They have always received colored people, and have some in
several of the societies.
"Every commune, to prosper, must be founded, so far as its industry
goes, on agriculture. Only the simple labors and manners of a farming
people can hold a community together. Wherever we have departed from
this rule to go into manufacturing, we have blundered." For his part, he
would like to make a law for the whole country, that every man should
own a piece of land and work on it. Moreover, a community, he said,
should, as far as possible, make or produce all it uses. "We used to
have more looms than now, but cloth is sold so cheaply that we gradually
began to buy. It is a mistake; we buy more cheaply than we can make, but
our home-made cloth is much better than that we can buy; and we have now
to make three pairs of trousers, for instance, where before we made one.
Thus our little looms would even now be more profitable--to say nothing
of the independence we secure in working them."
[Illustration: SHAKER TANNERY, MOUNT LEBANON]
In the beginning, he said, the societies were desirous to own land; and
he thought immoderately so. They bought to the extent of their means;
being economical, industrious, and honest, they saved money rapidly, and
always invested their surplus in more land.
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