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pleasure , and while he remained in it , would have a voice in the election of its officers , and be himself eligible to office . This is calculated to elevate and not to depress the human character . Provision must be made for the
enjoyment of privacy , as well as for social meetings ; and each adult individual would consider his chambers as secure from intrusion , as a housekeeper now docs his own fire-side . And , with respect to property , it is by no means an essential part of the scheme , that a member of an association should throw into a common
fund whatever property he might possess on joining it . All that would be required of him , would be to bear his fair proportion of the expenditure , on the condition of participating in the aggregate produce of the common
labour . Thus , supposing the expense of living , in one of these communities , to be 50 / . per head per annum , a person possessing 10 , 000 / . would be enabled to lay by the excess of his income beyond that sum , and , moreover , to augment his accumulations by his share of the profits of the
society . It appears to me that the great error - of Reformers has consisted in their attempting to begin where they ought to leave off . That an entire and unreserved community of goods will eventually take place among the individuals thus associated , 1 have not the shadow of a doubt : but this most
desirable state of things will be brought about gradually , in proportion as the wealth of the society shall increase . And here permit me to observe , that there appear to be but two ways whereby union and love and piety can be rendered prevalent in the world
—the one is by combating the selfish principle by arguments having reference to a future state ; the other , by surrounding mankind with the objects of their desire , and thus removing the temptations which have hitherto
proved too strong for virtue . Far be it from me to underrate the power of those motives which our holy religion affords to the practice of the most painful and self-denying duties . We know that these motives have enabled
men to triumph over dangers , difficulties and sufferings the most appalling to oar nature -. but I do humbly conceive , that in causing the know-
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ledge and the love of divine truth to cover the earth , it is probable that Providence will smooth the way to the practice of Christian mopality , and that the grand improvements which have been made in the contrivances for shortening human labour , are indications of such a design . Mr . Owen has stated , and he has been at
considerable pains to ascertain the fact , that the productive powers of Great Britain and Ireland at the present day are equal to the constant daily labour of 350 millions of able-bodied men ; a power capable of being indefinitely increased . As society is at present
constituted , this vast power is in a great measure opposed to the interests of the working classes , who constitute the great majority of the people . All that is requisite to convert this evil into a blessing , is , to associate mankind on such principles as shall give
to the respective communities a common interest in the produce of labour , aided by these grand mechanical agents ; and as it is clear to demonstration , that , under the proposed
arrangements , the village communities could , with perfect ease , raise and manufacture more of every article of necessity , of comfort and of convenience , than would suffice to satisfy the wants of each individual , the axe
would be laid at the root of those numerous vices which spring from cu ^ pidity . Poverty is not favourable to the growth of virtue ; nor can we reasonably expect that the arguments urged by divines and philosophers to prove the wisdom of Providence in permitting of so great a disparity as has hitherto existed in the conditions
of mankind , will ever reconcile the poor to their lot , so long as they perceive that their teachers are as keen as others in the pursuit of the good things of this life . It is not the acquisition of wealth that is reprehended 3 but the rendering its acquisition the final end of our efforts . Methods
to acquire riches are necessarily me- « thodB of wisdom and good conduct : the dissolute rarely grow rich . No naan is more firmly convin ced than I am , that all the past dispensaordereu
tions of Providence have beea in perfect wisdom and goodness , bbA 9 consequently , that the existence , or rather the wide prevalence of Wretch *** poverty , was designed to answer a pu *~
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462 Mr . Owen ' s Plan .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1823, page 452, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1787/page/20/
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