Part 25 (1/2)

Even Collins, with all his liberality, had originally too much good sense to attempt a.s.sociation in the promiscuous way of the Fourierists. His first idea was to make his Community a sort of close-communion church of infidelity; and, as it turned out, this was his brightest idea; for in abandoning it he succ.u.mbed to his more religious rival, Johnson, and admitted quarreling and weakness that ruined the enterprise. His advice also to the liberal party at Sodus Bay to withdraw, shows that his judgment was opposed to the heterogeneous mixtures that were popular among the Fourierists.

On the whole it seems to us that it should be considered settled by reason and experience, that the rule we have found governing the prudential theory of marriage on the small scale, should be transferred to the theory of a.s.sociation, which is really marriage on the large scale. Better not marry at all, than marry a religious quarrel. Better have no religion, than have a dozen different religions, as they had at Clarkson. If you mean to found a Community for peace and permanence, first of all find a.s.sociates that agree with you in religion, or at least in no-religion, and if possible bar out all others. Remember that all the successful Communities are harmonious, and the basis of their harmony is unity in religion. If you think you can find a way to secure harmony in no-religion, try it.

But don't be so foolish as to enter on the tremendous responsibilities of Community-building, with a complication of religious quarrels lurking in your material.

CHAPTER XXV.

OTHER NEW YORK EXPERIMENTS.

The next on the list of the Confederated a.s.sociations of western New York, was

THE BLOOMFIELD a.s.sOCIATION.

We have but meager accounts of this experiment. Macdonald does not mention it. The _Phalanx_ of June 15, 1844, says that it commenced operations on the 15th of March in that year, on a domain of about five hundred acres, mostly improved land, situated one mile east of Honeoye Falls, in the Counties of Monroe, Livingston and Ontario; that it was in debt for its land about $11,000, and had $35,000 of its subscriptions actually paid in; that it had one hundred and forty-eight resident members, and a large number more expecting to join, as soon as employment could be found for them. Two or three allusions to this a.s.sociation occur afterward in the _Phalanx_, congratulating it on its prospects, and mentioning good reports of its progress. Finally in the _Harbinger_, volume 1, page 247, we find a letter from E.D. Wight and E.A. Stillman, dated August 20, 1845, defending the a.s.sociation against newspaper charges, and a.s.serting its continued prosperity; but giving us the following peep into a complication of troubles, that probably brought it to its end shortly afterwards:

”We are not fully satisfied with the tenor by which our real estate, under the existing laws, is obliged to be held.

Conveyances, pursuant to legal advice, were made originally by the owners of each particular parcel, to the committee of finance, in trust for the stockholders and members; and a power was executed by the stockholders to the committee, by which, under certain regulations, they were to have authority to sell and convey the same. The absurdity of the Statute of Trusts never having been licked into shape by judicial decisions, a close and unavailing search has since been inst.i.tuted for the fugitive legal t.i.tle.

”Some counselors, learned in the law, find it in the committee of finance, as representatives of the a.s.sociation; others have discovered that it is vested in them as individuals; others still, of equal eminence, and equally intent on arriving at a true solution, find perhaps that it is in the committee and stockholders jointly; while there are those who profess to find it in neither of these parties, but in the persons of whom the property was purchased, and to whom has been paid its full valuation!

”In order to educe order out of this confusion of opinions, and to enable us to acquire, if possible, a less objectionable t.i.tle, it has been proposed to pet.i.tion the Chancellor for a sale, as a t.i.tle from the court would be free from doubt.”

If this may be considered the end (as it probably was), it shows that the Bloomfield a.s.sociation died, as the Clarkson did, in a quarrel about its t.i.tles, and in the hands of the lawyers.

THE ONTARIO UNION.

”This a.s.sociation” says the _Phalanx_ of June 1844, ”commenced operations about two weeks since, in Hopewell, Ontario County, five miles from Canandaigua. They have purchased the mills and farm formerly owned by Judge Bates, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres of land, a flouring mill with five run of burr stones, and saw-mill, at $16,000. They have secured by subscription, about one hundred and thirty acres of land in the immediate vicinity, which they are now working. To meet their liabilities for the original purchase, I am informed they have already a subscription which they believe can be relied on, amounting to over $40,000. They have now upon the domain about seventy-five members. This inst.i.tution has been able already to commence such branches of industry as will produce an immediate return, and as a consequence, will avoid the necessity of living upon their capital. There is danger that their enthusiasm will get the better of their judgment in admitting members too fast.”

The editor of the _Phalanx_ visited this a.s.sociation among others, in the fall of 1844, and gave the following cheerful account of it:

”The whole number of resident members is one hundred and fifty; fifty of whom are men, and upward of sixty children. We were greatly pleased with the earnest spirit which seemed to pervade this little Community. We thought we perceived among them a really religious devotion to the great cause in which they have embarked. This gave an unspeakable charm to their rude, temporary dwellings, and lent a grace to their plain manners, far above any superficial elegance. We have no doubt that they will succeed in establis.h.i.+ng a state of society higher even than they themselves antic.i.p.ate. Of their pecuniary success their present condition gives good a.s.surance. We should think that, with ordinary prudence, it was entirely certain.”

We find nothing after this in the _Phalanx_ about this a.s.sociation.

Macdonald merely mentions a few such items as the date, place, etc., and concludes with the following terse epitaph: ”It effected but little, and was of brief duration. No further particulars.”

THE MIXVILLE a.s.sOCIATION

was one of the group that radiated from Rochester, according to Mr.

Greig; but we can find no account of it anywhere, except that it had not commenced operations at the time of the session of the Confederated Council; though a delegate from it was a member of that Council. How long it lived, or whether it lived at all, does not appear.

THE JEFFERSON COUNTY PHALANX.

This a.s.sociation, though not properly a member of the group that radiated from Rochester, and somewhat remote from western New York, was named among the confederated a.s.sociations, and sent a delegate to the Bloomfield Council. Three notices of it occur in the _Phalanx_, which we here present.

[From the _Phalanx_ October 5, 1843.]