History of American SocialismsNoyes, John Humphrey
History
History of American Socialisms
Noyes, John Humphrey
Communism -- United States; Socialism -- United States
"The tract selected is two and a-half miles in length from north
to south, and of somewhat irregular breadth, by reason of the
curvatures of the Ohio river, which forms its eastern boundary.
It contains six hundred acres of bottom land, all cleared and
under cultivation; the residue is hill land of a fertility truly
surprising and indeed incredible to persons unacquainted with
the hills of that particular neighborhood. Of the hill lands,
about two hundred and fifty acres are cleared, and about three
hundred acres more have been partially cleared, so as to answer
imperfectly for sheep pasture. The residue is for the most part
well-timbered.
"There are upon the premises two frame dwelling-houses, and ten
log houses, mostly with shingle roofs; none of them, however,
are of much value, except for temporary purposes.
"The domain is singularly beautiful, as well as fertile; and
when it is considered, in connection with the advantages already
enumerated, that it is situated on one of the greatest
thoroughfares in the world, the charming Ohio, along which from
six to ten steamboats pass every day for eight or nine months in
the year; that it is immediately accessible to several large
markets, and a multitude of small ones; and that it is within
seven miles of that great public improvement, the National Road,
leading through the heart of the Western States, we think we
are authorized to affirm that the broad territory of our country
furnishes but few localities more favorable for an experiment in
Association, than that which has been secured by the American
Phalanx.
"From eighty to one hundred laborers are expected to be upon the
ground early in the spring, and it is hoped that in the fall a
magnificent edifice or Phalanstery, on Fourier's plan, will be
commenced, and will progress rapidly, until it shall be of
sufficient extent to accommodate one hundred families.
"Our object can not be more intelligibly explained than by
stating that it is proposed to organize an industrial army,
which, instead of ravaging and desolating the earth, like the
armies of civilization, shall clothe it luxuriantly and
beautifully with supplies for human wants; to distribute this
army into platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, in which
promotion and rewards shall depend, not upon success in
spreading ruin and woe, but upon energy and efficiency in
diffusing comfort and happiness; in short, to invest labor the
creator, with the dignity which has so long impiously crowned
labor the destroyer and the murderer, so that men shall vie with
each other, not in devastation and carnage, but in usefulness to
the race."
Applicants for admission or stock were referred to E.P. Grant, A.
Brisbane, H. Greeley and others.
[From the _Phalanx_, February 5, 1844.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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