History of American SocialismsNoyes, John Humphrey
History
History of American Socialisms
Noyes, John Humphrey
Communism -- United States; Socialism -- United States
"The money, property and labor were put into common stock. Labor
was rated at fifty cents per day, no matter of what kind. A
store was kept on the premises, in which articles were sold at
prime cost, with an allowance for transportation, &c. By the
constitution the members were entitled to scrip representing the
excess of wages over the amount of goods received from the
store; or, in other words, laborers became stockholders in
proportion to that excess. No dividends were to be declared for
the first five years.
"The persons thus congregated to carry out the principles of
Association [number not stated], belonged to a variety of
occupations; but it appears that but few of them were adapted to
the wants of the Community. Some of the members were intelligent
and moral people; but the majority were very inferior. No
property qualifications were necessary to admission. It appears
that members were obtained by an agent, who took
indiscriminately all he could get. The most common religious
belief among them was Methodist; but a large proportion of them
did not profess any religion, and some were what is commonly
called infidels.
"Though the persons congregated here had left but humble homes
and poor circumstances generally, yet the circumstances now
surrounding them were worse than those they had left, and as a
natural consequence there was a deterioration of character. Not
having formed any organization in the city, as is customary in
such experiments, they received no aid from without; and the
want of this aid does not appear to have insured success, as
some enthusiastic Socialists have imagined that it would; but on
the contrary a most signal failure ensued.
"The leading persons were Mr. Moorhouse and a relative of his
named Brown. The former furnished every thing and turned it in
as stock. The latter kept the store and the accounts. The
members do not appear to have been acquainted with the mode in
which either the store or books were kept.
"At the commencement, when they were sufficiently supplied from
the store, they agreed tolerably well; but during the latter
period of the experiment, when Mr. Moorhouse began to be slack
in buying things for the members, there was a good deal of
disagreement. The store was nearly always empty, and when
anything was brought into it, there was a general scramble to
see who should get the most. This, as a matter of course,
produced much jealousy and quarreling. All kinds of suspicions
were afloat, and it was generally reported that the executive,
including the store-keeper, fared better than the rest.
"Some work was done, and some improvements were made upon the
land. Rye and potatoes were planted, and probably consumed. The
experiment existed a few months, and then by degrees died away."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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