INDEX OF MACDONALD'S COLLECTION.
On general survey of the matter contained in this index, we may begin to sort it in the following manner:
First we will lay aside the antique religious Associations, such as the Dunkers, Moravians, Zoarites, &c. We count at least seven of these, which do not properly belong to the modern socialistic movement, or even to American life. Having their origin in the old world, and most of them in the last century, and remaining without change, they exist only on the outskirts of general society.
Next we put out of account the foreign Associations, such as the Brazilian and Venezuelan experiments. With these may be classed those of the Icarians and some others, which, though within the United States, are, or were, really colonies of foreigners. We see six of this sort in the index.
Thirdly, we dismiss two or three Spiritualistic attempts that are named in the list; first, because they never attained to the dignity of Associations; and secondly, because they belonged to a later movement than that which Macdonald undertook to record. The social experiments of the Spiritualists should be treated by themselves, as the sequelæ of the Fourier excitement of Macdonald's time.
The Associations that are left after these exclusions, naturally fall into two groups, viz.; those of the Owen movement, and those of the Fourier movement.
Robert Owen came to this country and commenced his experiments in Communism in 1824. This was the beginning of a national excitement, which had a course somewhat like that of a religious revival or a political campaign. This movement seems to have culminated in 1826; and, grouped around or near that year, we find in Macdonald's list, the names of eleven Communities. These were not all strictly Owenite Communities, but probably all owed their birth to the general excitement that followed Owen's labors, and may therefore, properly be classified as belonging to the Owen movement.
Fourierism was introduced into this country by Albert Brisbane and Horace Greeley in 1842, and then commenced another great national movement similar to that of Owenism, but far more universal and enthusiastic. We consider the year 1843 the focal period of this social revival; and around that year or following it within the forties, we find the main group of Macdonald's Associations. Thirty-four of the list may clearly be referred to this epoch. Many, and perhaps most of them, never undertook to carry into practice Fourier's theories in full; and some of them would disclaim all affiliation with Fourierism; but they all originated in a common excitement, and that excitement took its rise from the publications of Brisbane and Greeley.
Confining ourselves, for the present, to these two groups of Associations, belonging respectively to the Owen movement of 1826 and the Fourier movement of 1843, we will now give a brief statistical account of each Association; i.e., all we can find in Macdonald's collection, on the following points: 1, Locality; 2, Number of members; 3, Amount of land; 4, Amount of debt; 5, Duration. We give the amount of land instead of any other measurement of capital, because all and more than all the capital of the Associations was generally invested in land, and because it is difficult to distinguish, in most cases, between the cash capital that was actually paid in, and that which was only subscribed or talked about.
As to the reliability of these statistics, we can only say that we have patiently picked them out, one by one, like scattered bones, from Macdonald's heap. Though they may be faulty in some details, we are confident that the general idea they give of the attempts and experiences of American Socialists, will not be far from the truth.
Experiments of the Owen Epoch.
Blue Spring Community; Indiana; no particulars, except that it lasted "but a short time."
Co-operative Society; Pennsylvania; no particulars.
Coxsackie Community; New York; capital "small;" "very much in debt;" duration between 1 and 2 years.
Forrestville Community; Indiana; "over 60 members;" 325 acres of land; duration more than a year.
Franklin Community; New York; no particulars.
Haverstraw Community; New York; about 80 members; 120 acres; debt $12,000; duration 5 months.
Kendal Community; Ohio; 200 members; 200 acres; duration about 2 years.
Macluria; Indiana; 1200 acres; duration about 2 years.
New Harmony; Indiana; 900 members; 30,000 acres, worth $150,000; duration nearly 3 years.
Nashoba; Tennessee; 15 members; 2,000 acres; duration about 3 years.
Yellow Spring Community; Ohio; 75 to 100 families; duration 3 months.
Experiments of the Fourier Epoch.
Alphadelphia Phalanx; Michigan; 400 or 500 members; 2814 acres; duration 2 years and 9 months.
Brook Farm; Massachusetts; 115 members; 200 acres; duration 5 years.
Brooke's experiment; Ohio; few members; no further particulars.
Bureau Co. Phalanx; Illinois; small; no particulars.
Clarkson Industrial Association; New York; 420 members; 2000 acres; duration from 6 to 9 months.
Clermont Phalanx; Ohio; 120 members; 900 acres; debt $19,000; duration 2 years or more.
Columbian Phalanx; Ohio; no particulars.
Garden Grove; Iowa; no particulars.
Goose Pond Community; Pennsylvania; 60 members; duration a few months.
Grand Prairie Community; Ohio; no particulars.
Hopedale; Massachusetts; 200 members; 500 acres; duration not stated, but commonly reported to be 17 or 18 years.
Integral Phalanx; Illinois; 30 families; 508 acres; duration 17 months.
Jefferson Co. Industrial Association; New York; 400 members; 1200 acres of land; duration a few months.
Lagrange Phalanx; Indiana; 1000 acres; no further particulars.
Leraysville Phalanx; Pennsylvania; 40 members; 300 acres; duration 8 months.
Marlboro Association; Ohio; 24 members; had "a load of debt;" duration nearly 4 years.
McKean Co. Association; Pennsylvania; 30,000 acres; no further particulars.
Moorhouse Union; New York; 120 acres; duration "a few months."
North American Phalanx; New Jersey; 112 members; 673 acres; debt $17,000; duration 12 years.
Northampton Association; Massachusetts; 130 members; 500 acres of land; debt $40,000; duration 4 years.
Ohio Phalanx; 100 members; 2,200 acres; deeply in debt; duration 10 months.
One-mentian (meaning probably one-mind) Community; Pennsylvania; 800 acres; duration one year.
Ontario Phalanx; New York; brief duration.
Prairie Home Community; Ohio; 500 acres; debt broke it up; duration one year.
Raritan Bay Union; New Jersey; few members; 268 acres.
Sangamon Phalanx; Illinois; no particulars.
Skaneateles Community; New York; 150 members; 354 acres; debt $10,000; duration 2-1/2 years.
Social Reform Unity; Pennsylvania; 20 members; 2,000 acres; debt $2,400; duration about 10 months.
Sodus Bay Phalanx; New York; 300 members; 1,400 acres; duration a "short time."
Spring Farm Association; Wisconsin; 10 families; duration 3 years.
Sylvania Association; Pennsylvania; 145 members; 2394 acres; debt $7,900; duration nearly 2 years.
Trumbull Phalanx; Ohio; 1500 acres; duration 2-1/2 years.
Washtenaw Phalanx; Michigan; no particulars.
Wisconsin Phalanx; 32 families; 1,800 acres; duration 6 years.
Recapitulation and Comments.
1. Localities. The Owen group were distributed among the States as follows: in Indiana, 4; in New York, 3; in Ohio, 2; in Pennsylvania, 1; in Tennessee, 1.
The Fourier group were located as follows: in Ohio, 8; in New York, 6; in Pennsylvania, 6; in Massachusetts, 3; in Illinois, 3; in New Jersey, 2; in Michigan, 2; in Wisconsin, 2; in Indiana, 1; in Iowa, 1.
Indiana had the greatest number in the first group, and the least in the second.
New England was not represented in the Owen group; and only by three Associations in the Fourier group; and those three were all in Massachusetts.
The southern states were represented by only one Association—that of Nashoba, in the Owen group—and that was little more than an eleemosynary attempt of Frances Wright to civilize the negroes.
The two groups combined were distributed as follows: in Ohio, 10; in New York, 9; in Pennsylvania, 7; in Indiana, 5; in Massachusetts, 3; in Illinois, 3; in New Jersey, 2; in Michigan, 2; in Wisconsin, 2; in Tennessee, 1; in Iowa, 1.
2. Number of members. The figures in our epitome (reckoning five persons to a family when families are mentioned), give an aggregate of 4,801 members: but these belong to only twenty-five Associations. The numbers of the remaining twenty are not definitely reported. The average of those reported is about 192 to an Association. Extending this average to the rest, we have a total of 8,641.
The numbers belonging to single Associations vary from 15 to 900; but in a majority of cases they were between 100 and 200.
3. The amount of land reported is enormous. Averaging it as we did in the case of the number of members, we make a grand total of 136,586 acres, or about 3,000 acres to each Association! This is too much for any probable average. We will leave out as exceptional, the 60,000 acres reported as belonging to New Harmony and the McKean Co. Association. Then averaging as before, we have a grand total of 44,624 acres, or about 1,000 acres to each Association.
Judging by our own experience we incline to think that this fondness for land, which has been the habit of Socialists, had much to do with their failures. Farming is about the hardest and longest of all roads to fortune: and it is the kind of labor in which there is the most uncertainty as to modes and theories, and of course the largest chance for disputes and discords in such complex bodies as Associations. Moreover the lust for land leads off into the wilderness, "out west," or into by-places, far away from railroads and markets; whereas Socialism, if it is really ahead of civilization, ought to keep near the centers of business, and at the front of the general march of improvement. We should have advised the Phalanxes to limit their land-investments to a minimum, and put their strength as soon as possible into some form of manufacture. Almost any kind of a factory would be better than a farm for a Community nursery. We find hardly a vestige of this policy in Macdonald's collections. The saw-mill is the only form of mechanism that figures much in his reports. It is really ludicrous to see how uniformly an old saw-mill turns up in connection with each Association, and how zealously the brethren made much of it; but that is about all they attempted in the line of manufacturing. Land, land, land, was evidently regarded by them as the mother of all gain and comfort. Considering how much they must have run in debt for land, and how little profit they got from it, we may say of them almost literally, that they were "wrecked by running aground."
4. Amount of debt. Macdonald's reports on this point are few and indefinite. The sums owed are stated for only seven of the Associations. They vary from $1,000 to $40,000. Five other Associations are reported as "very much in debt," "deeply in debt," &c. The exact indebtedness of these and of the remaining thirty-three, is probably beyond the reach of history. But we have reason to think that nearly all of them bought, to begin with, a great deal more land than they paid for. This was the fashion of the socialistic schools and of the times.
5. The duration of fourteen Associations is not reported; twelve lasted less than 1 year; two 1 year; four between 1 and 2 years; three 2 years; four between 2 and 3 years; one between 3 and 4 years; one 4 years; one 5 years; one 6 years; one 12 years, and one (it is said) 17 years. All died young, and most of them before they were two years old.