The project which my new acquaintance outlined was one which I at once pronounced visionary. It was, he said, the design of certain gentlemen, some of whom lived in Chicago, to organize what they called the Co-operative Commonwealth. These gentlemen had decided to induce laboring men and other persons who might be willing to associate themselves in the work to form co-operative societies and to colonize them in some one state, so that, in process of time, they would outvote the devotees of the old system. When this desired result was achieved, they made no doubt that the Co-operative Commonwealth would be established and present to the entire world an example of prosperity which would rouse an unquenchable spirit of emulation. I could not forbear to sneer at the plan when it was explained, but when I saw how serious Thompson was, and looking into his face felt the impression of his strong character, I was inclined to think about it and began, involuntarily, to picture to myself an ideal of the Co-operative Commonwealth. That day Thompson and I were together much of the time and went to the public library, at his suggestion, to prove some of his statements, the correctness of which I had disputed. I was obliged to admit, when we parted, that he had made no mistake, and this satisfied me that he was an authority on social and economic questions. This man was, at the time when our meeting and conversation occurred, about thirty-five years of age. He was an Englishman by birth, but came to this country when only three years of age with his parents, and settled in Red Bluff, California, where his mother died shortly after. When about fifteen he removed with his father to a mining town in Nevada, where the father speedily acquired a fortune in mercantile pursuits and in some fortunate speculations in mining stocks. The son was impatient of restraint as a boy, ran away from home, and visited nearly all the mining camps in the west, followed every excitement, became a skillful miner and acquired an immense fund of useful and curious information.