[Letter to the Pittsburg Spirit of the Age, July 1845.]
"I have just returned from a visit to the Trumbull Phalanx, and I can but express my astonishment at the condition in which I found the Association. I had never heard much of this Phalanx, and what little had been said, gave me no very favorable opinion of either location or people, and in consequence I went there somewhat prejudiced against them. I was pleased, however, to find that they have a beautiful and romantic domain, a rich soil, with all the natural and artificial advantages they can desire. The domain consists of eleven hundred acres in all. The total cost of the real estate of the Phalanx is $18,428; on which they have paid $8,239, leaving a debt of $10,189. The payments are remarkably easy; on the principal, $1,000 are to be paid in September next, and the same sum in April 1846, and $1,133 in April 1847, and the same sum annually thereafter. They apprehend no difficulty in meeting their engagements. Should they even fail in making the first payments, they will be indulged by their creditor. From this it will be seen that the pecuniary condition of the Trumbull Phalanx is encouraging.
"The Phalanx has fee simple titles to many tracts of land, and a house in Warren, with which they will secure capitalists who choose to invest money, for the purpose of establishing some branches of manufacturing.
"There are about two hundred and fifty people on the domain at present, and weekly arrivals of new members. The greater portion of them are able-bodied men, who are industrious and devoted to the cause in which they are engaged. The ladies perform their duties in this pioneer movement in a manner deserving great praise. The educational department of the Phalanx is well organized. The children from eight to fourteen attend a manual-labor school, which is now in successful operation. The advantages of Association are realized in the boarding department. The cost per week for men, women and children, is not more than forty cents.
"They soon expect to manufacture their own clothing. Carders, cloth-dressers, weavers etc., are now at work. These branches will be a source of profit to the Association. A good flouring-mill with two run of stone is now in operation, which more than supplies the bread-stuffs. They expect shortly to have four run of stone, when this branch will be of immense profit to the Association. The mill draws the custom of the neighborhood for a number of miles around. Two saw-mills are now in operation, which cut six hundred thousand feet per year, worth at least $3,000. The lumber is principally sent to Akron. A shingle-machine now in operation, will yield a revenue of $3,000 or $4,000 per annum. Machinery for making wooden bowls has been erected, which will also yield a revenue of about $3,000. An ashery will yield the present season about $500. The blacksmiths, shoemakers, and other branches are doing well. A wagon-shop is in progress of erection, and a tan-yard will be sunk and a house built, the second story of which is intended for a shoe-shop.
"Crops: thirty acres of wheat, fifty acres of oats, seventy acres of corn, twelve acres of potatoes, five acres of English turnips, ten acres of buckwheat, five acres of garden truck, one and a half acres of broom corn. There are five hundred young peach trees in the nursery; two hundred apple trees in the old orchard; (fruit killed this year). Live Stock: forty-five cows, twelve horses, five yoke of oxen, twenty-five head of cattle.
"From the above hasty sketch (for I can not find time to speak of this flourishing Association as I should), it will be seen that it stands firm. Under all the disadvantages of a new movement, the members live together, in perfect harmony; and what is gratifying, Mr. Van Amringe is there, cheering them on in the great cause by his eloquence, and setting them an example of devotion to the good of humanity.
J.D.T."
[Editorial in the Harbinger August 23 1845.]
"Trumbull Phalanx.—We rejoice to learn by a letter just received from a member of this promising Association, that they are going forward with strength and hope, determined to make a full experiment of the great principles which they have espoused. Have patience, brothers, for a short season; shrink not under the toils of the pioneer; let nothing daunt your courage, nor cloud your cheerfulness; and soon you will joy with the 'joy of harvest.' A few years will present the beautiful spectacle of prosperous, harmonic, happy Phalanxes, dotting the broad prairies of the West, spreading over its luxuriant valleys, and radiating light to the whole land that is now in 'darkness and the shadow of death.' The whole American people will yet see that the organization of industry is the great problem of the age; that the spirit of democracy must expand in universal unity; that coöperation in labor and union of interest alone can realize the freedom and equality which have been made the basis of our national institutions.