Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/699

 THE RUSKIN CO-OPERATIVE COLONY 679

of the initiative, and sometimes availed themselves of it. There was an executive committee of three, of which the president was chairman, which directed the daily work of the colony and car- ried out the orders of the board of directors. The secretary looked after the correspondence and orders, and performed the usual duties of that office. There was a treasurer, who, strange to say, was not required to give bonds.

POLITICAL PHENOMENA.

There was a political ring composed of some five or six mem- bers. This ring had succeeded in ousting another ring in or about 1897. The latter retaliated by injunctions of various kinds, and they and their adherents became known as "injunc- tionists." I do not mean to say that this was the sole reason that injunctions were applied for, but it was one of the reasons. The object of the ring was mainly to secure offices and easy positions. I do not know whether there were any who made a profit out of their office, but one of them was suspected of such dishonesty. The ring had apparently not gotten to the point where money is used to influence voters in various ways. Liquor could not easily be used for this purpose, for none was allowed to be sold there.

If the writer may judge from his limited observations, he would say that the worst thing a co-operative colony has to con- tend with is lack of ability among its members to manage its affairs. M. Godin led his employees into co-operation gradu- ally, so that they learned one step at a time, and that is per- haps the only way to start a co-operative colony successfully. Mr. Wayland, the founder of the Coming Nation and of the Rus- kin Colony, had put himself under obligations to turn the whole thing, paper and all, over to the colonists, and he could not con- trol them after that. He became discouraged with them and left the colony. If he could have controlled affairs until the colonists had learned business principles and acquired habits of economy, things would perhaps have gone differently. The Oneida Community also had to face a crisis, some time after they had begun to co-operate, when they found that they had