Part 42 (2/2)
”Accordingly we have taken occasion at several public meetings recently held in Boston, to state some of the results of our studies and experience, and we desire here to say emphatically, that while on the one hand we yield an unqualified a.s.sent to that doctrine of universal unity which Fourier teaches, so on the other, our whole observation has shown us the truth of the practical arrangements which he deduces therefrom. The law of groups and series is, as we are convinced, the law of human nature, and when men are in true social relations their industrial organization will necessarily a.s.sume those forms.
”But beside the demand for information respecting the principles of a.s.sociation, there is a deeper call for action in the matter.
We wish, therefore, to bring Brook Farm before the public, as a location offering at least as great advantages for a thorough experiment as can be found in the vicinity of Boston. It is situated in West Roxbury, three miles from the depot of the Dedham Branch Railroad, and about eight miles from Boston, and combines a convenient nearness to the city, with a degree of retirement and freedom from unfavorable influences, unusual even in the country. The place is one of great natural beauty, and indeed the whole landscape is so rich and various as to attract the notice even of casual visitors. The farm now owned by the a.s.sociation contains two hundred and eight acres, of as good quality as any land in the neighborhood of Boston, and can be enlarged by the purchase of land adjoining, to any necessary extent. The property now in the hands of the a.s.sociation is worth nearly or quite thirty thousand dollars, of which about twenty-two thousand dollars is invested either in the stock of the company, or in permanent loans at six per cent., which can remain as long as the a.s.sociation may wish.
”The fact that so large an amount of capital is already invested and at our service, as the basis of more extensive operations, furnishes a reason why Brook Farm should be chosen as the scene of that practical trial of a.s.sociation which the public feeling calls for in this immediate vicinity, instead of forming an entirely new organization for that purpose. The completeness of our educational department is also not to be overlooked. This has. .h.i.therto received our greatest care, and in forming it we have been particularly successful. In any new a.s.sociation it must be many years before so many accomplished and skillful teachers in the various branches of intellectual culture could be enlisted. Another strong reason is to be found in the degree of order our organization has already attained, by the help of which a large a.s.sociation might be formed without the losses and inconveniences which would otherwise necessarily occur. The experience of nearly three years in all the misfortunes and mistakes incident to an undertaking so new and so little understood, carried on throughout by persons not entirely fitted for the duties they have been compelled to perform, has, we think, prepared us to a.s.sist in the safe conduct of an extensive and complete a.s.sociation.
”Such an inst.i.tution, as will be plain to all, can not by any sure means be brought at once and full-grown into existence. It must, at least in the present state of society, begin with a comparatively small number of select and devoted persons, and increase by natural and gradual aggregations. With a view to an ultimate expansion into a perfect Phalanx, we desire to organize immediately the three primary departments of labor, agriculture, domestic industry and the mechanic arts. For this purpose additional capital will be needed, etc.
GEORGE RIPLEY, MINOT PRATT, CHARLES A. DANA.
”_Brook Farm, January 18, 1844._”
Here follows the usual appeal for co-operation and investments. In October following a second edition of this const.i.tution was issued, in the preamble of which the officers say:
”The friends of the cause will be gratified to learn, that the appeal in behalf of Brook Farm, contained in the introductory statement of our const.i.tution, has been generously answered, and that the situation of the a.s.sociation is highly encouraging. In the half-year that has elapsed, our numbers have been increased by the addition of many skillful and enthusiastic laborers in various departments, and our capital has been enlarged by the subscription of about ten thousand dollars. Our organization has acquired a more systematic form, though with our comparatively small numbers we can only approximate to truly scientific arrangements. Still with the unavoidable deficiencies of our groups and series, their action is remarkable, and fully justifies our antic.i.p.ations of great results from applying the principles of universal order to industry.
”We have made considerable agricultural improvements; we have erected a work-shop sixty feet by twenty-eight for mechanics of several trades, some of which are already in operation; and we are now engaged in building a section one hundred and seventy-five feet by forty, of a Phalanstery or unitary dwelling. Our first object is to collect those who, from their character and convictions, are qualified to aid in the experiment we are engaged in, and to furnish them with convenient and comfortable habitations, at the smallest possible outlay. For this purpose the most careful economy is used, though we are yet able to attain many of the peculiar advantages of the a.s.sociated household. Still for transitional society, and for comparatively temporary use, a social edifice can not be made free from the defects of civilized architecture.
When our Phalanx has become sufficiently large, and has in some measure accomplished its great purposes, the serial organization of labor and unitary education, we shall have it in our power to build a Phalanstery with the magnificence and permanence proper to such a structure.”
Whereupon the appeal for help is repeated. Finally, in May 1845 this new const.i.tution was published in the _Phalanx_, with a new preamble.
In the previous editions the society had been styled the ”Brook Farm a.s.sociation for Education and Industry;” but in this issue, Article 1 Section 1 declares that ”the name of this a.s.sociation shall be The Brook Farm Phalanx.” We quote a few paragraphs from the preamble:
”At the last session of the legislature of Ma.s.sachusetts, our a.s.sociation was incorporated under the name which it now a.s.sumes, with the right to hold real estate to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. This confers upon us all the usual powers and privileges of chartered companies.
”Nothing is now necessary to the greatest possible measure of success, but capital to furnish sufficient means to enable us to develop every department to advantage. This capital we can now apply profitably and without danger of loss. We are well aware that there must be risk in investing money in an infant a.s.sociation, as well as in any other untried business; but with the labors of nearly four years we have arrived at a point where this risk hardly exists.
”By that increasing number whose most ardent desire is to see the experiment of a.s.sociation fairly tried, we are confident that the appeal we now make will not be received without the most generous response in their power. As far as their means and their utmost exertions can go, they will not suffer so favorable an opportunity for the realization of their fondest hopes to pa.s.s unimproved. Nor do we call upon Americans alone, but upon all persons of whatever nation, to whom the doctrines of universal unity have revealed the destiny of man. Especially to those n.o.ble men who in Europe have so long and so faithfully labored for the diffusion and propagation of these doctrines, we address what to them will be an occasion of the highest joy, an appeal for fraternal co-operation in behalf of their realization. We announce to them the dawning of that day for which they have so hopefully and so bravely waited, the upspringing of those seeds that they and their compeers have sown. To them it will seem no exaggeration to say that we, their younger brethren, invite their a.s.sistance in a movement which, however humble it may superficially appear, is the grandest both in its essential character and its consequences, that can now be proposed to man; a movement whose purpose is the elevation of humanity to its integral rights, and whose results will be the establishment of happiness and peace among the nations of the earth.
”By order of the Central Council, ”GEORGE RIPLEY, _President_.
”_West Roxbury, May 20, 1845._”
CHAPTER XL.
BROOK FARM PROPAGATING FOURIERISM.
Brook Farm having attained the dignity of incorporation and a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Phalanx, was ready to undertake the enterprise of propagating Fourierism. Accordingly, in the same number of the _Phalanx_ that published the appeal recited at the close of our last chapter, appeared the prospectus of a new paper to be called the _Harbinger_, with the following editorial notice:
”Our subscribers will see by the prospectus that the name of the _Phalanx_ is to be changed for that of the _Harbinger_, and that the paper is to be printed in future by the Brook Farm Phalanx.”
From this time the main function of Brook Farm was propagandism. It published the _Harbinger_ weekly, with a zeal and ability of which our readers have seen plenty of specimens. It also inst.i.tuted a missionary society and a lecturing system, of which we will now give some account.
New York had hitherto been the head-quarters of Fourierism. Brisbane, Greeley and G.o.dwin, the primary men of the cause, lived and published there; the _Phalanx_ was issued there; the National Conventions had been held there; and there was the seat of the Executive Committee that made several abortive attempts to inst.i.tute a confederation of a.s.sociations and a national organization of Socialists. But after the conversion of Brook Farm, the center of operations was removed from New York to Ma.s.sachusetts. As the _Harbinger_ succeeded to the subscription-list and propagandism of the _Phalanx_, so a new National Union of Socialists, having its head-quarters nominally at Boston, but really at Brook Farm, took the place of the old New York Conventions.
Of this organization, William H. Channing was the chief-engineer; and his zeal and eloquence in that capacity for a short time, well ent.i.tled him to the honors of the chief Apostle of Fourierism. In fact he succeeded to the post of Brisbane. This will be seen in the following selections from the _Harbinger_:
[From William H. Channing's Appeal to a.s.sociationists.]
<script>