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Leader (1850-1860), 21st June 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 592, Untitled Picture

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      Untitled Article

      The labour of the kitchen and dining-room is performed regularly by four men and three women . After tea , four other women come into help , and in this latter function all the women of the Community take turns a week at a time . On Sunday the cooks have also two other men to aid them . There is no cooking at private kitchens except for nurses and the sick , all the meals heing prepared and taken in

      eommon . The washing is done at a half-a-mile distance , on a little creek which flows into the Missouri . The clothes are received by two women charged with that duty ; they are carried in a wagon to the wash-house , ¦ where the labour of washing is done by fourteen women with the assistance of one man . After being dried they are handed ovtr to the menders , and finally to the ironers , from whom they are again taken by the two overseers and distributed to their owners . The schools are far from complete , and in consequence the Community has been obliged to decline many applications which it has received for the admission of pupils from abroad . From this source , as soon as the proper arrangements are completed , the institution may derive a large income .

      The affairs of the Community are discussed and decided in weekly meetings , held on Saturday evenings , when all the members , men and women , are expected to be present . The majority decides . " Women take part in the deliberations , but not in the votes . The Community publishes a weekly paper called the Papular Tribune , It has some three or four Iiundred subscribers . Most of the original articles are written in French by M . Cabet and the other editors , and translated into English before going to the compositors .

      Sunday is devoted to recreation , as is the habit of the French at home . The Community has among its members fifteen instrumental musicians , and the young people , and indeed the greater part of the other members , are trained to sing in chorus . There are dances in the open air , and the theatre within doors . A temporary stage is erected and arranged in the large dining-hall , and there comedies and vaudevilles are performed for the amusement of both actors and audience . The children take part in the performances , and exclusion from the stage or the chorus on Sunday is the severest punishment that can be inflicted on the disorderly at sechool .

      No religious ceremonies are observed in the Community . M . Cabet regards his doctrine as being purely that of the Founder of Christianity . In his view , work and happiness are the best and truest worship , and a Society based on and living in equality and fraternity needs no other ritual . This , with the mode of spending Sunday , has scandalised some of the neighbours , but none who have visited the Icarians on that day have been able to deny that they seemed happier than people in the common world without . —New York Tribune , May 24 .

      Untitled Article

      " PEACE , THE DESTROYER . " Battle , June 10 , 1851 . Sib , —I could scarcely believe that a writer usually so enlightened and profound , could have written what appears in your Journal of last week under the head of " Peace , the Destroyer . " I believe and trust such sentiments are little in accordance with the general views of social reformers , and of those who seek to establish moral supremacy in the affairs of men . Before I notice the Peace movement which you condemn , and which by the Way is not strictly concerned in the discussion called forth by your correspondent " Farewell , " I will briefly reply to what I believe to be fallacious and injurious in your article , and leave to " Farewell" the arguments which he would adduce in favour of his propositions .

      First , you doubt the . superior force of moral over physical power ; hence you approve of resorting to physical force in removing tyranny and oppression , independently of the moral conditions necessary to success ; or , in other words , you would justify the means by the end . But , supposing that end be the sovereignty of the people and the subjugation of their tyrants , have we not ample proofs in history that it degenerates into a nullity ; and that power is but another word for tyranny , especially in a country where the people are too imbecile to obtain liberty by other means ? and it is in vain to prevent an unenlightened people from having their heroes and leaders .

      You seem also in your article entirely to forget the power that people have of improvement , and that various means of educating and instructing each other are , even in our country , totally neglected ; and instead of oppression and imposition tending to retard the progress of society , as you assert it to do , I believe it to have quite a contrary effect , and that it serves to stimulate to energy and exertion where inertia and apathy would otherwise exist . I must also entirely dissent from you where Ml the last paragraph you maintain that , until we develope the principle of concert , we may usefully and with propriety resort to physical force as a means of Kb © - ration , because it is a strong natural faculty to do so , and that other means would be unsuitable in the

      present state of society ( I believe I do not exaggerate ) . Should we not rather urge people to selfirrrpravemenf , and stimulate them to noble exertion by appeals to their best feelings , and thereby prepare them to make good use of power when they get it if With regard to the Peace movement , I think yon have entirely mistaken its mission . That mission I have always understood to relate to substitution oi arbitration instead of the sword in the settlement of national differences , and not to include those social struggles which spring out of civilization . I atti , dear Sir , yours Bincerely , Union .

      Untitled Article

      CALIFORNIA AT HOME . June 2 . 1831 . Sru , —California ia a country bwarming with eager gold-seekers , who make it the object of their lives to find the precious metal , and , having accomplished this , to keep it . Each possessor of it is aware that he ih surrounded by those who desire only a favourable opportunity to appropriate the results of his labour to their own unes , and accordingly he lives in . a state of perpetual enmity with his species . Somo individual may probably eusc him of tno " burden of riches" by violent means , or porhapn a gambler may legall y filch the hoarded treasure . Hie beggared emigrant must get gold Again , or starv ; and he acquires it lawfully or otherwise , or not at all , according to circumstances . Truly this in not a very agreeable state of tlnngfl for uny party . Happiness is of course quite out oi the quoHtioii . Newspapers are onger to dissuade their readem from venturing into the modern El Dorado to HCiirch among ita winds for golden treasure . And . men cr « dUi tliuru , and very rightly . They wuwty

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      —^—__ [ IN THIS DEVAllTMKNT , AS A I . I . OPINIONS , HOWKVKIt KXTIIKMR , Xltlt AI . LOWKD AN KXtfaBSSION , THK B 1 MTOR NaCUSBA . RILY UULIiy HIMMBLF KR . SI'ONUIIILB FOB NONH . J

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      There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senaea awakened , and . husjudgment sharpened . Jf , then , it be profitable tor him to read , why should it not , tit least , be tolerable for liia adversary to write—Milton .

      Untitled Article

      NATIONAL UNION OF WORKING-MEN'S , ASSOCIATION . Leeds , June 18 , 1851 . Srit , —As the mover of the resolution at the Congress of the Redemption Society last week for th « formation of a general Union of Working-men ' h Association *? , you will perhaps allow mo to show rather more fully the mode in which I conceive the proposed Union Might bo carried out . My reasons flor proposing ; thnrt resolution I have tated in the introduction to " Lectures on Social Science , " you will excuse my transcribing the passage . " One of the many ways in which tho development of the associative principle might be materially assisted would bo by tho formation © f u National " Onion of Associations managed by a contra ! committee , having » t first no control over tho intor _ n * l

      arrangements of any society ; but confining itself to the task of collecting and diffusing the actual experience of all the Associations in Great Britain , and any others it might find expedient to notice . Such an Union Wouldpossess the following advantages : — " 1 . By the publication of an annual report , it might make the general community acquainted with the actual results of the Local Associations . It might also obtain important statistical information . Each body of working-men wishing to cooperate has to learn from its own failures and successes ; whereas they might thti 3 avail themselves of the experience ,

      and avoid the defects of the existing Associations . A number of working-men wishing to form a cooperative store , would be greatly helped by a knowledge of the rules , calcnlations , and nrethodof doing business , already in successful operation . The laws relating to Joint-Stock , Benefit , and Friendly Societies are not of easy access , but might thus easily be made so ; and the opinion of the central committee would be useful in points of difficulty . When it was desirable to obtain the repeal , alteration , or enactment of laws relating to Associations , the central body would be much more powerful than the isolated

      Associations . " 2 . The National Union of Associations might employ agents to diffuse that information orally , which they embodied annually in their Teports . The agents might visit every town and village , and encourage the formation of Associations where the means existed . The agents would also be useful in promoting a closer connection between local societies and the central committee . Ultimately , the central committee might become the medium for effecting exchanges

      between the various societies . It would be capable of giving an aim , a leading tendency of direction to Working- men ' s Associations , which they do | iot now possess . The Associations hitherto formed are deficient in the power of expansion . The cooperative flourcnill remains a flourmill ; and , if a cooperative store is wanted , new machinery is needed . A very little wisdom could combine these with the School , the Mechanics' Institute , and the Associated Home , into one grand Association . "

      To these advantages you have pointed out two additional ones , which , as you justly observe , " would amply repay any effort of the kind . It would fortify the confidence of Socialists of all sections , by displaying their number ; by the same process it would at once draw in a number of adherents , who would avow themselves if they knew the numbers already prepared to stand by them . " The * first step should be a meeting of a few of the

      best known friends of the associative movement in London , to form a provisional committee for enrolling societies into the Union , and conducting its operations until a central committee could be formally elected by the representatives of the various cooperative Associations scattered throughout the country . The committee should combine all the various parties who , though divided on many matters of principle and detail , are yet agreed on the desirableness of the general diffusion of associative views .

      As soon as a committee had been formed , and a secretary appointed , a circular might be addressed to all theWorking-men ' sAssociations , cooperative stores , rlourmills , &c , throughout the country , inviting them to enroll themselves into the union of Associations , and requesting information respecting the origin , condition , and prospects of each society . In order to defray expenses , the societies giving in their adhesion to the " National Union of Working-men's Associations , " might be requested to contribute the sum of Is . for each £ 100 of their capital . This almost nominal sum , or even half of it , might hereafter form the annual subscription to the central union . I have no doubt it would bo found amply sufficient to defray all the expenses of the central committee , which would at first only consist of postage and the remuneration of a secretary .

      Among other items of information which at first it would be most desirable to ascertain , and "which might be arranged in the form of a schedule , are the following : — The name of the society . Date established . Business of the Association . Amount of capital . Total amount of business annually transacted . Number of members . Rates of contribution . Whether enrolled or otherwise . Objects for which the Association was establishsd . The nature of the advantages derived by the members—moral or pecuniary . Principal obstacles ( if any ) to success . These are offered merely as hints for a commencement . Each succeeding year as tho Associations increase , and the union combined' a larger number of them , many of the interesting and instructive points connected with the successful management might ne elucidated . Ah a secretary of the | York « hire Union of Mechanics ' Institutes , a combination of 117 Mechanics' Institutes , and containing 20 , 000 mombors , I can » peak to tho

      advantages which such an union confers Th object of Working-men ' s Associations being so mii « K more extensive , and the proWeina they are solving » much more difficult , and as they have not yet obtained the assistance of the middle class in their busines management , and are not sufficiently versed in business details themselves , I conceive it doubl necessary that they should have every help which combination can afford . As Mr . Baines well oh served , at the late meeting of delegates , at Leeds " " It was a matter of little consequence who -were the Central Committee , provided only the Institutn .

      were united . It was a matter of little mo ment Whether the committee which held them together was a band of gold , or a whisp of straw , providing the Institutions were kept together in harmonious cooperation , so that they might each derive all the benefit , the stimulus , and the informatio n which such a union was calculated to impart . " Mr . John Holmes , of Leeds , will be in London in a few days ; and I trust that , with your valuable assistance , and that of our friend the Reverend E . R . Larken , the above suggestion may assume a practical form . I remain , dear sir , yours truly , James Hole .

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      592 « C % t UtaHtX . [ Satorday ,

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1888/page/20/