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DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
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25 CENTS 
 
 ALTRURIA 
 
 BY 
 
 TITUS K. SMITH 
 
 * 
 
 ALTRURIA PUBLISHING COHPANY 
 
 39 CORTLANDT STREET 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
ALTRURIA 
 
 BY 
 
 TITUS K. SMITH 
 
 ALTRURIA PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 39 CORTLANDT STREET 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
Copyrighted, 1895, 
 By Titus K. Smith. 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 Jenkins & McCowan, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
\JW?(f\ 
 
 To all who are hoping and working for the progress 
 of humanity, longing for the fullness of liberty and so- 
 cial reason, whose dawn only we now enjoy, "Altruria" 
 is dedicated. The Author. 
 
 New York, May 31, 189S. 
 
 602143 
 
ALTRURIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 One day recently I received a letter from 
 a man who was a collegemate of mine seven- 
 teen years ago. John Optimus was as jovial 
 a youth as his name was odd. He was al- 
 ways light-hearted and was a general favorite 
 with every one. Notwithstanding all his 
 witty nonsense, he was a fairly good scholar. 
 But no one expected serious things from 
 John Optimus, although we believed him 
 capable of them if only he could be impelled 
 to bring his mind to bear upon them. 
 
 I, on the contrary, was of a serious dispo- 
 sition and made my college days as business- 
 like as possible. 
 
 Optimus and I soon became warm friends. 
 Perhaps our extreme opposites of tempera- 
 ment had made our attachment all the 
 stronger. We never tired of each other's 
 society. For several years after leaving col- 
 lege we maintained a lively correspondence, 
 but as we became more and more immersed 
 in the cares of the greater school of real life, 
 
 602143 
 
6 Altruria. 
 
 our letters became less frequent, the corres- 
 pondence languished, and, finally, through 
 the unexpected change of residence of both, 
 we lost sight of each other. It was as if we 
 had drifted far and farther apart on the 
 ocean of humanity, until at last a single wave 
 of chance obscured our vision of each other. 
 I was very glad to hear from Optimus 
 again. This is what he wrote : 
 
 Altruria, Iowa, July 4, 1893. 
 Dear Titus : — 
 
 To-day as I was glancing over the 
 
 July number of the magazine, what should 
 
 1 see but your article " Social Evolution " (a subject 
 which always interests me), and as I infer from it 
 that you live in New York city, I address this letter 
 to you there. I hope it will reach you as I would 
 be glad to renew our delightful correspondence of 
 yore. If you receive this, write me at once. I hope 
 fortune has been kind to you. 
 
 As for myself. I am satisfied with what God has 
 given me — neither too much nor too little. I am 
 blest with a wife and three children, two daughters 
 and a son. I contend that they are my fortune. 
 
 By the way, have you been to the Columbian Ex- 
 position at Chicago, or do you intend to go ? If the 
 latter, and you could come this month, I would be 
 glad to meet you there. Telegraph me as to this. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 John Optimus. 
 
Altruria. 7 
 
 It so happened that my family and I were 
 just planning to go to Chicago, and I there- 
 fore wired him this message : 
 
 " Shall be in Chicago, July 1 5th ; if any time more 
 suitable, wire." 
 
 The next morning I received his reply: 
 
 "Will meet you Chicago 15th; write hotel ad- 
 dress." 
 
 Accordingly I wrote him at once. It was 
 not a long letter as I prefer much to talk 
 rather than write. Besides, from the tenor 
 of his letter, I concluded I might surprise 
 him a little. 
 
 I had long promised myself a trip to the 
 western metropolis, but was always too busy. 
 Now, however, it was different. Everything 
 was at a standstill. The financial panic had 
 paralyzed all business, and I might as well 
 take this opportune time of enforced idleness 
 for a longer vacation than customary. 
 
 Mrs. Smith and the children were of course 
 delighted to go. As for myself, while I dis- 
 like railroad travelling, the thought of meet- 
 ing old friend Optimus gave real zest to the 
 journey. 
 
 I wondered how I should find Jack ; how 
 
8 Alirjiria. 
 
 fortune had used him in these seventeen 
 years. 
 
 During the next week I could not help 
 thinking of his probable estate. Had he be- 
 come a farmer? 
 
 While I was thinking over this matter, I 
 received another letter from him. In it he 
 expressed great pleasure at the prospect of 
 seeing me so soon, and then proceeded to 
 argue with me some of the points in my arti- 
 cle on " Social Evolution." I saw at once 
 that Jack's mind had not been running fallow 
 since our college days. His logic was sound 
 and full of wit. " But," he continued, *' let 
 me make a suggestion : If you are really in- 
 terested in social reform, come and visit Al- 
 truria with me after you have seen ' The 
 Fair.' In Altruria you will find all your 
 theories realized." 
 
 This was a startling revelation to me ; my 
 friend evidently had become a socialist or 
 communist. Then I remembered reading 
 about several communist settlements in the 
 West, and I must say I did not relish that 
 kind of a " realization " of my theories of so- 
 cial reform. I was almost sorry I had ar- 
 ranged for the meeting. Yet how cowardly 
 this was. Whatever Optimus might be, he 
 
Altruria. 9 
 
 was a man, every inch of him ! 1 shall see 
 him and let him speak for himself ; and if he 
 can profit me anything I will accompany him 
 to Altruria. Thus did I think. 
 
 The following day we started for Chicago. 
 When the train reached Chicago, we at 
 once proceeded to our hotel where we found 
 Optimus and his family awaiting our arrival. 
 The mutual introductions gave us real pleas- 
 ure. John Optimus had broadened out into 
 a magnificent man, and his wife and children 
 gave evidence of careful breeding and had 
 the most engaging dispositions. They made 
 us feel as if we had long been friends, as, in- 
 deed, Mrs. Optimus declared we should have 
 been. 
 
 I had expected to meet people from an 
 agricultural community, good hearted but of 
 little culture. In this the entire Optimus 
 family surprised me. I could not help con- 
 gratulating John on having such a delightful 
 family. He complimented me equally, and 
 yet I envied him, for whatever of worldly 
 goods I might have more than he, in the 
 matter of health and happiness he evidently 
 completely eclipsed me. I was practically 
 an old, care-worn man beside him, although 
 his junior. 
 
TO Altruria. 
 
 For that whole day we did nothing but 
 talk over our lives, and bring our histories up 
 to date for each other. It was a happy day. 
 During our conversation in the evening I 
 confided to Jack that his letter had filled me 
 with fear that he had become a socialist. 
 
 " But," continued I, " if socialism keeps 
 the furrows from the cheeks as it has for 
 Mrs. Optimus and yourself, and produces the 
 culture exhibited in your children, I think I 
 should welcome it." 
 
 '* Pardon me," he replied, " I am not a so- 
 cialist, but an Altruist." 
 
 " And may I ask what meaning you attach 
 to the term Altruist ? " 
 
 " I shall be happy to explain, but now that 
 you are in the West, will you not accompany 
 us to our home in Altruria and see its mean- 
 ing for yourself ? Come and spend a week 
 with us. Since you are interested in social 
 reform, it may profit you to make the trip. 
 We came to Chicago at this time in the hope 
 of persuading you to come." 
 
 I thanked Optimus and told him I would 
 consider the matter with my wife, and if 
 practicable would accept his invitation. 
 
 In the next four days we saw as much as 
 we could of the fair. It was grand, magnifi- 
 
Altruria. 1 1 
 
 cent ! You have seen or heard all about it of 
 course. Then wc spent another day in see- 
 ing the city of Chicago itself. The week 
 spent, John proposed that we go to his home 
 at Altruria, via St. Paul and Minneapolis. 
 We now readily consented, accepted grate- 
 fully, for the Optimuses had so piqued my 
 curiosity about Altruria that I should have 
 gone there even without an invitation. 
 
 On our journey from Chicago westward, 
 John and I began to talk of the financial de- 
 pression which had recently come over the 
 land. I was well read on the newspaper theo- 
 ries of the cause of the panic, but, as an east- 
 ern man, had read only our local papers and 
 was taught to believe in the single gold stand- 
 ard, although it seemed to me that also a larg- 
 er use of silver was possible and necessary. 
 I was desirous of having John's views on the 
 subject, but he said he preferred to hear the 
 opinions of others, and as we had made the 
 chance acquaintance on the train of a Mr. 
 Samuel Wealer, who was willing to discuss 
 the money question, we invited his views ; 
 and at this moment I saw passing through 
 the car, on his way to the smoking car, 
 Col. Boonton, an old friend of mine in New 
 York, who also never missed an oppor- 
 
12 AUruria. 
 
 tunity to help expound the mysteries of 
 finance. 
 
 Col. Boonton, I learned, was on his way to 
 Omaha, where he had real estate investments 
 which he felt needed looking after at this 
 time. After the usual introductions I urged 
 the Colonel to sit down with us a few min- 
 utes and give us the benefit of his views re- 
 garding monetary systems. 1 informed Mr. 
 Wealer and Mr. Optimus that Col. Boonton 
 could not have come anywhere at a more 
 opportune time, as he had spent years of 
 study on the problem, and was an authority 
 on the subject. 
 
 " But really," protested the Colonel, " I do 
 not feel in the humor of talking finance." 
 
 I, however, prevailed upon him to be seat- 
 ed, knowing that he would warm to the sub- 
 ject, especially if he heard views antagonistic 
 to his own, and I remarked that the subject 
 of finance seemed to me hopelessly abstruse 
 and difficult. *' I should really like to get 
 bed-rock information on the subject. Mr. 
 Wealer, will you kindly state your views ? I 
 presume you are a free-silver man, hailing 
 from the West ? " 
 
 " Yes," he replied, " I favor the free and 
 unlimited coinage of silver ; and, as for the 
 
Altruria. 13 
 
 whole problem of finance, it is really very 
 simple if we keep in mind the historical facts 
 bearing upon it, one of which facts is that the 
 whole practice of political economy has been 
 revolutionized. Formerly, power ruled 
 through the instrument of the sword. Mili- 
 tary strength was the recourse of rulers ; 
 power rested directly on physical force. To- 
 day men eschew war, and rule by the power 
 of money. We are in the economic era when 
 everything, from the gospel-preacher to the 
 bootblack, from the railway to the wheelbar- 
 row, is measured by its economic value. 
 Through control and manipulation of the 
 monetary system our rulers take larger spoils 
 than credited to any warrior, and the people 
 suffer and see not their oppressors. Under 
 the rulership of war, men gave their whole 
 lives in one sum. The money-power stealth- 
 ily takes toll from the producers, leaving them 
 but a bare subsistence. The innocent babes 
 of the poor, who die like flies in your New 
 York tenements, are robbed of the means of 
 full life by your money rulers. Not directly, 
 it is true, nor wilfully, for many of those who 
 profit by the present system are its dupes as 
 much as are the victims. 
 
 " If a people shall be free, its money must 
 
14 Altruria. 
 
 be free. Under the economic system money 
 is the key, because it is the universal solvent 
 — money is the only thing into which every 
 other article or kind of property may be re- 
 solved ; and, hence, those who control the 
 money of a country are the actual rulers of 
 the people. Our money is not free money: 
 it is issued by feudal banking lords, to whom 
 every member of commerce and industry 
 must pay tribute. 
 
 " The present fight against silver is not be- 
 cause of its depreciation in value (it has de- 
 preciated only because of the war made upon 
 it, whereby its use as money was restricted 
 to a very small volume), but because it is free 
 money, and because the money-kings desire 
 to keep the stock of ultimate -redemption 
 money as small as possible in order that they 
 may be able to manipulate and control it. 
 
 " If enough free money (through the free 
 coinage of silver and gold) could be obtained 
 to perfectly facilitate the exchange of all the 
 products of wealth, none of the credit money 
 of the feudal banking lords would be needed, 
 and hence the income of the bankers would 
 be cut off, or reduced to a minimum. There- 
 fore, if silver be discredited as a money metal, 
 its use discontinued as money, it is clear. 
 
Altruria. 1 5 
 
 that the banks will have the money business 
 more largely in their own hands, and their 
 money will find occupation and remuneration 
 where free money should have the employ- 
 ment. This is a vital point : vital to the 
 bankers, vital to the people. Their interests 
 are diametrically opposed. In proportion as 
 the former wax fat, the latter grow lean. 
 The rulership of money by the feudal bank- 
 ing system means the spoliation of the pro- 
 ducing millions, for the bankers can decree 
 the toll at which the laborer may bring the 
 product of his toil through the mill of ex- 
 change. All wealth production is idle unless 
 each man may freely exchange his products 
 for the products of others. And as money 
 is the medium (the means) of making that 
 exchange, those who control the means can 
 say to all producers on what terms, at what 
 cost, they may exchange their products. 
 
 " And what makes this present suffering 
 more galling is the fact that through a subtle 
 manipulation of international exchange. 
 Great Britain still largely rules this country 
 through the money power. 
 
 " The question assumes a large moral 
 aspect. Silver has been the equal of gold 
 through all the ages, for at least two thou- 
 
1 6 Altruria. 
 
 sand years. Silver is now in the hands of the 
 toihng masses. If silver be discredited their 
 property is vitiated, is reduced to one-half or 
 one-third its former value, and the people are 
 poorer by one-half or two-thirds of their hard 
 earned savings. It would be as honest to de- 
 clare war upon a nation, and by force take 
 one-half of the money or property of each 
 citizen. This would be monstrous. Equally 
 so is the scheme for the demonetization of 
 silver. It blots out one-half the real money 
 of the world. It is barbarous, and puts our 
 civilization to the blush. And all for what ? 
 That a comparatively few rich men may be- 
 come vastly richer, while the toilers are to 
 that extent despoiled and made poorer. 
 
 " For these reasons I am a bimetallist. I 
 am for free silver because it means more free 
 money and a free people. 
 
 " Because some of our people have de- 
 manded a larger issue of free money, the 
 banks (which have had almost a monopoly 
 of issuing money), have called in their cur- 
 rency for the sole purpose of punishing the 
 believers in more free money until they 
 should renounce the belief. And this forci- 
 ble withdrawal from circulation of the banks' 
 money precipitated the panic of 1893, the 
 
Altruria. 17 
 
 echo of which we shall hear for many a 
 year." 
 
 Col. Boonton had listened attentively to 
 Mr. Wealer, and I could see was bristling 
 with opposition views. In manner, the 
 Colonel was brusk and direct, yet kindly. 
 
 " I consider," said he, addressing Mr. 
 Wealer, " that you have given us as lucid 
 and eloquent a presentation of the free silver 
 idea as I have ever heard, but, if you will 
 pardon me, your argument is based on two 
 propositions which, as premises, have no ex- 
 istence in history or fact. Firstly, there is 
 no such thing as ' free money.' Metallic 
 money is not free, inasmuch as the metal 
 producer will not part with his property 
 without receiving an equivalent from the 
 purchaser thereof, and, assuming the gov- 
 ernment to be such purchaser, the govern- 
 ment in turn will not part with it, whether 
 in bullion or coin form, without receiving an 
 equivalent therefore, either in services ren- 
 dered, or property surrendered, to it. 
 Consequntly, whether the amount of metallic 
 money be more or less it can get into circu- 
 lation only in exchange for labor or the 
 products of labor, for a direct, full exchange 
 of agricultural and industrial products with 
 
1 8 AUriiria. 
 
 the producers of the metal is impossible, be- 
 cause the metal producers cannot consume 
 but an infinitesimal portion of such products 
 offering. This applies to gold and silver 
 producers alike. They are willing to part 
 with their entire products but unable to re- 
 ceive in exchange all other products, 
 
 " Money is merely the tool of exchange. 
 Simply as metal no one would care to receive 
 it, but merely because of its bearing the gov- 
 ernment certificate of value (by the imprint 
 of a stamp which transforms it into coin), so 
 that having the government's guaranty of ex- 
 change value, it shall be taken readily in any 
 exchange which the holder may care to 
 make. Money in itself is not wealth ; it is 
 only the means of exchanging wealth, and as 
 such means it has in the interim, between the 
 making of exchanges, for the time an inher- 
 ent (not intrinsic) value in the manner that a 
 trustee may, for a season, be the possessor 
 in fact. Were your theory correct, I should 
 favor the ' remonetization ' of copper also. 
 
 " Your second false premise is, however, 
 answered in the first, since you have ig- 
 nored the fact that borrowed money in the 
 form of credit is as effective a tool of ex- 
 change as is coined money. And borrowed 
 
Altrtiria, 19 
 
 money is merely the equivalent of lent credit. 
 Here is where our national banks have their 
 reason for being. They lend their credit in 
 the shape of paper currency, the redeema- 
 bility of which is guaranteed by their money 
 paid in as capital stock funds, invested in 
 government bonds deposited in the federal 
 treasury. And they will lend their credits 
 more readily than would the federal govern- 
 ment, if the security offered assures them 
 such credits will be returned to them unim- 
 paired. The security accepted is often more 
 in the nature of recognized skill to employ 
 labor and to manipulate the actual exchange 
 of labor's products than a security in real 
 wealth, and where real property is considered, 
 it is given only as a pledge of the borrower's 
 ability to employ labor, or to exchange its 
 products ; for if this ability and honesty exist, 
 the credits will be returned unimpaired after 
 they have served the borrower temporily as 
 the tools of exchange. 
 
 " Then, perhaps, you will say that if that be 
 the case, we need neither gold nor silver for 
 money, which is a fact as I view it. There is 
 no absolute need of having metallic money. 
 But as a convenience (and people always 
 want the most convenient tools to achieve 
 
20 Altruria. 
 
 any operation whatsoever) a certain amount 
 of metallic money is as necessary as is a 
 railway. Both effect a saving of time and 
 exertion. Were we still in the age of barter, 
 intrinsic value money would be needed in 
 every exchange of property where the ex- 
 changers were at any distance from each 
 other. 
 
 ** If the government were in full touch, 
 commercially, with all the producers, and 
 took an active part in the exchange of all 
 wealth products, then, manifestly, the gov- 
 ernment alone would be the proper party to 
 issue all money, metallic and paper currency ; 
 and during the years 1 861-5, when the civil 
 war was the almost exclusive business of the 
 nation, and brought it in direct touch with 
 the people almost universally, its credits in 
 bonds and greenbacks (which w^ere respect- 
 ively interest-bearing and non-interest-bear- 
 ing credit money of the government), were 
 issued to the full extent that the people 
 would receive them. But the government 
 not now being in active touch with commerce 
 and industry, would find it impossible to 
 issue the credit money needed in the ex- 
 change of products, and hence the next best 
 thing, under the circumstances, is to allow 
 
Altruria. 21 
 
 the national banks to issue such credits, and 
 they, operating each in its own locaHty, can 
 do so much more safely than could be done 
 from a distant centre. But it would seem 
 only fair that the national banks should, in 
 view of the privileges which their charters 
 give them, yield to the government a part, if 
 not all, of the interest upon the bonds depos- 
 ited by them, and let such surrendered in- 
 terest be used as a guaranty fund from which 
 to immediately pay the depositors of any 
 failed or suspended national bank. 
 
 " That the people do not want the free 
 coinage of silver is easily proved. It is not 
 ' free money ' in the sense that it would make 
 the exchange of wealth more free than such 
 exchange now is. It is not a convenient 
 'medium' of exchange. If I were indebted 
 to you in the sum of $50, and should offer to 
 pay in silver, you would protest that it was 
 inconvenient to carry that amount of silver 
 home or about with you. If you were a 
 merchant, and were paid in silver, you would 
 have to hire a porter to take your deposits 
 to the bank, an extra expense which 
 would have to be deducted from the value 
 of the silver. We all want prosperity, and 
 we all like to see our silver miners prosper, 
 
2 2 Altruria. 
 
 but we cannot afford to heighten the pros- 
 perity of several thousand miners at the ex- 
 pense and dire inconvenience of twelve mil- 
 lion men. This is an age of convenience, and 
 we should demand the most convenient me- 
 dium of exchange always. As the world 
 progresses in civilization, and goes further 
 and further away from the age of actual bar- 
 ter, intrinsic value money (or, more properly, 
 inherent value money), will relatively be 
 used less and less, and if we shall ever attain 
 the perfection of things in this world, metal- 
 lic money will be discarded entirely. We 
 have indeed already closely approximated 
 that condition, and I am quite sure we 
 would be better off as a nation if we relied 
 entirely on paper (credit) currency, and used 
 our gold and silver only in bullion shape, to 
 be certified by the government, to settle in- 
 ternational trade balances. For, were this 
 the case, if foreigners demanded our gold, 
 the volume of our currency would remain 
 undiminished at home, while the export de- 
 mand for the gold would ' boom ' the gold 
 metal market, and the same with silver. A 
 people can never afford to export its circu- 
 lating medium, any more than a man can 
 empty himself of his blood and live. Money 
 
Altruria. 23 
 
 is the blood of industry and commerce. I 
 even hope that we shall in a few years see 
 this clearly enough to arrange our currency 
 system accordingly. Nevertheless, meantime, 
 for convenience sake, we should buy and 
 coin some gold in ten and twenty dollar 
 pieces, and all the silver the people will ab- 
 sorb in fifty, twenty-five and ten cent pieces, 
 and if the government will recall all its cer- 
 tificates of deposit (its proxy money), cancel 
 them, and issue in their stead legal tender 
 currency redeemable only at the pleasure of 
 the government, and will empower its secre- 
 tary of the treasury to stipulate at any time 
 what proportion of its custom and revenue 
 dues shall be paid in gold or silver, so that the 
 treasury may be constantly replenished with 
 gold and silver, according to its needs, then, I 
 think, its currency would be absolutely sound, 
 " But I certainly should not leave outstand- 
 ing a currency by which the treasury can be 
 denuded of its gold at the will of speculators ; 
 nor would I issue another interest-bearing 
 bond, for if the government needed money 
 temporarily, it could safely issue legal-tender 
 greenbacks bearing no interest, which the 
 people would take more readily than bankers 
 take its bonds." 
 
24 Altruria. 
 
 Such was Col. Boonton's exposition of fi- 
 nance. We all thanked him for his courtesy 
 in being so exhaustive in his treatment of 
 the subject, but I could see that Mr. Wealer 
 was ill at ease over the status of the question, 
 and desired to argue further the free silver 
 side. 
 
 " The question is such a momentous one," 
 he began, " that it is difificult to see all around 
 it at a glance. There is some truth in v»hat 
 Col. Boonton has said, but his is the ' gold 
 view;' I fear his ideas are colored by the 
 eastern press." 
 
 Now, if the Colonel disliked anything, it 
 was the assumption that his views could be 
 colored by anything except his own thinking. 
 
 " Mr. Wealer," said he, " I will rest my 
 argument on one rebutting proposition alone 
 — that of convenience. In Chicago I accu- 
 mulated about twenty silver dollars, which, 
 being a stranger, no one would exchange for 
 me, and being in a hurry to catch this train, 
 I was unable to change for paper currency at 
 the bank. I have this money in my satchel 
 in the other car, not finding it comfortable 
 to carry it in my pocket. Now, if you will 
 accept these silver dollars, and give me paper 
 currency in exchange therefor, I shall be very 
 
Altrtiria. 25 
 
 thankful, and shall consider the silver question 
 as settled to the extent of at least twenty 
 dollars /rr capita of adult male population." 
 
 We all laughed, including Mr. Wealer, 
 who, however, seemed inclined to regard the 
 proposition as a joke. 
 
 " No, but I am in earnest, Mr. Wealer. 
 Will you accept ? " 
 
 " Well, I have yet far to go," pleaded Mr. 
 Wealer. 
 
 " So have I," replied the Colonel. 
 
 " Any way, what I should do in this case 
 would be no criterion for the people gener- 
 ally," retorted Mr. Wealer. 
 
 " But it certainly is a criterion, and your re- 
 fusal proves that, on the score of conveni- 
 ence alone, the silver dollars will not circulate 
 among people who have any conception of 
 comfort." 
 
 John and I affected to laugh at Col. Boon- 
 ton's bold move, and Mr. Wealer conceded it 
 was a fine bluff, and nothing more ; and at this 
 juncture the Colonel begged to be excused, 
 as his family would be worrying at his long 
 absence from their car. And after arranging 
 to see me again before I should leave the car 
 at Altruria, he bade Messrs. Wealer and Op- 
 timus good-bye. 
 
26 Altruria. 
 
 " There seems to be a great deal of truth 
 in our friend's theory," said John. " To us 
 Altrurians, however, the problem is not a 
 pressing one immediately, but I take great 
 interest in it, and, taking the commercial 
 world as I find it to-day, and remembering 
 that ninety-five per cent, of the volume of 
 commerce is conducted on a credit basis, I 
 do not see how we could dispense with the 
 national bank system, which has given us a 
 stable credit currency, and I believe that, 
 with an improvement of the system in accord- 
 ance with Col. Boonton's ideas, which, I be- 
 lieve, were the recommendations of Ex-comp- 
 troller of the Currency Hepburn, and others, 
 such banks would almost ideally fill the wants 
 of commerce, for we must remember that 
 the function of all commercial banks is solely 
 and primarily to insure the credits on which 
 commerce is conducted. 
 
 To do this effectively they must, with 
 proper safeguarding restrictions, be free to 
 charge such rates of interest or discount as 
 the individual risks of loans may demand, 
 just as fire insurance companies adjust their 
 rates to the risks they take ; depending on 
 the competition between the banks to give 
 our merchants reasonable rates. But, as I 
 
Altruria. 27 
 
 have intimated, my individual interests are 
 not immediately affected, being under the 
 Altrurian system of finance, which we believe 
 much safer and more equitable. Your gov- 
 ernment bonds are issued in such denomina- 
 tions as enable only the rich to invest in them. 
 The people are, therefore, divided into two 
 classes — those who receive interest-bearing 
 money, and those who receive only non-in- 
 terest-bearing money; for bonds are a kind 
 of money. In the Altrurian system the hum- 
 blest citizen shares this privilege equally with 
 his wealthier neighbor, and the amount of 
 money one can accumulate depends solely 
 on his industry and self-denial, rather than 
 on privileged consideration. We do not be- 
 lieve in a system which fosters inequality, and 
 makes the speculator the recipient of the 
 fruits of his neighbor's toil, and then, with 
 the advantage so obtained, proceeds to sub- 
 ject the laborer furtherto interest charges, and 
 the caprice and lust of financial gamblers." 
 
 Meanwhile, having under discussion this 
 and other subjects, our train approached Al- 
 truria. We had spent a day in the " twin 
 cities " of the Northwest with much satisfac- 
 tion, finding their people as breezy as the in- 
 vigorating air of the north country. 
 
28 Altrtiria. 
 
 The more I talked with my friend Optimus 
 the more I became convinced of his greatness 
 and nobihty as a man. On every subject he 
 discoursed like a statesman and a Christian. 
 Of Altruria he told me but little ; he repeat- 
 edly said he should prefer to have me see it. 
 And now that we were almost there, I was 
 all alive to see the wonders of the place. The 
 day was far spent, the sun had set, and as we 
 alighted from the cars I could see but little 
 except the vague outlines of houses and trees 
 — a scene such as any town might portray. 
 Yet I could see that the railway station was 
 a model one ; quite ornate. The fatigue of 
 the journey was considerable, and I asked 
 John about how far we should have to walk 
 to reach his home. " It is about half a mile," 
 he replied, " but," he added, " if you will be 
 seated in the waiting-room, I shall in a mo- 
 ment have my carriage here to take you." 
 
 That was delightful. To my surprise, he 
 had speedily summoned two carriages, which 
 stood at the door, without horses. " But 
 where are the horses ? " I inquired, as John 
 asked us to step in. " They will be here the 
 moment you get in," he replied. And so it 
 was ; immediately we were seated, by the 
 pressing of a lever the carriage started, and 
 
Altruria. 29 
 
 as we glided away over the asphalt pavemeats 
 and through the park-Hke city, I once more 
 regained the hope that the town would be 
 worth coming to see. 
 
 In a few minutes our carriage stopped at a 
 splendid cottage of medium size, which John 
 told us was their home, and we alighted with 
 much satisfaction that our long journey was 
 at an end. 
 
 We found the house open, and in charge 
 of a person who seemed to be a friendly 
 neighbor. Upon entering, the women and 
 children were promptly dispatched to the 
 several dressing-rooms, where they were in- 
 vited to make themselves comfortable, while 
 I remained with John, downstairs in the sit- 
 ting-room. Stepping over to the telephone, 
 he called up the hotel of the town, and or- 
 dered a dinner to be cooked and sent to his 
 home forthwith. " We have a telephone in 
 every house, for use in all the everyday af- 
 fairs of life," said he. This seemed an im- 
 provement even on New York, and Avhen 
 John told me we should be eating our dinner 
 in thirty minutes, I was still more pleased, 
 
 " You see," said John, " our central kitchen 
 or hotel expects such orders, and has the very 
 latest appliances to fill them with dispatch. 
 
30 Altruria. 
 
 The town has over 3,000 inhabitants, and the 
 hotel is run for the accommodation of our 
 people quite as much as for strangers. Our 
 orders are filled at about the cost of mate- 
 rials and labor, which makes it cheaper than 
 to consume one's own time in preparing food. 
 We have no servants in Altruria. Neverthe- 
 less, we command all the help we need, and 
 on a moment's notice. We do not employ- 
 each other. The town affords employment for 
 every citizen. The services of the man who 
 was here to-night will be charged up to my 
 account, and for any services which I render 
 I receive due credit. Each householder re- 
 ceives monthly a statement of his account, 
 so he can see how he stands, whether it is 
 necessary to economize or not, etc. No one 
 in Altruria ever spends a moment in looking 
 for work, but, upon registering as ready for 
 work, may be summoned by telephone at a 
 moment's notice. Just now I have my an- 
 nual vacation, and am not liable to be called. 
 At the same time, any one wishing to employ 
 himself, is at liberty to do so." 
 
 I was quite astonished at all this, and felt 
 bewildered at the partial revelation of the 
 system. I could not comprehend it in all its 
 bearings. But, remembering Lookitig Back- 
 
Altruria. 3 1 
 
 ward, I said to John, " Then you have adopted 
 Bellamyism ? " 
 
 " Not at all ; man cannot live on sentiment 
 alone." 
 
 " But our dinner will be served in a few 
 minutes," said he; "let us also make our 
 toilets." 
 
 When we came down-stairs, dinner was on 
 the table. It was a well-cooked, inviting 
 dinner, and neatly served. John asked the 
 blessing in a beautiful, short prayer, full of 
 heartfelt thanks. Then he became the de- 
 lightful host that I expected he would be, 
 and made us all comfortable and good-na- 
 tured, and helped us until we wanted no 
 more. 
 
 After dinner, John and I took a short walk. 
 The town was not large in extent. There 
 were no vacant lots between houses. As far 
 as the town extended the streets were per- 
 fectly paved and lighted. There were trees 
 everywhere, making the city one great resi- 
 dence-park. Bathed in floods of soft, efful- 
 gent electric light, the trees and walks re- 
 minded me of Madison Square Park, New 
 York, except for the cottages interspersed. 
 
 When we returned to the house, every ves- 
 tige of dinner had disappeared, and the folks 
 
32 
 
 Altruria. 
 
 were playing the piano and singing. John 
 and I joined in a few of the old familiar 
 hymns and songs, and then we all retired. 
 
 The next morning, John, per arrangement, 
 called me early, and had told the rest not to 
 be in a hurry getting up. When I got down- 
 stairs he stood ready with a smaller road- 
 wagon, which he called a light roadster. 
 
 I learned that these wagons were built of 
 light steel — John said in a few years they 
 would be built of aluminium steel — and were 
 propelled by a minute engine, using some gas 
 of great expansion, under a minimum of heat. 
 We stepped in, and after we got outside of 
 the town proper, I found that the roadster 
 was a marvel of speed, making almost a mile 
 a minute. But after showing what the ma- 
 chine could do, John reduced speed, in order 
 that I might take note of the landscape 
 around. The sun was just rising, making a 
 beautiful picture as he first peeped over the 
 rolling prairies to the east. All along the 
 road there were fine trees, which in another 
 decade would become stately in size. 
 
 " All this land that we have traversed is in 
 Altruria township, and is the property of the 
 Altruria Corporation, organized to do a co- 
 operative farming and manufacturing busi- 
 
Altruria. 33 
 
 ness," John stated. " With these swift road 
 machines we can go to the ends of the farm 
 in a few minutes, so that distance is annihi- 
 lated ; consequently, all our people, though 
 farmers, live in town, and have every city 
 convenience which ensues close association, 
 water, sewer, light, heat, transportation, all 
 furnished at reasonable cost, and cheaper than 
 any individual household could supply itself. 
 All our work is done under a system of vol- 
 untary co-operation scientifically adjusted to 
 the seasons of nature, so that time and sub- 
 stance are economized to the highest degree, 
 and the work of all is greatly lightened. 
 None, however, is compelled to work ; but, 
 ' no work, no pay,' for we believe with St. 
 Paul, that, ' he who will not work, neither 
 shall he eat.' But the bugbear of work is 
 removed from us. We all work from relig- 
 ious conviction. In fact, no one can be an 
 Altrurian who is not a real Christian. You 
 know Christ said : * My Father worketh hith- 
 erto, and I work also.' But not only did he 
 work, but he worked never for himself, and 
 always for others. We Altrurians also never 
 work for ourselves, to gain for self as much 
 as possible, but we serve each other, and yet 
 vve have things so arranged that nearly al- 
 
34 Altrtu'iiX. 
 
 ways every one does the work of his choice. 
 All work for each other, all give thanks to 
 each other ; each receives gracefully and with 
 thanks that which he even himself helped to 
 produce. 
 
 " What is man more than the animals if he 
 live only to consume that which he can by 
 hard and selfish toil produce ? We believe 
 man has a higher mission than merely to eat 
 the food he can find. Lifting man above his 
 animalism, and doing away with all the drud- 
 gery which deadens his intellect, we have the 
 spiritual man in his full estate, and he is 
 compelled to give thanks joyfully because it 
 were absurd to complain or to ask abjectly 
 as would a beggar. Having sought first the 
 kingdom, by living a rational, Christian so- 
 cial life, all things are added unto them, and 
 they are thankful and joyful and the canker- 
 worm of care is unknown to them. If men 
 do the highest that is in them, their Heavenly 
 Father careth for them. This is the secret 
 of our good health and happiness in Altruria ; 
 we have no care (worry). Twelve years ago, 
 although still young, I felt myself getting 
 old. Care was ever with me. I entered the 
 mad race for wealth for fear I should not 
 have even enough. I found that those who 
 
Altritria. 35 
 
 did achieve extraordinary success and 
 bought themselves immunity from care, 
 reached the goal only by running over their 
 weaker fellows. Agriculture, under the old 
 system, was lonesome and melancholy. I 
 began to think whether success in any sphere 
 was after all worth the seeking. Between 
 the private monopolies and free competition 
 all the nobler instincts of man were stunted. 
 Accidently I came across Altruria. At first 
 I was skeptical, wondering whether the 
 scheme was not too good to be real. But I 
 tried it ; actual experience gave me confi- 
 dence, and we have been here ever since. 
 And we are both still delightfully young (my 
 wife and I) and our children have had an 
 ideal education and training, physical and 
 mental, from the kindergarten up to the 
 higher branches of knowledge. 
 
 " Unnecessary care is what kills more peo- 
 ple than disease. Care makes the system 
 weak and liable to any disease." 
 
 I could not but give assent to all John had 
 said. Care was ever with me, although I 
 was more successful than the vast majority, 
 and my dear wife also was getting old pre- 
 maturely. I was also seeking an escape and 
 from that motive wrote the magazine article 
 
36 Altrziria. 
 
 on " Social Evolution." Was Altruria the 
 realization of the ideal social system ? It 
 looked attractive, but I had as yet caught 
 but a thread here and there of the machine 
 which propelled Altruria, and I stated to 
 John that I was not at all clear how any one 
 could be an Altrurian without surrendering 
 his individual liberty, 
 
 " Individual liberty ? " rcj^eated John, 
 " Only the tramp, the thief, and the anarch- 
 ist enjoy perfect individual liberty. All 
 honest, industrious men are dependent upon 
 each other, live by serving each other. Why 
 not then come together and serve each other 
 in a manly. Christian manner? We all are 
 free in Christ — in the spirit of truth, justice, 
 and love — for Christ is a spirit and will come 
 to dwell with us if we let Him, and if the 
 people would so live that He could come 
 among them. He would manifest Himself, 
 Christ Avill come again in all His glory, not 
 to find lodgment in one personal body, but 
 to enter into every body which is made meet 
 to be * the temple of the Holy Ghost.' We 
 are on the morn of a new dispensation. He 
 will come again to all who will receive Him 
 in completeness and will give them peace — 
 will give them the kingdom." 
 
Altricria. 37 
 
 John Optimus was such a grand man, so 
 pure in thought and so joyful, that I received 
 these words as I could have done from no 
 one else. Such thoughts seemed to naturally 
 well up out of his soul. Any one else utter- 
 ing them I should have set down for a " re- 
 ligious enthusiast." 
 
 Meanwhile, we had roamed all over the 
 farm and had returned to the house for our 
 breakfast, with splendid appetites, and we 
 found that Mrs. Optimus had duly antici- 
 pated them. 
 
 One thing I noticed especially about Al- 
 truria ; its streets were as clean, almost, as 
 the halls of the houses ; and the vehicles 
 came and went noiselessly. The whole town 
 was queenly in appearance and service, and 
 yet every arrangement was a natural simpli- 
 city at a minimum expense. Flowers there 
 were in profusion everywhere. Each house 
 had a plot of ground of about half an acre, 
 and on this space each householder had his 
 garden and pursued his own fancies in flori- 
 culture, etc. There was not an unattractive 
 house in Altruria. The smallest one was an 
 architectural poem in terra-cotta or granite 
 or similar material. 
 
 After breakfast John and I were sitting 
 
J 
 
 8 Altriiria. 
 
 on the veranda. I remarked to him, that, 
 judging the Altrurians by their homes, they 
 were all wealthy. " For," said I, " not one 
 house but that must have cost more than 
 $10,000 in the materials they are built." 
 
 The Optimus house was in granite. 
 
 John laughed and said: "Your estimate 
 is very flattering indeed. Our homes cost 
 us only $2,000 to $3,000 each, according to 
 size. This of course exclusive of interior 
 decorations which the owner supplies accord- 
 ing to his taste. When we began to build 
 Altruria one of our members had a patent on 
 a system of fire-proof cottage building, which, 
 after inspection, was approved by the best 
 architects of the country. We therefore 
 adopted it. In brief, the system consists of 
 a light frame or skeleton of steel so keyed 
 together that it is as firm in proportion to 
 size and weight as the frame of an umbrella. 
 To the exterior of this frame is fastened a 
 mere shell of terra-cotta or artificial granite, 
 pressed into the desired ornamental patterns ; 
 and the interior is the ordinary plaster, 
 backed with mineral wool. The windows, 
 doors, and floors are of wood. This gives 
 us, practically, fire-proof homes at about the 
 cost of wooden ones. If you are interested 
 
Altruria. 39 
 
 ill such matters, let me show you through 
 our house." 
 
 I followed him to the basement which was 
 half above the level of the ground, and well 
 ventilated and lighted. Here was a dining- 
 room, kitchen, and a very small cellar. 
 From the kitchen a door opened, as it seem- 
 ed, right into the wall. John opened this 
 and showed me the terminus of a small un- 
 derground trolley which he said connected 
 with the commissary in the centre of the 
 town, whence came all supplies at a mo- 
 ment's notice, and whither was sent all refuse 
 for cremation or other disposition. 
 
 I now knew why the streets were models 
 as to paving and cleanliness. There was a 
 small electric range on which the family 
 could do such cooking as it desired to do. 
 
 The first floor contained a parlor, sitting 
 room, and a smaller room with a bay-win- 
 dow. On the next floor were four large 
 rooms and a bathroom. And the attic af- 
 forded two additional rooms. 
 
 In fact, a model home, spacious enough to 
 accommodate a large family and not too 
 large for a small one. 
 
 " You Altrurians," said I, as we had re- 
 turned to the veranda, " are veritably work- 
 
40 Altriiria. 
 
 ing gentlemen. If our workers in New York 
 had such homes they would consider them- 
 selves in the millennium." 
 
 " Yes, and reversely, we Altrurians con- 
 sider them as being in a veritable hell," said 
 John. ** And yet your people could be even 
 better conditioned than we are ; their natural 
 opportunities are superior." 
 
 When the Sabbath day had come, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Optimus invited us to accompany 
 them to church. We were indeed anxious 
 to go. 
 
 Turning to me John said, " I am glad you 
 are coming, for to-day's sermon may prove 
 particularly interesting to you since it is a 
 special occasion— the anniversary of the set- 
 tlement of Altruria." 
 
 As we walked through the town I noticed 
 that there was but one church — a noble 
 structure, almost a cathedral, and more 
 beautiful than are most cathedrals. It was 
 situated in a grove of stately trees. 
 
 This led me to ask John regarding their 
 religious practices. 
 
 " Yes, we have but one church. It is a 
 Catholic church — an American Catholic 
 church ; that is to say, a church which has 
 
Altruria. 41 
 
 the universal charity of brotherly love, and 
 the faith of the simple gospel." 
 
 "John, I must say that I do not relish the 
 idea of a ' Catholic Church.* It is a system 
 of ecclesiasticism, patterned after a mon- 
 archy and can never fully harmonize with 
 republican institutions." 
 
 " And do you, an educated, liberal man, 
 also not understand ? This is not a Roman 
 Catholic church, but is Catholic in the sense 
 that your ' Church of the Strangers ' in New 
 York had the true spirit of catholicity 
 (worldwide charity— love and respect for 
 fellow men of whatever creed, Roman Cath- 
 olics included). With us there are neither 
 Protestants nor Roman Catholics, Jews nor 
 Gentiles, but all are one in the spirit of Christ. 
 Let the dead past take to oblivion its dead. 
 Our Christian church is not connected as the 
 chief agent of the undertaking business, nor 
 has it any respect for the Protestant who 
 from habit continues to protest when the oc- 
 casion for protest has disappeared." 
 
 " And do you still find preaching neces- 
 sary ? " I inquired. 
 
 " Why not ? We are not yet perfect. 
 Men's souls need showers of grace as often 
 as the soil needs rain. And our preaching 
 
42 Altruria. 
 
 is not radically different from that heard any- 
 where else, except that instead of plying the 
 lash of castigation, our preacher points out 
 our causes for thankfulness, and lays before 
 us such truths of science as harmonize with 
 the gospel and as will contribute to our per- 
 fection. And frequently it is necessary to 
 remind us wherein we have still fallen short 
 of the glory of God. Often we have the 
 great men of the outside world come and 
 preach to us. To them our church is always 
 open. Our aim is the physical as well as the 
 spiritual perfection of the race. To this end 
 we practice, for instance, the theory of pre- 
 natal culture, and, while the world scoffs at it, 
 we have found it to be the truth of God. 
 People must be born right as well as 
 trained right. If we do or neglect anything 
 which frustrates God's full plan in nature 
 we are guilty of a grievious sin. It is our 
 endeavor to have an ideal little indus- 
 trial republic of Spartan men and women, 
 having the full measure of manhood and 
 womanhood, and naturally and truly Chris- 
 tian." 
 
 We had now arrived at the church, and, 
 entering, were promptly ushered to seats. 
 The sunlight streamed in through windows 
 
AltriLria. 43 
 
 that contained beautiful allegorical pictures 
 in stained glass. 
 
 The minister opened the services by pro- 
 nouncing the blessing, the congregation 
 standing with heads bowed. Then he gave 
 out the hymn, " Nearer My God to Thee," 
 to be sung to the tune, " Robin Adair." 
 
 And now, opening his Bible, he read from 
 the scriptures the Vlth Chapter of Matthew, 
 which was followed by majestic music from 
 a volunteer choir of over fifty voices. As 
 they sang I was thinking of the heavenly 
 choir. 
 
 Following this choir rendering we again 
 all stood up and, bowing our heads, listened 
 to the noblest prayer that ever entered my 
 ears. It seemed like the devotion of a god 
 to the God of gods. It was like holy music 
 played on the strings of the soul. 
 
 After the congregation had sung the hymn, 
 " When I Shall Awake In His Likeness," 
 (and I would like to say here that their con- 
 gregational singing was the most hearty and 
 sweet I ever heard), the minister arose to 
 preach the sermon. 
 
 " You will find my text in the 33rd verse 
 of the Vlth Chapter of Matthew : ' But 
 seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
 
44 Altruria. 
 
 righteousness, and all these things shall be 
 added unto you.' 
 
 " It is proper and fitting on this our anni- 
 versary," he began, " to preach from the 
 text which, above all other portions of 
 scripture, contains the very corner-stone of 
 our Altrurian philosophy. We are a sepa- 
 rate people living unto the Lord. We do 
 not entertain the pharisaical thought that 
 we are better than the rest of the world. 
 They are also seeking the kingdom. Their 
 error is that they do not seek it first. ' For 
 after all these things do the Gentiles (the 
 worldly,) seek.' And they seek them before 
 taking thought of the kingdom and its re- 
 quirements. This is the only difference be- 
 tween them and us ; and we are not entitled 
 to flatter ourselves because of the difference, 
 but to be profoundly thankful that God has 
 given, and maintains us in, the grace from 
 which our every blessing flows. And let us 
 pray and work that the world may be en- 
 lightened to see its fatal error. 
 
 " Leaving aside the words of scripture, 
 what, in plain, every-day language, expresses 
 the difference ? One word covers the source 
 of all their error and suffering ; the word 
 selfishness. From it rise all the serpents of 
 
Altriiria, 45 
 
 vice and crime which beset them. The peo- 
 ple of the world think first and most of their 
 own desires — of themselves. Of the grace 
 of God they will have only so much as will 
 save their society from crime and anarchy. 
 They have their churches and multitude of 
 laws to cajole and harrass the horde of 
 criminals which their society constantly pro- 
 duces, but never think of themselves so living 
 that crime would vanish with the disappear- 
 ance of the cause. They are like unto a 
 husbandman who in mid-summer bends his 
 back beneath the scorching sun, cutting down 
 the weeds ; while if he had first taken 
 thought of the good, his field would have 
 been so filled with golden grain that the 
 weeds could have found no place therein. 
 
 " But this day is to us a day of remem- 
 brance. Enjoying every good gift as we 
 do, laden with material blessings, let us not 
 forget their source or the manner of their 
 coming. I sometimes fear that we shall for- 
 get, at least in part ; and in the fullness of 
 things as we enjoy them it is difficult to 
 realize what our life would be under the or- 
 dinary wordly conditions. To-day in Al- 
 truria, as in every Altrurian year, there has 
 not one of you been without ample food and 
 
46 Altrtiria. 
 
 raiment, and every social pleasure. More 
 than that, there are no poor among us ; all 
 of us, and our children, have enjoyed every- 
 thing in like measure. If there be any 
 difference among us it is that some of us 
 will enter upon our continuous vacations a 
 few years earlier than will others. 
 
 Man is apt to take the good things of life, 
 especially if he has enjoyed them for many 
 seasons, as a matter of course. He cannot 
 think of himself as in an evil state. If this 
 be our condition we shall become less thank- 
 ful for, and less worthy of, God's favor. 
 
 " Perhaps nothing can more fully awake us 
 to this danger than a clear view of the world. 
 And to make the lesson the better applicable 
 to ourselves, let us imagine that we had de- 
 cided to abandon our Altrurian life, and to- 
 morrow would see us disband and become a 
 part of the world. As man cannot live with- 
 out land, there would be a wild scramble 
 among us for the better portions of the soil 
 of Altruria township. The stronger would 
 take their larger portions, and the weaker 
 their smaller ones. Some would have fertile 
 soil ; others barren. Some would have an 
 abundance of water for irrigation ; others 
 none except a small supply for domestic use. 
 
Altruria. 47 
 
 Is there anything under Heaven which could 
 keep these neighbors in substantial equality 
 and fraternity under such conditions? Noth- 
 ing. Then would enter greed, envy, and all 
 the vile brood of egoism. Selfishness would 
 reign supreme. By and by, some of the 
 smaller holders of sterile portions would 
 abandon their holdings, or if they should re- 
 main, the children would show their superior 
 sense in leaving. Where would they go ? 
 To the cities, into the stores and factories, to 
 become the economic slaves of the industrial 
 world, which is heartless. ' There is no senti- 
 ment in business.' 
 
 " Go with me now forward into the time 
 of another generation. Some of the grand- 
 children of our cultured Altrurian stock are 
 found in the lowest city tenements, their off- 
 spring to be reared in the vilest environments, 
 amidst filth ; and schooled early in vice and 
 crime. Others have become factory opera- 
 tives, live in their employer's houses and trade 
 at his store — slaves in everything save name, 
 and the option of seeking another master 
 under similar conditions. Their despoilers 
 will honor themselves by contributions to the 
 charities, the necessity for which they have 
 created by the economic system under which 
 
48 Altruria. 
 
 they operate. The robbed are offered their 
 own goods in charity, and powerless to resent 
 the insult. If in that dire extremity the gos- 
 pel should be preached to them, would it not 
 fall on their ears as a mockery? Would they 
 not feel that instead of receiving the bread 
 of life they were being offered a stone ? 
 
 *' They flee back to the country to regain 
 land and freedom. But economic value 
 now stands between them and possession. 
 They must here also become the servants of 
 those who are in possession of the primary 
 factors of production through the ownership 
 of economic value. 
 
 " Such is the search, the vain search, of the 
 * Gentiles * after the things of this world be- 
 fore they seek the kingdom. At every step 
 they and their children in every generation 
 are harrassed by inequalities, envyings, bick- 
 erings, strifes, thefts, murders ; all the fruit 
 of their selfishness, their egoism. Now, what 
 I have pictured as your future, should you 
 abandon Altruria, is to-day the actual state 
 of the outside world. The masses are eco- 
 nomic serfs. The producers retain of their 
 products only sufficient to barely feed and 
 clothe themselves. They pile up prodigious 
 fortunes, and have no part therein. 
 
Altruria. 49 
 
 " Here, in Altruria, we are joint owners of 
 the factors of production — land and machin- 
 ery. Consequently we maintain an approxi- 
 mate equality. We have no shamed poor to 
 receive the charity of the fawning rich. Our 
 children are not humiliated while still in their 
 innocence. One child is the peer of every 
 other child. Their opportunities for acquir- 
 ing the tools of intelligence and skill are the 
 same. None need leave school at the begin- 
 ning of its teens to help support poor parents, 
 for no parents among us are poor. 
 
 " None of us are lonely, as are the agri- 
 culturists of the outside world. We are all 
 near neighbors, and enjoy the quickening im- 
 pulses of an intelligent society, and mutual 
 aid comes quickly in case of sickness or be- 
 reavement. 
 
 " Our surroundings are beautiful. How 
 pleasant is Altruria to look upon. Why are 
 we so blessed? Because we seek first the 
 grace of God — the kingdom of love — and 
 thereby are enabled to live peaceably in the 
 closest association. This is the key to our 
 higher life. 
 
 " Our Altrurian system gives all an equal 
 opportunity to the land ; every citizen has 
 his share in the best as well as the poorest 
 
50 Altruria, 
 
 soil. We make machinery (the implements 
 of production) serv^e our laborers, instead of 
 allowing it to compete with them. There is 
 no quarrel among us regarding water rights ; 
 ere long our whole farm will be irrigated, and 
 made still more productive. Transportation, 
 commercial, and water monopolies do not 
 dictate to, nor levy tribute upon, us. We 
 jointly own and operate the monopolies, leav- 
 ing the individual product of each undimin- 
 ished ; while we enjoy our respective shares 
 individually, so that we have as great personal 
 freedom as any system ever afforded man. 
 Indeed, our liberties are greater than enjoyed 
 by any other American citizens, for we are 
 free from the spoliation of the monopolies, 
 as well as the tyranny of kings, and, above 
 all, free from the greatest tyrant — poverty. 
 Are we not justified in claiming that in Al- 
 truria we have attained the scientific system 
 of political economy which does exact and 
 equal social justice to every citizen? And is 
 that system not the most Christian because it 
 is scientifically correct ? Would that the 
 Christian world had learned the secret. Shall 
 we not teach it to them, to our fellow-citizens 
 especially, even more than we try to teach 
 the heathen ? Will God hold us guiltless if 
 
Altruria. 5 1 
 
 we neglect so great an opportunity in our 
 own land, and send the theology of the gos- 
 pel to the heathen abroad ? Indeed, until 
 the Christian world so lives the gospel, the 
 heathen will smile at its missionaries in deri- 
 sion. They see that precept and practice are 
 far apart in Christian lands." 
 
 Having closed his sermon, the pastor led 
 us in repeating the Lord's Prayer, and then 
 announced that the collection to be taken up 
 would go to sustain the Altrurian mission- 
 aries. 
 
 Returning from the church we had lunch 
 of cold meat, salads, and dessert with coffee, 
 and the rest of the day we spent in quiet pleas- 
 antness. 
 
 " The Sabbath is with us a day of absolute 
 rest," said Mrs. Optimus. "I trust, there- 
 fore, you will excuse my not preparing a reg- 
 ular dinner." 
 
 " I much prefer your way," I replied. The 
 children were allowed their liberty to enjoy 
 the day in their own way, although no bois- 
 terousness was permitted. In every other 
 respect the Altrurians enjoyed their Sunday 
 as do other people — in reading, sociability, 
 and in a word, naturally. But it was the 
 Lord's day. 
 
52 Altruria. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Monday morning Mrs. Optimus proposed 
 an outing for Mrs. Smith and the children, 
 and John promptly got ready an unusually 
 large horseless carriage. 
 
 " Mrs. Optimus handles a horseless carriage 
 quite as competently as I do," said he. 
 
 Presently they were off. 
 
 " I would not be surprised," said John, 
 •'if they would take a trip of fifty or sixty 
 miles to show your folks the country and, 
 incidentally, on the way, show your wife 
 what is woman's life on the non-Altrurian 
 plan." 
 
 John and I remained at home to further 
 discuss Altrurian economy, as I was now 
 more than ever curious to know the whole 
 story of it. John told me to be seated in 
 one of the big rocking chairs on the veranda. 
 He soon returned with a box of cigars and 
 quite surprised me, for I was rather bewil- 
 dered as to what the Altrurians allowed 
 themselves and what denied. 
 
 " You don't consider smoking sinful ? " I 
 inquired as I lit my weed. 
 
 "It all depends," was the reply. "To 
 
Altruria. 53 
 
 some Altrurians as to some in the outside 
 world, the use of tobacco is a sin." 
 
 " Where do you draw the Hne ? " 
 
 " At the Hmits of moderation. Temper- 
 ance in all things. And if smoking does not 
 agree with a person's health, it is for him a 
 sin to smoke. But this is true also of all ar- 
 ticles of diet. Everything that injures one's 
 health is sinful. To the theologian the term 
 sin is a vexatious one, while to us it is very 
 simple because we ignore the theological in- 
 terpretation and take the definition which na- 
 ture and science offer. WJiatcvci- harms is 
 sin. Whatever benefits is good. 
 
 " Thus our morality becomes a scientfic 
 simplicity, and the term sin has for us no sup- 
 erstitious dread, although a fuller meaning." 
 
 " That throws a new light on the subject 
 for me," said I. 
 
 " I am glad it does, for it is a vexatious one 
 for every Christian who considers sin only 
 from the religious side. I remember how I 
 used to be tortured as to what I might and 
 might not do. Now I know. I am at per- 
 fect peace with myself by living up to my 
 knowledge. But you want to know more 
 about Altrurian economy." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I am delighted with Al- 
 
54 Altrtiria. 
 
 truria, and I can readily conceive how the 
 plan you have adopted works on a small 
 scale, locally, but it seems that after all you 
 are not Altruists, but egoists, like us of the 
 outside world ; that you are simply co-oper- 
 ativists who have combined to reap a 
 greater benefit for yourselves and against 
 the rest of the world." 
 
 " That is a conclusion hardly warranted 
 from the evidence which you have had from 
 me personally, and certainly not from the 
 evidences which you shall see before you 
 leave Altruria. If the plan works in the 
 township of Altruria, is it not possible 
 to make every township in the land a 
 co-operative industrial republic ? And as 
 for being egoists, let me say that we trade 
 with the rest of the world as would any of 
 your great corporations. Nor do we stop at 
 this ; in all the great cities, we now have 
 Altrurian missionaries, whom we support at 
 no little expense to ourselves, for to usAltru, 
 ria is not only a better physical condition, but 
 it is founded upon a principle which we feel 
 bound to preach. The reason you have not 
 heard more of Altruria is that we thought 
 best to practice our theory before we 
 preached it." 
 
Altruria. 55 
 
 " Then you have a scheme for the univer- 
 sal regeneration of the country — morally, in- 
 dustrially and politically?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " May I have an outline of the Altrurian 
 programme for the whole country ? " 
 
 " With pleasure." 
 
 " But, recurring to your criticism that we 
 are after all egoists who have become asso- 
 ciated simply because of the greater profits 
 to be derived from co-operative effort — why 
 should not the highest civilization be also 
 the most profitable ? We believe it should 
 be so. The most scientific method, and the 
 most accurate system of social living and in- 
 dustry are the nearest to the Christian ideal, 
 providing the benefits of such living are 
 equally distributed so that all the people 
 shall be able to make approximately the 
 same progress. 
 
 " The English land holding system would 
 be the ideal if there was not the difTerence 
 between fawning lord and cringing serf. 
 Our ideal must be to attain the grandeur of 
 the feudal estate by the co-operation of 
 free men, every one of whom shall be lord 
 as well as a helper. There is economy and 
 efficiency in operations on a large scale, 
 
56 Altriiria. 
 
 whether in agriculture, industry or com- 
 merce, and unless our working producers 
 learn this, and themselves associate to se- 
 cure the advantages of associated effort, cap- 
 italists will pre-empt the opportunities and 
 reduce the masses to tenants and helpers, 
 economic slaves, while they should be joint 
 owners and self-employing. If our working 
 producers will not learn this lesson, they 
 need not be surprised at all kinds of capital- 
 istic monopolization, nor have they any right 
 to criticise capitalists for their sagacity and 
 enterprise. Ignorance and cowardice are 
 always punished by subjugation and spolia- 
 tion. 
 
 " But in a republic where social order and 
 security rest on the justice that flows natu- 
 rally from the fraternity of an approxi- 
 mate equality, we must view with alarm the 
 tendency of a division of the people into pa- 
 trician classes on the one hand, and plebeian 
 masses on the other. This division is al- 
 ready making in American society. We 
 have our aristocracy of wealth and our army 
 of subjugated, cringing serfs, whose poverty 
 while not actual, is relatively distressingly 
 apparent. Such a condition was never in- 
 tended for the American citizen. He must 
 
Altruria. 57 
 
 now either make himself master of capital 
 and employ it, or let capital employ him and 
 dictate his condition quite as accurately as 
 was done for the actual slave." 
 
 " John, your ideas are noble and philan- 
 thropic, but they are chimerical. That labor 
 should employ capital is impossible. Capital 
 has the brains and it is better to be employed 
 by the best intellect of the world than by 
 the mediocracy. Our capitalists claim that 
 they furnish more employment and at better 
 wages than labor could secure for itself by 
 its own endeavors, muscular and intellectual 
 combined. Is this not a fact? " 
 
 " It is true in the existing state of things, 
 but that is not the desirable nor ideal state. 
 I will admit that the best intellect must rule to 
 attain the highest results. What I meant to 
 say was that every American citizen should 
 by a common-sense, practical education be 
 enabled to become his own financier and em- 
 ployer, jointly with his peers. To give the 
 masses the ' brains ' necessary to become 
 self-employing. You certainly will not deny 
 that this is the democratic ideal." 
 
 " No, but can they be so educated ? " 
 
 " That is exactly what we are demonstrat- 
 ing here in Altruria. And what our people 
 
58 Altruria. 
 
 do here I am willing to believe is possible 
 for all the people everywhere." 
 
 " But not everybody has the Altrurian 
 philosophy." 
 
 " No, but they can all have it ; it is as 
 free as air, and when they do become pos- 
 sessed of it, they will lift themselves above 
 a hundred plagues which now annoy and 
 mulct them." 
 
 " I presume you have reference to the 
 monopolies." 
 
 "Yes, it is monopoly that is ruining Amer- 
 ica, socially and industrially. But the rem- 
 edy is not in demagogic oration, denouncing 
 and harrassing the monopolists, but solely in 
 educating the people to the point at Avhich 
 they shall be competent to themselves con- 
 duct the monopolies for the public good. 
 Until that point is reached we should always 
 praise the monopolists for their intelligence 
 and enterprise. The salvation of free institu- 
 tions will finally be found in the divine sim- 
 plicity of Altrurian hfe, which is real democ- 
 racy." 
 
 " John, I admit that what you say is de- 
 sirable, and true if possible of attainment, 
 but will you kindly particularize as to the 
 means you would employ to reach conduct- 
 
Altruria. 59 
 
 ing the monopolies for the benefit of all? 
 Would you adopt the Henry George theory 
 of the ' single tax ' ? " 
 
 " No, it is unnecessary to revolutionize our 
 tax system as radically as that. No particu- 
 lar system of taxation has any inherent virtue 
 or has any claim to being an economic 
 panacea. Yet it is an axiomatic truth that, 
 since society produces rent, society, like an 
 individual, should subsist on its product. But 
 whoever owns the land is entitled to the rent 
 thereof ; for rent is a form of interest. 
 
 " I should continue the tax on real es- 
 tate generally, endeavoring to make such 
 tax about equal to the ground rent, but as 
 all property is taxed on value, and as all 
 property has its economic value established 
 by the revenue it yields, in produce or inter- 
 est, the most equitable tax would manifestly 
 be a commercial stamp tax, taking an infi- 
 nitesimal amount of the value of all produce, 
 rents and profits at the point of exchange. 
 In this way, at the end of the year, every 
 citizen would have paid his taxes and 
 they would be paid in the exact ratio of his 
 prosperity. 
 
 " I would have our municipalities buy up 
 all their monopolies, paying their market 
 
6o Altriiria. 
 
 value in 2j^ per cent. 50 year bonds, thus 
 refunding the entire economic debt of the 
 monopoUes (which the people have to pay 
 Vv'hether conducted under private or public 
 control) and conduct these monopolies (street 
 railways, light, heat, water, and telephone 
 systems) for public revenue, letting all the 
 people share in the profits converted into 
 schools, kindergartens, industrial training 
 institutes, parks, etc. All such monopolies 
 would pay for themselves in a few de- 
 cades, and meanwhile reduce taxes in other 
 directions, and ultimately abolish all taxes. 
 Or at this juncture the real estate tax could 
 be shifted upon land values, taking all rent 
 of land for public revenue ; any additional 
 revenue needed to be derived from the profits 
 of the monopolies. In this way these con- 
 veniences would ultimately be served to the 
 public practically free of charge and their ser- 
 vice be greatly improved, because under one 
 management they w^ould be perfectly syste- 
 matized and operated each as a part of a con- 
 sistent whole, while now conflicting interests 
 mar their full enjoyment." 
 
 " Well, that is simply the socialistic pro- 
 gramme." 
 
 " I disagree with you, or else we are al- 
 
Altruria. 6i 
 
 ready in part socialists. It is shameful that 
 every step to give the people their own must 
 be met with the cry of socialism." 
 
 \^Frpm Century Magazine, J\fay, iSgj-l 
 A CHAPTER OF MUNICIPAL FOLLY. 
 
 In order that the importance and value of the public 
 franchises already granted in New York City may be 
 understood, a few statistics are presented. 
 
 The gross earnings of the gas companies can only be 
 estimated, because they are not obliged to, and do not, 
 make any full returns. The earnings of the street rail- 
 roads, the elevated roads, and the electric-light com- 
 panies are reported. 
 
 The business of the gas companies for the year 1893, 
 shows the following results: 
 
 Capital Gross 
 
 Stock. Earnings. Dividends. 
 
 Consolidated $39,078,000 $7,350,000 $3,126,240 
 
 Equitable 4,000,000 1,580,000 480,000 
 
 Mutual 3,500,000 1,050,000 250,000 
 
 The dividends paid by these companies aggregate 
 nearly $4,000,000, — the Consolidated Gas Company pay- 
 ing 8 per cent, on all its capital stock, the Equitable Gas 
 Company 12 per cent., and the Mutual Gas Company 7 
 per cent., and these dividends are but a part of the net 
 earnings. 
 
 It is too well known to be repeated here, that to a 
 very great extent these capitalizations represent little, 
 if any, original investment; or when they do, they show 
 plainly enormous returns: as for example the 12 per 
 cent, dividend of the Equitable Gas Company. In a re- 
 
62 Altruria. 
 
 port of the State Senate Committee of the year 1885 
 concerning the Consolidated Gas Company it was stated: 
 It appears that during the last ten years, in addition 
 to the cost of gas and 10 per cent, on the shares, there 
 has been paid by the consumers of the city of New York 
 about $9,000,000. If these 10 per cent, annual dividends 
 should be calculated upon the capital actually paid in by 
 the stockholders, it would appear that the gas-consum- 
 ers in ten years have not only contributed such divi- 
 dend, but a further amount sufficient, in fact, to nearly 
 duplicate the present system of gas-supply. 
 
 When this fact is established beyond doubt, then the 
 city can fairly demand, and undoubtedly secure, the 
 largest share of the extraordinary profit derived from 
 the quasi-public privileges conferred. 
 
 The street railroads of New York show exactly the 
 same results. The gross earnings of the leading street- 
 railroad systems of New York for the year 1S93 were 
 over 612,000,000; the net earnings were in excess of 
 $5,000,000. 
 
 The street-car companies paid for their franchises and 
 for personal tax, in the year 1893, less than $400,000, 
 the franchise tax being only $232,912.60, and the per- 
 sonal tax being only $160,302.66. The Manhattan Ele- 
 vated Road, with a bonded debt of $36,000,000, and a 
 capital stock of $30,000,000, had gross earnings in ex- 
 cess of $11,000,000, and net earnings in excess of $4,- 
 800,000, and yet it paid into the city treasury, aside 
 from its real-estate tax, only $187,000. The $30,000,000 
 capital, on which it is paying annual dividends of $1,- 
 800,000, represents little, if any, cash investment. 
 This charge on the citizens of $1,800,000 annually for 
 dividends, and the market value of the stock which is in 
 
Altruria. 63 
 
 excess of $30,000,000, are losses traceable directly to 
 reckless waste in administering the city's franchises. 
 The Edison Illuminating Company, with a capital stock 
 amounting to $7,738,000, and a bonded debt of $4,312,- 
 000, had gross earnings in excess of $1,400,000, and net 
 earnings in excess of $789,000. 
 
 Taken together, these figures show that the gross 
 earnings of corporations supplying gas and electricity 
 and having street-car privileges in New York City ex- 
 ceed $35,000,000 per annum. Their net earnings are in 
 excess of $14,000,000. The amounts paid by them into 
 the treasury of the city are only nominal. The earnings 
 increase from year to year because of the growth of the 
 city. Competition among them is impossible, because 
 street railroads cannot be paralleled; and it would be 
 unwise and impracticable to attempt to charter new gas 
 companies continually. The streets would be constantly 
 torn open, and the health of the citizens endangered; 
 and then no sooner would they be closed up than the 
 two competing companies would enter into an alliance, 
 either for maintenance of rates or for consolidation. 
 This has been the experience of New York, and, in fact, 
 of all great cities. 
 
 Private competion being impossible, some kind of 
 public control seems desirable that would either keep the 
 charges down, so that the returns would be reasonable, 
 or that would secure to the treasury of the city the 
 profits beyond fair interest on the capital. The figures 
 given above show the overwhelming importance of con- 
 trol by the city of its valuable franchises. 
 
 We need only record the earnings of the Brooklyn 
 Bridge to realize what has been gained to present and 
 future generations by retaining in public hands the con- 
 
64 Altriiria. 
 
 trol and ownership of this great highway. The gross 
 earnings have steadily increased from $622,680.31 in 
 1885 to $1,326,598.85 in 1894. 
 
 " And of course you would have the fed- 
 eral government buy and operate the com- 
 mercial railways of the whole country ? " 
 
 " No, not exactly that." 
 
 " Do you know, John," said I, " that is a 
 problem of the greatest intricacy. I myself 
 have given it considerable thought, as the 
 proposition is not a new one ; and I have 
 been able to picture to my mind only confu- 
 sion and stagnation as a result." 
 
 " Confusion in what way .'' " queried John. 
 
 " Well, this is a large country. Tremend- 
 ous spaces have to be covered. We have 
 witnessed as yet only the infancy of its de- 
 velopment. I assume that many additional 
 thousands of miles of railway will be re- 
 quired, and, if the national government 
 owned the railways, would not every state 
 and section promptly be demanding more 
 railways at federal expense ? Or if the mile- 
 age were granted to the states in proportion 
 to their population, in what respect would 
 the people of the sparsely populated states 
 be better off than they are now ? " 
 
 " Under federal ownership of railways as 
 
Altruria. 65 
 
 popularly understood, I fear those would 
 become painfully pertinent questions. Still, 
 an equitable way will be found in the matter. 
 We Altrurians also have given the problem 
 much thought and our proposition is this : 
 Each state shall map out a scientific system 
 of railways and shall build such railways 
 from time to time, as its people may be will- 
 ing to pay for, and keep the same in repair. 
 And the federal government shall own the 
 rolling stock and operate the railways of all 
 the states as one grand system." 
 
 " But that way the states would bear all 
 the cost, except of operation, w^hile the na- 
 tion would receive all the revenues." 
 
 " True, it would receive them, but it would 
 not have to retain them. We propose that 
 the nation refund to each state its share of 
 the profits in proportion as derived from 
 traflfic originating within the state ; or at 
 least enough of the profits to pay the inter- 
 est on the state railway bonds." 
 
 " Yes, that would be feasible. But I fail 
 to see that the results to the state, nation or 
 people would be any different than they now 
 are, except increased care over the railways." 
 
 " The benefits would be great. First, the 
 railways of the country would be operated as 
 
66 AUruria, 
 
 one complete system as is our postal sys- 
 tem." 
 
 " But ev^en our much vaunted postal sys- 
 tem is imperfect, and each newly inaugurated 
 president spends months of precious time in 
 dealing out petty postmasterships." 
 
 " Which is unnecessary and disgraceful, of 
 course," replied John. " Why not let each 
 township or municipality elect its own post- 
 master, the office to be conducted under fed- 
 eral rules ? " 
 
 " Yes, that could be done. But suppose the 
 postmaster should disobey the federal rules ? " 
 
 " In such case the Government would de- 
 tail one of its special agents to conduct the 
 office till things were settled or a new post- 
 master elected ; or mail service would be sus- 
 pended." 
 
 " And as to benefits from federal operation 
 of the railways ? " 
 
 " As I said, they would be great. The 
 service would be uniform, and so far as rates 
 are concerned, all distances would be annihi- 
 lated. There would be an interstate or na- 
 tional rate, the same for any distance ; and 
 in each state a rate covering any distance 
 within the state. Space being practically an- 
 nihilated, the volume of traffic would be vastly 
 
Altruria. 6^ 
 
 increased, because all producers and shippers 
 would be within equal distance of all markets, 
 and could freely exchange their products." 
 
 " Would the national and the state rates 
 be the same ? " 
 
 " No. The national rate would be double 
 the state rate." 
 
 " That is to say : If I had to pay $3 from 
 New York to Buffalo, I could go to San 
 Francisco, New Orleans, or Atlanta for $6? 
 And the same with freights, whatever the 
 rates might be ? " 
 
 " You have the idea exactly. But the rates 
 would soon be much lower than now. Few 
 people realize the importance of railways as 
 distributors under economic conditions. So 
 important is it to bring all producers within 
 equal distance of the markets, to make all 
 wealth producers near neighbors, in order 
 that they can exchange products without 
 hindrance, that it would pay the nation to 
 defray the whole cost of freight and labor 
 transportation out of a special land tax ; 
 making freight transportation absolutely free 
 of cost." 
 
 " And why not make all passenger trans- 
 portation also free ? " 
 
 " That is not necessary, because telegraph 
 
68 Altrtiria. 
 
 and telephone enable quick communication ; 
 nor would it be feasible in view of the fact 
 that the Government might be imposed on 
 by aimless or profitless migrations of popula- 
 tion. But free freight transportation would 
 make the producer in the remotest corner an 
 integral factor of the whole economic ma- 
 chine. In any event, the rates would be ulti- 
 mately brought down to the minimum, even 
 in the absence of the land tax revenue, as 
 the Government railways could be operated 
 so as to become free of debt. The freight- 
 age problem is of such vast importance under 
 economic conditions as to overshadow all 
 other problems of civilization. So stupend- 
 ous is it that private capital is absolutely in- 
 adequate, but even were it adequate, its jeal- 
 ousies and bickerings will never permit it to 
 do the producers justice. To free the freight 
 is to free the producer, because production 
 is vain without transportation, at a rate giv- 
 ing him an equal standing in all the markets 
 of the country. Only the federal Govern- 
 ment can give all producers an equal average 
 rate, regardless of distance." 
 
 " Why not make the state and federal rates 
 the same? " 
 
 " Because local enterprise should first be 
 
Altruria. 69 
 
 encouraged. The people within a state 
 should have an incentive to develop their 
 own industries and railways without economic 
 trespass from other states." 
 
 " Thus each state will have its full develop- 
 ment in its own hands, unhampered by 
 inadequate transportation facilities or prohib- 
 itive freight rates." 
 
 " But all who have given the matter intelli- 
 gent consideration say that on the whole our 
 railways are serving the people at remarkably 
 low charges. Why not leave well enough 
 alone ? " 
 
 "That is so only relatively, not actually. 
 The railways, owned by private capital, find 
 their interests directly antagonistic to the 
 people's interests. For this reason our rail- 
 way corporations find it necessary to buy the 
 legislatures with the very money extorted 
 from the people. The source of this antag- 
 onism and corruption can only be reached 
 by public ownership of the railways, making 
 impossible private fortunes large enough to 
 buy legislatures. The buying is not always 
 done with cash, but more often by giving 
 stocks in corporations, or affording oppor- 
 tunities of successful speculation. Often the 
 consideration is to buy off adverse legislation. 
 
yo Altruria. 
 
 This begets a lust for sudden wealth, to be 
 obtained only by speculation, which is de- 
 moralizing to the whole country. To-day 
 every youth is taught to worship the goddess 
 Success, and she is to be reached only through 
 speculative gambling, and the arena of pub- 
 lic life to-day affords the best opportunities 
 for approaching that goddess with power 
 and credentials which compel successful rec- 
 ognition." 
 
 " But after so large a control of business 
 by the Government creating absolute mon- 
 opolies, it seems to me the private citizens 
 would lose all incentive to progress." 
 
 " That is nonsense. The Government has 
 always had a monopoly of the business of 
 war, and yet invention has been as active in 
 that field as in any other. The navy and 
 army have both adopted every invention of 
 real merit. So would it be in the transporta- 
 tion business if the Government operated the 
 railways. But in addition to the incentives 
 existing, the Government could very profit- 
 ably offer prizes for say the five greatest in- 
 ventions each year, thus stimulating every 
 sphere of industry." 
 
 But to return to Altrurian subjects proper. 
 
 '* John, I have been wondering how your 
 
AltruiHa. 71 
 
 extremely wordly, practical ideas of outside 
 affairs can at all connect and harmonize with 
 the Utopian practices of Altruria." 
 
 " No doubt you have ; it is because so far 
 you have seen things only by their surfaces. 
 You think that because our life here is beau- 
 tiful, it must have a cloud foundation." 
 
 " Well, would it be asking too much of 
 you to give me some idea of your Altrurian 
 finances ; perhaps through them I shall un- 
 derstand." 
 
 " I intended to give you this information, 
 but as I do not remember the details of the 
 figures, and presuming that you would pre- 
 fer facts and particulars, let me take you 
 over to Dr. Wellworth, our auditor." And 
 with this John stepped to his telephone and 
 called up the doctor's ofifice to see if he was 
 in and could receive us. Having received 
 an affirmative reply, we started to go over. 
 I anticipated much satisfaction from my in- 
 terview with Dr. Wellworth. It had not oc- 
 curred to me that the Altrurians had need 
 of a doctor at all. 
 
 Arriving at the doctor's house, he wel- 
 comed us most cordially. 
 
 " Doctor, I have brought you a patient," 
 said John, introducing me. " He is per- 
 
72 Altruria. 
 
 plexed over the intricacies of our Altrurian 
 financial system." 
 
 After a hearty laugh, the doctor replied he 
 would certainly try to clarify my mind on 
 the subject. 
 
 " What is it you would like to know ? " he 
 inquired. 
 
 " Everything," I replied ; and we all 
 laughed. 
 
 " Well," said he, " you have noticed how, 
 in the last few decades since the ushering in 
 of the economic era, all enterprises estab- 
 lished on an economic basis (as our railroads 
 for instance) have prospered more than any 
 other section of wealth producers, however 
 arduous their endeavors. Our Altrurian 
 corporation is placed on the same economic 
 basis — its property of an indestructible na- 
 ture being represented by a funded debt 
 which is bonded at 2)^ per cent, interest, 
 and its movable effects being covered by 
 stock issued on the ' building-and-loan-asso- 
 ciation ' plan. We have determined upon 
 the interest rate of 2_^ per cent., because, 
 at this rate, capital doubles itself about every 
 thirty years, which length of time is also the 
 span in which labor renews itself in a new 
 generation of producers. By this arrange- 
 
Altrtcria. 73 
 
 ment, we believe we have properly equalized 
 the rewards of capital and labor and re-estab- 
 lished the equilibrium of social justice. You 
 will also observe that in Altruria labor em- 
 ploys capital instead of capital employing 
 labor ; and consequently every man is a 
 small capitalist as well as a worker." 
 
 " And now for the figures ; Altruria con- 
 tains 36,000 acres of land, occupied by a 
 population of 3,000 souls, or 600 families. 
 Each family, therefore, represents 60 acres. 
 The 36,000 acres cost us $25 per acre or 
 $900,000, and our 620 buildings, constructed 
 by the new fire-proof method which you see 
 we have invented, cost us (with all improve- 
 ments attaching thereto), an average of 
 $2,500 — or a total of $1,550,000. This makes 
 a grand total of $2,450,000, on which the in- 
 terest at 2^ per cent, amounts to $61,250 
 per year, or $102,083 a family per annum, or 
 $8,507 per family per month. Thus you will 
 see that our people have each the sustenance 
 of a sixty-acre farm, and enjoy all city con- 
 vences and comforts at $8,507 per month, 
 while under the old system this monthly 
 charge averages fully $32 per month. This 
 makes a saving in favor of the Altrurian sys- 
 tem of about $300 per year per family, 
 
74 AUruria. 
 
 which is almost a family's yearly support, 
 hence the prosperity of our people. All 
 profits accruing over the $102,083 P^r family 
 per year are credited on the stock held by 
 members, and out of these profits are paid 
 the cost of machinery and implements of 
 production. Then, by our more scientific 
 system of production, the product per family 
 is about doubled, so that the Altrurian has 
 ample margin for saving over the cost of 
 living, the result of which is that at the be- 
 ginning of age our citizens can retire from 
 production and spend their remaining days 
 in travel and enjoyment, giving the younger 
 generation their opportunity. And our 
 affairs being so ordered that this result is 
 assured to each citizen, our people reach 
 this point in the best of spirits and health 
 and are capable of enjoying themselves as 
 only a matured intellect, conscious of well- 
 earned rest, can. You will see that by this 
 more equal distribution of wealth, commerce 
 is greatly benefitted, for each of our 600 
 families has about $$00 more per year than 
 they would have otherwise. Under the old 
 system $120,000 of this extra w^ealth would 
 have no existence and the other $180,000 
 would come into the possession of perhaps 
 
Altruria. 75 
 
 30 families whose needs and purchases of 
 goods would be only a twentieth of what our 
 600 families need and buy, and consequently 
 the volume of commerce and the goods in- 
 dustries are greatly benefitted by the Altru- 
 rian system of wealth distribution." 
 
 Here was a vast town covering a whole 
 township, and in the midst thereof a city ; 
 its people, according to John, were Altrurians 
 or Christians of a peculiar type ; all served 
 each other in love and yet not without due 
 remuneration, and moreover they enjoyed 
 every blessing of invention, art and science ; 
 and the whole controlled by one corpora- 
 tion. How was it all done to the satisfac- 
 tion of everybody and the profit of all ? I 
 asked the doctor concerning this. 
 
 " It is all very simple. In the first place, 
 we need but little money, only enough to 
 settle balances, as each citizen's account con- 
 sists of debits and credits for services or 
 merchandise received or rendered, and only 
 the balance of the account need be settled in 
 cash, and this is seldom done except at the 
 close of the fiscal year. The real financial 
 machine behind the whole thing (and which 
 practically is the corporation itself), is our 
 Altrurian Bank, whose methods and opera- 
 
76 Altruria. 
 
 tions are somewhat similar to those of the 
 well-known building-and-loan-association. In 
 this bank every citizen must hold at least 
 one share, (costing 50 cents a month), and he 
 may hold as many more shares as the board 
 of managers fix, from time to time, as the 
 maximum number, which varies with the 
 condition of the bank. If the bank can use 
 more money, it will allow each member a 
 larger number of shares ; if there is a pleth- 
 ora of funds, it reduces the number. Every 
 citizen has two accounts in this bank, the 
 one an account of investment shares, as I 
 have outlined, and the other an open or non- 
 interest-bearing account. The latter is to 
 accommodate the owner in making any per- 
 sonal purchase, outside the society or in case 
 he wishes to travel, when he can draw the 
 account in United States money. 
 
 " If you should become a citizen of Altru- 
 ria we would ask you to select a building site 
 anywhere adjoining the improvements (you 
 would have the entire radius of the town but 
 would have to adjoin it in order to have de- 
 livered the city improvements at a minimum 
 cost), you would select or furnish your plans 
 for such a house as you desired, and upon 
 your subscribing for enough Altrurian Bank 
 
Altru7'ia. yy 
 
 stock to cover the cost of the house (not the 
 land — the land is never sold but only rented, 
 and this land rental is all the tax you will 
 ever have to pay), the Altrurian Corporation 
 will at once build you a house according to 
 your plans and specifications, or you can, 
 perhaps, buy a home already built by paying 
 what any resident nearer the centre of the 
 town might be willing to sell his location for. 
 After the cost of the house has been liqui- 
 dated it is absolutely your own property. 
 In addition to this you may subscribe for 
 the maximum number of shares (at present 
 fifty), and your money will be used to build 
 other houses, and to conduct manufactures, 
 etc." 
 
 " The money invested in the Altrurian in- 
 vestment shares is improved at compound 
 interest the same as in a building-and-loan 
 society. When the shares are matured they 
 draw annually a dividend equal to two-thirds 
 the rate earned on the whole capital." 
 
 [From the Century Magazine , May, j8g^.'\ 
 
 LESSONS FROM UTAH EXPERIENCE. 
 
 The experience of the people of Utah over a period 
 of more than forty years furnishes the best available 
 light for the problems of the arid region as a whole. 
 This is due to a combination of important circumstances. 
 
78 
 
 AUruria. 
 
 First, it is not the experience of a few individuals, or of 
 a single colony, but of a whole people. Furthermore, 
 it is not limited to agriculture, but illustrates in a much 
 larger way the development of a commonwealth. 
 . . . All these circumstances are exceedingly fortu- 
 nate for a study of Utah institutions with relation to the 
 future of Arid America; but there is yet another circum- 
 stance of still higher importance to be mentioned. This is 
 the fact that the industrial system of the coming State was 
 founded by a man of genius, who had both the disposition 
 and the power to mark out new ground for the human race. 
 Putting polygamy wholly outside the limits of this dis- 
 cussion, and speaking in the light of existing industrial 
 conditions throughout the United States, ... it 
 may be said that the economic structure of the State 
 founded by Brigham Young appears to approach mar- 
 velously near to perfection. . . . He knew that his 
 power, to be enduring, must rest upon something ma- 
 terial and tangible; and this something he discerned to 
 be the prosperity of the people themselves. Brigham 
 Young was an organizer of prosperity. This was the 
 real source of his strength. He did not aim at mere 
 temporary prosperity. On the contrary, he fought 
 everything that tended to that end, going to the length 
 of actually forbidding the opening of the rich mines in 
 the mountains near at hand, because he abhorred the 
 spirit of speculation. He chose for the corner-stone of 
 his State the principle of industrialism; and that princi- 
 ple lies there yet, at the base of a noble edifice of eco- 
 nomic fact, reared by human toil, and held firmly in 
 place by the average prosperity of all who had part in 
 its building. If the great architect, and the superin- 
 tendents and foremen who surrounded him, enjoyed a 
 larger share of the profits than the workmen, it is also 
 true that the humblest hewer of stone and carrier of 
 
Aliruria. 79 
 
 mortar was paid in proportion to the importance of his 
 labors. And what fair mind can object to an industrial 
 system that yields these results ? . . . 
 
 And here is the first great lesson which the Mormon 
 people can teach the world. The time has come when 
 the world is willing to listen eagerly to the man or peo- 
 ple who can demonstrate how it is possible for an indefi- 
 nite number to gain a generous living by honest labor, 
 not as servants, but as masters. Employment, how- 
 ever good the wages and certain the tenure, is in its 
 last analysis a form of servitude. 
 
 But while these elaborate figures (for which see The 
 Century, May, 1895) tell the story of the prosperity of 
 the commonwealth, their true significance may be better 
 studied when they are brought down to the basis of the 
 individual family. The census shows that only five per 
 cent, of all the American people have any proprietary 
 interest in the land on which they dwell, while ninety 
 per cent, of the Mormon people are owners or heirs of 
 the soil. Still further, the figures presented by the his- 
 torian show that the average gross income of the Mor- 
 mon farmer over a period of forty years has been $1,- 
 357.25, or $482.25 above the cost of his living expenses. 
 It is to be seriously doubted whether any other people 
 on the face of the earth can make such a showing. 
 
 [If the Morman system shows these marvelous results 
 from the lower grades of humanity, should not our 
 more intelligent, free. Christian men and women do even 
 much better with the right system ? Unquestionably 
 they could. — Author, " Altruria."] 
 
 "This certainly looks like the poor man's 
 paradise," I remarked. 
 
 " And so it is," responded the doctor. 
 
8o Altritria. 
 
 "The corporation pays the cost of educating 
 your children as well as the other charges 
 for which a tax levy could be made, and your 
 money joins in the profits of all the opera- 
 tions of the corporation. Nor are our men 
 restricted to these home investments ; if any 
 one can get more for his money elsewhere, 
 (which has never yet been the case, however,) 
 he is at liberty to make the investment. But 
 we discountenance all speculation either in 
 securities or in land, considering it to be de- 
 moralizing and unworthy of true manhood. 
 They are not investments, but gambling in 
 which some must lose to let others gain. 
 
 " The home (when paid for) and the money 
 in bank are the property of the individual. 
 The means of production, such as land and 
 machinery and the monopolies of furnishing 
 water, heat, light, sewerage, communication, 
 etc., are all owned by the corporation and 
 conducted at a reasonable profit on the in- 
 vestment. Every plant or piece of machin- 
 ery is debited with shares and must be paid 
 for the same as a house, so that when the 
 plant or machinery is worn out, the cost 
 thereof is wiped out. 
 
 '■'■ But all permanent improvements (such as 
 future generations will have the benefit of), 
 
Aliruria. 8i 
 
 and the value of the land, are bonded by loo 
 year bonds at 2^ per cent, interest. We 
 have, however, the option of liquidating these 
 bonds sooner, at any time upon one year's 
 notice, and whenever our bank has a pleth- 
 ora of money, it acquires some of these 
 bonds and holds them. In case of an unex- 
 pected need of money for a new industry, 
 the law gives us the right to deposit these 
 bonds with the federal authorities and receive 
 thereon 50 per cent, of their face value in 
 currency. This, you see, makes our financial 
 operations elastic, yet safe." 
 
 Now I began to see that the whole scheme 
 was very simple and the business on a sound 
 basis. Individuality and private initiative 
 were not precluded but encouraged by the 
 co-operation of the corporation with every 
 individual. The individual man was here 
 completely free, for the corporation was his 
 servant. 
 
 " I thank you very much, doctor, for your 
 courtesy in giving me the facts from the Al- 
 trurian books. And now may I ask a ques- 
 tion of a different nature ? Under your 
 mode of perfect living, I should think your 
 functions of doctor would be very perfunc- 
 tory (?) " 
 
82 Altrtiria. 
 
 "According to the old notions, yes. The 
 best of people are, hovv'ever, liable to dis- 
 eases of a contagious nature. But my chief 
 function is to keep people well, by constant- 
 ly Avatching over their physical welfare. 
 Prevention is better than cure. My duty is 
 to see that every man, woman, and child 
 has the conditions of a perfect physical life. 
 This is a part of our religion, believing that 
 perfect mental life is possible only in perfect 
 physical bodies. Common sense and tem- 
 perance in all things (eating, drinking, and 
 thinking) are the greatest doctors on the 
 planet, and I, the Altrurian doctor, supple- 
 mented with tonics and pills, am above all 
 things the minister representing those great- 
 er doctors." 
 
 " A sort of faith curist ? " 
 
 " No, that is mental intemperance ; we 
 could not accept that, though it is common 
 sense to supplement the right thoughts to 
 help inspire the physical. The conscious- 
 ness of living a perfect life is the greatest 
 tonic, and our people possessing that are as 
 happy and healthy as you see them." 
 
 We bade the doctor good-day and as we 
 were returning, John continued, " Another 
 beauty of our system is, that in case a hus- 
 
Altruria. Z-t^ 
 
 band dies or the parents become old and the 
 children are married, there is perfect inde- 
 pendence for them. In the former case the 
 wife receives a clear title to the house, if not 
 already paid for, and it needs but a reason- 
 able exertion to support herself. And as 
 for any surviving children under eighteen 
 years of age, they are supported by the cor- 
 poration and their education and everything 
 supplied. In the case of old people, they 
 always have their ow^n home and a goodly 
 income from the investment of earlier years. 
 No one is dependent upon another, not even 
 on his or her children." 
 
 " And, concerning the government of Al- 
 truria ? " I inquired. 
 
 " We annually elect a president, and the 
 other usual ofificers, including a board of 
 officers for the Altrurian Bank. These con- 
 duct all routine business. All important 
 questions are decided by the members by 
 referendum elections, provision for which has 
 been made in our constitution. 
 
 " At the close of each year, the scale of 
 wages is adopted and employments are as- 
 signed for the following year. The lighter 
 employments yield the lower wages, and the 
 harder and rougher work brings the higher 
 
84 Altriiria. 
 
 remuneration. Or if a man has any employ- 
 ment or occupation which he prefers, he 
 may pursue it at his own cost and profit, be- 
 ing subject only to ground rent and rental 
 for any buildings or machinery and power 
 he may use. 
 
 " Altruria is perfectly sewered, all rejecta 
 from man and animal being conducted to 
 the fields. We have an abundance of water 
 to flush our sewers constantly, and, as far as 
 it will reach, use this fluid manure, mixed 
 with lime, for irrigating purposes, making 
 our agricultural operations independent of the 
 natural elements and causing the earth to 
 yield four fold its former production." 
 
 " And if every township in the land should 
 become an ideal industrial republic like Al- 
 truria, I presume these townships would, in 
 their corporative capacities, become the pro- 
 ducers and vendors of all goods?" said I. 
 
 " Yes, not only that; it would immediately 
 lead to a system whereunder poverty and 
 the anomalies of markets see-sawed by spec- 
 ulators at the expense of both producers and 
 consumers would vanish. Your stock and 
 produce exchanges would have builded bet- 
 ter than they knew. Imagine, if you please, 
 every township organized as an industrial re- 
 
Altruria. 85 
 
 public, with a uniform, minimum rate of 
 wages in each industry throughout the land; 
 with a national bureau of statistics and ex- 
 change to decree a uniform minimum price for 
 any product anywhere throughout the land, 
 this price based legitimately on the cost of pro- 
 duction, and distributing all products at their 
 established prices. And this all done volun- 
 tarily by the co-operation of the many indus- 
 trial township republics, to the end that all 
 labor might receive its equitable reward at 
 all times and in all places. With this bu- 
 reau constantly advised, exactly the produc- 
 tion of all produce and goods in every town- 
 ship, and having the power to allow each 
 township its quota of production (in case of 
 a tendency to overproduce both the domes- 
 tic and export demand), and in case of over- 
 production, to all the toilers a vacation or 
 cessation from toil, to avoid disturbing the 
 rate of wages (for is it not folly to cut off 
 consumption wholly or in part by a reduc- 
 tion of wages, because of overproduction ; 
 and by this method, now in practice, still 
 further reduce the capacity to consume ?). 
 
 " And this, you say, would not restrict the 
 liberties of the individual man ? " 
 
 " Not more than your trusts have already 
 
86 Altruria. 
 
 taken that liberty. Of none save the mo- 
 nopolist who has already received his conso- 
 lation, and he is given an equal chancce for 
 the future, with all his fellow men." 
 
 " But I had reference solely to the toiling 
 producer ; if his wages are arbitrarily fixed 
 and the prices of his products also, and he 
 must take a vacation in case of overproduc- 
 tion, is his liberty not curtailed ? " 
 
 " We fix only the minimum wage, not the 
 maximum. What liberty has the 'toiling 
 producer ' now, under your existing system ?" 
 demanded John, warmly. "The liberty to 
 work from ten to fifteen hours a day with 
 such energy that he can do naught but sleep 
 the balance of the twenty-four. And then 
 his rest is haunted with perpetual care, for 
 he does not know what day a strike or lock- 
 out may overtake him and find his cupboard 
 bare, and, even without these sad vicissitudes, 
 sickness and death are ever ready to lay him 
 low and find his family without the support 
 of a bank account or life insurance. At 
 best, his condition is a sad one. His children 
 are usually well endowed by nature and with 
 education and deserved training would be- 
 come ideal citizens. But the mother is a 
 serf and must neglect the babe, the food is 
 
Altrurta. 87 
 
 ill prepared, and not the right sum of it, the 
 clothing are insufficient to protect the child's 
 health or not of a kind to insure his self-re- 
 spect at school ; and at an early age school 
 must be forsaken for the treadmill of toil. 
 The toiler's clothes, hung in the room used 
 for both cooking and eating, and often sleep- 
 ing, smell bad and so do the wife's and the 
 children's, and their welcome is not great 
 even at church where all are equal before 
 their Maker. Such is the poor man's lot. 
 Now, tell me, can he lose much liberty ? " 
 
 " And I would give him free access to the 
 land in any township of his choice ; to build 
 his own home according to his taste and 
 ability to pay for it in sums like rent, and 
 would make machinery serve him instead of 
 competing with him ; would give him steady 
 work (as much as any of his fellows had 
 throughout the land), and steady wages ; 
 would insure his life for the sum of a com- 
 petency and let him save another ; would 
 free his wife from drudgery and sweeten her 
 life, and give her children an ideal training 
 in healthy, delightful surroundings and under 
 the noblest teachings of religion and of sci- 
 ence (true science is the essence of religion)." 
 
 " It is enough, my friend, I see it all." 
 
SS Altruria. 
 
 " I am delighted to hear it," said John. 
 " If you will go back to New York and settle 
 up your affairs and come again, we will re- 
 new your life, multiply your joys, and when 
 you die it will be with a clear conscience, and 
 you will go ' not like the quarry slave at 
 night, scourged to his dungeon, but sustained 
 and soothed with an unfaltering trust ' that 
 God is your father, and with a knowledge 
 that you have been a true brother to every 
 child of His." 
 
Altruria. 89 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 On the morning of the following day, John 
 said to me : " What do you say if we take a 
 look at the various industries of Altruria? " 
 
 " I should be pleased to see all its charac- 
 teristics, so that I could the more intelli- 
 gently consider the subject of social-indus- 
 trial reform with you ; for I still have some 
 doubts of the applicability of Altrurian 
 methods to the world at large. It seems to 
 me that the plan is only feasible for those of 
 a certain religious character — a degree of re- 
 ligious fanaticism such as makes Shakerism 
 and the other communisms possible." 
 
 " Quite the contrary," replied John. " Our 
 life here is the fruit of the most calm, delib- 
 erate reason to which our emotions, as well 
 as the passions, are subjected. 
 
 " This is our common-school building for 
 children between nine and fourteen. The 
 school is not in session at this time, but I 
 would like to have you inspect the build- 
 ings, etc." 
 
 I found it equal in equipment to any 
 school I had ever seen in the metropolis, and 
 
go Altruria. 
 
 of course much better lighted It was spa- 
 cious and cheerful. 
 
 " In addition to this, we have a kinder- 
 garten for children from four to eight years 
 inclusive, where the use of correct language, 
 by imitation, and cheerfulness of disposition, 
 together with music, are the only things 
 taught. And we also have an industrial 
 school, where all the chief trades are taught 
 to the youths from fifteen to eighteen. The 
 girls learn sewing and cooking and practical 
 house-keeping ; the boys, mechanics and 
 farming ; and to both are taught the ele- 
 ments of the natural sciences, and we also 
 teach them how to use the library and search 
 for any further knowledge they may desire. 
 But the most important is the kindergarten. 
 Teach a child between the ages of four and 
 eight years cheerfulness, beautiful language 
 and music, and you have laid the foundation 
 of a happy and happiness -yielding life. 
 Here is something " (stepping over to the 
 bookcase of the school), " which I should 
 like you to look through especially : Altru- 
 rian Political Economy, a small volume of 
 perhaps a hundred pages." 
 
 " Let us sit down and read it. The child- 
 ren of all nations do as they are taught, and 
 
AltriLria. 9 1 
 
 I need not tell you that the Antipodeans 
 have an order of life almost the reverse of 
 our own. And if we here teach the children 
 the dignity of labor and the universal broth- 
 erhood of man, will they not practice it and 
 do naturally what you suppose needs a spirit 
 of religious fanaticism to live out ? " 
 
 " Quite right, John, let me read the book." 
 Here are some extracts which I remarked 
 upon. It begins with this little essay as an in- 
 troductory : " There are two first elements, 
 spirit and matter. The former is the essence 
 of all life, the Creator. The latter is the 
 substance of which things are formed. The 
 spirit is God and has inherent life, while 
 matter of itself has no life, is subject to the 
 will of the spirit and is animate only in the 
 measure in which spirit permeates it. The one 
 is positive ; the other receptive. The first is 
 called God ; the second. Nature. Nature may 
 be said to be the temple of God, for He houses 
 Himself in it so that Nature itself is Godlike. 
 
 " Man, a child of God, consists of the mind 
 (his spirit) and its house, the body. The mind 
 is spirit, the body matter." 
 
 "That certainly seems intelligible," I re- 
 marked, and John nodded assent. I read 
 farther : 
 
92 Altruria. 
 
 " The spirit having Hfe exercises itself in 
 works, and these works are good, proclaim- 
 ing the glory and power of God, and provid- 
 ing for His creatures throughout the universe. 
 God is the originator of every science, and 
 reveals them to His children as they seek to 
 learn them, and are capable of receiving them. 
 God, the spirit, is the author and the embodi- 
 ment of industry, working hitherto and now 
 especially for the good of His children ; and 
 men. His children, are the ' sons of God ' only 
 in so far as they conceive His spirit, imitate 
 His industry, and do good works, subduing 
 the flesh (matter) and the lusts (desires) 
 thereof." 
 
 " You see how that ennobles man and his 
 works," said John. 
 
 " Yes, it is truly beautiful and grand — en- 
 nobling. It is as religious as it is scientific ; 
 and all very simple." 
 
 " We hold that honest, intelligent political 
 economy is a part of religion," added John. 
 " Our advanced scholars feel that they are 
 learning but the A, B, C, of knowledge, and 
 that all through life they must become the 
 pupils and imitators of the Father, who 
 * knoweth all things.' This philosophy injects 
 a rational meaning into man's life, and he 
 
Altruria. 
 
 93 
 
 knows his place, and welcomes his destiny. 
 He feels that he is ' working out his salva- 
 tion ' rationally. How much better do we 
 understand Moses and the prophets, and what 
 meaning have the words of Christ — ' My 
 Father worketh hitherto and I work also.' 
 Now, if you will turn to page 51, and read 
 regarding the manner of God's working." 
 
 I turned to the page, and here is what I 
 found : " We perceive also in all the works of 
 God that He worketh not for Himself, but 
 solely for the good of the universe, especially 
 His children in the spirit, and not for Him- 
 self. God needs nothing. He has all things. 
 He knows all things, and has power co-exLent 
 with His omniscience. He is an Altruist. 
 Moses and the prophets were in a measure 
 Altruists, and Jesus became the full child of 
 God only because He was a perfect Altruist 
 like His Father. Herein is the true interpre- 
 tation of the Scriptures. Doubters may as- 
 sail the divinity of Christ, but as no one 
 contradicts the fact that He did the works of 
 His Father — was an Altruist, and worked 
 not for Himself but only for others — we have 
 in that incontrovertible proof of His divinity. 
 And so are all men divine in the measure 
 that they deny themselves (subdue the flesh, 
 
94 Altrtiria. 
 
 matter) and walk in the spirit, do the works 
 which the spirit dictates." 
 
 " And now on page 'j6, concerning reason 
 and education," suggested John. 
 
 This is what I found there : " As God, the 
 spirit, vests Himself in a variety of forms, so 
 has the mind a number of faculties, the chief 
 of which is the faculty of reason, and this is 
 the spiritual eye of man, through which he 
 views his Maker, and perceives the ways of 
 God. Man must keep this eye clear and clean 
 from every pollution of matter, having its 
 lenses well burnished with knowledge, so that 
 the vision may be clear and unimpeded. 
 Hence the necessity for gaining knowledge, 
 intelligence ; and knowledge is gained by in- 
 spiration through the reason (a 'divining' 
 some call it), and through the more mechan- 
 ical process of education or teaching. The 
 aim of all education is the establishment, the 
 enthroning, of a perfect reason that shall be 
 kin with the very spirit of God, and rule the 
 other faculties which are the representatives 
 of the flesh ; for God is the embodiment of 
 wisdom (knowledge), and is the essence of 
 pure reason. Man, to be a true child of God, 
 must imitate the Father by seeking and ob- 
 taining wisdom, in order that the son may 
 
Altruria. 95 
 
 intelligently cooperate with the Father in 
 every good work. And those who do this 
 will, at death, be promoted into Heaven, and 
 there become God's angels, his messengers, 
 and co-workers. This earth is but a trysting 
 place, a school, in which God qualifies His 
 children for association with Him in the 
 rulership of the universe." 
 
 " The book is orthodox, too," said I. " It 
 accords with all we have been taught in the 
 Scriptures." 
 
 John directed me also to the following on 
 page 93 : 
 
 " Now, if God is spirit and the mind of man 
 is spirit, and they are kin, it follows that all 
 men are brothers — children of the same 
 Father, and are equally dear to the Father ; 
 and no one, therefore, can offend or injure 
 his brother without ofTending or injuring God. 
 Love is the warmth of life, the expression of 
 reason, and he who has not love for his 
 brother has not the life of God, for that life 
 is spirit and worketh the works of helpfulness 
 and love. And for this reason we are bound 
 to practice the form of industry and living 
 which works full justice, and gives the warmth 
 of love to every man, believing and knowing 
 that this is the order cf the kinfjdom of God." 
 
96 Altrtiria. 
 
 As we left the school-house, and saw the 
 children at play amid trees and flowers, and 
 then beheld the workers in every industry 
 cooperating under their chosen leaders for 
 the greatest good of all, I felt as in a trance 
 and transplanted to a different world. The 
 factory buildings were models in every re- 
 spect, and as we passed through them, I saw 
 one man was even working on a flying- 
 machine, and John informed me he was given 
 free power and sustenance, and they all be- 
 lieved he would soon perfect the invention, 
 and bring renown and wealth to Altruria. 
 The outside world had rewarded his genius 
 by making him an outcast. 
 
 In this workshop I saw a number of ma- 
 chines and devices of an experimental nature, 
 and when I asked concerning these, John re- 
 plied : 
 
 " This work is done mostly after the reg- 
 ular hours of labor, and any of our people 
 who are interested, men and women, watch 
 and criticise and give suggestions with a view 
 to attaining as great success and perfection 
 as possible. Our road machine, on which 
 you have had several rides, was thus evolved. 
 We manufacture large numbers of these, and 
 derive a large revenue from their sale. We 
 
Altruria. 97 
 
 also have achieved several other practicable 
 inventions which have proved profitable. 
 We listen to advice, and receive help from 
 the humblest, and all our citizens, besides 
 their personal compensation in wages, share 
 in the profits of manufacture, according to 
 the money they have invested in the Altru- 
 rian Bank. But while we listen to the advice 
 of the humblest, we avail ourselves of the 
 highest learning and experience obtainable, 
 and for this reason we have the hearty 
 cooperation of all, and number among our- 
 selves men and women of extraordinary 
 talent. 
 
 " You see," said John, " not a man, woman 
 or child but is comfortably and beautifully 
 dressed (and when I say beautifully, I mean 
 naturally and appropriately) ; our workers 
 pursue their toil in joy and confidence, and 
 men and women are rescued from drudgery. 
 This is the 'lifting of the curse.' It has been 
 lifted from us, and we give God the glory for 
 everything, from the smallest flower or blade 
 of grass to the great inventions of machinery 
 which perform our bidding and do our work. 
 Our hours of toil are but seven per day, 
 which gives us nine for recreation and edifi- 
 cation, and eight for sleep. Then, too, our 
 
98 Altruria. 
 
 pleasures are Altruistic. In our library and 
 music-hall volunteers nightly entertain and 
 edify by music, debate, declamation and lec- 
 tures all who may choose to come. It is like 
 one of your church entertainments on a 
 larger scale, and going every night, save Satur- 
 day, Sunday, and Monday, which days we 
 give over to other duties. 
 
 " Then " (as we walked along), " here is 
 our market, where I can get every thing I 
 may desire." 
 
 It all was perfect. Even the abattoir 
 seemed humanized and surrounded with 
 much that the Jews have held and practiced. 
 It was evident that the taking of animal life, 
 that man might be the stronger, was con- 
 trolled by some notions of Altruistic philos- 
 ophy. 
 
 " I presume, John, that you sell any sur- 
 plus products in car-load lots, and buy in 
 similar quantities anything your people may 
 desire." 
 
 " Certainly. And when that national bu- 
 reau of exchange is put in operation, it will 
 greatly facilitate the sale and purchase of 
 products, and not only that but all banking, 
 as now practiced, will be extinguished. You 
 see it will be thus : any shipper of goods will 
 
Altrurta. 99 
 
 have his invoice and bill of lading certified 
 by the national clearing-house, whereupon 
 the invoice (with B./L. attached) will become 
 a draft, payable in legal tender currency at 
 the post-ofifice of the township. This system 
 will abolish the necessity of money as the 
 world now uses it, for money will be needed 
 only to settle final balances. This system 
 will relieve the producing masses of an aver- 
 age toll of eight per cent, on the gross com- 
 merce of the country, which eight per cent, 
 now goes to the bankers. In fact, labor 
 would be absolutely free, and every citizen 
 would be a sovereign laborer, reaping the 
 full measure of the wealth his toil produced, 
 and the exchange of products being abso- 
 lutely unhindered there would be no limit to 
 the production and enjoyment of wealth as 
 long as a desire remained ungratified, and 
 some one was willing to exchange the prod- 
 uct of his labor to gratify that desire. It 
 would be the full measure of freedom." 
 
 " And now may I ask your views on the 
 question of international policy? What as 
 to the tariff, for instance ? " 
 
 " Immediately, I am a protectionist ; I 
 should maintain protection, excluding also 
 all objectionable immigrants, until all the 
 
loo Altrtiria. 
 
 civilized nations entered into a compact to 
 pay their own taxes and to have universal 
 free trade and a uniform money that would 
 pass for its face value in any country. This 
 accomplished, a world-wide republic of all 
 civilized nations would be but another step, 
 and their Altrurianization would speedily 
 follow. Or, to state it in another way, I 
 would hold to protection until the foreign 
 civilized countries virtually become a part of 
 the World Republic. The Altrurian doc- 
 trine will make its own way wherever the 
 gospel will ; it is the true interpretation of 
 the gospel. America's natural resources and 
 the high character and intelligence of her 
 people, entitle her, meanwhile, to be the 
 leader and arbiter among civilized nations." 
 
Altruria. loi 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RETROSPECT. 
 
 New York, July, 4th, 1914. 
 After an absence of almost exactly 
 twenty years I find myself again in New 
 York. Strange the magnet with which the 
 Metropolis forever holds to loyality the citi- 
 zen who has once tasted her hospitalities and 
 her wondrous activities. Though not a native 
 of New York she was the city of my adop- 
 tion and dear to me as was no other place, 
 save the little farm upon which I was born 
 and reared. Altruria had dealt more than 
 kindly with me. My estate had steadily 
 augmented since my residence there, and 
 the greatest riches, incalcuable riches, were a 
 new spirit and a new hope under which my 
 competency afforded me all the satisfaction 
 of a billion dollars without having any of the 
 care or the annoyance of keeping and caring 
 for that billion. I was not importuned by 
 beggars, was not terrorized by anarchists, nor 
 hated by neighbors envious of my wealth. I 
 was disenslaved from that monster care, and 
 though twenty years older in years I was a 
 
102 Altriiria. 
 
 decade younger in health and spirits than 
 when I left New York in 1893, and so was 
 my wife. Life was now more than ever 
 worth living to us, and the way we had 
 been able to bring up our children in Al- 
 truria had been w^orth a fortune to us in 
 money and another fortune in the happiness 
 of real home life. One of the chief sources 
 of our happiness lay in the consciousness 
 that our neighbors were all as happy and 
 comfortable as ourselves. I had achieved an 
 independent competency and now was trav- 
 eling, although after I emerged from the de- 
 pression of 1893-5, my previous accumula- 
 tions had almost vanished. I now had an 
 ideal home free of debt and an income yearly 
 more than sufficient to support us. My Al- 
 trurian corporation stock was now like a 
 matured life endowment insurance policy 
 converted into an annuity for life. In case I 
 should die first, my wife will continue to 
 draw the dividends on our Altrurian Bank 
 shares for life, but upon her death the shares 
 are paid at their then value to my children 
 (if of age and if not the shares remain in 
 force until they are of age), when the shares 
 are paid and cancelled. In this way the 
 next generation will not have to pay interest 
 
Altruria. 103 
 
 perpetually on the investments made by 
 their parents, but each generation has the 
 oportunity to provide for itself without being 
 burdened by the affairs of the preceding 
 generation. Thus each generation invests its 
 inheritances and savings under its own condi- 
 tions and is free from the vested rights of a 
 previous generation. All false notions re- 
 garding labor had been dispelled both for 
 myself and family, and my children's future 
 was better secured than if I had a fortune 
 for each to leave them at my death. 
 
 All the rational amusements, sports and en- 
 joyments, had been cultivated to a degree 
 never known before the Altrurian period. 
 Even religion was now a pleasurable joy ; and 
 so perfectly had all been taught the use of fine 
 language that it was a pleasure to converse 
 with any one. A few great, idealized news- 
 papers were read everywhere from the Atlan- 
 tic to the Pacific, making the people one in a 
 healthy national spirit, while every township, 
 now transformed into an Altrurian industrial 
 republic, had its local paper which purveyed 
 the domestic events and heralded the news 
 from the outside world. 
 
 I had come back to New York, but how 
 differently than I departed. Instead of trav- 
 
I04 Altruria. 
 
 eling in a stuffy, public railroad car we had 
 made the journey in an aluminium road car- 
 riage propelled by a little engine weighing 
 but ten pounds and exerting five horse 
 power. Meantime, on demand of these 
 modern conveyances, the public roads had 
 been widened and greatly improved, so that 
 it was a pleasure to travel over them with 
 the greatest speed consistent with safety 
 from collisions. Except for merchandise 
 transportation and swift, long-distance com- 
 mercial traveling, the railways were aban- 
 doned and it seemed almost like going back- 
 ward into the period before the invention of 
 the railway. The change back to carriage 
 travel was a very delightful one, although 
 the railways also had been greatly improved 
 by the substitution of electricity for steam 
 (and cinders). 
 
 Everywhere the rural scenes were now pic- 
 tures of the greatest prosperity and of culture, 
 portraying the higher spiritual life of the peo- 
 ple in lovely landscape gardening ; and all the 
 chief public highways were lined with rows of 
 trees soon to be large enough to make each 
 carriage road a magnificent natural boulevard. 
 
 In most places the land was profitable only 
 under a purely agricultual use, and generally 
 
Altruria. 105 
 
 the divisions were smaller than in Altruria, 
 sometimes ranging from I,8CK) to 3,600 acres 
 only ; each tract being owned and operated 
 by a small Altrurian corporation, and instead 
 of a village of residences there was fre- 
 quently a large apartment house or castle, 
 to house the people (from thirty to sixty 
 families). These home palaces, with their 
 baths, libraries and music halls, and their 
 several compartments lighted and heated and 
 cooled from a common plant ; with their co- 
 operative kitchen, laundry, kindergarten and 
 school, furnished an ideal existence, es- 
 pecially for the women and children. 
 
 One of the great pleasures of this mode 
 of life and industry was that these groups 
 were nearly always collected under the prin- 
 ciple of " natural selection," associated by 
 the instinct of affinity. Here we saw re- 
 peated the glory of the feudal estates in pos- 
 session of a " triumphant democracy." 
 
 We stopped at many of the towns on our 
 route, and especially at Buffalo, (now known 
 as Niagara), where we found a magnificent 
 city throbbing with commercial life, as did 
 also all the towns within a radius of several 
 hundred miles around. 
 
 But other sections were not eclipsed by 
 
lo6 Altruria. 
 
 the bounties of nature at Niagara. In thou- 
 sands of unexpected places it was found that 
 nature bestowed the opportunity of even 
 cheaper power than Niagara yielded. Mean- 
 while some implacable genius had discovered 
 a new invention in the field of electricity by 
 which the magnetism of the earth was coaxed 
 into action to become the servant of man, 
 lighting his streets and cooking his meals. 
 Coal mining was consequently an almost 
 abandoned industry long prior to the proph- 
 esied time of "coal bed exhaustion." Still 
 another great invention was an engine and 
 electric motor combined ; the operation of 
 the machine generating electricity, a small 
 portion of which, conducted into the cylin- 
 der and brought in contact with a gas or 
 chemical vapor, produced a great power — an 
 automatic, self-constituted electric motor. 
 What coal was mined was now converted at 
 the mine into gas, which was piped, often 
 long distances, and fused with electricty at 
 the point of comsumption, trebling its heat 
 and light. The great manufacturing cities 
 now showered their various products over 
 the land at prices formerly unheard of. 
 
 At no industrial town we stopped at did I 
 find the former industrial conditions. Most 
 
Altruria. 1 07 
 
 of the workers were self-employing, and 
 every individual employer of labor had 
 adopted the limited profit-sharing plan, giv- 
 ing the workers an interest in the business, 
 and receiving the benefits of sincere frater- 
 nity from his helpers and fully as large 
 profits as ever before. 
 
 And so had the conditions of agricultural 
 life been changed, that the industrial estab- 
 lishments were obliged to offer high wages 
 to tempt men to leave their better conditions 
 of home, under the Altrurian system. 
 
 But I am now in New York. The Fourth 
 of July is, as of yore, a holiday. Its cele- 
 bration has, however, been revolutionized. 
 Instead of dangerous firecrackers and the 
 smell of powder everywhere (with numerous 
 casualties and fatalities to the children), the 
 day is now celebrated by huge civic festivals, 
 martial parades, grand patriotic orations. 
 As for me, dearly as I love New York, I am 
 only on a visit here, and so take the oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the city and its people in 
 their holiday attire, at their best. Notions of 
 dress have evidently undergone a radical 
 change. There is more common sense, and 
 greater beauty. I observed that all the men 
 and boys and girls who took part in the 
 
io8 Alhmria. 
 
 civic displays wore something akin to the old 
 " Continental uniform " with variations in 
 color for each division. The use of silks 
 abounds and makes one think of the bright 
 colors of Garibaldi's countrymen, though 
 the chief fabrics are of wool. The scene is 
 more American, more characteristically so, 
 than any I have ever seen or read of since 
 the days of 1776, "American " now means 
 the full meaning of the word. Foreign no- 
 blemen are but clouts and clowns beside our 
 humblest citizens. The American stands on 
 the globe pre-eminent. His patriotism and his 
 freedom are not only the loftiest sentiments, 
 but also very gold mines as investments. 
 America pays her citizens every blessing of life. 
 But how New York itself has physically 
 changed ! I hardly know the place. Along 
 Broadway runs an ornamental, noiseless, elec- 
 tric double-deck railroad from the Battery to 
 Yonkers. I wish to go to Battery Park and 
 am informed by the guard to take the lower 
 deck cars, which are for local travel. " And if 
 I take the upper deck ? " I inquired. " Then," 
 he replied, " you will have to be careful to 
 stop at Battery Station, or you will be 
 whizzed to Brooklyn, and perchance to 
 Sheepshead Bay or Staten Island." 
 
Altruria. 109 
 
 " I do not understand," I said. " I form- 
 erly lived in New York and certainly the 
 Battery ferries to Brooklyn and Staten 
 Island were not 'whizzers.'" He laughed. 
 " I quite agree with you, but we have 
 changed all that since New York came to 
 her senses and realized in full her opportuni- 
 ties. The city over seven years ago com- 
 pleted a magnificent bridge from the Battery 
 to Governor's Island and thence to Brooklyn, 
 and another from Fort Hamilton to Staten 
 Island. Of course you know that New York 
 now is ' The Greater New York.* 
 
 " If you have not been in New York for 
 some years," the guard continued, " why not 
 take the upper deck train and see the town .'' 
 You can go to Coney Island or Staten 
 Island quite as quickly as the lower deck cars 
 will take you to the Battery." 
 
 " Quite right. I thank you." In another 
 minute I stood upon the station of the upper 
 deck, when along come a train labeled, " To 
 South Brooklyn, Coney Island and Sheeps- 
 head Bay." I entered. In just twelve min- 
 utes we were in the heart of lower Brooklyn 
 (formerly New Utrecht), where I noticed a 
 new city of ideal homes ; and a few minutes 
 more landed us at Coney Island, at the inter- 
 
I lo AHrnria. 
 
 section of the Grand Boulevard from Pros- 
 pect Park. Nowhere could I see any flats ; 
 all houses were beautiful, detached cottages 
 varying in size according to the accommoda- 
 tions required by the occupant and owner 
 (for New York had adopted the system of 
 Altrurian municipal finance whereby every 
 citizen bought his house with rent while be- 
 ing wedded in an ideal citizenship of all-joint- 
 interest). The streets were perfectly paved 
 with asphalt and clean as the halls of well- 
 kept houses. 
 
 I returned to " Staten Island Junction," 
 and there took the train across the Narrows 
 to Staten Island, going to the nether ends 
 of it and back again around, along the other 
 shore (for the railway encircled the island). 
 The scenes were beautiful and rapturous be- 
 yond description. The island itself was 
 dotted over with individual homes in beauti- 
 ful settings of nature, and around her shores 
 the sea cradled all kinds of vessels as far as 
 the eye could reach. New York is indeed the 
 gateway of America, and nov.' a fitting ma- 
 jestic gateway for America. When I re- 
 turned to New York proper (Manhattan 
 Island), the sun had set — for I spent consid- 
 erable time in exploring the city where but a 
 
A It r 71 via. 1 1 r 
 
 few decades ago was country fit only for rus- 
 ticating and not too accessible for that. I 
 found all the streets beautifully illumined 
 almost as if by some " genie of the lamp." 
 Sitting down to dinner in a hotel, I entered 
 into conversation with a gentleman sitting at 
 the same table with me. Although a stran- 
 ger, he bade me good evening, and made me 
 feel at ease at once. 
 
 " You will pardon me, but in the new New 
 York we have thrown aside all relics of bar- 
 barism including that of sitting down to din- 
 ner with a stranger without noticing, or star- 
 ing at, him. New York City is no longer a 
 civic forest harboring a horde of criminals 
 and highwaymen. We are all civilized or 
 have no citizenship. All honest men who 
 earn their living by whatever craft, are equal 
 fellow citizens without distinction of cast or 
 education (for we are now all educated and 
 respect every worker as a brother man). 
 And on this basis we all feel free to converse 
 upon any occasion with whomsoever we are 
 for the moment associated." 
 
 The apology was long, but very satisfac- 
 tory. I was delighted to find the spirit of ra- 
 tional Altruism in New York. I told him so. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," he added pleasantly, " New 
 
112 Altrtiria. 
 
 York has become Altrurianized in great 
 measure." 
 
 " And you have not lost your ' individual 
 liberty,' the loss of which was so greatly 
 feared in connection with Altrurian proposi- 
 tions? " 
 
 " Not at all ; on the contrary we have 
 gained perfect individual liberty." 
 
 " May I ask in what physical ways New 
 York has become Altrurianized ? I come 
 from Altruria and notice a great change in 
 the Metropolis since I left it two decades 
 since. At that time every portending change 
 was viewed with the greatest alarm." 
 
 " I remember well. I myself had the 
 gravest fears of municipal bankruptcy and 
 general social chaos. And being a man of 
 large ' vested interests * the brochures of the 
 Altruists seemed tome but thinly veiled sug- 
 gestions of wholesale robbery. But, like 
 thousands of others, I did not comprehend 
 the full effect of the proposed change. I for- 
 got (although I counted myself an intelligent 
 man) that everything carries with it also its 
 compensations. I could not see that the re- 
 lease of wealth and genius from the toils of 
 the monopolies would so greatly multiply 
 and diversify the activities and the products 
 
Altrtiria. 113 
 
 of man that we should all be busier and more 
 prosperous than ever before. Yet so it has 
 been. Product only becomes wealth at the 
 moment of its exchange. With the multi- 
 plication of products has come also the 
 quickening and enlarging of exchange, (com- 
 merce). Unless a man has genius — mechan- 
 ical, financial or philosophical — his place is in 
 the ranks of the industrial army, where he is 
 duly honored. Formerly genius might per- 
 chance get an audience and gain a competency 
 some time before death, because the people 
 had not the capacity to consume the product, 
 or monopoly crushed out its life by denying 
 the opportunity of free exchange. To-day, 
 if a man has talent he makes a fortune in a 
 single year and none begrudge it him. He 
 is free and has leisure to work out his prob- 
 lem, and our system of universal and equal 
 exchange and transportation, lay the whole 
 country for a market at his feet at a mini- 
 mum of expense. The masses have been re- 
 lieved, freed, from the octopus of monopoly 
 which choked them off from the full con- 
 sumption of their products. For this reason 
 it was always a case of under-consumption; 
 not overproduction. With the masses so 
 freed, it is only a question of offering them a 
 
114 Altruria. 
 
 product for which they are wilHng to give 
 their products in exchange — something that 
 will add to the comfort or happiness of their 
 lives." 
 
 "And how has New York freed her people 
 from monopoly? " 
 
 " To-day its docks are free to the com- 
 merce of the world. It has a municipal rail- 
 way system that is perfect in its arrangement 
 and service, which alone, at one-half the rates 
 of fare charged two decades ago, produces 
 enough revenue to run the municipal govern- 
 ment. And, better still, the city has availed 
 itself of the forces of nature surrounding it. 
 By a new discovery, the brine of either river 
 and the bay becomes a battery-jar from which 
 comes all the electric fluid we need for light- 
 ing streets and houses, as well as for cooking 
 and heating ; and the currents of the rivers 
 (especially at Hell Gate) furnish a source of 
 electric power second only to Niagara." 
 
 " Do you not find that conducting the 
 business of the monopolies through the mu- 
 nicipal government breeds corruption and 
 fraud ?" 
 
 " Entirely the contrary. When a citizen 
 gets his gas, for instance, from the munici- 
 pality, he will always vote for men who will 
 
Altruria. 115 
 
 manufacture and deliver that gas honestly, 
 for to v^ote otherwise would be to rob him- 
 self. And so with every other monopoly ; 
 the greater material interest the citizen has 
 in his government, the more scrupulously will 
 he exercise the right of suffrage. To-day we 
 have only to acquaint the people with the 
 business facts of any proposition, when they 
 will, by referendum, render an entirely satis- 
 factory decision. And we vote openly, not 
 secretly ; every voter records his choice in a 
 public ledger, kept in his district for the pur- 
 pose. Under our new financial system the 
 municipality progresses as surely and nor- 
 mally as if its finances were a part of the 
 great forces of nature. 
 
 Prior to 1900 the metropolis had a sorry 
 time raising funds for any great public 
 enterprise. The money owners schemed 
 and counter-schemed, and, perhaps, final- 
 ly furnished the money. Meanwhile labor 
 was unemployed, and its employment al- 
 ways was incidental to the wishes of the 
 minority of the people, the capitalists. Ex- 
 cept as a coincidence of fortuitous circum- 
 stances, financial power and labor were al- 
 ways divorced, and the one or the other, 
 sometimes both, actually enemies of the com- 
 
Ii6 Altriiria. 
 
 monwealth. The new system of finance has 
 made a radical change. The population of 
 New York in 1900 was five million souls, or 
 one million householders. When each of 
 these million citizens took from one to fifty 
 shares in the New York Altrurian Bank, and 
 agreed to pay fifty cents per month per 
 share (and many of them took ' paid-up ' 
 stock, paying the shares in full in cash at a 
 discount), the municipality in one week 
 raised ten million dollars toward building a 
 fifteen million-dollar bridge, to be completed 
 in three years. And since then all our other 
 great enterprises have been similarly financed 
 by the people. If the people now want any 
 improvement, they make a new issue of stock 
 and subscribe for it, and all share in the prof- 
 its, rich and poor alike. And when such im- 
 provements are paid for, and the stock issued 
 therefor becomes paid up, and is liquidated, 
 they are thenceforth conducted for the pub- 
 lic benefit, at a slight charge above cost of 
 operation and maintenance." 
 
 " And what about the tenements, whose 
 condition was so deplored by moralists when 
 I was in New York? " 
 
 " There are no tenements. New York now 
 is a city of family hotels and private houses. 
 
Altrttria. I i 7 
 
 In the year 1900, when New York fully con- 
 ceived the truth of Altruism, and made the 
 change of which I have already apprised you, 
 the municipality at once set to work to rem- 
 edy the evils of the tenement system. After 
 full consideration, and after receiving sugges- 
 tions from the people, a referendum was 
 taken on the proposition whether the city 
 should not condemn the tenements and re- 
 place them with ideal home palaces (apart- 
 ment hotels), and business houses, and addi- 
 tional parks. The election showed a large 
 majority in favor of the proposition, and ac- 
 cordingly the city condemned (by appraisal) 
 block after block, and to-day, if you will ^o 
 through the ' East Side,' below Fourteenth 
 street, you will find a new city, more mag- 
 nificent than the rest. The income to the 
 city from these new structures is a stupend- 
 ous one yearly, and is used to reduce taxa- 
 tion and to buy additional commercial advan- 
 tages and comforts for the people of the 
 Metropolis. The income from these new 
 buildings has largely helped to make the 
 docks free, thus quickening the commerce of 
 the city, and affording more and better em- 
 ployment to its citizens. From this source, 
 also, together with the land tax and the prof- 
 
1 1 8 Altruria. 
 
 its derived from the operation of the monop- 
 oHes (railroads, gas plants, etc.), the city has 
 built another bridge over the East River, 
 across Blackwell's Island (which now is a 
 public park), and another bridge over to As- 
 toria, while the North River Bridge was com- 
 menced and almost completed before the 
 Altrurian era." 
 
 " You stated that at present no person not 
 earning an honest living had residence in 
 New York. When I was here, in 1893, it 
 was estimated that the criminals of the city- 
 numbered fifty thousand adult men and 
 women, most of whom, I presume, were 
 without visible honest support, but who, ap- 
 parently, could not ' be found out ;' that is, 
 they could not be directly accused." 
 
 " No doubt that was the case, nor could it 
 be otherwise under the then existing system 
 of imprisoning men for a short period, and 
 then allowing them to again pursue their 
 criminal pursuits. But since that time we 
 have revolutionized our penal system. To- 
 day, if a person commits his first breach of 
 the law, if a small matter, he is publicly ad- 
 monished and rebuked ; or, if quite serious, 
 imprisoned for a short time. In case of a 
 second ofTence, showing that he has criminal 
 
Altruria. 119 
 
 tendencies, he is sent to one of the penal col- 
 onies of the United States, one of which is 
 in Alaska, and the other one of the Hawaiian 
 Islands. 
 
 " Given the opportunity, and at the same 
 time the absolute necessity, of obtaining sub- 
 sistence by toil, nothing is so reformatory as 
 to place criminals under those conditions, so 
 that they must support themselves or prey 
 upon one another. A thief learns honesty if 
 his own hard-earned food or money be taken 
 by a thief. Under these conditions criminals 
 are encouraged to produce not only their own 
 sustenance, but also to accumulate money, 
 which the government holds, adding interest 
 until the day of deliverance. Every man to 
 his own place. Criminals find the exclusive 
 society of criminals such a hell that they soon 
 pray for deliverance from it, and those show- 
 ing true penitence are again restored to citi- 
 zenship and happiness ; while incorrigible 
 criminals and wilful murderers are branded 
 as such, and kept in the colony for life, and 
 not allowed to propagate. This relieves so- 
 ciety of a stupendous burden, and honest 
 labor from a degrading competition. Then, 
 too, w^e segregate the criminals into colonies 
 according to degree of viciousness, as nearly 
 
1 20 Altruria. 
 
 as we can determine, so that those desiring 
 reformation will not be corrupted by the as- 
 sociation of the wholly vicious. Our penal 
 colonies are open to any accredited preacher 
 of the gospel." 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 From F. DeFau, Esq., 6i E. gth St., N. Y. 
 
 I have read your book ' Altruria " and consider it a 
 literary treat. Put me clown for ten copies. 
 
 From William Biddle, Esq., io8 Fulton St., N. Y. 
 
 This book of yours is a step in the direction of what 
 the Creator intended man should be. It will afford un- 
 told pleasure and profit to thousands of thinking and 
 working men and women who are looking for the dawn 
 of the millennium when we shall have advanced in in- 
 tellect to know how to live and distribute the bounties 
 of nature rightly. 
 
 Having read the Utopian dream of Bellamy, I con- 
 sider it impracticable, while yours is practicable, as you 
 give the individual full scope to use his natural gifts. 
 I believe that the world will advance to your standard 
 at no distant day. I am a firm believer in " Altruria,' 
 and returning you many thanks for the pleasure and 
 profit the reading of your manuscript afforded me, 
 I remain yours truly. 
 
 From Mrs. Cora L. Magnus, 58 W. 96th St., N. Y. 
 
 I have read the manuscript with much pleasure. 
 While it seems too much to hope for the speedy realiza- 
 tion of such a stale of society as you depict, I do feel 
 that the people and the times are ripe for much advance- 
 ment along such lines, and that the dissemination of 
 such a work as yours will do much to assist progress. 
 Wishing the work " God Speed," I am, 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 From J. J. Hall, Esq., 290 Broadway, N. Y. 
 
 I have found "Altruria" a very interesting book, al- 
 though of the practicability of your ideas I do not feel 
 competent to judge. 
 
 But this I know, that your clever originality and in- 
 dustry deserve success; and, it you succeed with " Al- 
 truria," I predict for you an interesting career. 
 
 Put me down on your list for ten (10) copies " Al- 
 truria." 
 
 From D. S. TROWHRrnoic, Es<j., New York. 
 
 Horace Greeley said: "I dislike to see men in ad- 
 vanced life working for salaries in places where, perhaps, 
 they are ordered about by boys. I would like to see 
 them working for themselves." " Altruria " alone 
 offers a practicable solution of the social-industrial prob- 
 lem, and offers independence and self-employment to 
 every industrious man. 
 
 Every young man should read " Altruria." 
 
318.4 S662A 602145