Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/692

 672 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The sawmill did little or no work for the outside trade. The lumber sawed was used for building purposes. It was therefore not a source of revenue, but a money-saving enter- prise, as it enabled the members to get their lumber with no cash outlay except for machinery and oil and some outside labor that was hired to chop logs. The manufacture of cereal coffee was profitable, but the demand for it was very small, and it was therefore only a small source of revenue. Leather suspenders were made by hand, all but the embossing, which was done by a machine. The demand for them was small, and it is doubtful whether they were a source of revenue.

One rather uncommon source of income was from the Fourth of July celebrations, held in the big cave. There was music and dancing and a free barbecue. A large profit was realized from admission tickets and on refreshments sold, great crowds being attracted from the surrounding country.

The steam laundry was sufficiently equipped with machinery for colony purposes. It was in charge of a man, but the other hands were all women. Washing was done there for all the colonists, but the ironing and starching were done at home, each for herself. The clothes and bed linen of bachelors and wid- owers were, however, ironed and mended for them free of charge. This laundry saved a great deal of labor to the colony. If done individually each family for itself the family wash- ing would have consumed one-half day for each family per week, and a woman could not work her required five hours per day for the colony on the day she did her washing. There were present about seventy families at the time of which I write, and possibly fifty women were required to work five hours per day for the colony, the others being, for various reasons, exempt. The labor of fifty women for one day would be 250 hours, which divided by nine to reduce it to the regular work- ing day of others would make about twenty-eight days of labor. The labor required to run the laundry was eight days of nine hours per week by the women, and perhaps three days per week by the manager, which gives a total of eleven days. The colony therefore gained twenty-eight days minus eleven days,