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 HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT AT 
 NAUVOO OF THE ICARIAN 
 SETTLEMENT. 
 
 
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LIBRARY 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1 
 
 C O M M UNIS M 
 
 liV EMILE VALLET 
 
 HISTORY OF THE EXPERIMENT AT NAUVOO 
 OF THE ICAR IAN SETTLEMENT 
 
 The science of sciolog} 7 occupies 
 
 many minds. Governments are ev¬ 
 ery day more and more embarassed. 
 
 The social question, like a night¬ 
 mare, disturbs the slee£> of our rul¬ 
 ers. They see, they feel something' 
 growing', the clogging* of the eco¬ 
 nomical system. They fear some 
 disturbances, some explosions. 
 Strikes are becoming more frequent. 
 -All the isms ring in their ears. So¬ 
 cialism, collectivism, communism, 
 anarchism, etc. The people criti¬ 
 cise the present organization; they 
 conceive and propose new theories; 
 some of them are boisterous, show 
 dispositions to use violent means. 
 We read in the papers of armed or¬ 
 ganizations of communists in some 
 cities. As we have some people and 
 perhaps there are some among your 
 readers who are disposed to favor 
 the communistic system. For their 
 benefit and edification I will give a 
 condensed historical sketch of the 
 Icarian community, established at 
 
 Nauvoo. Show the demoralizing 
 influence of communism on men and 
 its inadaptability to human nature. 
 
 Etienne Cabet was born at Dijon, 
 France, and was the son of a coop¬ 
 er. He received a good education, 
 studied law and became notorious. 
 His great clearness and force of argu¬ 
 mentation made him an eminent or¬ 
 ator. Pie occupied many prominent 
 offices; attorney general in Corsica, 
 member of the chamber of deputies 
 and other positions. He had studied 
 Plato Morse, Babcuff, Fourier and 
 Christ. He wrote a work entitled 
 “True Christianity," where he dem¬ 
 onstrated that Christ was a com¬ 
 munist and based his Utopia, or 
 new system of organization on 
 Christ’s moral teaching*. 
 
 Having a warm heart, lamenting 
 over the poor condition of the labor¬ 
 ing* class,seeing no hope of amelior¬ 
 ation in the present system of or¬ 
 ganisation, believing in the practi¬ 
 cability of communism, he resolved 
 
 100047 ! 
 
9 
 
 to give a form to his idea and wrote 
 a book named “Voyage en Icarie.’’ 
 As a theorical work it is a marvel. 
 It is perfectly splendid. It shows a 
 nation under the communistic or¬ 
 ganization. The people happy. No 
 poor, no rich. Every one enjoying 
 the luxury and comfort of life, every 
 one imbued with the consciousness 
 of duty, striving to do better than 
 the rest, giving good examples, no 
 saloons, no churches, no houses of 
 prostitution, no gambling, no mur¬ 
 ders, no thieves, no speculators, no 
 capitalists, no millionaires. 
 
 It just tilled the aspirations of 
 those who wanted radical reform. 
 
 Cabet, though fighting the estab¬ 
 lished order of things, was a law 
 abiding citizen. Was opposed to 
 bloody revolutions. He always ad¬ 
 vised his followers not to take part 
 in ail}' - secret societies, but to abide 
 laws and give in all and every re¬ 
 respect an example of morality and 
 good behavior. He could talk the 
 language of the people and acquired 
 a strong influence and reverence. 
 Many called him “Father” and a 
 second Christ. He published a pa¬ 
 per “Le Populaire, ” and it was thru 
 this organ lie communicated with 
 
 his adepts all over France. As 
 soon as he was satisfied his theory 
 was well understood, he resolved to 
 wait no longer to put it into prac¬ 
 tice; asked the French government 
 the privilege to try the experiment 
 in France. The government most 
 respectfully declined, being afraid 
 of contagion. He then proposed to 
 emigrate to the United States where 
 freedom reigned supreme. He suc¬ 
 ceeded in obtaining from a company 
 a land grant of several thousand 
 acres in Texas. He made an appeal 
 for some volunteers to form the ad¬ 
 vance guard and in February, 1848, 
 sixty-nine men met with him in 
 Paris willing to leave their families 
 in France to go to a mostly wild 
 country to establish the new colony 
 and prepare the way to the thou¬ 
 sands who were ready to follow. 
 Cabet presided at the meeting and 
 set them in knowledge of the hard 
 task they were undertaking. He 
 explained to them that in order to 
 make a success of communism they 
 had to renounce individualism, ego¬ 
 tism, make complete abnegation of 
 their ownselves and submit to the 
 dictation of the majority. 
 
 They all solemly swore that they 
 
 <& 
 
3 
 
 were willing to submit to these con¬ 
 ditions, to stand all sorts of priva¬ 
 tions and suffering's to establish a 
 new society that would indubitably 
 make their own happiness and also 
 that of the whole mankind. They 
 elected E. Cabet dictator of said so¬ 
 ciety for ten )*ears. One among 
 them having- gained Cabet’s confi¬ 
 dence was proposed by him and ac¬ 
 cepted as director of the young- col¬ 
 ony in the absence of Cabet. 
 
 The enthuisasm was great when 
 they embarked at the city of Ee 
 Havre. The Pioneers of Humanity 
 (as the)" called themselves) looked 
 splendid in their black velvet suits. 
 Thousands of friends and co-parti¬ 
 sans accompanied them to the sail¬ 
 ing- vessel. The air resounded with 
 wishes of success,songs of hope and 
 love. The press of the country had 
 to admit that the demonstration 
 was imposing but calm. 
 
 Those sixty-nine men, selected 
 among the best laboring element, 
 the choice of the worthy, moral and 
 industrious, reached their destina¬ 
 tion—Texas. From Shreveport on 
 the Red river, they had to travel 
 overland a few hundred miles. The 
 streams were swollen, the roads 
 
 ! muddy, but they were young and 
 courageous and it was only fun to 
 I them. When on the place they be¬ 
 gan to build houses and till the soil, 
 i The weather was beautiful, the sun 
 mild, the air filled with the melo¬ 
 dious voices of birds; the herds of 
 wild horses coming near their settle¬ 
 ment at the bugle sound, the luxur¬ 
 ious vegetation of a most tropical 
 climate, the good quality of the new 
 cultivated soil, made them believe 
 they had found the garden of Eden. 
 In the month of June the sun of 
 Texas and the miasmas of the new 
 soil began to exert their influence 
 on the courageous toilers. The ma¬ 
 laria made its appearance; twenty- 
 five or thirty were affected with the 
 malignant fever and in a short time 
 nine of them died. They had not 
 received any news yet from their 
 mother country, but had discovered 
 that their director “Gouhenant, ” in 
 whom Cabet and themselves had 
 placed their confidence was a Jesuit, 
 a traitor. (They shaved his head 
 and chased him ignominously 
 away.) They became discourag-ed. 
 One morning they received the news 
 that a revolution had taken place in 
 France and the republic proclaimed. 
 
4 
 
 They hesitated a few days what to 
 do, but the insalubrity of the cli¬ 
 mate and the hope of a better gov¬ 
 ernment in France contributed to 
 their decision to abandon the enter¬ 
 prise. Carrying* their sick,they ret¬ 
 rograded to Shreveport, where they 
 met a second advance guard com¬ 
 posed of twenty-eight members. 
 They consulted and decided to go to 
 New Orleans. When they arrived 
 there they met a third departure 
 composed of ninety members—men, 
 women and children. They were 
 without a leader. Not knowing 
 what to do they wrote to Cabet 
 for advice. Cabet hesitated for a mo¬ 
 ment whether he should order them 
 back, or go and join them. His best 
 friends advised him to sta} 7 ; that he 
 could do more for the cause in 
 France than in the United States. 
 But he was too deeply engaged al¬ 
 ready and he thought best to start 
 for New Orleans, where he met the 
 disheartened communists. 
 
 The presence of the head, the 
 father,gave them courage. They re¬ 
 mained there over winter, it being 
 not the proper time of year to go 
 north. As they renounced Texas as 
 too unhealthy, early in the spring 
 
 of 1849 they sent a commission to 
 explore the Mississippi. The com¬ 
 mission, composed of three members 
 arriving at Nauvoo, found the place 
 just evacuated bj 7 the Mormons, va¬ 
 cant houses, land in cultivation; 
 they thought the place well adapted 
 and returned quickly to New Or¬ 
 leans, when it was decided to try 
 the experiment at Nauvoo. The 
 cholera had made its appearance 
 and several of them died from it. 
 They lost a few while on the river 
 and after they reached Nauvoo the 
 disease continued to exert its dead¬ 
 ly influence. They buried their 
 dead at night all over town, not to 
 awaken the suspicion of the inhab¬ 
 itants, but nevertheless their enthu¬ 
 siasm was strong, and though the y 
 had suffered considerably physical¬ 
 ly, the moral, the spiritual, was all 
 right. They were young, willing to 
 suffer—even willing to die—for the 
 cause, and confident in themselves 
 and the principles, they began(under 
 the leadership of the father,the sec¬ 
 ond Christ) the establishment of 
 Paradise on earth. 
 
 For the benefit of ) r our readers 
 who are not aware of what Icarian 
 communism means, before going 
 
5 
 
 any further I will have to explain. 
 
 Icarius is famous for having- 
 manufactured a pair of wings com¬ 
 posed of beeswax; adapted these 
 wings to his body and attempted 
 the ascension to Heaven. As he as¬ 
 cended towards the sun,the heat be¬ 
 came so intense that the wings 
 melted and Icarius fell flat on the 
 earth, realizing that he was too 
 pretensions and better remain on 
 this planet. (This is about what the 
 Icarian communists have done as 
 the experiment will show.) For 
 what reason Cabet selected that 
 name I do not know. 
 
 The new^ society was based on 
 marriage and the family. The prin¬ 
 ciple .of free love was not admitted 
 by the Icarians. To the exception 
 of the family, everything was in 
 common among them. No private 
 property, no monies, no poor, no 
 rich, no competition, no antagon¬ 
 ism; complete solidarity. The strong 
 working for the feeble, the sick; 
 the one working for all and all 
 working for one; everyone produc¬ 
 ing according to his strength, his 
 talent, his skill and consuming ac¬ 
 cording to his wants. No lawyers, 
 but arbitrators. The schools open 
 
 to all children equally, universal 
 sufferage for men above twenty 
 years of age, women having the de¬ 
 liberative right and as soon as 
 enough enlightened,the consultative 
 right. The people having its full 
 and complete sovereignty; making 
 its own law’s and willing to submit 
 to the dictation of the majority. 
 Women rehabilited, cherished and 
 respected. Love, confidence, secur¬ 
 ity, happiness. 
 
 Our pioneers were not rich, but 
 they inhaled the pure air of freedom. 
 Uncle Sam left them perfectly free 
 to try their experiment. I doubt if 
 the president of the United States 
 at that time ever noticed their pres¬ 
 ence on this continent. Their neigh¬ 
 bors w T ere friendly, w r ell disposed to 
 favor them. They treated them as 
 the countrymen of Lafayette. They 
 had nothing to struggle against, 
 but human nature;tlieir own nature. 
 They had the will power, the skill 
 as mechanics, a new and rich coun¬ 
 try and complete freedom. 
 
 Their first move was to organize 
 their government. They had in 
 France elected E. Cabet dictator for 
 the term of ten years. On the re¬ 
 mark from some American citizens 
 
it was contrary to the institutions 
 of the country, they concluded to 
 have a president for the term of one 
 year. Cabet was elected unanimous¬ 
 ly. The ministorium was composed 
 of four directors, one of finance, one 
 of industry and agriculture, one 
 of nourishment and clothing’ and 
 one of public instruction. They es¬ 
 tablished a branch in St. Ton is, 
 Mo., as a means of exportation for 
 their products,(industrial products). 
 A large proportion of the members 
 were tailors or shoemakers by trade 
 Being in need of money, they had 
 fifteen to twenty members manu¬ 
 facturing clothing and shoes which 
 they sold in St. Louis. They also 
 purchased a flour mill and distillery 
 and began the manufacturing of 
 flour and whisky. 
 
 They were offered land, farms at 
 very low figures, but Cabet had ex¬ 
 amined the ruins of the Mormon 
 Temple, that could be seen at ten 
 miles distance. They had not 
 money enough to buy both, land 
 and the ruins, but those ruins work¬ 
 ed on Cabet’s brains. They were 
 renowned already and when con¬ 
 nected with his name, they both 
 would add to each other’s glory. A 
 
 few of the members would have pre¬ 
 ferred investing the money in land. 
 They thought that it was not prac¬ 
 tical, not wise to think of glory, of 
 monuments when they had no cer¬ 
 tainty of having bread for their 
 families, but the prestige, the re¬ 
 spect, confidence in the father was 
 so great that those thoughts re¬ 
 mained buried in their bosoms. No 
 one dared to utter a word in opposi¬ 
 tion to Cabet,and his will prevailed. 
 They bought the ruins for the sum 
 of one thousand dollars, of which 
 they paid five hundred, and the in¬ 
 habitants of Nauvoo five hundred, 
 contributed as a donation. They 
 rented houses and farms. They or¬ 
 ganized their schools, a music baud 
 composed of thirty-six pieces, a 
 choir and a theatrical club. They 
 also had a good library. As every 
 one, in order to be admitted, had to 
 pay an admission fee of four hun¬ 
 dred francs ($80,00,) and clothing 
 enough for four years, the clothing 
 question was easy to manage. The 
 food, the diet was an every day 
 question. They could not always 
 procure very selected nutriment. 
 Pork and beans made their appear¬ 
 ance quite of ten on the table. Many ot 
 
7 
 
 them had been accustomed to more 
 delicacies, especially the women. 
 They were willing - to deprive them¬ 
 selves of all the comforts of life, but 
 it lasted too long - ; some became 
 tired; they made ready to leave. As 
 they renounced all earthly rig-hts to 
 private property and bequeathed 
 all they possessed to the community, 
 they had to leave without a penny, 
 in a strange country, not knowing 
 the language. The inhabitants of 
 Nauvoo gave an entertainment for 
 their benefit to defray their expen¬ 
 ses to St. Louis. Some worked in 
 Nauvoo until they earned enoug-h to 
 enable them to travel. Their for¬ 
 mer brothers and father were im¬ 
 placable. Being - in a precarious 
 financial condition themselves, they 
 refused any aid whatever. No mon¬ 
 ey, not even their own tools to exer¬ 
 cise their professions, were restitu¬ 
 ted to them. They were considered 
 as enemies and treated as such. 
 Cowards, traitors, felons, were the 
 epithets thrown in their faces. 
 They had not the qualifications of 
 true communists. They were too 
 selfish; too much under the influence 
 of the old world habits. 
 
 Being - not prepared to receive new 
 
 recruits, they ordered the emigra¬ 
 tion to stop. They began to de¬ 
 crease in number, but the enthusiasm 
 was so great in France that a new 
 expedition, composed of forty, 
 reached Nauvoo in the fall of 1849. 
 Myself and family came alone; my 
 father and mother could not bear 
 the idea to wait any longer to estab¬ 
 lish paradise on earth. We reached 
 Nauvoo, Ill., on March, 17th, 1850. 
 While in St. Bouis (where we had to 
 remain a couple of days,as the river 
 was too full of ice and boats were 
 not running any farther north,) we 
 met the father and one of the secre¬ 
 taries trying in vain to borrow 
 money. My father having $500.00 
 was welcome. The father asked 
 my father to remit those $500.00 im¬ 
 mediately. My father, though very 
 enthusiastic, found the request very 
 daring, having never seen Cabet be¬ 
 fore, not being on the place, yet re¬ 
 fused to remit all, but condescended 
 to remit half. Cabet bought the 
 necessary articles he needed, start¬ 
 ed back to Nauvoo, paid cabin fare 
 for him and his assistant, with our 
 money and told us to stay and take 
 the next boat and come on deck. 
 Such little incidents,little nothings, 
 
8 
 
 have more important consequences 
 than they are credited with. While 
 at sea my father made the acquain¬ 
 tance of a man, also on his way to 
 Nauvoo. He had not the required 
 amount of money to be admitted, 
 but intended to work at New Or¬ 
 leans, (where he had some friends), 
 until he realized enough money to 
 pay his way and admission fee. The 
 man was married. His wife not 
 endorsing his communistic views, 
 refused to follow him. He left her 
 and started. My father, convinced 
 of the good moral and physical 
 qualifications of the man, offered to 
 furnish him the money, and he con¬ 
 sented to come along. When at 
 Nauvoo we made our application for 
 membership, so did our companion. 
 Cabet opposed his admission on the 
 ground that he had left his wife in 
 France. One of the members pres¬ 
 ent at the meeting remarked that E. 
 Cabet himself was in the same con¬ 
 dition, that he not only had left his 
 wife, but his children. Neverthe¬ 
 less the man was not admitted. 
 Cabet knew that the man had no 
 money of his own. He did not care 
 to have any more members, but mon¬ 
 ey, and knowing that he would get 
 
 all the money my father had with¬ 
 out admitting the man, he opposed 
 him and urged my father to tr}^ to 
 recover the money advanced by him 
 to pay the fare from New Orleans to 
 Nauvoo for that man. My father 
 refused to do so, saying it was not 
 a loan but a gift. 
 
 Early in spring of 1850 on Cabet’s 
 proposition, they decided to rebuild 
 the Mormon Temple. The stone 
 work only was standing, w^alls six¬ 
 ty feet high. The upper stories 
 and tower were constructed of wood 
 and had been destroyed by fire. 
 They sent an agent north to pur¬ 
 chase the neccessary timber and in 
 the month of June the masons be¬ 
 gan to lay the foundation to rest 
 the columns or pilasters to support 
 the floors. The 27th of June eleven 
 men were at work on the interior of 
 the building. I was one of them. 
 At 3 o’clock p. m. a distant report 
 of thunder announced the approach 
 of a storm. At their request I step¬ 
 ped out to ascertain whether it was 
 a severe storm or not. Seeing only 
 an insignficant cloud, I reported no 
 danger. We continued to work. The 
 basement of said temple was divid¬ 
 ed into small rooms on either side. 
 
9 
 
 Two of these rooms had been cover¬ 
 ed with boards. One on the north 
 side to store green hides. The oth¬ 
 er on the south side to store tools. 
 Suddenly a furious wind began to 
 blow; four of the masons fearing 
 the non-solidity of the walls, left to 
 seek shelter elsewhere. Seven of us 
 remained, taking* refuge in the tool 
 room on the south side. If there is 
 a Providence it was on our side, for 
 hardly had we taken our position 
 than the tornado began to tear 
 small rocks from the top of the walls 
 and flew in every direction. We be¬ 
 came frightened. Some proposed 
 to run away, others opposed it on 
 the ground that it was dangerous, 
 as those loose rocks could fall on 
 our heads and kill us. Before we 
 had decided whether we should stay 
 or run. one of us that was watching 
 exclaimed: “Friends, we are lost, 
 the north wall is caving in!” And 
 so it was. A wall sixty feet high 
 was coming on us, having onty forty 
 feet to expand. We fled to the south¬ 
 west corner, deafened with terror. I 
 for one heard nothing. The fall of 
 that wall was heard three miles 
 away in the country. We looked at 
 one another. All alive, but as white 
 
 as sheets. The wind was terrifflc, 
 the rain was blinding us. The cloud 
 was touching the ground. The 
 most severe storm I ever witnessed 
 in Nauvoo. We were mostly para¬ 
 lyzed. We expected every minute 
 the other walls to come down. Some 
 of the top rocks had fallen within 
 three feet of us. The east wall was 
 three feet out of plumb. “Forward 
 march!” shouted one and on we ran 
 over the heaped up rocks more dead 
 than alive. When out, it was so 
 dark that we could not find any 
 gates and jumped over fences. I 
 met my father coming to the rescue, 
 all alone. Cabet tried to prevent 
 him but did not succeed. The storm 
 lasted three hours. Several houses 
 had been blown down. They had 
 built their laundry in a creek a half 
 mile north of town; twelve women 
 were at work. Cabet sent a man to 
 find out what had become of them. 
 The man came back saying that the 
 women were drowned and the house 
 carried away. The water was run¬ 
 ning twelve feet high in the creek. 
 Only the next morning did we re¬ 
 ceive the good news that the women 
 were all safe, but had hardly time 
 to escape through the windows. So 
 
sudden was the rise of the water 
 and in rain and storm ran to a farm 
 house, a quarter of a mile away. A 
 Swiss family had just time to leave 
 a brick house that blew down. The 
 loss of crops and property was great 
 but no lives were lost. 
 
 The fall of that wall ended the re¬ 
 building of the temple. 
 
 The agent they had sent north to 
 buy timber for the building had 
 been gone for several months al¬ 
 ready, and not receiving any news 
 from him it was thot some accident 
 happened, perhaps he’d been kill¬ 
 ed or drowned. He never came back. 
 A love affair, and the news that the 
 intention to rebuild the temple was 
 abandoned had kept him from 
 returning, but was alive. He was a 
 well educated man and as an archi¬ 
 tect built the capitol of the state of 
 Illinois at Springfield. And if I am 
 well informed, that at DesMoines 
 city, state of Iowa. His name was 
 Piquenard. 
 
 The inhabitants of Nauvoo and 
 surroundings having expressed 
 their disapproval at the manner 
 those leaving the society were treat¬ 
 ed, without any means whatever, 
 fearing to irritate their neighbors, 
 
 they thought more prudent to allow 
 from $10 to $20 per head of family. 
 It was also decided that those who 
 would be admitted in the future, 
 would be entitled to recover one- 
 lialf of the money brought by them 
 and also their tools in case the}' 
 would choose to leave. 
 
 The Icarians in France were 
 pressing. Applications were receiv¬ 
 ed daily. Some of the faithful were 
 writing letters to their friends and 
 relations praising the condition of 
 the society. Cabet tried to stop the 
 emigration but failed. They would 
 come without authorization and 
 when here had to be admitted. It 
 became urgent to erect dwelling 
 houses and a dining hall. They 
 adapted a circular saw to their mill 
 and as it was supposed the islands 
 opposite Nauvoo had no owners, 
 they chopped trees down and con¬ 
 verted them into timber. They 
 erected a building 120 feet long and 
 40 feet wide with an aisle 30 feet 
 long* for a kitchen, a large cellar 
 the whole size of the building. The 
 first story was divided into a work¬ 
 ing shop for the ladies—dressmak¬ 
 ing, ironing and mending, a stage 
 for the theatrical performances,"and 
 
11 
 
 the balance, 80 feet long*, a dining- 
 hall. A buffet or large stand with 
 shelves, moving* on a railway from 
 the kitchen to the hall, loaded with 
 vituals, plates, knives and forks, 
 excited the admiration of the visi¬ 
 tors. Four painters, artists, decor¬ 
 ators, adorned the walls of the halls 
 with inscriptions. The Icarian 
 principles, moral precepts, could 
 be read from one end of the hall 
 to the other. They had up to that 
 time used at their table the tin gob¬ 
 lets and plates. They decided to 
 have glasses and porcelain plates. 
 The second story was divided into 
 rooms 16x20 for lodging, with bal- 
 con}^ all around the building. Fach 
 family was allowed one room with 
 one window and one door,two chairs 
 a table, a bed and looking* glass;the 
 children being with their parents 
 on Sunday only and never at night; 
 they had their dormatory in the 
 school houses. Bachelors had one 
 room for two, or more, according to 
 the size of the room. They all took 
 their repasts in common, except the 
 nurses who were allowed a little ex¬ 
 tra and at home. They had a hos¬ 
 pital for the> sick, with an extra 
 cook. They also had a pharmacy. 
 
 The use of whiskey was allowed 
 for those exposed to the weather 
 and performing hard labor, even to 
 the women, those doing the wash¬ 
 ing. Icarians were temperate but 
 not tetotalers. They would have 
 preferred wine to whiskey but they 
 could not succeed in raising the 
 fruit, having only in cultivation the 
 French varities of grapes, that were 
 not adapted to this climate, 
 
 Cabet was opposed to the use of 
 tobacco and raised war against it. 
 Some of the women folks used snuff 
 and men smoked. Few had the 
 habit of chewing. They raised their 
 own tobacco. Cabet forgot himself 
 while arguing* against the dirty 
 weed, not only to compare those 
 who used it to hogs, but said that 
 they were filthier. Many had their 
 most tender feelings badly hurt. 
 They thought it was not the way to 
 make them renounce their habits, 
 that abusive language never promo¬ 
 ted reform. Some got stubborn and 
 swore to themselves they would 
 smoke anyway. The production in 
 all the different branches of indus¬ 
 try was small. They were running 
 in debt rapidly. The agriculture 
 was not remunerative. They could 
 
12 
 
 not raise corn to supply tlieir dis¬ 
 tillery, nor wheat for the flour mill. 
 They were drawing - heavily on a 
 commercial house in St. Louis, and 
 all the whiskey and flour they man¬ 
 ufactured was always shipped to 
 that house and the benefit was 
 small. They had in the winter a 
 squad of twenty to thirty men 
 chopping - wood on the islands for 
 the alimentation of the mill. Men 
 that never handled an axe before, 
 were sent to chop wood. They had 
 their hands blistered, chopping* a 
 half cord of wood in one day. They 
 had as many as six men on a cross¬ 
 cut saw, two holding - the handles 
 and tw*o others'on each side pulling 
 with a rope. They had a squad of 
 six men running - a flatboat all sum¬ 
 mer to take the wood down to the 
 mill, They sometimes carried that 
 wood a great distance on their back, 
 (in baskets made for that purpose,) 
 from the interior of the islands to 
 the boat. The Icarians did not show 
 practicability in any of their work. 
 Was it the want of interest or the 
 lack of skill? Perhaps it was both. 
 The future will demonstrate. 
 
 Communistic life is in accordance 
 with the teachings of Christ in that 
 
 respect that it took the “care for 
 the morrow” away. If they had 
 performed their duty or not, they 
 expected to find their breakfast ' 
 ready every morning when the 
 sound of the trumpet called them to 
 the refector}". The burden rested 
 on the directors. They had to care 
 for the morrow and were often 
 greatly embarrassed what to bring 
 on the table. And though it cost 
 only 7 cents per capita to feed and 
 clothe the Icarians, they could not 
 manage to produce enough. They 
 bought their groceries, etc., at 
 wholesale price. They raised their 
 own vegetables. They manufactur¬ 
 ed their flour and whisky, raised - 
 tobacco, bought beeves and hogs on 
 foot. Had all the advantage of cor¬ 
 poration in buying, but the produc¬ 
 tion was lacking. 
 
 Besides their own production, the 
 money paid as admission fees,many 
 had a surplus, some hundreds, to 
 thousands of francs and they receiv¬ 
 ed from the mother country, a fund 
 called “The Icariau subscription.” 
 
 It consisted of money deposited by 
 some poor devils who were not in 
 possession of a sufficient amount to 
 be admitted and wei*e paying 
 
13 
 
 montlil} r a certain sum until the' 
 full amount should be credited to ' 
 them and then could join. It proved 
 a clear loss to them. 
 
 Cabet convocated some extraor¬ 
 dinary g'eneral assembly of all the 
 major male members. Women and 
 minors were not allowed to assist. 
 There they remained mostly day and 
 night, for several days seeking the 
 remedy to the growing evil. They 
 accused one another of want of de¬ 
 votion to the cause, to the princi¬ 
 ples, of want of respect and 
 reverence to the father, Cabet 
 reminded them of the beautiful 
 lettersithe 3 r wrote to him in France, 
 calling him a father, a Christ, a 
 savior; exhorted them to have confi¬ 
 dence in him, to work with courag'e, 
 that under his leadership, success 
 was certain. That the principles 
 were good if they only would prac¬ 
 tice them, (if he had said, “could 
 practice them,” he would have been 
 nearer the truth.) 
 
 The majority of the members 
 were on his side and the respect for 
 Cabet, the prestige of his past ca¬ 
 reer was so great that those who 
 could detect the evil influence of the 
 principle on the human nature, did 
 
 ! not dare to open their mouth and 
 ; sanctioned b} r their silence the idea 
 that the principles were not to 
 blame, but men. Among' themselves 
 in private they could talk, but in 
 presence of the father, they were 
 mute, speechless. A man, a little 
 one too, a wooden shoemaker by 
 trade, had at one of thesemeetings 
 the courage to make a few remarks 
 on the principles and also on the 
 father. He was of small stature 
 but was every inch a man and ex¬ 
 pressed his honest opinion. It was 
 too much for Cabet, who had been 
 adulated and flattered. He looked 
 at the man a few minutes, hardly 
 believing the report of his audible 
 organ. And forgetting* all courtes¬ 
 ies, all respect, all principles, an¬ 
 swered: Is it possible that you, you 
 Janyrey (it was the name of the 
 little man,) you a little boy (the 
 man was thirty-five years of age,)' 
 allow yourself to make opposition 
 to me, Cabet. Was that not a splen¬ 
 did way of argumentation? I was 
 onl} r seventeen years of age then, 
 a mere boy, too bashful to open 1113 " 
 mouth in public. But I turned 
 around to see if not a man in the 
 assembty would g*et up and take 
 
14 
 
 
 the part of that little man, that 
 showed so much courage. No, not 
 one. All slaves to the powerful 
 Cabet. 
 
 When the assembly would show 
 some hesitation to adopt the meas¬ 
 ures proposed by him, he would get 
 out of temper and menace them to 
 go back to Prance, and leave them 
 to their fate. He had his secret 
 police and tried to have the mem¬ 
 bers tell on one another. He met 
 very often some straight and loyal 
 natures that were shocked at the 
 idea to act as spies. Man}^ began 
 to inwardly lose their respect for 
 him. 
 
 The different shops or corps of 
 laborers were under the direction of 
 a foreman, elected by the very shop 
 or corps itself, sometimes unani¬ 
 mously, sometimes not. Those di¬ 
 rectors would make remarks especi¬ 
 ally to those that voted against 
 them. Por the smallest infringe¬ 
 ment, transgression, tardiness, or 
 use of vulgar language, they would 
 be noticed in their reports. Those 
 reports were read to the general as¬ 
 sembly as a moral incentive to good 
 behavior and dutiful conduct, and 
 and at the same time as a restric¬ 
 
 tive pressure of public opinion—the 
 only mode of punishment they had 
 for small deviation to the princi¬ 
 ples. Those men would generally 
 feel grieved about it and their hu¬ 
 man nature would influence them to 
 not forget nor forgive. The direc¬ 
 tors had to see that the work should 
 be well done. They had their ways, 
 customs of working. It was their 
 duty and right to make remarks. 
 Some of the directors as well as la¬ 
 borers w r ere quick tempered or had 
 a poor way to express themselves. 
 Words were exchanged and the fist 
 was sometimes used as a way of ar¬ 
 gumentation. 
 
 The majorit}? - of the members 
 composing the Icarian Society was 
 a selection from the best laboring 
 class of Prauce.The most laborious, 
 honest, economical, intelligent and 
 philanthropic. They had the pro¬ 
 found conviction that they were 
 able to carry out the communist 
 principles. They had the determin¬ 
 ation, the will (they thought) that 
 would overcome all obstacles, all 
 difficulties and enable them to 
 stand and support all privations. 
 Cabet, on his side, was determined 
 to sacrifice his career, his family, 
 
15 
 
 in mmrn rti , — pfc—ar— f • ■ r ni^i x»’ « r» wf «> ■«— M —C 1 ** ■ » 
 
 happiness, even his life, out of love 
 for the laboring - class and to show 
 the practicability of communism. 
 They and he were in ernest. But 
 they were human. The ego was too 
 strong to be subdued by the will. 
 They were under the influence of 
 their sensations and without being 
 conscious of it were constantly 
 blaming others and hurting the 
 feelings of those thej^ called broth¬ 
 ers. They saw the straw in others 
 ej^es and did not see the beam in 
 their own. As they had the same 
 rights, the same duties, the same 
 privileges, they naturally thought 
 themselves authorized, entitled to 
 watch, to detect, to mention the 
 neg'ligence, the errors, the lack of 
 skill, the want of economy, the 
 wasting and squandering, the abuse 
 of authority of some of the officers; 
 in one word all that could injure 
 the interest and endanger the ex¬ 
 istence of the society. 
 
 The Icarians having abolished 
 all moneys, had no medium to buy 
 with. When they needed clothing, 
 they had to submit their requests 
 to a commission instituted to that 
 effect. The proceedings and delib¬ 
 erations of that commission would 
 
 transpire and the indiviual who had 
 applied for a pair of trousers, a 
 shirt, or anything else would have 
 to hear that some remarks had 
 been m*ide on the validity of his re¬ 
 quest. That he was wearing his 
 clothes too fast, that he was appty- 
 ing too often. That he could do 
 without yet. Sometimes his re¬ 
 quest was rejected. That individ¬ 
 ual felt mortified and would observe 
 that others had obtained some ar¬ 
 ticles who did not need them as 
 bad as he did and were not working 
 as hard as he did. Discontentment 
 and abatement was the result. 
 
 They exploited a coal mine in 
 Nauvoo along* the south side of 
 Thirteenth street. A vein of coal 
 from eight to ten inches thick cov¬ 
 ered by twelve to fourteen feet of 
 ground and consequently not fur¬ 
 nishing enough to supply the wants 
 of the society. Being always too 
 busy to provide for fuel in the right 
 season, when the roads were good, 
 they had to send teams to Foun¬ 
 tain Green, thirty miles distant, in 
 the coldest weather. When the 
 wagons were unloaded the coals 
 were carried away so rapidly that 
 those who were appointed to dis- 
 
16 
 
 tribute tliem equals among- the 
 members and whose duty it was to 
 ascertain that ever 3 T one would g-et 
 some, could not prevent some from 
 making- larg-e provisions that would 
 keep them supplied in case it would 
 become impossible to provide for 
 more, without considering- whether 
 women, children or the sick had 
 any at all. Butter was a rare ar¬ 
 ticle on the table. (Each table had 
 ten occupants.) A piece of butter 
 was broug-lit g-enerall 3 T for break¬ 
 fast. That piece of butter was in¬ 
 tended for ten persons. Some, con¬ 
 sulting- onty their desire, their ap¬ 
 petite, would allow themselves to 
 take such share of it, that before 
 the butter could reach the other end 
 of the table it was exhausted and 
 some had to do without. Complaints, 
 remarks, exchang-e of bitter expres¬ 
 sions. The cooks devised the ex¬ 
 pedient of having- a form mould in 
 which the butter was pressed and 
 divided into ten equal shares, in or¬ 
 der that each and every one should 
 know what he was entitled to and 
 secure the butter-rig-lit of others. 
 Many were shocked at the humiliat¬ 
 ing- and degrading- measure. Men 
 and womenlof intellect-—in full pos- 
 
 ; session of their five senses, being- 
 J treated like small children. Human 
 nature. The beast beg-an to show 
 itself, plainl 3 T upsetting- all the 
 beautiful dreams. Idealism. Many 
 beg-an to acknowledg-e that we 
 (when they said we, they meant the 
 others)were not able, not worthy of 
 living- in community. Having- been 
 raised under the influence of indi¬ 
 vidualism, we could not be 
 expected to fulfill the require¬ 
 ments of such mode of life. But 
 our children who would grow up 
 under the institution, who would 
 know nothing- of any other organi¬ 
 zation, they would be competent, up 
 to the standard. We will see. 
 
 The men in charg-e of the flat 
 boat to transfer the wood from the 
 islands to the mill, g-enerally landed 
 their last load, every week, on Sat¬ 
 urday evening-. In order that the 
 boat should be unloaded to enable 
 them to start up on Monday morn¬ 
 ing- an appeal was made on Snnda 3 T 
 morning- during- breakfast, for some 
 volunteers to unload that boat, (as 
 it was supposed the boat men were 
 exhausted, their labor being- con¬ 
 sidered one of the hardest.) At the 
 first call, fifty to sixty men offered 
 
17 
 
 their services. The boat was un¬ 
 loaded in a half hour. It was mere¬ 
 ly pla} r . Do you see the advantage 
 of communism (was said.) When 
 necessary union can perform an ex¬ 
 traordinary duty with pleasure. 
 Most every Sunday the call was re¬ 
 peated. The most faithful consid¬ 
 ered it a sacred duty and they re¬ 
 sponded to the call cheerfully. They 
 soon had to notice that some who 
 did help the first time did not come 
 again. That some never came. That 
 their number was decreasing every 
 Sundaj 7 . The work that was mere¬ 
 ly fun when performed by sixty be¬ 
 came hard labor by twenty or fif¬ 
 teen. Finally they, one by one, 
 failed, and one Sunday morning j 
 when the director of industry called 
 for volunteers, one man answered. 
 Yes, only one. We had only one j 
 good communist. 
 
 Instead of creating a feeling of 
 grief, every one present laughed at 
 it. So did devotion, enthusiasm 
 wear out in three years. Some had 
 the conscience of abnegation. Others 
 had not. The bad examples, the 
 wrong predominated and no one 
 was willing to perform any extra 
 duty but confined himself to the ful¬ 
 
 fillment of the genereral duty. 
 
 It was’nt allowed to have anything 
 not possessed bj" others. Some had 
 jewels, watches, pictures, guns. As 
 the society was not rich enough to 
 supply all the members with the 
 like, those in possession of such ar¬ 
 ticles were requested to deposit 
 them in the hands of the directors. 
 Some (women especially) had receiv¬ 
 ed those jewels from a mother, rel¬ 
 atives or friends as a token of love 
 or friendship. They did not like to 
 part with those objects.Some would 
 keep a few hens in order to have a 
 few fresh eggs, others would culti¬ 
 vate a few flowers, others had been 
 caught or suspected of cooking 
 I extras for themselves, at home. 
 Derogation, deviation from the 
 principles, anarchy! 
 
 It looks most ridiculous to relate 
 these small events. But they work¬ 
 ed slowly and surely to the destruc¬ 
 tion of the society, as they created 
 enmity among the members. They 
 were none others but the natural 
 requirements of the human nature 
 which can not be submitted to uni¬ 
 formity in all things. And the 
 more it is made compulsory, the 
 more human nature will rebel 
 
18 
 
 against it, and go for the forbidden 
 fruit. 
 
 In 1852 Cabet was summoned to 
 appear before a criminal court in 
 Paris to answer an accusation of 
 fraud. He at once resolved to go 
 and clear himself from the accusa¬ 
 tion. He was honest and his good 
 name was dearer to him than life. 
 Though old he crossed the ocean to 
 confound his accusators. He clear¬ 
 ed himself, rehabilitated his reputa¬ 
 tion, and in 1853 came back faith¬ 
 fully to Nauvoo, more convinced 
 than ever that he would make a suc¬ 
 cess of the experiment. 
 
 The children, the ones in whom 
 rested our hopes for the realization 
 of communistic life, were cautiously 
 and rigidly trained and educated. 
 The schools were kept in good or¬ 
 der and perfect control under the 
 management of male and female 
 teachers. The latter were especi¬ 
 ally well qualified, morally and 
 mentally. The pupils were allowed 
 as little as possible to come in con¬ 
 tact with the elder members of the 
 society. The girls had their schools 
 separate from the boys and taught 
 by female teachers. They all were 
 instructed to practice the Icarian 
 
 principles and the moral teachings 
 of Christ. 
 
 Cabet himself initiated those 
 young beings with those principles, 
 explained and praised the result of 
 being good, of “doing unto others 
 as we wish to be done by.” To 
 protect,love and work for the feeble, 
 the sick; to forgive; to hold the oth¬ 
 er cheek when smitten on the one; 
 to be kind, one to another; to love 
 and respect their parents and every¬ 
 body in general. 
 
 They were kept clean and trained 
 to do their own housework by turn. 
 They took their meals in their re¬ 
 spective school-houses. 
 
 They were allowed to see their 
 parents only on Sundays. It was 
 feared that too much intercourse 
 with their parents would have a 
 contaminating influence. 
 
 Three of the older boys were 
 taught separately from the others 
 in a special room, by la special 
 teacher, having* shown an uncon¬ 
 trollable disposition and being con¬ 
 sidered a dangerous example. The 
 fair being who afterwards became 
 my wife, being fourteen years of 
 age, when, with her mother, she 
 joined the society, was not allowed 
 
19 
 
 the attendance to school (though 
 she needed it ver) r much,) on the 
 pretense that she, having been 
 raised in the old world might set a 
 bad example to the selected ones 
 supposed to be pure as ang-els. 
 
 The Icarians had no form of re¬ 
 ligion—no ceremonies. The major¬ 
 ity were agnostics, some atheists, 
 theists, others spiritualists. They 
 all revered Christ as a g*reat philos¬ 
 opher and philanthropist, and ad¬ 
 mired his moral teachings. 
 
 Cabet, on Sundays, held a course 
 of lectures on true Christianity. 
 Leaving the miraculous and super- j 
 natural part, he tried to demon¬ 
 strate that Christ’s moral teaching 
 was perfect and based on commun¬ 
 ism, because Jesus and his disciples 
 had everything' in common among I 
 themselves and were not allowed to 
 own anything in private—Apostles, j 
 chap. 2 and 3; that to reserve and . 
 keep for private use any portion of ! 
 wealth was condemned, as shown j 
 in Ananias' case—Apostles, 5; the j 
 renouncement of accumulated j 
 wealth, and that the only true hap¬ 
 piness consisted in loving* one an¬ 
 other—being one in soul and spirit. 
 
 Those lectures were very at¬ 
 
 tractive and well attended, be¬ 
 ing delivered by a forcible and elo¬ 
 quent orator. It is so eas} r to 
 preach morality to others. 
 
 When the Icarians compared the 
 theory with the practice; when they 
 seen how far they were from the 
 mark, they began to think, and like 
 many others that are not Icarians 
 are asking: “where are the Chris¬ 
 tians?” 
 
 Their recreations were also moral. 
 Nothing was allowed that would 
 liave shocked the most scrupulous 
 nature. All song's, poems or dram¬ 
 as exhibited on their stage were 
 submitted to a commission, which 
 did carefully eliminate all that could 
 have a demoralizing influence. 
 
 All the exercises were in the 
 French language. Many of the in¬ 
 habitants of Nauvoo and vicinity 
 though not understanding one word, 
 attended (when invited) and enjoy¬ 
 ed the performance. Dancing* was 
 also indulg'ed in,but only b 3 r adults. 
 Children were not allowed to take 
 part. 
 
 The Icarians being convinced that 
 Nauvoo was too narrow a field for 
 their undertaking, the land too high 
 in price for their means, and not 
 
20 
 
 enough of it vacant to develop a 
 large society, resolved in 1853 to 
 send a commission to the western 
 states to explore the country and 
 select a site for the final establish¬ 
 ment. The commission having ex¬ 
 plored Missouri and Iowa, reported 
 favorably for Iowa, Adams count} 7 . 
 The shores of the Nodaway river 
 was the selected spot. They sent a 
 corps of vigorous men with teams 
 and wagons loaded with all the nec- 
 cessary implements to begin the es¬ 
 tablishment in the wilderness. Be¬ 
 ing* the first settlers in that part of 
 the country, they, under the home¬ 
 stead law, took possession of all the 
 timber land. It was not exactly the 
 best land for farming but the most 
 valuable, as timber was scarce in 
 that part of Iowa, being mostly 
 rolling prairie land. 
 
 They homesteaded three or four 
 thousand acres of land. They had 
 room, a vast field for operation. 
 They at once started the erecting of 
 log houses and to break the soil. 
 When the emigration began to set¬ 
 tle around them the new settlers 
 had to go to the Icarians for wood; 
 it was a source of production. 
 
 Kvery year some members were 
 
 sent to reinforce the new establish¬ 
 ment, but it worked slowly. The 
 new settlers could not sustain 
 themselves. They were constantly 
 calling for aid from the mother col¬ 
 ony that was not self sustaining,but 
 had to be, by money brought by 
 new comers or by the Icarian sub¬ 
 scription from France. 
 
 The production in the new estab- 
 lisment was small. Money and 
 provisions had to be forwarded 
 to them often, and the so¬ 
 ciety had to increase its debt which 
 was large already. Cabet accom¬ 
 panied by two other members went 
 over the plains in a buggy to exam¬ 
 ine the location. The new log house 
 Metropole, was baptised by Cabet. 
 Icaria was the name chosen. 
 
 In Nauvoo the situtation was 
 growing* worse every day. The dif¬ 
 ferent categ'ories of members was 
 creating* jealousy, discontentment. 
 The primitive members had given, 
 abandoned all they owned in the 
 world. Others had been since ad¬ 
 mitted under the condition that 
 half of what they owned when ad¬ 
 mitted would be restituted to them 
 in case they would choose to retire. 
 The former claimed that this condi- 
 
21 
 
 tion was the cause of their want of 
 activity, of interest. That if they 
 had cut bridges and burnt their ves¬ 
 sels behind them, having* no means 
 of leaving* the society, they would 
 try their best; they would root or j 
 die. A pressure was made to in-j 
 duce those members to renounce' 
 their privilege as detrimental to the j 
 welfare of the societ}^. To put, 
 themselves on equal footing with ! 
 the rest of the members, A few did , 
 it. Many refused,saying they were 
 not fool enough to tie themselves 
 and be at the mercy of others. Some j 
 were also suspected to have follow- J 
 ed the example of Ananias (Apostles | 
 chapter v.) and kept a reserve fund 
 for a case of emergency. Hard feel¬ 
 ing's prevailed. 
 
 In searching a remedy to the lack 
 of production, some of the members 
 conceived the idea of making a few 
 changes in the organization. The} 7 
 proposed to keep an account of the 
 production of each member and also 
 of each shop. To create a sort of 
 stimulant, a sort of competition, a 
 little individualism; not to depend 
 entirely on the consciousness of 
 duty, that had proved deficient. 
 Cabet was shocked at the proposi¬ 
 
 tion, claming that individualism 
 and communism were heterogenious: 
 that the former would surely grow 
 rapidly and destroy the later. He 
 called a meeting of the g'eneral as¬ 
 sembly as lie had done before to 
 every proposition that had not been 
 elaborated b} r his own brain, stated 
 the proposition and without any 
 further discussion, compared the 
 situation to that of a vessel at 
 sea with two pilots on board—a 
 young one and an old experienced 
 one. The storm is strong'; the sea 
 high; the compass out of order; the 
 reefs supposed to be near. The old 
 pilot having more experience, tho 
 the reefs can hardly be detected, 
 knows the}’ - are near and prepares 
 to turn to the right. The young* 
 pilot does not see them, advises to 
 go straight on. The dang’er is im¬ 
 minent, the passengers not under¬ 
 standing the real situation, but 
 fearing the danger, to whom do 
 you suppose they’ll confide the rud¬ 
 der? To the old experienced pilot, of 
 course. 
 
 The old pilot, Cabet claimed su¬ 
 premacy and always refused to 
 listen to any motion of reform to 
 his perfect system. 
 
Many losing- confidence in the old 
 pilot, left the societ}^. They were 
 and had been leaving- as fast as they 
 would come, so that in six years 
 1,800 persons came to it and we 
 were never more than 500 tog-ether 
 at the same time. When too strong- 
 opposition was made, Cabet would 
 try his best to have the promotors 
 leave. 
 
 “It is the quality we want and 
 not the quantit}^. When a member 
 of the body is mortifying-, is it not 
 better to sever the member than ex¬ 
 pose the whole body to perish? If 
 two doctors are consulted, a young- 
 one and an old one, (the latter hav¬ 
 ing- had hundreds of such cases 
 under his care and knowing the dis¬ 
 astrous consequences of mortifica¬ 
 tion) will you not take the advice of 
 the old experienced one and have 
 the member severed in time to save 
 the whole body, instead of listening 
 to the young doctor* who, in his ig¬ 
 norance, hopes to save both, not 
 knowing the consequences of the 
 disease?” Many will be called, but 
 few will be elected. 
 
 So we went on, losing many of 
 our most valuable members. The 
 most courageous, industrious. As 
 
 soon as one showed discontent he 
 was suspected of making calcula¬ 
 tions to leave and a sort of persecu¬ 
 tion was exerted. Lafe to him was 
 made unendurable and the position 
 untenable. He had to leave; in¬ 
 stead of listening to their proposi¬ 
 tion and making a few concessions 
 to induce them to stay—no, go they 
 must. 
 
 Some of the young doctors (and 
 they were man}^) thought and said 
 the old one was mistaken in the na¬ 
 ture of the disease; that instead of 
 mortification it was paralysis—that 
 instead of . severing so many mem¬ 
 bers, which weakened the body and 
 made it helpless, an electric battery 
 (under the form of a reform) should 
 be applied; that it would stimulate 
 those members and restore life over 
 the whole body. They thought the 
 old pilot was getting too old and 
 was following a wrong route, 
 which surely would bring the ship 
 to wreck. 
 
 The prestige had vanished.Cabet 
 had been too much in direct contact 
 with his associates, They had dis¬ 
 covered that he was fallible, and be- 
 g-an to consider him as a man;Cabet 
 feeling the opposition growing 
 
every day, thougiit of strengthening’ 
 his position. Having for counsel¬ 
 ors a few new members who flatter¬ 
 ed him and pretended to know how 
 to compel men to work, to produce; 
 they had been sly enough to work 
 him up so that he thot himself the 
 father of the new idea. In the 
 spring of 1856 he came out with his 
 famous proposition: 
 
 1. The president should be elected 
 for four years. 
 
 2. Inspectors should be appointed 
 by the direction to visit the differ¬ 
 ent shops to report whether the 
 members were fulfilling their duties. 
 This proposition filled the measure. 
 The idea to have inspectors, drones, 
 aristocrats, that would spend time 
 doing nothing and act as spies 
 against their brothers. The oppo¬ 
 sition organized and the day of the 
 election Cabet found himself face 
 to face with a candidate for the 
 presidency in opposition to him. 
 
 He never expected so much audac¬ 
 ity and became raving mad. He 
 kept the assembly three days to¬ 
 gether trying to influence the bash¬ 
 ful, the old, the women by threaten¬ 
 ing to leave, to abandon them show¬ 
 ing the danger they were running 
 
 into. What would become of them 
 if he, Cabet, were no more among 
 them. Misery, anarchy and disso¬ 
 lution of the society would surely 
 follow. 
 
 The children had lost respect and 
 confidence in the father. The prop¬ 
 osition was rejected and the ticket 
 of the opposition was elected by a 
 strong majority. One of the young 
 pilots had been intrusted with the 
 rudder. 
 
 Cabet and the members of the 
 minority held long conferences to¬ 
 gether and it was resolved to resist 
 the majority. Their first move was 
 to refuse to work, but went regular¬ 
 ly to the refractory to take their 
 meals. 
 
 The majority gave them three 
 days to resume work; to abide by 
 the laws and submit to the majority 
 or they would not be admitted to 
 the dining hall. 
 
 Cabet advised his followers not to 
 submit and the third day when they 
 came to take their dinner, they 
 found the doors closed. They took 
 axes and split them open; a fight 
 ensued; a mob; civil war. The ma¬ 
 jority held the fort and the minority 
 was expelled from the hall. They 
 
24 
 
 were notified that food would be 
 furnished for women and children. 
 
 The next day the male members 
 of the minority came to the kitchen 
 with tin buckets to receive the 
 promised food. When the distribu¬ 
 tion was completed they began to 
 vociferate, to use abusive language, 
 spilt the food on the ground, stuck 
 the bread on the end of long poles 
 they had brought for that purpose 
 and marching and counter-marching 
 paraded in front of the refectory. It 
 was a disgusting sight. Cabet from 
 the windows of his office encourag¬ 
 ed them and laughed at their doings 
 
 This stopped the distribution of 
 food. 
 
 The inhabitants of Nauvoo held 
 secret meetings, organizing and pre¬ 
 pared to chase the boisterous com¬ 
 munists ;as they had chased the 
 Mormons before. 
 
 As the act of violences discontin¬ 
 ued, the project was abandoned. 
 
 This is the time when I left the 
 society, having lost confidence in 
 both parties. We had come to Nau¬ 
 voo to make a paradise on earth 
 and we had made a sheol. I tliot 
 of searching for happiness else¬ 
 where. 
 
 As the society was incorporated, 
 Cabet made an appeal to the tribu¬ 
 nals of the land for a dissolution of 
 the society, but throu gh a good at¬ 
 torney, lost his case. The verdict 
 was, that he had to submit to the 
 dictation of the majority. 
 
 Cabet, the legist, the reformator, 
 the man of high intellect, gave the 
 example of insubordination, of re¬ 
 volt, and had he an army at his dis¬ 
 posal would have employed brutal 
 force to crush what he called the 
 rebels—formerly his best friends, 
 mostly all the members of the for¬ 
 mer directions; men of talent, of 
 ability, were against him. 
 
 The minority under his command 
 began to move, carrying away all 
 they possibly could. They did 
 not meet with any opposition. The 
 members of the majority had pit}" 
 for them. 
 
 The Icarians had a valuable libra¬ 
 ry. The minority wickedly took 
 away a few volumes of each work, 
 tearing the engravings in order to 
 make them worthless. 
 
 They left Nauvoo in the fall of 
 1856 for St. Louis, where Cabet 
 took sick and died during the win¬ 
 ter. He was found one morning 
 
frozen in his bed, the faithful hav¬ 
 ing- neg-lected to attend his last mo¬ 
 ments and to keep lire in his room. 
 
 Hanna, Hanna, Lama Sabatani! 
 So ended the second Christ, the 
 great reformator. Far from his 
 country, from his family, cowardly 
 abandoned by his disciples. 
 
 He had been a g-ood man while in 
 France. As an attorne\ T he was al¬ 
 ways ready to take the defense of 
 the weak, the oppressed, regardless 
 of money. His intentions had been 
 pure; of a high order. His will was 
 strong, but he had a terrible nature 
 and had undertaken a task be} r ond 
 his faculties. He did all that was 
 in his power to do good; but failed. 
 He suffered much morally and caus¬ 
 ed others to suffer. I for one have 
 no hard feelings against him and 
 honor his memory, appreciating the 
 intention. I blame the principles 
 and not the man. The spirit was 
 willing but the flesh was too strong. 
 
 After his death the faithful organ¬ 
 ized at Cheltenham, near St. Louis, 
 Mo., under the direction of Merca- 
 dier and after much quarrelling, 
 three years after dissolved. 
 
 In Nauvoo the emancipated child¬ 
 ren, the rebels, the revolutionists, 
 
 those who blamed Cabet for the 
 unsuccessfulness of the experiment, 
 the members of the majority, were 
 now masters of the situation and 
 believed earnestly that they were 
 able to lead the ship to the harbor. 
 They resolved to have a thorough 
 liquidation of all debts in order to 
 ascertain how they stood and then 
 leave Nauvoo for the new establish¬ 
 ment in Iowa. The 3 r began to send 
 all the movable material the) r could 
 load on wagons as there was no 
 railroad yet connecting Nauvoo with 
 that part of Iowa. 
 
 In the spring of 1854 the 3 r sold at 
 auction all their real estate and per¬ 
 sonal propert 3 r that was not worth 
 transferring. 
 
 The proceeds of the sale did not 
 prove sufficient to cover their debt 
 and they had to mortgage their 
 property in Iowa. 
 
 The liquidation showed clearly 
 the 3 ’' owed as much as the 3 T owned; 
 $25,000 was the amount of the debt 
 and the invoice did not produce very 
 mncli more. 
 
 Six 3 T ears of communistic life had 
 left them deficient. The 3 r had not 
 been even self-sustaining and had 
 nothing to show for the mone 3 r each 
 
26 
 
 one brought and that subscribed in 
 France, the amounts of which had 
 been used to sustain life. 
 
 They honestly paid all their debts 
 in Nauvoo and made their final de¬ 
 parture in the fall of 1858. 
 
 The new colony was incorporated 
 as an Agricultural Society under 
 the statutes of the state of Iowa. 
 
 They closed the doors to emigra- 
 tionpiot having lodging enough for 
 new recruits. 
 
 The news of the dethronement of 
 Cabet, of the civil war, amongst 
 the Icarians had somewhat cooled 
 the enthusiasm of the communists 
 in France. The uncertainty of the 
 existence of the colony under the 
 new direction suddenly stopped the 
 applications for membership. The 
 Icarian subscription ceased also to 
 replenish their treasury and the new 
 colonj^ was left entirely to itself for 
 subsistence. Production, as usual, 
 was small, but their timber—the 
 sale of wood, was a source of wealth 
 and helped them along. Quarreling 
 kept on and fighting was sometimes 
 resorted to. 
 
 « They raised hogs and sheep. Dur¬ 
 ing the rebellion war, wool and all 
 products in general, brought good 
 
 prices and enabled them to save 
 money.During the Pikes Peak fever, 
 being on the road, they kept a hotel 
 and made enough money on the gold 
 seekers to free 2,000 acres of land 
 from mortgage and abandon the 
 balance to the creditors. 
 
 Degree by degree a dissension had 
 taken place and a systematical ma¬ 
 jority and minority were in exist¬ 
 ence. As over one-half of the mem¬ 
 bers had left them since their de¬ 
 parture from Nauvoo they were not 
 ver} 7 numerous. Between sixty to 
 seventy. The new opposition, the 
 minority, was composed mostly of 
 young folks. Some of those child¬ 
 ren on whom rested our hopes for 
 the future had become of age and 
 entered the arena of active life. 
 They proposed to have the incorpor¬ 
 ation act changed and not be con¬ 
 fined to agriculture, but include in¬ 
 dustry in their sources of exploita¬ 
 tion, reopen the doors to new mem¬ 
 bers in order to develop the society 
 and attract the attention of the 
 outside world. 
 
 The majority, composed of old 
 folks, opposed these views. They 
 had renounced the hope of making 
 a larg*e society. They thought of 
 
 «r 
 
enjoying - what they had and not 
 risk to lose it. They were not will¬ 
 ing - to admit new members for fear 
 of losing* their majority and conse¬ 
 quently the controlling power. 
 
 Emigration was covering the 
 country around them with settlers. 
 A railroad was built and a station 
 established three miles from their 
 settlement. Corning, the new sta¬ 
 tion, was growing rapidly, and of. 
 fered a good field for speculation, 
 The Icarians were no speculators 
 and thejr remained poor, while their 
 neighbors were acquiring wealth 
 rapidly. True to the principles the 
 members of the majority refused to 
 take part and engage in any specu¬ 
 lation. They quarreled about it 
 until it was too late. As there was 
 no flour mill in the neighborhood 
 they built one for their own use and 
 afterward done custom work. 
 
 In 1872, four communards (who 
 had taken an active part in the 
 French commune in 1870 in Paris, 
 had fled to New York to avoid 
 prosecution,) applied to the Icarian 
 colony for admittance, but were or¬ 
 dered not to come. Not having re¬ 
 ceived the answer in time, they 
 started and larrived in Corning to 
 
 the astonishment of the members of 
 the community, who were not will¬ 
 ing to admit them. The new com¬ 
 ers having no means to go back, 
 and understanding the reason why 
 the majority was not willing to ad¬ 
 mit any one, used a strategem and 
 flattering both parties, pledged 
 themselves secretly that when ad¬ 
 mitted, would be on their side. Both 
 minority and majority believing in 
 acquiring reinforcements, not only 
 admitted them, but suspended in 
 their favor the rule of provisory 
 membership for six months and 
 made them at once active members. 
 As soon as admitted, they showed 
 their colors and three of them joined 
 the minority and one the majority. 
 They began to have everybody un¬ 
 derstand that they were the men, 
 the very ones that came in time to 
 save the sinking ship: that they 
 had the required qualifications and 
 wisdom that had been lacking in 
 all the others that had preceded 
 them. They were good talkers and 
 acquired a great influence. No one 
 of the members could withstand 
 their argumentation. The trouble 
 was that one of them took place 
 among the majority, understanding 
 
28 
 
 fully that no two could g*et the di¬ 
 rectorship and as two of them were 
 especially ambitious, it would equa¬ 
 lize the chances. The conflict be¬ 
 came more active. The production 
 did not increase by their presence, 
 but the difficulties; scenes of vio¬ 
 lence took place. The hope of the 
 future; the children who had become 
 men and womeu under the influence 
 of communistic life, in consequence 
 of the hereditary law, showed the 
 same disposition as their parents. 
 If there was any difference at all, it 
 was a little deficiency, a little de¬ 
 generation, a retrogradation They 
 never showed the talents, the skill, 
 the activity, the ardor of their par¬ 
 ents. They had inherited the vices, 
 and communism had atropliiated 
 the good qualities. 
 
 Not producing enough, the}’’ had 
 to suppress the use of coffee and 
 tea and replace them by a decoction 
 of strawberry leaves. The situa¬ 
 tion became very difficult. Fight¬ 
 ing was often resorted to and the 
 hope of the future showed as much 
 disposition to it—maybe a little 
 more than the old members. 
 
 The minority giving up the hope 
 of inducing the majority to accede 
 
 to the request of devolopment made 
 a motion for a division of all prop¬ 
 erties in order to establish an auto¬ 
 matic branch. It was refused,when 
 they threatened to appeal before the 
 courts of justice for a dissolution of 
 partnership, as they were incorpor¬ 
 ated as a stock company. 
 
 Before taking* any further steps, 
 however, they consulted many of 
 the old members (who had left the 
 society long ago) asking ad¬ 
 vise as to what they should do. Ma¬ 
 jority and minority being mostly 
 equal in number it was a difficult 
 matter to be settled. All of those 
 that were consulted, myself includ¬ 
 ed, recommended an arbitration as 
 the most civilized means, the most 
 in accordance with their principles 
 and the cheapest. We wrote to them 
 that they would disgrace themselves 
 to drag such an institution as theirs 
 before the courts and g*ive the law¬ 
 yers a chance to milk their cow 
 while they would be pulling her, 
 one by the horns, the other by the 
 tail. 
 
 Both sides asked for advice, but 
 did not want any. All they were 
 after was a confirmation of their 
 doings. They had sunk down and 
 
29 
 
 back to the fist right, to barbarism, 
 and were not able to listen to sound 
 counsel. The majority offered the 
 minority a sum of money if they 
 would consent to leave and exper¬ 
 iment anywhere else. No, they want¬ 
 ed their integral share—no more, no 
 less—and they attacked the society 
 in dissolution on the ground that 
 they had not complied with their 
 charter. 
 
 The society was dissolved by the 
 law and trustees appointed to divide 
 the real estate and personal prop¬ 
 erty among all the stockholders, 
 according to the length of time 
 they had contributed to the produc¬ 
 tion of said property. As soon as 
 dissolved they reorganized as two 
 different societies, called “the 
 young branch” and “the old 
 branch.” 
 
 The property was of such a na¬ 
 ture that it was difficult to divide it 
 at once. The houses were all built 
 on one spot. Some had to be mov¬ 
 ed away. The members of both 
 branches had become bitter enemies, 
 and during the division of property, 
 coming in contact too closely, pugil¬ 
 ism was often the result. One day 
 they had a regular fight about an 
 
 old water-trough, which was not 
 worth fifty cents. They both claim¬ 
 ed it and a regular and desperate 
 combat took place. Many heroes 
 were called to bite the dust. No 
 one died but a few were severly in¬ 
 jured; an attempt of castration 
 was performed on one of the com¬ 
 munards. 
 
 They had a vineyard and had 
 made several hundred gallons of 
 wine. The wine brought another 
 contest in which men and women 
 engaged in the struggle. I can not 
 and will not relate all the lament¬ 
 able instances of vandalism that oc¬ 
 curred. They also on each side 
 published a paper in which they 
 abused each other in the most 
 shocking manner. 
 
 The new society, the young 
 branch composed of the members of 
 the minority, was deserted year after 
 year by all its members to the ex¬ 
 ception of two, who had been sharp 
 enough to manage to remain in pos¬ 
 session of the Icarian patrimony 
 and enjoy the fruits of 35 years of 
 labor of hundreds des-illusioned 
 communists. 
 
 So ended the experiment of com¬ 
 munistic life in Nanvoo, under the 
 
30 
 
 leadership of the founder, E. Cabet; 
 in six years the} 7, arrived at civil 
 war and division. In Iowa without 
 Cabet, in sixteen j^ears the same re¬ 
 sult was attained. 
 
 Communism does not agree with 
 human nature. It is detrimental to 
 that nature. The physical condi¬ 
 tion of the human being- is of such 
 an order that it is not adaptable to 
 communism and consequently the 
 result can not be satisfactory. 
 
 For those who should still remain 
 under the impression that this ex¬ 
 periment is not authority enough 
 to be conclusive proof for the non¬ 
 practicability of communism, is in 
 my opinion merely an assertion. 
 
 It is said and admitted by many 
 that communism does not agree 
 with human nature. Others pre¬ 
 tend that with a firm will and the 
 necessary qualities it could be put 
 into practice. There lies the ques¬ 
 tion. The qualifications and the 
 will. It is easily pronounced but 
 very difficult to explain and under¬ 
 stand. Why is it that having- the 
 will, and believing- to be qualified, 
 did these Icarians fail. Some of 
 them say that if we had good com¬ 
 munists it could be practiced. Every 
 
 one of them who left the society, 
 had said of those who had left be¬ 
 fore himself, “they are not good 
 communists.’’ Those that are 
 members now of the Icarian society 
 are pronounced by all those who 
 have left it poor communists. 
 
 Where are the good ones? 
 
 Every one of them believes he has 
 done all that could humanly be done 
 and that he has done better than all 
 the others. That if others had 
 been as good as he was and done 
 as well as he did all would have 
 gone right,and still it went wrong*. 
 Human nature agrees not with com¬ 
 munism. Why? Are we not free 
 agents? Can’t we act as we will? 
 Can’t we think as we will? What 
 is that human nature that does not 
 agree? What is our ego,our entity, 
 the will, the qualifications? 
 
 So few understood themselves. 
 The work of this wonderful, compli¬ 
 cated machine called the human 
 body; that they must be excused 
 when they talk communism, and 
 anarchism. Communism admits of 
 government. Anarchism does not. 
 Both and the latter still more than 
 the former mode of society requires 
 a degree of perfection, a condition 
 
aat is not contained in the human 
 '>ody at present. 
 
 That human being- undertakes to 
 j ractice communism;which requires 
 perfection, and abneg-ation of 
 ne’s self,admitting that the judge- 
 . ;ent, the cebreum would have con- 
 c ived and understood that state of 
 perfection and would be willing to 
 - upose silence to all its human co¬ 
 associates, the organs. They pro- 
 c *st, rebel, and show him that they 
 have something to say in the man- 
 cement of this transaction, and if 
 ich a state of things would be a 
 s tisfaction. a gratification for the 
 ad,it would’nt be for them,and the 
 ar keeps on until the head is 
 bdued and communism a failure. 
 What human nature will be in the 
 uture I do not know. In its pres¬ 
 et state it is too imperfect, and in 
 der to keep it in its present devel- 
 ped state, it takes the rubbing, 
 Uarpening influence of suffering,of 
 (Acuities to overcome, of self re- 
 • oonsibility, of ambition, which 
 mmunistic life does not offer, and 
 ' consequently detrimental to that 
 ture.