WHERE SOC IALISM

FA I LED

AN ACTUAL EX PER IMENT

B! STEWART GRAHAME

W ITH ILLUSTRATIONS

AND A MAP

LONDON

JOHN MURRA !,ALBEM '

ARLE STREET,W .

1 9 1 2

FIRST EDITION

REPRINTED

JUNE, 1912.

MA! , 1913 .

CONTENTS .

PAGE

Introduct ion

Chapter

I . The Great Strike

I I . A Bette r Napoleon

I I I . The P romised Land

IV . Sai l ing of the Royal Tar

V . A Matte r of Morals

VI . Who Wil l do the Scavenging ?

VI I . The A rriva l i n Paraguay

VI I I . Ear ly Days at New Austral ia

IX . The Fi rs t Expu lsions

X . A Hel l upon Ea rth

X I . Wil l iam Lane Secedes

X I I . F ree and Noble Anarch ism

X I I I . The Associat ion takes to Business

X IV . All for One and One for Al l

X V . The Founding of Cosme Colony

X V I . Cosme R ites and Ceremon ies

XV I I . Recru it i ng for Cosme

XV I I I . Exit Wi l l iam Lane

X IX . A Black Time at New Austral ia

XX . New Austral ia and Cosme To-day

XX I . Rel igion— Mo ral i ty—Su ic ide

XX I I . Conclus ion

Appendices

Bibl iographyI ndex

L IST OF ILLUSTRAT IONS .

Was it for th is that they had left Austral ia ?

FTontispiece

They dumped the i r possessions i nto bu l lock

carts ”

Some of Lane ’s Utopians

Under Soc ial ism most of the ch i ldren had no

boots

M rs . John Lane and Fami ly

The Ideal Home at Cosme

At Cosme , ch i ldren were cared for by the

commun ity 2 0 0

New Austral ian ch i ldren ( i n 1 90 4) after Social ism

was abandoned 2 2 2

MAP .

Map of Paraguay showing New Austral ia and

Cosme AT END

INTRODUCT ION .

IN his i n troduct ion to The Socia l i st Movement ,M r . J. Ramsay Macdonald , M .P . , comp la i ns thatOne of the greates t of the di fficu lt ies wh ich besetthe path of the Socia l is t i s the refusa l on the pa rtof h is opponents to give an accu rate s tatement ofwhat Socia l ism means and what the p u rpose ofSoc ia l ism is .

” It wou ld appea r the refore that aclear s tatement of what Socia l i sm meant

,and how

it worked , in a part i cu la r i nstance where i t wast r ied in p ract ice , shou ld be of va lue to Socia l is tseekers a fte r truth as we l l as to the genera l publ i c .

Where Socia l i sm Fa i led ” i s a s t ra ightforwa rdaccount of Wil l iam Lane ’s bold attempt to rea l ise“ Socia l i sm in ou r Time ” at New Austral ia and

Cosme in Paraguay .

A l though most of the matter i n the present wo rkis fresh , about one-fifth of the text has appea redbefore in the Con servat ive and Un ion is t (published by The Nat iona l Conservat ive Union ) , o r i nthe pamph lets New Au stra l ia ”

(publ ished by H .

E . Morgan ) , and“ Socia l i sm : An Actua l Experi

ment ” (publ ished by the Ant i-Social is t Un ion ) .I t was i n consequence of the welcome accorded toNew Austral ia ” i n the P ress and in the constitu

ences , and the many requests for fu l ler i n fo rmat ion ,made by Socia l ists i n part icu lar , that the presentwork was undertaken . I take th is oppo rtun ity ofassuring Socia l ist fr iends tha t the book is not ame re compi lat ion . I am no s tranger i n oldAus tral ia

,and have s lept over five hundred n ights

i n a mud hut at New Austral ia . My ownin format ion concern ing eve ry deta i l of l i fe atWi l l iam Lane ’s two sett lements was obtained

,by

word of mouth,di rect from leading figures i n the

As sociat ion,from documents suppl ied by them , and

from pe rsonal observation and exper ience . Extens ive use has been made of quotat ions from art i cles ,l etters

,etc .

,by those i n sympathy with the move

ment , and of official reports , prin cipal ly as a meansof sett i ng independent confirmatory evidence beforethe reader .I des i re to express my obl igat ions to theControl ler o f H is Majes ty ’s Stat ionery Office forpe rmission to use the extracts from Foreign OfficeReports quoted here i n . Also to the B ri t ish Agentfo r Cosme Colony ; and to the Editors of the fo l lowing newspapers from whose co lumns quotat ions ( i nsome cases with , i n othe rs w ithout formal perm iss ion ) have been made : Sydney Bu lletin ,

London

Pa ll Ma ll Gazette , New Austra lia journa l, S outhAmerican journa l, Barrier Min er, Cosme Monthly,

L ondon Daily News,Cosme Evening Notes , S outh

Aus tra lian R egis ter, Sydney Daily Telegraph,B ris bane Worker . And to the ab le Soc ial istwr i ters upon whose works I have drawn for authoritative

“ statement of what Social ism means andwhat the purpose of Soc ial ism is .”

STEWART GRAHAME .

AuTHORs’ CLUB ,

April, 1 9 1 2 .

CHAPTER I .

THE GREAT STR IKE .

THE Austral ian Socia l i st party commenced itscaree r as an act ive fight ing force i n 1 889 , the firstman i festat ion of its might fal l ing l ike a bombshel l

,

not at home , but in Great B ri tain . When theLondon dock labourers came out on str ike—an

unorgan ised mob not affi l iated to any great andwealthy trade un ion— it was freely prophesied thatsheer s tarvat ion wou ld dr ive them back to workwith in a short t ime . The prophets were disappointed , however , for , to the surprise of mostpeople i n England

,i nc luding the strikers them

selves , the i r meagre funds were re in forced by acontr ibut ion of cab led from Brisbane ,and

,thus ass isted , the dock labourers gained the

day .

Considering the fact that Austral ia is so sparselyinhab ited i t was considered a remarkab le th ing thatso large a sum could be ra ised from a sect ion of itswo rkers , a lmos t i n a moment

,fo r the pu rpose of

tak ing s ides i n a dispute with which they had noconcern

,for the benefit of men they had neve r met .

I n fact,the in ciden t po i n ted not me rely to the

existence of a wealthy Labour ” organ isat ion inthe Ant ipodes but a lso to a new spi r it of unselfishness in Trade Un ion ism , which suggested somevery except ional i nfluence in the background .

Those who troub led to probe into the matterfu rther discove red that the centra l figure of the

2 THE GREAT STRIKE

Austral ian Social ist movement was a journa l istnamed Wi l l iam Lane

,an i ndiv idua l who figu res so

prominent ly in the fo l lowing na rrat ive that i t w i l lbe as wel l to v isua l ise h im without delay , as seenby his own s uppo rte rs .

Bo rn into Engl ish agr i cu ltu ra l l i fe,with I r ish

and Corn ish blood in h is ve ins , with an adven tu rousSpi r i t , i nher ited from the Old sea fa r i ng stock fromwhich he sp rang ,

” one of his wa rmes t admi re rs*

says of h im ,

“ the dreamy , studious boy ,la

‘medfrom bi rth

,l ea rned earlv to ponde r on the suffe r~

i ngs of the labou r i ng c lass to wh ich he be longedThe hard s truggle and p rematu re age of h lS motheri n pa rt i cu la r , sank in to his hea rt , i nsp i r ing ach ival rous respect for women in the abstract,and apract i ca l sympathy for the work ing-woman m theconcrete , wh ich cha racter ises h im to th i s day .

When not th i rst i ng for a sea- l i fe , picking up scrapsof Lat i n from a somewhat supe ri o r v i l lage s choo lmas ter , or busy with the many tasks a l lotted to thech i ldren of the poor

,the b oy Lane was study ing

p roblems with la rge , sho rt- s ighted bl ue eyes , andlea rn ing to clothe his thoughts i n language cu l ledfrom the B ib le and the Pi l gr im ’

s P rogress . Atthe age of fi fteen we find h im in Ame r i ca

,earn ing

his own bread , l ea rn ing the compos i tors’ wo rk ,

pick ing up Yankee ‘cuteness ’ with the Yankeetwang

,devot ing a ll h is spa re t ime to reading

,and

preserv i ng the nerve and b ravado which enabledh im defiantly to swim a rap id shunned by his compan ions as fatal . I t i s th is i ndomitable ‘pluck ,

’

‘A . T . Rose-So ley, in the Westminster Review.

A S IMPLE REMEDY 3

i n an appa rently fra i l body,which has stood h im in

good s tead in later days,enab l ing h im to su rmount

obs tacles befo re which many a s tout -hea rted man

wou ld have quai led . F rom the compositors ’ hedr i fted into the reporters ’ room

,and was soon

wielding a vigorous pen . Some few y ea rs later,hav i'ng ma rr ied a la rge-hearted , b road-minded wi fe ,Amer i can -b red , b ut grand-daughte r of a sh rewdScotch Un ivers i ty p rofessor ,Wil l iam Lane migratedto Queensland

,and became one of the most success

ful free- lances on the Aus t ra l ian press .”

At fi rst Lane worked on the Ob s erver anddevoted h is bu rn ing pen ent irely to the cause ofsu ffe r ing human ity . Wherever there was an ove rc rowded s lum o r a case of sweated labour , Wi l l iamLane wou ld fe rret it out and ho ld up to publ i cscorn those who were responsible for such evi lcondit ions There probab ly neve r l ived a moresi ng le -minded man, and h is hones ty of pu rposewas so cl ea rly recogn ised that he won the confid

ence of the working c las ses complete ly .

I t was Lane ’s fervent des i re “ to idea l ise Labour,

to conque r want , and hate , and greed , and vice ,

and establ ish peace on earth and good-wil l towardsmen .

”

Thousands of othe r th inkers have desi red to see

the same beaut i fu l programme real ised , thoughmos t have despa i red of its poss ib i l i ty on th is planet .With his optimist i c tempe rament , however,W illiam

Lane was conv i nced tha t the re rea l ly d id exis t ,ready to hand , a s imple remedy fo r a ll the i l ls thatmar the c ivi l ised world . I t was h is fi rm convict ionthat , i f capita l i sm and the wages system were

4 THE GREAT STRIKE

utter ly abol ished , and a State estab l i shed in accordance with Social ist i c theories

,envy , hatred , mal ice

and al l unchar itab leness wou ld utter ly disappearfrom the earth ; cr ime wou ld be no more , humannatu re wou ld be automatical ly pu rged of al l itsun lovely featu res

,heaven on earth wou ld be a fact

for every man,woman and ch i ld .

S ince he held such bel iefs i t was not wonderfu lthat Lane stra i n ed every nerve to obtai n conve rts .He rapidly gained an extraordinary ascendancyover the minds of the i nte l l igen t art isans and

mechan ics of B r isbane , and disseminated amongthem

,by means of tracts , free reading rooms and

Soc ial i st i c debat i ng societies , the fasci nat ing fict i on sof Bel lamy and the start l i ng doctr ines of Kar l Marxan d h is discip les . His weekly paper

,The B oome

rang, met with instant success , and served as amedium for reach in g the miners and shea rers i nthe back-blocks

,who fel l under the spe l l o f h is

glamorous phrases as readi ly as the townsfol k haddone . This much accompl ished

,he tackled the

leaders of the va r ious great Trade Un ions and converted them to h is theory that i t wou l d be poss ib l e ,by concerted act ion , to overth row capital and confiscate land and al l means of product ion for theexcl us ive benefit of the manual wo rker . Then heproved h is own adhesion to the new creed by leavi ngh is h igh ly remunerat ive pos i t ion

,and moving i nto

a common workman ’s cottage,prior to estab l ish ing

a new j ou rnal on co -operat ive l i nes Th is newjournal , which scored an instant success , wasent it led The Worker, and had for i ts war-c ry themotto Social ism in ou r Time . In i t he ran as a

PRACT ICAL SOCIALISM 5

seria l B el lamy ’s convert-making story LookingBackwa rd .

”H is a ims are wel l summed up in

Mr . B latchford ’

s statement“ Practi ca l Socia l ism is so s imple that a ch i l dmay unde rs tand it . I t i s a k ind of nat iona l schemeof co-opera t ion managed by the State . I ts p rogramme cons ists essential ly of one demand

,that

the land and other instruments of product ion sha l lbe the common p roperty of the people

,and shal l

be used and governed by the people for thepeople .With his magnet ic personal i ty Lane seemed l ikea heaven - sent p rophet to the eage r band of disc ip leswho gathered about h im and devoted al l thei renergies to disseminat i ng h is doctr ines . Of a truththere was someth ing ve ry attract ive about them tothe wage-ea rners , for i t was Lane

’

s amazing creed ,that the facto ry-hand was the r ightfu l owner of thefacto ry

,that the sheep - shearer was ent it led to the

fu l l p rofits of the shear i ng indus try , that the lega lowners of a ll forms of p rope rty were robb ing themanua l workers of the i r dues . Among h is fol lowersthe fa l lac ious theory that “ the frugal workman on lygets about one- th i rd of h is ea rn ings

,whi le under

Socia l ism he , the worker , would get al l h is earnings ,

” found ready acceptance .

Wherever manual worke rs were gathered together

,the v iv idly written columns of The Worker

were scanned,and its bu rn ing phrases discussed

with eager i n teres t . I t was thus that Wi l l iam Lanebecame a power i n the land , a man who was l i tera l lyworsh ipped by thousands ; who had on ly to bemoanthe miseries of certain str ikers in another land to

6 THE GREAT STRIKE

open the purse str i ngs of al l who fol lowed h im onthe i r behal f . I t was not mere ph i lanthropy , but afar deeper-seated mot ive wh ich moved Wi l l iamLane to take the act ion he did with regard to theLondon dockers . He wanted to give the wor l d apowe rfu l demonstrat ion of what cou ld be accom

plished , i f on ly“ the wo rkers” would broaden the i r

out look and fight each other ’s batt les as wel l asthei r own . The principle i s a wel l-recogn ised onenow

,but i t was novel then .

“Wil l iam Lane dreamed of a federated un ion ismwhich shou ld l ink together al l the componen t pa rtsof the labou r wor l d ,

” explains M r . Rose-Soley .

“ I t was with th is obj ect that he mixed h imsel f upwith str ikes , albe i t recogn is ing , with most farsee ing th inkers , the absol ute fut i l i ty of str ikes saveas an evidence of strength and sol ida r i ty ; i t waswith th is obj ect that he cemented the bonds betweenlabou r i n far-apart lands

,i nst igat ing the magn ificent

contr ibution of the B r isbane whar f labourer to h iss tarving brother

,the London docker .”

I t so happened that Austral ia at that t ime wastotteri ng on the verge of a financial cr is is . Forten years the “Working Man ’s Paradise” had l ivedon credit . Now the t ime of reckon ing was at hand

,

and on ly a success ion of prosperous years , um

hampered by labou r troub les , cou l d pu l l th ingsthrough . I t was an anxious t ime fo r al l , and forthe pastoral ists i n part i cu lar . Would the shearers ,who had shared i n the i r good times , stand by themduring the cris is ? Would labour” comb ine forits own sake and that of the country , to saveAustral ia from bankruptcy ?

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8 THE GREAT STR IKE

Furthermo re the Wha rf Labou rers ’ Un ion i nt imated that they wou ld handle no wool sho rn by“ black- l egs ,

”and declared a sympathet i c s tr i ke .

Next,the me rchant ma r i ne we re i nduced to j o i n the

movement , and both office rs and men left the i rsh ips . Then the coa l -miners of Newcas t l erefused to hew coa l i ntended for the sh ips whosecrews were on strike , and the col l iery owne rsl ocked them out .When the General Str ike was i n fu l l swing al ltrades and industr ies we re paralysed throughoutQueens land

,New South Wales , Victoria and New

! ealand from August t i l l October , 1 890 ,even the

over-seas sh ipp ing lay idle i n the harbours,and the

s t r i kers neglected no means to make the i r boycottof al l forms of work effect ive . Non -un ion istsengaged i n cart i ng wool th rough the s treets we recharged by the str ike rs whose Un ion officials cou ldno longer con tro l them

,and the t rol leys flung into

the sea . The Queensland str i kers formed hugecamps in the bush and i ncendiarism was frequent .The prinicpal towns were i n a state of s iege , and ,on the 1 9th September , a pi tched batt l e was foughtbetween pol ice and mounted troops on the one hand ,and the dete rmined mobs on the other .Towa rds the end of the year some sort of t ruce

was patched up , but i n 1 89 1 the t roub le b roke outaga i n , and once mo re i n 1 89 2 . I n the latter year aSpecia l t ra i n tak ing non -un ion ist labour fromAdela i de to replace s t r i kers at the B roken H i l lS i lve r mines

,was attacked by an armed mob

,who

not on ly stoned but a l so fi red bu l lets at the str ikebreakers . On a number of the r i ngleaders being

THE FINANC IAL CR IS IS 9

imprisoned , howl i ng r i oters sto rmed the gaol determined to tea r i t down

,j us t as the Pa r is ians level led

the Basti l le . I n fact,red revolut ion raged in the

Ant ipodes for nearly two yea rs before i t spent itsstrength and the A .L .F . su lk i ly admitted defeat ,and al lowed its members to retu rn to work in theordinary manner .How the Trade Un ion leaders must have cursedthe day they p roj ected the Genera l Str ike

,when

they counted the cost of that two years ’ wicked ,wastefu l s tr i fe ! To say noth ing of the manymi l l ions of pounds los t to t rade i n Aus tral ia (aboutwhich the Fede rat ion did not concern i tsel f) thestr ikers had l ost i n wages , the TradeUn ion coffers were emptied , the leade rs

’ creditgone , their power broken . Part ly as a resu l t ofthe disastrous s tr ikes the long-th reatened financia lcatastrophe descended upon Austra l ia i n 1 892

-

3

and banks with l iab i l i t ies of £ 1 34 ,ooo ,ooo suspended payment .The A .L .F had demonstrated its s trength

,tru ly ,

but on ly as bl i nd Samson proved h is , when he b rokethe p i l la rs which supported the roof i n the house ofthe Ph i l ist i nes

,and was h imsel f crushed i n the ru in

which descended upon his enemies .

Note —When the struggle broke out once more in 1894, it was

conducted with even greater acrimony. The followingmemorandum,

by an eye-witness, conveys an idea of how the unscrupulous will take

advantage of a purely trade dispute to promote the“class war .

”

“It became evident that there was a large body who were not

merely bent on compelling the employers to alter the agreement,

but who rather regarded the whole struggle as an episode in the

great struggle between labour and capital,

remarks Mr . G. M . L .

1 0 THE GREAT STRIKE

Lester in the Economic Review. These men carried on a realand b itter warfare against capita l in every shape and form. Not

only did they brutally bully and ill-treat black-legs,” but theysucceeded also in destroying the woolsheds at Ayrshire Downs ,Cassilis

, Redclifie, Cambridge Downs , Murweh , Eurongella,

Manuca , and Oondooroo , and Dagworth . The shoot ing case at

Coombe Martin and the night attack on Dagworth are furtherevidences of the b itterness of this particular party. I do not

believe that the actions of these violent persons met with the

approval of the better sort of unionists, b ut it is significant thatno Labour member to my knowledge, nor any Labour paper as

far as 1 am aware, expressed any sense of shame at the excesses

of the ir advanced guard . Moreover, pamphlets of the inflamma

tory kind common to the revolutionary and the penny novelist,were widely circulated throughout the colony, urging men to

useless crime . In one of these wonderful productions Parliaments

are described as“comm ittees of corpulent robbers and polished

thieves, oratorical prostitutes and abject hirel ings .

” “The Tree

of Liberty only bears fruit when manured with the bones of the

fat usurers and insolent despots .

” Another of the same kindurges men to study the science of death , use bullets

,steel,

melinite,keros ine, lithofracteur, poison, blast ing powder .

”Finally,

it says , ! ou must steal l ike Spartans , think like heroes , lie likehell .

CHAPTER I I .

'A BETTER NAPOLEON .

As there has been a good deal of misapprehen s ionon th is subject , i t should be clea rly understood thatthe Labour Federat ion ’s attack on Cap ita l wass imply an act of aggression

,with Syndica l ism as

i ts object . The batt le was not fought by theUn ions on legit imate grounds in defence of someoverworked or underpa id members . Employers ofLabour were under the thumb of the Un ions , whoseyoke was grievous to bear , and wages ruled h igher ,with shorter hou rs

,than i n any other country of

the world .

I n 1 882 navvies and genera l labourers rece ived 3.

min imum of 85 . dai ly , blacksmiths I OS .,painters

and carpenters I I S . , stonemasons 1 1 5 . 6d . , plasterers 1 2 s . , and b r i cklayers 1 2 5 . 6d . Four years laterwages fel l somewhat , though they were st i l l veryh igh

,i n 1 888 they bounded up aga in , and rose once

more in 1 889 . Thus on the eve of the Great Str ikeAustral ia might tru ly be ca l led the Work ingMan ’s Pa radise . Now , observe howTrade Un iongreed , l ike the monkey with the nuts i n a fami l iarfabl e

,defeated its own object

,and

,by seeking to

grasp al l , l ost most of what i t had a l ready secured .

In b r inging about the ru in of the Capital ist , theLabou r Federat ion was sta rtl ed to discover that ithad a l so ru i ned Labou r .

” By the end of 1 895 ,wages had fal len below the level at wh ich they stood

I I

1 2 A BETTER NAPOLEON

—before the commencement of Trade Un ion act iv i ty—in 1 850 !

Thus the great plot reco i led upon the heads ofthe Trade Un ions and its p romoters admitted the i rm istake . But when the Trade Un ion officials werei n the depths of despai r over the p roved inefficiencyof st r i ke methods , the way to snatch a victory fromdefea t was poin ted out by Wil l iam Lane and hischosen band of associates— men who in the strangecondit ion of Austral i a at tha t t ime , might bebarr is ters

,un ive rs i ty graduates , ex-bank managers ,

or h igh ly trained journal ists al though they happened to be ea rn i ng the i r l ive l ihood as shearers ,storekeepers or miners .S ince Labou r alone produces wea l th , they

a rgued ,“ i t i s st i l l poss ib le to checkmate Cap ital by

withdrawing Labou r,not tempora ri ly by means of

another str ike , but bodi ly to a new country , wherenone but the workers themselves sha l l p rofit bythe i r i ndustry .

”

Fo reseei ng that the sl ump i n wages wou ld give agreat impetus to such a movement , Lane began in1 890 to p roj ect a p lan so da r ing , and s o unprece

dented , that at fi rst few people bel ieved tha t i t cou ldbe seriously contemplated . However , on th isoccas ion , as always , Lane was in grim earnest , andissued h is u l t imatum to Capital i n the form of thefo l lowing

DECLARATION OF PR INCIPLES .

WhereasSo long as one depends upo n another fo r l eaveto wo rk and so long as the se lfishness i nduced by

AN ASSOC IATION OF WORKERS 1 3

the uncerta i nty of l iving prevents mankind fromseeing that i t is best for al l to i nsure one anotheraga i nst a ll possib i l ity of soc ia l degradat ion

,true

L iberty and Happiness are impossib le ; and

WhereasThe weakness , ignorance , and doubts of

society at large is the great barr ier i n the way ofthe estab l ishment of such true socia l order as wi l li nsure to eve ry cit izen securi ty against want andopportun ity to develop to the fu l lest the facu l t iesevolv ing in Human ity ;

Therefore.g

I t is des i rab le and imperat ive that by a commun i ty where in a ll labou r i n common for thecommon good actua l p roof shal l be given thatunde r condit ions wh ich render i t impossib le forone to tyrann ize ove r anothe r , and which declarethe first duty of each to be the wel l -be ing of a lland the sole duty of a ll to be the wel l-being ofeach , men and women can l ive i n comfort ,happiness

,i ntel l igence and order l i nes s unknown

i n a society where none can be s ure to day thatthey or the i r ch i ldren wi l l not s tarve to -morrow .

With th is end i n view an Associat ion ofWorkers is hereby inst i tuted , the s ignato r iesi n tending and expecting to migrate to anothercountry there to devote to the movement thei rpossess ions and thei r best endeavou rs .

I t was at fi rs t supposed by most th ink ing peoplei n Austra l ia that Wi l l iam Lane would find few to

14 A B ETTER NAPOLEON

back his remarkab le p roj ect , but ci rcumstanceswere in h is favou r . The Queensland Bush wassti l l fu l l of str ikers ’ camps

,where hundreds of

capable and ab le-bodied shearers found themselvesstranded and unable to obta i n work

,because many

pastoral ists we re ru ined and others were employingnon -un ion ists on ly .

Un l ike the shearers of a by-gone day ,who were

notor iously i l l i te rate,stup id and d runken

,the ave r

age modern shearer is sobe r,sh rewd , and hard

headed,and pe rhaps the most a rgumentat ive man

on earth . As a ru l e he has great notions on thesubj ect of equa l i ty , and a considerab le port ion of hisample le isu re is spen t i n reading and re- readingthe i nterest i ng w r i t i ngs of Messrs . Bel lamy

,B latch

ford , Karl Marx and B el fort Bax , and argu ingwith h is mates upon them . He rel ig iously takesi n some weekly paper devoted to a red- hot Soc ial istp ropaganda , an d bel ieves h imsel f exceptional lywel l - i n formed upon the cou rse of a ll affai rs thatmatter th roughout the u n iverse . Among such menas these , a l ready s o far converted to h is way ofthi n k ing that they held as a S imple statement of factthe saying that al l save manual wo rkers are th ievesand paras i tes upon the rest of the commun ity ,

’

Lane was confident of finding fru i t r ipe for h ispl ucki ng .

I n the remote B ush,moreove r

,there were thou

sands of others not conce rned in— who might noteven have heard of— the G reat St r i ke . Therewere , ,

for i nstance , the free selectors” i n the back

blocks,l iv i ng wretchedly upon the land from wh ich

the once weal thy squatte rs had been dr iven , where

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16 A BETTER NAPOLEON

To tempt them to j oi n h is scheme he recogn isedtha t the appeal mus t be a persona l one , and thatthe m iss ionary of h is movement must possess theenthus iasm and personal magnetism of an insp i redprophet ,I s not the on ly hope i n the r is ing of a better

Napoleon ? he demanded . In the e levat ion of aleader with the b ra in of a jay Gould and the heartof a Christ ?”

After ca refu l con s i derat ion Wi l l iam Lane decidedto unde rtake the work h imsel f .Turn ing over the editorsh ip of The W

'

orker toother hands , he set forth upon h is wh i rlwind miss ion ,

s usta i ned by a per fect fa i th i n the r ighteousness ofhis cause— fo r Lane bel ieved eve ry word of what hep reached . To h im Looking Backwa rd ” was no

de l ightfu l ly ingen ious fict ion ; he was convinced thatthe counterpart o f everyth ing describ ed in Bel lamy ’sbook might be set up in rea l l i fe . I t was th isabsolute bel ief i n the b eneficence of h is m iss ionwh ich gave Lane h is conv incing power . When hedismounted from his horse at sundown at someisolated shea r in g- shed— caked with dust and s t ifffrom long r i d ing

,his th roa t parched and h is head

ach ing from the sun— wear i ness sl ipped from h imas i f by magi c when the shea rers gathered abouth im and he broached the one theme which he hadridden so far to ope n to them . O r

,i n the lonely

B ush , he wou ld hal t by some camp -fire and puffh is p ipe i n company with the other wayfarersgathered round i ts gen ial flare . At fi rs t the conve rsa t i on wou ld be upon i ndifferen t subj ects , maybe , but when they real ized that thei r v is itor was

THE PROM ISED LAND 1 7

john M i l l er (as he signed h imsel f) of TheWorker, an expectant hush would fa l l upon thel i tt le assembly

,and Lane needed no urging to ta l k

fo r hou r on hou r about the glori es of the “ P romisedLand ,

” to which he wou ld lead them i f they wou ldon ly trust h im .

What an asset such a man would have been as

the o rgan iser of some saner plan of social ameliorat ion ! And yet

,who knows ? i t may be that the

warn ing p rovided by the fa i l u re of th is earnest,but

mistaken enthusiast , wi l l be of more service to thep resent and futu re generations than h is mode ratesuccess i n some less amb it ious di rect ion , wouldhave been .

Mere l ip-service , o r fo rma l assent to the doctrineshe taught , wou ld not sat is fy Lane . When once hediscovered that he had won a man ’s secret sym

pathies , he did not rest unt i l that man was convertedto the necess i ty for act ion .

Al l that any rel igion has been to the h ighestthought of any people , Socia l ism is , and more , tothose who conce ive it a r ight ,

” he declared .

*

Without bl i nding us to ou r own weaknesses and

wickedness,without offer i ng to us any soph istry ,

or ca j o l i ng us with any fa l lacy , i t en th rones Loveabove the un iverse

,gives us hope for al l who are

down - trodden , and res to res to us fa i th i n the eternalfitness of th ings . Social ism is i ndeed a rel ig iondemanding deeds as wel l as words . Not unt i lprofessing Social ists unde rstand th is wi l l the wor l dat la rge see Social ism as i t rea l ly is .”

As i t happened , Wil l iam Lane was not alone j ust“The Working Man

’

s Paradise , by William Lane.

1 8 A BETTER NAPOLEON

then in project ing a scheme for the estab l ishmentof a pe rfect State where al l shou ld be free and equa l .Ea rly i n 1 890 Herr Theodo r H ertzka (at one t imeeconomic edito r to the Neue Freie P ress e) pub l ishedi n Vienna h is Freeland—A Social Ant i cipat ion ,of which i nte rest ing work an Engl ish t ranslat ion*

appea red in 1 89 1 . Being written by an acknowledged autho r i ty on economic questions

,th is closely

reasoned Utopian romance att racted a great deal ofa tten t ion , and a Freeland Associat ion was

formed on the Cont i nent for the pu rpose of putt ingits teach ings i nto p ract ice . With appa rently flawles s logi c , Herr H ertzka proved tha t i n a state soidea l ly

, ye t s imply , o rgan ised as“ F reeland ,

” suchun iversa l l uxu ry wou ld be enj oyed that it woul dseem “ as i f each F reelander without except ion hadabout 1 2 0 slaves at h is disposal . What wonderthat we can l ive l i ke masters ,

” one of h is charactersrema rks

,

“ notwith standing that servitude is un

known in F reeland ! ” I n addit ion , with in twentyfive years of its foundat ion , the j o i nt-wealth equal lyenj oyed by the inhab itants of Freeland ,amounts w i thout tak ing into account the inca lculabl e va l ue of the so i l—to £ 1 30 0 per head , or £60 0 0per fam i ly .

”

Of cou rse the Engl ish edit ion of th is work foundits way to Aus t ra l ia ,

and p repa red a harves t readyto be reaped by Wi l l iam Lane . P robably a l so i tgreat ly en cou raged h im to go forwa rd with h is proposal , al though on somewhat d iffe rent l i nes . Butthen the reade rs of “ F reeland we re p repa red forsome sl ight va r iat ions i n the scheme , fo r, i n h is

Chatto and Windus , London .

A SOC IALIST PARADISE 19

preface , H ertzka h imsel f sa i d,I do not imagine

that the es tab l ishment of the futu re socia l ordermust necessari ly be effected exact ly i n the waydescr ibed i n the fol lowing pages . I f economicfreedom and j us t i ce are to obta i n i n human soc iety

,

they must be se r iously determined upon ; and i tseems easier to un ite a few thousands in such adeterm i nat ion than number l ess m i l l ions , most ofwhom are not accus tomed to accept the new— let i tbe ever so clea r and sel f-evident— unt i l i t has beenembodied in fact .”

That was precise ly the V iew wh ich Wi l l iam Lanewas so fond of u rging . He planned to commenceh is ideal State with not more than about 80 0fami l ies . When they had embodied i n fact , fo r thewhole wor ld to see

,the wonde rfu l prosp erity and

happiness to be enj oyed under Socia l i sm , hebel ieved that a ll civi l ised peoples wou ld hasten toemb race its benefits also .

The name wh ich Lane decided to give h isSocia l is t paradise was “ New Austral ia , but th isdid not imply that on ly Austral ians were welcomed ;people of any national i ty m ight jo in , p rov ided theywe re not colou red . I t was his des ign to send pro

pagandis t miss ionar ies to Great B r i ta in , SouthAfr i ca and Canada as soon as a su itable terr i to ryhad been found and a nucleus sett lement established . S imultaneous ly with h is own recru it i ngcampa ign

,he sent forth th ree trusted emissar ies ,

Walke r,Leck and Saunders

,al l exper ien ced bush

men , to prospect a s ite fo r his new Canaan . H is

instructions to them were ident ical i n character with

2 0 A BETTER NAPOLEON

those wh ich Moses" gave to Joshua and h is compan ions

“ See the land wha t i t is ; and the people thatdwel leth there i n

,whether they be strong or weak ,

few or many ;“ And what the land is that they dwel l i n , whetheri t be good or bad ; and what c i t ies they be that theydwel l i n

,whethe r i n tents , or i n strongholds ;

“ And what the land is , whether i t be fat or lean ,whether there be wood there i n

,or not .”

But Lane ’s plan of proc edure differed i n th is v i talrespect from that of Moses ; that whereas the latterre l ied whol ly upon God to give h is fol lowe rs securepossess ion of “ a land wh ich floweth with m i lk andhoney

,

” i t was a basi c p r i n cip le with Wi l l iam Laneto excl ude the Deity from any part i c ipat ion i n theaffa i rs of New Austral ia . As wi l l be seen from theOffic ial B asi s ” below , i t was lai d down thatrel ig ion would not be recogn ised by Lane ’s commun ity .

The fol lowing is the exact text of the Constitut ion , wh ich a ll who jo ined the New Austral iaCo -ope rat ive Sett lement Associat ion s igned , andpledged themselves loya l ly to observe .

BAS IS OF CO-OPERATI VE ORGANI SATION .

PRODUCTION . Ownership by th e commun ity of al l the

means of p roduct ion in exchange and d istribu t ion .

Conduct by the communi ty of all p roduct ion in

exchange and d is tribu t ion .

Numbers xiii . 18—20 .

f At a later date the Constitution was altered in certainImportant respects . See Append ix C.

BASIS OF ORGANISATION 2 1

Supe rintendence by the commun ity of al l labour-savingco-operations .

ALLOTMENT. Ma intenance by the community of childrenunder guard ianship of parents .

Ma intenance by the community of all sanitary and

educat iona l estab l ishments .

Saving by the commun ity of all cap ital needed by the

community .

Divis ion of rema ining weal th p roduct ion among all

adu lt members of the commun ity equal ly , without regardto sex ,

age , office , or phys ica l or menta l capac ity .

AUTHORIT! . S ubj ect to the su premacy of the laws of

the s tate settled in ,which all members pledge themselves

to observe loyal ly ,the fo l lowing au thority and regu lat ions

sha l l b e observed between the members of the commu

mity

Ba l lot vote of all adult members to b e sup reme

au thority .

Director, e lected by two-thirds maj ority of generalbal lo t

, to b e so le execu t ive authority ,advised by Board

of S uperintendents .

S uperintendents , e lected by two -thirds majority of

departmental bal lot , to b e so le departmenta l au thorit ies ,subj ect to d i rector .

REGULATIONS . Regulations affecting the commun ity at

large to b e confirmed by a two -thirds majority of all

adul t members .

Departmenta l regu lat ions to b e confirmed by a majorityof al l adu lt members interes ted .

Al l regulations to b e subm itted annual ly for cohtinuation or rej ect ion .

Disp u tes aris ing between the commun ity and anymember or members to b e dec ided in equ ity by an

2 2 A BETTER NAPOLEON

arb itrator mu tua l ly agreed u pon between the communa lau thority and th e member or members interes ted .

Dis p u tes aris ing between members to b e dec ided in

equ ity by an arb itrator mu tua l ly agreed u pon by them .

Dismis sa l from the commun ity ,for pers istent or nu

pardonab le ofience aga ins t the we l l-be ing of the com

munity ,to b e decreed only by a five-S ix th majo rity of all

adu l t members .

ELECTIONS . Al l ofiices to be vacated annual ly and

whenever occupants cease to reta in the confidence of the i rcons t ituents .

I NDIVIDUALIT! . The ind ividual ity of every member inthought

,re l ig ion

,s peech and le is ure , and in al l matters

whatsoever whereby the ind ividua l ity of o thers is not

afiected to b e he ld invio lab le .

SEX EQUALIT! . The sexes to b e recogn ised as equal lyent it led to fu l l membership .

RELIG ION . Re l ig ion not to b e offic ia l ly recognised byth e commun ity .

AMENDMENT. Amendment of this bas is for co -operat iveorgan isat ion to b e made on ly by a two-thirds majority of

all adult members .

FINANCIAL GLAUSES .

AGREEMENT. Every member of the assoc iat ion,by act

of j o in ing the assoc iat ion,agrees to s ubscribe to the funds

of the assoc iat ion al l h e may possess when he is final lyenro l led for actual m igrat ion , s uch subscrip t ion to b e not

less than £60 .

PRELIMINAR ! EX PENSES . Th e necessary funds for all

p re l im inary expenses,inc l ud ing p ros pect ing

,organ isation ,

and co lonisat ion arrangements , Shal l b e p rovided by a

p rel iminary payment of J(1I O, £5 of which mus t b e pa idwithin one month of p rovis ional enrolment

, the o ther £5

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24 A BETTER NAPOLEON

THE LIQUOR QUESTION . W ithout p rej ud ice to the

l iquor ques t ion members shal l p ledge themselves to

teeto ta l ism unt i l the init ial d ifficu l t ies o f sett lement havepassed , and the Cons t itu t ion been es tab l ished .

Wi th the c i rcu lars g iving these part iculars of the New

Au stra l ia movement, th e fo l lowing not ificat ion was

issued

This As soc iat ion ,o rgan ized u pon the above l ines , is in

fu l l accord with the Organ isat ion of Labou r , and has beenrecogn ized as such by al l the great bush un ions of

Au s tra l ia and b y the Q ueens land A .L .F . Genera l Counc i l .Nearly hal f a m i l l ion acres have been se lected by its own

prosp ectors in Paraguay and conceded i t by the Government of that country . This land wi l l never b e sold bu tu sed to bui ld u p co-operat ive settlement . There is no

humbug abou t New Austra l ia .

”

CHAPTER I I I .

THE PROM ISED LAND .

IN se lec t i ng a S i te for New Aus tra l ia Lane wasgu ided by the fol lowing p r i n cip les la i d down byH ertzka fo r h is “ Freeland ” exper iment “ I nca rrying out ou r programme a hitherto unappro

p riated large t ract of land wi l l have to be acqu i redfor the founding of an i ndependent commun ityThe quest ion now is , what part o f the earth sha l l wechoose for such a purpose ? For obvious reason swe cannot look for te rr i tory to any part of Europe ;and eve rywhere in Asia

,at least i n those parts i n

wh ich Caucas ian races cou ld flourish,we shou ld be

cont inual ly com ing into col l is ion with ancient formsof law and society . We might expect that theseve ral gove rnments i n

.

Ame r i ca and Austra l iawould readi ly grant us land and freedom of act ion ;but even there our young commun ity wou ld scarcelybe able to enj oy tha t undistu rbed qu iet and securi tyagains t antagon is t i c i n terferen ce wh ich wou ld be atfirst a necessary condit ion of rapid and uninter

rupted success .”

The learned docto r came to the conclus ion thatsuch a t ract of ground as he des i red cou ld be foundon ly in Afr i ca ; “Tilliam Lane , however , tu rned h isattent ion to South Ame r ica with its equa l ly greatnatu ra l resou rces st i l l awa i t i ng development . F romhis po int of view there were strong arguments i nfavou r of Pa raguay as a su itab le p lace for a la rge

A TERR IE

of the i r ca ttl e , the populatii

of a mi l l ion to one quarte rremnant composed of wor

man was l e ft to t i l l the gtthe pl ough , and Low h

th is mi sery and ru in ,had I

the b anks o f the Aquidab :

Du ring that te rr ib l e w:arm ies o f Brazil , the A rgeon ly d id the pract i ce of 3every Sk i l led worke r peri

'

guayans of the next geneof the arts in wh ich the ir ffo r the most pa rt , reve rtel i v ing not far removed in

the owne rs of hundreds of

peri shed ,without l eav i ng

fami l i es to succeed them ;van i shed and fo r many ric

cou ld find no c la imants .

al mos t the whole a rea of ti

al i sed as complete ly as

cou ld wish,and vas t tra

ri ch ness became avai lab lemen t , toindust ri es and

coun tryts many

26 THE PROM ISED LAND

body of energeti c Anglo- Saxons to settl e i n,S i n ce

that S tate was one of the most p rosperous of theLat i n repub l ics unt i l the disastrous war of 1 865—70brought i t to utte r ru in . To resto re the country toi ts o ld p rosper i ty noth ing more was (or i s at thepresent day) needed than the in troduct ion of a greatmany su itab l e immigrants

,not a fra i d of wo rk and

capab le of hard p ioneer i ng labou r .I n the m iddle of the n ineteenth centu ry Pa raguaywas the most p rogress ive State i n South Ame r i ca ,

with so many flouri sh ing i ndustr i es that i t was qu i tesel f - con ta i ned and economica l ly i ndependent of therest of the world . I t was the fi rs t country i n SouthAme r ica to be provided with a ra i lway .

“ WhenSolano Lopez succeeded to the headsh ip of theS tate i n 1 862 i t possessed a respectable standinga rmy and a large tra i ned reserve , a squadron ofgun -boats capab le of meet ing anyth ing that floatedon R iver P late waters ; a series o f fort ified placeson the eastern bank of the Paraguay ; an arsena l ,a gun foundry and a la rge sum of money i n thena t ional coffers ,

” the Paraguayan Consu l oncep roudly sta ted before the Society of Arts . Buta las ! the mad amb it ions o f an autocrat b roughti rretr ievab le ru i n upon the country . I n the Shortperiod of e ight years the vast resources of wh ichMa rshal Lope z came in to possess ion had complete lydisappeared . The soldie rs were lyi ng dead uponthe fie ld of batt l e , the nat ional treasu ry was empty ,the flot i l l a had been captu red

,the arsenal and forts

had been tu rned into heaps of ru i ns,the happy and

prosperous land had been devastated , the towns andvi l lages destroyed

,the r i ch pastu re lands denuded

A TERR IBLE WAR 2 7

of the i r cattle , the popu lat ion reduced from upwa rdsof a mi l l ion to one quarter of that number and thatremnant compo sed of women and ch i ldren ; not aman was left to t i l l the ground , not an ox to drawthe plough

,and Lopez h imsel f , the orig i n of al l

th is mise ry and ru in,had died sword i n hand upon

the banks of the Aqu idaban .

Du r i ng tha t terr ib le war against the comb inedarmies of B razi l , the Argent i ne , and Uruguay , noton ly did the pract i ce of al l i ndustries die out butevery Ski l led worker per ished

,so that the Para

guayans of the next generat ion grew up ignorantof the arts i n wh ich the i r forbears were sk i l led and,fo r the most pa rt , reverted to a p r im it ive way ofl iv ing not fa r removed from savagery . Moreoverthe owners of hundreds of square m i les of land hadper i shed

,without leaving a s ingle membe r of thei r

famil ies to succeed them ; even the t i t l e deeds hadvan ished and for many ri ch estates the Governmentcou ld find no claimants . Thus it came about thatalmos t the whole a rea of the Repub l ic was “ nat iona l ised as complete ly as the most a rdent Socia l istcou ld wish

,and vast tracts Of country of untold

r i chness became avai lable , and we re freely offered ,for sett lement , to those who cou ld help to re - establ ish the i ndustr ies and develop the great naturalresources of the coun try .

I n sp ite of its many advantages Lane’s th reep rospecto rs d id not immediate ly v is it Pa raguay ,s i nce the Argent ine government was equa l ly anxious to secu re good immigrants

,and offered large

tracts of land on tempting sett lement condit ions .

But the Austra l ians had o rders not to conclude a

2 8 THE PROM ISED LAND

bargain unti l they we re fu l ly sat isfied as to

( 1 ) cl imate , (2 ) soi l , (3 ) water , (4) t imber , and

(5 ) ease of access , togethe r with the fr iendly dispos it ion of the Government and the secur ity of l i fe andproperty

, and so were not easy to please . Formany months they scou red the country andadm itted that much of i t was admirab le for sheeprais ing , but the more access ib le parts of the Argent i ne were long s in ce taken up and had reachedinflated values ; anyth ing with i n reach of thei rmeans

,or offered pract i cal ly for noth ing , was ih

' thefar south or i n the remote w i l derness towards theAndes . At the Welsh colony at Chubut , to whichthey had been referred as an example of whatcourageous p ioneers co u ld accompl ish

,the prospec

tors heard dismal tales of ru i ned harvests , i nsuccessive seasons

,due to floods

,and frost . Else

where they we re tol d of droughts a lmost as severeas those from whi ch Aust ra l ia suffers ; i n otherparts they were disheartened by the flat un interesti ng look of the untimbered country , to say noth ingof the difficu lty of commun icat ion . Moreover ,whi le the Government was most anxious to att ractsome thousands of ab le-bodied immigrants

,i t was

scarce ly p repared to con cede such a measure ofautonomy as they demanded . F inal ly , afte r monthsof fru i t l ess negot iat ion s and much wea ry r i d ing ,the prospecto rs decided to leave the Argent i ne , atleast for a t ime

,and i n spect Pa raguay .

Undete rred by the reck less m is - s tatements wh ichthe peop le of the R ive r Plate ports j ealouslyc i rcu lated concern ing the bloodth i rst i ness of theamiab le Pa raguayan s

,Saunde rs and Leck boarded

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30 THE PROM ISED LAND

that arch - enemy of the Jesu i ts , described the i restab l i shment i n Pa raguay as bein g “ i n somerespects the t r i umph of human ity .

”

When they learned tha t the w i l d I ndians hadbeen b rought i nto such a state of c iv i l isat ion underCommun ism ,

that they not on ly grew the rawmate r ials for text i l e fabr ics but actua l ly wove theminto garments

,the p ionee rs fe lt that at l eas t as much

cou l d be accompl i shed by h igh ly i nte l l igentAustral ians . And s i n ce the un tutored I ndians

,i n

thei r far i n land wi lderness es,cou ld construct we l l

bu i l t towns , su rrounded by sm i l i ng fie lds , abounding i n every kind of produce

,how much greater

th i ngs might be done by Anglo-Saxons with i n a fewmi les of a ra i lway

,shops and c iv i l i sat ion general ly .

I t i s i n terest i ng to n ote , i n pass ing , how the

c i t i zens of the “ Ch r ist ian Republ i c ” deal t withthat perp lexi ng prob lem of Soc ia l i sm When al lare equa l how wi l l i t be decided who is to be a dustman , and who a magistrate ? ”

“ I n each sett lement there were two schools , theone fo r the elements of l etters

,the other !for the

dance and musi c ,” Chateaubr iand* te l ls us ,

“ Assoon as a ch i l d reached the age of seven , the priestsstudied h is character . I f he seemed fi tted tomechan ica l employment they put h im in one of thesett lement ’s wo rkshops

,and

,i n that

,moreover to

wh ich i n cl i nat ion di rected h im . He became a goldsm ith , gi lde r , wa tchmaker , etc . The y oung peoplewho preferred agr i cu l tu re were en rol led among the

Genie da Christianisme .

GOD ’S POSSESS ION 3 1

labourers , and those who reta i ned some of the loveof roaming character i st i c of the i r old l i fe fol lowedthe herds .

“ The g round was divided into several lots,and

each family cul t iva ted one of the lots for its needs .There was also a pub l i c fie ld , known as God

’spossess ion .

’ The fru it of these communa l landswas desti ned to supplement b ad harves ts and mainta i n the widows

,the o rphans and the s i ck .

“ The magistrates were named by the generalassemblage of c i t izens , but on ly from a l ist fo rmedby the miss ionar ies . As suggested by Plato ,the missiona r ies used to set as ide the ch i ldren whogave indica t ion of gen ius i n o rder to i n i t iate theminto the arts and sciences ; i t was from th is excel lentg roup tha t the p r iests , magistrates , and heroes ofthe fatherland wou ld one day emerge .

”

This nominal dist i nct ion of rank between members of the commun ity does not appea r to have b redi l l - feel i ng s ince duties we re ass igned without dist i nct ion of pe rson .

“ I n al l the i r dut ies them iss iona r ies took the lead ,

” a P rotes tant* cr it i c ofthe Jesu i ts admits . Nobles by b i rth and learnedmen fresh from the un ivers i t ies of Europe

,might

be seen act ing as shepherds , masons , carpenters ,and c arrying on al l manner of common trades

,for

the pu rpose of teach ing and st imu lat ing the nat ives,

who gazed with confus ed bewi lderment at thes trange spectacle . The resu lt of a ll these precaut ions and effo rts to ma i nta i n a commun ity of goodsmay be summed up in a few words . The I ndian sare poor , and yet lack noth ing . They maintain

*Rev. M . Kaufmann,

Social ism and Communism.

3 2 THE PROM ISED LAND

among themselves perfect equal i ty,wh ich is the

strongest support of un ion and pub l i c tranqu i l l i ty .

”

Many wri ters i ns ist that the c iv i l i sat ion wh ichthe Jesu its so successfu l ly estab l ished was usedpri nc ipal ly for the i r own gain , and that the bu lkof the goods produced were exported to en r i ch thecoffers of the i r m i l i tan t order . I f that were so i tmerely proves that the wealth producing capab ili

t i es o f the commun ity were even greater thanappea red on the surface , and that had there been nosuch leakages the happy Pa raguayans wou ld havebeen mo re prosperous st i l l . S in ce i t was poss ib lefo r the priest- ridden savages ” to do so wel l , i ts eemed reasonab le to suppose that the emancipatedNew Austral ians —hav ing th rown off al l super

stitious shack les— wou ld do st i l l better .

When they reached the magn ificen t propertyknown as the Lowry estate , wh ich Dr . Lopezp roposed to put free ly at the i r d isposal , the p rospe cto rs ’ last doubt van ished , and they at oncedecided that th is was the ideal s ite for Lane ’sexperiment . As the bona-fides

,both of the pros

pecto rs and of the Paraguayan Government hasbeen cal led in quest i on , most unj ust ly , by cri t icswho know noth ing of the country

,i t is wo rth wh i le

not i ng that i n an offic ia l report on New Aust ra l ia ,”

from the B ri t ish Legat ion i n B uenos Ai res , theconcess ion is thus descr ibed*

“ The settl ement i s S i tuated on some ris ingground and l ooks ove r a long stretch of pastu re

* Foreign Office . Annual Series . No . 135 7 .

CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT 33

land bounded by forest and dotted by cl umps oftrees . There is someth ing very Engl ish in thelandscape

,and th is i s true of othe r parts of Para

guay . I t appea red to my compan ion and mysel ftha t the Gove rnment had treated the associat ionvery wel l

,not on ly as regards the quant i ty , but as

regards the qual i ty of the land conceded . Theassoc iat ion has secured 1 0 0 leagues ( they havea l ready rece ived the t it les for 67 l eagues) of whatI bel ieve to be the best land in Pa raguay . I t iswel l -wate red and wel l -woo ded , and i n Paraguaywhereve r there is fores t the so i l i s very fert i le , andwi l l grow a lmost anyth ing . The pasture land isalso excel lent and I was i n formed , on goodauthor i ty

,that the dist r i ct now occup ied b y the

associat ion was requ is it ioned by the D ictator Lopezdu r i ng the Pa raguayan war fo r head ofcattl e—and met the demand .

The conditions of sett lement were generous i n theextreme . The Government undertook — ( I ) tohand ove r to the New Austral ia Associat ion

,for

bona -fide sett lement , one hundred* l eagues of land ,free of al l cha rges , i n cluding survey , s tamps andtransfe r fees ; (2 ) to admit tools

,fu rn i ture

,c lothes ,

arms and ammun it ion,seeds and anyth ing else the

immigrants chose to bring , or desi red to impo rtlater

,fo r thei r own use

,duty free ; (3) to give the

immigrants free ra i lway transport fo r themselvesand thei r possess ions to the nea rest point of thei r

Originally 40, b ut changed to 100 a few weeks later . The

Government actually spent dollars in buying out squattersso that the incomers might enjoy absolute proprietorship fromboundary to boundary of their vast estate .

34 THE PROM ISED LAND

concess ion ; (4) to grant l ocal autonomy , with noresponsib i l i ty except to the Central Government .I n retu rn the Associat ion were on ly requ i red toestab l ish 80 0 fami l i es upon the land , with i n fou ryea rs .To th is proposal the prospectors hastened toagree and a legal document was drawn up embodyi ng its terms . After cab l i ng the news to Aust ral iaLeck and Walker remained to make a rrangementsfo r rece iv i ng the fi rst sett lers , wh i le Saundersretu rned to Austral i a in the character of Joshua tomake the j oyfu l an nouncement .

“ The land wh ichwe passed through to search i t

,i s an exceeding

good land .

The fo l low ing are the p r i n cipal clauses from theprospe ctors ’ l ong and glowing report .

“ Paraguay has no sea-board . The cap ital ,Asuncion , i s s i tuated about 1 0 0 0 mi les from BuenosAyres , by river , in lat . 2 5 . I ts commun icat ionwith other countr ies i s by r ivers , the Paraguay andthe Parana . The Paraguay river i s nav igab le toAsuncion for vessel s drawing oft . to I oft . , al l theyea r round

,and for about 1 0 0 0 mi les fu rther for

vessels drawing 6ft . al l seasons of the year . Thereare three regu lar steamship l i nes to Asuncion wh ichrun week ly boats . Schooners sai l r ight up ther iver, as i t i s m i les wide near ly al l the way .

Enqu i r ies made among many people Show thatPa raguay , whi le sadly i n need of land workerss in ce the war of ’

65 , i s not a distu rbed country .

I ts const itu t ion has remained unchanged since1 870 , there i s u n iversal suffrage , re l igious l ibertyand an E lected Congress and Pres ident . I t does

A GLOWING REPORT 35

not have revolut i ons .* We cannot speak too wel lof the manne r i n wh ich al l classes treated us .

Foreigners are p rotected by thei r nat iona l i ty frommil i ta ry consc r ipt ion .

“ The s i te selected and which has been securedis s ituated about 1 1 0 miles from Asuncion , near aplace cal led Vi l la R ica

,and with i n fi fteen mi les of

ra i lway commun icat ion . It is on the Teb icuari

r iver wh ich runs th rough it, passi ng under thera i lway l i ne , about twenty m i les from Vi l la R icatowards Asunc ion . The river is a n ice s tream and

clea r as Crysta l . I t i s navigab le to ou r land byboats o r ra fts

,pushed by poles

,whi le for export we

could ha rdly get better conven ience , very usefu lwhere there is a good deal of valuab le t imber .We have thus rai l and water to our door . Numeroussma l ler streams whose water runs al l the yearround , a fact somewhat strange to most Austral ians ,are on our land

,affording any amount of constant

water power when requ i red .

No one that we have met quest ions the fert i l i tyof the soi l

, and i t is the best watered country thatwe have ever seen . The h igh lands , or forestlands , are general ly of a red sandy or loamy

* In this respect, as in several others, the prospectors weremisinformed . Just twelve months before they visited the countrythere was a revolution

, of which the following account appeared inthe Buenos A ires “

Standard , of October 23rd,1 891 -

“ The

Paraguayan Revolution was not such a nursery affair as at first

supposed . There was a fight and several funerals after it. Most

of the defunct patriots appear to have been M a jors, Colonels and

professional warriors generally . Colonels Osuna and Mino, and

Ma jor Vera and Deputy Machain being killed .

”

36 THE PROM ISED LAND

des cr ipt ion covered with heavy t imber of differen tki nds . The re are many usefu l woods , most ly hardwoods ; but there are some soft woods , also ceda r .The re i s t imbe r fi t fo r anyth ing . Our land is mostlyth is t imber land with red

,l oamy so i l

,though there

i s some of i t cl ear camp land .

Al l fore igners agree that i t i s remarkab lyheal thy and that s ickness is s ca rce . I t i s free fromfevers and such l ike diseases gene ral ly met with i nwa rm cl imates . There is a l i tt l e malar ial feversomet imes among the nat ive populat ion i n the lowlying distr i cts c l ose to the b ig rivers . But th is isi n a g reat measu re due to the way i n wh ich theyl ive and to the lowness and dampness of the so i l inthose loca l i t ies . Vi l la Rica is sa id to be remarkably heal thy . An Engl ishman

,Dr . Botrill , who

is a London hosp ital phys ic ian of some repute andwho has l ived there for some t ime owing to i l lhea l th , to l d us he cons idered it a remarkab lyhealthy place .

“ The rai n fal l is bette r than i t i s i n most count r ies

,as they are never a whole month without rai n

i n Pa raguay , and the heaviest rain fa l l i s i n thesumme r , wh ich is an advantage i n a warm cl imate .

I t i s poss ib le to raise c rops of some k ind duri ng al lseason s of the year .

“ The p r i nc ipa l th i ngs grown are tobacco,sugar

cane , cotton , maize , coffee , mandioca , grape s ,pea ches , o ranges , l emons and vegetables of al ldes cr ipt ions . Tobacco is the p r i n cipal art i cleexported at p resent

,and grows Splendidly . An

acre of tobacco is sa id to return £2 0 .

“ The disadvantages are not having a good local

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CHAPTER IV .

SAIL ING OF THE ROYAL TAR .

THE publ icat ion of th is report produced a profoundsensat ion in Austral ia . I n sp ite of al l that Wi l l iamLane had said and wri tten about his emigrat ionproj ect there had been a general fee l i ng that hewou ld not real ly succeed in carry ing i t th rough ; i nfact i t was bel ieved by many that the New Austral iaCo -Operat ive Associat ion was mere ly some new andi ngen ious form of “ l an d- swin dle . B ut when itwas known that he had actual ly ob ta i ned a freegrant o f near ly s ix hundred square m i les of landon wh ich to found h is sett lemen t

,pub l i c i ncredu l i ty

gave way to consternat ion .

Long before th i s Lane had thorough ly prepa redh is g round . Thousands of honest wo rkers

,who

were actual ly more prosperous than the i r matesi n other countr ies

,had been hypnot ised by a long

cou rse of red-hot Social i sm into th ink ing themse lves unhappy martyrs to the cap i tal ist i c system .

I n the same number o f the New Austra lia journa lwh ich conta ined the prospecto rs ’ report he issued afinal man i festo and a strong appeal .

“ Immense popu lat ions are be i ng crowded i ntothe ugly streets of unheal thy towns

,where they are

handy for the system . I n the farm ing distr ictsmen and women sweat the i r l ives out fo r the mortgagee . I n the West men l ive a peg lower thanb lackfe l lows

,without w ives , without homes , with

38

DEGRADING COMPETITION 39

l i tt l e but dr i nk ing and gambl ing to make a changein thei r empty l ives . The smal l shopkeepers , thesma l l employers , are l i tt le better off. And i t isso ha rd to l ive that we are a ll being dr iven to domean and dishonourable th ings i n orde r to get anadvantage over some poor struggl ing fel lowcreature

,who i s str iv ing to l ive as we are ourselves .

You know it is so . Every man knows i t i s so .

We are going to stop th is hatefu l struggl ing , th isdegrading compet it ion , i n New Austral ia .

”

Now that the opportun ity was at hand to put i npract i ce the whole hot gospel of Social ism , Lane

’

s

pen became more fierce ly i nsp i red than ever .Your Labour is a mere ‘commodity ,

’ your l i feb lood mus t be sold as so much wood or wool , hewrote . “ Yet Labour alone produces weal th .

There can be no j ust ice unti l Labour can wo rkwithout asking leave of any and without payingprofit to any . This ownersh ip wh ich causesmise ry and vice and poverty and wretchednessunspeakable

,a ll the social evi ls from which you

suffer and from which the wo r l d suffers,i s a verit

able S i n . We have l ived wickedly in tak ing parti n a system which is wicked and s in fu l , which isbrutish , not human , selfish not loving .

”

Lane had another mot ive i n addit ion to secur ingthe mere mater ial prosper i ty of those who accom

panied h im . He bel ieved that the success o f hisventu re wou ld pave the way at once to the realisat ion of “ Social ism in our t ime .

”Industr ia l

re-organ izat ion ,” he asserted ,

“ must be pioneeredby those wh o know it to be poss ib le before fa i thand hope can come to the m i l l ions who are real ly

40 SAIL ING OF THE ROYAL TAR

g rop ing bl i ndly i n the dark . New Austral ia i ssuch a p ioneeri ng movement . Without i nj u r i ngany

,without abandon ing any pri n c iple

,without

th reaten i ng violence,or preach ing submiss ion

,i t

wi l l p rove to the wo rkers of the world the value ofwo rking co -ope rat ively , each fo r al l and al l foreach , under condit ions wh ich secu re for everyonethe r ight to wo rk and happ iness i n l iv i ng . Thehapp iness of i ts members wi l l exc ite the emu lat ionof the vast mu lt i tude whom no theories can reach ;its methods , t r ied and p roved ,

wi l l be a su re gu idefor others to fo l low ; and the influence of its examplewi l l a i d tremendously i n the peacefu l and orderlysettl ement of the soc ial prob lem which nowthreatens civ i l isat ion with utter destruct ion .

The effect of th is man i festo coupled with theprospectors ’ repo rt , was electr i cal . With pass ionateeagerness thousands clamoured for a place i n thegreat exodus

,convi nced that worry , and want , and

soc ial i nequa l i ty wou ld have no place i n NewAustral ia . But many

,l i ke the young man i n the

S cr iptures , went away sorrowfu l ” when theyhea rd the financial condi t ions . S in ce equal i tywas the very essence of Lane ’s scheme it waso rda i ned that every man who j o i ned must put i n tothe common treasu ry every penny he possessed .

Busi nesses,houses

,land , al l must be sold and the

proceeds handed over . As a ma rk of bona-fidesevery male member on j oin i ng the Associat ion wasrequ i red to pay down the sum of £ 1 0

, which wasnon - retu rnab le , and before he cou ld set sai l fromAustral ia each man must make up h is contr ibutionto a m in imum of £60 . We on ly fix a m in imum

TOUCHING CONFIDENCE 4 1

from a necess ity , so tha t there may be no danger offa i l u re , and a ll i n the sett lement must sta rt on thesame footing . I f any man who wishes to jo i n hasmo re he must throw in all he has . We do not wantanybody who does not fee l ready to go ‘mates ’

with everybody else that j o i ns . Women are notrequ i red to pay anyth ing .

”

Of course there were many who wished to jo iri‘

the

New Austral ia movement who did not possess so

much as s ixty pounds . But i t was poi nted out tothem that they need not leave with the fi rst partyThose who cannot jo i n at once wi l l have a mot ivefor saving by jo in i ng , wi l l be encou raged to makea long pu l l by the knowledge that the i r comradesare at work , bu i ldi ng up the settlement and waiti ngto greet them when they come .

” The touch ingconfidence in his l eadersh ip which the bushmendisplayed affected Lane h imsel f to s trong emotionI t bri ngs tears to my eyes , he once wrote to a

fr iend ,*“ to see how my bushmen trust me

,how

they hand me over thei r hard earned money withouta doubt or question as to the use I make of it . Iwou ld rather d ie than betray such trus t .”

Certain ly noth ing was further from Lane ’s mind,

for he was personal ly the sou l of honour . Butwhat a responsib i l i ty to undertake ! Did i t neveroccu r to h im , that , j us t poss ib ly h is theOries werewrong

,that there m ight be some sma l l error i n h is

calcu lat ions ? Appa rent ly not,for he let people

sel l up the i r homes without a p rotest . Havingproved his own bel ief i n the movement by th rowingin the £ 1 0 0 0 he had saved du r i ng many years of

“ Westminster Review,vol . cxl

,p . 530 .

42 SAILING OF THE ROYAL TAR

arduous labou r , i t d id not trouble h im i n thes l ightest when busi ness men sold the i r shops for asong and selectors abandoned the i r improvementsfru its of the to i l o f years— to fol low h im .

Perhaps the most remarkab le th ing about the movement was that i t was by no means confined to thepoorest c lass of worker . Several t radesmen contr ibuted from £40 0 to £ 1 50 0 i n cheerfu l confidencethat they susta ined no loss

,s i nce w ith in a few years

every member of the Social i st band wou ld beri ch , i n happi ness and materia l comfort , beyondthe dreams of avari ce .Of course the Austral ian Press was not s i lentabout the fo l ly of the undertaking . Al l , save theSocial i st j ou rnals

,j o i ned i n denounci ng it as mad

ness . Although it was one of the pr i n ciples of theAssociat ion to recogn ise marr iage

,some real ised

on ly too wel l the fact that Social ism and conven

tiona l moral i ty are absol ute ly i n compatib le .

“ Iwou ld rather see my daughter or S ister take a leapoff the North Head than have her jo i n th is party ,one far- s ighted correspondent wrote to the SydneyD aily Te legrap h .

“ Litt l e do they imagine thesorrow in sto re for them and I hope tha t i t may notyet be too late to i nterfere to save them from the i rfate .

”

But it was too late . New Austral ia hadcaught on , not w ith the scum of the S l ums of whomthe Ci t ies wou ld have been wel l r id , but with thep i ck of the wo rk ing men of Queensland and NewSouth Wa l es . “ There i s no deny ing the fact thatthe New Austral ia movement i s ca l l i ng from theranks of Austral ian labour many of i ts best and

EMPTY PATR IOTISM 43

mos t worthy representat ives , said the SydneyD aily Te legrap h so rrowfu l ly .

Whe n the seriousness of the s ituat ion was rea li sed , when i t was known that thousands wereprepared to fol low p rov ided that the fi rs t cont i ngentmade good and repo rted favourab ly upon the

settlement , a strong appeal was made to thepatriot ism of the men i n the movement . I t wassuggested that the Government shou ld assign somechoice terr itory in Austral ia for the great experiment i n Soc ial ism rather than that so many stu rdycit izens should desert the country . But Lane madeShort work of such obj ect ions ; l i ke other honestSocial ists he po inted out that Social ism andpatr iot ism have noth ing at al l i n common .

What is one country more than another to theman whose whole l i fe is one of to i l and pove rty ,and what does Austra l ia do more than Englanddoes , or any other countr ies do , for the workers ?he demanded i n the New Aus tra lia journa l . TheLabour movement is world-wide . I t i s not a localquest ion no r a nat ional quest ion

,but a l i fe quest ion .

I f the workers have not yet learn t th is they wi l ls imply suffer more unti l they learn it

,pe rhaps too

late . I t i s here,as eve rywhere else , the landless

have no rights,the poo r have no country except in

name . I n th is New Austral ia movement weexchange empty patr iot ism to a country i n wh ichwe have no share

,for the sol i d po ssess ion of a great

tract of good land , secu red under terms wh ich cou ldnot possib ly be secu red here . On th is land we canbu i ld the sett lement we seek , can exert ou r Labouras wi l l sat isfy our needs , can produce not on ly food

44 SAIL ING OF THE ROYAL TAR

and cl oth ing and bu i ld ings , b ut art i cles to expO l‘t

i n exchange for what we must import , can haveplen ty and be happy

,and teach the wo r ld a lesson .

I t i s ou r oppo rtun i ty . Are we not to take i t ?

Shal l a great movement drop because some are sti l lfool ish enough to m istake the real needs ofLabour ?”

The money rol led i n so fast that i t was necessaryto estab l ish a company to take lega l control o f it .For form ’s sake “ The New Austral ia Co -operat iveColon isat ion Society ” was du ly registered as acompany , with a cap ita l of i n I O shares ,on wh ich , however , i t was st i pu lated that no i nterestshou l d be paid . (See Appendix B for Art ic les ofAssociat ion .) The di rectors were so conv i ncedthat the movement wou ld be a permanen t th ing thatthey wou l d not hear of charter i ng a Sh ip to take thefi rst party to South America . I n “ Free land ,

”

Dr . H ertzka represents h is ideal commun ity as

requ i r i ng its own fleet of nob le steamers to bringthe constant stream of rec ru i ts from the effete ol dcap ital ist ic coun tr ies ; the New Austral ians aimedat fo l lowing that p lan , and , to begin with , paid

£ 1 2 0 0 for a sa i l i ng sh ip , of 60 0 tons , the RoyalTar .” By many members of the Assoc iation i twas cons idered an i l l - omened th ing to embark i n aboat with the words “ Royal ” as part of i ts name ;they were extremely anxious to re-christen i t

,i n

fact : but i t was found that there wou ld be manyforma l i t ies to be compl ied with and they decided tolet the name remain .

I n con nect ion with the Royal Tar ’s firstvoyage the re was so much fr iction between the

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46 SAILING OF THE ROYAL TAR

wh i lst deeply regrett i ng the loss to Aust ral ia of somany co -wo rke rs i n the cause of refo rm , be l ieves thatthe efforts of the New Austral ia p ioneers to establ ish i n anothe r land a co -Ope ra t ive sett l ement i nwh ich the re shal l be work for al l and ove rwork fornone , and whe re every man and woman shal l havethe l iberty to l ive unde r fa i r condit ions

,wi l l p rove

em inen tly successfu l and of great fu ture benefi t tothose who are compel led for the p res ent to remaini n Old Aust ral ia : and furthe r desi res to express i tsi ndignat ion at the a ct ion of the author i t ies i nimpeding the departu re of peacefu l Austral ianpeople .

”

I n the i r enthus iasm the local organ ise rs i n eachdistr i ct refused to al l ow the i r fo l lowers to take withthem any but the most essent ia l pe rsonal possess ions . The men sold the i r saddles and the womenthe i r sewing-mach ines

,th i ngs which would have

been inva l uab le i n the i r new homes . Everyth ingwas sacr ificed for what i t wou ld fetch , and themoney put i nto the common fund . The keynote ofthe movement was faith i n one ’s fe l low man

,but ,

as i n the case Anan ias and Sapph ira,there we re

some who betrayed the trust reposed i n them , and“ kept back pa rt of the pr i ce .

” Long before theboat was pe rmitted to sa i l cont i ngents from Queensland , South Austral ia , and Tasman ia reachedSydney , whe re they had to camp in the open forweeks . When at las t they were perm itted to go onboard the scene was of the most remarkab ledescr ipt ion , a long stream of p i lgr ims wendingthe i r way to the sh ip , carry ing a ll the i r worldlypossess ions upon the i r shou lders . Among othe r

THE EMBARKATION 47

strange th ings embarked was a steam hammer,

which one of the enthusias ts fel t su re would beuse fu l i n the p r imaeva l forest ! “ There were menand women and ch i ldren ,

” wrote a l ive ly jou rnal is t,

“ boxes , portmanteaux , and ti ns ; men struggledalong the road with mass ive domest i c cargoes onthe i r shoulders , women struggled with the i r i n fantsand the i n fants struggled with each other .”

Some may have fel t m isgiv ings when the finalmoment of departu re came but not so Wil l iamLane . His fa i th i n the tr iumph of his cause neverwave red .

What do we expect ? he wrote . This —forevery man the right to work , to eve ry man friendsh ip and j ust ice , fo r every man and woman a fa i rshare of the resu l t of common work , for each and a ll

the opportun ity to marry and have comfortab lehomes and to l ive without fear and to fi l l l i fe w iththe p leasures and j oys that can be for each whereal l are conten t to labou r honest ly

,for the ch i ldren

the hea l thy rear i ng wh ich is every ch i l d ’s r ight .That is what we expect , and what we can be sure of ,for Labour never fa i ls to produce plenty where i t isable to work , and the labourers are on ly struggl ingand pove rty- s tr icken where condit ions b lock Labou rand depr ive the worker of the fru it of his

labou r i ng .

”

The hope s of al l on board were h igh as the vesse lset sa i l from Sydney

,though some of the women

gazed back wistfu l ly at the shore for i t is nol ight th ing to tea r up o ld associat ions by the rootsand to say “ Fa rewel l for ever i to the land ofone ’ s b irth . Howeve r , each endeavoured to sup

48 SAIL ING OF THE “ ROYAL TAR”

press any outward S ign of such regrets , for werethey not about to take part i n a fu l l e r

,freer l i fe

,a

hundred t imes happ ier than any they had h ithertoexper i enced ? Were they not about to teach theworld a l esson ?

CHAPTER V

A MATTER OF MORALS .

SOCIAL ISTS are not fond of talk ing about NewAustral ia , but when they do its distress ing fa i l u reis accounted fo r by assert ing either ( 1 ) that thecountry to which Lane ’s party migrated was unsu itable for white men to sett le in , or (2 ) that the partyi tsel f was made up of v is ionaries and wo rk-shyindiv iduals without the necessary energy and

exper ience for p ioneering . The fi rst of these statements is confuted in advance by the testimony o f

the experienced p rospe ctors themselves , and by thefact that other B r i t ishe rs and Germans l ive heal th i lyand are doing very wel l i n Paraguay ; to dispose ofthe second it is on ly necessary to quote from theSydney Bu lletin* - a j ournal wh ich was utterlyopposed to the movement and tr ied hard to dissuadethe publ ic from join ing it— the fol lowing unsol ic itedtest imon ial

“ The New Aus tra l ian contingent contains thebest materia l for such an exper iment the wor l dcou ld furn ish

,pe rhaps . The work that l ies i n front

of them provided they are a l lowed to go squarelyat it

,and it proves to be worth doing , is j ust the

sort they have been used to . There are ‘few town

dwel lers among the first batch,and the majori ty of

those who are now rol l ing the i r swags in Queensland and South Aust ral ia with a V iew to the second

,

* July 22nd,1 893 .

50 A MATTER OF MORALS

a re of the bush . They have been t ra i ned i n thetasks of sett l ement . Tank- s inkers , shea rers , bushcarpente rs , stat ion -hands , with art isans used to therough-and-tumble l i fe of Austra l ia w i l l not be easi lyknocked out .

”

I f p icked men such as these,under an abso l ute ly

honest leade r,fai l ed to “ make good ” i n the i r

attempt i t i s qu ite evi den t that the general pub l i c ,i n c l uding the unsk i l led and incompetent , wou ldmake a far worse hash of a s im i lar experiment .Noth ing cou ld exceed the enthusiasm with wh ichthe party commenced to lead the ideal l i fe . S incesocial inequal i ty was swept away there was not a“ M ister ” on board the “ Royal Tar ” ; everyonewas “ Jack ,

” Tom and Charl ie ,” or “ Nel l,

”

Mary and Sue .” An urch in of ten wasent i t led to address Wil l iam Lane as B i l ly ,

”

though the leader of the movement was more general ly referred to as King B i l ly .

A good oppo rtun ity for the display of brotherlyfeel i ng was afforded when the be rths came to beal lotted . A vesse l of less than 60 0 tons providedrema rkab ly l i tt le cab in accommodat ion for nearly2 50 persons , among whom there were 60 s i ngl emen , and a number of s i ngle gi rl s , i n addit ion to the“ grass widowers ,

” married couples and ch i ldren .

Those who had seen the t i ny Sh ip i n SydneyHarbour were puzz led to know how so manype rsons cou ld be stowed ins ide her , un less they we res tacked l ike ca rgo

,o r cha ined in dense ly packed

rows as in the bad ol d days of the slave trade . Butthere were a n umber of bush carpente rs among thep ionee rs , who had exerc ised the i r sk i l l i n tu rn ing

LANE ’S EXAMPLE 5 1

every inch of the deep hold to fu l l account . I n theforecast le tr i ple t iers of b erths ran round the bu lkheads to accommodate the s ingle men , the inte rvening space being fi l led with tables wh ich cou ldbe hau led out of the way overhead when notrequ i red . I n the sh ip ’s wa is t the marr ied couplesand ch i l dren were so c losely packed that theSydney Te legraph rema rked

’Tween decks where the emigrants wi l l l ive ,and eat and sleep

,and have thei r two months ’ being

are s imply a mass of p la i n deal . Apa rt from thecu rta i ns to the cab ins o f the ma rr ied women andthe s ingle girls , the place i s dest i tute of thoseaccesso r ies wh ich add to the p leasu res o f l i fe . I t i sa wi lderness of bare boards with no entrance for thesun ’s rays except what may be affo rded by the deadl ights . I ndeed a voyage i n the “ Royal Tar ” i ndi rty weather round Cape Horn wou ld be cal cu latedto dr ive anyone but an enthus iast to the verge ofgibber i ng l unacy .

”

There was very l i tt le comfort on board theRoya l Tar , except i n the a fter deck cab in whereCaptain Logan and h is wi fe and daughter res i ded .

Lane set an example of unselfishness by choos ingfo r his own use one of the smal les t and wo rst placedcab ins on the boat , and most of his flock goodtemperedly accepted the posit ions al lotted to them ,

though it was arranged that lots should be drawnto sett le who should have the best places i f anydispute a rose . Fo r the fi rs t few days

,however

,t i l l

the pa rty had found thei r sea - legs i n fact , al l wasperfect pea ce . Such was the anxiety to be goodSocial ists that there was

'

keen compet it ion for the

5 2 A MATTER OF MORALS

privi l ege of unde rtak ing the most men ial tasks .Wil l iam Lane h imsel f took h is tu rn i n the cook ’sgal ley at peel i ng potatoes . There was not workenough to go round , al l were so eager to undertakei t . As every ol d travel le r knows there are fewmore try i ng th ings on board sh ip than squal l i ngin fants ; i n the

“ Royal Tar ’s ” packed inter iorsuch sounds we re pecu l iarly dist ract ing but eventhe confi rmed bachelo r “ comrades ” at fi rst prete nded to l ike i t . At least a dozen people werealways wi l l i ng to take the naughty ch i ld from itsharassed mother ’s hands .Unhappi ly , however , th is beauti fu l Sp i r it d id notlast long . Though al l were theoret ical ly equal i twas found absol ute ly necessary that some shou ldgive , whi le others shou ld rece ive , orders . Thoughal l were ent it l ed to an equal voice i n the Association

’

s affa i rs i t was not considered pract icab leto navigate the Sh ip by vote of the majori ty Justas the experien ced skipper cla imed the right ofdi ctat i n g to everybody on matters wh ich concernedthe safety of the sh ip

,so Lane ins isted on cari ng

for i ts morals .

Now th is quest ion of moral s is one about wh ichmodern Socia l ist wr i ters are most wary in admitt i ngthe i r pri nc ip les . I n the ol d days “ F ree Lovewas boldly proclaimed as an essent ial condit ion ofSocia l ism , but nowadays , to avoid scari ng off thet im id sem i -conve rts— the Christ ian Soc ial i sts andso on—great care is taken to relegate th is phase ofSocial ism to the background . As M r . H . G .

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54 A MATTER OF MORALS

Bel fort Bax,we find

,Marriage is to give place to

k i ndly and human relat ions between the sexes .”

I t i s i n terest i ng to note with wha t heat leadingSocial is t writers deny that they are tai nted withviews s imi lar to those stated above . I n “ Soc ial ismand the Fami ly , pp . 44 and 45 , Mr . H . G . Wel lsp rofesses h imsel f hot ly i ndignant that the Daily

Express Shou ld suggest that he and others werei nvolved i n teach ing F ree Love to respectab lework ing men . What then does he teach ? Onpp . 2 9 and 3 0 of the very work wh ich contains thati ndignant den ia l , he says

“ Social ism i nvolves the respo ns ib l e cit izensh ipof women , the i r economic i ndependence of men andal l the personal freedom that fol lows that, i t i ntervenes between the ch i ldren and the parents , c laiming to support them , protect them , and educate themfor its own ampler purposes . Social ism in fact i sthe State fami ly The old fami ly of the pr ivatei ndiv idual must van ish before i t , j ust as the o ldwater works of pr ivate enterp r i se , o r the ol d gascompany . They are i n compat ib le wi th it .”

When some cr it i c suggested that he desi red toreduce human ity to the condit ion of a stud farm ,

Mr . Wel ls comp la ined b itterly of that indiv idual ’sth ick-headedness and st rove to remove the b adimpress ion by declari ng that Soc ial ism would i ns iston ma rr iage under co ndit ions .

” But i n thefol lowing passage he makes i t c lear that

,by

“ marr iage ” he means a good deal less than theb inding t ie wh ich al l save savage races now i nsistupon .

“ Social ism does not presen t any theorywhatever about the durat ion of marriage . The

A NIGHTMARE SOCIETY 55

State is not u rgent ly concerned with these quest ions . So long as a marr iage contract provides forthe health and san ity of the contract ing pa rt ies ,and for the i r proper behaviour so far as the i r offsp r i ng need it, the demands of the Commun ity as

the guardian of the ch i ldren , are sat isfied . Thatcertain ly wou ld be the min imum marriage , theState marriage

,and I

,for my own part , wou ld exact

noth ing more in the lega l contract. But a numberof more rep resentat ive Soc ial is ts than I are for alegal ly compulsory l i fe marriage . Some—but theyare mostly of the o lder , less defin ite , Social Democrat i c teach ing—are for a looser t ie .

But the older,l ess defin ite

,Social Democrat ic

teach ing ” makes a far more popular appeal to themasses , whose votes wi l l control the Social ist i cState , than any other vers ion of the

“ creed .

” I fso refined a man as Mr . H . G . Wells asks no morethan that legal un ions shal l endure unt i l the ch i l dren are j ust old enough for the State “ to i nterveneand support them ,

” i s i t not certa in that theunrefined mob wi l l demand sti l l l ess ? I s i t not fai rto assume that the loosest form of the looser t iewi l l be the maximum enforced in h is n ightmaresociety ?The plai n truth is that , as clearly stated inSocial ism ,

” by Wil l iam Morr is and Be l fort Bax ,Under a Soc ial ist i c system contracts betweenindividuals cou ld be free and unforced by theCommun ity . This wou ld apply to the marr iagecontract as wel l as others

,and i t wou ld become a

matter of s imple i ncl inat ion . Nor wou ld ‘ aNew Worlds for Old, pp . 134 and 135 .

56 A MATTER OF MORALS

tru ly en l ightened publ i c Opin ion freed from meretheological v iews as to chast i ty i ns ist on the permanently b inding natu re .

This matter of morals was bound to causeWi l l iam Lane acute anxiety

,s in ce he was aware

that previous attempts to real ise the Social ist dreamof an i dea l State had broken down from th is verycause . Though the leading Social i sts agree thatmarr iage is a r i d i cu lous i nst i tut ion

,as husband and

fathe r Lane pe rsona l ly had the greatest respect fori t . But he had no guaran tee that the s ixtybachelo rs i n h is party shared th is sentiment . Wasit not probable that , together with the Soc ial i stcreed he had h imsel f dissem inated , they hadimb ibed the logical not ion that “ commun ism ofgoods leads as a necessary consequence to communism of wives , ch i ldren and parents ?Though he had provided for commun ism ofgoods and commun ism of ch i ldren Lane was determ ined to preserve the conventional re lat ionsbetween the sexes and had framed a regu lat ion tothat effect . I t therefore gave h im some anxietywhen he discovered a tendency among some of h isfol l owe rs to rel ieve the tedium of the voyage by al i tt l e harmless fl i rtat ion . He feared i n fact that i tm ight be said of h is exper iment as i t was of B rookFarm ; They did not seek to i nterfere withmarr iage , nay , they guarded that holy state wi threveren ce , yet the sp i r i t of fraternal assoc iat ion wasfound to weave itsel f

,with infin ite subtl et ies , i n to

the mos t tende r re lat ions of man and woman . Fearcame i nto the common dwel l i ng .

”

A FATAL ERROR 57

One of the first dissensions arose from thewomen ’s object ion to remain i n the stuffy atmosph ere of the holds , below the water l i ne , from sunsett i l l sun rise . I t was not much fun for e ither sex tospend many hours Cooped up in the dim l ightprovided by a smoking hu rricane lamp , and , i nconsequence , many elected to spend the greater partof the n ight on deck , discussing the beauti fu lpri nciples of Social ism with some kindred sp i r i tunder the open vau lt of heaven . I f that k indredspi ri t happened to be of the Opposite sex

,there

cou ld be no logica l object ion,s ince sex equal i ty

under Social ism impl ies the permiss ib i l i ty of thewarmest comradesh ip between any man or womanin sp ite of the fact that e ither or both may happento be married .

Th is was a quest ion , however , about which Lanedid not profess to be logical . He on ly bel ieved inl iberty , equal i ty and fratern ity with in ce rta in l im itsand so i ssued a decree forb idding members of thegentler sex henceforth to appear on deck aftersunset .That was a fatal error ! On the first n ight when

it was put i n force the ladies he ld an indignat ionmeet ing , and many of the most straight laced amongthem agreed that i t was an intolerable i nsu l t , aswel l as an unwarrantab le act of tyranny to coopthem up in such a fash ion . Worse st i l l , i t wasdiscovered that Wi l l iam Lane , wh i le tak ing counselwith certa i n of the married women , had not consulted any maiden ladies before issu ing h is decree ,although several of the latter were fu l l fledgedmembers of the Assoc iation i n thei r own r ight .

58 A MATTER OF MORALS

B reak ing out i n to act ive rebel l ion they stormed thehatchway and rem inded the i r leader that they hadan equal say with h im i n the conduct of affai rs , andhad as much right to order h im to h is cab in as hehad to orde r them .

One i ndignant young lady,stepp ing over to the

not i ce board , tore down Wi l l iam Lane’s not i ce

before his face and danced upon i t . J ust to assertthe i r r ights , some of the marr ied women open lyi n ci ted the younger gi rl s to disobey

,and a number

made a po in t at once of spending the greater partof the n ight on deck i n future , to prove the i ri n dependence . AS a matter of fact , however , theladies were qu ite m istaken i n suppo s ing that theyhad yet any right to a vo i ce i n the con trol of th i ngs .Before leavi ng Austral ia Lane had arranged thatthe “ Const i tu t ion ” was suspended

,and that he

was to act ( i n assoc iat ion with three staunch hen chmen ou whose support he cou ld rely) as D irectorfor the fi rst two years , with power to dictate interna larrangements . I t i s true that a two- th i rds maj or ityvote cou ld disp lace h im , but , as he held proxies foral l members of the Associat ion st i l l i n Austra l ia , h iss ingle vote cons tituted a maj or i ty .

But i t is one th in g to possess nominal power andqu ite another to be ab le to en force it. WhenWi l l iam Lane ’s author i ty was flouted a generalmeeti ng was cal led to decide “ whether theauthori ty of the Chai rman shal l be respected ? ”

Unfortunately Lane was too seasi ck to attend , andso , unswayed by h is personal influence , themajori ty passed a resol ut ion declar i ng that he wasnot to be obeyed ! To th is Wi l l iam Lane retorted

AN ABSOLUTE D ICTATOR 59

by res ign ing office,whereupon even h is b itterest

opponents real ised that they had gone too far and asecond general meeti ng passed a resolut ion reques ti ng h im to recons ider h is decis ion . F inal lyWil l iam Lane ca l led a th ird general meeti ng andplayed so wel l upon the emot ions of h is err ing flockthat they passed a vote of confidence i n h is ru lewithout a s ingle dissent ien t . The net resu l t of thewhole a ffa i r was simply to confirm Wi l l iam Lane inh is author i ty as an absolute dictato r .

CHAPTER VI .

WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING ?

TO many of the pioneers i t came as someth ing of ashock to real ize tha t they were to be subj ect to abenevolen t despo t ism , unti l

'

such t ime as the secondcont i ngent arr ived at New Austral ia

,and a qu ite

un reasonab le fee l i ng sprang up that Lane had gotthe better of them—un reasonab le because they weresupposed fu l ly to understand the arrangementbefore embark ing . B ut i t i s a cu rious tra i t o f theSocia l i st rank and fi l e that

'

they are qu ite wi l l ingb l in dly to accept the promises of the i r leadersw ithout want i ng to know

,i n deta i l , how much

indiv i dua l l iberty wi l l be sacrificed i n the process ofca rrying them out .Before the voyage was hal f over an awkward Sp l i thad occurred i n the ranks

,and the Utop ian p arty

were sharply d iv ided in to two faction s —those whobel ieved i n Lane and were prepared to support h imth rough th ick and th i n , and those who were al readymore or less dissat isfied with his l eade rsh ip . Thelatter sect ion soon got in to such a state o f m ind thatthey were prepared to bel ieve themselves S l ightedand v i ct imised whenever the shadow of an excusearose . A good oppo rtun ity to fee l aggr i eved waspresented when Lane took stock of h is resou rcesand began to apport ion tasks among h is fol lowers .

While on h is recru it i ng miss ion i n Austral iaLane once expla ined ;

“ At New Austral ia a man

60

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62 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENG ING ?

on the shades of Cromwel l , of Langton , of Washington , and of Hampden ; he ridi cu les the nob lelords of the B ri t i sh Pa rl iament ; he compa res theConserva t ive to Mrs . Partington with her mop , buthe does not answer h is own quest ion . I nstead herefers the reader back to an ear l ie r chapter

,and to

Mrs . Besant ’s paper on “ The Organ isat ion of

Deal ing with the latter fi rst,the reader finds that

Mrs . Besant merely re-states’

the prob lem asfo l lows “ There are unpleasan t and indispensab leforms of labou r wh ich one wou ld imagine , canattract n one—min ing

,sewer-clean ing

,etc . These

m ight be ren dered more a ttract ive by making thehours of labou r i n them much Shorter than the

normal work i ng day of p leasanter occupat ions .

“ Furthe r , much of the most disagreeab le andlabor ious work might be done by ma ch inery , as i twou ld be now i f i t were not cheaper to explo i t ahelot c lass . When it became i l legal to send smal lboys up ch imneys , ch imneys did not Cease to beswept , a mach ine was i nvented for sweeping them .

”

Quite so , but for the present there are numerousunpleasant tasks wh ich must be performed ' bymanual labou r ; who wi l l do them now ? I t i s notcourageous of M r . B latchfo rd to h ide beh ind a lady ,whose not very pract i ca l argument reminds one ofDr . Johnson ’s suggest ion to the wea ry postmanwho had s t i l l two m i les to wa l k to del iver a s i ngleletter Why don ’ t you put a s tamp on i t and posti t ?” enqu i red the doctor) .For an answer to th is quest ion I must refer you

Fabian Essays .

AN UNANSWERED QUESTION 63

back to my chapter on Social ism and S lavery ,’

says Mr . B latchford .

Referr ing back , the reader finds Herbert Spencerattacked for des cr ib i ng Socia l i sm as The ComingS lave ry .

“ M r . Spencer ’s idea appears to bethat under Social ism the S tate would compel mento work against the i r wi l l

,or to work at occupat ions

uncongen ial to them ,

” Mr . B latchford compla i ns .This is a mistake . The State wou ld not compel

any man to work . I t wou ld on ly enab le al l men towork and to l ive i n peace and comfort by the i rlabou r .

” Next he attacks Ingersol l for saying ,Socia l ism destroys the fami ly and sacrific

’

es thel ibert ies of al l . I f the Government is to providework i t must decide for the worker what he mustdo

,etc . I s i t poss ib le to conce ive of a despot ism

beyond th is ? The human race cannot afford toexchange its l iberty for any poss ib le comfort .

”

Mr . B latch ford , after roundly abusing both crit i cs ,defiantly asserts , When the State found work i twou ld not dec ide what each man must do .

”

You wi l l ask me how a Social i st State wou ldapport ion the work , the author of “ MerrieEngland ” cont inues , I ask you how the work isapport ioned now ?

”

I t is a t ime-honoured debat ing tr ick to put off oneawkward quest ion by propounding another . I nthat device M r . B latchford takes refuge here , and

devotes five pages of close pr i nt to abuse of presen tcondit ions , without shedding the least l ight uponthe natu re of h is proposed remedy . The quest ionUnder Social ism

,who wou ld do the unpleasant

wo rk ?” remains unanswered st i l l .

64 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING ?

I n New Worlds for Old ” Mr . H . G . Wel lssets h imsel f a s im i lar poser , How wi l l youSoc ial ists get the right man i n the right place forthe work that has to be done ? How wi l l youarrange promotion How wi l l you determine whois to engage in Historica l research in the Bodle ian ,and who is to go out seawa rd i n November and

catch mackere l ? The quest ion is admi rab lystated , and the earnest i n qu ire r looks fo r a di rectanswer from a w r i te r who is hab i tual ly frank . Heis , however , once more disappo in ted .

“ Throughout the rest of th is book I hope that the reader wi l lbe ab le to see growing together in th is aspect andthen i n that , i n th is and that suggest ion , the complex solut ion of th is complex system of difficu lties ,

”

says Mr . Wel ls .Then , l ike the rest , he darts away at a tangent .The most expert solver of Bacon ian ciphers m ightsearch the succeedi ng 244 pages i n vain for thes l ightest clue to M r . Wel ls ’ complex solut ion .

”

Like al l the theorists M r . Wel ls fai ls utter ly toexplai n how the commonest of the prac t ical prob lems of everyday l i fe wi l l be grappled with underSocial ism .

Yet the sol ution is by no means so complex asM r . Wel l s asserts . I n fact the answer is so s implethat a ch i l d can understand i t :

“In the S ocia list S tate the friends of the adminis

tration will get the p leasant jobs and their critics

will b e s et to do the s cavenging .

”

As a matter of fact that precise question,Who

APPOINTING FOREMEN 65

is to do the wash ing up ? had al ready caused a

certa i n amount of feel i ng among the men andwomen on the “ Roya l Tar .

” Of cou rse there wereno regula r stewa rds

,and the task of wait i n g upon

and wash ing up after the 2 50 persons who sat downat meals had to be apport ioned by rota . But whati f one day ’s washers-up did not feel up to themark , or refused to work beside that womanSusan What i f the member of the “ Shearers ’

Un ion whose turn it was to scrub decks protestedthat i t was not h is trade ? Trivial quest ions ,perhaps

,but i nfin itely harder of amicab le sol ut ion

than much bigger ones !Before the p ioneers reached South America i t wasnecessary to appo int foremen for each departmentof act ivi ty i n wh ich they wou l d engage on the i rarr ival , and also to ass ign to each of these the groupof men who were to work under h im . Beforesai l ing i t had been arranged that such matters ofdetai l woul d be adj usted by mutual agreement .Nobody foresaw how un l ikely i t was that anindiv idual , who was qu ite famous on the Downs asa crack shearer , would consent to be any th ing lessthan a foreman , al though there would be nosheari ng to be done at New Austral ia , and he wasqu ite without experience of any other occupat ion .

Then again , before any progress cou ld be madewith agr i cu lture b ig cleari ngs would requ i re to bemade in the primwva l forest—but there were nomembers of a “ Tree- fe l lers ’ Un ion aboard ; towhom shou ld th is excessively hard work be al lottedWho , on the other hand , would be l ucky enoughto secure such l ight labour as the secretar ial work

66 WHO W ILL DO THE SCAVENGING ?

shou ld prove at first ? And which of the womenwould have to turn laundress for the benefi t of theS ixty bachelors on board ?Those who imagined that such quest ions as thesecou l d be sett l ed in an amicab le fash ion

,without

i nvok ing the arb i trary authori ty of the di rector weresadly undece ived . Ultimately , of course , the matte rwas temporari ly dec ided , and a l ist drawn upassign i ng the roundest poss ib le pegs to the squarestholes and vice-ve rsa

,with the i nev itab le resu l t that

fu l ly one-th i rd of the Utopians nu rs ed i n the i rb reasts a conviction that they were being unj ustlytreated .

“ No matter what was proposed by th is committee

,or , for that matter , by any committee ,

”

M rs . Wil l iam Lane hersel f complained ,“ a large

sect ion of the members were su re to flout it w ith along str ing of capt ious obj ect i ons .The mere statement o f two dist i nct types of grievance wi l l Show that Solomon h imsel f cou ld not havegiven un iversal sat isfact ion under such condi t ions .

( 1 ) AS respons ib le head of the organ isat ion Wi l l iamLane coul d not poss ib ly appoin t as h is ch ief foremen i ndivi duals who were in open rebel l ion againsth im . Yet i f those rebel s happened to be particularly competen t men how cou l d they fai l to bel ievethat they were bei ng vict im ised ? (2 ) Though al lwere theoret i cal ly equal , i t wou ld have been contraryto human natu re i f the few who had contr ibutedlarge sums to the common fund had not fe l t thatthe Associat i on was in the i r debt , and that they hada special r ight to soft j obs ” and a share i n theadmin istrat ion . But— to say no th ing of the fact

ACUTE DISSENS ION 67

that ex-Shopkeepers are of less use than ex-navviesin such work as forest-clearing— it would have beenfatal to the movement for such undemocra t i c claimsto be conceded . Nevertheless , s i nce humannatu re is human nature

,how could a business man

who had put i n seve ral hundred pounds fa i l to feelaggrieved when he was i nstructed to form one of anordinary labou ri ng gang

,bossed by a brawny

art isan who had on ly contr ibuted h is bare min imumto the enterprise ?

Quite'

apart from the causes of quarre l between asect ion of the New Austral ians and thei r leader ,further acute dissension broke out among certai n ofthe Social ists themselves over th is quest ion ofcontr ibutions . In the agreement

,which al l S i gned

before they were admitted to membersh ip , i t wasla id down , Every member of the Associat ion , byact of j o i n ing the Assoc iat ion agrees to subscribeto the funds of the Associat ion al l he may possesswhen he is final ly en rol led ,

” and most had honest lyadhered to th is arrangement . But some daysbefo re the Royal Tar had left Sydney thefolowing paragraph appeared in the Sydney DailyTe legraph,

* I t i s stated there i s one man amongthe voyagers who has not staked everyth ing on thesuccess of the new system , but has kept some landedprope rty he possesses i n B ri sbane as a stand-by i ncase , at any t ime , he shou ld want money to retu rnto Queensland .

” Natural ly those who saw th isstatement fe l t i ncensed against the unknownindiv idual who had kept back part of the priceand as the voyage pro ceeded at leas t hal f a dozen

*July 1 1 , 1893.

68 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING ?

persons were accused of be ing the gu i l ty party .

Though a ll hotly den ied the accusat ion thesuspi cion rema i n ed that a few of the Soc ia l i stshad not bu rn t the i r boats l ike the others

,but had

mere ly moored them out of s ight where they m ightbe usefu l for retreat i f necessary .

S in ce the last-moment repai rs,al tera t ions

,and

extra p rovis ion ing of the Royal Tar had costroughly £ 1 2 0 0 Wil l iam Lane was ob l iged to embarkwith on ly about twenty-five pounds in the exchequer—not near ly suffic ien t for the party ’s immediateneeds when they reached Monte Video . As somemembe rs of the party st i l l had a few odd coi ns i nthe i r possession , i t was decided—c ontrary to M r .H . G . Wel ls

’ bel ie f that “ Modern Social i sm hasno designs upon the money i n a man ’s pocket ,to take up a final col lect ion of everyone ’s lasthal fpenny .

Theoret i cal ly,therefore , there was no money on

the sh ip except that i n Lane ’s possess ion when theNew Austral ians stepped ashore at Monte Videowhere the p ress went i nto raptu res over the looksof the except ional ly beaut i fu l and comely ”

Austra l ian women . I t soon became ev ident, however , that a few of the Social i sts had indeedretai ned a private hoard for use i n cases of emergen cy . Thei r perfidy, already suspected , was provedwhen a numbe r of them retu rned to the boat qu iteexpens ively i ntoxicated . Had it not

.

been for thebad impress ion that such a move wou ld havecreated i n Austra l ia they wou ld doubtless have beenexpe l led at once from the commun ity . Lane shrankfrom such an extreme for the present

,howeve r

,and

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CHAPTER VI I .

THE ARR IVAL IN PARAGUAY .

ASUNCION did not very favou rab ly impressAustra l ians accustomed to the splendid bu i l dingsof Melbou rne and Sydney , though the ru ins ofmany fine structu res attested the fact that i t wasonce a busy and prosperous c i ty . But they werecha rmed by the cordial welcome prepared by thecit izens for the downtrodden B rit i shers

,who loved

l iberty So much that they had forsak en the i r d istanthomes to commence l i fe agai n i n the free ai r of aSouth Ameri can repub l ic ! ” There is p robab ly nocountry i n the world so generous as Paraguay i n itstreatmen t of immigrants ; on th is occas ion theauthoritieSr—who had len t the Opera House as a

temporary home for Lane ’s party—went evenfu rthe r than usual , fo r , i n the words of a Fore ignOffice Report ,*

“ they knew the meri ts of the B ritishcolon ist , and these Austral ians taken altogetherwere as fine a set of men and women as i t was

poss ib le to col lect anywhere , and of a stamp muchsuper i or to any emigrants yet seen i n So uthAmer i ca . Everybody who saw them had beenstruck by thei r manners

,the i r appearance and the i r

i n te l l igence . They appeared to be , i n fac t ,the very men , represent i ng as they did va r ioustrades , and knowing the i r bus iness wel l , to he lp

Miscellaneous Series, No . 358 of 1895 .

DA ! ! LING DELIGHTS 7 1

Paraguay on to that road to recovery so earnest lydesi red .

”

I n the streets and the market place of Asuncionthe new-a rr ivals saw hundreds of merry , whiterobed women

,hat less , bootless , and c lad in a s ingle

garment , but few men . Naked ch i ldren playedamong the refuse i n the gutters

,and a few lazy

ma les , wear ing long ponchos and enormous spurs ,lo l led in the shade whi le the women - fo lk labouredin the sun . The Austral ians looked with scornupon the pic tu resque drones , but were not i l l -pleasedat th is posit ive proof of the laz iness of Paraguay ’sinhabitants .

“ There wi l l be al l the more chancefor us ,

” said they .

Whatever Lane ’s pe rsonal mot ives , the thousandswhom he had influenced in favou r of the NewAus tral ia movement were not des i rous of jo in ingwith the sole notion of teach ing the world a lesson .

The whole force of the So cial isti c appeal to the manin the street l ies in its promise of great ly i n creasedmater ial prosperi ty . The Royal Tar Socia l istswou ld neve r have left thei r homes without the convic tion that the movement was going to pay . I t issafe to say that the Socia l ist creed wou ld make fewconverts were i t not for the dazzl i ng del ights whichSocial is t writers hab itual ly promise . I t rare lyoccu rs to the rank and fi l e that the step to StateSocia l ism , once made , would be i rrevocable , even i fi t shou ld lead to absolute ru in .

“ They were going to jo i n a l i tt le Commun itywh ich would be su re to th r ive

,and where they and

the rest of the i r fami ly might l ive together for therest of their l ives in peace and comfort, without any

72 THE ARR IVAE IN PARAGUAY

need to separate , without any thought of themorrow . They did not apparent ly give themselvesthe troub le to unde rstand the condit ion s they s igneda l though i t was decided that no man , were he towithdraw from the membersh ip , might recla im h isdonat ion after i t had been made . I t was enoughfo r them what the i r leade rs said ,

” wrote the SecondSecretary of the Engl i sh Legat ion at B uenos Ai res ,afte r he had v is ited New Austral ia .

“ Thei r hopes were ra ised , the i r impress ionsdazz led ,

” the same write r Sho rt ly cont inues,

“ byaccounts which var ious w r i te rs had given of theweal th and fert i l i ty of the soi l , and by repo rts wh ichhad appeared i n a newspaper started by the assoc iat ion cal led , The New Austra lia . Paraguay wasdest i ned , so they we re told

,to be selected i n the

near futu re as the seat of central government for aFederated Repub l ic of the whole of the SouthAmeri can nat ions , the greatest repub l i c the worldhas ever seen

,greater by numbers , extent , and

r i ches than ei ther F rance or North Amer i ca . Theforests abounded i n al l k i nds of val uab le woods ,there was an un fa i l i ng market down the r iver

,and

soon the day wou ld come when Europe would haveto go to the forests of the Parana and Paraguay forher t imber suppl ies . Cheap l i nes m ight eas i ly bebu i l t , which wou ld connect the colony with the

Amazon and her tr ibutar ies , and the largest cont racts m ight be taken and fu lfi l led . Cotton

,r i ce ,

and maize might eas i ly be ra ised and as , i n a fewyears , mach inery m ight be imported , so the placewou ld become a manufactu r i ng as wel l as anagricu l tura l sett l ement .

NOVEL SURROUNDINGS 73

Then there was a vast field of enterp r ise i n theimp rovement of catt le , and what w ith perfumes anddyes , tobacco and ma té , the introduc t ion of wh ichinto Eu rope might be sa id to be an assured succes s ,i t wou ld be a bold man who wou ld dare to p redictthat fai l ure was i n sto re for the New Aus tra l ianColony .

”

I n spite,therefore , of the general feel ing of stra i n

the re were not yet any secess ions . For his partWi l l iam Lane bel ieved that now the wea r i somevoyage was over , and there was plenty of hardwork to be done , petty squabbles wou ld be forgottenand the j oy of working one fo r al l and a ll fo r one”

would qu ickly hea l a ll d ifferences . The essent ia lth ing , he rea l ized , was to reach the concession as

soon as possib le and put an end to some of thefri ct ion by separat i ng warr i ng fact ions as fa r aspossib le from one another . As there were certa i nlegal formal it ies to be compl ied with

,he rema i ned

beh ind i n the cap ital for a few days , and thetemporary leadersh ip of the p i lgrims devolved uponh is p r i n cipal l ieutenants .I t was a grea t rel ief to a ll to fee l terra-firma

beneath thei r feet aga i n , and jaded spir its were muchrefreshed by the keen interest the travel lers took inthe i r novel surroundings . When they j ourneyedon the trai n wh ich ran three t imes a week toCaba l lero , passing magn ificen t forests and wel lwatered grazing grounds , so different from thedried-up back-blocks of Ausfra lia , they waxedenthus iast ic over the prospect before them . AtCabal lero they dumped the i r possess ions i n tocaretas or bu l lock-carts

,and set off over the

74 THE ARR IVAL IN PARAGUAY

mounta in track , towards the land of promise .

Austral ians are accustomed to dr iv i ng bu l locks bymeans of heavy wh ips

,but i n Paraguay the goad

is used— a long bamboo pole suspended over thean imals ’ backs and provided with a fou r- i n ch steelpo i n t . At fi rst the p ioneers revolted agai nst us ingth is crue l i nstrument but , finding the bu l locksfeared noth ing else

,they soon lea rned to infl ic t

wi cked wounds without a tremor . Thei r route tookthem through remarkab ly p i ctu resque count ry .

Orange trees laden with fru i t grew by the way- s ide,

bananas were equa l ly p lent i fu l,p ineapp les , guavas ,

and othe r trop ica l p roducts were free ly at the dispos it ion of the weary travel lers . Red and yel lowmacaw‘parrots and othe r b i rds of gay p lumagescreamed ov erhead and butterfl ies of gorgeouscolou r i n g flew in and out among the trees . Atfi rst the contemplat ion of al l these natu ral beaut iesgave the p ioneers considerab le sat is fact ion , but ,when the track they we re fo l lowing dwindledsudden ly to a na rrow footpath , on the outski rts ofsome dense forest wh ich barred fu rther progress ,they began to be perp lexed .

“ According to the prospectors ’ repo rt,our con

cess ion i s with in fi fteen m i les of the ra i lway ,” they

sai d . We must surely have come that distanceand ought to be wi th i n hai l of the advance party .

XVhat is the mean ing of th is forest before us,and

what has become of the road ?”

Thei r feel i ngs can be better imagined than describ ed when they learned that , whi l e New Austral iawas with in fi fteen m i les of the l i ne , as the crowflies ,the fact that a bottomless morass i ntervened made

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76 THE ARR IVAL IN PARAGUAY

concess ion made no u l t ima te d ifference to the

colon ists , but they natu ra l ly fe l t tha t they had beenmisled i n th is respect also

,and said fu rthe r harsh

th ings about the i r un fortunate leader .The unbridged r iver was crossed with difficu l ty ,the women and ch i l dren remain ing i n the bu l lockcarts wh ich were supported by poles passedbetween the spokes of the wheels , with proj ect i ngends rest ing on canoes , the latte r being drawnacross by the swimming bu l locks . Some low - ly i ngmud flats that recen t rai n had converted i nto aquagmire were next negot iated . Occas ional ly theca retas” sank to the i r axles i n deep mud holes , andhad to be un loaded in the swamp before they cou l dbe extri cated . At such t imes m i l l ions of mosqu itoesdescended upon the waywo rn t ravel lers and nearlydrove them mad . Such l i tt l e t roub les as these are

i nc identa l to p ioneer ing the whole wor l d over ; i twou ld have been unreasonab le for the sett l ers toexpect to find macadamised roads and a l ightra i lwa

’

y al ready i n existence ; i t was the i r i n tent ionto provide such th ings by the i r own ene rgies whena few thousand more of thei r mates had arr ived .

At the same time some—among the women part icularly

— cou ld not help contrast i ng the i r manydifficu l t ies with the easy progress made by thep ionee rs i n Hertzka

’

s“ Freeland .

“ From then ce onward i t was as i f ou r feet andthe feet of ou r beasts had wings . The purei nv igora t i ng ai r of th is beaut i fu l tab leland freshenedby the winds from the Ken ia , the p leasant road overthe soft Short g rass , and the sumptuous and eas i ly .

obtai ned prov is ions , enab led us to make ou r dai ly

FATAL INDECIS ION 77

marches longer than we had yet done , relates theauthor of that fict ion , who appears to th ink that thevery mountains wi l l leve l themselves to mark thei rapprova l o f a Socia l ist régime .

As i f the difficul ties of trave l were not enough ,matters were made wo rse by the fact that there wasnow so much dissension that i t was imposs ib le tocome to an unan imous agreement upon the sma l l estmatte r . When they were nea r i ng the bounda r ies ofthei r concess ion

,an advance party was sent a few

hou rs ahead of the ma i n body to select a campingground , and cut forks and r idge poles for the tents .As n ight was coming on

,and there seemed every

prospect of a downpou r , i t was essent ial that no timeShou ld be lost . But noth ing cou ld be decidedwithout the forma l i ty of a counci l

,and , as usua l ,

opin ion was divided . Some favoured a h i l l on ones ide of the track , others preferred that on the other .

While they argued there came the sudden fal l ofn ight

,and they were compel led to encamp

,in the

va l l ey . When the caretas a rr ived,s tores were

un loaded and tents hu rr iedly put up , but , a las forthe i r fa tal i ndecis ion , a s torm of wind and rai ndescended and beat fu r iously upon them in thei runsheltered pos it ion . One of the pioneers wrote toan Austra l ian paper as fol lows —“ I was i n thega l ley gett ing ou r even ing mea l when there came asqua l l o f wind . We were i n terro r l est the ten tshou ld b low away a l together . Tea was forgotten ,and we used a ll ou r efforts i n trying to hold ou r tentdown to the ground . The wind lu l led a b it and wewent to bed . We got drenched as we lay there , buti t was no use tu rn ing out . When I got out my

78 THE ARR IVAL IN PARAGUAY

pyjamas cl ung to me as though I had taken a swimin them . Fortunately the ra i n on ly lasted that day ,and a l though we had to get i nto a wet bed the nextn ight , the sun soon shone again .

”

Another n ight the S i ngle women,who occup ied

a ten t by themselves , were te rr ified almost out ofthe i r wits by a terr i fy i ng , l ong- susta i n’ed cry

,which

they were convinced was that of a t iger l ust i ng forthei r b lood . The an imal p rowled qu ite close tothe i r ten t , and they expected every moment to beeaten up . For the rest of that n ight armed menpatrol led the camp

,and fi res were kept burn ing

b r ightly to sca re away savage beasts . I n the morning the an imal whose awfu l note had so alarmed thesleepers was found to be a donkey fraterna l lyanxious to greet them . I t seems that i n parts ofAustral ia that usefu l an imal was l i tt l e known , so

that the ladies di d not recogn ise h is wel com ingnote .

Having had so b itter an exper ience of Paraguayanra i n the colo n ists tu rned al l the i r energies at onceto the task of bu i ldi ng houses . No sto ne of anydescr ipt ion cou l d be found so they were forced toadopt the nat ive mode of construct ion . Roughhewn corner posts of hard wood were first put i nand connected by means of with ies and vines . Onth is l ight basket structu re coa t after coat of pug

(made by mix ing the red clay with water) wasdaubed . Hal f a dozen men would be employed i ntreading the pug

,as Eastern people tread the wine

press , to m ix i t wel l and bri ng i t to the requ i redcons isten cy . Others wou ld l i ft masses of the pugand throw it against the w i cker work . When

BU ILDING MUD HUTS 79

the whole s ide was uneven ly covered i t wou ld be leftto harden in the sun

,and a second dress ing appl ied

next day . After the appl i cation of severa l th ickcoats with in and without , the whole was ca refu l lysmoothed over and a l lowed to bake b y the heat ofthe sun into a ve ry substant ia l wa l l . Roofs weremade ei the r of thatch o r of sh ingles (woo den t i les ) .Natural ly i t was not suggested that these mud hutsshould serve permanently for human beings to l ivein . I t was i ntended to ut i l ize them as barns orcowsheds when —in a few months ’ t ime—s n ore substantial homes had been put up . AS wi l l presentlyappear

,however , the commun ity never had t ime

to spare between i ts pe rpetua l wrangles to erectcivi l ised bu i ldings

,and some of the survivors of the

experiment s t i l l l ive i n the ru ins of the patched andrep a i red or iginal mud huts to th is day !I n the first instance the bu i lders concentrated the i ratten t ion upon a large hal l

, 144 ft . by 2 0 ft . , div idedi nto twelve compartments , each to house onefami ly . This bu i lding was to be the centre of thetownsh ip , which was al ready being la i d out i nquarter acre a l lotments

,each with a frontage of

66 ft . and a depth of 165 ft . Those i n author i tystrai ned every nerve to erect a weather-proof houseas soon as possib le , to prevent the colony

’

s possess i ons from spo i l ing , and to receive the Governmentofficers i n state when they came to pay an officialv is i t to the new colony .

CHAPTER VI I I .

EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRAL IA .

A FEW days after the a rr ival of the Soc ia l is ts theOfficia l Gazette in Asunc ion pub l ished a not i ceconst i tut i ng New Austral ia as a sepa rate distr ict ,not subj ect to the contro l of the l oca l magistrates atAjos or at San José . I n orde r that they might haveproper contro l over the i r lan d the colon ists wereal lowed to nominate th ree of the i r members to holdofli cia l pos i t ions . To the pri n cipal offi ce ofAdmin istrato r (execut ive office r for en forci ng lawand register i ng b irths , deaths , and marr iages)Wil l iam Lane was appoin ted

,with Tozer as deputy

magistrate . Many of the Soc ial ists had thestrongest obj ect ion to the elevat ion of three of the i rn umber to pos it ions of autho r i ty over the rest , butthey submitted to the arrangement when tol d that i twas the on ly way they cou ld guard against outs idei n terferen ce . Gradual ly they hoped to educate theGovernment to an appreciat ion of the b less ings ofabsol ute equal i ty . A date , October 1 1 th , wasass igned fo r the official ope n ing of New Austral ia .

When the day came fo r the co lony ’s formalrecogn i t ion the large b all was st i l l u nfin ished ; i nfact i t was on ly part ial ly thatched . A tarpau l i n wasth rown over the unfin ished end of the place , a tab lewas knocked together out of boxes

,and a th irty foot

flag pole was erected to rece ive the tr i co loured flagof Paraguay . Alf . Walker had been appo inted to

80

THE PARAGUAYAN FLAG 8 1

conduct the important Gove rnment officials to thecolony . The party consis ted of D r . Lopez , Min is terfo r Foreign Affa i rs

,the Secreta ry to the P res ident

,

the Gefe Pol it ico of Ajos , and othe r notab les ,esc orted by a mi l itary office r with four soldiers .

Afte r b reakfas t,then , on the morn ing of the 1 l th

October , the sounding of a horn p rocla imed that theGovernment party was at hand . The l itt le cava lcade advanced at the t rot and ha l ted , withoutdismount i ng , t i l l Lane came forwa rd to rece ivethem . Then the M in iste r and his su ite were conduc ted in to the hal l , wh i le the soldiers tethered the i rhorses i n the orange grove . Dr . Lopez , a goodhumou red man , about th i rty-eight years of age ,with a round

,red face , might have been taken for

an Engl ish squ i re . When he had accepted whatrefreshments the colon ists cou ld offer the hornsounded aga i n for al l to assemble .After the trustees and committee , cons is t i ng ofthe fo reman of each department , had been introduced to the M in is ter he read a proclamat ion , wh ichthe P res ident ’s secreta ry interp reted . The soldierswere drawn up and the M in ister un folded a Pa raguayan flag . Each soldie r took a corner and thuscarried i t fifty yards , the party fol lowing . Then ,facing about , the ofli cer took the flag

,the M in iste r

and Mr . Lane l inked arms and advanced to theflagstaff

,the party fo l lowing them . The halya rds

were 10 0 ped on,and the two hauled

As the flag with its s tr ipes of red , white and b lue ,i ts l ion , and its cap of l iberty , fluttered in the b reezethe colon is ts cheered and the soldiers fired the i r

* G . W. P0pe, in South Australian Register.

82 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

Winchesters . Second and th i rd salutes were fired,

and the enthus iast i c Austral ians (o r Utopians asthey might now more prope r ly style themselves)cheered themselves hoarse , standi ng bareheadedbeneath the flag wh ich was to guarantee them the i remancipat ion ” from al l the i l l s o f the B rit ishyoke .The day of i ts ofli cial recogn it ion was one of h ighfest ivi ty at New Austral ia , and an honest effort wasmade by al l the colon ists to compose the i r d ifferencesand j oin hands heart i ly i n fr iendsh ip for the sake ofthe common cause . Someth i ng of the o ld h ighspi rit of hOpe was rev ived and there were not wanting those who prophesied that , on a day not fardistant

,Soc ial i st ru le wou l d have spread from thei r

smal l commun ity to embrace the ent i re country .

I t seemed far from improbab le that the thousandsof Anglo -Saxons who might short ly be expected toj o in them wou ld become the masters of Paraguay .

Not that the New Austral ians dreamed of abusingthe hosp ital i ty of the Paraguayans by going to warwith them the country hav ing al ready a democrat i cconst itut ion wou ld be converted to Soc i al ism , i f ata ll

,by “ peacefu l penetrat ion , and there wou ld be

no need to alter so much as the nat ion ’s flag,for on

that emb lem were i nsc r ibed the nob le words Pazy Just i cia .

”

Peace and Just ice The refugees from industr ia ls tr i fe , from

“ vic t im isat ion ” and al l the al legedhorrors of Capital ism felt that the tr ial s they hadendured wou ld not have been s uffered i n va i n i fpeace we re found

,and j ust i ce ruled , at New

Austral ia . But would th ey do so ?

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84 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

At fi rst there was some dread of meet ing jaguars ,pumas

,and oce lots i n the fo rest but these retreated

fu rthe r i n to the wi lderness at once and gave l i ttl et rouble . Snakes , howeve r , we re an ever presentdange r . As an example of the alarm ing experi

onces wh ich befel l the colon ists may be instancedan adventu re of the Jacobsen fam i ly . Ridingthrough the h igh grass towards the house of ane ighbour , Jacobsen was alarmed to see h is l i tt leboy rac ing towards h im along the track

,scream ing

with pai n and fr ight . Hurrying up , he found thata venomous snake had its fangs fi rm ly imbedded inthe youngster ’ s cal f . With no remedy for snakeb ite at hand the father did what was best, under thec i rcumstances , i n secur i ng a t ight bandage abovethe wound to stop the c i rcu lat ion of the b lood .

Then he set off on a r ide of th i rty-five mi les toVi l la R ica

,r id i ng th rough the n ight with h is boy

before h im . The roads were very bad at the t imeand the re was great de lay on the way . I n conse

quence , though Dr . Botrill , who was a k ind fr iendto the colon ists

,saved fhe little boy ’s l i fe

,he cou l d

not undo the inj u ry the l imb had sustai ned from thet ight l igatu re , and he is lame st i l l .Mosqu itoes also gave great troub le , as the annoying adventu re which befel l M i l l ustrates .This i ndiv idual

,a real Austral ian bushman

,sel f

educated (on the most o r ig inal pri nc ip l es) , argumentative , and determ ined , and a convi ncedAnarch ist

,met with a s ituat ion out o f wh ich even

h is rugged eloquence co u ld not extricate h im . Hewas r idi ng to Vi l la R ica on offic ial business onemorn ing , when the bu rn ing sun. caused infin ite

AN ANARCHIST ’S ADVENTURE 85

discomfo rt to the most hardened,and was not so rry

to reach the shade of the trees on the banks of theR io Teb icuari. As often happened

,the fe rryman

was absent from h is post , and i t was necessary toswim the stream . As he was wear ing h is “ Sundaybest ga rments

,M undressed and packed

them ca reful ly i nto the waterp roof bag secu red tohis saddle . Then he led his horse i nto the wate r .

Ponde r i ng deeply,

as was h is hab it , ove r thep roblems of the Un ive rse

,M fai led to obse rve

a snag and t r i pped over it , re leasing the ho rse andflounde ri ng wi ldly i n the wate r . When he regainedh is feet

,the ho rse had al ready crossed and was

watch ing h im from the oppos ite s ide .

Swimming ove r,M expected to catch his

mount without any difficu l ty , but the an imal , wh ichwas qu ite used to be ing caught by a respectablei ndiv idual wea r i ng c lothes

,was not at a l l w i l l i ng to

su rrender to th is naked man . M called butthe ho rse edged away and final ly k icked up its hee lsand ret i red to a safe distance

,tu rn ing to s tare at its

ang ry maste r with rep roach fu l eyes . Afte r stalk ingthe ho rse fo r some time without any success Mreal ise d the hope l essness of his pos it ion and up

b ra ided the an ima l i n v igo rous Aust ral ian . I nconsequence the horse refused to stay longe r i n h issoc iety and ga l loped

’

away towards Oveido . Afte rits van ish ing form M cal led opprob ious

ep i thets fo r some t ime but , befo re he had ha l f donej ust ice to the S ituat ion

,a vo rac ious mosqu ito cal led

his attent ion to the p ress ing prob lem of sel f-p roteot ion . At fi rst he enterta i ned the idea of walkingacross the camp to some nat ive casa where he cou ld

a

86 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

borrow clothes and a horse,but he had forgotten

the heat of the sun ,wh ich would flay h im in hal f

an hou r,and he had also le ft the b ichos” ( i nsects)

out of the reckon ing . He was forced to seek she l te ri n the river to escape the mosqu ito b ites and heat ;there , standing with the wate r up to h is ch in ,

in noenv iable frame of m ind

,he waited patiently for

some othe r travel le r to arr ive and put an end to ther id icu lous s ituat ion . But hou r after hou r passedand no one came . At the best of times there is notmuch traffic ac ross the Teb icuari at that ford

,and

on th is parti cu lar day M ’

S ev i l Sta r prov idedthat no one shou ld come to h is ass istance . Throughthe whole o f the day the unfortunate Anarch istremained i n the water with a halo of mosqu itoesround h is head . At n ightfa l l

,when he cou l d

ventu re out without being b l i stered by the sun,he

sal l ied fo rth and the mosqu itoes,thei r appet ites

rei n forced by thei r long wait,went with h im .

Eventual ly he reached a nat ive hut and was h'

OSpit

ab ly enterta ined,c lothed

,and fed . An hou r late r

he found h is horse unconcernedly n ibb l i ng the grassat a l i tt l e d istance ; i t says much for h is ph i losoph i cSp i ri t that he forbore to v is i t upo n the b rute sufferi ng equal to that wh ich the mosqu itoes had infl ictedupo n h im .

Such trial s as these were as noth ing,however

,to

the acrimon ious disputes wh ich once more b rokeout upo n theco lony with in a few weeks of its offic ia lopen i ng .

To take a few m inor instances fi rst. An eminenteducat ional ist , Mr . Murdoch , who held an importantappo intment i n Japan , j o ined the colon i sts , not as

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88 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

Soc ial ist theo r i sts c la im wou ld be the resu lt ofremov ing from indust ry the incent ive of p ers ona lgain .

“ I w i l l con fess I find i t hard to write w ith anypat ience and c iv i l i ty of th is argument that human itywi l l not wo rk except fo r greed o r need of money andon ly i n propo rt ion to the gett ing ,

” says M r . H . G .

Wells .*

The pub l i c serv ices of the com ing c iv i l isat ion ,he ins ists i n the same wo rk

,wil l demand and wi l l

develop a fa r complete r disc ip l i ne and tradit ion ofhonourfi

’

M r . Robe rt B latch fo rd,i n the fi fteenth chapter

of “ Me rr ie England ”

T sets out to answer theobject ion

,Socia l ism is impo ss ib le because i t

wou ld dest roy the in cent ive of ga in . With h isusual dexte r i ty the author plays round and abouth is theme so c leve r ly that the uncrit i cal reader maywel l bel ieve that he has dispo sed of i t

,al though as

a matte r , of fact,the main issue is comp l ete ly s ide

t racked . I t seems an amazing th ing to me,th is

pe rs istence i n the be l ief that greed is the mot ivepowe r of human ity ,

” he asserts . The refutat ionof that e rror i s forever unde r ou r noses . You see

how men st r ive at cricket ; you see the intense effortand the fie rce zeal they d isplay at footbal l ;You r voluntee r force— doe s that exist for gain ?What wi l l not a sold ier do fo r a t i ny b ronze cross

NewWorlds for Old.

’l'“ Merrie England ” was running as a serial in the “ Clarion

at this time I t is the most popul ar text-book of Socialism,

having sold in volume form about one mill ion copies .

AN OPTIM ISTIC VI EW 89

not wo rth a crown piece ? What wi l l a husbandendu re for his wife ’s sake ? A father for h isch i ldren A fanat i c for h is rel igion ? But you donot bel ieve that Socia l i sm is to dest roy al l l ove

,and

al l honou r,and al l duty and devot ion

,do you ?”

I t seems ha rdly necessa ry to rem ind the intel l igentreader that the same man who wi l l t ry hard to wina footbal l match fo r fun

,or gain the V .C . fo r glo ry

,

without hope of moneta ry rewa rd,would have the

most rooted obj ect ion to doing anyth ing so du l l asplough ing or b r i ck - laying without due and suffic ien trecompense . But the Optim ist i c v iews of Nunquam -who bel ieves that on ly Socia l ists unde rstand human nature—we re sha red by Wi l l iam Lane

,

who,before h is b itte r dis i l l usionment

,wrote

“ But New Austral ia won ’ t work c r i t ics say .

Why not ? Do we labou r for gold,th ink you ?

Why,no man who is a man wou ld t rade the k iss

of a woman,o r the hand-c lasp of a friend

,or the

arm - cl i nging of a l i tt l e ch i ld,fo r the wea l th of a

Tyson . Give the ave rage man a cottage home,the

woman he loves,ch i ldren in whose eyes h is own l i fe

laughs back at h im,fr iends who esteem h im

,food

for mind as wel l as fo r body,and then see i f he wi l l

not to i l to fence h is home from al l i l l . And hewon ’ t to i l the less because the fence he wo rks at is ar ing fence

,which guards h is mates ’ home as i t

guards h is,when he unde rstands that by co -ope ra

t ion he can make i t h ighe r,

and st ronge r , andth icke r

,than any fence he cou ld po ssib ly put up

round h is own sma l l ya rd .

”

Apparently al l the forego ing representat ivewriters th ink

,with Herr August Bebel

,that

90 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

Socia l ism wou ld revol ution ise human nature . It

is ev ident ,” the author of D ie F rau says

,

“ thatlabou r thus o rgan ised on pr inc iples of pe rfect freedom and democrat i c equal i ty

,i n wh ich one repre

sents al l,and al l one

,must awake the h ighest sense

of sol idari ty and a spi r i t of cheerfu l act iv ity,and

cal l fo rth a degree of emu lat ion such as is nowhereto be found i n the presen t indust r ial system .

”

How very del ightfu l i t must be to have suchbeaut i fu l fa i th i n the nob le qual i t i es of a l l one ’sfe l l ow men ! ! I t is upon th is conv ict ion that everyman is at heart “ sans peu r et sans reproche ” thatSocial ists bu i l d the i r hopes of un iversal b l iss . But

,

as Mr . B latchford says,

“ the on ly school for thestudy of human natu re is the world . The exampleof New Austral ia affords a p r i ce less oppo rtun ity tostudy and compare Soc ia l ism in p rac t i ce and i ntheo ry . I f he had on ly found t ime to Spend amonth or two there

,Herr B ebe l h imsel f must have

adm itted the fundamental e rror of h is p ropos it ion ,fo r dissens ion

,gloom

,and S l oth were the orde r of

the day ,

I n those ear ly days the colon ists were i n toxi catedwith the magn ificence of the i r p roj ect . There wasno steady effort leading up to b igge r th ings .

Confident,and with some cap ita l beh ind them ,

theycommenced at once on the scale they hope d to beab le to cont i nue

,and one of the fi rst th ings they

decided on was ample le isu re . They had done withthe bad old scheme of th ings i n wh ich “

the

exigences of Capita l ism ground the peopl e down ,

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9 2 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA

Although there were nom inal ly fo remen i n chargeof different departments

,the rank and fi le regarded

i t as an i ntolerab le i nsu l t to be speeded up .

” I fi t were true that under Cap ital ism “ each worker wasrobbed of two - th i rds of a l l he ea rned su rely thei ndiv idua l need on ly work one - th i rd as hard underSoc ial ism to produce an equal resu l t . Mo reover ,You often hear i ndust ry p ra ised as a v i rtue

,I th ink

the th ing is not a v i rtue i n i tsel f says themost popu la r text -book of Social ism . You mustnot fal l i n to the erro r of the economist and suppo sethat the peop le who ‘produce most ’ a re the g reatestof the wo rth iest peop l e . Befo re pra is ing a nat ionfo r i ts product iveness and i ndustry we Shou ldenqu i re i f the th ings they p roduce are nob le o rworth less th ings

,and i f the labou r of thei r hands

is the labou r of s laves—o r of Whi ledisentangl i ng the knotty quest ion as to whetherthe tree one is hewing down

,i s a nob le or a wo rth

l ess tree,i t is j ust as wel l fo r a good Social ist to s it

down and have a smoke to ass ist h is cogi tat ions .

I f a fo reman Shou ld happen a l ong unheard,and

make rude rema rks about his appa rent idl eness , i t isthe free Soc ial ist ’s i nstant duty to reto rt as forc ib lyas po ss ib le that one i s not a s lave . I f the Soc ia l i sthas h is Merr i e England ” by‘ heart and has

presence of m ind to quote that un iversal industry,

and thr i ft,and temperance amongst the poo r wou ld

tend to make them p oorer than they now a re ,” the

foreman wi l l ret i re completely worsted !When Wi l l iam Lane in i t iated h is great ventu rehe was a convinced bel iever i n the theo ry that

,once

“Merrie England .

PRACTICALLY SLAVES 93

removed from the pern ic ious i nfluence of Capital ism ,

they wou ld al l dwel l together i n b rothe r ly lovewithout the necessity for severe restri ct ions . Hesoon found out h is

-

mistake,however

,for b itter

charges of favou r i t ism were cont inual ly level led athis head and at the heads of the fo remen in chargeof every industry . When he found that envy ,hatred

,and al l uncha r itab leness thrived in th is

Pa radise as i n a hot-bed,he decided on a pol icy

of benevolen t despot ism,which the fact of h is hold

ing p rox ies fo r al l the membe rs of the Associa t ionsti l l i n Austra l ia enabled h im to ca rry out . Witha stern hand he put down revolt

,and pun ished those

who disputed h is decis ions by sett ing them the mostdistastefu l tasks . No one was al lowed to absenth imsel f from the colony without Lane ’s pe rm iss ion

(seldom acco rded lest they shou ld be tempted to getd r ink) and i ncessant g rumbl ing became the o rderof the day . I t is i n terest ing to compa re M r . B latchford ’s statement : “ I deny that Social ism wouldresu l t i n any fo rm of slave ry at all ,

” with thefol lowing ext ract from a letter w r i tten by one of thedis i l lus ioned pioneers

,We have surrende red all

c iv i l r ights and become mere cogs in a whee l . Nolonge r active factors i n the scheme of c iv i l isat ion .

I n fact a man is p ract ica l ly a S lave . Lanedoes the th ink ing and the colon ists do the wo rk .

Resul t ba rba ri sm .

”

CHAPTER IX .

THE FIRST EXPULS IONS.

FEW,even among Soc ial ists

,real ise the feroci ty of

Social ism . Of cou rse they are aware of the frightfu lep isodes whi ch occu rred during the Reign of Te rrorin Paris—but they bel ieve that those sangu inaryoc cu rrences were occasioned by other contemporarycauses , and woul d not necessari ly recu r i f StateSoc ial ism were now estab l ished . The few logicalSocial ists of to -day fu l ly recogn ise

,however

,tha t

a period of absol ute tyran ny—dur ing wh ich al lopponents of Socia l ism ,

and even al l Soc ial istswho fai led to agree w ith the prec ise v iews of theirb rother Soc ial ists i n powe r , wou ld be p it i less lysacr ificed for the sake of produc ing un i fo rm ity ofa im among its c i t izens—wou ld usher in theComing State .

”

Pri nc ipal ly through the influence of the Christ ianrel igion modern c iv i l isat ion is to lerant even towardsthe unworthy ; even the

“ won ’ t-work ”is accom

modated with a bed and a meal i n the casual ward ;even the usel ess drunkard is given anotherchance ,

” and then anothe r,and another , and the

worst th i ng that can happe n to h im is a pe r iod ofdetent ion in a gaol ; as fo r the agitato r , whose a imin l i fe is to upset the ex ist i ng scheme of c iv i l isat ion

,

he is actual ly p rotected by the pol ice fo rce of thatc iv i l isat ion from the natu ral i nd ignat ion of otherc it izens .

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96 THE FIRST EXPULS IONS

the th reshold,strewn with the corpses of the useless

giants .

”

The presen t wri ter wou ld be the last to deny thatsuch a system has its merits when app l ied by a b ruteRepubl i c w ith no lesse r means of se l f-protectionaga i nst b rute intel l igence incapable of reformat ion .

I n a human Repub l ic,however

,were such drast ic

disc ip l i ne pe rmitted , not mere ly the d rones , but alsothe most energet ic

'

i n div i duals whose v iews orpe rsons happe ned to be cons idered obj ect ionab leby the execut ive wou l d be supp ressed . As wi l lp resent ly appea r , at New Austral ia a sentence ofban ishment was en forced fo r an offence wh ich aCap ita l i sti c j udge wou ld have pun ished by a

fine of “ ten sh i l l i ngs and costs ,” pl us

, pe rhaps thedoctor ’s fee

,at most .

There was conside rabl e fr ic t ion at New Austra l iaover the total abst i nence p ledge . To Lane it wasno deprivat ion to go without al cohol

,as he was

a l i fe - long absta i ne r,but w ith othe rs the case was

diffe rent . Afte r a hard day ’s Wo rk i n the forestmany men fel t that they woul d be a l l the bette rfo r a tot of the excel len t rum made by

! t! he nat ivesi n the v ic in i ty . Where did the freedom

"

of NewAustra l ia come i n

,when as the Clarion scorn fu l ly

said of S ic i ly,the worke rs were as tempe rate as

dogs ; and they we re t reated l ike dogs .

”

Some argued ve ry reasonably that the re was noessent ia l connect ion between Social ism and Rechab ite p r i n c iples— the w ise D r . H ertzka provided a

b rewe ry i n “ Free land ” as a matte r of cou rse—andrequested that the tempo rary ban on alcohol shou ldbe removed . When Lane obsti nate ly refused to

DISOBEDIENCE A VIRTUE 97

give pe rmiss ion some of the colon ies decided todispense with it

,fo r

,afte r al l

,is not disobed ience

,

the ra rest and mos t cou rageous of the v i rtues

I t i s characte r is t ic of many stalwa rt B r i t ishersthat

,when they a re very miserable they find comfort

in a glass . Th ree of the dep ressed NewAust ra l ians

,visit ing a neighbou r i ng native vi l lage

,

rev ived thei r flagging sp i r i ts wonderfu l ly by al ibe ra l potat ion

,and

,on the i r retu rn

,we re hea rt i ly

congratulated by thei r less cou rageous mates . Butthey incu r red the fie rce wrath of the i r master . Tothe consternat ion of the cu lp r its and the i r fr i endsLane decreed the i r i nstant expu ls ion from thecommun ity .

Apart from the‘

question of abstract j us t i ce th isact ion was so un l ike Wil l iam Lane ’s prev ious profess ions that h is fol lowe rs we re absolute ly stagge red .

They might have quoted M r . B latchfo rd ,“ D runken

ness is a disease . I t is j ust as much a d isease astyphus fever o r chole ra

,and often a r ises from ve ry

s imi la r causes . Any medica l man wi l l tel l you thatthe crav ing for alcohol ic s t imu lants is frequentlyfound amongst men whose ne rvous system is low .

Sure ly the New Austral ians had had enough to t rythei r nerves They might have rem inded h im thati n the ol d days , when he p reached brother ly love andmutual fo rbearance i n the col umns Of The Worker ,

he wrote thus of a Shea rers ’ Un ion organ ise r , who ,i t was al leged

,had embezz led certa in money belong

ing to his mates : I deeply regret that the committee of the A .L .U . have dec ided to prosecute

The Revolutionists ’ Handbook , by Bernard Shaw.

98 THE FIRST EXPULSIONS

for defa lcat ion . I deny he is a c rim inal . He 15 a poord runken wretch who shou ld have been safeguardedagainst h imsel f . ” How was i t poss ib le to harmon iseso merc i fu l a Sp i r i t w ith h is p resent dete rminat ionThe answer is s imple . Although it ra i l s so b itter lyagainst the despo t ism of al l exist ing author itySocia l ism is necessar i ly i nfin ite ly more despot ic i nen forc ing its own counse ls of perfect ion . That i swhy a l l attempts at Social ist i c government i nev itab lyprove the most hatefu l form of gri ndin g tyranny .

As the faith fu l se rvant of the Cause” Lane wascompe l led , i n sp ite o f any regrets he m ight pe rsona l ly feel

,to dea l p it i l ess ly with offenders .

I t wou ld have been easy for Lane to pun ish theth ree cu lp r i ts by dock i ng the i r “ cred it ” at theStore

,and many of the sett l e rs begged h im to adopt

that course,but Lane was obdurate . They had

broken h is pet regu lat ion,and they must go . I n

vai n i t was poi nted out that an arti c l e of theConst i tut ion said

,Dism issal f rom the com

mun ity for pe rs isten t o r u npa rdonab l e offenceagainst the wel l -be ing of the commun ity to bedecreed on ly by a five- s ixth majority of a l l adu ltmembers .” He repl ied that the Consti tution wasnot yet i n operat ion and that i f i t were , h is so le vote

(represent ing al l those st i l l i n Austral ia) outweighedthe othe rs by the requ i red majority . The fact thatthe un fortunate offende rs wou ld be st randed i n anI ndian country many thousands of mi les from homedid not move h im

,no r did the fac t that they had

cont r ibuted al l the i r possess ions to h is wi ld-featscheme . There was nei ther room in New Austral iafo r backsl iders

,nor mercy for them .

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1 0 0 THE F IRST EXPULS IONS

n ine out of ten Social ists bel ieve that no po l icewould be requ i red i n a Social ist State . Yet T radeUn ion tyranny might wa rn them that a Soc ia l i stGove rnment wou ld en fo rce its wi l l upon the rankand fi le by shot and steel i f necessa ry . This fact isfrankly admitted by the g reatest i n te l lect i n theSocia l ist ranks to -day . Of cou rse

,i f the nat ion

adopted the Fab ian pol i cy,

” says “ The Revo lut ionists

’ Handbook ,” by Berna rd Shaw

,

“ i t wou ld becarr i ed out by b rute fo rce exact ly as ou r prese ntp roperty system is . I t woul d become the law ; andthose who res isted i t woul d be fined

,so ld up ,

knocked on the head by po l icemen,th rown into

pr ison,and in the last reso rt ‘executed ’ j ust as

when they b reak the present law .

”

Wil l iam Lane was too clever a man to issuedecrees wh ich he had no powe r of en fo rc ing . H isappo i n tment from the Paraguayan Gove rnment

,as

execut ive officer for en fo rc ing law,gave h im the

power to ca l l upo n that Gove rnment fo r force toback up his dec is ions . On the expe l led membe rsrefus i ng to qu it

,he disappe ared from the co lony , and

retu rned later wi th a body of Paraguayan sold ie rsarmed to the teeth . Holding w ith M r . B latchfordthat i n a Soc ial ist ic state of soc iety they would nomore go armed and i n fear of the i r fe l l ow creatu res ,

”

the co lon ists had sold any weapons they m ightpossess for the benefi t o f the common fund ; theyhad no bette r weapo ns than agricu l tu ra l implementsand st icks to oppose to Lane ’s revo lver and themu rderous look ing bayonets of his nat ive po sse .

I n va in the expe l led begged fo r mercy,i n va in

CHRISTMAS DAY 1 0 1

they demanded the retu rn in fu l l of the i r contrib ut ions* —these were a “ voluntary gi ft to theAssociat ion— in va i n women wept and declared thatthey and thei r fami l ies would secede also i f the th reeunfo rtunates were so heavi ly pun ished for so l ighta cr ime . Although it was the fest ive Christmasseason Lane wa s adamant .One of the co lon ists

,described as ne ither a

secede r nor one of the Lane ’ s puppets wrote thefol lowing account of the expu ls ion to the BarrierMiner !

“ Upon the day appo i nted for them toleave

,the po l ice came down upo n the scene . There

did real ly appear to be a serious prospect of bloodshed . Lane rode in and about with a revolver i nh is bel t . I t was not as though the men who hadto leave we re an ent i rely bad lot . Only one wasve ry bad . Two or th ree othe rs on ly were not good

,

but amongst the res t we re some real ly fi rst classwo rke rs

,and some of the women

,too

,cou ld i l l be

spa red . They left peaceab ly however,and I do not

know who we re the most m ise rab le—those'who went

(the expel led by the way were joi ned by somevoluntary secede rs) o r those of us who remained ,and we have been p retty miserab le ever si nce .

We had Ch r i stmas d i n ner al l togethe r , he

remarks,and I can ’ t say we were happy . I t was

j ust a fte r the t rouble . For the youngsters thewomen fo lk managed to rake up some cards andso on to make qu ite a presentab le Ch r istmas tree .

Santa Claus,however

,did not seem to get as far

as Paraguay .

One of the expelled had contributed to the common

1 0 2 THE FIRST EXPULS IONS

There was of cou rse no re l ig ious serv ic e at NewAustral ia on Christmas Day

,but the party were

assembled to s ing the march ing song of the i rmovement

Shou lder to shou lder,mates

Shou lders together,

Hands clasped i n hands my mates ;Fa i r and fine weather .

Hearts beat ing close,my mates

,

Each man a brothe r .

Bu i ldi ng a home,my mates

,

Al l fo r each other .

The ch i ldren sang heart i ly enough,but the men

l istened for the most part i n gloomy si l ence . Theywe re th ink ing of the i r mates who had j ust beenshou ldered out

,with scarcely e nough money to

enabl e them to reach Asunc ion and throw themselves upon the mercy o f the B rit i sh Consu l .Lane ’s utterances upon the subj ect of matesh ipwoke l i tt le response now i n the hearts of those whoremained . Was it matesh ip to i nduce a man tocont r ibute al l he had i n the worl d to the Cause ,

”

and then expel h im wi th on ly th ree pounds in h is

pocket ? Was i t to do such th ings as th is that theyhad left Austral ia ?

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1 0 4 A HELL UPON EARTH

as a l im ited l iab i l i ty company ,* without the membershaving ever been consu lted on the subj ect

,and

that the manage r wou ld be ab l e to exe rc i se a lmostabsolute power ; moreover the use of the pol ice fo rcecreated great exc itement and a general uproar

,unt i l

at length finding it imposs ib l e to agree e ighty-five

members seceded i n a body,preferr i ng to abandon

a l l thei r shares i n the colony and to rece ive a certa i nsum

,the married about 2 0 0 dol lars and the S i ngle

1 50 dol la rsI n a lette r wh ich one of the seceders wrote to

the B r i t ish Consu l at Monte Video he stated thatthe manager had arrogated to h imse l f absol utepower

,and was expel l i n g those who dared to stand

up for the i r r ights by twos and th rees . To preventh is tak ing us thus ,

’

so he says,we have al l decided

to leave i n the hope that someth i ng may be donefor us i n a body that wou ld not be done fo r usi ndiv idua l ly .

’

They went to Vi l la R ica,and there they had a

long l ist of g r ievances to pou r forth,and tales to te l l

of how some had been expel led on t riv ia l pretextsand others tyrann ised . They said that no financ ialstatement had ever appeared , that when they hadasked for one they had been terrorised

,that they

coul d not go outs ide the sett l emen t without leave ;

I t was,of course, necessary to register the Association in

Paraguay, as a land company in order to secure its legal status .

I t was expressly stipulated that the shares should pay no dividend.

See Appendix B .

1‘ and £3 15 5 . respective ly. The average sum p er head

a llowed was £3 2s . 6d.

ANYTHING BUT A PARADISE 1 0 5

tha t i f they did attempt to go,havi ng given up

everyth ing they possessed for the good of the cause,

they had no money to spe nd . Life under suchconditions was i nto le rable

,and i t was clear that what

with the absen ce of l iberty,the isolat ion of ex ist

ence , the suspicion with which one party regardedthe othe r , the mutual fea r, the boycott ing, the constant disputes

,the hundreds of l itt le d isagreeab le

events that went on the whole day long,whatever

opin ions they might hold on other subj ects theywere one and all disposed to agree that NewAustral ia was anyth ing but a work ing man ’sparadise .”

Natu ral ly the B ri tish Consu l at Asuncion was ath is wits ’ end to know what to do with th is a rmyof dest itute fe l low countrymen

,and the Second

Secretary of the Legat ion at Buenos Ai res was sentto t ry and patch up a truce .

I had been i nstructed to v is it the Colony toenqu i re i nto the cause of the expu ls ion of thesemembers and the secession of about one- th i rd of thecolony ,

” wrote Mr .M . de C . Findlay .

* “ They we regiven a few pounds ap iece when they left

,but when

I saw them they were on the verge of dest itut ion .

I found M r . Lane,the present chai rman of the

Associat ion,prepared to give me al l the i n format ion

I asked for,but to h im the Art i cles of Association

and agreements s igned are as the code of the Medesand Pers ians

,and any i n fr i ngement thereof must

be summa ri ly deal t w ith . He does not admit suchth ings as extenuat ing c i rcumstances

,j ust i ce means

to h im the law acco rding to the lette r ; a man is

Foreign Office Report , 1894, No . 1357.

1 06 A HELL UPON EARTH

e ither stra ight or he is not stra ight ,’ and i n the

latter case he shou ld go . Another questionwh ich may cause d ifferen ces is that of national i ty .

Mr . Lane to ld me he had no reason to beenthusiasti ca l ly loyal ,

’ and that a vote wou ld betaken before long wh ich wou ld probab ly resu l t inthe adopt ion of a Paraguayan nat ional i ty .

”

I n h is i ntroducto ry letter M r . F i ndlay test ifies tothe good cha racter of the Utop ians : The colon istshave started with everyth ing in thei r favou r— freeland

,immun i ty from taxat ion

,a good cl imate

,and

a certa i n amount of cap ital . They are a fine c lassof men

,and i f they were less d isposed to stand on

the letter of the i r rights an d took a more reasonabl ev iew of the fai l i ngs of the i r fe l lows they wou ld besu re to succeed . AS i t i s they came to foundUtop ia

,and before I v is ited the colony had

succeeded i n c reat i ng (as they sa id) a hel l uponearth .

’ I fee l moral ly certa i n that i f theco lony had been started on an ind iv idual ist i c bas is

(each colon ist rece iv i ng an al lotment) , and with nocompl icated regu lat i ons to fight over , not a manwou ld have le ft the settlement .Mr . Findlay found i t imposs ib le to patch up at ruce between Lane and the seceders

,who must

have starved but fo r the generos i ty of the Paraguayan Government wh ich housed and fed them forth ree weeks at Vi l la R ica

,wh i le they were debat ing

what was best to be done . When he learned thatthe negotiat ions had fa i l ed P res ident Gonzalezoffe red the seceders (but not the th ree expe l ledmembers) a grant of land , on i ndiv idual ist i c l i nes , atthe Gonzalez Co lony

,wh ich he had establ ished two

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1 0 8 A HELL UPON EARTH

Buenos Ai res . Landing penn i less i n the Argent i ne

cap ita l , they were befriended by the Benevolen tSociety

,which made an appeal to the B ri t ish

chari t ies to a id i n retu rn ing them to Austral ia .

When news of the i r good fortune reached the

struggl ing s ixty who st i l l rema ined at GonzalezColony

,they j umped to the conclus ion that the

B ri t ish Government was anxious to re-patr iate them,

and one of the i r n umber was despa tched toAsunc ion to i nterv iew the Consu l on the subj ect.On being to ld that no such i nst ruct ions had beenreceived

,he sa id that he wou ld b r i ng h is w ife and

fou r ch i l dren and l eave them at the door of theConsu late

,that h is ra i lway fare had been ra ised by

subscript ion,and he i nv ited Her Majesty ’s Consu l

to come and see the m iserab le pl ight i n wh ich theyI t is hard to say what wou ld have become

of these ru ined and desperate fol k i f the countrythey had scorned and l e ft had not taken p ity onthem . On heari ng of the i r sad condit ion theAustral ian Government made arrangements to b ringthem home to sta rt l i fe aga i n in the land wheremany of them had once been fa i rly prospe rous ;One l itt le band ; as they came down the Parana ,passed a sh ip flying the B ri t ish flag

,and forgett i ng

for the momen t al l the i r t roub le,the i r losses

,the i r

keen disappo i ntment and the i r dest i tu te cOndition ,

b roke i nto a cheer ,” repo rted M r . Peel of the B uenos

A i res Legat ion . I t was the fi rst t ime they hadseena B ri t ish flag S i nce the i r arr iva l i n Paraguay ,and i ts s ight recal led the homes

,the fr iends

,and the

l i fe- long associat ions they had so rash ly left,and to

Foreign Office,1895 , Miscellaneous Series, No . 358.

BRISK ORGANISATION 1 0 9

which they were so anxious to retu rn,and b itter ly

did they reco l lect how they had been told by‘

those who had induced them to leave Austra l ia tha tthey had so l i tt le cause to be enthus iast ical ly loyal . ”

Meanwh i le o rgan isat ion was p roceeding b risklyi n Aust ralia , and the retu rn of the

“ Roya l Tar” onDecember 7th , 1 893 , gave a sha rp fillip to recru it ing.

Those aboa rd of he r gave such a good accountof the sa fe and pleasant voyage that the secondcontingen t— a l ready encamped under canvas— wasanxious to be gone . Among membe rs of ItheAss ociat ion i n the Adela i de district there was qu itea rush to sel l up the i r homes

,i n o rder to pay in the

m in imum contr ibut ion befo re the next boat sa i l ed .

I t happened that th ree p rominent st r i ke leaderswere j ust then re leased from p r ison ; when theyannounced the i r intent ion of shak ing the dust ofAustra l ia from the i r feet a profound sensat ion wascrea ted in Trade Un ion c i rcles . A great c rowd ofsympath ise rs saw them off by the S S . Bun inyong ,which carried n inety- fou r men

,two women

,and S ix

ch i ldren to Monte Video . Bu rn ing speeches movedall who were present at the send-off to a great envyof those who were bound for the land of freedom .

We on ly wish we were go ing with you ,declared many who had not yet managed to sc rapetogether the necessary s ixty pounds . Look outfor us on the othe r s ideI n most of the Aus tra l ian States o rgan isat ionproceeded so rapidly that the authori ti es were ve rymuch alarmed . I f merely the ne ’e r-do -wel ls o f the

1 1 0 A HELL UPON EARTH

commun ity had been j o i n i ng the re wou ld havebeen no occas ion to worry ; but the organ isers tookcare to accept on ly the best material . The Assoc iation was sa i d to be negotiat ing fo r the pu rchase ofth ree more sh ips

,and there was no reason to doubt

the est imate that,with in s ix years

,sou l s wou ld

l eave for Paraguay . Cou ld noth ing be done tostop the wholesale departu re of Austral ia ’s stu rdiestson ? How cou ld the country ’s b roken finances berestored to a heal thy condi t ion i f a l l the best b rawnand s inew were withdrawnI f on ly the true state of affa i rs at New Austra l ia

had been known there wou ld have bee n no causefor anxiety . But not a h in t of the dissens ion hadleaked out when the next batch boarded the “ RoyalTa r” at Adela ide on Decembe r 2 8th

,1 893 . Utterly

unsusp ic ious of the m ise ry the i r fr iends were al readyendu r i ng

,the fami l ies i n this cont ingent played at

l iberty,equal i ty

,and fratern i ty as ga i ly as the

Royal T ar ’s earl ie r passengers had done . Butj ust as the boat was upon the eve of sa i l i ng theemigrants ’ fr iends on shore were start led by the

pub l ication of the fo l lowin g announcement .

The Lieutenant Governor has rece ived atelegram from the Secretary of State for the

Colon ies,i n form ing h im that the B riti sh M in ister

at B uenos Ai res has te legraphed h im to the effectthat the B rit ish Consu l i n Paraguay w i res that e ightNew Austra l ians headed by and haveleft the i r new labou r colony as a protest againsti nj ust ice of adm inist rat ion . They ask that the i rfriends at Adela ide be adv ised so as to p reven t

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CHAPTER XI .

WILLIAM LANE SECEDES .

ON reach ing Monte Video,and hearing a fu l l report

of the dismissals and secessrons from New Austral ia ,th ree or fou r fam il ies

,to whom i t wou ld not mean

absol ute ru in ,,decided to tu rn back and take up thei rol d occupat ions . Most

,however

,dec ided to go on .

Afte r the sacr ifices they had made and the d istancethey had come the maj ori ty wou ld not be l ightlydeterred from the effo rt to real ise the hopes wh ichhad so fa r led them on . When the party were metat Asuncion on Ma rch 7th ,

1 894 , by Wi l l iam Lane ,his magneti c power st i l l swayed them so effectua l lythat doubts were dispel led and next day al l save oneleft fo r New Austral ia . The one had no soonerlanded than he went to the Consu late and c la imedp rotect ion of the B ri t ish flag . Th is em igrantstated that he had no des i re to go to New Austral ia ,as he wished to avo id gett ing into serious troub l e ,wh ich he thought wou ld probab ly arise andthat as he had a good deal of personal p ropertywh ich

,perhaps

,accord ing to the art i cles of the

Assoc iat ion,wou ld not be restored to the origina l

owner,he claimed the protect ion of the B rit i sh flag

to get i t back by al l peacefu lThe remainde r of the party

,cons ist i ng of about

1 90 persons , proceeded to New Austral ia , where

Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 358.

LOFTY MOTIVES I 1 3

Lane ordered them to encamp at Loma Rogna,a

place about ten m i les distant from Las Ovejas,the

o r igi nal settl ement . This del ibe rate isolat ion of thenewcomers was

,of cou rse

,a p recautionary measu re

intended to prevent them from becoming in fectedwith the genera l discontent . Natura l ly

,howeve r ,

it was not long before some of the p ioneers v is itedthem and the events leading up to the expuls ionsand secession were discussed at length . F rom thatmoment i t was determined that Lane ’s autoc rat icsway must end .

Afte r hearing the i r mates ’ accounts of al l that hadoccu rred feel i ng against the l eader they had so longrevered ran h igh amongst the newcome rs . Andyet— ca lm ly considered— what w rong had he committed ? I f they had not been b l inded by p rej udicethey would have rea l ised that it was not Wil l iamLane

,but the whole imprac t icable s cheme that was

at fau lt . Of the i r own vo l it ion they had set up a

system of cast- i ron laws and regu lat ions and puth im in sup reme author i ty with a mandate to en fo rcethem . The man to whom they had tempo ra r i lyentrusted thei r vot ing p roxies was , without quest ion ,as r igidly honou rab le

,and as innocent of sel f-seek

ing as any man coul d be . By putt ing in ope rat ionthe harsh law of expu lsion against the threeoffende rs he had acted from the loft iest and mostlogica l mot ives and

,str i ct ly speaking , had not

exceeded h is author i ty . I t was Social ism rathe rthan Wi l l iam Lane that had offended

,for even

M r . B latchford grants that State Soc ial ism wouldimply some interfe rence w ith the l ibe rty of theindiv idua l .” And i f any l ibe rty is to be absolute ly

1 14 W ILL IAM LANE SECEDES

cu rta i led,wh ich cou l d more properly be suppressed

than the l ibe rty to get drunkThe reasonab leness of such arguments as theabove wi l l appeal to any fa i r-minded person but i ti s the specia l pr iv i lege of democ rac ies to be un

reasonab le . The B riti sh coal m iners recently threwove r the ir ol d leaders

,when the enforcement of the

Eight Hours ’ Act,fo r which they had given a

mandate,resu l ted i n a dim inut ion of the i r earn ings ;

i n thei r p lace they elevated new leaders who promised that i n futu re they shou ld both eat the i r cakeand have it . In prec isely the same manne r the NewAust ra l ians

,wh i le insist i ng that the i r l eader shou ld

en forced the regu lat ion,de term ined to sacrific e h im

as soon as i t appeared that some of the i r numberhad suffered th rough his obedience .

The most varied and vio len t accusations wereleve l led at Lane ’s head by those who wished todisp lace h im . The official New Austral ia : ARepo rt p resented to the B ri t ish Board of the NewAustral ia Associat ion ”* conta ins an assortment ofcharges wh ich

,whethe r wel l founded or not

,are

dec idedly instruct ive,as they show the state of

feel i ng wh ich had arisen,and the susp ic ion with

wh ich the over- zealous leader was regarded . Inth is Report

,by one i n hearty sympathy with the

movement,there is an in te rest i ng i l lust rat ion of the

magic change wh ich the exerc ise of h is authority canproduce i n the att i tude of the Soc ial ist rank and fi letowards the i r chosen leader : Lane as a h ighsou led enthus iast i n the cause of Labou r

,and Lane

By Alfred Rogers . Murdoch Co . , 26, Paternoster Square ,1896.

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1 16 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES

indiv iduals who hated them most . Lane therefo reappl ied to the new management fo r pe rmiss ion toret i re to a pa rt o f the concess ion ca l l ed Codas

,there

to found a th i rd v i l lage sett lement on the same l i nesas the two at Las Ovejas and Loma Rugua . Thereupon a fu rious outcry arose and it was most un fa i rlyal leged that

,even befo re reach ing Paraguay ,

“ Lanehad dec ided upon separat ing with a chosen few fromthe main body

,and that he reserved the cho icest

g round i n the concession , Codas , for th isAlthough New Austra l ia he ld 60 0 square m i les ofte rr i to ry

,not mo re than about one - tenth of wh ich

had yet been explored,the re was no room on it fo r

Wi l l iam Lane,except as an underl i n g . Perm iss ion

to sett le at Codas was refused by the Boa rd ofManagement He was at l iberty to leave theco lony a l together as others had done

,or he cou l d

sett l e down to h is Sha re of the common to i l,and

work fo r the benefi t of his fel low -men i n whatevercapacity the prope r ly e lected authorit ies m ight orde r .The tab les we re tu rned with a vengeanceFaced with these a l te rnat ives , Wil l iam Lane chosethe fo rmer

,and went out i nto the w i lde rness accom

panied by forty-five adu lt sympath isers and abouta dozen ch i ldren

,together with a fa i r p roport ion of

the implements and a few head of cattle . Leavingh is pa rty encamped by the S ide of a stream just off

New Austral ia Report, by Al fred Rogers .

1" I t is only fair to state that Frederick Kidd and other leaders

(who, having come with the second party, were free from animus )desired to grant the concession, but the rank and file would nothear of it.

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1 1 8 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES

leade rs,Brisso t

,Gensonné , Vergniaud, Ducos , and

S i l le ry . But a few months afte r they had drivenMarat from powe r

,the G i rondists were i n tu rn dis

placed by an extremer pa rty ; and the five who hadthought themselves secu re were gu i l lot i ned on the

n ight of October 3oth , 1 793 .

Next the Montagna rds wielded b r ief autho r i ty ,unt i l the notorious Hebert (who set up Reason as

the people ’s on ly God) hounded them from officeand ca st some i nto prison . But h is sway endu rednot long

,fo r Danton and Robesp ie rre comb ined to

d rag h im down , and Hebert d ied am id the jee rs ofthe mob whose pass ion fo r b lood he had helped toa rouse , a fortn ight before the very men he hadh imse l f condemned . Next it was Danton ’ s tu rn ,fo r the t reacherous Robesp ierre bade h im begonea l so

,and h is head dropped in to the basket with

Desmou l i ns ’ on Ap r i l 5 th , 1 794 .

As a t r ibute to h i s w i l l i ng sacr ifice of al l h isfriends to sate thei r appet ite for change

,the

sovere ign peopl e endu red Robespierre’s re ign fo r

th ree and a hal f months more before they invokedthe a i d of Madame Gu i l lot i n e to ej ect h im from thei deal ” Commonwealth ,— S t . Just and Couthonl os i ng thei r heads with h im

,on Ju ly 8th

,1 794 .

Any person who dism isses the appal l i ng inc identsof the Re ign of Te rro r as the work of homic ida ll unat ics

,or b lames the c rim i na l c lasses fo r shedding

the blood of France ’s nob lest sons,bet rays lament

ab le ignorance of the acknowledged facts . Theassass inat ions and whol esa l e execut ions

,the merc i

less slaughte r of eve ryone whose inte l lectualOpin ions did not prec ise ly co inc ide with the standard

ANARCHISM OUR DREAM 1 1 9

temporar i ly in vogue,were planned and ordered ,

i n the name of progress,by mi ld-manne red

,wel l

mean ing ph i losophers , who we re convi nced that theywere the reby helping on the m i l lenn ium . Thoughthe ru l ing majority i n a mode rn Social ist Statemight be less enamou red of summary executions

,i t

wou ld be no wit more to lerant,and wou ld undoubt

edly reduce soc iety to a state o f abject s lavery , ore lse of Anarchy .

Every prominent Social ist rejects the suggest ionthat Socia l ism means s lave ry ; but how many peoplerea l ise that Ana rchy is the defin ite goal towardswh ich at least some popu la r leaders of Social istthought a re consc iously str iv i ng ? Not bombth rowing Anarchy

,of course (though the re be some

Engl ish Socia l ists who regard even that as a permiss ib le p re l ude to the estab l ishment of the “ i deal”

State) , but“ t rue and noble Ana rch ism .

”

“ That Anarch ist world,I admit

,i s our dream ,

Mr . H . G . Wel ls* states candidly,we do bel ieve

—wel l,I , at any rate , bel ieve th is present world ,

th is p lanet,wi l l some day bear a race beyond our

most exa l ted and temera r ious dreams,a race

begotten of ou r wi l ls and the substance of ou rbodies

,a race

,so I have said i t

,who wi l l stand

upo n”

the earth as one stands upo n a footstoo l andlaugh and reach out thei r hands amidst the stars ,

’

but the way to that is th rough educat ion anddiscipl i ne and law . Socia l ism is the preparat ionfor that h igher Ana rch ism ; pain fu l ly , lab orious lywe mean to destroy fa lse ideas of prope rty and sel f

,

e l im inate unj ust laws and po isonous and hatefu lNewWorlds for Old,” p . 257.

1 2 0 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES

suggest ions and prej udices,create a system of soc ial

r ight-deal ing and a tradi t ion of r ight- feel ing andact ion So c ial ism is the schoo l room of a true andnoble Anarch ism

,whe rei n by t ra in i ng and rest ra int

we Sha l l make free men .

”

Of cou rse M r . Wells does not des i re the immediate real isat ion of h is dream— the context makesthat Cl ear— it i s p robab le that he , personal ly , ant icipates that his hot - eared

,i l l -kempt people wi l l

n eed a good deal of rest rain t and law and d isc ipl i ne,

spread ove r a considerab le period,befo re he can let

them loose with any fee l i ng of secu ri ty . But,once

conve rted to his theo ry of the ideal i ty of Anarch ism,

wi l l the hot-cared,i l l-kempt people who ,

”

as he says,are p it i fu l

,and weak

,and va in

,and

touchy,almost beyond measu re ,

” be wi l l i ng to waitti l l M r . Wel ls takes a less pess im ist i c v iew of theirl im itat ions ? Wil l they not rathe r i n the i r touchy ,hot -eared fash ion

,cal l the preache r of disc ip l i ne

and rest ra i n t a wou ld-b e ty rant,and treat h im as

the New Austra l ians t reated Lane ? Wil l they notimpat ient ly set about the i nstant refo rm of theState

,as the Gi rondists

,and the Montagnards

,and

the New Austral ians set about i t ; an d forthwith set

up a by no means nob le Ana rch ismI n the words o f

’

that amaz ingly candid Socia l ist ,Mr . Bernard Shaw ,

* “ I f ou r po l i t i ca l ru i n is tocome

,i t w i l l be effected by ardent refo rmers

,and

suppo rted by enthusiast i c patr iots as a ser ies ofnecessary steps i n ou r progress . ”

Whatever his l im itat ions,Wil l iam Lane was at

The Revolutionists ’ Handbook .

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CHAPTER XI I .

FREE AND NOBLE ANARCH ISM .

AFTER the departu re of Wi l l iam Lane from NewAust ral ia i t was fe lt that the way was c lea r fo r asane and pract ical ca rry ing out of the co -ope rat ivepri nc iple .

-X 916

Now what is the co -Ope rat ive p r i nc ip le ? Howdoes i t work so far as the appointment of offic ia ls ,for i nstanc e

,is conce rned ? Al l th is is expla ined by

Lau rence Gron lund in “ The Coo pe rat ive Commonwealth : An Exposit ion of Mode rnThe autho r asse rts that i n h is ideal” State “ persona lrespons ib i l i ty and instant d ism issa l fo r fa i l u re w i l lpermeate the whol e service from top to bottom .

This wi l l be secu red by prov iding firs t, that allappo i n tments be made from below ; nea t, that thedi recto rs stay i n office as long as they give satisfact ion and not a moment beyond ; and , las tly , that a l llaws and regulat ions of a general nature must fi rstbe rat ified by those immediate ly inte rested .

”

These p r i n c ip les we re cons ide red whol ly admir

ab le by the wo rke rs at “ New Austral ia .

” But whatabout d ism issals ?

“ Every di rect i ng offic ial shou l d be given the

Swan, Sonnenschein,Le Bas and Lowrey, London . 1886.

TRUE DEMOCRACY 1 23

r ight i nstantly to dismiss any one of h is subordinatesfo r cause assigned . When

,then

,a fo reman

was ineffic ien t,he wou ld be removed instant ly ,

without t rial,by h is supe r in tendent ; he again ,

might be removed by h is bu reau -ch ief—p erhaps fora bus e of power in removing the foreman -th isbureau -ch ief again

,by h is department- ch ief .

“ But the latter offic ia l,to whom shal l he be

respo nsib le ? Suppo se we make every depa rtment ch ief l iab le to removal by the whole body ofhis subo rdinates . That i s to say,

suppose that ,wheneve r the wo rke rs of a given department inclus ive of foremen

,super i n tendents

,and othe r officia l s

,

become dissat isfied with the i r ch ief,they al l meet i n

the i r diffe rent local it ies and vote on the dism issal ofthat ch ief

,and that he be conside red removed from

office the moment the col lect ive j udgment of thewhole department is known , i f that j udgment beadverse to h im . Then the bu reau - ch iefs immediatelyproceed to elect another ch ief of department whocan be removed in l ike manner

,i f he Shou ld not

su it the workers .

”

F rom the point of V i ew of the rank and fi l e therecou ld ha rdly be devised a bette r means of ensu r i ngthat al l officials shou ld be p r i nc ipa l ly concerned tokow-tow to the wo rke rs B ut what about thelatte r — would it be conversant wi th the dign ity oflabour for them to be hecto red by the ve ry forementhey had themselves e lected ? By no means !

“

Can the foreman a l so dismiss any of his wo rkersfor i nefficiency or other causes ?” the champions ofthe r ights of man proceeds . Fo r such cases a

t r ia l by h is comrades m ight be p rovided , the issue

1 24 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM

of wh ich m ight be removal to a lower grade or somesort of compu ls ion . Now is th is not Democracy ?”

Undoub tedly that is Democracy—o f a brand tomake the weary labou rer rej o i ce . How such ademocrat i c system works out i n practi ce w i l lpresently appear .

Now that the New Austral ians had l iberty toapply the i r Const itut ion , they lost no t ime i nexam in i ng it with ca re and with a v iew to makingi t t ru ly democrat i c . Natu ra l ly the fi rst step towardsth is was the a lterat ion of the regu lat ions wh ich gavethe least d isc ret iona ry powers to any in div idual .I n pub l i c meet i ng assembled

,the colon ists rev ised

some laws and added many others (see Appendix C) ,wh ich were in tu rn rev ised

,an d re revised each

t ime an amateu r law maker cou l d catch the publ icfancy with any add i t ion or emendat ion . Theun fo rtunate Secretary had to work overt ime i n orderto keep an accu rate record of the sovere ign peop l e

’sever- changing decis ions .

A glance at Appe ndix C Shows that M r . B latchford ’s dictum

,the fact is that u nder Soc ial ism

there wou ld be as few oflicials,and as many workers ,

as possib l e , is not borne out by the h isto ry of NewAustra l ia . To l im it the powers of the D i rector (or“ Admin ist rato r” as he came to be cal led) a Boardof Management was appo inted . This Board wascomposed of the Di recto r , and a Deputy D i rec tor ,ass isted by two managers from each of the fivevi l lage settl ements now estab l ished

,who were them

selves elected by the inhabitants of the respe ct ive

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1 26 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCH ISM

views ve ry forcib ly , and at any length they pleased ,with lofty disrega rd of the Chai rman

’

s rul i ng . I nplace of the despot ism of one man , the colon ists nowsuffe red under the i nfl i ct i on of an i n constan t pub l icop in ion , which displaced offic ial s , or made newregu lat ions , one day , on ly to reverse i ts dec is ions thenext . Under the new regime no subordinate fo reman was entrusted with the smal lest d iscret ionarypower . Al l app l i cat ion s for c lothes , too ls , l eave ofabsence

,etc . , came before the Board of Manage

men t,wh ich wasted its t ime in in term inab le argu

ments over petty detai ls , with the resu l t thatimpo rtan t matte rs were hopeless ly neglected .

Meanwh i le organ isation in Austral ia had almostceased , and no money was com ing in from outs ide ;i t was therefore vital ly necessary for a ll to co -operatei n reven ue-produc ing labou r .

Although eno rmous energy had been expendedi n the work of clear i ng the forest , to p lant wheat , thecrop was unsu itab l e fo r the coun try and had proveda fa i l u re . I t was therefore necessa ry to buy cornfrom the nat ives

,and the l i tt l e money remain i ng

was expended i n th is manner . I n addi t ion , a debtof two hundred pounds was contracted for thepurchase of other art i cles . Why the p ioneershad not a l ready engaged i n l umberi ng ope rat ions ,or dai ry- farming

,for profit (they had seventy m i lch

cows,and butter b rings a very h igh price i n Vi l la

R ica) , to say noth ing of catt le deal i ng , i t wou ld behard to expla i n . Apparent ly the di rectors imag

ined , as ou r Social ist l egis lators do , that they cou ldfor ever l ive on cap ital . I f any quest ioned theadvisab i l ity of th is o r that expenditu re , there were

A JUDICIAL DECIS ION

always the contribut ions of futu re members to lookforward to . By the end of 1 894 i t was confidentlyant i cipated that at least 2 0 0 0 mo re wou ld be b roughtto the co lony

,and it seemed sa fe enough to count i n

advance upon the i r financia l offerings to meet anypresent i ndebtedness— a l i ne of reason ing ident icalwith that of those mun icipal admin ist rato rs whoach ieve present popu la r i ty by cheerfu l ly p i l i ng updebts for po steri ty to pay .

With a V iew to rais ing mo re cap ita l (and to g ive amuch - needed fillip to recru it i ng) Gi lb e rt Casey wasdespatched to Austral ia with plena ry powe rs , to takeove r the books

,documents

,cash

,

“ Roya l Tar,”

and other securit ies,and to place the o rgan isat ion

upon a proper foot ing . On a rr iva l i n Sydney,how

eve r , Casey found the officia l s of the Associat ion notdispo sed to give h im much assistance

,s ince they

we re strongly on the s ide of Wi l l iam Lane . Caseyqu ite expected some thousands of pounds worth ofassets to be handed ove r

,but i n th is he was so re ly

disappointed . When he requested the Austra l ianSecreta ry to make the necessary t ransfe rs he wasin fo rmed that the Roya l Tar ” was heavi ly mo rtgaged

,and that no assets cou ld be handed ove r unti l

ce rta i n one rous conditions had been compl ied with .

The S i tuat ion was rendered st i l l mo re awkwa rd by a

j udgment,del ivered in the D ist r i ct ‘Cou rt

,i n favou r

of J. H . Smi les (a membe r of the New Austra l iaAssociat ion

,who had cont r ibuted all he possessed

although he had not yet embarked fo r SouthAmerica) who c la imed the retu rn of the balance ofhis contr ibut ion

,ove r and above the I O deposi t

money . As soon as th is dec is ion was made known

1 28 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCH ISM

an enormous numb er of S im i lar cla ims arose againstthe Associat ion

,and the offic ia ls were at the i r wits ’

end to know what to do . Casey ’s own posit ion waspart icu larly embarrassing si nce h is footsteps weredogged by un fortunates

,who had pa i d in the i r

a l l to the Associat ion,and were le ft st randed i n

Adela ide o r Sydney . Among the most press ingprob lems demanding his attent ion was the case ofseventeen most respe ctab le women

,wives of some

of the sett le rs who left with the fi rst conti ngen t inJu ly , 1 893 . I t had been arranged that the husbandsShou ld go fi rst to prepare a home

,and that the i r

w ives shou l d sai l by one of the late r boats . I nthe meant ime they were he rded together i n a fourroomed cottage

,pe nn i less

,but prov ided for by

orde rs from the Assoc iat ion ’s secretary on loca ltradespeople . As e ighteen months had elapsedal ready

,the husbands were natu ra l ly ind ignant with

the Assoc iat ion for not d ispatch ing the seven teenst randed women to Paraguay

,and Casey had

instruct ions to attend to the matte r without delay .

When he reached Austral ia he found,to his horror

and dismay,that the t radespeople had long s ince

refused to give them fu rther suppl ies,and that the

bai l iffs were ej ect ing them from the house fo r nonpayment of rent . A woman

,whose husband had

cont r ibuted £40 0 to the Assoc iat ion , had to dependon char ity for a crust to eat at Ch r i stmas 1 894 .

The pos it ion of the other stranded fol k,who had

al ready passed nearly two years i n tents await ing

perm iss ion to sai l , was serious enough , but thepl ight of the seven teen women , separated bythousands of mi les of ocean from the i r husbands ,

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1 30 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCH ISM

to do a g reat dea l towa rds ass ist i ng others,though

they are doing thei r leve l best ; because there is nohope of the Associat i on gett i ng anyth ing out of theTar or other p roperty ; because i t i s bette r toabandon the attempt than fool round with the law ;because i t is right to send these pe ople across ;because £50

* wi l l sen d them a ll to thei r husbandsand fathe rs ; because final ly a smal l sum f rom eachof ou r friends wi l l do what is needed

,and my trust

i n men and women is g reat enough to make me fee labsol ute ly certa i n that th is money wi l l be rece ivedbefo re the fi rst week i n Janua ry .

Casey ’s i ntent ions we re good,but i t wou ld real ly

have been k inder on his pa rt to advise the st randedmembers of the assoc iat ion to beg the i r b read rathe rthan p rocee d to New Aust ra l ia . Howeve r

,he st i l l

had fai th i n the great scheme,and began to en ro l

fresh recru i ts i n face of a strong oppo s it ion . Byth is t ime (January , 1 895 ) one or two of the secedershad contrived to get back to Austral ia , and did al l i nthe i r power to dissuade others from sai l i ng .

I t makes me sad to hear that they are so mis

gu ided as to go there,l i tt l e th inki ng what they wi l l

have to en counter ,” wrote M r . Pope in the Adelaide

Advertis er . The pi ctu re looks bright at a d istancebut they have not seen it as I have— seen strongmen b reak down under i t and weep l ike ch i ldrenbecause of the i r i nab i l i ty to help themselves i n theposi t ion i n which they were p laced . I f theywi l l not p rofi t by the expe r ien ce of others God hel pthem I do not m ind si ngle men going

,they

can batt le for themselves ; but to send women and

Probab ly a misprint for £500.—Author.

THE TABLES TURNED 1 3 1

ch i ldren is a c r ime . I f I can persuade on ly one ortwo of the women not to go I shal l feel that I havenot str iven i n vain .

”

But al l such warn ings p roved use less . Wil l iamLane ’s part isans had al ready explained away thesecess ions and such statements as those abovewere discounted i n advance . On January 1 8th

1 895 , th i rty-one sai led by the“Hauroto

( i n cluding n ine members of one fami ly who arest i l l at New Austral ia) . I n al l fi fty or s ixty mo recolon ists were d ispatched to New Aust ra l ia andabout £30 0 i n cash . As thei r passage moneycou ld not be raised

,some two hundred dest itute

fol k,who had paid i n thei r al l to the Associat ion ,

were le ft beh ind to accept char ity from the muchabused Capital ists and cu rse the day they had everheard of Social ism . I n the ol d days

,when they so

heart i ly endorsed the pol icy of conficating thepossess ions of the wel l -to -do

,they had never

expected to be hoist with thei r own peta rd

CHAPTER XI I I .

THE ASSOC IAT ION TAK ES TO BUS INESS .

WH ILE Casey was i n Austra l ia,hunt ing up fresh

funds and re-estab l ish i ng the recru i t ing base,the

ever-changing offic ia l s i n Paraguay were dev is i ngfresh schemes for fr i tter ing away each contribut ionas i t came to hand . On al l s ides they weresu rrounded by magn ificent fo rest

,fu l l o f cedar ,

mahogany,teak

,and other va luab le woods

,which

on ly requ i red to be chopped down,squa red

,and

drawn by bu l locks to Vi l la R ica or Cabal le ro inorder to produce an exce l len t revenue . Some ideaof the poss ib i l it ies of th is t rade may be gatheredfrom the fol lowing notes of the use to wh ich elevenof the S ixty indigenous woods of Pa raguay are put ,together w ith the p rices paid fo r them .

Cu rupa i : A hard red w,

ood very durab leand much used for s leepers

,pi les

,etc . I t com

mands a good market i n the Argent i ne,the p rice

i n Asuncion being about 2 5 . the vara of 1 0 by 1 0

i n ches .

(2 ) Cedar Though i n fer io r i n gra in and scent tothe Cuban variety

,la rge quant i t ies of th is wood

are expo rted to the Argenti ne Repub l i c and toGermany

,the trade w ith the latte r country having

sprung into ex istence at the t ime of the Span ishAmerican War . There is a considerab le demandfor Paraguayan cedar i n B remen

,whe re i t is used

for the manufactu re of c igar-boxes . I t i s,str ict ly

1 32

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1 34 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUS INESS

command a sal e i n Eu rope . Price,about 3 5 . the

vara .

(8) Quebracho colo rada , i s the most importan t ofPa raguayan woods

,cons iderab le quant it ies be ing

exported to Germany ch iefly to Hamburg,where

a large amount is a lways kept i n stock . I ts pri ncipal use is for tann ing , and the demand is i ncreas i ngevery year . Ge rman cap ital finds a remunerat iveinvestment in th is wood

,and a l i ne of steamers is

employed sole ly for th i s t rade . There is one extractfacto ry in th is count ry

,but probab ly several more

wi l l be estab l ished befo re long . The p r i ce ofquebracho colorado del ivered in Hambu rg is about665 . per ton . Acco rding to an analys is recent lymade queb racho logs p roduce an average of 2 5 percent . of tann ing substance and a maximum of 29pe r cent . Paraguayan queb racho conta ins moretan n i ng extract and is of a finer colou r than thatfound i n A rgent i ne .

(9) Urundi -mi is one of the best ha rd woods ofthe country and possesses many of the qua l i t ies ofthe Cu rupa i , be ing even more du rab le . Pr ice ,about 2 5 . the va ra of 1 0 by 1 0 i n ches .

( 1 0 ) Ta tane i s a beaut i fu l go lden - colou red woodresembl ing sat i n -wood and taki ng a very h ighpol ish . Boxes made of i t secu re the contents f rominsects of al l k i nds . Th is wood is o f a hard closegrain and wi l l last fo r yea rs i n the earth o r underwater . Local ly i t is used for making stems andstem s of sh ips . Price

,about 2 5 . 4d . per va ra of

1 0 b y 1 0 i n ches .

( 1 1 ) Palo Santo , Lignum -uitce : A heavy darkwood of which there is but a l im ited supply . I t i s

PLEASING AMUSEMENT 1 35

used in p lace of b ronzes for bearings i n enginesand screw shafts . Pul ley and b lock whee l s are a lsomade of i t . Pa lo Santo has the medicinal qual i t iesof the Lignum -o itce . P r i ce

,about £6 pe r ton i n

Asunc ion . Hithe rto i t has been ch iefly expo rted toFrance where it has been known to fetch, £ 1 0 pe r

I n the vast forests on the 60 0 squa re m i les wh ichcomp r i sed the New Austral ia concess ion most

,i f

not a l l,of the above were to be found in plenty

,as

we l l as dozens of other va r iet ies of wood whichenj oyed a loca l market . I ndeed lumbe r i ng was theindust ry on wh ich the prospe cto rs had re l ied

,i n

the i r report,for revenue

,and i t requ i red no cap ital

out lay to pursue i t ; noth ing but hard wo rk in fact—but th is was a fatal qual ificat ion in the colon ists ’

eyes . For the i r own benefi t any of them wouldchee rfu l ly have unde rtaken the wo rk (at present ,under i nd iv idua l ism

,i t is a staple i ndust ry) , but

none cou ld see why they shoul d sweat i n the forestwh i le others fol lowed less arduous occupat ions . Sothe t imber took care of itsel f fo r awh i le and theBoard of Management found pleas ing amusementi n expe r iment ing with the plant ing of ramie

,and

bought a cost ly but i neffic ient mach ine to p reparethe produce for the ma rket . Ten acres were plantedwith the fibre (used in the p roduction of im itat ions i l k) and immense ca re lavished upon it i n the hopeof rea l is i ng eno rmous profits . Needless to say th isexpectat ion was not real ised and the Whole th ingp roved a ghast ly fa i lu re .

I t m ight be a rgued that th is resu lt had noth ing to

Foreign Office Report , Annual Series , No. 2610, May 1901 .

1 36 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUS INESS

do with the natu re of Soc ial ism , but was due to thestup idi ty of the Board of Managemen t . Experienceel sewhere j ust ifies the concl us ion , however , thatsuch mad Schemes have a fatal fasc inat ion fora l l re formers .” To quote the frank words ofGeneral Rossel , who commanded the F renchSoc ial ist Army during the Commun ist r is ing of1 87 1 They study with good fai th the works ofthose ph i losoph ica l day-dreamers who promise thema Paradise on earth ; they are des i rous of sudden lyt ransform ing the organ isat ion of labou r andthree-fourths of the i r t ime they are the mere dup esof their innovating exp eriments . Incapab le ofmanaging the i r own affa i rs , they are st i l l morein capab l e o f managing pub l ic affa i rs .”

Bes ides the timber industry,there were many other

avocat ions in wh ich the colon i sts m ight haveengaged with profit. They poss essed 2 50 0 head ofcatt le

,in addit ion to 70 mi lch cows and 1 0 0 horses .

Dai ry-farm ing m ight have prov i ded a usefu lincome

,wh il e the fatten i ng up of catt l e for market

wou ld have yie l ded a sp len did revenue . At thepresen t t ime a dozen or more of the colon ists , wo rkin g for themse lves

,make an exce l lent l iv i ng at the

t rade , the Colony graz i ng lan d bei ng un r ival led forth i s pu rpose . By

“

extraordi nary pe rvers ity , however

,energy was conc entrated upon market garden

ing , though there was no poss ib l e market fo r theproduce .

The questi on whether proper care would be takenof common prope rty , under a Social ist regime , isone that Social i st writers answer confident ly“ On ly a l unat ic wou ld wanton ly dest roy a harvest ,

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1 38 ASSOCIAT ION TAKES TO BUS INESS

or bottl e washers,to len d a hand i n the harvest

fie ld ? Heaven forb id ! ”

Well,i f you take up that att i tude

,the farm ing

sect ion wi l l i nsist on the i r e ight-hour day and refuseto wo rk a m inute ove rt ime . Then the ra in w i l lcome and the harvest wi l l be ru ined . The wel fareof the commun ity is at stakeNatu ral ly enough th is appeal conveyed noth i ngto them . Had it been the i r own corn they wou ldhave wo rked al l n ight to b ri ng i t i n

,but as for

the commun i ty— that was another sto ry ! As deTocquevi l l e remarks

,

“ I n div idual i n te rest i s thei ndispensab l e i ncen t ive to labou r and economy .

”

Having no incent ive but the good of a ll, not a sou lwou ld l i fe a finger to help

,so the agricu l tu ra l ists

shrugged the i r shou lde rs and worked on ly the i rbare e ight hou rs

,with the resu l t that much of

Natu re ’s bounty was smashed down by ra in andabandoned to the p igs .

For a long t ime sentiment was the ru l i ng fac to ri n New Austra l ia

,busi ness be ing left i n the back

ground ; now both sent iment and bus iness are inthe back ground . For the moment the re seems tobe noth ing but mutual d istrust

,greed

,j ealousy and

unk i ndness,

” wrote Rogers i n h is Repo rt Thenwith t ru ly Social ist ic opt im ism

,he adds

,But I

do not th ink i t i s more than a pass i ng distempe r .Necess i ty wi l l fo rce . attent ion to bus iness and sent iment may then take i ts r ightI t was not long indeed befo re the Board ofManagement took to bus iness—with disast rousresu l ts . For some t ime the co lon ists had been

Report to the British Board of the NewAustral ia Association.

RUSHED CONTRACTS 1 39

l iv ing on Sho rt commons,but nevertheless the re was

a heavy debt and the suppl ies of cloth ing,sto res ,

etc .,were wel l -n igh exhausted . There was no

remunerat ive occupat ion in progress,and the stream

of subscript ions from England and Austra l ia,had

d r ied up . The leaders were faced with two alte rnat ives

, ( 1 ) e ithe r they must absolute ly set the i rpeople to some product ive labou r

,such as lumber

ing,o r (2 ) they must raise money from outside .

With tende r rega rd fo r the weary muscles ofLabour they chose the latte r alte rnat ive , and actual lygave away fo r a song thei r own people ’s ch iefmeans of l ivel ihood . Characterist ical ly

,the con

t racts were rushed th rough by the bus iness agentwithout the consent of the bu lk of the colon ists . Ahowl of dismay arose when the latte r lea rned towhat thei r t rusted leaders had committed them .

AS has been noted al ready,the co lon ists owned

at one t ime 2 50 0 head of cattl e . These were distributed on different graz ing grounds

,and the heads

of the farming depa rtment had the haz iest idea howmany remained . The re was an impress ion thatthe re Shou ld st i l l be about 2 0 0 0 without reckon ingnatu ral increase

,and i t was decided to d ispose of

hal f that number . The cont ract was rushedthrough before the people had t ime to consider it ,and as hu rr iedly carried out . The men of LornaRugua had at once pe t i t ioned aga inst i t

,but it was

too late . The contract was for 1 00 0 head at 1 3 5 .

pe r head,calves up to two vears be i ng th rown in ,

stated Rogers i n h is Repo rt . “ The catt le were

The Report states the price as 27 dollars . The value of thedollar was 6d. at that time. (I t is now less) .

140 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUS INESS

mustered,when , to the surpri se of everyone , not a

thousand head cou ld be found ! There were 9 2 8so ld

,and some 1 50 0 calves th rown in for noth i ng .

*

Evidently there had been a huge b lunder,and yet ,

owing to the disgra cefu l want o f system,no one

was respons ib le . The pri ce at wh ich they we re sol dwas

,I am told

,r i di cu lous , as short ly afterwards the

h ides alone fetched that figure . Had the catt le beensold in smal l lots

,i t i s reckoned that one-hal f of the

number so ld wou l d have real i sed more than thecontract .”

St i l l more remarkab le was the t imber contract ,dated February 6th , 1 895 . I t was hardly i n accordance with the original sp i r i t of the i r scheme for theBoard of Management to enter i n to a “ capital ist i c”

contract , giv in g a certai n outs ide r the excl us iver ight of cutt i n g t imber on the i r terr itory fo r a periodof th ree years for a l udic rous ly smal l considerat ion .

Not t i l l the contract was s igned di d they real i se thatthe colon ists were n o longer ent i t led to conductl umber i ng operat ion s themselves ! I t seemed as i fthe B oard were su i c idal ly determ ined to cut themselves off from al l poss ib l e sou rces of revenue .A fter carefu l thought , i n the l ight of prev iouscontracts and schemes ,

” says Rogers dark ly,

“ Iam of the op in i on that i n terests , other than those ofthe col ony

,were invo lved i n the matter .” I t m ight

be repl ied that,at any rate the contractor was under

no obl igat ion to cons ider the interests of theColony .

The Report says that calves were thrown in for nothing,but as this would far exceed the natural increase, it is probablya printer’

s error.

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CHAPTER X IV .

ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL .

THE i n j ust ice of equal Shari ng between in dustr iousan d idle , sk i l fu l and good- for -noth ing , did notobtrude i tse l f part ic u larly i n New Austral i a ’s p ros

perous days , when fourteen bu l locks were s lai neve ry week and money was abundant , but whenin creas ing poverty made i t necessary to rev ise thescal e of l iv i n g , and the lo rdly credit a l l owance wasreduced to a meagre p i ttance

,the glar ing fo l ly of

such a scheme made itse l f apparent . There was alean wi ry gian t named M for i nstance towhom hard labou r was the breath of l i fe . Axe onshou lder he wou ld take h imsel f off to the forest andb r i ng tree after t ree , with fibre hard as i ron ,toppl i ng to the ground . S ingle-handed he made ab igger cleari n g i n s ix weeks than hal f a dozen ofthe “ born t i red ” variety cou l d accompl ish in s ixmonths . H is earn ing capaci ty as a woodman , eveni n Paraguay , where wages are low , wou ld be severa lpounds a week . On the other hand

,take a loung

ing argumentat ive waste r l i ke X who wasnever much bette r than a sundowner i nAustral ia , and whose scamped labour wou ld bedea r ly paid for by h is bare keep . Would any saneman argue that both were equa l ly usefu l to thecommun ity ? At New Austral ia n o accoun t wastaken of phys ica l or mental capacity

,and conse

quen tly both types were se rved al ike . AS a resu l t1 42

ENDLESS COMPLICATIONS 1 43

ther was no incent ive to i ndust ry,and the profit

earn ing power of the commun ity was reducedaccordingly .

I t Shou ld be noted that members were at l ibertyto eat at the common tab le at a certa in agreedmess- rate (paid fo r by deduct ion from the creditvalue of the i r l abou r checks) o r to d raw food fromthe stores at a price fixed by a committee

,and make

the i r own cooking arrangements . Theo ret ical ly,

al l art icles grown on the establ ishment had to beso ld th rough the sto re

,so tha t i f a gardener ate

some of the p roduce over wh ich he tended,o r a

ch i ld picked a banana from the thousands whichgrew wi ld

,they we re robb ing the commun ity . I n

pract ice,the refo re

,though eve ryth ing belonged to

al l,i t was i l legal fo r an ind iv idual to eat so much

as a berry without fi rst calcu lat ing its value and

having it deb ited against h im on h is labou r check .

As money did not c i rcu late,the endless compl ica

t ions a ttending al l negot iat ions can be bette rimagined than descr ibed .

I n th is connect ion i t is in terest ing to recal l one ofthose amusing conundrums wh ich M r . B latchfordsets h imsel f i n Me rr i e England .

Under Soc ia l ism ,

” he asks,

who would getthe salmon and who wou ld get the red-he rring ?Perhaps under Social ism , he repl ies

,

“ thesa lmon might be eaten by those who catch it . Atpresent i t is not . ”

Subst itute ch icken for salmon and the answer heldgood at New Austral ia . Although the ch ickenbelonged to the commun ity as a whole they wereseldom seen in the common -cook -pots . The fleet of

144 ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL

foot , and the dexterous i n concealment , had th isadvantage over the i r mates

,that they cou l d catch

the ch icken—and many i l l i c i t meal s we re enjoyedby certain of the co lon ists wh ich were not deb itedagainst them i n the books .By a revised ag reement , dated May 2 1 5 t

,1 895 , i t

was decided that al l adu l t membe rs were ent i t led toa reduced credi t of 2 s . I -é—d . per week

,to spend as

they pleased,with a supplement of 1 5 . per week

wh ich must be spen t sole ly on necessary cloth ing .

Out of th is a l lowance there was smal l marg i n avai lab le for any en thus iast to spend on the pu rchase ofp r i celess art treasu res , but then , as Gron l und saysB ut real ly we do not suppose there wi l l be anyc it izen in the Co- operat ive Commonwealth

,when

some t ime has e lapsed,who has got to

squander on a b i t of canvas,and none shou ld

deplore i t .” What the New Austral ian cit izenswe re more inc l i ned to deplore was the fact that nonehad twenty sh i l l i ngs to rep lace a worn and tatte redsu it . As ch i ldren were the care of the commun ity ,they a l so rece ived an al lowance , adj usted , notaccording to s ize or appet ite , but accordi ng to age .Al l a l i ke under the age of fi fteen were al lowed 6d .

week ly fo r cloth ing,and a graduated amoun t for

food .

* As ch i ldren were maintained under theguardiansh ip of parents , i t fo l l owed that those of thelatter who were blessed with a qu iver fu l l ” drewve ry heavi ly on the commun ity ’s stores , al thoughthey perfo rmed no more labou r than the othe rs .

Under 18 2s . 0d. Under 5 Os . l Oat .

1 5 l s . 6d . 1 Os . 3d .

10 1 s . ogd .

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146 ALL FOR ONE ,AND ONE FOR ALL

obl igat ions and re fused to do any communal work ,though the regulat ion was that al l wash ing must bed iv ided up amongst the women .

“ There is not a person here who cou ld honestlyte l l you that he has not degenerated u nde r thesecondit ions ,

” wrote M r . A . Macdonald .

“ Communism certa i n ly renders peop le mo re selfish: Atthe general d in i ng tab l e each has h is private bott leof t reac le

,wh ich he stows away between meal s

under h is pi l lows or elsewhere as best he can ; wh il equ ite a numbe r carry thei r utens i l s to and fromthe tab le w i th them . Kn ives

,forks

,etc .

,have an

amaz ing facu l ty for disappeari ng in a commun isti csett l ement .”

Another co lon ist,i n a l ette r to the Pa ll Ma ll

Gazette,bore out th is statement

,and touched upon

a st i l l more ser ious matter . After descr ib ing thewholesa le wastefu l ness al ready quoted (Chapter V)he adds : “ There is no probab i l i ty of educat ionfo r hal f the ch i ldren

,and they have been sadly

neglected . Some of the l i tt l e ones may be seenl imping around with the i r fee t i n a terr ib le statefrom neglect . The atmosphere of gross mate r ia l i smi s most deplorabl e i n its effects . There is no doubtthat people p rofess ing some fa ith are the mostp leasant to l ive among .

”

D readfu l as th is p ictu re of the Godless Eden is ,the sett l ers had not yet l

p lumb ed the abysmal depthsof m ise ry wh i ch they were dest ined to experience .Although i t was est imated that i f every male adu ltcou l d earn £7 a year the colony wou ld th rive an d

pay its way, even th is humbl e ach ievement wasbeyond thei r powe rs . The knowledge that even the

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148 ALL FOR ONE,AND ONE FOR ALL

at i ng wo rk,The Coo pe rat ive Commonwealth , i t

appea rs that M r . B latch fo rd is wrong i n th ink ingthat “ unde r Soc ia l i sm he (the worker) wou ld geta l l his earn ings .”

A man is ent it l ed to the fu l l proceeds of h islabou r— agai nst any othe r i nd iv idual

, but not

against S ociety , says Gron lund . Soc iety is notbound to reward a man e ithe r i n proport ion to h isse rvices

,no r yet to h is wants

,but accord i n g to

expedien cy .

”

What becomes of the su rp l us wh ich Society unde rSocalism deems it i nexpedient to d ist ribute

,Gron

l und does not exp la i n . I t wou l d have puzz led Marxh imsel f

,at New Austral ia

,to t rack down the cause

wh ich kept the coffers both of Society,and of the

most i ndust r ious i nd iv idual s , empty , when , theoret i ca l ly

,they shou l d have been fu l l . Being we l l p rimed

with the bel ief that any ind iv idual ’s advers i tynecessar i ly impl ies unj ust profits on the part ofsome othe r i nd iv idual

,some of the profounder

ph i losophers at New Aust ral ia became we l l - n ighaddled i n the effort to discover what myste riousbe i ng was laying up a fat bank balance from the

su rpl us-value of the i r labou r . I t took them a longt ime to discern that

,under Soc ia l ism ,

the i n te restsof Soc iety and the i ndiv idual are oppo sed , and theyactual ly eat up one another ’s profi ts .

I n th is p red icament what were the NewAustral ians to do ? Of cou rse they lost no t ime inapp lying to the ever-pat ien t Paraguayan Government

,wh ich granted them a month ly subs idy of

THE COLOUR LINE 149

$80 0 (about £2 0 ) to keep them from starvat ion .

For the rest,they determined to make a great effort

to attract moneyed recru its from G reat B r itain,

alte ring the Cons t i tut ion so as to ext ract a min imumcontr ibut ion of £30 per head on ly , members payingthe ir own passage -money , and havi ng th ree months

’

grace before they need throw al l thei r possess ionsi n to the common fund . Fu rthe rmo re , they departedso far from the or iginal scheme as to offer grantsof land s to indiv iduals

,or groups of indiv iduals ,

not membe rs of the Associat ion , on terms to bearranged between such individuals and the Boardof Management or its du ly author i sed agents .

”

This offer induced a body of Engl ishmen , i ncludIng ! to a rrive at New Aus tral ia with theintent ion of founding a species of colony with in thecolony

,but on the strictest Commun is t i c l ines . Of

course the i r attempt fa i l ed , as al l such attempts mustfai l when those who part ic ipate spe nd more t ime i ndiscuss ing the i r theor ies than in hard work . I t wasnot long before they b roke up and most of them leftthe country . Being better educated than most ofthe original colon ists and pe rsuas ive-tonguedwitha l , ! who rema i ned

,speedi ly became a

dominat i ng influenc e upon the settlement .

Unti l th is t ime the pr i nc iple of excluding colouredpersons from New Austra l ia had been s tr i ctlyadhered to , but now ! began to urge h isfe l low cit izens to vote for the in clusion of nat ives i nthe benefits of the colony— a s tep which fol lowedlogical ly enough from the bel ief i n l iberty , equal i ty,and fratern ity which all professed .

I n spite of what they had al ready suffered through

1 50 ALL FOR ONE,AND ONE FOR ALL

listening to the e loquen ce of s i lvery - tongued orators,

the New Austral ian s were pe rsuaded to agree , andthe fiat went forth that nat ives shou l d be al l owed tosett l e on the Colony land .

I t is al l very wel l for theori sts to argue that thereis no difference between the colou red and the wh iteman , except for the hue of his sk in , b ut those whohave l ived among nat ives know wel l that th is is notso . The Guaran i Indian of Paraguay is an am iab le ,i ndolent pe rson , who is con tented to s l eep and

smoke under the shade of his galpone , whi le h iswomen fo lk work for h im . O f garments he requ i resfew : so long as he possesses a spi r i ted horse , agood set of saddlery , and a proper ly obedientwoman

,he asks no more of fate . I nc idental ly , as

he i s not fond of formal it ies or permanen t t i es , hedoes not usual ly t roub le to go through any legalfo rm of marr iage . The importat ion of nat ives i n tothe New Austral ia Col ony was the most fatal possib le m istake ; for the B rit ish boys and girl s qu icklyforegathered with the nat ives

,l earned to talk the

Guaran i language,and , i n the absen ce of any moral

teach ing from thei r own folk , grew to accept nat iveideals as the i r own .

A speedy resu l t of the b ri nging of th is newelement i nto colony l i fe was the fear wh i ch men nowentertai ned of leaving the i r houses unprotected .

The theorists,convi nced that never a b lack heart

beat beneath a dusky Sk in,at fi rst pooh-poohed the

suggest ion that there m ight be any danger ofrobbery or othe r acts of vio lence by the nat ives , butthey were qu ickly undece ived . O

’

Donnell, amarried man , i n charge of the store at Los Amigos ,

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CHAPTER XV .

THE FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY .

THE reader wi l l recol lect that the original p i lgrimsfrom Austral ia soon spl i t off i nto three groups .

(a) The eighty-five seceders , who left New

Austral ia for the Gonza l ez Colony i n December,

1 893 , and were eventual ly repatr iated , as related inChapter X .

(b ) The fifty-seven seceders who departed fromNew Austra l i a with Wil l iam Lane i n the spri ngof 1 894 ,

as stated in Chapter XI .

(c) Those who remained at New Austral iawhose lamentab le condit ion has j ust been dealtwith .

The unhappy story of group A has al ready beenconcl uded . The membe rs of group B were left (seepage I 1 7) encamped beside a s tream j ust clear of theNew Austral ia terr itory . Abandon ing group C tothe i r m iser i es for the t ime being

,the narrat ive wi l l

n ow retu rn to the pe rsonal adventu res of Wi l l iamLane and those who seceded with h im .

To the amazement of those who remained ,William

Lane ’s party marched out beh ind the i r leader , withsuperb confidence in h im and in the future , al thoughthe funds they had in hand amounted to less thanfi fteen sh i l l ings per head . Thei r h igh sp ir i ts andlofty hopes are c lea rly shown i n the fol lowing lette rwh ich one of the party sent to a friend in Adelaide .

“ As to us poor exi les who are go ing ,” wrote Mr.

1 52

EXCELLENT SP IR ITS 1 53

Hy . S . Taylor , you would never th i nk us deservi ng of p ity could you see us . We are the on lyhappy people i n the settlement ; and we are happy

(for we trus t one anothe r , and feel th is t ime that wehave reason for our trust) , and we love and trust ourleader ; and together and with h im we know we sha l lbe happy anywhere . Fi fty resol ute men and untoldwealth of experience ; what sha l l we not accompl ishthe rewith ? Fo r a short t ime we shal l have roughl ivi ng , of course , but what of that ? I n a fewmonths we sha l l be ready to wel come the weakestand the feeb lest . We are al l i n such excel lentspi r i ts at the prospect before us that many of theother party thoroughly bel ieve that Lane has

managed to stea l a few thousand pounds somewhere ; for to them ,

poor sou ls,i t is absolutely

inconce ivab le that men who are penn i less s hould behappyf

’

Du r i ng the ensu ing two months the party hadneed of al l thei r faith

,for Lane ’s appl icat ion fo r a

fu rther grant was not wel l rece ived i n Asuncion ,where the authori t ies began to grow a l itt le wearyof the Austral ian immigrants ’ dissensions . Final lya grant was offered i n the wi ld yerbales , where thematé

,or Paraguayan tea , grows . Hear i n g that the

S i te was on ly e ighteen mi les away the party set off

at once to i nspe ct i t , but the interven ing countrywas of such a descript ion that the hardiest p ioneertook ten days to traverse that short dis tance . Theinspe ction showed that the grant was utterly unsu itable , be ing in wi ld , rugged country , with a sandysoi l

,and p ract ical ly no commun icat ion with the

markets . Another disadvantage was that it was

1 54 FOUND ING OF COSME COLONY

Indian country . I n the nearer distan ce lay part ofthe mountains of Central Pa raguay , seamed ,scarred , and riven by great gorges , and inhab itedon ly by wi ld an imals— the jaguar , the puma , themb orab i, and the carp incho—to say noth ing of thesmal ler fry—o ce lots , t iger-cats , andDespe rate ly d isappointed ,Wil l iam Lane hastened

back to the capi tal to beg the min i ster to grant moresu i tab le land

,but by th is time the officia l

’

s pat ien cewas qu ite worn out, and he i n t imated clearly that theparty must take o r leave what he had al ready offered .

Almost i n despai r,Lane began to th i nk of migrat i ng

to the A rgent i ne , but a l ucky c i rcumstance prov idedan al ternat ive . One of h i s fo l lowers

,a man named

Stevenson , rece ived from Scotl and a legacy of £ 1 50

which he at on ce p laced at Lane ’s dispo sa l . I naddit ion i t appears that a cons iderab le sum ofmoney was forwarded from New South Wales byAustral ian sympath isers . With h i s resources thusre i n forced , Wil l iam Lane approached a pr ivate landowner and negot iated the purchase of five and a hal fleagues of good land

,on ly th i rteen mi les from a

rai lway stat ion , i n the fork of two r ivers—the P i rapoand the Teb icuari. Having rece ived a dep osi t of

£ 1 0 0 , the owner agreed to accept the balance of

£3 0 0 by instalments of £ 1 0 0 per annum . Fee l ingassured of his ab i l i ty to attract to h is new sett lementmost of those who had contemplated go ing to NewAustral ia , Lane had no doubt he would be ab le tora ise the necessary funds to complete the purchase ,and h is compan ions shared h is opt im ism .

I t wou ld be difficu l t to exaggerate the suffe ri ngsMrs . G ilmore, in the Sydney Daily Telegraph:

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1 56 FOUND ING OF COSME COLONY

For them Shal l w ind and water to i l ; for themembankments r ise

,

For them Shal l Engl ish grasses Spring whereCosme ’s cattle go .

*

Thus one of them wrote . I n al l that they saidand did the Cosme p ioneers were acute ly anxious todeserve the good Op in ion of futu r i ty . The impat ien tword , the weary complaint , were hushed , so thatfutu re Cosmans might say with truth that the hardsh ips wh ich the i r fo rbears endu red were nob lyborne

.While th is sp i r i t re igned , mere phys i cal

sufferings seemed of less than no a ccount . “ I tseemed l ike Heaven , a fter the mutual distrust andsusp icion of New Austral ia .

I t must have been a sou rce of sat isfaction to

Wil l iam Lane to know that h is own wife andch i ld ren had no such hardsh ips to endure . Afte rthe fi rst secession he had sent them back toAustra l ia by the “ Royal Tar ,

” givi ng Mrs . Laneinstruct ions to proceed with the organ isat ion of aparty of s ingle women . Thus she escaped them iser i es wh ich fel l to John Lane ’s wife and familys j

'

Fu rthermo re , her revelat ions concern ing the state ofaffa i rs at New Austra l ia h indered many from goingthe re , although they were hardly calcu lated to ass isti n recru it i ng for Cosme .Avoiding the erro rs of New Austral ia

,the

Cosmans set to work at once upon the essen t ia l task

“Cosme Monthly, August 1897 .

11 Mrs . William Lane rejoined her husband at Cosme as soon as

possible, of course .

M rs . John Lane and Family .

On the left is Cosma Lane— the hrst -born Cosme child.

TO FACE P . 1 56 .

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1 58 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY

The b ig estero then we ’ l l drai n and bid farewel lto bogs ,

Our houses we wi l l bu i ld of stone instead of grassand logs ,

Mosqu itoes then wi l l d isappear,the hornets too

wi l l fly ,But the bees wi l l b r i ng us honey i n the futu re byand bye .

Our horses , sheep and cattl e too wi l l then the

worl d surpri se,

And a ll ou r wants wi l l be suppl ied j ust as thosewan ts ar ise

,

So let us sti ck together boys ; though now we’ re

but three score,

The future soon wi l l see us grow to manythousands more .

B ut for the great hopes wh i ch buoyed them up , i tis probab le that many of the Cosmans would not

have su rvived the starvat ion and general m iser ies ofthat fi rst six months . Every week

,Lane ’s fol lowers

grew gaunter- faced and more hol low-eyed .

“ I nthe store suppl ies ran down day by day ti l l womenwashed without soap , cooked without fat , and

patched the outer garments with the in ner . F lou rwas almost non -ex isten t . Every art i cle of va l uethat anyone possessed soone r or later found i ts wayto Asuncion to be sold and the proceeds spe nt i nbuying kerosene

,beans , salt , o r ma i ze . When

th ings got very bad a tarpau l i n muster brought i neven wedding ri ngs . Maize at last pract ical ly gaveout . Light was avai lab le on ly in case of n ight

SHOULD WOMEN VOTE 1 1 59

nurs i ng,and i n a day or two there was no sal t ,

wrote M rs . Gi lmore in the SydneyDaily Te legraph .

“ Meant ime the long hours of labour went on .

Spring passed and summer came . For two weeksthe colony fed whol ly on unsalted beans . Then themaize came in , immediately after mandiocafol lowed , then sweet potatoes and beans .

”

Neve r was a ha rvest more eagerly awaited !Even when it came

,however

,the diet was a lmost

ent i rely vegetar ian , and such th ings as flou r,tea ,

butter , etc . , were , of course , unobtainab l e . Al l thefoo d was of the same “ starchy ” variety . Beingso starchy the amount of a ctual nourishment issma l l , whi le the variet ies of indigest ion they produce are severe and many . There i s pract ical ly nofat . A housewi fe i n my time thought herse l f l uckyi f she had a teaspoonfu l of fat i n a month with wh ichmerely to grease the pan . And any man who goth is food cooked with a taste of fat declared he feltstronger a ll day for i t .”

I n sp ite of al l such hardsh ips , New Year’s Day ,

1 895 , found the Cosmans st i l l a un ited fam i ly ,prin cipal ly perhaps , because al l were so busy inwarding off starvat ion that they had l itt le appet itefor meddl ing in pol i t ics . Meanwh i le Wi l l iam Laneprofited by h is experience at New Austral ia to drawup a different const itution for Cosme Colony .

And the firs t th ing he decided to ru le out was thesuffrage of ma rr ied women !We are often as ked by outsiders why women in

Cosme have no vo te ,” wrote an educated Cosme

woman to an Austral ian s ister who possessed thevote . Perhaps they th ink that we Shou ld have

160 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY

brought al l the po l i t i ca l and soc ia l evi ls o f the t imewith us . They seem to forget that the ‘vot ingwoman is on ly another form of the h igh ly diseasedstate of c i ty l i fe . The Cosme woman knows thather posi t ion and wel fare are too wel l assu red totroub le her head about vot ing . Her govern ing

powers are mo re i n requ is it ion i n her immediatesurroundings—her home . May the quest ionof women voters never ar ise in ou r colony , nor theneed for the women to cope with the grasp ingsordid condit i ons of the compet i t ive system of theouts ider .”

Another important differen ce between the const itution of Cosme and the original New Austra l ianagreemen t referred to the arrangements for withdrawal . Anti cipat i ng that any hardsh ips sufferedby expel led and seceding members wou ld form aneffect ive deterren t to futu re recru i t ing ,Wil l iam Laneprovided that a defin ite share of the commonprope rty cou ld be c laimed by any withdrawingmembe rs (see Regula t ion , on page The fo l lowing is the text of The Cosme Agreement , as i t stoodi n Apri l , 1 897 .

THE COSME AGREEMENT .

Villages : Cosme shal l be div i ded in to vi l lages ;each v i l lage having I ts own loca l author i ty , al lvi l lages being un ited under a centra l authority .

Each vi l lage shal l e lect th ree (3 ) committeemenyearly fo r a term of th ree (3 ) years ; each vi l lagecommittee elect one ( I ) vi l lage execut ive officeryearly for a term of th ree (3 ) years ; vi l lage execu

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1 62 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY

matters,the ass i st i ng of the central author i ty , and

any other fun ct ion s wh ich may by expressed consentor custom be ass igned to i t by the householde rs ofi ts vi l lage ; provided always that no funct ion of thecent ra l authori ty , expressly or cus tomari ly approvedby the commun ity at large , shal l be in terfered withby any vi l lage authori ty .

Al l lan d Shal l be hel d by the central autho ri ty foroccupat ion by Cosme vi l lages . Improvements insepa rab le from the land sha l l not be valuated forShar i ng purposes by any v i l lage , but i n p lacethereof each vi l lage shal l set from t ime to t ime , withthe consent of the centra l author ity

,compensat ion

to withdrawers based upon the worki ng value ofimprovements . The cont rol of natural grass ,natu ra l t imber , natu ral water , and

‘ mines of everykind , shal l always remain with the central autho r i ty .

Genera l Funds : The general fund shal l consistof a loan fund , an emergency fund , and an en largement fund .

Each vi l lage author i ty shal l pay i nto the generalfunds the value of one ( I ) day

’s work per week ofthe fu l l work ing strength of the v i l lage . Thecen tra l author i ty shal l p lace th is payment asfol lows : th ree fi fths to the loan fund

,one-fifth to

the emergen cy fund , one-fifth to the en largementfund . Al l other contr ibut ions , payments anddonat ions , not otherwise specified shal l be s im i lar lyplaced . Contr ibut ions by members new or old ,Shal l be retu rnab le upon the i r withdrawing frommembersh ip less a year ly deduct ion of one - tenth ofthe original amount

,such refund to be a first cha rge

upon the general funds . The general funds shal l

CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSH IP 163

not be otherwise l iab le to any claims by any withdrawing member .Membership : Membersh ip must be e ither bybi rthright or by admittance . No charge shal l bemade for membersh ip , but no member shal l haveany i nterests outs ide of Cosme . Al l contr ibut ionsto capital by incoming or other members to be

placed in the general funds .The ch i ldren of members shal l be registered as

inborn members and shal l be ent it led to mainten

ance and educat ion , whi le minors , and to al lmembersh ip rights when of due age

,provided thei r

pa rents cont inue in membersh ip . The Cosmemarr iage age shal l be after twenty-one fo r men and

afte r eighteen for women . Fi rst cousins Shal l berega rded as with in the forb idden degrees .Al l admittance shal l be through the centralauthority but any vi l lage authority may refuse entryto i ts v i l lage . There can be no Cosme membersh ipwithout vi l lage membersh ip

,and no res idence with

out membersh ip .

Dividend : No dividend shal l be made by anyvi l lage unti l maintenance

,education , san i tat ion ,

general fund payments , and other necessaryexpenses have been provided for . Any divi dendmade shal l be a l lotted to a ll adu lts equal ly , bycredit ing each householder with an amount proportio

‘nate to the number of adu lts i n h is fami ly . For

the equal isat ion of the sexes i n the vi l lage a l evy ofone-th i rd sha l l be struck upon al l d iv idends

,which

levy shal l be suspended whenever the necessityceases ; th is levy shal l be paid into the en largementfund .

164 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY

Withdrawing : Any householder withdrawingfrom Cosme shal l be enti t led to claim from h isv i l lage a one- tenth withdrawal share for every yearhe has been a householder , up to ten ( 1 0 ) years ; or ,i f i nborn , shal l be ent i t led to claim a one -fifth withdrawa l share for every year over the age of twenty

(2 0 ) up to five (5 ) years , provided that no inbornmember withdrawing Shal l take more than a onetenth share for each year he has been i n Cosme .

No withdrawing householder to c laim more than afu l l share . The withdrawal share to be as arrangedfrom t ime to t ime

,at general v i l lage meeti ng with

the consent of the central author ity .

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1 66 COSME R ITES AND CEREMONIES

during the o rdinary wo rk i ng hou rs . As the commun ity requ i red to devote the whole of the work ingday to mo re product ive labour , the rude and squal idmud huts , o r igina l ly put up , long cont i nued to serveas homes for al l save a favoured few . I n fact i t wass ix an d a hal f years after the first sett l ement atCosme before the commun ity so much as consideredthe quest ion of p roviding each fam i ly with a to lerab ly comfortab le home . (See Appendix E .)No pen p ictu re of Cosme cou ld give a clearer ideaof i ts l i fe than the fo l lowing extract from a letter ,w r i tten home to h is fr iends by an enthusiast i c Scotsrecru it

,when the settl ement had been j ust over th ree

years i n existence“ You can imagine a l i tt l e v i l lage with rude hutsfo r houses scattered here and there , with no pretenceto streets , the huts thatched with grass , with mudfloors

,and shutters fo r win dows

,with no showy

fu rn iture nor modern household conven ien ces . Youcan imagine a long bu i l ding somewhat l i ke a hayshed in the old cou nt ry , with slab S ides and boast i nga wooden floor— th i s i s the s i ngle men ’s din ingroom

,and where a ll ou r meet i ngs and socials are

held . You can imagine at dusk a gruff vo ice roari ng out Evening Notes , and you can see men ,women , and ch i ldren strol l i ng from thei r huts tohear Notes read at the din i ng room . Notes conta i n s the news of the day , the work going on ,i n terest i ng lette rs from fr iends and wel l-wishers ,cl ippi ngs from the latest papers , etc .

, etc .

Then after Notes,you can imagine l i tt l e groups

of men discuss i ng the news,or the work do in g or to

be done ; and others playing chess or draughts or

WHAT GOD 167

cards,un t i l i t is t ime to strol l home again to our

own firesides . At hal f-past five i n the morn ing weare distu rbed from a peacefu l S l umber by the deepsound of a horn , th is reminds us that we might aswel l be gett i ng up

,at s ix o ’clock another horn tel ls

us ou r breakfast i s ready , and at hal f-past s ixanother horn rem inds us that there is some work todo , and each one then goes to h is day

’s toi l . Athal f-past eleven the dinner horn goes , and the wo rkb o rn again at hal f-past twelve

,whence we work on

ti l l fou r o ’clock , when we fin ish for the day .

”

It_

wi l l be observed that the same people whoargued that i t was slavery under “ Capita l ism forthe factory hand to commence and fin ish work tothe sound of a hooter , submitted tamely enoughunder “ Social ism ” to r is ing

,breakfast ing , working

and even pleasure-making to the sound of a horn .

But then,as the writer of the above letter remarked ,

the theoret ical Soc ial ist has very l itt le idea what itmfi ns to go out in to the wi lderness to put h is pettheories in to pract ice . There are a thousand l itt ledeta i ls he has never thought of . He finds thathuman natu re doesn ’ t change with new condit ions .”

Wil l iam Lane had made that discovery too .

Whether consciously or not,and in spite of const i

tutional safeguards,he managed h is doci le flock in

almost precisely the same fash ion as the Jesu i tscontrol led the i r I ndian commun it ies i n Pa raguay .

Although the Deity , as Christ ians know Him ,had

no place in the Cosme scheme , Lane rea l i sed thenecess i ty of a theocrat i c dominat ion i f he would carryh is scheme th rough . But what god should he setup ; having dethroned Christ from H is p lace ?

168 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES

No fau l t of h i s is i t , i f , of th is strange andtea rfu l teacher , heathens have contrived a strangeand tea rfu l god ,

” Wil l iam Lane p reached to hisflock at Ch r i stmas

,1 898 ,

“ nor i f h is s imple sto ryhas been overla id by j uggled legends , and twistedinto pretent ious framework for b lasphemous orato ry .

I t i s c lear that Jesus , l i ke Tols to i to-day ,never

unders tood the heal thy phys ica l l i fe , and soexpounded an unbalanced ph i losophy .

”

Lane of cou rse did unders tand the heal thyphys i ca l l i fe and was the refore qual ified to expounda p rope r ly balanced creed ! F rom h is b r ie f experience at New Austra l ia Lane discove red thatunde r pu re mater ia l ism , with no lofty ideal for agu iding mot ive , h is people cou ld not fa i l to degenerate . Furthermore , he discerned the immenseass istan ce which statecraft de r ives from rel ig ion ,s in ce the latter en cou rages to good conduct fromother mot ives than me re fea r of the pol iceman . Hetherefore decided that Cosme mu s t have a re l i gionafter al l .Just as he had emulated the maj est i c figure ofMoses in leading the New Aus tra l ians forth fromAustral ia

, so Lane cop ied h im aga i n i n producing

(though with no bette r i nsp i rat ion than h is owningen ious brain ) a complete system of re l igion forhis flock to fol low . From the t ime he took thatreso l ut ion the Cosmans cou ld not boast that theyescaped the p reache r i n the i r ideal

” commun ity .

Lane was con tinuously at i t , preach ing the Lawof Commun ism under wh ich , l i ke the Is rae l itesu nder the Mosa ic Law

,Cosmans got sho rt shri ft

for heresy .

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1 70 COSME RITES AND CEREMONI ES

obey ing God ’s law . And he who does other iss i nn i ng

,i s w i l fu l ly and del iberately sett i ng h is own

petty des i res agai n st God . Commun ism , thebrotherl i ness i n soc iety of man

,i s to me a part of

God ’s law . Death comes to those who deny it .Misery and sorrow fi l l the wo r l d because we wi l lnot obey .

Al l th i s Law we do not know as yet,and much

must Man sufler ere he learns i t a ll and understandswhat i ndeed he i s . But parts of th is Law we knowand know clear ly . And Commun ism i s a

part of the known and certa in Law of th ings .

Never g reat teacher taught these ages back who didnot teach so . As I hold and bel ieve ; Godlaws i t .The obvious advantage of such a system oftheology i n a Commun ist i c State is

,that any cit izen

who dares to cr i t i cise Commun ism brands h imsel fat once as the enemy of “ God ” and man , and it isnoth in g less than the bounden duty of the authorit i es to ej ect h im . By elevat i ng h is pet theor ies froma more pol it i ca l creed to a revea l ed rel ig ion

,with

h imsel f as execut ive H igh Priest , to cri t ic ise whosedecis ions wou ld be l i tt l e less than b lasphemy in theeyes of h is most fa i th fu l adherents , Wil l iam Laneset up a powerfu l barr i e r to the disruption of h isnew commun ity by in te rnal factions . I n order tofac i l i tate the ej ectment of i n tractab le ci t i zens fromCosme , Lane i naugura ted a system of trialmembersh ip ,

” whereby no recru it had a vote unt i lhe had spent a year on the settlement and had

proved h is su itab i l i ty . Any prospect ive c i t i zenswho wished or were ordered to withdraw before the

SERIOUS AIMS 1 7 1

exp i rat ion of the p robat ionary per iod were a l lowedto leave with thei r possessions i ntact .To impress upon newcomers the ser ious nature

and a ims of Cosmeism a ceremony of in i t iat ionwas a l so i nst i tuted . P r ior to the publ i c readingand S ign ing of the membersh ip cert ificate

,and of

the Mutual Agreement , by colony offic ia l s , newmembers and witnesses , the chai rman read thefol lowing exhortat ion to the assembled cit izensFor the wel l -being and healthy growth of

Cosme i t i s needfu l that we be jo ined by people ofour own race who are one with us i n thought andpurpose .

On ly by increase of membersh ip can Cosmereal ise the object of its foundat ion

,make complete

and sel f-susta i ned its indus tr ial development , makebroad and deep its socia l l i fe , and p rove to the worldthat brother ly l iv ing is both poss ib le and pract icab le to earnest people .The taking and giving of the p ledge of fe l low

sh ip is no l ight matter . The endeavour to l ive upto the spi ri t of that fel lowsh ip , demands, from eachone of us , deep reso lve , constant thought , pers istenteffort and unfa i l i ng pat ience . The human fai l i ngsand weaknesses i nhe rent in a ll of us must everh inder pe rfect l iv ing . But knowing these weaknesses

,we can i f we wi l l

,so guard against them tha t

i n Spite of s tumb l ing we may keep‘moving forward .

Above al l th ings it is needfu l that we cherishin our hearts the sp i r i t of brotherhood which is thevery sou l of fe l lowsh ip , that i t may i nfluence us i nal l ou r doings

,keep ing us from selfishness and

Str i fe,and leading us ever in the path of peace and

1 72 COSME R ITES AND CEREMON IES

goodwi l l towards that fe l lowsh ip of heart and m indwhi ch passeth understanding .

”

The refe rence to socia l l i fe serves as a remindertha t th i s was the fea tu re above al l others on wh ichWil l iam Lane most st rongly i ns isted . Everyeven ing at the sound of a horn

,the peop l e as sem

bled to hear the reading of Cosme Evening No tes ,

each Satu rday n ight the same folk met for a“ Social ” and danced together under the benevolenteye of the i r master

,with at l east affected enj oyment ,

al though they had worked s ide by s i de al l the weekand had danced the same dances together somescores of t imes before . On Sunday n ights therewas a fu rther meet ing i n the S oc ia l Hal l ,

” wherean orat ion by Wi l l iam Lane

,or reading from

s tanda rd works on Socia l i sm took the place of anyorthodox fo rm of rel ig ious service . The fo l lowingextract from the Cosme M onthly , for J une , 1 897

(when the res iden t popu lat ion was 5 7 men , 2 2

women,and 35 ch i ldren) , conveys a clear idea of

the sett lement ’s social l i fe“ May 1 2 th

,Cosme ’s Foundation Day ,

’ was apub l i c hol i day . There was a communal din ner atm id-day , very successfu l sports i n the cr i cket ovali n the afternoon

,and theatr icals and dancing at

n ight The p iece staged was a farce ent i t led ,‘B larney .

’ On the 2 9th , was a specia l weddingsocia l on the oc cas ion of the second Cosmema rr iage . The ordinary Saturday soc ials werecarr i ed on as usual , as also were the Sunday n ightmeeti ngs . Among readings given at the latterwere : Hal l Ca i ne ’s ‘Chr ist ian (three chapters) ,Nunquam

’

s‘New Rel igion ,

’

C lodd on ‘Buddh ism ,

’

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1 74 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES

above al l th ings,that i ts men and women be honest .

Fo r a l though there may somet imes seem to bewel fare without honest l iv i ng , yet sooner or later ,i n one way or another

,evi l do ing utter ly destroys .

“ Marr iage therefo re , i s holy i f we take i t r ightly ,be ing the pub l i c declarat ion by man and woman ofthe i r go ing to l ive togethe r as man and wife , i na ccordan ce wi th the laws of God ; and of the i racknowl edgmen t on behal f of themse lves and ofthe ch i l dren who may be born to them , of the dutieswh ich they and the i rs owe to the people .

Wherefore,th is man and th is woman

,members

of Cosme,have come before us al l to make that

pub l i c declarat ion wh ich is r ight and fi tt i ng,and to

take again upon themselves those dut ies and ob l igat ions wh ich give to them and to those who may beborn to them

,r ightfu l cl a im to the standing Cosme

pledges to al l those who ab ide by its p ri n ciples , andto enter i nto that c iv i l contract of ma rr iage

,wh ich ,

without taking from the hol i ness of the marr iagestate , makes the i r marr iage according to the law ofPa raguay .

B ut fi rst , as has been the custom with ourpeople , i f there are any here who know of goodcause why the marr iage shou ld not take place

,I

cal l upon them to decla re i t now, or for ever after tohold thei r peace .

”

The b r i de and b r i deg room then stand up i n frontof the meet i ng and the representat ive of Cosme thensays to themI f any take upon themse lves the duties and

ob l igat ions of marriage,knowing that for any cause

wha tsoever they are unab le to do so honest ly and

A SOLEMN PLEDGE 1 75

t ru ly , the i r p ledge is a mocking to al l , a shammingof one who trusts them , and a break ing of the lawsof God . Wherefore , so that you may Shun in t imethe suffe r i ng that fa i l s not to fol low s in ,

I ask youeach , several ly , i f you know of any cause why youshou ld not ma rry ?

“ I t is mo reover a s i n fu l th ing for any man orwoman to enter i nto marriage save for love on ly ,s i nce we are not as b rute beasts

,but are men and

women wi th human feel i ngs,which we must keep

pu re and undefiled,l est we debase and deg rade ou r

selves . I n Cosme there can be no fea r of want,nor

greed of ga i n,nor any unnatu ral pressu re to excuse

the weakest fo r so s inn ing . Wherefo re , I ask youeach , seve ra l ly , i f i t is of your free wi l l and choicethat you come to pledge yourse lves i n marr iage ,knowing that the pledge is for l i fe and that withoutt rue l ove , marriage is s i n fu l , b r i nging a cu rse andnot a b lessing ?

“ I n the outer world many dare not marry , becauseof the want and fear wh ich have been born of menand women cari ng for themselves alone , and havingno thought fo r others . Therefore because Cosmeenables you to ma rry honest ly

,and without fear ,

I cal l upon you to p ledge cont inued loyal ty toCosme

,i n p rosperi ty or i n advers i ty , and that you

wi l l teach its principles i n your fami ly and wi l la lways mainta i n them ,

and that you wi l l work fo rand cherish you r fel low-members and thei r fami l ies ,as they work for and cherish you and yours .”

The man and the woman repeat after the repre

sentative“ We solemn ly pledge ourse lves to be loyal to

1 76 COSME R ITES AND CEREMONI ES

Cosme in prospe r i ty o r i n advers i ty , and tha t wewi l l teach its p r i n c ip les i n ou r fami ly and wi l la lways mainta i n them , and wi l l work for and

cher i sh our fel low-members and thei r fami l ies , as

they wo rk for and cher ish us and ou rs .”

The rep resentat ive then says to the meet ing“ You have witnessed the pl edges given byand to Cosme , and to you as part of i tspeople . I cal l upon you to j o in

,by s tanding

,i n

the pledge of Cosme , to be repeated to them inreturn .

“ To you and at th is you r marr iage ,I repeat in the name of Cosme the pledge al readygiven to you by you r membersh ip .

‘To you foryour l i fe

,i n you r s ickness as i n your heal th , i n our

prosperity as i n our adve rs ity , due place among ourpeople , eve r to try to do to you and you rs as wewould have you to do to us and ou rs . To yourch i ldren al l l ove and ca re and equa l maintenance ,dur ing your l i fe , or after you r death ; and uponthe i r com ing of age , fu l l and free membersh ip ,provided on ly that you keep t ruly the p ledge youhave given

,and that you r ch i ldren are l i kewise

loya l . ’

The rep resentat ive then asks of the bride andbridegroom respect ive lyWi l l you take th is man (o r woman) to be you r

husband (or wife) i n a ll honesty and t ruth , pledgingyoursel f before God , whom none can dece ive , to bet rue wi fe (or husband) to h im (o r her) as long asyou both l ive ?”

The bridegroom then repeats after the representative :

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CHAPTER XVI I .

RECRUITING FOR COSME .

IN bu i l di ng the foundat ions of h is ideal StateWi l l iam Lane was faced with a number of press ingp roblems , of wh i ch perhaps the ch ie f was the needfor secu ri ng against l oss of the land on wh ich it wasestab l ished . During the fi rst two years the necoss ity for scrap ing togethe r the an nual i nstalmentswas a crue l anxiety

,and cast a shadow over the

l ives of the responsib le offic ial s . B ut , after giv ingthe Cosmans two years i n wh ich to prove the i rmettl e , the author it ies in Asuncion came to therescue i n the i r usual generous fash ion . On June2 5 1h , 1 896, the Gove rnment paid the balance of thepu rchase money st i l l owing to the vendo r ,re imbursed to the Cosmans the money they hadal ready paid and made them a free gi ft ofthe terr i to ry and of another league bes ides . Theon ly condi t ion attached to the grant was thatseven ty- two fam i l ies must be sett led upon the landwith in two years .This repayment of a comparat ively large sum ofmoney was a welcome boon

,at a t ime when the

Co smans were reduced to so re extrem it ies for wantof va r ious art i cles they we re themselves unable toproduce . It shou ld be explained that s tores of al lk inds were dist r ib uted to the sett lers through asystem of credits . Each i nd iv idual was fu rn ishedwith a card

, on one S i de of wh ich (a) or i ns ide1 78

CREDIT SYSTEM 1 79

credits were recorded and on the other s ide (b) or“ outs ide ” credits . I nside credits referred tofood

,and a rt icles of al l k inds produced upon the

settlement ,“ outs ide to imported art icles , such as

cloth ing , soda , sal t , soap , maté (Paraguayan tea) ,etc . Suppl ies of al l k inds

,equ itab ly priced

,were

issued by the store,equal credits be ing a l lowed to

al l adul ts , whi le ch i l dren enj oyed a quarter creditfor each five years of age . According to theo r iginal scheme “ i ns ide credit ba lances wereext ingu ished every month , wh il e outs ide ” werecumulat ive ; but the consequence of the latterregulat ion was that , i n course of t ime , some frugalmembers were owed considerab ly greater suppl iesof “ outside ” sto res than the commun ity cou ld paythem . I n fact , had i t not been for the voluntarycancel lat ion of the i r credits by some members thestore wou ld have become bankrupt . The immediateresu l t of the Government ’s generos ity was tores tore Cosme ’s purchasing power , so that the compl i cated (a ) and (b ) system was replaced by an

ama lgamated credit , which gave much greate r sat isfact ion (unti l , two yea rs later , want of funds compol led a return to the old “ i ns ide ” and

“ outsidedist i n ct ion ) .Two other difliculties con fronting Wil l iam Laneproved less easy of sol ut ion ; these .

were ( I ) theimmediate necess ity of introducing a great manymore immigrants , i n order to comply with theGove rnment ’s condit ion that seventy- two fami l iesShou ld be sett led with in two years

,and (2 ) the fact

that the re was a se r ious disp roport ion between thenumber of adu lt men and women at Cosme . As the

1 80 RECRU ITING FOR COSME

former outnumbered the latter by nearly three toone there was no immediate prospect of matrimonyfor two-th i rds of the bachel ors

,and Wi l l iam Lane

very much feared that the temptat ion to take wivesfrom among the gracefu l , doci le , and i ndustr iousnat ive women wou ld prove i rres ist ib l e .

The obvious way to meet both difficu l t ies was tosta rt fo rthwith upon a vigorous campaign of recru i ti ng

,restri cted , so far as poss ib le , to fam i l ies (a

marr i ed couple form a fami ly with i n the mean i ng ofthe Paraguayan law) and s ingle women . S in cethere we re al ready fi fty men and twenty women at

Cosme,i t wou ld on ly be necessary to recru it th i rty

S i ngle women and twenty- two marr ied couples toredress the balan ce

,hol d the young men to the

place by fami ly t ies , an d comply with the Government condit ions for the final

,uncondit ional

,sur

render o f the t i t les to Cosme land .

*

Wil l iam Lane had not the s l ightest doubt thatscores of recru its cou ld be found i n England , on lytoo eager to Shake off the shackles of Cap ital ism andbid for a share i n Cosme b l iss . He was anx ious ,however , that no new members shou ld j o in whowere not tho roughly imbued with the prOper Cosmes ent iment

,and prepared to submit w ith doc i l i ty to

the ex is t i ng regu lat ions . He , the refore , determ inedto make a personal v is i t to the Un ited K i ngdom ,

accompan ied by h is l ieutenant, Tozer , for the pu rpose o i s i ft i ng the wheat from the chaff , andfo rwarding on ly such candidates fo r membersh ip

* The possib ility of future extension was provided for by the

Government ’s promise to add a further league of land for each12 families, beyond 72, that settled at Cosme.

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1 82 RECRUITING FOR COSME

pract i ca l support of any st rong body of advancedSoc ia l ists for a very defin ite reason—his obst i natei ns istence on the ol d- fash ioned sanct i ty of themarriage vow . Though on ly too logical i n accepti ng al l the other consequences of Soc ial ism

,h is

“ i rrat ional ” Opposi t ion to the communal ism ofwives kept a wide gu l f fixed between h im and nianyothe r extreme Soc ia l ists

,who but fo r that reserva'

t ion wou ld cheerfu l ly have fol l owed h im . On theother hand drawing- room Social ists

,wh il e applaud

ing his retent ion of the i nstitut ion of marr iage ,reco i l ed from h is logical appl ication of the extremerv iew in other di rect ions .H is dis i l l us ionment found express ion in the repo rthe sent back to the Cosme Central Board

“ Litt l e he lp is to be expected from any schoo lof advanced thought,

” he wrote . “ This,because

those schools wh ich agree theoret ical ly with o ur

i n dustr ia l methods are more or less Oppo sed to ou rother eth i ca l p rinc ip les , wh i l e the old - fash ionedpeop l e , who agree general ly with ou r other eth ica lpri nc ipl es do not endorse those p ri n c ip les wh ichaim at fundamenta l ly refo rming indust rial ism . Atthe same t ime much sympathy and fe l low- fee l i ngfor us exist among i ndiv iduals attached to most ofthe recogn ised schools

,and many others

,wh i le not

going al l the way with Cosme recogn ise that i thas a dist i nct value as an earnest effort to so lve thegreat social p rob l em . I n add it ion to meeti ng w ithfe l l ow- feel i ng from many who al ready professradica l thought

,Cosme wi l l find fe l low-feel i ng

among many who are i n real i ty radical,b ut who

have been excluded by thei r conservati sm on some

THE NEW ARRIVALS 1 83

eth ica l prin ciples,from al ly ing themselves with

advanced thought as genera l ly p resented .

”

This doe s not mean of cou rse,that his recru it ing

effo rt met with no resu l t . I n Spite of h is carefu lweeding out of al l unsu itable appl icat ions

,he was

ab le to dispatch a number of p rospect ive settl ers ,who sat isfied h im that they would make goodCosmans

,but as the tal ly was st i l l i ncomplete he

decided to remain another yea r i n England,and

dispatch addit iona l smal l part ies from t ime to t ime ,

The most interest ing featu re of the Engl ish andScott ish organ isat ion was the recept ion whichLane ’s own recru its rece ived at the hands of thosetemporar i ly i n charge at Cosme . I f he supposedthat

,because he had selected them

,the new arr ivals

would find favou r i n the eyes of his original flock ,he was grievously mistaken .

I n Spite of the un iversal equal ity they professed ,the pioneer “ foundat ion members not unnatu ral lyregarded themselves as a sort of professed orderof Cosmeiasm

,towards whom me re novices should

Show due humi l i ty . I f there were any cho ice asregards the qua l i ty of housing accommodat ion thenewcomers did not get the best

,being told that ,

I f they did have to rough i t a l itt l e they might we l lbe thankfu l that others did the pioneer i ng .

Fu rthermore,s ince the pioneers had ~hitherto done

al l the “hard graft ,

” i t was qu ite reasonab le that theunp leasanter tasks shou ld be tackled in futu re bythe raw recru its ; but , however j ust such a rrangements might be

,i t was on ly natu ral that the new

arr ival s shou ld feel dissat isfied . On the other hand,

i f the management committee displaced an old

1 84 RECRU ITING FOR COSME

member from some task he l iked, i n favou r of a moresk i l fu l B r i t ish recru i t

,i t was the fo rmer ’s tu rn to

fee l aggr ieved .

I t was between the ladies,however

,that the most

ser ious fri ct ion a rose . I t was at least four yearss i nce most of the Cosme women had entered a shop .

Du r i ng that pe r iod they had battled nobly for the“ Cause , many of them work ing dai ly i n the forest ,where thorns tore the i r c lothes i n shreds ; andgrind ing pove rty had made it imposs ib le for the i rtattered rags to be rep laced . Any decen t ga rmentswh ich st i l l remained were reserved for such spec ia loccas ions as the Satu rday even ing soc ials ; i n theo rdina ry way

,even such e lementary necessi t ies as

stock ings were not wo rn,and many elected to go

barefoot i n preference to weari ng the boots of hometanned leather wh ich the commun ity suppl ied . Atany t ime it requ i red a cons iderab le fund of ph i losophy to endu re such depr ivat ions w ith any Showof cheerfu l ness

,but when newcomers from England

appe ared upo n the scene,fash ionab ly att i red from

head to toe,and with enough good cl othes in reserve

to last a year or two,there came a cris is .

The love wh ich the Cosme lad ies had been prepared to extend to the i r newly arr ived s isters tu rnedto gal l and wormwood

,and b itte r rep roaches were

heaped upon the latter ’s i nnocent heads .Nobody with any sense of j ust ice

,much less of

Commun ism , would d ream of outfitting to any extentfo r such a place as Cosme ,

”it was stated i n a later

issue of the colony ’s month ly paper . Howeve rl itt l e newcomers may have they are sure to havemo re cloth ing

,bedding

,and tab leware than are left

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GOOD CLOTHES A CRIME 1 85

to the founde rs of Cosme a fte r five yea rs ’ pioneeri ng . We have savings in the shape of improvements

,mach inery

,and catt le on ly because fo r years

we have been pinch ing ourselves i n food,cloth ing ,

and creatu re comforts . Fo r people to expect tosha re ou r savings

,after spending the i r own on

specia l personal outfitt in g,is qu ite w rong . We do

not wish for that class of people .

”

But the b itterness wh ich found exp ress ion in coldprin twas as noth ing to the acute div is ion that showeditsel f between the sprucer and more tattered individua ls . As was on ly natu ral the feel i ng found ventin a variety of ways

,which cou ld not fai l to make

the newcomers m iserab le,and some of them wished

they had never left a country whe re to be wel ldressed is not accounted a crime . I n th is connect ion i t i s i nterest ing to note the k ind of tasks wh ichwe re al lotted to the newly recru ited Cosman ladies .Some l ight is th rown on the subject by the fol lowingoffic ia l announcementThe s ingle men ’s wash ing and mending

,up t i l l

now done by the ma rr ied women,has been mostly

taken over by the new Laundry and SewingDepartment o rgan ised ea r ly in Oc tober when thes i ngle women arrived . This depa rtment cons istsat p resent of two membe rs .

”

I t is po ss ib le that the ladies in quest ion may havecons idered it a pecu l iar priv i l ege to be told off toundertake th is wo rk , but the reflect ion suggests itsel fthat 80 0 0 miles i s a long jou rney to take in orde r tobecome unpa id slaves of the wash - tubS ince so much unpleasantness ex isted

,i t was not

Cosme Monthly,”November 1897.

1 86 RECRUITING FOR COSME

surpris i ng that secess ions of men and women fromCosme commenced with in a week of the fi rstEngl ish recru it ’s arr iva l . The fo l low ing record ,condensed from “

Cosme , speaks for i tsel f

MARCH , 1 897 . Arriva l : Alf . B ray,the fi rst mem

ber from England,arr ived on the 24th .

D eparture : A . Mc .C who was accepted asa member in Janua ry

,res igned membersh ip on

March 1 8th,the reason ass igned be ing that the

c l imate of Paraguay did not ag ree with h is heal th .

Pres ent P opu lation : F iffy- th ree men ( i ncl udingtwo absen t on l eave

,and two in England on Cosme

busi ness) , twenty women , th i rty-one ch i l dren .

Total 1 0 4 .

APR IL,1 897 . Arriva ls : The fi rst of the month ly

pa rt i es from England a rr ived on the l 6th . Theparty cons ited of Arthu r Lewis

,a mason from

Stockport ; Mrs . Lewis and one ch i ld ; George P ridmore

,a carpenter from

‘

Leicestersh i re ; JamesR icke tts a ca rpenter from London .

Pres ent Population : Total 1 0 9 .

MA!,1 897 . Arriva ls : On the 2 5th , the second

party from England arr ived . They cons isted ofCyri l Al len

,gardene r from Nott ingham ; Harry

B uckley,ex -sold ier from Macclesfie ld ; S idney

Cash,dea l -wo rker from B i rmingham ; John M .

Parish , wood -ca rve r from B radford ; Robe rt Rayner ,wa rehouseman from Hudde rsfield ; Nicholas Val lance

,postman from Yo rk .

On the 2 2md,Thomas and M rs . Burgum

,and

th ree ch i ldren arr ived from Queens land .

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1 88 RECRUITING FOR COSME

DECEMBER,

1 897 . Withdrawa ls : On December2 1 5 t

, E . T and his nephew N . V leftCosme . (E . T was a p ioneer member . Hegave as h is reason for go ing that he found that hewas not a Commun ist . H is nephew

,who on ly

arr ived from England in May,l eft to keep h im

company .)P resent Population : Tota l 1 2 9 .

JANUAR !,

1 898 . Arriva ls : On January 3 1 5 t,

Wil l iam and Mrs . Bennett arr ived f rom Austral ia .

Withdrawa ls : On Janua ry 8th,S . C and

G . G, _

and on the 2 oth,A . W . L with

wife and ch i ld,l eft Cosme . Al l we re Engl ish

recru its and found Cosme l i fe unsu ited to them

Present P opulation : Total 1 2 7 .

FEBRUAR !,

1 898 . Withdrawa ls : On February1 0 th

,A . B a young Engl ish member

,l eft on

account of h is unsu itab leness for Cosme l i fe . Onthe 1 2 th

,C . B a j un io r

,p repa ra tory to his

pa rents withdrawing .

The M iss T ’

5,who arrived from Englan d

on Feb ruary 5th ,left fo r B uenos Ai res on the l oth ,

they not be i ng sat isfied enough w ith the place toapply fo r membe rsh ip .

P res ent Population : Total 1 2 5 .

APR IL,

1 898 . Arriva ls : On Ap r i l 8th,Robe rt

Ogi lvie,wife and two ch i ldren ; Geo rge Hol land ,

Ann ie Ashton,from England .

P res ent P opu lation : 53 men ( i n cl uding fiveabsent on leave) , 2 7 women , 46 ch i ldren . Total 1 26 .

A B IG SECESSION 1 89

MA!,1 898 . D epartures : At beginn ing of month

,

B and wife,R . O wife and two

chi ldren,recently arrived from Scot land . Towa rds

end of month,

*H . B wife and one ch i ld ;

J . P wife and th ree ch i ldren ;*

J. A . S

wife and two ch i ld ren ;*F . B G . B

*C . B,G . C ,

G . H,L

,P

*P . P *H . S *

J. W Thosemarked were with the pionee rs . Early in themonth J . T . W left on leave o f absence ,Pres ent Population : 39 men ( i ncluding s ix absenton leave) , 2 2 women

, 38 ch i ldren . Total 99 .

A glance at the above stat ist ics revea ls that therewere actual ly a dozen fewer adu lts at Cosme at theend of May

,1 898 , when the great recru it i ng cam

paign was ove r , than in Ma rch , 1 897 , when the fi rstEngl ish member arr ived . Mo reove r in June twoabsent membe rs res igned

,whi le

,on Ju ly I st

,1 898 ,

e ight more left,i n cluding Lane ’s eve r- fa ith fu l l ieu

tenant , Arthu r Tozer , with his wife . At thebeginn ing of Ju ly

,1 898 , the re we re on ly 30 men ,

2 0 women,and 36 ch i ldren left at Cosme . I t i s t rue

that s ix mo re men we re “ absent on leave but thatusua l ly proved a euphem ism for withdrawal .

The cause of the ea r l ie r departu res has beeni nd icated a l ready . The b ig secess io n in May

,how

eve r,was di rect ly due to the fac t that Wi l l iam Lane

had j ust retu rned from England and reassumed there i ns of powe r . He was we lcomed back by 1 2 1

pe rsons,but with i n a few weeks there were on ly 50

adu lts and 36 ch i ldren left upon the place . Yet th isby no means caused the leade r to be cast down

,for

,

1 90 RECRUITING FOR COSME

horror of ho rro rs ! he discovered that du r i ng h ise ighteen months absence the rank weed of heresyhad grown up in the fai r garden of Cosme . A cons iderab le body of feel ing had arisen in favou r ofa lte r i ng some of his be st loved regu lations . I t was

the story of New Austral ia over aga i n ; and Lane nomore hesi tated now as h is p roper course of act ionthan he had fal te red then . Whatever the cost

,any

pe rson who held less than the t rue mi l k of the Gospe lo f “

Cosmeism” must be th rust out from among the

congregat ion .

I n anti c ipat ion,perhaps

,of poss ib le troub le w ith

the newcomers,the l ast Cosme Genera l Meet i ng

(May , 1 897) had been i nduced to gran t except ionalpowers to the i r e lected committee of n ine pe rsons .I t d id not then occu r to the vote rs that the i n nocen tsounding reso lut ion that a two - th i rds majo rity ofthe committee

,with the consent of the vi l lage chai r

man,shal l be necessary for the expu ls ion of a

member ” wou ld,when that committee ’s mandate

was with in fou r days of exhaust ion,be used against

themselves l

The Annual Cosme meet i ng for the e lect ion ofcommitteemen

,etc .

,was due to be he ld on May

1 3th ,1 898 . On May oth , Wil l iam Lane and his

n i ne ex isti ng committeemen met “ to take act ionfo r the main tenance of Cosme princ ip les .

” By the i ru nan imous dec is ion two members were expel l edfrom membe rsh ip fo r antagon ism to

,and vio lat ion

of,the Commun ist p r i n cip les of Cosme .

” Thisact ion was p romptly cha l l enged by a considerabl ep ropo rt ion of the eighty adu l ts on the sett lement ,b ut a las ! from one d isab i l i ty and anothe r

,there

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CHAPTER XVI I I .

EXIT WILLIAM LANE .

THE fa i l u re of the B ri tish organ isat ion,and the

dismissa l s and secess ions wh ich fol lowed i t wereresponsib l e fo r much b itterness of sp i ri t at Cosme .

Moreover the Paraguayan authorit ies ’ patience wasstretched to the b reak ing po i n t

,when they saw

depart from the colony a cons iderab le propo rt ion ofthe people whose passages from Monte V ideo theyhad paid on ly a few weeks before . Yet Lane continued to p rofess absolute fa ith i n h is own scheme .

“ We dream ou r d ream st i l l ,” he wrote

,even

though among us some have grown t i red of dreaming and would wake agai n to that so - ca l led real i ty ,i n wh ich every man is aga inst h is b rother andnoth ing is thought of much worth

,sav ing th ings

material . Yet we have chosen not to be wakenedbut to go on dream ing st i l l that Commun ism is a

possib le th i ng. to t ry afte r,though doub t less a very

imposs ib l e th i ng to fu l ly atta i n to at once .”

As t ime went on Commun ism was found increasingly difficu lt to fu l ly attai n to .

” The resentmentaroused in the breasts of some of the old- t imers bythe arr ival o f newcomers

,with amp l e r suppl ies of

good cloth ing,has been recorded . Such feel ing was

to some extent appeased by the vol untary shar i ngout of femin i ne frippe r ies , but the quest ion of thecloth ing a l lowance was bound to recu r from t ime tot ime and cause hea rt-bu rn ings . At last disputesbecame so frequent that the regular c l oth ing cred itwas abol ished

,and the pri nc iple “ to each according

1 92

THE CLOTHING QUESTION 1 93

to h is estab l ished in its stead . I t wasarranged that any woman who requ i red addit iona lga rments made fo rma l appl icat ion at the sto re

,but

soon the demand became so excess ive that i t wasevident some sort of censo rsh ip would have to beexerc ised . The unhappy storekeeper found h imsel f compel led to solve at short noti ce such p roblemsas Did Mrs . rea l ly need a new dress yet ,or would it not last a l itt l e longer with j udic iouspatch ing ?” Was i t fa i r to more carefu l mothers ,who did not neglect the st itch i n t ime ,

” that Mrs .shou ld cont inual ly be gett ing grants of new

clothes to rep lace those worn out before thei r t imeby her careless ch i l dren ? Such po ints as theseon ly seem t r iv ia l to those who forget that equa l ly“ tr iv ial ” disputes have repe atedly wrecked Governments .When it became evident that the i nc reas ingdemands upo n the sto re wou ld shortly make itbank rupt a system of b udgetting i n advance wasinst i tuted . Unde r th is scheme each fami ly wasrequ i red to apprise the storekeeper what amount ofc loth ing represented the min imum it cou ld manage with du r i ng the next s ix months— a defin itenumber of yards of mater ia l per man , woman , and

ch i ld (the latte r acco rding . to age) being la id downas the maximum . But even th is system did notwork smooth ly

,for the stuff wh ich wou ld make four

su i ts per puny ch i ld cou ld barely be stretched tomake th ree for a more substant ial ly bu ilt youngsterof the same age . Again

,some chi ldren were

* By this plan well -clad newcomers were excluded fromparticipation.

1 94 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

ha rder upon the i r c loth ing than others,and the

author i t i es had to decide between issu ing a supplementa ry a l lowance o r l ett i ng them go naked . I nthe end

,the supplementa ry cloth ing al lowance

caused so much dissens ion that a retu rn to the o ldplan of fixed month ly cred its was found necessary ,

This c loth ing quest ion was on ly one of a dozencauses of b icker ing which sprang up , when i t becameevident that hardsh ip was not merely an i n it ia ldifficu l ty

,but seemed l ike ly to remain a pe rmanent

featu re of Cosme l i fe . Newcome rs i n part i cu larwere affected by the poverty of the food supply .

Du r i ng the yea r 1 899 , when the re were about 1 0 0sou ls at Cosme

,the total edib le stores consumed ,

exc l us ive of fru it and garden vegetab les,were as

fo l lows : corn meal,1 3 tons ; mandioca , 33 tons ;

sweet potatoes,2 5 tons ; pumpkins , 3 tons ; beans ,

1g tons ; t reac le , 5% tons ; sugar , 1 2 cwt. ; coffee ,1 % cwt . ; tobacco , 4§ cwt . ; beef , 8% cwt bacon andham

,1 4 cwt. ; po rk , 8 cwt . ; la rd , 2 cwt . ; fowls ,

1 2 8 ; eggs , mi lk, 90 7 gals . ; game ( i ncl ud

ing deer,agout i

,armadi l lo

,fish

,about 1 0

cwt .* Though in the aggregate th is l ist looksqu ite imposing

,a l i tt l e ca lc u lat ion shows that the

average dai ly al lowance of non -vegeta r ian food wasless than one - th i rd of an egg and 1 % ounces of meatpe r person .

Even such a meagre diet was on ly made poss ib leby rais ing loans upon al l the co lony ’s movab le

possessions . The Admin istrat ion was compe l l edto reso rt to the plan of mortgagi ng al l vend ib leresou rces i n spite of the fact that , as at New

Cosme Monthly,

”January, 1900.

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196 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

the framers of that regu lat ion foresaw that mostwomen would prefer to a ccept a Cosme su itor

,how

ever i ne l igibl e , and subm it with doc i l i ty to them iser ies i nsepa rab le from Commun ism

,rather than

face the risks of far worse degradation i n the

Argent ine cap ital . The reason given for export i ngwomen , i n el i gib le for membersh ip , to Buenos Aireswas that there employment at Engl ish wages canbe got i n the n umerous Engl ish fam i l ies .” Whatmust become of women , who were not lucky enoughto fal l at once i nto honourab le employment, was notconsidered , apparen t ly . Wil l iam Lane was certain lynodding when he gave assen t to such a regu lat ion .

I t was not,i n fact , surp r is i n g i f Lane

’s old gripof affai rs were begin n ing to relax . It was j ust sixyears s i n ce he had left Austral ia

,at the head of a

band of enthus iasts , to teach the world a lesson ,”

and duri ng that pe r iod he had faced suffic ien t crushi ng d i sappo i ntments to b reak the heart of any man .

Latterly,moreover

,he had lost the al legiance of

some of h is cl osest fr iends and supporters , and alarge proport ion of h is flock were later rec ru its of amuch lower i n tel lectual order , many of whom wereunmistakeab ly opposed to h im personal ly . Even h isbest fr iends were bound to admit that h is expens iveEngl ish campaign , wh ich was to have ach ieved somuch

,had done the p lace a great deal more harm

than good,and it i s doubtfu l whether he would have

been re-elected to the chai rmansh ip , wh ich he hadh itherto monopol ised (he had served du r i ng twope r i ods of th ree years each) , i f he had stood for i t .Howeve r , he did not stand . I t was offic ial ly statedthat I n not i fy i ng h is i ntent ion not to accept any

H IS REAs 0 Ns 1 97

nominat ion for further office -bea r i ng , the ret i r i ngchai rman

,W . Lane , said that

‘apa rt from heal threasons which a lone were more than sufficient,

’ hewished to become ent i rely free to propagandize .

”

By the popular vote Wi l l iam Lane ’s mantle fel lupon hi s brother

,John , who had h itherto acted as

schoo lmaster .It would have been i nterest ing to observe howK i ng B i l ly settled down to the arduous dut iesof a non -oflicial—as a member of the “ hoeinggang,

” for instance . S ince the new chairman andh is execut ive committee of three began very soon totransgress against Wi l l iam Lane ’s root pri nc iple ,re the non -employmen t of outs i de labou r , i t wou l dhave been i l l uminat ing to watch Wil l iam ’s att i tudetowards them . Had he remained , would he havebeen expel led for contumacy , one wonders ? I t i simpossib le to say, for short ly after the exp i ry of hissecond term of office Wi l l iam Lane shook the redearth of Paraguay from h is boots , and went back toAustral ia , where he took over the editorsh ip of theSydney Worker . From that t ime the originalapo st le of Cosmeism disappeared fo r ever from theken of Cosmans .

*

* I t is often asserted that William Lane deserted Cosme

when he forsook the place in 1899. But in this connection it

should b e remembered that, so long as he remained there , he waspowerless to assist his wretched brethren financially, whereas byearning his living in the outside world he was able to remit fromhis earnings a

“ loan ”for the benefit of those who remained at

Cosme. This non ~intere g -bearing “ loan of £21 1 . 4s . ,which

he must have known was un likely to b e repaid,figured first in

the Cosme balance-sheet for May 1900 .

1 98 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

John Lane ’s promot ion to the chai rmansh ip wasmarked by sund ry al te rat ions i n the regu lat ions

( i n cl uding reduct ion of the depos i t made by tr ia lmembe rs to £5 per adu lt) of which the pri nc ipalwas that relat i ng. to the employment of nativelabou r . I t was a fundamen ta l princ ipl e of Cosmeismthat the wages system was utterly wicked

,never

theless the accu rsed th i ng found its way i nto Cosmetwelve months afte r Wi l l iam Lane ’s depa rt u re . I tbegan

,of cou rse

,as a temporary exped ien t , b ut was

found so conven ient that pri ncip l es went hang andthe Cosmans as a body became employers of labou r

,

batten ing upon the su rplus val ue” of the natives ’

wo rk in the forest and in the sugar-cane fiel d .

“At a comm ittee held on September 4th

says the offic ial j ou rnal,

“ the chai rman repo rtedthat un l ess otherwise i nst ruc ted by the committeehe i n tended adv isi n g the execut ive to have stepstaken for the immediate fel l i ng of two acres ofmonte by nat ive labou r

,i n o rde r to prov ide fi rewood

to fin ish the season ’s crush ing . I t was pointed outthat the work cou l d not be done by colony labou rw ithout stoppage of c rush ing and p lant i ng ; and asthe resu l ts of the crush ing were rel ied on to meet thefinanc ial ob l igat ions of the co lony

,such stoppages

was altogether undesi rable . The obj ec t ions to theproposa ls were the hav ing nat ives work i ng on theco lony

,and a lso to any h i r i ng of labou r . The

vot i ng on the committee resu l ted i n a tie . Thechai rman refra i ned from usi ng h is cast ing vote ,and

,with the approval of the committee

,l eft the

matte r over for decis ion by genera l meet i ng .

I t is i n terest ing to note that Alexander Dick,a

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2 0 0 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

an amaz ing document ! Whi le recogn is ing theevi ls of commerc ia l ism to such an extent as to feeli t i n cumbent on us to l ive with each other inb rotherhood , i t sta tes , and not to wo rk for eachother fo r wages

,or l end to each other for interest ,

or take rent from each other for land or houses , butto care for and wo rk for and share w ith each otheri n fe l lowsh ip

,we have never made any pretence of

be ing gu ided i n ou r busi ness relat ions w ith outs idenon—co -operato rs by any othe r than bus inessp r i nc ip les .”

The write r of that statement had st rayed very fari ndeed from the teach ing of Wil l iam Lane ’s gospel .Neverthe less

,from the organ i s ing po in t of v iew ,

thed is t i nct ion d rawn between those w ith in and thosewithout the fol d was a bri l l iant ly conce ived not ion .

When Wi l l iam Lane went recru it i ng he had nothing to offe r but a share i n the common pove rty ;how much mo re successfu l m ight a man bewho cou ld ho ld out the p rospect of explo it i n gCosme ’s resou rces by the la bour of others fo r theCosmans

’ benefi t ? Finding John Lane possessedof such a commonsense po int of V i ew the Paraguayan Gove rnment once more went to greatexpense to ass ist the Cosme Colony . When

,i n

May,1 90 1 , John Lane dec i ded to t ry his fortune

as an organ iser,the emigration authorit ies paid h is

retu rn fare round the wor l d,and agreed to restore

the orig inal a rrangement by which they pa id theexpenses of woul d -b e Cosmans from Monte Videoto the colony . At the same t ime the Cosme Monthly

b lossomed fo rth on g reat ly imp roved pape r withan attract ive i l l ust rat ion i n each number

,and

At Co sme children were cared for by the community

TO FACE

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2 0 2 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

difficu l t fo r men to ra ise the necessary funds toproceed to Cosme .

” He might have added as afi fth reason that he did not

,fo rtunately

,po ssess

h is b rother ’s magneti c personal i ty . Neverthelesshe contr ived to send a ce rta i n number of recru itsto Cosme before h is own retu rn in December

,1 90 2 .

The newcomers,however

,proved no better ab le to

settl e down happ i ly with the old-t imers thanWil l iam Lane ’s recru its .

I n Ju ly,1 90 1 , when John Lane sai led upon h is

organ is i ng campaign,the populat ion of Cosme was

26 men , 16 women, 46 ch i ld ren . Total 88 . By

June,

1 90 4 , i t had been reduced to 2 2 men , 1 1

women,and 36 ch i ldren . Total 69 .

As before,a dism issal

,

“ fo r pers istent defianceof Colony authori ty and regu lat ions ,

” and sub se

quent secess ions of “ o ld were large lyrespons ib l e for the decrease (the expe l l ed man wasa member of s ix years ’ standing

,who is was al leged

dur ing the las t fou r yea rs had shown Anarch ist ictendenc ies

,and had throughout fai l ed to work in

harmony with those entrusted with the di rect ion ofthe co lony i ndustr ies

,wh i le latterly h is att i tude had

become increas ingly and more open ly antagonOut of the fi fteen “ t rial members ,

” whowere on the ro l l s i n 1 90 3 , on ly fou r rema ined in1 90 4 . The eleven who left were thus accountedfor : One had h is membersh ip term inated by thecommittee ; one was not ified that the re was l itt lechance of h is be ing accepted as a fu l l member

,and

he consequent ly took the fi rst opportun ity of going ;one left because of d isagreement with the colonyregu lat ion requ i ri ng ful l members to contr ibute

LAMENTABLE FAILURE 2 0 3

the i r capital as a free gift to the colony ; s ix l eft onaccount of dissat isfact ion with or unfittedness fo rthe cond i t ions of the colony ; two res igned owingto reasons other than dissat isfact ion with thecolony .

”

Thus John Lane ’s organ is ing campaign provedas lamentab le a fai lu re as h is b rother ’s . I n May ,1 90 4 , he was replaced

* by a new cha irman , and nextmonth the pub l icat ion of the Cosrne Monthly ceased .

At that date the colony ’s cash l iab i l it ies amountedto agai nst cash in hand $623 . I t is t ruethat the two colon ists who acted as aud i to rs cheerfu l ly set a value on the land

,improvements

,etc .

,of

over but they ignored the fact that thecondit ions attached to the grant of territory (thesettl ement of 72 fami l ies) had by no means beencomp l ied with . Something of the changed sp i rit ofthe p lace peeps out i n the snarl i ng tone of thefinal man i festo— so different from those penned byWi l l iam Lane .

“ Many pe0 p1e come here overloaded with cut and dry ideals ,

” the writer complains . “ This colony is not

,and never has been ,

in anyth ing l ike the fu l l,usual

,acceptance of the

word,a Commun isti c one . We share equal ly

the resu l ts of ou r common labou r ; not unequal ly .

I f one man ’s wants are greate r than another ’s hehas got to curb them . Here

,as elsewhere

,a man

has got to make and win h is own fr iendsh ips .They aren ’ t ready made for h im . The dai lydi rect ion of common affa i rs is governed b y offic ialse lected yea rly

,whose instructions have got to be

Shortly afterwards John Lane left Cosme ColonyThe land with all its timb er intact was bought or

2 0 4 EXIT WILLIAM LANE

obeyed whether one agrees or differs from them.

We employ nat‘ive labou r outs ide the v i l lage,main ly

to develop ou r t imber i ndustry . We trust th isnecess i ty wi l l not be conti n uous

,but th is is by the

way , the po in t is , that we do at present , and wi l l i na l l probab i l i ty for some t ime to come

,so employ for

p rofi t such labou r . ”

Many secess ions from Cosme were d i rectly causedby the admiss ion of nat ives to the p lace ; severalfathers of fami l ies withdrew ostens ib ly for otherreasons

,b ut rea l ly because they feared admixture

wi th the Paraguayans .* Among such were theGi lmores . When she reached Austral ia Mrs .

Va luab le l ight is shed on this ques t ion by Senor Don

J. J. Tellechea , Chi l ian Consul to Sydney , N who , in a

communicat ion to the “South American Jou rna l

”(Decem

b er z7ib ) , 1 90 2) states that“Mrs . G i lmore adm its th e

k indly dispos it ion of the nat ive Paraguayo ,

’ bu t when itcomes to the co lony

’s soc ial intercours e with him she draws

the l ine , and rebels at the idea of final ly becoming assimil

ated to his ‘inferior race .

’ This m ight have been o ne of

the tenets of the o riginal New Aus tra l ia ’commun istic

code , but to Sou th American eyes i t appears to b e a merereflection of s u periority of race which the ‘gringo ’

evincesover the Sou th American ‘

crio l lo ,’

and which is so ca perating and in such a large measure respons ib le for the

dep th of fee l ing that pervades c ivi l ised Latin-America inregard to his s e l f-sufficient lordship . ! et, ass imi lationbecomes in the second , or at the ou ts ide the third generat ion abso l u te and a lmost fata l , and there is gradual lyevo lving from this p rocess al l ove r Lat in-America an

u l t imate uni fo rm and characteris tic nat iona l type , whichp ractical ly everyone that has l ived in that p rivilegedcont inent wi l l admit , is o ften and in many ways an

imp rovement on both s ides of the parent s tock .

”

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CHAPTER XIX .

A BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA .

To retu rn now to New Austra l ia,it has been shown

that the affa irs of the colon ists at that sett lementhad got i n to a deplo rab le muddle . Yet

,under any

other system of l iv i ng than the Social ist régime ,they might yet have retr ieved the i r posi t ion

,fo r ,

as Mr . Peel remarked,

“ i n sp ite of the i r d ifficu ltiesi t must be reco l lected that they are i n possess ion of

acres of the very finest lan d in Paraguay ,with pastu rage sufficien t to keep at l east headof cattl e . Buying catt le fo r purpo ses of fattening shou l d yie ld i n Pa raguay a profit of at l east2 0 to 30 per cent . , and the Associat ion on start ingexpected that i t wou ld not be long before they weredo ing a good t rade . They bought 2 50 0 head andput up about e ight m i les of w i re fen ci ng

,but owing

to the causes ment ioned th is number has beenal ready cons iderab ly reduced . I n addit ion

,

they have got about 90 cows , 1 70 horses , and ala rge number of pigs and poul t ry . They havec leared about 70 acres of woodland andcu lt ivated about 2 1 3 acres . They have largeforests of val uab l e t imber

,but no sawmi l ls ; they

are engaged at th is moment i n making bricks tostart a tannery

,but the work i s proceeding slowly

fo r want of p rope r appl iances,at a t ime too when

they ought to be engaged i n e rect ing houses i n theplace of the uncomfortab le barns and sheds of mud

2 06

WILD -CAT SCHEMES 2 0 7

and thatch in which they are at present l iv ing,and

even these are not put up in a suffic ien t numbe r toshelter a l l the colon ists

,a few of whom at p resent

are sleep ing under tents . They have sta rteda band wh ich p lays every even ing

,and one of the

first steps they wi l l take as soon as the i r funds wi l lpermit

,wi l l be to bu i ld a ha l l fo r the pu rpose of

lectu res,and concerts

,as wel l as dancing .

*

Tanneries,concerts ! Any wi ld-cat scheme was

good enough for New Austral ia to waste its energiesupon

,at a t ime when those energies were so

paralysed that the place was not even sel f-supporti ng to the extent of growing a sufficien t food supp lyfor home use . Compare the 70 acres of forest landcleared at New Austral ia , i n one year , by 2 50 persons ,with the ach ievement of a s ingle Frenchman on anindiv idual ist i c colony in another part of Paraguay .

“ At a short distance from the stat ion , repo rtedM r . F i ndlay

,after v is it ing Gonzalezpl

' “ we tu rnedinto a narrow ‘p icada ’ or ‘ lane cut through thevi rgin fores t . S im i lar roads are cut pa ral le l to eachother at equal distances . On each s ide of the roadat in terva ls were cleari ngs p lanted with maize andmandioca . The fi rst of these we vis ited

,evident ly

the ‘show ’ c learing,belonging to a F renchman .

This man had cleared a Space of about 1 0 acres i n1 3 months .

“ When we looked at the dense forest of hardwood t rees

,tower ing above a tangled mass of

creepers and undergrowth,i t seemed almost incred

ib le that so much cou ld have been accompl ished by

Foreign Office , Miscel laneous Series , 1895 , No . 358.

"

l' Foreign Office, Annual Series, 1894 , No. 1 357.

2 0 8 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRAL IA

a s i ngle man (by no means a Hercu les) , whosepri nc ipal i nstruments had been an axe and a boxof matches . The l i ttl e rancho was surrounded byma i ze

,mandioca

,man i (pea -nut) , tobacco , beans ,

sugar- cane,al fa l fa

,melons

,and every sort of veget

ab le . Some wheat had been grown,but was of

poor qual i ty,perhaps owing to bad seed . The

co lon i st showed us a l i tt le hol low wh ich he hadconverted in to a m in iatu re paddy-field

,and the ri ce

was coming up luxu riant ly What we actual lysaw growing represen ted a smal l fortune for th ishard-work i n g F renchman .

”

F rom th is i t wou ld appear that one Frenchmanwork i ng for h imsel f is worth

,as a colon ist

,some

th i rty-five Austral ians labou ri ng for each other !

(Though , as i t w i l l p resen tly appear , the latter wereeas i ly ab l e to outst rip al l compe t i tors when theenergy-destroying régime of Socia l ism was abo l ished .) While the F ren chman pl ied his axe witha l ight heart i n the forest

,l ived l uxu r iously

,and

rap idly p i led up a comfortab le competency , the

Austral ians sank day by day in to lower depths ofm isery and degradat ion .

I t was a b lack t ime i ndeed at New Austra l ia , butthe natu ral phenomenon that the darkest hou rimmediate ly precedes the dawn

,appl ied forc ib ly i n

thei r case . Now that there was no longer anyth ingto be gamed by Social ism

,even the drones were

wi l l i ng to suspend it . By a vote of the maj o r i ty i twas decided that the Const i tut ion shou ld be altered ;henceforth eve ry man wou ld be ent it led to disposeas he p leased of the fru i t o f h is own labou r , and anew incent ive was given to i ndustry .

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2 1 0 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA

deg rading a tmosphe re of m istrust,wh ich tu rned

'

eve ry man aga inst his neighbou r,was explo ited by

the base of thei r own ends .A bl ight seemed to descend upon everyth ingmanaged by the commun ity

,and the ch i ldren

proved no except ion to the ru le . Del iberate ly cutoff from the soften ing infl uences of re l igion

,and

brought up to ignore al l d ist i nct ions of age or sex,

i t was natu ral fo r them to seek always the i r ownp leasu re and r ide rough - shod over the o ld andinfi rm . Untaught and un rest ra ined

,th e neglected

ch i ld ren seemed doomed to suffer al l thei r l ives forthe fol l ies of the i r pa rents . Th is was perhaps thesaddest aspect of the New Austral ia fiasco .

As soon as the reso lut ion,abol ish ing Social ism ,

was car r ied,Frederick Kidd

,under whose sane and

pract i ca l admin istrat ion the change was broughtabout

,set off to Asunc ion to i nte rview the Govern

ment,whom he found sympathet ical ly disposed and

prepared to do all i n the i r power to ass ist thecolon ists . Withdrawing the original grant ofterri tory

,the Presiden t confirmed them in posses

s ion of the twenty-five square m i les on which theywere actual ly sett led

,and approved a scheme

whe reby every man was ent it led to sel ect for h imsel fan al lotment of s ixty squares of agricu l tu ra l ground

,

fo r wh ich he would be given t it l e deeds , when he hadbu i l t a house and compl ied with the usual cond it ions . The right of graz ing over the grass landswas reserved i n common for al l

,so that it was

po ss ib le for every i nd iv idua l col on ist to become ab ig ca tt le farme r i f h e cou ld find the necessarycap ital . This fact c reated fresh ambit ion in the

LABOUR ’S TRUE FRI END 2 1 1

heart of eve ry fam ily,and there was a gene ral

exodus of able -bodied men to the rai lway wo rks atSapucay

,to Asuncion

,Rosar io

,o r Buenos Ai res

anywhe re where good wages coul d be ea rned by aman wil l i ng to wo rk h is fingers to the bone .

One colon ist,who now owns many hundred head

of cattl e,worked as a butcher in an Argent ine meat

works,whe re wages a re high

,l iv ing on the odd

hal fpence of his pay and rem itt i ng the balance toh is wi fe

,to be carefu l ly i nvested in lean catt le

,for

wh ich a ready market cou ld be found when fattened .

The Admin istrato r h imsel f looked fo r work as abootmaker ’s assistant i n Asuncion (he had oncehad a prospe rous business of his own) , but , to h isdel ight

,a leather merchant set h im up with a stock

of leather and even became responsibl e to a th i rdparty for the value of the necessary tools . Being agood workman

,he soon made headway and became

a catt le owner also,though it was pri ncipal ly on h is

trade that he rel ied for a l iv i ng . The story of othercolon ists was sim i lar . One and al l found salvat ionin the “ i ron law of- wages ,

” and discovered fo rthemselves that Capital i s the i ndispensable al lyand fr iend

,and not the enemy

,of Labou r . The

legit imate ambit ion of each one was to become h imsel f a capital ist

,for Capital is the resu lt of Labour

and Abst inence .”

The re is a sentence i n Levy ’s Outcome ofI ndiv idual ism wh ich wel l sums up the condit ionsat New Austra l ia “ A brief but b r i l l iant span ofexis tence may be attai ned by a Soc ia l ist i c Statel iv i ng on the capita l of its p redecesso rs ; but it soonruns th rough th is capita l and goes out l ike a spent

2 1 2 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA

squ ib and leaves a nasty smel l . The nastysmel l at New Aust ral ia took the fo rm of rancou rand b itte rness of sp i r i t

,so that many fami l ies we re

not on speaking te rms with the i r nea rest neighbou r—not that anyone had t ime o r i nc l i nat ion i nthose te rr ib le days fo r soc iab i l it ies

.Women , whose

husbands were away earn ing wages,wo rked l ike

n iggers in the cornfields fo r themselves and fo rthe i r ch i ldren . The ste rnest I ndiv i dua l ism nowp reva i led

,fo r

,when a ll were on the verge of

sta rvat ion,no man wou ld share h is ch i ldren ’s b read

with the wo rk- sh i rkers . The re was no longer anyta l k of an e ight hou r day

,or of Trade Un ion

regul at ions as to what part icu la r task a givenindiv idual m ight perfo rm . F rom sun rise to sunsetmen

,women

,and even ch i l dren worked at whatever

task came fi rst to hand,unheedi ng the rays of the

t ropical sun . Even the coming of n ight did no t seethe cessat ion of the i r labou rs when the moon ’sb r ight l ight i l l um inated the cornfields . I n an incredib ly sho rt space o f t ime houses shot up , su rroundedby wel l - t i l led k itchen ga rdens

,ca refu l ly fenced in

to keep men or b rutes from damaging the crops ,and ve ry soon the grass lands were once more dottedwith catt le— cheap

,sorry beasts some of them

,but

precious beyond all reckon ing fo r the sake of therega ined j oy of owne rsh ip wh ich they pe rson ified .

I t was not l ong,mo reover

,before the se l f-ban ished

fa thers and husbands we re ab le to retu rn withmoney in the i r pockets and restored hope fu lness .Some used the money thus ea rned to conveythemselves and the i r dear ones back to Aust ra l ia ,othe rs dete rmined to make the most of the country ’s

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2 114 BLACK TIME AT NEw AUSTRALIA

Amigos,or Loma Rugua

,were hardly on speak ing

terms with those of Las Ovejas or Tuyu . Worsethan that , such b itterness had ar i sen i n some casesbetween membe rs of the same fami ly that fatherand son who l ived on adjacent b locks forbade oneanother to c ross the div iding fen ce . Moreove reveryone ’s energies were now concentrated to suchan extent upon the anxious desi re to repai r the ru inof the i r fortunes that nobody worr ied about such amatte r as the need for educat i ng the ch i ldren . I nconsequence lads and lasses grew up in total ignorance , except for those few who a ttended a nat iveschoo l and acqu i red I ndian hab its of thoughttogetherwith the Guaran i tongue .No r was su ch a state of th i ngs whol ly accidental ,for the re were l oud-voiced men upon the co lonywho cla imed that edu cat ion was in i tsel f an ev i l ,wh i l e many hel d as the fundamenta l art i cle of the i rbel ief that rel ig ion was the cu rse of the world .

Neve rthe less , when B ishop Eve ry (Angl ican B ishopi n the Argent i ne) took a l ong and wear isomejourney for the purpose of v is it i n g the co lon ists ,some of them approached h im pr ivate ly and beggedh im to send a schoolmaster to New Austral ia .

The B ishop stated the case i n England,and a

young Cambridge man (who was ordered abroadfor the benefi t of h is heal th ) volunteered to go outat h is own expense and do what he cou ld for thech i ldren . I t w i l l not be without i nterest , perhaps , toa ce rta in number of reade rs

,to fo l low the youth fu l

pedagogue to Pa raguay and see how he fared atNew Austral ia .

CHAPTER XX .

NEW AUSTRALIA AND COSME TO-DAY .

IT was the month of March , 1 90 4 , when the Schoolmaster arr ived at New Aus t ral ia . By correspondence i t had been arranged that he shou ld boardwith the T fami ly

,at La Novia . His first

view of th is , one of the earl iest v i l lage sett lements ,was extremely depress i ng . Situated on a clearingj ust with i n the forest , i t st i l l consisted of theoriginal , roughly-bu i l t mud huts , wh ich thep ioneers had th rown up nearly eleven years before .

I n al l there were five hal f- ruined houses,i n such

bad condit i on that i t was necessary to re-dress thewal ls with th ick coat ings of mud several t imes ayear to keep them from tumbl ing down . I nteresti ng i l lustrat ion of the value of work done by al lfor al l ” was forthcom ing on close examinat ion ofthe material used in the cons truct ion of some ofthese houses . Much of the wood used was soft andunsu itab le for the work

,but eas ier to handle than

the hard woods . The floors were st i l l o f mud orant-bed

,although good t imber was abundant

,and

the rough wal ls of red “ pug ” were not evensmoothed inside . Though so many years hadpassed s in ce they were first bu i l t , some of fhem

'

were

sti l l without any ve randah to keep the torrent ia lra ins from wash ing away the wal ls . Neither fire

p lace nor windows were prov ided (p ivoted wooden2 1 5

2 16 NEW AUSTRALIA TO -DAY

shutters served to exc lude the co ld) and the draught .admitt ing gaps , between roof and wal ls , made itimpossib le to keep a lamp a l ight when the windblew .

The house i n wh ich i t was a rranged that theSchoolmaste r Shou ld board contained three rooms ,and a l ow lean - to i n wh ich the colon ist ’s three sonss lept . O r igi na l ly i t had consisted of two roomsseparated by a ga lpone (a cove red space openon two s ides ) , but the latter had been boarded i nwith p ieces of packing case , etc . , to fo rm a l iv i ngroom . The kitchen was a separate outbu i l din g .

As i f the house were not sufficien t ly overcrowdedthe T ch i ld ren kept an amaz ing number ofpets

,wh ich wandered in and out of the house as

they chose . I n addit ion to the dogs , of wh ich fou rl ived p r i n c i pal ly i ndoors

,the re were a tame owl ,

several p igs,which had to be forc ib ly ejected at

meal times , and a miscel laneous co l lect ion of fowls ,wanderi ng where they pleased and even roost ing inthe bedrooms . The average I r ish b ut would compare more than favou rab ly with the T homestead .

I t must not be supposed , however , that al l thehomes at New Austral ia were of th is type . Afterthe abol it i on of Soc ial ism it became worth wh i le forany indiv idual who prized hygiene and comfort toerect better accommodat ion for h is fami ly . Afterleaving La Novia , the next v i l lage sett lement ,reached by a rough track cut th rough the fo rest ,was Tuyu Rugua , a b ig cleari ng on the edge of

the open plain , wel l enclosed with strong fencing ,with two very large paddocks stretch ing down into

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2 1 8 NEW AUSTRALIA TO -DA!

home who , by sheer hard work , had regainedprosperi ty , offered the S choolmaster a warmwelcome and prom ised to send h is three ch i ldrenfor tu it ion .

So the Schoolmaster rode on , across open camp ,through bog and forest

,vis i t i ng every house i n th i s

sc attered commun ity , and heari ng many amaz ingtheo r ies of l i fe .

“ You th ink we’ re a lot of cranks ,said one man . Wel l , of cou rse we are , or weshou ldn ’t be here . We came to Paraguay to getaway from convent ion , and be as cranky as weplease . I f you ’ re a crank too we ’ re del ighted towel come you

,b ut i f you are a m iss ionary

,whose

obj ect is to teach ou r ch i ldren al l the o ld convemtional l ies , that we have run away from , you wi l lfind the colony an unhealthy place to l ive i n .

This man ’s remark was a frank statement of thegene ral feel i ng . The New Austral ians had set outto teach the world a lesson ; and many of themiesented the suggest ion that an outs ider cou ldi nstruct them or the i r ch i l dren i n anyth ing . On thewhole , however , the Schoolmas ter was wel l rece ived ,ch iefly perhaps because he was a good l istener andtook an i nterest i n each r ival scheme propoundedfor the readj ustment of the un iverse .

That n ight the Schoolmaste r S l ep t at a t i ny cab i non the extreme boundary of the co lony

,and next

morn ing started on h is retu rn tr ip by a differen troute , so as to take i n Lorna Rugua and LosAmigos , thus making a complete c i rcu it of NewAustral ia . Notwithstanding the conv ict ion expressed by many colon ists that he wou ld not remainwith them more than a few weeks

,the Schoolmaster

A STORMY SCENE 2 1 9

fel t qu ite hopefu l , and asked the Admin istrator tocal l a general meet ing for the purpose of discuss ingplans for the estab l ishment of a school . Messageswere sent accordingly to al l the sto res

,fixing a date

for the meeting,and the Schoolmaster employed a

coup l e o f“ handy-men ” to knock together some

rough forms and desks .On the day appointed for the genera l meet ingevery colon is t who cou ld find a horse rode over toLas Ovejas . The Schoolmaster

,though al ready

assured of cons iderab le support from the LosAmigos

,L

'

a Novia,and Tuyu Rugua cont ingents ,

ant i cipated a stormy scene , and in th is he was notdisappo inted . Most of the assembled c it izensproved to be stern -browed

,bearded men , with faces

tanned to the colou r of mahogany from constantexposure ; they were dressed i n the usual costumeriding boots , baggy trousers , and rough sh i rt ,loose at the neck—and most carr ied revolvers andsheath kn ives ; some had long machetes

* securedto the i r saddles , whi le one or two even carr ied r ifles .I t looked more l ike a Counci l of War than a peacefu l assembly ; but everyone

’

s i ntent ions were harmless enough . I t i s the usua l th ing to wear revo lverand sheath kn i fe on a ll occas ions i n the Paraguayanbush country , and a machete is constant ly requ i red ,i n r iding through narrow forest tracks

,to cut away

any v ines and tangled s crub wh ich impede theway . Those wi th guns or r ifles were the sportsmenof the commun ity

,who hoped to ca rry home ven ison

or wi ld game to the fami ly larder .As th is was the first occas ion on wh ich many of* The machete resembles a sword without any crosspiece.

NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

the men had met for five yea rs , or more , i t was on lyto be expected that ol d

,ha l f - fo rgotten feuds shou ld

be revived . Certain riva l pol i t i c ians , who had

a rgued aga i nst each other i n the ear ly days of thecolony

,took the opportun i ty to display aga i n the

rancour of party feel i ng . I t was sufficien t for anyone man to make a p roposa l to p roduce a storm ofobj ect ions from old foemen on the in s tant . I n fact ,a fte r a t ime , there were almost as many counsel s asthe re were people p resent— many i ns is t ing that a“ gen tleman from England “ who had never donea fa i r day ’

s work i n h is l i fe , had no r ight at NewAustra l i a at a ll

,and , l east of al l , the r ight to set up

a s chool i n wh ich to teach Cap ita l ist ic not ions to ther is in g gene rat ion .

Nevertheless , when the Schoolmaster rose tospeak he was given a fa i r hea r ing . Taking h is cuefrom thei r own p rofess ion of equal i ty

,he cla Imed

that he had as much r ight as any other person tosett l e at New Austra l ia . Next

,he a rgued that i t

woul d be an unwa rrantab le i n terference with privatel iberty i f the majo r i ty refused to a l low any settl e rwho chose to Open a schoo l i f he were so disposed

,

o r i f any othe r settlers were proh ib ited fro-m sendingthe i r ch i ldren to s choo l i f they so desi red . Thoughthere were some who hotly contested the claim

(a few on the ground that“ book- l earn ing” was i n

i tsel f an evi l ) , i ts j ust ice was fina l ly admitted, and

the Schoolmaster ga i ned h is fi rst poi nt,though on ly

on condit ion that rel igious i nstruct ion shou ld beexcluded from the cu rr i cu lum . So much conceded

,

the Schoolmaste r then entered upon a fresh argument , i n favou r of hol ding a Sunday School

,qu ite

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2 2 2 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

methods of teach ing to retai n thei r atten t ion . I twas s ingu larly i n te rest ing to note the wonderfu l lyrap id progress made by many of the h ithertountutored lads and lasses , who l iteral ly lapped upknowledge , with an avidity whol ly un l ike the indifference to l earn ing disp layed by most more happi lyc i rcumstanced ch i ldren . The deplorab le state ofdisun ion wh ich had so l ong p revai led at NewAustral ia was demonstrated by the fact tha t ch i ldrenfrom different parts of the sett lement at fi rst fo rmedhost i le cl i ques . Thus

,the Los Amigos ch i ldren

had l i tt l e i n common with those from Tuyu , and itwas ve ry difficu l t to i nduce them to play together .Al l such art ificia l d ist i nctions soon disappearedhowever

,and i t became evident that the school

wou ld have a powerfu l effect i n the heal ing of o ldfeuds .The fol lowing true i nc ident i l l ustrates the dis

tinctly p r im it ive not ions enterta i ned by some of thech i ldren .

As the water i n the school -house we l l wasrathe r bad , the Schoolmaster was i n the hab it ofsending one boy , or two gi r l s , with a bucket to b ri nggood cool water from a spr ing bubb l i ng up j usti ns ide the forest . Whenever the Schoolmasterfetched th is water h imsel f i t was part i cu lar ly clearand bright , but when the ch i ldren brought i t i t wasoften qu ite muddy . One day the Schoo lmaste r hadsent two gi r l s to fi l l the bucket i n the usua l way ,but sta rted afte r them to Show them how to draw itwithout st i rr i n g up the bottom . The mystery wasexpla ined when the Schoolmaster reached the monteand found , rest i ng upon the empty bucket, a smal l

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2 24 NEW AUSTRALIA TO -DAY

Sunday s chool to hea r the ch i ldren s inging , and so ,imperceptib ly a lmost , the proceedings changed to aregular Se rv i ce , attended by adults as wel l as

ch i ldren .

* The a rr iva l from England of a portableharmon ium was s igna l ised by the estab l ishment ofa regu la r cho i r n ight . With in a sho rt t ime , i n fact ,Divine Se rvice on Sunday became a favou r i te i ns t itution at New Austral ia

,which pe0 p1e rode long

distances to attend , bringing p rovis ion for an a l

fres co picn ic under the schoo l verandah or in theshade of an orange grove .

Quite apart from thei r re l igious S ign ificance,i t

wou l d be hard to exaggerate the good effect uponthe general tone of the colony of those weekly re

un ions,which worked wonders i n the patch ing up

of differences,and the renewing of old fr iendsh ips .

At the same t ime they promoted the growth of ahea l thy pub l i c op in ion

,wh ich went a long way

towa rds checking intempe rance and other abusesthat had become too common on the sett lement .By a co inc idence the admiss ion of the Deity to New

Austral ia synch ron ised with a remarkab le imp rovement i n materia l prospe r i ty and genera l progress .Official proof of th is fact may be found in theReport of the B r i t ish Consu l for Pa raguay

,for the

year 1 90 8 . Under the heading“ New Austra l ia ,

”

Mr . Consu l Gr iffi th reports as fo l lowsThe fol lowing data are taken from an i nterest

i ng report wh ich has been fu rn ished to me by theManage r of the colony , Mr . Kennedy . Thecolon is ts numbe r 16 1 : 86 adu lts and 75 minors ,

At another General Meeting , held some months later, permission to give daily religious instruction was cheerfully conceded .

THE CONSUL’

S REPORT 2 2 5

and they are , with few except ions , al l B r i t ishsubjects— Austral ians , Engl ish , I r ish , and Scotch .

The colony,which is agr i cu l tu ra l and pas tora l

,is

sa id to be prosper i ng s lowly but su rely ,but no

ma rked progress can be expected unt i l the means ofcommun icat ion are imp roved , as the lands are th i rtymi les dis tant from a ra i lway or r iver , and , conse

quent ly,be ing unable to market thei r produce , the

colon ists confine thei r cu lt ivat ion to the growing offood-s tuffs , fru its , and vegetab les for thei r ownconsumption . Catt le and horses do wel l on thegrazing lands of the colony

, and to these thecolon is ts have , at present , to look for an i ncome .

Notwithstanding the lack of communicat ion and

consequent heavy cost of transport , a man with afamily can cu lt ivate tobacco with advantage . Maize ,cassava , many variet ies of beans , sweet potatoes ,suga r- cane , bananas , oranges , and peaches aresuccess fu l ly cu lt ivated

,and exper iments which have

been made with the yerba tree appear to be givinggood results . The colony possesses a wel l-equ ippeds team saw mi l l , five stores , a smal l p etit gra indist i l lery

,and two cana (rum)

Thus the sta lwarts who rema i ned after the col lapseof Wi l l iam Lane ’s wi l d venture have made agal lant fight back to p rosper i ty , and have disprovedthe a l legat ion that i t was the natu re of the country

,

rather than the evi ls i nseparable from Soc ia l ism ,

which caused the or igina l fa i l ure . At the presentday the p rosper i ty of those who remain at NewAustra l ia co lony is s teadi ly i ncreas ing , and a

“ D iplomatic and Consular Reports, Annual Series, No. 4362,

1909.

2 26 COSME TO -DAY

number of the original Utop ians who were re

patr iated have found the i r way back to Paraguay ,to share i n the grea t advantages wh ich the sett lement offers to Anglo-Saxons with ag r icu l tu ralexper i en ce . I f , as seems probable , the new TransPa raguay rai lway , now in course of constru ct ion ,passes c lose to New Austral ia* the p lace is l ike ly toexpe rience a boom , and the sett l ement there of manyhundreds of Austral ian fam i l ies may yet become area l i ty . Already condit i ons are vast ly differen tfrom what they were at the commencement of 1 90 4 .

The ch i ldren a re now wel l cared for,i n al l respects ,

and compare wel l with those more happ i ly c i rcumstanced i n England . At the presen t day , NewAustra l ia i s ne ither a Utopian Eden nor a hel lupon earth .

” I t i s an average commun ity of sane ,sober , hard-wo rking , sel f- respect i ng farmers , l iv i ngat peace with one another and tak ing for the i rmotto : “ What we have we hold ! ” Never againwi l l they submit the i r fortunes to the ru inous ru leof Social i sm in any gu ise—whether i t cal l i tse l fChrist ian Social ism ,

” “ Athe ist i c Soc ia l i sm ,

” ormere ly Co -operat ive Commun ism .

As has been seen , Cosme for many years madeno such p rogress . Ti l l 1 904 i t endeavou red to keepitsel f afloa t by the pub l i cat ion in i ts j ournal of farfetched art i cles descr ib i ng the happ i ness of i tspe0 p1e , which i nduced other credu lous sou ls to jo i nthem in the expectat ion of exper ien ci ng imposs ib leb l i ss . Cheated by fa l se hopes , these newcomersqu ick ly fel l i nto the growing quagmire o f discontent

I t was recently stated in the Australian press that the mainline will cut right through it.

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2 2 8 COSME TO-DAY

the p roperty wou ld be div ided , and the fewer thatremained the greater ind iv idual share wou ld accrueto each . Thus

,after wasti n g the best part of the i r

l ives i n hope less exper iments , the Cosmans weregiven a new lease of l i fe and they , too, began tomake some progress towards prosper ity . As atNew Austral ia , a schoolmaste r, appointed byB ishop Every , now instructs the ch i ld ren and holdsre l ig ious serv i ces .

CHAPTER XXI .

RELIGION—MORALITY— SUICIDE .

CONTINENTAL Socia l i sm is frankly Atheistic , but inEngl ish-speaki ng countr ies the existence of thatcurious hyb r id

,

” the Ch r ist ian Social is t,obscures

the issue and makes it appear to some that the re i snoth ing necessari ly antagon ist i c between Social ismand Christian ity . The whole quest ion i s too widea one to be thrashed out here , though the readermay be reminded of Professo r Fl in t ’s* ob servationthat that portion of the Ch r i st ian Socia l ists ’ teaching which is defin ite ly Ch r i st ian is no t Socia l ist i c ,wh i le that port ion wh ich is defin ite ly Social is t i c isnot Ch r i st ian . An arden t Ch r i st ian and Socia lReformer

,carried away by admi ration for some

po rt ion of the Social ist p rogramme which coin c ideswith h is own views on Socia l reform , i s frequent lydescribed by h imse lf as a Christ ian Soc ial ist ,a l though he would repudiate wi th horror the viewsof any em inen t Socia l ist on the subject ofChrist ian ity .

The logica l att itude of the genu ine Socia l i sttoward Ch r ist ian Social i sm is we l l shown i n thefol lowing reference “ Soc ial ism is the natura lenemy of rel igion . A‘ Ch r i st ian Social ist is an

Anti -Social ist . No man can consistently be both aCh r ist ian and a Social ist .”

The fundamenta l difference between So cial ismand Christ ian ity has been wel l summed up inEth ics of Social ism ,

” by M r . Be l fort BaxSocialism .

2 30 RELIGION— MORAL ITY—SU ICIDE

“ According to Christ ian i ty regenerat ion must comefrom with i n . The eth ics and re l ig ion of modernSocial i sm , on the contrary , l ook for regenerat ionfrom without , from materia l condit ions and a h ighersocial life .

” Again , i n his“ Rel igion of Soc ial ism ,

”

the same writer exp lai ns I n what sense Soc ial ismis not rel igious w i l l be now clea r . I t utter ly des

p ises the othe r worl d with al l i ts stage properties—that i s , the present objects of rel ig ion .

”

S i n ce th is work is i ntended for general ci rcu lat ionthe wr iter refra i ns from quot i ng any of the morecrudely offens ive references to Christ ian i ty i nwh ich leadi ng Social i sts de l ight . The sales department of the Clarion P ress

, 44 , Worsh ip Street,E .C .

, or of the Independen t Labour Party , St .

B ride ’s House , Sal isbury Square , E .C wi l lcou rteously in form the reader who des i res to

fol low the matter fu rther where he can obta inauthori tat ive l i te ratu re for a very smal l out lay . AS

Mr . Robert B latchford (“ Nunquam” of the Clarion) ,

author of “ Merrie England ,”is the Soc ial i st wr iter

with most i nfluence and the widest ci rculat ion , theadu lt Engl ish reader, whose own faith is fi rm lyimplanted , and who wishes to understand theSoc ial ist attitude towards rel ig ion

,cannot do better

than procure h is book,God and my Neighbour ,

”

which has run through fourteen edit ions . Thatbook concl udes with thewords , “ Let the Holy havethe i r Heaven . I am a man and an I nfidel .Christ ian i ty is not true .

”

Lest i t shou l d be argued that i t is a mere co incidence that M r . B latchford , the Soc ial ist , shou ld alsobe an opponen t of rel ig ion

,i t i s worth wh i le quot ing

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2 32 RELIGION —MORALITY —SUICIDE

Modern Soc ial ists have real ised that the nullification of rel igious be l ie f can be brought about muchmo re eas i ly by p reservi ng a semb lance to the outwa rd fo rms of re l ig ion than by suppress i ng SundayObse rvances a l togethe r . I f ca reles s parents , wholet the i r ch i ldren a ttend such Sunday s chools , fee lany doubts , they are qu ite set at rest on hear i ng thatthe B ib le i s actual ly used in them . H ow i t is used ,and what impo rtance i s attached to its teach ing ,

appears from the fo l lowing extract from instruct ion sfor conduct ing Sunday schools

2 2 . Lessons for o lder ch i ldren (aged 1 1 to I 3

( 1 ) Stories from Greek mythology , such as theS iege of Troy , etc .

(2 ) Sto r ies from some of Shakespeare’s p lays

,

such as The Tempest,etc .

(3 ) Sto r ies from Tennyson , B rown ing , etc .

(4) Stories from the ch ief sacred l i teratu resB ib le , Ta lmud ,

“ Buddh ist B i rth sto r i es ,etc . , l ives of B uddha ,

Mohammed,Con

fucius , etc .

(5) Lives of the Saints , etc .

(6) Stor i es of G reeks and Romans , etc .

(7) Chi ld ’s Socia l ist Reader,

” etc .

(8) Systemat i c Mo ral l essons , etc .

23 . The Sen 1or C lass shou ld not have set morallessons .

When a ch i ld ha s been taught that a j umble ofstor ies from the C lass ics , the Vedas , the Koran ,

Sunday Schools, by F . J . Gould , published by the Socialist.Church Union. Bradford, 1910.

INCREASE OF SUICIDE 233

etc . , are of equa l importance , i n a rel igious sense ,with the B ib le narrative , i t is no

‘

more probable thathe wi l l tu rn Christian when he reaches years ofd iscretion than that he wi l l become a Mohammedan .

The establ ishment of a Soc ia l is t gove rnment in th iscountry wou ld prepare the way for Ant i-Ch r is t i n a

s ingle generation . Some effects of the ban ishmentof rel igion from a commun ity have been i l lus tratedin the story of New Austral ia . One of the mos tstartl i ng of the phenomena which ma rk the spreadof Soc ia l i sm on the Continent is the increase ofsu icide

,part i cu la r ly among young chi ldren and the

aged (of ne ithe r of whom can i t be a l leged that theytake the i r own l ives ‘for fear of cons cr ipt ionIn the l ight of h isto ry , however , th is deplorable

S ign of the t imes can hard ly be cons idered su rp r ising

,for a mater ial is t creed has ever tended to the

l ight holding of l i fe .

Among the ancients,a h igh value was set on l i fe

by those who ma i nta ined the immorta l i ty of thesou l* and vice versa . I n modern t imes , whi lesu icide i s rega rded with abho rrence by those whohold any rel igious bel ief

,mater ia l is ts advocate a

State-a ided sys tem of “ euthanas ia ” for those whoare weary of l iv ing . Sel f-des truct ion was con s ideredwhol ly pe rm iss ib le by ! eno

,that Sto ic leader who

foreshadowed modern Socia l ism in h is cosmopol itan“ Republ ic ,

” whe re money shou ld not c i rcu late ,and where cou rts of j us t ice

,chu rches , and fami ly

l i fe wou ld have no place . H is disc ip le , Seneca , fo r

Pythagora s forbids us to abandon our guard and post of lifewithout the orders of our commander, that is , of God .

—Cicero, De Senectute .

2 34 RELIGION—MORAL ITY—SU IC IDE

years before he died by h is own hand ,* devotedmuch anxious thought to the way out .I n precise ly the same way , Pau l Lafargue , son

in- law and disc ip le of Karl Ma rx,the founder of

Modern Soc ial ism,del iberate ly p lanned the date of

h is own ext in ct ion ten years i n advance .

The celeb rated author of Droit a la Paresse 1'

devoted h imsel f with zeal , from the days of theCommune onwards , to the propagat ion of Social ismnot on ly on the Cont i nen t but i n England also .When he committed su ic ide ( i n November , 1 9 1 I ) bymeans of pruss i c acid

,hypoderm ical ly i njected , he

was suffer ing from no pain fu l disease,as his last

testamen t Shows .Sound i n body and mind , he d ec lared , I am

k i l l i ng mysel f before ruth less o ld age,which has

taken from me one by one the p leasures and joys ofex isten ce , and has depr ived me of my physical andinte l lectual powers , paralyses my energy , andb reaks my wi l l

,and makes me a burden to myse l f

an d others .For many years I have p ledged my sel f not to

pass the threescore yea rs and ten ; I have fixed thet ime for my departure from l i fe , and I have preparedthe method of carry ing out my resol ution— a hypoderm ic i nj ect ion of pruss i c acid .

I d ie with the sup reme j oy of being absol ute lyce rta i n that , i n the nea r futu re , the cause to wh i ch

* I t is true that Seneca ultimately committed suicide at the

invitation of his ruler, b ut his writings clearly show that he haddeliberately contemplated the act for years before he was calledupon to execute it.

1“ “The Right to Laziness .

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2 36 RELIGION— MORALITY—SU ICIDE

settle rs,a ha rd-wo rking decent man , with a comfo rt

able house,sur rounded by much ev idence of pra i se

worthy i ndus try . A , who had married a Scott ishwoman—a secede r from Cosme—was a man ofconside rable i nte l l igence

,an extreme Social is t

,and

an Atheist . He was un iversal ly l iked , especia l lyby the ch i ld ren

,an d was remarkably gent le i n his

manners . He was , i n fact , qu ite the last man ofwhom one wou ld expect any v io len t act ion . Yet ,next t ime the Schoolmaste r v isi ted tha t house , i t wasi n tragi c cirumstances ; A had ki l l ed h i s w i fe andtaken h is own l i fe . How l itt l e that poor womanthought

,when she l eft her home i n Scotland , to

exper ien ce the j oys of Cosmeism , that th i s wou ldbe her fate !Next

,the re was B

,a man of educat ion and the

kindest and most generous dispos it ion . I n hiscase , fortunate ly , ass istance came in t ime , and theSchoolmaster had the sat isfact ion of nu rs ing h imback to complete recove ry .

C , was a persona l fr iend of the Schoolmaster .An Engl ishman of ster l i ng worth , a vete ran whohad fought many yea rs befo re against the redsk insi n the Western States of North America . Abachelo r and teetotal le r , C was so devoted toch i ldren that the Schoolmaster employed h im as

ca retake r and assistant at the Las Ovejas school ,which he conducted s ingle -handed during the ra i nyseasons

,when the floods made i t imposs ibl e for the

Schoolmaster h imsel f to get there,from La Novia ,

for a week or mo re at a t ime . When the Schoolmaste r retu rned to England

,towards the end of

1 90 5 , he con t i nued to pay a smal l salary to C to

THE POSITION OF WOMAN 2 37

‘

carry on the school unt i l someone else coul d take upthe work . Some t ime later he was i nexpress ib lyshocked to learn that C had died , by h is own hand ,in t ragic ci rcumstances .These cases

,which a ll occurred with in a per iod of

e ighteen months,among a popu lat ion of less than

n inety adu lts,whi le p roving noth ing

,ce rtai n ly lend

colour to the theo ry of some intimate associat ionbetween su icide and Social ism .

Since the honourab le pos it ion of woman i n themode rn State is ent i re ly due to the influence ofrel ig ion upon conduc t , accumulat ing th rough theages , i t is not surp ri s ing to find Social is ts themselves admitt ing that the des truct ion o f rel igion wi l lbe accompan ied by the degradat ion of womankmd .

Although th is subject has been touched upon inChapter V , the fol lowing quotat ions from works byleading Social ists may be addedIn the new moral world the i rrat iona l names of

man and wife , pa rent and ch i ld , wi l l be heard nomo re . All connection wi l l be the resu lt ofaffect ion (woman ) i n her tria l wi l l be comfortedand caress ed by the who le commun ity thech i ldren wi l l undoubted ly be the p roperty o f thewhole commun ity .

” —Rob ert Owen .

Because we hold that Socia l ism wi l l u lt imate lysu rvive as the on ly tenable mora l code

,we are

convinced that our present marr iage cus tom andpresent mar i ta l law a l i ke mus t soon col lapse .

”

Professor Kar l Pearson i n Social ism and Sex .

“ Human bei ngs must be in a pos i t ion to actfreely where thei r strongest impulse is concernedas i n the case of any other natural i nst inct

2 3s REL I G ION—MORALITY —SU IC IDE

N0 one has to give an account of h imsel f o r herse l f ,and no th i rd person has the s l ightest right of intervention Herr Bebel i n Woman .

”

Eviden ce may be adduced to an indefin ite extent

to show that such ideas are not confined to anextreme set of wr iters i n some one country . Theyare the common property of sober-minded , wel ll iv i ng

,Social ist th inkers of al l countri es , at the

presen t moment . Any reader who doubts the truthof th is assert ion

,need on ly apply to any of the wel l

known Soc ial i st organ isat ions for a l ist of leafletsand works deal ing with the subj ect . This is not atopic upon wh ich the writer cares to di late at anylength in a work of th is character . I t may be statedhowever , that , smal l though the commun ity was ,i l leg it imacy was not unknown at “ New Austral ia .

”

Such a statement may eas i ly be met by an assertion that i rre l ig ion

,su i cid e

,and loose morals are by

no means unusual phenomena in soc iety as atpresen t const i tuted . True , but wh ereas , at p resent ,such ev i l s are legisl ated agai nst , and to a greatexten t kept under by the force of a strong pub l i cop in ion , under a Social ist i c regime they wi l l bedel iberately approved and fostered by the State .

That is a disti nct ion wh ich makes al l the difference .Those who have studied at close quarters the

manners and customs of prim itive races Wi l l see aclose correspondence between the i r hab its and thei deals of Social i sm . I t is d ifficu l t to res ist theconcl us i on that State Social i sm amounts to noth ingless than a h ideous form of State -en forcedbarbarism .

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240 CONCLUS ION

resumed its p lace as one of the most progress ive of

the s iste r Republ ics ; the Engl ish bondholders andothers , whose interests i n Pa raguay run intom i l l ions , would , among others

,have reaped the

benefi t of i ts renewed prosper i ty .

By th is , the twentieth yea r of New Austral ia’s

existence , the te rri tory shou ld have become a greatcent re of i ndust ry , dotted with p rospe rous towns ,connected by ra i lway with the B razi l ian ports

,as

wel l as with Asuncion and the Argent ine . Theseand much greate r th ings cou ld

, and , i n the wr i ter’s

op in ion wou ld , have been ach ieved , had the NewAustral ians not been bu rdened with the cu rse ofSocial ism . I f , i nstead , patr iot ism had been thean imat i ng spi r i t of the New Austral ian movement ,i t th r i l l s the imaginat ion to project a v i s ion of whatm ight have been accompl ished . But patr iot ism hasnoth ing i n common with Socia l i sm .

Mismanagement,ext ravagance

,favouri t ism

, ih

dolen ce , discontent , heathen ism , these are thenecessary accompan iments of Socia l ism ; whi lei ndustry , economy , th r i ft , i ndependence , se l frespect

,and sat isfact ion are sterl i ng qual i t i es cal led

forth by legit imate pride i n i ndiv idua l ownersh ip .

Of th is tru i sm the pla in story of New Austral iaserves as an excel l en t i l l us trat ion . Wil l iam Laneset out to p rov ide the worl d with an obj ect lessonand succeeded i n doing so . But h is to ry Shows thatthe world has ra rely profited by object lessons .Nat ions , l i ke indiv idua ls , usua l ly i ns is t on buyi ngthei r own exper ience . F rom the rapid p rogressSocia l ism is mak ing to-day, i t seems probable thatthere are those now l ivi ng who wi l l see modern

REAL TRAGEDY 24 1

civi l isat ion reduced to chaos by it . The sordidd rama rehearsed

,on a t iny stage

,at New Austral ia

and Cosme , may soon be played on a vast sca l e withthe whole world for a theatre . When that daycomes it wi l l be tragedy indeed !

THE END .

APPENDIX A .

POLITICAL PLATFORM OF THE A . L . F . ISSUED AFTERTHE COLLAPSE OF THE MAR ITIME STR IKE OF 1 890 .

‘The general Counc i l of the Austral ian Labou rFederat ion recommends to i ts var ious distr i cts theconsiderat ion of such pol it i cal act ion as i s demandedby the i ncreas ing i nte l l igence of the age , and thedes i re for social j ust ice wh ich now moves theworkers of the worl d .

Federated pol iti cal act ion i s a force , the poten cyof wh ich , i f r ightly appreciated , i s second on ly tofederated social act ion . Al l forces must be avai ledof

,i f i t i s the pu rpose of the workers of Austra l ia

to root out those social wrongs wh ich depr ive theworkers i n other lands of al l the happ iness ofl iv ing , and al ready show themselves in th is so -cal ledparadise of the work i ng-man .

’

Th is genera l Counci l is i n div i dual ly and collectively convinced , and bel ieves , as the vast major ityof th i nk ing workers are com ing to bel ieve

,that

soc ial m isery,poverty , v ice , and enmity are the

natu ra l fru its of the industr ial system as it exists .

to-day , denyi ng to the workers the l iberty to workand l ive except by perm iss ion of a class wh ich is

242

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244 APPEND IX A

requ is ite for i nsta l l i ng,maintain ing

,and increasing

nat ional cap ita l .

5 . The main tenance by the State autho r i ty fromthe jo i n t wea l th -product ion of al l educat ion andsan i tary inst i tut ions .‘6 . The j ust div is ion among al l the ci t i zens o f

the State of al l wealth-product ion , l ess on ly thatpart reta i ned for pub l i c and common requ i rements .

7 . The re-organ isat ion of soc iety upon the abovel i nes to be commenced at once

,and pursued uninter

ruptedly unt i l soc ial j ust i ce i s fu l ly secu red to eachand every cit izen .

’

APPENDIX B .

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION .

CHAPTER I .—NAME, OBJECT, DURATION .

Art . I . The Name of the Company is The NewAustra l ia Co -ope rat ive Colon izat ion Society ,

”

founded to carry out the obj ects expressed in thefol lowing art ic les .Art . I I . The object of the Company is to acqu ireand pioneer the lands granted by the ParaguayanGovernment i n the Departments of Ajos , Vi l la Rica ,Mb ocyaty, Caaguazu , and other lands that may beacqu i red beforehand , with the obj ect of forming aCo -operat ive Colony .

Art . I I I . The Company wi l l have i ts head officeor seat i n the colony Nueva Austral ia

,Department

of Ajos , Paraguay .

Art . IV . The durat ion of the Soc iety remainsfixed for twenty years

,to count from the day on

which these statutes are approved by the SuperiorGovernment Th is term can be prolonged by ageneral meet in g of shareholders whose membersrepresent three-quarters of the total n umber ofshares subscr ibed .

Art . V . The Society can cease before the l im itof durat ion by a decis ion of a general meet ing cal ledfor that object , i f sanct i oned by a number of shareholders representing th ree-quarters of the total .

Q 245

246 APPENDIX B

CHAPTER I I .

-CAP 1TAL , SHARES , AND R IGHTS o r

THE SHAREHOLDERS .

Art. VI . The capital o f the Company is fixed atdivided i nto 2 0 0 0 shares of £ 1 0 each

al ready subscribed an d paid,which shares wi l l pay

neither in te rest nor div idend .

Art . VI I . Each shareholder wi l l have the rightto effect cont racts relat ing to h is share with theapproval of the Di rectors , and on ly according to

thei r st ipu lat ions . A fa i th fu l copy of any contractwi l l be depos ited i n the head office of the Company ,and wi l l be read immediately a fter the open ing of ageneral meet i ng of shareholders

,and before begi n

n ing to treat of other matters . No share wi l l bet ransferred i n the books of the Company i n amanner cont rary to the st ipu lat ions of such contractswi thout prev ious consent of the D irectory . Nosha reholder wi l l be recogn ised in any general meetin g contrary to the st ipulat ion s of these con tractsArt . VI I I . The Pres ident of the Company forthe t ime of i ts du rat ion wi l l act as mandatory of al lthe shareholders res iding abroad , except ing thoseshareholders who give not ice i n writ i ng that theyhave named another shareholder to act ind ividual lyi n the i r name . The Shareholders res iding abroadwi l l have the r ight to meet to examine accounts andinvest igate the bus iness of the Company ,

and can

at th is meet ing name the i r mandatories to representthem i n Paraguay . They and thei r representat iveswi l l vote unan imously with the sha res which theyhold .

Art . IX . Each s ix months a general meetingwi l l

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2 48 APPEND IX B

and James Mooney,who wi l l manage the busi ness

of the Company for s ix mon ths . Three D i rectorsfo rm a quorum . The D irectors w i l l be e l igib l e forre- elect ion

,in case of a vacancy it mus t be fi l l ed by

the P res i den t u nt i l a general meet ing can be cal led .

A rt . XI I I . The funct ions and dut ies of theD irectors are : (a ) To manage al l the society

’s lnterests , and work for the i r greatest advantage ;

(b) to fix the Budget and authorise extraordinarymatters ; (c) dictate internal regulat ions ; (d) author isecontracts made by the Society , i n cl udi ng those ofbuying and sel l i ng ; (e) present at the general meeti ngs the balances and reports , according to Art .

XVI .Art . X IV . The funct ions and dut ies of thePres iden t are (a) To represen t the Society legal ly ;(b) to convene ordinary and extraordinary meet ingsaccording to the statutes and with consent of theD irectory ; (0 ) to pres ide at the meeti ngs and decidethe vot ing i n cases of equal i ty of votes in the

sess ions of the Di rectory ; (d) to execute the resol ut ions of the meeti ngs and of the D irectory

,and to

provide for the carry ing out of these statutes ; (e) toS ign , together w ith one Di rector , the provis ions anddefin i te t i t les of the shares , receipts , t ransfers , contracts

,acts

,and other documents that emanate from

the Society,and carry them through ; (f) to S ign ,

together with one D irector,the writ i ngs relat i ng to

the concess ion of the land i n favou r of the Companyby the Superior Government .

Art . XV . The re must be elected an Auditorevery s ix months at the general meet ing .

Art . XVI . The Directors wi l l present to the

APPENDIX B 249

Auditor a report of the Company every threemonths

,which wi l l be publ ished for th ree days ,

and each s ix months a ba lance and detai led accountof the Operat ions of the Company , with proposals forReserves , etc . The Auditor wi l l examine and giveh is repo rt i n th is respect . Ten days before thegenera l meet i ng the report and balance sheet wi l lbe pub l ished in a newspaper wh ich ci rcu lates i n thevi ci n ity of the Company .

Art . XVI I . A majori ty of three- fourths of theshares wi l l be requ i red at an extraordinary meet ingcal led to resolve the fol lowing : Dissolut ion of theCompany , prolonging its durat ion , fus ion withother compan ies

,reduct ion of cap ita l

,i n crease of

cap ital , change of object , al l other modificat ions ofthe Const itut ion .

APPENDIX C .

AFTER the arriva l of the second cont i ngent fromAustral ia certain regu lat ions were altered i n orderto check the dictator ia l powers of the di rectors , andmany new ones were establ ished . After rev is ion ,

(see p . Clauses 1 0 and 1 1 read thusExecutive Authority . 1 0 . Director and a Board

of Management elected by a two -th i rds majori ty ina genera l ba l lot

,to be sole executive author ity .

D epartmenta l Authority . 1 1 . Superintenden tse lec ted by a two-th i rds majori ty of departmen talbal lot to be so le departmental authority , subj ect tothe Director , and B oard of Management .

The fol lowing is the text of the other supplementary clauses in troduced afte r the Soci al ists hadreached New Austral ia . Note the mul t ipl icat ionof office-holders—di rectors , deputy-di rectors , managers , superintendents , agents , etc .

INITIATIVE.

30 . Any twenty-five members may at any timetake the in it iative and convene a publ i c meeting

,of

wh ich seven days ’ not ice shal l be given , for the cons ideration of any stated business ; such meet ingmay select its own chai rman , and , p rovided a twoth irds majori ty b e obta ined at a bal lot vote sevenclear days after such meet ing , the decis ion arr ivedat shal l be hel d val i d and become law.

2 50

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2 5 2 APPEND IX C

36 . Re-arrangement of representation upon the

Board of Management may be made at any t ime bya two-th i rds majori ty vote of al l voters .

FUNCTIONS OF BOARD .

3 7 . The Board of Management shal l have fu l lauthori ty (a) to expend the funds i n i ts hands asmay seem to i t best for the good of the Associat ion ;( b) to make such terms and arrangements with theGovernment of Pa raguay as may conduce to themain tenance of cordial and loyal re lat ionsh ip withsuch Government ; (0 ) i t shal l have al l other powersnecessary for the carry ing on of the purposes of theAssociat ion .

EX ERCISE OF AUTHORIT! .

38 . The D i recto r shal l exerc ise the authori ty , andexecute the recommendat ions and resol utions of theBoard of Management

,except i ng on ly the expend

ing of the general funds of the Association .

DEPUT! DIRECTOR .

39 . The Deputy D irector shal l supervise al ldepartmen ts , and Shal l g ive a general month lyreport of al l work done i n each .

SUPER INTENDENTS .

40 . Departmental S uperi ntendents Shal l superviseal l work i n the i r part i cu lar department ; shal l fa ithfu l ly keep a j ob t ime Sheet , wh ich they Shal l supp lyto the Deputy D irector i n the i r respect ive commun it ies

, at l east once a week , and shal l have fu l l

APPENDIX C 2 53

control of,and be respo nsib le for

,al l tools and

mater ials i n the i r department .

TREASURER .

4 1 . E lection : A Treasurer Shal l be elected by a

two- th i rds majori ty vote of al l voters .

42 . Functions : He shal l have charge of the bankbooks of the Assoc iat ion , and shal l pay no moneyexcept by order of the Board of Management . Heshal l produce vouchers fo r al l cash payments , andany secu r i t ies he may hold in hand at every auditof accounts . He shal l

,on rece ipt of a written

not ice,s igned by the Director and any three of the

Board of Management,del iver up to the D irector ,

with in seven days , al l books , mon ies , cheques , andother prope rty of the Associat ion which he maypossess .

43 . Susp ension : He Shal l be subject to suspen

s ion by the D irector pending notificat ion to themembers of the Associat ion , who may by a twoth irds majo r i ty declare the office vacant , and electanother T reasurer at any t ime .

SECRETAR ! .

44 . E lection : The Sec retary sha l l be e lected bya two- th irds majo r i ty vote of al l voters .

45 .

' Functions : He shal l S ign al l offic ial lettersand announcements of the Board of Management .He sha l l rece ive al l mon ies fo r the Boa rd ofManagement and put them at once into the banknamed by the Board , forwa rding the depos i t S l ipto the Treasurer with i n three days of making thedeposit . He shal l be under the i nstruct ions of the

254 APPENDIX C

Di rector,and shal l perform such dut ies as may be

assigned to h im . He shal l keep fo r refe rence al lrepo rts and correspondence rece ived by the Boardof Management, and COpies of al l rep orts andcorrespondence emanat ing from the Board ofManagement . Any member may examine therecords of the Associat ion at any t ime and mayrequest a copy of any specified record at any time .

46 . Suspension : He shal l be subject to suspen

s ion by the D i rector pending not ificat ion to themembers , who may by a two - th i rds major i ty declarethe office vacant and elect another Secretary at anyt ime .

EDUCATION .

47 . I t Shal l be i n cumbent on al l ch i ldren,between

the ages of 6 and 1 5 years , to attend the Associat ionschools . Chi ldren who wi l l not attend school shal lbe compel led to work .

co -OPERATION IN WOMEN ’

S WORK .

48 . I t shal l be incumben t on al l women toorgan ise for assist i ng in communal work to thebest of thei r ab i l i ty , and for th is pu rpose the womeni n each sett lement shal l form themselves i n to acommittee for the purpose of decid ing upo n andapportion ing the work to be done by each .

49 . I n case of non -fulfilment of duties appor

tioned by such committee they shal l have power toreport the same to the Board of Management, whowi l l deal with the matter as provided for.

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2 50 APPEND IX C

prope rty of the Associa t ion and cannot be withdrawn .

FREIGHT AND PAS SAGE .

55 . Al l charges of fre ight,passage

,etc . , from

the poin t of departu re to the co lony , to be defrayedby such volunteers .

PROBATION .

56 . At the expi rat ion of three months from the

date of the i r arr ival i n the co lony , al l vo lunteers wi l lbe requ i red to complete the necessary condit ions ofmembersh ip , or leave the colony at the i r ownexpense .

W IVES AND S INGLE WOMEN .

57 . Wives of members are admitted free ; alsoal l s ingle women between the ages of 16 and 2 5

years .

EX CEPTIONS

58 . Exceptions may be made to al l of the aboveat the discret i on of the Board of Management ; orits du ly authorised agen ts .

AGENTS

59 . The Board of Management,with the consen t

of members,Shal l ap point agents and such other

officers as wi l l enab le organ isat ion to be effectual lyconducted , and shal l see that such oflicers areacceptab le to , and have the confidence of , al lmembers i n the i r respe ct ive local i t ies .

APPENDIX C 2 57

60 . To faci l i tate organ isat ion , groups shal l beformed by authorised agents whenever conven ient ,and shal l be recogn ised as the centre of the Assoc iat ion in thei r respective distr i cts .

6 1 . No agent shal l b ind the Associat ion to thecarrying of any contract by a greater bond than thedeposit of such sums as may be at the t ime in h ishands , but he may , at h is discretion agree by suchdeposits , to increase the bond at a futu re date .

62 . The authorised agents shal l supervise emigrat ion so as to l ighten , as far as poss ib le , the attendanthardsh ips ; shal l see that every member is providedwith personal necessaries

,and that carr iage i s avai l

ab le , as far as po ss ib le , for personal effects ; shal ladvise whenever necessary

,and shal l make regu la

t ions as may seem des i rable for the wel l -being ofemigrat ing members .

ADVANTAGES TO NON-MEMBERS .

63 . The Associat ion offers grants of lands toi ndividuals , or roups of i ndividuals

,not members

of the Associatign, on terms to be arranged betweensuch individuals and the Board of Management orits duly author ised agents . Such terms to beapproved of by a two-th i rds majori ty vote of al lvoters .

AMENDMENT .

64 . Amendmen t of th is consti tut ion and regu lat ions to be made on ly by a two-th i rds majority voteof al l voters .

APPENDIX D .

LABOUR -CHECK SYSTEM .

1 . Each adu lt member of the Assoc iat ion i sent it led to a credit of per week ; minorsbetween the ages of 1 5 and 1 8

, $4 ; ch i ldren asbelow .

*

2 . A l ist of p r i ces of art icles , l i ke ly to be requ i red ,wil l be kept posted in the store . The storekeeperto order any a rt i cles asked for , i f a credit exists tothe amount ordered and the art icl e can be obtainedin Asuncion .

3 . Al l art ic les grown on the settl ement must besold through the store . Prices to be fixed by acommittee

,cons ist i ng of the D irector , the Secretary ,

and the Storekeeper , and as far as poss ib le at

cu rrent rates .

4 . Members who rece ive thei r food from the cooperat ive mess wi l l form a committee , and i nstructthe cooks at what rate they can draw from eachcredit .

5 . I f the quant i ty of any art ic le be l imited , andthe demand greater than the supp ly , the sa id art icleshal l be div ided among the appl i cants .

* Children between Oand 1

l and 5

5 and 10

10 and

2 58

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APPEND IX E .

THE IDEAL HOME .

I n January , 1 90 1 , when Cosme Colony had been :

i n ex istence S ix and a hal f yea rs,the c it izens were

st i l l l iv in g i n such squa l id dens that the commun i tydrew up an official s tandard of des ign for dwel l i ngs

,

to be erected “ one for al l an d al l for one .” Thefol lowing was the standard (by no mean s real ised)adopted fo r s ize and bu i l d of Cosme dwel l i nghousesCLAS S 1 . For S ingle Men o r WomenA single- roomed cottage with floor sp ace to theamount of 144 sq . ft . with wal ls e ight feet h igh

(from floor to the top of wal l p late) , of sawn s labswith smooth S i de outward and pugged with in ; onefi rep lace and ch imney ; two windows (maximumsize

, 35 by 25 ft .) and one door , or two doors andone window ; verandah 5} ft . wide on one s ide ofcottage ; earthen floor ; posts of round hardwood ;plates , rafters , and battens sawn ; gab le ends ofsawn boards ; roof of whatever material may bemost convenientfl thatch or sh ingle .CLASS 2 . For Fami l ies with not more than TwoChildren

,the e lder of whom is not more than

five years o ldA two- roomed cottage with floor space to theamount of 2 88 sq . ft . ; wal ls 8 ft . h igh , pugged on

260

APPENDIX E 26 1

both sides ; part it ion 8 ft . h igh , of boards ; fireplaceand ch imney to l iving room . Floo r and generalmanner of bu i lding as fo r cottage ‘CLAs s F rontverandah 55 ft . wide , back ve randah 7 ft . wide .

Detached kitchen with floor space of 1 2 0 sq . ft . i naddit ion to fi rep lace . Fi replace fitted with oven ;wal ls of k itchen 6% ft . h igh with proj ect ing eaves .

CLAS S 3 . Fo r Large r o r Older Fami l ies thanCLAS S 2Fo r each ch i ld or pa i r of ch i ldren , more than two

ch i ldren , unde r fou r yea rs of age , an addit iona l roomwi l l be provided by making verandah rooms of theback ve randah

,the wa l ls of which rooms wi l l be of

sawn t imber . I n fami l ies where there are ch i ldrenof each sex over s ix years of age , arrangements tobe made for separate bedroom accommodat ion .

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

For a note of the authorities mentioned in the body o f thiswork, see Index.

For further in formation concerning the origin and development of Socialism in Australia , see

Australian Socialism,by A. St. Ledger. 1909. Macmill an .

4s . 6d . net .

For a rapid survey of other attempts to realise in practice theideals of S ocial ism,

see

The Failures of Socialism. With an Introduction by

Thomas Mackay . Anti -Social ist Union . 1d .

For authoritat ive Socialist expos ition of the aims of modernSocial ism,

see the publications of

The Clarion Press,44

, Worship Street, E .C.

The Fabian Society,3, Clements I nn , Strand , W.C.

The Independent Labour Party , 23, Bride Lane , E .C.

The Social Democratic Party, Chandos Hall,Maiden Lane,

W.C.

For non -Socialist criticism of modern Socialism, see

A Critical Examination of Socialism, b y W. H . Mall ock .

1 908. John Murray. 68 .

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INDEX.

Adelaide Advertiser, 1 30.

Anarchism,see Wells .

Asuncion,70.

Australian Labour Federation, 7(see Appendix A) .

Australian Socialist Party, 1 .

Barrier Miner , 1 01 .

Bax, Mr . Belfort, 53, 229 .

Bebel , Herr, 89, 238 .

Bellamy, 5 , 16.

Besant, Mrs , 62.

Blatchford, Mr . Robert (“ Nun61—63, 88—93, 97, 100,

1 13, 124, 136, 143, 147, 221 ,

230 . Daily N ews , 235 .

Botril l, Dr ., 36, 84 . Daily Express , 54 .

Buenos Aires S tandard, 35 . Droit a la Paresse , 234 .

Casey, Mr . , 1 1 1 , 127 . Economic Review,10.

Chateaubriand , 30 . Ethics of Socialism, 5 3, 229.

Christian Repub lic, see Jesuits . Every, Bishop, 214, 228 .

Chubut, 28 . Expulsions, 96, 1 90, 202 .

Clarion , 96, 230 .

Conservative and Unionis t, xi. Fab ian Essays, 62.

Co operative Commonwealth , Freeland ,” see B ertaka .

see Gronlund .

Cosme Colony, founded by W.

Lane , 1 55 privations at, 1 58,

1 94 ; and women’

s suffrage ,1 59 ; A greement, 1 60 ; life at,

166, 172 initiation, 1 71 ; mar

riage service, 173 ; system of

credits , 179, 193 ; recruitingfor, 1 80

,200 ; housing at,

Appendix E disputes at, 184,

192 ; secessions from,186, 191 ,

199, 204 expulsions from,1 90,

202 ; W. Lane leaves , 197 ;

changes principles, 198 ; abandons Commun ism ,

227 .

Cosme Evening Notes , 1 57.

Cosme Monthly, 1 56, 1 94 , 203,

205 .

Credits, 143, 1 79, 193, AppendixD .

Genie da Christianisme, 30.

Gilmore, Mrs , s% Sydney Daily

Telegraph .

God and my Neighbour, 221 ,

230.

264 INDEX

Gonzalez Colony,106, 1 07.

Gonzalez, Pres ident , 29, 106, 107Gronlund , Laurence , 122, 1 44,

147 , 14s.

H ertzka,Dr . Theodor, 18, 25 ,

76, 96.

Ingersoll, 63 .

Jesuits , The, 29.

Kaufmann, Rev . M ., 31 .

Kennedy, Mr .,224 .

Kidd , Frederick , 1 16, 210 .

Labour Check System, see

Credits .

Lafargue, Paul, 234 .

L’

Ami du Peuple, 1 1 7.

Lane, John,1 55

,197 .

Lane,Mrs . Wil liam, 3, 66, 87 ,

1 56 .

Lane, Will iam, early career,2 ;

founds The Work er,4 ;

“The

Working Man’

s Paradise , 1 7 ;

New Aus tralia Journal , 38 ;

and morals , 52, 5 6 ; appo intedAdministrator, 80 ; benevolentdespotism, 93 ; expels New

Austral ians , 99 ; and justice,105 resigns o ffice, 1 15 ; secedesfrom New Australia

,1 1 6 ;

foun ds Cosme Colony, 1 55 ;

and religion ,168 ; visits Eng

land , 1 80 ; expels Cosmans,

1 90 ; leaves Cosme, 1 97 .

La Novia, 215 , 219 .

Las Ove jas, 83, 1 13 , 213, 219.

Leaves from a Squatter’

s Not

Book, ” 1 5 .

Leck, 1 9 , 28, 34, 205 .

Logan, Captain, 5 1 .

Loma Rugua,1 13 , 213 , 218.

Looking Backward , see

Bellamy.

Lopez, D ictator, 33 .

LOpez, Dr . , 32, 81 .

Los Amigos , 150, 213, 218, 21222.

Macdonald , A .,146.

Macdonald , Mr . J . Ramsa

M .P . ,xi.

Maeterlinck, 95 .

“ Merrie England , see Blatoford .

Miller, John (=W. Lane) , 17.

Morality, see Socialism.

Morris , William, 5 3 .

N eue Ereie Presse , 18 .

New Atlantis ,” 29 .

New Australia , by Stewa

Grahame , xi.

New Australia : A Reportthe British Board , by Roge1 14

,138 .

N ew Aus tralia Journal 38 ,

72.

New Australians, character49, 70, 106 ; disputes amon

5 7 , 66, 77, 86, 103, 141 , 22

expulsion of, 96 ; secessions104, 1 12 ; t e-patriated , 1C

revise Constitution, 124 ; a

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INDEX

South Aus tralian Regis ter, 81 .

Spencer, H erbert, 63 .

Strike, The Great, 1 .

Sunday Schools , 232 .

Sydney Bulletin, 49.

Sydney Daily Telegraph, 42, 5 1 ,

67, 1 5 1 , 1 5 3, 15 8, 1 59, 205 .

Sydney Work er, 197 .

Taylor, H . S .,1 53 .

Telegram, a bungled , 1 10 .

Timber, valuable, 132 .

Tozer, 80, 1 80, 1 88 .

Tuyu Rugua , 213 , 216, 219, 22

Voltaire . 29 .

! eno, 233 .

Walker,1 9

, 34.

Wells , Mr . H . G., 53, 64 , 68, 8

1 19,120

Westminster Review, 2, 41 .

Women’

s Votes,5 8, 125 , 1 59 .

Worker,The 4 , 97, 1 1 7 .

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