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the produce of any given amount of labour or of capital , as at present employed . The mind should be steadily fixed on this point . It would lead me to encroach too much upon your indulgence were I to prove , by an induction of particulars , the proposition above laid down . Suffice it to say , that by combined operations , all that is now performed in society may be performed with far more celerity , economy and effect than it is at present . A community of 1000 persons could be provided for with little more
trouble than is required to provide for a family . The food could be prepared in the most approved manner ; the children educated on the best principles , under the eye of their parents ; every rational recreation could be readily commanded , and the social qualities of all elicited and cultivated ,
without prejudice to domestic enjoyments . Nine-tenths of the females would be liberated from the drudgery to which they are now subjected , and would thus be enabled not only to apply the
time saved to such works as would increase the wealth of the society , but to cultivate their minds , and thus to become better companions . I speak of course of the working classes : hut even those in better circumstances
would , under such a system , experience a great change for the better . There can , perhaps , be no better test for the excellency of any social scheme , than the effect which it is calculated to produce upon the female character : and in this point of view , that of Mr . Owen challenges the support of the fair sex .
Assuming the power of the scheme to increase the wealth and comfort of the associated parties , let us inquire what are the objections to its
immediate adoption . 1 have already adverted to the supposed evil of resigning that . independence which operates so strongly to render us anti-social beings . 1 would fain flatter mvsclf that 1 have shaken . fain flatter myself that 1 have shaken
, if 1 have not overturned this formidable burner . But is it probable that union could be preserved among the members of a society formed upon the proposed plan ? ** What can we reason but from what
we know ? " We know that where an object deemed valuable its in view , men
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both can and do unite with great constancy to pursue it : we see this in trading companies , in literary societies , in collegiate institutions * and in navies and armies . Men scruple not for the sake of the advantages accruing from the military profession , to subject
themselves , during life , to the greatest hazards and inconveniences , and to strict and often harsh discipline . But , in point of fact , we have the best proofs from history that societies constituted on principles far less rational and liberal than are now proposed ,
have been held together , and existed for ages : and , at this very day , there exist in America , communities hearing a strong resemblance to the proposed villages of union and mutual co-operation which have thriven and prospered , and are increasing rapidly in numbers . I allude to the Harmonists , of whom
a very interesting account is given m a pamphlet published at New York , by a committee of religious persons who are endeavouring to multiply these societies . But will men in a community of mutual and combined interests be as
industrious as when employed for their individual gain ? I shall answer this question in the words of Mr . Owen . * " It has been , and still is , a received opinion among theorists in political economy , that man can provide better for himself , and more advantageously for the public , when left to his own individual
exertions , opposed to , and in competition with his fellows , than when aided by any social arrangement which shall unite his interests individually and generally with society . This principle of individual interest , opposed as it
is perpetually , to the public good , is considered by the most celebrated political economists to be the corner stone of the social system , and without which society could not subsist . Yet , when they shall know themselves and discover the wonderful effects
which combination and unity can produce , they will acknowledge , that the present arrangement of society i » the most anti-social , impolitic and irrational , that can be devised ; that , under its influence , all the superior and valuable qualities of human na-* Report to the County of Lanark , 4 to . p . 28 .
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454 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 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1787/page/22/
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