XXXII. The Alphadelphia Phalanx

AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. CHAPTER XXXII. THE ALPHADELPHIA PHALANX. THIS Association was commenced in the \vinter of 1843-4, principally by the exertions of Dr. H. R. Schetterly of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a disciple of Bris bane and the Tribune. The P/zalanx of February 5, 1844, publishes its prospectus, from \vhich we take the follow ing paragraph: "Notice is hereby given, that a Fourier industrial Association, called the Alphadelphia Phalanx, has been formed in this State, under the most flattering pros pects. A constitution has been adopted and signed, and a domain selected on the Kalamazoo river, which seems to possess all the advan tages that could be desired. It is extremely probable (judging from the information possessed), that only half the applicants can be received into one Association, because the number will be too great: and if such should be the case, two Associations will doubtle~s be formed; for such is the enthusiasm in the West that people will not suffer them selves to be disappointed."

[From the Phalanx, March I, 1844.] "THE ALPHADELPHIA ASSOCIATloN.-vVe have re ceived the constitution of this Association, a notice of the formation of which was contained in our last. In ALPHADELPHI;A PHALANX. most respects the constitution is similar to that of the North American Phalanx. It will ,be seen by the description of the domain selected, which we publish below, that the location is extremely favorable. The establishment of. this Association in Michigan is but a pioneer luovement, which we have no doubt will soon be followed by the formation of many others. Our friends are already numerous in that State, and the interest in Association is rapidly growing there, as it is .throughout the West generally., The West, we think, will soon become the grand theater of action, and ere long Asso ciations will spring up so rapidly that we shall scarcely be able to chronicle them. The people,. the farmers and mechanics particularly, have only to understand the leading principles of our· doctrines, to admire and approve of thelll; and it would therefore be no matter of surprise to see in a short time their general and sim ultaneous adoptior~. Indeed, the social transformation from a state of isolation with all its pQverty and miseries, toa state of .i\ssociation with its immense advantages and prosperity, may be much nearer and proceed more rapidly than .we now imagine. The signs are many and cheering."

History and Description of the Alphadelphia Associatiol1,. " Inconsequence of a call of a convention published in the Pri1nitive Expounder, fifty--six persons assembled in the school-house at the head of Clark's lake, on the fourteenth day of December last, from the Counties of Oakland, Wayne, Washtenaw, Genesee, Jackson, •Eaton, Calhoun and Kalamazoo, in the State of Michigan; and after a laborious session of three days, from morning to midnight, adopted the skeleton of a .constitution, which 39° AMERICAN· SOCIALISMS. was referred to a committee of three, composed of Dr. H. R. Schetterly, Rev. James Billings and Franklin Pierce, Esq., for revision and amendment. A committee consisting of Dr. Schetterly, John Curtis and William Grant, was also elected to view three places, designated by the convention as possessing the requisite qualifica tions for a domain. The convention then adjourned to meet again at Bellevue, Eaton County, on the third day of January, to receive the reports of said committees, to choose a domain from those reported on by the commit tee on location, and to revise,·· perfect and adopt said constitution. This adjourned convention met on the day appointed, and selected a location in the town of Comstock, Kalamazoo County, whose advantages :lre described by the committee on location, in the following terms: "The Kalamazoo river, a large and beautiful stream, nine rods" wide, and five feet deep in the middle, flows through the domain. The mansion and manufactories will stand on a beautiful plain, descending gradually to ward the bank of the river, which is about tweive feet high. There is a spring, pouring out about a barrel of pure water per minute, half a mile from the place where the mansion and manufactories will stand. Cobble-stone more than sufficient for foundations and building a dam, and easily accessible, are found on the doma.in; and sand and clay, of which excellent brick have been made, are also abundant. The soil of the domain is exceed ingly fertile,and of great variety, consisting of prairie, oak openings, and timbered and bottom-land along the river. About three thousand acres of it have been tendered to our Association, as stock to be appraised at the cash value, nine hundred of which, are under cultivaALPHADELPHIA PHALANX.

tion, fit for the plow; and nearly all the remainder has been offered in exchange for other improved lands belonging to members at a distance, who wish to invest their property in our Association." [Letter from H. R. Schetterly.] "Ann Arbor, May 20, 1844. "GENTLEMEN :-Your readers will no doubt be pleased to learn every important movement in indus trial Association; and .therefore I send you an account of the present condition of the Alphadelphia Associa tion, to the organization of which all my time has been devoted since the beginning of last December. H The Association held its first annual meeting on the second Wednesday in March, and at the close of a session of four days, during which its constitution and by-laws were perfected, and about· eleven hundred persons, including children and adults, admitted to membership, adjourned to meet on the domain on the first of May. Its officers repaired immediately to the place selected last winter for the domain, and after over coming great difficulties, secured the deeds of 2,8 14 acres of land, (927 of which is under cultivation), at a cost of $32,000. This gives us perfect control over an immense water-power; and our land-debt is only $5,776 (the greater portion of the land having been invested as stock), to be paid out of a proposed capital of $240,000, $14,000 of which is to be paid in cash during the summer and autumn. More land adjoining the domain has since been tendered as stock; but we have as much as we can use at present, and do not wish to increase our taxes and diminish our first annual dividend too much. It will all come in as soon as ~ wanted. At our 392 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS.

last meeting' the number of members was increased to upwards of 1,300, and more than one hundred applicants were rejected, because there seemed to be no end, and we became aln10st frightened at the number. Among our nlembers are five mill-wrights, six machinists, 'lurnacemen, printers, manufacturers of cloth, paper, etc., and almost every other kind of mechanics you can mention, besides farmers in abundance. "Farming and gardening were commenced on the domain about the middle of April, and two weeks since, when I came away, there were seventy-one adult male and more than half that number of adult female laborers on the ground, and more constantly arriving. We shall not ho\vever be able to accommodate nlore than about 200 resident members this season. (( There is much talk about the formation of other Associations in this State (Michigan), and I am well convinced that others will be formed next winter. The fact is, men have lost all confidence in each other, and those who have studied the theory of Association, are desirous of escaping from the present hollow-hearted state of civilized society, in which fraud and heartless competition grind the more noble-minded of our citizens to the dl:1st.

"The Alphadelphia Association will not commence buqdipg its mansion this season; but several groups have been organizeq to erect a two-story wooden building, five hundred and t"venty-three feet long, including the wings, which will be finished the coming Fall, so as to answer for dwellings till we can build. a mansion, and afterwards may be converted into a silk establishment or shops. The principal pursuit this year, besides put ting up this building, wiU-be farming and preparing for ALPHADELPHIA PHALANX. 393 erecting a furnace, saw-mill, machine-shop, etc. We have more than one hundred thousand feet of lumber on hand; and a saw-mill, which we took as stock, is run ning day and night. "I do not see any obstacle to our future prosperity. Our farmers have plenty of wheat on the ground. We have teams, provisions, all we ought to desire on the domain; and best of all, since the location of the buildings has been decided, we are perfectly united, and have neyer yet had an angry discussion on any subject.

We have religious' meetings twice a week, and preaching at least once, and shall have schools very soon. If God be for us, of which we have sufficient evidence, who can prevail against us? "Our domain is certainly up rivaled in its advantages in Michigan, possessing every kind of soil that can be found in the State. Our people are moral, religious. and industrious, having been actually engaged in manual labor, with few exceptions, all their days. The place where the mansion and out-houses will stand, is a most 'beautiful. level plain, of nearly two miles in ex tent, that wants no grading, and can be irrigated by a constant stream of water flowing from a .lake. Between it and the river is another plain, twelve feet lower, on which our manufactories may be set in any desirable position. Out mill-race is half dug ~y nature, and can be finished, according to the estimate of the State engineer, for eighteen hundred dollars, giving five and a-half feet fall without a dam, which may be raised by a grant from the Legislature, adding three· feet more, and affording water-power sufficient to drive fif~y pair of mill-stones. A very large spring, brought neatly a mile in pipes, will rise nearly fifty feet at our mansion. The 394 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS~ Central railroad runs across our domain. We have a great abundance of first-rate timber, and land as rich as any in the State.

"Our constitution is liberal, and secures the fullest individual freedom and independence. While capital is fully protected in its rights and guaranteed in its in terests, it is not allowed to exercise an undue control, or in the least degree encroach on personal liberty, even if this too common tendency could possibly manifest itself in Association. As we proceed I will inform you of our progress. H. R. SCHETTERLY!' The Harbinger of January 17, 1846, mentions the Alphadelphia as still existing and in hopeful condition; but we find no further notice of it in that quarter. Macdonald tells the following story of its fortunes and failure, the substance of which he obtained from Dr. Schetterly : "At the commencement a disagreement took place between a Mr. Tubbs and the rest of the members. Mr. Tubbs wanted to have the buildings located on the land he had owned; but the Association would not agree to that, because the digging of a mill-race on the side of the river proposed by Mr. Tubbs would have cost nearly" 18,000; whereas on the railroad side of the river, which was supposed to be a much better building place, the race would have cost only" 1,800. The con sequence was that all but Mr. Tubbs voted for the rail road side, and Mr. Tubbs left, no doubt in disgust, at the same time cautioning every person against investing property in the Phalanx. This disagreemen t at the commencement of the experiment threw a damper on it, from which it never entirely recovered.

ALPHADELPHIA PHALANX. 395 "There were anum ber of ordinary farm -house~ on the domain, and a beginning of a Phalanstery seventy feet long was erected to accommodate those who resided there the first winter. The rooms were comfortable but small. A large frame-house was also begun. During the warm weather a number of persons lived in a large board shanty. "The members of the Association were mostly farm ers, though there were builders, shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths and printers, and one editor; all tolerably skillful and generally well infornled; though but few could write for the paper called the Tocsin, which was published there. The morality of the members is said to have been good, with one exception. A school was carried on part of the time, and they had an exchange of some seventy periodicals and newspapers. No religious tests were required in the admission of mem bers. They had preaching by one of the printers, or by any person who came along, without asking about his creed.

" All lived in clover so long as a ton of sugar or any other such luxury lasted; but before provisions could be raised, these luxuries were all consumed, and most of the members had to subsist afterward on coarser fare than they were accustomed to. No money was paid in, and the members who owned property abroad could not sell it. The officers made bad bargains in selling some farms that lay outside the domain. Laborers became discouraged and some left; but many held on longer than they otherwise would have done, because a hundred acres of beautiful wheat greeted them in the fields. In the winter some of the influential members went away temporarily, and thus left the real friends of the AssociAMERICAN SOCIALISMS. ation in the minority ; and ",-hen they returned after two or three months absence, every thing was turned up-side down. There was a manifest lack of good management and foresight. The old settlers accused the majority of this, and were themselves elected officers; but it appears tnat they managed no better, and finally broke up the "concern.