ASSOCIATED HOMES: 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWAUP YANSITTART NEALE. 
 
 'I'liri'c Eufimiinfis of the FamiUst^' re at Guise, ami a 
 Bnifiraphical Notice of M. Godin, its Foamier. 
 
 PRICE SIXPENCE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 ]\I A f M I L L A N it Co, 
 
 1830.
 
 plHiij
 
 ASSOCIATED HOMES: 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 By EDWARD VANSITTART NEALE, 
 
 WITH 
 
 Three Emjravinfis vf thr Familistere at Guise, and n 
 Bwgraphical Notice of M. Godin, its Founder. 
 
 LONDON : 
 M A C M I L L A N <t Co, 
 
 1 880.
 
 StacK
 
 ) 
 
 1 l\7l Irlarjlliil' ifil 'fliillil 
 
 i y iip ijlhli ~ UH ifSji ill 
 slsiililirl T ills fthft-J 
 
 ' 1^ Ti Hi i it !:; -fit s |1 • f ?i ? g 
 
 • ! fl^" pi s ;l g Sr ly i ° 
 
 \ |Wi^°H| ! Iff i f| *l| 1 5 
 
 fffl '^iIihJiI § lie 3 rifn^ 
 
 I lfr|l||il ? ill i i: I ? I 
 
 Ill 
 
 ;||||Jjl|r d 
 
 I i 
 
 flpiSflils III : t 
 
 o
 
 StacK 
 Annex 
 
 5 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. GODIN. 
 
 The Founder of the Familistere. 
 
 The aocoant here given is taken from a work by M. 
 G ODIN, entitled " Solntions Socialee," Bupplemented by 
 information kindly furnished me by a relatioD and 
 intimate friend of M. Godin, resident at Gaiee, to whom 
 this sketch was sabmitted. Entire confidence may, there- 
 fore, be placed in the accaraoy of the statements contained 
 in it. 
 
 Jean Baptist Andre Godin, the fonnder of the inetita- 
 tion described in the following pages, was born at 
 Eeqnebories, a village in the di'partment of I'Aiene, 
 in France, on the 2G.h January, 1817. His father 
 carried on the trade of a locksmith. He received the 
 elements of education in the village school, among a 
 hundred and forty other children, crowded into an ill- 
 ventilated room. As he tells ue, they passed their time 
 principally in playing or receiving the blows of the 
 master's rod. Moved already by tbe genius of social 
 reform, he would busy himself with the thought, " If I 
 were the master I would teach my scholars better than 
 is done here.*'" But this idea of becoming a teacher, in 
 order to reform the methods of instruction, soon gave 
 place to the ambition of setting a noble example, by 
 devoting himself to the manual arts. Thus animated, at 
 tbe age of eleven-and-a-half years, though of a feeble 
 constitution, he began to labour as an ironworker at bis 
 father's forge, as well as to aid his parents in agricultural 
 operations, with an energy often beyond his strength, 
 
 At the age of seventeen he left Lis father's employ- 
 ment to perfect himself by becoming an apprentice in the 
 
 * " Solntions Sociales," p. 8.
 
 iv. Biographical Notice 
 
 more advaoced iodastry of the towns. But the notions 
 which he had formed of the advantages attending em- 
 ployment there gradually vanished under the pressure 
 of a toil which kept him at the workshop from five in the 
 morning till eight at night. " I saw," he says, " the 
 misery and wants of the workman laid bare." But, as 
 at school, so here, the hope of doing something to lessen 
 the evils which he saw was strong in him. He would 
 say to himself, " If ever I rise above the position of 
 workman, I will endeavour to make the working man's 
 life more tolerable and salisfaotory to him, and to raise 
 labour from its degradation." 
 
 After having worked in the principal towns of France, 
 M. GoDiN, in his twentieth year returned to his native 
 village, where for two years he resumed his place in his 
 father's workshop. At length, in 1840, he determined to 
 form an indepoLdent establishment, and married a young 
 women in his own rank of life, though, unhappily, at a 
 later period she separated from her husband, whom she 
 refused to aid in the realisation of the important work 
 which has given M. Godin a place among the benefactors 
 of humanity. His marriage was immediately followed 
 by an attempt to introduce the new industry, destined one 
 day to furnish him with the means of realising the aspira- 
 tions of his youth. He began, while still resident at 
 Esqueberies, by constructing an apparatus for cooking, 
 in which iron castings were substituted for sheet iron. 
 
 This industry grew rapidly, through the production of 
 an apparatus for heating and cooking on a new pattern, 
 to which the inventive genius of M. Godin gave birth, and 
 which he protected by a patent. Encouraged by the 
 success of these first trials, and in order to secure for his 
 operations a sphere more extensive than a small village 
 could afford, he transferred them to Guise, where, in 
 1846, he took up bis abode, and established his workshops 
 upon a property about half a hectare (1'2755 acre) in extent.
 
 OK M. GoDiN. y. 
 
 At that time be employed aboal thirty workpeople. In 
 a few years the number had increased to several hundreds, 
 tbron^h the development given to his enterprises by the 
 oontinnons prodaotion of new apparatus for heating, and 
 ntensils either entirely novel, or novel in their form and 
 internal arrangements. 
 
 "With this growth of his industry his endeavours to 
 improve the condition of his workmen kept pace. His first 
 essay at improving the position of the workers consisted 
 in substituting payment by the hour in place of the then 
 usual mode of dividing the day's work — which at Paris and 
 other large towns was eleven hours, but in the provinces 
 generally twelve, and even thirteen — into periods of 
 three and four hours each, and punishing the workman 
 who was not present at the begiuning of each of these 
 periods by deductions from his wages, or even by refusing 
 to allow him to work at ali.* 
 
 His next reform related to the mode of paying the 
 wages. It was customary to pay them every fortnight, 
 on the Saturday, which generally led to Monday being a 
 day of idleness, in consequence of the workmen, who 
 were all flush of money at the same time, treating each 
 other. M. Godin classed his workmen in four divisions, 
 according to the alphabetical order of their names, and 
 paid each division on alternate Tuesdays and Fridays. 
 As in consequence every workshop contained on each 
 pay day some who had, and some who had not, been 
 paid, they, instead of dissipating their earnings in mutual 
 entertainment, almost compulsory, acquired the habit 
 of taking them home to their families. 
 
 With the^e measures of wise administration were 
 associated plaos for initiating his workmen into provident 
 
 * M. Godin, however, expresses a preference for payment by 
 the piece, wherever this is practicable, over paymeut by time, to 
 vhiuh hu objects that it subjects the workinau to the annoyance 
 of constant bupervidion.
 
 vi. Biographical Notice 
 
 habits, by organisitig among them a society for relief in 
 BJckneee. By giving np to this society the proceeds of 
 the fines inflicted for breaches of the rales of the work- 
 shop, and the deductions made from various reasons 
 daring the coarse of the work, M. Gobin contributed to 
 it a sum nearly equal to the subscriptions of the workmen ; 
 bat he placed the whole at the disposal of a committee, 
 whom he invited the workmen to choose by general 
 suffrage, deeming tbat this fuud, destined to assist the 
 workers, should be wholly superintended and administered 
 by themselves. 
 
 To these practical schemes for improving the position 
 of his own workmen M. Godin joined an earnest study 
 of the plans of social reform which largely occupied the 
 public attention during the reign of Louis Philippe and 
 the republic of 1848. His " Solutions Sociales" contain 
 a notice of the results of this study in relation to the 
 systems of St, Simon and Fourier, and the doctrine of 
 the Communietio schools. It is particularly fall upon 
 the system of Fourier, for whom M. Godin — though 
 experience has led him in some respects to modify the 
 unqualified adhesion to his views which he at one time 
 entertained — stil! cherishes the admiration whicb, I thick, 
 most serious students of his writings have felt for the 
 man who has probed the evils of our present society 
 more thoroughly, and traced out the conditions of tflfective 
 reform more scientifically, than any other writer who 
 has bandied this all-important topic. 
 
 The Revolution of 1848 and its consequences, culmi- 
 naling in the seizure of political power by Louis Napo- 
 leon, cut short the peaceful development of the Societary 
 sohaol. " They came," says M. Gobin, " to destroy the 
 fruits of the labours and sacrifices which this school had 
 made with a view to apply its theories in practice." 
 
 Bat the reformers did not suffer themselves to be 
 entirely oast down. When the proscription following the
 
 OF M. GoDiN. xii. 
 
 2Qd of December, 1851, broke ap the Hchool, by sending 
 nambers of its most zealous adherents into an exile whioh 
 M. GoDiN escaped — piinoipally, as he thinks, in conse- 
 quence of bis position as a large employer of labour — 
 they retained vitality sufficient to raise a sum of i'GO.OOO 
 in order to found in Ttxas (United States) a colony 
 which mi»ht realise in the land of freedom across the 
 Atlantic the Eden denied to their hopes by Imperial 
 France. 
 
 The management of the enterprise was entrusted to 
 M. Victor Consideeant, one of the most brilliant writ€r8 
 of the Fourierist school, who had returned from the 
 United States to Belgium with glowing descriptions of 
 this Land of Promise, where they might found a society, 
 "free, happy, and unfettered, and aided by a nature so 
 propitious that the riches of its fertility alcne almost 
 sufficed for human well-being." 
 
 M. GoDiN contributed ^4,000, a third of the fortune 
 he had then accumulated, to this project, and became 
 one of the directors in Europe. His account of hie 
 motives and the efifect of this episode in his life upon him 
 is so characteristic of the man that I translate it in full: — 
 
 " In answering to the appeal of V. Considerakt, the 
 Societary school took up a position on the field of action 
 and experiment. This could not but please me. I felt 
 thoroughly disposed to take my part in it. I accepted, 
 therefore, a place on the direction of the society, trusting 
 to my usefulness in the management of the practical 
 work which it was proposed to realise in America. 
 
 '* I had no less confidence iu the practical capacity and 
 managing skill of those who, up to this time, had dis- 
 tinguished themselves by defeuding the idea in words. 
 With the whole Societary school 1 fell into the error of 
 believing that the talent for action mast be on a par 
 with the talent for oratory. There are critical moments 
 when illusions carry everyone away. Beading ViCTox'g
 
 viii. Biographical Notice 
 
 project for colonisation and emigration to Texas — seeing 
 an enterpriee so broadly conceived, and the conditions 
 necessary to its formation, its progress, its development, 
 and its saccess, expounded with such logical coherence — 
 the members of the Societary school believed that an 
 intelligence of a high order for practical work, which had 
 hitherto wasted only opportunity to display itpelf, was 
 revealed to them. This was a grave fault. All men are 
 not fit to realise the plans which they have conceived. 
 Every talent has its limits. The Societary school has 
 paid for the fault of not having sufficiently taken count 
 of the facts ; of not having formed a sufficiently ripe judg- 
 ment as to the capabilities of those who took in hand 
 the direction of its material interests in this enterprise. 
 
 "But that it should have been so singularly carried 
 away on this occaeion is to be explained mainly by the 
 love of liberty, that dearest hope of those who see social 
 progress in the realisation of whatever may contribute 
 to the happiness of all. Therefore, they did not hesitate 
 to abandon an ungrateful country which refused them 
 the means of realising the good that they had conceived 
 for humanity. 
 
 " To narrate the deceptions which I went through 
 during the time that I took part in the direction of this 
 unhappy affair would carry me away from my subject. 
 Suffice it to say, that in losing the illusions, which had 
 been the motive of my trust, I fell back on myself, and 
 firmly resolved no more to look to anyone else for the 
 application of those social reforms which I could accom- 
 plish by myself. 
 
 " As Boon as it became clear to me that the Texas 
 enterprise was going to ruin day by day, I eet myself to 
 work to repair the injury it had done to my fortune and 
 businees. I had no hope of any speedy trial of Societary 
 ideas. From thenceforth they became a deposit entrusted
 
 OF M. GoDiN. ix. 
 
 to the world, and bad to make their way in the province 
 of thought, like the other ideas to whioh the first half 
 of the uineteenth century had given birth." 
 
 At this epoch, fourteen patents, many of them of con- 
 siderable importance, contributed to enrich M. Godin's 
 business. In 1851 and 1852, he discovered a process for 
 glazing castings, which enabled him to enamel every 
 variety of form given to them. The heating apparatus, 
 cal6riferos, chimney-pieces, previously prepared of bare 
 metal, were now covered with an enamel whioh gave 
 them the appearance and polish of black marble, and 
 proved a very successful invention. It was accompanied 
 by the foundation of a branch establishment near 
 Brussels (Belgium) as well by a considerable increase of 
 his foundry at Guise. 
 
 In 1862, M. GoDiN gave a fresh impulse to this work 
 in enamel, by discovering a method of imparting to the 
 enamelled surfaces all sorts of colours. The Universal 
 Exhibition held in London in that year contained the 
 first specimens of this sort of work. At a later period he 
 has added farther, the use of nickel as another mode 
 of coating the cast-iron surfaces. In April, 1859, the 
 prosperous advance of the business thus skilfully 
 conducted enabled M. Gouin to begin to realise 
 in connection with his own foundry, at Gu'se, the 
 most important of the ideas of social reform — the 
 one on which, in fact, the whole rest, without whioh 
 they must be incapable of effecting any practical change 
 in the relations between poor and rich, the reform which 
 can alone make the participation of the worker in the 
 profits on his work a boon to the mass of the population 
 worth the effort required to secure it — namely, the sub- 
 stitution for our present isolated dwellings of homes and 
 dwellings combined into Social Palaoes, where, to use M. 
 Godin's expressive words, " the equivalents of riobes," 
 that is the most essential advantages which wealth bestows
 
 X. BioGRAPHicAi, Notice 
 
 on OHr common life, may be brought within reach of the 
 mass of the population. 
 
 In April, 1859, he laid the fonndation of the east wing 
 of BOoh a palace, the Familistere of Gaiee. It was covered 
 in in September of the same year, completed in 1860, and 
 fully occupied in the year following. In 1862 the 
 central building was commenced. It was completed in 
 1864 and occupied in 1865. The ofl&ces in front of the 
 east wing were built at the same time as that wing — in 
 1860. The other appendages of the palace were added 
 in the following order — the nursery and babies' school in 
 1866 ; the schools and theatre in 1869 ; and the baths 
 and washhonses in 1870. The west wing was begun in 
 1877, finished in 1879, and fully occupied in 1880. 
 
 Till its completion the inhabitants of the Familistere 
 numbered about 900 persons ; at present it accommodates 
 1,200. Its population therefore already assumes the 
 proportion of a considerable village; while its style of 
 conetrnotion would easily allow of the addition of quad- 
 rangles, communicating with the north-eastern and north- 
 western angles of the central building, by which the 
 number of occupants might be raised to 1,800 or 2,000, 
 without in any way interfering with the ecjoyments of 
 the present inmates, supposing circumstances made it 
 desirable to increase their numbers to this extent. The 
 
 outlay on these buildings has been — 
 
 £ 
 
 For the site, of six hectares (14-82 acres) 2,000 
 
 „ the east wins; 12,000 
 
 „ the centre 16,000 
 
 ,, the west wing 16,000 
 
 ,, the offices, nurseries, sckools, theatre, baths, and 
 
 washhonses 10,000 
 
 ,, vaiioua appendages 4,000 
 
 Total £60,000 
 
 The dates of the diiTerent constructions show that M. 
 Godot's work has been, not a speculation originally
 
 OF M. GODIN. xi. 
 
 involving a large capital, whioh has required to be kept 
 going in order to avoid a total loss, bat a progreBPive 
 work, carried on step by step to completion, because the 
 resnlts of each saccessive outlay gave enoouragement to 
 contioae what had been well began. 
 
 The story of the Familistere is thus in itself a proof 
 of the Boandness of the principles on which it is based. 
 Of the moral efifrict upon the population of the free and 
 yet social life which a unitary dwelling makes possible, 
 M. GoDiN wrote in 1874: — "For the edification of those 
 who believe that the working classes are undisciplined or 
 undisciplinable, I must say that there has not been in 
 the Familistore since its foundation a single polioe case, 
 and yet the palace contains 900 persons ; meetings in it 
 are frequent and numerous ; and the most active inter- 
 course and relations exist among all the inhabitants."* 
 
 And this is not the consequence of any strict control 
 exercised over the inmates. On the contrary, the whole 
 life of the Familistere is one of carefully-guarded indi- 
 vidual liberty, which is prevented from degenerating into 
 license simply by the influence of public opinion among 
 its inhabitants, who, admiaisteriog their own internal 
 affairs as a united body, exercise a disciplinary action 
 upon each other. There are no gates, beyond doors 
 turning on a central pivot and never fastened, introduced 
 in winter for the sake of warmth ; no porter to mark the 
 time of entrance or egress of anyone. Every set of 
 apartments is accessible to its occupants at any hour of 
 the day or night, with the same facility as if it opened 
 out of a well-lighted street, since all the halls of the 
 FamiUstere are lighted during the whole night. And as 
 there are ten different entrances, each freely communi- 
 cating with the whole building, it would be less easy for 
 one inmate to spy the movements of another than it is 
 
 * " La Riohesse an Serrioe da Peaple," p. 171.
 
 xii. Biographical, Notice 
 
 for the neighboars in an ordinary street to keep an 
 ontlook on each other's actions. Nor is there at the 
 Familistere that semi- ascetic restraint of the refusal to 
 supply alcoholic liquors on which some philanthropists of 
 the present day anchor their hopes of the future 
 improvement of mankind. On the contrary, M. Godin 
 enumerates, among the advantages secured to the popu- 
 lation, that " beer, eider, and wine, laid in in large 
 quantities, and therefore of good quality, allow the 
 associates to have at table, on every repast, a drink 
 always fresh, and which has not become flat or acid ; for 
 liquors are the better in proportion to the rapidity of 
 their consumption."* It is not by such external 
 hindrances to eBJoyment, but by cultivating internal 
 habits of self-government by the ineeneible itflaence of 
 aesociation, when that influence is enlisted on the side of 
 morality, that the Social Palace, as M, Godin has created 
 it, trains its inmates to conduct suited to the civilisation 
 of which the nineteenth century boasts. 
 
 Bat one factor, and I conceive a very important 
 factor, in this effort, must not be lost sight of, namely, 
 that the Social Palace at Guise is not a home provided 
 for the poor, by a benevolence which houses its own fine 
 clay in its isolated dwelling over against the abodes 
 where those of coarser clay are clustered together. It is 
 a home for M. Godin and members of his family, the 
 beads of departments and other persons connected with 
 him, whose means rise considerably above those of the 
 workers, no less than for the workers in the foundry — a 
 mansion of which it is the glory that all the rooms on 
 every floor originally differ only by a few inches of 
 height, f and such slight differences in the height and 
 
 * " Solutions Sociales," p. 475. 
 
 f Those on the ground and first floors, 10ft. 5'Olin. ; second 
 floor, 9ft. 818in.; third floor, 8ft. 8-27in.
 
 OF M. GoDis. xiii. 
 
 width of doors and windows as rpqaire careful observation 
 to detect, and that all participate alike, according to the 
 qaarter of the eky to which they look, in air and light. 
 So that the difference of accomaiodation is practically 
 reduced to the number of square feet which the means 
 of the inmate enables him to occupy, and the internal 
 arrangement of the space at his disposal. 
 
 In this practical expression given by the Social 
 Palace to that genuine human feeling, which seeks to 
 merge in a sense of mutual sympathy the distinctions 
 between man and man, created or fostered by the 
 accidents of our present society and the isolation of our 
 individualised homes, lies, I believe, the great agency by 
 which men may be lifted above their stifling egoism into 
 the free air where only human excellence can thrive. 
 
 Experience, as I have said, has set her seal on the 
 success of the plans undertaken by a benevolence which 
 cautiously felt its steps to the practical accomplishment 
 of an end long planned, but executed only as circum- 
 stances opened the way. M. Godin's work has been done 
 quietly without ** blowing of trumpets," which he songht 
 to hinder rather than to stimulate. Not till 1865 did the 
 Familisttre begin to attract attention in France. Then, 
 however, a French journalist, M. M. A. Ozon, who 
 visited Guise, could not consent, as he said, " to hide the 
 light under a bushel." He published a pamphlet contain- 
 ing a description of the Social Fiilace, and an exposition 
 of the intellectual and moral effect of such a residence 
 on its inmates. In the same year, the knowledge of 
 M. Godin's work penetrated into England. Mr. Tito 
 Pagliardixi, of London, was the first to make the an- 
 nouncement, which, greatly thronjjh his exertions, was 
 extensively circulated. The Birmingham Journal, the 
 Social Science lievieiv, the Times, the Journal of 
 Social Sciences, the Phonetic Journal, L' International. 
 Le Courrier de I'Europe. Public Opinion, and All The
 
 xiv. BlOGKAPHICAL NoTICE 
 
 Year Bound opened their oolamns to desoriptions of the 
 Familisiere. Many other joarualp, says my French 
 correspondent, have followed in subsequent years, some, 
 among them the Builder, publishing plans of the Fa- 
 milit-tere ; the moat complete account hitherto published 
 being that in the Co-operative News of 1879. 
 
 la America also smoe 1876 the intelligence of its 
 exiftence has been extensively circulated. 
 
 France has shown less disposition to make known the 
 important work carried on in her bosom. "A prophet," 
 we know, is very commonly " without honour in his 
 own country." M. Godin has had the common fate 
 of innovators, and has found his path beset by the 
 diffiuuUies and obstacles apt to rise up against the prac- 
 tical inauguration of every new idea. 
 
 He has, unhappily, experienced also an antagonism 
 of a more distressing nature — the energetic opposition of 
 those most closely connected with him, as well as that 
 of many of his immediate fellow-citizens. But the 
 attacks made on him did not prevent the majority of them 
 from recognising the high intellectual and moral worth of 
 this valiant pioneer in ameliorating the position of the 
 working classes. Even under the Empire, in June, 1870, 
 he was elected a member of the General Council of his 
 Department. The choice was, probably, to a considerable 
 extent, determined by the publication, a month before the 
 election, of a manifesto, very well received by his fellow- 
 citizens, and distinguished by its political insight, in which 
 he attacked the Iva^en&l plebiscite, destined, in a short 
 time, to bring such calamities on France. During the 
 war and invasion, M. Godin (then Mayor of Guise) was 
 conspicuous by his courage in defending the interests of 
 the Commune against the enemy. He was rewarded by 
 being chosen, in January, 1871, deputy to the National 
 Assembly, where, for five years, he was found in the ranks 
 of the Republican union, and took an active part in
 
 OK M. GODIN. XV 
 
 varioas cneasareB, amoog wbioh may be epecially 
 mentioned : — 
 
 The great loan of the live milliards (£200,000 000) by 
 which France was liberated from the German armies: 
 
 The abrogation of the law against oombinatioDB 
 of employers and workmen : 
 
 The monopoly of lacifer matches : 
 The labour of women and children in manufactnres. 
 But political passions then predominated over the 
 ideas of social organisation. M. Oodik hsid more than 
 once to regret his powerlessness io the midst of snch an 
 assembly; and in 1870 voluntarily withdrew from political 
 life, retaining only his position as member of Ihe Grtneral 
 Council for the]department of I'AisEe, to which his fellow- 
 citizens re-elected him the following year. 
 
 During the period of his pubic life, notwithstanding 
 the demands on his time as deputy and councillor, he 
 published, in addition to the two works cited above, three 
 others, in pamphlets][of considerable size, under the titles 
 of " Les Socialistes et le Droit de Travail," •' La 
 Sonvrainetf et les Droits du Peuple," and " La Politique 
 du Travail et la Politique des Privileges."* He found 
 means also to eildct new inventions in the sphere of 
 industry, and kept his manufacturing works fully up to 
 the requirements of commerce. 
 
 In 1873, when already the owner of forty-nine patents 
 for his own inventions, he took out a fresh patent for a 
 combination of machinery and self-acting apparatus, by 
 which the rough work of the foundry, hitherto done by 
 hand labour, was mechanically performed. 
 
 This invention of new machinery was accompanied 
 by the multiplication of the patterns of the work to be 
 turned out, till these amount to about 1,200; of which about 
 
 * "The Socialists and the Right of Work," "The 
 Sovereignty and the Bights of the People," and " The Politico 
 of Labonr and the PoUtics of Priviltgn."
 
 xvi. BiooBAPHiCAii Notice 
 
 900 relate to beating and cooking apparatuses, stoveB, 
 fornacee, caloriferes, and chimney-pieces. The remainder 
 comprises various other objects, such as roasters, coal- 
 scuttles, sections, forcing- pumps, economical washing 
 machines, caldrons, stew pans, washhand stands, umbrella 
 holders, and utensils of all sorts. The numbers of these 
 products, which can all be enamelled or nickelised, as 
 described above, is a proof of the importance attained by 
 the industrial establish ment founded by M. Godin, as 
 well as of the remarkable power of thought and invention 
 possessed by its founder, who, to these rare qualities, 
 unites the yet rarer gift of an earnest determination to 
 apply them for realising in the midst of influence and 
 wealth, the aspirations of social reform conceived by him 
 in the homes of poverty and toil. 
 
 For to these ends has M. Godin devoted himself with 
 concentrated energy since he retired from political life. 
 From that time to this he has been occupied in constituting 
 between himself and the body of his emplojes and work- 
 men, an association by which the steps taken by the 
 founder of the Familistere for solving the important 
 problem of establishiog equitable relations between capital 
 and labour shall be defiaitely and irrevocably fixed. 
 
 To make those whom he employs comprehend his 
 object, M. Godin had recourse to a plan of which he had 
 made use on more than one occasion previously. During 
 1877 and 1878 he delivered a course of explanatory 
 lectures in the theatre of the Familistere, in which he 
 brought before the audience the principles of the loftiest 
 morality and the rules by which they must be guided in 
 the path of association. In these lectures, and the 
 accompanying questions and answers, he examined 
 the whole range of subjects especially interesting to 
 industry — salary ; the processes of manufacture and their 
 improvement ; the relation of workers and employers ; 
 participation in profits ; the education and iustruotiou of
 
 OF M. GoDiH. xvii. 
 
 ebilrlren, &o. He strove to develop in the inhahitantB of 
 the Fmuiliptere tbe spirit of initiative, nryins; »hf-m to 
 form oomtnitePH for the examioation and stmly of the 
 qnestioDR relating to indastry, the unitary dwelling, and 
 the appociatinn of capital and work. 
 
 As the extent and ioaportanoe of thepe qiioptions 
 neeespitated an amonnt of labour ont of propDrtion to 
 the effect prndnced npon bo limi'ed an andinncp, M. 
 GoDiN thonubt it depirable to found, in Mtrcl), 1878, 
 a weekly pappr, Le Devoir, with the view of hrinying to 
 the ktiOwledgfi of all who occupy themt-elves at the 
 prepent day with the social question the teHcbings wbich 
 have produced a repult so important as tbe Fadjili-tere 
 at Guise may claim to be when completed by the aspocia- 
 tiin of capital and labour; and oonpiderel in connection 
 with all the insiitations belonging to it, and with 
 tbe security for the means of subpistence afF'rded by a 
 proppemua industry, which, thanks to the inventive genius 
 of M. GoDiN, popBeEses elements of euooeps increasing 
 everv day. 
 
 This af'sociation is the most oomplete (>X)imp1e of what 
 can be done at the present time for giving t.) tl)n social 
 qnePti'iQ its solution — a folution so anxiously looked for 
 in all civilii-ed countries. The statutes, which will legally 
 consecrate the iostitutions depcribed in the following 
 lecture for the benefit of the whole working population 
 attached to the * stablisbment, are a work of pucb import- 
 ance that they must take the first rank among ibe lahourB 
 aecompliphed by the warm-hearted man of genins whose 
 biography T have jast tketcbed. The act of appociation 
 forms a pmall volume, which begins by expounding the 
 philopophical principles which have guided M. Godin in 
 tbe course of his life, while tbe statutes are followed bv 
 tbe regulations relating to ihope mutual asBurancep which 
 guarantee every member against desii'ntion, abandon- 
 ment, or misery ULder all circnmBtanceB, and by the rules
 
 xviii. BioGKAPHiCAii Notice of M. Godin. 
 
 which establish the organisation of work and services io 
 the asRociatioD, and ret;ulate the access to faootioDS and 
 employmeLt by a combined system of election and com- 
 petition, which may some day receive & more general 
 application. 
 
 If this notice of M. Godin's work is favourably 
 received, more especially if it should lead to any serious 
 attempt at the realisation in England of what it is in our 
 power to do, even without the aid of such a liusiness as 
 M. Godin has set on foot, I hope to have the opportunity 
 of submitting to those who feel an interest in the solution 
 of this social question a detailed account of M. Godin's 
 method of dealing with it — a picture of the internal life 
 of a Familistere connected with a great industrial estab- 
 lishment by which the bulk of its inmates are supported. 
 I hope, however, to show, in the following pages, that 
 the most important result of his ideas — the Associated 
 Home — does not require for its realisation the existence 
 of an industry conducted by a man with the head and 
 heart of a Godin. 
 
 M. Godin has set a bright example by the relations 
 which he has established between himself aod those to 
 whom he has given employment. Few, however, com- 
 paratively, can follow him in the steps which he has 
 taken to put an end to the cotiflict of capital and labour 
 by his system of dividing profits. But the road which he 
 has opened in constructing the Social Palace of Guise 
 may be easily followed by multitudes in this, wealthy 
 land if only the will does not prove wanting.
 
 ASSOCIATED HOMES 
 
 J^ LECTTJI^E 
 
 By EDWARD VANSITTART NEALE.
 
 ASSOCIATED HOMES. 
 
 The idea of aesooiated homes, which is now becioQing 
 to loom apon the co-operative horizon, ip, I be]ie^ e, the 
 most important of all the conceptions by which oo-op' ra- 
 tion may claim to promote haman happinesp, while it 
 assures the conditions of human well-being ; \ e^anee the 
 action which provides such homes is of a tatore to cnlti- 
 vate in the greatest perfection those habits of mutual 
 regard — that dispoeition to seek our own happin< ss in 
 promoting the welfare of others, in which alone — if the 
 fttachings of all the great teachers of morality who have 
 appeared on the earth, to say nothing of tl e Cl rieiian 
 religion, are not a mockery and deloEioc — can the rest- 
 less will of man find lasting repose, by assimilating itself 
 to the will of God, which will is Love. Co-operation 
 begins, and must begin, with motives appealing to indi- 
 vidual interest. Its great success, alike in England and 
 in Germany, has come from its having afked of indi- 
 viduals to do what fitted into their previous lives and 
 immediate interests without disturbing them — namely, in 
 England to unite that they might obtain the articles in 
 daily use of reliable quality at the least possible cost ; in 
 Germany to unite that they might, by their collective 
 guarantee, obtain the credit which separately would not 
 be granted to them ; and thus secure, on the most 
 moderate terms practicable, the funds required for their 
 individual benefit. But though in each case the natural 
 motive of individual advantage is immediately dominant, 
 in both cases there peeps out beneath it the supernatural 
 motive of regard for the general good, by which the 
 natural Etrnggle for existence is transformed iLto the
 
 4 Associated Homes : 
 
 higher harmony of a reasonable life. We see this not 
 only in the liberality of conception attending the form of 
 these iQ8titations, at least when founded on the Eochdale 
 plan, since they open their benefits alike and equally 
 to the latest as to the earliest comers ; it appears yet 
 more clearly in the disposition manifested both in Britain 
 and in Germany, though more emphatically in the 
 former than in the latter country, to appropriate some, 
 and that not an iDsignificant part of the savings earned 
 through co-operative union to educational purposes ; 
 whence have arisen the magoifioent libraries, the numer- 
 ous reading-rooms, the science and art olasse?, and other 
 arrangements for instruction which have given a just 
 celebrity to the Equitable Pioneers of Boohdale and 
 others of the great societies of the north. 
 
 Now, so long as co-operation is confined to anion 
 for distribution, this is pretty well all that it can 
 effect; for mankind cannot live on distributing, which 
 can serve as a means of subsistence only to those 
 who, in the division of labour, may be thus supported 
 by the body of producers for the general convenience. 
 The associated home has no place in the scheme. It 
 is only when we advance to union for production that 
 this idea can arise. But then it becomes of very great 
 importance, both to make co-operative production as fall 
 of benefil; as it can be to the working population, and to 
 arrest the growth of that plausible notion of applying the 
 profits of production only to reduce to the consumer the 
 cost of the articles produced, which must always be in 
 danger of creeping in whenever production is undertaken 
 by bodies of men, even though themselves workers, who, 
 approaching production from the side of consumption, 
 lose eight of the fact that only when these profits are con- 
 centrated can they be made really conducive to any 
 material improvement in the condition of the worker. 
 It must never be forgotten, in our plans for enabling the
 
 A Lectube. 5 
 
 in489 of the popnlaHon to raise their own ponition by the 
 profits oa thuir work, that these profits, afier deduotion 
 has beea made of the enormous iocrea'^e of price caased 
 by the wasteful method of competitive distribution, are, 
 generally epeakiog, a very email percentage on the turn- 
 over. The struggle of competition has been coatinually 
 driving the manufacturer to look more and more to the 
 "quick penny" as the most solid basis of prohts ; so 
 that even when he has succeeded in producing a con- 
 siderable dividend on the capital employed, the amount, 
 if divided among those from whose purchases it has 
 arieen, would be insignificant ; because it has been 
 derived, not from large profits on a few transactions, but 
 from small profits on a large turnover. Hence, the im- 
 portance of co-operative production to the working popu- 
 lation does not depend on any great increase of income 
 which they can derive from the profits of the manufao- 
 tnres which they consume, but on the fact that by 
 carrjing on production successfully they would obtain 
 the command over the wages fond ; and therefore the 
 power of regulating the circumstances of their own lives, 
 by carrying on production in such localities and under 
 such conditions as would most conduce to their general 
 well-being. While this fact, though it might be originally 
 realised only in relation to the production of the com- 
 paratively small amount of manufactured articles which 
 they can consume themselves, would have a direct 
 tendency to allect all manufactures — the whole vast 
 amouat of productive labour employed either in sup- 
 plying the wants of the richer claseos who form 
 the bulk of the home market, or in the manufactures 
 carried on for export. The example given by the cases 
 where the workers have it in their power to support 
 centres of production by their own consumption, would 
 be the most efi'eotual means of educating the great body 
 of workers not thus employed (o make the effv>rifl required
 
 6 Associated Homes : 
 
 that they may become their own employer?, by thf; 
 knowledge of the improved state which they eoold thae 
 attain. 
 
 Now, in this educating prooeBS the idea of the asso- 
 ciated home has, I conceive, a large part to play. Not, 
 indeed, that it is an indippeDeable adjanct. Bufeinesees 
 like thoee founded by M. Lecijiire at Paris may exist and 
 prosper in the midet of great cities whtre the benefits 
 conferred on the worker by means of his interest in the 
 profits of the bueiness are directed rather to perfecting 
 the means of instraetion, and making provision against 
 accidents, illn^S', and old age, than to arrangements 
 comprising, as does the unitary home, the whole circle 
 of ordinary life. Bat where circumstanrcs are favourable 
 to thie complete development of the advantages attainable 
 by aeeociation, bo much more can be effected by it than 
 by any other means, that to it more than to any other 
 agency must we look for the realisation of that better 
 social world which, we trust, that co-operative union will 
 open to us. Let me trace in brief outline, enmmarieed 
 from the excellent work by M.Godin, called "La Bichesse 
 au Service du Penple," the idea of what such a home, 
 of which he has given in the Familisteie of Guise EO 
 brilliant an illuetrution, shoald be. 
 
 It is a truth, says M. Godin, too little recognised, tbat moral 
 order is intimately bound np with material organisation ; that 
 so long as ioBtitatioiis fitted to condnct mea to the practice 
 of goodness are not founded, the efforts to realise moral order 
 will be important in proportion to the dfgree in which the 
 material (rganisation fallo short of what it shoald be. 
 
 The conqnPBt of material well-being is thus the surest 
 guarantee obtainable by humanity of moral liberty. 
 
 To eecnrc well-beinc; to the working class is the aim of aJl 
 wise social economy ; but very few of those who haTe occupied 
 themselves with this question have begun by inquiring in what 
 this neU-bLiug eonfeibte. They have confijied themselves to
 
 A Lecture. 7 
 
 patlirg forth at bazfirrt Iheoriea which, titin? m aoconnt of the 
 troe Ihwb of tbn qaestion, are for the most pait calculated only 
 to obBcare the end to be attained. Now, the laws of well-being 
 are inherent in the human race. There is no need of profoand 
 theories to determine in what they consist. It is surprising 
 only that these laws sbould be so misconceived in theory, wheo 
 they are so well comprehended in practice. It suffices to 
 examine how human creatures practically seek for well-being, 
 in order to form a just idea of it. The facts are patent. 
 
 Alongside of the poverty destitute of everything which 
 can make life agreeable, do we not see wealth, for 
 which all that id necessary to life abounda ? For it, 
 food is healthy and abundant; clothes are handsome, 
 dean, and well made. The habitation id convenient and 
 agreeable — the realm of cleanliness. The dw.lling- rooms are 
 not devoted to any a<>nojing function. The car ■ of the family 
 is made easy by attendants. Special apartments are consecrated 
 to the care of infancy. Others are appropriated to household 
 needs and fuuctions. Saloons are reserved for amnsemeata. 
 Gardens and walks surround the habitation, and constitute its 
 external attractions. Such are the principal elements which 
 concur t j produce material well-being. Let us recognise that 
 the improvement of the lot of the working classes will not be 
 real until we have secured for them the eqiivj.lents of richet, 
 or, if you prefer to say so, advantages analogous to those which 
 fortune grants. Provided with this compass, we may advance 
 steadily on the path of what has to be done ; we have a sore 
 guide for our conduct. 
 
 To pkce the family of the poor man in a convenient dwelling ; 
 to surround it witb all the resources and advantages with which 
 the abode of ibe rich is provided ; to make of it a scat of tran- 
 quillity, pleasantness, and repose ; to replace the services which 
 the rich derive from their domestics by common iustitutious ; 
 such is the course to be followed, if we would not h<ive the 
 workmen's families perp<'tually excluded in their habitations 
 from the well-being which they create, to which every human 
 creature Las a ri^'bt, and which it is a necessity of our epoch 
 to realise for all. The institutions salted to attain this end
 
 8 Associated Homes : 
 
 offer themselveg to ns epontaneoasly vrhcn we altentivialy 
 examiDe the conditioDs of existence of the poor family. Why 
 are their dwellings unhealthy and dirty 7 Because they eerre 
 as the workrooms for domestic laloar, for the wasLtub, and the 
 soap Buds. The scarcity of linen makes washing an everyday 
 necessity; so that the miasmas removed from the linen in order 
 to produce cleauness return in a cloud into the atmo-phere and 
 aettle on the boarding or tiles. For the housewife does not fail 
 to wash her apartment with what she calls her eaux grasses. 
 She finds that it cKans well. But it is a superficial cleaulinesa, 
 which surrounds the family with an element of disease ; killing 
 infancy in its eaily years; enervating the workman, and 
 depriving him of his activity ; and thus aggravating more and 
 more the distress of a poverty whence there is no es-cape. The 
 rich man has a laundry, which removes from the domestic 
 hearth these causes of unhealthiness, dirt, and disgust. So 
 should the poor man have a laundry, as accessible to him as 
 is that of the mausioa of the rich, that is, attached to his own 
 dwelling. 
 
 Why are the children of the poor neglected in their early 
 years? From the want of liuen, want of cleanliness, want of 
 general care, isolation, and the absence of the mother who ifl 
 occupied with her work. The rich obviate all this by nurses and 
 nu!semaiJs. So should the poor man have the nursery in his own 
 dwelliug. It is the ct'6che close to the habitation. 
 
 If the poor man's child sufifers in the cradle, scarcely less unfor- 
 tunate is he when he begins to walk. Given up to entire neglect, 
 almost naked, or in rags, he rolls in the dust of the road, or 
 splashes in the mud of the brook, and for this is often ill-treated, 
 beaten, abused. No lessons, no intelligent care lift him out of his 
 had habits, and direct him to a better way. He is abandoned 
 to himself, when not subjected to violent constraint from father 
 or mother, brothers or sisters. The child of the rich, as soon 
 as he is able to walk, is kindly watched over, under his mother's 
 eyes, by persons specially entrusted with this duty. He has 
 toys av bis disposal, and amusements arranged so as to prepare 
 him for and initiate him into life. So should there be for the 
 poor maa'a ciiilJ, near the dwelliug of its mother, rooms whore
 
 A Lecture. 9 
 
 it mny loam these first IfSBona tinder attentive and Jntellierent 
 snpervision, and where its physical powers should be devc% pel 
 by attractive exercises, which may prepare its frame for the 
 early cnltivntion of its intellect. That is the perfected infant 
 school brought within the reach of all. 
 
 Follow tbe child of the poor iu its enhsequent elncation. 
 Between the ace of five and twelve, it is able to go to school. 
 How few profit by the lessons of the master. How many 
 receive them only nuder imperfect conditions ? How many, 
 when they have come to the years of work, forget what they 
 have learned, and can make no use of it ? If we picture to 
 ourselves the population of our villages, spread often over a 
 radius of several kilometres*, we shall see how many causes 
 hinder the child from profiting by the lessons of the school, 
 where there is one ; how many legitimate motive s justify the 
 apparent indifference of fathers and mothers. Bad weather, 
 bad roads, frost, snow. And, if the weather is fine, how many 
 excu!>es for delay, or even for stopping away altogether, may 
 not the child find on the road. Therefore is instruct!' >n so 
 much behind in the rural districts. If it is more developed in 
 the towns, this arises especially from the (ase with which the 
 child can attend its lessons. The school, then, is wanted near 
 to the dwelling. 
 
 So it is with everything conducive to intellectual and moral 
 development. The measures taken to favour the development 
 of the human race will generally penetrate slowly and with diffi- 
 culty into the country. Their creation cannot be thousht of 
 until the domestic and economic organisation of the population 
 has been profoundly modified — till such an organisation of 
 domestic relations has been introduced, as by thecoucentrution 
 of functions will allow intelligence, science, and knowledge to 
 be placed at the command of each of those institutions which 
 are indispensable to the true well-being of .'ill. To give to 
 poverty the equivalents of the riches which it Joes not possess, 
 it i'* necessary to ameliorate the existence of the workman's 
 family, not on this or that side only, but as a whole ; and for 
 this purpose we must rise to a higher conception of human 
 
 * A kilumetre is flve-elfiUtha of a mUa.
 
 10 Associated Homes : 
 
 dwelUnss. If at present only the mansions of the wealthy have 
 been able to nnite, at a great cost, for the use of a few favonrites 
 of fortune, the resources necessary to a family, obviously these 
 resources cannot be provided for all men by the same means. 
 We cannot construct a mansion for every worker. For the 
 eqnitable repartiti. n of well-being it is necessary, therefore, to 
 create a palace, in which each family and individual will find 
 these resources and advantages united for the collective benefit. 
 Here la a new, unexplored direction for the employment of 
 capital, to its own advantage and the greater good of the 
 human race. The reform of the habitation is the new field of 
 activity to be opened to capital and labour. 
 
 In the first half of this century capital and labour have 
 created La G'-ande Industrie* , and transformed the means of 
 transport. They have produced the factory and the railroad. 
 It remains for them to undertake the architectural reform of 
 the dwelling. No improvement is possible while the abodes of 
 the working class are given over to neglect and their individual 
 resources. The well-being of man cannot be realised under 
 these conditions. Misery clings to a medium fitted for it. 
 Capital has nothing to do there. There is no part but for 
 almpRiving. 
 
 We must get out of this medium. Therefore the Pamilis- 
 TEBE has been founded. Not being able to change the hut or 
 gan et of each workman's family into a palace, I have sought 
 to place Ihe dwelling of the worker in a palace. The Familis- 
 tere, in fact, is nothing else. It is the Palace of Laboiir — the 
 Social Palace of the future. What it is not possible to do for 
 the benefit of families, scattered and without any bond of union ; 
 the ameliorations which cannot be introduced into ihe chaos of 
 the workmen's dwellings, either in town or country, either in 
 their cellars or attics — what the isolated habitations of the 
 workmen, even those best constructed, on whatever system, do 
 not permit, the Familist ere permits, the social palace makes 
 possible, nay more, makes it necessary. 
 
 The Familietere, bnilt by M. Goom at Gnise.t to 
 realise the ideas exponnded in the passageB above 
 
 * ludostry on a ereat eca.'e— meobanical indnatry. { ISee eneravingf.
 
 A Lkctube. 11 
 
 tranR^ated, consietR of three rectangnlar blockfl of apart- 
 EDeofe, built rontid larKe cfntral {jlbZ'-d ballp, paved 
 wiih hard ofment. The apartmeDts are double, the 
 windows of ih" innrr rooms looking into thet-e halls, 
 and thoee of the outf-r rooms over the Burronnding 
 country. At the angle of the blocks are circular 
 stone stairs, with a diameter of 2m. (6''t. 7'42iD.), 
 commuDicating with galleries, Im. 30j. (4rr. 3 ISin.) 
 broad; with balustraden, Im. (3fr. 3 71in ) liijih, f. rmed 
 by Btraiaht round bars, 10:. (3 937in.) apart, so that no 
 child can either poke its head through, or manage to 
 climb up and tumble over. They give accef-s to Fets of 
 apartments which are so arranged that two, or in some 
 cases even more sets may be either combined, or let 
 separately with dii^tioct approaches whfn desired. 
 Indeed, in the case of the apartments at the angles of the 
 blocks, there is ample room, if it is wi^h^d, to form 
 private staircases within the antechambers of the suite, 
 by which internal access ia given from the apartments on 
 one floor to those on the floor above it, which retain their 
 regular means of access by the connecting galleries. 
 M. GoDiN inhabits a set of rooms thus arranged in the 
 east wing of the Palace and is about to move into a larger 
 set on the wei-t wing recently finit-hed, which will give 
 him the accommodation of a roomy house. 
 
 Each ball communicates with the a<^joining one on 
 every floor, at the angles, by passages 2Ln. (6ft.. 7 42io). 
 Here are placed the taps for water, channels for carrj ing ofi' 
 doBt and dirt, and the other conveniences needed for the 
 comfort of the inhabitants. At ni^ht each hall and the 
 connecting passages are lighted by gas lamps, of which 
 there are sixteen in the largest hall, prf jt-ctiug from the 
 firet gallery ; their full illuminating power is, however, 
 used only on festivals. One jet in each hall is sufficient 
 for ordinary nee, though three or four are lighted on 
 Sundays.
 
 12 Associated Homes : 
 
 The whole bnildiog stands onvanlted cellarp, 2in. 80c*. 
 (7ft. 6iD.), to the crown of the arch, and floored with a 
 solid cement. This flooring is placed on the level of the 
 original Boi), in order to avoid liability to floods from the 
 adjoining river Oiee, which forms ronnd the palace a semi- 
 eircla occupied by a garden and lawn. The ground io front 
 of the Ph a;e was afterwards raised 2m. 50e. (8ft. 2 42in.) 
 to form the courtyard. The solidity of its construction 
 may be judged of from the fact that the foundations of 
 the main walls are 3m. (10ft. llSin.) broad. At intervals 
 of 10m. (33ft. 7-liD.) brick walls, 022cn. (8 TSio.) thick, 
 extend from floor to roof, as a precaution against fire. 
 The cellars beneath the apartments are appropriated for 
 the private use of the inhabitants. Those beneath the 
 centres of the halls are used to store up the liquids, 
 fruits, and vegetables required by the population. The 
 cellars facilitate also two important purposes, ventilation 
 and the supply of water. 
 
 Ventilation is secured by large tunnels opening to the 
 gardens behind the Palace on the north, through which 
 the air fluds its way, along vaulted channels beneath the 
 rooms, till it emerges into the halls by a series of 
 gratings along their eidet:, ultimately escaping through 
 apertures in the centre of the glaes roofs. The hot- 
 house atmosphere, which it may at first be supposed 
 that these halls would ©O'er, but which, as M. Godin 
 observes, is really due to the concentration of the heat 
 in air not renewed, is completely obviated by the 
 circulation thus produced. The glaes coverings really 
 have the effect of largely intercepting the sun's rays, and 
 thus keeping the halls relatively cool in summer. In 
 winter the streams of cold air entering through the under- 
 ground passages can be regulated, or arrested, by means 
 of doors placed in the tunnels ; while gates, turning on 
 central pivots and kept in their places by springs above, 
 but which will yield to the push of & child, are placed il.
 
 A Lecture. ly 
 
 the pftppa?P9 leading info fhe ballg from without, and 
 keep up a mild iotf^rnal tomperature, permitting the 
 inbabitaQts to move abuat in light ololbing witboat inoon- 
 veoience. 
 
 The supply of water is eflf^oted by a Bmall eteam- 
 engine placed in the cellarp, which pumps it np froai a 
 boring sunk through the allovinm of the valley of the Oiee 
 and the clays and upper beds of chalk beneath it, to the 
 lower chalk, and forces it into reservoirs on the attic 
 storey, whence it is distributed to the various taps and 
 other places where it is wanted on the different floors. It 
 is also need to water the hallp, by means of hope applied 
 to pipes in their centre, the presfUre being snflBcient to 
 send a jet to the height of the third floor. Baths of hot 
 wafer warmed by the waste steam, combined with a 
 douche of great power supplied from the reservoirs, are 
 also placed in the cellar?. The ordinary couFumptiou 
 of water, under the arrangements above described, is 
 20 litres (about 4 4 imperial gallons, or 35 2 pintf)) per 
 person per day. Bat these arrangements are not all 
 that is done in the supply of water for the benefit of the 
 inhabitants. On the opposite bank of the Oise to that on 
 which the Familislere stands, accesBible by a bridge 
 leading to the foundry, there are built upon a slope 
 above the river a range of wash-houees. Hpre warm 
 water comes from the machines through a pipe famished 
 with cocks, which supplies 60 tubs for washing purposes. 
 It is accompanied with a oorrespondiog provision of 
 rinsing basins and apparatus for wringing and drjing 
 the articles washed. Advantage is taken of the same 
 BQpply of water to form a bathing place with a surface 
 of 20 square metres (302 square feet) and a moveable 
 bottom capable of being fixed at any depth down to 
 2 60 m..(8ft. 2 7 ia), so as to adapt itself either to those 
 who desire to take a plunge, or to the youngest beginners 
 in the art of swimming.
 
 14 Associated Homes : 
 
 The rooms at the I'amilisf^re are all conefrnoted on 
 the dame plan on every floor. They differ in f'ize aooord- 
 ing to the port of the bailding in which they are plaoed, 
 and differ in height on the different storeyB, as follows: — 
 
 M. c. Ft. In. 
 
 Gronnd floor 3 15 = 10 481 
 
 First , 3 15 = 10 481 
 
 Second „ 2i)0=9 7 17 
 
 Third „ 2 60=8 7 36 
 
 Bat all below the attics which are lighted only by eky- 
 lightc, have windows of the eame size, and offer in the 
 same part of the bailding the same area on each floor. 
 They are originally plastered and whitewashed, bnt are 
 in many cases papered or otherwise decorated according 
 to the taste and means of their inmates. The charge 
 made for them is regulated partly by the amount of 
 space aud partly by the position, and is as follows per 
 
 square metre (10ft. 7"6in.) : — 
 
 oont. d. 
 
 Ground floor, per month 26=2 496 
 
 First „ „ 27 = 2-784 
 
 S-^ond „ , 26 = 2-496 
 
 Tu.,.l „ „ 23 = 2108 
 
 Attio or cellar „ 10= -960 
 
 The rooms on those sides of the Familistere which look 
 towards the town let 2c. ('192 1.) per square metre higher. 
 At there prices the rent of the apartments varies according 
 to the size and situation of the rooms, from 14c. to 23o. 
 (l-324d. to 2 206d.) per day. An apartment with an 
 
 M, c. M. c. Ft. in. Ft. In. 
 Inner room.... 3 46x4 47 = 11 5-0x14 79 
 
 Outerroom 4 0x4 64 = 12 1-4x14 93 
 
 Closet 1 30 X 1 50= 3 11-1 x 4 IM 
 
 Total square 37 metres (206ft. 4in.) costs by the month* 
 on the 
 
 Fr. o. B. d. 
 
 Ground floor 9 60=7 84 
 
 First 10 75 = 8 7* 
 
 Second 9 6i = 7 8J 
 
 Third „ 8 40=6 7i
 
 A Lecture. 16 
 
 Every convenience for theenpply of what the inmates 
 require in food, drinkp, fuel, articles of clothing or of 
 household service in ordinary use, is to be found in shops 
 opening out of the central hall, which are served 
 principally by the female part of the population, whom 
 the other arrangements of the Familislere enable to attend 
 to this charge without neglecting their own families. In 
 this service, and others connected with education and 
 order in the Familistere, from seventy to eighty persons 
 are employed, who collectively earn 43,800f. (£1,752) a 
 year. Thus the whole body of inmates can have all their 
 daily wants supplied without going out of doors or 
 needing in any case to move more than lOOm. (175 
 yards) from their own doors ("Richesse," p. 34). It is 
 not surprising, under these circumstances, that the sales 
 at these shops should be, as M. Godin states them to be, 
 sensibly equal to the wages and salaries of the popula- 
 tion (" Richesse," p. 101). There is no special restriction 
 on the sale of alcoholic liquors, for which a bar is pro- 
 vided in a group of offices opposite to the main building ; 
 yet such is the good order prevalent at the Familistere, 
 " where there are neither gates nor bars, but everyone 
 may go in and out and move about as they please, at any 
 hour and everywhere (txcept into other persons' rooms), 
 without needing to ask leave of anyone (' Richesse,' p. 
 161), that up to 1874, when the work from which these 
 accounts are taken was published, there had not been 
 one police case in the fourteen years since its foundation, 
 during ten of which it had contained an average popula- 
 tion of 900 persons" (" Richesse," pp. 171 and 91), 
 
 A restaurant is established in the same group of 
 buildings as the bar, and I was informed is a good deal 
 used by the unmarried workers. The meals of the 
 married men are generally prepared by their wives or 
 daughters in their own rooms, where great convenience 
 for this purpose is afforded by the excellently arranged
 
 10 Associated Homes : 
 
 stoves, manufactured by M. Godin's foundry, and I 
 believe of his own invention. That this donaestio cookery 
 would be likely to maintain itself M. Godin seems to have 
 foreseen, for although in his works he speaks of the 
 superiority of a well organised common kitchen over 
 these separate culinary arrangements, he has not appro- 
 priated any part of the Familistere itself for the purpose 
 of such a kitchen. No doubt it would be difficult, among 
 a population composed mainly of working men, bo to 
 organise the common cookery that it should not cost 
 more than the gratuitous services to which they are 
 accustomed. If the associated home is taken up, as I 
 hope it may be, from the side of the richer classes, this 
 difficulty may, I think, be overcome. 
 
 But if it has not been practicable to organise this 
 ministry of food at Guise, it is otherwise with the 
 ministry to sickness, which has been brought to 
 great perfection. Three medical men and two 
 .nid wives are in the regular employ of the establish- 
 ment. Their services are at all times at the com- 
 mand of any inhabitant who gives notice of his wish, 
 f»y putting the number of his room into the box bearing 
 the name of the medical attendant whose services he 
 desires to obtain. These boxes are placed in a room 
 appropriated to the medical service, which contains all 
 that is most commonly required in cases of pharmacy, 
 either for ordinary ailments, or specially for women in 
 childbirth, or the newly-born child. The amount of 
 misery alleviated or entirely obviated by this wisely 
 benevolent foresight will be clear on the slightest 
 consideration. It brings to the door of every one the 
 advantage of a good hospital, which, in ease of severe 
 illness, may be easily supplemented by the appropriation 
 of a few rooms as a special infirmary. It appears to 
 have produced at the Familistere a general disposition 
 to aid oases of peculiar distress from the very fact that
 
 A Lkctube. 17 
 
 they are exceptional, and that the ordinary cases are 
 wiihdiftwn, by the regular orqanieation of aesistanoa 
 U'otn being a burden on the kindly disposed. 
 
 Abandonment in misfortune, says M. Godin, ia not possible 
 at the Familistfere. The slightest suffering becomes known 
 there. If unfortunate circumstances arise, every one tells of 
 them, and from the honour of doing good, as well as from the 
 feeling of charity, neither care nor assistance are wanting to 
 anyone. (" Richesse," p. IIG.) 
 
 I turn from these arrangements, which mainly conoern 
 the body, to those addressed also to the mind — the pro- 
 vision for recreation and instruction. The former is met 
 by a casino, with billiard tables, draughts, dominoes, back- 
 gammon, chess, journals, &o., to which a set of rooms are 
 appropriated on the ground-floor in one wing of the 
 Palace, immediately below those occupied by M. Godin; 
 a satisfactory proof of the good order generally prevalent 
 there. A library, which, however, I fear, is not so much 
 used as oould be wished, is established in another set of 
 rooms ; while on the opposite side of the square, formed 
 by theFamilistore, there stands between the two schools, 
 to be shortly mentioned, a theatre. It is a well-arranged 
 and convenient building, used occasionally for concerts, 
 in which the band of musical volunteers belonging to the 
 Familistcre takes a part, and sometimes for other per- 
 formances ; and also on the two great Festivals of 
 Labour and of Childhood, which, at the Familistere, 
 welcome the Spring in May and salute the Autumn in 
 September. But it has not proved that instrument of 
 educating the taste of the adult population which M. 
 Godin hoped it would prove when he built it. 
 
 If, however, in these respects the attempts to raise the 
 intellectual level of the inmates of the Familistere have 
 not yet obtained as much success as the desire that 
 prompted them deserved, and as may attend similar 
 attempts in other instances where advantage may be
 
 18 A?sociATED Homes : 
 
 taken of the lessons tanght by M. Godin's experience, it 
 is otherwise with the nnrtnre of infanoy and the instrno- 
 tiou of childhood. The nnrsery, the babies' schools, the 
 infant schools, and schools for elder children, form a 
 connected series of institutions for this purpose, on which 
 it would, I think, be difficult to improve. The nursery 
 and babies' school occupy a building detached from the 
 Familislere, placed immediately behind, and communi- 
 cating on a level with the Central Hall, by a bridge, 
 the height of which above the soil measures the amount by 
 which the ground in front of the Familistere has been 
 raised. This building contains a kitchen, and a room 
 appropriated to various services connected with the 
 establishment ; a room appropriated to the baby scholars, 
 or poupons, as M. Godin calls them {i.e.), the children 
 between twenty-eight months and four years old, who 
 are brought in there to rest from time to time after their 
 lessons in infantile gymnastics ; and beyond these rooms, 
 running across the building, is a hall 15 tn. (49ft. 2 56in.) 
 by 6m. (19ft. Sin.) This hall, when I first saw it, was 
 divided by an open railing, *76m. (2ft. 6-921in.), into two 
 parts — one for the poupons and the other for the infants, 
 so that the latter could see the games and exercises of 
 the poupons, who were thought thus to exercise on the 
 infants an educational influence, from the instinctive 
 desire of a little child to do what is done by a child 
 rather older than itself. Apparently, however, it has 
 been found that this educational influence did not 
 require such complete communication as originally 
 existed between the nursery and the babies' school, by 
 which the school was to some extent sacrificed to the 
 nnrsery, for on a recent visit I found that the rail had grown 
 into a partition — provided, indeed, with windows (by 
 which what goes on in one division can be seen in the 
 other), but windows above the heads of the children. 
 Beyond this central space is an »I.oove, which, on the side
 
 A Lecture. 19 
 
 of the poupons, is fitted np with raised benches for Ibe 
 purpose of lessoas, bat on the iofiiDtB' Bide contains 
 cradlep, of which fourteen to Bixteen, beeides the beds for 
 the nnrees, can stand on either side, perpendicular to the 
 wall, leaving a passage in the middle for the attendants. 
 Abundance of light (both from large windows and from 
 skjhghU), an equable temperature night and day, an 
 ample supply of water (warm and cold), and of gas at all 
 times of the night, are furnished in this nursery. Laige 
 windows commuoic&to on either side with a covered 
 balcony, provided with a balustrade similar to that oi 
 the gailcricH in the halls, and terminating at the centre 
 in tho grd6B of tbe lawn sarrounding the building. The 
 little ones may be loft hero to toddle out in summer and 
 amuEO themselves by looking at the elder children at 
 play below, without the poBsibility of coming to grief. 
 Within, is what the nurses call the Promenade — an ellip- 
 tical board, 3m. by 2-50c. (9ft. lOlin. by 8ft. 2-3in.), 
 mounted on rollers, so that it can be moved for cleaning, 
 and having two rows of balustrades, each 38c. (1ft. 2"95iD. ) 
 high, one on the outside, and the other separated from it 
 by an interval of 2ft. 7'49in., with an opening 36c. 
 (1ft. 218m.) into the interior. Infants, as soon as they 
 can sit up, can be put, without risk of hurting them- 
 selves, into this promenade, where they learn to walk by 
 puUiug themselves up by their hands and toddliog along 
 the balustrades, till they gather strength an J courage to 
 venture an excursion into the centre, in imitation of 
 their more advanced companions. 
 
 The use of the nursery is entirely optional to the 
 parents, at the Familistere, where the mothers usually 
 nurse their children themselves, and take them to their 
 own rooms at nights, leaving them in the nursery during 
 the day. After they are weaned they may, and generally 
 do, sleep in the nursery, remaining with their parents 
 only as maob as these may desire daring their waking
 
 20 Associated Homes : 
 
 hours; until having become able to walk, which generally 
 liappens about the age of twenty-bix or twenty-eight 
 months, they grow anxious to quit the nursery for the 
 babies' school. There they continue till, at the age of four 
 years, they pass into the infant school. This school is 
 contained in the group of building? already mentioned 
 opposite the Familisitere, of which the centre is the 
 theatre. The wiugs comprise four schools, on the east 
 Bide the infants' and third class school, and in the west 
 the second and first class. These schools receive the 
 children successively from the age of four to six, of 
 six to eight, of eight to ten, and ten to thirteen years; 
 aftor which a further course of lectures is given to pupils 
 who show superior capacity ; the system being crowned 
 at the Familistere by the gratuitous apprenticeship of 
 those pupils who desire to exercise the industry carried on 
 there. I do not propose to enter into any details of the 
 mode of instruction pursued in these schools, on which I 
 have dwelt with a view of showing what a rich field for 
 benevolent action would be offered by forming homes 
 such as the Familistere is, to those of the richer classes 
 who might gather a working population round them in 
 dwellings of this nature, where they lived themselves, 
 assuming, what is indispensable, but, I think, not beyond 
 the power of wise forethought to attain, that they could 
 place within the reach of these workers the means of 
 support which in the Familistere are furnished by the 
 foundries connected with it. For here comes in a second 
 and most important function of the associated home. 
 
 I have tried to show that to the workers who are 
 endeavouring to raise themselves by their own efforts, 
 the value of such a home is an appropriate correction to 
 that plausible delusion which would throw away the 
 resources by which the worker may be raised, in an 
 attempt to effect an infinitesimal reduction of prices 
 in tlie small amount of manufactures which they can
 
 A Lecture. lil 
 
 pnrcbase for their own conenmption. I desire cow to 
 point ont how it offers to the richer clasBeB the meaoB ot 
 grarlnally removing the separation between themselves 
 and the workers by an institution beneficial to both 
 olasRes. 
 
 The experience of M. Godin famishes information, 
 very important in its bearing on snch an idea, of the 
 cost of his establishment, to which I shall shortly refer. 
 But first I desire to call attention to the interior organ- 
 isation of the Familietcre, since on it the beneficial efl'ects 
 that I venture to anticipate from sach a anion of richer 
 and poorer classes in a common home would greatly 
 depend. For the true end of each union is not merely 
 to make the lives of its inmates pleasanter by the greater 
 amount or variety of comforts and enjoyments placed at 
 their command, as I am satisfied that it might do, but to 
 turn their daily lives into a perpetual education of that 
 Divine faculty of regard for other men, on which, if 
 Christianity is no^. altogether a delusion, the inner well- 
 being of each and all of us depends. 
 
 The Familistere is not only a social Palace, containing 
 a number of conveniently arranged dwellings for persons 
 possessed of different amounts of pecnniary resources, 
 bat a skilfally combined organisation for uniting the 
 whole body of inhabitants in actions conducive to their 
 general welfare. At its head is a supervising committee, 
 which acts throagh a functionary called the Econome 
 (Administrator) of the Fiimilistere. He lays in the 
 provisions and buys all the other merchandise and com- 
 modities required for use there, and, with the aid of the 
 persons attached to the different magazines, verifies these 
 purchases when received, and either warehouses them or 
 distributes them, if required, to the different shops, of 
 TrMch each has its separate account in his books, wherr 
 it is charged with the goods delivered to it, the rent of tb< 
 space occupied by it, the interest on the capital employed
 
 22 Associated Homes : 
 
 in if, tbe wages of its staff, the depreciation of its stock, 
 its share in the premium of assurance and the general 
 expenses, and is credited with its sales and deliveries to 
 other departments. The internal administration of these, 
 and the establishment as well of various other institutions 
 of a provident or benevolent character connected with the 
 Familiblere (which I have not space to notice in this 
 articU) are conducted by committees elected by general 
 suffrage in societies freely formed for these respective 
 purpopes, of which each frames rules for itself, discussed 
 and adopted by the votes of the assemblies of its members. 
 Thus there are committees for provident purposes; for 
 medicaojen's; for medical attendance; for the firemen, 
 who act as a sort of general police, while by the complete- 
 ness of their organisation and their residence in the 
 building they make a large fire almost impossible ; for 
 music; for festivals and pleasures; for the club, the 
 librarv, the claims of work, &o. ; and two general councils 
 of twelve men, elected by all the males, and of twelve 
 women, elected by all the females abovb sixteen, and any 
 under it who bring from school a certificate of their 
 capacity fjr work, whose functions M. Godin thus 
 deforibep : — 
 
 The functions of the councils are especially initiatory and 
 observant. No special limits are assigned to either of them. 
 Both have entire freedom of discussion > and may in consequence 
 occupy themsplves with the same questions if they consider 
 this useful. Nevertheless they naturally address themselves to 
 different matters. The council of men busies itself principally 
 viiih que.-tions concerning the improvement of work, the 
 provident institutions, repartition, and the organisation of the 
 Festivals. The council of women, of whom M. Gidin says, 
 that they are fully as jealous of their privileges as the men, and 
 certfainly more zealous in fulfilling their duties, occupies itself 
 es} e iiliy with matters relating to domestic functions, with the 
 quality of the articles sold at the FamiUat^re, with cleanliness 
 and general salubrity, with the carc bestowed on infancy, with
 
 A Lectuke. 23 
 
 tb( was' bnnses anrl lanndricn, and aUimpTOTementB which may 
 assibt lue Lousebold munugeinent. 
 
 The"?'? conncils meet whenever they think fit, and give their 
 advice on the conduct of whatever is going on at the Familistere. 
 Statements of the results of the balance sheets, and of the 
 general expenses incnrred for the benefit of the population, are 
 oommanicated to tbem. Thej draw up minutes of their pro- 
 ceedings, which furnigh the administrative committee with 
 materials on which to found their directions. They are the 
 arbiters on piave questions concerning order, and are called on 
 to pronounce judgment on any breach of the conduct befitting 
 good fraternity, any act compromisiug in juy way the order of 
 the Familistere, especially such as may had to the exclusion 
 of an associate. Their functions, thtrefore, extend to the 
 encouragement which it is fitting to give to men of various 
 sorts, shown either in the factory or the Familistere, They 
 note either zeal and exactness, or forgetfulm ss and negligence, 
 in those employed in any office. They are thus a lever of 
 moral inflaence, promoting the regular course of the general 
 mterests at the Palace, and a nsefol element in its administra- 
 tion. — (" Richesse," p. 179.) 
 
 The good order noticed above to prevail at the Fami- 
 listere appears to be closely connected with the action of 
 these coQDcils. 
 
 Whenever, says M. Godin, any act injurious to internal 
 order, on any grounil whatever, is committed by any of the 
 associates, the f;tct, if not of much importance, either leads to a 
 private admonition or to a statement of it being publicly posted 
 up without meulioniog the name of the ollender. If the 
 ofiience is repeated, or the case is of importance, the announce- 
 ment contains the name of the offender, who is subjected to a 
 fine varying from five centimes to five francs (4 5d. to 4s.; for 
 the beuefit of the mutual assistanco fund. If the facts are 
 grave the councils unite as a board of censorship, to give the 
 criticism a severer character and the announcements greater 
 weight. They have the power of p onouncing the excluuiou of 
 any associate whose term of the rooms occupied by them iu
 
 24 Associated Homes : 
 
 the Familist^re appears to be conditional on tbeir good 
 behaviour, and of asking that he may be discharged from 
 employment. This last resort seems, however, to be rarely 
 required. Criticism, says M. Godin, is active and severe on all 
 acts prejudicial to the general interests of the population ; but 
 the public conscience does not lean to the rigour of repression. 
 The population contents its If with passing sentence as a 
 critic. The disposition to forgive and forget predominates in 
 all hearts, except the case is such as to call for the intervention 
 of the tribunals. 
 
 This statement shows, I think, how valuable an 
 instrument of moral improvement lies in the public 
 opinion of the population on the conduct of members of 
 their own class, where the feeling of association called 
 forth by the common though distinct life of a utiitary 
 home exists. The fact must increase the desire of those 
 who are convinced that the well-being of mankind 
 depends upon the firmness and elevation of their moral 
 character, to introduce an institution so conducive to this 
 end as the unitary home appears to be. Now the cost 
 of such institutions must be an element of great import- 
 ance to anyone who eeriously contemplates the possi- 
 bility of establishing them. I proceed therefore to give 
 from M. Godin's figures an account of what the 
 Familistere at Guise has cost, and costs to build and keep 
 up. It is as follows ; — 
 
 J'ate. Pr. £ 
 
 1859. Purchase of the ground occupied — 
 
 6 hectares (14-910 acres) 50,000= 2,000 
 
 Left wing built 800,000 = 12,000 
 
 1S60. Offices opposite 50,000= 2,000 
 
 1862 to 1864. Central building 400,000 = 16,000 
 
 1866. Nursery and babies' school 40,000= 1,600 
 
 1869. Schools and theatre 125,000 = 5,000 
 
 1870. Baths and washhouses 35,000= 1,400 
 
 Furniture and funds required for the 
 
 conunercial operatioua 80,000 = 3,200 
 
 1,080.000 = 42,240
 
 A Lecture. 25 
 
 The west wing was not completed till the prcaeoi 
 year. The size of the building is — 
 
 M. M. Ft. in. Ft. In. 
 
 East wing 50 by 38 = 164 OS by 124 8 
 
 Centre 65 by 40 = 205 9 by 131 28 
 
 The income derived from letting the rooms at the rates 
 above mentioned is — 
 
 Fr. £ 8. d. 
 
 By the month 3,185= 127 4 
 
 By the year, inclading the gardens aad 
 
 orchards 40,140 = 1,605 12 
 
 Bat from this must be dedncted the fonr 
 
 directtaxes 1,G17= 64 13 7.J 
 
 Asenrance 379= 15 3 2^, 
 
 The general charges of admiDistration, 
 bookkeeping, cleanliness, and pump- 
 ing np water 6,240= 209 12 
 
 Gas 1,320= 52 16 
 
 Repairs and maintenance 1,200 = 48 
 
 9,756= 390 4 10 
 
 Leayes balance 30,384 = 1,315 7 2 
 
 or 3 per cent on the capital, withont taking into account the 
 charge of depreciation, noticed before. 
 
 Bat these rents, which were fixed with reference to 
 \he rates at which a workman coald obtain at Gaiee a 
 lodging such as he would put up with, are, as M. Godik 
 observes, scarcely half of those paid by workmen elsewhere 
 for lodgings affording accommodation at all approach- 
 ing that supplied at the Familistere. It is probable, I 
 think, that if such a building were constructed in an 
 easily accessible locality in the neighbonrhood of London, 
 rents might be obtained that would carry the return up 
 to 5 or 6 per cent, especially if the building comprised 
 suites of apartments let to the richer classes. Bat besides 
 the rents of the building, there is another source of income 
 made available for the general good of the population in 
 the Fanailistere, in the profits on the supply of theii
 
 26 Associated Homes : 
 
 wants which, though M. Godin finds a ^ood deal of fault 
 with its management, has yielded the following results : — 
 
 General cost, lighting, maintenance of fittinga, Fr. £ 
 
 and depreciation of stock 15,000= 600 
 
 Salaries of persons employed in the sales .... 26,000 = 1,040 
 Charge for depreciation of the FamilistSre 
 
 beyond the provision for keeping it in repair. 10.000= 400 
 
 Net disposable profit 35,000 =■ 1,400 
 
 Now, the cost of the echools is stated to he — 
 
 Nursery — average of 40 infants 10,000= 400 
 
 Babies' Echool — average of 40 children 800 = 32 
 
 Infants' school— „ 80 , 2,000= 80 
 
 3rd class „ 45 ,, 1.400= 56 
 
 ■2nd class „ 65 2,-300= 92 
 
 Ist class „ 55 , 2 200= 88 
 
 Various courses of lectures 1,(jOU= 40 
 
 Total 19,700= 788 
 
 Eemainder 15,500= 612 
 
 — (" Eichesee," pp. 103, 129.) 
 
 But the sum contributed by the industrial 
 establishment to the medical aid fund to meet 
 an equal contribution by the workmen is 10,800= 434 
 
 Deducting this amount, we have a balance for 
 
 any other purpose of 4,700= 180 
 
 It appearp, therefore, that such a unitary home as I 
 have supposed might, out of its own resources — if it 
 was BO situated that its working population could find 
 employment readily accessible to them — be able to pro- 
 vide for them, without any cost on their part beyond 
 their present usual expenditure, the most important part 
 of the material advantages placed within reach of the 
 workers at Guise, and thus brin? its moral benefits 
 within their reach. Now, considering the disposition of 
 large bodies of working men at the present day to get oat of 
 London, if they can, and the facilities which rail and tram- 
 way companies are disposed to give, by running workmen's 
 trains or trams, a vision of a Familistore to be established in
 
 A Lecturb. 27 
 
 some readily-acoeesiblo locality in the neighbonrhood of 
 London pleasant enough to be attractive to those benevo- 
 lent pereons who might feel a satiefH *ioa in thinking that 
 the outlay on what made their own lives agreeable was 
 helping to confer untold blessings upon a part of the 
 population from whose labours their wealth arose, and 
 was thus preparing the way to a peaceful revolution, as 
 fraught with good to mankind as violent revolutions are 
 generally full of evil — a vision of such a Familislore 
 ought not, I think, to be classed among idle dreams. 
 
 If a well-chosen site were selected, with sufHeient 
 land about it to allow of horticultural operations being 
 conducted on a considerable scale, profitable employment 
 might probably be found for some part of the inhabitants, 
 while pleasant surroundings were produced for all. Others 
 might find remunerative occupation in supplying, in 
 various ways, the wants of the inhabitants, especially if 
 these comprised a moderate sprinkling of the richer 
 classes. At all events, the garden produce might furnish 
 an addition of great value to the domestic economy of 
 the population, if they learned how, by good cookery, to 
 make the best use of their food. 
 
 Now I think that by a little modification of M. Godin's 
 plans it would be easy to introduce in such a Familislere 
 the general use of a good common kitchen so as to 
 satisfy the wants both of its richer and poorer inhabitants. 
 At Guise the halls, which form so striking a feature of its 
 architectural design, are useless for any object ether than 
 that of enabling the inmates to move about without fear of 
 wet or annoyance from cold — because they are always open. 
 M. GoDiN has been led to this arrangement, I conceive, 
 from the wish to avoid any notion that the movements 
 of the inmates, all of whom were in his employment, 
 were watched. But in an establishment where the 
 inmates are not thus dependent, it would, I think, 
 be Bcfficient if the central halls, where the shops
 
 28 Associated Homes : 
 
 and ofiBces are placed, and the going and coming must 
 necessarily be the greatest, were left generally tbns open, 
 and the entrances to the side halls were provided with 
 doors which, excepting in the passages leading from the 
 central hall (where folding doors, customary in coffee 
 rooms, might be placed), should be kept closed- 
 Ornamented with a few flowering plants, cool in hot 
 weather, warmed when requisite by steam or hot water 
 pipes, and provided with tables, these airy, well-lighted 
 halls would then form admirable restaurants, furnishing 
 ample accommodation for any number of persons likely 
 to want to use them ; and, if they communicated with 
 kitchen", placed at their angles, whence a system of 
 servitie organised among the younger part of the 
 population, would enable all to be easily cerved who did 
 not serve themselves, would I believe soon come into 
 general use as the most economical and convenient means 
 of taking meals prepared in the best manner; though, 
 for those who preferred it, facilities for taking their meals 
 in their own apartments should be provided. 
 
 The plan, as I have before observed, would require 
 the co-operation of inmates accustomed to pay for the 
 cost of cooking, that it might not be burdened for the 
 poorer classes with a charge which would put their 
 stomachs at war with their pockets. It would be one of 
 the ways in which the rich would help the poor to an 
 advantage which they could not otherwise obtain, by 
 what would be at the same time a benefit to themselves. 
 It is thus a fit illustration of the good to be derived 
 from the system of unitary homes if undertaken in the 
 spirit on which their importance depends — not as schemes 
 for selfish advantage, but as the most appropriate and 
 efficient instrument for diffusing among mankind gene- 
 rally a practical conviction of those allied sentiments 
 which are the foundation of human happiness, because 
 of human goodness, the feeling of the brotherhood of man
 
 A Lectuue. 29 
 
 reposing in and Bustaining the faith in the fatherhood of 
 God. 
 
 In the present day, when in bo many qaarters h 
 profound discontent appears to be growing np with the 
 wearing round of overwhelming toil and uneatibfjing 
 pleasures, whi/^h fill the lives of eo many men and women 
 of the present generation, such an opening as the idea 
 of the unitary home affords for creating lives animated 
 by the consciousness of daily work systfrnafically and 
 conscientiously directed to the noblest of all human ends, 
 the permanent increase of general well-being among' 
 mankind, affords the prospect of a " sensation" which it 
 may be worth while to try. I am satisfied that those who 
 do try it will never regret the trial. The unitary home ie 
 not all that association has to offer for the good of man- 
 kind. The reconciliation of the claims of capital and 
 work which M. Godin has effected at Guise, is another 
 and most important end, to which unfortunately the road is 
 difficult, because it needs a union of commercial ability 
 with the disposition to use it unselfishly, rarely found 
 at the present day in such combination as in the noble- 
 minded Frenchman who founded the Familistcre. But, 
 without incurring the risks of commercial operations, it 
 would, I believe, be very possible for the wealth of 
 England, with no lecuniary injury and great moral 
 benefit to its owners, by a wise use of its accumulated 
 resources, largely to create institutions which would 
 show what the application of the profits of work for the 
 benefit of the worker might effect for him ; and thus 
 promote in a most effectual manner the solution of 
 the great "social question," by setting " visible examples " 
 before the workers of what they should aim at doin^ for 
 themselves, and before the employer of what he shoald 
 aim to do for the worker on whose labour hi"* wealth 
 depends. I ask of the wealth and benevolence of England 
 to undertake this task.
 
 MAKCHESTER: 
 
 Co-operative Printijig Socibtt Limited, 17, Balloon Street.