"3. Neither the Association nor any of its members ever had a lawsuit of any kind during its existence, or at its close. "The truth is," he adds, "this attempt was pecuniarily successful; but socially, a failure." Macdonald concludes with the following note: "Mr. Daniels, a gentleman who saw the whole progress of the Wisconsin Phalanx, says that the cause of its breaking up was speculation; the love of money and the want of love for Association. Their property becoming valuable, they sold it for the purpose of making money out of it." This explanation of the mystery of the failure agrees with the hints at the conclusion of the previous account. On the whole, the coroner's verdict in this case must be--'DIED, not by any of the common diseases of Associations, such as poverty, dissension, lack of wisdom, morality or religion, but by deliberate suicide, for reasons not fully disclosed.' CHAPTER XXXVI. THE NORTH AMERICAN PHALANX. This was the test-experiment on which Fourierism practically staked its all in this country. Brisbane was busy in its beginnings; Greeley was Vice-President and stockholder. Its ambitious name and its location near New York City helped to set it apart as the model Phalanx. It was managed with great ability, and on the whole was more successful both in business and duration, than any other Fourier Association. It not only saw all the Phalanxes die around it, but it outlasted the _Harbinger_ that blew the trumpet for them; and fought on, after the battle was given up. Indeed it outlived our friend Macdonald, the 'Old Mortality' of Socialism. Three times he visited it; and the record of his last visit, which was written in the year of his death, 1854, and was probably the last of his literary labors, closes with an acknowledgement of the continuance and prosperity of the North American. We shall have to give several chapters to this important experiment. We will begin with a semi-official expose of its foundations. A History of the first nine years of the North American Phalanx, written by its practical chief, Mr. Charles Sears, at the request of Macdonald; dated December, 1852. "Prior to the spring of 1843, Mr. Albert Brisbane had been publishing, principally in the New York _Tribune_, a series of articles on the subject of social science. He had also published his larger work on Association, which was followed by his pamphlet containing a summary of the doctrines of a new form of society, and the outline of a project to found a practical Association, to be called the North American Phalanx.