History of American SocialismsNoyes, John Humphrey
History
History of American Socialisms
Noyes, John Humphrey
Communism -- United States; Socialism -- United States
"People kept coming and going, and were ready to do something;
but there was nobody to tell them what to do, and they did not
know what to do themselves. They had to eat, drink and sleep;
and they expected to obtain the means of doing so; but they
seemed not to reflect who was going to supply these means, or
where they were to come from. Some seemed greedy and reckless,
eating all the time, cutting melons out of the garden and from
among the corn, eating them and throwing the peels and seeds
about the foot-paths and door-ways.
"There was an abundance of fine corn on the domain, abundance of
melons of all kinds, and, I believe, plenty of apples at the
upper Community. Much provision had been brought and sent there
by farmers who had entered into the spirit of the cause. For
instance there were some wagon-loads of potatoes and apples
sent, as well as quantities of unbolted wheat meal, of which the
bread was made.
"On my asking about the idlers, the reply was, 'Oh! they will
not stop here long; it is uncongenial to lazy people to be among
industrious ones; and for their living, it don't cost much more
than fifty cents per week, and they can surely earn that.'
"At the Sunday meeting before mentioned, the enthusiasm of some
was great. One man said he left his home in Indiana; he had a
house there, which he thought at first to reserve in case of
accident; but he finally concluded that if he had any thing to
fall back upon, he could not give his heart and soul to the
cause as he wanted to; so he gave up every thing he possessed,
and put it into Community. Others did the same, while some had
reserved property to fall back upon. Some said they had lands
which they would put into the Community, if they could get rid
of them; but the times were so hard that there was much scarcity
of money, and the lands would not sell.
"From all I saw I judged that the Community was too loosely put
together, and that they had not entire confidence in each other;
and I left them with forebodings.
"The experiment lasted scarcely a year. On the 25th of October,
about two months after my visit, they had a meeting to talk over
their affairs. More than three thousand dollars had been paid on
the property; but the land owner was pressed with a mortgage,
and so pressed them. One man sold his farm and got part of the
required sum ready to pay. Others who owned farms could not sell
them; and the consequence was, that according to agreement they
were obliged to give up the papers; so they surrendered the
domain and all upon it, into the hands of the original
proprietor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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