests of Mr. Owen, among them Baron Just of 
 Saxony, whose sovereign presented a gold medal to Eobert 
 Owen as a mark of approval. An attempt was made by 
 disciples of Owen to establish a similar settlement in Lon- 
 don, but unfavorable conditions caused the failure of the 
 experiment. 
 
 Mr. Owen was destined again to be embarrassed by 
 troubles in the partnership. From the standard of belief 
 held by his associates in business, Mr. Owen was heretical 
 in his moral and religious teachings. In their eyes the 
 games of the kindergarten were frivolous and vain. William 
 Allen and others accused him of infidelity, and of promul- 
 gating such sentiments among the people of New Lanark. 
 Though a committee under the chairmanship of the Duke 
 of Kent, grandfather of the present King of England, 
 acquitted him of the charge, everything possible was 
 
Robert Owen stad the Industrial Revolution. 69 
 
 thrown in the way of the new schools. Mr. Owen was 
 finally forced out of the New Lanark mills. From the 
 beginning his management had beenfinancially prosperous, 
 and the community had been made by him one of the 
 happiest and most orderly in England. The results of 
 Robert Owen's work at New Lanark are summed up by an 
 American traveler (Mr. Griscom), who stayed some time 
 at the place: "There is not, I apprehend, to be found in 
 any part of the world, a manufacturing community in 
 which so much order, good government, tranquility and 
 rational happiness prevail." 
 
 "Up to this time," says a biographer, "we see Robert 
 Owen fighting with the difficulties by which he was imme- 
 diately surrounded; reforming such abuses as were oper- 
 ating to the injury of the people; giving to them more 
 comfort, more independence, more manliness, more hope; 
 above all, gaining among them that confidence and cooper- 
 ation which might enable him to work out the changes on 
 which he relied for proving the practicability of reforms 
 that might be applied to the rapidly growing cotton indus- 
 try in all its branches throughout the kingdom." 
 
Agitation in England. 
 
 Labor troubles which culminated in the riots of 1811 
 at last awakened the conscience of the English people, and 
 brought them face to face with the evil results of the 
 factory system. Eobert Owen and his following of reform- 
 ers began to be accorded a respectful hearing. Until the 
 dissatisfaction of the laboring classes found expression in 
 desperate crusades against machinery and the assumption 
 of a threatening attitude toward the employing classes, the 
 "poverty, degradation, deformity, ignorance and premature 
 death" suffered in the crowded factory settlements as the 
 result of overwork, scanty food and unwholesome sanitary 
 conditions, seemed to be regarded with carelessness. 
 
 Since 1803 Robert Owen had devoted a large portion of 
 his time to the consideration of the labor problem, and 
 upon this question wrote voluminously. The year 1815 
 was for him a period of great activity. He called a meeting 
 of factory owners at Glasgow for the purpose of asking the 
 repeal of the revenue tariff on raw cotton, and considering 
 means of improving the condition of the working people. 
 The first suggestion was unanimously adopted; Owen's 
 motion regarding the second purpose did not even receive 
 a second. Mr. Owen flooded the kingdom with copies of 
 the address delivered by him at this session. In part he 
 had said: 
 
 "True, indeed, it is that the main pillar and prop of the 
 political greatness and prosperity of our country is a manu- 
 facture which, as now carried on, is destructive of the 
 health, morals and social comfort of the mass of the people 
 engaged in it. It is only since the introduction of the 
 cotton trade that children at an age before they had ac- 
 quired strength or mental instruction, have been forced 
 into cotton mills, those receptacles, in too many instances, 
 for living human skeletons, almost disrobed of intellect,, 
 where, as the business is often now conducted, they linger 
 out a few years of miserable existence, acquiring every bad 
 habit which they may disseminate throughout society. It 
 is only since the introduction of this trade that children 
 
72 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 and even grown people were required to labor more than 
 twelve hours in a day, not including the time allotted for 
 meals. It is only since the introduction of this trade that 
 the sole recreation of the laborer is to be found in the pot- 
 house or gin-shop, and it is only since the introduction of 
 this baneful trade that poverty, crime and misery have 
 made rapid and fearful strides throughout the community. 
 "Shall we then go unblushingly and ask the legislators 
 of our country to pass legislative acts to sanction and 
 increase this trade, — to sign the death warrants of the 
 strength, morals and happiness of thousands of our fellow 
 creatures, and not attempt to propose corrections for the 
 evils which it creates? If such shall be your determination, 
 I, for one, will not Join in the application, — no, I will with 
 all the faculties I possess oppose every attempt to extend 
 a trade that, except in name, is more injurious to those 
 employed in it than is the slavery in the West Indies to the 
 poor negroes, for deeply as I am interested in the cotton 
 manufacture, highly as I value the extended political power 
 'of my country: yet knowing as I do from long experience 
 both here and in England the miseries which this trade, 
 as it is now conducted, inflicts on those to whom it gives 
 ■employment, I do not hesitate to say: Perish the cotton 
 trade, perish even the political superiority of our country, 
 ■if it depends on the cotton trade, rather than that they 
 shall he upheld by the sacrifice of everything valuable in 
 
 During the next session of Parliament, Eobert Owen was 
 actively urging a bill stipulating that no child under ten 
 years of age, or unable to read, should be employed in the 
 factories, proposing the establishment of schools for their 
 especial benefit where reading, writing and arithmetic 
 should be taught, and stipulating that the hours of work 
 in mills, including two hours for meals and recreation, 
 should not exceed twelve and a half a day. The bill also 
 provided for more thorough methods of factory inspection 
 by government agents. Nothing more significant of the 
 devotion of Eobert Owen to the welfare of the workers 
 could be cited than the fact that he worked assiduously for 
 the passage of this measure, not only in direct opposition 
 to the wishes of his fellow manufacturers, but of most of 
 the operatives, who had been taught to regard him as an 
 «nemy of the industry which gave them employment. "At 
 
Agitation in Englana. 73 
 
 this period," Mr. Owen writes, "I had no public intercourse 
 with the operatives and working classes in any part of the 
 two islands, not even in the great metropolis. They were 
 strangers to me and to all my views and future intentions. 
 I was at all periods of my progress, from my earliest knowl- 
 edge and employment of them, their true friend: whilst 
 their democratic and much mistaken leaders taught them 
 that I desired to make slaves of them in my villages of 
 unity and cooperation." When reviled and repudiated by 
 those in whose behalf he labored, Eobert Owen continued 
 fighting their battles with ardor undaunted by their mis- 
 interpretation of his motives. 
 
 A meeting was called of the members of the House of 
 Commons favorable to factory reform legislation, and Sir 
 Robert Peel was chosen to introditee the measure. It took 
 four years to secure its passage, when the measure came 
 out so mutilated that its provisions brought little relief to 
 those for whose relief it was intended. While this bill was 
 pending, Eobert Owen remained in London, and conducted 
 a campaign of education such as England had never wit- 
 nessed before, and which made his name a household word 
 throughout the kingdom. Thousands of tracts and papers 
 were cireiilated. Owen bought by the ton copies of news- 
 papers containing his arguments, and on one occasion the 
 London mails were delayed twenty minutes by a deluge of 
 documents posted by him. In 1816 appeared "Observa- 
 tions on the Effect of the Factory System." "Prom certain 
 parliamentary reports," says Eobert Dale Owen, "in con- 
 nection with Sir Eobert Peel's factory bill, my father 
 derived data in proof that the machinery employed in 
 Great Britain in cotton spinning alone, in one branch, 
 therefore, of one manufacture, superseded at that time the 
 labor of eighty million adults: and he succeeded in prov- 
 ing to the satisfaction of England's ablest statistician 
 (Colquhoun) that if all the branches of the cotton, woolen, . 
 flax and silk manufactures were included, the machine- 
 saving labor in producing English textile fabrics exceeded 
 in those days the work which two hundred millions of 
 operatives could have turned out previous to the year 
 1760." In 1817 Mr. Owen issued: "A Eeport Addressed 
 to the Committee for the Eelief of the Laboring and Manu- 
 facturing Poor." In this treatise colonies for the poor were- 
 
?4 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 advocated, and the destruction of pauperism by a system of 
 education and manual training was proposed. 
 
 It may well be said that Eobert Owen secured in the 
 enactment of such legislation the first embodiment of the 
 principle of governmental interference in internal trade 
 relations, a principle which lies at the base of present day 
 socialism, and which has come to assume large importance 
 in modern legislation. These early laws advocated by Mr. 
 Owen were the first industrial measures designed for the 
 relief of the laboring classes, and established a precedent 
 for all labor legislation since effected in England and 
 America. 
 
 About this time Mr. Owen made a public declaration of 
 religious principles, insistent advocacy of which brought 
 him, in the language of Sargent, "neglect, hatred, calumny, 
 contempt and all the evils that follow an excommunicated 
 man." From this time his popularity as a reformer begaai 
 to wane, for the strong religious sentiment of the English 
 people regarded with apprehension his sweeping attacks on 
 existing creeds. This declaration was a strategic mistake, 
 but it revealed the thorough independence of Eobert Owen. 
 It lost him the friendship of his most influential allies, 
 brought him an irresponsible following which injured his 
 cause, and connected his theories in the popular mind with 
 atheism and anarchy. 
 
 Soon after this declaration Mr. Owen visited the educa- 
 tional establishment of M. de Pelenberg, at Hoffwyl, Swit- 
 zerland, whither he had sent his sons for their education. 
 On this trip he presented a memorial in behalf of the 
 laboring classes to the crowned heads in convention at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1819 he stood for Parliament in Lan- 
 ark borough. By the combined efforts of labor leaders 
 and factory owners he was defeated in his aspirations. 
 There was nothing of demagogy in his "Appeal to the 
 Labormg Classes," issued in 1819, and an opponent who 
 more loudly swore his fealty to the common people was 
 returned. Only the working people of a district in which 
 so many years of Eobert Owen's life had been spent in 
 philanthropic undertakings, were to blame for the inability 
 of Mr. Owen to advocate his principles at the succeeding 
 session of Parliament. 
 
 At this time Eichard Flower arrived in England bearing 
 a commission from George Eapp to sell the great Harmon- 
 
Agitation in England. 75 
 
 ist estate. He found Eobert Owen in the disappointment 
 of several of his plans, and suggested "Harmonie" as an 
 eligible site for putting in practical operation plans for 
 communistic colonization which Mr. Owen had long been 
 publicly advocating. "The offer tempted my father," writes 
 Eobert Dale Owen. "Here was a village ready built, a 
 territory capable of supporting tens of thousands, in a 
 country where the expression of thought was free, and 
 where the people were unsophisticated. I listened with 
 delight to Mr. Flower's account of a frontier life, and when, 
 one morning, my father asked me, 'Well, Eobert, what say 
 you, New Lanark or Harmonic?' I answered without hesi- 
 tation, 'Harmonic.' Aside from the romance and novelty, 
 I think one prompting motive was that if our family settled 
 in western America, it would facilitate my marriage with 
 Jessie," a young woman who quickly forgot the younger 
 Owen after his emigration to America. "Mr. Flower could 
 not conceal from us his amazement, saying to me, I remem- 
 ber, 'Does your father really think of giving up a position 
 like this, with every comfort and luxury, and taking his 
 family to the wild life of the far West?' He did not know 
 that my father's one ruling desire was for a vast theater 
 in which to try his plans of social reform." Then too, 
 the younger Owen tells us, "the success of the Eappites 
 greatly encouraged my father." The preliminaries were 
 arranged with Mr. Flower, and in December, 1834, Mr. 
 Owen came to the United States to complete the purchase 
 of the property, afterwards officially known as New Har- 
 mony. The bargain was closed in the spring of 1825, and 
 Mr. Owen became the owner of an estate consisting of 
 nearly thirty thousand acres of land, — ^three thousand acres 
 under cultivation by the Harmonists, nineteen detached 
 farms, six hundred acres of improved land occupied by 
 tenants, some iine orchards, eighteen acres of bearing vines, 
 and the village of Harmonie, with its great church, its 
 brick, frame and log houses, and its factories, with almost 
 all the machinery. It constituted an admirable site for 
 the great experiment which Eobert Owen had decided to 
 inaugurate. 
 
TTie Ner Moral World. 
 
 "Civilisation! How the terra is misapplied! A state of society 
 based upon ignorance, deranging the faculties of all! 
 
 "The affairs of the world carried on by violenfce and force, 
 through massacres, legal robberies and devastations, superstitions, 
 bigotry and selfish mysteries! 
 
 "By living a continual life of hypocrisy, and public and private 
 deception! 
 
 "By supposing that the most degrading and injurious vices are 
 the highest virtues! 
 
 • • • « • 
 
 "And yet this conduct of gross ignorance and rank insanity is 
 called civilization!" 
 
 "The New Moral World," from which the sentences just 
 quoted are taken, while not published at the time of the 
 New Harmony experiment, was a later compilation of the 
 beliefs held and promulgated by Kobert Owen at that time. 
 It embodies the theories upon which the New Harmony 
 communities were founded, and a brief review of its teach- 
 ings will serve to throw much light upon the history of 
 the New Harmony venture. 
 
 "The New Moral World," Mr. Owen declared, "is an 
 organization to rationally educate and employ all, through 
 a new organization of society which will give a new exist- 
 ence to man by surrounding him with superior circum- 
 stances only." "New and strange as this statement will 
 appear, even to the most learned and experienced of the 
 present day," the author declares, "let no one rashly pro- 
 nounce it to be visionary, for it is a system, the result of 
 much reading, observation and reflection, combined with 
 extensive practical experience and confidential communi- 
 cation with public ofiicial characters in various countries, 
 and with leading minds among all classes: a system found- 
 ed on the eternal laws of nature, and derived from facts 
 and experience only: and it will be found on full examin- 
 ation, by competent minds, to be the least visionary and 
 the most easy of practice of all systems which have been 
 proposed in ancient or modem times to improve the char- 
 acter and to ensure the happiness of the human race." 
 
 "The religious, moral, political and commercial arrange- 
 ments of society have been on a wrong basis since the com- 
 mencement of history," declared Mr. Owen. The new 
 
ts The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 society which would, be possible by the adoption of hia 
 principles he prophesied would be a heaven, of happiness. 
 
 As a basis for his philosophy, Mr. Owen stated what he 
 called "the fundamental laws of human nature." In brief, 
 these were as follows: 
 
 Human nature is a compound of animal propensities, 
 intellectual faculties and moral qualities. 
 
 These are united in different proportions in each indi- 
 Yidual. 
 
 The diversity constitutes the difference between indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 These elements and proportions are made by a power 
 unknown to the individual and consequently without his 
 •consent. ' 
 
 Each individual comes into certain existing circum- 
 stances which act upon his original organization, more 
 especially during early life, and by impressing their general 
 character upon him, form his local and national character. 
 
 This influence is modified by the original character of 
 the individual; thus character is formed and maintained. 
 
 No one decides his time or place of birth, his circum- 
 stances or his training. 
 
 Each individual may receive, in early training, either 
 true or false fundamental ideas. 
 
 He may be trained to either beneficial or injurious habits, 
 or a mixture of both. 
 
 Each person must believe according to the strongest 
 conviction that is made upon his mind, which conviction 
 is not determined by his will. 
 
 He must like or dislike, according to his experience. 
 
 His feelings and convictions are formed for him by the 
 impression of circumstances upon his original organization. 
 His will is formed by his feelings or convictions: therefore 
 his physical, mental and moral characters are formed inde- 
 pendent of himself. 
 
 Impressions which are at first pleasureable become by 
 repetition indifferent, and finally painful. Impressions' 
 which succeed each other beyond a certain rapidity are 
 finally dissipated and weakened, and at last destroy enjoy- 
 
 Health, improvement and happiness depend upon the', 
 due cultivation of all physical, intellectual and moral quali-' 
 ties, upon their being called into action at a proper period 
 
The New Moral World. 79 
 
 of life, and being afterwards exercised temperately, accord- 
 ing to their strength and capacity. 
 
 Bad character results from bad innate tendencies placed 
 in the midst of bad surroundings: a medium character 
 from bad tendencies in good surroundings, good tenden- 
 cies in unfavorable surroundings, or mixed tendencies in 
 mixed surroundings. A superior character results from a 
 good constitution placed among favorable circumstances, 
 when the laws, institutions and customs are in accordance 
 with the laws of nature. 
 
 Prom these beliefs regarding human nature, Mr. Owen 
 formed the following "laws:" 
 
 I. — ^Man cannot be a subject of merit or demerit. 
 II. — The feelings and convictions are instincts of 
 human nature. 
 
 III. — The individual should always express his feelings 
 without restraint. The will i& the mental feeling, and 
 when we speak of the will keeping us from certain action, 
 we simply mean that our mental feeling, was stronger than 
 our physical feeling. Nature's laws require that physical, 
 mental and moral feelings should in all temperance be 
 exercised. 
 
 IV. — Personal ambition and vanity will be destroyed by 
 a knowledge of the fact of mental and moral irresponsi- 
 bility. 
 
 V. — The practice means the removal from the world 
 of all inferior circumstances tending to produce bad char- 
 acter. 
 
 Happiness depends upon the harmony of physical, men- 
 tal and moral proportions. The diversity of mankind is 
 essential to human happiness. The individual who is mor- 
 ally, mentally or physically weak calls for our compassion, 
 not for our condemnation. Good habits must be given to 
 all, or they cannot be given to any. A superior human 
 being, or anyone approaching a character deserving the 
 name of rational, has not yet been known among mankind. 
 "Before such a being can appear," a great changa must, 
 occur in the whole proceedings of mankind: their feelings, 
 thoughts and actions must arise from principles altogether 
 different from the vague and fanciful notions by which 
 the mental part of the character of man has been hitherto 
 formed; the whole external circumstances relative to the 
 production and distribution of wealth, the formation of 
 
80 Tbe New Harmony Commmiities. 
 
 character and the government of men must be changed, 
 remodeled and reunited into a new system. The funda- 
 mental errors of the old system have prevented man from 
 becoming rational; the new laws will produce charity, 
 kindness, intelligence and happiness. 
 
 The elements of the science of society, Mr. Owen de- 
 clared to be as follows: 
 
 1. A knowledge of the principles and the application 
 to practice of the laws of human nature; laws derived from 
 demonstrable facts, and which prove man to be a social 
 being. 
 
 2. A knowledge of the principles and practice of the 
 best modes of producing in abundance the most beneficial 
 necessaries and comforts for the support and enjoyment of 
 human life. 
 
 The most necessary wealth Mr. Owen declared to be air, 
 water, food, health, clothing, shelter, instruction, amuse- 
 ments, the affection of our associates and good society. To 
 secure these, there must be a cordial union of mankind. 
 Upon a certain amount of land should be combined skill, 
 labor, capital and population. These elements should be 
 directed by those who understand the laws of God and 
 principles of society. The greatest loss and waste re- 
 sult from the disunited minds and feelings of mankind. 
 Armies, churches, lawyers, doctors and exclusive univer- 
 sities are the greatest obstacles to progress. The profes- 
 sions as such should be done away with, and the profes- 
 sional men employed as teachers or rulers of the people 
 under the new principles. There is a greatJQSsJrQm the 
 8eparation_of trades, and the expense of exchange and 
 transportation. Four departments will be instituted in 
 the new social state: (1) of producti on of wealtk;._(3.) of 
 distribution; (3) of formation of character;. (4) oi..gQxeDii 
 ment. These elements should be united in each com- 
 munity. Beautiful surroundings should also characterize 
 each of these new settlements. The greatest saving will 
 result from having the best of all that society requires. 
 These arrangements, with the destruction of the profes- 
 sions, will cause a saving of from fifty to sixty per cent. 
 The departments of production will be made so attrac- 
 tive that labor will be a pleasure which all will desire. As 
 a result of all these arrangements wealth will be put into 
 the hands of the consumer at one fourth the present cost. 
 
The New Moral World. 81 
 
 3. A knowedge of the principles and practice of the 
 best methods of distributing wealth. 
 
 The middleman Mr. Owen declared to be an expensive 
 luxury. The three classes of these, retailers, wholesalers, 
 and extensive merchants, all strive to get the most out of 
 their materials. There are more establishments than are 
 necessary for handling the goods, and much capital and 
 labor is thus rendered useless. The present system of 
 distribution is a dead weight on society. It is a con- 
 trivance "to add to the cost of production, to deteriorate 
 qualities, to employ unnecessary capital, to demoralize the 
 character of those employed, and it trains men to become 
 slaves to their customers and tyrants to their dependents." 
 By keeping separate store houses in separate establish- 
 ments on the premises where the material is produced, 
 and from these distributing for daily consumption, ninety- 
 nine per cent, of this expense can be saved. Mr. Owen 
 inveighed against "imaginary representations of wealth, 
 such as gold, silver or paper," and claimed that the mone- 
 tary systems of England and America were the causes of 
 great distress. He proposed the establishment of "banks 
 of real wealth," with a rather indefinite method of trans- 
 acting business. The new medium of exchange must 
 have the power of expansion and contraction, as the value 
 of material expanded or contracted. 
 
 4. A knowledge of the principles and practices by 
 which to form the new combination of circumstances for 
 training the infant to become the most rational being. 
 The care of the infant has been intrusted to the inferior 
 in mind, manner and knowledge, and its education has 
 consisted of placing the child within four walls, to sit on a 
 seat and ask no questions. Children should be treated 
 with kindness and judgment. 
 
 5. A knowledge of how to govern man most effectively 
 under these new principles. Government must be active 
 to create, watchful and observing to maintain rational 
 laws. 
 
 6. To unite these general principles into a rational 
 state of society. Society has been a chaos. The instinct 
 of man is to be happy, but he has learned to think that 
 wealth and happiness are synonymous. There is no neces- 
 sary connection. Utopian philosophers from Plato to 
 Fourier have failed in their purposes because they taught 
 
82 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 contradictory principles and practices. "From the con- 
 tamination, through so many ages, of the errors of 
 theoretical men without practice, and those of practical 
 men without any accurate or extensive knowledge of 
 principle, it will now he difficult, except by practical de- 
 monstration, to convince these two classes that by a union 
 of principles derived from unchanging facts, with the ex- 
 perience emanating from extensive practice in accord- 
 ance with these principles, an intelligent, united, wealthy, 
 virtuous and happy society may be now formed and made 
 permanent." 
 
 Happiness, "the instinct of the universe," Mr. Owen 
 declared to be dependent upon the practice of the prin- 
 ciples of "The New Moral World." To provide for this 
 general happiness, schools were to be founded for the 
 education of the children, as well as asylums for the af- 
 flicted, and to all should be given the opportunity for 
 study, social enjoyment, travel, and the liberty of ex- 
 pressing opinions on all subjects. Women should be ac- 
 corded the same rights and privileges as men. 
 
 A Supreme Power, Robert Owen declared, was the 
 cause of all existence. The practice of religion includes 
 charity, a knowledge of the laws of nature, and efforts to 
 do good for our f ellowmen. "The practice of the rational 
 religion will consist in promoting, to the utmost of our 
 power, the happiness and well, being of every man, woman 
 and child, without regard to their sect, class, party or 
 color, and its worship, in those inexpressible feelings of 
 wonder, admiration and deHght, which, when man is sur- 
 rounded by superior circumstances only, will naturally 
 arise from the contemplation of the infinity of space, of 
 the eternity of duration, of the order of the universe, and 
 of that Incomprehensible Power, by which the atom is 
 moved, and the aggregate of nature is governed." For- 
 merly religions have divided man from man, and nation 
 from nation; the new religion will bind all men into one 
 great family, based on charity and love. All men should 
 exert themselves to remove evil from society and create 
 good. 
 
 Upon these beliefs as a basis, Robert Owen constructed 
 a social scheme for which he seemed to expect universal 
 and immediate acceptance. He declared the United States 
 constitution to mark the greatest progress of mankind so 
 
The New Moral World. 83 
 
 far made in the direction of liberty. He stated, how- 
 ever, that Adams, Jeilerson, Madison and Monroe had 
 expressed keen disappointment in the result of the con- 
 stitution and the character of the American people as de- 
 veloped tinder it. Thomas Jefferson, Mr. Owen declared, 
 had confessed to him a feeling that society should be re- 
 organized, but had expressed an inability to undertake the 
 work of reformation. The foundation laid by the framers 
 of the constitution was one of sand, and would yet be 
 dissolved. 
 
 Eational government, Mr. Owen declared, will attend 
 solely to the happiness of the governed. There must be 
 liberty of conscience and of speech. Private property 
 must be abandoned as soon as the children of the present 
 generation had been taught in the principles of the new 
 social system. There should be no rewards or punish- 
 ments except those awarded by nature. ^_ 
 
 From one to five years of age, the children in Mr. Owen's 
 communities were to be well clothed and fed, and given 
 ample opportunity for exercise; the next five years were 
 to be given to h'ght employment and the continuance of 
 education, which was to be acquired largely by observa- 
 tion, directed by skilled teachers. From ten to twelve 
 years of age they were to assist in the gardens and houses, 
 and from twelve to fifteen, to be given technical train- 
 ing. From fifteen to twenty the education was to be con- 
 tinued, the pupil now assisting in the instruction of the 
 younger children. From twenty to thirty the member 
 was to act as a superintendent in the departments of pro- 
 duction and education; from thirty to forty to govern the 
 homes, and from forty to sixty, to assist in the manage- 
 ment of the external relations of the communities, or travel 
 abroad, "as suited the will." 
 
 The family, Mr . Owen declared, must give way to the 
 scigjitifle_asBO£iatipn'of from five~hiandf edrto two thousand 
 jpeople. . In these, men, women and children were to be 
 gathered together "in usual proportions." The various 
 communities were to be united in tens, hundreds, 
 thousands, etc.; all assisting one another. Each of these 
 communities was to possess adjacent land sufficient to sup- 
 port its maximum membership. Provisions for "swarm- 
 ing" from these establishments, when they became 
 crowded, were to be made. The communities were to be 
 
 he 
 1/ 
 
«4 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 arranged so as to give each member, so far as practicable, 
 €qual advantages with all the rest. Easy communication 
 from colony to colony was provided for by pleasant walks 
 through groves, and other improved methods of travel. 
 
 Each community was to be governed in all its home de- 
 partments by a general council, composed of all members 
 between the ages of thirty and forty. Each department 
 was to be placed under a committee formed of members 
 of the general council chosen by the leader in an order to 
 be determined upon. In its external, or foreign relations, 
 each community was to be governed by its members be- 
 tween the ages of forty and sixty years. There was to be 
 no election to office. All members must act as rational 
 physical and mental beings, or be removed to an asylum. 
 
 This, in brief, (for "The New Moral World" fills nearly 
 three hundred closely printed pages,) is the panacea pre- 
 sented by Mr. Owen for the cure of social ills. 'With this 
 view of society in prospect of easy attainment," said Mr. 
 Owen, "shall the present system, based on falsehood, be 
 longer supported; a system organized, classified and ar- 
 ranged in accordance with the fundamental errors on 
 which society is based, — errors producing all manner of 
 inequality, vices, crimes and misery, making man an in- 
 ferior and irrational being, and the earth a pandemonium? 
 Will the human race longer insanely maintain such a 
 heterogeneous mass of folly and absurdity, and doom their 
 offspring, through succeeding generations, to be inferior, 
 irrational men and women, filled with every injurious 
 notion, and governed by most ignorant and misery-pro- 
 ducing institutions, while excellence, superior external cir- 
 cumstances and happiness lie directly before them and easr 
 of attainment?" ^ 
 
The Founding of New Hatmony 
 
 "In 1825 Robert Owen stirred the very life of the nation with his 
 appeals to Kings and Congresses, and his vawt experiments at 
 New Harmony. Think of his family of nine hundred members on 
 a farm of thirty thousand acres! A magnificent beginning that 
 thrilled the world."— Jno. Humphrey Noyes. 
 
 On February twenty-fifth and March serenth, 1835, 
 Robert Owen delirered addresses in the Hall of Eepresen- 
 tatives at Washington, before two of the moat distinguished 
 audiences ever gathered in the national capital, including 
 almost the entire membership of both houses of Congress, 
 the Judges of the Supreme court, the President and seyeral 
 members of his cabinet, besides many other men of dis- 
 tinction. To this assemblage Robert Owen explained his 
 plans for the redemption of the human race from the evils 
 of the existing state of society. In connection with these 
 lectures, Mr. Owen exhibited a model of the buildings to 
 be erected, first for the New Harmony community, and 
 afterwards for each of the communities to be established. 
 The buildings were to form a hollow square one thousand 
 feet long, including a complete school, academy and uni- 
 versity. "Within the squares were the culinary, dining, 
 washing and similar departments. In the larger build- 
 ings which marked the centers of the sides and the corners 
 of the quadrangle, were to be lecture rooms, laboratories, 
 chapel, ball, concert, committee and conversation rooms. 
 Between these larger buildings were dwelling rooms oc- 
 cupying the first and second stories. On the third floor 
 were to be departments for the unmarried and the children 
 above two years of age. Each department was to be sup- 
 plied with gas, water, and all the modem conveniences. 
 
 In concluding this memorable address, Mr. Owen de- 
 clared that he meant to carry these purposes of ameliora- 
 tion into immediate execution, to the full extent of his 
 means. The town of New Harmony, he said, did not 
 present such a combination as his model, and therefore 
 it would present only a temporary purpose for the objects 
 which he had in view. "But it will enable us to form 
 immediately," he declared, "a preliminary society in which 
 
88 Tlie New Harmony Communities. 
 
 to receive the new population, to collect, prepare and ar- 
 range material for erecting several ffuch combinations as 
 the model represents, and of forming several independent, 
 yet united associations, having common property and one 
 common interest. This new establishment will be erected 
 on the high lands of Harmony, from two to four miles 
 from the river and its island, of which the inhabitants will 
 have a beautiful and extensive view, there being several 
 thousand of acres of cultivated land on the rich second 
 bottom lying between the highlands and the river. And 
 here it is, in the heart of the United States, and almost in 
 the center of its unequaled internal navigation, that Power 
 which governs and directs the universe and every action 
 of man, has arranged circumstances which were far be- 
 yond my control, and permits me to commence a new 
 empire of peace and good will to men, founded on other 
 principles and leading to other practices than those of 
 present or past, and which principles in due season, and 
 in the allotted time, will lead to that state of virtue, in- 
 telligence, enjoyment and happiness which it has been 
 foretold by the sages of the past, would at some time be- 
 come the lot of the human race. 
 
 "I have, however, no wish to lead the way. I am de- 
 sirous that governments should become masters of the 
 subject, adopt the principles, encourage the practice, and 
 thereby retain the direction of the public mind for their 
 own benefit and the benefit of the people. But as I have 
 not the control of circumstances to insure success in this 
 public course, I must show what private exertions, guided 
 by these new principles, can accomplish at New Harmony, 
 and these new proceedings will begin in April." 
 
 Mr. Owen took occasion to deny the report which al- 
 leged the unhealthfulness of New Harmony. Many of 
 the Eappites, he said, had died at first, "but year before 
 last only five out of eight hundred, and last year only 
 two died." The land, he declared, was well drained and 
 cultivated. "I have been asked," said Mr. Owen, "what 
 would be the effect upon the neighborhood and surround- 
 ing country where one or more of these societies of 
 union, co-operation and common property should be es- 
 tabhshed. My conviction is that every interest and inclina- 
 tion of the individual or old system of society would break 
 up and soon terminate; every interest, because the com- 
 
The Founding of New Harmony. 89 
 
 munities would undersell all individual producers, both of 
 agricultural productions and manufactured commodities; 
 every inclination, because it is scarcely to be supposed 
 that any would continue to live under the miserable, 
 anxious, individual system of opposition and counter- 
 action, when they could with ease form themselves into or 
 become members of one of these associations of union, in- 
 telligence, and kind feelings. 
 
 " 'If,^ it has further been asked of me, 'these societies 
 spread by their commercial operations, and the increased 
 advantages and comforts which they offer, to the whole 
 population, what effect will they have upon the govern- 
 ment and general prosperity of an extensive empire?' I 
 again reply that a country, however extensive, divided into 
 these arrangements of improved social buildings, garden 
 and pleasure grounds, and these occupied and cultivated 
 by people possessing superior dispositions, will be governed 
 with more ease than it can be with the same number of 
 people scattered over the country, living in common vil- 
 lages, towns and cities under the individual system. The 
 expense of government will be diminished by as much as 
 the trouble and anxiety, and it is not unlikely that these 
 would be diminished to one tenth of the present amount. 
 The effect which would be produced on the prosperity 
 of the country would be equally beneficial and important. 
 Any country will be prosperous in proportion to the num- 
 ber and physical and mental superiority of its people." 
 
 With the publication of these addresses in 1825 was 
 issued a manifesto announcing that "a new society is about 
 to be formed at Harmony in Indiana." The invitation 
 to membership included all who were in sympathy with the 
 founder in his desire for a new st^te of society. 
 
 The second community at Harmony was instituted under 
 the most auspicious circumstances. The attention of the 
 whole country had been drawn to the project by the ad- 
 dresses of Mr. Owen at Washington and in other American 
 cities. Many of the most distinguished men of the 
 time, both in Europe and America, were giving at least 
 partial approval to the plans of the celebrated English 
 philanthropist. The previous success of the Eappites on 
 the yery site of the proposed Utopia furnished an object 
 lesson in communistic prosperity. There appeared to be 
 no reason why a measure of success even greater should 
 
90 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 not come to the new community, which seemed to be 
 based on all the good in Harmonist doctrine, with the 
 more disagreeable features eliminated, while it contem- 
 plated the practice of theories in local government and 
 •education which had proved highly successful at New 
 Lanark. The grade of intelligence in the Harmonist 
 society had been low, and ignorance and superstition had 
 been the most marked characteristics of the membership. 
 The members of the new community would be persons of 
 liberal and progressive ideas, striving toward a high ideal 
 of social life, with superior intelligence and skill. Mr. 
 Owen had demonstrated his business ability as one of the 
 leading cotton manufacturers of England, and was pre- 
 pared to give substantial backing to his experiment. The 
 hundreds who flocked to New Harmony from every state in 
 the Union, and from every country in the north of Europe, 
 found as the site of the new settlement a princely estate 
 'Comprising several square miles of fertile land. The ex- 
 tensive industries established by the Rappites, seemed to 
 await only the touch of American ingenuity, while the 
 comfortable homes the German communists had built in 
 "Harmonic, the home of love," insured the absence of 
 the privation of early settlement which discouraged many 
 similar communities in later years. The orchards which 
 stood at the edge of the village, and the vineyards that 
 •covered the hillsides, were visible promises of plenty dur- 
 ing the early spring days of the settlement. The quietly 
 retreating Rappite thousand, too, it was said, had con- 
 veyed their golden hoard by bushels from Father Bapp's 
 'Cellar to the boat which bore them to their new Pennsyl- 
 vania home. Surely, this was the El Dorado of com- 
 munistic hopes, surely, as Robert Owen had declared, this 
 was a place providentially set apart for the first great vic- 
 tory of communism. 
 
 It was not the hope of even optimistic Robert Owen 
 that a community of equality, based on lofty and liberal 
 principles could spring full grown into being, as had the 
 Rappite society of religious asceticism in 1805. There 
 must be some years of educational training, of instruction 
 in the principles of the new moral world; the members 
 must be gradually weaned away from "the errors and 
 prejudices which had existed since the time of Adam,"— 
 from all the evil ideas and associations of the selfish in- 
 
The Fotmdins: of New Harmony. 91 
 
 dividiial system in which they had been born and reared, 
 before they could, with safety, form themselves into a 
 community such as Eobert Owen contemplated. To this I 
 end, Mr. Owen enlisted the interest of William Maclure,,| 
 of Philadelphia, a wealthy scientist who combined exceM 
 lent ideas on education with peculiar notions in political 
 economy, which, while they did not coincide with Eobert 
 Owen's methods of social reconstruction, agreed in the in- 
 dictment of existing conditions. William Maclure was in 
 many respects a remarkable man, of varied experience, 
 broad views and a spirit truly philanthropic. In awaken- 
 ing his interest in New Harmony, Mr. Owen certainly pro- 
 cured a promise of educational excellence for his social- 
 experiment. Maclure was bom in Ayre, Scotland, in 1763. 
 When thirty-three years of age, he came to America with 
 the ambitious intention of making a geological survey 
 of the United States. This purpose he followed with in- 
 defatigable energy until the publication of the results of 
 his labors in 1809. In the course of this work he crossed 
 and recroBsed the Alleghenies more than fifty times and' 
 tramped on foot through every state and territory then 
 within the limits of the United States in the search for data. 
 In 1817 he published a revised edition, incorporating the- 
 results of further observation. He became justly known, 
 through this herculean pioneer work, as "The Father of 
 American Geology." 
 
 Mr. Maclure was the principal founder of the PhillX 
 delphia academy of natural sciences, and for twenty-three* 
 years, beginning with 1817, he was the president of that ', 
 organization. To this institution he contributed liberally, t 
 transferring to it in later years his library and collections. 
 He was the patron of many American scientific organiza- 
 tions, including the American geological society, of which 
 he was president. 
 
 Maclure's interest in education was second only to his 
 scientific enthusiasm. He visited Pestalozzi's school in 
 Switzerland, and was the first to introduce the system of 
 the great Swiss educator into the United States. He was ^ 
 one of the earliest champions of the idea of industrial 
 education. He founded an agricultural school near the 
 city of Alicante, Spain, on an estate of ten thousand 
 acres, purchased for this purpose, but an end was put to 
 these plans by a political revolution which resulted in the ■ 
 
92 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 confiscation of the property. Maclure's friendship for 
 Eobert Owen began with a visit to New Lanark, where 
 he was greatly attracted by the plans there in operation 
 for the amelioration of the condition of the working 
 classes. 
 
 Besides his scientific productions, Mr. Maclure wrote 
 more prolifically than clearly on a wide range of educa- 
 tional and economic subjects. His essays on political 
 economy are now to be classified as literary curiosities, 
 though many of his doctrines have not been without their 
 influence on American institutional development. In his 
 / essays on education, he draws a distinction between the 
 i_jf]iS£fur' and the "ornamental" branches of study. In 
 the former classification he included the sciences, and in 
 the latter, literature and belles-lettres. "The flowers of 
 rhetoric and declamation," he declared, "only serve to 
 disguise the truth and puzzle all who attempt to convert 
 them into common sense. A plain, simple narrative of 
 facts, got by evidence of the senses, is all the literature 
 that ninety-nine one-hundredths of mankind have occasion 
 for." 
 
 Mr. Maclure, according to Mr. Owen's subsequent state- 
 ment, put about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 into the New Harmony experiment, his liability, however, 
 being limited to ten thousand dollars. The avowed inten- 
 /tion of Mr. Maclure was to make New Harmony the 
 / center of American education through the introduction of 
 l^the Pestalozzian system of instruction, in which he and 
 Mr; Owen had a common interest. To this end, with the 
 assistance of Mr. Owen, he brought to New Harmony the 
 most distinguished coterie of scientists and educators in 
 America. Among these was ^Thomas Say, who has been 
 called "The Father of AmencaiTZoBiogy." Thomas Say, 
 the son of a medical practitioner in Philadelphia, and a 
 member of the Society of Friends, was born at Philadel- 
 phia on July twenty-seventh, 1787. He was destined by 
 his father to a business life, but failed so signally that 
 he was soon without means. He then became a scientist, 
 having from early life displayed a strong predilection for 
 the study of natural history. He served through the 
 War of 1813 as a volunteer, afterwards resuming his 
 scientific studies. Mr. Say was a charter member of the 
 association which founded the Philadelphia Academy of 
 
The Founding: of New Harmony. 93 
 
 Natural Sciences. Under the auspices of this organization 
 he began the work of cataloguing and describing the 
 American fauna, contributing from time to time the re- 
 sults of his labors to the Journal published by the asso- 
 ciation. In 1817 he was, with William Maclure, a mem- 
 ber of a party engaged in investigating the natural his- 
 tory of the Florida peninsula, and in 1818 explored the 
 islands off the coast of Georgia. He became chief zoologist 
 with Long's expedition to the Kocky mountains in 1819, 
 and in 1823 accompanied this party to the St. Peter's 
 river. After coming to New Harmony, he devoted his 
 time unremittingly to the study and teaching of natural 
 history. He contributed many scientific articles to the New 
 Harmony "Disseminator," and contributions from his pen 
 are to be found in the "Journal of the Philadelphia 
 Academy of Sciences," "Transactions of the American 
 Philosophical Society," "Maclurean Lyceum," "Nichol- 
 son's Encyclopaedia," "American Journal of Science and 
 Art," and the "Western Quarterly Reporter." His scien- 
 tific papers in all number about one hundred. He edited 
 and arranged almost all of the publications of Prince 
 Charles Lucien Bonaparte written while in America. 
 While at New Harmony his "American Entomology," pro- 
 jected in 1816, was completed in three parts. His "Ameri- 
 can Conehology" had been carried through six volumes 
 at the time of his death. Copies of these works are to be 
 found in the New Harmony library. They are orna- 
 mented by beautiful colored plates, drawn and painted 
 by Mrs. Say, whom, as Miss Lucy Sistare, Mr. Say mar- 
 ried at New Harmony. The exquisite engravings, many 
 of them made at New Harmony, were by C. H. Lesueur, L. 
 Lyon and James Walker. The "American Conehology" 
 was printed at New Harmony. "He was one of the truest 
 and noblest students of natural science," writes Dr. 
 Schnack. "He was noted for his modesty and reticence, — 
 only his intimate friends were aware of his true worth. 
 He has left his impression on every department of natural 
 science that he touched; and his fellow workers after him 
 have given his name to one or more species in every branch 
 of natural history. Thus he will forever remain im- 
 mortalized through the objects he so much loved and 
 studied." In a biography written by one of the younger 
 generation of Owen, (Eichard Dale), appears the follow- 
 
94 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 ing characterization: "Mr. Say was of a persevering, 
 amiable temperament, and modesty and generosity were 
 his most prominent characteristics. He worked rather to 
 extend the sphere of science in this country, than to ex- 
 tend his own fame. He was gifted with a strong intellect 
 and extraordinary power of concentration, and his style 
 of writing was of the utmost abridgement. His stature 
 was tall, his frame muscular, his complexion dark and his 
 hair black." J. S. Kingsley says of Thomas Say, in the 
 "Popular Science Monthly:" "The number of new species 
 which Say described has probably never been exceeded 
 except in the case of those two exceedingly careless workers, 
 Jno. Bdw. Gray and Francis Walker, of the British 
 Museum. There is this in Say's favor which cannot be 
 said of the two just mentioned: that his descriptions are 
 almost without exception easily recognized, and almost 
 every form which he described is now well known. Work- 
 ing as he did almost without books, and without that tra- 
 ditional knowledge which obtains among the continental 
 workers, it was unavoidable that he should redescribe forms 
 which were known before, but owing to the clear insight he 
 possessed, and the discrimination he exercised in selecting 
 the important features of the form before him, his work 
 has never caused that confusion in synogmy which many, 
 in much more favorable circumstances, have produced." 
 
 Charles Alexander Lesueur c ame from the West Indies 
 to New Harmony. "He had been engaged," writes Dr. 
 Schnack, 'Tjy the Jardins des Plantes at Paris to make 
 a collection of the various objects of natural history; he 
 was attached to the unfortunate expedition of La Perouse 
 and was left on the coast of Australia to examine and 
 describe the remarkable animals of that continent, other- 
 wise he would have been lost, as all the rest were, by 
 shipwreck. He was the first to explore, and publish an 
 account of the mounds found in Indiana." Lesueur was 
 also the first to classify the fishes of the Great Lakes. He 
 was an adept painter, and sketches from his pencil are to 
 be found in the New Harmony library. 
 
 Constantin e_Samue_l Eafinesque was a frequent visitor 
 tolvfewTfaiT^ny during community days, and associated 
 himself as closely with the experiment tliere as his nomadic 
 nature would permit. Dr. Jordan calls Eafinesque "the 
 first student of our western fishes," and "the very first 
 
CHARLES ALEXANDRE LESUEUR. 
 
The Foundins: of New Harmony. 9f 
 
 teacher of natural history in the West," and devotee to 
 him an interesting chapter in his "Science Sketches." 
 Eafinesque was born in Constantinople in 1784, and in him 
 were blended French, Turkish, German and Grecian blood. 
 His eady boyhood was spent at Marseilles, wher«, he says 
 in his "Autobiography," he became a zoologist and a nat- 
 uralist. At the age of twelve he published his first scien- 
 tific paper. At the outbreak of the French revolution he 
 was sent, with a brother, to Philadelphia, where he be- 
 came a merchant's clerk, and devoted his spare time to the 
 study of botany, traveling on foot, in pursuit of his studies, 
 over Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 1805, he went to 
 Sicily, where he spent ten years. There he discovered the 
 medicinal squill, which was the beginning of a profitable 
 business for the natives of the island. In 1810 he pub- 
 lished two works on the fishes of Sicily. In 1815 he again 
 sailed for America. Off the harbor of New London the 
 vessel upon which he was a passenger went down, carry- 
 ing with it Eafinesque's books and scientific collections. 
 Eafinesque drifted westward, making pioneer explorations 
 of the botany of the Ohio river country. After a short 
 time spent at New Harmony, he became professor of 
 natural history and the modem languages in Transyl- 
 vania university, at Lexington, Kentucky. After a 
 stormy experience there, he closed his career as a college 
 professor, for which he was ill-fitted. During the course 
 of his travels he visited Audubon, then keeping a small 
 store and studying birds at Henderson, Kentucky. 
 Audubon gives an entertaining description of his queer 
 guest. "His attire," writes Audubon, "struck me as ex- 
 tremely remarkable. A long, loose coat of yellow nankeen, 
 much the worse for the many rubs it had got in its time, 
 hung about him loosely, like a sack. A waistcoat of the 
 same, with enormous pockets and buttoned up to the 
 chin, reached below, over a parr of tight pantaloons, the 
 lower part of which was buttoned down over his ankles. 
 His beard was long, and his long black hair hung loosely 
 over his shoulders. His forehead was broad and prom- 
 inent, indicating a mind of strong power. His words 
 impressed an assurance of rigid truth; and, as he directed 
 the conversation to the natural sciences, I listened to him 
 with great delight." Eeturning to Philadelphia, 
 Eafinesque began the publication of "The Atlantic Journal 
 
98 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 and Friend of Knowledge, " "Annals of Nature," and 
 other periodicals, of which, as Dr. Jordan remarks, he was 
 not only editor, publisher and usually sole contributor, but 
 finally sole subscriber, also. Says Dr. Jordan: "He be- 
 came a monomaniac on the subject of new species. He 
 was uncontrolled in this matter by the influence of other 
 writers, that incredulous conservatism as to another's dis- 
 coveries which furnishes a salutary balance to enthusiastic 
 workers. Before his death so much had he seen, and 
 so little had he compared, that he had described certainly 
 twice as many fishes, and probably nearly twice as many 
 plants and shells, as really existed in the regions over 
 which he traveled. * * * Thus it came about that the 
 name and work of Rafinesque fell into utter neglect. * * * 
 Until lately, only Professor Agassiz has said a word in miti- 
 gation of the harsh verdict passed on Rafinesque by his fel- 
 low workers and the immediate successors. * * * Long be- 
 fore the invention of railroads and steamboats, he had 
 traveled over most of southern Europe and eastern North 
 America. Without money except as he earned it, he had 
 gathered shells and plants and fishes on every shore from 
 the Hellespont to the Wabash." Rafinesque died in abject 
 poverty in Philadelphia in 1840, entirely without the repu- 
 tation as a scientist which attaches to his name now that 
 zoologists realize the value of his pioneer work. 
 
 Pi:Z_GerajdJim^,_ a Holland geologist, was also one 
 of the group of scientists brought to New Harmony by 
 Mr. Maclure. Troost was a pioneer in the study of west- 
 ern geology, and became a professor in the Nashville 
 university and state geologist of Tennessee after leaving 
 New Harmony. John Chappelsmith, who accompanied 
 Mr. Owen to New Harmony, was a wealthy English artist 
 and engraver. Prrf essor tf oseph Neef , who came to take 
 charge of the educai^aFfeaHres'Tr'the New Harmony 
 experiment, had comb from Pestalozzfsreform school at 
 Iverdun^ at the~solieHairon of Mr'. Maclure, to introduce 
 the Pestalozzian system of education into this country. 
 Madaffie-MaiieJ)^Protegeot_and PJiiquepaI.d'Araamimt, 
 also Pestalozzian teachersj'came with Mr. Maelure's party 
 from Philadelphia, in which city they had been conducting 
 private schools. Professor Neef had conducted two 
 academies on the Pestalozzian system with indifferent sue- 
 
The Founding of New Harmony. 99 
 
 cess, near Philadelphia. Frances Wright, who became the 
 wife of Phiquepal d'Arusmont, was at New Harmony dur- 
 ing the Eappite removal, and accompanied the Harmonists 
 to their new home in Pennsylvania, for the purpose of 
 observation. She was an enthusiastic advocate of the 
 "new principles," the first American advocate of women's 
 rights, and one of the earliest, if not the pioneer, among 
 abolition agitators. The four sons of Eobert Owen;— — -, 
 Robert Dale, "William, David and "Richard, were strong ; 
 factors in the educational life of JN^ew Harmony. All had / 
 reC«TeH~threir-eariy^-Erlucational training under private ; 
 tutors, later entering the manual training and grammar ; 
 schools founded at New Lanark by their father. All at- 
 tended the educational institution of Emmanuel Fellen- 
 burg at HofEwyl, Switzerland, David and Richard pur- 
 suing a special course in chemistry, and, with Robert, ac- 
 quiring a knowledge of French and German. David and 
 Richard entered the chemical and physical classes of Dr. 
 Andrew Ure, in the Andersonian Institution at Glasgow, 
 and in November, 1872, left Liverpool to Join their father 
 at New Harmony, where they engaged in teaching and 
 conducting chemical experiments with apparatus brought 
 from Glasgow. 
 
 Robert Dale Owen was in his earlier years, an enthusias- 
 tic believer in the social theories of his father, and thought 
 with him that three or four hours work a day under a 
 system of common property, would support a man. In 
 September, 1825, at the age of twenty-four, he left Liver- 
 pool for New York. He landed at New York harbor in 
 November, and set foot on what he called "the Canaan of 
 his hopes." He was accompanied by a Capt. McDonald, 
 a young English officer who was an enthusiastic Owenite. 
 They remained at New York for several weeks, and were 
 Joined there by the Maclure party of scientists and educa- 
 tors, including besides those mentioned above, "several 
 cultivated ladies, among them. Miss Sistare, afterwards the 
 wife of Thomas Say, and her sisters." Robert Dale Owen 
 is not sure whether "William Maclure Joined them at New 
 York, or whether he arrived at New Harmony shortly 
 after they reached the place. "While in New York, Robert 
 Dale Owen declared his intention to become an American 
 citizen. The trip to New Harmony from Pittsburg was by 
 
100 The New Harmony Commnnities. 
 
 a keel toat, which has ever since been known as "The Boat 
 Load of Knowledge." The party reached New Harmony 
 in the middle of January, 18^6, eight months after 
 Robert Owen had formally latiii<;hed his experiment. 
 
&, s i. 
 
 • % 
 
 THOMAS SAY. 
 
The ^reliminaty Society. 
 
 "Land of the West, we come to thee, 
 Far o'er the desert of tie sea; 
 Under thy white-winged canopy, 
 Land of the West, we fly to thee; 
 Sick of the Old World's sophistry; 
 Haste then across the dark, blue sea. 
 Land of the West, we rush to thee! 
 Home of the brave: soil of the free,— 
 Huzza! She rises o'er the sea." 
 -'Sung- by the Owen party on ship-board, en route to New 
 Harmony. 
 
 During the spring of 1825 the New Harmony experi- 
 ment was a subject of general discussion all over the coun- 
 try. The "National Intelligencer" quoted the Philadel- 
 phia papers as saying that nine hundred inhabitants of 
 that city have expressed a desire to accompany Mr. Owen 
 to New Harmony," although Owen was generally decried 
 by the press as "an unbeliever." New Harmony became 
 the rendezvous of enlightened and progressive people from 
 all over the United States and northern Europe. On 
 the other hand, there came to New Harmony scores of 
 cranks with curious hobbies, many persons impelled by 
 curiosity and many others attracted by the prospect of life 
 without labor. The heterogeneous mass would have af- 
 forded Charles Dickens an unlimited supply of character 
 studies, for eccentricity ran riot in a hundred directions- 
 The large majority were free-thinkers, attracted by Kobert 
 Owen's unorthodox religious views. New Harmony 
 was denominated by Alexander Campbell, "the focus of 
 enlightened atheism." This fact accounted, in no small 
 degree, for the exodus of scientific men to the place at a 
 time when there was thought to be irreconcilable disagree- 
 ment between science and religion. Macdonald says that 
 Owen's proclamation was more successful than he had ex- 
 pected, and that he was deprived of an opportunity to 
 select the members of his community by finding the place 
 filled to overflowing on his arrival. 
 
 On April twenty-seventh, 1825, Robert Owen addressed 
 the community membership, together with many others 
 who had gathered from the surrounding country to wit- 
 
104 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 ness the launching of this strange experiment. The' meet- 
 ing was held in the old Eappite church, which had heen 
 converted into the "Hall of New Harmony," and dedi- 
 cated to free thought and free speech. Amid surround- 
 ings so favorable to the success of his project, Mr. Owen 
 could not be blamed for speaking optimistically. "I am 
 come to this country," he said, "to introduce an entire new 
 state of society; to change it from the ignorant, selfish 
 system to an enlightened social system, which shall gradu- 
 ally unite all interests into one, and remove all causes for 
 contest between individuals." Reiterating his declaration 
 that happiness, virtue and the rational being cannot be at- 
 tained under the individual system, he said that former 
 attempts at social regeneration had not been made with an 
 accurate knowledge of human nature, but were based on an 
 unnatural and artificial view of our own nature. Man 
 claims not our praise and blame, but our compassion, care, 
 attention and kindness. The change in system, however, 
 Mr. Owen declared, could not be accomplished at once. 
 New Harmony is "the half-way house between the old and 
 the new." The people must for a time admit a certain 
 degree of pecuniary inequality, partly, Mr. Owen explained, 
 because scientists and educators would be brought to the 
 settlement under inducements. But there would be no 
 social inequalities. He would consider himself no better 
 than the humblest member. The only distinction in the 
 deference accorded individuals should be that commanded 
 by age and experience. While his desire was that the 
 community should be self governing, it would be neces- 
 sary for him to take the direction of affairs for a time. 
 "Ardently as I long for the arrival of that period when 
 there shall be no artificial inequality among the whole 
 human race, yet, as no other individual has had the same 
 experience as myself in the practice of the system about to 
 be introduced, I must, for some time, partially take the 
 lead in its direction, but I shall rejoice when I can be 
 relieved from this task by the population of this place 
 becoming such proficients in the principles and practices 
 of the social system, as to be enabled to carry it on suc- 
 cessfully without my aid and assistance." "I now live," 
 said Mr. Owen in closing, "but to see this system estab- 
 lished in the world." 
 
 This first address of Robert Owen at New Harmony was 
 
The Preliminary Society. 105 
 
 received with enthusiasm. The strong personality of Mr. 
 Owen impressed itself vividly upon the inhabitants. "He 
 is an extraordinary man," wrote W. Pelham to his son, W. 
 C. Pelham, "a wonderful man, — such a one, indeed, as the 
 world has never before seen. His wisdom, his comprehen- 
 sive mind, his practical knowledge, but above all, his 
 openness, candor and sincerity, have no parallel in ancient 
 or modern history." 
 
 On May first, 1825, the "Preliminary Society of New 
 Harmony" was formed and the constitution proposed by 
 Eobert Owen on April twenty-seventh was adopted. This 
 constitution is so complete an exposition of the purposes of 
 the Owenite communists, and so fully sets forth the scheme 
 of government devised for "the half-way house between the 
 old system and the new," that it is worth reproducing in its 
 entirety. The constitution is preceded by the statement: 
 "The society is instituted generally to promote the hap- 
 piness of the world," and continues as follows: 
 
 "This Preliminary Society is particularly formed to im- 
 prove the character and conditions of its own members, 
 and to prepare them to become associates in independent 
 communities, having common property. 
 
 "The sole objects of these communities will be to pro- 
 cure for all their members the greatest amount of happi- 
 ness, to secure it to them, and to transmit it to their chil- 
 dren to the latest posterity. 
 
 "Persons of all ages and descriptions, exclusive of per- 
 sons of color, may become members of the preliminary 
 society. Persons of color may be received as helpers to the 
 society, if necessary; or it may be found useful to prepare 
 and enable them to become associates in communities in 
 Africa, or in some other country, or in some other part 
 of this country. 
 
 "The members of the Preliminary Society are all of the 
 same rank, no artificial inequality being acknowledged; 
 precedence to be given only to age and experience, and 
 to those who may be chosen to offices of trust and utility. 
 
 "The Committee — As the proprietor of the settlement, 
 and founder of the system, has purchased the property, 
 paid for it, and furnished the capital, and has consequently 
 subjected himself to all the risk of the establishment, it 
 is necessary for the formation of the system, and for its 
 security, that he should have the appointment of the com- 
 
106 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 mittee which is to direct and manage the affairs- of the 
 society. 
 
 "This committee will conduct all the affairs of the 
 society. It will be, as much as possible, composed of men 
 of experience and integrity, who are competent to carry 
 the system into effect, and to apply impartial justice to all 
 the members of the society. 
 
 "The number of the committee will be augmented from 
 time to time, according as the proprietor may secure the 
 assistance- of other valuable members. 
 
 "At the termination of one year from the establishment 
 of the settlement, which shall be dated from the first day 
 of May, the members of the society shall elect, by ballot, 
 from among themselves> three additional members of the 
 committee. Their election is for the purpose of securing 
 to all the members a full knowledge of the proceedings of 
 the committee, and of the business of the society; but it 
 is delayed for one year, in order to afford time for the 
 formation of the society, and to enable the members to 
 become acquainted with the characters and abilities of 
 those who are proper to be elected. 
 
 "It is expected that at the termination of the second 
 year, or between that period and the end of the third 
 year, an association of members may be formed ta con- 
 stitute a community of equality and independence ta be 
 governed according to the rules and regulations contained 
 in the printed paper entitled: 'Mr. Owen's Plan for the 
 Permanent Belief of the Working Classes,' with such 
 alterations as experience may suggest and the localities of 
 the situation may require. 
 
 "The independent community will be established upon 
 property purchased by the associated members. 
 
 "The Preliminary Society will continue to receive mem- 
 bers, preparatory to their removal into other independent 
 communities. 
 
 .ADMISSION or MEMBERS. 
 
 "Every individual, previous to admission as a member, 
 must sign the constitution, which signature shall be regu- 
 larly witnessed. The members must join the society at 
 their own expense. 
 
 "The society shall not be answerable for the debts of 
 
The Preliminary Society. IQt 
 
 any of its members, nor in any manner for their con- 
 duct, no partnership whatsoever existing between the 
 members of the Preliminary Society. 
 
 "The members shall occupy the dwellings which the 
 committee may provide for them. 
 
 "The live stock possessed by members will be taken and 
 placed to their credit, if wanted for the society, but if not 
 required, it shall not be received. 
 
 "All members must provide their own household and 
 kitchen furniture, and their small tools, such as spades, 
 hoes, axes, rakes, etc., and they may bring such provisions 
 as they have already provided. 
 
 THE GENERA.!, DUTIES OF MEMBCKS. 
 
 "All the members shall willingly remder their best ser- 
 vices for the good of the society, according to their age, 
 experience and capacity, and if inexperienced in that which 
 is requisite for its welfare, they shall apply diligently to 
 acquire the knowledge of some useful occupation or em- 
 ployment. 
 
 "They shaJl enter the society with a determination to 
 promote its peace, prosperity and harmony, and, never, 
 under any provocation whatever, act unkindly or unjustly 
 towards, nor speak in an unfriendly manner of, any one 
 eiiiier in or out of the society. 
 
 "Members shall be temperate, regular and orderly in 
 their whole conduct, and they shall be diligent in their 
 employments, in proportion to their age, capacity and 
 constitution. 
 
 "They shall show a good example, it being a much bet- 
 ter instructor than precept. 
 
 "They shall watch over, and endeavor to protect, the 
 whole property from every kind of injury. 
 
 GENERAL PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERS. 
 
 "The members shall receive such advantages, living, 
 comfort and education for their children as this society, 
 and the present state of New Harmony affords. 
 
 "The living shall be upon equal terms for all, with the 
 exceptions hereafter to be mentioned. 
 
 "In old age, in sickness, or when an accident occurs, 
 
108 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 care shall be taken of all parties, medical aid shall be af- 
 farded, and every attention shown to them that kindness 
 can suggest. 
 
 "Each member shall, within a fixed amount in value, 
 have the free choice of food and clothing; to effect this, a 
 credit (to be hereafter fixed by the committee), will be 
 opened in the store for each family, in proportion to the 
 number of its useful members, also for each single member, 
 but beyond this amount, no one will be permitted to 
 draw on credit. The exceptions to this rule are the follow- 
 ing, to- wit: 
 
 "1. When the proprietor of the establishment shall 
 deem it necessary for the promotion of the system, and the 
 interest and improvement of the society, to engage scien- 
 tific and experienced persons to superintend some of the 
 most difficult, useful or responsible situations, at a fixed 
 salary, then such individuals shall have a credit upon the 
 store in proportion to their income. 
 
 "2. When any peculiar or unforeseen case may arise, a 
 general meeting of all the members shall be called by the 
 committee, who shall state the particulars of the case to 
 the meeting; the members present shall deliberate upon 
 the subject, and give their vote by ballot, and the ques- 
 tion shall be decided by the majority. 
 
 "Each family and individual member shall have a credit 
 and debit account, in which they will be charged with what 
 they receive, at the prices the Harmonists usually received 
 for the same articles and credits by the value of their ser- 
 vices, to be estimated by the committee, assisted by the 
 persons at the head of the departments in which the re- 
 spective individuals may be employed; the value of their 
 services over their expenditure, shall be placed at the end 
 of each year to their credit in the books of the society, 
 but no part of this credit shall be drawn out, except in the 
 productions of the establishment, or in store goods, and 
 with the consent of the committee. 
 
 "Members may visit their friends, or travel whenever 
 they please, provided the committee can conveniently 
 supply their places in the departments in which they may 
 be respectively employed. 
 
 "To enable the members to travel, they will be sup- 
 plied with funds to half the amount placed to their credit, 
 not, however, exceeding one hundred dollars in any one 
 
The Preliminary Society. 109 
 
 year, unless the distance they have to travel from home 
 exceeds six hundred miles. 
 
 "Members may receive their friends to visit them, pro- 
 vided they be answerable that such visitors, during their 
 stay, do not transgress the rules of the society. 
 
 "The children will be located in the best possible man- 
 ner in day schools, and will board and sleep in their 
 parents' houses. Should any members, however, prefer 
 placing their children in the boarding school, they must 
 make a particular and individual engagement with the 
 committee; but no members shall be permitted to bind 
 themselves nor their children to the society for a longer 
 period than one week. 
 
 "All the members shall enjoy complete liberty of con- 
 science, and be afEorded every facility for exercising those 
 practices of religious worship and devotion which they may 
 prefer. 
 
 "Shoiild the arrangements formed for the happiness of 
 the members, fail to effect their object, any of them by giv- 
 ing a week's notice, can quit the society, taking with 
 them, in the productions of the establishment, the value 
 of what they brought, which value shall be ascertained and 
 fixed by the committee. The members may also, in the 
 same manner, take out the amount of what appears to 
 their credit in the books of the society, at the end of the 
 year immediately preceding their removal, provided that 
 amount still remain to their credit. 
 
 DISMISSION or MEMBERS. 
 
 "Any families or members contravening any of the 
 articles of this constitution, or acting in any way im- 
 properly, shall be dismissed by the committee from the 
 society and settlement, upon giving them the same notice 
 by which they are at liberty to quit the society. 
 
 "Persons who possess capital, and who do not wish to be 
 employed, may partake of the benefits of this society, by 
 paying such sum annually as may be agreed upon between 
 them and the committee, always paying a quarter in ad- 
 vance. 
 
 "Persons wishing to invest capital on interest in the 
 funds of the society, may do so by making a particular 
 agreement with the committee." 
 
110 The New Harmony Commonities. 
 
 After the adoption of this constitution,. Robert Owen 
 addressed the meeting. At the end of the second year, 
 he declared, the members might choose one half of the 
 committee of control. The next step, which might be 
 taken in the following year, would be the establishment of 
 the perfect community. He recommended that each 
 family consume ao far as possible, "those, articles which are 
 the productions of America," so that the society might 
 speedily become independent. He urged that wherever 
 it was possible vegetable gardens be attached to the house- 
 hold premises, and that the dwellings, inside and out, be 
 kept neat and clean. All differences between the members 
 should be settled by arbitration, and all disputes, quarrel- 
 ling and drunkenness were to be strictly prohibited. It 
 was his desire "to forbid the use of liquors altogether," 
 but considered "such rigor impracticable for the present." 
 The youth were to be organized into militia companies 
 and drilled for healthful exercise and defense, but children 
 were to be taught that war was contrary to the spirit of 
 the social system. 
 
 Though many of the less competent desired to enter at 
 once into communistic association, there were no imme- 
 ■diate manifestations of dissatisfaction at the adoption of 
 a temporary semi-individual system. While the power of 
 naming the entire membership of the committee of con- 
 trol was vested in Robert Owen, he contented himself with 
 designating four members, who, with the rest, were elected 
 by the society. little over a month after the formation of 
 the Preliminary Society, Mr. Owen left New Harmony, 
 -en route for New Lanark, with the intention of bringing 
 his family to Indiana. He embarked for Liverpool from 
 New York on July seventeenth, 1825, and did not return to 
 New Harmony until the following January. Before leav- 
 ing, he recommended that the inhabitants meet together 
 three evenings in each week, — one for the general discus- 
 sion of subjects connected with the welfare of the com- 
 munity, another for a concert of vocal and instrumental 
 music, and a third for a public ball. He left a school of 
 one hundred and thirty children, who were educated, 
 clothed and boarded at the public expense. Mr. Maclure 
 ■did not remain at New Harmony, but, during the greater 
 part of the life time of the experiment, was traveling for 
 his health. 
 
" The Half' Way House. ' ' 
 
 Daring the absence of Eobert Owen in Europe, the New 
 Harmony Gazette, the official organ of the community, was 
 estabiished. Its first issue is dated October first, 1835, 
 and bears the motto: "If we cannot reconcile all opinione, 
 let us endeavor to unite all hearts." The prospectus 
 stated: "In our Gazette, we purpose developing more 
 fully the principles of th* social -system; that the world,, 
 with ourselves, may, by contrast, be convinced that indi- 
 viduality detracts largely from the sum of human happi- 
 ness." ^'Although our columns will ever be closed against 
 personal invective," stated the prospectus, "yet they will 
 ever be open to the free expression of opinions, which, how- 
 ever erroneous, may become useful, where reason and truth 
 are left free to combat them." The publication continued 
 through three volumes. Like all its contemporaries of that 
 period, the Gazette devoted little space to what we now 
 denominate local news. Its columns were filled with essays 
 on such subjects as "Moral Responsibility" and "Human 
 Happiness," alternating with selections from Mr. Owen's 
 works, dissertations on agricultural topics, scientific articles 
 end such general news as might come to the attention of 
 the editor through the medium of exchanges which could 
 ntft be calted recent by the time the river boat or overland 
 catrier had delivered "them at Niew Harmony, which had 
 only a weekly mail 'service. The more important events 
 at New Harmony are, however, recorded, and from the 
 pages of the Gazette we must draw the larger part of our 
 information concerning the active community history. 
 
 In one of the first numbers of the Gazette appears an 
 official ^Tiew of New Harmony" and a resum6 of the work 
 accMnplished by the society during the first six months 
 of settlement. "The village," says the Gazette, "is regu- 
 larly laid out in squares, forming four streets running north 
 and south, and six running east and west: the whole in- 
 cluded in six wards, containing thirty-five brick, forty-five 
 frame, and one hundred log buildings, occupied for various 
 purposes. Some of the buildings are spacious and costly^. 
 
112 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 the principal of which are the town hall, the mansion house, 
 formerly occupied by Mr. Rapp, the public store and manu- 
 factories, the boarding school and several large boarding 
 houses for the accommodation of the members of the 
 society. Great uniformity of structures is observed in the 
 dwelling houses, which have an air of neatness, although 
 small, and inconvenient for families accustomed to a city 
 life." Of the town hall, heretofore described as the Eappite 
 church, the Gazette said: "The whole building has a grand 
 and imposing appearance. The second stories of two of 
 the wings are laid off into small rooms, which serve for 
 music, reading, debating and other social meetings. The 
 large lower room is appropriated to deliberative assem- 
 blages of the citizens, to balls and concerts, and is lighted 
 up every evening for the convenience of those who may 
 choose to pass the time together. The church is a neat 
 frame building, painted white, the spire of which is fur- 
 nished with two heavy bells, and is set apart for religious 
 meetings, and for day and evening schools, to which every 
 member desirous of elementary instruction has access. The 
 boarding school is a convenient, airy, three-story brick 
 building, ninety feet by sixty-five, and contains accommo- 
 dations for one hundred and sixty children. The institu- 
 tion is, at present, under a favorable organization, and the 
 number of pupils amounts to upwards of one hundred." 
 
 "Manufactures and trades," continued the Gazette, "are 
 among the leading objects to which associations formed on 
 the cooperative plan should turn their attention, for in no 
 other way can a desirable state of independence be secured. 
 The experience of our predecessors convinced them of this 
 fact, and they have left behind them respectable evidences 
 of their devotion to these two branches of industry. Their 
 principal manufacturing establishment consisted of two 
 spacious buildings, one occupied as a merchandise mill, 
 and the other filled with machinery for manufacturing 
 cotton and wool, all driven by a steam engine of sixty horse 
 power. The weaving, dressing and dye houses are built 
 on an extensive and convenient plan, calculated for oper- 
 ations far exceeding the wants of the society. The cloths 
 and flannels hitherto produced at this place have been in 
 high reputation throughout the country. The present 
 society has a no less cheering prospect before them in their 
 capacity of growing to any extent the raw materials of 
 
"The Half-Way House." 113 
 
 cotton and. wool than in their means of prosecuting the 
 manufacture of those articles, equal to the consumption of 
 themselves and their neighbors. 
 
 "The mechanical branches possess the requisite facilities 
 for carrying on their respective trades, in workshops and 
 tools, and include an extensive brewery, tan-yard, soap and 
 candle factory, etc., but an accession of skillful hands in 
 nearly all these branches of industry, as well as in some 
 other departments, is still desirable. No fears, however, 
 are entertained that these wants will long remain unsup- 
 plied, if an opinion can be formed from the daily applica- 
 tions for admission to membership, which the society is 
 and has been under the necessity of rejecting, through 
 want of suitable accommodations. In future, or until such 
 accommodations can be provided, no applications can meet 
 with success, except from those who possess a knowledge 
 of the most useful and indispensable arts. 
 
 "Our manufacturing and mechanical branches may be 
 considered in a state of infancy. Notwithstanding the pur- 
 chase included most things necessary for prosecuting them 
 on a pretty extensive scale, yet we have had no good cause 
 to calculate even on the limited degree of success which 
 has attended them. The commencement of this society 
 may be dated on the first of May last, two months previous 
 to which time our Mr. Owen, with a few exceptions, was 
 an entire stranger to the persons now composing his new 
 association. The transatlantic concerns of our founder left 
 him but little time for completing his arrangements here, 
 and a population of eight hundred persons was, in the 
 short space of three weeks, drawn together, necessarily 
 without much deliberation, or any reference to their pro- 
 fessional skill or immediate usefulness. This state of things 
 left us but little to expect from their ability to carry on 
 successfully the multifarious operations necessary for the 
 continuance and comfort of so large a population. Under 
 these and many other unfavorable circumstances, our man- 
 ufactories have been at work since the middle of June. 
 With the machinery now on hand, our operations in the 
 wool business should turn out one hundred and sixty 
 pounds of yarn per day, but the want of spinners reduces 
 the business. The frilling and dressing departments have, 
 at present, neither regular superintendents nor workmen, 
 consequently they are not prosecuted with effect. The 
 
114 Tbe New EiTxaonj Commnnities. 
 
 cotton spinning establisliment is equal to producing be- 
 tween three and four hundred pounds of yam per week, 
 and is under very good direction: but skilful and ready 
 hands are much wanting, which tim-e "will furnish from our 
 present population. The dye house is a spacious brick 
 building, furnished with copper vessels, capable of con- 
 taining between fifteen hundred and two thousand gallons, 
 and will probably compare in convenience with any in the 
 United States. At present this valuable cstablisliment is 
 doing nothing, for want of a skilful person ia undertake 
 the direction of it. The manufacture of soap, candles and 
 glue has hitherto rather exceeded our consumption. A 
 convenient and moderately extensive rope walk has fur- 
 nished the store with artielee of that trade. The hat manu- 
 factory is under good organization, and has attached to it 
 eight efficient workmen. Th« boot and shoe department 
 is doing well, seventeen workmen being constantly em- 
 ployed. Besides these, in the employed professions, are 
 thirty-six farmers and field laiborers, four tanners, two 
 gardeners, two butchers, two bakers, two distillers, one 
 brewer, one tinner, two watchmakers, four black and white- 
 smiths, two turners, one machinemaker, four coopers, three 
 printers, one stocking weaver, three sawyers, seven tailois, 
 twelve seamstresses and mantua makers, nine carpenters, 
 four bricklayers, two stouecutters, four wheelwrights, one 
 cabinetmaker and three cloth weavers. Of the Tinemployed 
 professions we have three tohaicrconists and two paper- 
 makers. The pottery is doiirg nothing for want of hands, 
 and we have at present neither saddlers, harnessmakere, 
 leather dressers, coppersmrths, brushmafcers, combmakers, 
 glaziers, painters nor bookbinders." 
 
 "The merchant mill, driven hy water, at the cut-off 
 (beside the one in the village operated by steam), is a large 
 establishment, having three sets of stones, and complete 
 fixtures for the manufacture of flour, and is capable of turn- 
 ing out sixty harrels in twenty-four hours. One mile from 
 the town is a sawmill capable of lEumishing an unlimited 
 quantity of lumber." Evidently both these establishments 
 were still lying idle, as their operation is not mentioned. 
 "A cotton gin of sixty saws is at this time in active oper- 
 ation, doing a good business for the society as well as for 
 the surrounding country. We have a well supplied apothe- 
 cary shop, under the direction of a highly respectable 
 
'The Half-Way House." 115 
 
 physician, who gives his attendance and dispenses medicine 
 without charge to the citizens. 
 
 "The mercantile store is doing an extensive business 
 with the country, while it supplies all the inhabitants with 
 all their necessaries. The tavern, which is large, commo- 
 dious and well regulated, is much frequented by strangers, 
 who are attracted to visit us either through curiosity or 
 from a desire to partake of our social amusements." 
 
 "In taking a survey of New Harmony," said the Gazette 
 of October twenty-second, "the mind is struck with a 
 degree of admiration at the appearance which designates 
 the progress of its late industrious inhabitants, both in the 
 arts of life and in their progress towards a more perfect 
 state of society. Here, the rude log cabin marks their first 
 humble efEorts, there the neat frame house bespeaks their 
 improvement in taste and skill; again, their spacious, sub- 
 stantial community houses tell us of their ability to supply 
 an increase of comforts, and the public' buildings exhibit 
 a great amount of surplus labor and skill. The two spacious 
 granaries, calculated to lay up stores for the consumption 
 of years, are among the most prominent objects of the 
 place. One is a four-storied frame, one hundred feet by 
 eighty: the other is a vast building of brick and stone, 
 with a tiled roof, and having five floors laid with tile brick. 
 From its strength and appearance, it might have been 
 taken for a fortress rather than a storehouse for grain. 
 The public buildings are calculated to attract the attention 
 of strangers who visit the place, as much from the novelty 
 of design as from the amount of labor and materials con- 
 sumed in their construction." 
 
 The Gazette also stated that the river abounded in fish, 
 "of the description usually found in the western waters. 
 We think our neighborhood is not infected with mis- 
 chievous animals. Of the panther, the bear and the fox 
 we have heard nothing. Wolves are said to depredate on 
 our pigs' and calves when running in retired forests. Deer 
 are often seen bounding over our fields, and browsing on 
 our com. Numbers of fawns are offered for sale on our 
 streets during the spring months." 
 
 Under date of October tenth, a member of the society 
 wrote to a friend in Boston: "The society has not been 
 long enough together to acquire any particular character: 
 you can judge yourself that a collection of individuals from 
 
116 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 all parts of the earth, of all kinds, sects and denominations, 
 who have hastily rushed together, can have no character 
 as yet, except indeed the absence of one. If this is not 
 strictly true, the exceptions to it are that the people gen- 
 erally show a disposition to do as well as they know how, 
 and to learn to do as much better as they can, which is all 
 that appears to be expected by those who have the burdens 
 to bear." Another letter from a member to an eastern 
 friend, under date of October thirtieth, stated that "so far, 
 domestic quarrels, disputes between individual members, 
 and religious and political controversies are unknown, at 
 least they are so very infrequent as to be unknown to the 
 writer, probably because we have no opposing interests to 
 generate quarrels; and also because there is no such thing. 
 Tinder the new system, as an insult; every man speaks 
 according to the impression which dictates his words, and 
 all impressions are made upon him by the exercise of facul- 
 ties over which he has no control." 
 
 The Gazette of October twenty-ninth contains the follow- 
 ing resume of the condition of community affairs: 
 
 "Every state in the union, with the exception of the two 
 most southern, and almost every country in the north of 
 Europe, has contributed to make up our population. We 
 may readily conceive that a population collected from so 
 many different countries, and of different habits and opin- 
 ions, possessing no common ties of interest or sympathy, 
 could not immediately coalesce nor present to the observer 
 any marked prevailing character. 
 
 "In comparing the moral condition of our citizens with 
 the state of the old society, we are struck with the degree 
 of advantage which the former has over the latter; and 
 the mind, accounting for the difference, is involuntarily 
 directed in search of some new principle. Here, social 
 intercourse is not disturbed by conflicting interests, nor 
 the long catalogue of bad feelings generated by them, but 
 every man meets his neighbor with honest confidence. 
 
 "This society regards edteation as public property, * 
 * * * and holds that the educating and training of 
 youth should be among the first objects of its solicitude 
 and care. * * * * y^^^l regulated amusements 
 should be no less a part of the business of life than other 
 occupations, but this important object has hitherto been 
 
' The Half-Way House. " lit 
 
 mostly directed by chance: in consequence, immorality 
 and disorder have to a great extent prevailed. * * * * 
 This society has made it its especial care to blend amuse- 
 ments with industry and study. Tuesday evenings are 
 appropriated to balls, at which we have an able band of 
 music, and a general attendance of the youthful population: 
 Friday evenings to concerts, at which, in addition to the 
 regular band, such of the children as have musical talent 
 are introduced. On Wednesday evening, public meetings 
 are held, when all subjects relating to the well-being of 
 the society are freely and fully discussed. 
 
 "The military of this place consists of one company of 
 infantry, one of artillery and a corps of riflemen, which 
 together with a company of veterans, and one of riflemen 
 just forming, will amount to two hundred and fifty soldiers: 
 thus, while the people provide for their own protection 
 against the social ills of life, they do not neglect the means 
 of national defense. 
 
 "From a review of the circumstances existing at this 
 place, our readers will now perceive that if we have not yet 
 been able to accomplish all the objects contemplated in the 
 formation of this association, so much has, however, been 
 completed, as to convince us of the practicability and 
 assure us of the ultimate success of Mr. Owen's plans for 
 the amelioration of the condition of mankind." 
 
 On November seventh occurred the installation of ofiicers 
 of the first secret society in the community, — "The New 
 Harmony Philanthropic Lodge" of Masons, showing that 
 Mr. Owen's plans did not contemplate the abolition of 
 secret societies. In the Gazette of that date, this announce- 
 ment is made: "The Regular meeting of the Female Social 
 Society is postponed until Monday evening." There is no 
 earlier record of a woman's club in the west. The first 
 marriage in the community recorded by the Gazette was 
 that of "Mr. Alfred Salmon to Miss Elizabeth S. Palmer," 
 which took place on October twenty-seventh, the ceremony 
 being performed by a Rev. Meek. In spite of the inaugu- 
 ration of the social system, the N"ew Harmony store was 
 advertising magistrates' blanks. 
 
 In an early October issue of the Gazette appeared a com- 
 munication signed "An Illinois Farmer," in which he 
 declared, "in the most unequivocal manner," that "the 
 principles of Robert Owen, or any society founded upon 
 
118 The New Harmony Commniutles. 
 
 thietn, will not abd cannot succeed. They will at the out- 
 set comiiiit suicidie on themselves, if steadily adhered to." 
 The editor remonstrated with the correspondent, and 
 aeeared him of the present and future success of the com- 
 munity. In reply to a further communication the Gazette 
 said editorially: "We would inform the Illinois Parmer, 
 in answer to his second communication on dancing, that 
 we suffer not our amusements to interfere with our regular 
 empleyments; but, after the fatigue of the day, when we 
 ciannot see to handle a plough, we consider ourselves at 
 perfect liberty to devote Our evenings to intellectual im' 
 provement or to any rational recreation." 
 
 In ian editorial advocating increased rights for women, 
 the Gazette declared: "It is, we believe, contemplated in 
 Mr. Owen's eystem, by giving our female population as 
 good an education as our males, to qualify them for every 
 situation in life in which, consistently with their organiza- 
 tion, they may be placed." 
 
 As early as September nineteenth, 1825, the first society 
 formed on Robert Owen's principles, other than that at 
 New Harmony, was in process oi organization in Green 
 county, Ohio. This society was called the Yellow Springs 
 community, and a correspondent writes the Gazette hope- 
 fully of its progress. 
 
 While New Hamtony was generally looked upon as a 
 eefitet of infidelity, there were frequent religious services 
 there. The only reservation made with regard to the use 
 of the church was that two hours on Sunday morning were 
 occupied by a lecture on the social system, "the lecturet 
 confining his remarks to subjects calculated to suppress 
 discord and vice, and studiously avoiding anything that 
 might arouse ill feeling or wound the religious prejudices 
 of his hearers." Thtere was a widespread prejudice against 
 the New Harmony schools on account of a belief that 
 atheistic prihciples Were taught. Religious matters, how- 
 ever, were not discussed in the schools, "that being left to 
 the parents or religious instructors." Permission to speak 
 at the church was giveii to any minister who asked it, "his 
 creed not being asked." Sunday in the community was a 
 day of test, and to most of the members of the society a 
 day of recreation. 
 
 By Christmas of 1825, the population of New Harmony 
 numbered about one thousand. The Gazette published a 
 
"The Half-Way House." 119 
 
 review of the operations of the Society, in which it con- 
 gratulated the members on their advancement in the direc- 
 tion of unity and harmony, which it declared had been 
 effected by reducing Mr. Owen's principles to practice. 
 "Popular opinion being now decidedly opposed to indo- 
 lence and vice, the idle member must become industrious, 
 and the vicious become more virtuous, or they cannot rest 
 contentedly in the bosom of our community." 
 
 Eobert Owen had arrived with his party at New York 
 on November seventh, but remained for some time in the 
 East pushing the new propaganda. A Washington paper 
 of December fifth stated: "On Saturday last, Capt. Mc- 
 Donald and Stedman Whitwell, friends of Mr. Owen, and 
 deputed by him, waited by appointment upon the Presi- 
 dent, and presented to him for the use of the general 
 government a model of one of the cities for two thousand 
 people, which Mr. Owen proposes to execute himself, and 
 which he recommends to be universally adopted in society. 
 The model is almost six feet square, and is, therefore, upon 
 a scale sufficiently large to exhibit satisfactorily the various 
 descriptions of buildings and their relative dimensions." 
 
 On December twenty-eighth,' the Gazette said: "From the 
 numerous applications which we have received for mem- 
 bership; from the rapidity with which the liberal principles 
 of the social system are embraced by intelligent and reflect- 
 ing minds, and from the general disposition, wherever they 
 have been received, toward reducing them to practice; and 
 from the number of social communities springing up in 
 this state, independent of every advantage offered to in- 
 dividual settlers, we have reason to believe that the increase 
 in population will be greater than at any former period; 
 and were it possible to accommodate the applicants with 
 houses, this little town, before the next sitting of the legis- 
 lature, would have an increase of many times its present 
 population." 
 
Tlie ''Pezmanent Community." 
 
 The devil at length scrambled out of the hole 
 IMscovered by Symmes at the freezing North Pole: 
 
 He mounted an iceberg, spread his wings for a sail. 
 And started for earth with his long, barbed tall. 
 
 He heard that a number of people were going 
 
 To live on the Wabash with great Mr. Owen: 
 He said to himself, "I must now have a care, 
 Circumstajices require that myself should be there. 
 
 "I know that these persons think they are impelled, 
 And by power of circumstance all men are held. 
 And owe no allegiance to heaven or me: 
 What a place this for work for the devil will be. 
 
 "Since Adam first fell by my powerful hand, 
 1 have wandered for victims through every known land, 
 But in all my migrations ne'er hit on a plan 
 That would give me the rule so completely o'er man. 
 
 "1 have set sects to fighting and shedding of blood. 
 And have whispered to bigots they're all doing good. 
 Inquisitions I've founded, made kings my lies swallow. 
 But this plan of free living beats all my schemes hollow. 
 
 "I have tempted poor Job, and have smote him with sores: 
 I have tried all good men and caught preachers by scores. 
 But never on earth, through my whole course of evil. 
 Until now could I say, 'Here's a plan beats the devil.' 
 
 "I am satisfied now this will make the coast clear. 
 For men to all preaching will turn a deaf ear: 
 
 Since it's plain that religion is changed to opinions, 
 I must hasten back home, and enlarge my dominions." 
 
 The devil then mounted again on the ice. 
 And dashed through the waves, and got home in a trice. 
 And told his fell imps whom he kept at the pole 
 Circumstances required they should widen the hole! 
 — Poem in opposition to the Owen community in Philadelphia 
 Gazette, January, 1826. 
 
 On January eighteenth, 1826, Eobert Owen, with his 
 "hoat-load of knowledge," arrived at New Harmony. He 
 was greeted with great rejoicing by the inhabitants, the 
 children from the boarding school escorting him from the 
 limits of the village to the tavern. Eobert Owen was 
 delighted with the apparent success of the Society, and 
 declared that the people had progressed far toward the 
 conditions necessary for the formation of a perfect com- 
 munity. The people generally believed that the arrival 
 of their leader, with his party of "wise men from the East," 
 would rally all retreat and lead on to victory. Under Mr. 
 
122 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 Owen's practiced hand the idle factories would soon be in 
 full operation and all the projected plans of the founder, 
 including the building of his new village of unity and 
 cooperation, would soon be undertaken. The educational 
 feature of the experiment was certain to receiye a great 
 impetus from the accession of such a corps of scholars as 
 that which had accompanied Mr. Owen from New York. 
 Mr. Owen was enthusiastic and optimistic, as well as 
 anxious for the immediate trial of his ultimate plans. One 
 week after his arrival, he announced that in consideration 
 of the progress which had been made, the Preliminary 
 Society would be cut off two years before its time, and a 
 community of perfect equality inaugurated. "I think my 
 father must have been as well pleased with the condition 
 of things at New Harmony as I myself was," writes Eobert 
 Dale Owen. "At all events * * * * he disclosed to 
 me his intention to propose to the Harmonites that they 
 should form themselves into a community of equality, 
 based on the principle of common property. This took me 
 by surprise." 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of January, 1836, it was resolved 
 in a meeting of the Preliminary Society to organize a 
 community of equality from among the members of the 
 society. The meeting resolved itself into a constitutional 
 convention, which was organized by the election of Dr. 
 Philip M. Price as president and Thomas Pears as secretary. 
 A committee of seven was chosen by ballot to frame a draft 
 of the constitution to be submitted at a future meeting of 
 the convention. 
 
 The following named persons were chosen: Warner W. 
 Lewis, James 0. Wattles, John Whitby, William Owen, 
 Donald McDonald, E. L. Jennings and Eobert Dale Owen. 
 On February first, this committee made its report, which 
 was vigorously debated through several sessions, several 
 substitute plans being submitted by members of the 
 convention. At the sixth session, the whole subject 
 was submitted to the committee for revision. "The 
 committee again reported at the seventh session," says the 
 Gazette, "and the constitution proposed, after having un- 
 dergone several alterations and amendments, was at the 
 nmth session of the convention, held on Sunday evening, 
 February fifth, formally adopted." 
 
 The constitution was preceded by an interesting and 
 
The "Permanent Community." 123 
 
 comprehensive declaration of principles. "When a number 
 of the human family associate in principles which do not 
 yet influence the rest of the world," stated the preamble, 
 "a due regard to the opinions of others requires a public 
 declaration of the object of their association, of their prin- 
 ciples and of their intentions." The "Declaration" con- 
 tinued: 
 
 Our object is that of all sentient being, happiness. 
 
 Our principles are: 
 
 Equality of rights, uninfluenced by sex or condition, in 
 all adults. 
 
 Equality of duties, modified by physical and mental 
 conformation. 
 
 Cooperative union, in the business and amusements of 
 life. 
 
 Community of property. 
 
 Freedom of speech and action. 
 
 Sincerity in all our proceedings. 
 
 Kindness in all our actions. 
 
 Courtesy in all our intercourse. 
 
 Order in all our arrangements. 
 
 Preservation of health. 
 
 Acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 The practice of economy, or of producing and using the 
 best of everything in the most beneficial manner. 
 
 Obedience to the laws of the country in which we live. 
 
 We hold it to be self-evident: 
 
 That man is uniformly actuated by a desire of happiness. 
 
 That no member of the human family is bom with rights 
 either of possession or exemption superior to those of hia 
 fellows. 
 
 That freedom in the sincere expression of every senti- 
 ment and opinion, and in the direction of every action, is 
 the inalienable right of each human being, and cannot 
 justly be limited except by his own consent. 
 
 That the preservation of life, in its most perfect state, 
 is the first of all practical considerations. 
 
 And that, as we live in the State of Indiana, submission 
 •so its laws and to those of the general government is 
 necessary. 
 
 Experience has taught us: 
 
 That man's character, mental, moral and physical, is the 
 
124 Tbe New Harmony Communities. 
 
 result of his formation, his location, and of the circum- 
 stances within which he exists. 
 
 And that man, at birth, is formed unconsciously to him- 
 self, is located without his consent, and circumstanced with- 
 out his control. 
 
 Therefore, man's character is not of his own formation, 
 and reason teaches us that to a being of such nature, arti- 
 ficial rewards and punishments are equally inapplicable; 
 kindness is the only consistent mode of treatment, and 
 courtesy the only rational species of deportment. 
 
 We have observed, in the afEairs of the world, that man 
 is powerful in action, efficient in production, and happy in 
 social life, only as he acts cooperatively and unitedly. 
 
 Cooperative union, therefore, we consider indispensable 
 to the attainment of our object. 
 
 We have remarked that where the greatest results have 
 been produced by cooperative union, order and economy 
 were the principal means of their attainment. 
 
 Experience, therefore, places order and economy among 
 our principles. 
 
 The departure from the principle of man's equal rights, 
 which is exhibited in the arrangement of individual prop- 
 erty, we have seen succeeded by competition and opposi- 
 tion, by jealousy and dissension, by extravagance and 
 poverty, by tyranny and slavery. 
 
 Therefore we revert to the principle of community of 
 property. 
 
 Where the will and the power exist, the result produced 
 is proportioned to the knowledge of the agent; and in 
 practice we have found that an increase of intelligence is 
 equally an increase of happiness. 
 
 We seek intelligence, therefore, as we seek happiness 
 itself. 
 
 As the first and most important knowledge, we desire to 
 know ourselves. 
 
 But we search for this knowledge in vain, if our fellow 
 creatures do not express to us openly and unreservedly 
 what they feel and think. 
 
 Our knowledge remains imperfect, therefore, without 
 sincerity. 
 
 We have seen misery produced by the great leading prin- 
 ciples which prevail over the worid: therefore we have not 
 adopted them. 
 
The "Permanent Community." 125 
 
 We have always found truth productive of happiness and 
 error of misery: truth, therefore, leads to our object, and 
 we agree to follow truth only. 
 
 Truth is consistent, and in unison with all facts: error 
 is inconsistent, and opposed to facts. 
 
 Our reason has convinced us of the theoretical truth of 
 our principles, — our experience, of their practical utility. 
 
 For these reasons, — with this object, — and on these prin- 
 ciples, we, the undersigned, form ourselves and our chil- 
 dren into a society and community of equality, for the 
 benefit of ourselves and our children and of the human 
 race, and do agree to the following articles of union and 
 cooperation. 
 
 The official name of the community wae to be: "The 
 New Harmony Community of Equality." "All members 
 of the community shall be considered as one family, and 
 no one shall be held in higher or lower estimation on 
 account of occupation. There shall be similar food, cloth- 
 ing and education, as near as can be furnished, for all, 
 according to their ages: and, as soon as practicable, all 
 shall live in similar houses, and in all respects be accom- 
 modated alike. Every member shall render his or her best 
 services for the good of the whole, according to the rules 
 and regulations that may be hereafter adopted by the 
 community. It shall always remain a primary object of 
 the community to give the best physical, moral and intel- 
 lectual education to all its members. 
 
 "The power of making laws shall be vested in the assem- 
 bly," consisting of "all the resident members of the Com- 
 munity above the age of twenty-one years, one-sixth of 
 whom shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the 
 transaction of business. The executive power of the com- 
 munity shall be vested in a council, to consist of the secre- 
 tary, treasurer and commissary of the community, and four 
 superintendents of departments to be chosen as hereinafter 
 provided. The secretary, treasurer and commissary shall 
 be elected by the assembly." 
 
 "The community shall be divided into six departments: 
 Of agriculture; of manufactures and mechanics; of liter- 
 ature, science and education; of domestic economy; of 
 general economy; of commerce. These departments shall 
 be divided into occupations. The individuals of each occu- 
 pation, above sixteen years of age, shall nominate to the 
 
126 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 assembly for confirmation, their intendent, and tlie intend- 
 ents of each occupation, which shall consist of three or 
 more persons, shall nominate the superintendent of their 
 own department: provided, that the commissary shall be 
 superintendent of the department of domestic economy, 
 and the treasurer of the department of commerce: and for 
 the purpose of nominating superintendents the department 
 of commerce shall be united to the department of litera- 
 ture, science and education and the department of domestic 
 economy to that of general economy." Where nominations 
 fail of confirmation by the assembly, new nominations must 
 be made. "The secretary, superintendents and intend- 
 «nts shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the 
 assembly." 
 
 "It shall be the duty of the executive council to make 
 all contracts, to carry into eilect all general regulations, 
 and generally to conduct and superintend all the concerns 
 of the community, subject at all times to directions ex- 
 pressed by a majority in the assembly, and communicated 
 in writing by the clerk of the assembly to the secretary. 
 
 "The executive council shall also report weekly to the 
 assembly all the proceedings, accounts, receipts and ex- 
 penditures of each department and occupation, and their 
 opinion of the character of each intendent, and the intend- 
 ent's opinion of the daily character of each person attached 
 to their occupation. All the accounts of the community 
 shall be balanced at least once in each week, and the results 
 communicated to the assembly. All the reports of the 
 superintendents and of the secretary, and all the transac- 
 tions of the assembly, shall be registered and carefully kept 
 for perpetual reference. The assembly shall also register 
 weekly its opinion of the executive council, and the coun- 
 cil in like manner its opinions of the proceedings of the 
 assembly. 
 
 "ISTo person shall hereafter be admitted a member of 
 this community without the consent of a majority of all 
 the members of the assembly; and no person shall be dis- 
 missed from the community but by a vote of two-thirds 
 of all the members of the assembly: and, in neither in- 
 stance, until the subject shall have been discussed at two 
 successive weekly meetings. 
 
 "The real estate of the community shall be held in per- 
 petual trust forever for the use of the community and all 
 
The "Permanent Community." 127 
 
 its members, for the time being; and every person leaving 
 the community shall forfeit all claim thereto or interest 
 therein: but shall be entitled to receive his or her just pro- 
 portion of the value of such real estate acquired during 
 the time of his membership, to be estimated and deter- 
 mined as is provided in cases of settlement for the services 
 of members so leaving the community. 
 
 "Each member shall have the right of resignation of 
 membership on giving the community one week'e notice 
 of his or her intention; and when any member shall so 
 leare the community, or shall be dismissed therefrom, he 
 shall be entitled to receive, in proper products of the com- 
 munity, such compensation for previous services as justice- 
 shall require, to be determined by the council, subject to 
 an appeal to the assembly, respect being had to the gains 
 or losses of the community during the time of his mem- 
 bership, as well as to the expenses of the individual and 
 of his or her family for education or otherwise." 
 
 The community shall not be responsible for individual' 
 debts contracted by members. "No credit shall, on any 
 account, be given or received by the community or its 
 agent or agents except for such property or money as may 
 be advanced by Eobert Owen, or William Maclure, or mem- 
 bers of the community." Money brought into the com- 
 munity by members shall be returned to them on with- 
 drawal from the society. "Every member shall enjoy the 
 most perfect freedom on all subjects of knowledge and 
 opinion, especially on the subject of religion. Children of 
 deceased members shall continue to enjoy all the privileges 
 of membership. All misunderstandings that may arise 
 between members of the community shall be adjusted 
 within the community." 
 
 "As this system is directly opposed to secrecy and exclu- 
 sion of any kind, every practical facility shall be given to 
 strangers to enable them to become acquainted with the 
 regulations of the Community, and to examine the results 
 which these have produced in practice: and an unreserved 
 explanation of the views and proceedings of the commun- 
 ity shall be communicated to the government of the 
 country. 
 
 "The constitution may be altered or amended by a vote 
 of three-fourths of all the members of the assembly, but. 
 
128 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 not until the subject has been discussed at four successive 
 public meetings to be held in four successive weeks." 
 
 This was "liberty, equality and fraternity in downright 
 earnest," wrote Eobert Dale Owen. "It found favor with 
 that heterogeneous collection of radicals, enthusiastic 
 devotees to principle, honest latitudinarians and lazy theo- 
 rists, with a sprinkling of unprincipled sharpers thrown in." 
 Services to the community were no longer to be rewarded 
 in proportion to their worth, as under the Preliminary 
 Society, but equal privileges and advantages were assured 
 to every member of the community. "I made no opposition 
 to all this," says Eobert Dale Owen. "I had too much of 
 my father^s all-believing disposition to anticipate results 
 which any shrewd, cool-headed business man might have 
 predicted. How rapidly they came upon us!" 
 
Tlie Social System on Tzial. 
 
 After the adoption of the constitution of the community 
 of equality, it was resolved that all members of the Pre- 
 liminary Society signing the constitution within three days 
 could, with their families, become members. Most of the 
 members of the society signed the document, but a few 
 refused to do so. The Gazette failed to state the exact 
 cause of the defection, simply announcing that "a new 
 community in friendly connection with the first is about 
 to be formed on the estate of New Harmony, within a 
 few miles of the town by some respectable families who 
 were members of the Preliminary Society, but from con- 
 scientious motives have declined signing the new constitu- 
 tion." Among the members leaving at this time was Capt. 
 Donald McDonald, a disciple of Eobert Owen, who had 
 sufficient faith in the new principles to follow their author 
 from Scotland to New Harmony. McDonald was one of 
 the founders of the Edinburg "Practical Society" of six 
 hundred families which formed the nucleus of the famous 
 Orbiston community. He accompanied Robert Owen to 
 Ireland on one occasion when Mr. Owen was investigating 
 the condition of the poor in that country. Evidently 
 Macdonald's self-esteem had been wounded in the discus- 
 sions over the constitution, for he stated in a card pub- 
 lished in the Gazette that he had not been accorded "the 
 confidence he had looked for in the community." A fur- 
 ther objection of his was that he "did not believe in a 
 written constitution." The defection seems to have oc- 
 curred, however, almost entirely on religious grounds. The 
 new community, which was called Macluria, included some 
 of the best members of the Preliminary Society, many of 
 whom were not in sympathy with the religious latitudinari- 
 anism of Eobert Owen. Its constitution was largely mod- 
 elled after that of the parent community. A unanimous 
 vote was required for admission of a member, but any 
 person voted on could remain one month on trial for each 
 black-ball, if the number of these did not exceed twenty- 
 five: a larger number being cast against the applicant, he 
 
130 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 might remain one montli for every two black-balls. The 
 legislative body, under the final direction of the assembly, 
 was called "The Council of the Fathers," which consisted 
 of the five oldest male members under the age of sixty-five 
 years. Women were denied the privilege of voting in the 
 assembly, though accorded in all other matters equal privi- 
 leges with men. The system of intendents and superin- 
 tendents contemplated in the constitution of the parent 
 community was perpetuated in the constitution of 
 Macluria. 
 
 About the fifteenth of February, superintendents were 
 elected by the parent community as follows: 
 
 Agriculture: Dr. William Price. 
 
 Manufactures and Mechanics: J. K. Coolidge. 
 
 Literature, Science and Education: Thomas Say. 
 
 General Economy: Stedman Whitwell. 
 
 Commerce: William Owen. 
 
 Secretary: W. W. Lewis. 
 
 On February seventeenth six new families were admitted, 
 but matters were already in a state of anarchy. The con- 
 stitution had failed to work effectively, and the disorder 
 was so general and so disastrous that on February nine- 
 teenth, two weeks after the inauguration of the "perfect 
 community," the executive committee unanimously re- 
 quested Mr. Owen to assume the directorship of the com- 
 munity for one year. Practically a dictatorship was estab- 
 li-shed, although the constitution remained in effect. Mr. 
 Owen accepted the trust, and a brief period of comparative 
 tranquility and contentment ensued. 
 
 On February twenty-second, the Gazette stated that 
 since the adoption of the constitution the community had 
 been engaged in organizing the several departments and 
 making such arrangements as were deemed necessary to 
 effect the purposes of association. "Numerous meetings 
 hav« been held, and various plans suggested to carry into 
 practice the community principles. In a work of such 
 magnitude, combining so many interests and such a variety 
 of feeling, the progress already made affords a sure presage 
 of the harmonious and efficient cooperation of all the 
 members. Most of the community officers have now been 
 elected." 
 
 Early in March the second off-shooting society was 
 formed, under the name of Feiba-Peveli. The name of 
 

 
 "o 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 u 
 
 « 
 
The Social System On Trial. 133 
 
 this eommunity is an evidence that some of the philoso- 
 phers who came to New Harmony did little else than to 
 evolve fantastic schemes. As a sample of the imaginative 
 productions of one of these oddities.. — Stedman Whitwell^ 
 a London architect and social reformer given to writing 
 verses and planning community palaces on paper, — the 
 process hy which the name of this community was secured 
 is interesting. Whitwell noted some of the incongruities 
 in American nomenclature, and deplored the repetition 
 which was producing "Washingtons" and "Springfields" 
 in every state in the Union. He proposed to give each 
 locality a distinctive name by expressing in a compound 
 word the latitude and longitude of the place, thus enabling 
 one to locate any community geographically when the name 
 was once known. Letters were proposed as substitutes for 
 the numerals used in expressing latitude and longitude, 
 as follows: 
 
 123456 7 89 
 
 Latitude a e i o u y ee ei ie ou 
 
 Longitude bdfklmn p r t 
 
 The first part of the town name expressed the latitude, 
 the second the longitude, by a substitution of letters for 
 figures according to the above table. The letter "S" in- 
 serted in the latitude name denoted that it was south lati- 
 tude, its absence that it was north, while "Vindicated west, 
 longitude, its absence east longitude. Extensive rules for 
 pronunciation and for overcoming various difficulties were 
 given. According to this svstem, Feiba Peveli indicated 
 38.11 N., 81.53 W. Macluna, 38.12 IST., 87.52 W., was to- 
 be called Ipad Evenle; New Harmony, 38.11 N., 87.55 "W., 
 Ipba Veinul; New Yellow Springs, Green county, Ohio, 
 the location of an Owenite community, 39.48 N., 83.52 W., 
 Irap Evifle; Valley Forge, near Philadelphia, where there 
 was another branch community, 40.7 N., 75.24 W., Outeon 
 Eveldo; Orbiston, 55.34 N., 4.3 W., Uhi Ovouti; New 
 York, Otke Notive; Pittsburg, Otfu Veitoup; Washington, 
 Feili Neivul; London, Lafa Vovutu. The principal argu- 
 ment in favor of the new system presented by the author 
 was that the name of a neighboring Indian chief, "Occo- 
 neocoglecococacheeachecodungo," was even worse than 
 some of the effects produced by this "rational system" of 
 nomenclature. 
 
 The constitution of Feiba Peveli contained a declaration 
 
134 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 of principles almost identical with that set forth in the 
 parent constitution, while the plan of government coin- 
 cided with that adopted by Macluria. The legislative 
 power of the community was vested in its "male members 
 over the age of twenty-one years." The executive duties 
 were vested in the five eldest male members under the 
 age of fifty-five years, "provided three of them shall be 
 good, practical agriculturists." Managers, intendents and 
 clerks were to be appointed by this council, which in turn 
 was responsible to the assembly. Any person applying for 
 membership receiving no more than five black-balls might 
 reside in the society as a probationary member one month 
 for each black-ball received. Arbitration was provided for 
 not only between members of the community, but between 
 Feiba Peveli and any other similar community. "No debt 
 shall be contracted," the constitution declared, "but with 
 Eobert Owen and William Maclure, or some society based 
 on similar principles with our own: and no credit shall be 
 given but to some society instituted on similar principles." 
 
 "Since our last notice of the proceedings of the com- 
 munity," said the Gazette of March eighth, 1836, "circum- 
 stances have occurred which have produced much ani- 
 mated and interesting debate. All minds seem now to 
 comprehend the true grounds of future cooperation, and 
 all hearts have united in claiming the benefit of Mr. Owen's 
 experience and knowledge in reducing to practice the prin- 
 ciples which form the basis of our association. General 
 satisfaction and individual contentment have taken the 
 place of suspense and uncertainty. Under the sole direc- 
 tion of Mr. Owen the most gratifying anticipations of the 
 future may be indulged in, for knowledge and experience 
 are the only safe guides through the intricacies of the 
 untried system." 
 
 Considerable difiiculty had arisen from a crowded popu- 
 lation, but the formation of new communities began to 
 relieve the congestion. Some inconvenience, the admin- 
 istration declared, must be endured until suitable accom- 
 modation could be procured for the members. On March 
 twenty-second, the Gazette said: "The friends of the new 
 social system will learn with pleasure that we are steadily 
 advancing toward the firm final establishment of the prin- 
 ciples of our association. It has been seen and sensibly 
 felt that while we have been discussing the abstract ideas, 
 
The Social System On Trial. 135 
 
 while we have been in vain trying to reconcile contrary 
 and clashing opinions, we have neglected the practical 
 means within our reach which alone can bind man to his 
 fellowmen. In short, we have discovered that our energies 
 have been wasted in fruitless efforts, each one endeavoring 
 to convince others that he alone possessed the power of 
 unlocking the pleasures of social life. This error is happily 
 dispelled. By the indefatigable attention of Mr. Owen, a 
 degree of order, of regularity, of system, has been intro- 
 duced into every department of business which promises 
 increase and permanency. The town now presents a scene 
 of active and steady industry, the efEects of which are visi- 
 ble and palpable. The society is gradually becoming really 
 as well as ostensibly a community of equality based on 
 equal rights and equal duties of all. Our streets no longer 
 present groups of idle talkers, and each one is busily en- 
 gaged in the occupation he has chosen for his employment. 
 Our public meetings, instead of being the arena of contend- 
 ing orators, have assumed a different character, and are 
 now places of business, where familiar consultations are 
 held, and the most eiEcient measures are adopted for the 
 comforts of life for all the members. No vain disputes 
 grate upon the ear of patient industry, and all seem 
 strongly impressed with the importance of applying their 
 powers to realize the object of cooperative association. 
 During the past week there has been much done in this 
 way, and there is every reason to believe that progress will 
 not be impeded by idleness, listlessness and erroneous views 
 of our situation. It would indeed be strange if the experi- 
 ence gained by the greater part of the population during 
 eleven months' schooling, with the aid of Mr. Owen's prac- 
 tical knowledge for the past eight weeks, should be lost 
 upon us." On April twelfth, the Gazette declared that 
 "the formation of communities is now pretty generally 
 understood among us, and is entered upon like a matter of 
 ordinary business. The same thing will probably occur 
 throughout the country." 
 
 Evidently the administration had begun to realize the 
 impossibility of unifying the interests of any great number 
 of persons associated in a community. The administration 
 organ stated early in April that no more than twenty to 
 thirty persons should form the basis of a community, for 
 if the number be greater, the greater the chance of the 
 
136 The New Harmony CommTinities. 
 
 members being uncongenial. As far as possible the oper- 
 ations of the society should be very simple and upon an 
 agricultural basis. From this the communities could pro- 
 ceed to mechanical operations at a later date. The com- 
 munity should first make itself useful, and then proceed 
 to the higher development of community life, such as 
 education, etc. "No attempt to combine an unintelligible 
 mass of discordant interests can result favorably unless it 
 be under the direction of a mind, disposition and talent 
 long exerted in similar combinations." 
 
 The pages of the Gazette from this time on continue 
 to reveal the difficulties encountered by the projectors of 
 the social experiment at New Harmony. The numerous 
 suggestions of new plans made by correspondents through 
 the Gazette are evidence of considerable dissatisfaction 
 among the community membership. "A Friendly Spec- 
 tator" in the Gazette of April nineteenth, 1826, expressed 
 a belief that "the chief good of the community system is 
 that it destroys the love of show and luxury. It also 
 economizes time and enables a man to pay attention to 
 his higher nature." "But," continued the writer, "it 
 appears doubtful to me whether human nature can be 
 brought to such moral perfection as to execute the social 
 system entirely. There must be a controlling motive to 
 urge men to physical exertion. He now has that in the 
 possession of all that his work can give him. In the social 
 system you must make his disposition so virtuous as to 
 make him feel his responsibility. Can you do this?" While 
 a man gains in moral freedom and independence under the 
 new system, this correspondent remarked, he loses in per- 
 sonal liberty. He suggested that extra compensation be 
 given for extra work, but that no one be allowed to spend 
 his money to the loss of society; each person to do a fixed 
 amount of work for his subsistence, and that no one be 
 allowed at table until that assignment of labor had been 
 performed. "You have indolence or the love of ease among 
 you at New Harmony." There should be a uniformity of 
 dress and diet, he declared, but each person should be 
 allowed to choose his occupation; all children under eleven 
 years of age should be busied alone with their education; 
 at eleven the child should perform one-seventh of a day's 
 work; at twelve, two-sevenths, and so on until at seven- 
 teen the full amount should be demanded from all. 
 
The Social System oa Tiial. i3t 
 
 The administration about this time published some 
 "considerations" for those who desired to unite under the 
 new system, as follows: 
 
 (1) It will be necessary to sink individual interests, and 
 (2) to discard all useless and vexatious regulations; (3) 
 persuasion, instead of force, must be employed; (4) there 
 must be no abuse, growling, or loud talking, and (5) no 
 grumbling, carping or murmuring against the work of 
 other individuals; those who shirk their work are deserving 
 of pity; (6) distinctions in eating and drinking among the 
 members must be discarded; (7) children must be excluded 
 from the dining room during meals; adult members should 
 not stalk about the dining hall during meals; (8) the in- 
 temperate must never be abused; (9) when individual 
 members are "affected with the disease of laziness" the 
 utmost forbearance will be necessary; (10) criticism should 
 not be resented; (11) cleanliness and regularity must be 
 enforced; (12) "no anger ought to be felt against the female 
 members upon their aversion to the work of cooperation; 
 or when they brawl, quarrel, or indulge in loud talk." The 
 children, however, should be taught better. There is a 
 strong undercurrent of suggestion in all this as to evils 
 evidently existing in the community. 
 
 In April the community was disturbed by negotiations 
 said to be going on for the purchase of the estate as private 
 property. An attempt was made to divide the town into 
 several communities. This Mr. Owen resisted, but selected 
 twenty-five men as a nucleus, this body to elect new mem- 
 bers, subject to veto by Mr. Owen. Three grades of mem- 
 bership were proposed: full members, probationary mem- 
 bers, and persons on trial. "The community was to be 
 under the direction of Mr. Owen, until two-thirds of the 
 members should think fit to govern themselves, provided 
 the time was not less than one year." 
 
 In the Gazette of May seventeenth, 1826, appeared a 
 contribution signed "M.," complaining that "industrious 
 members have been compelled to experience the unpleasant 
 sensation of working for others who are either unwilling 
 or unable to do their share of the labor." "An effort has 
 been made to bring about a change in this," stated the 
 contributor, "by individual reports of production and mak- 
 ing public the number of hours each was occupied in the 
 day, the practice of which was rather invidioxis, and diffi- 
 
138 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 cult to be executed impartially; but even if it were possible 
 to get eoirect returns, it was liable to work injustice, a* 
 one workman might do as much in one hour as another 
 might in four." The correspondent suggested that it 
 would be better to divide the members of the community 
 into occupations, or departments, fixing the amount of 
 work to be done by each occupation, and allowing the 
 managers to distribute this amount of work among the 
 individuals of each community. The quality and quantity 
 of the work would be inspected by impartial judges. If 
 it were impossible for the occupations to work together, 
 they might be divided into separate communities, and they 
 might federate into a joint community. "The popula- 
 tion must be some time accustomed to the social system 
 to be convinced that those who work with their heads are 
 as productive as those who work with their hands, and 
 it is equally difficult to reconcile a mechanic at one dollar 
 and fifty cents or two dollars a day to putting himself in 
 an equality with the agriculturist at a quarter of a dol- 
 lar a day." The success of community No. 2, the mem- 
 bers of which had been unable to work harmoniously with 
 the original community, but who had progressed admir- 
 ably since the separation, was pointed to as an indication 
 that the change suggested would be advisable. A division 
 into twenty or thirty societies was therefore suggested "as 
 the best, and perhaps the only way to apportion the labor 
 either justly or accurately, and to reduce the responsibility 
 of payments within the sphere of the previous habits of 
 calculation; education and amusements to remain upon the 
 same footing as before." 
 
 In the spring of 1826 the "Constitution of the Coopera- 
 tive Association of Wainborough, 111.," modeled after the 
 New Harmony plan, was printed in the Gazette. This 
 community was agricultural, and "based upon the prin- 
 ciples of union of labor and capital." Food and cloth- 
 ing would be supplied to members of the society. An 
 equal division of the proceeds of the labor and capital of 
 the society should be made annually, after interest charges 
 had been met, including a payment of four per cent, on 
 the advances of members contributing capital; ten per 
 cent, of the profit to be set apart for the purpose of paying 
 the indebtedness of the society. After fourteen years 
 members of the society should have a claim upon it for the 
 
The; Social System on Trial. 139 
 
 full value of property or money contributed. Tlie direc- 
 tion of the business affairs of the community was placed 
 in the hands of a committee of three. 
 
 A correspondent of the Gazette, writing under date of 
 May twenty-fourth, 1826, suggested names for prospective 
 societies, "as the sanguine friends of the cooperative sys- 
 tem believe that in a few years hundreds, and even thous- 
 ands, may be, founded." Among the names offered for 
 consideration were Lovedale, Peace Glen, Everblest, New 
 Duty, Philosophy, Glee, Lovely, Voltaire, Elysium, Olym- 
 pus, Platonea, Socrates, Utopia, Confucia and Powhatan. 
 
 C. S. Eafinesque writing from Lexington in April, 1826, 
 to "William Maclure, outlined "a plan for cooperative as- 
 sociation," and the letter was published in the Gazette. 
 "Money," he said, "is no longer to be a medium of ex- 
 change, but stocks, rendered divisible at pleasure ad libitum 
 according to the principle of my patent divitial invention. 
 * * * Any number of persons, from five to five thousand, 
 may associate themselves into an organization; they to 
 select trustees of the desposited stocks or sums invested. 
 They shall place a value upon the property merged into the 
 association. The product of material labor will also be re- 
 ceived in store and in kind, while mental service done will 
 be estimated according to their need, purposes or utility 
 to the association. The other forms of income will be 
 received, appraisers to be appointed to determine the ex- 
 change value of everything. As soon as any value is de- 
 posited, there shall be given to the depositor, not by name, 
 a certificate or certificates of the same upon the principle 
 of the patent divitial invention, divisible into any re- 
 quired amount, and exchangeable into any other required 
 amount, transferable and available by the bearer for their 
 nominal value in dollars and cents. When any profitable 
 value is deposited the certificates will bear four or five 
 per cent, interest. * * * These certificates shall be ac- 
 cepted in payment of accounts at the store, for rent or any 
 other purpose. Everything will be exchanged at cost, 
 but a commission of from two to five per cent, shall be 
 deducted to meet the general expenses of the society. The 
 profits will be used for the benefit of the sick, the infirm 
 and other members unable to labor. Instruction and 
 amusement will be provided, to be paid for in deposit 
 tickets. General meetings and mutual intercourse will 
 
140 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 be provided, and the members shall consider themselves a 
 great family. All books shall be deposited and considered 
 as a public library. Although the mainspring of this 
 scheme is my divitial invention, which I have patented in 
 order to give to it a higher legal claim, it is my intention 
 to allow these societies to use it at such a trifling rate as 
 benevolent institutions, that I hope no selfish views will be 
 ascribed to me on that score." 
 
The Duke of Saxe- Weimar at 
 New Harmony. 
 
 New Harmony became an important point on the 
 itinerary of European travelers, as well as the rendezvous 
 of American scientists, early in 1826. Count Bernhard of 
 Weimar, Saxony and Eisenach, better known as the Duke 
 of Saxe-Weimar, who made a tour of this country in 1835 
 and 1826, and recorded his impressions in a published 
 volume, gives a detailed account of what he saw in New 
 Harmony, where he arrived on April thirteenth, 1826. 
 Count Bernhard states that he found Eobert Owen and 
 his ideas unpopular in the eastern states, where he had 
 created an unfavorable impression by publishing a procla- 
 mation to the Americans on his arrival at New York, 
 in which he told them that "among many virtues they 
 possessed great faults," among which he alluded to ill- 
 directed propensity to religious feelings, and proposed him- 
 self as their reformer in this respect. One public man 
 had told Mr. Owen that he considered his intellect de- 
 ranged. He had heard favorable opinions of Mr. Owen 
 expressed by those who knew him well, and with these 
 conflicting estimates of the man, he came to New Har- 
 mony "with the utmost expectation and curiosity to be- 
 come acquainted with a man of such extraordinary senti- 
 ments. In the tavern," wrote the duke, "I accosted a 
 man, very plainly dressed, about fifty years of age, of 
 rather low stature, who entered into a conversation with 
 me concerning the situation of the place, and the dis- 
 ordered state in which I would find everything where all 
 was newly established. When I asked the man how long 
 before Mr. Owen would be there, he announced himself to 
 me, to my surprise, as Mr. Owen. He expressed pleasure 
 at my visit, and offered to show me everything and ex- 
 plain whatever remained without explanation." Mr. Owen 
 outlined his plans for improving the place, which included 
 the removal of the cabins and the fences, "so that the 
 whole would present the appearance of a public park, in 
 
142 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 which the houses should be scattered about." Mr. Owen 
 first took his royal guest to the old Eappite church, "the 
 wooden building provided with a steeple and a clock. 
 This church was at present occupied by joiners and shoe- 
 maker's shops in which the boys were instructed in these 
 mechanical arts." Count Bernhard then visited the old 
 Eapp mansion, "now occupied by Mr. Maelure as a 
 residence and office." * * * "Mr. Owen, on the contrary, 
 contented himself with a small apartment in the same 
 tavern where I lodged." 
 
 The duke was introduced to Mr. Owen's two eldest sons 
 (William and Eobert) "pupils of Fellenberg, who is 
 greatly respected here." * * * "Afterwards Mr. Owen 
 made me acquainted with Mr. Lewis, secretary of the 
 society, from Virginia, and a relative of the great Wash- 
 ington. He was already pretty well advanced in years, 
 and appeared to have united himself with the society from 
 liberal principles. Another acquaintance I made was with 
 Mr. Jennings, of Philadelphia, a young man who was edu- 
 cated as a clergyman, and had left the profession to follow 
 this course of life. He intended, nevertheless, to leave this 
 place and go back to Philadelphia; many other members 
 have the same design, and I can hardly believe the society 
 will have a long duration. Enthusiasm, which soon aban- 
 dons its subjects, as well as the itch for novelty, had con- 
 tributed much to the formation of this society. In spite 
 of the principles of equality which they recognized, it taxes 
 the feelings to live on the same footing with others in- 
 discriminately, and eat with them at the same table. The 
 society consisted, as I was informed, of about one thousand 
 members; at a distance of about two miles are founded 
 two new communities. Until the common table shall be 
 established, according to the fundamental constitution of 
 the society, the members are placed in four boarding 
 houses, where they must live very frugally. Some of the 
 most turbulent, with an Irishman who wore a long beard, 
 wished to leave the society immediately to go to Mexico, 
 there to settle themselves, but where their subsistence will 
 be procured with much difficulty. 
 
 "In the evening Mr. Owen took me to a concert in a 
 sort of nondescript building. Most of the members of 
 the society were present." The duke describes a concert 
 by a "surprisingly good" orchestra, and male and female 
 
The Duke of Saxe-Weimar at New Harmony. 143 
 
 soloists, with several recitations. "Mr. Jennings recited 
 Lord Byron's stanzas on his wife, very good." * * * 
 "Between the two parts of the concert, the orchestra played 
 a inarch; each gentleman gave a lady his arm and a 
 promenade took place, resembling a polonaise, with pretty 
 figures, sometimes in two couples, sometimes in four; two 
 ladies in the middle, the gentlemen separated from the 
 ladies, then again all together. The concert closed with 
 a lively cotillion. I was, on the whole, amused. * * * 
 This general evening amusement takes place several times 
 a week, besides which there is on Tuesday evening a 
 general ball. There is a particular costume adopted for 
 the society. That for the man consists of white panta- 
 loons, buttoned over a boy's jacket, made of light material, 
 without a collar; that of the women of a coat reaching to 
 the knee, and pantaloons such as little girls wear among 
 us. These dresses are not universally adopted, but they 
 have a good appearance. All the men did not participate 
 in the dance, i. e., the lower classes, but read newspapers 
 which were scattered over the side tables." 
 
 "We went to Eapp's distillery. It will be removed 
 altogether. Mr. Owen has forbidden distilling, as well as 
 the use of ardent spirits. Notwithstanding this, the Irish- 
 men here find opportunities of getting whisky and fuddling 
 themselves, from the flat-boats that stop here." 
 
 "The greater number of the young girls whom we 
 chanced to meet at home, were found employed in plaiting 
 straw hats. I became acquainted with Madame F., a 
 native of St. Petersburg. She married an American mer- 
 chant, but had the misfortune to lose her husband three 
 days after marriage, and as she was somewhat eccentric and 
 sentimental, quickly became attached to Mr. Owen's sys- 
 tem. She told me, however, in German, that she found 
 herself egregiously deceived, that the highly vaunted 
 equality was not altogether to her taste; that some of the 
 society were too low, and that the table was below all 
 criticism. The good lady appeared to be about to run 
 from one extreme to the other, for she added that in the 
 summer she would go to a Shaker establishment near 
 Vincennes. 
 
 "I renewed acquaintance here with Mr. Say, a distin- 
 guished naturalist from Philadelphia, to whom I had been 
 introduced there, but unfortunately he had found him- 
 
144 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 self embarrassed in his fortune, and was obliged to come 
 here as a friend of Mr. Maclure. The gentleman ap- 
 peared quite comical in the costume of the society, with 
 his hands covered with hard lumps and blisters, occasioned 
 by the unusual labor he was obliged to undertake in the 
 garden. 
 
 "In the evening I went for a walk in the streets, and 
 met several ladies of the society, who rested from the 
 labors of the day. Madame F. was among them, to whose 
 complaints I had listened. I accompanied the ladies to a 
 dancing assembly which was held in the kitchen of one of 
 the boarding houses. I observed that this was only an 
 hour of instruction for the unpracticed in dancing, and 
 that there was some restraint on account of my presence; 
 from politeness I went away and remained at home the 
 rest of the evening. * * * 
 
 "Mr. Owen took me into one of the newly built houses, 
 in which the married members of the society are to live. 
 It consisted of two stories, in each two chambers and two 
 alcoves, with the requisite ventilators. The cellar of the 
 house is to contain a heating apparatus to heat the whole 
 with warm air. Each family will have a chamber and an 
 alcove, which will be sufficient, as the little children will 
 be in the nursery and the larger at school. They will 
 not require kitchens, as all are to eat in common. Un- 
 married women will live together, as will also unmarried 
 men, in the manner of the Moravian brothers. 
 
 "I had a long conversation with Mr. Owen relative to 
 his system and his expectations. He looks forward to 
 nothing else than to remodel the world entirely; to root 
 out all crime; to abolish punishment; to create similar 
 views and similar wants, and in this manner to abolish 
 all dissension and warfare. When his system of education 
 shall be brought into connection with the great progress 
 made in mechanics, which is daily increasing, every man 
 can then, as he thinks, provide his simpler necessaries for 
 himself, and trade will cease entirely. I expressed a 
 doubt of the practicability of this system in Europe, and 
 even in the United States. He was too unalterably con- 
 vinced of the result to admit the slightest room for doubt. 
 It grieved me to see that Mr. Owen should be so infatuated 
 by his passion for universal improvement as to believe and 
 assert that he is about to reform the whole world, and 
 
The Duke of Saxe- Weimar at New Harmony. 145 
 
 yet that almost every member of his society with whom 
 I talked, acknowledged that he was deceived in his expecta- 
 tions, and expressed their opinion that Mr. Owen had com- 
 menced on too grand a scale, and had admitted too many 
 members without the requisite selection. 
 
 "I went with Dr. McNamee to the newly established 
 communities, Number 2, Macluria; the other lately 
 founded, Number 3. Number 3 lies two miles distant from 
 New Harmony, at the entrance to the forest, which will 
 be cleared to make the land fit for cultivation. The settle- 
 ment, which was established about four weeks ago, con- 
 sists of nine log houses. The inhabitants number about 
 eighty. They are mostly backwoodsmen with their families, 
 who have separated from community Number 1 in New 
 Harmony because no religion is allowed there, and these 
 people desire to hold their prayer meetings undisputed. 
 The fields in the neighborhood of this community were,, 
 of course, very new. Community Number 3 consisted of 
 English country people, who formed a new association, as 
 the cosmopolitanism of New Harmony did not suit them; 
 they left the colony planted by Mr. Birkbeck at English 
 Prairie, about twenty miles hence on the right bank of 
 the Wabash, after the unfortunate death of that gentle- 
 man, and came here. This is a proof that there are two 
 evils that strike at the root of the young societies: one 
 is a sectarian or intolerant spirit; the other natural preju- 
 dice. * * * I afterwards visited Mr. Neef, who is still 
 full of the maxims and principles of the French revolu- 
 tion and captivated with the system of equality; he talks 
 of the emancipation of the negroes and openly proclaims 
 himself an atheist." 
 
 "In the evening there was a general meeting in the 
 large hall. It opened with music; then one of the mem- 
 bers, an English architect of talent, who came to the 
 United States with Mr. Owen, whose confidence he ap- 
 peared to possess, and was here at the head of the archi- 
 tectural department, read some extracts from the news- 
 papers, upon which Mr. Owen made a very good com- 
 mentary; for example, upon the extension and improve- 
 ment of the steam engine, upon its adaptation to naviga- 
 tion and the advantages resulting therefrom. He lost him- 
 self in his theories, however, when he expatiated on an 
 article which related to the experiments which have been' 
 
146 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 made with the Perkins steam gun. During these lectures 
 I made my observation on the much vaunted equaUty, as 
 some tatterdemalions stretched themselves on the plat- 
 form close by Mr. Owen. The better educated members kept 
 themselves together, and took no notice of the others. I 
 remarked also that members belonging to the higher classes 
 of society had put on the new costume, and made a party 
 by themselves. After the lecture the band played, each 
 gentleman took a lady and marched with her around the 
 room. Lastly, a cotillion was danced; the ladies were then 
 escorted home, and each retired to his own quarters. 
 
 "I went early on the following morning (Sunday) to the 
 assembly room. The meeting was opened by music. After 
 this, Mr. Owen stated a proposition, in the discussion of 
 which he spoke of the advance made by the society; of 
 the location of another community at Valley Forge, in 
 Pennsylvania, and another in the state of New York. A 
 classification of the members was spoken of afterwards. 
 They were to be separated into three classes: first, of 
 such as undertook to be security for the sums due Mr. 
 Owen and Mr. Maclure (that is for the amount paid to 
 Eapp and so expended as a pledge to be redeemed by the 
 society), and who, if desirous to leave the society, must 
 give six months previous notice; secondly, such as after a 
 notice of fourteen days, can depart; lastly, those who are 
 received only on trial. 
 
 "Afterwards I visited Mr. Maclure, and received from 
 him the French papers. Mr. Maclure is old and childless, 
 was never married, and intends, it is reported, to leave his 
 property to the society. Afterwards I went with Mr. 
 Owen and some of the ladies of the society for a walk 
 to the cut-ofE, as it is called, of the Wabash, where this 
 river has formed a new channel and an island, which con- 
 tains about thirty-five hundred acres of the best land, at 
 present, however, inundated. There is here a substantial 
 grist mill erected by Mr. Rapp, which is said to contain a 
 very good set of machinery, but we could not reach it on 
 account of the water. * * * In the evening I paid visits 
 to some ladies, and saw the philosophy of a life of equaUty 
 put to a severe test with one of them. She is named 
 Virginia, from Philadelphia; is very young and pretty; 
 was delicately brought up, and appears to have taken 
 refuge here on account of an unhappy attachment. While 
 
The Duke of Saxe- Weimar at New Harmony. 14? 
 
 she was singing, and playing very well on the piano, she 
 was told that the milking of the cows was her duty, and 
 that they were waiting. Almost in tears, she betook her- 
 self to this servile employment, execrating the social sys- 
 tem and its so much prized equality. After the cows 
 were milked, in doing which the young girl was trod on by 
 one and kicked by another, I joined an aquatic party with 
 the young ladies and some young philosophers in a very 
 good boat upon the inundated meadows along the Wabash. 
 The evening was beautiful, it was moonlight, and the air 
 was very mild; the beautiful Miss Virginia forgot her 
 stable experiences and regaled us with her sweet voice. 
 Somewhat later we collected at house Number 2, ap- 
 pointed for the school-house, where all the young ladies 
 and gentlemen of quality assembled. We amused our- 
 selves during the whole remainder of the evening dancing 
 cotillions and waltzes, and with such animation as ren- 
 dered it quite lively. New figures had been introduced 
 among the cotillions, among which was one called the 
 New Social System. Several of the ladies made objections 
 to dancing on Sunday; we thought, however, that in this 
 sanctuary of philosophy, such prejudice should be entirely 
 discarded, and our arguments, as well as the inclinations of 
 the ladies, gained the victory. * * * 
 
 '1 was invited to dinner in house Number 4. Some 
 gentlemen had been out hunting and brought home a 
 wild turkey, which must be consumed. The turkey formed 
 the whole dinner. Upon the whole, I cannot complain 
 either of an overloaded stomach, or a headache from the 
 wine. The living was frugal in the strictest sense. In 
 the evening I visited Mr. Maclure, and Madame Fretageot, 
 living in the same house. She is a Frenchwoman, and 
 formerly kept a boarding school in Philadelphia, and is 
 called "Mother" by all the young girls here. The hand- 
 somest and most polished of the female world here. Miss 
 Lucy Sistare and Miss Virginia, were under her care. The 
 cows were milked this evening when I came in, and there- 
 fore we could hear their performance on the piano-forte, 
 and their charming voices, in peace and quiet. Later in 
 the eveaing we went to the kitchen of Number 3, where 
 there was a ball. The young ladies of the better class 
 kept themselves in a corner under Madame Pretageot's pro- 
 tection, and formed a little aristocratic clique. To prevent 
 
148 Tbe New Hannony Communities. 
 
 all possible partialities, the gentlemen, as well as the 
 ladies, drew numbers for the cotillions, and thus appor- 
 tioned them equitably. Our young ladies turned up their 
 noses at the democratic dancers who often in this way fell 
 to their lot. Although everyone was pleased upon the 
 whole, they separated at ten o'clock, as it is necessary to 
 arise early here. Madame Fretageot and her two pupils I 
 accompanied home, and spent some time in conversation 
 with Mr. Maclure on his travels in Europe, which were 
 taken with mineralogical views. The architect, Mr. Whit- 
 well, showed me the plan of this establishment. I admired 
 the judicious and economical arrangement for warming and 
 ventilating the buildings, as well as the kitchens and 
 laundries. 
 
 "On the following day I received a visit from one of 
 the German patriots of the name of Schmidt, who had 
 entered the Society. He had been a first lieutenant in the 
 Prussian artillery at Erfurt. He appeared to have en- 
 gaged in one of the political conspiracies there, and to 
 have deserted. Mr. Owen brought him from England last 
 autumn as a servant. He was now a member of the 
 society, and had charge of the cattle. His fine visions of 
 freedom seemed to be very much lower, for he presented 
 himself to me, and his father to Mr. Huygens, as servants. 
 Toward evening Mr. Applegarth arrived. He had pre- 
 sided over the school in New Lanark, and was to organize 
 one here when practicable. * * * In the evening there 
 was a ball in the large assembly room. * * * There was 
 a particular place marked off for the children to dance 
 in, in the center of the hall, where they could gambol about 
 without running between the legs of the grown persons. 
 * * * We took a walk to community Number 3. The 
 work on the houses had made little progress; we found 
 but one workman there, and he was sleeping quite at his 
 ease. * * * 
 
 "After we returned to Madame Fretageot's, Mr. Owen 
 showed me some interesting objects of his invention. One 
 of them consisted of cubes of different size, representing 
 the different classes of the British population in the year 
 1811, and showed what a powerful burden rested on the 
 laboring classes, and how desirable an equal division of 
 property would be in that kingdom. The other was a 
 plate, according to which, as Mr. Owen asserted, each child 
 
The Duke of Saxe- Weimar at New Harmony. 149 
 
 could be shown his own capabilities, and upon which, after 
 a mature self-examination, he can discover what progress 
 he had made. The plate has this superscription: "Scale 
 of Human Faculties and Qualities at Birth." It has ten 
 scales with the following titles, from the left to the right:. 
 Self Attachment; Affections; Judgment; Imagination; 
 Memory; Eeilection; Perception; Excitability; Courage; 
 Strength. Each scale is divided into one hundred parts, 
 which are marked from five to live. A slide that can be 
 moved up and down shows the measure of the qualities,, 
 therein specified, which each one possesses, or believes him- 
 self to possess. 
 
 "Mr. Owen considers it an absurdity to promise never- 
 ending love on marriage. For this reason he has intro- 
 duced the civil contract of marriage, after the manner of 
 the Quakers, and declares that the bond of matrimony is 
 in no way indissoluble. The children, indeed, cause no 
 impediment in case of a separation, for they belong to 
 the community from their second year, and are all brought 
 up together. 
 
 * * * "I passed the evening with the amiable Mr. 
 Maelure and Madame Fretageot, and became acquainted 
 through them with a French artist, Mr. Lesueur, who 
 calls himself an uncle of Miss Virginia; also a Dutch 
 physician from Herzogenbusch, Dr. Troost, a naturalist. 
 Both are members of the community, and had just arrived 
 from a pedestrian tour to Illinois and the southern part of 
 Missouri, where they have examined the iron and par- 
 ticularly the lead mine works. Mr. Lesueur has besides 
 discovered several species of fish, as yet undescribed. Mr. 
 LeSueur accompanied the naturalist Perouse as draftsman 
 in his tour to New South Wales under Capt. Baudin, and 
 possessed all the illuminated designs of the animals which 
 were discovered for the first time upon this voyage, upon 
 vellum. I count myself fortunate to have seen them. He 
 showed me also the sketches he made while on his last 
 pedestrian tour, as well as those during the voyage of sev- 
 eral of the members to Mount Vernon, down the Ohio 
 from Pittsburg. On this voyage the members of the so- 
 ciety had many difB-Culties to contend with, and were often 
 compelled to cut a path for the boat through the ice. He 
 had come to Philadelphia from France in 1815, and had 
 since devoted himself to the arts and sciences." 
 
ROBERT DA.LE O^VEN. 
 
Two Views of New Harmony. 
 
 No American autobiography surpasses in intrinsic charm 
 Eobert Dale Owen's "Threading My Way," — a collection 
 of reminiscent sketches written in Mr. Owen's characteris- 
 tically clear, strong style. As Mr. John HoUiday remarks: 
 "In their frankness of statement and fulness of detail about 
 personal matters they remind one of Rosseau's Confessions, 
 though lacking the apparent vanity of the Frenchman." 
 The younger Owen's account of life at New Harmony dur- 
 ing the community period is interesting, though disap- 
 pointingly brief, for the subject was always distasteful to 
 him. "When I reached Harmony early in 1836," he 
 says, "these general ideas (of the possibility of the ameliora- 
 tion of the condition of mankind) prevailed in my mind 
 uninterrupted by the sober second-thought which an after 
 life brought with it. I looked at everything with eyes of 
 enthusiasm; and, for a time, the life there was wonderfully 
 pleasant and hopeful to me. This, I think, is the com- 
 mon experience of intelligent and well disposed persons 
 who have joined the Brook Farm or other reputable com- 
 munity. There is a great charm in the good fellowship, 
 and in the absence of conventionalism which characterizes 
 such association. 
 
 "There was something especially taking, to me at least, 
 in the absolute freedom from all trammels, alike in the 
 expression of opinion, in dress and in social intercourse, 
 which I found there. The evening gatherings, too, de- 
 lighted me; the weekly meetings for the discussion of our 
 principles, in which I took part at once. The weekly 
 concert, with an excellent leader, Josiah Warren, and a 
 performance of music, instrumental and vocal, much be- 
 yond what I had expected in the back woods; last, not 
 least, the weekly ball, where I found crowds of young 
 people, bright and genial, if not especially cultivated, and 
 as passionately fond of dancing as in those days I myself 
 
 passionately fond of dancing 
 is. 
 
 "The accommodations seeme( 
 rudest, and the fare of the simplest; but I cared no more 
 
 was. 
 
 "The accommodations seemed to me indeed of the 
 
1S4 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 for that than young folks usually care who desert pleasant 
 homes to spend a summer month or two under canvas, — 
 their tents on the beach, perhaps, with boats and fishing 
 tackle at command, or pitched in some sylvan retreat, 
 where youth and maiden roam the forest all day, returning 
 at nightfall to merry talk, improvised music or an im- 
 promptu dance on the greensward. 
 
 "I shrank from no work that was assigned to me, and 
 sometimes, to the surprise of my associates, volunteered 
 when a hard or disagreeable job came up, as the pulling 
 down of the dilapidated cabins throughout the village. 
 But after a time, finding that others could manage as much 
 at common labor in one day as I could in two or three, 
 and being invited to take general charge of the school and 
 to aid in editing the weekly paper, I settled down to 
 what I confess were more congenial pursuits than wield- 
 ing the axe or holding the plow handles. 
 
 "I had previously tried one day sowing wheat by hand, 
 and held out until evening, but my right arm was com- 
 paratively useless for forty-eight hours thereafter. An- 
 other day, when certain of the young girls, who were bak- 
 ing bread for one of the large boarding houses, lacked an 
 additional hand, I oilered to help them; and when the re- 
 sults of my labors came to the table, it was suggested that 
 one of the loaves be voted to me as a gift for my diligence, 
 the rather as by a little manipulation, such as apothecaries 
 use in making pills, it might save me the trouble of mak- 
 ing bullets the next time I went out rifle shooting. * * * 
 
 "On the whole, my life at Harmony for many months 
 was happy and satisfying. To this the simple relation 
 existing between youth and maiden there much con- 
 tributed. We called each other by our Christian names 
 only; spoke and acted as brothers and sisters might; often 
 strolled out by moonlight in groups, sometimes in pairs; 
 yet withal, no scandal or other harm came of it, either 
 then or later, unless we are to reckon as such a few un- 
 suited and improvident matches that turned out poorly, as 
 hasty love matches will. What might have happened to 
 myself amid such favorable surroundings, if my heart had 
 not been pre-occupied, I cannot tell. I met almost daily, 
 handsome, interesting and warm-hearted girls; bright, 
 merry and unsophisticated; charming partners at ball or 
 picnic; one especially, who afterwards married a son of 
 
Two Views of New Harmony. 15S 
 
 Oliver Evans, the celebrated inventor and machinist, to 
 whom, I believe, we owe the high-pressure engine. 
 
 "Naturally enough, under the circumstances, I was not 
 haunted by doubts as to the success of the social experi- 
 ment in which we were engaged. The inhabitants seemed 
 to me friendly and well disposed. There was much origi- 
 nality of character. 
 
 "One example occurs to me, — an old man named Green- 
 wood, father of Miles Greenwood, known afterwards to the 
 citizens of Cincinnati as chief of their fire department, and 
 still later as proprietor of the largest foundry and machine 
 shops then in the West. We had, during the summer of 
 1826, several terrific thunderstorms, such as I had never 
 before witnessed. The steeple of our hall was shattered, and 
 it was during one of these storms, when the whole heavens 
 seemed illuminated and the rain was falling in torrents, 
 that I saw old Greenwood, thoroughly drenched and carry- 
 ing straight upright as a soldier carries a musket, a slender 
 iron rod, ten or twelve feet long. He was walking in the 
 middle of the street, passing with slow step the house in 
 which I was, and, as I afterwards learned, paraded every 
 street in the village in the same deliberate manner. Next 
 day I met him and asked him for an explanation. 'Ah, 
 well, my young friend,' said he, 'I am very old; I am not 
 well; I suffer much, and I thought it might be a good 
 chance to slip off, and be laid quietly away in the comer 
 of the orchard.' 
 
 "'You hoped to be struck by lightning?' 
 
 " 'You see, I don't like to kill myself; it seems like tak- 
 ing matters out of God's hands; but I thought He might 
 send me a spare bolt when I put myself in the way. If He 
 had only seen fit to do it, I'd have been at rest this very 
 minute, all my pains gone, no more trouble to anyone, and 
 no more burden to myself.' " 
 
 Early in the spring of 1826 there came to New Harmony 
 a curious character named Paul Brown. In 1827 he pub- 
 lished a pamphlet entitled "Twelve Months in New Har- 
 mony," in which he recounted his experiences as a mem- 
 bet of the community. Brown states that when he came 
 from his home in one of the eastern states to visit relatives 
 in Tennessee, he found the New Harmony experiment a 
 common topic of conversation among people there, and he 
 determined to visit the place at once. Paving the way 
 
156 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 by forwarding a huge letter to Mr. Owen, lie proceeded to 
 the settlement, arriving there on April second. He learned 
 on his journey, he says, that the original constitution had 
 been set aside, and that the people were being compelled 
 to sign contracts to pay for property at an appraised 
 valuation. 
 
 "It was anything but a tranquil neighborhood," writes 
 Brown. "The impression I took from what I could 
 gather was that this stipulation about appraisal not having 
 been made to the people until after they had signed the 
 constitution, the disturbance first arose from some of them 
 being backward about taking such a yoke upon themselves, 
 which generally had not been expected; whereupon an ad- 
 vantage was immediately taken hereof by some aspiring, 
 aristoeratieal spirits to make a division of the town into 
 several societies, as, one of the school, one of the tavern, 
 etc., another of the mechanics, and another of the farmers; 
 the school and tavern societies offering to take upon them- 
 selves the greater part of the debt; exchanges to exist 
 between these different bodies-politic by what they called 
 'labor for labor.' This was overruled by Mr. Owen, who 
 refused to contract with them upon such a plan, and 
 declared he knew no parties in New Harmony and would 
 countenance but one homogeneous union in that place. 
 He afterward shifted his ground, and said that in one 
 society they could not exist, and suggested the formation 
 of three. In this he could not prevail." 
 
 "Owen," Paul Brown declares, "then selected a nucleus 
 of twenty-five men as the beginning of a new association. 
 All agreed to sign contracts with Owen and Maclure for 
 the real and personal property 'as appraised by some- 
 body.' Three grades of membership were established: con- 
 ditional, probationary and members on trial. All the af- 
 fairs of the society were submitted to the direction of 
 Owen, unless within twelve months two-thirds of the mem- 
 bers should decide to rule themselves. By this very act 
 of requiring money for the estate purchased by the com- 
 munity, Owen proved himself to be a trading man, and 
 not a philanthropist; proved himself incapacitated to found 
 a real commonwealth; proved that it could not have been 
 the sole object and pursuit of his life to bring such a 
 thing into existence; proved himself to be lacking of in- 
 tegrity, magnanimity, and all those sublime principles es- 
 
Two Views of New Harmony. iSt 
 
 sentially requisite to form a character competent to intro- 
 duce into life an example of the state of society in the 
 true order of human perfection, of a sort which he had 
 recommended." 
 
 This carping critic grants that freedom of speech and 
 of the press were accorded by the New Harmony admin- 
 istration, but he took great offense at "the keeping of 
 books." "The dancing and the instrumental music," he 
 added, "engrossed more of energy than the more im- 
 portant considerations of community welfare. There must 
 be a regular ball and a regular concert once a week." He 
 says that there were restless spirits constantly urging some 
 new experiment. Owen, he states, recommended a motion, 
 to be made before all the people, to decide whether they 
 should be divided into four societies, each signing its own 
 contract for such a part of the property as it should pur- 
 chase, trading to be carried on among them by means of 
 representative paper money. Eobert Owen submitted two 
 propositions, one to have one community divided into oc- 
 cupations, and one to institute four distinct communities. 
 The last proposition was adopted. 
 
 Linked with Brown's cynical atheism was a puritanical 
 spirit which railed against the social diversions of which 
 the Harmonists were so fond. "The instituting of such 
 amusements as public balls, promenades and music," he 
 says, "seemed to be propitious to interest the young and 
 enamour them of the place. But the constant succession 
 of this sort of thing clearly induced volatility and aver- 
 sion to serious duties." Brown also objected to the indus- 
 trial school founded by William Maelure, on the ground 
 that young persons thus taught trades or parts of trades 
 'TDecame dependent on others for their support thereby." 
 He also claimed that Mr. Owen, according to the new plan 
 of contract with four societies, would receive for half of 
 the estate twenty thousand dollars more than he paid for 
 the whole, a statement that had no foundation in fact, as 
 Mr. Owen gave exceedingly favorable terms to the societies 
 proposing settlement on the estate. 
 
 "Mr. Owen," says Brown, "seems to have constantly 
 inculcated upon these people, from the beginning, lessons 
 of thrift and knacks of gaining and saving money; yet 
 profusions of musical instruments were provided, and 
 great quantities of candles burned at their balls." A great 
 
158 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 part of the time, he declared, the people were stinted in 
 their allowances of tea, butter, milk, etc. "Mr. Owen con- 
 stantly boarded at the tavern, where luxurious regale was 
 copiously provided to sell to traveling men of the world 
 and loungers. Here he drank coffee and tea while a mul- 
 titude of laboring people who were quartered in the large 
 boarding houses, being circumscribed in their rations, were 
 very much in the habit of drinking rye coffee, or rye 
 mixed with store coffee." Other visitors to the community 
 during this period agree that Mr. Owen was content with 
 the simplest fare, and Mr. Owen, in a lecture at Philadel- 
 phia stated that he lived on an expenditure of six cents 
 a day while the experiment was in progress, — eating but 
 two meals each day, one at 7 a. m., and one at 5 p. m. 
 
 Brown speaks of the neglect and confusion which char- 
 acterized the conduct of community enterprises. "The 
 gardens were neglected, and though several skilled gar- 
 deners lived in the community, much ground lay fallow 
 which might have made handsome gardens. The people, 
 instead of employing their thoughts to execute their work 
 well, were musing on plans of new arrangements in the 
 system of government of the society." The reporting of 
 the number of hours of labor, "and the keeping of debit 
 and credit, was a constant weight upon those who would 
 work from principle. Some of the ground was called 
 private ground. Everything was at sixes and sevens. The 
 place was full of clamor, disaffection and calumny. Com- 
 plaints were oftefn made that some houses got a greater 
 supply of provisions than others." 
 
 So Brown continues with his catalogue of grievances. 
 He was not the only member of the community who was 
 ready to discredit the motives of the unselfish Eobert 
 Owen, and to contribute to the growth of "clamor, disaffec- 
 tion and calumny." 
 
Community Progress. 
 
 Ah, soon will come the glorious day, 
 
 Inscribed on Mercy's brow. 
 When truth shall rend the veil away 
 
 That blinds the nations now. 
 
 When earth no more in anxious fear 
 
 And misery shall sigh; 
 And pain shall cease, and every tear 
 
 Be wiped from every eye. 
 
 The race of man shall wisdom learn, 
 
 And error cease to reign: 
 The charms of innocence return. 
 
 And all be new again. 
 
 The fount of life shall then be quaffed 
 
 In peace by all that come: 
 And every wind that blows shall waft 
 
 Some wandering mortal home. 
 
 — Owenite Poem, 1828. 
 
 Eobert Owen's retrospect of the first year's proceedings 
 of the "permanent community," delivered at New Har- 
 mony Hall on May ninth, 1826, is another e-ddence of 
 hopefulness which continued in him after doubt and 
 despair had seized many of his followers. The happiest 
 side of everything was turned to the world. His expecta- 
 tions, he declared, had been far surpassed. He had not 
 hoped that the town would be full in less than two or three 
 years, but it had been crowded in half that time. "Leav- 
 ing home in the fall of 1834, I made arrangements to re- 
 turn in the spring of 1825. After completing the purchase 
 of this property in April, and founding the Preliminary 
 Society in May, I was compelled to set out on my Journey 
 to Europe in June. I left the new settlement in the 
 charge of a committee chosen by a majority of the adult 
 population, and I did not suppose that during my absence 
 they could do more than receive the people as they came 
 in. 
 
 "As soon, however, as the formation of the Preliminary 
 Society was announced, people came flocking from all 
 quarters into the colony to offer themselves for member- 
 ship in such numbers that the dwelling houses were filled 
 in two months, and the press for admission was such that 
 it became necessary to insert advertisements in the news- 
 
160 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 papers of the surrouiiding states to prevent others comiiig 
 who could not be accepted for want of accommodations. 
 On my arrival in January last, I found every room oc- 
 cupied." 
 
 The affairs of the society, he declared, had been man- 
 aged much better than he had expected they would be. 
 "About a thousand individuals of all characters and dispo- 
 sitions had come together from far and near. Their 
 manners and tastes were as various as the varying circum- 
 stances under which their character had been formed. 
 Many of the children were extremely wild, rude and un- 
 cultivated, and strangers who came to see what was going 
 forward could perceive only a babel-like confusion. They 
 came and wondered and went away disappointed." 
 
 "In one short year," Mr. Owen stated, "this mass of 
 confusion, and in many cases of bad and irregular habits, 
 has been formed into a community of mutual cooperation 
 and equality, now proceeding rapidly toward a state of 
 regular organization. Out of it two communities have 
 been formed and located in this neighborhood." The 
 members of the first community, Macluria, "have built 
 themselves temporary comfortable cabins, and they have 
 cultivated more land than will be necessary to supply 
 their wants, and the young persons are spinning and 
 weaving more cloth than will be necessary to clothe them. 
 With the exception of two refractory members, the com- 
 munity seems to comprehend the new principles." These 
 refractory members, Mr. Owen declared, would probably 
 withdraw. 
 
 Feiba Peveli had a large and well cultivated garden, 
 said Mr. Owen, and an extensive and well kept farm. 
 This community had good prospects of paying off a part 
 of the debt on their property this year. Macluria had 
 about one hundred and twenty members, Feiba Peveli 
 sixty or seventy. Applications had been made for the 
 formation of other communities, and as soon as houses 
 could be located for them, they would be admitted. 
 
 There was hardly a state in the Union, Mr. Owen de^ 
 dared, where this subject did not attract considerable at- 
 tention, "and in many of them we have communities pro- 
 ceeding under these principles, notably in New York, Ken- 
 tucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Some 
 we know, are in operation in each of those states. In 
 
Community Progress. 161 
 
 England and Scotland also, the cause lia« made great 
 progress, the Orbiston community having had notable suc- 
 cess." 
 
 "Perhaps," said the hopeful philosopher in closing, "no 
 system of equal magnitude, involving such extensive 
 changes in the conduct of human affaiis, ever made 
 progress in any degree approaching to it in so short a 
 time. Hereafter, no one who comes and visits Macluria 
 or Feiba Peveli will doubt the practicability of this 
 scheme." "But," said Mr. Owen, "the great experiment 
 in New Harmony is still going on to ascertain whether a 
 large, heterogeneous mass of persons, collected by chance, 
 can be amalgamated into one community and induced to 
 acquire the genuine feelings of kindness and benevolence 
 which belong solely to the*principles on which the new 
 social system is founded, and which no other principles 
 can produce. The friends of the new social system may 
 rejoice and be exceeding glad, for they may be assured 
 that deliverance iTOfn poverty, ignorance and the oppres- 
 sion of riches is at hand." 
 
 The conditions under which Feiba Peveli and Macluria 
 secured their land, conditions which were later accepted 
 by other communities, comprehended 4he*' following pro- 
 visions: '• ^ -■ 
 
 1. That they should-- always remain Je^munilies o£ 
 equality and cooperation in rights ^^nd prejpKfty, and 
 should not be di-©ided into individ,waW*KareS or separate 
 interests. ' »""* * 
 
 2. That any surplus propertj^ their industry might 
 acquire must not be divided, but used to found similar 
 communities. 
 
 3. That there should be no whisky, or other distilled 
 liquors, made in the communities. 
 
 This was advanced ground on the liquor question, at a 
 time when it was not so seriously considered as at present, 
 and Eobert Owen was already enforcing strict prohibition 
 at New Harmony. Mr. Owen, about this time, suggested 
 the formation of occupational communities, that is as- 
 sociations of mechanics engaged in similar trades, farmers, 
 etc. There was evidently some friction between those who 
 labored in the fields and factories, and those who desired to 
 derive a living from their professional training or knowl- 
 edge of trade. 
 
162 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 On May seventeenth, the Gazette said that there were 
 already ten communities, and several societies in opera- 
 tion on the 'New Harmony plan. In this issue of the 
 commimity organ is also found an account of the forma- 
 tion of a cooperative association on the Ovren plan at 
 Wainborough, Illinois, and of the "Franklin com- 
 munity," located on the Hudson, sixty miles above New 
 York City, this society adopting in to to one of the nu- 
 merovis New Harmony constitutions. In the latter part of 
 May advertisements of mercantile business in the town 
 began to appear in the Gazette. We also learn from the 
 Gazette that on May twenty-sixth, Paul Brown delivered 
 a lecture in opposition to the management of the Com- 
 mimity. He spoke vehemently against card-playing, and 
 also complainecl of the "horse-laughing" of the children, 
 which disturbed his thoughts and "rendered life unen- 
 durable." 
 
 The dissenters at New Harmony were by this time be- 
 coming bold enough to attack Mr. Owen's philosophy. A 
 complainant deluged the Gazette with questions which 
 called for an answer from Mr. Owen. He wished to know 
 what is to be the stimulus to superior industry? how money 
 is to be rendered useless in the new moral world? why the 
 people of the community cannot see the model of the 
 proposed community building, as shown at Washington? 
 in Mr. Owen's plan for such a building what is the super- 
 iority of the hollow square over parallel sides at a con- 
 venient distance apart, or over a hollow triangle, pentagon 
 or hexagon? how in the erection of the new building, will 
 the unevenness of the ground be avoided? etc., etc. Such 
 questions dealt rather roughly with Mr. Owen's fanciful 
 details, and his answer was that these minor arrange- 
 ments were not an essential part of the great plan. On 
 May twenty-eighth, Mr. Owen reminded the people that 
 a community cannot exist without a true community 
 spirit. Two weeks later a member of the Society com- 
 plained through the Gazette that the thousand members 
 of the society had come to New Harmony at an expense 
 of twenty thousand dollars to find that communism was 
 not being practiced. Emulation, declared another cor- 
 respondent, must be admitted into the community in order 
 to make it a success, and lawyers and capitalists ought 
 not be spoken of as outlaws, but their friendship should 
 
Community Progress. 163 
 
 be cultivated. Members who steal or destroy the property 
 of others, this correspondent insisted, ought to be ex- 
 pelled, as well as those who drink intoxicating liquors. 
 "This of course has never happened at New Harmony," 
 declared the cautious contributor. The Gazette had de- 
 clared on May twenty-fourth, that "the system of preven- 
 tion destroys drunkenness in New Harmony." 
 
 On July fourth, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the sign- 
 ing of the Declaration of Independence, Eobert Owen made 
 the effort which he seemed to consider the chief event in, 
 history since the signing of the American Declaration, in 
 delivering what he called: "The Declaration of Mental 
 Independence." "I now declare to you and to the 
 world," he began, "that man up to this hour has been in 
 all parts of the earth a slave to a trinity of the most 
 monstrous evils that could be combined to inflict mental 
 and physical evil upon the whole race. I refer to private 
 or individual property, absurd and irrational systems of 
 religion, and marriage founded upon individual property, 
 combined with some of these irrational systems of reli- 
 gion." Then followed a reiteration of principles as set 
 forth in "The New Moral World." With undaunted 
 optimism he declared, in closing: "Our principles wilL 
 spread from community to community, from state to 
 state, from continent to continent, until this system and 
 these principles shall overshadow the whole earth, shed- 
 ding fragrance and abundance, intelligence and happiness 
 upon all the sons of men." This declaration, Mr. Owen 
 said upon this occasion, he considered the most important 
 event in his life. The Gazette was thereafter dated in 
 the "first" and "second" years of "mental independence." 
 
 Early in July Sunday meetings for instruction in the 
 new principles were instituted. At these sessions Eobert 
 Owen presided, and led in the discussions. Accounts of 
 these meetings are given in the community paper, and 
 we learn that Mr. Owen's addresses were often followed 
 by spirited debates among the members. Although many 
 of the members, Mr. Owen declared on July thirtieth, had 
 not seen their way clear and had fainted by the way,, 
 still he had witnessed a uniform progress from the old' 
 system to the new. "From present appearances, in 
 twelve months we will be able to contend against the 
 world." Six months ago he would not have imagined that 
 
164 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 the progress since made could have been effected in years. 
 
 "Suppose," said an interrogator at one meeting, "one 
 third of the population should pledge themselves to go 
 the whole way with you (into communistic association), 
 would you be willing to go the whole way? Would you 
 be willing to make common stock of your property?" 
 "Yes," Mr. Owen answered, "I am ready and will Join you 
 whenever there shall be a sufficient number who follow 
 and understand the principles, and who will honestly carry 
 them into effect." 
 
 On July thirtieth, 1836, the New Harmony Agricultural 
 and Pastoral Society adopted a constitution modeled after 
 those previously adopted by New Harmony communistic 
 associations. The membership, limited to thirty families, 
 was less exclusive than that of former societies, a two- 
 thirds vote being sufficient to admit an applicant. Mem- 
 bers leaving the society previous to the payment of the 
 debt to Robert Owen, must relinquish all share in the 
 property. The last clause of the constitution pledged the 
 society to "furnish its quota of soldiers, statesmen and 
 politicians." 
 
 The fact that the administration organ gave few par- 
 ticulars of the progress of the communities during the 
 summer of 1826 is evidence that there was little to re- 
 port that was favorable to the prospects of the New Har- 
 mony experiment. We only know that numerous expedi- 
 ents were tried to better the condition of the communi- 
 ties, and that all ultimately failed. The summer was full 
 of projects, auspiciously begun, and disastrously ended. 
 
 For lack of a better authority, we must fall back on 
 Paul Brown. The mechanics, he states, entered into in- 
 denture with Owen for lands and houses aggregating in 
 value twenty-three thousand dollars, agreeing to pay five 
 per cent, interest on this amount, and the property not 
 to be deeded to them until the last installment on the 
 principal had been paid. The "School Society" made a 
 contract for nine hundred acres of land, and the best of 
 the buildings, leasing these for ten thousand years, and 
 agreeing to pay forty-nine thousand dollars therefor. The 
 "Pastoral Society" had a similar contract for a large tract 
 of land. There was great jealousy against the educa- 
 tional society, the commoners deeming it an aristocracy. 
 There were many changes from society to society, and 
 
Community Progress. 165 
 
 the comnmnities devoted much time and energy to wrang- 
 ling with one another. Brown says: "The claim to some 
 crops heing unsettled between two societies, a large patch 
 of cabbages went to ruin from neglect." "Everything 
 was at sixes and sevens at the very time when everything 
 ought to have been in complete order and the people tend- 
 ing busily to saving the products." 
 
 Brown found no attraction even in the social diversions 
 which enlivened the place. "The people of the town," 
 he says, "continued strangers to each other, in spite of all 
 their meetings, their balls, their frequent occasions of con- 
 gregating in the hall, and all their pretense of coopera- 
 tion. From the first time I set my foot within this little 
 town of one-half mile square, I think there is not one 
 within the range of my observations during my traveling 
 in other towns of the United States, where the same num- 
 ber of persons, living together within such a compass for 
 so many months, and daily and hourly passing and repass- 
 ing each other, were so perfectly strangers, and void of all 
 personal intimacy with each other's feelings, views, situa- 
 tions, and, very generally, names." 
 
 At a meeting held on August twentieth, Robert Owen 
 said: "Believe me, that if you and your children will 
 only regularly meet here three evenings in the week, and 
 give your attention to the subject, one year will not have 
 passed before the minds of all will have become generally 
 well informed. We ought to at once lay the foundation 
 of this general knowledge." On motion it was agreed that 
 Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings should be given 
 to this purpose. These meetings were continued, with 
 decreasing attendance, for only a few weeks. On August 
 twenty-seventh Mr. Owen stated "that the last week had 
 been well employed in commencing the education of the 
 children belonging to the manufacturing, mechanic and 
 pastoral societies." While Mr. Owen was delivering an^ 
 excellent course of lectures on early education, Paul Brown | 
 does not think that the children were progressing far in the I 
 straight and narrow way. The mechanics became confused j 
 in the intricate machinery created by their constitution, ^ 
 and relieved themselves by abolishing their numerous 
 offices, and creating in their stead a trinity of dictators, 
 which they blasphemously called God the Father, God the 
 Son and God the Holy Ghost. The farmers became 
 
166 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 offended by some proceeding of the educational society, 
 and decided to remove their children from school, paying 
 their tuition up to that time. The mechanics, who 
 seemed to be greater revolutionists than the farmers, be- 
 came involved in another quarrel, and also withdrew their 
 children, but refused to pay anything for the instruction 
 they had already received. 
 
 Brown says that gardens and fields were almost entirely 
 neglected. Large holes were made in the fences "by 
 brutes and boys." These openings into cultivated en- 
 closures grew wider and wider until "swine ranged at 
 pleasure throughout, then cows, and next horses." A pil- 
 fering spirit, he says, pervaded the place. "Two dames 
 of House No. 4, where abode the pastorals and shepherds, 
 had a battle with their fists." The children. Brown de- 
 clares, ran morally mad. To crown it all, the Gazette 
 refused to publish some essays written by Paul Brown 
 himself. The Gazette does not agree with Brown in its 
 accounts of community conditions, but stated about this 
 time that "from a neglect of the principles of the system, 
 some very well meaning individuals are committing mis- 
 takes which deprive them of the enjoyment of a happy 
 state of mind. They blame individuals upon conjecture; 
 they become angry at these individuals, and do and say 
 i things which they afterwards deeply regret." 
 f| At length the refractory farmers and mechanics agreed 
 'I to allow Mr. Owen to have charge of the schooling of their 
 I children, and a school was set up in the shoe factory, with 
 I Mr. Owen as principal. Following this there seems to have 
 I ensued a period of temporary hopefulness and community 
 I convalescence. 
 
 -^^-At the Sunday meeting for instruction on August 
 twenty-third, Eobert Owen quoted from a book entitled 
 "The Three "Wise Men of Gotham," which held the Owen- 
 ites up to ridicule. He stated that the book was embel- 
 lished with a picture of three wise men sailing in a bowl, 
 with the motto accompanying it: 
 
 "Three wise men of Gotham put out to sea in a bowl: 
 If the howl had been stronger, my tale had been longer." 
 
 The book, Mr. Owen stated, was divided into three 
 parts, the first intended to give a ludicrous history of a 
 pupil of the new system; the second to show the absurdi- 
 ties, uncertainties and consequent evils of law under the 
 
Community Progress. 16T 
 
 indiYidual system; the third was a satire on frivolity. The 
 first chapter treated of a man machine who was supposed to 
 tell his own story. Mr. Owen read some pages which 
 treated of the employment of young children in the fac- 
 tories of Great Britain, and accused Mr. Owen of cupidity 
 and a desire to make money hy the labor of his followers. 
 On September seventeenth, 1826, a general meeting of 
 the societies and the population of New Harmony was * 
 held at the hall. A message from Eobert Owen was sub- 
 mitted, proposing a plan for "the amelioration of the 
 society, to improve the condition of the people, and make 
 them more contented." Mr. Owen offered to Join any 
 number of persons, the present existing communities being 
 abolished, in the formation of a new general community, 
 to be called "The New Harmony Community Number 1." 
 The agreement stipulated that the real a%d personal prop- • 
 erty held by members and located in the United States;- 
 should be made common stock, except whai* miglA be suf- 
 ficient to pay the just debts of members, and thpir wear- 
 ing apparel, household furnitiire anfl whatever they might 
 feel disposed to set apart for the support (5l- absent rela- 
 tives who were not members of the -f ommunity. The 
 government of this new community, Mr. Owen proposed, 
 should be invested in himself ^nd four directors to be 
 appointed by him. This administration should continue 
 for five years, at the end of which time the majority might 
 decide as to the future government of the community. 
 The members were to obligate themselves to "use their 
 best endeavors by temperate, economical and prudent hab- 
 its to contribute to the interest of all and the happiness of 
 each." 
 
 The existing communities did not at once concur in this 
 plan. The members of the educational society denounced 
 it as a despotism. On October twenty-fourth Macluria 
 had removed three of its directors and its agent. Soon 
 after it split in two, on account, it is said, of a religious 
 controversy, and returned the community property to Mr. 
 Owen, who merged it into the estate of the new commu- 
 nity No. 1. Ninety-six members were secured for this 
 association in a few days. The educational society op- 
 posed the plan so vigorously that, according to Paul 
 Brown, its supplies were cut off for a few days. 
 
 The formation of the new community seems to have 
 
168 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 created a better state of affairs for a time, while Mr. 
 Owens's instruction of the children was accomplishing 
 much good. The Gazette of October eleventh, declared: 
 "For several weeks past the steady progress in good habits 
 and substantial improvement among the younger part 
 of the population has been obvious to everyone. They 
 have commenced a system of instruction which at once 
 fixed their attention, and changed their whole conduct. 
 They are most punctual in their attendance upon the lec- 
 tures, and take an extraordinary interest in them: and in 
 the same proportion that these good feelings and higher 
 views have arisen, they have abandoned their wild and 
 irrational mode of conduct: they are now seldom heard 
 to swear or seen engaged in quarrels, as was their common 
 conduct at their first coming. Their industry keeps pace 
 with their other improvements, and their parents gen- 
 erally express the greatest satisfaction in the change 
 effected in their children. The parents also have made a 
 considerable advance in temperance and industry. There 
 are but two or three among the whole population who are 
 seen occasionally to trespass against the former virtue, and 
 such is the general feeling of disapprobation in conse- 
 quence that it is evident to everyone that they must 
 speedily change this deplorable habit, or leave the so- 
 ciety. And what will the more surprise the public, after 
 the reports which have been generally circulated, there 
 has not been one instance yet known of illegitimacy among 
 the whole population, and what is more remarkable, sus- 
 picion on the subject does not, so far as we know, attach 
 itself to a single individual. 
 
 "The most eceentric and violent characters, who were 
 unprepared to give up their eccentricities, having left the 
 society, all have agreed to commence the social system 
 upon its true foundation of common property, good feel- 
 ing and true conduct. The community unanimously 
 agreed that Mr. Owen should take the direction of its 
 formation until it was so far advanced that the members 
 should be instructed in the practice of the whole as well 
 as in the principles. The declaration of mental inde- 
 pendence having cleared away the greater part of the 
 errors which previously prevailed in the minds of many, 
 and removed all doubts from the strong minded in regard 
 to Mr. Owen's real views and ultimate objects, mutual 
 
Community Progress. 169 
 
 confidence has been established. The town is so full that 
 several await the completion of some houses which are 
 yet in progress. The applications for membership have 
 also largely increased lately. There can be little doubt, 
 therefore, that as soon as the public mind shall be calmed 
 after the first surprise of such an attack as was the 
 Declaration of Mental Independence, as soon as the pro- 
 ductive classes shall have time and opportunity to dis- 
 cover how grievously they are injured by the old system 
 in every part of the world, and more especially when they 
 reflect upon the fate of the producers of all wealth in 
 Great Britain, they will bestir themselves everywhere, and 
 adopt principles and arrangements by which they will 
 securely enjoy the full benefit of their mental and physical 
 exertions." 
 
 On November eighth, the Gazette declared that at the 
 beginning of the experiment some intemperate, thievish, 
 aristocratic, violent, eccentric, ill-tempered, vain and 
 scheming persons came to the community. "Some of the 
 most defective characters have left the community, how- 
 ever, as well as some who would have made good members 
 had they persevered. It would be an act of very great 
 injustice to the community and the public, to say that the 
 community charaeter has yet been attained by us; all 
 parties as yet have scarcely become known to each other, 
 and we are but partially acquainted with the materials 
 around us. Some progress has, however, been made. 
 Drunkenness has been diminished until it is now scarcely 
 known. Industry has become steady and regular among 
 all classes, with a few exceptions. The children are 
 gradually losing the wild and thoughtless habits which 
 they once possessed, and are beginning to acquire those 
 of attention and refinement. 
 
 "The principal thing to be contended with is the char- 
 acter formed by a new coimtry. Families have been here 
 collected without any relation to each others' views and 
 peculiarities. Many of these persons, after their arrival, 
 have been deprived of more or less of their property, and 
 a general system -of trading speculation exists among them, 
 each one trying to get the best of tie other. Confidence 
 cannot, therefore, exist among them, and there is an un- 
 reasonable spirit of suspicion prevalent. Inexperience in 
 
170 Tbe New Harmony Communities. 
 
 commuiiity enterprises is another great obstacle, and edu- 
 cation alone can overcome these difficulties." 
 
 On November twenty-ninth the Gazette announced 
 that arrangements had been perfected for educating all the 
 children of the community in one family. It says, fur- 
 ther: "Some of the population entertain the opinion that 
 a few of the members are not so careful and industrious 
 as they ought to be, and it is probable that there may be 
 some truth in these surmises. Nothing, however, is so 
 damaging as a suspicious spirit. 
 
 "Another cause of dissatisfaction among the members 
 of the educational society arose from a misconception 
 among them as to the best line of separation between their 
 lands and those of the other societies. They thought some 
 other line, giving them more land in a particular direction 
 inconvenient to their neighbors, was necessary for them; 
 a little reflection, however, will convince them of their 
 error, there being more land than is requisite for ten other 
 communities, and whenever they are prepared to require 
 more for cultivation, it can be obtained without difficulty. 
 It deserves not a moment's reflection whether one society 
 has a little more or a little less for the present, providing 
 a line shall be adopted which will prevent them from inter- 
 fering with each other's principles, objects and arrange- 
 ments. Shortly each member of all these societies will 
 discover that they have but one and the same interest. 
 These little matters, creating some temporary difEerence 
 of feeling, being once adjusted, the rapidity of our progress 
 will be much accelerated." 
 
 At a meeting of the society on November eleventh, 
 1826, Eobert Owen said: "We meet particularly for the 
 purpose of taking a survey of the last half year's proceed- 
 ings, and the progress the community has made toward 
 the attainment of the great object which has brought me 
 across the Atlantic, and which has induced you to collect 
 yourselves together at this place. Many are ridiculing 
 the project, but the members should not heed in the sHght- 
 est what the world has said or may say relative to our dis- 
 cussions here. It knows no more of this subject, which is 
 new in the annals of the human race, than a man bom 
 blind knows of colors." Mr. Owen proceeded to state, 
 after reading the first chapter of a new work on the 
 "social system," what had been done preparatory to the 
 
Community Progress. 171 
 
 introduction of the new state of society. He commenced 
 with the purchase of the estate, and the collection of per- 
 sons desirous of trying the experiment. He mentioned the 
 establishment of the Gazette "for the promulgation of 
 true principles." These results, he said, were accom- 
 plished during the first year. During the succeeding six 
 months the declaration of mental independence had been 
 made, the publication of which he regarded as laying the 
 foundations of the new Social system "on a rock immov- 
 able through future ages." Then the association was 
 formed into a community of common property. "In the 
 next place an experiment has been made which proves 
 how easily the whole community may be re-educated into 
 one family, or true community. The community has dis- 
 covered by experience the utility of delegating the direc- 
 tion of this organization to some of the members until the 
 majority of them acqtiire the knowledge of the best mode 
 of acting in general measures, or upon an extensive com- 
 bination. It had further ascertained the qualities, char- 
 acter, or virtues which are necessary to be acquired by all 
 members of a community of common property, equality 
 and justice, and without which no community can be suc- 
 cessful." "A long discussion followed," states the 
 Gazette. 
 
FRANCES ■WRIGHT. 
 
Woman at VS^ew Harmony. 
 
 Woman: May the experiment being tried in New Harmony of 
 the same intellectual cultivation of the sexes, prove that woman's 
 capabilities are equal to those of men."— Toast responded to at the 
 Semi-Centennial celebration at Marietta, Ohio, July 4th, 1826. 
 
 The philosophy of Robert Owen contemplated equal 
 privileges for the sexes. It has been noted that in the 
 original Community, women were given an equal voice 
 with men in legislation. In several of the later communi- 
 ties, women were given a vote in legislative assemblages, 
 in others the right of participating in debate, and in all 
 the widows of deceased members succeeded to the rights 
 and privileges their husbands had previously enjoyed. 
 The original community afforded the first example of 
 woman's suffrage in this country. Eobert Owen's system 
 contemplated the abolition of all special property rights 
 heretofore vested in men. The educational institutions i 
 at New Harmony were co-educational from the beginning | 
 — a pioneer venture which attracted ~wide'^ttention~an'd 
 comment. 
 
 Mr. Owen chieily looked to the emancipation of womln 
 from what he looked upon as a crushing burden — "mar- 
 riage founded upon individual property." "It is almost 
 impossible," Mr. Owen said at one of the Sunday meet- 
 ings for instruction at New Harmony, "that there should 
 be a natural marriage in the present state of society, in my 
 acceptation of the phrase. What I mean by a natural 
 marriage is where a union is formed under those institu- 
 tions which provide for all parties an equal education, 
 under which they are enabled to acquire an accurate 
 knowledge of themselves and of human nature: wherein 
 no other motive shall influence the affections but inti- 
 mate sympathy and unaffected congeniality, founded on a 
 real knowledge of each other by both parties; where the 
 imagination has been carefully excluded, and where the 
 judgment has been the guide and director." Mr. Owen 
 further declared that there was never the slightest founda- 
 tion for the report that he stood sponsor for free love. 
 This charge had been widely made and believed; it still 
 
176 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 lingers as a popvilar impression which never had founda- 
 tion in fact. The private character of Eobert Owen was 
 exceptionally pure; his family life was happy, and it is 
 certain that he looked upon his attack on the existing 
 form of marriage, as a step in the direction of a higher 
 morality. 
 
 The Gazette gives an interesting account of a double 
 marriage ceremony performed under the auspices of the 
 community on the first Sunday in April, 1826. At a 
 regular meeting of the society in New Harmony Hall. 
 Eev. John Burkitt joined in marriage "Philip M. Price, 
 late of Philadelphia, to Matilda Greenbree, late of Wash- 
 ington City, and Robert Eobson, late of Washington City, 
 to Eliza E. Parvin, late of Princeton, Indiana." 
 
 "In compliance with a resolution passed at a previous 
 meeting of the community," says the Gazette, "the four 
 parties previous to the performance of the marriage cere- 
 mony, entered a protest against the usual form of marriage 
 in the following manner: Each couple standing up in 
 the meeting, and taking each other by the hand, severally 
 repeated: T, A. B., do agree to take this man (woman) 
 to be my husband (wife), and I declare that I submit 
 to any other ceremony upon this occasion only in conform- 
 ity with the laws of the state.' They then went through 
 with the marriage ceremony in usual form." 
 
 "The point is," the administration declared, "that the 
 society believes that man is not the creature of his own 
 will, that his character is formed for him, and therefore 
 he does not dare to promise to love always, since they are 
 conscious that their affections do not depend upon them- 
 selves. 
 
 "The society thus advises all who are in the community 
 to adopt the above form of marriage. The old form is 
 irrational, because it obligates us to do what we may not 
 be able to perform, and because it marks a disposition to 
 enslave one-half of our fellow creatures." 
 
 When, at one of the Sunday meetings during the sum- 
 mer of 1826, it was agreed that the society should meet 
 on three evenings each week for instruction, the point was 
 raised that "the females would hardly have time to get 
 done with supper to meet there so early and so often." 
 "Mr. Owen said," an account of the meeting states, "that 
 he had been endeavoring to ascertain the cause why so 
 
Woman at New Harmony. Ut 
 
 much difficulty is experienced by the females of this com- 
 munity in the performance of their domestic duties." Fe- 
 male labor, he declared, ought to be lighter under the 
 commimity that under the individual system. Perhaps 
 the women spent too much time talking, he suggested. 
 "By coming to these meetings for instruction they might 
 perhaps get rid of the desire and the occasion for so much 
 useless talk." 
 
 The further suggestion was made at this meeting that 
 "there existed great Jealousy among the females of this 
 place; that some were afraid of doing more than their 
 shares of the work, and some were afraid of doing anything 
 at all." Mr. Owen responded that "education begun at the 
 age of three years would eradicate these evil passions from 
 the coming generation." 
 
 Eobert Owen's advanced views regarding the equality 
 of the sexes did not receive immediate acceptance, but in 
 after years they deeply influenced American legislation 
 through the labors of his distinguished son, Eobert Dale 
 Owen. The younger Owen wrote into the Indiana statutes 
 a conception of the legal rights of women far in advance of 
 that generally held throughout the Union. Through his 
 influence more liberal divorce legislation was enacted in 
 Indiana, and though the provisions of that law now seem 
 moderate, Horace Greely denominated Indiana "the para- 
 dise of free lovers." Eobert Dale Owen replied vigorously 
 to this unfounded charge, and the debate which ensued in 
 the columns of the New York Tribune constitutes one of 
 the most notable contributions to literature bearing on the 
 problem of marriage and divorce. In that discussion the 
 younger Owen more than held his own with the great 
 presiding genius of the Tribune, whose word was law at 
 that time with thousands of readers throughout the coun- 
 try. 
 
 In the New Harmony library is still to be seen the desk 
 over which Frances Wright delivered lectures in which 
 woman suffrage was first advocated, and some of the first 
 arguments in favor of the abolition of slavery and the 
 granting of suffrage to the negroes were advanced. 
 Frances Wright was one of the most interesting figures in 
 the brilliant coterie of eccentric reformers which gath- 
 ered about Eobert Owen at the announcement of his New 
 Harmony plans. With her sister Camilla she was left an 
 
Its The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 orphan at an early age, and these girls of large fortune 
 and gentle birth were confined to the care of Jeremy Ben- 
 tham, who at one time had a business connection with 
 Eobert Owen. "He had them educated according to his 
 own peculiar crotchets," says one writer, "and very 
 eccentric women he made of them; they fitted into 
 no social map, no domestic form. Frances had 
 a strong masculine mind and character, and took 
 to the manly rearing Bentham gave her." "She 
 was thoroughly versed in the literature of the day," 
 says Eobert Dale Owen, "was well informed on general 
 topics, and spoke French and Italian fluently. She had 
 traveled and resided for years in Europe, was an intimate 
 friend of General LaFayette, had made the acquaintance 
 of many leading reformers, Hungarian, Polish and others, 
 and was a thorough republican; indeed, an advocate of 
 universal suffrage without regard to color or sex. * * * 
 Eefined in her manner and language, she was a radical 
 alike in politics, morals and religion. She had a strong, 
 logical mind, a courageous independence of thought, and 
 a zealous wish to benefit her fellow creatures; but the 
 mind had not been submitted to early discipline, the cour- 
 age was not tempered with prudence, the philanthropy 
 had too little of common sense to give it practical form 
 and efficiency. Her enthusiasm, eager but fitful, lacked 
 the guiding check of sound judgment. Her abilities as an 
 author and lecturer were of a high order, but an inordinate 
 estimate of her own mental powers, and obstinate adher- 
 ence to opinions once adopted, detracted seriously from 
 the influence which her talents and eloquence might have 
 exerted. A redeeming point was, that to carry out her 
 convictions she was ready to make great sacrifices, personal 
 and pecuniary. She and a younger sister, a lady alike 
 amiable and estimable, had always lived and journeyed 
 together, were independent in their circumstances, and 
 were devotedly attached to each other. She had various 
 personal advantages — a tall, commanding figure, somewhat 
 slender and graceful, though the shoulders were a little 
 bit too high: a face the outline of which in profile, though 
 delicately chiselled, was masculine rather than feminine, 
 like that of an Antinous, or perhaps more nearly typifying 
 a Mercury; the forehead broad, but not high; the short, 
 chestnut hair curling naturally all over a classic head; the 
 
Woman at New Harmony. 179 
 
 large blue eyes not soft, but clear and earnest. When I 
 first met her, at Harmony, in the summer of 1826, some 
 of the peculiarities of character above set forth had not 
 developed themselves. She was then known in England 
 and here, only as the author of a small book entitled 'A 
 Few Days in Athens,' published and favorably received 
 in London, and of a volume of travels in the United States, 
 in which she spoke in laudatory tone of our institutions 
 and of OUT people." 
 
 John Humphrey Noyes, in his "History of American 
 Socialisms," says: "This woman, little known to 
 the present generation, was really the spiritual help- 
 mate and better-half of the Owens, in the socialistic 
 revival of 1826. Our impression is, not only that she was 
 the leading woman in the communistic movement of that 
 period, but that she had a very important agency in start- 
 ing two other movements that had far greater success and 
 are at this moment in popular favor, viz.: anti-slavery and 
 woman's rights. If justice were done, we are confident 
 her name would figure high with those of Lundy, Garri- 
 son and John Brown on the one hand, and those of Abby 
 Kelly, Lucy Stone and Anna Dickinson on the other. She 
 was indeed the pioneer of strong-minded women." 
 
 Frances Wright first appeared at Few Harmony after 
 the purchase of the estate by Mr. Owen, but before the 
 removal of the Eappites, whom she accompanied to Penn- 
 sylvania, and there studied their methods of settlement. 
 She spent some time at New Harmony after the founding 
 of the Preliminary Society, and in the summer of 1825 
 issued a prospectus announcing plans for founding ai 
 community in which not only the industrial problem, but 
 the slave question was to be solved. She purchased two 
 thousand acres of woodland situated on both sides of Wolf 
 river thirteen miles above Memphis. With fifteen negroes 
 purchased of neighboring slave holders, she began her 
 experiment in the autumn of 1825, giving the name 
 "Fashoba" to her colony. Her idea was to elevate the 
 negro by education, and to found a community system 
 which, by spreading, would eventually result in the 
 abolition of slavery; but there was to be in each commun- 
 ity a coterie of "good and great men and women of all 
 countries," as Noyes says, "who might there sympathize 
 with each other in their love and labor for humanity. 
 
180 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 She invited congenial minds from every quarter of the 
 globe to unite with her in the search for truth and the 
 pursuit of rational happiness." Half of the earnings of 
 each negro was to be set apart to purchase his emancipa- 
 tion, if necessary. Each community was to be managed 
 by the whites. "The theory was benevolent," says Noyes, 
 "but practically the institution must have been a two-story 
 commonwealth, something like the old Grecian states, 
 which founded liberty on Helotism. It might be defined 
 as a Brook Farm plus a negro basis, thus obviating the 
 difficulty encoimtered in that experiment which Haw- 
 thorne designates, namely, that the amateurs who took part 
 in that picnic, 'did not like to serve as chambermaids to 
 the cows.' " 
 
 Early in the history of this experiment, failing health 
 compelled Frances Wright to make a trip to Europe. Dur- 
 ing her absence matters became sadly tangled, and on her 
 return in December she made over the estate to a board of 
 trustees composed of General LaFayette, William Maclure, 
 Eobert Owen, Cadwallader Golden, Eicheson Whitby, 
 Eobert Jennings, Eobert Dale Owen, George Mower, 
 Camilla Wright and James Eichardson, "to be held by 
 them, their associates and their successors in perpefaial 
 trust for the benefit of the negro race." By two other 
 deeds she gave to these trustees the negro slaves on the 
 estate, and all her personal property. In an appeal to 
 the public issued at this time she declared that no difEer- 
 enee in education or other advantages would be made be- 
 tween white and colored children. Conditions did not 
 greatly improve under the management of the trustees, 
 and in March, 1828, they published a communication in 
 the Nashoba Gazette in which the failure of the coopera- 
 tive feature of the scheme was practically admitted, and 
 it was proposed that each white member of the Commun- 
 ity pay into the treasury one hundred dollars annually for 
 board; "each one must also build himself a small brick 
 house with a piazza according to a regular plan, and upon 
 a spot of ground selected for the purpose near the center 
 of the lands." Frances Wright, Eicheson Whitby, 
 Camilla Wright Whitby and Eobert Dale Owen signed this 
 communication as resident trustees. Soon after this the 
 community was abandoned, and in the following June 
 Frances Wright moved to New Harmony, where in con- 
 
Woman at New Harmony. 181 
 
 junction with "William Owen, she edited the New Har- 
 mony Gazette, which became the New Harmony and 
 Nashoba Gazette, or Free Enquirer. The Nashoba prop- 
 erty was left in the hands of an agent who was to con- 
 duct the negroes to Hayti early the next year. Says Noyes: 
 "The communistic experiment and failure was nearly si- 
 multaneous with that of New Harmony, and was the imme- 
 diate antecedent of Frances Wright's famous lecturing 
 tour. In December, 1828, she raised a whirlwind of excite- 
 ment by her eloquence in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New 
 York. Soon after the New Harmony Gazette, with the 
 title of Free Enquirer, was removed to the latter city, 
 where it was for several years ably edited by Frances 
 Wright and Eobert Dale Owen." 
 
 During the community period Frances Wright gathered 
 about her at New Harmony a coterie of kindred spirits,. 
 and founded what is considered the first woman's literary 
 club in the United States. This organization succeeded 
 what was known as the Woman's Social society, estab- 
 lished during the continuance of the Preliminary Society 
 in 1826. In turn the society founded by Frances Wright,., 
 after it had lapsed for over twenty-five years, was suc- 
 ceeded by the Minerva society, a woman's literary club 
 founded in 1859, which in itself is the pioneer woman's 
 club of the West. 
 
WILLIAM MACLURE. 
 
The Educational Experiment. 
 
 "AwaJce! ye sons of light and joy, 
 
 And scout the Demon of the schools: 
 The fiend that scowls but to decoy. 
 To pamper zealots: frighten fools: 
 To blind the judgment: crib the soul. 
 
 Wake up! And let your actions tell 
 That you with Peace and "Virtue dwell. 
 
 "Away with studied form and phrase. 
 
 Away ■with cant, and bigot zeal, 
 Let Truth's unclouded beacon blaze, 
 From Nature's kindness learn to feel: 
 
 From Nature's kindness learn to give 
 Tour hands, your hearts, to all that live. 
 Wake up! 'Tis deeds alone can tell 
 That you with Peace and Virtue dwell." 
 — Poem dedicated to the children of the New Harmony Boarding 
 School, New Harmony Gazette, October 8, 1825. 
 
 "An age of hatred, strife and woe 
 
 Has long in terror reigned, 
 Its numerous victims are laid low, 
 The world in blood is stained, 
 
 But now the time is coming fast 
 When strife shall be forever past. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 "The day of peace begins to dawn. 
 
 Huzza! Huzza! Huzza! 
 
 Dark Error's might will soon be gone. 
 
 Huzza! Huzza! Huzza! 
 
 Poor mortals long have been astray. 
 
 But Knowledge now will lead the way 
 
 Huzza! Huzza! Huzza! 
 
 "Now Vice and Crime no mors shall stalk 
 
 Unseen In open day. 
 To cross our silent, peaceful walk 
 Through life's enchanting way: 
 Old Ignorance with hoary head 
 Must seek his everlasting bed. 
 
 "Each warrior now may sheath his blade 
 
 And toil in vain no more. 
 To seek fair Virtue's genial shade. 
 For now all wars are o'er. 
 
 The battle's done, the day is won, 
 The victory's gained by Truth alone." 
 —Song written for the children of New Harmony. 
 
 When the New Harmony Gazette, in October, 1825, 
 declared that "this Society regards education as public 
 property," and "that the education of youth should be 
 among the first objects of its solicitude and care," it 
 
186 The New Harmony Commanities. 
 
 sounded the keynote of Eobert Owen's philosophy of edu- 
 cation. By Eobert Owen the educational experiments 
 were considered only second in importance to the trial of 
 the social system itself, while William Maclure evidently 
 put the social system in second place. How weU they 
 succeeded is shown by the fact that in 1826 Albert Galla- 
 tin, United States Minister to Great Britain, declared that 
 "the N"ew Harmony system of education is the best in the 
 world." 
 
 In Silliman's Journal, early in 1826, William Maclure, 
 who had general charge of educational interests at New 
 Harmony, outlined the system, stating that Phiquepal 
 d'Arusmont and Madame Fretageot, with Messrs. Say, 
 Maclure and other educators, "are now prepared to 
 organize at New Harmony a boarding school on these 
 principles, which have for some time been in operation at 
 New Lanark, Scotland. The great or fundamental prin- 
 ciple is, never to attempt to teach children what they 
 cannot comprehend, and to teach them in the exact ratio 
 of their understanding, without omitting one line in the 
 chain of ratiocination; proceeding always from the known 
 to the unknown; from the most easy to the most difficult;, 
 practicing the most extensive and accurate use of all the 
 senses; exercising, improving and perfecting all the mental 
 and corporeal faculties by quickening combination; acceler- 
 ating and carefully arranging comparison; judiciously and 
 impartially making deductions; summing up the results 
 free from prejudice, and cautiously avoiding the delusions 
 of the imagination — a constant source of ignorance and 
 error." The children are to learn mechanism by machines 
 or exact models of them; arithmetic by an instrument 
 called the arithmometer, geometry "by an instrument called 
 the trigometer, by which the most useful propositions of 
 Euclid are reduced to the comprehension of a child five 
 or six years old; mathematics by the help of the above 
 mentioned instruments. * * * Natural history in all 
 its branches is learned by examining the objects in sub- 
 stance, or accurate representations of them in designs or 
 prints; anatomy by skeletons and wax figures; geography 
 by globes and maps, — most of the last of their own con- 
 struction; hygiene, or the preservation of health, by their 
 own experience and observation of the consequences of all 
 natural functions; they are taught the elements of writing 
 
The Educational Experiment. 187 
 
 and designing by the freedom of hand acquired by constant 
 practice in forming all kinds of figures with a slate and 
 pencil put into their hands when they first enter the 
 school, on which they draw lines, dividing them into equal 
 parts, thereby obtaining an accuracy of the eye, which, 
 joined to the constant exercise of judging of the distance 
 of objects and their height, gives them a perfect idea of 
 space. * * * They learn music * * * through 
 the medium of an organ constructed for the purpose, and 
 a sonometer, first learning the sounds and then being 
 taught the notes, or signs of those sounds. Gymnastics, 
 or the exercise of all muscular motions, they acquire by 
 the practice of all kinds of movements, always, preferably, 
 those that may lead to utility, such as marching, climbing, 
 the manual exercise, etc. They are taught the greatest 
 part of these branches at the same time, never fatiguing 
 the mind with more than an hour's attention to the same 
 thing, changing the subject and rendering it a play by 
 variety. The pupils learn as many languages as there are 
 languages spoken by the boys of different nations in the 
 school, each instructing the other in the vocabulary of his 
 language. The boys learn at least one mechanical art, — • 
 for instance, setting type and printing, and for this pur- 
 pose there are printing presses in each school, by aid of 
 which are published all their elementary books. * * * 
 They learn natural philosophy by the most improved and 
 simple insiruments, * * * never departing from the 
 golden rule of proceeding from the most simple to the 
 lft©st complex, from the easiest to the most difiicult, from 
 the known to the unknown, preferring the useful to the 
 ornamental, making at the same time the application of all 
 the necessary arts and occupations, that their utility may 
 not be lost sight of for a moment." 
 
 "Lithographing and engraving, as well as printing," Mr. 
 Maclure annoimeed, "are to be carried on in the school 
 building, as well as other mechanic arts, that the children 
 may receive manual training." There was at this time but 
 one other manual training school in this country — the 
 Eensselaer Institute, founded the year before. The in- 
 fant school transplanted direct from New Lanark by 
 Eobert Owen, the founder and organizer of infant instruc- 
 tion, was the first of its kind in the United States, and 
 the second in the world. The Pestalozzian principles de- 
 
188 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 tailed by Mr. Maclure in the article Just quoted were first 
 applied to public instruction at New Harmony; in the 
 various educational establishments there; in fact, at New 
 £ Ha rmony t he Pp atglr.^7ign system of education was first 
 successfully tested on American soil, and began to attract 
 a general attention which led to its universal adoption. 
 ^ Jnsi;;ph TSTeef — FraTinis Joseph Nicholas Neef — though 
 n^f" mentioned in Mr. Maclure's prospectus, was the most 
 notable figure in the New Harmony group of educators. 
 He was bom in Soultz, Alsace, December sixth, 1770. 
 He was educated for the Eoman Catholic priesthood, but 
 at the age of twenty-one years he renounced the Church 
 and entered the French army under Napoleon. He was 
 wounded at the battle of Areola by a spent bullet, which 
 remained at the base of his brain during the remainder of 
 his lifetime. He became a pupil of Pestalozzi, and then 
 a teacher in that great educator's reform school at Iverdun. 
 During one of his European tours, William Maclure visited 
 this school, and asked Pestalozzi to recommend a teacher 
 to introduce the system into this country. Pestalozzi 
 named Neef, who accompanied Mr. Maclure to Philadel- 
 phia and in 1808 established a school on Pestalozzian prin- 
 ciples on the Falls of the Schuylkill, five miles from Phila- 
 delphia. The same year he published the first American 
 work on pedagogy. This was followed in 1813 by "Neefs 
 Methods of Teaching." Both these books attained a wide 
 circulation. In 1813 he removed his school to Delaware 
 county, Pennsylvania. Neither of his schools was at- 
 tended by more than indifferent success, though the future 
 Admiral Farragut was a pupil in the Schuylkill institu- 
 tion, and became a warm admirer of the teacher and his 
 system. A prejudice based largely on atheistic principles 
 which he bluntly promulgated, at length made Professor 
 Neef so unpopular that he moved to Louisville, bought a 
 small farm near that city, and renounced teaching alto- 
 gether. From this retreat he was brought to New Har- 
 mony by Messrs. Owen and Maclure in 1826. Mrs. Neef 
 was a native of Wiirtemburg. Her brother became a pro- 
 fessor in Pestalozzi's institute, and she was educated under 
 the supervision of Mrs. Pestalozzi. Professor Neef was 
 her French teacher, and just before his departure for 
 America, they were married. Madame Marie D. Fretageot 
 was a woman of unusual executive ability, and upon her 
 
The Educational Experiment. 189 
 
 largely devolved the business management of the Educa- 
 tional society. She was an adept in mental arithmetic, 
 and had a class, conducted on the Pestalozzian system, 
 which could rapidly and accurately multiply four figures 
 hy four others without writing out the process. She also 
 employed the arithmometer and trignometer in her teach- 
 ing. 
 
 Kobert Dale Owen gives us a picture of the New Har- 
 mony schools in operation. "In the educational depart- 
 ment," he writes, "we had considerable talent, mixed 
 with a good deal of eccentricity. We had a Frenchman, 
 patronized by Mr. Maclure, a Phiquepal d'Arusmont, who 
 became afterwards the husband of Frances Wright, a man 
 well informed on many points, but withal, a wrong headed 
 genius, whose extravagance, wilfullness and inordinate 
 self-conceit destroyed his usefulness. He had a small 
 school, but it was a failure — he gained neither the good 
 will nor the respect of his pupils. 
 
 "Another, of a very different stamp, was Professor 
 Joseph N"eef, from Pestalozzi's school in Switzerland. 
 Simple, straightforward, and cordial, a proficient in mod- 
 ern languages, a good musician, he had brought with him 
 from Pestalozzi's institution at Iverdun an excellent mode 
 of teaching. To his earlier life, as an of&cer under Napo- 
 leon, was due a blunt, off-hand manner and an abrupt style 
 of speech, enforced, now and then, with an oath — an 
 awkward habit for a teacher, which I think he tried inef- 
 fectually to get rid of. One day, when I was within hear- 
 ing, a boy in his class used profane language. 'Youngster,' 
 said Neef to him, 'you mustn't swear. It's silly, and it's 
 vulgar, and it means nothing. Don't let me hear you do 
 so again.' 
 
 " 'But, Mr. Neef,' said the boy, hesitating and looking 
 half frightened, 'if — if it's vulgar and wrong to swear, 
 why ' 
 
 " 'Well, out with it. Never stop when you want to say 
 anything; that's another bad habit. You wished to know 
 why ' 
 
 " 'Why you swear yourself, Mr. Neef.' 
 
 " 'Because I'm a damned fool! Don't you be one, too!' 
 
 "With all his roughness, the good old man was a general 
 favorite, alike with children and adults. Those whose 
 recollections of Harmony extend back to the forties, pre- 
 
190 The New Harmony Commtinities. 
 
 serve a genial remembrance of him, walking about in 
 the sun of July or August, in linen trousers and shirt, 
 always bareheaded, with a grandchild in his arms, and 
 humming to his infant charge some martial air in a won- 
 derful bass voice, which, it is said, enabled him in his 
 younger days, when giving command to a body of troops, 
 to be distinctly heard by ten thousand men." 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen thus relates an experience of his own 
 in teaching one of the community schools: "When I 
 first took charge of the school, finding that the teachers 
 occasionally employed corporeal punishment, I strictly for- 
 bade it. After a time the master of the eldest boys' class 
 said to me one day: '1 find it impossible to control these 
 unruly rascals. They know I am not allowed to flog them, 
 and when I seek to enforce rules of order, they defy me.' 
 
 "I sought to show him how he might manage them 
 without the rod, but he persisted. 'If you'd try it your- 
 self for a few days, Mr. Owen, you'd find out that I'm 
 right.' 
 
 "'Good,' I said, 'I'll take them in hand for a week or 
 two.' 
 
 "They were a rough, boisterous, lawless set; bright 
 enough, quick of observation; capable of learning 
 when they applied themselves, but accustomed to a free 
 swing, and impatient of discipline to which they had 
 never been subjected. I said to them at the start: 'Boys, 
 I want you to learn; you'll be very sorry when you come 
 to be men if you don't. But you can't learn anything 
 worth knowing, without rules to go by. I must have you 
 orderly and obedient. I won't require from you any- 
 thing unreasonable, and I don't intend to be severe with 
 you. But whatever I tell you to do has to be done, and 
 shall be done, sooner or later.' Here I observed on one 
 or two bold faces a smile that looked like incredulity, but 
 all I added was: 'You'll save time if you do it at once.' 
 
 "My lessons, often oral, interested them, and things went 
 on quietly for a few days. I knew the crisis would come. 
 It did in this wise. It was May, the thermometer was 
 ranging toward ninety degrees, and I resolved to take the 
 class to bathe in the "Wabash, much to their delight. I 
 told them that by the doctor's advice they were to remain 
 in the water fifteen minutes only; that was the rule. When 
 I called 'Time up,' they all came out, somewhat reluct- 
 
The Educational Experiment. 191 
 
 antly, however, except one tall fellow, named Ben, a good 
 swimmer, who detained us ten minutes, nothwithstanding 
 my order, several times repeated, to come on shore. 
 
 "I said nothing about it until we returned to the school 
 room, then I asked the class: 'Do you remember my say- 
 ing to you that whatever I told you to do had to be done 
 sooner or later?' They looked at Ben, and said 'Yes.' 
 Then I went on: 'I am determined that if I take you to 
 bathe again, you shall stay in fifteen minutes only. How 
 do you think I can best manage that?' They looked at 
 Ben again, and seemed puzzled, never, very surely, having 
 been asked such a question before. 'Has no one any plan?' 
 I asked. 
 
 "At length a youngster suggested, 'I guess you'd better 
 thrash him, Mr. Owen.' 'I don't wish to do that,' I re- 
 plied. 'I think it does boys harm. Besides, I never was 
 whipped myself, I never whipped anybody, and I know it 
 must be a very unpleasant thing to do. Can't somebody 
 think of a better plan?' 
 
 "One of the class suggested: 'There's a closet in the gar- 
 ret, with a stout bolt to it, you might shut him up in 
 there till we get back.' 
 
 " 'That's better than flogging, but is the closet dark?' 
 
 " 'It's dark as hell.' 
 
 " Tou mustn't talk so, my child. You can't tell whether 
 there is such a place at all. You mean that the closet ia 
 very dark, don't you?' 
 
 " 'Yes.' 
 
 " 'Then you ought to say so. But I think Ben would 
 not like to be shut up in the dark for nearly an hour.' 
 
 " 'Wo, but then we don't like to be kept from bathing 
 just for him.' 
 
 "Then one little fellow, with some hesitation, put in his 
 word: 'Please, Mr. Owen, wouldn't it do to leave him in 
 the play-ground?' 
 
 '"If I could be sure that he would stay there, but he 
 might get out and go bathing, and remain in half an hour 
 perhaps.' 
 
 "At this point Ben, no longer able to restrain himself — 
 he had been getting more and more restless, turning first 
 to one speaker, then to another, as we coolly discussed the 
 case, — ^burst forth: 'Mr. Owen, if you leave me in the 
 
192 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 play-ground, when they go to bathe next time, I'll never 
 Btir from it. I won't. You'll see I won't.' 
 
 " 'Well, Ben,' said I, 'I have never known you to tell a 
 falsehood, and I'll take your word for it this time. But, 
 remember, if you lie to me once, I shall never be able to 
 trust you again. We couldn't believe known liars if we 
 were to try.' 
 
 "So the next time we went in bathing I left Ben in the 
 play-ground. When we returned, he met me, with eager 
 face, at the gate. 'I never left, even for a minute. Ask 
 them if I have,' pointing to some boys at play. 
 
 " 'Your word is enough. I believe you.' 
 
 "Thereafter Ben came out of the water promptly, as 
 soon as time was called; and when any of his comrades 
 lingered, he was the first to chide them for disobeying 
 orders. 
 
 "Once or twice afterwards I had to take a somewhat simi- 
 lar stand (never against Ben), persisting each time until 
 I was obeyed. Then bethinking myself of my Hofwyl 
 experience, I called in the aid of military drill, which the 
 boys took to very kindly, and when three weeks had passed, 
 I found that my pupils prided themselves in being what, 
 indeed, they were — the best disciplined and most orderly 
 and law-abiding class in school. 
 
 "So I carried my point against a degrading relic of bar- 
 barism, then countenanced in England, alike in army, navy 
 and some of the most accredited seminaries." 
 
 In community house Number 2, Madame N"eef con- 
 ducted an infant school modelled after the one founded 
 by Eobert Owen at New Lanark, where Mr. Owen had 
 conducted the first experiments in the training of children 
 below the accepted school age. The laws of the social 
 system provided that children should become the property 
 of the community at the age of two years, and it was in 
 this infant school that they were first received. The chief 
 work of the teacher was to direct the amusements of the 
 children, who were taught various games, some of them 
 instructive, similar to those employed in the present day 
 kindergarten, the principle being, as stated in Mr. Ma- 
 clure's prospectus, "never to attempt to teach children 
 what they cannot comprehend, and to teach them in the 
 exact ratio of their understanding." Madame Pretageot 
 
The Educational Experiment. 193 
 
 was associated with Madame Neef in the instruction of 
 these younger children. 
 
 The Duke of Saxe-Weimar writes of his visit to the 
 community schools in April, 1826: "I found Professor 
 Neef in the act of leading the boys of his school out to 
 labor. Military exercise formed a part of the instruction 
 of the children. I saw the boys divided into two ranks 
 and parted into detachments, marching to labor. On the 
 way they performed various wheelings and evolutions. 
 All the boys and girls have a very healthy look, are cheer- 
 ful and lively and by no means bashful. The boys labor 
 in the field and garden and were now occupied with new 
 fencing. The girls learned female employments: they were 
 as little oppressed as the boys with labor and teaching; 
 these happy and interesting little children were much more 
 employed in making their youth pass as happily as pos- 
 sible. Madame Neef showed me their school-house, in 
 which she dwelt, and in which places for sleeping were 
 arranged for the boys. Each slept upon a cot frame, on a 
 straw bed. * * * j went to the quondam church, or 
 workshop for the boys who are intended for Joiners and 
 shoemakers. These boys sleep upon the floor above the 
 church in cribs, three in a row, and thus have their sleep- 
 ing place and place of instruction close together. * * * 
 Mr. Jennings was a cooperate with Mr. Neef in the schools. 
 His reserved and haughty character was ill-fitted for 
 such a situation, and Messrs. Owen and Maclure willingly 
 consented to his withdrawing. An Englishman by birth, 
 he was brought up for a military life; this he had for- 
 saken to devote himself to clerical pursuits; had arrived 
 in the United States as a Universalist preacher and had 
 been received with much attention in that capacity at Cin- 
 cinnati, until he abandoned himself with enthusiasm to 
 the new social system, and made himself openly and pub- 
 licly known as an atheist." 
 
 The schools were open, on payment of tuition, to chil- 
 dren from outside the community, and pupils came from 
 as far east as Philadelphia and New York. In October, 
 1825, the committee which had charge of the New Har- 
 mony Boarding School issued an announcement stating 
 that "a limited number of children, whose parents are not 
 members of the society, will be received into this institu- 
 tion on application to the committee. Terms: For board- 
 
194 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 ing, lodging, washing, clothing, medical attendance, medi- 
 cine and instruction in the various branches taught in this 
 institution one hundred dollars per annum." For a time 
 there was a system of day and night schools, separate 
 from the boarding school, but conducted on the same prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 As before stated, girls were received on the same terms 
 as boys, and the course of instruction prescribed for them 
 was the same as that laid down for the other sex. The 
 doctrine of the social system as officially promulgated, was: 
 "It is contemplated in Mr. Owen's system, by giving our 
 female population as good an education as our males, to 
 qualify them for every situation in life in which, con- 
 sistently with their organization, they may be placed." 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Cox Thrall, who died in New Harmony a 
 few years ago, was a pupil in the community schools. She 
 stated that in summer the girls wore dresses of coarse 
 linen, with a coarse plaid costume for Sunday or for special 
 occasions. In winter they wore heavy woolen dresses. At 
 rising a detail of the girls was sent out to do the milking, 
 and this milk, with mush cooked in large kettles, con- 
 stituted the essential part of the morning meal, which the 
 children were expected to finish in fifteen minutes. "We 
 had bread but once a week — on Saturdays. I thought if 
 I ever got out, I would kill myself eating sugar and cake. 
 We marched in military order, after breakfast, to com- 
 munity house N"o. 2. I remember that there were black- 
 boards covering one side of the school room, and that we 
 had wires, with balls on them, by which we learned to 
 count. We also had singing exercises by which we 
 familiarized ourselves with lessons in various branches. At 
 dinner we generally had soup, at supper mush and milk 
 again. We went to bed at sundown in little bunks sus- 
 pended in rows by cords from the ceiling. Sometimes one 
 of the children at the end of the row would swing back 
 her cradle, and when it collided on the return bound with 
 the next Ijunk, it set the whole row bumping together. 
 This was a favorite diversion, and caused the teachers 
 much distress. At regular intervals we used to be marched 
 to the community apothecary shop, where a dose that 
 tasted like sulphur was impartially dealt out to each pupil, 
 just as in Squeer's Dotheboy's School. Children regularly 
 in the boarding school were not allowed to see their 
 
The Educational Experiment. 195 
 
 parents, except at rare intervals. I saw my father and 
 mother twice in two years. We had a little song we used 
 to sing: 
 
 "Number 2 pigs locked up in a pen, 
 When they get out, it's now and then, 
 
 When they get out, they sneak about. 
 
 For fear old Neef will And them out." 
 
 An account of the formation of the educational society 
 has already been given. With this Mr. Maelure and his 
 associates allied themselves, and the educational interests 
 of the various communities were under its care. In De- 
 cember, 1826, William Maelure forwarded to the state 
 legislature a petition for the incorporation of the New 
 Harmony Educational Society, and a bill was introduced 
 stating that William Maelure "had bought, in and ad- 
 joining New Harmony, one thousand acres of land with 
 suitable buildings erected thereupon, devoted to the estab- 
 lishment of schools, and had furnished a liberal endow- 
 ment, embracing many thousands of volumes of books, 
 with such mathematical, chemical and physical apparatus 
 as are necessary to facilitate education, and is desirous to 
 obtain an act of incorporation to enable him more fully to 
 carry out his benevolent designs." This bill was rejected 
 in the state senate by a vote of fifteen to four, on account 
 of the popular impression that atheism was promulgated in 
 the New Harmony schools. The Gazette, in comment- 
 ing on the action of the legislature, says: "We presume, 
 from their conduct, that they have no confidence in our 
 society or its intentions." 
 
Community Disintegration. 
 
 "In my own tehalf I rejoice that I could once think better of 
 the world probably than it deserved. It is a mistake into which 
 men seldom fall twice in a lifetime, or, if so, the rarer and higher 
 the nature that can thus magnanimously press onward. * * • 
 Whatever else I may repent of, therefore, let it be reckoned neither 
 among my sins nor follies that I once had faith and force enough 
 to form generous hopes of the world's destiny."— Nathaniel Haw- 
 thorne in Blythedale Romance. 
 
 "Besides those wlio came to New Harmony with good 
 intentions," said the late Colonel Eichard Owen, in a letter 
 to John H. HoUiday, "there were a good many who came 
 thinking to make money by getting lands and houses into 
 their hands on pretense of being strong advocates of 
 socialism. Some of them were very unscrupulous in the 
 means employed, notably William Taylor, who afterwards 
 was in the Ohio penitentiary, I think, for forgery; Amos 
 Clark, who moved to Texas, and some others whose rela- 
 tives are still living — hence I do not mention their 
 names." 
 
 Chief among these dishonest speculators was the Wil- 
 liam Taylor referred to in this letter. Gaining the con- 
 fidence of Mr. Owen, he induced him to sell him fifteen 
 hundred acres of land. It is said that the contract read 
 "with all thereon," and that Taylor moved all the agricul- 
 tural implements and live stock he could find on other 
 parts of the estate, upon his tract, the night before the 
 day upon which the contract went into effect. Taylor 
 estabhshed a distillery, contrary to the wishes of Mr. 
 Owen, and in every way possible made trouble for the 
 management of the community enterprise. 
 
 Fear the close of the year 1826, many of the members 
 of the community were being expelled for incapacity. 
 Paul Brown says of the sale of land to Taylor: "This 
 maneuver swept away the last cobweb of fairy dreams of 
 a common stock and community." A funeral of the social 
 system was projected by some of the New Harmonites. A 
 coffin was procured and properly labeled, and arrange- 
 ments were made for an imposing procession; but the 
 night before the day set for the funeral the building in 
 
198 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 which the coffin was concealed was broken into, and all 
 the paraphernalia destroyed, so that the project was 
 abandoned, and the system was allowed to die in its own 
 way. "Owen's practices about this time," says Brown, 
 "tended to inspire cupidity, and his preaching tended to 
 inspire apathy and licentiousness." "Without doubt Mr. 
 Owen was now attempting to extricate himself from the 
 financial embarrassment which overhung the experiment, 
 for he doubtless realized that the end of the scheme was 
 near. 
 
 "Moreover," complains Brown, "the individual suffer- 
 ings from the privations and embarrassments arising out 
 of the continual shifting of arrangements, as well as by the 
 circumscription of subsistence, deadened the wonted 
 sympathy of many ingenuous souls. Money was in higher 
 repute than in any other town, and became almost an 
 object of worship. The sexes fought like cats and dogs 
 about individual marriages; there was no politeness be- 
 tween the single persons of the two sexes, but a dark, sul- 
 len, cold, suspicious temper, and a most intolerable, 
 miserly allusion to individual property as the standard 
 of worth. The single men of the town were generally 
 obliged to make their own beds, carry their clothes to 
 wash and recover them when they could, as much as if they 
 had belonged to an army. Everyone was for himself, as 
 the saying is." 
 
 The pretense of communism was kept up by the admin- 
 istration, perhaps with the hope that something would turn 
 up to change the trend of affairs. The Sunday meetings 
 for instruction, which had for some time been discon- 
 tinued on account of a lack of heating accommodations 
 at the hall, were resumed. About this time two more 
 communities were formed on the New Harmony estate — 
 Number 3, wi-thin a half mile of New Harmony, and Num- 
 ber 4. Delegates arrived during the latter part of Janu- 
 ary, bringing tidings of the Blue Springs community, near 
 Bloomington, Indiana. They reported it to be in a pros- 
 perous condition. 
 
 About this time the Gazette declared in an editorial: 
 "We have not ourselves for some weeks expressed an opin- 
 ion as to the progress of the community, both on account 
 of the difficulty of getting a correct statement, and then 
 again because the state of the public mind in a young and 
 
Community Disintegration. 199 
 
 heterogeneous society like this varies easily and rapidly, 
 producing a corresponding impulse and revulsion. If a 
 community is to grow together and harmoniously, its mem- 
 bers must meet frequently, a thing that has not been done 
 here lately on account of the heating of the hall. Nine- 
 tenths of the advantages of community life are lost in the 
 absence of meetings for social intercourse." 
 
 "In March," Brown says, "a plan was made by some 
 to ascend the Ohio river, and form a community near Cin- 
 cinnati." The granary, public eating house, cook house,, 
 meeting house and sitting rooms were deserted and the 
 remaining members of the society took their meals at the 
 boarding school. On March twenty-first, eighty persons 
 left New Harmony by boat. A greater part of the town 
 was now resolved into town lots, and sign boards began to 
 go up everywhere. "A sort of wax figure and puppet show 
 was opened up at one end of the boarding house, and 
 everything was getting into the old style." 
 
 The New Harmony Gazette of }l[aToh twA-nty-pj g>if,h , 
 1827 , in an editorial written by iSobert Dale Owen and 
 VV'ilIiam OweHj'BcEiowledged the defeat of the experiment 
 in the town itself, although faith was still affirmed in the 
 principles involved in the general plan, and confidence in 
 the future success of other communities located on the 
 estate. "Robert Owen, in his first address, did not desig- 
 nate New Harmony even as the site of the future com- 
 munity, but only as a half-way house. We think that this 
 was the wisest plan, and it was well that the Preliminary 
 Society should have continued two years. 
 
 "Eobert Owen, after his return from England, nine 
 months after the formation of the Preliminary Society, 
 thought that further delay would be inadvisable, and, 
 unfitted as the town was by its variety of people and 
 unique occupations for the purposes of community life, 
 heterogeneous as was the character of its numerous inhabi- 
 tants, and little as they knew of each other, he thought 
 they might be formed, with a few exceptions, into a self- 
 governing community. A vote of the society determined 
 that no exceptions should be made, and the members of the 
 Preliminary Society resolved themselves into a com- 
 munity. 
 
 "We have yet to learn that the character of a person 
 educated among the surroundings of the old world, can* 
 
200 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 be entirely changed. The experiment to aseertaia at once 
 whether a mixed and unassorted population could success- 
 fully govern their own affairs as a community, was a bold 
 and hazardous attempt, and, we think, a premature one. 
 
 "Our own opinion is that Eobert Owen ascribed too lit- 
 tle influence to the early anti-social circumstances that had 
 surrounded many of the quickly collected inhabitants of 
 New Harmony before their arrival here, and too much to 
 the circumstances which experience might enable them 
 to create around themselves in future. He sought to 
 abridge the period of human suffering by an immediate 
 and decisive step, and the plan was boldly conceived; the 
 failure would only afford proof that the conception in this 
 particular case was not as practical as it was benevolent, in 
 as much as the mass of the individuals at New Harmony 
 were not prepared for so advanced a measure. 
 
 "Whether the project was executed in the best and most 
 prudent manner, it is not for us to judge. "We are too 
 inexperienced in its practice to hazard a judgment on the 
 prudence of the various individuals who directed its exe- 
 cution, and the one opinion we can express with confidence 
 is of the perseverance with which Eobert Owen prosecuted 
 it at great pecuniary loss to himself. One form of govern- 
 ment was first adopted, and when that appeared unsuited 
 to the actual state of the members, another was tried in its 
 place, until it appeared that the whole population, 
 numerous as they were, were too various in their feelings, 
 too dissimilar in their habits, to unite and govern them- 
 selves harmoniously as one community, and they separated, 
 therefore, into three, each remaining perfectly independent 
 of Robert Owen. But these societies were again incautious 
 in their admission of members, and it soon became evident 
 that their size was too unwieldy for their practical 
 knowledge. Two of them abandoned their separate inde- 
 pendence, and requested Robert Owen, with the assistance 
 of four trustees, to take the general superintendence of 
 affairs, which were getting into some confusion. Only the 
 third society, called the educational, continued, under the 
 auspices of William Maclure, and still continues its 
 original and separate form. 
 
 "Thus w^ another attempt made to unite into a com- 
 munity of common property and equal rights, but it soon 
 became too apparent to the trustees in whom the man- 
 
Community Disintegration. 201 
 
 agement was vested, that the establishment did not pay 
 its own expenses. Therefore, some decisive changes be- 
 came necessary to arrest this continued loss of property, 
 thus, by rendering the society successful in a pecuniary 
 way, to secure its independence of foreign assistance. 
 
 "The deficiency in production appeared immediately 
 attributable in part to carelessness of many members as 
 regarded the community property; in part to their want 
 of interest in the experiment itself, the only true incite- 
 ment to community industry, and the discordant variety 
 of habits among them. The circle was so large, and the 
 operations it embraced so various and extensive, that the 
 confidence of minds untrained in the correct principles, 
 and able to see but a small part of the whole, who had 
 witnessed, too, the various previous changes, was shaken. 
 Their care and their exertions diminished with their con- 
 fidence in themselves, and the natural consequences en- 
 sued. 
 
 "A remedy presented itself in the voluntary association 
 out of the population of New Harmony, of those indi- 
 viduals together who had confidence in one another's 
 intentions, and mutual enjoyment in one another's so- 
 ciety. Land and assistance for the first year were offered to 
 those who chose to unite in this plan, and the consequence 
 was the formation of another community on the 'Eew Har- 
 mony lands. 
 
 "And we regret that for those who remained in town, 
 the only effectual and immediate remedy appeared to be 
 in circumscribing each other's interests and responBibility. 
 As the circle was too large for their present habits and 
 experiences, smaller circles were described within it. The 
 community was subdivided into occupations, each of 
 which became responsible for its operations alone. 
 
 "And this is the present situation in New Harmony. 
 Each occupation supports itself, paying weekly a small 
 percentage toward the general expenses of the town. 
 Each regulates its own affairs, determining its own internal 
 regulations and distributing its produce. 
 
 "New Harmony, therefore, is not now a community; 
 but, as was originally intended, a central village, out of 
 and around which communities have formed, and may 
 continue to form themselves, and with the inhabitants of 
 which these communities may exchange their products 
 
202 Tbe New Harmony Communities. 
 
 thus obtained for those manufactured articles which the 
 limited operations incidental to the incipient colonies do 
 not enable them to produce themselves. 
 
 "Let us not, then, be misunderstood, for it is important 
 that our friends should know the exact position on which 
 we stand, more particularly those who may wish to join us 
 here. It is not in the town itself, but on the lands of 
 Harmony, that the community system is in progressive 
 operation. 
 
 "About a year ago, and soon after the formation of the 
 community in this town, a number of families, separating 
 from the principal body, located themselves on the lands 
 at about a mile eastwards from the town, and founded the 
 community of Feiba Peveli, or Number 3. It has pro- 
 gressed successfully, and we believe that its members are 
 now convinced by present experience of the benefits of 
 the social system. 
 
 "In addition to community No. 4, whose lands lie south 
 of the town, we have now to notice the commencement of 
 another community, whose formation preceded the separa- 
 tion into occupations. The land of this community is 
 situated about two miles distant from the town, on both 
 sides of the Princeton road. 
 
 "The communities commenced on a small scale, in- 
 tending to increase their membership gradually. They 
 will afford an example of how easy it is to begin a co- 
 operative community in a simple manner, with little capi- 
 tal, provided industry and good feeling exist among the 
 members. Their progress will not probably be sudden 
 and astonishing, but it will be constant. 
 
 "Another society, Macluria, or Number 2, which sep- 
 arated from the principal community about the same time 
 that Number 3 was formed, and continued its operations 
 for about a year, succeeded perfectly from an economical 
 point of view. Their original motive for secession was, in 
 part, we believe, a religious one, and we have been told 
 that their subsequent dissolution was attributable to a 
 similar cause. Their lands have been taken by a party of 
 German settlers, to the number of about fifteen families, 
 who have already disposed of their property and will arrive 
 here probably next month to commence a community of 
 mutual labor and common property." 
 
 While Eobert Owen was making his preparations to- 
 
Community Disintegration. 203 
 
 depart for Europe, the trouble whicli had long been brew- 
 ing between him and Mr. Maclure — a natural result of the 
 association of two leaders of such marked individuality — 
 developed into an open quarrel, and the closing year of the 
 communistic experiments witnessed a dispute over indi- 
 vidual property between the Joint projectors of the new 
 social and educational system. Under date of April 
 thirtieth the following was posted in public places: 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Notice is hereby given to aU whom it may concern, forewarning 
 them not to trust Robert Owen on my account, as I am deter- 
 mined not to pay any debts of his, or in any way be responsible 
 for any transaction he may have done or may attempt to do in 
 my name. WILLIAM MACLURE. 
 
 Within a few hours the town store contained the follow- 
 ing retaliatory 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Having just now seen the very extraordinary advertisement put 
 upon some of the houses in this place, and signed by William 
 Maclure, it becomes necessary in my own defense to inform the 
 public that the partnership between William Maclure and myself 
 is in full force, and that I shall pay any contract made either by 
 Wm. Maclure or myself on the partnership account. 
 
 ROBERT OWEN. 
 
 Next day, Paul Brown declares, Maclure prosecuted 
 Owen for the recovery of forty thousand dollars, with a 
 view of making him give a deed in fee simple for the 
 property Maclure had bought, or refunding such amount of 
 money. Owen retaliated by getting out a writ against 
 Maclure for ninety thousand dollars. A compromise, 
 Brown says, was finally effected, and Owen gave to Maclure 
 a deed in fee simple for his share of the property. 
 
 Eobert Owen made the following statement in regard to 
 the trouble: The friends of Mr. Maclure proposed that 
 Mr. Owen and Mr. Maclure each put one hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars into the experiment just to be tried 
 at New Harmony, and Mr. Owen consented. Mr. Maclure's 
 liability, at his request, was limited to ten thousand dol- 
 lars. Mr. Maclure went on to New Harmony to establish 
 the Pestalozzian system. He failed to do it with any 
 degree of swiftness, and Mr. Owen and the population 
 itself, became impatient. Mr. Maclure thought he could 
 do better with part of the property under his control, and 
 
204 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 requested that a portion be set apart for him. Mr. Owen 
 •did not want such a division, not wishing the town hall 
 to be separated from the community population, and 
 so would not consent. Eapp had been paid one hundred 
 thousand dollars by Owen, and notes had been made for 
 forty thousand more. Eapp came after twenty thousand 
 dollars when it was due, and wanted twenty thousand 
 dollars that was due a year later. Owen paid the first 
 twenty thousand dollars. Maclure refused to pay a cent 
 toward this, unless Owen would give him an unrestricted 
 •deed to the property which he had sold under restrictions. 
 Maclure finally paid Rapp, and after getting the bonds in 
 his possession, he had Owen arrested and posted a notice 
 disclaiming any intention to pay any of Owen's obliga- 
 tions. A board of arbitration decided Maclure to be five 
 thousand dollars in Owen's debt. Mr. Owen had, he sup- 
 posed, irritated Mr. Maclure, for he had inaugurated a 
 separate system of education in New Harmony, inde- 
 i.pendent of Mr. Maclure's. 
 
 A. J. Macdonald, who spent some time at New Har- 
 mony, long enough after the trouble had subsided to make 
 possible an impartial judgment of the controversy, says 
 that the trouble "was most likely attributable to the fact 
 that Owen commenced a system of education under the 
 ■direction of Mr. Dorsey, differing from that of Maclure. 
 Mr. Maclure had advanced only a small portion of the pur- 
 •chase money for the Eappite property, and after the forma- 
 tion of Maeluria refused to pay any more without receiv- 
 ing from Mr. Owen a deed for the property he held. This 
 Mr. Owen refused, unless the restriction relative to the 
 property being used forever for community purposes, was 
 allowed to remain. The difficulty was, however, made up, 
 and Mr. Maclure afterwards paid forty thousand dollars 
 and a balance of five thousand." 
 
%obert Owen's Farewell cAd- 
 dresses. 
 
 "Mr. Owen's generosity and sincerity will survive all the sneers 
 which have been cast upon them. His reward for his losses has 
 been the consciousness of spending his time and means in doing 
 good! Those who have shared his bounties or caught some of the 
 sympathy elicited through his influence and diffused among those 
 who desired to practice his benevolence, will look back as long 
 as they live to the brief space when, amidst surrounding con- 
 flictions, they tasted a particle of true happiness on earth!— 
 Macdonald. 
 
 On Sunday, May twenty-sixth, 1837, Kobert Owen de- 
 livered at New Harmony hall, a "farewell address to the 
 citizens of New Harmony and the members of the neigh- 
 boring communities." 
 
 "A second year," he said, 'Tias just expired since the 
 experiment was commenced in this place to supersede the 
 individual by the cooperative system of union and equality, 
 under the form of a preliminary Society. 
 
 "It is known to you that the persons who composed 
 this society were entire strangers to each other; that some 
 had come from every state in the Union, and some from 
 almost every kingdom in Europe; that the Society was 
 instituted to enable these persons to become acquainted 
 with each other, so that those who were capable of acting 
 faithfully and cordially together might afterwards form a 
 community upon the social system; that after the Pre- 
 liminary Society was constituted and the members had 
 elected a committee to govern themselves, I went to 
 Europe and returned again in about nine months; that 
 soon after my return it was proposed that a community 
 of common property and equality should be formed from 
 among the members of the Preliminary Society, and many 
 of you know that it was my intention that the society 
 should at first consist of those only who had acquired 
 confidence in each other's qualifications for such a state 
 of society, and it is also known to many who are present 
 that this intention was frustrated by a motion being made 
 at one of the public meetings, that all the members of the 
 Preliminary Society should be admitted members of the 
 
206 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 comnmnity. This motion was too popular to be resisted 
 by those who did not otherwise expect to become mem- 
 bers. From that period the most intelligent among the 
 population foresaw that this measure would retard the 
 formation of one large, united community in this town of 
 Harmony; there were too many opposing habits and feel- 
 ings to permit such a mass, without more instruction in 
 the system, to act as one cordially together. 
 
 "This singularly constituted mass, however, contained 
 materials out of which, by patience and perseverance, sev- 
 eral communities might be ultimately formed; and all my 
 subsequent measures were directed to accomplish this 
 object. 
 
 "Although many here at that time were unprepared to 
 be members of the community of common property and 
 equality, yet there was much good feeling among the 
 population generally. And if the schools had been in 
 operation upon the very superior plan upon which I had 
 been led to expect they would be, so as to convince parents 
 by ocular demonstration, of the benefits which their chil- 
 dren would immediately derive from the system, it would 
 have been, I think, practicable, even with such materials, 
 with the patience and perseverance which would have 
 been applied to the subject, to have succeeded in amalga- 
 mating the whole into a community. 
 
 "You also know that the chief difficulty at this time 
 arose from the differences of opinion among the professors 
 and teachers brought here by Mr. Maclure, relative to 
 the education of the children, and to the consequent de- 
 lay in putting any of their system into operation. 
 
 "Having been led to entertain very high expectations 
 of the abilities of these individuals, I looked to them to 
 establish superior arrangements for the instruction of all 
 ages, and I was induced to suppose that the population 
 would be compensated by the 'unequaled excellence of 
 the system when put into operation, and in consequence of 
 the unlimited confidence which I placed in these indi- 
 viduals to execute this most important part of my plan, 
 you all know how much I have been disappointed. In- 
 stead of forming one well-digested arrangement, in which 
 all the children of the community should have the benefit 
 of the superior qualifications possessed by each professor 
 and instructor, each principal teacher undertook the en- 
 
Robert Owen's Farewell Addresses. 20 1 
 
 tire instraction of a certain number of pupils, by which 
 arrangement they were prevented from associating with 
 other pupils. 
 
 "By this error in the practice, the object which I 
 had nft)st at heart could not be attained; the children were 
 educated in different habits, dispositions and feelings, 
 when it was my most earnest desire that all the children 
 should be educated in similar habits, dispositions and feel- 
 ings, and should be brought up truly as members of one 
 large family, without a single discordant feeling. 
 
 "It is true that each of the professors and principal 
 teachers possessed considerable abilities, and acquirements 
 in particular branches of education, but the union of the 
 best qualities and qualifications of several of even the best 
 modern teachers is required to form the character of the 
 rising generation as it ought to be formed, and enable 
 children, when they attain maturity, to become sufficiently 
 rational and intelligent to become good, useful members 
 of the social system. 
 
 "As these difficulties regarding the education of our 
 children were to be overcome, as well as many others to 
 which this gave rise, I waited patiently for such change 
 of circumstances as would enable me to make progress 
 toward my object. With deep interest I attended to the 
 various changes which the different parties desired to 
 make, and I always met their wishes as far as circum- 
 stances would permit. I did so because I had not yet at- 
 tained sufficient knowledge of the persons or of the 
 country to act with my customary decision. 
 
 "These changes gave me a more speedy insight into the 
 character of the population, and enabled me to obtain a 
 better knowledge of those who were in some degree pre- 
 pared for the social system. They also elicited knowledge 
 of the means by which future communities might be most 
 easily and safely formed; and to me this was invaluable 
 experience to be hereafter applied for the benefit of the 
 inhabitants of this country and of Great Britain. 
 
 "Among those who first came here, were many with 
 whom none could be found to unite in communities. These 
 persons became a great obstacle in the progress of our 
 proceedings. It was necessary for the safety, comfort and 
 happiness of those who remained, and for the success of 
 the system itself, that they should remove. Difficulty 
 
208 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 arose from the expense of their removal, and from the 
 necessity of informing them that they were not such mem- 
 bers as would he admitted into the communities. If I 
 paid for the removal of one family, all would expect to be 
 assisted in a like manner, an expenditure my funds would 
 not admit of, after the large sums which had been pre- 
 viously expended in the experiment; and no one would like 
 to be informed that none could be found who would admit 
 them to become members of their community. This, how- 
 ever, was a difficulty which it was absolutely necessary, 
 for the sake of all, should be overcome. 
 
 "That everyone might have a fair and equal chance, 
 I proposed to supply land in proportion to numbers, on 
 the estate of Harmony, to all who would associate, even 
 in small numbers, to commence a community, and that 
 they should be aided in food and implements of hus- 
 bandry to the extent that our means would afford, and this 
 was a public offer, made equally to all, and those who came 
 here with a view of forming communities accepted it, and 
 are now industriously occupied in preparing crops for this 
 season. 
 
 "Those persons who would not, or could not, so connect 
 themselves, were informed that they must leave Har- 
 mony or support themselves by their own industry, or 
 until they could find persons of a good character who 
 would Join them in forming a community. 
 
 "This measure, unpleasant as it was to my feelings, 
 became unavoidable to prevent the entire loss of the 
 property which had been appropriated to carry on the ex- 
 periment; and by this course of proceedings, those persons 
 who were in a condition to promote the social system, were 
 relieved from the permanent support of those individuals 
 who were daily diminishing the fund which had been de- 
 voted for the more general beneficial purposes. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, many families, as you 
 know, left New Harmony, with their feelings more or 
 less hurt, and in proportion to the knowledge and love of 
 the principles really possessed by each of them, are no 
 doubt active in their statements for or against my pro- 
 ceedings and for or against the social system. 
 
 "This period, the most unpleasant and trying of any 
 which I have had to pass through, — for my object in com- 
 ing here was to benefit all, and if possible, to injure none, 
 
Robert Owen's Farewell Addresses. 209 
 
 — ^has, happily, passed. The social system is now firmly 
 established; the natural and easy means of forming com- 
 munities have been developed by your past experience. 
 Already eight independent communities have been formed 
 upon the New Harmony estate, exclusive of Mr. Maclure'fr 
 educational society and of the town of New Harmony, 
 which has naturally become the place for the reception of 
 strangers who have the desire to Join some of the existing 
 communities, or of forming others. 
 
 "New Harmony is now, therefore, literally surrounded 
 by independent communities, and applications are made 
 almost daily by persons who come from far and near to be 
 permitted to establish themselves in a similar manner. 
 The essential difference between our first and the present 
 proceedings is this: at the commencement, strangers to 
 each others' characters, principles, habits, views and senti- 
 ments were associated together to acquire a knowledge of 
 each other and to learn the practice of the social system; 
 now, those only associate in communities who were pre- 
 viously well acquainted with each other, and possess similar 
 habits, sentiments and feelings, and who have made some 
 advance in obtaining a knowledge of the principles and 
 practices prerequisite to be known by those who become 
 members of communities of equality and common property. 
 Experience has proved that between these two modes of 
 proceeding the difference is great indeed. 
 
 "Since those persons have removed from New Harmony 
 who, from one cause or another were disposed to leave 
 us, the remainder of the population are, you perceive, 
 gradually taking those situations best suited to their in- 
 clinations and former habits, and in some instances the 
 occupations have formed among themselves a kind of 
 preparatory society and are doing well. The lands of the 
 communities around us have been put into a good state 
 of cultivation, and are well fenced; there is, as you see, 
 at this time, every appearance of abundance of fruit, all 
 kinds of food and materials for clothing and no want of 
 industry to preserve the former and to manufacture the- 
 latter. Upwards of thirty cabins have lately been erected 
 upon the lands of communities Number 2, 3 and 4, and 
 yet not a spare room can be obtained for any who come to 
 
 Tig 
 
 "The town and immediate vicinity of New Harmonf 
 
210 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 have been, as you perceive, greatly improved lately, and 
 other important improvements are in progress. Ko site 
 for a number of communities in close union together can 
 be found finer than that which surrounds us; its natural 
 situation and the variety of its productions exceeds any- 
 thing I have ever seen in Europe or America, the rich 
 land intermixed with islands, woods, rivers and hills in a 
 beautiful proportion to each other, presents, from our 
 high ground, a prospect which highly gratifies every in- 
 telligent stranger. It is true, misconceptions of our pro- 
 -eeedings and of our present state have gone forth to the 
 great grief of those who were looking forward with an 
 intense interest to an amelioration of the classes from the 
 measures which were to commence here; but these re- 
 ports have been beneficial. They have prevented us from 
 being overwhelmed with numbers. 
 
 "These operations have been going on so successfully 
 that perhaps no pleasure has been more pure than that 
 which I have enjoyed for some time past in my daily 
 visits to some of these establishments, where, by the in- 
 dustry of the persons engaged, I see the sure foundations 
 laid of independence for themselves and for their chil- 
 dren's children through many generations. From the 
 new order of influences arising around them, they must 
 become a superior race; intelligent, virtuous and happy, 
 — ^beings whose chief occupation, after a few years of tem- 
 perance and industry, will be to distribute to others the 
 means of becoming as independent, prudent, happy and 
 useful as themselves. 
 
 "I had also made my arrangements to settle, before my 
 •departure from Europe, every outstanding account against 
 myself and those concerned with me in this establish- 
 ment and experiment, that no obstacle should remain 
 after my departure, to impede the progress and success 
 of the young colonies, and looking back through the two 
 years just expired, I could not but feel an almost inex- 
 pressible delight and inward satisfaction from reflecting 
 upon the obstacles which had been overcome, and from 
 viewing in the mind's eye the cheering prospects which 
 are before us. 
 
 "While preparing for my journey to Europe, and just 
 as I was going to set out, an event occurred which arose, 
 as I must believe, from some extraordinary misconception 
 
Robert Owen's Farewell Addresses. 21 1 
 
 in the minds of our well meaning friends, which, fortu- 
 nately, has delayed me some days among you. These mis- 
 conceptions are, I believe, now completely removed, and I 
 have had, by this delay, the pleasure of receiving and of 
 becoming acquainted with some highly respectable families 
 from the south, who have traveled several hundred miles 
 on purpose to live some time among you, and to make 
 themselves familiar with the new system." 
 
 On May twenty-seventh, Mr. Owen delivered an address, 
 full of parting counsel, to "the ten social colonies of 
 equality and common property on the New Harmony es- 
 tate," — ^the two additional communities being colonies of 
 Germans, one from Pennsylvania, and one from Germany, 
 as we learn from the Gazette of May twenty-third. "With 
 the right understanding of the principles upon which your 
 change from the old to the new has been made," he said 
 in part, "you will attain your object. Without that under- 
 standing you cannot succeed. You should have honesty 
 of purpose, devotion to the success of each and all com- 
 munities; confidence in one another and submission to 
 majority rule; well regulated industry and wise economy; 
 to make provision for the schools should be an object of 
 first importance. * * * Industry, economy, beauty, 
 order, and good feeling are silently and gradually growing 
 up around you, and the right spirit of the great system, 
 not derived from enthusiasm or imagination, but from 
 a real knowledge of your own nature and of your true 
 interest, is gaining ground among you, and cannot fail 
 soon to become general. * * * New Harmony cannot 
 be numbered among the colonies of the social system, but 
 there is progress, and the day is not far distant when it 
 will Join the ranks of the faithful. * * * 
 
 "With regard to the schools, it is my desire that all 
 your children should be educated in the best manner and 
 at the least expense to you. I should like to add, with- 
 out any expense to you; this would be the proceeding most 
 gratifying to my feelings that could now occur; but having 
 expended a large capital in putting you into your present 
 independent condition; having paid for the whole of the 
 real and personal property that I purchased since I came 
 to this country, and having discharged every other debt, I 
 do not yet know whether my remaining income will en- 
 able me, with the prudence that is necessary in my 
 
212 Tbe New Harmony Commanities. 
 
 situation, to undertake to clothe, feed, and educate all 
 your children without cost, or with such aid from your 
 surplus produce as you can spare without inconTenience. 
 Eelying, however, upon the faithful stewardship of the 
 parties in whose hands the remaining property which I 
 possess here has been entrusted, I shall appropriate three 
 thousand dollars this year towards defraying the expenses 
 of this all-important subject, the general direction of 
 which I leave to Mr. Dorsey, late treasurer of Miami Uni- 
 versity, in whose steadfastness, integrity, ability and dis- 
 interested devotion to the cause I have full confi- 
 dence. * * * 
 
 "When I return I hope to find you progressing in har- 
 mony together." 
 
 On June first, 1827, Mr. Owen left New Harmony 
 for England, stopping en route to New York in several 
 cities to deliver lectures on the social system, and to paint 
 hopeful pictures of conditions at New Harmony. 
 
The Ten Lost Ttibes of Com- 
 munism 
 
 Eobert Owen had met the Waterloo of his eonnnuiiistic 
 schemes, but he retired from a field of hopeless defeat 
 as if he had been the Wellington, rather than the Na- 
 poleon, of the contest. It soon became evident that the 
 enthusiastic spirit of Eobert Owen, with the funds at his 
 command, had alone kept the population so long together 
 in the semblance of communistic association. With the 
 commander-in-chief gone, the little army broke into dis- « 
 astrous retreat before the self-assertive forces of indi- 
 vidualism. The last evidence of the existence of any of 
 the communistic societies is a report of a Harvest Home 
 celebration by Feiba Peveli on July twenty-sixth, 1827, 
 when "fifty persons sat down to an excellent supper laid 
 out on the lawn near their village; the utmost order pre- 
 vailed, and appropriate songs and toasts added to the 
 hilarity of the evening." One by one these societies be- 
 came disorganized by dissension, and when Eobert Owen 
 returned to New Harmony, on April first, 1828, his 
 optimism failed in the face of a complete collapse of the 
 "social system," though his confession of defeat was a 
 grudging one. 
 
 "I had hoped," he said in an address delivered at New 
 Harmony Hall on April thirteenth, 1828, "that fifty years 
 of political liberty had prepared the American people to 
 govern themselves advantageously. I supplied land, 
 houses and the use of capital, and I tried, each in their 
 own way, the different parties who collected here; and 
 experience proved that the attempt was premature, to unite 
 a nimiber of strangers not previously educated for the 
 purpose. I afterwards tried what could be done by those 
 who associated through their own choice, and in small 
 numbers; to those I gave leases of large tracts of good 
 land for ten thousand years for a nominal rent, and upon 
 moral conditions only; and these I did expect would have 
 made progress during my absence, and now upon my re- 
 
214 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 turn I find that the habits of the individual system were so 
 powerful that these leases have been, with a few excep- 
 tions, applied for individual purposes and individual gain, 
 and in consequence they must return again into my 
 hands. 
 
 "This proves that families, trained in the individual sys- 
 tem, have not acquired those moral characteristics of for- 
 bearance and charity necessary for confidence and har- 
 mony; and cummunities, to be successful, must consist of 
 persons devoid of prejudice, and possessed of moral feel- 
 ings in unison with the laws of human nature. 
 
 "Monopolies have been established in certain depart- 
 ments, without my endorsement; it was not my intention 
 to have a petty store and whisky shop here. 
 
 "I can only feel regret, instead of anger," said Mr. 
 Owen, in closing. "My intention now is to form such ar- 
 rangements on the estate as will enable those who desire 
 to promote the practice of the social system, to live in 
 separate families on the individual system and yet to unite 
 their general labor; or to exchange labor for labor on the 
 most beneficial terms for all; all to do both or neither, as 
 their feelings or apparent interest may influence them; 
 while the children shall be educated with a view to the 
 establishment of the social system in the future. * * * 
 I will not be discouraged by any obstacle, but will per- 
 severe to the end." 
 
 Some of the leases offered by Robert Owen to small 
 communistic societies in 1827, were taken by sincere and 
 industrious workers; others were obtained by speculators, 
 who cared nothing for Owen or his schemes. To those 
 who had acted in good faith, Mr. Owen finally sold, at a 
 low figure, the lands they occupied. Through the specu- 
 lators he lost a large amount of personal property. His 
 expenditures in the purchase and maintenance of the prop- 
 erty, with his losses by speculators, aggregated two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars — his entire fortune at the begin- 
 ning of the experiment amoiinting to but fifty thousand 
 dollars more. Had the community system proved practi- 
 cable, his intention was to deed this land in trust to the 
 associations without exacting any payment whatever. 
 What was left of his fortune he soon expended in the 
 furtherance of similar social schemes. As someone has 
 said: "He seems to have felt it a point of honor, so long 
 
The Ten Lost Tribes of Communism. 215 
 
 as he had means left, to avert reproach from the cause of 
 cooperation, by paying debts left standing at the close of 
 nnsuccessful experiments, whenever these had been con- 
 ducted in good faith." In later years he conveyed the 
 residue of the New Harmony estate to his four sons, only 
 requiring of them that they execute a deed of trust for 
 thirty thousand dollars' worth of land, which yielded an 
 annuity of fifteen hundred dollars. This was his sole 
 source of support for many years. 
 
 It is impossible to trace the processes by which the 
 property of the various communities passed into individual 
 hands. Dr. Schnack says that Messrs. John Cooper, 
 James Elliot, James Maidlow, Jonathan Stocker and 
 others continued community Number 3 under the 
 original lease for several years, but that at the dissolution 
 of the organization the property was bought and divided 
 by Messrs. Cooper, Maidlow and Elliot. The lease of 
 community Number 2 finally came into the hands of 
 Jacob Schnee, the postmaster at New Harmony during 
 community days, and later was merged in a purchase by 
 W. C. Pelham. Other individuals undertook the manage- 
 ment of the several factories, but with little success, so 
 that the buildings were finally diverted to other purposes 
 than that of manufacturing. So many of the com- 
 munists remained in New Harmony and its immediate 
 vicinity, that Dr. Schnack, with the assistance of several 
 old residents, compiled in 1890 the following list of New 
 Harmony family names which still survive the community 
 period: Beal, Birkbeek, (descendants of Morris Birkbeck, 
 of the English colony in Edwards county, who was 
 drowned in Fox river while returning to Albion, lU., 
 from a visit to the community), Bolton, Brown, Cooper, 
 Cox, Dransfield, Duclos, Evans, Fauntleroy, Fretageot, 
 Gex, Grant, Hugo, Johnson, Lichtenberger, Bennett, 
 West, Lyons, Mumford, Murphy, Neef, Owen, Parvin, 
 Pelham, Robson, Sampson, Schnee, Snelling, Soper, 
 Twigg, Warren and Wheatcroft. The only three mem- 
 bers of the community now living are Victor Duclos, the 
 gardener of Thomas Say, still a resident of New Har- 
 mony, Edward T. Cox, of Albion, Florida and William 
 Dransfield, of Clay City, El. 
 
 A. J. Maedonald, in his unpublished manuscript on 
 "American Communities," gives the data contained in the 
 
216 
 
 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 following table concerning the communistic societies, ex- 
 clusive of those located on the New Harmony estate, which 
 had their origin in the Owenite movement: 
 
 Name. Place. 
 
 Blue Spring Monroe Co., Ind. 
 
 Co-operative 
 
 Society Valley Forge, Pa. 
 
 Coxsackie New York. 
 
 Forreatville Indiana. 
 
 Franklin New York. 
 
 Haverstraw (80 
 members) New York. 
 
 Kendal (200 
 members) Ohio. 
 
 Nashoba Tennessee. 
 
 Yellow Springs 
 (100 families).. Ohio. 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Small. 
 
 Debt. Duration. 
 One year. 
 
 Large. Between 1 
 and 2 yrs. 
 325 acres 1 year, 
 
 of land. 
 
 120 acres 
 of land. 
 
 200 acres 
 of land. 
 
 2,000 acres 
 of land. 
 
 $12,000 5 months. 
 
 2 years. 
 
 3 years. 
 
 3 months. 
 
 Total number of communities, nineteen; of which 
 twelve were situated in Indiana, three in New York, two 
 in Ohio, one in Pennsylvania, and one in Tennessee. It 
 is certain that this list is not complete. In southwestern 
 Indiana, especially, the communistic fever was prevalent 
 during the years through which the New Harmony ex- 
 periment continued and many neighborhoods were affected 
 by it. In some cases branches of families united in com- 
 munistic association for brief periods. By 1830 not an 
 association was left to continue the movement so auspi- 
 ciously inaugurated by Eobert Owen five years before. 
 
 Explanations of the failure of the Owenite communities 
 have been as numerous as commentarians upon them. The 
 most comprehensive estimate of the causes leading to 
 failure is that of Macdonald, who spent eighteen months at 
 New Harmony in 1853-54, twenty-five years after the last 
 vestige of communistic association disappeared from the 
 estate. His remarks are interesting. "I was cautioned," 
 he said, "not to speak on socialism, as the subject was 
 unpopular. The advice was good, — socialism was unpopu- 
 lar, and with good reason. The people had been wearied 
 and disappointed, had been filled full of theories until they 
 were nauseated, and had made such miserable attempts at 
 practice, that they seemed ashamed of what they had 
 been doing. An enthusiastic socialist would soon be 
 'cooled down,' because the people would see his ignorance. 
 
The Ten Lost Tribes of Communism. 21 1 
 
 "During a residence of nearly eigliteen montlis in New 
 Harmony, I endeavored to ascertain some particulars re- 
 garding the failure of the community. It was a difficult 
 endeavor, for as Mr. Warren truly said: 'If you ask a 
 dozen individuals, you will get a dozen different causes.' 
 The cause Mr. W — assigned was 'error in the principles,' 
 and for many years he has endeavored to prove the error 
 by introducing his plan of 'equitable commerce.' 
 
 "From Mr. C — I heard the story, as he ended it, by 
 saying that with aU the troubles and vexations of that 
 important period, it was the happiest time of his life. Mr. 
 A — said that many persons came there and lived as long 
 as they could get supplies for nothing. Many things 
 were obtained from the public store which were lost or 
 wasted. Mr. B — said that there were some noble char- 
 acters there, with names that have since stood high in 
 the localities to which they belonged, who set examples of 
 industry and self-denial worthy of a great cause. I could 
 mention. some of them that I have known in my travels. 
 Mr. C — said that Mr. Owen forbade the use of spirituous 
 liquors ia the town; yet it was obtained from the distillery 
 in a variety of cunning ways. Persons went at night and 
 deposited bottles, mugs and cans, and returned at certain 
 periods and found them filled. 
 
 "I was one day at the tan-yard, and Squire B — and 
 some others were standing talking around the store. Dur- 
 ing the conversation Squire B — asked if he had ever told 
 them how he had served 'old Owen' in 'commimity time.' 
 He then informed us that he came from HUnois to New 
 Harmony, and that a man in Illinois was 'owing him,' and 
 asked him to take a barrel of whisky for the debt. As he 
 could not well get the money, he took the whisky. When 
 he came to New Harmony, he did not know where to put 
 it, but finally hid it in his cellar. Not long after this, Mr. 
 Owen found that the people still got whisky from some 
 quarter, he could not tell where, though he did his best 
 to find out. At last he suspected Squire B — , and ac- 
 cordingly came right into his shop and accused him of it; 
 on which Squire B. had to 'own up' that it was he who 
 had retailed the whisky, saying he had to take it for a 
 debt, and what was he to do to get rid of it? Mr. Owen 
 turned 'round and in his simple manner said, 'Ah! I 
 see you do not understand the principles.' This story was 
 
218 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 finished with a good hearty laugh at 'Old Owen.' I could 
 not laugh, hut felt that such men as Squire B — did not 
 understand the principles, and no wonder there are failures 
 when such men as he frustrate benevolent designs. 
 
 "Mr. Owen has often said that the New Harmony ex- 
 periment failed because the members did not understand 
 the principles. It may be so, — facts speak for themselves, 
 and every individual must be free, as he is, to find out, 
 each his different cause. All agree that a battle was 
 fought, that there was some gain, and some loss, but 
 though many years have now passed away, it still re- 
 mains for time to prove whether the battle was for the 
 good or evil of mankind. 
 
 "The reader vrill, no doubt, think with me, that the 
 history of the New Harmony community, so far as I have 
 been able to collect it, is but a mass of confusion, so 
 many theories were tried, and so many failures took place, 
 that, like a ball of entangled thread, it is difficult to un- 
 ravel. If he glances at Mr. Owen's principles, he will see 
 what Mr. Owen wished to practice, and if he understands 
 the materials with which this practice was to be made, he 
 will see how impossible it was to produce the desired re- 
 sults. 
 
 "Mr. Owen said he wanted Tionesty of purpose,' but he 
 got dishonesty; he wanted temperance, and instead, he was 
 continually troubled with intemperance; indeed, this ap- 
 pears to have been one of the greatest troubles with which 
 he had to contend in those times. * * * He wanted in- 
 dustry, but he found idleness; he wanted carefulness, and 
 found waste; he wanted cleanliness and found dirt; he 
 wanted 'desire for knowledge,' but he found apathy. He 
 wanted the principles of the formation of character un- 
 derstood, but he found them misunderstood. He wanted 
 these good qualities combined in one and all the indi- 
 viduals of the community, but he could not find them 
 self sacrificing and enduring enough to prepare and 
 educate their children to possess these qualities. Thus 
 it was proved that his principles were either entirely 
 erroneous in practice, or much in advance of the age in 
 which he promulgated them. 
 
 "He seems to have forgotten that if one and all the 
 thousand persons assembled there possessed all the quali- 
 ties which he wished them to possess, there would be no 
 
The Ten Lost Tribes of Communism. 219 
 
 necessity for his vain exertions to form a community, 
 because there would of necessity be "brotherly love,' char- 
 ity, industry and plenty, and all their actions would 
 be governed by nature and reason. We want no more than 
 this, and if this is the material to form communities of, 
 and we cannot find it, — we eannot form communities. 
 And if we cannot find parents who are ready and willing 
 to educate their children to give them qualities for a 
 'community life,' then when shall we have 'communities 
 of united eifort?' ^, 
 
 "There is no doubt in my mind that the absence of 
 Eobert Owen was one of the great causes of the failure of 
 the community, for he was naturally looked up to as the 
 head, and his influence might have kept people together 
 at any rate to effect something similar to what had been 
 effected at New Lanark. But with a people free as these 
 were from a set religious creed, and consisting as they did 
 of all nations and opinions, it is doubtful if even Mr. 
 _Owen had continued there all the time, he could have 
 kept them together. ISTo comparison can be made between 
 that population and the Shakers or Eappites, who are | 
 each of one religious faith. * * * -" 
 
 "Wm. Sampson of Cincinnati, was at New Harmony 
 from the beginning to the end of the community. He 
 went there on the boat which took the last of the Eappites 
 away. He says the cause of failure was a rogue named 
 Taylor, who insinuated himself into Mr. Owen's favor, and 
 afterward swindled and deceived him in a variety of ways; 
 among other things establishing a distillery contrary to 
 Mr. Owen's wishes or principles, and injurious to the 
 community. Owen thought it would be ten or twelve 
 years before the community would fill iip, but no sooner 
 had the Eappites left, than the place was taken possession 
 of by strangers from all parts, when Owen was absent in 
 Europe, and the place under the management of a com- 
 mittee. When Owen returned and found the condition of 
 things, he deemed it necessary to make an alteration, and 
 notices were published in all parts telling people not to 
 come there, as there was no accommodation for them, yet 
 still they came, until Owen was compelled to have all the 
 log cabins razed. 
 
 "Taylor and Fauntleroy were Owen's associates. When 
 Owen found out Taylor's rascality, he resolved to abandon 
 
220 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 the partnership with him, which Taylor would only agree 
 to do upon Owen's giving him a large tract of land upon 
 w^hich he proposed to form a community of his own. * * * 
 Instead of forming a community, he built a distillery, and 
 set up a tan-yard in opposition to Mr. Owen's. 
 
 "In the Free Enquirer, of June tenth, 1839, there is an 
 article by Eobert Dale Owen on New Lanark and New 
 Harmony, in which, after comparing the two places and 
 showing the difference between thein, he makes the follow- 
 ing remarks relative to the experiment at New Harmony: 
 ^There was not disinterested industry; there was not 
 mutual confidence; there was not practical experience; 
 there was not unison of action because there was not 
 unanimity of counsel. These were the points of difference 
 and dissension, — ^the rocks on which the social hulk struck 
 and was wrecked.' 
 
 "In the New Moral World of October twelfth, 1839, 
 there is an article on New Harmony, in which it is 
 asserted that Mr. Owen was induced to purchase that 
 place on the understanding that the population then 
 resident there, the Eappites, would remain until he had 
 gradually introduced other persons to acquire from them 
 the systematic and orderly habits, as well as practical 
 knowledge which they had gained by many years of prac- 
 tice. But through the removal of Eapp and his followers, 
 Mr. Owen was left with all the property on his hands, and 
 he was compelled of necessity to get persons to come 
 there to prevent things from going to ruin. It shows 
 the unsuitableness of the persons who went there, and how 
 they failed in their attempts, and proves the sincerity of 
 Mr. Owen in the terms upon which he granted them land, 
 viz. — the perpetual lease of the lands, so long as the prin- 
 ciples of the new system were carried into practice. They 
 failed to do this, and the estate reverted to Mr. Owen." 
 
 Josiah Warren in his "Practical Details of Equitable 
 Commerce," says: "Let us bear in mind that during the 
 great experiments in New Harmony, everything went on de- 
 lightfully except pecuniary affairs. We should no doubt 
 have succeeded, but for property considerations. But 
 then the experiment would never have been commenced 
 except for property considerations. It was to annihilate 
 social antagonisms by a system of common property, that 
 we undertook the experiment at all." 
 
The Ten Lost Tribes of Communism. 221 
 
 John Pratt, a Positivist, as quoted by Noyes, said: 
 "Like most men of the last generation, Eobert Owen 
 looked upon society as a manufactured product, not an 
 organism endowed with imperishable vitality and growth. 
 * * * The internal affinities of Owen's commune were too 
 weak to resist the attractions of the outer world." 
 
 Alexander Campbell, and religious leaders of the period 
 generally, pointed to the failure of the Kew Harmony ex- 
 periment as the natural result of "free love and atheism 
 on trial." Horace Greeley and Charles A. Dana attributed 
 the failure principally to the lack of a religious basis upon 
 which all successful communities had been founded, — 
 Owen having been the first to attempt the establishment 
 of a non-religious community. Greeley said that a great 
 obstacle encountered in such experiments, was "the class 
 of people attracted, the conceited, the croehety, and the 
 selfish," while Dana concluded: "Destroy selfhood, and you 
 destroy all motive to exertion." 
 
 Sargent, one of Owen's biographers, thinks there should 
 have been some religious bond among the members to en- 
 sure success. Paul Brown, in his "Twelve Months at New 
 Harmony," questioned the sincerity of Eobert Owen him- 
 self, while E. H. Hamilton, as quoted by Noyes, says that 
 Owen "required other people to be what he was not him- 
 self; he himself was unreceptive as a thinker." Noyes 
 thinks that drink had much to do with the failure, in 
 spite of prohibitory enactments. Noyes quotes some of his 
 associates as saying: 
 
 L. R. Leonard: "He found democrats harder to manage 
 than the servile workmen of Scotland." 
 
 6. W. Hamilton: "The Owenites were too indepen- 
 dent." 
 
 F. W. Smith: "He did not have enough deputies." 
 
 C. W. Burt: "Communism must be ruled either by law 
 or grace. He abolished law and did not employ grace." -, 
 
 George Jacob Holyoke, in his "History of Cooperation," 
 says that "the cranks killed the colony," which was com- 
 posed, "for the most part, of the selfish, the headstrong, the 
 pugnacious, the unappreciated, the played-out, the idle and 
 the good-for-nothing generally, who, discovering them- 
 selves out of place, and at a discount in the world as it is, 
 rashly conclude that they are exactly fitted for the world-* 
 as it ought to be. * * * Nevertheless, the men of good 
 
222 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 sense reigned at first, and prevailed intermittently 
 throughout. * * * The absence of Mr. Owen during 
 the years when personal inspiration and training were 
 most important, were causes quite sufficient to account for 
 the fluctuations and the final eilaeement of New Har- 
 mony." 
 
 Noyes gives us the explanation offered by the mem- 
 bers of four of the branch communities, as follows: 
 
 Yellow Springs: "Self love was a spirit that could not 
 be exorcised." 
 
 Nashoba: "The projectors acknowledge that such a 
 system cannot succeed unless the members composing it 
 are siiperior beings." 
 
 Haverstraw community: "There was a lack of men and 
 women of skillful industry, sober and honest, with a 
 knowledge of themselves and a disposition to command and 
 to be commanded." 
 
 Coxsackie community: "Too many persons engaged in 
 law-making and talking who did not work at any useful 
 employment." 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen, writing many years after the con- 
 elusion of the New Harmony venture says, in speaking of 
 the "Gazette" editorial before quoted as an obituary of the 
 New Harmony and Maeluria communities: "In enumerat- 
 ing the causes leading to the failure of the experiment, 
 the 'Gazette' * * * omits the one most potent factor. 
 All cooperative schemes which provide equal remuneration 
 to the skilled and industrioiis and the ignorant and idle, 
 must work their own downfall, for by this unjust plan 
 of remuneration they must of necessity eliminate the 
 valuable members, who find their services reaped by the 
 indigent, and retain only the improvident, unskilled and 
 vicious members. * * * Eobert Owen distinguished the 
 great principle, but like so many other devisers, missed the 
 working details of his scheme. If these, when stated, 
 seem to be so near the surface that common sagacity ought 
 to have detected them, let us bear in mind how wise men 
 stumbled over the simple puzzle of Columbus; failing to 
 balance the egg on one end till a touch from the great 
 navigator's hand solved the petty mystery." 
 
JOSIAH WARREN. 
 
Josiah Warren. 
 
 "A remarkable American, Josiah Warren."— John Stuart Mill. 
 
 Among the most remarkable characters attracted to New 
 Harmony in community days was Josiah Warren, equally 
 notable as an inventive genius, a social philosopher and 
 a peaceful revolutionist. He was born in Boston in 1798, 
 of historically famous Puritan stock. Of his parents and 
 early life but little is known. At an eaxly age he displayed 
 musical talents, and, with his brother George, played pro- 
 fessionally in local bands. At the age of twenty he mar- 
 ried, and soon after set out from his native place to im- 
 prove his fortunes in the west. He settled in Cincinnati, 
 and gained an honorable repute as an orchestra leader, 
 but he had other interests besides music. Mechanical pur- 
 suits occupied his leisure hours, the earliest fruit of which 
 was the invention of a lamp, patented in 1833, which sub- 
 stituted lard for tallow as fuel, giving a better light at a 
 lower cost. Its success was such that the inventor be- 
 fore long was running a lamp manufactory in Cincinnati. 
 
 More pressing problems than those of illumination were, 
 however, shortly to arise and absorb the active mind and 
 generous heart of the ingenious young New Englander. 
 There came to Cincinnati in 1834 a visitor whose reputa- 
 tion as the boldest and most successful social reformer of 
 the age, was world wide. When Eobert Owen, with a 
 fervor of conviction and inspiring enthusiasm which have 
 never been surpassed, unfolded his plans for the inaugura- 
 tion of the New Moral World, Warren was so much im- 
 pressed that he decided to join the grand experiment which 
 was about to begin at New Harmony. So, after disposing 
 of his lamp factory, Warren, with his young family. Joined 
 Owen and his enthusiasts on the Rappite property, hoping 
 to assist in founding the ideal community which was to 
 
 •This chapter is the contribution of Mr. William Bailie, of 
 Boston, who has made a searchingr study of the life and sarvicea 
 of Josiah Warren, and is about to publish a monograph, ot which, 
 this Is but a summary, on the reformer and his philosophy. 
 
226 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 usher in a millenium of peace and plenty, brotherhood and 
 happiness, ultimately to embrace all mankind. 
 
 Here Warren found a field in which to study the prob- 
 lems of government, property and industry, together with 
 the relation of the individual to society, such as never be- 
 fore was given to man. During two stormy years of vicis- 
 situdes, disappointments and failure, Warren remained 
 with the community, and bore his share of the bur- 
 dens incident to so pretentious an undertaking. And 
 when he finally departed, it was not, like so many others, 
 as an embittered reactionary, but as an earnest, hopeful 
 student who had spent his time to good purpose. As one 
 who had with painful solicitude witnessed the inadequacy 
 of communism to correct the evils of property, and the 
 failure of paternal aiithority, as well as of majority rule, 
 to solve the problems of government, he had learned an 
 invaluable lesson, and stored up pregnant experience for 
 use in future efforts to grapple with the same vital issues. 
 With Warren the failure of communism was simply a rea- 
 son for trying another plan of attack upon the existing 
 institutions of society. Like Owen, he never doubted 
 that "the emancipation of man" was possible, and human 
 happiness only a question of suitable social adjustment and 
 the application of what he deemed to be right principles. 
 
 Chief among the causes which, in Warren's mind, led 
 to disaster at New Harmony, were the suppression of in- 
 dividuality, the lack of initiative and the absence of per- 
 sonal responsibility. When everything was decided by 
 authority, or by the will of the majority, each was prone 
 to ascribe the faults of the system to the shortcomings of 
 his neighbors. These defects Warren believed to be in- 
 separable from any social scheme based upon government 
 and community of goods. Even under the most favorable 
 conditions failure would in the long run be assured. He 
 concluded, therefore, that the basis of all future reform 
 must be complete individual liberty. Everyone should be 
 free to dispose of his person, his property, his time and 
 his reputation as he pleases, — but always at his own cost, — 
 this qualification of the principle is inseparable from it, 
 the core, as it were of his philosophy. 
 
 The New Harmony experience had convinced Warren 
 that any theory of reform, however perfect or plausible, 
 should be put to the test before being offered to the world 
 
Josiah Warren. 227 
 
 as a remedy for existing evils. To this end, therefore, he 
 undertook his first experiment, the Time store. 
 
 On the eighteenth of May, 1827, there was unpreten- 
 tiously opened at the the corner of Fifth and Vine Streets 
 in Cincinnati, a small country store, conducted on a plan 
 new to commerce. It was the first Equity store, designed 
 to illustrate and practicalize the cost principle, the germ 
 of the cooperative movement of the future. When the 
 advantages of the store became known, it proved to be the 
 most popular mercantile institution in the city. The 
 people called it the "Time store," because a clock was 
 used by the merchant to determine the amount of compen- 
 sation for his service in waiting upon the customers. The 
 storekeeper exchanged his time for an equal amount of 
 the time of those who purchase goods from him. The 
 actual cost of the goods bought was paid for in cash, the 
 labor note of the customer was given to the merchant to 
 pay for his service. It ran something after this fashion: 
 "Due to Josiah Warren, thirty minutes in carpenter work. 
 — John Smith." Here was the application of the principle 
 of labor for labor, the cost principle, in its most primitive 
 form, which was subsequently modified to allow for the 
 different valuations of the various kinds of labor. 
 
 The idea of labor notes originated with Kobert Owen, 
 but Warren's application of it was original and proved 
 entirely successful. Though at the beginning the Equity 
 store met with scant encouragement, it was but a short 
 while until it taxed all the reformer's time and energies. 
 The merchant on the next corner soon found himself with- 
 out occupation, and requested Warren to explain to him 
 the method of conducting business on the equity plan. 
 The founder of the movement was only too happy to as- 
 sist his rival to convert his place into a "Time store," and 
 delighted to see so quickly an instance of what competition 
 could do in enforcing the adoption of more equitable 
 methods of exchange. 
 
 Warren's store was a labor exchange where those who 
 had products to sell could dispose of them, provided the 
 goods were in demand, without having to give the hon's 
 share as profit to the middleman. It was also a bureau 
 for labor seeking employment, and thus served to direct 
 the reformer's attention to the long and useless apprentice- 
 ships by which the common trades were hedged around. 
 
228 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 He wished to disprove the need for long terms of industrial 
 servitude, and this desire led to the idea of a cooperative 
 village. Full of enthusiasm for the principles which he 
 was now convinced would solve the deeper economic prob- 
 lems of society, having tried them in regard to the dis- 
 tribution of wealth, he longed to see them applied to its 
 production. 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen at this period became interested in 
 Warren's plans, but after much waiting, and a visit to 
 New York in 1830, the Cincinnati reformer decided to 
 prepare, unaided, for a village experiment. He set him- 
 self to learn many practical arts, including wagon build- 
 ing, wood and metal working, printing and type founding. 
 The first village of Equity was commenced in Tuscarawas 
 county, Ohio, and after a two years' trial was abandoned, 
 owing to the malarial and unhealthy condition of the lo- 
 cality. Many interesting experiments in the industrial 
 and practical education of the young were carried out by 
 Warren, which showed that in this field he was a true 
 pioneer, for it is only today that his views are finding 
 realization in the manual training schools and technical 
 institutions for practical education. 
 
 The Peaceful Eevolutionist, Warren's first periodical, 
 appeared in January, 1833, but did not survive the same 
 year. It was a four page weekly of conspicuously neat 
 typography, and was devoted to expositions of the prin- 
 ciples of equity. So primitive at the time were his re- 
 sources, and so marvelous his skill and ingenidty, that the 
 plates from which the paper was printed were cast over the 
 fire of the same stove at which the wife cooked the family 
 meals. The printing press he used was his own invention, 
 and with his own hands he made type-molds, cast the type 
 and the stereo-plates, built the press, wrote the articles, 
 set them up, and printed ofE the sheets. 
 
 The years prior to 1842 were devoted mainly to me- 
 chanical pursuits and printing inventions. About 1840 
 Warren constructed the first roller press that was ever 
 used to print newspapers. The following description of 
 this mechanism is from an editorial which appeared Febru- 
 ary twenty-eighth, 1840, in an Evansville paper* 
 
 "The first number of the Southwestern Sentinel is 
 the first newspaper probably in the world which was ever 
 printed on a continuous sheet. Our press or printing ma- 
 
y, - 
 
 I- 
 X 
 
 
 •-? ^-^% 
 
 / 5 1^ \, 
 
 / o o Y 
 
 ^.^ > < - < } 
 
 
 - *s 
 
 C:0 
 
 z 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 35 
 
 
 
 
 w 
 ;3 
 
 in 
 
 (-1 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 < 
 
LIMIT iir I.SMIE 
 T)ur to 
 
 
 J^f^:^^*' 
 
 
 Labor Note Issvied fc>y JosiaH "W 
 
 arren. 
 
Josiah Warren. 233 
 
 chinery is the invention of Mr. Josiah "Warren, of ISTew 
 Harmony. He has brought a series of experiments extend- 
 ing through nine years to a successful close, and this 
 machine, which he calls his speed press, is one of the re- 
 sults." 
 
 Unfortunately the innovation was opposed by the 
 printers, who saw in its labor-saving power a menace to 
 their interests. They deliberately threw the press out of 
 gear at every opportunity, and at length so exasperated 
 the inventor that he came one day to the Sentinel ofEice, 
 had the press hauled away, and deliberately broke it to 
 pieces. 
 
 Typographical inventions continued, however, to oc- 
 cupy Warren's attention. His purpose was to extend his 
 stereotyping inventions to all varieties of printing, illus- 
 tration and artistic reproduction. His improvements in 
 this field he termed "universal typography." 
 
 The Indiana Statesman, of ISTew Harmony, under dates 
 of October fourth, 1845, and March seventh, 1846, con- 
 tains flattering accounts of the progress and utility of 
 •Warren's inventions. His typographical plates were 
 durable, cheap, and had a smooth, glassy surface, so like 
 stone that the inventor termed them "stone-types." He 
 claimed that the facility with which illustrations could 
 be got up, the rapidity of stereotyping and printing them, 
 together with the durability of the plates, justified the 
 expectation that they would ultimately supersede wood- 
 cuts, steel-plate and copper-plate engraving and printing, 
 and lithography. The process included printing in colors, 
 besides a result similar to what is now known as half- 
 tones. 
 
 While it is doubtful if Warren ever received an equiva- 
 lent for his ingenuity, labor and outlay on these inventions 
 at which he worked during the larger part of his life, it is 
 certain that his methods were utilized by others, and the 
 world is accordingly the gainer by his improvements. The 
 processes now in use for the finer class of stereotype work 
 are based upon his discoveries. The latter years of his life 
 were devoted to studies and experiments with a view to 
 perfecting his inventions, and his final results, it is be- 
 lieved, were not made known to the world, nor rendered 
 available when death terminated his labors. 
 
 The New Harmony Time store was opened in 1843. At 
 
234 Tbe New Harmony Communities. 
 
 first it encountered strong opposition at the hands of in- 
 terested rivals, but its beneficial influence was soon felt in a 
 fall of retail prices throughout the surrounding country. 
 Of this, his second store experiment, Warren wrote: 
 "Whatever may be thought of the hopelessness or the un- 
 popularity of reform movements, I will venture to assert 
 that no institution, political, moral nor religious, ever 
 assumed a more sudden and extensive popularity than the 
 Time store of New Harmony. But it was principally 
 among the poor, the humble and the down-trodden. None 
 of those who had been accustomed to lead, none who had 
 anything to lead with, offered the least assistance or aid, 
 nor scarcely sympathy, though they did not attempt to 
 deny the soundness of the principles. * * * When all 
 the stores in the surrounding country had come down in 
 their prices to an equilibrium with the Equity store, the 
 custom naturally flowed back again to them, and the next 
 step was to wind up the Time store and commence a vil- 
 lage." 
 
 Warren next turned his ingenuity to the production in 
 1844 of an original system of music, denominated by him 
 "Mathematical Notation," designed on scientific principles 
 to accomplish in the representation of harmonic sounds a 
 similar service to that performed by phonography in the 
 representation of the elements of speech. The author 
 printed the book by his newly perfected universal typog- 
 raphy, and, as may still be seen by a copy preserved in 
 the library of the New Harmony workingmen's institute, 
 it was a beautiful example of his stereotyping process, re- 
 producing his own handwriting in delicate copper plate. 
 Dr. Mason, a musical authority of that day, admitted the 
 comprehensiveness and simplicity of Warren's musical no- 
 tation, but believed it would be a hopeless undertaking to 
 attempt to supersede the universally accepted system. 
 
 About this period Warren received seven thousand dol- 
 lars for his stereotyping patents, and such a wave of finan- 
 cial prosperity revived his desire to found another Equity 
 village. For this purpose he secured land near New Har- 
 mony, but abandoned it for more favorable prospects in 
 Ohio. The village of Utopia was founded by Warren in 
 1847 about a mile above Claremont, a Pourierist com- 
 munity, which had just then come to grief. Unlike the 
 latter there was no common ownership of property in 
 
Josiah Warren. 235 
 
 "Warren's experiments. Each family owned its own lot 
 and house (after it was erected) but the members of the 
 village cooperated in all cases where it was mutually ad- 
 vantageous to do BO. Warren's efforts were for those 
 whose only means was their labor force, and his purpose 
 was to demonstrate that such people, with free access to 
 natural resources, could, by exchanging their labor on 
 equitable terms, by means of labor notes, build their 
 own houses, supply their prime necessities, and attain to 
 comfort and prosperity without dependence on capitalists 
 or any external authority, for the means of life. 
 
 Utopia went on progressing in a quiet way for many 
 years. It was the policy of the settlers to avoid publicity, 
 and to refrain from encouraging outsiders to visit or to 
 join them. One of the pioneers, E. G. Cubberly, in Oc- 
 tober, 1872, while still residing in his original home in 
 Utopia, M'rote: "The labor notes put us into a reciprocat- 
 ing society, — the result was, in two years twelve families 
 found themselves with homes who never owned homes be- 
 fore. * * * Labor-capital did it. I built a brick cottage, 
 one and a half stories high, and all the money I paid out 
 was nine dollars and eighty-one cents — all the rest was 
 effected by exchanging labor for labor. Mr. Warren is 
 right, and the way to get back as much labor as we give 
 is by the labor cost prices, — money prices, with no prin- 
 ciple to guide, have always deceived us." 
 
 It may naturally be asked what became of the village. 
 Why did equity villages not multiply? Why did the 
 pioneers keep from the public as far as possible all in- 
 formation concerning them? To such questions no satis- 
 factory answer in a few words can be given. Owing to 
 the high price of the surrounding land, most of the 
 settlers, after about four years, moved from Utopia into 
 Minnesota, where land was cheap and abundant. 
 
 Leaving the scenes of his labors in Ohio and Indiana, 
 Warren in 1850 visited New York and Boston, and, by 
 means of a quiet propaganda, succeeded in arousing the 
 interest of many earnest people in the individualistic form 
 of cooperation advocated by him. He met the brilliant 
 writer and reformer, Stephen Pearl Andrews, who hence- 
 forth became Warren's most ardent disciple, and the liter- 
 ary exponent of equity. Andrews' "Science of Society," 
 an exposition of the sovereignty of the individual, and 
 
236 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 cost the limit of price, has probably done more towards 
 calling the attention of independent thinkers and re- 
 formers to Warren's philosophy than anything ever put 
 forth by himself, and is by far the ablest statement of the 
 ^'principles" which has yet appeared. 
 
 As a result of Warren's activity, the Village of Modern 
 Times was founded in 1851. The site was on Long Island, 
 forty miles by railroad from New York City. The soil 
 was considered worthless, but this did not deter the en- 
 thusiasts of equity. They came by ones and twos, and 
 gradually began to clear the ground for market garden- 
 ing, meanwhile building themselves houses of such pre- 
 tentions as their limited resources permitted. About a 
 hundred souls had settled on the ground when the New 
 York Tribune began to feature the colony and create 
 a publicity as undesirable to the settlers as it proved to be 
 annoying. The newspaper notices brought many visitors, 
 some to stay, mostly ignorant of the ideas on which the 
 village was fotmded. True to their principles, which al- 
 lowed equal rights to all in natural opportunities, the pio- 
 neers refrained from taking any steps to exclude the new 
 comers, so long as they did not invade the rights of 
 others. This adherence to principle had, however, its 
 drawbacks, though in the end it proved a self corrective. 
 One man began to advocate plurality of wives, and started 
 a paper to support his views. Another believed clothing 
 to be a superfluity and not only personally practiced his 
 Adamic vagaries, but inflicted them upon his helpless 
 children. A woman who would not have passed for a 
 model of physical perfection, displayed herself in male 
 attire, which gave rise to the newspaper comment that 
 •''the women of Modern Times dressed in men's clothes and 
 looked hideous." Still another woman had the diet mania 
 so severely that after trying to live on beans without salt 
 until reduced almost to a skeleton, she died within a 
 year. Whereupon the newspapers declared: "The people 
 of Modern Times are killing themselves with fanatical 
 ideas about food." These were some of the burdens the 
 real settlers had to bear because they acted on the non- 
 invasive principle, and accorded liberty to do even the 
 silliest things, believing that experience, and the applica- 
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Josiah Warren. 239 
 
 done at each one's own cost, would work the surest and 
 most efEectual cure. 
 
 Despite the persistent misrepresentations and the with- 
 ering slanders to which the colony was subjected during 
 its earlier years, the pioneers prospered. But after reap- 
 ing so much of the undesirable fruits of notoriety, the 
 name was changed to Brentwood, under which appellation 
 it is still known. 
 
 Writing to an English friend in 1857, one of the settlers,. 
 Edward D. Linton, asks: "You have been here, sir, and 
 I ask you, considering the natural obstacles to overcome,, 
 if you ever saw greater material success attained in so 
 short a time by the same number of people without capital,, 
 and with only their hands and brains to operate with, 
 under all the disadvantages, of habits formed by a false 
 education and training. * * * ^jxd as it regards indi- 
 vidual and social happiness and the entire absence of vice 
 and crime, I am confident this settlement cannot be 
 equaled. This is, emphatically, the school of life. It is 
 what has been learned here, infinitely more than what has 
 been done, that constitutes what I consider the greatest 
 success of the settlement. What has not been done is, 
 I think, of far more consequence than what has been done. 
 * * * I would rather that my children would live 
 here and have the advantages of the society and prac- 
 tical lessons taught here, than for them to have what is 
 called an education in the best institutions of learning 
 in the world." 
 
 Linton's tribute to Warren in the same letter cannot be 
 omitted: "But whether I ever live to see the practical 
 realization of the principles or not, here or elsewhere, I 
 never can feel sufficiently grateful to the unostentatious 
 man whose remarkable and peculiar constitution of mind 
 enabled him to discover the most subtle and sublime 
 truths ever made known to man, for his self government 
 and the regulation of his intercourse with his neighbors. 
 In my own person and in my own domestic affairs, I have 
 been incalculably benefited." 
 
 Broad avenues, tree shaded streets, pretty cottages sur- 
 rounded by strawberry beds and well tilled gardens, 
 formed the outward appearance of Modern Times. The 
 occupants were honest, industrious and had learned to 
 mind their own business, while readily cooperating with 
 
240 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 their neighbors for mutual advantage. They were free 
 from sectarian dissensions, law courts, jails, rum shops, 
 prostitutes and crime. No one acquired wealth save by 
 his own industry. Long afterwards the people who lived 
 there during the years that the principles of Equity were 
 the only law amongst citizens, looked back with regret 
 mingled with pleasure on those pioneer days of effort to 
 achieve a higher social ideal. 
 
 It should be remembered that the equity villages did 
 not fail in the sense that New Harmony, Brook Farm and 
 numerous other similar experiments failed. The Modern 
 Timers had no trouble over property or forms of govern- 
 ment. Each owned his house and land, and by mutual 
 understanding political or civic authority was dispensed 
 with. None felt responsible for the failure of his neigh- 
 bors, and only aggressive or invasive action was resented 
 by combined action. The panic of 1857, which in New 
 York City alone threw upwards of twenty thousand people 
 suddenly out of work, shattered a manufacturing enter- 
 prise that had been successfully begun in Modern Times. 
 Before the effects of the ensuing industrial depression had 
 cleared away, the country was in the throes of civil war, 
 and all hope of success was for the time dissipated. 
 
 In July, 1854, while living at Modem Times, Warren 
 began the publication of his "Periodical Letters," a record 
 of the movement and further exposition of the principles, 
 which were issued with more or less regularity until the 
 end of 1858. He spent the winter of 1855-56 visiting his 
 old friends in Ohio and Indiana. After 1860 he returned 
 no more to the Long Island village. 
 
 The reformer's activity declined with advancing age. 
 Several years were spent quietly at Cliftondale, near Bos- 
 ton, and in 1873 he went to reside with his friends, the 
 Heywoods, in their home at Princeton, Mass. Here he 
 wrote and printed his last production. Part III., of the 
 "True Civilization" series, giving "practical applications" 
 and the "facts and conclusions of forty-seven years study 
 and experiments in reform movements through commun- 
 ism to elementary principles found in a direction opposite 
 to and away from communism, but leading directly to all 
 the harmonic results aimed at by communism. "Equitable 
 Commerce," his first book, containing practically all his 
 
Josiah Warren. 241 
 
 views, was first published in 1846, and was several times 
 reprinted. 
 
 The last months of Warren's life were passed in Boston 
 at the house of his early friend Edward H. Linton, where 
 he was cared for in his last illness by kindly hands. Kate 
 Metcalf, one of the pioneers of Modern Times, nursed him 
 to the end, which came on April fourteenth, 1874. 
 
RICHARD OWEN. 
 
Robert Owen 's Later Life 
 
 "He originated and organized infant schools. He secured a 
 reduction of the hours of labor for women and children in fac- 
 tories. He was a liberal supporter of the earlier efforts to obtain 
 national education. He labored to promote international arbitra- 
 tion. He was one of the foremost Englishmen who taught men to 
 aspire to a higher social state by reconciling the interests of 
 capital and labor. He spent his life and a large fortune in seek- 
 ing to improve his fellowmen by giving them education, self reli- 
 ance and moral worth. His life was sanctified by human affection 
 and lofty effort."— Inscription on monument to Robert Owen in, 
 Kensal Green cemetery. 
 
 In the autumn of 1827 Eobert Owen arrived again in 
 England. Through negotiations with the minister from 
 Mexico to the Court of St. James, he projected a plan 
 for communistic colonization in the provinces of Texas 
 and Coahuila. Immense tracts of land in these provinces 
 were to he set apart for Mr. Owen's use, though remaining 
 under Mexican control, and here he was to be given an 
 opportunity to establish a vast communistic common- 
 wealth, colonized from all quarters of the globe. Mr. 
 Owen went to Mexico in order to complete these plans, 
 but the negotiations came to an end when he discovered 
 that the degree of religious toleration he demanded would 
 not be granted. In the spring of 1829 he was again at 
 New Harmony, and in April of that year he met Alexander 
 Campbell in a famous debate on religious questions. The 
 discussion was held at Cincinnati, and lasted several days 
 before immense audiences. 
 
 From Cincinnati he journeyed to Washington, where he 
 interested himself in bringing about a better feeling be- 
 tween the United States and Great Britain. As he became 
 intimately associated with President Jackson and Secretary 
 of State Van Buren, his labors were not without effect. 
 The same year he returned to England and began the cam- 
 paign in behalf of cooperation which he continued to the 
 end of his life. His systems of "labor exchange" and 
 "equitable commerce" attracted wide attention, and have 
 developed into the great labor cooperative system of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Eobert Owen frequently crossed the Atlantic to visit 
 
Robert Owen 's Later Life 
 
 "He originated and organized infant schools. He secured a 
 reduction of the hours of labor for women and children in fac- 
 tories. He was a liberal supporter of the earlier efforts to obtain 
 national education. He labored to promote international arbitra- 
 tion. He was one of the foremost Englishmen who taught men to 
 aspire to a higher social state by reconciling the interests of 
 capital and labor. He spent his life and a large fortune in seek- 
 ing to improve his fellowmen by giving them education, self reli- 
 ance and moral worth. His life was sanctified by human affection, 
 and lofty effort."— Inscription on monument to Robert Owen in 
 Kensal Green cemetery. 
 
 In the autumii of 1827 Eobert Owen axrived again in 
 England. Through negotiations with the minister from 
 Mexico to the Court of St. James, he projected a plan 
 for communistic colonization in the provinces of Texas 
 and Coahuila. Immense tracts of land in these provinces 
 were to he set apart for Mr. Owen's use, though remaining 
 under Mexican control, and here he was to be given an 
 opportunity to establish a vast communistic common- 
 wealth, colonized from all quarters of the globe. Mr. 
 Owen went to Mexico in order to complete these plans, 
 but the negotiations came to an end when he discovered 
 that the degree of religious toleration he demanded would 
 not be granted. In the spring of 1829 he was again at 
 New Harmony, and in April of that year he met Alexander 
 Campbell in a famous debate on religious questions. The 
 discussion was held at Cincinnati, and lasted several days 
 before immense audiences. 
 
 From Cincinnati he journeyed to "Washington, where he' 
 interested himself in bringing about a better feeling be- 
 tween the United States and Great Britain. As he became 
 intimately associated with President Jackson and Secretary 
 of State Van Buren, his labors were not without effect. 
 The same year he returned to England and began the cam- 
 paign in behalf of cooperation which he continued to the 
 end of his life. His systems of "labor exchange" and 
 "equitable commerce" attracted wide attention, and have 
 developed into the great labor cooperative system of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Robert Owen frequently crossed the Atlantic to visit 
 
246 Tie New Harmony Communities. 
 
 his sons and daughter in America, and to urge his plans 
 on this side of the ocean. As late as 1844, while Fourier- 
 ism was planting its phalansteries in America, he arriyed 
 in New York and published an address to the people of 
 America, declaring that he had come "to effect in peace 
 the greatest revolution ever yet made in human society." 
 He called a world's convention to consider reform move- 
 ments, in 1845, but this was a failure. Adin Ballou, as 
 quoted by Noyes, said of him at this time: 
 
 "Eobert Owen is a remarkable character. In years, 
 nearly seventy-five; in knowledge and experience, super- 
 abundant; in benevolence of heart, transcendental; in hon- 
 esty, without disguise; in philanthropy, unlimited; in 
 religion, a skeptic; in theology, a Pantheist; in meta- 
 physics, a necessarian circumstantialist; in morals, a uni- 
 versal executionist; in general conduct, a philosophic non- 
 resistant; in socialism, a communist; in hope, a terrestrial 
 elysianist; in practical business, a methodist; in deport- 
 ment, an unequivocal gentleman. * * * ]M[r_ Owen 
 has vast schemes to develop, and vast hopes of speedy 
 success in establishing a great model of the new social 
 state, which will quite instantaneously, as he thinks, bring 
 the human race into a terrestrial paradise. He insists on 
 obtaining a million of dollars to be expended in lands, 
 buildings, machinery, conveniences and beautifications, for 
 his model community. He flatters himself he shall be able, 
 by some means, to induce capitalists, or perhaps congress, 
 to furnish the capital for this object. We were frankly 
 obliged to shake an incredulous head and tell him how 
 groundless, in our judgment, such splendid anticipations 
 must prove. He took it in good part, and declared his con- 
 fidence unshaken, and his hopes undiscourageable by any 
 man's unbelief." 
 
 Eobert Owen spent the following winter in New Har- 
 mony. In June, 1846, he addressed the Constitutional 
 Convention of the State of New York on "Human Eights 
 and Progress." 
 
 "Six times," says Noyes, "after he was fifty years old, 
 and twice after he was seventy, he crossed the Atlantic and 
 back in the service of communism. Let us not say that all 
 this wonderful activity was useless. Let us not call this 
 man a driveler and a monomaniac. Let us rather 
 acknowledge that he was receiving and distributing an 
 
Robert Owen's Later Life. 24t 
 
 inspiration unknown even to himself, that had a sure aim, 
 and that it is at this moment conquering the world. His 
 halhicination was not in his expectations, but in his ideas 
 of time and methods." 
 
 Ealph Waldo Emerson makes some interesting allusions 
 to Robert Owen as he appeared to him in 1845. "Robert 
 Owen of New Lanark," he says, "came hither from England 
 in 1845 to read lectures or hold conversations wherever he 
 could find listeners — the most amiable, sanguine and can- 
 did of men. He had not the least doubt that he had hit 
 on the plan of right and perfect socialism, or that man- 
 kind would adopt it. He was then seventy years old, and 
 being asked, 'Well, Mr. Owen, who is your disciple? how 
 many men are there possessed of your views who will re- 
 main after you are gone to put them in practice?' 'Not 
 one,' was the reply. Robert Owen knew Fourier in his 
 old age. He said that Fourier learned of him all the truth 
 that he had. The rest of his system was imagination, and 
 the imagination of a visionary. Owen made the best im- 
 pression by his rare benevolence. His love of men made us 
 forget his 'three errors.' His charitable construction of 
 men and their actions was invariable. He was the better 
 Christian in his controversies with Christians. 
 
 "And truly I honor the generous ideas of the socialists, 
 the magnificence of their theories, and the enthusiasm 
 with which they have been urged. They appeared inspired 
 men of their time. Mr. Owen preached his doctrine of 
 labor and reward with the fidelity and devotion of a saint 
 in the slow ears of his generation. 
 
 "One feels that these philosophers have skipped no fact 
 but one, namely, life. They treat man as a plastic thing, 
 or something that may be put up or down, ripened or 
 retarded, moulded, polished, made into solid or fluid or gas 
 at the will of the leader; or perhaps as a vegetable, from 
 which, though now a very poor crab, a very good peach can 
 by manure and exposure be in time produced — and skip 
 the faculty of life which spawns and spurns systems and 
 system makers; which eludes all conditions; which makes 
 or supplants a thousand Phalanxes and New Harmonies 
 with each pulsation. 
 
 "It would be better to say, let us be lovers and servants 
 of that which is just, and straightway every man becomes 
 the center of a holy and beneficent republic which he sees 
 
248 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 to include all men in its laws, like that of Plato and of 
 
 Christ. 
 
 "Yet, in a day of small, sour and fierce schemes, one is 
 admonished and cheered by a project of such friendly aims, 
 and of such bold and generous proportions; there is an 
 intellectual courage and strength in it which is superior 
 and commanding; it certifies the presence of so much truth 
 in the theory, and in so far is destined to be fact. 
 
 "I regard these philanthropists as themselves the effects 
 of the age in which they live, in common with so many 
 other good facts the efflorescence of the period and pre- 
 dicting the good fruit that ripens. They were not the 
 creators that they believed themselves to be; but they were 
 unconscious prophets of the true state of society, one which 
 the tendencies of nature lead unto, one which always estab- 
 lishes itself for the sane soul, though not in that manner 
 in which they paint it." 
 
 In his later years Mr. Owen came to recognize a truth 
 which he had overlooked in all his schemes for social re- 
 generation — ^the controlling influence of the spiritual na- 
 'ture. As he himself confessed, while he had provided for 
 "Ihe physical, the intellectual and the moral needs of man, 
 he had overlooked the spiritual. "Yet, this, as he now 
 saw," says Sargent, "was the most important of all in the 
 future development of mankind. * * * Owen says 
 that in looking back over his past life, he can trace the 
 finger of God directing his steps, preserving his life under 
 imminent dangers, and impelling him onward on many 
 occasions." 
 
 "For the last ten years of his life," says Lloyd Jones, 
 "the proceedings of Kobert Owen had ceased to be dis- 
 cussed in the newspapers and on the platform. It need 
 not be concluded from this, however, that he was entirely 
 inactive. He republished a considerable portion of his 
 earlier writings, among other things his plans for dealing 
 with the wretched condition of Ireland. He restated his 
 vievv's on national education, maintaining that 'the great 
 want of the world was a good training from birth, and 
 a sound, practical education for all, based on true prin- 
 ciples.' He drew up proposals for a treaty of federation 
 between Great Britain and the United States of North 
 America — the gist of which is that Great Britain and 
 America should declare their interests to be the same; 
 
Robert Owen's Later Life. 249 
 
 should agree to a federative union to which all other 
 nations should be admitted, and recognize it as a duty to 
 terminate war and live in the abundance of a peaceful 
 industry and friendly exchange." Thus Eobert Owen 
 anticipated by fifty years propositions which have in 
 recent years been made for treaties of arbitration and of 
 alliance between the United States and Great Britain. 
 
 As late as 1857, while in his eighty-sixth year, Mr. Owen 
 attended a meeting of the Social Science Association at 
 Birmingham, and read a paper on "The Human Race Gov- 
 erned Without Punishment." Attempting to read a paper 
 at the meeting of the association at Liverpool the follow- 
 ing year, he broke down and was carried from the plat- 
 form. He was taken to his native town of Newton, where 
 he secured accommodations in the house next to the place 
 where he was bom. Eobert Dale Owen was summoned 
 from Naples, where he was charge d'affaires for the United 
 States, and, holding the hand of his eldest son, the great 
 philanthropist breathed his last. His last words were 
 "Eelief has come." 
 
 "The agitation of Owen," writes his friend and follower, 
 Lloyd Jones, "was unsuccessful in its immediate results, 
 but though the immediate consummation of our hopes 
 be denied, it is for us to work on as wisely and as faithfully 
 as we can, trusting the fulfillment will come, perhaps in 
 a better way and at a time more suitable than he could 
 appoint. For everything done by Eobert Owen and his 
 friends in founding cooperative villages and workshops, 
 there is ample recompense in the present success of the 
 cooperative idea. I think it constitutes an especial claim 
 on our gratitude that Owen brought into practical activity 
 for the public good the energies of the humblest and the 
 poorest, to augment the vast popular power by which the 
 present cooperative movement is maintained. It is only 
 since Owen's influence has been felt that it can truly be 
 said the masses of the people have been brought collec- 
 tively into action for the promotion of objects which have 
 been attended by results that are likely to be permanent; 
 because, while they secure general advantages, they confer 
 a general discipline and strength. The cooperative move- 
 ment is rapidly becoming a national movement, sustained 
 by the development and activity of an ever increasing 
 popular knowledge. * * * In every effort he made 
 
250 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 for the benefit of society, his aims were honest, his in- 
 dustry unimpeachable, his generosity unbounded, his sac- 
 rifices great and unhesitatingly incurred. He labored for 
 the people; he died working for them, and his last thought 
 was for their welfare." 
 
Seed in Fertile Gzound. 
 
 Although Owen failed to make his community successful, his 
 opinions spread far and wide. The courts of law, the halls of 
 legislation, and the family government have been modified and 
 influenced by the opinions taught by Mr. Owen in the early days 
 of New Harmony, and afterwards promulgated by his son, Robert 
 Dale Owen." — George Flower. 
 
 When Eobert Owen's splendid social bark went to wreck 
 upon the rocks and shoals of human nature at New Har- 
 mony, the company of genius which in part composed its 
 crew, was left stranded on what then seemed a desert 
 island in the illimitable wilderness. But that little center 
 of progressive thought and philanthropic spirit became a 
 lighthouse destined to diffuse its giiiding rays far beyond 
 the limits of the frontier state of which it was a part. 
 Through "William Maelure New Harmony was to give a 
 vast impetus to popular education, particularly through- 
 out the West; through David Dale Owen and his coadjutors 
 it was to accelerate the development of American science; 
 through Frances Wright it was to fix its indelible impress 
 upon American pop\ilar sentiment; through Eobert Dale 
 Owen it was to become a potent factor in American insti- 
 tutional development; through Josiah Warren it was to 
 affect the trend of economic thought, and through Eobert 
 Owen, his views modified in the great school of experience 
 he had set up at New Harmony, it was to exert an influence 
 in fixing the tendencies of the cooperative movement in 
 England and the United States. 
 
 William Maelure remained in New Harmony after the 
 collapse of the Educational Society and continued his edu- 
 cational experiments. In 1837 he published an announce- 
 ment of "Maclure's Seminary," stating: "Young men 
 and women are received without any expense to them, 
 either for teaching, or food, lodging and clothing. Hours, 
 from five in the morning until eight in the evening, di- 
 vided as follows: The scholars rise at five; at half past five 
 each goes to his occupation; at seven the bell rings for 
 

 
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252 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 breakfast: at eight they return to work; at eleven their les- 
 sons begin, continuing until half past two, including half 
 an hour for luncheon; then they return to their occupation 
 until five, when a bell calls them to dinner. Afterwards 
 until half past six they exercise themselves in various ways; 
 then the evening lessons begin, and last until eight. The 
 basis of the institution is that the scholars repay their 
 expenses from the proceeds of their seven hours labor, 
 but to effect this will require several years more." On 
 May twenty-seventh, 1827, Mr. Maclure announced "The 
 Orphan's Manual Training School." The Manual Train- 
 ing School had its laboratory in a separate building 
 equipped "with such requisites as are necessary for an 
 experimental coiirse of lectures in chemistry. In another 
 building is a small room lately fitted up for containing the 
 philosophic apparatus, for which it is well adapted. The 
 other room of this building has been used for some time as 
 the drawing school, but it is to be converted into a 
 museum, in which all the natural productions of Harmony 
 and the surrounding country will be accumulated, as well 
 as the collection made by Mr. Maclure during his travels 
 through Europe and America." Mr. Maclure also founded 
 what he called "the school of industry," which had for 
 its principal motto, "Utility shall be the scale on which 
 we shall endeavor to measure the value of everything." 
 Under the auspices of this organization Mr. Maclure estab- 
 lished, on January sixteenth, 1828, the ISTew Harmony 
 Disseminator, "containing hints to the youth of the 
 United States ; edited, printed and published by the pupils 
 of the school of industry." This was an octavo semi- 
 monthly, changed in July, 1836, to folio form. When 
 the school of industry was abandoned Mr. Maclure became 
 editor and publisher, changing its motto from "Ignorance 
 is the fruitful cause of human misery," to "We ought not, 
 like the spider, to spin a web from our own reasons, but, 
 like the bee, visit every store, and choose the most useful 
 and the best." Dr. J. Schnack, one of the most intelligent 
 and authoritative commentors on New Harmony, says of 
 the periodical: "The editorials were of the highest and 
 purest type, and were contributed, principally, by Mr. W. 
 Maclure and Eobert Dale Owen. The contributions and 
 selections were by the foremost scientists, philosophers 
 and authors of those days, and touched upon all depart- 
 

 
 
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Seed In Fertile Ground. 255 
 
 ments of knowledge, especially political economy, philos- 
 ophy and science, and the abolition of slavery. Among the 
 articles of especial interest in natural science were those of 
 Mr. Thomas Say, entitled: 'Descriptions of Some New 
 Terrestrial and Fluyatile Shells of North America, July 
 twenty-ninth to November eighteenth, 1839.' Mr. Maclure 
 contributed an extensive series of articles on political 
 science, in which he advocated many reforms in political 
 economy which have since been adopted." 
 
 One of the organizations founded under the patronage of 
 Mr. Maclure was "The Society for Mutual Instruction," 
 which occupied Building No. 2. "At present," says the 
 Disseminator, "the large room from front to rear is occu- 
 pied by the society as a lecture room. The society has 
 fitted this apartment up with considerable taste, and 
 lighted it with gas manufactured from impure fat, or lard. 
 This gas is the discovery of members of the society. The 
 organization is composed of a number of persons, prin- 
 cipally operatives, who reside in Harmony. It is a me- 
 chanics' institution; it differs only in name — its objects 
 and means being exactly the same as the mechanics' insti- 
 tutions in this coimtry and Europe, namely, to communi- 
 cate a general knowledge of the arts and sciences to those 
 persons who hitherto have been excluded from a scien- 
 tific or general education, by the erroneous and narrow- 
 minded policy of colleges and public schools, which have 
 invariably endeavored to confine learning to the few rich, 
 so that they might tyrannize over the uneducated many. 
 The society is to move later to the hall. It is Mr. 
 Maclure's intention to convert Number 2 into a factory, 
 wherein the junior pupils of the establishment will be 
 employed. In this way it is proposed that the pupils 
 should manufacture the materials for their own clothing 
 from the produce of the farms." This factory was never 
 established, the practical work of the institution being 
 confined to the industrial school in the east end of the 
 old Eappite church. This was called the Mechanics' 
 Atheneum, a description of which appears in the Dis- 
 seminator of March twenty-sixth, 1828. "This is a frame 
 building about seventy-five feet in length, fifty feet wide 
 and thirty feet high, situated a short distance from the 
 hall. It has two stories, the lower one contains a set 
 of workshops, furnished with benches, tools and other 
 
256 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 requisites for instructing the pupils of the school of in- 
 dustry in the useful arts of carpentry, tinplate working, 
 turning, shoemaking and cabinet making; the second story 
 is intended to be fitted up, with all convenient dispatch, 
 for a variety of other trades, so that in process of time 
 every facility will be offered for obtaining a practical 
 knowledge of all useful arts and manufactures. A square 
 tower is attached to the east end, with a belfry, containing 
 two bells and a clock which strikes the hours and quarter 
 hours." Early in the history of the New Harmony experi- 
 ments Mr. Maclure announced an intention of founding an 
 agricultural college, but he went no further with this pro- 
 ject than to teach the pupils in his various schools the 
 best methods of doing various kinds of farm work. In 
 July, 1828, E. L. Jennings, originally associated with Mr. 
 Maclure, organized a separate Pestalozzian school, which 
 he called "The Institution of Practical Education." 
 
 In 1838 Mr. Maclure went to Mexico to recuperate his 
 failing health, leaving his financial and educational inter- 
 ests under the management of Thomas Say. The state 
 of his health finally compelled him to take up his perma- 
 nent residence in Mexico. Through Mr. Achilles E. 
 Eretageot, son of Madame Fretageot, he wrote a letter on 
 September second, 1837, conveying property which re- 
 sulted in the establishment of the workingmen's institute 
 and library in April, 1838, which has continued to this 
 day under such excellent management that New Harmony 
 has perhaps a larger and more valuable library than any 
 community of its size in the coimtry, having on its shelves 
 at this time fifteen thousand volumes. Among other 
 benefactions to this library have been those of William 
 Michaux, who gave his library and one thousand dollars, 
 the interest of which is annually to be expended "in the 
 purchase of books treating on science and facts," and of 
 Alexander Burns, who left one thousand dollars for the 
 benefit of the library. The library remained in the New 
 Harmony Hall until 1894, when, by the notable generosity 
 of Dr. Edward Murphy, who came as a boy to New Har- 
 mony during community days, the handsome structure in 
 which it is now housed, was erected. In this building is also 
 an art gallery, filled with pictures brought from European 
 art centers by Dr. Murphy. The library is especially rich 
 in rare books of the earlier years of the century, and of 
 

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Seed In Fertile Ground. 259 
 
 works bearing on the history of the community period 
 which have been collected with praiseworthy care by the 
 present secretary of the Workingmen's Institute, Mr. 
 Arthur Dransfield, a grandson of Mr. Samuel Dransfield, 
 who had charge of the vineyards during the community 
 period. 
 
 Mr. Maclure's intention was to return to New Harmony 
 and make it his home, but he died at San Angel, near 
 the City of Mexico, in his seventy-eighth year, on March 
 twenty-third, 1840. Sis years before his trusted agent 
 at New Harmony, Thomas Say, had died, and had been 
 buried in a vault built by Mr. A. Maclure in the yard of 
 his old home. A marble monument had been erected to 
 Mr. Say, bearing the following beautiful inscription: 
 
 "Votary of Nature, even from a child, 
 He sought her presence in the trackless wild. 
 To him the shell, the insect and the flower 
 Were bright and cherished emblems of her bower. 
 In her he saw a spirit all divine. 
 And worshipped like a pilgrim at her shrine. 
 
 The vault also contains the bodies of Alexander Maclure, 
 Annie and Margaret Maclure, brother and sisters of 
 William Maclure. 
 
 "William Maclure's most important benefaction was a 
 provision in his will for a donation of five hundred dol- 
 lars wherever an association of workingmen should be 
 formed for the purpose of mental improvement and mutual 
 instruction. Under this provision eighty thousand dollars 
 was distributed. One hundred and sixty libraries were 
 endowed or supplied by this fund throughout the West, 
 at a time when there were few private and no public 
 libraries. It is impossible to overestimate the impetus 
 which this wise benefaction gave to intellectual develop- 
 ment in every one of the one hundred and sixty communi- 
 ties which enjoyed the benefits of Mr. Maclure's liber- 
 ality. 
 
 The residence in New Harmony of William Maclure, 
 Gerard Troost, Thomas Say, Charles A. Lesueur and the 
 younger Owens, made it the rendezvous of scientists for 
 many years. Prince Maximilian von Neuweid with his 
 corps of scientific explorers, spent the winter of 1832 at 
 
260 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 N"ew Harmony, making a careful study of local natural his- 
 tory in company with Say and Lesueur. Prince Maxi- 
 milian was one of the most indefatigable scientific ex- 
 plorers of the first half of this century. He left the Prus- 
 sian army after attaining the rank of general, and set out 
 on an expedition through the interior of Brazil, studying 
 especially the natural history, geology and ethnology of 
 that region. He published the results of this expedition 
 in several volumes. In 1832-34 he traveled in the United 
 States "under the title of Baron Braunberg, accompanied 
 by his artist Bodmer and his taxidermist Dreidoppel." 
 After visiting the larger Eastern cities, he embarked from 
 Pittsburg for New Harmony on October ninth, 1832. He 
 arrived at New Harmony on October nineteenth. In the 
 following spring he descended the Wabash and Ohio rivers 
 to Cairo by steamboat, thence ascending the Mississippi 
 to the movith of the Missouri and the Missouri to the 
 Eoeky Mountain region. In May and June, 1833, he was 
 again at New Harmony. Early in June, 1834, accom- 
 panied by C. A. Lesueur, he went by wagon from New 
 Harmony through Owensville, Princeton, Vincennes, 
 ''thence eastward very near the route now followed by the 
 •B. and 0. S. W. Ey. across Indiana; thence northward to 
 Lake Erie; thence eastward via Niagara Falls to Boston." 
 His observations during his American Journeys were em- 
 bodied in two large volumes, entitled "Reise Durch Nord 
 Ameriha," published at Coblentz, 1838-43 — "one quarto 
 volume of texts and illustrations and another folio volume 
 of maps and texts." "An English version of this text was 
 published in 1843," says Dr. Schnack, "but the transla- 
 tion is a very free one, and therefore' not accurate or avail- 
 able for scientific purposes. His journal contains many 
 valuable observations, in almost all departments of 
 physical and natural science, being especially interesting 
 on birds, reptiles and flowers, not omitting the geology 
 and the habits and manners of the natives. 'The Maxi- 
 milian Collection of Birds' is in the possession of the 
 American museum of natural history, in New York City, 
 and is regarded as a valuable collection. In his journal 
 he gives a list of fifty-eight trees and mentions a large 
 number of shrubs he had observed in the vicinity of New 
 Harmony." 
 
 In June, 1839, Dr. David Dale Owen, who, since the 
 
D. D. O^VEN. 
 
Seed In Fertile Ground. 263 
 
 close of the eomnmnity experiments, had retmned to 
 Europe in order to pursue his studies in geology, in 1835 
 had taken a medical degree from the Ohio Medical College, 
 and in 1837 had been commissioned to make a preliminary 
 geological survey of Indiana, was appointed United States 
 geologist. His headquarters were established at New 
 Harmony, and he was given instructions to make a survey 
 of the Northwest, including what is now Minnesota, Wis- 
 consin, Iowa and the northern part of Illinois, with a view 
 to locating mineral lands preliminary to the sale of the 
 public domain. This great work was completed in two 
 months. Dr. Schnack thus describes Dr. Owen's interest- 
 ing method of work: "A large number of men, many of 
 them eminent scientists, were employed. The entire corps 
 was divided into two companies, each having an intelligent 
 head to look after the work; and to each company was 
 allotted a district, in which every section was to be visited 
 and samples of the rock, etc., collected. 
 
 "At stated points Dr. Owen would meet each camp and 
 study the work accomplished. The country was almost 
 without settlements, and each camp had to be supplied 
 with hunters, whose duty it was to furnish game for sub- 
 sistence. In looking over Dr. Owen's report, one cannot 
 fail to appreciate the skill and fidelity with which this 
 great geologist performed this extensive survey, under 
 immense difficulties and in such a short time. He carried 
 with him, on the trip up the Mississippi river, supplies 
 of the most important rocks, minerals and re-agents. 
 These were exposed on a table in the cabin of the steam- 
 boat, and he would daily give his men instruction in 
 geology and point out the characteristic rocks of the lead- 
 ing formations, and the minerals likely to be found in 
 them." 
 
 In this way, by the time they reached the place to disem- 
 bark, they had been made acquainted with the first prin- 
 ciples of geology. "In after years," continues Dr. 
 Schnack, "this region was more systematically surveyed 
 by Dr. Owen. The headquarters "of the United States 
 Geological Survey continued at New Harmony up to 1856, 
 when, at the completion of the Smithsonian institute 
 building at Washington, they were conveyed to that build- 
 ing. A part of the immense collection was taken to Wash- 
 ington, another to the Indiana state university at Bloom- 
 
264 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 ington, and a third to the American museum of natural 
 history in Central Park, New York. In passing through 
 the first and last of these institutions, I have been sur- 
 prised to find such a large proportion of the specimens 
 in all departments, labeled as coming from the New Har- 
 mony collection." 
 
 When New Harmony became the headquarters of the 
 United States geological survey the old granary-fortress 
 of the Harmonists, which had been equipped with gratings 
 and loopholes by the Eappites for protection against 
 marauders, was turned into a museum. In this were stored 
 not only the specimens collected by surveying parties, but 
 the collections made by Thomas Say in the surrounding 
 states, and by William Maclure in Spain, Portugal, Italy, 
 France, Mexico and the West Indies. Over the old desk at 
 New Harmony hall lectures on chemistry, geology and 
 biology were delivered by the leading scientists of the 
 country and the foreign travelers attracted to New Har- 
 mony by its international reputation as a scientific center. 
 
 One of Dr. Owen's most valuable assistants in the prose- 
 cution of the geological surveys undertaken from New 
 Harmony was Eichard Owen, who was a young man of 
 eighteen, "fresh from the schools of Europe," at the con- 
 clusion of the community period. Another was the co- 
 worker of Thomas Say, Charles A. Lesueur, who lived 
 in New Harmony many years, exploring the mounds of 
 southern Indiana, writing voluminously on the fishes and 
 mollusks of the West, and "making his living largely with 
 his pencil in painting and making sketches." Lesueur 
 finally returned to France and spent the last years of his 
 life as curator of the museum at Havre. John Chappel- 
 smith, "a wealthy Englishman, an artist and engraver," 
 drew many of the cuts of fossils for the geological re- 
 ports, and made meteorological observations for a number 
 of years. Mrs. Chappelsmith was an enthusiastic student 
 of entomology, and had some reputation as a lecturer. 
 
 James Sampson, who came to New Harmony in 1828, 
 was another scientific student of the David Owen regime. 
 "After making in the dry-goods business a sufficient in- 
 come," wrote Colonel Eichard Owen, "he devoted himself 
 to collecting objects of natural history, by hunting and 
 fishing as well as by exchange, until he had accumulated 
 
THE OLD FORT— PRE-SENT CONDITION. 
 Headquarters XJ. S. Geological Survey under David Dale O^wen. 
 
Seed In Fertile Ground. 26 r 
 
 quite an extensive collection, more especially of land and 
 fresh water shells and archasological specimens, his whole 
 residence being virtually a museum." 
 
 Alexander Maclure, brother of William Maclure, lived in 
 New Harmony many years, engaged in study and the 
 administration of his brother's affairs. He was especially 
 interested in social science. 
 
 Connected with the geological survey, to again quote 
 Dr. Schnack, were "Colonel Charles Whittlesy, the veteran 
 geologist; F. B. Meek, the eminent paleontologist, who de- 
 termined and sketched most of the fossil animals for the 
 reports of the Illinois geological survey; Leo Lesquereux, 
 the noted fossil botanist, who has described and sketched 
 more fossil plants of North America than all the rest of 
 the authors combined; * * * Dr. Elderhorst, author 
 of a standard work on the 'Blow Pipe,' and Dr. C. C. 
 Parrj', who served on Dr. Owen's geological survey of the 
 Northwest in 1848, and whose knowledge of the Western 
 flora was probably exceeded by none." Eobert Henry 
 Fauntleroy, of the United States coast survey, spent sev- 
 eral years at New Harmony, where he made some interest- 
 ing experiments in magnetic declination and intensity. 
 He married, in 1835, Miss Jane Dale Owen, Eobert Owen's 
 daughter. Samuel Bolton, an English chemist, lectured 
 frequently on his specialty in New Harmony, beginning as 
 early as 1828. Josiah Warren and Thomas Nuttall re- 
 published from the New Harmony press three volumes 
 of F. A. Michaux's "North American Sylva," the plates 
 for which were purchased in Paris by William Maclure. 
 
 It is interesting to note, as an evidence of New Har- 
 mony's preeminence as a scientific center, the number of 
 state geologists appointed from that place. David Dale 
 Owen occupied this position in Kentucky from 1854 
 to 1857, in Arkansas from 1857 to 1859, and in 1859 
 and 1860 was state geologist of Indiana, his service being 
 terminated by his death. He was succeeded in Indiana by 
 Eichard Owen, who later became colonel of an Indiana 
 infantry regiment during the civil war, and for fifteen 
 years, beginning in 1864, was professor of natural science 
 in the Indiana state university. Eichard Owen survived 
 all other members of the famous Owen second generation, 
 dying in his eighty-first year at New Harmony on March 
 twenty-fourth, 1890. Dr. Gerard Troost became a pro- 
 
268 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 fessor of chemistry and mineralogy in the Nashville uni- 
 versity, and was later state geologist of Tennessee. Major 
 Sidney Lyon superintended the geodetic and topographical 
 survey of Kentucky. Professor A. H. Worthen served as 
 state geologist of Illinois from 1858 until his death nearly 
 thirty years later, during which time he published seven 
 volumes of reports, "constituting probably the most com- 
 plete geological survey that has been made of any Western 
 state." Professor E. T. Cox, son of one of the Owenite 
 communists, was State Geologist of Indiana from 1868 to 
 1880. Dr. J. C. Korwood conducted an early state geo- 
 logical survey of Illinois. 
 
 Among the visitors to New Harmony while it was a 
 scientific Mecca were Audubon, the ornithologist, then a 
 storekeeper at Henderson, Kentucky, forty miles distant, 
 and Dr. George Engelman, who rode to the place on horse- 
 back from St. Louis in February, 1840, only to miss seeing 
 the coterie of scientists he had expected to meet there. 
 He chronicles as the only result of his trip the sight of a 
 "broad-fruited maple in bloom." 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, the eminent Scottish geologist, was 
 one of the last European scientific explorers who visited 
 New Harmony during its scientific golden age. On his 
 second tour of the United States in 1845-46, he came by 
 boat from New Orleans up the Mississippi and Ohio to 
 Mount Vernon, thence by stage to New Harmony. In 
 his notes he says: "We spent several days very agreeably 
 at New Harmon}', where we were most hospitably enter- 
 tained by Dr. and Mrs. David Dale Owen. * * * 
 Some large buildings, in the German style of architecture, 
 stand conspicuous, * * * the principal edifice being 
 now appropriated as a public museum, in which I found 
 a good geological collection, both fossils and minerals, 
 made during the state survey, and I was glad to learn that 
 by an act of the Indiana legislature, with a view of 
 encouraging science, this building is exempt from taxation. 
 Lectures on chemistry and geology are given here in the 
 winter. Many families of superior intelligence, English, 
 Swiss and German, have settled in the place, and there is 
 a marked simplicity in their manner of living which re- 
 minded us of Germany. They are very sociable, and there 
 were many private parties, where there was music and 
 <lancing, and a public assembly once a week, to one of 
 
iMiUi«jiiilili)' 
 
Seed In Fertile Ground. 271 
 
 wMch we went, where quadrilles and waltzes were danced, 
 the band consisting of amateur musicians. * * * 
 
 "We found also, among the residents, a brother of 
 William Maclure, the geologist, who placed his excellent 
 library and carriage at our disposal. He lends his books 
 freely among the citizens, and they are much read. We were 
 glad to hear many recent publications, some of the most ex- 
 pensively illustrated works, discussed and criticised in so- 
 ciety here. We were also charmed to meet with many chil- 
 dren, happy and merry, yet perfectly obedient; and once 
 more to see what, after the experience of the last two or 
 three months, struck us as a singular phenomenon in the 
 New World, a shy child. There is no church or place of pub- 
 lic worship in New Harmony, a peculiarity which we never 
 remarked in any town of half the size in the course of our 
 tour of the United States. Being here on week days only, 
 I had no opportunity of observing whether on Sunday 
 there were any meetings for social worship. I heard that 
 when the people of Evansville once reproached the citizens 
 of this place for having no churches, they observed that 
 they also had no shops for the sale of spirituous liquors, 
 which is still a characteristic of New Harmonv." 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen began his literary labors early in life. 
 His first production was a play called "Pocahontas," 
 which was performed at New Harmony by the Thespian 
 society. This society was formed in 1828, and con- 
 tinued as an organization for nearly fifty years, in this 
 time graduating a large number of young people to the 
 professional stage. The scenery for the plays produced 
 by this society was for many years painted by Charles A. 
 Lesueur. Following Frances Wright's lecturing tour in 
 1828, Eobert Dale Owen became associated with her in the 
 publication of the "Free Enquirer," which was removed 
 to New York City. In this journal these two brilliant 
 editorial writers advocated many of the advanced ideas 
 concerning education and economics which had been pro- 
 mulgated at New Harmony. One of the results of their 
 agitation was a political movement in the state of New 
 York organized by George H. and Frederick W. Evans, 
 two of their converts. As the result of the efforts of the 
 Evans brothers a workingmen's party was formed, de- 
 
272 The New Hannony Communities. 
 
 manding, among other things, "the abolition of chattel 
 slavery and wage slavery." In 1830 a convention was 
 held in Syracuse, and Ezekiel Williams was nominated for 
 governor. He received nearly three thousand votes, and 
 hy a fusion the party elected one member of the legisla- 
 ture. It was called the "Fanny Wright party" by its 
 opponents. The agitation extended to Massachusetts, and 
 numbered Edward Everett among its supporters. The 
 organization was finally merged into the "Locofoco" party, 
 and had no small influence in developing the anti-slavery 
 movement. All over the country organizations, composed 
 largely of workingmen, advocating the principles promul- 
 gated by the Free Enquirers were formed, marking the 
 first organized participation of workingmen in politics. 
 The movement was, however, soon overshadowed by the 
 great issues which divided the country into two hostile 
 camps, and ultimately were settled by the arbitrament of 
 war. 
 
 In 1835 Eobert Dale Owen entered Indiana politics as 
 a member of the state legislature. In 1836 he was nom- 
 inated as a Van Buren elector, and went upon the stump 
 in Indiana to become a political orator of wide renown, 
 his speeches being models of logic and free from the taint 
 of personal abuse. 
 
 In 1843 he was elected to congress, and was returned in 
 1845, but in 1847 was beaten. He impressed himself upon 
 the leaders of his party in congress as a man of unusual 
 strength, and his advanced views exercised a marked in- 
 fluence in determining the trend of democratic thought on 
 public questions. While in congress he originated and 
 introduced the bill providing for the application of the 
 neglected Smithson bequest to the founding of the Smith- 
 sonian institution. The Smithsonian building is said to 
 have been erected on plans based upon peculiar ideas of 
 architecture held by Eobert Dale Owen and his brother 
 David Dale Owen, who was United States geologist when 
 ihe structure was erected. Eobert Dale Owen became a 
 member of the board of regents of the Smithsonian, and 
 was influential in determining the nature of its future 
 work, concerning which there wa-s much discussion among 
 American scientists of that period. In 1849 Mr. Owen 
 was an unsuccessful candidate for senator against the 
 popular Governor Whitcomb. 
 
Seed In Fertile Ground. 273 
 
 Elected a member of the Indiana constitutional con- 
 vention in 1850, he entered upon the period of his greatest 
 usefulness, for at last there arrived the opportunity for 
 writing into law some of the advanced doctrines for which 
 his father stood, and which the younger Owen had 
 been eloquently and forcibly advocating during all the 
 years succeeding the collapse of the New Harmony com- 
 munities. In that body, as Mr. John HoUiday says, "he 
 was beyond all comparison the most laborious, fertile and 
 efficient member. The law reforms and the provisions 
 for woman's rights and free schools were especially his 
 work, and leave upon our statute books the ineffaceable 
 marks of his father's inculcations, modified and strength- 
 ened by his own talent and observation." This constitu- 
 tion directed the general assembly "to provide by law for 
 a general and uniform system of common schools, wherein 
 tuition shall be without charge and equally open to all." 
 Mr. Owen was also responsible for the law giving to the 
 Indiana common schools one-half of the surplus revenue 
 of the United States appropriated to the state of Indiana. 
 He endeavored in the constitutional convention to secure 
 the enactment of a clause giving married women full 
 control of their property, but failed in this; later, however, 
 a bill pressed by him in the state legislature to the same 
 effect, became a law. The provisions for greater freedom 
 of divorce which Mr. Owen brought about, led to an inter- 
 esting debate in the columns of the New York "Tribune" 
 between their author and Horace Greely, who roundly 
 denounced them as an attack upon the sanctity of mar- 
 riage. The departures from precedent which marked the 
 era of Eobert Dale Owen's activity in Indiana legislation, 
 excited wide discussion and comment, much of it unfavor- 
 able, but in succeeding years other states followed the 
 example of Indiana, not only in making the most gen- 
 erous provisions for free schools, but in emancipating 
 woman from legal bondage. In the formation of public 
 sentiment along these lines, Eobert Dale Owen was an 
 active agent. As writer and speaker, his genius was equal 
 to any attack upon the laws for which he stood sponsor, 
 and in the period of discussion which followed the adop- 
 tion of these advanced measures, he was the most con- 
 spicuous and brilliant figure. Commenting on the legis- 
 lation enacted through his influence, a contributor to the 
 
2t4 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 London "Times" said: "Indiana has attained the highest 
 civilization of any state in the Union." 
 
 In 1853 Mr. Owen was appointed, by President Pierce, 
 charge d'affaires at Naples, and at this post he remained 
 for nearly six years. During this period he followed his 
 father in becoming an advocate of spiritualism. "Prom 
 the first avowal of spiritualistic notions," to quote a bi- 
 ographer, "he led the numerous hosts of the new faith 
 with undisputed superiority. Into the work of propagat- 
 ing, defending and expurgating spiritualism he put the 
 remainder of his life. He attended spiritualistic conven- 
 tions all over the country, shaped the doctrines, explored 
 the phenomena and defended the honesty of his, the new 
 faith, and really converted it from a loose assemblage of 
 notions into a system and a religion. His works, 'Foot- 
 falls on the Boundary of Another World,' and 'The 
 Debatable Land Between This World and the ISText,' were 
 widely read and discussed, the first causing a literary sen- 
 sation." 
 
 At the beginning of the civil war Eobert Dale Owen 
 entered enthusiastically into the defense of the Union 
 cause. In southern Indiana, where sympathy for the 
 South ran high in some communities — leading, in one 
 case, to the formal secession of a township from the 
 Union — he was the most conspicuous and effective leader 
 of the Union cause. He was commissioned by Governor 
 Morton to purchase arms in Europe for the Indiana 
 troops, and performed his task with signal ability. From 
 the beginning of the war he was an ardent advocate of 
 the manumission of the slaves, as indeed he had been for 
 forty years before, but unlike many other abolitionists, he 
 was not disposed to increase President Lincoln's burden 
 by complaints concerning the seemingly slow progress 
 toward that great end. When emancipation seemed to 
 hang in the balance, however, he penned his remarkable 
 letter to President Lincoln, under date of September 
 seventeenth, 1862. Someone has described this master- 
 piece of Eobert Dale Owen's as "an ever enduring monu- 
 ment of dispassionate, well-reasoned, perfectly poised de- 
 ductions, at a very critical time in the life of a great 
 nation." To this day the reader of his eloquent appeal 
 finds himself stirred by the simple power of this great 
 paper. "Its perusal thrilled me like a trumpet call," 
 
robe:rt dale oaven. 
 
 September i8y5. 
 
Seed In Fertile Ground. 2tt 
 
 said President Lincoln. "It will be satisfaction to you to 
 know," wrote Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, 
 to Mr. Owen, "that your letter to the President had more 
 influence on him than any other document which reached 
 him on the subject, — ^I think I might say than all others 
 put together. I speak of that which I know from personal 
 conference with him." While it did not turn Abraham 
 Lincoln to a course upon which he had long been vaguely 
 determined, it strengthened him in his great purpose, 
 and precipitated the Preliminary Proclamation which was 
 issued five days after the receipt of Mr. Owen's letter. 
 
 Eobert Dale Owen died June twenty-fourth, 1877. For 
 a period before his death "his mind was deranged by over- 
 work — deranged, but not obscured — for during several 
 months residence in the hospital for the insane, his men- 
 tal powers were incessantly active and brilliant, though 
 touched by grotesque shapes. Happily he regained his 
 mental soundness, but did not long survive, dying at the 
 ripe age of seventy-three." 
 
 "What was said of him in one of the newspapers," said 
 Mr. John H. Holliday, in a paper written some years 
 ago, "seems to me to hold good still: 'In scholarship, 
 general attainments, varied achievements; as author, 
 statesman, politician and leader of a new religious faith, 
 he was unquestionably the most prominent man Indiana 
 ever owned. Others may fill now, or may have filled, a 
 larger place in public interest or curiosity for a time, but 
 no other Hoosier was ever so widely known, or so likely to 
 do the state credit by being known, and no other has ever 
 before held so prominent a place so long, with a history 
 so unspotted by selfishness, duplicity or injustice." 
 
 With the death of Robert Dale Owen, the last of the 
 great figures conspicuous in the New Harmony commun- 
 isms, passed away, but the great movements to which 
 they had given origin and direction still sweep onward in 
 an ever-widening current. 
 
dAppendix. 
 
 "The New Harmony Communities" was taken as a 
 research topic in 1893 by the author as a member of the 
 seminarium of political science at DePauw University, 
 and was followed during his senior college year under the 
 direction of Colonel James Eiley Weaver, Director of the 
 seminarium, whose helpful suggestions have contributed 
 materially to whatever success may have attended the 
 effort to complete a thorough study of the social experi- 
 ments at New Harmony. The initial work was done in 
 the library of the workingmen's institute at New Har- 
 mony during the summer of 1893, and a visit was made to 
 the same library in 1896. The secretary of the institute, 
 Mr. Arthur Dransfield, has for years been collecting with 
 commendable care all the material obtainable with refer- 
 ence to the history of the Eappite and Owenite experi- 
 ments, sparing neither trouble nor expense to make this 
 collection complete. He has cooperated with the writer in 
 his search for data, has made frequent corrections and 
 suggestions, and under Mr. Dransfield's supervision the 
 collection of photographs which form the basis for the 
 illustrations in this volume, was made. Considerable 
 work was done in the Indiana state library at Indian- 
 apolis, where valuable material was found and rendered 
 available through the courtesy of the former State 
 librarian. Miss N. E. Ahem, and the present librarian, 
 Mr. W. E. Henry. The paucity of material in the Library 
 of Congress at Washington served to emphasize the fact 
 that the story of the New Harmony experiments had 
 become a lost chapter in the history of American social 
 reform movements. Through the courtesy of the Librarian 
 of Congress, Mr. Herbert Putnam, and the librarian of 
 Yale university. Dr. A. VanName, the Macdonald manu- 
 script, which forms a part of the Yale collection, was 
 temporarily transferred tothe Libraryof Congressand used 
 under the supervision of the manuscript division. The 
 Macdonald manuscript is a history of the earlier commu- 
 nistic experiments in America, and the familiarity of 
 
280 he New Harmony Communities. 
 
 the author with the Owenite communities rendered this 
 material especially valuable. 
 
 In the New Harmony library, one of the most interest- 
 ing book collections in the country, the files of the New 
 Harmony G-azette, a weekly paper published throughout 
 the lifetime of the Owenite experiment as the organ of the 
 movement, was found the most prolific source of informa- 
 tion. The scrap books of Eiehard Owen and Mrs. Arthur 
 Dransfield, the letters and papers of Josiah Warren, the 
 community account books, and the letters, wills and deeds 
 of William Maelure, were also found in the New Harmony 
 library. From Dr. Aaron Williams' book on "The Har- 
 monists," the author has drawn liberally, this being the 
 only authoritative publication on the history of the 
 Eappites. Acknowledgments are due to Mr. John HoUi- 
 day, of Indianapolis, who placed at the disposal of the 
 writer data collected in a study of the New Harmony 
 communities some years ago. 
 
 The chapter on Josiah Warren, as shown by the foot- 
 note, is the production of Mr. William Bailie, of Boston, 
 who has through several years prosecuted a study of the 
 life-work of the founder of the philosophy of indi- 
 vidualism. 
 
 A list of the more important manuscript and book 
 sources is appended. No attempt has been made to cata- 
 logue the great mass of fragmentary material found in 
 magazines and newspaper articles: 
 
 The Harmonists, or The Harmony Society.— Aaron Williams, D. D., 
 1866. 
 
 History of American Socialisms.— John Humphrey Noyes, 1870. 
 
 History of New Harmony, Indiana: The Rappites.— Dr. J. Schnack 
 and Richard Owen.— Pamphlet, 1890. 
 
 Communistic Societies of the United States.— Charles Nordhoff, 1875. 
 
 Two Tears' Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie in 
 the IlUnois County, U. S.— John Woods, London, 1822. 
 
 Travels in North America.— Charles Lyell, F. R. S., 1845. 
 
 History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois.— 
 George Flower, 1882. 
 
 American Communities.— William Alfred Hines, 1878. 
 
 A Journey in America.— Morris Birkbeck, London, 1818. 
 
 Brief Sketch of New Harmony.— Library Catalogue of Working- 
 men's Institute, 1845. 
 
 Visit to New Harmony.— William Herbert, London, 1825. 
 
 Life of Robert Owen.— Lloyd Jones, 1890. 
 
 Socialism, By a Socialist.— Charles P. Somerby, 1879. 
 
 History of Co-operation.— George Jacob Holyoke, 1878. 
 
 Speech at New Harmony, April 27, 1825.— Robert Owen 
 
 Two Discourses on a New System of Society.— Delivered in the 
 Hall of the House of Representatives.— Robert Owen, Pitts- 
 burg, 1825. 
 
 Twenty-three Lectures on the Rational System of Society.— Deliv- 
 ered in Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly.— Robert Owen, London, 1841. 
 
Appendix. 281 
 
 Owen's Universal Revolution, With Supplement.— Robert Owen, 
 
 London, 1849. 
 Lectures on the New State of Society.— Robert Owen, London, 1842. 
 New Religion.— Lecture.— Robert Owen, London, 1830. 
 The Addresses of Robert Owen, as Published in the London Jour- 
 nal.— London, 1835. 
 The Report of the Committee of the Association for the Relief of 
 the Manufacturing and Laboring Poor to the Committee of the 
 House of Commons.— London, 1825. 
 New View of Society.— Lecture.— Robert Owen, London, 1842. 
 Social State of Man.— Robert Owen; London, 1842. 
 Manifesto of Robert Owen to Parliament.— London, 1840. 
 The Religious Creed of the New System.— Abram Combe, Edln- 
 
 burg, 1824. 
 The First Trumpet.— An address to the Disciples of Robert Owen. 
 
 — William Cameron, London, 1832. 
 Life and Last Days of Robert Owen.— George Jacob Holyoke, 1871. 
 The Town of New Harmony. — Proceedings of a Meeting of the 
 
 Inhabitants held April 13, 1842.— Tract. 
 Memoir of William Maclure. — Samuel Geo. Morton, D.D., 1844. 
 Communism and Socialism. — Theodore D. Woolsey, 1888. 
 The Co-operative Movement in England.- Beatrice Potter, 1891. 
 The Co-operative Commonwealth.— Laurence Gronlund, 1890. 
 Richard Owen's Scrap Book. 
 Letters and Papers of Josiah Warren. 
 New Harmony Community Account Books. 
 
 Journal (MSS.) Proceedings of Meetings of Workingmen's Insti- 
 tute. 
 Manuscript Copy of Community Dances.— Robert Fauntleroy. 
 Scrap Books of Mrs. A. Dransfield. 
 Letters, Wills and Deeds of William Maclure. 
 The New Harmony Gazette. Vol. I, II and III.— October 1, 1825, 
 
 to March 1, 1829. 
 The Disseminator. New Series, Vols. I and II. Published at New 
 
 Harmony, 1834-5. William Maclure, Editor. 
 The Free Enquirer. Vols. I- VI. inc. Published at Baltimore and 
 New York.- Frances Wright, Robert Dale Owen and Amos 
 Gilbert, Editors. 
 The Crisis. Vols. I and II, 1832-4, London.— Robert Owen and 
 
 Robert Dale Owen, Editors. 
 The Beacon. Vol. Ill, Old Series, 1838. Vol. I, New Series, 1839.— 
 G. Vale, Editor. , ^ , 
 
 The Disseminator. '"Containing Hints to the Youth of the United 
 States." Old Series. Edited, Printed and Published Semi- 
 Monthly by the Pupils of the School of Industry, New Har- 
 mony. First issue, January 16, 1828. 
 The Indiana Statesman. May 13, 1842, to March 14, 1|«.^^,^ ^ ,_ 
 The New Moral World. Vol. I to VII. London, 1834-40. Edited by 
 
 Robert Owen and Disciples. ,^ ^ ^ ,»»„ 
 
 The Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald. London, 1820. 
 Southwestern Sentinel. Vol. I, No. 1. Bvansville, Feb. 28, 1840. 
 Millenial Gazette, London. Robert Owen, Editor. 
 Practical Details of Equitable Commerce.- Josiah Warren. EvanB- 
 
 ville, 1835. _ 
 
 Equitable Commerce.— Josiah Warren, 1836. 
 
 Practical Application of the Elementary Principles of True Civ- 
 ilization.— Josiah Warren, 1873. 
 A Few Days in Athens.— Frances Wright. 
 Autobiography of Raflnesque.— Constantino Raflnesque. 
 A Brief History of Socialism in America.— Frederic Heath, 1900. 
 A History of the People of the United States, Vol. V.— John B. 
 
 McMaster 1900 
 Co-operative 'communities in the United States.— Rev. Alexander 
 Kent. Bulletin of the Department of Labor, 1901. 
 
 Maclure's Opinions, Vols. I, II and III. 
 
 Education. Joseph Neef.— Philadelphia, p08. , .^, . ,„„ 
 Neef's Method of Teaching.-Joseph Neef. Philadelphia, 1813. 
 American Conchology, or Description of the Shells of North Amer- 
 ica Illustrated by Colored Figures from Originals Drawings 
 Executed from Nature.-Thomas Say, F. M. L. S. lEngravings 
 
2S2 The New Harmony Communities. 
 
 drawn and colored by Mrs. Say and C. A. LeSueur. Engravings 
 by L. Lyon, C. Tiebout and I. Walker. 
 Course of Popular Lectures.— Frances Wright. 
 Campbell and Owen Debate. Cincinnati, 1829. 
 Reise Duroh Nord Amerika.— Alexander Philip Maximilian. Cob- 
 
 lentz, 1838, 1843. London, 1843. 
 Travels Through North America.— His Highness Bernhard, Duke 
 
 of Weimar, Saxe and Eisenach. Philadelphia, 1828. 
 Method of Science Teaching in the Colleges ajid Universities of 
 
 North America. — C. S. Rafinesque. 
 Self-Help a Hundred Tears Ago— History of Co-operation in Eng- 
 land.— George Jacob Holyoke. 
 A History of Socialism.- Thomas Kirkup. 1892. 
 Socialism, Utopian and Scientific. — Frederick Bngels. 1892. 
 Working Class Movement In America.— Edward and Eleanor Marx 
 
 Aveling. 1892. 
 Socialism in England.— Sidney Webb. 
 Robert Owen and His Social Philosophy.— Sargent. 
 The Manufacturing Population of England.— Keel. 
 Stories of Indiana. — Chapters on New Harmony and Rafinesque.— 
 
 Maurice Thompson. 
 History of American Education. — Richard Boone. 
 Pocahontas, A Drama. 
 Hints on Public Architecture. 1840. 
 Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World. 1859. 
 Wrongs of Slavery: The Rights of Emancipation. 1864. 
 Beyond the Breakers. 1870. 
 The Debatable Land Between This World and the Next. 
 
 1871. 
 Threading My Way, or Twenty-Seven Tears of Autobiog- 
 raphy. 1874. 
 
 —Robert Dale Owen. 
 United States Geological Reports. 1838-1859.— David Dale Owen. 
 Key to the Geology of the Globe.— Richard Owen. 
 American Entomology.— Thomas Say. 
 
 A.ccount of the Doctrines of Charles Fourier. — Parke Godwin. 
 Recent American Socialisms.- Richard T. Ely. 
 Essay on Robert Owen.— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 Science Sketches.— David Starr Jordan. Chapter on Rafinesque. 
 Comparative Socialism. Chapter II.— Woodrow Wilson. 
 Letters and Lectures of Robert Dale Owen.— Richard D. Owen. 
 Twelve Months in New Harmony.— Paul Brown. 1827. 
 
 END.