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 WHERE SOCIALISM 
 FAILED 
 
 AN ACTUAL EXPERIMENT 
 By STEWART GRAHAME 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 
 AND A MAP 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
 
 1912
 
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 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
 
 4. DOUGLAS GRAEME 
 
 2.*i8rj40
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction xi 
 
 Chapter 
 
 I. The Great Strike _ - - - i 
 
 II. A Better Napoleon - - - - n 
 
 III. The Promised Land - - - - 25 
 
 IV. Saihng of the "Royal Tar" - - 38 
 V. A Matter of Morals - - - - 49 
 
 VI. Who Will do the Scavenging? - - 60 
 
 VII. The Arrival in Paraguay - - - /O 
 
 VIII. Early Days at New Australia - - 80 
 
 IX. The First Expulsions - - - 94 
 
 X. A Hell upon Earth - - - - 103 
 
 XI. William Lane Secedes - - - 112 
 
 XII. Free and Noble Anarchism - - 122 
 
 XIII. The Association takes to Business - 132 
 
 XIV. All for One and One for All - - 142 
 XV. The Founding of Cosme Colony - 152 
 
 XVI. Cosme Rites and Ceremonies - - 165 
 
 XVIL Recruiting for Cosme - - - 178 
 
 XVI II. Exit William Lane - - - - 192 
 
 XIX. A Black Time at New Australia - 206 
 
 XX. New Australia and Cosme To-day - 215 
 
 XXI. Religion — Morality — Suicide - - 229 
 XX 11. Conclusion ------ 239 
 
 Appendices 242 
 
 Bibliography ------- 262 
 
 Index - 263
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 " Was it for this that they had left Australia?" 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 FAOINO 
 PAGE 
 
 "They dumped their possessions into bullock 
 
 carts" ------- 74 
 
 Some of Lane's Utopians - - - - ii6 
 
 Under Socialism most of the children had no 
 
 boots 146 
 
 Mrs. John Lane and Family - - - - 156 
 
 The Ideal Home at Cosme - - - - 184 
 At Cosme, children were "cared for" by the 
 
 community 200 
 
 New Australian children (in 1904) after Socialism 
 
 was abandoned 222 
 
 MAP. 
 
 Map of Paraguay showing New Australia and 
 
 Cosme - - - - - - AT END
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In his introduction to "The Socialist Movement," 
 Mr. J. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., complains that 
 "One of the greatest of the difficulties which beset 
 the path of the Socialist is the refusal on the part 
 of his opponents to give an accurate statement of 
 what Socialism means and what the purpose of 
 Socialism is." It would appear therefore that a 
 clear statement of what Socialism meant, and how 
 it worked, in a particular instance where it was 
 tried in practice, should be of value to Socialist 
 seekers after truth as well as to the general public. 
 "Where Socialism Flailed" is a straightforward 
 account of William Lane's bold attempt to realise 
 "Socialism in our Time" at New Australia and 
 Cosme in Paraguay. 
 
 Although most of the matter in the present work 
 is fresh, about one-fifth of the text has appeared 
 before in the " Conservative and Unionist" (pub- 
 lished by The National Conservative Union), or in 
 the pamphlets "New Australia" (published by H. 
 E. xMorgan), and "Socialism: An Actual Experi- 
 ment" (published by the Anti-Socialist Union). 
 It was in consequence of the welcome accorded to 
 "New Australia" in the Press and in the constitu- 
 ences, and the many requests for fuller information, 
 made by Socialists in particular, that the present 
 work was undertaken. 1 take this opportunity of 
 assuring Socialist friends that the book is not a 
 mere compilation. I am no stranger in old 
 Australia, and have slept over five hundred nights
 
 Xll 
 
 in a mud hut at " New Australia." My own 
 information concerning every detail of life at 
 William Lane's two settlements was obtained, by 
 word of mouth, direct from leading figures in the 
 Association, from documents supplied by them, and 
 from personal observation and experience. Exten- 
 sive use has been made of quotations from articles, 
 letters, etc., by those in sympathy with the move- 
 ment, and of official reports, principally as a means 
 of setting independent confirmatory evidence before 
 the reader. 
 
 I desire to express my obligations to the 
 Controller of His Majesty's Stationery Office for 
 permission to use the extracts from Foreign Office 
 Reports quoted herein. Also to the British Agent 
 for Cosme Colony ; and to the Editors of the follow- 
 ing newspapers from whose columns quotations (in 
 some cases with, in others without formal permis- 
 sion) have been made : Sydney Bulletin, London 
 Pall Mall Gazette, New Australia Journal, South 
 American Journal, Barrier Miner, Cosme Monthly, 
 London Daily News, Cosme Evening Notes, South 
 Australian Register, Sydney Daily Telegraph, 
 Brisbane Worker, And to the able Socialist 
 writers upon whose works I have drawn for authori- 
 tative "statement of what Socialism means and 
 what the purpose of Socialism is." 
 
 STEWART GRAHAME. 
 
 Authors' Club, 
 April, 1912.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE GREAT STRIKE. 
 
 The Australian Socialist party commenced its 
 career as an active fighting force in 1889, the first 
 manifestation of its might falling like a bombshell, 
 not at home, but in Great Britain. When the 
 London dock labourers came out on strike — an 
 unorganised mob not affiliated to any great and 
 wealthy trade union — it was freely prophesied that 
 sheer starvation would drive them back to work 
 within a short time. The prophets were disap- 
 pointed, however, for, to the surprise of most 
 people in England, including the strikers them- 
 selves, their meagre funds were reinforced by a 
 contribution of ;^30,ooo cabled from Brisbane, 
 and, thus assisted, the dock labourers gained the 
 day. 
 
 Considering the fact that Australia is so sparsely 
 inhabited it was considered a remarkable thing that 
 so large a sum could be raised from a section of its 
 workers, almost in a moment, for the purpose of 
 taking sides in a dispute with which they had no 
 concern, for the benefit of men they had never met. 
 In fact, the incident pointed not merely to the 
 existence of a wealthy "Labour" organisation in 
 the Antipodes but also to a new spirit of unselfish- 
 ness in Trade Unionism, which suggested some 
 very exceptional influence in the background. 
 
 Those who troubled to probe into the matter 
 further discovered that the central figure of the
 
 2 THE GREAT STRIKE 
 
 Australian Socialist movement was a journalist 
 named William Lane, an individual who figures so 
 prominently in the following narrative that it will 
 be as well to visualise him without delay, as seen 
 by his own supporters. 
 
 "Born into English agricultural life, with Irish 
 and Cornish blood in his veins, with an adventurous 
 spirit, inherited from the old seafaring stock from 
 which he sprang," one of his warmest admirers* 
 says of him, "the dreamy, studious boy, lamed 
 from birth, learned early to ponder on the suffer- 
 ings of the labouring class to which he belonged. 
 The hard struggle and premature age of his mother, 
 in particular, sank into his heart, inspiring a 
 chivalrous respect for women in the abstract, and a 
 practical sympathy for the working-woman in the 
 concrete, which characterises him to this day. 
 When not thirsting for a sea-life, picking up scraps 
 of Latin from a somewhat superior village school- 
 master, or busy with the many tasks allotted to the 
 children of the poor, the boy Lane was studying 
 problems with large, short-sighted blue eyes, and 
 learning to clothe his thoughts in language culled 
 from the Bible and the Pilgrim's Progress. At 
 the age of fifteen we find him in America, earning 
 his own bread, learning the compositors' work, 
 picking up Yankee ' cuteness ' with the Yankee 
 twang, devoting all his spare time to reading, and 
 preserving the nerve and bravado which enabled 
 him defiantly to swim a rapid shunned by his com- 
 panions as fatal. It is this indomitable 'pluck,' 
 
 *A. T. Eose-Soley, in the "Westminster Review."
 
 A SIMPLE REMEDY 3 
 
 in an apparently frail body, which has stood him in 
 good stead in later days, enabling him to surmount 
 obstacles before which many a stout-hearted man 
 would have quailed. From the compositors' he 
 drifted into the reporters' room, and was soon 
 wielding a vigorous pen. Some few 3^ears later, 
 having married a large-hearted, broad-minded wife, 
 American-bred, but grand-daughter of a shrewd 
 Scotch University professor, William Lane migrated 
 to Queensland, and became one of the most success- 
 ful free-lances on the Australian press." 
 
 At first Lane worked on the Observer and 
 devoted his burning pen entirely to the cause of 
 suffering humanity. Wherever there was an over- 
 crowded slum or a case of sweated labour, William 
 Lane would ferret it out and hold up to public 
 scorn those who were responsible for such evil 
 conditions. There probably never lived a more 
 single-minded man, and his honesty of purpose 
 was so clearly recognised that he won the confid- 
 ence of the working classes completely. 
 
 It was Lane's ferve.n desire "to idealise Labour, 
 to conquer want, and hate, and greed, and vice, 
 and establish peace on earth and good-will towards 
 men." 
 
 Thousands of other thinkers have desired to see 
 the same beautiful programme realised, though 
 most have despaired of its possibility on this planet. 
 With his optimistic temperament, however, William 
 Lane was convinced that there really did exist, 
 ready to hand, a simple remedy for all the ills that 
 mar the civilised world. It was his firm conviction 
 that, if capitalism and the wages system were
 
 4 THE GREAT STRIKE 
 
 utterly abolished, and a State established in accord- 
 ance with vSocialistic theories, envy, hatred, malice 
 and all uncharitableness would utterly disappear 
 from the earth ; crime would be no more, human 
 nature would be automatically purged of all its 
 unlovely features, heaven on earth would be a fact 
 for every man, woman and child. 
 
 Since he held such beliefs it was not wonderful 
 that Lane strained every nerve to obtain converts. 
 He rapidly gained an extraordinary ascendancy 
 over the minds of the intelligent artisans and 
 mechanics of Brisbane, and disseminated among 
 them, by means of tracts, free reading rooms and 
 Socialistic debating societies, the fascinating fictions 
 of Bellamy and the startling doctrines of Karl Marx 
 and his disciples. His weekly paper, The Boome- 
 rang, met with instant success, and served as a 
 medium for reaching the miners and shearers in 
 the back-blocks, who fell under the spell of his 
 glamorous phrases as readily as the townsfolk had 
 done. This much accomplished, he tackled the 
 leaders of the various great Trade Unions and con- 
 verted them to his theory that it would be possible, 
 by concerted action, to overthrow capital and con- 
 fiscate land and all means of production for the 
 exclusive benefit of the manual worker. Then he 
 proved his own adhesion to the new creed by leaving 
 his highly remunerative position, and moving into 
 a common workman's cottage, prior to establishing 
 a new journal on co-operative lines. This new- 
 journal, which scored an instant success, was 
 entitled The Worker, and had for its war-cry the 
 motto " Socialism in our Time." In it he ran as a
 
 PRACTICAL SOCIALISM 5 
 
 serial Bellamy's convert-making story "Looking 
 Backward." His aims are well summed up in 
 Mr. Blatchford's statement : 
 
 "Practical Socialism is so simple that a child 
 may understand it. It is a kind of national scheme 
 of co-operation managed by the State. Its pro- 
 gramme consists essentially of one demand, that 
 the land and other instruments of production shall 
 be the common property of the people, and shall 
 be used and governed by the people for the 
 people." 
 
 With his magnetic personality Lane seemed like 
 a heaven-sent prophet to the eager band of disciples 
 W'ho gathered about him and devoted all their 
 energies to disseminating his doctrines. Of a truth 
 there was something very attractive about them to 
 the wage-earners, for it was Lane's amazing creed, 
 that the factory-hand was the rightful owner of the 
 factory, that the sheep-shearer was entitled to the 
 full profits of the shearing industry, that the legal 
 owners of all forms of property were robbing the 
 manual workers of their dues. Among his followers 
 the fallacious theory that "the frugal workman only 
 gets about one-third of his earnings, while under 
 Socialism he, the worker, would get all his earn- 
 ings," found ready acceptance. 
 
 Wherever manual workers were gathered to- 
 gether, the vividly written columns of The Worker 
 were scanned, and its burning phrases discussed 
 with eager interest. It was thus that William Lane 
 be(?ame a power in the land, a man who was literally 
 worshipped by thousands; who had only to bemoan 
 the miseries of certain strikers in another land to 
 
 B
 
 6 THE GREAT STRIKE 
 
 open the purse strings of all who followed him on 
 their behalf. It was not mere philanthropy, but a 
 far deeper-seated motive which moved William 
 Lane to take the action he did with regard to the 
 London dockers. He wanted to give the world a 
 powerful demonstration of what could be accom- 
 plished, if only "the workers" would broaden their 
 outlook and fight each other's battles as well as 
 their own. The principle is a well-recognised one 
 now, but it was novel then, 
 
 "William Lane dreamed of a federated unionism 
 which should link together all the component parts 
 of the labour world," explains Mr. Rose-Soley. 
 "It was with this object that he mixed himself up 
 with strikes, albeit recognising, with most far- 
 seeing thinkers, the absolute futility of strikes save 
 as an evidence of strength and solidarity ; it was 
 with this object that he cemented the bonds between 
 labour in far-apart lands, instigating the magnificent 
 contribution of the Brisbane wharf labourer to his 
 starving brother, the London docker." 
 
 It so happened that Australia at that time w^as 
 tottering on the verge of a financial crisis. For 
 ten years the "Working Man's Paradise" had lived 
 on credit. Now the time of reckoning was at hand, 
 and only a succession of prosperous years, un- 
 hampered by labour troubles, could pull things 
 through. It was an anxious time for all, and for 
 the pastoralists in particular. Would the shearers, 
 who had shared in their good times, stand by them 
 during the crisis? Would "labour" combine for 
 its own sake and that of the country, to save 
 Australia from bankruptcy ?
 
 AUSTRALIAN LABOUR FEDERATION 7 
 
 A thousand times, no ! The Trade Unions' 
 coffers were full, and here was the heaven-sent 
 chance to smash "capital" in the Antipodes. The 
 formidable A.L.F, (Australian Labour Federation) 
 which the great Unions had set up, seized the 
 opportunity to issue a manifesto calling upon the 
 State to nationalise all forms of property and to 
 institute "the just division amongst all citizens of 
 the State of all wealth production, less only that 
 part retained for public and common require- 
 ments."* 
 
 What the Paris Commune had failed to effect in 
 France they hoped to achieve at one blow in 
 Australia, which was to become a Paradise of 
 Socialism. By first smashing the pastoralists, and 
 then turning the battering ram of their organisation 
 against each smaller interest in turn they expected 
 to triumph. It was the declared object of the 
 Federation " to attack the competitive system and 
 openly commence a campaign which will not cease 
 until Capitalism — that is the private holding by a 
 few of the means whereby all must live — is no 
 more." 
 
 An excuse for the opening of a conflict was found 
 in a dispute between certain shearers and the pastor- 
 alists, which led to the engagement by the latter of 
 a number of non-unionist shearers to take the place 
 of those on strike. At once the Shearers' Union 
 took up the position — since grown only too familiar 
 to English employers of labour — of refusing to 
 work where non-unionists were also employed. 
 
 * See Appendix A. for full " Political Aims of the Federation."
 
 8 THE GREAT STRIKE 
 
 Furthermore the Wharf Labourers' Union intim- 
 ated that they would handle no wool shorn by 
 "black-legs," and declared a sympathetic strike. 
 Next, the merchant marine were induced to join the 
 movement, and both officers and men left their 
 ships. Then the coal-miners of Newcastle (N.S.W.) 
 refused to hew coal intended for the ships whose 
 crews were on strike, and the colliery owners 
 locked them out. 
 
 When the General Strike was in full swing all 
 trades and industries were paralysed throughout 
 Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and New 
 Zealand from August till October, 1890, even the 
 over-seas shipping lay idle in the harbours, and the 
 strikers neglected no means to make their boycott 
 of all forms of work effective. Non-unionists 
 engaged in carting wool through the streets were 
 charged by the strikers whose Union officials could 
 no longer control them, and the trolleys flung into 
 the sea. The Queensland strikers formed huge 
 camps in the bush and incendiarism was frequent. 
 The prinicpal towns were in a state of siege, and, 
 on the 19th September, a pitched battle was fought 
 between police and mounted troops on the one hand, 
 and the determined mobs on the other. 
 
 Towards the end of the year some sort of truce 
 was patched up, but in 1891 the trouble broke out 
 again, and once more in 1892. In the latter year a 
 special train taking non-unionist labour from 
 Adelaide to replace strikers at the Broken Hill 
 silver mines, was attacked by an armed mob, who 
 not only stoned but also fired bullets at the strike- 
 breakers. On a number of the ringleaders being
 
 THE FINANCIAL CRISIS 9 
 
 imprisoned, howling rioters stormed the gaol deter- 
 mined to tear it down, just as the Parisians levelled 
 the Bastille. In fact, red revolution raged in the 
 Antipodes for nearly two years before it spent its 
 strength and the A.L.F. sulkily admitted defeat, 
 and allowed its members to return to work in the 
 ordinary manner. 
 
 How the Trade Union leaders must have cursed 
 the day they projected the General Strike, when 
 they counted the cost of that two years' wicked, 
 wasteful strife ! To say nothing of the many 
 millions of pounds lost to trade in Australia (about 
 which the Federation did not concern itself) the 
 strikers had lost ^{^2, 000, 000 in wages, the Trade 
 Union coffers were emptied, the leaders' credit 
 gone, their power broken. Partly as a result of 
 the disastrous strikes the long-threatened financial 
 catastrophe descended upon Australia in 1892-3 
 and banks with liabilities of ^134,000,000 sus- 
 pended payment. 
 
 The A.L.F had demonstrated its strength, truly, 
 but only as blind Samson proved his, when he broke 
 the pillars which supported the roof in the house of 
 the Philistines, and was himself crushed in the ruin 
 which descended upon his enemies. 
 
 Note : — When the struggle broke out once more in 1894, it was 
 conducted with even greater acrimony. The following memorandum, 
 by an eye-witness, conveys an idea of how the unscrupulous will take 
 advantage of a purely trade dispute to promote the "class war." 
 "It became evident that there was a large body who were not 
 merely bent on compelling the employers to alter the agreement, 
 but who rather regarded the whole struggle as an episode in the 
 great struggle between labour and capital," remarks Mr. G. M. L.
 
 10 THE GREAT STRIKE 
 
 Lester in the "Economic Review." These men carried on a real 
 and bitter warfare against capital in every shape and form. Not 
 only did they brutally bully and ill-treat "black-legs," but they 
 succeeded also in de.stroying the woolsheds at Ayrshire Downs, 
 Cassilis, Redcliffe, Cambridge Downs, Murweh, Eurongella, 
 Manuca, and Oondooroo, and Dag^vorth. The shooting case at 
 Coombe Martin and the night attack on Dagworth are further 
 evidences of the bitterness of this particular party. I do not 
 believe that the actions of these violent persons met with the 
 approval of the better sort of unionists, but it is significant that 
 no Labour member to my knowledge, nor any Labour paper as 
 far as I am aware, expressed any sense of shame at the excesses 
 of their advanced guard. Moreover, pamphlets of the inflamma- 
 tory kind common to the revolutionary and the penny novelist, 
 were widely circulated throughout the colony, urging men to 
 useless crime. In one of these wonderful productions Parliaments 
 are described as "committees of corpulent robbers and polished 
 thieves, oratorical prostitutes and abject hirelings." "The Tree 
 of Liberty only bears fruit when manured with the bones of the 
 fat usurers and insolent despots." Another of the same kind 
 urges men to " study the science of death, use bullets, steel, 
 melinite, kerosine, lithofracteur, poison, blasting powder." Finally, 
 it says, "You must steal like Spartans, think like heroes, lie like 
 hell."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A BETTER NAPOLEON. 
 
 As there has been a good deal of misapprehension 
 on this subject, it should be clearly understood that 
 the Labour Federation's attack on Capital was 
 simply an act of aggression, with Syndicalism as 
 its object. The battle was not fought by the 
 Unions on legitimate grounds in defence of some 
 overworked or underpaid members. Employers of 
 Labour were under the thumb of the Unions, whose 
 yoke was grievous to bear, and wages ruled higher, 
 with shorter hours, than in any other country of 
 the world. 
 
 In 1882 navvies and general labourers received a 
 minimum of 8s. daily, blacksmiths los., painters 
 and carpenters iis., stonemasons iis. 6d., plaster- 
 ers I2S., and bricklayers 12s. 6d. Four years later 
 wages fell somewhat, though they were still very 
 high, in 1888 they bounded up again, and rose once 
 more in 1889. Thus on the eve of the Great Strike 
 Australia might truly be called the "Working 
 Man's Paradise." Now, observe how Trade Union 
 greed, like the monkey with the nuts in a familiar 
 fable, defeated its own object, and, by seeking to 
 grasp all, lost most of what it had already secured. 
 In bringing about the ruin of the Capitalist, the 
 Labour Federation was startled to discover that it 
 had also ruined " Labour." By the end of 1895, 
 wages had fallen below the level at which they stood 
 
 II
 
 12 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 — before the commencement of Trade Union activity 
 — in 1850 ! 
 
 Thus the great plot recoiled upon the heads of 
 the Trade Unions and its promoters admitted their 
 mistake. But when the Trade Union officials were 
 in the depths of despair over the proved inefficiency 
 of strike methods, the way to snatch a victory from 
 defeat was pointed out by William Lane and his 
 chosen band of associates — -men who in the strange 
 condition of Australia at that time, might be 
 barristers, university graduates, ex-bank managers, 
 or highly trained journalists although they hap- 
 pened to be earning their livelihood as shearers, 
 storekeepers or miners. 
 
 " Since Labour alone produces wealth," they 
 argued, "it is still possible to checkmate Capital by 
 withdrawing Labour, not temporarily by means of 
 another strike, but bodily to a new country, where 
 none but the workers themselves shall profit by 
 their industry." 
 
 Foreseeing that the slump in wages would give a 
 great impetus to such a movement, Lane began in 
 1890 to project a plan so daring, and so unprece- 
 dented, that at first few people believed that it could 
 be seriously contemplated. However, on this 
 occasion, as always, Lane was in grim earnest, and 
 issued his ultimatum to Capital in the form of the 
 following 
 
 Declaration of Principles. 
 
 Whereas — 
 
 So long as one depends upon another for leave 
 to work and so long as the selfishness induced by
 
 AN ASSOCIATION OF WORKERS 13 
 
 the uncertainty of living prevents mankind from 
 seeing that it is best for all to insure one another 
 against all possibility of social degradation, true 
 Liberty and Happiness are impossible; and 
 
 Whereas — 
 
 The weakness, ignorance, and doubts of 
 society at large is the great barrier in the way of 
 the establishment of such true social order as will 
 insure to every citizen security against want and 
 opportunity to develop to the fullest the faculties 
 evolving in Humanity; 
 
 Therefore — 
 
 It is desirable and imperative that by a com- 
 munity wherein all labour in common for the 
 common good actual proof shall be given that 
 under conditions which render it impossible for 
 one to tyrannize over another, and which declare 
 the first duty of each to be the well-being of all 
 and the sole duty of all to be the well-being of 
 each, men and women can live in comfort, 
 happiness, intelligence and orderliness unknown 
 in a society where none can be sure to-day that 
 they or their children will not starve to-morrow. 
 
 With this end in view an Association of 
 Workers is hereby instituted, . . . the signatories 
 intending and expecting to migrate to another 
 country there to devote to the movement their 
 possessions and their best endeavours. 
 
 It was at first supposed by most thinking people 
 in Australia that William Lane would find few to
 
 14 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 back his remarkable project, but circumstances 
 were in his favour. The Queensland Bush was 
 still full of strikers' camps, where hundreds of 
 capable and able-bodied shearers found themselves 
 stranded and unable to obtain work, because many 
 pastoralists were ruined and others were employing 
 non-unionists only. 
 
 Unlike the shearers of a by-gone day, who were 
 notoriously illiterate, stupid and drunken, the aver- 
 age modern shearer is sober, shrewd, and hard- 
 headed, and perhaps the most argumentative man 
 on earth. As a rule he has great notions on the 
 subject of equality, and a considerable portion of his 
 ample leisure is spent in reading and re-reading 
 the interesting writings of Messrs. Bellamy, Blatch- 
 ford, Karl Marx and Belfort Bax, and arguing 
 with his mates upon them. He religiously takes 
 in some weekly paper devoted to a red-hot Socialist 
 propaganda, and believes himself exceptionally 
 well-informed upon the course of all affairs that 
 matter throughout the universe. Among such men 
 as these, already so far converted to his way of 
 thinking that they held as a simple statement of fact 
 the saying that ' all save manual workers are thieves 
 and parasites upon the rest of the community,' 
 Lane was confident of finding fruit ripe for his 
 plucking. 
 
 In the remote Bush, moreover, there were thou- 
 sands of others not concerned in — who might not 
 even have heard of — the Great Strike. There 
 were, for instance, the "free selectors" in the back- 
 blocks, living wretchedly upon the land from which 
 the once wealthy squatters had been driven, where
 
 PRIVATE ENTERPRISE DYING 15 
 
 they had been dumped and forgotten by a Socialistic 
 Government. "They erect their ramshackle home- 
 steads with no regard to taste. In them are 
 begotten swarms of half-wild children, who will not 
 reply to a civil question if asked, but either stupidly 
 stare, hide behind the first tree, or creep into some 
 hole, as the traveller passes by."* In equally bad 
 case were the small capitalists, whose farms or 
 orchards had gone to ruin because the artificially 
 maintained cost of labour made hired help imposs- 
 ible. As a newspaper put it " the country is 
 languishing for the labour congested in the Metro- 
 polis. Private enterprise is dying, being slowly 
 killed by Government competition. Dairymen are 
 turning their farms into sheep-runs because they 
 cannot get Labour; fruit in the orchards is rotting 
 on the trees or on the ground from the same cause. 
 The selectors in Gippsland especially are crippled ; 
 they find it impossible to get their land cleared. 
 But everywhere through the State there is the same 
 complaint of scarcity of Labour . . . the Govern- 
 ment has raised the rate of wages to seven shillings 
 a day; the labourer naturally prefers the Govern- 
 ment stroke and can be tempted away from that 
 easy and pleasant way of passing his time only by 
 an increased rate of wages. That increased rate 
 very few industries can afford to pay ; thus all enter- 
 prise is crushed." 
 
 Having an intimate acquaintance with their 
 troubles Lane foresaw that a sufficient bait would 
 catch the selectors and small capitalists by 
 hundreds; but the bait must be sufficient. 
 
 * " Leaves from a Squatter's Note Book."
 
 i6 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 To tempt them to join his scheme he recognised 
 that the appeal must be a personal one. and that 
 the missionary of his movement must possess the 
 enthusiasm and personal magnetism of an inspired 
 prophet. 
 
 " Is not the only hope in the rising of a better 
 Napoleon ?" he demanded. " In the elevation of a 
 leader with the brain of a Jay Gould and the heart 
 of a Christ?" 
 
 After careful consideration William Lane decided 
 to undertake the work himself. 
 
 Turning over the editorship of The Worker to 
 other hands, he set forth upon his whirlwind mission, 
 sustained by a perfect faith in the righteousness of 
 his cause — for Lane believed every word of what he 
 preached. To him "Looking Backward" was no 
 delightfully ingenious fiction ; he was convinced that 
 the counterpart of everything described in Bellamy's 
 book might be set up in real life. It was this 
 absolute belief in the beneficence of his mission 
 which gave Lane his convincing power. When he 
 dismounted from his horse at sundown at some 
 isolated shearing-shed — caked with dust and stiff 
 from long riding, his throat parched and his head 
 aching from the sun- — weariness slipped from him 
 as if by magic when the shearers gathered about 
 him and he broached the one theme which he had 
 ridden so far to open to them. Or, in the lonely 
 Bush, he would halt by some camp-fire and puff 
 his pipe in company with the other wayfarers 
 gathered round its genial flare. At first the con- 
 versation would be upon indifferent subjects, may- 
 be, but when they realized that their visitor was
 
 THE PROMISED LAND 17 
 
 "John Miller" (as he sio^ned himself) of The 
 Worker, an expectant hush would fall upon the 
 little assembly, and Lane needed no urging to talk 
 for hour on hour about the glories of the "Promised 
 Land," to which he w^ould lead them if they would 
 only trust him. 
 
 What an asset such a man would have been as 
 the organiser of some saner plan of social ameliora- 
 tion ! And yet, who knows ? it may be that the 
 warning provided by the failure of this earnest, but 
 mistaken enthusiast, will be of more service to the 
 present and future generations than his moderate 
 success in some less ambitious direction, would 
 have been. 
 
 Mere lip-service, or formal assent to the doctrines 
 he taught, would not satisfy Lane. When once he 
 discovered that he had won a man's secret sym- 
 pathies, he did not rest until that man was converted 
 to the necessity for action. 
 
 "All that any religion has been to the highest 
 thought of any people, Socialism is, and more, to 
 those who conceive it aright," he declared.* 
 " Without blinding us to our own weaknesses and 
 wickedness, without offering to us any sophistry, 
 or cajoling us with any fallacy, it enthrones Love 
 above the universe, gives us hope for all who are 
 down-trodden, and restores to us faith in the eternal 
 fitness of things. Socialism is indeed a religion — ■ 
 demanding deeds as well as words. Not until 
 professing Socialists understand this will the world 
 at large see Socialism as it really is." 
 
 As it happened, William Lane was not alone just 
 •"The Working Man's Paradise," by William Lane.
 
 i8 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 then in projecting a scheme for the estabhshment 
 of a perfect State where all should be free and equal. 
 Early in 1890 Herr Theodor Hertzka (at one time 
 economic editor to the Neue Freie Presse) published 
 in Vienna his " Freeland — A Social Anticipation," 
 of which interesting work an English translation* 
 appeared in 1891. Being written by an acknow- 
 ledged authority on economic questions, this closely- 
 reasoned Utopian romance attracted a great deal of 
 attention, and a " Freeland Association " was 
 formed on the Continent for the purpose of putting 
 its teachings into practice. With apparently flaw- 
 less logic, Herr Hertzka proved that in a state so 
 ideally, yet simply, organised as "Freeland," such 
 universal luxury would be enjoyed that it would 
 seem "as if each Freelander without exception had 
 about 120 slaves at his disposal." "What wonder 
 that we can live like masters," one of his characters 
 remarks, " notwithstanding that servitude is un- 
 known in Freeland!" In addition, within twenty- 
 five years of its foundation, the joint-wealth equally 
 enjoyed by the 26,000,000 inhabitants of Freeland, 
 amounts "without taking into account the incalcul- 
 able value of the soil — to ;^i300 per head, or /;"6ooo 
 per family." 
 
 Of course the English edition of this work found 
 its way to Australia, and prepared a harvest ready 
 to be reaped by William Lane. Probably also it 
 greatly encouraged him to go forward with his pro- 
 posal, although on somewhat different lines. But 
 then the readers of "Freeland" were prepared for 
 some slight variations in the scheme, for, in his 
 
 *Chatto and Windus, London.
 
 A SOCIALIST PARADISE 19 
 
 preface, Hertzka himself said, " I do not imagine 
 that the estabHshment of the future social order 
 must necessarily be effected exactly in the way 
 described in the following pages. ... If economic 
 freedom and justice are to obtain in human society, 
 they must be seriously determined upon ; and it 
 seems easier to unite a few thousands in such a 
 determination than numberless millions, most of 
 whom are not accustomed to accept the new— let it 
 be ever so clear and self-evident — until it has been 
 embodied in fact." 
 
 That was precisely the view which William Lane 
 was so fond of urging. He planned to commence 
 his ideal State with not more than about 800 
 families. When they had embodied in fact, for the 
 whole world to see, the wonderful prosperity and 
 happiness to be enjoyed under Socialism, he 
 believed that all civilised peoples would hasten to 
 embrace its benefits also. 
 
 The name which Lane decided to give his 
 Socialist paradise was " New Australia," but this 
 did not imply that only Australians were welcomed; 
 people of any nationality might join, provided they 
 were not coloured. It was his design to send pro- 
 pagandist missionaries to Great Britain, South 
 Africa and Canada as soon as a suitable territory 
 had been found and a nucleus settlement estab- 
 lished. Simultaneously with his own recruiting 
 campaign, he sent forth three trusted emissaries, 
 Walker, Leek and Saunders, all experienced bush- 
 men, to prospect a site for his new Canaan. His 
 instructions to them were identical in character with
 
 20 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 those which Moses* gave to Joshua and his com- 
 panions : 
 
 "See the land what it is; and the people that 
 dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, 
 few or many ; 
 
 "And what the land is that they dwell in, whether 
 it be good or bad ; and what cities they be that they 
 dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds; 
 
 "And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, 
 whether there be wood therein, or not." 
 
 But Lane's plan of procedure differed in this vital 
 respect from that of Moses ; that whereas the latter 
 relied wholly upon God to give his followers secure 
 possession of "a land which floweth with milk and 
 honey," it was a basic principle with William Lane 
 to exclude the Deity from any participation in the 
 affairs of New Australia. As will be seen from the 
 official " Basis " below, it was laid down that 
 religion would not be recognised by Lane's com- 
 munity. 
 
 The following is the exact textf of the Constitu- 
 tion, which all who joined the New Australia 
 Co-operative Settlement Association signed, and 
 pledged themselves loyally to observe. 
 
 BASIS OF CO-OPERATIVE ORGANISATION. 
 
 Production. Ownership by the community of all the 
 means of production in exchange and distribution. 
 
 Conduct by the community of all production in 
 exchange and distribution. 
 
 * Numbers xiii. 18-20. 
 
 t At a later date the Constitution was altered in certain 
 important respects. See Appendix C.
 
 BASIS OF ORGANISATION 21 
 
 vSiiperintendence by the community of all labour-saving 
 co-operations. 
 
 Allotment. INIaintcnance by tlie community of children 
 under guardianship of parents. 
 
 Maintenance by the community of all sanitary and 
 educational establishments. 
 
 Saving by the community of all capital needed by the 
 community. 
 
 Division of remaining wealth production among all 
 adult members of the community equally, without regard 
 to sex, age, oflfice, or ph3'^sical or mental capacity. 
 
 Authority. vSubject to the supremacy of the laws of 
 the state settled in, which all members pledge themselves 
 to observe loyally, the following authority and regulations 
 shall be observed between the members of the commu- 
 nity : — 
 
 Ballot vote of all adult members to be supreme 
 authorit3^ 
 
 Director, elected by two-thirds majority of general 
 ballot, to be sole executive authority, advised by Board 
 of Superintendents. 
 
 Superintendents, elected by two-thirds majority of 
 departmental ballot, to be sole departmental authorities^ 
 subject to director. 
 
 Regulations. Regulations afifccting the community at 
 large to be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of all 
 adult members. 
 
 Departmental regulations to be confirmed by a majority 
 of all adult members interested. 
 
 All regulations to be submitted annually for continua- 
 tion or rejection. 
 
 Disputes arising between the community and any 
 member or members to be decided in equity by an 
 c
 
 22 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 arbitrator mutually agreed upon between the communal 
 authority and the member or members interested. 
 
 Disputes arising between members to be decided in 
 equity by an arbitrator mutually agreed vtpou by them. 
 
 Dismissal from the community, for persistent or un- 
 pardonable offence against the well-being of the com- 
 munity, to be decreed only by a five-sixth majority of all 
 adult members. 
 
 Elections. All offices to be vacated anmially and 
 whenever occupants cease to retain the confidence of their 
 constituents. 
 
 Individuality. The individuality of every member in 
 thought, religion, speech and leisure, and in all matters 
 whatsoever whereby the individuality of others is not 
 affected to be held inviolable. 
 
 Sex Equality. The sexes to be recognised as equally 
 entitled to full membership. 
 
 Religion. Religion not to be officiall}'' recognised by 
 the community. 
 
 Amendment. Amendment of this basis for co-operative 
 organisation to be made only by a two-thirds majority of 
 all adult members. 
 
 FINANCIAL CLAUSES. 
 
 Agreement. Every member of the association, by act 
 ^ joining the association, agrees to subscribe to the funds 
 of the association all he may possess when he is finally 
 enrolled for actual migration, such subscription to be not 
 less than ;(;6o. 
 
 Preliminary Expenses. The necessary funds for all 
 preliminary expenses, including prospecting^ organisation, 
 and colonisation arrangements, shall be provided by a 
 preliminary payment of ,^io, £^ of which must be paid 
 within one month of provisional enrolment, the other £5
 
 FINANCIAL CLAUSES 23 
 
 within three months of provisional enrolment : this £10 
 to be counted as part of the ;{;6o which is fixed as the 
 minimiiui final subscription. 
 
 Return of Payments. The pa}-ment of ^10 for pre- 
 liminary expenses and the final subscription of not less 
 than an additional ,^50 shall both be, when made, free and 
 voluntary donations to the board of trustees for the 
 purposes of the association, which no member shall 
 reclaim if he decides, after having made either, to with- 
 draw from membership. But any member shall be 
 entitled to reclaim any amount over /[lo which he may 
 have paid to the board of trustees in advance for and on 
 account of his final subscription should he decide, before 
 final enrolment for migration, to withdraw from member- 
 ship. The board of trustees, if for any reason whatever 
 it decides to strike from the roll any member who has 
 fulfilled to the time of such striking off all the conditions 
 of membership, shall return him his previous payments 
 in full. 
 
 Widowed INIothers. A subscription of £2,0 will be 
 required for widowed mothers accompanying sons to the 
 settlement. Exceptions at discretion of trustees. 
 
 Men over Fifty. At the discretion of the trustees a 
 minimum subscription of £100 may be required of men 
 over 50 years of age applying for membership. 
 
 Estimated Final Contribution. Every member on 
 joining shall state the estimated amount of his intended 
 final contribution, and the delegate enrolling shall certify 
 tliat such is a fair estimate to the best of his knowledge 
 and belief. 
 
 Premium for Children. Every family enrolled after 
 June 12, 1893, to be charged a premium of ^i" foi" every 
 cliild over one year of age, this premium to be added to 
 the final payment of not less than £^0. Exceptions at 
 discretion of trustees.
 
 24 A BETTER NAPOLEON 
 
 The Liquor Question. Without prejudice to the 
 liquor question members shall pledge themselves to 
 teetotalism until the initial difliculties of settlement have 
 passed, and the Constitution been established. 
 
 With the circulars giving these particulars of the New 
 Australia movement, the following notification was 
 issued : — 
 
 " This Association, organized upon the above lines, is in 
 full accord with the Organisation of Labour, and has been 
 recognized as such by all the great bush unions of 
 Australia and by the Queensland A.L.F. General Council. 
 Nearly half a million acres have been selected by its own 
 prospectors in Paraguay and conceded it by the Govern- 
 ment of that country. This land will never be sold but 
 used to build up co-operative settlement. There is no 
 humbug about New Australia."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PROMISED LAND. 
 
 In selecting a site for New Australia Lane was 
 guided by the following principles laid down by 
 Hertzka for his " Freeland " experiment: — "In 
 carrying out our programme a hitherto unappro- 
 priated large tract of land will have to be acquired 
 for the founding of an independent community. 
 The question now is, what part of the earth shall we 
 choose for such a purpose? For obvious reasons 
 we cannot look for territory to any part of Europe; 
 and everywhere in Asia, at least in those parts in 
 which Caucasian races could flourish, we should be 
 continually coming into collision with ancient forms 
 of law and society. We might expect that the 
 several governments in America and Australia 
 would readily grant us land and freedom of action ; 
 but even there our young community would scarcely 
 be able to enjoy that undisturbed quiet and security 
 against antagonistic interference which would be at 
 first a necessary condition of rapid and uninter- 
 rupted success." 
 
 The learned doctor came to the conclusion that 
 such a tract of ground as he desired could be found 
 only in Africa; William Lane, however, turned his 
 attention to South America with its equally great 
 natural resources still awaiting development. From 
 his point of view there were strong arguments in 
 favour of Paraguay as a suitable place for a large 
 
 25
 
 26 THE PROMISED LAND 
 
 body of energetic Anglo-Saxons to settle in, since 
 that State was one of the most prosperous of the 
 Latin republics until the disastrous war of 1865-70 
 brought it to utter ruin. To restore tl;e country to 
 its old prosperity nothing more was (or is at the 
 present day) needed than the introduction of a great 
 many suitable immigrants, not afraid of work and 
 capable of hard pioneering labour. 
 
 In the middle of the nineteenth century Paraguay 
 was the most progressive State in South ^America, 
 witli so many flourishing industries that it was quite 
 self-contained and economically independent of the 
 rest of the world. It was the first country in South 
 America to be provided with a railway. " When 
 Solano Lopez succeeded to the headship of the 
 State in 1862 it possessed a respectable standing 
 army and a large trained reserve, a squadron of 
 gun-boats capable of meeting anything that floated 
 on River Plate waters; a series of fortified places 
 on the eastern bank of the Paraguay; an arsenal, 
 a gun foundry and a large sum of money in the 
 national coffers," the Paraguayan Consul once 
 proudly stated before the Society of Arts. But 
 alas ! the mad ambitions of an autocrat brought 
 irretrievable ruin upon the country. " In the short 
 period of eight years the vast resources of which 
 Marshal Lopez came into possession had completely 
 disappeared. The soldiers were lying dead upon 
 the field of battle, the national treasury was empty, 
 the flotilla had been captured, the arsenal and forts 
 had been turned into heaps of ruins, the happy and 
 prosperous land had been devastated, the towns and 
 villages destroyed, the rich pasture lands denuded
 
 A TERRIBLE WAR 27 
 
 of their cattle, the population reduced from upwards 
 of a million to one quarter of that number and that 
 remnant composed of women and children ; not a 
 man was l^ft to till the ground, not an ox to draw 
 the plough, and Lopez himself, the origin of all 
 this misery and ruin, had died sword in hand upon 
 the banks of the Aquidaban," 
 
 During that terrible war against the combined 
 armies of Brazil, the Argentine, and LTruguay, not 
 only did the practice of all industries die out but 
 every skilled worker perished, so that the Para- 
 guayans of the next generation grew up ignorant 
 of the arts in which their forbears were skilled and, 
 for the most part, reverted to a primitive way of 
 living not far removed from savagery. Moreover 
 the owners of hundreds of square miles of land had 
 perished, without leaving a single member of their 
 families to succeed them; even the title deeds had 
 vanished and for many rich estates the Government 
 could find no claimants. Thus it came about that 
 almost the whole area of the Republic was "nation- 
 alised" as completely as the most ardent Socialist 
 could wish, and vast tracts of country of untold 
 richness became available, and were freely offered, 
 for settlement, to those who could help to re-estab- 
 lish the industries and develop the great natural 
 resources of the country. 
 
 In spite of its many advantages Lane's three 
 prospectors did not immediately visit Paraguay, 
 since the Argentine government was equallv anxi- 
 ous to secure good immigrants, and offered large 
 tracts of land on tempting settlement conditions. 
 But the Australians had orders not to conclude a
 
 28 THE O^OMISED LAND 
 
 bargain until they were fully satisfied as to 
 (i) climate, (2) soil, (3) water, (4) timber, and 
 (5) ease of access, together with the friendly disposi- 
 tion of the Government and the security of life and 
 property, and so were not easy to please. For 
 many months they scoured the country and 
 admitted that much of it was admirable for sheep 
 raising, but the more accessible parts of the Argen- 
 tine were long since taken up and had reached 
 inflated values; anything within reach of their 
 means, or offered practically for nothing, was in the 
 far south or in the remote wilderness towards the 
 Andes. At the Welsh colony at Chubut, to which 
 they had been referred as an example of what 
 courageous pioneers could accomplish, the prospec- 
 tors heard dismal tales of ruined harvests, in 
 successive seasons, due to floods, and frost. Else- 
 where they were told of droughts almost as severe 
 as those from which Australia suffers; in other 
 parts they were disheartened by the flat uninterest- 
 ing look of the untimbered country, to say nothing 
 of the difficulty of communication. Moreover, 
 ^fhile the Government w:i:} most anxious to attract 
 some thousands of able-bodied immigrants, it was 
 scarcely prepared to concede such a measure of 
 autonomy as they demanded. Finally, after months 
 of fruitless negotiations and much weary riding, 
 the prospectors decided to leave the Argentine, at 
 least for a time, and inspect Paraguay. 
 
 Undeterred by the reckless mis-statements w'hich 
 the people of the River Plate ports jealously 
 circulated concerning the bloodthirstiness of the 
 amiable Paraguayans, Saunders and Leek boarded
 
 THE CHRISTIAN REPUBLIC 29 
 
 a river steamer and visited Asuncion. President 
 Gonzales and Dr. Lopez, tlie Foreign Minister, 
 welcomed them cordialty and at once won their 
 hearts by agreeing to let them establish an 
 "imperium in imperio " secure against interference 
 from any provincial officials and subject only to the 
 supreme Government. Contrary to what they had 
 been led to believe in Buenos Aires, they found the 
 Paraguayans, and particularly the graceful women, 
 possessed of a sunnier temperament and far more 
 winning manners than the rather staid Argentines. 
 The resident Englishmen, of whom there were quite 
 a number, assured them that life and property were, 
 if anything, safer in Paraguay than in the Argen- 
 tine, moreover they discovered that land of equally 
 good quality could be purchased for less than one- 
 tenth of what it would cost in the latter country. 
 
 As he journeyed with them towards the territory 
 which he considered would be ideal for the New 
 Australia settlement, Senor Lopez informed the 
 prospectors that they were by no means the first to 
 dream of establishing a Socialist Paradise in 
 Paraguay. Indeed his country owed the compara- 
 tive civilisation of its Guarani inhabitants to the 
 fact that they were rescued from savagery at the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century by the founders 
 of the "Christian Republic," under which 100,000 
 persons lived a Commimistic life for 150 years. lie 
 quoted the testimony of many writers, themselves 
 inimical to the Jesuits, to pro\e that the citizens of 
 their thirty Communistic towns enjoyed a prosperity 
 and happiness comparable with that of the inhabi- 
 tants of Bacon's "New Atlantis." Even Voltaire,
 
 30 THE PROMISED LAND 
 
 that arch-enemy of the Jesuits, described their 
 estabHshment in Paraguay as being " in some 
 respects the triumph of humanity." 
 
 When they learned that the wild Indians had 
 been brought into such a state of civilisation under 
 Communism, that they not only grew the raw 
 materials for textile fabrics but actually wove them 
 into garments, the pioneers felt that at least as much 
 could be accomplished by highly intelligent 
 Australians. And since the untutored Indians, in 
 their far inland wildernesses, could construct well- 
 built towns, surrounded by smiling fields, abound- 
 ing in every kind of produce, how much greater 
 things might be done by Anglo-Saxons within a few 
 miles of a railway, shops and civilisation generally. 
 
 It is interesting to note, in passing, how the 
 citizens of the "Christian Republic" dealt with 
 that perplexing problem of Socialism — "When all 
 are equal how will it be decided who is to be a dust- 
 man, and who a magistrate?" 
 
 " In each settlement there were two schools, the 
 one for the elements of letters, the other for the 
 dance and music," Chateaubriand* tells us, "As 
 soon as a child reached the age of seven, the priests 
 studied his character. If he seemed fitted to 
 mechanical employment they put him in one of the 
 settlement's workshops, and, in that, moreover to 
 which inclination directed him. He became a gold- 
 smith, gilder, watchmaker, etc. The young people 
 who preferred agriculture were enrolled among the 
 
 * " Genie du Christianisrae."
 
 GOD'S POSSESSION 31 
 
 labourers, and those who retained some of the love 
 of roaming characteristic of their old life followed 
 the herds. 
 
 "The ground was divided into several lots, and 
 each familv cultivated one of the lots for its needs. 
 There was also a public field, known as ' God's 
 possession.' The fruit of these communal lands 
 was destined to supplement bad harvests and main- 
 tain the widows, the orphans and the sick. 
 
 " The magistrates were named by the general 
 assemblage of citizens, but only from a list formed 
 by the missionaries. ... As suggested by Plato, 
 the missionaries used to set aside the children who 
 gave indication of genius in order to initiate them 
 into the arts and sciences; it was from this excellent 
 group that the priests, magistrates, and heroes of 
 the fatherland would one day emerge." 
 
 This nominal distinction of rank between mem- 
 bers of the community does not appear to have bred 
 ill-feeling since duties were assigned without dis- 
 tinction of person. " In all their duties the 
 missionaries took the lead," a Protestant* critic of 
 the Jesuits admits. " Nobles by birth and learned 
 men fresh from the universities of Europe, might 
 be seen acting as shepherds, masons, carpenters, 
 and carrying on all manner of common trades, for 
 the purpose of teaching and stimulating the natives, 
 who gazed with confused bewilderment at the 
 strange spectacle. The result of all these precau- 
 tions and efforts lo maintain a communit}' of goods 
 may be summed up in a few words. " The Indians 
 are poor, and yet lack nothing. They maintain 
 
 * Rev. M. Kaufmann, "Socialism and Communism."
 
 32 THE PROMISED LAND 
 
 among themselves perfect equality, which is the 
 strongest support of union and public tranquillity." 
 Many writers insist that the civilisation which 
 the Jesuits so successfully established was used 
 principally for their own gain, and that the bulk 
 of the goods produced were exported to enrich the 
 coffers of their militant order. If that were so it 
 merely proves that the wealth producing capabili- 
 ties of the community were even greater than 
 appeared on the surface, and that had there been no 
 such leakages the happy Paraguayans would have 
 been more prosperous still. Since it was possible 
 for the "priest-ridden savages" to do so well, it 
 seemed reasonable to suppose that the emancipated 
 " New Australians " — having thrown off all super- 
 stitious shackles — would do still better. 
 
 When they reached the magnificent property 
 known as the Lowry estate, which Dr. Lopez 
 proposed to put freely at their disposal, the pros- 
 pectors' last doubt vanished, and they at once 
 decided that this was the ideal site for Lane's 
 experiment. As the bona-fides, both of the pros- 
 pectors and of the Paraguayan Government has 
 been called in question, most unjustly, by critics 
 who know nothing of the country, it is worth while 
 noting that in an official report on "New Australia," 
 from the British Legation in Buenos Aires, the 
 concession is thus described* : — 
 
 " The settlement is situated on some risingf 
 ground and looks over a long stretch of pasture 
 
 * Foreign Office. Annual Series. No. 1357.
 
 CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT 33 
 
 land bounded by forest and dotted by clumps of 
 trees. There is something very English in the 
 landscape, and this is true of other parts of Para- 
 guay. It appeared to my companion and myself 
 that the Government had treated the association 
 very well, not only as regards the quantity, but as 
 regards the quality of the land conceded. The 
 association has secured 100 leagues (they have 
 already received the titles for 67 leagues) of what 
 I believe to be the best land in Paraguay. It is 
 well-watered and well-wooded, and in Paraguay 
 wherever there is forest the soil is very fertile, and 
 will grow almost anything. The pasture land is 
 also excellent and I was informed, on good 
 authority, that the district now occupied by the 
 association was requisitioned by the Dictator Lopez 
 during the Paraguayan war, for 50,000 head of 
 cattle — and met the demand." 
 
 The conditions of settlement were generous in the 
 extreme. The Government undertook : — (i) to 
 hand over to the New Australia Association, for 
 bona-fide settlement, one hundred* leagues of land, 
 free of all charges, including survey, stamps and 
 transfer fees; (2) to admit tools, furniture, clothes, 
 arms and ammunition, seeds and anything else the 
 immigrants chose to bring, or desired to import 
 later, for their own use, duty free ; (3) to give the 
 immigrants free railway transport for themselves 
 and their possessions to the nearest point of their 
 
 • Originally 40, but changed to 100 a few weeks later. The 
 Government actually spent 450,000 dollars in buying out squatters 
 so that the incomers might enjoy absolute proprietorship from 
 boundary to boundary of their vast estate.
 
 34 THE PROMISED LAND 
 
 concession ; (4) to grant local autonomy, with no 
 responsibility except to the Central Government. 
 In return the Association were only required to 
 establish 800 families upon the land, within four 
 years. 
 
 To this proposal the prospectors hastened to 
 agree and a legal document was drawn up embody- 
 ing its terms. After cabling the news to Australia 
 Leek and Walker remained to make arrangements 
 for receiving the first settlers, while Saunders 
 returned to Australia in the character of Joshua to 
 make the joyful announcement. " The land which 
 we passed through to search it, is an exceeding 
 good land." 
 
 The following are the principal clauses from the 
 prospectors' long and glowing report : — 
 
 " Paraguay has no sea-board. The capital, 
 Asuncion, is situated about 1000 miles from Buenos 
 Ayres, by river, in lat. 25. Its communication 
 with other countries is by rivers, the Paraguay and 
 the Parana. The Paraguay river is navigable to 
 Asuncion for vessels drawing 9ft. to loft., all the 
 year round, and for about 1000 miles further for 
 vessels drawing 6ft. all seasons of the year. There 
 are three regular steamship lines to Asuncion which 
 run w'eekly boats. Schooners sail right up the 
 river, as it is miles wide nearly all the way. 
 Enquiries made among many people show that 
 Paraguay, while sadly in need of land workers 
 since the war of '65, is not a disturbed country. 
 Its constitution has remained unchanged since 
 1870, there is universal suffrage, religious liberty 
 and an Elected Congress and President. It does
 
 A GLOWING REPORT 35 
 
 not have revolutions.* We cannot speak too well 
 of the manner in which all classes treated us. 
 Foreigners are protected by their nationality from 
 military conscription. 
 
 " The site selected and which has been secured 
 is situated about no miles from Asuncion, near a 
 place called Villa Rica, and within fifteen miles of 
 railway communication. It is on the Tebicuari 
 river which runs through it, passing under the 
 railway line, about twenty miles from Villa Rica 
 towards Asuncion. The river is a nice stream and 
 clear as crystal. It is navigable to our land by 
 boats or rafts, pushed by poles, while for export we 
 could hardly get better convenience, very useful 
 where there is a good deal of valuable timber. 
 We have thus rail and water to our door. Numerous 
 smaller streams whose water rims all the year 
 round, a fact somewhat strange to most Australians, 
 are on our land, affording any amount of constant 
 water power when required. 
 
 " No one that we have met questions the fertility 
 of the soil, and it is the best watered country that 
 we have ever seen. The high lands, or forest 
 lands, are generally of a red sandy or loamy 
 
 * In this respect, as in several others, the prospectors were 
 misinformed. Ju.st twelve months before they visited the country 
 there was a revolution, of which the following account appeared in 
 the Buenos Aires "Standard," of October 23rd, 1891:— "The 
 Paraguayan Revolution was not such a nursery affair as at first 
 supposed. There was a fight and several funerals after it. Most 
 of the defunct patriots appear to have been Majors, Colonels and 
 professional warriors generally. Colonels Osuna and Mino, and 
 Major Vera and Deputy Machain being killed."
 
 36 THE PROMISED LAND 
 
 description covered with heavy timber of different 
 kinds. There are many useful woods, mostly hard- 
 woods ; but there are some soft woods, also cedaf. 
 There is timber fit for anything. Our land is mostly 
 this timber land with red, loamy soil, though there 
 is some of it clear camp land. 
 
 " All foreigners agree that it is remarkably 
 healthy and that sickness is scarce. It is free from 
 fevers and such like diseases generally met with in 
 warm climates. There is a little malarial fever 
 sometimes among the native population in the low- 
 lying districts close to the big rivers. But this is 
 in a great measure due to the way in which they 
 live and to the lowness and dampness of the soil in 
 those localities. Villa Rica is said to be remark- 
 ably healthy. An Englishman, Dr. Botrill, who 
 is a London hospital physician of some repute and 
 who has lived there for some time owing to ill- 
 health, told us he considered it a remarkably 
 healthy place. 
 
 "The rainfall is better than it is in most coun- 
 tries, as they are never a whole month without rain 
 in Paraguay, and the heaviest rainfall is in the 
 summer, which is an advantage in a warm climate. 
 It is possible to raise crops of some kind during all 
 seasons of the year. 
 
 " The principal things grown are tobacco, sugar- 
 cane, cotton, maize, coffee, mandioca, grapes, 
 peaches, oranges, lemons and vegetables of all 
 descriptions. Tobacco is the principal article 
 exported at present, and grows splendidly. An 
 acre of tobacco is said to return ^'20. 
 
 " The disadvantages are not having a good local
 
 STARVATION niPOSSIBLE 37 
 
 market and the density of the timber on a greater 
 portion of the land which requires a lot of labour to 
 clear. Of these disadvantages the question of local 
 market, so important to the individual settlers, is 
 not of importance with our settlement methods. 
 Timber is in great demand in the Argentine, and 
 there is a very large saw mill at Villa Rica. There 
 is a certain market for various products in Buenos 
 Aires and Monte Video. The distance to London 
 by water is only twenty-six days from Asuncion, 
 much nearer than any part of Australasia. A 
 great deal of the timber cleared would be useful 
 and saleable at once. We will thus be sure of a 
 certain remuneration for the labour of clearing. 
 
 " Paraguay, like every other South American 
 country, is no good for those who work for wages. 
 For those who have land to work on for themselves, 
 however, it is good. You sometimes hear of a 
 family supporting itself, and keeping a cow on an 
 acre of land, but you seldom see it. Neither of us 
 ever did until we went to Paraguay. It is nothing 
 uncommon there. The great settlement advantage 
 is that from the beginning we can get fresh food, 
 fruit and vegetables close at hand until we grow our 
 own. We think that an acre cleared in Paraguay 
 will produce as much as two in most other countries. 
 We feel confident that with enough capital to land, 
 sufllcient tools and food to keep us say 18 months, 
 it will only be sheer laziness if we don't prosper. 
 And starvation is impossible." 
 
 2(38540
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR." 
 
 The publication of tliis report produced a profound 
 sensation in Australia. In spite of all that William 
 Lane had said and written about his emigration 
 project there had been a general feeling that he 
 would not really succeed in carrying it through ; in 
 fact it was believed by many that the New Australia 
 Co-operative Association was merely some new and 
 ingenious form of " land-swindle." But when it 
 was known that he had actually obtained a free 
 grant of nearly six hundred square miles of land 
 on which to found his settlement, public incredulity 
 gave way to consternation. 
 
 Long before this Lane had thoroughly prepared 
 his ground. Thousands of honest workers, who 
 were actually more prosperous than their "mates" 
 in other countries, had been hypnotised by a long 
 course of red-hot Socialism into thinking them- 
 selves unhappy martyrs to the capitalistic system. 
 In the same number of the New Australia Journal 
 which contained the prospectors' report he issued a 
 final manifesto and a strong appeal. 
 
 " Immense populations are being crowded into 
 the ugly streets of unhealthy towns, where they are 
 handy for the system. In the farming districts 
 men and women sweat their lives out for the mort- 
 gagee. In the West men live a peg lower than 
 blackfellows, without wives, without homes, with 
 
 38
 
 DEGRADING COMPETITION 39 
 
 Wttle but drinking and gambling to make a change 
 in their empty hves. The small shopkeepers, the 
 small employers, are little better off. And it is 
 so hard to live that we are all beinsf driven to do 
 mean and dishonourable things in order to sret an 
 advantage over some poor struggling fellow- 
 creature, who is striving to live as we are ourselves. 
 You know it is so. Every man knows it is so. 
 We are going to stop this hateful struggling, this 
 degrading competition, in New Australia." 
 
 Now that the opportunity was at hand to put in 
 practice the whole hot gospel of Socialism, Lane's 
 pen became more fiercely inspired than ever. 
 "Your Labour is a mere 'commodity,' your life- 
 blood must be sold as so much wood or wool," he 
 wrote. " Yet Labour alone produces wealth. 
 There can be no justice until Labour can work 
 without asking leave of any and without paying 
 profit to any. . . . This ownership which causes 
 misery and vice and poverty and wretchedness 
 unspeakable, all the social evils from which you 
 suffer and from which the world suffers, is a verit- 
 able sin. We have lived wickedly in taking part 
 in a system which is wicked and sinful, which is 
 brutish, not human, selfish not loving." 
 
 Lane had another motive in addition to securing 
 the mere material prosperity of those who accom- 
 panied him. He believed that the success of his 
 venture would pave the way at once to the realisa- 
 tion of " Socialism in our time." " Industrial 
 re-organization," he asserted, "must be pioneered 
 by those who know it to be possible before faith 
 and hope can come to the millions who are really
 
 40 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR" 
 
 groping- blindly in the dark. New Australia is 
 such a pioneering movement. Without injuring 
 any, without abandoning any principle, without 
 threatening violence, or preaching submission, it 
 will prove to the workers of the world the value of 
 working co-operatively, each for all and all for 
 each, under conditions which secure for everyone 
 the right to work and happiness in living. The 
 happiness of its members will excite the emulation 
 of the vast multitude whom no theories can reach; 
 its methods, tried and proved, will be a sure guide 
 for others to follow; and the influence of its example 
 will aid tremendously in the peaceful and orderly 
 settlement of the social problem which now 
 threatens civilisation with utter destruction." 
 
 The effect of this manifesto coupled with the 
 prospectors' report, was electrical. With passionate 
 eagerness thousands clamoured for a place in the 
 great exodus, convinced that worry, and want, and 
 social inequality would have no place in New 
 Australia. But many, like the young man in the 
 Scriptures, " went away sorrowful " when they 
 heard the financial conditions. Since equality 
 was the very essence of Lane's scheme it was 
 ordained that every man who joined must put into 
 the common treasury every penny he possessed. 
 Businesses, houses, land, all must be sold and the 
 proceeds handed over. As a mark of bona-fides 
 every male member on joining the Association was 
 required to pay down the sum of ^lo, which was 
 non-returnable, and before he could set sail from 
 Australia each man must make up his contribution 
 to a minimum of ;^6o. " We only fix a minimum
 
 TOUCHING CONFIDENCE 41 
 
 from a necessity, so that there may be no danger of 
 failure, and all in the settlement must start on the 
 same footing. If any man who wishes to join has 
 more he must throw in all he has. We do not want 
 anybody who does not feel ready to go ' mates ' 
 with everybody else that joins. Women are not 
 required to pay anything." 
 
 Of course there were many who wished to join the 
 New Australia movement who did not possess so 
 much as sixty pounds. But it was pointed out to 
 them that they need not leave with the first party : 
 " Those who cannot join at once will have a motive 
 for saving by joining, will be encouraged to make 
 a long pull by the knowledge that their comrades 
 are at work, building up the settlement and waiting 
 to greet them when they come." The touching 
 confidence in his leadership which the bushmen 
 displayed affected Lane himself to strong emotion : 
 
 " It brings tears to my eyes," he once wrote to a 
 friend,* " to see how my bushmen trust me, how 
 they hand me over their hard earned money without 
 a doubt or question as to the use I make of it. I 
 would rather die than betray such trust." 
 
 Certainly nothing was further from Lane's mind, 
 for he was personally the soul of honour. But 
 what a responsibility to undertake ! Did it never 
 occur to him, that, just possibly his theories were 
 wrong, that there might be some small error in his 
 calculations ? Apparently not, for he let people 
 sell up their homes without a protest. Having 
 proved his own belief in the movement by throwing 
 in the £1000 he had saved during many years of 
 
 •"Westminster Review," vol. cxI, p. 530..
 
 42 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR" 
 
 arduous labour, it did not trouble him in the 
 slightest when business men sold their shops for a 
 song and selectors abandoned their improvements 
 — fruits of the toil of years — to follow him. 
 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the move- 
 ment w^as that it was by no means confined to the 
 poorest class of worker. Several tradesmen contri- 
 buted from ^'400 to ^1500 in cheerful confidence 
 that they sustained no loss, since within a few years 
 every member of the Socialist band would be 
 rich, in happiness and material comfort, beyond 
 the dreams of avarice. 
 
 Of course the Australian Press was not silent 
 about the folly of the undertaking. All, save the 
 Socialist journals, joined in denouncing it as mad- 
 ness. Although it was one of the principles of the 
 Association to recognise marriage, some realised 
 only too well the fact that Socialism and conven- 
 tional morality are absolutely incompatible. " I 
 would rather see my daughter or sister take a leap 
 off the North Head than have her join this party," 
 one far-sighted correspondent wrote to the Sydney 
 Daily Telegraph. " Little do they imagine the 
 sorrow in store for them and I hope that it may not 
 yet be too late to interfere to save them from their 
 fate." 
 
 But it was too late. " New Australia " had 
 caught on, not with the scum of the slums of whom 
 the cities would have been well rid, but with the 
 pick of the w'orking men of Queensland and New- 
 South Wales. " There is no denying the fact that 
 the New Australia movement is calling from the 
 ranks of Australian labour many of its best and
 
 EMPTY PATRIOTISM 43 
 
 most worthy representatives," said tiie Sydney 
 Daily Telegraph sorrowfully. 
 
 When the seriousness of the situation was real- 
 ised, when it was known that thousands were 
 prepared to follow provided that the first contingent 
 "made good" and reported favourably upon the 
 settlement, a strong appeal was made to the 
 patriotism of the men in the movement. It was 
 suggested that the Government should assign some 
 choice territory in Australia for the great experi- 
 ment in Socialism rather than that so many sturdy 
 citizens should desert the country. But Lane made 
 short work of such objections; like other honest 
 Socialists he pointed out that Socialism and 
 patriotism have nothing at all in common. 
 
 " What is one country more than another to the 
 man whose whole life is one of toil and poverty, 
 and what does Australia do more than England 
 does, or any other countries do, for the workers?" 
 he demanded in the New Australia Journal. "The 
 Labour movement is world-wide. It is not a local 
 question nor a national question, but a life question. 
 If the workers have not yet learnt this they will 
 simply suffer more until they learn it, perhaps too 
 late. It is here, as everywhere else, the landless 
 have no rights, the poor have no country except in 
 name. In this New Australia movement we 
 exchange empty patriotism to a country in which 
 we have no share, for the solid possession of a great 
 tract of good land, secured under terms wdiich could 
 not possibly be secured here. On this land we can 
 build the settlement we seek, can exert our Labour 
 as will satisfy our needs, can produce not only food
 
 44 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR" 
 
 and clothing and buildings, but articles to export 
 in exchange for what we must import, can have 
 plenty and be happy, and teach the world a lesson. 
 It is our opportunity. Are we not to take it ? 
 Shall a great movement drop because some are still 
 foolish enough to mistake the real needs of 
 Labour ?" 
 
 The money rolled in so fast that it was necessary 
 to establish a company to take legal control of it. 
 For form's sake "The New Australia Co-operative 
 Colonisation Society " was duly registered as a 
 company, with a capital of ;^20,ooo in ;^io shares, 
 on which, however, it was stipulated that no interest 
 should be paid. (See Appendix B for Articles of 
 Association.) The directors were so convinced 
 that the movement would be a permanent thing that 
 they would not hear of chartering a ship to take the 
 first party to South America. In " Freeland," 
 Dr. Hertzka represents his ideal community as 
 requiring its own fleet of noble steamers to bring 
 the constant stream of recruits from the effete old 
 capitalistic countries ; the New Australians aimed 
 at following that plan, and, to begin with, paid 
 ;^i200 for a sailing ship, of 600 tons, the " Royal 
 Tar." By many members of the Association it 
 was considered an ill-omened thing to embark in a 
 boat with the words " Royal " as part of its name; 
 they were extremely anxious to re-christen it, in 
 fact : but it was found that there would be many 
 formalities to be complied with and they decided to 
 let the name remain. 
 
 In connection with the "Royal Tar's" first 
 voyage there was so much friction between the
 
 VEXATIOUS DELAY 45 
 
 leaders of the movement and the authorities, that 
 the boat was delayed for two months after its 
 advertised sailing date, during which time the 
 passengers, having sold their homes, were com- 
 pelled to remain on shore at the expense of the 
 Association. To this day many New Australians 
 assert that the vexatious delay was deliberately 
 planned by the Government to damage the move- 
 ment, but the fact was that the shipping officials 
 were anxious that nothing should be left undone to 
 safeguard the emigrants' lives. The first delay 
 was due to an intimation that the barque would not 
 be allowed to sail until she had been fitted with a 
 new mainmast, new cable and anchor, and three 
 large new boats ; the second was caused by the 
 discovery that the vessel had been provisioned for 
 little more than the bare time the voyage was 
 expected to take — the authorities naturally enough 
 insisting that sufficient stores should be shipped to 
 last, if necessary, for 130 days; the third was 
 occasioned by the fact that the vessel had not paid 
 its harbour dues — an exaction insisted on strictly 
 ir advance in the case of Socialists ! 
 
 At last, however, all formalities were complied 
 with and the boat was ready to sail. On the eve 
 of its departure a great farewell demonstration was 
 held at Sydney at which the speakers were Members 
 of Parliament and prominent Labour leaders. 
 There was something ominous in the w'ords " for 
 the present " on which emphasis was laid in the 
 following official resolution, passed with acclama- 
 tion by the assembly : 
 
 " That this meeting of New South Wales citizens
 
 46 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR'* 
 
 whilst deeply regretting the loss to Australia of so 
 many co-workers in the cause of reform, believes that 
 the efforts of the New Australia pioneers to estab- 
 lish in another land a co-operative settlement in 
 which there shall be work for all and overwork for 
 none, and where every man and woman shall have 
 the liberty to live under fair conditions, will prove 
 eminently successful and of great future benefit to 
 those who are compelled for the present to remain 
 in Old Australia : and further desires to express its 
 indignation at the action of the authorities in 
 impeding the departure of peaceful Australian 
 people." 
 
 In their enthusiasm the local organisers in each 
 district refused to allow their followers to take with 
 them any but the most essential personal posses- 
 sions. The men sold their saddles and the women 
 their sewing-machines, things which would have 
 been invaluable in their new homes. Everything 
 was sacrificed for what it would fetch, and the 
 money put into the common fund. The keynote of 
 the movement was faith in one's fellow man, but, 
 as in the case Ananias and Sapphira, there were 
 some who betrayed the trust reposed in them, and 
 " kept back part of the price." Long before the 
 boat was permitted to sail contingents from Queens- 
 land, South Australia, and Tasmania reached 
 Sydney, where they had to camp in the open for 
 weeks. When at last they were permitted to go on 
 board the scene was of the most remarkable 
 description, a long stream of pilgrims wending 
 their way to the ship, carrying all their worldly 
 possessions upon their shoulders. Among other
 
 THE EMBARKATION 47 
 
 strange things embarked was a steam hammer, 
 which one of the enthusiasts felt sure would be 
 useful in the primaeval forest! "There were men 
 and women and children," wrote a lively journalist, 
 "boxes, portmanteaux, and tins; men struggled 
 along the road with massive domestic cargoes on 
 their shoulders, women struggled with their infants, 
 and the infants struggled with each other." 
 
 Some may have felt misgivings when the final 
 moment of departure came but not so William 
 Lane. His faith in the triumph of his cause never 
 wavered. 
 
 "What do we expect ?" he wrote. "This : — for 
 every man the right to work, to every man friend- 
 ship and justice, for every man and woman a fair 
 share of the result of common work, for each and all 
 the opportunity to marry and have comfortable 
 homes and to live without fear and to fill life with 
 the pleasures and joys that can be for each where 
 all are content to labour honestly, for the children 
 the healthy rearing which is every child's right. 
 That is what we expect, and what we can be sure of, 
 for Labour never fails to produce plenty where it is 
 able to work, and the labourers are only struggling 
 and poverty-stricken where conditions block Labour 
 and deprive the worker of the fruit of his 
 labouring." 
 
 The hopes of all on board were high as the vessel 
 set sail from Sydney, though some of the women 
 gazed back wistfully at the shore ... for it is no 
 light thing to tear up old associations by the roots 
 and to say "Farewell for ever I " to the land of 
 one's birth. However, each endeavoured to sup-
 
 48 SAILING OF THE "ROYAL TAR" 
 
 press any outward sign of such regrets, for were 
 they not about to take part in a fuller, freer life, a 
 hundred times happier than any they had hitherto 
 experienced ? Were they not about to teach the 
 world a lesson ?
 
 CHAPTER V . 
 
 A MATTER OF MORALS. 
 
 Socialists are not fond of talking about New- 
 Australia, but when they do its distressing failure 
 is accounted for by asserting either (i) that the 
 country to which Lane's party migrated w^as unsuit- 
 able for white men to settle in, or (2) that the party 
 itself was made up of visionaries and work-shy 
 individuals without the necessary energy and 
 experience for pioneering. The first of these state- 
 ments is confuted in advance by the testimony of 
 the experienced prospectors themselves, and by the 
 fact that other Britishers and Germans live healthily 
 and are doing very well in Paraguay ; to dispose of 
 the second it is only necessary to quote from the 
 Sydney Bulletin* — a journal w'hich was utterly 
 opposed to the movement and tried hard to dissuade 
 the public from joining it — the follow'ing unsolicited 
 testimonial : — 
 
 "The New Australian contingent contains the 
 best material for such an experiment the world 
 could furnish, perhaps. The work that lies in front 
 of them provided they are allowed to go scjuarely 
 at it, and it proves to be worth doing, is just the 
 sort they have been used to. There are few town- 
 dwellers among the first batch, and the majority of 
 those who are now rolling their swags in Queens- 
 land and South Australia with a view to the second, 
 
 •July 22nd, 1893. 
 
 49
 
 50 A MATTER OF MORALS 
 
 are of the bush. They have been trained in the 
 tasks of settlement. Tank-sinkers, sliearers, bush- 
 carpenters, station-hands, with artisans used to the 
 rough-and-tumble life of Australia will not be easily 
 knocked out." 
 
 If picked men such as these, under an absolutely 
 honest leader, failed to "make good" in their 
 attempt it is quite evident that the general public, 
 including the unskilled and incompetent, would 
 make a far worse hash of a similar experiment. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which 
 the party commenced to lead the ideal life. Since 
 social inequality was swept away there was not a 
 "Mister" on board the "Royal Tar"; everyone 
 was "Jack," "Tom" and "Charlie," or "Nell," 
 "Mary" and "Sue." An urchin of ten was 
 entitled to address William Lane as " Billy," 
 though the leader of the movement was more gener- 
 ally referred to as " King Billy." 
 
 A good opportunity for the display of brotherly 
 feeling was afforded when the berths came to be 
 allotted. A vessel of less than 600 tons provided 
 remarkably little cabin accommodation for nearly 
 250 persons, among whom there were 60 single 
 men, and a number of single girls, in addition to the 
 "grass widowers," married couples and children. 
 Those who had seen the tiny ship in Sydney 
 Harbour were puzzled to know how so many 
 persons could be stowed inside her, unless they were 
 stacked like cargo, or chained in densely packed 
 rows as in the bad old days of the slave trade. But 
 there were a number of bush carpenters among the 
 pioneers, who had exercised their skill in turning
 
 LANE'S EXAMPLE 5^ 
 
 every inch of the deep hold to full account. In the 
 forecastle triple tiers of berths ran round the bulk- 
 heads to accommodate the single men, the inter- 
 vening space being filled with tables which could 
 be ha\iled out of the way overhead when not 
 required. In the ship's waist the married couples 
 and children were so closely packed that the 
 Sydney Telegraph remarked: — 
 
 "" 'Tween decks where the emigrants will live, 
 and eat and sleep, and have their two months' being 
 are simply a mass of plain deal. Apart from the 
 curtains to the cabins of the married women and 
 the single girls, the place is destitute of those 
 accessories which add to the pleasures of life. It is 
 a wilderness of bare boards with no entrance for the 
 sun's rays except what may be afforded by the dead- 
 lights. Indeed a voyage in the "Royal Tar" in 
 dirty weather round Cape Horn would be calculated 
 to drive anyone but an enthusiast to the verge of 
 gibbering lunacy." 
 
 There was very little comfort on board the 
 " Royal Tar," except in the after deck cabin where 
 Captain Logan and his wife and daughter resided. 
 Lane set an example of unselfishness by choosing 
 for his own use one of the smallest and worst placed 
 cabins on the boat, and most of his flock good- 
 temperedly accepted the positions allotted to them, 
 though it was arranged that lots should be drawn 
 to settle who should have the best places if any 
 dispute arose. For the first few days, however, till 
 the party had found their sea-legs in fact, all was 
 perfect peace. Such was the anxiety to be good 
 Socialists that there was keen competition for the
 
 52 A MATTER OF MORALS 
 
 privilege of undertaking the most menial tasks. 
 William Lane himself took his turn in the cook's 
 galley at peeling potatoes. There was not work 
 enough to go round; all were so eager to undertake 
 it. As every old traveller knows there are few 
 more trying things on board ship than squalling 
 infants; in the "Royal Tar's" packed interior 
 such sounds were peculiarly distracting but even 
 the confirmed bachelor "comrades" at first pre- 
 tended to like it. At least a dozen people were 
 always willing to take the naughty child from its 
 harassed mother's hands. 
 
 Unhappily, however, this beautiful spirit did not 
 last long. Though all were theoretically equal it 
 was found absolutely necessary that some should 
 give, while others should receive, orders. Though 
 all were entitled to an equal voice in the Asso- 
 ciation's affairs it was not considered practicable 
 to navigate the ship by vote of the majority ! Just 
 as the experienced skipper claimed the right of 
 dictating to everybody on matters which concerned 
 the safety of the ship, so Lane insisted on caring 
 for its morals. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Now this question of morals is one about which 
 modern Socialist writers are most wary in admitting 
 their principles. In the old days "Free Love" 
 was boldly proclaimed as an essential condition of 
 Socialism, but nowadays, to avoid scaring off the 
 timid semi-converts — the Christian Socialists and 
 so on — great care is taken to relegate this phase of 
 Socialism to the background. As Mr. H. G.
 
 FREE LOVE 53 
 
 Wells* confesses, so far as English and American 
 Socialism is concerned, the assault on the family 
 " has displayed a quite extraordinary instinct for 
 taking cover." Nevertheless that assault upon the 
 family is as true to-day as ever; the chief difference 
 between the views of modern Socialists like Mr. 
 H. G. Wells, and those of the " Palc-eo-Socialists "" 
 (as he describes Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft^ 
 Shelley and Harriet, and even Mr. Belfort Bax) 
 appears to be that the former qualifies the proposals 
 of the latter on the subject of " Free Love " by a 
 system of State eugenics. 
 
 English Socialists to-day still stand where their 
 Continental brethren stood when the Socialist 
 Alliance of Geneva resolved; "The Alliance 
 declares itself atheist, it demands the abolition of 
 all worship, the substitution of science for faith, 
 and of Divine justice for human justice, the aboli- 
 tion of marriage so far as it is a political, religious, 
 judicial, or civil institution." 
 
 Mr. Belfort Bax points out the logic of the posi- 
 tion in his " Ethics of Socialism" : "The present 
 marriage system is bound up in the general sup- 
 position of the economic dependence of the woman 
 on the man, and the consequent necessity for his 
 making provision for her, which she can legally 
 enforce. This basis would disappear with the 
 advent of Social economic freedom, and no binding 
 contract would be necessary between the parties as 
 regards livelihood, while property in children would 
 cease to exist." 
 
 Again, in " Socialism," by William Morris and 
 * " Socialism and the Family," p. 30. 
 
 E
 
 54 A MATTER OF MORALS 
 
 Belfort Bax, we find, " Marriage is to give place to 
 kindly and human relations between the sexes." 
 
 It is interesting to note with what heat leading 
 Socialist writers deny that they are tainted with 
 views similar to those stated above. In " Socialism 
 and the Family," pp. 44 and 45, Mr. H. G. Wells 
 professes himself hotly indignant that the Daily 
 Express should suggest that he and others were 
 involved " in teaching Free Love to respectable 
 working men." What then does he teach? On 
 pp. 29 and 30 of the very work which contains that 
 indignant denial, he says: — 
 
 " Socialism involves the responsible citizenship 
 of women, their economic independence of men and 
 all the personal freedom that follows that, it inter- 
 venes between the children and the parents, claim- 
 ing to support them, protect them, and educate them 
 for its own ampler purposes. Socialism in fact is 
 the State family. The old family of the private 
 individual must vanish before it, just as the old 
 water works of private enterprise, or the old gas 
 company. They are incompatible with it." 
 
 When some critic suggested that he desired to 
 reduce humanity to the condition of a stud farm, 
 Mr. Wells complained bitterly of that individual's 
 " thick-headedness " and strove to remove the bad 
 impression by declaring that Socialism would insist 
 on marriage " under conditions." But in the 
 following passage he makes it clear that, by 
 " marriage " he means a good deal less than the 
 binding tie which all save savage races now insist 
 upon. "Socialism does not present any theory 
 whatever about the duration of marriage. . . . The
 
 A NIGHTMARE SOCIETY 55 
 
 State is not urgently concerned with these ques- 
 tions. So long as a marriage contract provides for 
 the health and sanity of the contracting parties, 
 and for their proper behaviour so far as their off- 
 spring need it, the demands of the Communit}^ as 
 the guardian of the children, are satisfied. That 
 certainlv would be the minimum marriage, the 
 State marriage, and I, for my own part, would exact 
 nothing more in the legal contract. But a number 
 of more representative Socialists than I are for a 
 legally compulsory life marriage. Some — but they 
 are mostly of the older, less definite, Social Demo- 
 cratic teaching — are for a looser tie."* 
 
 But "the older, less definite, Social Democratic 
 teaching" makes a far more popular appeal to the 
 masses, whose votes will control the Socialistic 
 State, than anv other version of the "creed." If 
 so refined a man as Mr. H. G. Wells asks no more 
 than that legal unions shall endure until the child- 
 ren are just old enough for the State " to intervene 
 and support them," is it not certain that the 
 unrefined mob will demand still less? Is it not fair 
 to assume that the loosest form of the " looser tie " 
 will be the maximum enforced in his nightmare 
 society ? 
 
 The plain truth is that, as clearly stated in 
 " Socialism," by William Morris and Belfort Bax, 
 " Under a Socialistic system contracts between 
 individuals could be free and unforced by the 
 Community. This would apply to the marriage 
 contract as well as others, and it would become a 
 matter of simple inclination. . . . Nor would a 
 
 * " New Worlds for Old," pp. 134 and 135.
 
 S6 A MATTER OF MORALS 
 
 truly enlightened public opinion freed from mere 
 theological views as to chastity insist on the per- 
 manently binding nature." 
 
 ***** 
 
 This matter of morals was bound to cause 
 William Lane acute anxiety, since he was aware 
 that previous attempts to realise the Socialist dream 
 of an ideal State had broken down from this very 
 cause. Though the leading Socialists agree that 
 marriage is a ridiculous institution, as husband and 
 father Lane personally had the greatest respect for 
 it. But he had no guarantee that the sixty 
 bachelors in his party shared this sentiment. Was 
 it not probable that, together with the Socialist 
 creed he had himself disseminated, they had 
 imbibed the logical notion that "communism of 
 goods leads as a necessary consequence to com- 
 munism of wives, children and parents?" 
 
 Though he had provided for communism of 
 goods and communism of children Lane was deter- 
 mined to preserve the conventional relations 
 between the sexes and had framed a regulation to 
 that effect. It therefore gave him some anxiety 
 when he discovered a tendency among some of his 
 followers to relieve the tedium of the voyage by a 
 little harmless flirtation. He feared in fact that it 
 might be said of his experiment as it was of Brook 
 Farm; "They did not seek to interfere with 
 marriage, nay, they guarded that holy state with 
 reverence, yet the spirit of fraternal association was 
 found to weave itself, with infinite subtleties, into 
 the most tender relations of man and woman. Fear 
 came into the common dwelling."
 
 A FATAL ERROR 57 
 
 One of the first dissensions arose from the 
 women's objection to remain in the stuffy atmo- 
 sphere of the holds, below the water line, from sunset 
 till sunrise. It was not much fun for either sex to 
 spend many hours cooped up in the dim light 
 provided by a smoking hurricane lamp, and, in 
 consequence, many elected to spend the greater part 
 of the night on deck, discussing the beautiful 
 principles of Socialism with some kindred spirit 
 under the open vault of heaven. If that kindred 
 spirit happened to be of the opposite sex, there 
 could be no logical objection, since sex equality 
 under Socialism implies the permissibility of the 
 warmest comradeship between any man or woman 
 in spite of the fact that either or both may happen 
 to be married. 
 
 This was a question, however, about which Lane 
 did not profess to be logical. He only believed in 
 liberty, equality and fraternity within certain limits 
 and so issued a decree forbidding members of the 
 gentler sex henceforth to appear on deck after 
 sunset. 
 
 That was a fatal error ! On the first night when 
 it was put in force the ladies held an indignation 
 meeting, and many of the most straight laced among 
 them agreed that it was an intolerable insult, as 
 well as an unwarrantable act of tyranny to coop 
 them up in such a fashion. Worse still, it was 
 discovered that William Lane, while taking counsel 
 with certain of the married women, had not con- 
 sulted any maiden ladies before issuing his decree, 
 although several of the latter were full fledged 
 members of the Association in their own right.
 
 S8 A MATTER OF MORALS 
 
 Breaking out into active rebellion they stormed the 
 hatchway and reminded their leader that they had 
 an equal say with him in the conduct of affairs, and 
 had as much right to order him to his cabin as he 
 had to order them. 
 
 One indignant young lady, stepping over to the 
 notice board, tore down William Lane's notice 
 before his face and danced upon it. Just to assert 
 their rights, some of the married women openly 
 incited the younger girls to disobey, and a number 
 made a point at once of spending the greater part 
 of the night on deck in future, to prove their 
 independence. As a matter of fact, however, the 
 ladies were quite mistaken in supposing that they 
 had yet any right to a voice in the control of things. 
 Before leaving Australia Lane had arranged that 
 the " Constitution " was suspended, and that he 
 was to act (in association with three staunch hench- 
 men on whose support he could rely) as Director 
 for the first two years, with power to dictate internal 
 arrangements. It is true that a two-thirds majority 
 vote could displace him, but, as he held proxies for 
 all members of the Association still in Australia, his 
 single vote constituted a majority. 
 
 But it is one thing to possess nominal power and 
 quite another to be able to enforce it. When 
 William Lane's authority was flouted a general 
 meeting was called to decide: "whether the 
 authority of the Chairman shall be respected?" 
 Unfortunately Lane was too seasick to attend, and 
 so, unswayed by his personal influence, the 
 majority passed a resolution declaring that he was 
 not to be obeyed ! To this William Lane retorted
 
 AN ABSOLUTE DICTATOR 59 
 
 by resigning office, whereupon even his bitterest 
 opponents realised that they had gone too far and a 
 second general meeting passed a resolution request- 
 ing him to reconsider his decision. Finally 
 William Lane called a third general meeting and 
 played so well upon the emotions of his erring flock 
 that they passed a vole of confidence in his rule 
 without a single dissentient. The net result of the 
 whole affair was simply to contirm William Lane in 
 his authority as an absolute dictator.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING? 
 
 To many of the pioneers it came as something of a 
 shock to reahze that they were to be subject to a 
 benevolent despotism, until such time as the second 
 contingent arrived at New Australia, and a quite 
 unreasonable feeling sprang up that Lane had got 
 the better of them — unreasonable because they were 
 supposed fully to understand the arrangement 
 before embarking. But it is a curious trait of the 
 Socialist rank and file that they are quite willing 
 blindly to accept the promises of their leaders 
 without wanting to know, in detail, how much 
 individual liberty will be sacrificed in the process of 
 carrying them out. 
 
 Before the voyage was half over an awkward split 
 had occurred in the ranks, and the LTtopian party 
 were sharply divided into two factions — those who 
 believed in Lane and were prepared to support him 
 through thick and thin, and those who were already 
 more or less dissatisfied with his leadership. The 
 latter section soon got into such a state of mind that 
 they were prepared to believe themselves slighted 
 and victimised whenever the shadow of an excuse 
 arose. A good opportunity to feel aggrieved was 
 presented when Lane took stock of his resources 
 and began to apportion tasks among his followers. 
 
 W^hile on his recruiting mission in Australia 
 Lane once explained; "At New Australia a man 
 
 60
 
 WHEN ALL ARE EQUAL 6i 
 
 may produce a loaf of bread or a painting, but 
 there Avill be no difference in the remuneration of 
 his labour." 
 
 "Yes," interrupted a practical minded inquirer, 
 " but who is to do the washing up?" 
 
 * * * * -x- 
 
 Now this question " Who is to do the washing 
 up?" is another of those practical problems which 
 Socialist theorists exercise a good deal of ingenuity 
 in avoiding. 
 
 In " Merrie England" j\Ir. Robert Blatchford 
 devotes a portion of Chapter XXIV to some clever 
 circumlocution round and about the query "Under 
 Socialism: Who will do the disagreeable work? 
 Who will do the scavenging?" 
 
 " We have heard a good deal of more or less 
 clumsy ridicule at the expense of the Socialist," he 
 says. " We have heard learned and practical men 
 laugh them to scorn ; we have seen their claims 
 and their desires and their theories held up to 
 derision. But can anyone imagine a sight more 
 contemptible or more preposterous than that of a 
 civilised and wealthy nation coming to a halt in its 
 march of progress for fear of disturbing the minds 
 of the scavengers?" 
 
 It will not be the scavengers alone, how^ever, but 
 the "under dogs" in every calling — at least one 
 hundred times as numerous as the "top dogs" — 
 who will cry "Halt!" when jobs come to be 
 distributed. When all are equal and all clamour 
 to be artists, or inventors, or managers, or, at the 
 very least, foremen, how \\ill ihe difficulty be met? 
 In his section on the subject Mr. Blatchford calls
 
 62 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGLXG? 
 
 on the shades of Cromwell, of Langton, of Wash- 
 ington, and of Hampden; he ridicules the noble 
 lords of the British Parliament ; he compares the 
 Conservative to Mrs. Partington with her mop, but 
 he does not answer his own question. Instead he 
 refers the reader back to an earlier chapter, and to 
 Mrs. Besant's paper on "The Organisation of 
 Society."* 
 
 Dealing with the latter first, the reader finds that 
 Mrs. Besant merely re-states the problem as 
 follows, "There are unpleasant and indispensable 
 forms of labour which one would imagine, can 
 attract none — mining, sewer-cleaning, etc. These 
 might be rendered more attractive by making the 
 hours of labour in them much shorter than the 
 normal working day of pleasanter occupations. . . . 
 
 " Further, much of the most disagreeable and 
 laborious work might be done by machinery, as it 
 would be now if it were not cheaper to exploit a 
 helot class. When it became illegal to send small 
 boys up chimneys, chimneys did not cease to be 
 swept, a machine was invented for sweeping them." 
 
 Quite so, but for the present there are numerous 
 unpleasant tasks which must be performed by 
 manual labour; who will do them now? It is not 
 courageous of Mr.Blatchfprd to hide behind a lady, 
 whose not very practical argument reminds one of 
 Dr. Johnson's suggestion to the weary postman 
 who had still two miles to walk to deliver a single 
 letter (" Why don't you put a stamp on it and post 
 it?" enquired the doctor). 
 
 " For an answer to this question I must refer you 
 
 * Fabian Essays.
 
 AN UNANSWERED QUESTION 63 
 
 back to my chapter on ' Socialism and Slavery,' " 
 says Mr. Blatchford. 
 
 Referring back, the reader finds Herbert Spencer 
 attacked for describing Socialism as " The Coming 
 Slavery." " Mr. Spencer's idea appears to be 
 that under Socialism the State would compel men 
 to work against their will, or to work at occupations 
 uncongenial to them," Mr. Blatchford complains. 
 "This is a mistake. The State would not compel 
 any man to work. It would only enable all men to 
 work and to live in peace and comfort by their 
 labour." Next he attacks Ingersoll for saying, 
 " Socialism destroys the family and sacrifices the 
 liberties of all. If the Government is to provide 
 work it must decide for the worker what he must 
 do, etc. Is it possible to conceive of a despotism 
 beyond this? The human race cannot afford to 
 exchange its liberty for any possible comfort." 
 
 Mr. Blatchford, after roundly abusing both critics, 
 defiantly asserts, " When the State found work it 
 would not decide what each man must do." 
 
 " You will ask me how a Socialist State would 
 apportion the work," the author of " Merrie 
 England " continues, " I ask you how the work is 
 apportioned now?" 
 
 It is a time-honoured debating trick to put off one 
 awkward question by propounding another. In 
 that device Mr. Blatchford takes refuge here, and 
 devotes five pages of close print to abuse of present 
 conditions, without shedding the least light upon 
 the nature of his proposed remedy. The question 
 " Under Socialism, who would do the unpleasant 
 work?" remains unanswered still.
 
 64 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING? 
 
 In "New Worlds for Old" Mr. H. G. Wells 
 sets himself a similar poser, " How will you 
 Socialists get the right man in the right place for 
 the work that has to be done ? How will you 
 arrange promotion ? How will you determine who 
 is to engage in Historical research in the Bodleian, 
 and who is to go out seaward in November and 
 catch mackerel?" The question is admirably 
 stated, and the earnest inquirer looks for a direct 
 answer from a writer who is habitually frank. He 
 is, however, once more disappointed. "Through- 
 out the rest of this book I hope that the reader will 
 be able to see growing together in this aspect and 
 then in that, in this and that suggestion, the com- 
 plex solution of this complex system of difficulties," 
 says Mr. Wells. 
 
 Then, like the rest, he darts away at a tangent. 
 The most expert solver of Baconian ciphers might 
 search the succeeding 244 pages in vain for the 
 slightest clue to Mr. Wells' " complex solution." 
 Like all the theorists Mr. Wells fails utterly to 
 explain how the commonest of the practical pro- 
 blems of everyday life will be grappled with under 
 Socialism. 
 
 Yet the solution is by no means so complex as 
 Mr. Wells asserts. In fact the answer is so simple 
 that a child can understand it : — 
 
 "In the Socialist State the friends of the adininis- 
 tration xvill get the pleasant jobs and their critics 
 will be set to do the scavenging." 
 
 ***** 
 As a matter of fact that precise question, " Who
 
 APPOINTING FOREMEN 65 
 
 is to do the washing up?" had already caused a 
 certain amount of feeling among the men and 
 women on the "Royal Tar." Of course there were 
 no regular stewards, and the task of waiting upon 
 and washing up after the 250 persons who sat down 
 at meals had to be apportioned by rota. But what 
 if one day's " washers-up " did not " feel up to the 
 mark," or "refused to work beside that woman 
 Susan "? What if the member of the "Shearers' 
 Union " whose turn it was to scrub decks protested 
 that it was not his trade ? Trivial questions, 
 perhaps, but infinitely harder of amicable solution 
 than much bigger ones ! 
 
 Before the pioneers reached South America it was 
 necessary to appoint foremen for each department 
 of activity in which they would engage on their 
 arrival, and also to assign to each of these the group 
 of men who were to work under him. Before 
 sailing it had been arranged that such matters of 
 detail would be adjusted by mutual agreement. 
 Nobody foresaw how unlikely it was that an 
 individual, who was quite famous on the Downs as 
 a crack shearer, would consent to be anything less 
 than a foreman, although there would be no 
 shearing to be done at New Australia, and he was 
 quite without experience of any other occupation. 
 Then again, before any progress could be made 
 with agriculture big clearings would require to be 
 made in the primaeval forest — but there were no 
 members of a "Tree-fellers' Union" aboard; to 
 whom should this excessively hard work be allotted? 
 Who, on the other hand, would be lucky enough 
 to secure such light labour as the secretarial work
 
 66 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING? 
 
 should prove at first ? And which of the women 
 would have to turn laundress for the benefit of the 
 sixty bachelors on board ? 
 
 Those who imagined that such questions as these 
 could be settled in an amicable fashion, without 
 invoking the arbitrary authority of the director were 
 sadly undeceived. Ultimately, of course, the matter 
 was temporarily decided, and a list drawn up 
 assigning the roundest possible pegs to the squarest 
 holes and vice-versa, with the inevitable result that 
 fully one-third of the Utopians nursed in their 
 breasts a conviction that they were being unjustly 
 treated. 
 
 " No matter what was proposed by this com- 
 mittee, or, for that matter, by any committee," 
 Mrs. William Lane herself complained, "a large 
 section of the members were sure to flout it with a 
 long string of captious objections." 
 
 The mere statement of two distinct types of griev- 
 ance will show that Solomon himself could not have 
 given universal satisfaction under such conditions, 
 (i) As responsible head of the organisation William 
 Lane could not possibly appoint as his chief fore- 
 men individuals who were in open rebellion against 
 him. Yet if those rebels happened to be particu- 
 larly competent men how could they fail to believe 
 that they were being victimised? (2) Though all 
 were theoretically equal, it would have been contrary 
 to human nature if the few who had contributed 
 large sums to the common fund had not felt that 
 the Association was in their debt, and that thev had 
 a special right to "soft jobs " and a share in the 
 administration. But — to say nothing of the fact
 
 ACUTE DISSENSION 67 
 
 that ex-shopkeepers are of less use than ex-navvies 
 in such work as forest-clearing — it would have been 
 fatal to the movement for such undemocratic claims 
 to be conceded. Nevertheless, since human 
 nature is human nature, how could a business man 
 who had put in several hundred pounds fail to feel 
 aggrieved when he was instructed to form one of an 
 ordinary labouring gang, bossed by a brawny 
 artisan who had only contributed his bare minimum 
 to the enterprise ? 
 
 Quite apart from the causes of quarrel between a 
 section of the New Australians and their leader, 
 further acute dissension broke out among certain of 
 the Socialists themselves over this question of 
 contributions. In the agreement, which all signed 
 before they were admitted to membership, it was 
 laid down, " Every member of the Association, by 
 act of joining the Association agrees to subscribe 
 to the funds of the Association all he may possess 
 when he is finally enrolled," and most had honestly 
 adhered to this arrangement. But some days 
 before the "Royal Tar" had left Sydney the 
 folowing paragraph appeared in the Sydney Daily 
 Telegraph,* "It is stated there is one man among 
 the voyagers who has not staked everything on the 
 success of the new system, but has kept some landed 
 property he possesses in Brisbane as a stand-by in 
 case, at any time, he should want money to return 
 to Queensland." Naturallv those who saw this 
 statement felt incensed against the unknown 
 individual who " had kept back part of the price " 
 and as the voyage proceeded at least half a dozen 
 
 •July 11, 1893.
 
 68 WHO WILL DO THE SCAVENGING? 
 
 persons were accused of being the guilty party. 
 Though all hotly denied the accusation the 
 suspicion remained that a few of the Socialists 
 had not burnt their boats like the others, but had 
 merely moored them out of sight where they might 
 be useful for retreat if necessary. 
 
 Since the last-moment repairs, alterations, and 
 extra provisioning of the "Royal Tar" had cost 
 roughly ;{,'i200 William Lane was obliged to embark 
 with only about twenty-five pounds in the exchequer 
 — not nearly sufficient for the party's immediate 
 needs when they reached Monte Video. As some 
 members of the party still had a few odd coins in 
 their possession, it was decided — contrary to Mr. 
 H. G. Wells' belief that " Modern Socialism has 
 no designs upon the money in a man's pocket," — 
 to take up a final collection of everyone's last 
 halfpenny. 
 
 Theoretically, therefore, there was no money on 
 the ship except that in Lane's possession when the 
 New Australians stepped ashore at Monte Video— 
 where the press went into raptures over the looks 
 of the "exceptionally beautiful and comely" 
 Australian women. It soon became evident, how- 
 ever, that a few of the Socialists had indeed 
 retained a private hoard for use in cases of emerg- 
 ency. Their perfidy, already suspected, was proved 
 when a number of them returned to the boat quite 
 expensively intoxicated. Had it not been for the 
 bad impression that such a move would have 
 created in Australia they would doubtless have been 
 expelled at once from the community. Lane shrank 
 from such an extreme for the present, however, and
 
 ZEALOUS OFFICIALS 69 
 
 the sinners were let off with a severe reprimand. 
 Mutual recriminations necessarily follow^ed this 
 revelation of bad "mateship," and the split in the 
 camp was daily widened. 
 
 When the necessary funds arrived from Sydney, 
 and the party embarked for the 1300 mile trip up 
 the broad river to Asuncion, another incident, small 
 in itself, stirred up still more ill-feeling. During 
 the wearisome voyage from Australia, of about 60 
 days, the children had tasted none but the plainest 
 food and their parents were anxious to give them a 
 little treat. Since there was no money available 
 for the purpose, some of them bartered various 
 personal belongings for a barrel of native molasses, 
 which young and old pronounced delicious. But 
 alas ! one of those in authority declared that the 
 molasses contained a certain percentage of alcohol, 
 and was therefore, according to the strict letter of 
 the New Australian law, prohibited. Disregarding 
 the children's tears, their mothers' protests, and 
 the stronger language of their fathers, the newly 
 elevated officers seized the barrel and heaved it over- 
 board where it could harm the morals of none but 
 the crocodiles !
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL IN PARAGUAY. 
 
 Asuncion did not very favourably impress 
 Australians accustomed to the splendid buildings 
 of Melbourne and Sydney, though the ruins of 
 many fine structures attested the fact that it was 
 once a busy and prosperous city. But they were 
 charmed by the cordial welcome prepared by the 
 citizens for "the downtrodden Britishers^ who loved 
 liberty so much that they had forsaken their distant 
 homes to commence life again in the free air of a 
 South American republic!" There is probably no 
 country in the world so generous as Paraguay in its 
 treatment of immigrants ; on this occasion the 
 authorities — who had lent the Opera House as a 
 temporary home for Lane's party — went even 
 further than usual, for, in the words of a Foreign 
 Office Report,* "they knew the merits of the British 
 colonist, and these Australians taken altogether 
 were as fine a set of men and women as it was 
 possible to collect anywhere, and of a stamp much 
 superior to any emigrants yet seen in South 
 America. Everybody who saw them had been 
 struck by their manners, their appearance and their 
 intelligence. . . . They appeared to be, in fact, 
 the very men, representing as they did various 
 trades, and knowing their business well, to help 
 
 * Miscellaneous Series, No. 358, of 1895. 
 
 70
 
 DAZZLING DELIGHTS 71 
 
 Paraguay on to that road to recovery so earnestly 
 desired." 
 
 In the streets and the market place of Asuncion 
 the new-arrivals saw hundreds of merrv, white- 
 robed women, hatless, bootless, and clad in a single 
 garment, but few men. Naked children played 
 among the refuse in the gutters, and a few lazy 
 males, wearing long ponchos and enormous spurs, 
 lolled in the shade while the women-folk laboured 
 in the sun. The Australians looked with scorn 
 upon the picturesque drones, but were not ill-pleased 
 at this positive proof of the laziness of Paraguay's 
 inhabitants. "There will be all the more chance 
 for us," said they. 
 
 Whatever Lane's personal motives, the thousands 
 whom he had influenced in favour of the New 
 Australia movement were not desirous of joining 
 with the sole notion of teaching the world a lesson. 
 The whole force of the Socialistic appeal to the man 
 in the street lies in its promise of greatly increased 
 material prosperity. The "Royal Tar" Socialists 
 w'ould never have left their homes without the con- 
 viction that the movement was going to pay. It is 
 safe to say that the Socialist creed would make few 
 converts were it not for the dazzling delights which 
 Socialist writers habitually promise. It rarely 
 occurs to the rank and file that the step to State 
 Socialism, once made, would be irrevocable, even if 
 it should lead to absolute ruin. 
 
 " Th»y were going to join a little community 
 which would be sure to thrive, and where they and 
 the rest of their family might live together for the 
 rest of their lives in peace and comfort, without any
 
 72 THE ARRIVAL JN PARAGUAY 
 
 need to separate, without any thought of the 
 morrow. They did not apparently give themselves 
 the trouble to understand the conditions they signed 
 although it was decided that no man, were he to 
 withdraw from the membership, might reclaim his 
 donation after it had been made. It was enough 
 for them what their leaders said," wrote the Second 
 Secretary of the English Legation at Buenos Aires, 
 after he had visited New Australia. 
 
 "Their hopes were raised, their impressions 
 dazzled," the same writer shortly continues, "by 
 accounts which various writers had given of the 
 wealth and fertility of the soil, and by reports which 
 had appeared in a newspaper started by the associa- 
 tion called, The New Australia. Paraguay was 
 destined, so they were told, to be selected in the 
 near future as the seat of central government for a 
 Federated Republic of the whole of the South 
 American nations, the greatest republic the world 
 has ever seen, greater by numbers, extent, and 
 riches than either France or North America. The 
 forests abounded in all kinds of valuable woods, 
 there was an unfailing market down the river, and 
 soon the day would come when Europe would have 
 to go to the forests of the Parana and Paraguay for 
 her timber supplies. Cheap lines might easily be 
 built, which would connect the colony with the 
 Amazon and her tributaries, and the largest con- 
 tracts might be taken and fulfilled. Cotton, rice, 
 and maize might easily be raised and as, in a few 
 years, machinery might be imported, so the place 
 would become a manufacturing as well as an 
 agricultural settlement.
 
 NOVEL SURROUNDINGS 73 
 
 " Then there was a vast field of enterprise in the 
 improvement of cattle, and what with perfumes and 
 dves, tobacco and mate, the introduction of which 
 into Eurc^pe might be said to be an assured success, 
 it would be a bold man who would dare to predict 
 that failure was in store for the New Australian 
 Colony." 
 
 In spite, therefore, of the general feeling of strain 
 there were not yet any secessions. For his part 
 William Lane believed that now the wearisome 
 voyage was over, and there was plenty of hard 
 work to be done, petty squabbles would be forgotten 
 and the joy of working "one for all and all for one" 
 would quickly heal all differences. The essential 
 thing, he realized, was to reach the concession as 
 soon as possible and put an end to some of the 
 friction by separating warring factions as far as 
 possible from one another. As there were certain 
 legal formalities to be complied with, he remained 
 behind in the capital for a few da3'S, and the 
 temporary leadership of the pilgrims devolved upon 
 his principal lieutenants. 
 
 It was a great relief to all to feel terra-firma 
 beneath their feet again, and jaded spirits were much 
 refreshed by the keen interest the travellers took in 
 their novel surroundings. When they journeyed 
 on the train which ran three times a week to 
 Caballero, passing magnificent forests and well 
 watered grazing grounds, so different from the 
 dried-up back-blocks of Australia, they waxed 
 enthusiastic over the prospect before them. At 
 Caballero they dumped their possessions into 
 " caretas " or bullock-carts, and set off over the
 
 74 THE ARRIVAL IN PARAGUAY 
 
 mountain track, towards the land of promise. 
 Australians are accustomed to driving bullocks by 
 means of heavy whips, but in Paraguay the goad 
 is used — a long bamboo pole suspended over the 
 animals' backs and provided with a four-inch steel 
 point. At first the pioneers revolted against using 
 this cruel instrument but, finding the bullocks 
 feared nothing else, they soon learned to inflict 
 wicked wounds without a tremor. Their route took 
 them through remarkably picturesque country. 
 Orange trees laden with fruit grew by the way-side, 
 bananas were equally plentiful, pineapples, guavas, 
 . and other tropical products were freely at the dis- 
 position of the weary travellers. Red and yellow 
 macaw parrots and other birds of gay plumage 
 screamed overhead and butterflies of gorgeous 
 colouring flew in and out among the trees. At 
 first the contemplation of all these natural beauties 
 gave the pioneers considerable satisfaction, but, 
 when the track they were following dwindled 
 suddenly to a narrow footpath, on the outskirts of 
 some dense forest w'hich barred further progress, 
 they began to be perplexed. 
 
 "According to the prospectors' report, our con- 
 cession is within fifteen miles of the railway," they 
 said. " We must surely have come that distance 
 and ought to be within hail of the advance party. 
 What is the meaning of this forest before us, and 
 what has become of the road?" 
 
 Their feelings can be better imagined than des- 
 cribed when they learned that, while New Australia 
 was within fifteen miles of the line, as the crow flies, 
 the fact that a bottomless morass intervened made
 
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 FURTHER DISILLUSIONMENT 75 
 
 it necessary to follow a circuitous route of nearly 
 forty miles. A greater part of this forty mile route 
 moreover, lay through forests into which no bullock 
 cart could penetrate until a "picada" had been cut. 
 In fact it would take the able-bodied men of the 
 party about three days to hew down sutlficient trees 
 on either side of the footpath to permit the broad 
 " caretas " to pass. Of course this task presented 
 no insuperable diflficulties to Australian bushmen 
 accustomed to such w'ork, but the monkeys, which 
 congregated in the tree tops to watch the progress 
 of the work, heard some vivid language used in 
 relation to the prospectors' oversight in omitting 
 such important details from their statement. 
 
 There was a further disillusionment in store for 
 the pioneers, on reaching the river Tebicuari, which 
 they had been told flowed through their property. 
 It was naturally a disappointment to men who 
 "had imagined that the Tebicuari was one of those 
 noble broad flowing rivers, they had so often read 
 of, and expected to see in South America, bordered 
 by a dense forest of valuable trees waiting only to 
 be felled, who had thought that they would have 
 been able to start work at once and float the timber 
 down to the nearest market, who had dreamed of a 
 large trade to be established in the near future, and 
 steamers plying busily up and down, to find that 
 the river was merely a stream only navigable by 
 flat-bottomed vessels, and that the settlement was 
 still some twenty miles distant." Since it is the 
 universal practice in that part of Paraguay to con- 
 vey squared logs to the saw-mills by bullock cart, 
 the distance of the "crystal clear river" from their
 
 76 THE ARRIVAL IN PARAGUAY 
 
 concession made no ultimate difference to the 
 colonists, but they naturally felt that they had been 
 misled in this respect also, and said further harsh 
 things about their unfortunate leader. 
 
 The unbridged river was crossed with difficulty, 
 the women and children remaining in the bullock 
 carts which were supported by poles passed 
 between the spokes of the wheels, with projecting 
 ends resting on canoes, the latter being drawn 
 across by the swimming bullocks. Some low-lying 
 mud flats that recent rain had converted into a 
 quagmire were next negotiated. Occasionally the 
 "caretas" sank to their axles in deep mud holes, and 
 had to be unloaded in the swamp before they could 
 be extricated. At such times millions of mosquitoes 
 descended upon the wayworn travellers and nearly 
 drove them mad. Such little troubles as these are 
 incidental to pioneering the whole W'Orld over; it 
 would have been unreasonable for the settlers to 
 expect to find macadamised roads and a light 
 railway already in existence ; it was their intention 
 to provide such things by their own energies when 
 a few thousand more of their mates had arrived. 
 At the same time some — among the women parti- 
 cularly — could not help contrasting their many 
 difficulties w-ith the easy progress made by the 
 pioneers in Hertzka's " Freeland." 
 
 " From thence onward it was as if our feet and 
 the feet of our beasts had wings. The pure 
 invigorating air of this beautiful tableland freshened 
 by the winds from the Kenia, the pleasant road over 
 the soft short grass, and the sumptuous and easily 
 obtained provisions, enabled us to make our daily
 
 FATAL INDECISION 77 
 
 marches longer than we had yet done," relates the 
 author of that fiction, who appears to think that the 
 very mountains will level themselves to mark their 
 approval of a Socialist regime. 
 
 As if the difficulties of travel were not enough, 
 matters were made worse by the fact that there was 
 now so much dissension that it was impossible to 
 come to an unanimous agreement upon the smallest 
 matter. When they were nearing the boundaries of 
 their concession, an advance party was sent a few 
 hours ahead of the main body to select a camping 
 ground, and cut forks and ridge poles for the tents. 
 As night was coming on, and there seemed every 
 prospect of a downpour, it was essential that no time 
 should be lost. But nothing could be decided 
 without the formality of a council, and, as usual, 
 opinion was divided. Some favoured a hill on one 
 side of the track, others preferred that on the other. 
 While they argued there came the sudden fall of 
 night, and they were compelled to encamp in the 
 valley. When the " careias " arrived, stores were 
 unloaded and tents hurriedly put up, but, alas ! for 
 their fatal indecision, a storm of wind and rain 
 descended and beat furiously upon them in their 
 unsheltered position. One of the pioneers wrote to 
 an Australian paper as follow^s : — "I was in the 
 galley getting our evening meal when there came a 
 squall of wind. We were in terror lest the tent 
 should blow away altogether. Tea was forgotten, 
 and we used all our efforts in trying to hold our tent 
 down to the ground. The wind lulled a bit and we 
 went to bed. We got drenched as we lay there, but 
 it was no use turning out. When I got out my
 
 ^ 78 THE ARRIVAL IN PARAGUAY 
 
 pyjamas clung to me as though I had taken a swim 
 in them. Fortunately the rain only lasted that day, 
 and although we had to get into a wet bed the next 
 night, the sun soon shone again." 
 
 Another night the single women, who occupied 
 a tent by themselves, were terrified almost out of 
 their wits by a terrifying, long-sustained cry, which 
 they were convinced was that of a tiger lusting for 
 their blood. The animal prowled quite close to 
 their tent, and they expected every moment to be 
 eaten up. For the rest of that night armed men 
 patrolled the camp, and fires were kept burning 
 brightly to scare away savage beasts. In the morn- 
 ing the animal whose awful note had so alarmed the 
 sleepers was found to be a donkey fraternally 
 anxious to greet them. It seems that in parts of 
 Australia that useful animal was little known, so 
 that the ladies did not recognise his welcoming 
 note. 
 
 Having had so bitter an experience of Paraguayan 
 rain the colonists turned all their energies at once 
 to the task of building houses. No stone of any 
 description could be found so they were forced to 
 adopt the native mode of construction. Rough 
 hewn corner posts of hard wood were first put in 
 and connected by means of withies and vines. On 
 this light basket structure coat after coat of " pug " 
 (made by mixing the red clay with water) was 
 daubed. Half a dozen men would be employed in 
 treading the pug, as Eastern people tread the wine- 
 press, to mix it well and bring it to the required 
 consistency. Others would lift masses of the pug 
 and throw it against the wicker work. When
 
 BUILDING MUD HUTS 79 
 
 the whole side was unevenly covered it w^ould be left 
 to harden in the sun, and a second dressing applied 
 next day. After the application of several thick 
 coats within and without, the whole w^as carefully 
 smoothed over and allowed to bake by the heat of 
 the sun into a very substantial wall. Roofs were 
 made either of thatch or of shingles (wooden tiles). 
 Naturally it was not suggested that these mud huts 
 should serve permanently for human beings to live 
 in. It was intended to utilize them as barns or 
 cowsheds when — in a few months' time — more sub- 
 stantial homes had been put up. As will presently 
 appear, how^ever, the community never had time 
 to spare between its perpetual wrangles to erect 
 civilised buildings, and some of the survivors of the 
 experiment still live in the ruins of the patched and 
 repaired original mud huts to this day ! 
 
 In the first instance the builders concentrated their 
 attention upon a large hall, 144 ft. by 20 ft., divided 
 into twelve compartments, each to house one 
 family. This building was to be the centre of the 
 township, which was already being laid out in 
 quarter acre allotments, each with a frontage of 
 66 ft. and a depth of 165 ft. Those in authority 
 strained every nerve to erect a weather-proof house 
 as soon as possible, to prevent the colony's posses- 
 sions from spoiling, and to receive the Government 
 officers in state when they came to pay an official 
 visit to the new colony.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A FEW days after the arrival of the Sociahsts the 
 Official Gazette in Asuncion published a notice 
 constituting New Australia as a separate district, 
 not subject to the control of the local magistrates at 
 Ajos or at San Jose. In order that they might have 
 proper control over their land the colonists were 
 allowed to nominate three of their members to hold 
 official positions. To the principal office of 
 Administrator (executive officer for enforcing law 
 and registering births, deaths, and marriages) 
 William Lane was appointed, with Tozer as deputy 
 magistrate. Many of the Socialists had the 
 strongest objection to the elevation of three of their 
 number to positions of authority over the rest, but 
 they submitted to the arrangement when told that it 
 was the only way they could guard against outside 
 interference. Gradually they hoped to educate the 
 Government to an appreciation of the blessings of 
 absolute equality. A date, October nth, was 
 assigned for the official opening of New Australia. 
 
 When the day came for the colony's formal 
 recognition the large hall was still unfinished; in 
 fact it was only partially thatched. A tarpaulin was 
 thrown over the unfinished end of the place, a table 
 was knocked together out of boxes, and a thirty foot 
 flag pole was erected to receive the tricoloured flag 
 of Paraguay. Alf. Walker had been appointed to 
 
 80
 
 THE PARAGUAYAN FLAG 8i 
 
 conduct the important Government officials to the 
 colony. The party consisted of Dr. Lopez, Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary to the President, 
 the Gefe Politico of Ajos, and other notables, 
 escorted by a military officer with four soldiers. 
 
 After breakfast, then, on the morning of the nth 
 October, the sounding of a horn proclaimed that the 
 Government party was at hand. The little caval- 
 cade advanced at the trot and halted, without 
 dismounting, till Lane came forward to receive 
 them. Then the Minister and his suite were con- 
 ducted into the hall, while the soldiers tethered their 
 horses in the orange grove. Dr. Lopez, a good- 
 humoured man, about thirty-eight years of age, 
 with a round, red face, might have been taken for 
 an English squire. When he had accepted what 
 refreshments the colonists could offer the horn 
 sounded again for all to assemble. 
 
 After the trustees and committee, consisting of 
 the foreman of each department, had been intro- 
 duced to the Minister he read a proclamation, which 
 the President's secretary interpreted. The soldiers 
 were drawn up and the Minister unfolded a Para- 
 guayan flag. Each soldier took a corner and thus 
 carried it fifty yards, the party following. " Then, 
 facing about, the officer took the flag, the Minister 
 and Mr. Lane linked arms and advanced to the 
 flagstaff, the party following them. The halyards 
 were looped on, and the two hauled together."* 
 As the flag with its stripes of red, white and blue, 
 its lion, and its cap of liberty, fluttered in the breeze 
 the colonists cheered and the soldiers fired their 
 
 *G. W. Pope, in " South Australian Register."
 
 82 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 Winchesters. Second and third salutes were fired, 
 and the enthusiastic AustraHans (or Utopians as 
 they might now more properly style themselves) 
 cheered themselves hoarse, standing bareheaded 
 beneath the flag which was to guarantee them their 
 "emancipation" from all the ills of the British 
 yoke. 
 
 The day of its official recognition was one of high 
 festivity at New Australia, and an honest effort was 
 made by all the colonists to compose their differences 
 and join hands heartily in friendship for the sake of 
 the common cause. Something of the old high 
 spirit of hope was revived and there were not want- 
 ing those who prophesied that, on a day not far 
 distant, Socialist rule would have spread from their 
 small community to embrace the entire country. 
 It seemed far from improbable that the thousands 
 of Anglo-Saxons who might shortly be expected to 
 join them would become the masters of Paraguay. 
 Not that the New Australians dreamed of abusing 
 the hospitality of the Paraguayans by going to war 
 with them ; the country having already a democratic 
 constitution would be converted to Socialism, if at 
 all, by "peaceful penetration," and there would be 
 no need to alter so much as the nation's flag, for on 
 that emblem were inscribed the noble words " Paz 
 y Justicia." 
 
 Peace and Justice ! The refugees from industrial 
 strife, from " victimisation " and all the alleged 
 horrors of Capitalism felt that the trials they had 
 endured would not have been suffered in vain if 
 peace were found, and justice ruled, at New 
 Australia. But would they do so?
 
 NUMEROUS DIFFICULTIES 83 
 
 Until sufficient rough housing accommodation 
 had been put up to shelter the whole party from the 
 weather there was little room for bickering, since 
 all were fully employed from daylight till dark upon 
 the work of procuring and preparing the necessary 
 materials. As soon as a few could be spared from 
 such work preparations were made for receiving 
 2500 head of cattle upon the splendidly situated 
 "campo" at Las Ovejas, where a great ring fence 
 was required to prevent them from straying. While 
 engaged upon such work the colonists had to con- 
 tend with numerous difficulties incidental to first 
 settlement in any tropical country. The great 
 clusters of long thorns which tore their clothes to 
 pieces, and other unpleasant features of work in 
 the densely tangled monte (forest) made timber 
 getting a painful process. They were unaccustomed 
 to such a pest as the chigre, a small flea which gets 
 under the toenails and lays its eggs, causing the feet 
 to fester. Hornets built their nests under the 
 rafters, and could only be taken down in wet 
 weather, when it was easy to put a lighted rag on 
 the end of a cane and burn them out, though the 
 person performing the operation was pretty sure to 
 be stung. Travelling ants also made periodic visits 
 to each house, driving the occupants out, but these 
 were something of a blessing in disguise, for they 
 drove away all other pests, such as cockroaches, 
 spiders, lizards, etc. Parrots, monkeys, and 
 vultures are plentiful also in Paraguay, but they are 
 unobjectionable, except when the former damage 
 the crops, or the latter pick out the eyes of a sickly 
 calf.
 
 84 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 At first there was some dread of meeting jaguars, 
 pumas, and ocelots in the forest but these retreated 
 further into the wilderness at once and gave little 
 trouble. Snakes, however, were an ever present 
 danger. As an example of the alarming experi- 
 ences which befell the colonists may be instanced 
 an adventure of the Jacobsen family. Riding 
 through the high grass towards the house of a 
 neighbour, Jacobsen was alarmed to see his little 
 boy racing towards him along the track, screaming 
 with pain and fright. Hurrying up, he found that 
 a venomous snake had its fangs firmly imbedded in 
 the youngster's calf. With no remedy for snake 
 bite at hand the father did what was best, under the 
 circumstances, in securing a tight bandage above 
 the wound to stop the circulation of the blood. 
 Then he set off on a ride of thirty-five miles to 
 Villa Rica, riding through the night with his boy 
 before him. The roads were very bad at the time 
 and there was great delay on the way. In conse- 
 quence, though Dr. Botrill, who was a kind friend 
 to the colonists, saved the little boy's life, he could 
 not undo the injury the limb had sustained from the 
 tight ligature, and he is lame still. 
 
 Mosquitoes also gave great trouble, as the annoy- 
 ing adventure which befell M illustrates. 
 
 This individual, a real Australian bushman, self- 
 educated (on the most original principles), argu- 
 mentative, and determined, and a convinced 
 Anarchist, met with a situation out of which even 
 his rugged eloquence could not extricate him. He 
 was riding to Villa Rica on official business one 
 morning, when the burning sun caused infinite
 
 AN ANARCHIST'S ADVENTURE 85 
 
 discomfort to the most hardened, and was not sorry 
 to reach the shade of the trees on the banks of the 
 Rio Tebicuari. As often happened, the ferryman 
 was absent from liis post, and it was necessary to 
 sw-im the stream. As he was wearing his "Sunday- 
 best " garments, M undressed and packed 
 
 them carefully into the waterproof bag secured to 
 his saddle. Then he led his horse into the water. 
 Pondering deeply, as was his habit, over the 
 
 problems of the Universe, M failed to observe 
 
 a snag and tripped over it, releasing the horse and 
 floundering wildly in the water. When he regained 
 his feet, the horse had already crossed and was 
 watching him from the opposite side. 
 
 Swimming over, M expected to catch his 
 
 mount without any difficulty, but the animal, which 
 was quite used to being caught by a respectable 
 individual wearing clothes, was not at all willing to 
 
 surrender to this naked man. M called but 
 
 the horse edged away and finally kicked up its heels 
 and retired to a safe distance, turning to stare at its 
 angry master with reproachful eyes. After stalking 
 
 the horse for some time without any success M 
 
 realised the hopelessness of his position and up- 
 braided the animal in vigorous Australian. In 
 consequence the horse refused to stay longer in his 
 society and galloped away towards Oveido. After 
 
 its vanishing form M — called opprobious 
 
 epithets for some time but, before he had half done 
 justice to the situation, a voracious mosquito called 
 his attention to the pressing problem of self-protec- 
 tion. At first he entertained the idea of walking 
 across the camp to some native casa where he could 
 o
 
 86 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 borrow clothes and a horse, but he had forgotten 
 the heat of the sun, which would flay him in half 
 an hour, and he had also left the "bichos" (insects) 
 out of the reckoning. He was forced to seek shelter 
 in the river to escape the mosquito bites and heat; 
 there, standing with the water up to his chin, in no 
 enviable frame of mind, he waited patiently for 
 some other traveller to arrive and put an end to the 
 ridiculous situation. But hour after hour passed 
 and no one came. At the best of times there is not 
 much traffic across the Tebicuari at that ford, and 
 
 on this particular day M 's evil star provided 
 
 that no one should come to his assistance. Through 
 the whole of the day the unfortunate Anarchist 
 remained in the water with a halo of mosquitoes 
 round his head. At nightfall, when he could 
 venture out without being blistered by the sun, he 
 sallied forth and the mosquitoes, their appetites 
 reinforced by their long wait, went with him. 
 Eventually he reached a native hut and was hospit- 
 ably entertained, clothed, and fed. An hour later 
 he found his horse unconcernedly nibbling the grass 
 at a little distance; it says much for his philosophic 
 spirit that he forbore to visit upon the brute suffer- 
 ing equal to that which the mosquitoes had inflicted 
 upon him. 
 
 Such trials as these were as nothing, however, to 
 the acrimonious disputes which once more broke 
 out upon the colony within a few weeks of its official 
 opening. 
 
 To take a few minor instances first. An eminent 
 educationalist, Mr. Murdoch, who held an important 
 appointment in Japan, joined the colonists, not as
 
 THE APPORTIONMENT OF LABOUR 8; 
 
 a member but to assist them during the first few 
 months in organising education, and to see how the 
 experiment developed. But he could get no 
 scholars. "Because there were no jams and pickles 
 in the store," Mrs. William Lane told an interviewer 
 after her return to Australia, "the mothers refused 
 to send their children to him. On the other hand 
 a ladv and her daughter, who had been appointed 
 to the educational staflf of the colony, ignoring the 
 settlers' claims, rushed off to the native huts, and 
 there amused themselves in an attempt to teach the 
 Indian children English." The leader's wife also 
 told her Australian friends that three men who had 
 brought saddles (presumably expecting to be ap- 
 pointed stockmen) refused to lend them to the official 
 stockmen, so that the latter had to gallop in pursuit 
 of cattle on make-shift saddles without stirrups ! 
 Similarly, a colonist who had brought a magic- 
 lantern with him refused to give his brother 
 Socialists an entertainment, though he would exhibit 
 it for the amusement of the natives as often as 
 requested ! 
 
 The problem of the due apportionment of labour 
 which had threatened a storm upon the " Royal 
 Tar," now began to occasion acute controversy. 
 It was freely alleged by almost every colonist 
 against some other that the latter was working less 
 vigorously for the benefit of "all " than he would 
 have done in his own interest. 
 
 Before proceeding to relate what actually occurred 
 at New Australia, it is interesting to note what
 
 88 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 Socialist theorists claim would be the result of 
 removing from industry the incentive of personal 
 gain. 
 
 " I will confess I find it hard to write with any 
 patience and civility of this argument that humanity 
 will not work except for greed or need of money and 
 only in proportion to the getting," says Mr. H. G. 
 Wells.^ 
 
 " The public services of the coming civilisation," 
 he insists in the same work, "will demand and will 
 develop a far completer discipline and tradition of 
 honour." 
 
 Mr. Robert Blatchford, in the fifteenth chapter 
 of " Merrie England "f sets out to answer the 
 objection, " Socialism is impossible, because it 
 would destroy the incentive of gain." With his 
 usual dexterity the author plays round and about 
 his theme so cleverly that the uncritical reader may 
 well believe that he has disposed of it, although as 
 a matter of fact, the main issue is completely side- 
 tracked. " It seems an amazing thing to me, this 
 persistence in the belief that greed is the motive 
 powder of humanity," he asserts. "The refutation 
 of that error is forever under our noses. You see 
 how men strive at cricket ; you see the intense effort 
 and the fierce zeal they display at football ; . . . . 
 Your volunteer force — does that exist for gain ? 
 What will not a soldier do for a tiny bronze cross 
 
 *"New Worlds for Old." 
 
 t " Merrie England " was running as a serial in the " Clarion " 
 at this time (1893). It is the most popular text-book of Socialism, 
 having sold in volume form about one million copies.
 
 AN OPTIMISTIC VIEW 89 
 
 not worth a crown piece ? What will a husband 
 endure for his wife's sake ? A father for his 
 children ? A fanatic for his religion ? But you do 
 not believe that Socialism is to destroy all love, and 
 all honour, and all duty and devotion, do you?" 
 
 It seems hardly necessary to remind the intelligent 
 reader that the same man who will try hard to win 
 a football match for fun, or gain the V.C for glory, 
 without hope of monetary reward, would have the 
 most rooted objection to doing anything so dull as 
 ploughing or brick-laying without due and sufficient 
 recompense. But the optimistic views of " Nun- 
 quam " — who believes that only Socialists under- 
 stand human nature — were shared by William Lane, 
 who, before his bitter disillusionment, wrote : — 
 
 " But New Australia won't work, critics say. 
 Why not ? Do we labour for gold, think you ? 
 Why, no man who is a man would trade the kiss 
 of a woman, or the hand-clasp of a friend, or the 
 arm-clinging of a little child, for the wealth of a 
 Tyson. Give the average man a cottage home, the 
 woman he loves, children in whose eyes his own life 
 laughs back at him, friends who esteem him, food 
 for mind as well as for body, and then see if he will 
 not toil to fence his home from all ill. And he 
 won't toil the less because the fence he works at is a 
 ring fence, which guards his mates' homes as it 
 guards his, when he understands that by co-opera- 
 tion he can make it higher, and stronger, and 
 thicker, tlian any fence he could possibly put up 
 round his own small yard." 
 
 Apparently all the foregoing representative 
 writers think, with Herr August Bebel, that
 
 90 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 Socialism would revolutionise human nature. " It 
 is evident," the author of " Die Frau " says, " that 
 labour thus organised on principles of perfect free- 
 dom and democratic equality, in which one repre- 
 sents all, and all one, must awake the highest sense 
 of solidarity and a spirit of cheerful activity, and 
 call forth a degree of emulation such as is nowhere 
 to be found in the present industrial system." 
 
 How very delightful it must be to have such 
 beautiful faith in the noble qualities of all one's 
 fellow men ! It is upon this conviction that every 
 man is at heart " sans peur et sans reproche " that 
 Socialists build their hopes of universal bliss. But, 
 as Mr. Blatchford says, " the only school for the 
 study of-human nature is the world." The example 
 of New Australia affords a priceless opportunity to 
 study and compare Socialism in practice and in 
 theory. If he had only found time to spend a 
 month or two there, Herr Rebel himself must have 
 admitted the fundamental error of his proposition, 
 for dissension, gloom, and sloth were the order of 
 the day. 
 
 In those early days the colonists were intoxicated 
 with the magnificence of their project. There was 
 no steady effort leading up to bigger things. 
 Confident, and with some capital behind them, they 
 commenced at once on the scale they hoped to be 
 able to continue, and one of the first things they 
 decided on was ample leisure. They had done with 
 the bad old scheme of things in which "the 
 exigences of Capitalism ground the people down.
 
 NO DRUDGERY 91 
 
 robbed them of rest, of energy, of health, of food, 
 of time — so that they have neither heart nor mind 
 nor opportunity to become aught but drudges."* 
 At all risks some of the New Australians were deter- 
 mined to avoid drudgery in their new life; they 
 were very keen on being properly " uplifted." 
 There was a brass band of thirty-six instruments in 
 the colony, which had cost ^250. " What is the 
 use of a piano, if you have neither leisure nor means 
 to learn to play it?" Mr. Blatchford inquires; like 
 good Socialists the bandsmen practised on their 
 instruments assiduously in Colony time. On strict 
 Trade Union principles none worked more than eight 
 hours a day, and it was natural that the bandsmen 
 should prefer blowing away at their instruments for 
 some considerable proportion of their time to felling 
 trees in the forest, or tilling the fields beneath the 
 burning rays of a tropical sun. To any practical- 
 minded person who suggested that music might be 
 dispensed with for the present, the musicians could 
 retort, " I tell you, my practical friend, that you 
 ought to have, and may have good music."* 
 
 A great deal of dissatisfaction was occasioned by 
 the way labour was distributed. The man who 
 worked arduously for eight hours in the vegetable 
 garden envied the more fortunate fellow who spent 
 his day riding about the camp, herding cattle. The 
 cowboy, on the other hand, considered that the 
 schoolmaster had a considerably easier job, and he 
 was perhaps moved to compare his allotted task 
 with that of the colonist whose principal duty 
 appeared to be to blow the dinner horn. 
 
 •"Merrie England."
 
 92 EARLY DAYS AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 Although there were nominally foremen in charge 
 of different departments, the rank and file regarded 
 it as an intolerable insult to be " speeded up." If 
 it were true that under Capitalism "each worker was 
 robbed of two-thirds of all he earned" surely the 
 individual need only work one-third as hard under 
 Socialism to produce an equal result. Moreover, 
 "You often hear industry praised as a virtue, I think 
 the thing is not a virtue in itself ..." says the 
 most popular text-book of Socialism. " You must 
 not fall into the error of the economist and suppose 
 that the people who 'produce most' are the greatest 
 or the worthiest people. Before praising a nation 
 for its productiveness and industry we should 
 enquire if the things they produce are noble or 
 worthless things, and if the labour of their hands is 
 the labour of slaves — or of freemen."* While 
 disentangling the knotty question as to whether 
 the tree one is hewing down, is a noble or a worth- 
 less tree, it is just as well for a good Socialist to sit 
 down and have a smoke to assist his cogitations. 
 If a foreman should happen along unheard, and 
 make rude remarks about his apparent idleness, it is 
 the free Socialist's instant duty to retort as forcibly 
 as possible that one is not a slave. If the Socialist 
 has his " Merrie England" by heart and has 
 presence of mind to quote that " universal industry, 
 and thrift, and temperance amongst the poor would 
 tend to make them poorer than they now are," the 
 foreman will retire completely worsted ! 
 
 When William Lane initiated his great venture 
 he was a convinced believer in the theory that, once 
 
 *" Merrie England."
 
 PRACTICALLY SLAVES 93 
 
 removed from the pernicious influence of Capitalism, 
 Ihey would all dwell together in brotherly love 
 without the necessity for severe restrictions. He 
 soon found out his mistake, however, for bitter 
 charges of favouritism were continually levelled at 
 his head and at the heads of the foremen in charge 
 of every industry. When he found that envy, 
 hatred, and all uncharitableness thrived in this 
 " Paradise " as in a hot-bed, he decided on a policy 
 of benevolent despotism, which the fact of his hold- 
 ing proxies for all the members of the Association 
 still in Australia enabled him to carry out. With 
 astern hand he put down revolt, and punished those 
 who disputed his decisions by setting them the most 
 distasteful tasks. No one was allowed to absent 
 himself from the colony without Lane's permission 
 (seldom accorded lest they should be tempted to get 
 drink) and incessant grumbling became the order 
 of the day. It is interesting to compare Mr. Blatch- 
 ford's statement: "I deny that Socialism would 
 result in any form of slavery at all," with the 
 following extract from a letter written by one of the 
 disillusioned pioneers, " We have surrendered all 
 civil rights and become mere cogs in a wheel. No 
 longer active factors in the scheme of civilisation. 
 ... In fact a man is practically a slave. Lane 
 does the thinking and the colonists do the work. 
 Result barbarism."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FIRST EXPULSIONS. 
 
 Few, even among Socialists, realise the ferocity of 
 Socialism. Of course they are aware of the frightful 
 episodes which occurred during the Reign of Terror 
 in Paris — but they believe that those sanguinary 
 occurrences were occasioned by other contemporary 
 causes, and would not necessarily recur if State 
 Socialism were now established. The few logical 
 Socialists of to-day fully recognise, however, that a 
 period of absolute tyranny — during which all 
 opponents of Socialism, and even all Socialists who 
 failed to agree with the precise views of their 
 brother Socialists in power, would be pitilessly 
 sacrificed for the sake of producing uniformity of 
 aim among its citizens — would usher in the 
 " Coming State." 
 
 Principally through the influence of the Christian 
 religion modern civilisation is tolerant even towards 
 the unworthy; even the "won't-work" is accom- 
 modated with a bed and a meal in the casual ward ; 
 even the useless drunkard is "given another 
 chance," and then another, and another, and the 
 worst thing that can happen to him is a period of 
 detention in a gaol; as for the agitator, whose aim 
 in life is to upset the existing scheme of civilisation, 
 he is actually protected by the police force of that 
 civilisation from the natural indignation of other 
 citizens. 
 
 94
 
 LEGALISED FEROCITY 95 
 
 Socialism is mucli too logical to tolerate such a 
 state of affairs. In a small community, expulsion; 
 in an international Socialist State, the lethal 
 chamber, will be the fate of persistent offenders 
 arainst the established conventions. And this 
 though the executive authorities of the State may be, 
 personally, the mildest and most humane of men. 
 The ferocity of the Socialist State will be, of course, 
 a legalised ferocity; that is, it will be exercised 
 nominally for the benefit of the State. The method 
 of its working will be as emotionless and merciless 
 as the vengeance of the worker bees upon the drones. 
 The officials of the efficient and well-organised 
 Socialist community will not tolerate the presence of 
 drunken, lazy, or trouble-creating citizens in their 
 midst ; Socialism will be .no wit less pitiless than the 
 spirit of the hive, when as Maeterlinck records : 
 " one morning the long-expected word of command 
 goes through the hive, and the peaceful workers 
 turn into judges and executioners . . . each one is 
 assailed by three or four envoys of justice . . . and 
 in a very brief space, their appearance becomes so 
 deplorable, that pity, never far from justice in the 
 depths of our hearts, quickly returns, and would 
 seek forgiveness, though vainly of the stern workers 
 who recognise only Nature's harsh and profound 
 laws. 
 
 " Many will reach the door and escape into space 
 . . . but, towards evening, impelled by hunger and 
 cold, they return in crowds to the entrance of the 
 hive to beg for shelter. But there they encounter 
 another pitiless guard. The next morning, before 
 setting forth on tiieir journey, the workers will clear
 
 96 THE FIRST EXPULSIONS 
 
 the threshold, strewn with the corpses of the useless 
 giants." 
 
 The present writer would be the last to deny that 
 such a system has its merits when applied by a brute 
 Republic with no lesser means of self-protection 
 against brute intelligence incapable of reformation. 
 In a human Republic, however, were such drastic 
 discipline permitted, not merely the drones, but also 
 the most energetic individuals whose views or 
 persons happened to be considered objectionable 
 by the executive would be suppressed. As will 
 presently appear, at New Australia a sentence of 
 banishment was enforced for an offence which a 
 "Capitalistic" judge would have punished by a 
 fine of " ten shillings and costs," plus, perhaps the 
 doctor's fee, at most. 
 
 There was considerable friction at New Australia 
 over the total abstinence pledge. To Lane it was 
 no deprivation to go without alcohol, as he was a 
 life-long abstainer, but with others the case was 
 different. After a hard day's work in the forest 
 many men felt that they would be " all the better for 
 a tot" of the excellent rum made by the natives in 
 the vicinity. Where did the freedom of New 
 Australia come in, w'hen as the Clarion scornfully 
 said of Sicily, " the workers were as temperate as 
 dogs; and they were treated like dogs." 
 
 Some argued very reasonably that there was no 
 essential connection between Socialism and Recha- 
 bite principles — the wise Dr. Hertzka provided a 
 brewery in " Freeland " as a matter of course — and 
 requested that the temporary ban on alcohol should 
 be removed. When Lane obstinately refused to
 
 DISOBEDIENCE A VIRTUE 97 
 
 give permission some of the colonists decided to 
 dispense with it, for, after all, is not "disobedience, 
 the rarest and most courageous of the virtues?"* 
 
 It is characteristic of many stalwart Britishers 
 that, when they are very miserable they find comfort 
 in a "glass." Three of the depressed New 
 Australians, visiting a neighbouring native village, 
 revived their flagging spirits wonderfully by a 
 liberal potation, and, on their return, were heartily 
 congratulated by their less courageous mates. But 
 they incurred the fierce wrath of their master. To 
 the consternation of the culprits and their friends 
 Lane decreed their instant expulsion from the 
 community. 
 
 Apart from the question of abstract justice this 
 action was so unlike William Lane's previous pro- 
 fessions that his followers were absolutely staggered. 
 They might have quoted Mr. Blatchford, "Drunken- 
 ness is a disease. It is just as much a disease as 
 typhus fever or cholera, and often arises from very 
 similar causes. Any medical man will tell you that 
 the craving for alcoholic stimulants is frequently 
 found amongst men whose nervous system is low." 
 Surely the New Australians had had enough to try 
 their nerves ! They might have reminded him that 
 in the old days, when he preached brotherly love and 
 mutual forbearance in the columns of The Worker, 
 he wrote thus of a Shearers' Union organiser, who, 
 it was alleged, had embezzled certain money belong- 
 ing to his mates: " I deeply regret that the com- 
 mittee of the A.L.U. have decided to prosecute . . . 
 
 * " The Revolutionists' Handbook," by Bernard Shaw.
 
 98 THE FIRST EXPULSIONS 
 
 for defalcation. I deny he is a criminal. He is a poor 
 drunken wretch who should have been safeguarded 
 against himself." How was it possible to harmonise 
 so merciful a spirit with his present determination ? 
 The answer is simple. Although it rails so bitterly 
 against the despotism of all existing authority 
 Socialism is necessarily infinitely more despotic in 
 enforcing its own counsels of perfection. That is 
 why all attempts at Socialistic government inevitably 
 prove the most hateful form of grinding tyranny. 
 As the faithful servant of the "Cause" Lane was 
 compelled, in spite of any regrets he might person- 
 ally feel, to deal pitilessly with offenders. 
 
 It would have been easy for Lane to punish the 
 three culprits by docking their " credit " at the 
 store, and many of the settlers begged him to adopt 
 that course, but Lane was obdurate. They had 
 broken his pet regulation, and they must go. In 
 vain it was pointed out that an article of the 
 Constitution said, " Dismissal from the com- 
 munity for persistent or unpardonable offence 
 against the well-being of the community to be 
 decreed only by a live-sixth majority of all adult 
 members." He replied that the Constitution was 
 not yet in operation and that if it were, his sole vote 
 (representing all those still in Australia) outweighed 
 the others by the required majority. The fact that 
 the unfortunate offenders would be stranded in an 
 Indian country many thousands of miles from home 
 did not move him, nor did the fact that they had 
 contributed all their possessions to his wild-cat 
 scheme. There was neither room in New Australia 
 for backsliders, nor mercy for them.
 
 A STERN DECREE 99 
 
 In the masterful manner in which he now con- 
 ducted affairs, Lane issued the following decree : — 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 All members will take notice that , 
 
 , and , have been expelled from the 
 
 New Australia Co-operative Association for wilful 
 and persistent violation of the clause in our mutual 
 agreement, signed by them, relating to liquor 
 drinking. 
 
 Dec. 15th, 1893. W. Lane. 
 
 (Chairman.) 
 
 An uproar followed the posting of this notice, for 
 
 it was claimed that others besides the three men 
 
 mentioned were guilty of obtaining liquor. In fact 
 
 certain of Lane's best friends were accused of being 
 
 persistent sinners, and the allegation that personal 
 
 animus had existed in Australia between one of the 
 
 expelled and one of Lane's most trusted henchmen 
 
 was adduced as evidence of victimisation. On 
 
 these and other grounds feeling ran high and it was 
 
 asked if the three offenders declined, as they did 
 
 decline, to go ; how could their expulsion be enforced 
 
 when half the colony sided with them ? 
 * # ' * * * 
 
 Socialist agitators are fond of declaiming against 
 the use, by the authorities, of military power to over- 
 awe mutinous mobs who refuse to obey the law. 
 If they were asked how a Socialist executive would 
 deal with a case such as that which arose at New 
 Australia — where a large proportion of the citizens 
 on the spot upheld the law-breakers — it would 
 puzzle them to provide an answer. The fact is that
 
 loo THE FIRST EXPULSIONS 
 
 nine out of ten Socialists believe that no police 
 would be required in a Socialist State. Yet Trade 
 Union tyranny might warn them that a Socialist 
 Government would enforce its will upon the rank 
 and file by shot and steel if necessary. This fact is 
 frankly admitted by the greatest intellect in the 
 Socialist ranks to-day. " Of course, if the nation 
 adopted the Fabian policy," says "The Revolution- 
 ists' Handbook," by Bernard Shaw, " it would be 
 carried out by brute force exactly as our present 
 property system is. It would become the law; and 
 those who resisted it would be fined, sold up, 
 knocked on the head by policemen, thrown into 
 prison, and in the last resort ' executed ' just as 
 
 when they break the present law." 
 
 ***** 
 
 William Lane w'as too clever a man to issue 
 decrees which he had no power of enforcing. His 
 appointment from the Paraguayan Government, as 
 executive officer for enforcing law, gave him the 
 power to call upon that Government for force to 
 back up his decisions. On the expelled members 
 refusing to quit, he disappeared from the colony, and 
 returned later with a body of Paraguayan soldiers 
 armed to the teeth. Holding with Mr. Blatchford 
 that " in a Socialistic state of society they would no 
 more go armed and in fear of their fellow creatures," 
 the colonists had sold any weapons they might 
 possess for the benefit of the common fund ; they 
 had no better weapons than agricultural implements 
 and sticks to oppose to Lane's revolver and the 
 murderous looking bayonets of his native posse. 
 In vain the "expelled" begged for mercy, in vain
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY loi 
 
 they demanded the return in full of their contribu- 
 tions* — these were a " voluntary gift " to the 
 Association — in vain women wept and declared that 
 they and their families would secede also if the three 
 unfortunates were so heavily punished for so light a 
 crime. Although it was the festive Christmas 
 season Lane was adamant. 
 
 One of the colonists, described as " neither a 
 seceder nor one of Lane's puppets" wrote the 
 following account of the expulsion to the Barrier 
 Miner: — "Upon the day appointed for them to 
 leave, the police came down upon the scene. There 
 did really appear to be a serious prospect of blood- 
 shed. Lane rode in and about with a revolver in 
 his belt. It was not as as though the men who had 
 to leave were an entirely bad lot. Only one was 
 very bad. Two or three others only were not good, 
 but amongst the rest were some really first class 
 workers, and some of the women, too, could ill be 
 spared. They left peaceably however, and I do not 
 know who were the most miserable — those who went 
 (the expelled by the way were joined by some 
 voluntary seceders) or those of us who remained, 
 and we have been pretty miserable ever since. . . . 
 
 " We had Christmas dinner all together,'' he 
 
 remarks, " and I can't say we were happy. It was 
 
 just after the trouble. For the youngsters the 
 
 women folk managed to rake up some cards and so 
 
 on to make quite a presentable Christmas tree. 
 
 Santa Claus, however, did not seem to get as far as 
 
 Paraguay. . . ." 
 
 *One of the expelled had contributed £1,000 to the common 
 funds. 
 
 H
 
 I02 THE FIRST EXPULSIONS 
 
 There was of course no religious service at New- 
 Australia on Christmas Day, but the party were 
 assembled to sing the marching song of their 
 movement : — 
 
 Shoulder to shoulder, mates — • 
 
 Shoulders together. 
 Hands clasped in hands my mates ; 
 
 Fair and fine weather. 
 Hearts beating close, my mates, 
 
 Each man a brother. 
 Building a home, my mates, 
 
 All for each other. 
 
 The children sang heartily enough, but the men 
 listened for the most part in gloomy silence. They 
 were thinking of their " mates " who had just been 
 shouldered out, with scarcely enough money to 
 enable them to reach Asuncion and throw them- 
 selves upon the mercy of the British Consul. 
 Lane's utterances upon the subject of mateship 
 woke little response now in the hearts of those who 
 remained. Was it mateship to induce a man to 
 contribute all he had in the world to the " Cause," 
 and then expel him with only three pounds in his 
 pocket ? Was it to do such things as this that they 
 had left Australia?
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A HELL UPON EARTH. 
 
 The men and women who had left happy homes in 
 a civiHsed country to teach the world a glorious 
 lesson were sadly undeceived at New Australia. 
 Lane's strict insistence upon the letter of the law, 
 the suspension of the Constitution (of which the 
 rank and file were not aware till they had sailed), 
 and the expulsion of members caused the bitterest 
 animosity amongst the colonists. In fear and 
 trembling men and women assembled in groups to 
 discuss the crisis in their affairs w-ith bated breath. 
 Practically no work was done, the days and nights 
 being spent by rival factions in intriguing one 
 against the other. Finally the disaffection became 
 so acute that about one-third of the party decided to 
 take concerted action ; how eagerly now they turned 
 towards the British flag which they had repudiated 
 so cheerfully a little earlier ! An authentic account 
 of what actually occurred is to be found in the 
 Foreign Office Report, " Miscellaneous Series," 
 No- 35^ (1895), which reads as follows: — 
 
 " Things went from bad to worse, disputes arose 
 and became so bitter that two parties were formed, 
 one composed of those who followed and the other 
 of those who opposed the directions of the manager, 
 and a new source of quarrel sprang up when it was 
 discovered that the Association had been registered 
 
 10 
 
 o
 
 104 A HELL UPON EARTH 
 
 as a limited liability company,* without the members 
 having ever been consulted on the subject, and that 
 the manager would be able to exercise almost 
 absolute power ; moreover the use of the police force 
 created great excitement and a general uproar, until 
 at length finding it impossible to agree eighty-five 
 members seceded in a body, preferring to abandon 
 all their shares in the colony and to receive a certain 
 sum, the married about 200 dollars and the single 
 150 dollars. t 
 
 " In a letter which one of the seceders wrote to 
 the British Consul at Monte Video he stated that 
 the manager had arrogated to himself absolute 
 power, and was expelling those who dared to stand 
 up for their rights by twos and threes. ' To prevent 
 his taking us thus,' so he says, ' we have all decided 
 to leave in the hope that something may be done for 
 us in a body that would not be done for us 
 individually.' 
 
 "They went to Villa Rica, and there they had a 
 long list of grievances to pour forth, and tales to tell 
 of how some had been expelled on trivial pretexts 
 and other tyrannised. They said that no financial 
 statement had ever appeared, that when they had 
 asked for one they had been terrorised, that they 
 could not go outside the settlement without leave; 
 
 * It was, of course, necessary to register the Association in 
 Paraguay as a land company in order to secure its legal status. 
 It was expressly stipulated that the shares should pay no dividend. 
 See Appendix B. 
 
 - t =£5 and £3. 15s. respectively. The average sum per head 
 allowed was £3. 2s. 6d.
 
 ANYTHING BUT A PARADISE 105 
 
 that if they did attempt to go, having given up 
 everything they possessed for the good of the cause, 
 they had no money to spend. Life under such 
 conditions was intolerable, and it was clear that what 
 with the absence of liberty, the isolation of exist- 
 ence, the suspicion with which one party regarded 
 the other, the mutual fear, the boycotting, the con- 
 stant disputes, the hundreds of little disagreeable 
 events that went on the whole day long, whatever 
 opinions they might hold on other subjects they 
 were one and all disposed to agree that New 
 Australia was anything but a working man's 
 paradise." 
 
 Naturally the British Consul at Asuncion was at 
 his wits' end to knoAv what to do with this army of 
 destitute fellow countrymen, and the Second 
 Secretary of the Legation at Buenos Aires was sent 
 to try and patch up a truce. 
 
 " I had been instructed to visit the Colony to 
 enquire into the cause of the expulsion of these 
 members and the secession of about one-third of the 
 colony," wrote Mr. M. de C. Findlay.* "They were 
 given a few pounds apiece when they left, but when 
 I saw them they were on the verge of destitution. 
 I found Mr. Lane, the present chairman of the 
 Association, prepared to give me all the information 
 I asked for, but to him the Articles of Association 
 and agreements signed are as the code of the Mcdcs 
 and Persians, and any infringement thereof must 
 be summarily dealt with. He does not admit such 
 things as extenuating circumstances, justice means 
 to him the law according to the letter; a man is 
 
 * Foreign Office Report, 1894, No. 1357.
 
 io6 A HELL UPON EARTH 
 
 either ' straight ' or he is ' not straight,' and in the 
 latter case out he should go. . . . Another question 
 which may cause differences is that of nationality. 
 Mr. Lane told me he had ' no reason to be 
 enthusiastically loyal,' and that a vote would be 
 taken before long which would probably result in 
 the adoption of a Paraguayan nationality." 
 
 In his introductory letter Mr. Findlay testifies to 
 the good character of the Utopians : "The colonists 
 have started with everything in their favour — free 
 land, immunity from taxation, a good climate, and 
 a certain amount of capital. They are a fine class 
 of men, and if they were less disposed to stand on 
 the letter of their rights and took a more reasonable 
 view of the failings of their fellows they would be 
 sure to succeed. As it is they came to found 
 Utopia, and before I visited the colony had 
 succeeded in creating (as they said) ' a hell upon 
 upon earth.' ... I feel morally certain that if the 
 colony had been started on an individualistic basis 
 (each colonist receiving an allotment), and with no 
 complicated regulations to fight over, not a man 
 would have left the settlement." 
 
 Mr. Findlay found it impossible to patch up a 
 truce between Lane and the seceders, who must 
 have starved but for the generosity of the Para- 
 guayan Government which housed and fed them for 
 three weeks at Villa Rica, while they were debating 
 what was best to be done. When he learned that 
 the negotiations had failed President Gonzalez 
 offered the seceders (but not the three expelled 
 members) a grant of land, on individualistic lines, at 
 the Gonzalez Colony, which he had established two
 
 GONZALEZ COLONY 107 
 
 years before quite near the railway line. With 
 indefatigable zeal Mr. Findlay set out to this place 
 where he found Frenchmen, Germans, and Poles 
 doing well. The President offered to provide each 
 family with thirty acres of land, which would be 
 increased if they showed industry, together with 
 agricultural implements and tools, a cow and a calf, 
 and a yoke of oxen, all at cost price (to be paid for 
 on easy terms spread over a number of years). 
 Furthermore, seeds were to be provided free, and 
 colonists would be exempt from taxation for ten 
 years. In addition, the settlers were offered a weekly 
 sustenance allow^ance for the first six months of 
 $2.80 per adult, and $1.40 per child— to be spent at 
 a Government store where meat would be sold at 
 cost price. With the exception of a few who had 
 obtained employment at Asuncion, the seceders 
 gladly availed themselves of this offer and were 
 conveyed to the Gonzalez (afterwards re-christened 
 " National ") Colony at the Government's expense. 
 ***** 
 
 It would be pleasant to be able to record that 
 these unhappy people prospered in their new 
 surroundings, but unfortunately that was not so. 
 The Paraguayan Revolution of July, 1894, drove 
 President Gonzalez from office, and, in the confusion 
 which followed, his generous arrangements for the 
 seceders' benefits were suspended. As they had not 
 yet had time to grow crops on the clearings they 
 had made in the forest the seceders came perilously 
 near to starvation, and, in September, twenty-five 
 of them realised all their resources and took boat to
 
 io8 A HELL UPON EARTH 
 
 Buenos Aires. Landing penniless in the Argentine 
 capital, they were befriended by the Benevolent 
 Society, which made an appeal to the British 
 charities to aid in returning them to Australia. 
 
 When news of their good fortune reached the 
 struggling sixty who still remained at Gonzalez 
 Colony, they jumped to the conclusion that the 
 British Government was anxious to re-patriale them, 
 and one of their number was despatched to 
 Asuncion to interview the Consul on the subject. 
 " On being told that no such instructions had been 
 received, he said that he would bring his wife and 
 four children and leave them at the door of the 
 Consulate, that his railway fare had been raised by 
 subscription, and he invited Her Majesty's Consul 
 to come and see the miserable plight in which they 
 were."* It is hard to say what would have become 
 of these ruined and desperate folk if the country 
 they had scorned and left had not taken pity on 
 them. On hearing of their sad condition the 
 Australian Government made arrangements to bring 
 them home to start life again in the land where 
 many of them had once been fairly prosperous. 
 " One little band, as they came down the Parana, 
 passed a ship flying the British flag, and forgetting 
 for the moment all their trouble, their losses, their 
 keen disappointment and their destitute condition, 
 broke into a cheer," reported Mr. Peel of the Buenos 
 Aires Legation. " It was the first time they had 
 seen a British flag since their arrival in Paraguay, 
 and its sight recalled the homes, the friends, and the 
 life-long associations they had so rashly left, and to 
 
 * Foreign Office, 1895, Miscellaneous Series, No. 358.
 
 BRISK ORGANISATION log 
 
 which they were so anxious to return, and bitterly 
 did they recollect how . . . they had been told by 
 those w'ho had induced them to leave Australia that 
 they had so little cause to be enthusiastically loyal." 
 
 Meanwhile organisation was proceeding briskly 
 in Australia, and the return of the "Royal Tar" on 
 December 7th, 1893, gave a sharp fillip to recruiting. 
 Those aboard of her gave such a good account of 
 the safe and pleasant vovage that the second 
 contingent — already encamped under canvas — was 
 anxious to be gone. Among members of the 
 Association in the Adelaide district there was quite 
 a rush to sell up their homes, in order to pay in the 
 minimum contribution before the next boat sailed. 
 
 It happened that three prominent strike leaders 
 were just then released from prison ; when they 
 announced their intention of shaking the dust of 
 Australia from their feet a profound sensation was 
 created in Trade Union circles. A great crowd of 
 sympathisers saw them off by the S.S. Buninyong, 
 which carried ninety-four men, two women, and six 
 children to Monte Video. Burning speeches moved 
 all who were present at the send-off to a great envy 
 of those who were bound for the land of freedom. 
 
 " We only wish we were going with you," 
 declared many who had not yet managed to scrape 
 together the necessary sixty pounds. " Look out 
 for us on the other side !" 
 
 In most of the Australian States organisation 
 proceeded so rapidly that the authorities were very 
 much alarmed. If merely the ne'er-do-wells of the
 
 no A HELL UPON EARTH 
 
 community had been joining there would have 
 been no occasion to worry ; but the organisers took 
 care to accept only the best material. The Associa- 
 tion was said to be negotiating for the purchase of 
 three more ships, and there was no reason to doubt 
 the estimate that, within six years, 6,000 souls would 
 leave for Paraguay. Could nothing be done to 
 stop the wholesale departure of Australia's sturdiest 
 sons ? How could the country's broken finances be 
 restored to a healthy condition if all the best brawn 
 and sinew were withdrawn ? 
 
 If only the true state of affairs at New Australia 
 had been known there would have been no cause for 
 anxiety. But not a hint of the dissension had 
 leaked out when the next batch boarded the "Royal 
 Tar" at Adelaide on December 28th, 1893. Utterly 
 unsuspicious of the misery their friends were already 
 enduring, the families in this contingent played at 
 "liberty, equality, and fraternity" as gaily as the 
 " Royal Tar's " earlier passengers had done. But 
 just as the boat was upon the eve of sailing the 
 emigrants' friends on shore were startled by the 
 publication of the following announcement ; — 
 
 "The Lieutenant Governor has received a 
 telegram from the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, informing him that the British Minister 
 at Buenos Aires has telegraphed him to the effect 
 that the British Consul in Paraguay wires that eight 
 
 New Australians headed by and have 
 
 left their new labour colony as a protest against 
 injustice of administration. They ask that their 
 friends at Adelaide be advised so as to prevent
 
 AN UNFORTUNATE BLUNDER in 
 
 further shipments in " Royal Tar," which sails in 
 a few days."* 
 
 It will be observed that, through some error in 
 transmission, the number of seceders was given as 
 eight instead of eighty. But for this unfortunate 
 blunder the sequel would certainly have been 
 different. 
 
 Immediately on receiving this message the 
 Premier made an effort to save the party which had 
 just embarked from the misery in store for them. 
 Detective Segerland was sent out to the boat w'ith 
 the Governor's cable, and with instructions to say 
 that any who wished to leave were still at liberty to 
 do so. It is only just to state that the organisers 
 gave the authorities every facility. When Seger- 
 land reached the " Royal Tar," Mr. Casey, who 
 was in charge, at once called a meeting for the 
 detective to address, and himself proposed a hearty 
 vote of thanks to the authorities for placing the 
 matter before them. Afterwards a discussion took 
 place, and all agreed that so small a number of 
 secessions as eight was not of any importance. It 
 was if anything a tribute to the courage and recti- 
 tude of the administration. A resolution was pro- 
 posed expressing the greatest confidence in the 
 officials at New Australia and carried unanimously. 
 The proceedings ended with three hearty cheers for 
 William Lane, the detective was sent ashore, and 
 without further ado the "Royal Tar" was towed out 
 to sea. She sailed without a soul on board having 
 the least suspicion of the deplorable state of affairs 
 at New Australia. 
 
 •"Sydney Daily Telegraph," Dec. 29, 1803.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES. 
 
 On reaching Monte Video, and hearing a full report 
 of the dismissals and secessions from New Australia, 
 three or four families, to whom it would not mean 
 absolute ruin, decided to turn back and take up their 
 old occupations. Most, however, decided to go on. 
 After the sacrifices they had made ano" the distance 
 they had come the majority would not be lightly 
 deterred from the effort to realise the hopes which 
 had so far led them on. When the party were met 
 at Asuncion on March 7th, 1894, by William Lane, 
 his magnetic power still swayed them so effectually 
 that doubts were dispelled and next day all save one 
 left for New Australia. The one " had no sooner 
 landed than he went to the Consulate and claimed 
 protection of the British flag. . . . This emigrant 
 stated that he had no desire to go to New Australia, 
 as he wished to avoid getting into serious trouble 
 which he thought would probably arise . . . and 
 that as he had a good deal of personal property 
 which, perhaps, according to the articles of the 
 Association, would not be restored to the original 
 owner, he claimed the protection of the British flag 
 to get it back by all peaceful means."* 
 
 The remainder of the party, consisting of about 
 190 persons, proceeded to New Australia, where 
 
 * Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 358. 
 
 112
 
 LOFTY MOTIVES 113 
 
 Lane ordered them to encamp at Loma Rugua, a 
 place about ten miles distant from Las Ovejas, the 
 original settlement. This deliberate isolation of the 
 newcomers was, of course, a precautionary measure 
 intended to prevent them from becoming infected 
 with the general discontent. Naturally, however, 
 it was not long before some of the pioneers visited 
 them and the events leading up to the expulsions 
 and secession were discussed at length. From that 
 moment it was determined that Lane's autocratic 
 sway must end. 
 
 After hearing their mates' accounts of all that had 
 occurred feeling against the leader they had so long 
 revered ran higk amongst the newcomers. And yet 
 — calmly considered— what wrong had he com- 
 mitted? If they had not been blinded by prejudice 
 they would have realised that it was not William 
 Lane, but the whole impracticable scheme that was 
 at fault. Of their own volition they had set up a 
 system of cast-iron laws and regulations and put 
 him in supreme authority with a mandate to enforce 
 them. The man to whom they had temporarily 
 entrusted their voting proxies was, without question, 
 as rigidly honourable, and as innocent of self-seek- 
 ing as any man could be. By putting in operation 
 the harsh law of expulsion against the three 
 offenders lie had acted from the loftiest and most 
 logical motives and, strictly speaking, had not 
 exceeded his authority. It was Socialism rather 
 than William Lane that had offended, for even Mr. 
 Blatchford grants "that State Socialism would 
 imply some interference with the liberty of the 
 individual." And if any liberty is to be absolutely
 
 114 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES 
 
 curtailed, which could more properly be suppressed 
 than the liberty to get drunk ? 
 
 The reasonableness of such arguments as the 
 above will appeal to any fair-minded person but it 
 is the special privilege of democracies to be un- 
 reasonable. The British coal miners recently threw 
 over their old leaders, when the enforcement of the 
 Eight Hours' Act, for which they had given a 
 mandate, resulted in a diminution of their earnings ; 
 in their place they elevated new leaders who pro- 
 mised that in future they should both eat their cake 
 and have it. In precisely the same manner the New 
 Australians, while insisting that their leader should 
 enforce the regulations, determined to sacrifice him 
 as soon as it appeared that some of their number 
 had suffered through his obedience. 
 
 The most varied and violent accusations were 
 levelled at Lane's head by those who wished lo 
 displace him. The official "New Australia: A 
 Report presented to the British Board of the New 
 Australia Association"* contains an assortment of 
 charges which, whether well founded or not, are 
 decidedly instructive, as they show the state of 
 feeling which had arisen, and the suspicion with 
 which the over-zealous leader was regarded. In 
 this Report, by one in hearty sympathy with the 
 movement, there is an interesting illustration of the 
 magic change which the exercise of his authority can 
 produce in the attitude of the Socialist rank and file 
 towards their chosen leader: "Lane as a high- 
 souled enthusiast in the cause of Labour, and Lane 
 
 * By Alfred Rogers. Murdoch & Co., 26, Paternoster Square, 
 1896.
 
 WOEFUL MISMANAGEMENT 115 
 
 as a despot . . . were two different men. As the 
 first he roused the enthusiasm of thousands, as the 
 second he was able to draw out all the worst passions 
 and the most evil thoughts of those whom he had 
 so far led," Mr. Rogers alleged. " Hence the first 
 split." 
 
 It was not to be expected that experienced Trade 
 Union leaders, who had gone to prison for vigorous 
 resistance to "oppression" in the Antipodes, would 
 tamely submit to what they considered worse 
 oppression at New Australia. Soon after the 
 arrival of the second batch there came a crisis. The 
 newcomers insisted on going thoroughly into 
 matters, and declared that the affairs of the settle- 
 ment had been so woefully mismanaged that a 
 change of officials was urgently necessary. 
 
 Owing to the fact that Lane could not be displaced 
 without his own consent (having been accorded the 
 power of director for two years from the Colony's 
 establishment), the majority would have had a 
 difficulty in enforcing their views had he been 
 obdurate. But he bowed to the will of the people, 
 and telegraphed to his associates in Australia for 
 their consent to the immediate putting in force of 
 the democratic form of government set out in the 
 hitherto suspended Constitution (see end of Chapter 
 II). Immediately permission arrived he resigned 
 his office, and a new Chairman was appointed with 
 more limited powers. 
 
 Of course Lane's fall was the signal for a general 
 deposition of his most trusted lieutenants and fore- 
 men, none of whom relished the notion of being 
 reduced to the ranks and disciplined by the very
 
 ii6 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES 
 
 individuals who hated them most. Lane therefore 
 apphed to the new management for permission to 
 retire to a part of the concession called Codas, there 
 to found a third village settlement on the same lines 
 as the two at Las Ovejas and Loma Rugua. There- 
 upon a furious outcry arose and it was most unfairly 
 alleged that, even before reaching Paraguay, "Lane 
 had decided upon separating with a chosen few from 
 the main body, and that he reserved the choicest 
 ground in the concession. Codas, for this purpose."* 
 Although New Australia held 600 square miles of 
 territory, not more than about one-tenth of which 
 had yet been explored, there was no room on it for 
 William Lane, except as an underling. Permission 
 to settle at Codas was refused by the Board of 
 Managementf He was at liberty to leave the 
 colony altogether as others had done, or he could 
 settle down to his share of the common toil, and 
 work for the benefit of his fellow-men in whatever 
 capacity the properly elected authorities might order. 
 The tables were turned with a vengeance ! 
 
 Faced with these alternatives, William Lane chose 
 the former, and went out into the wilderness accom- 
 panied by forty-five adult sympathisers and about 
 a dozen children, together with a fair proportion of 
 the implements and a few head of cattle. Leaving 
 his party encamped by the side of a stream, just off 
 
 * New Australia Report, by Alfred Rogers. 
 
 + It is only fair to state that Frederick Kidd and other leaders 
 (who, having come with the second party, were free from animus) 
 desired to grant the concession, but the rank and file would not 
 hear of it.
 
 o 
 
 
 a. 
 o 
 
 c 
 n) 
 
 o 
 
 E 
 o
 
 AN INTERESTING COINCIDENCE 117 
 
 the New Australia territory, William Lane went 
 moodily to Asuncion and requested a further grant 
 on which to set up a selecter Paradise. 
 
 The student of history will discern a close 
 similarity between the march of events at New 
 Australia and that classic pattern of Socialist 
 administration — the Reign of Terror. By an 
 interesting coincidence exactly a century elapsed 
 between the two experiments. 
 
 Jean Paul Marat, the French Revolutionist, was 
 as educated and refined a man as William Lane, 
 (though without his humane disposition). Like 
 the latter, Marat had lived in several countries 
 and was a successful professional man (he practised 
 in London and Paris as a doctor). Marat also was 
 bitten with a feverish desire to benefit " the people." 
 In 1789 he launched his paper, L'Ami du Peuple, 
 and used its columns to urge the "reforms" he 
 advocated, just as Lane founded The Worker, one 
 hundred years later for the same purpose. Marat's 
 lease of life as the people's idol lasted till 1792, 
 when the Girondists captured the popular fancy and 
 secured his overthrow. Had Jean Paul lived a 
 century later he might have dreamed of leading his 
 partisans from the stricken field, but his activities 
 were cut short by the hand of a woman assassin in 
 the very month during which, one hundred years 
 later, William Lane sailed in the " Royal Tar." 
 
 When Marat was thrown out, his place in the 
 mob's affections was divided between the Girondist 
 I
 
 iiS WILLIAM LANE SECEDES 
 
 leaders, Brissot, Gensonnt^, Vergniaud, Ducos, and 
 Sillery. But a few months after they had driven 
 Marat from power, the Girondists were in turn dis- 
 placed by an extremer party ; and the five who had 
 thought themselves secure were guillotined on the 
 night of October 30th, 1793. 
 
 Next the Montagnards wielded brief authority, 
 until the notorious Hebert (who set up Reason as 
 the people's only God) hounded them from office 
 and cast some into prison. But his sway endured 
 not long, for Danton and Robespierre combined to 
 drag him down, and Hebert "died amid the jeers of 
 the mob whose passion for blood he had helped to 
 arouse," a fortnight before the very men he had 
 himself condemned. Next it was Danton's turn, 
 for the treacherous Robespierre bade him begone 
 also, and his head dropped into the basket with 
 Desmoulins' on April 5th, 1794. 
 
 As a tribute to his willing sacrifice of all his 
 friends to sate their appetite for change, the 
 sovereign people endured Robespierre's reign for 
 three and a half months more before they invoked 
 the aid of Madame Guillotine to eject him from the 
 " ideal '' Commonwealth, — ^St. Just and Couthon 
 losing their heads with him, on July 8th, 1794. 
 
 Any person who dismisses the appalling incidents 
 of the Reign of Terror as the work of homicidal 
 lunatics, or blames the criminal classes for shedding 
 the blood of France's noblest sons, betrays lament- 
 able ignorance of the acknowledged facts. The 
 assassinations and wholesale executions, the merci- 
 less slaughter of everyone whose intellectual 
 opinions did not precisely coincide with the standard
 
 ANARCHISM OUR DREAM 119 
 
 temporarily in vogue, were planned and ordered, in 
 the name of progress, by mild-mannered, well- 
 meaning philosophers, who were convinced that they 
 were thereby helping on the millennium. Though 
 the ruling majority in a modern Socialist State 
 might be less enamoured of summary executions, it 
 would be no wit more tolerant, and would undoubt- 
 edly reduce society to a state of abject slavery, or 
 else of Anarchy. 
 
 Every prominent Socialist rejects the suggestion 
 that Socialism means slavery; but how many people 
 realise that Anarchy is the definite goal towards 
 which at least some popular leaders of Socialist 
 thought are consciously striving ? Not bomb- 
 throwing Anarchy, of course (though there be some 
 English Socialists who regard even that as a per- 
 missible prelude to the establishment of the "ideal" 
 State), but " true and noble Anarchism," 
 
 "That Anarchist world, I admit, is our dream," 
 Mr. H. G. Wells* states candidly, " we do believe 
 — well, I, at any rate, believe this present world, 
 this planet, will some day bear a race beyond our 
 most exalted and temerarious dreams, a race 
 begotten of our wills and the substance of our 
 bodies, a race, so I have said it, ' who will stand 
 upon the earth as one stands upon a footstool and 
 laugh and reach out their hands amidst the stars,' 
 but the way to that is through education and 
 discipline and law. Socialism is the preparation 
 for that higher Anarchism; painfully, laboriously 
 we mean to destroy false ideas of property and self, 
 eliminate unjust laws and poisonous and hateful 
 
 » " New Worlds for Old," p. 257.
 
 I20 WILLIAM LANE SECEDES 
 
 suggestions and prejudices, create a system of social 
 right-dealing and a tradition of right-feeling and 
 action. Socialism is the schoolroom of a true and 
 noble Anarchism, wherein by training and restraint 
 we shall make free men." 
 
 Of course Mr. Wells does not desire the imme- 
 diate realisation of his dream — the context makes 
 that clear — it is probable that he, personally, anti- 
 cipates that his "hot-eared, ill-kempt people" will 
 need a good deal of restraint and law and discipline, 
 spread over a considerable period, before he can let 
 them loose with any feeling of security. But, once 
 converted to his theory of the ideality of Anarchism, 
 will the "hot-eared, ill-kempt people . . . who," 
 as he says, "are pitiful, and weak, and vain, and 
 touchy, almost beyond measure," be willing to wait 
 till Mr. Wells takes a less pessimistic view of their 
 limitations? Will they not rather in their touchy, 
 hot-eared fashion, call the preacher of discipline 
 and restraint a would-be tyrant, and treat him as the 
 New Australians treated Lane? Will they not 
 impatiently set about the instant "reform" of the 
 State, as the Girondists, and the Montagnards, and 
 the New Australians set about it ; and forthwith set 
 up a by no means noble Anarchism ? 
 
 In the words of that amazingly candid Socialist, 
 Mr. Bernard Shaw,* " If our political ruin is to 
 come, it will be eflfected by ardent reformers, and 
 supported by enthusiastic patriots as a series of 
 ne9essary steps in our progress," 
 
 •X- * * * * 
 
 Whatever his limitations, William Lane was at 
 
 *"The Revolutionists' Handbook."
 
 A DISINTERESTED LEADER 121 
 
 least a disinterested leader, inspired by the highest 
 motives, and with a clear and definite idea of the goal 
 towards which he desired to kick the ball of State. 
 His successors were quite as well-meaning, but 
 hardly equally clever, and entirely lacked the 
 personal magnetism which is of such value in a 
 leader. Leaving William Lane for the time being, 
 it will be instructive to follow, for a chapter or two, 
 his successors' adventures in mis-government.
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM. 
 
 After the departure of William Lane from New 
 Australia it was felt that the way was clear for a 
 sane and practical carrying out of the co-operative 
 principle. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Now what is tlie co-operative principle ? How- 
 does it work so far as the appointment of officials, 
 for instance, is concerned ? All this is explained by 
 Laurence Gronlund in "The Co-operative Common- 
 wealth : An Exposition of Modern Socialism."* 
 The author asserts that in his "ideal" State "personal 
 responsibility and instant dismissal for failure will 
 permeate the whole service from top to bottom." 
 This will be secured by providing ''first, that all 
 appointments be made from below ; next, that the 
 directors stay in office as long as they give satisfac- 
 tion and not a moment beyond; and, lastly, that all 
 laws and regulations of a general nature must first 
 be ratified by those immediately interested." 
 
 These principles were considered wholly admir- 
 able by the workers at "New Australia." But what 
 about dismissals ? 
 
 " Every directing official should be given the 
 
 * Swan. Sonnenschein, Le Bas and Lowrey, London. 1886. 
 
 122
 
 TRUE DEMOCRACY 123 
 
 right instantly to dismiss anyone of his subordinates 
 for cause assigned. . . . When, then, a foreman 
 was inefficient, he would be removed instantly, 
 without trial, by his superintendent; he again, 
 might be removed by his bureau-chief — perhaps for 
 abuse of poiver in removing the foreman; — this 
 bureau-chief again, by his department-chief. 
 
 " But the latter official, to whom shall he be 
 responsible ? . . . Suppose we make every depart- 
 ment chief liable to removal by the whole body of 
 his subordinates. That is to say, suppose that, 
 whenever the workers of a given department inclu- 
 sive of foremen, superintendents, and other officials, 
 become dissatisfied with their chief, they all meet in 
 their different localities and vote on the dismissal of 
 that chief, and that he be considered removed from 
 office the moment the collective judgment of the 
 whole department is known, if that judgment be 
 adverse to him. Then the bureau-chiefs immediately 
 proceed to elect another chief of department who 
 can be removed in like manner, if he should not 
 suit the workers." 
 
 From the point of view of the rank and file there 
 could hardly be devised a better means of ensuring 
 that all officials should be principally concerned to 
 kow-tow to the " workers." But what about the 
 latter ? — would it be conversant with the dignity of 
 labour for them to be hectored by the very foremen 
 they had themselves elected? By no means! 
 
 " Can the foreman also dismiss any of his workers 
 for inefficiency or other causes?" the cliampion of 
 the rights of man proceeds. " For such cases a 
 trial by his comrades might be provided, the issue
 
 124 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM 
 
 of which might be removal to a lower grade or some 
 sort of compulsion. Now is this not Democracy?" 
 Undoubtedly that is Democracy — of a brand to 
 make the weary labourer rejoice. How such a 
 democratic system works out in practice will 
 presently appear. 
 
 Now that the New Australians had liberty to 
 apply their Constitution, they lost no time in 
 examining it with care and with a view to making 
 it truly democratic. Naturally the first step towards 
 this was the alteration of the regulations which gave 
 the least discretionary powers to any individual. 
 In public meeting assembled, the colonists revised 
 some laws and added many others (see Appendix C), 
 which were in their turn revised, and re-revised each 
 time an amateur law-maker could catch the public 
 fancy with any addition or emendation. The 
 unfortunate Secretary had to work overtime in order 
 to keep an accurate record of the sovereign people's 
 ever-changing decisions. 
 
 A glance at Appendix C shows that Mr. Blatch- 
 ford's dictum, "the fact is that under Socialism 
 there would be as few officials, and as many workers, 
 as possible," is not borne out by the history of New 
 Australia. To limit the powers of the Director (or 
 "Administrator" as he came to be called) a Board 
 of Management was appointed. This Board was 
 composed of the Director, and a Deputy Director, 
 assisted by two managers from each of the five 
 villaare settlements now established, who were them- 
 selves elected by the inhabitants of the respective
 
 LIVELY DEBATES 125 
 
 settlements. In addition, each division had its 
 departmental superintendent, etc., whose time was 
 largely taken up in struggling with statistics, which 
 had to be furnished once a w-eek at least to the 
 Deputy Director. Although the total population 
 was only 217, there were, in addition to the officials 
 already enumerated, separate foremen over each of 
 the following departments : — building, forestry, 
 surveying, farming, gardening, stock, dairy, black- 
 smiths, tinsmiths, butchers, bootmakers, culinary, 
 laundry, educational. Any of these, as also the 
 Treasurer, Secretary, etc., were liable to be displaced 
 at any time by a snap-majority against them. As 
 there were always a number of opposition candidates 
 desirous of occupying every official's place, vote 
 canvassing went on continuously and ballots were 
 for a lime of almost daily occurrence. 
 
 By Rule 30 (see Appendix C) it was provided 
 that "Any twenty-five members may at any time 
 take the initiative and convene a public meeting, of 
 which seven days notice shall be given, for the 
 consideration of any stated business ; such meeting 
 may select its own chairman, and, provided a two- 
 thirds majority be obtained, at a ballot vote seven 
 clear days after such meeting, the decision arrived at 
 shall be held valid and become law." 
 
 The convening of public meetings was found so 
 much more interesting than labour that the new- 
 Administrator could hardly sign his name without 
 someone or other insisting on a vote, as to whether it 
 was proper for him to do so. Moreover, the debates 
 gained greatly in liveliness from the fact that some 
 of the women attended regularly, and expressed their
 
 126 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM 
 
 views very forcibly, and at any length they pleased, 
 with lofty disregard of the Chairman's ruling. In 
 place of the despotism of one man, the colonists now 
 suffered under the infliction of an inconstant public 
 opinion, which displaced officials, or made new 
 regulations, one day, only to reverse its decisions the 
 next. Under the new regime no subordinate fore- 
 man was entrusted with the smallest discretionary 
 power. All applications for clothes, tools, leave of 
 absence, etc., came before the Board of Manage- 
 ment, which wasted its time in interminable argu- 
 ments over petty details, with the result that 
 important matters were hopelessly neglected. 
 Meanwhile organisation in Australia had almost 
 ceased, and no money was coming in from outside; 
 it was therefore vitally necessary for all to co-operate 
 in revenue-producing labour. 
 
 Although enormous energy had been expended 
 in the work of clearing the forest, to plant wheat, the 
 crop was unsuitable for the country and had proved 
 a failure. It was therefore necessary to buy corn 
 from the natives, and the little money remaining 
 was expended in this manner. In addition, a debt 
 of two hundred pounds was contracted for the 
 purchase of other articles. Why the pioneers 
 had not already engaged in lumbering operations, 
 or dairy-farming, for profit (they had seventy milch 
 cows, and butter brings a very high price in Villa 
 Rica), to say nothing of cattle dealing, it would be 
 hard to explain. Apparently the directors imag- 
 ined, as our Socialist legislators do, that they could 
 for ever live on capital. If any questioned the 
 advisability of this or that expenditure^ there were
 
 A JUDICIAL DECISION 127 
 
 always the contributions of ftiture members to look 
 forward to. By the end of 1894 it \vas confidently 
 anticipated that at least 2000 more would be brought 
 to the colony, and it seemed safe enough to count in 
 advance upon their financial offerings to meet any 
 present indebtedness — a line of reasoning identical 
 with that of those municipal administrators who 
 achieve present popularity by cheerfully piling up 
 debts for posterity to pay. 
 
 With a view to raising more capital (and to give a 
 much-needed fillip to recruiting) Gilbert Casey was 
 despatched to Australia with plenary powers, to 
 take over the books, documents, cash, "Royal Tar," 
 and other securities, and to place the organisation 
 upon a proper footing. On arrival in Sydney, how- 
 ever, Casey found the officials of the Association not 
 disposed to give him much assistance, since they 
 were strongly on the side of William Lane. Casey 
 quite expected some thousands of pounds w-orth of 
 assets to be handed over, but in this he w-as sorely 
 disappointed. When he requested the Australian 
 Secretary to make the necessary transfers he was 
 informed that the "Royal Tar" was heavily mort- 
 gaged, and that no assets could be handed over until 
 certain onerous conditions had been complied with. 
 The situation was rendered still more awkward by a 
 judgment, delivered in the District Court, in favour 
 of J. H. Smiles (a member of the New Australia 
 Association, who had contributed all he possessed 
 although he had not yet embarked for Sotith 
 America) who claimed the return of the balance of 
 his contribution, over and above the ;;^io deposit 
 money. As soon as this decision was made known
 
 128 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM 
 
 an enormous number of similar claims arose against 
 the Association, and the officials were at their wit's 
 end to know what to do. Casey's own position was 
 particularly embarrassing since his footsteps were 
 dogged by unfortunates, who had paid in their all 
 to the Association, and were left stranded in 
 Adelaide or Sydney. Among the most pressing 
 problems demanding his attention was the case of 
 seventeen most respectable women, wives of some 
 of the settlers who left with the first contingent in 
 July, 1893. It had been arranged that the husbands 
 should go first to prepare a home, and that their 
 wives should sail by one of the later boats. In the 
 meantime they were herded together in a four- 
 roomed cottage, penniless, but provided for by 
 orders from the Association's secretary on local 
 tradespeople. As eighteen months had elapsed 
 already, the husbands were naturally indignant with 
 the Association for not dispatching the seventeen 
 stranded women to Paraguay, and Casey had 
 instructions to attend to the matter without delay. 
 When he reached Australia he found, to his horror 
 and dismay, that the tradespeople had long since 
 refused to give them further supplies, and that the 
 bailiffs were ejecting them from the house for non- 
 payment of rent. A woman, whose husband had 
 contributed ;6400 to the Association, had to depend 
 on charity for a crust to eat at Christmas 1894. 
 
 The position of the other stranded folk, who had 
 already passed nearly two years in tents awaiting 
 permission to sail, was serious enough, but the 
 plight of the seventeen women, separated by 
 thousands of miles of ocean from their husbands,
 
 A PLAIN STATEMENT 129 
 
 was desperate indeed. In iheir interest Casey took 
 the courageous course of issuing a plain statement 
 to the press, ahhough he knew that this course 
 would produce a plentiful crop of hostile criticism, 
 and add to the difficulties of further organisation. 
 The appeal was addressed to the Unionists, Demo- 
 crats, Socialists, and members of the New Australia 
 Association, in Queensland. 
 
 " I am personally known to a very large number 
 of you," he wrote. " I have done some fairly 
 conscientious work for all of you, and have been 
 paid for the same. Still, I fancy that there is some- 
 thing outside of the mere cash payment that gives 
 me the right to claim your assistance now. I have 
 undertaken the gigantic task of re-organising the 
 New Australia movement and I want your help. 
 I want to deal fairly, squarely, and aboveboard with 
 those I am working for and with. This appeal is 
 issued upon my own responsibility, in order that I 
 may succeed in the task I have undertaken. To do 
 that I must have the assistance of outsiders just 
 now, because our Association has been left abso- 
 lutely stone broke; because it has a number of 
 unfortunate women and children left on its hands 
 whose husbands and fathers have been in Paraguay 
 for the last twelve months ; because it is cruelty to 
 let this continue any longer through the fear of 
 being sneered at by those who misunderstand or 
 have no sympathy with the movement ; because 
 many of our members gave up all their possessions 
 to the Association officials, left their employment as 
 instructed, and have been in destitute circumstances 
 ever since; these unfortunates cannot be expected
 
 I30 FREE AND NOBLE ANARCHISM 
 
 to do a great deal towards assisting others, though 
 they are doing their level best; because there is no 
 hope of the Association getting anything out of the 
 "Tar" or other property; because it is better Lo 
 abandon the attempt than fool round with the law ; 
 because it is right to send these people across ; 
 because ^50* will send them all to their husbands 
 and fathers ; because finally a small sum from each 
 of our friends w^ill do what is needed, and my trust 
 in men and women is great enough to make me feel 
 absolutely certain that this money will be received 
 before the first week in January." 
 
 Casey's intentions were good, but it would really 
 have been kinder on his part to advise the stranded 
 members of the association to beg their bread rather 
 than proceed to New Australia. However, he still 
 had faith in the great scheme, and began to enrol 
 fresh recruits in face of a strong opposition. By 
 this time (January, 1895) one or two of the seceders 
 had contrived to get back to Australia, and did all in 
 their power to dissuade others from sailing. 
 
 " It makes me sad to hear that they are so mis- 
 guided as to go there, little thinking what they will 
 have to encounter," wrote Mr. Pope in the Adelaide 
 Advertiser. "The picture looks bright at a distance 
 but they have not seen it as I have— seen strong 
 men break down under it and weep like children 
 because of their inability to help themselves in the 
 position in which they were placed. ... If they 
 will not profit by the experience of others God help 
 them ! . . . I do not mind single men going, they 
 can battle for themselves ; but to send women and 
 
 * Probably a misprint for £500.— Author.
 
 THE TABLES TURNED i^i 
 
 .V 
 
 children is a crime. If I can persuade only one or 
 two of the women not to go I shall feel that I have 
 not striven in vain." 
 
 But all such warnings proved useless. William 
 Lane's partisans had already explained away the 
 secessions and such statements as those above 
 were discounted in advance. On January i8th, 
 1895, thirty-one sailed by the S.S. "Hauroto" 
 (including nine members of one family who are 
 still at New Australia). In all fifty or sixty more 
 colonists were dispatched to "New Australia" and 
 about ;£,'300 in cash. As their passage money 
 could not be raised, some two hundred destitute 
 folk, who had paid in their all to the Association, 
 were left behind to accept charity from the much 
 abused Capitalists and curse the day they had ever 
 heard of Socialism. In the old days, when they so 
 heartily endorsed the policy of confiscating the 
 possessions of the well-to-do, they had never 
 expected to be hoist with their own petard !
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUSINESS. 
 
 While Casey was in Australia, hunting up fresh 
 funds and re-estabHshing the recruiting base, the 
 ever-changing officials in Paraguay were devising 
 fresh schemes for frittering away each contribution 
 as it came to hand. On all sides they were 
 surrounded by magnificent forest, full of cedar, 
 mahogany, teak, and other valuable woods, which 
 only required to be chopped down, squared, and 
 drawn by bullocks to Villa Rica or Caballero in 
 order to produce an excellent revenue. Some idea 
 of the possibilities of this trade may be gathered 
 from the following notes of the use to which eleven 
 of the sixty indigenous woods of Paraguay are put, 
 together with the prices paid for them. 
 
 "(i) Curupai : A hard red wood, very durable 
 and much used for sleepers, piles, etc. It com- 
 mands a good market in the Argentine, the price in 
 Asuncion being about 2S. the vara of lo by lo 
 inches. 
 
 (2) Cedar : Though inferior in grain and scent to 
 the Cuban variety, large quantities of this wood are 
 exported to the Argentine Republic and to 
 Germany, the trade with the latter country having 
 sprung into existence at the time of the Spanish- 
 American War. There is a considerable demand 
 for Paraguayan cedar in Bremen, where it is used 
 for the manufacture of cigar-boxes. It is, strictly 
 
 132
 
 VALUABLE TIMBER 133 
 
 speaking-, more of a mahogany than of a cedar, but 
 has the grain and scent of the latter. Price, 2S. per 
 vara, 10 by 10 inches. 
 
 (3) Laurel negro (black laurel) is used for sleepers 
 but not being as durable as curupai and being 
 inflammable the demand is not great. Price, is.6d. 
 per post. 
 
 (4) Palo de rosa (rosewood) is similar to the 
 English rosewood but lighter in colour. Properly 
 seasoned it takes a high polish and is suitable for 
 light furniture. It also possesses medicinal quali- 
 ties. Price uncertain, 
 
 (5) Ibird-no is a hard flexible wood for which 
 there is a growing demand for carriage and ship- 
 building as it does not warp or crack. Importers 
 in the United Kingdom have expressed great satis- 
 faction with samples received and state that it may 
 replace teak to a great extent, the grain being very 
 close and well adapted to resist the action of sun and 
 water. Its one defect is its heaviness, but in spite 
 of this there is reason to believe that it will soon 
 command an increased sale in Europe. Price, 
 about 2s the vara of 10 by 10 inches. 
 
 (6) Lapacho (black and yellow) : There is a great 
 demand for this wood in Buenos Aires where it is 
 used for making rough carts and spans for bridges. 
 Though sometimes used also for sleepers it is not 
 well adapted for this purpose, as, unless covered 
 over with soil, it is apt to take fire from the sparks 
 from the engine. 
 
 (7) Peteriby negro is used locally for furniture 
 making, and being easily worked and capable of 
 taking a high polish should, when better knowm, 
 
 J
 
 134 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUSINESS 
 
 command a sale in Europe. Price, about 3s. the 
 vara. 
 
 (8) Quebracho Colorado, is the most important of 
 Paraguayan woods, considerable quantities being 
 exported to Germany, chiefly to Hamburg, where 
 a large amount is alw-ays kept in stock. Its prin- 
 cipal use is for tanning, and the demand is increasing 
 every year. German capital finds a remunerative 
 investment in this wood, and a line of steamers is 
 employed solely for this trade. There is one extract 
 factory in this country, but probably several more 
 will be established before long. The price of 
 quebracho Colorado delivered in Hamburg is about 
 66s. per ton. According to an analysis recently 
 made quebracho logs produce an average of 25 per 
 cent, of tanning substance and a maximum of 29 
 per cent. Paraguayan quebracho contains more 
 tanning extract and is of a finer colour than that 
 found in Argentine. 
 
 (9) Urundi-mi is one of the best hard woods of 
 the country and possesses many of the qualities of 
 the Curupai, being even more durable. Price, 
 about 2S. the vara of 10 by 10 inches. 
 
 (10) Tatan^ is a beautiful golden-coloured wood 
 resembling satinwood and taking a very high 
 polish. Boxes made of it secure the contents from 
 insects of all kinds. This wood is of a hard close 
 grain and will last for years in the earth or under 
 water. Locally it is used for making stems and 
 sterns of ships. Price, about 2s. 4d. per vara of 
 10 by 10 inches. 
 
 (11) Palo Santo, Lignum-vittB : A heavy dark 
 wood of which there is but a limited supply. It is
 
 PLEASING AMUSEMENT i:,5 
 
 used in place of ' bronzes ' for bearings in engines 
 and screw shafts. Pulley and block wheels are also 
 made of it. Palo Santo has the medicinal qualities 
 of the Lignum-vita;. Price, about £6 per ton in 
 Asuncion. Hitherto it has been chiefly exported to 
 France where it has been known to fetch ;^io per 
 ton."* 
 
 In the vast forests on the 600 square miles which 
 comprised the New Australia concession most, if 
 not all, of the above were to be found in plenty, as 
 well as dozens of other varieties of wood which 
 enjoyed a local market. Indeed lumbering was the 
 industry on which the prospectors had relied, in 
 their report, for revenue, and it required no capital 
 outlay to pursue it ; nothing but hard work in fact 
 • — but this was a fatal qualification in the colonists' 
 eyes. For their own benefit any of them would 
 cheerfully have undertaken the work (at present, 
 under individualism, it is a staple industry), but 
 none could see why they should sweat in the forest 
 while others followed less arduous occupations. 
 So the timber took care of itself for awhile and the 
 Board of Management found pleasing amusement 
 in experimenting with the planting of ramie, and 
 bought a costly but inellicient machine to prepare 
 the produce for the market. Ten acres were planted 
 with the fibre (used in the production of imitation 
 silk) and immense care lavished upon it in the hope 
 of realising enormous profits. Needless to say this 
 expectation was not realised and the whole thing 
 proved a ghastly failure. 
 
 It might be argued that this result had nothing to 
 * Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 2G10, .May 1901.
 
 136 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUSINESS 
 
 do with the nature of Socialism, but was due to the 
 stupidity of the Board of Management. Experience 
 elsewhere justifies the conclusion, how^ever, that 
 such mad schemes have a fatal fascination for 
 all " reformers." To quote the frank words of 
 General Rossel, who commanded the French 
 Socialist Army during the Communist rising of 
 1871 : "They study with good faith the works of 
 those philosophical day-dreamers who promise them 
 a Paradise on earth ; they are desirous of suddenly 
 transforming the organisation of labour . . . and 
 three-fourths of their time they are the mere dupes 
 of their innovatin,'^ experiments. Incapable of 
 managing their own affairs, they are still more 
 incapable of managing public affairs." 
 
 Besides the timber industry, there were many other 
 avocations in which the colonists might have 
 engaged with profit. They possessed 2500 head of 
 cattle, in addition to 70 milch cows and 100 horses. 
 Dairy-farming might have provided a useful 
 income, while the fattening up of cattle for market 
 would have yielded a splendid revenue. At the 
 present time a dozen or more of the colonists, work- 
 ing for themselves, make an excellent living at the 
 trade, the Colony grazing land being unrivalled for 
 this purpose. By extraordinary perversity, how- 
 ever, energy was concentrated upon market garden- 
 ing, though there was no possible market for the 
 produce. 
 
 The question whether proper care would be taken 
 of common property, under a Socialist regime, is 
 one that Socialist writers answer confidently. 
 "Only a lunatic would wantonly destroy a harvest,"
 
 WANTON DESTRUCTION 137 
 
 says the author of " Merrie England," "unless he 
 might thereby reap some personal advantage." 
 That was not the experience of New Australia, for 
 wanton destruction of harvests and reckless misuse 
 of implements were common. 
 
 " There is absolutely no regard for common 
 property," wrote "Colonist" in the Pall Mall 
 Gazette. " Tools and implements are lost, mislaid 
 or destroyed in the most disgraceful manner. At 
 the Las Ovejas settlements last year the melon beds 
 were trampled on by adults and children. Thousands 
 were broken open and not one was allowed to come 
 to maturity." 
 
 The wholesale loss or appropriation of tools was 
 carried to such an extreme that when harvest time 
 came there was nothing to reap with. "In the 
 farming department, the sight of a number of men 
 and boys working overtime, snipping off the ears 
 of wheat into a bag with table knives, in a field 
 which averaged one bushel to the acre, was no less 
 admirable as indicating heroic pluck than the 
 picture of a gang of men raking rows of cornstalks 
 with their hoe handles."* The wheat of course was 
 a failure, but the maize harvest was gloriously 
 abundant, so much so in fact that the aijricultural 
 workers were unable to garner it without help. 
 Naturally enough, they applied to the Board of 
 Management for temporary assistance from other 
 departments, but the strict Trade Unionists of the 
 community were up in arms. 
 
 "What?" they cried. "Permit cattle drovers, 
 
 * Letter from A. Macdonald.
 
 138 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUSINESS 
 
 or bottle washers, to lend a hand in the harvest 
 field? Heaven forbid !" 
 
 " Well, if you take up that attitude, the farming 
 section will insist on their eight-hour day and refuse 
 to work a minute overtime. Then the rain will 
 come and the harvest will be ruined. The welfare 
 of the community is at stake !" 
 
 Naturally enough this appeal conveyed nothing 
 to them. Had it been their own corn they would 
 have worked all night to bring it in, but as for the 
 community — that was another story ! As de 
 Tocqueville remarks, " Individual interest is the 
 indispensable incentive to labour and economy.' 
 Having no incentive but the good of all, not a soul 
 would lift a finger to help, so the agriculturalists 
 shrugged their shoulders and w^orked only their 
 bare eight hours, with the result that much of 
 Nature's bounty was smashed down by rain and 
 abandoned to the pigs. 
 
 " For a long time sentiment was the ruling factor 
 in New Australia, business being left in the back- 
 ground ; now both sentiment and business are in 
 the background. For the moment there seems to 
 be nothing but mutual distrust, greed, jealousy and 
 unkindness," wrote Rogers in his Report. Then 
 with truly Socialistic optimism, he adds, " But I 
 do not think it is more than a passing distemper. 
 Necessity will force attention to business and senti- 
 ment may then take its right place."* 
 
 It was not long indeed before the Board of 
 Management took to business— with disastrous 
 results. For some time the colonists had been 
 
 * Eeijort to the British Board of the New Australia Association.
 
 RUSHED CONTRACTS 139 
 
 living on short commons, but nevertheless there was 
 a heavy debt and the supplies of clothing, stores, 
 etc., were well-nigh exhausted. There was no 
 remunerative occupation in progress, and the stream 
 of subscriptions from England and Australia, had 
 dried up. The leaders were faced with two alter- 
 natives, either (i) they must absolutely set their 
 people to some productive labour, such as lumber- 
 ing, or (2) they must raise money from outside. 
 
 With tender regard for the weary muscles of 
 Labour they chose the latter alternative, and actually 
 gave away for a song their own people's chief 
 means of livelihood. Characteristically, the con- 
 tracts were rushed through by the business agent 
 without the consent of the bulk of the colonists. A 
 howl of dismay arose when the latter learned to 
 what their trusted leaders had committed them. 
 
 As has been noted already, the colonists owned 
 at one time 2500 head of cattle. These were distri- 
 buted on different grazing grounds, and the heads 
 of the farming department had the haziest idea how 
 many remained. There was an impression that 
 there should still be about 2000 without reckoning 
 natural increase, and it was decided to dispose of 
 half that ■ number. "The contract was rushed 
 through before the people had time to consider it, 
 and as hurriedly carried out. The men of Loma 
 Rugua had at once petitioned against it, but it was 
 too late. The contract was for 1000 head at 13s. 6d.* 
 per head, calves up to two years being thrown in," 
 stated Rogers in his Report. " The cattle were 
 
 * The Report states the price as 27 dollars. The valuo of the 
 dollar was 6d. at that time. (It is now less.)
 
 140 ASSOCIATION TAKES TO BUSINESS 
 
 mustered, when, to the surprise of everyone, not a 
 thousand head could be found ! There were 928 
 sold, and some 1500 calves thrown in for nothing.* 
 Evidently there had been a huci'e blunder, and yet, 
 owing to the disgraceful want of system, no one 
 was responsible. The price at which they were sold 
 was, I am told, ridiculous, as shortly afterwards the 
 hides alone fetched that figure. Had the cattle been 
 sold in small lots, it is reckoned that one-half of the 
 number sold would have realised more than the 
 contract." 
 
 Still more remarkable was the timber contract, 
 dated February 6th, 1895. It was hardly in accord- 
 ance with the original spirit of their scheme for the 
 Board of Management to enter into a "capitalistic" 
 contract, giving a certain outsider the exclusive 
 right of cutting timber on their territory for a period 
 of three years for a ludicrously small consideration. 
 Not till the contract was signed did they realise that 
 the colonists were no longer entitled to conduct 
 lumbering operations themselves 1 It seemed as if 
 the Board were suicidally determined to cut them- 
 selves ofif from all possible sources of revenue. 
 ** After careful thought, in the light of previous 
 contracts and schemes," says Rogers darkly, " I 
 am of the opinion that interests, other than those of 
 the colony, were involved in the matter." It might 
 be replied that, at any rate the contractor was under 
 no obligation to consider the interests of the 
 Colony. 
 
 • The Keport says that 4,500 calves were thrown in for nothing, 
 but as this would far exceed the natural increase, it is probably 
 a printer's error.
 
 DISASTROUS EFFECT 141 
 
 When the disastrous effect of these two contracts 
 became known there were those who did not hesitate 
 to declare that they had been betrayed by their 
 officials, and some came forward with a proposition 
 very much hke this, "What's the good of pretend- 
 ing to be Sociahsts any longer? It only gives the 
 cunningest ones the chance to feather their nests. 
 Let's divide everything up while there is anything 
 left to divide and turn Individualists—' each for 
 himself and the devil take the hindmost !' " 
 
 As w ill appear in the next chapter, brotherly love 
 was now a byword. Envy, hatred and malice had 
 taken its place, and the noble resolve to bear one 
 another's burdens had given place to a policy of 
 grab. 
 
 NOTE : — If corruption of any kind existed it must have been 
 among minor officials, without the knowledge of Lane's successor, 
 who was a man of sterling honesty and did more than anyone 
 else to retrieve the fortunes of the settlers.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL. 
 
 The injustice of equal sharing between industrious 
 and idle, skilful and good-for-nothing, did not 
 obtrude itself particularly in New Australia's pros- 
 perous days, when fourteen bullocks were slain 
 every week and money was abundant, but when 
 increasing poverty made it necessary to revise the 
 scale of living, and the lordly credit allowance was 
 reduced to a meagre pittance, the glaring folly of 
 such a scheme made itself apparent. There was a 
 
 lean wiry giant named M for instance to 
 
 whom hard labour was the breath of life. Axe on 
 shoulder he would take himself off to the forest and 
 bring tree after tree, with fibre hard as iron, 
 topphng to the ground. Single-handed he made a 
 bigger clearing in six weeks than half a dozen of 
 the "born tired" variety could accomplish in six 
 months. His earning capacity as a woodman, even 
 in Paraguay, where w'ages are low, would be several 
 pounds a week. On the other hand, take a loung- 
 ing argumentative waster like X , who was 
 
 never much better than a "sundowner" in 
 Australia, and whose scamped labour would be 
 dearly paid for by his bare keep. Would any sane 
 man argue that both were equally useful to the 
 community? At New Australia no account was 
 taken of physical or mental capacity, and conse- 
 quently both types were served alike. As a result 
 
 142
 
 ENDLESS COMPLICATIONS 143 
 
 there was no incentive to industry, and the profit- 
 earning power of the community was reduced 
 accordingly. 
 
 It should be noted that members were at liberty 
 to eat at the common table at a certain agreed 
 mess-rate (paid for by deduction from the credit 
 value of their labour checks) or to draw food from 
 the stores at a price tixed by a committee, and make 
 their own cooking arrangements. Theoretically, 
 all articles grown on the establishment had to be 
 sold through the store, so that if a gardener ate 
 some of the produce over which he tended, or a 
 child picked a banana from the thousands which 
 grew wild, they were robbing the community. In 
 practice, therefore, though everything belonged to 
 all, it was illegal for an individual to eat so much 
 as a berry without first calculating its value and 
 having it debited against him on his labour check. 
 As money did not circulate, the endless complica- 
 tions attending all negotiations can be better 
 imagined than described. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to recall one 
 of those amusing conundrums which Mr. Blatchford 
 sets himself in " Merrie England." 
 
 "Under Socialism," he asks, "who would get 
 the salmon and w-ho would get the red-herring?" 
 
 "Perhaps under Socialism," he replies, "the 
 salmon might be eaten by those who catch it. At 
 present it is not." 
 
 Substitute chicken for salmon and the answer held 
 good at New Australia. Although the chicken 
 belonged to the community as a whole they were 
 seldom seen in the common cook-pots. The fleet of
 
 144 ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL 
 
 foot, and the dexterous in concealment, had this 
 advantage over their mates, that they could catch 
 the chicken — and many illicit meals were enjoyed 
 by certain of the colonists which were not debited 
 against them in the books. 
 
 By a revised agreement, dated May 21st, 1895, it 
 was decided that all adult members were entitled to 
 a reduced credit of 2s. i^d. per week, to spend as 
 they pleased, with a supplement of is. per week 
 which must be spent solely on necessary clothing. 
 Out of this allowance there was small margin avail- 
 able for any enthusiast to spend on the purchase of 
 priceless art treasures, but then, as Gronlund says : 
 " But really we do not suppose there will be any 
 citizen in the Co-operative Commonwealth, when 
 some time has elapsed, who has got ;^20,ooo to 
 squander on a bit of canvas, and none should 
 deplore it." What the New Australian citizens 
 were more inclined to deplore was the fact that none 
 had twenty shillings to replace a worn and tattered 
 suit. As children were the care of the community, 
 they also received an allowance, adjusted, not 
 according to size or appetite, but according to age. 
 All alike under the age of fifteen were allowed 6d. 
 weekly for clothing, and a graduated amount for 
 food.* As children were maintained under the 
 guardianship of parents, it foUow-ed that those of the 
 latter who were blessed with a "quiver full" drew 
 very heavily on the community's stores, although 
 they performed no more labour than the others. 
 
 ♦Under 18 2s. Od. Under 5 Os. lOfd. 
 
 15 Is. 6d. „ 1 Os. 3d. 
 
 10 Is. 0|d.
 
 TWO INSTANCES 145 
 
 This fact naturally created many heart-burnings. 
 Consider two c<')ncrete instances: — 
 
 A man and wife with three daughters, aged 18, 
 16, and 2 respectively, and two sons aged 12 and 6, 
 would draw 17s. 4d. worth of articles weekly from 
 the common stock, and live comparatively in 
 clover,* although only the man did any profit- 
 making work. On the other hand, five bachelor 
 
 adults of M 's type and a hard-working boy 
 
 of fifteen, with tremendous waste of tissue to be 
 renewed, and brawny frames to be covered with 
 clothing, would get only 17s. 7|d. between them for 
 a full week's arduous work. The family would 
 naturally mess together; they could live well, be 
 well clothed, and have a comfortable unused credit 
 on the community's books put by for a rainy day. 
 The six hard-working bachelors, on the contrary, 
 would be so perilously near to starvation that they 
 might be in danger of eating one another ! They 
 would not have even the consolation of knowing 
 that the well-fed man's wife and grown-up daughter 
 were helping things along by doing their (the 
 bachelors') washing. Bearing in mind that "Unless 
 woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her 
 husband, to her children, to society, to the law, and 
 to everyone but herself, she cannot emancipate her- 
 self. Therefore woman has to repudiate duly 
 altogether, "f many ladies simply repudiated their 
 
 * It should be noted that living is extraordinarily cheap in 
 Paraguay. Outside the towns £20 per annum is sufficient to feed 
 and clothe an average-sized family in comfort, provided that they 
 grow their own vegetables. 
 
 t Fabian Essays.
 
 146 ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL 
 
 obligations and refused to do any communal work, 
 though the regulation was that all w-ashing must be 
 divided up amongst the women. 
 
 "There is not a person here who could honestly 
 tell you that he has not degenerated under these 
 conditions," wrote Mr. A. Macdonald. "Com- 
 munism certainly renders people more selfish. At 
 the general dining table each has his private bottle 
 of treacle, which he stows away between meals 
 under his pillows or elsewhere as best he can ; while 
 quite a number carry their utensils to and from the 
 table with them. Knives, forks, etc., have an 
 amazing faculty for disappearing in a communistic 
 settlement." 
 
 Another colonist, in a letter to the Pall Mall 
 Gazette, bore out this statement, and touched upon 
 a still more serious matter. After describing the 
 w-holesale wastefulness already quoted (Chapter V) 
 he adds : " There is no probability of education for 
 half the children, and they have been sadly 
 neglected. Some of the little ones may be seen 
 limping around with their feet in a terrible state 
 from neglect. The atmosphere of gross materialism 
 is most deplorable in its effects. There is no doubt 
 that people professing some faith are the most 
 pleasant to live among." 
 
 Dreadful as this picture of the Godless Eden is, 
 the settlers had not yet plumbed the abysmal depths 
 of misery which they were destined to experience. 
 Although it was estimated that if every male adult 
 could earn ^y a year the colony would thrive and 
 pay its way, even this humble achievement was 
 beyond their powers. The knowledge that even the
 
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 THE PINCH OF WANT 147 
 
 laziest drones would share in the fruit of their 
 industry paralysed the energies of the most indus- 
 trious. Soon all money was exhausted, next the 
 stores were entirely depleted of their stock, and the 
 commonest necessities of life were unobtainable. 
 
 The most devout believers in the Marxian faith 
 might well be puzzled to account for the difference 
 between Socialist theory and Socialist practice as 
 exemplified at New Australia. Every soul had 
 started by believing, with Gronlund, "To go a little 
 into details; Suppose they go to work and establish 
 first of all, a normal day, say of eight hours, and 
 pay the workers twice the wages which each one 
 has been receiving on an average for the ten years 
 immediately preceding. We have no doubt that 
 the wages can be raised and the working day 
 shortened, that much with perfect safety, consider- 
 ing the enormous advantages of Co-operative 
 Industry." 
 
 Since, in the bad old "Capitalistic lands the 
 frugal workman only gets about one-third of his 
 earnings,"* it seemed obvious that the "workers" 
 should be three times as prosperous at New 
 Australia as in the old days. The fact was, how- 
 ever, that they had never before felt the pinch of 
 want so grievously. Even the most industrious 
 lived in a state of beggary. What was the explana- 
 tion ? Capitalists being eliminated, who, now, was 
 robbing them of the fruits of industry ? Evidently 
 " Society." Referring again to that most illumin- 
 
 • " Merrie England."
 
 148 ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL 
 
 ating work, "The Co-operative Commonwealth," 
 it appears that Mr. Blatchford is wrong in thinking 
 that " under Sociahsm he (the worker) would get 
 all his earnings." 
 
 "A man is entitled to the full proceeds of his 
 labour— against any other individual, but not 
 against Society,'' says Gronlund. " Society is not 
 bound to reward a man either in proportion to his 
 services, nor yet to his wants, but according to 
 expediency." 
 
 What becomes of the surplus which Society under 
 Socialism deems it inexpedient to distribute, Gron- 
 lund does not explain. It would have puzzled Marx 
 himself, at New Australia, to track down the cause 
 which kept the coffers both of Society, and of the 
 most industrious individuals, empty, when, theoretic- 
 ally, they should have been full. Being well primed 
 with the belief that any individual's adversity 
 necessarily implies unjust profits on the part of 
 some other individual, some of the profounder 
 philosophers at New Australia became well-nigh 
 addled in the effort to discover what mysterious 
 being was laying up a fat bank balance from the 
 surplus-value of their labour. It took them a long 
 time to discern that, under Socialism, the interests 
 of Society and the individual are opposed, and they 
 actually eat up one another's profits. 
 
 In this predicament what were the New 
 Australians to do ? Of course they lost no time in 
 applying to the ever-patient Paraguayan Govern- 
 ment, which granted them a monthly subsidy of
 
 THE COLOUR LINE 149 
 
 $Soo (about ^20) to keep them from starvation. 
 For the rest, they determuied to make a great effort 
 to attract moneyed recruits from Great Britain, 
 altering the Constitution so as to extract a minimum 
 contribution of ^30 per head only, members paying 
 their own passage-money, and having three months' 
 grace before they need throw all their possessions 
 into the common fund. Furthermore, they departed 
 so far from the original scheme as to "offer grants 
 of lands to individuals, or groups of individuals, 
 not members of the Association, on terms to be 
 arranged between such individuals and the Board 
 of Management or its duly authorised agents." 
 
 This offer induced a body of Englishmen, includ- 
 ing Z , to arrive at New Australia with the 
 
 intention of founding a species of colony within the 
 colony, but on the strictest Communistic lines. Of 
 course their attempt failed, as all such attempts must 
 fail when those who participate spend more time in 
 discussing their theories than in hard work. It was 
 not long before they broke up and most of them left 
 the country. Being better educated than most of 
 the original colonists and persuasive-tongued 
 
 withal, Z , who remained, speedily became a 
 
 dominating influence upon the settlement. 
 
 Until this time the principle of excluding coloured 
 persons froni New Australia had been strictly 
 
 adhered to, but now Z began to urge his 
 
 fellow citizens to vote for the inclusion of natives in 
 die benefits of the colony — a step which followed 
 logically enough from the belief in liberty, equality, 
 and fraternity which all professed. 
 
 In spite of what they had already suffered through
 
 ISO ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL 
 
 listening to the eloquence of silvery-tongued orators, 
 the New Australians were persuaded to agree, and 
 the fiat went forth that natives should be allowed to 
 settle on the Colony land. 
 
 It is all very well for theorists to argue that there 
 is no difference between the coloured and the white 
 man, except for the hue of his skin, but those who 
 have lived among natives know well that this is not 
 so. The Guarani Indian of Paraguay is an amiable, 
 indolent person, who is contented to sleep and 
 smoke under the shade of his galpone, while his 
 women folk work for him. Of garments he requires 
 few : so long as he possesses a spirited horse, a 
 good set of saddlery, and a properly obedient 
 woman, he asks no more of fate. Incidentally, as 
 he is not fond of formalities or permanent ties, he 
 does not usually trouble to go through anv legal 
 form of marriage. The importation of natives into 
 the New Australia Colony was the most fatal poss- 
 ible mistake; for the British boys and girls quickly 
 foregathered with the natives, learned to talk the 
 Guarani language, and, in the absence of any moral 
 teaching from their own folk, grew to accept native 
 ideals as their own. 
 
 A speedy result of the bringing of this new 
 element into colony life was the fear which men now 
 entertained of leaving their houses unprotected. 
 The theorists, convinced that never a black heart 
 beat beneath a dusky skin, at first pooh-poohed the 
 suggestion that there might be any danger of 
 robbery or other acts of violence by the natives, but 
 they were quickly undeceived. O'Donnell, a 
 married man, in charge of the store at Los Amigos,
 
 DEPLORABLE MORALS 151 
 
 woke up one morning to find that natives had cut 
 through the thatched roof in the night, and had 
 moved the more valuable portion of the stock. 
 This was only the first of many such troubles, which 
 might have been avoided but for a too optimistic 
 view of dusky human nature. 
 
 It was not long before even the enthusiast 
 admitted that a mistake had been committed, for the 
 effect — upon the young bachelors in particular — of 
 the introduction of a large body of Guaranis into 
 their midst could not fail to produce the most 
 deplorable effect on morals. As Mrs. Mary Jane 
 Gilmore wrote in the Sydney Daily Telegraph : 
 "The Paraguayans ancf the New Australians live 
 side by side, equal under the law, and equal socially. 
 The Paraguayan gives a dance and the white man 
 attends it. The white man gives one and the Para- 
 guayan comes. A wedding is the signal for an all- 
 round drunk, Paraguayan and Australian drinking 
 out of the same bottle. Everyone grows his own 
 sugar and makes his own rum. So far, though 
 there are half-caste children, there have been no 
 marriages* with the Paraguayans." 
 
 Things had indeed reached a grievous pass at 
 New Australia, and to make things worse the 
 citizens of that "ideal " state had now lost faith in 
 their quondam principles. Their illusions gone, 
 they had nothing to do but to sit in their mud huts, 
 and endure their manifold miseries, with a hopeless 
 feeling that they would have to put up with the same 
 manner of living to the end of their days. 
 
 * This is no longer the case.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY. 
 
 The reader will recollect that the original pilgrims 
 from Australia soon split off into three groups, 
 
 (a) The eighty-five seceders, who left " New 
 Australia" for the Gonzalez Colony in December, 
 1893, and were eventually repatriated, as related in 
 Chapter X. 
 
 (b) The fifty-seven seceders who departed from 
 *' New Australia " with William Lane in the spring 
 of 1894, ^s stated in Chapter XL 
 
 (c) Those who remained at "New Australia" 
 whose lamentable condition has just been dealt 
 with. 
 
 The unhappy story of group A has already been 
 concluded. The members of group B were left (see 
 page 1 17) encamped beside a stream just clear of the 
 New Australia territory. Abandoning group C to 
 their miseries for the time being, the narrative 1 will 
 now return to the personal adventures of William 
 Lane and those who seceded with him. 
 
 To the amazement of those who remained, William 
 Lane's party marched out behind their leader, with 
 superb confidence in him and in the future, although 
 the funds they had in hand amounted to less than 
 fifteen shillings per head. Their high spirits and 
 lofty hopes are clearly shown in the following letter 
 which one of the party sent to a friend in Adelaide. 
 
 "As to us poor exiles who are going," wrote Mr. 
 
 152
 
 EXCELLENT SPIRITS 153 
 
 Hy, S. Taylor, " you would never think us deserv- 
 ing of pity could you see us. We are the only 
 happy people in the settlement; and we are happy 
 (for we trust one another, and feel this time that we 
 have reason for our trust), and we love and trust our 
 leader ; and together and with him we know we shall 
 be happy anywhere. Fifty resolute men and untold 
 wealth of experience; what shall we not accomplish 
 therewith ? For a short time we shall have rough 
 living, of course, but what of that? In a few 
 months we shall be ready to welcome the weakest 
 and the feeblest. . . . We are all in such excellent 
 spirits at the prospect before us that many of the 
 other party thoroughly believe that Lane has 
 managed to steal a few thousand pounds some- 
 where; for to them, poor souls, it is absolutely 
 inconceivable that men who are penniless should be 
 happy." 
 
 During the ensuing two months the party had 
 need of all their faith, for Lane's application for a 
 further grant was not well received in Asuncion, 
 where the authorities began to grow a little weary 
 of the Australian immigrants' dissensions. Finally 
 a grant was offered in the wild yerbales, where_the 
 mate, or Paraguayan tea, grows. Hearing that the 
 site was only eighteen miles away the party set off 
 at once to inspect it, but the intervening country 
 was of such a description that the hardiest pioneer 
 took ten days to traverse that short distance. "The 
 inspection showed that the grant was utterly unsuit- 
 able, being in wild, rugged country, with a sandy 
 soil, and practically no communication with the 
 markets. Another disadvantage 'was that it was
 
 154 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 Indian country. In the nearer distance lay part of 
 the mountains of Central Paraguay, seamed, 
 scarred, and riven by great gorges, and inhabited 
 only by wild animals — the jaguar, the puma, the 
 mborabi, and the carpincho — to say nothing of the 
 smaller fry — -ocelots, tiger-cats, and others."^' 
 
 Desperately disappointed, William Lane hastened 
 back to the capital to beg the minister to grant more 
 suitable land, but by this time the official's patience 
 was quite worn out, and he intimated clearly that the 
 party must take or leave what he had already offered. 
 Almost in despair, Lane began to think of migrating 
 to the Argentine, but a lucky circumstance provided 
 an alternative. One of his followers, a man named 
 Stevenson, received from Scotland a legacy of ;{^i5o 
 which he at once placed at Lane's disposal. In 
 addition it appears that a considerable sum of 
 money was forwarded from New South Wales by 
 Australian sympathisers. With his resources thus 
 reinforced, William Lane approached a private land 
 owner and negotiated the purchase of live and a half 
 leagues of good land, only thirteen miles from a 
 railway station, in the fork of two rivers— the Pirapo 
 and the Tebicuari. Having received a deposit of 
 ;^ioo, the owner agreed to accept the balance of 
 ;^300 by instalments of ^'loo per annum. Feeling 
 assured of his ability to attract to his new settlement 
 most of those who had contemplated going to New- 
 Australia, Lane had no doubt he would be able to 
 raise the necessary funds to complete the purchase, 
 and his companions shared his optimism. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate the sufferings 
 
 * Mrs. Gilmore, in the "Sydney Daily Telegraph."
 
 COSMA LANE 155 
 
 of the little band, encamped beside a swollen river, 
 without a roof to their heads, in the middle of the 
 Paraguayan rainy season. It was the month of 
 July, 1894, before negotiations were concluded. 
 Rain fell in torrents as they entered into possession 
 of their new land, which was christened Cosme 
 Colony, and tramped through the waist-high grass 
 in search of a suitable site to pitch two tents to give 
 the women shelter. Yet the women patiently 
 endured without a murmur, and the two little babes 
 that were born in tents, in the middle of the wilder- 
 ness, were hailed with rapture as the forerunners of 
 the new and better generation. The first child born 
 on Cosme territory w^as Cosma Lane, daughter of 
 William Lane's brother, John. Though the outlook 
 was not very bright, as yet, the fond parents believed 
 that Cosme would have made its mark in the great 
 world long before Cosma grew up. 
 
 Yet Cosme's heritage is free, each child is born 
 its heir, 
 And Labour lends its magic power that dowry 
 to adorn. 
 What though 'tis the wilderness ! Loves knows 
 it fresh and fair. 
 We'll make it matchless heritage for babies yet 
 unborn. 
 
 For them the clearing-iires shall wave black 
 banners to the skies, 
 Bearing the struggling forest biick to where the 
 rivers flow.
 
 156 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 For them shall wind and water toil ; for them 
 embankments rise, 
 For them shall English grasses spring where 
 Cosme's cattle go.* 
 
 Thus one of them wrote. In all that they said 
 and did the Cosme pioneers were acutely anxious to 
 deserve the good opinion of futurity. The impatient 
 word, the weary complaint, were hushed, so that 
 future Cosmans might say with truth that the hard- 
 ships which their forbears endured were nobly 
 borne. While this spirit reigned, mere physical 
 sufferings seemed of less than no account. " It 
 seemed like Heaven," after the mutual distrust and 
 suspicion of New Australia. 
 
 It must have been a source of satisfaction to 
 William Lane to know that his own wife and 
 children had no such hardships to endure. After 
 the first secession he had sent them back to 
 Australia by the " Royal Tar," giving Mrs. Lane 
 instructions to proceed with the organisation of a 
 party of single women. Thus she escaped the 
 miseries which fell to John Lane's wife and family. f 
 Furthermore, her revelations concerning the state of 
 affairs at New Australia hindered many from going 
 there, although they were hardly calculated to assist 
 in recruiting for Cosme. 
 
 Avoiding the errors of New Australia, the 
 Cosmans set to work at once upon the essential task 
 
 * " Cosme Monthly," August 1897. 
 
 t Mrs. William Lane rejoined her husband at Cosme as soon as 
 possible, of course.
 
 W^ ■ 'I 
 
 Mrs. John Lane and Family. 
 On Llie It'lL i.^ ( osuiu l.juie llie lii>t-lioru C'osnie cliild 
 
 TO FACE P. 156.
 
 UNFAILING CHEERFULNESS 157 
 
 of ensuring next season's food supply. Even the 
 women armed themselves with machetes, and accom- 
 panied the men into the forest, to aid in the strenuous 
 work of monte clearing. It is a peculiar character- 
 istic of Paraguay that crops cannot be induced to 
 grow upon the clear grass land; the earth will only 
 show' itself bountiful towards those who clear away 
 tall trees and matted jungle from its bosom. Once 
 some rough shelter had been provided, no more time 
 was wasted in building operations; from sunrise 
 until they flung themselves down, dead-beat, at 
 nightfall, the Cosmans fought the forest with fire, 
 and axe, and machete. So soon as any patch was 
 cleared of the denser growth, the soil was hoed over 
 and so^^■ed, for it was already late in the planting 
 season, and ploughing must be postponed till the 
 stumps and roots were got out, next year. 
 
 During the first six months the Cosmans allowed 
 themselves only one relaxation — the compiling of a 
 written witness of their unfailing cheerfulness for 
 the edification of future Cosmans. This manuscript 
 paper, magnificently titled Cosme Evening Notes, 
 began to be published at once, and faithfully reflects 
 the joys and sorrows of the settlers. After a day's 
 severe toil in the monte, or the long pursuit of errant 
 cattle w'hich had strayed into the bigestero (swamp), 
 the weary worker with a gift for rhyme would con- 
 sole himself and his comrades bv a cheerful forecast 
 of the days when Cosme would know such trials no 
 more. The following doggerel " Reflections," 
 scrawled by the blistered hands of one of the 
 pioneers, on August 31st, 1894, indicate some of 
 their trials and the hopes that spurred them on : —
 
 158 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 The big estero then we'll drain and bid farewell 
 
 to bogs, 
 Our houses we will build of stone instead of grass 
 
 and logs, 
 Mosquitoes then will disappear, the hornets too 
 
 will fly, 
 But the bees will bring us honey in the future by 
 
 and bye. 
 
 Our horses, sheep and cattle too will then the 
 
 world surprise, 
 And all our wants will be supplied just as those 
 
 wants arise, 
 So let us stick together boys; though now we're 
 
 but three score, 
 The future soon will see us grow to many 
 
 thousands more. 
 
 But for the great hopes which buoyed them up, it 
 is probable that many of the Cosmans would not 
 have survived the starvation and general miseries of 
 that first six months. Every week, Lane's followers 
 grew gaunter-faced and more hollow-eyed. " In 
 the store supplies ran down day by day till women 
 washed without soap, cooked without fat, and 
 patched the outer garments with the inner. Flour 
 was almost non-existent. Every article of value 
 that anyone possessed sooner or later found its way 
 to Asuncion to be sold and the proceeds spent in 
 buying kerosene, beans, salt, or maize. When 
 things got very bad a tarpaulin muster brought in 
 even wedding rings. Maize at last practically gave 
 out. Light was available only in case of night
 
 SHOULD WOiMEN VOTE? 159 
 
 nursing, and in a day or two there was no salt," 
 wrote Mrs. Gilmore in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. 
 " Meantime the long hours of labour went on. 
 Spring passed and summer came. For two weeks 
 the colony fed wholly on unsalted beans. Then the 
 maize came in, . . . immediately after mandioca 
 followed, then sweet potatoes and beans." 
 
 Never was a harvest more eagerly awaited ! 
 Even when it came, however, the diet was almost 
 entirely vegetarian, and such things as flour, tea, 
 butter, etc., were, of course, unobtainable. All the 
 food was of the same "starchy" variety. " Being 
 so starchy the amount of actual nourishment is 
 small, while the varieties of indigestion they pro- 
 duce are severe and many. There is practically no 
 fat. A housewife in my time thought herself lucky 
 if she had a teaspoonful of fat in a month with which 
 merely to grease the pan. And any man who got 
 his food cooked with a taste of fat declared he felt 
 stronger all day for it." 
 
 In spite of all such hardships. New Year's Day, 
 1895, found the Cosmans still a united family, 
 principally perhaps, because all were so busy in 
 warding off starvation that they had little appetite 
 for meddling in politics. Meanwhile William Lane 
 profited by his experience at New Australia to draw 
 up a different constitution for Cosme Colony. 
 And the first thing he decided to rule out was the 
 suffrage of married women I 
 
 " We are often asked by outsiders why women in 
 Cosme have no vote," wrote an educated Cosme 
 woman to an Australian sister who possessed the 
 vote. " Perhaps they think that we should have
 
 i6o FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 brought all the political and social evils of the time 
 with us. They seem to forget that the ' voting 
 woman ' is only another form of the highly diseased 
 state of city life. The Cosme woman knows that 
 her position and welfare are too well assured to 
 trouble her head about voting. Her governing 
 powers are more in requisition in her immediate 
 surroundings— her home. . . . May the question 
 of women voters never arise in our colony, nor the 
 need for the women to cope with the grasping 
 sordid conditions of the competitive system of the 
 outsider." 
 
 Another important difference between the consti- 
 tution of Cosme and the original New Australian 
 agreement referred to the arrangements for with- 
 drawal. Anticipating that any hardships suffered 
 by expelled and seceding members would form an 
 effective deterrent to future recruiting, William Lane 
 provided that a definite share of the common 
 property could be claimed by any withdrawing 
 members (see Regulation, on page 164). The follow- 
 ing is the text of The Cosme Agreement, as it stood 
 in April, 1897. 
 
 The Cosme Agreement. 
 
 Villages: Cosme shall be divided into villages; 
 each village having its own local authority, all 
 villages being united under a central authority. 
 
 Each village shall elect three (3) committeemen 
 yearly for a term of three (3) years ; each village 
 committee elect one (i) village executive officer 
 yearly for a term of three (3) years ; village execu-
 
 COSME AGREEMENT i6i 
 
 tive to retire if they lose seat on committee; each 
 village elect a village chairman for a term of three 
 (3) years, village chairman to have previously 
 served as executive officer ; village chairman to be 
 subject to suspension by a two-thirds majority of 
 village committee. 
 
 Central Authority : The central authority shall be 
 composed of a general chairman elected by general 
 vote for a term of five (5) years, and a board con- 
 sisting of all village chairmen and of one (i) 
 delegate-committeeman from each village committee. 
 The central authority shall appoint one (i) general 
 executive officer yearly for a term of three (3) years, 
 general executive officers to retire if they lose seat 
 onboard. The general chairman to have previously 
 served on general executive, and to be subject to 
 suspension by a two-thirds majority of the board. 
 
 Voter: The householder in good standing to be 
 the voter in all village and general elections. 
 Householders to be over twenty-one (21) years of 
 age, and one (i) year's membership. 
 
 Functions : The functions of the central authority 
 shall be the maintaining of Cosme principles, the 
 holding of Cosme land, the holding and handling of 
 the general funds, the establishing of new villages, 
 the organising of co-operative action, and any other 
 general functions which may by expressed consent 
 or custom be assigned to it by the community at 
 large. 
 
 The functions of the village authority shall be the 
 maintaining of Cosme principles, the organising 
 and directing of all village industry, the holding of 
 all village property, the regulating of all village
 
 i62 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 matters, the assisting of the central authority, and 
 any other functions which may by expressed consent 
 or custom be assigned to it by the householders of 
 its village; provided always that no function of the 
 central authority, expressly or customarily approved 
 by the community at large, shall be interfered with 
 by any village authority. 
 
 All land shall be held by the central authority for 
 occupation by Cosme villages. Improvements in- 
 separable from the land shall not be valuated for 
 sharing purposes by any village, but in place 
 thereof each village shall set from time to time, with 
 the consent of the central authority, compensation 
 to withdrawers based upon the working value of 
 improvements. The control of natural grass, 
 natural timber, natural water, and mines of every 
 kind, shall always remain with the central authority. 
 
 General Funds : The general fund shall consist 
 of a loan fund, an emergency fund, and an enlarge- 
 ment fund. 
 
 Each village authority shall pay into the general 
 funds the value of one (i) day's work per week of 
 the full working strength of the village. The 
 central authority shall place this payment as 
 follows : three fifths to the loan fund, one-fifth to 
 the emergency fund, one-fifth to the enlargement 
 fund. All other contributions, payments and 
 donations, not otherwise specified shall be similarly 
 placed. Contributions by members new or old, 
 shall be returnable upon their withdrawing from 
 membership less a yearly deduction of one-tenth of 
 the original amount, such refund to be a first charge 
 upon the general funds. The general funds shall
 
 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP 163 
 
 not be otherwise liable to any claims by any with- 
 drawing member. 
 
 Membership : Membership must be either by 
 birthright or by admittance. No charge shall be 
 made for membership, but no member shall have 
 any interests outside of Cosme. All contributions 
 to capital by incoming or other members to be 
 placed in the general funds. 
 
 The children of members shall be registered as 
 inborn members and shall be entitled to mainten- 
 ance and education, while minors, and to all 
 membership rights when of due age, provided their 
 parents continue in membership. The Cosme 
 marriage age shall be after twenty-one for men and 
 after eighteen for women. First cousins shall be 
 regarded as within the forbidden degrees. 
 
 All admittance shall be through the central 
 authority but any village authority may refuse entry 
 to its village. There can be no Cosme membership 
 without village membership, and no residence with- 
 out membership. 
 
 Dividend: No dividend shall be made by any 
 village until maintenance, education, sanitation, 
 general fund payments, and other necessary 
 expenses have been provided for. An^^ dividend 
 made shall be allotted to all adults equally, by 
 crediting each householder w'ith an amount propor- 
 tionate to the number of adults in his family. For 
 the equalisation of the sexes in the village a levy of 
 one-third shall be struck upon all dividends, which 
 levy shall be suspended whenever the necessity 
 ceases; this levy shall be paid into the enlargement 
 fund.
 
 i64 FOUNDING OF COSME COLONY 
 
 Withdrmving : Any householder withdrawing 
 from Cosme shall be entitled to claim from his 
 village a one-tenth withdrawal share for every year 
 he has been a householder, up to ten (lo) years; or, 
 if inborn, shall be entitled to claim a one-fifth with- 
 drawal share for every year over the age of twenty 
 (20) up to live (5) years, provided that no inborn 
 member withdrawing shall take more than a one- 
 tenth share for each year he has been in Cosme. 
 No withdrawing householder to claim more than a 
 full share. The withdrawal share to be as arranged 
 from time to time, at general village meeting with 
 the consent of the central authority.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES. 
 
 When the first arduous rush of settlement work was 
 over there followed a reaction at Cosme. It would 
 be a very bad advertisement of the place, among 
 "outsiders," as the rest of the world was desicrnated, 
 if the Cosme community required sixteen hours toil 
 daily of its members. At the earliest possible 
 moment, therefore, the eight hour day was insti- 
 tuted, for men and single women, with the additional 
 proviso that nobody should be required to work for 
 the community more than four and a half days per 
 week. There was nothing to prevent any citizen 
 from doing additional work in " private time," but 
 it was expressly laid down that none should be 
 done " for profit " except by order of, and for the 
 benefit of, the community. 
 
 It might be supposed that the citizens would make 
 use of their ample leisure to exchange useful work 
 between themselves ; those, for instance, who were 
 carpenters by trade could make the homes of their 
 neighbours more comfortable, in return for some 
 equal benefit. There was very little voluntary 
 interchange of service, however. Strange to say, 
 many citizens were so jealous of doing more work 
 for the community than their neighbours, that they 
 forbore to improve their own residences unless told 
 off for that purpose, as part of the building squad, 
 L ,65
 
 i66 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 during the ordinary working hours. As the com- 
 munity required to devote the whole of the working 
 day to more productive labour, the rude and squalid 
 mud huts, originally put up, long continued to serve 
 as homes for all save a favoured few. In fact it was 
 six and a half years after the first settlement at 
 Cosme before the community so much as considered 
 the question of providing each family with a toler- 
 ably comfortable home. (See Appendix E.) 
 
 No pen picture of Cosme could give a clearer idea 
 of its life than the following extract from a letter, 
 written home to his friends by an enthusiastic Scots 
 recruit, when the settlement had been just over three 
 years in existence : 
 
 " You can imagine a little village with rude huts 
 for houses scattered here and there, with no pretence 
 to streets, the huts thatched with grass, with mud 
 floors, and shutters for windows, with no showy 
 furniture nor modern household conveniences. You 
 can imagine a long building somewhat like a hay 
 shed in the old country, with slab sides and boasting 
 a W'Ooden floor — this is the single men's dining 
 room, and where all our meetings and socials are 
 held. You can imagine at dusk a gruff voice roar- 
 ing out Evening Notes, and you can see men, 
 women, and children strolling from their huts to 
 hear Notes read at the dining room. Notes con- 
 tains the news of the day, the work going on, 
 interesting letters from friends and well-wishers, 
 clippings from the latest papers, etc., etc. 
 
 " Then after Notes, you can imagine little groups 
 of men discussing the news, or the work doing or to 
 be done ; and others playing chess or draughts or
 
 WHAT GOD? 167 
 
 cards, until it is time to stroll home again to our 
 own firesides. At half-past five in the morning we 
 are disturbed from a peaceful slumber by the deep 
 sound of a horn, this reminds us that we might as 
 well be getting up, at six o'clock another horn tells 
 us our breakfast is ready, and at half-past six 
 another horn reminds us that there is some work to 
 do, and each one then goes to his day's toil. At 
 half-past eleven the dinner horn goes, and the work 
 horn again at half-past twelve, whence we work on 
 till four o'clock, when we finish for the day." 
 
 It will be observed that the same people w^ho 
 argued that it was slavery under "Capitalism" for 
 the factory hand to commence and finish work to 
 the sound of a hooter, submitted tamely enough 
 under "Socialism" to rising, breakfasting, working 
 and even pleasure-making to the sound of a horn. 
 But then, as the writer of the above letter remarked, 
 "the theoretical Socialist has very little idea what it 
 means to go out into the wilderness to put his pet 
 theories into practice. There are a thousand little 
 details he has never thought of. He finds that 
 human nature doesn't change with new' conditions." 
 William Lane had made that discovery too. 
 Whether consciously or not, and in spite of consti- 
 tutional safeguards, he managed his docile flock in 
 almost precisely the same fashion as the Jesuits 
 controlled their Indian communities in Paraguay, 
 Although the Deity, as Christians know Him, had 
 no place in the Cosme scheme, Lane realised the 
 necessity of a theocratic domination if he would carry 
 his scheme through. But what god should he set 
 up; having dethroned Christ from His place?
 
 i68 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 " No fault of his is it, if, of this strange and 
 tearful teacher, heathens have contrived a strange 
 and tearful god," William Lane preached to his 
 flock at Christmas, 1898, " nor if his simple story 
 has been overlaid by juggled legends, and twisted 
 into pretentious framework for blasphemous oratory. 
 It is clear that Jesus, like Tolstoi to-day, never 
 understood the healthy physical life, and so 
 expounded an unbalanced philosophy." 
 
 Lane of course did understand the healthy 
 physical life and -was therefore qualified to expound 
 a properly balanced creed ! From his brief experi- 
 ence at New Australia Lane discovered that 
 under pure materialism, with no lofty ideal for a 
 guiding motive, his people could not fail to degene- 
 rate. Furthermore, he discerned the immense 
 assistance which statecraft derives from religion, 
 since the latter encourages to good conduct from 
 other motives than mere fear of the policeman. He 
 therefore decided that Cosme must have a religion 
 after all. 
 
 Just as he had emulated the majestic figure of 
 Moses in leading the New Australians forth from 
 Australia, so Lane copied him again in producing 
 (though with no better inspiration than his own 
 ingenious brain) a complete system of religion for 
 his flock to follow. From the time he took that 
 resolution the Cosmans could not boast that they 
 escaped the preacher in their "ideal" community. 
 Lane was continuously "at it," preaching the Law 
 of Communism under which, like the Israelites 
 under the Mosaic Law, Cosmans got short shrift 
 for heresy.
 
 WILLIAM LANE'S FAITH 169 
 
 " I will state to-night, as clearly and as shortly 
 as I can, the way of thinking which makes me a 
 Communist," said Lane in one of his Sunday 
 evening sermons. " When I say Communist, I do 
 not mean merely one who accepts theoretically 
 certain theoretical or even ethical conceptions of 
 Society, but one who holds that the practice of 
 Communism is absolutely necessary to make life 
 natural, wholesome and happy, and that it is the 
 bounden duty of man, even by himself, to try 
 ceaselessly and in spite of his own shortcomings to 
 put Communism into loving practice in his life. 
 
 " With me that belief springs from an absolute 
 and unshakeable faith in what we commonly call 
 ' God.' And when I say God I mean neither the 
 idol built of wood or stone by the crude hands of 
 savages, nor the idol built of words and phrases by 
 the equal heathenism of higher races. I mean by 
 God the sense of the oneness, the lovingness, the 
 completeness of that inconceivable power which, 
 working through matter called us, and all the 
 wondrous universe we see, into being. That power 
 I know and feel is supreme beyond all conceiving. 
 Nothing is beyond its control. ... In all the 
 universe, in the whole earth, there is none but God 
 who rules — One God and no other. . . . 
 
 " But one may ask, what has Communism to do 
 with belief in God. This; that to me Communism 
 is part of God's law. ... He who with all his 
 heart and soul endeavours to be Communist of him- 
 self, freely, and to mould upon Communistic lines 
 the social organisation without which man cannot 
 live on earth, he is, in so far serving God and
 
 170 COSiME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 obeying God's law. And he who does other is 
 sinning, is wilfully and deliberately setting his own 
 petty desires against God. . . . Communism, the 
 brotherliness in society of man, is to me a part of 
 God's law. Death comes to those who deny it. 
 Misery and sorrow fill the world because we will 
 not obey. . . . 
 
 "All this Law we do not know as yet, and much 
 must Man suffer ere he learns it all and understands 
 what indeed he is. But parts of this Law we know 
 and know clearly. . . . And Communism is a 
 part of the known and certain Law of things. 
 Never great teacher taught these ages back who did 
 not teach so. . . . As I hold and believe; God 
 laws it." 
 
 The obvious advantage of such a system of 
 theology in a Communistic State is, that any citizen 
 who dares to criticise Communism brands himself 
 at once as the enemy of " God " and man, and it is 
 nothing less than the bounden duty of the authori- 
 ties to eject him. By elevating his pet theories from 
 a mere political creed to a revealed religion, with 
 himself as executive High Priest, to criticise whose 
 decisions would be little less than blasphemy in the 
 eyes of his most faithful adherents, William Lane 
 set up a powerful barrier to the disruption of his 
 new community by internal factions. In order to 
 facilitate the ejectment of intractable citizens from 
 Cosme, Lane inaugurated a system of "trial 
 membership," whereby no recruit had a vote until 
 he had spent a year on the settlement and had 
 proved his suitability. Any prospective citizens 
 who wished or were ordered to withdraw before the
 
 SERIOUS AniS 171 
 
 expiration of the probationary period were allowed 
 to leave with their possessions intact. 
 
 To impress upon newcomers the serious nature 
 and aims of " Cosmeism " a ceremony of initiation 
 was also instituted. Prior to the public reading 
 and signing of the membership certificate, and of 
 the Mutual Agreement, by colony officials, new 
 members and witnesses, the chairman read the 
 following exhortation to the assembled citizens : 
 
 " For the well-being and healthy growth of 
 Cosme it is needful that we be joined by people of 
 our own race who are one w-ith us in thought and 
 purpose. 
 
 " Only by increase of membership can Cosme 
 realise the object of its foundation, make complete 
 and self-sustained its industrial development, make 
 broad and deep its social life, and prove to the world 
 that brotherly living is both possible and practic- 
 able to earnest people. 
 
 " The taking and giving of the pledge of fellow- 
 ship is no light matter. The endeavour to live up 
 to the spirit of that fellowship, demands, from each 
 one of us, deep resolve, constant thought, persistent 
 effort and unfailing patience. The human failings 
 and weaknesses inherent in all of us must ever 
 hinder perfect living. But knowing these weak- 
 nesses, we can if we will, so guard against them that 
 in spite of stumbling we may keep moving forward. 
 
 " Above all things it is needful that we cherish 
 in our hearts the spirit of brotherhood which is the 
 very soul of fellowship, that it may influence us in 
 all our doings, keeping us from selfishness and 
 strife, and leading us ever in the path of peace and
 
 172 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 goodwill towards that fellowship of heart and mind 
 W'hich passeth understanding." 
 
 The reference to social life serves as a reminder 
 that this was the feature above all others on which 
 William Lane most strongly insisted. Every 
 evening at the sound of a horn, the people assem- 
 bled to hear the reading of Cosme Evening Notes, 
 each Saturday night the same folk met for a 
 "Social" and danced together under the benevolent 
 eye of their master, with at least affected enjoyment, 
 although they had worked side by side all the week 
 and had danced the same dances together some 
 scores of times before. On Sunday nights there 
 was a further meeting in the "Social Hall," where 
 an oration by William Lane, or reading from 
 standard works on Socialism took the place of any 
 orthodox form of religious service. The following 
 extract from the Cosme Monthly, for June, 1897 
 (when the resident population was 57 men, 22 
 women, and 35 children), conveys a clear idea of 
 the settlement's social life : 
 
 "May i2th, Cosme's 'Foundation Day,' was a 
 public holiday. There was a communal dinner at 
 mid-day, very successful sports in the cricket oval 
 in the afternoon, and theatricals and dancing at 
 night. The piece staged was a farce entitled, 
 ' Blarney.' On the 29th, was a special wedding 
 social on the occasion of the second Cosme 
 marriage. The ordinary Saturday socials were 
 carried on as usual, as also were the Sunday night 
 meetings. Among readings given at the latter 
 were : Hall Caine's ' Christian ' (three chapters), 
 Nunquam's 'New Religion,' Clodd on 'Buddhism,'
 
 THE MARRIAGE SERVICE 173 
 
 two sketches by Price Warung, various short 
 articles and some letters from absent members. 
 Songs and glees were also sung. The Spanish and 
 singing classes are going on steadily, many of the 
 new members having joined, there now being 19 in 
 the former, and 26 in the latter. The musical 
 instruments have been increased by two violins, a 
 banjo, and a harmonium. This last instrument was 
 brought in by Arthur Lewis and is at the service of 
 the social union. Sports : There has been a little 
 fishing indulged in with moderate success. The 
 hunters occasionally brought home small ^^ame. A 
 little cricket was played." 
 
 The wedding referred to above was that of Mrs. 
 Gilmore (whose accounts of life at Cosme have 
 several times been quoted). As has been noted 
 already, William Lane differed from many Socialists 
 on the marriage question. At Cosme couples were 
 not merely united by the civil contract; there was 
 also a religious service. As was only to be expected 
 the latter differed as much from any hitherto exist- 
 ing service as the Cosme religion differed from 
 other creeds. It is probable that never before in 
 history did so small a community (its adult popu- 
 lation never totalled one hundred) trouble to 
 provide itself with an original marriage ceremony. 
 The following was the exact text of the : 
 
 Cosme Marriage Service. 
 
 The bride and bridegroom beingpresent with their 
 parents or other witnesses in open meeting, the 
 official representative of Cosme says : 
 
 " For the lasting life of any people, it is needful
 
 174 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 above all things, that its men and women be honest. 
 For although there may sometimes seem to be 
 welfare without honest living, yet sooner or later, 
 in one way or another, evil doing utterly destroys. 
 
 " Marriage therefore, is holy if we take it rightly, 
 being the public declaration by man and woman of 
 their going to live together as man and wife, in 
 accordance with the laws of God ; and of their 
 acknowledgment on behalf of themselves and of 
 the children who may be born to them, of the duties 
 which they and theirs owe to the people. 
 
 " Wherefore, this man and this woman, members 
 of Cosme, have come before us all to make that 
 public declaration which is right and fitting, and to 
 take again upon themselves those duties and obliga- 
 tions which give to them and to those who may be 
 born to them, rightful claim to the standing Cosme 
 pledges to all those who abide by its principles, and 
 to enter into that civil contract of marriage, which, 
 without taking from the holiness of the marriage 
 state, makes their marriage according to the law of 
 Paraguay. 
 
 " But first, as has been the custom with our 
 people, if there are any here who know of good 
 cause why the marriage should not take place, I 
 call upon them to declare it now, or for ever after to 
 hold their peace." 
 
 The bride and bridegroom then stand up in front 
 of the meeting and the representative of Cosme then 
 says to them : 
 
 " If any take upon themselves the duties and 
 obligations of marriage, knowing that for any cause 
 whatsoever they are unable to do so honestly and
 
 A SOLEMN PLEDGE 175 
 
 truly, their pledge is a mocking to all, a shamming 
 of one who trusts them, and a breaking of the laws 
 of God. Wherefore, so that you may shun in time 
 the suffering that fails not to follow sin, I ask you 
 each, severally, if you know of any cause why you 
 should not marry ? 
 
 "It is moreover a sinful thing for any man or 
 woman to enter into marriage save for love only, 
 since we are not as brute beasts, but are men and 
 women with human feelings, which we must keep 
 pure and undefiled, lest we debase and degrade our- 
 selves. In Cosme there can be no fear of want, nor 
 greed of gain, nor any unnatural pressure to excuse 
 the weakest for so sinning. Wherefore, I ask you 
 each, severally, if it is of your free wall and choice 
 that vou come to pledge yourselves in marriage, 
 knowing that ihe pledge is for life and that without 
 true love, marriage is sinful, bringing a curse and 
 not a blessing ? 
 
 "In the outer world many dare not marry, because 
 of the want and fear which have been born oi men 
 and women caring for themselves alone, and having 
 no thought for others. Therefore because Cosme 
 enables you to marry honestly, and without fear, 
 I call upon you to pledge continued loyalty to 
 Cosme, in prosperity or in adversity, and that you 
 will teach its principles in your family and will 
 always maintain them, and that you will work for 
 and cherish your fellow-members and their families, 
 as they work for and cherish you and yours." 
 
 The man and the woman repeat after the repre- 
 sentative : 
 
 " We solemnly pledge ourselves to be loyal to
 
 176 COSME RITES AND CEREMONIES 
 
 Cosme in prosperity or in adversity, and that we 
 will teach its principles in our family and will 
 always maintain them, and will work for and 
 cherish our fellow-members and their families, as 
 they work for and cherish us and ours." 
 
 The representative then says to the meeting : 
 
 "You have witnessed the pledges given by — 
 
 and to Cosme, and to you as part of its 
 
 people. I call upon you to join, by standing, in 
 the pledge of Cosme, to be repeated to them in 
 return. 
 
 "To you and at this your marriage, 
 
 I repeat in the name of Cosme the pledge already 
 given to you by your membership. ' To you for 
 your life, in your sickness as in your health, in our 
 prosperity as in our adversity, due place among our 
 people, ever to try to do to you and yours as we 
 would have you to do to us and ours. To your 
 children all love and care and equal maintenance, 
 during your life, or after your death ; and upon 
 their coming of age, full and free membership, 
 provided only that you keep truly the pledge you 
 have given, and that your children are likewise 
 loyal.' " 
 
 The representative then asks of the bride and 
 bridegroom respectively : 
 
 " Will you take this man (or woman) to be your 
 husband (or wife) in all honesty and truth, pledging 
 yourself before God, whom none can deceive, to be 
 true wife (or husband) to him (or her) as long as 
 you both live ?" 
 
 The bridegroom then repeats after the represen- 
 tative :
 
 "ENTERED IN THE BOOKS" 177 
 
 " I take to be my wife and have my name, 
 
 and do pledge myself before God, to be true husband 
 to her as long as she lives, and I give her this ring 
 as token of our pledge." 
 
 The bride repeats : 
 
 " I take to be my husband and to have his 
 
 name, and do pledge myself before God, to be true 
 wife to him as long as he lives, and I take this ring 
 as token of our pledge." 
 
 The representative then says : 
 
 " I declare this woman married to this man, and 
 that she is his wife before all from this time 
 forward." 
 
 The representative says to the meeting, in con- 
 clusion : 
 
 " In the name of Cosme I accept as 
 
 married, and to be so entered in the books. I call 
 upon every man here to show by rising, that he 
 accepts this woman as a married sister, to be held 
 as such at all times while her husband lives, and to 
 be guarded as one of his own kin. And I call upon 
 every woman to show, by rising, that she accepts 
 this man as a married brother, to be held so at all 
 times while his wife lives. And I call upon all, by 
 raising our hands, to pledge ourselves not to wrong 
 them, nor let wrong be done to them, and to join in 
 casting out any evil-doer so that our marriages be 
 kept unbroken, and so that our people may have 
 God's blessing, and may live and not die." 
 
 Here immediately follows the Civil Contract of 
 Marriage.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 RECRUITING FOR COSME. 
 
 In building the foundations of his ideal State 
 William Lane was faced with a number of pressing 
 problems, of which perhaps the chief was the need 
 for securing against loss of the land on which it was 
 established. During the first two years the neces- 
 sity for scraping together the annual instalments 
 was a cruel anxiety, and cast a shadow over the 
 lives of the responsible officials. But, after giving 
 the Cosmans two years in which to prove their 
 mettle, the authorities in Asuncion came to the 
 rescue in their usual generous fashion. On June 
 25th, 1896, the Government paid the balance of the 
 purchase money (^'200) still owing to the vendor, 
 reimbursed to the Cosmans the money they had 
 already paid (;^20o), and made them a free gift of 
 the territory and of another league besides. The 
 only condition attached to the grant was that 
 seventy-two families must be settled upon the land 
 within two years. 
 
 This repayment of a comparatively large sum of 
 money was a welcome boon, at a time when the 
 Cosmans were reduced to sore extremities for want 
 of various articles they were themselves unable to 
 produce. It should be explained that stores of all 
 kinds were distributed to the settlers through a 
 system of credits. Each individual was furnished 
 with a card, on one side of which (a) or " inside " 
 
 178
 
 CREDIT SYSTEM 179 
 
 credits were recorded, and on the other side (b) or 
 "outside" credits. "Inside" credits referred to 
 food, and articles of all kinds produced upon the 
 settlement, "outside" to imported articles, such as 
 clothing, soda, salt, soap, mate (Paraguayan tea), 
 etc. Supplies of all kinds, equitably priced, were 
 issued by the store, equal credits being allowed to 
 all adults, while children enjoyed a quarter credit 
 for each five years of age. According to the 
 original scheme "inside" credit balances were 
 extinguished every month, while "outside" were 
 cumulative; but the consequence of the latter 
 regulation was that, in course of time, some frugal 
 members were owed considerably greater supplies 
 of "outside" stores than the community could pay 
 them. In fact, had it not been for the voluntary 
 cancellation of their credits by some members the 
 store would have become bankrupt. The immediate 
 result of the Government's generosity was to 
 restore Cosme's purchasing power, so that the com- 
 plicated (a) and (b) system was replaced by an 
 amalgamated credit, which gave much greater satis- 
 faction (until, two years later, want of funds com- 
 pelled a return to the old " inside " and " outside " 
 distinction). 
 
 Two other difficulties confronting William Lane 
 proved less easy of solution; these were (i) the 
 immediate necessity of introducing a great many 
 more immigrants, in order to comply with the 
 Government's condition that seventy-two families 
 should be settled within two years, and (2) the fact 
 that there was a serious disproportion between the 
 number of adult men and women at Cosme. As the
 
 i8o RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 former outnumbered the latter by nearly three to 
 one there was no immediate prospect of matrimony 
 for two-thirds of the bachelors, and William Lane 
 very much feared that the temptation to take wives 
 from among the graceful, docile, and industrious 
 native women would prove irresistible. 
 
 The obvious way to meet both difficulties was to 
 start forthwith upon a vigorous campaign of recruit- 
 ing, restricted, so far as possible, to families (a 
 married couple form a family within the meaning of 
 the Paraguayan law) and single women. Since 
 there were already fifty men and twenty women at 
 Cosme, it would only be necessary to recruit thirty 
 single W'Omen and twenty-two married couples to 
 redress the balance, hold the young men to the 
 place by family ties, and comply with the Govern- 
 ment conditions for the final, unconditional, sur- 
 render of the titles to Cosme land.* 
 
 William Lane had not the slightest doubt that 
 scores of recruits could be found in England, only 
 too eager to shake off the shackles of Capitalism and 
 bid for a share in Cosme bliss. He was anxious, 
 however, that no new members should join who 
 were not thoroughly imbued with the proper Cosme 
 sentiment, and prepared to submit with docility to 
 the existing regulations. He, therefore, determined 
 to make a personal visit to the United Kingdom, 
 accompanied by his lieutenant, Tozer, for the pur- 
 pose of sifting the wheat from the chaff, and 
 forwarding only such candidates for membership 
 
 * The possibility of future extension was provided for by the 
 Government's promise to add a further league of land for each 
 12 families, beyond 72, that settled at Cosme.
 
 A CORDIAL RECEPTION i8i 
 
 as satisfied his exacting requirements. The two 
 organisers sailed in September, 1896, intending to 
 enrol and dispatch some fifty members before 
 March, 1897, when Lane would return, leaving 
 Tozer to keep the propaganda going for a few 
 months longer. In addition to making arrange- 
 ments for assisted passages, the Paraguayan 
 Government gave Lane the hospitality of their 
 London Consulate, where a Cosme Colony Agency 
 was established. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival in England, William 
 Lane put himself in communication with the Labour 
 and Socialist organisations of the United Kingdom^ 
 and arranged for a whirlwind campaign of meetings 
 and lantern lectures in the chief industrial centres. 
 The years which had elapsed since he first projected 
 his "ideal" Commonwealth had to some extent 
 tempered his optimism, but by no means quashed 
 his enthusiasm. The prophet of the new movement 
 who addressed himself to British democrats was 
 mellower and more restrained than the fiery young 
 journalist who formerly swayed the Australian 
 public, but his appeal was all the more likely to 
 succeed on that account. Up and down the country 
 he preached Cosmeism to sympathetic listeners, but 
 took great care to emphasise the hardships insepar- 
 able from pioneering, in order that none might 
 claim that he had lured them to Paraguay by false 
 pretences. 
 
 It would serve no useful purpose to follow Lane's 
 itinerary, or multiply examples of his burning 
 oratory. Suffice it to say that he met everywhere 
 with a cordial reception, but failed to enlist the 
 
 M
 
 i82 RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 practical support of any strong body of advanced 
 Socialists for a very definite reason- — his obstinate 
 insistence on the old-fashioned sanctity of the 
 marriage vow. Though only too logical in accept- 
 ing all the other consequences of Socialism, his 
 "irrational" opposition to the communalisation of 
 wives kept a wide gulf fixed between him and many 
 other extreme Socialists, who but for that reserva- 
 tion would cheerfullv have followed him. On the 
 other hand drawing-room Socialists, while applaud- 
 ing his retention of the institution of marriage, 
 recoiled from his logical application of the extremer 
 view in other directions. 
 
 His disillusionment found expression in the report 
 he sent back to the Cosme Central Board : 
 
 " Little help is to be expected from any school of 
 advanced thought," he wrote. "This, because 
 those schools which agree theoretically with our 
 industrial methods are more or less opposed to our 
 other ethical principles, while the old-fashioned 
 people, who agree generally with our other ethical 
 principles do not endorse those principles which 
 aim at fundamentally reforming industrialism. iVt 
 the same time much sympathy and fellow-feeling 
 for us exist among individuals attached to most of 
 the recognised schools, and many others^ while not 
 going all the way with Cosme, recognise that it has 
 a distinct value as an earnest effort to solve the great 
 social problem. In addition to meeting with 
 fellow-feeling from many who already profess 
 radical thought, Cosme will find fellow-feeling 
 among many who are in reality radical, but who 
 have been excluded by their conservatism on some
 
 THE NEW ARRIVALS 183 
 
 ethical principles, from allying themselves with 
 advanced thought as generally presented." 
 
 This does not mean, of course, that his recruiting 
 effort met with no result. In spite of his careful 
 weeding out of all unsuitable applications, he was 
 able to dispatch a number of prospective settlers, 
 who satisfied him that they would make good 
 Cosmans, but as the tally was still incomplete he 
 decided to remain another year in England, and 
 dispatch additional small parties from time to time. 
 
 The most interesting feature of the English and 
 Scottish organisation was the reception which 
 Lane's own recruits received at the hands of those 
 temporarily in charge at Cosme. If he supposed 
 that, because he had selected them, the new arrivals 
 would find favour in the eyes of his original flock, 
 he was grievously mistaken. 
 
 In spite of the universal equality they professed, 
 the pioneer "foundation" members not unnaturally 
 regarded themselves as a sort of professed order of 
 Cosmeism, towards whom mere novices should 
 show^ due humility. If there were any choice as 
 regards the quality of housing accommodation the 
 newcomers did not get the best, being told that, 
 " if they did have to rough it a little they might well 
 be thankful that others did the pioneering." 
 Furthermore, since the pioneers had hitherto done 
 all the "hard graft," it was quite reasonable that the 
 unpleasanter tasks should be tackled in future by 
 the raw recruits; but, however just such arrange- 
 ments might be, it was only natural that the new- 
 arrivals should feel dissatisfied. On the other hand, 
 if the management committee displaced an old
 
 i84 RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 member from some task he liked, in favour of a more 
 skilful British recruit, it was the former's turn to 
 feel aggrieved. 
 
 It was between the ladies, however, that the most 
 serious friction arose. It was at least four years 
 since most of the Cosme women had entered a shop. 
 During that period they had battled nobly for the 
 "Cause," many of them working daily in the forest, 
 where thorns tore their clothes in shreds; and 
 grinding poverty had made it impossible for their 
 tattered rags to be replaced. Any decent garments 
 which still remained were reserved for such special 
 occasions as the Saturday evening socials; in the 
 ordinary way, even such elementary necessities as 
 stockings were not worn, and many elected to go 
 barefoot in preference to wearing the boots of home- 
 tanned leather which the community supplied. At 
 any time it required a considerable fund of philo- 
 sophy to endure such deprivations with any show of 
 cheerfulness, but when newcomers from England 
 appeared upon the scene, fashionably attired from 
 head to toe, and with enough good clothes in 
 reserve to last a year or two, there came a crisis. 
 
 The love which the Cosme ladies had been pre- 
 pared to extend to their newly arrived sisters turned 
 to gall and wormwood, and bitter reproaches were 
 heaped upon the latter's innocent heads. 
 
 " Nobody with any sense of justice, much less of 
 Communism, would dream of outfitting to any extent 
 for such a place as Cosme," it was stated in a later 
 issue of the colony's monthly paper. " However 
 little newcomers may have they are sure to have 
 more clothing, bedding, and tableware than are left
 
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 GOOD CLOTHES A CRIME 185 
 
 to the founders of Cosme after five years' pioneer- 
 ing. We have savings in the shape of improve- 
 ments, machinery, and cattle only because for years 
 we have been pinching ourselves in food, clothing, 
 and creature comforts. For people to expect to 
 share our savings, after spending their own on 
 special personal outfitting, is quite wrong. We do 
 not wish for that class of people." 
 
 But the bitterness which found expression in cold 
 print was as nothing to the acute division that showed 
 itself between the sprucer and more tattered indivi- 
 duals. As was only natural the feeling found vent 
 in a variety of ways, which could not fail to make 
 the newcomers miserable, and some of them wished 
 they had never left a country where to be well 
 dressed is not accounted a crime. In this connec- 
 tion it is interesting to note the kind of tasks which 
 were allotted to the newly recruited Cosman ladies. 
 Some light is thrown on the subject by the following 
 official announcement:* 
 
 " Tlie single men's washing and mending, up till 
 now done by the married women, has been mostly 
 taken over by the new ' Laundry and Sewing 
 Department ' organised early in October when the 
 single women arrived. This department consists at 
 present of two members." 
 
 It is possible that the ladies in question may have 
 considered it a peculiar privilege to be told off to 
 undertake this work, but the reflection suggests itself 
 that <Sooo miles is a long journey to take in order to 
 become unpaid slaves of the wash-tub ! 
 
 Since so much unpleasantness existed^ it was not 
 
 * " Cosme Monthly," November 1897.
 
 i86 RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 surprising that secessions of men and women from 
 Cosme commenced within a week of the first 
 English recruit's arrival. The following record, 
 condensed from "Cosme," speaks for itself: 
 
 March, 1897. Arrival: Alf. Bray, the first mem- 
 ber from England, arrived on the 24th. 
 
 Departure : A. Mc.C , who was accepted as 
 
 a member in January, resigned membership on 
 March i8th, the reason assigned being that the 
 climate of Paraguay did not agree with his health. 
 
 Present Population : Fifty-three men (including 
 two absent on leave, and two in England on Cosme 
 business), twenty women, thirty-one children. 
 Total 104, 
 
 April, 1897. Arrivals : The first of the monthly 
 parties from England arrived on the i6th. The 
 party consisted of : Arthur Lewis, a mason from 
 Stockport; Mrs. Lewis and one child; George Prid- 
 more, a carpenter from Leicestershire ; James 
 Ricketts, a carpenter from London. 
 
 Present Population : Total 109. 
 
 May, 1897. Arrivals: On the 25th, the second 
 party from England arrived. They consisted of : 
 Cyril Allen, gardener from Nottingham ; Harry 
 Buckley, ex-soldier from Macclesfield; Sidney 
 Cash, deal-worker from Birmingham; John M. 
 Parish, wood-carver from Bradford; Robert Rayner, 
 warehouseman from Huddersfield ; Nicholas Vall- 
 ance, postman from York. 
 
 On the 22nd, Thomas and Mrs. Burgum, and 
 three children arrived from Queensland.
 
 MEMBERSHIP REFUSED 187 
 
 Departures : On the 25th, G. W, P and 
 
 J. R— -, both newly arrived from England, 
 
 resigned membership. 
 
 Present Population : Total iiS. 
 
 June, 1897. Withdrawal: On the 25th, R. W. 
 
 R , a new English member, resigned. 
 
 Present Population : Total 118. 
 
 Jl LY, 1897. Withdrawal: Writing from South 
 
 Australia, H. S. T , a foundation member 
 
 absent on leave, notifies that he will be unable to 
 return to Cosme on account of domestic reasons. 
 
 Present Population : Total 118. 
 
 August, 1897. Withdrawals : On August, 6th, 
 
 J. A- , W. M and Mrs. M- ■ left 
 
 Cosme. (All old members. Ill-health given as 
 reason for leaving.) T. Burgum and Mrs.Burgum 
 and family left the colony on August nth. 
 
 Present Population : Total no. 
 
 September, 1897. Arrivals: On the 4th of Sept- 
 ember, from Edinburgh, William and Mrs. Titilah, 
 and five children. W. Titilah is a bootmaker. 
 Alice Clark (age 15) from London. Membership 
 was refused to two arrivals from Scotland. 
 
 Present Population : Total n9. 
 
 October, 1897. Arrivals: On October 6th, the 
 fourth British party arrived at Cosme. The new 
 members are : George Gumm from Somerset, 
 Georgina and Annie Noon from Hawicl:. 
 
 Present Population : Total 122.
 
 i88 RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 December, 1897. Withdrmvals : On December 
 
 2 1 St, E. T and his nephew N. V left 
 
 Cosme. (E. T was a pioneer member. He 
 
 gave as his reason for going that he found that he 
 was not a Communist. His nephew, who only 
 arrived from England in May, left to keep him 
 company.) 
 
 Present Population : Total 129. 
 
 January, 1898. Arrivals: On January 31st, 
 William and Mrs. Bennett arrived from Australia. 
 
 Withdrawals: On January 8th, S. C and 
 
 G. G , and on the 20th, A. W. L with 
 
 wife and child, left Cosme. All were English 
 recruits and found Cosme life unsuited to them. 
 
 Present Population : Total 127. 
 
 February, 1898. Withdrawals: On February 
 
 loth, A. B , a young English member left on 
 
 account of his unsuitableness for Cosme life. On 
 
 the 1 2th, C. B , a junior, preparatory to his 
 
 parents withdrawing. 
 
 The Miss T 's, who arrived from England 
 
 on February 5th, left for Buenos Aires on the loth, 
 they not being satisfied enough with the place to 
 apply for membership. 
 
 Present Population : Total 125. 
 
 April, 1898. Arrivals: On April 8th, Robert 
 Ogilvie, wife and two children; George Holland, 
 Annie Ashton, from England. 
 
 Present Population: 53 men (including five 
 absent on leave), 27 women, 46 children. Total 126.
 
 A BIG SECESSION 189 
 
 May, 1898. Departures : At beginning of month, 
 
 J. B and wife, R. O , wife and two 
 
 children, recently arrived from Scotland. Towards 
 
 end of month, *H. B , wife and one child; 
 
 J. P , wife and three children ; *J. A. S , 
 
 wife and two children; *F. B , G. B — , 
 
 *C. B , G. C — , G. H , L. P , 
 
 *P. P , *H. S , *J. W . Those 
 
 marked (*) were with the pioneers. Early in the 
 month J. T. W left on leave of absence. 
 
 Present Population : 39 men (including six absent 
 on leave), 22 women, 38 children. Total 99, 
 
 A glance at the above statistics reveals that there 
 were actually a dozen fewer adults at Cosme at the 
 end of May, 1898, when the great recruiting cam- 
 paign was over, than in March, 1897, when the first 
 English member arrived. Moreover in June two 
 absent members resigned, while, on July ist, 1898, 
 eight more left, including Lane's ever-faithful lieu- 
 tenant, Arthur Tozer, with his wife. At the 
 beginning of July, 1898, there were only 30 men, 
 20 women, and 36 children left at Cosme. It is true 
 that six more men were "absent on leave," but that 
 usually proved a euphemism for withdrawal. 
 
 The cause of the earlier departures has been 
 indicated already. The big secession in May, how- 
 ever, was directly due to the fact that William Lane 
 had just returned from England and reassumed the 
 reins of power. He was welcomed back by 121 
 persons, but within a few weeks there were only 50 
 adults and 36 children left upon the place. Yet this 
 by no means caused the leader to be cast down, for,
 
 I90 RECRUITING FOR COSME 
 
 horror of horrors ! he discovered that during his 
 eighteen months absence the rank weed of heresy 
 had grown up in the fair garden of Cosme. A con- 
 siderable body of feehng had arisen in favour of 
 altering some of his best loved regulations. It was 
 the story of New Australia over again ; and Lane no 
 more hesitated now as his proper course of action 
 than he had faltered then. Whatever the cost, any 
 person who held less than the true milk of the Gospel 
 of "Cosmeism" must be thrust out from among the 
 congregation. 
 
 In anticipation, perhaps, of possible trouble with 
 the newcomers, the last Cosme General Meeting 
 (May, 1897) had been induced to grant exceptional 
 powers to their elected committee of nine persons. 
 It did not then occur to the voters that the innocent 
 sounding resolution "that a two-thirds majority of 
 the committee, with the consent of the village chair- 
 man, shall be necessary for the expulsion of a 
 member" would, when that committee's mandate 
 was within four days of exhaustion, be used against 
 themselves ! 
 
 The Annual Cosme meeting for the election of 
 committeemen, etc., was due to be held on May 
 13th, 1898. On May 9th, William Lane and his 
 nine existing committeemen met "to take action for 
 the maintenance of Cosme principles." By their 
 unanimous decision " two members were expelled 
 from membership for antagonism to, and violation 
 of, the Communist principles of Cosme." This 
 action was promptly challenged by a considerable 
 proportion of the eighty adults on the settlement, 
 but alas ! from one disability and another, there
 
 A CURIOUS COINCIDENCE 191 
 
 were only twenty-seven full-fledged voting members 
 on the place (including Lane and committee), and 
 those upheld the expulsion by 19 votes to 6. As an 
 immediate consequence those voting against the 
 motion resigned and, with many of their voteless 
 sympathisers, decided to withdraw.* By a curious 
 coincidence this decision was taken upon Foundation 
 Day — the fourth anniversary of Lane's own seces- 
 sion from New Australia. 
 
 Thus the expensive organisation campaign in 
 England proved more than a failure. It was a 
 catastrophe. After its conclusion Cosme was left 
 numerically weaker than before; of the 15 men Lane 
 had personally recruited in Britain, 11 had already 
 left, and of the 10 single girls only five remained. 
 In addition, he had lost the adherence of some of the 
 best of his original stalwarts. His must have been 
 an iron resolution indeed, if the wreckage of so many 
 lives by " Cosmeism " occasioned no wavering of 
 his personal faith in it. 
 
 * The two expelled members were allowed the princely sura of 
 about six pounds each with which to convey themselves and 
 families back to civilisation, while those who left voluntarily 
 received, roughly, two pounds ten shillings per family.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 EXIT WILLIAM LANE. 
 
 The failure of the British organisation, and the 
 dismissals and secessions which followed it were 
 responsible for much bitterness of spirit at Cosme. 
 Moreover the Paraguayan authorities' patience was 
 stretched to the breaking point, when they saw 
 depart from the colony a considerable proportion of 
 the people whose passages from ^lonte Video they 
 had paid only a few weeks before. Yet Lane con- 
 tinued to profess absolute faith in his own scheme. 
 
 "We dream our dream still," he wrote, "even 
 though among us some have grown tired of dream- 
 ing and would wake again to that so-called reality, 
 in which every man is against his brother and 
 nothing is thought of much worth, saving things 
 material. Yet we have chosen not to be wakened 
 but to go on dreaming still that Communism is a 
 possible thing to try after, though doubtless a very 
 impossible thing to fully attain to at once." 
 
 As time went on Communism was found increas- 
 ingly difficult " to fully attain to." The resentment 
 aroused in the breasts of some of the old-timers by 
 the arrival of newcomers, with ampler supplies oi 
 good clothing, has been recorded. Such feeling was 
 to some extent appeased by the voluntary sharing 
 out of feminine fripperies, but the question of the 
 clothing allowance was bound to recur from time to 
 time and cause heart-burnings. At last disputes 
 became so frequent that the regular clothing credit 
 was abolished, and the principle "to each according 
 
 192
 
 THE CLOTHING QUESTION 193 
 
 to his need,'''* established in its stead. It was 
 arranged that any woman who required additional 
 garments made formal application at the store, but 
 soon the demand became so excessive that it was 
 evident some sort of censorship would have to be 
 exercised. The unhappy storekeeper found him- 
 self compelled to solve at short notice such problems 
 
 as " Did Mrs. really need a new dress yet, 
 
 or would it not last a little longer with judicious 
 patching?" Was it fair to more careful mothers, 
 who did not neglect the "stitch in time," that Mrs. 
 
 should continually be getting grants of new 
 
 clothes to replace those worn out before their time 
 by her careless children ? Such points as these only 
 seem trivial to those who forget that equally 
 "trivial" disputes have repeatedly wrecked Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 When it became evident that the increasing 
 demands upon the store would shortly make it 
 bankrupt a system of budgetting in advance was 
 instituted. Under this scheme each family was 
 required to apprise the storekeeper what amount of 
 clothing represented the minimum it could man- 
 age with during the next six months — a definite 
 number of yards of material per man, woman, and 
 child (the latter according to age) being laid down 
 as the maximum. But even this system did not 
 work smoothly, for the stuff which would make four 
 suits per puny child could barely be stretched to 
 make three for a more substantially built youngster 
 of the same age. Again, some children were 
 
 * By this plan well-clad newcomers were excluded from 
 participation.
 
 194 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 "harder upon" their clothing than others, and the 
 authorities had to decide between issuing a supple- 
 mentary allowance or letting them go naked. In 
 the end, the supplementary clothing allowance 
 caused so much dissension that a return to the old 
 plan of fixed monthly credits was found necessary. 
 
 This clothing question was only one of a dozen 
 causes of bickering which sprang up, when it became 
 evident that hardship was not merely an initial diffi- 
 culty, but seemed likely to remain a permanent 
 feature of Cosme life. Newcomers in particular 
 were affected by the poverty of the food supply. 
 During the year 1899, when there were about 100 
 souls at Cosme, the total edible stores consumed, 
 exclusive of fruit and garden vegetables, were as 
 follows: corn meal, 13 tons; mandioca, S3 tons; 
 sweet potatoes, 25 tons; pumpkins, 3 tons; beans, 
 if tons; treacle, 5^ tons; sugar, 12 cwt.; coffee, 
 I J cwt. ; tobacco, 4^ cwt. ; beef, 8| cwt. ; bacon and 
 ham, 14 cwt.; pork, 8 cwt.; lard, 2 cwt.; fowls, 
 128; eggs, 10,000; milk, 907 gals. ; game (includ- 
 ing deer, agouti, armadillo, fish, etc.), about 10 
 cwt.* Though in the aggregate this list looks quite 
 imposing, a little calculation shows that the 
 average daily allowance of non-vegetarian food was 
 less than one-third of an egg and i^ ounces of meat 
 per person. 
 
 Even such a meagre diet was only made possible 
 by raising loans upon all the colony's movable 
 possessions. The Administration was compelled to 
 resort to the plan of mortgaging all vendible 
 resources in spite of the fact that, as at New 
 * " Cosme Monthly," January 1900.
 
 A STRANGE REGULATION 195 
 
 Australia, they were surrounded on all sides by 
 readily saleable timber. 
 
 The most pressing problem confronting Cosme 
 was still the need for importing (a) single women, 
 to become the wives of Cosme bachelors, and thus 
 tie them to the colony, and (b) married couples. 
 But, owing to the fiasco in which Lane's campaign 
 had ended, no more assisted passages could be 
 expected from the Government for the present. 
 Moreover the authorities in Asuncion were tired of 
 hearing the grievances of stranded British subjects, 
 so, for the future, it was laid down that would-be 
 Cosmans must not only bear their own expenses but 
 also deposit a sufficient sum with the Cosme chair- 
 man to take them home again should they be 
 dissatisfied. In the case of single women there was 
 no such provision, however, as the following 
 extraordinary regulation shows : 
 
 " Single women to pay their own passage to 
 Asuncion but wuU not be required to make any 
 deposit or payment to the colony and will have 
 passages to Buenos Aires paid by the colony should 
 mutual trial not result in full membership; the 
 colony may terminate the mutual trial of a single 
 woman at any time and will provide such passage 
 upon doing so ; but passages w-ill not be so provided 
 for any single woman who may herself terminate 
 mutual trial before the completion of three months 
 residence." 
 
 Any man who could deliberately contemplate the 
 stranding of unprotected English women in Buenos 
 Aires, must be singularly ignorant of the deplor- 
 able conditions existing in that city. Possibly
 
 196 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 the framers of that regulation foresaw that most 
 women would prefer to accept a Cosme suitor, how- 
 ever ineligible, and submit with docility to the 
 miseries inseparable from Communism, rather than 
 face the risks of far worse degradation in the 
 Argentine capital. The reason given for exporting 
 women, ineligible for membership, to Buenos Aires 
 was that there " employment at English wages can 
 be got in the numerous English families." What 
 must become of women, who were not lucky enough 
 to fall at once into honourable employment, was not 
 considered, apparently. William Lane was certainly 
 nodding when he gave assent to such a regulation. 
 
 It was not, in fact, surprising if Lane's old grip 
 of affairs were beginning to relax. It was just six 
 years since he had left Australia, at the head of a 
 band of enthusiasts, " to teach the world a lesson," 
 and during that period he had faced sufficient crush- 
 ing disappointments to break the heart of any man. 
 Latterly, moreover, he had lost the allegiance of 
 some of his closest friends and supporters, and a 
 large proportion of his flock were later recruits of a 
 much lower intellectual order, many of whom were 
 unmistakeably opposed to him personally. Even his 
 best friends were bound to admit that his expensive 
 English campaign, which was to have achieved so 
 much, had done the place a great deal more harm 
 than good, and it is doubtful whether he would have 
 been re-elected to the chairmanship, which he had 
 hitherto monopolised (he had served during two 
 periods of three years each), if he had stood for it. 
 However, he did not stand. It was officially stated 
 that : " In notifying his intention not to accept any
 
 HIS REASONS 197 
 
 nomination for further office-bearing, the retiring 
 chairman, W. Lane, said that ' apart from health 
 reasons which alone were more than sufficient,' he 
 wished to become entirely free to propagandize." 
 By the popular vote William Lane's mantle fell 
 upon his brother, John, who had hitherto acted as 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 It would have been interesting to observe how 
 " King Billy " settled down to the arduous duties 
 of a non-official — as a member of the " hoeing 
 gang," for instance. Since the new chairman and 
 his executive committee of three began very soon to 
 transgress against William Lane's root principle, 
 re the "non-employment of outside labour, it would 
 have been illuminating to watch William's attitude 
 towards them. Had he remained, would he have 
 been expelled for contumacy, one wonders? It is 
 impossible to say, for shortly after the expiry of his 
 second term of office William Lane shook the red 
 earth of Paraguay from his boots, and went back to 
 Australia, where he took over the editorship of the 
 Sydney Worker. From that time the original 
 apostle of Cosmeism disappeared for ever from the 
 ken of Cosmans.* 
 
 *It is often asserted that William Lane "deserted" Cosrae 
 when he forsook the place in 1899. But in this connection it 
 should be remembered that, so long as he remained there, he was 
 powerless to assist his wretched brethren financially, whereas by 
 earning his living in the outside world he was able to remit from 
 his earnings a "loan" for the benefit of those- who remained at 
 Cosme. This non-intereat-bearing "loan" of £211. 4s., which 
 he must have known was unlikely to be repaid, figured first in 
 the Cosme balance-sheet for May 1900. 
 
 N
 
 198 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 John Lane's promotion to the chairmanship was 
 marked by sundry alterations in the regulations 
 (including reduction of the deposit made by trial 
 members to £$ per adult) of which the principal 
 was that relating to the employment of native 
 labour. It was a fundamental principle of Cosmeism 
 that the wages system was utterly wicked, never- 
 theless the accursed thing found its way into Cosme 
 twelve months after William Lane's departure. It 
 began, of course, as a temporary expedient, but was 
 found so convenient that principles went hang and 
 the Cosmans as a body became employers of labour, 
 battening upon the "surplus value" of the natives' 
 work in the forest and in the sugar-cane field. 
 
 "At a committee held on September 4th (1900)," 
 says the official journal, "the chairman reported 
 that unless otherwise instructed by the committee 
 he intended advising the executive to have steps 
 taken for the immediate felling of two acres of 
 monte by native labour, in order to provide firewood 
 to finish the season's crushing. It was pointed out 
 that the work could not be done by colony labour 
 without stopi>age of crushing and planting; and as 
 the results of the crushing were relied on to meet the 
 financial obligations of the colony, such stoppage 
 was altogether undesirable. The objections to the 
 proposals were : the having natives working on the 
 colony, and also to any hiring of labour. The 
 voting on the committee resulted in a tie. The 
 chairman refrained from using his casting vote, 
 and, with the approval of the commitee, left the 
 matter over for decision by general meeting." 
 
 It is interesting to note that Alexander Dick, a
 
 AN EVIL SYSTEM 199 
 
 member of the committee, resigned membership on 
 September 4th, and subsequently left Cosme 
 together with his three brothers and his mother, 
 who had been organised in Glasgow in 1897. This 
 did not affect the chairman's plans, however, for 
 "At a special general meeting held on September 
 1 2th, it was resolved by 15 votes to 5 that the 
 management be empowered to employ native labour 
 to procure lirewood in the present emergency." 
 
 Following this decision another committeeman, 
 John Delugar, resigned on September 17th, but the 
 loss of a few members was more than compensated 
 for by the gain from the exploitation of native 
 labour. In the year 1899, when the colonists did 
 their own work, the sums received for sales of 
 produce totalled $2366; in 1901, the year following 
 the new regulations, the receipts had leaped to 
 $9898; from May ist, 1903,- to May ist, 1904, they 
 came to $20,658. 
 
 Of course the Cosmans tried to prove to them- 
 selves and to the outside world that they did not 
 transgress the Socialist creed by employing native 
 labour at such low wages (sixpence per day) that a 
 handsome profit could be derived from their 
 energies. But nobody was hoodwinked. From 
 across the ocean came a letter which reproachfully 
 stated that: "Cosme is turning its back on its 
 principles. . . . The colonists had fled from parti- 
 cipation in the horrors of wage-slavery, sweating, 
 exploitation of human labour by capitalists, etc., 
 and now in far-off Paraguay they were introducing 
 the evil system." 
 
 The Cosmans' defence to this just indictment is
 
 200 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 an amazing document : " While recognising the 
 evils of commercialism to such an extent as to feel 
 it incumbent on us to live with each other in 
 brotherhood," it states, "and not to work for each 
 other for wages, or lend to each other for interest, 
 or take rent from each other for land or houses, but 
 to care for and work for and share with each other 
 in fellowship, we have never made any pretence of 
 being guided in our business relations with outside 
 non-co-operators by any other than business 
 principles." 
 
 The writer of that statement had strayed very far 
 indeed from the teaching of William Lane's gospel. 
 Nevertheless, from the organising point of view, the 
 distinction drawn between those within and those 
 without the fold was a brilliantly conceived notion. 
 When William Lane went recruiting he had noth- 
 ing to offer but a share in the common poverty ; 
 how much more successful might a man be 
 who could hold out the prospect of exploiting 
 Cosme's resources by the labour of others for the 
 Cosmans' benefit ? Finding John Lane possessed 
 of such a commonsense point of view the Para- 
 guayan Government once more went to great 
 expense to assist the Cosme Colony. When, in 
 May, 1 90 1, John Lane decided to try his fortune as 
 an organiser, the emigration authorities paid his 
 return fare round the world, and agreed to restore 
 the original arrangement by which they paid the 
 expenses of would-be Cosmans from Monte Video 
 to the colony. At the same time the Cosme 
 Monthly blossomed forth on greatly improved paper 
 with an attractive illustration in each number, and
 
 
 At Cosme children were " cared for " by the community. 
 
 TO FACE P. 200.
 
 CHANGED CONDITIONS 201 
 
 a still more attractive balance sheet, exhibiting an 
 excess of assets over liabilities amounting to 
 $179,485! 
 
 As the population at the time consisted of only 
 26 men (four absent), 17 women, and 51 children, 
 it would appear that, with such an ample balance, 
 they could all have lived in clover, but as a matter 
 of fact the Cosmans were enduring extraordinary 
 hardships. The meat allowance had been sus- 
 pended, and they were living entirely on a 
 vegetarian diet, with the exception of a small 
 allowance of semi-liquid lard, which was served out 
 occasionally. As they pulled their belts tight to 
 suppress the gnawings of hunger, how some of the 
 men envied lucky John Lane his delightful eighteen 
 months' excursion in civilised England and 
 Australia ! 
 
 It was John Lane's intention to send a large 
 number of recruits to Cosme in time for the 1902 
 sugar season, but in this he was disappointed. To 
 his surprise, conditions had altered remarkably in 
 Australia during the last nine years. He accounted 
 to his impatient fellow-Cosmans for the slow pro- 
 gress he was making by explaining that "(i) The 
 old unionism of the bush has gone back. (2) The 
 old Socialistic idea has become much less prevalent. 
 In fact it is only occasionally in these parts you 
 drop across a Socialist. (3) There is a decided 
 growth in the Imperialistic idea. In the old days 
 there was very little of this. One part of the world 
 was pretty near as good as another. There is a 
 greater desire than before to be under the British 
 flag. (4) The drought has made it extremely
 
 202 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 difficult for men to raise the necessary funds to 
 proceed to Cosme." He might have added as a 
 fifth reason that he did not, fortunately, possess 
 his brother's magnetic personality. Nevertheless 
 he contrived to send a certain number of recruits to 
 Cosme before his own return in December, 1902. 
 The newcomers, however, proved no better able to 
 settle down happily with the "old-timers" than 
 William Lane's recruits. 
 
 In July, 1901, when John Lane sailed upon his 
 organising campaign, the population of Cosme was 
 26 men, 16 women, 46 children. Total 88. By 
 June, 1904, it had been reduced to 22 men, 11 
 women, and 36 children. Total 69. 
 
 As before, a dismissal, " for persistent defiance 
 of Colony authority and regulations," and subse- 
 quent secessions of "old-timers," were largely 
 responsible for the decrease (the expelled man was 
 a member of six years' standing, who it was alleged 
 " during the last four years had shown Anarchistic 
 tendencies, and had throughout failed to work in 
 harmony with those entrusted with the direction of 
 the colony industries, while latterly his attitude had 
 become increasingly and more openly antagon- 
 istic"). Out of the fifteen "trial members," who 
 were on the rolls in 1903, only four remained in 
 1904. The eleven who left were thus accounted 
 for : " One had his membership terminated by the 
 committee; one was notified that there was little 
 chance of his being accepted as a full member, and 
 he consequently took the first opportunity of going ; 
 one left because of disagreement with the colony 
 regulation requiring full members to contribute
 
 LAMENTABLE FAILURE 203 
 
 their capital as a free gift to the colony ; six left on 
 account of dissatisfaction with or unfittedness for 
 the conditions of the colony; two resigned owing 
 to reasons other than dissatisfaction with the 
 colony." 
 
 Thus John Lane's organising campaign proved 
 as lamentable a failure as his brother's. In May, 
 1904, he was replaced* by a new chairman, and next 
 month the publication of the Cosme Monthly ceased. 
 At that date the colony's cash liabilities amounted 
 to $31,993, against cash in hand $623. It is true 
 that the two colonists who acted as auditors cheer- 
 fully set a value on the land, improvements, etc., of 
 over $200,000, t but they ignored the fact that the 
 conditions attached to the grant of territory (the 
 settlement of 72 families) had by no means been 
 complied with. Something of the changed spirit of 
 the place peeps out in the snarling tone of the final 
 manifesto — so different from those penned by 
 William Lane. " Many people come here over- 
 loaded wath cut and dry ideals," the writer com- 
 plains. " This colony is not, and never has been, 
 in anything like the full, usual, acceptance of the 
 word, a Communistic one. . . . We share equally 
 the results of our common labour; not unequally. 
 If one man's wants are greater than another's he 
 has got to curb them. Here, as elsewhere, a man 
 has got to make and win his own friendships. 
 They aren't ready made for him. . . . The daily 
 direction of common affairs is governed by officials 
 elected yearly, whose instructions have got to be 
 
 * Shortly afterwards John Lane left Cosme Colony. 
 
 tThe land with all its timber intact was bought for $20,000.
 
 204 EXIT WILLIAM LANE 
 
 obeyed whether one agrees or differs from them. . . . 
 We employ native labour outside the village, mainly 
 to develop our timber industry. We trust this 
 necessity will not be continuous, but this is by the 
 way, the point is, that we do at present, and will in 
 all probability for some time to come, so employ for 
 profit such labour." 
 
 Many secessions from Cosme were directly caused 
 by the admission of natives to the place; several 
 fathers of families withdrew ostensibly for other 
 reasons, but really because they feared admixture 
 with the Paraguayans.* Among such were the 
 Gilmores. When she reached Australia Mrs. 
 Gilmore stated that there were people remaining at 
 Cosme, with no intention of leaving it, who 
 
 * Valuable light is shed on this question by Senor Don J. J. 
 Tellechea, Chilian Consul to Sydney, N.S.W., who, in a com- 
 munication to the " South American Journal " (December 27th, 
 1902) states that " Mrs. Gilmore . . . admits the kindly disposition 
 of the native 'Paraguayo,' but when it comes to the colony's 
 social intercourse with him she draws the line, and rebels at the 
 idea of finally becoming assimilated to his 'inferior race.' This 
 might have been one of the tenets of the original ' New Australia ' 
 communistic code, but to South American eyes it appears to be a 
 mere reflection of superiority of race which the ' gringo ' evinces 
 over the South American 'criollo,' and which is so exasperating 
 and in such a large measure responsible for the depth of feeling 
 that pervades civilised Latin- America in regard to his self-sufficient 
 lordship. Yet, assimilation becomes in the second, or at the 
 outside the third, generation absolute and almost fatal, and there 
 is gradually evolving from this process all over Latin-America an 
 ultimate uniform and characteristic national type, which practi- 
 cally everyone that has lived in that privileged continent will 
 admit, is often and in many ways an improvement on both sides 
 of the parent stock."
 
 BURDENED WITH DEBT 205 
 
 expressed their conviction that the children of 
 some of those then resident would marry natives. 
 " Up to the time we left," she said in the Sydney 
 Telegraph, "generally speaking, one might say, 
 there had been no intercourse with natives. . . . 
 Speaking particularly as to certain cases, there had. 
 . . . That is what the colony has to look to." 
 
 The record of perpetual secessions, appearing in 
 the Cosme Monthly, had proved so poor an adver- 
 tisement of the settlement in the past that it was 
 perhaps a wise plan for the Cosmans to cease 
 publication and keep domestic squabbles to them- 
 selves in future. Moreover, those who in the past 
 possessed no vote, and w-ere obliged to keep their 
 actual beliefs to themselves, were now "old-timers" 
 with power to alter the Constitution, if they chose, 
 as they thought lit. If they should come to any 
 such decision there was no need to apprise the whole 
 world of their intentions. After the departure of 
 Leek, John Lane, and other original stalwarts, there 
 was no longer any strong party w'ith deep convic- 
 tions on the subject of Cosmeism. Burdened wdth 
 debt on the sugar-cane crushing plant, and other 
 machinery which they had bought out of borrowed 
 money, and sick of living lives of drudgery amidst 
 surroundings no better than those of the natives, 
 many of the Cosmans only stayed on in the hope of 
 securing a share of the spoil when, if ever, the 
 Government offered to pay off the bank mortgages 
 on condition that Cosme should abandon its 
 crippling principles.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA. 
 
 To return now to New Australia, it has been shown 
 that the affairs of the colonists at that settlement 
 had got into a dejDlorable muddle. Yet, under any- 
 other system of living than the Socialist regime, 
 they might yet have retrieved their position, for, 
 as Mr. Peel remarked, " in spite of their difficulties 
 it must be recollected that they are in possession of 
 350,000 acres of the very finest land in Paraguay, 
 with pasturage sufficient to keep at least 70,000 head 
 of cattle. . . . Buying cattle for purposes of fatten- 
 ing should yield in Paraguay a profit of at least 
 20 to 30 per cent., and the Association on starting 
 expected that it would not be long before they were 
 doing a good trade. They bought 2500 head and 
 put up about eight miles of wire fencing, but owing 
 to the causes mentioned this number has been 
 already considerably reduced. ... In addition, 
 they have got about 90 cows, 170 horses, and a 
 large number of pigs and poultry. They have 
 cleared about 70 acres of woodland .... and 
 cultivated about 213 acres. . . . They have large 
 forests of valuable timber, but no sawmills ; they 
 are engaged at this moment in making bricks to 
 start a tannery, but the work is proceeding slowly 
 for want of proper appliances, at a time too when 
 they ought to be engaged in erecting houses in the 
 place of the uncomfortable barns and sheds of mud 
 
 206
 
 WILD-CAT SCHEMES 207 
 
 and thatch in which they are at present living, and 
 even these are not put up in a sufficient number to 
 sheher all the colonists, a few of whom at present 
 are sleeping under tents. . . . They have started 
 a band which plays every evening, and one of the 
 first steps they will take as soon as their funds will 
 permit, will be to build a hall for the purpose of 
 lectures, and concerts, as well as dancing.* 
 
 Tanneries, concerts ! Any wild-cat scheme was 
 good enough for New Australia to waste its energies 
 upon, at a time when those energies were so 
 paralysed that the place was not even self-support- 
 ing to the extent of growing a sufficient food supply 
 for home use. Compare the 70 acres of forest land 
 cleared at New Australia, in one year, by 250 persons, 
 with the achievement of a single Frenchman on an 
 individualistic colony in another part of Paraguay. 
 
 "At a short distance from the station," reported 
 Mr. Findlav. after visiting Gonzalez, f "we turned 
 into a narrow ' picada ' or lane cut through the 
 virgin forest. Similar roads are cut parallel to each 
 other at equal distances. On each side of the road 
 at intervals were clearings planted with maize and 
 mandioca. The first of these we visited, evidently 
 the 'show' clearing, belonging to a Frenchman. 
 This man had cleared a space of about 10 acres in 
 13 months. 
 
 " When we looked at the dense forest of hard- 
 wood trees, towering above a tangled mass of 
 creepers and undergrowth, it seemed almost incred- 
 ible that so much could have been accomplished by 
 
 * Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, 1895, No. 358 
 t Foreign Office, Annual Series, 1894, No. 1357.
 
 208 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 a single man (by no means a Hercules), whose 
 principal instruments had been an axe and a box of 
 matches. The little rancho was surrounded by 
 maize, mandioca, man! (pea-nut), tobacco, beans, 
 sugar-cane, alfalfa, melons, and every sort of veget- 
 able. Some wheat had been grown, but was of 
 poor quality, perhaps owing to bad seed. The 
 colonist showed us a little hollow which he had 
 converted into a miniature paddy-field, and the rice 
 was coming up luxuriantly. What we actually 
 saw growing represented a small fortune for this 
 hard-working Frenchman." 
 
 From this it would appear that one Frenchman 
 working for himself is worth, as a colonist, some 
 thirty-five Australians labouring for each other ! 
 (Though, as it will presently appear, the latter were 
 easily able to outstrip all competitors when the 
 energy-destroying regime of Socialism was aboli- 
 shed.) While the Frenchman plied his axe with a 
 light heart in the forest, lived luxuriously, and 
 rapidly piled up a comfortable competency, the 
 Australians sank day by day into lower depths of 
 misery and degradation. 
 
 It was a black time indeed at New Australia, but 
 the natural phenomenon that the darkest hour 
 immediately precedes the dawn, applied forcibly in 
 their case. Now that there was no longer anything 
 to be gained by Socialism, even the drones were 
 willing to suspend it. By a vote of the majority it 
 was decided that the Constitution should be altered ; 
 henceforth every man would be entitled to dispose 
 as he pleased of the fruit of his own labour, and a 
 new incentive was given to industry.
 
 SOCIALISM DETHRONED 209 
 
 According to the Socialist creed this was a retro- 
 grade step that the New AustraUans were taking. 
 There were one or two indeed who gloomily quoted 
 Mr. Blatchford's dictum : "With regard to the claim 
 that men should be left free to fight each for his own 
 hand — is that civilisation or anarchy ? And will it 
 result in peace or in war, in prosperity or in 
 disaster ? Not civilisation, but savagery ; not 
 Christianity, but cannibalism is the spirit of this 
 doctrine of selfishness and folly. ... Is not love 
 stronger than hate? And will not a society founded 
 on love and justice certainly flourish, as the society 
 founded on hate and strife will certainly perish?" 
 But to those pessimists others replied that neither 
 love nor justice, nor prosperity, nor civilisation, but 
 the reverse had been found under Socialism. In 
 fact, in every particular the claims of the theorists 
 had been falsified. The great majority of the New 
 Australians hailed the final dethronement of 
 Socialism as the dawn of a new and brighter day. 
 
 It was once said, in all reverence, by a famous news- 
 paper editor that the Bible, with its terse, expressive, 
 concentrated style, would remain for all time as an 
 example of first-rate journalism. Certainly it would 
 be hard to pen a paragraph more vividly describing 
 the pass to which things had come, at New 
 Australia, than Isaiah iii, 5, "And the people shall 
 be oppressed, every one by another, and every one 
 by his neighbour. The child shall behave himself 
 proudly against the ancient, and the base against 
 the honourable." Freedom of action was denied to 
 all, the smallest details of each one's daily life were 
 jealously spied upon by some other, and the
 
 2IO BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 degrading atmosphere of mistrust, which turned 
 every man against his neighbour, was exploited by 
 the base for their own ends. 
 
 A bHght seemed to descend upon everything 
 managed by the community, and the children 
 proved no exception to the rule. Deliberately cut 
 off from the softening influences of religion, and 
 brought up to ignore all distinctions of age or sex, 
 it was natural for them lo seek always their own 
 pleasure and ride rough-shod over the old and 
 infirm. Untaught and unrestrained, the neglected 
 children seemed doomed to suffer all their lives for 
 the follies of their parents. This was perhaps the 
 saddest aspect of the New Australia fiasco. 
 
 As soon as the resolution, abolishing Socialism, 
 was carried, Frederick Kidd, under whose sane and 
 practical adminstration the change was brought 
 about, set off to Asuncion to interview the Govern- 
 ment, whom he found sympathetically disposed and 
 prepared to do all in their power to assist the 
 colonists. Withdrawing the original grant of 
 territory, the President confirmed them in posses- 
 sion of the twenty-five square miles on which they 
 were actually settled, and approved a scheme 
 whereby every man was entitled to select for himself 
 an allotment of sixty squares of agricultural ground, 
 for which he would be given title deeds, when he had 
 built a house and complied with the usual condi- 
 tions. The right of grazing over the grass lands 
 was reserved in common for all, so that it was 
 possible for every individual colonist to become a 
 big cattle farmer if he could find the necessary 
 capital. This fact created fresh ambition in the
 
 LABOUR'S TRUE FRIEND 211 
 
 heart of every family, and there was a general 
 exodus of able-bodied men to the railway works at 
 Sapucay, to Asuncion, Rosario, or Buenos Aires — 
 anywhere where good wages could be earned by a 
 man willing to work his fingers to the bone. 
 
 One colonist, who now ow-ns many hundred head 
 of cattle, worked as a butcher in an Argentine meat 
 works, where wages are high, living on the odd 
 halfpence of his pay and remitting the balance to 
 his wife, to be carefully invested in lean cattle, for 
 which a ready market could be found when fattened. 
 The Administrator himself looked for work as a 
 bootmaker's assistant in Asuncion (he had once had 
 a prosperous business of his own), but, to his 
 delight, a leather merchant set him up with a stock 
 of leather and even became responsible to a third 
 party for the value of the necessary tools. Being a 
 good workman, he soon made headway and became 
 a cattle owner also, though it was principally on his 
 trade that he relied for a living. The story of other 
 colonists was similar. One and all found salvation 
 in the " iron law of wages," and discovered for 
 themselves that Capital is the indispensable ally 
 and friend, and not the enemy, of Labour. The 
 legitimate ambition of each one was to become him- 
 self a capitalist, for " Capital is the result of Labour 
 and Abstinence." 
 
 There is a sentence in Levy's " Outcome of 
 Individualism " which well sums up the conditions 
 at New Australia: "A brief but brilliant span of 
 existence may be attained by a Socialistic State 
 living on the capital of its predecessors ; but it soon 
 runs through this capital and goes out like a sjDent
 
 212 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 squib and leaves a nasty smell." The " nasty- 
 smell " at New Australia took the form of rancour 
 and bitterness of spirit, so that many families were 
 not on speaking terms with their nearest neighbour 
 — not that anyone had time or inclination in 
 those terrible days for sociabilities. Women, whose 
 husbands were away earning wages, worked like 
 niggers in the cornfields for themselves and for 
 their children. The sternest Individualism now 
 prevailed, for, when all were on the verge of 
 starvation, no man would share his children's bread 
 with the work-shirkers. There was no longer any 
 talk of an eight hour day, or of Trade Union 
 regulations as to what particular task a given 
 individual might perform. From sunrise to sunset 
 men, women, and even children worked at whatever 
 task came first to hand, unheeding the rays of the 
 tropical sun. Even the coming of night did not see 
 the cessation of their labours, when the moon's 
 bright light illuminated the cornfields. In an incred- 
 ibly short space of time houses shot up, surrounded 
 by well-tilled kitchen gardens, carefully fenced in 
 to keep men or brutes from damaging the crops, 
 and very soon the grass lands were once more dotted 
 with cattle — cheap, sorry beasts some of them, but 
 precious beyond all reckoning for the sake of the 
 regained joy of ownership which they personified. 
 It was not long, moreover, before the self-banished 
 fathers and husbands were able to return with 
 money in their pockets and restored hopefulness. 
 
 Some used the money thus earned to convey 
 themselves and their dear ones back to Australia, 
 others determined to make the most of the country's
 
 RAPID PROGRESS 213 
 
 natural advantaefes, and to combine the rearing of 
 cattle with lumbering operations or store-keeping. 
 On these lines rapid progress was made, and, within 
 a few years, many of the 130 colonists who remained 
 at New Australia possessed from 100 to 600 head of 
 cattle and horses, to say nothing of pigs, poultry, 
 etc., and in addition grew a great deal of fruit, 
 vegetables, and maize (for the last of which, as also 
 for all kinds of live-stock, there was always a good 
 market). 
 
 It must not be imagined, of course, that every 
 colonist was equally successful. Nature does not 
 discount the intelligent industry of the energetic, or 
 supplement the efforts of the idle, incompetent, or 
 stupid, in order to level things down " without 
 regard to sex, age, office, or physical or mental 
 capacity." But even the laziest were compelled by 
 necessity to do infinitely more for themselves than 
 they ever did under Socialism, while the indus- 
 trious were encouraged by that self-interest which 
 is so essential to progress, by means of forethought, 
 thrift, and diligence, to put by for their old age 
 and lay the foundations of prosperity for their 
 children. 
 
 It would be pleasant to record that the instant 
 change for the better at New Australia was spiritual 
 as well as physical. But unfortunately that was 
 not so — for many years at least. The hatreds 
 which had sprung up during the period of Socialist 
 rule left deep feuds which it took a long time to 
 heal, and the mutual jealousies were so bitter that 
 even the children, who lived at the villages of Los 
 Amigos, or Loma Rugua, were hardly on speaking 
 terms with those of Las Ovejas or Tuyu. Worse 
 o
 
 214 BLACK TIME AT NEW AUSTRALIA 
 
 than that, such bitterness had arisen in some cases 
 between members of the same family that father 
 and son who lived on adjacent blocks forbade one 
 another to cross the dividing fence. Moreover 
 everyone's energies were now concentrated to such 
 an extent upon the anxious desire to repair the ruin 
 of their fortunes that nobody worried about such a 
 matter as the need for educating the children. In 
 consequence lads and lasses grew up in total ignor- 
 ance, except for those few who attended a native 
 school and acquired Indian habits of thought 
 together with the Guarani tongue. 
 
 Nor was such a state of things wholly accidental, 
 for there were loud-voiced men upon the colony 
 who claimed that education was in itself an evil, 
 while many held as the fundamental article of their 
 belief that religion was the curse of the world. In 
 consequence, when Bishop Every (Anglican Bishop 
 in the Argentine) took a long and wearisome 
 journey for the purpose of visiting the colonists, 
 he was not permitted to hold Divine Service. Some 
 of the settlers, however, approached him privately 
 and begged him to send a schoolmaster to New 
 Australia. Naturally, the Bishop could not use 
 Church funds to pay the stipend of a man who 
 would not be allowed to mention religion to his 
 charges, but he stated the case in England, and a 
 young Cambridge man (who was ordered abroad 
 for the benefit of his health) volunteered to go out 
 at his own expense and do what he could for the 
 children. It will not be without interest, perhaps, to 
 a certain number of readers, to follow the youthful 
 pedagogue to Paraguay and see how he fared at 
 New Australia.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 NEW AUSTRALIA AND COSME TO-DAY. 
 
 It was the month of March, 1904, when the School- 
 master arrived at New Austraha. By correspond- 
 ence it had been arranged that he should board 
 
 with the T family, at La Novia. His first 
 
 view of this, one of the earliest village settlements, 
 was extremely depressing. Situated on a clearing 
 just within the forest, it still consisted of the 
 original, roughly-built mud huts, which the 
 pioneers had thrown up nearly eleven years before. 
 In all there were five half-ruined houses, in such 
 bad condition that it was necessary to re-dress the 
 walls with thick coatings of mud several times a 
 year to keep them from tumbling down. Interest- 
 ing illustration of the value of work done "by all 
 for all " was forthcoming on close examination of 
 the material used in the construction of some of 
 these houses. Much of the wood used was soft and 
 unsuitable for the work, but easier to handle than 
 the hard woods. The floors were still of mud or 
 ant-bed, although good timber was abundant, and 
 the rough walls of red "pug" were not even 
 smoothed inside. Though so many years had 
 passed since they were first built, some of them were 
 still without any verandah to keep the torrential 
 rains from washing away the walls. Neither fire- 
 place nor windows were provided (pivoted wooden 
 
 215
 
 2i6 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY 
 
 shutters served to exclude the cold) and the draught- 
 admitting gaps, between roof and walls, made it 
 impossible to keep a lamp alight when the wind 
 blew. 
 
 The house in which it was arranged that the 
 Schoolmaster should board contained three rooms, 
 and a low lean-to in which the colonist's three sons 
 slept. Originally it had consisted of two rooms 
 separated by a " galpone " (a covered space open 
 on two sides), but the latter had been boarded in 
 with pieces of packing case, etc., to form a living 
 room. The kitchen was a separate outbuilding. 
 As if the house were not sufficiently overcrowded 
 
 the T children kept an amazing number of 
 
 pets, which wandered in and out of the house as 
 they chose. In addition to the dogs, of which four 
 lived principally indoors, there were a tame owl, 
 several pigs, which had to be forcibly ejected at 
 meal times, and a miscellaneous collection of fowls, 
 wandering where they pleased and even roosting in 
 the bedrooms. The average Irish hut v^-ould com- 
 pare more than favourably with the T home- 
 stead. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that all the 
 homes at New Australia were of this type. After 
 the abolition of Socialism it became worth while for 
 any individual who prized hygiene and comfort to 
 erect better accommodation for his family. After 
 leaving La Novia, the next village settlement, 
 reached by a rough track cut through the forest, 
 was Tuvu Rugua, a big clearing on the edge of 
 the open plain, well enclosed with strong fencing, 
 with two very large paddocks stretching down into
 
 AN INDUSTRIOUS FAMILY 217 
 
 the low-lying land towards the river. At the time 
 of the disruption, when each colonist chose his 
 favourite site on which to settle and build, the 
 
 K contingent, consisting of old Mr. K 
 
 — the father of the colony— and his five sons, took 
 up their allotments all together, each allotment 
 consisting partly of camp and partly of monte, in 
 the proportion settled by the rules governing New 
 Australia. Thus they monopolised all the frontage 
 to the camp at that point, and no room was left for 
 anyone else to settle there. In consequence the 
 
 K s jointly possessed quite a large domain, 
 
 which they had turned into a valuable property by 
 assiduous labour. Their well-built homes were a 
 standing reproach to those lazy individuals who 
 were still content to live in squalor. 
 
 In the first house lived old Mr. and Mrs. K 
 
 with two adult sons. In addition to owning cattle, 
 and engaging in agriculture, they kept a store and 
 traded in timber with the merchants of Villa Rica 
 and Caballero. Through the slip-rails was the 
 
 home of Alf. K , an industrious cattle farmer. 
 
 The walls of his house, built after the 'split' by 
 himself, almost unaided, were fortified by stout 
 planks of cedar and hard-wood, felled in the forest 
 and sawn with infinite labour. A double verandah 
 protected the outside walls, and the interior, with 
 its cooking-range, its smooth walls artistically 
 tinted, its serviceable furniture and well-constructed 
 floor was as comfortable as an English villa. The 
 well-dressed children played happily upon the big 
 lawn surrounding the house and took a keen interest 
 in their flower garden. The builder of this happy
 
 2i8 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY 
 
 home who, by sheer hard work, had regained 
 prosperity, offered the Schoolmaster a warm 
 welcome and promised to send his three children 
 for tuition. 
 
 So the Schoolmaster rode on, across open camp, 
 through bog and forest, visiting every house in this 
 scattered community, and hearing many amazing 
 theories of life. "You think we're a lot of cranks," 
 said one man. " Well, of course we are, or we 
 shouldn't be here. We came to Paraguay to get 
 away from convention, and be as cranky as we 
 please. If you're a crank too we're delighted to 
 welcome you, but if you are a missionary, whose 
 object is to teach our children all the old conven- 
 tional lies, that we have run away from, you will 
 find the colony an unhealthy place to live in." 
 This man's remark was a frank statement of the 
 general feeling. The New Australians had set out 
 to teach the world a lesson ; and many of them 
 resented the suggestion that an outsider could 
 instruct them or their children in anything. On the 
 whole, however, the Schoolmaster was well received, 
 chiefly perhaps because he was a good listener and 
 took an interest in each rival scheme propounded 
 for the readjustment of the universe. 
 
 That night the Schoolmaster slept at a tiny cabin 
 on the extreme boundary of the colony, and next 
 morning started on his return trip by a different 
 route, so as to take in Loma Rugua and Los 
 Amigos, thus making a complete circuit of New- 
 Australia. Notwithstanding the conviction ex- 
 pressed by many colonists that he would not remain 
 with them more than a few weeks, the Schoolmaster
 
 A STORMY SCENE 219 
 
 felt quite hopeful, and asked the Administrator to 
 call a general meeting for the purpose of discussing 
 plans for the establishment of a school. Messages 
 were sent accordingly to all the stores, fixing a date 
 for the meeting, and the Schoolmaster employed a 
 couple of "handy-men" to knock together some 
 rough forms and desks. 
 
 On the day appointed for the general meeting 
 every colonist who could find a horse rode over 10 
 Las Ovejas. The Schoolmaster, though already 
 assured of considerable support from the Los 
 Amigos, La Novia, and Tuyu Rugua contingents, 
 anticipated a stormy scene, and in this he was not 
 disappointed. Most of the assembled citizens 
 proved to be stern-browed, bearded men, with faces 
 tanned to the colour of mahogany from constant 
 exposure ; they were dressed in the usual costume — 
 riding boots, baggy trousers, and rough shirt, 
 loose at the neck — and most carried revolvers and 
 sheath knives; some had long machetes* secured 
 to their saddles, while one or two even carried rifles. 
 It looked more like a Council of War than a peace- 
 ful assembly ; but everyone's intentions were harm- 
 less enough. It is the usual thing to wear revolver 
 and sheath knife on all occasions in the Paraguayan 
 bush country, and a machete is constantly required, 
 in riding through narrow forest tracks, to cut away 
 any vines and tangled scrub which impede the 
 way. Those with guns or rifles were the sportsmen 
 of the community, who hoped to carry home venison 
 or wild game to the family larder. 
 
 As this was the first occasion on which many of 
 *The machete resembles a sword without any crosspiece.
 
 220 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY 
 
 the men had met for five years, or more, it was only 
 to be expected that old, half-forgotten feuds should 
 be revived. Certain rival politicians, who had 
 argued against each other in the early days of the 
 colony, took the opportunity to display again the 
 rancour of party feeling. It was sufficient for any 
 one man to make a proposal to produce a storm of 
 objections from old foemen on the instant. In fact, 
 after a time, there were almost as many counsels as 
 there were people present — many insisting that a 
 "gentleman" from England, "who had never done 
 a fair day's work in his life," had no right at New 
 Australia at all, and, least of all, the right to set up 
 a school in which to teach Capitalistic notions to the 
 rising generation. 
 
 Nevertheless, when the Schoolmaster rose to 
 speak he was given a fair hearing. Taking his cue 
 from their own profession of equality, he claimed 
 that he had as much right as any other person to 
 settle at New Australia. Next, he argued that it 
 would be an unwarrantable interference with private 
 liberty if the majority refused to allow any settler 
 who chose to open a school if he w-ere so disposed, 
 or if any other settlers were prohibited from sending 
 their children to school if they so desired. Though 
 there were some who hotly contested the claim 
 (a few on the ground that "book-learning" was in 
 itself an evil), its justice was finally admitted, and 
 the Schoolmaster gained his first point, though only 
 on condition that religious instruction should be 
 excluded from the curriculum. So much conceded, 
 the Schoolmaster then entered upon a fresh argu- 
 ment, in favour of holding a Sunday School, quite
 
 SCHOOL TEACHING BEGINS 221 
 
 independent of the Day School, which at once 
 aroused a storm of opposition. 
 
 It was liardly surprising, considering that they 
 honestly beheved with Mr. Blatchford that the Chris- 
 tian religion was false and an obstacle to progress, 
 that many desired to see it still excluded from New 
 Australia. It was just at that time that "Nunquam's" 
 popular assault upon religion : " God and my 
 Neighbour " was published, and it nowhere met 
 with a warmer welcome than at New Australia. It 
 was only logical, therefore, for some convinced 
 atheists to assert that they "would run the School- 
 master off the Colony if he got trying to introduce 
 religion." Nevertheless, the Schoolmaster secured 
 a majority in favour of permitting him to hold 
 Sunday School, after a long and exhausting debate, 
 to which the Administrator Gontributed the common- 
 sense remark that any parents who did not want 
 their children taught religion could keep them 
 away on Sundays. 
 
 Thus school teaching commenced at New 
 Australia, and soon there were fifteen (shortly 
 increased to twenty-six) children in attendance, 
 many of whom had to ride or walk great distances 
 to reach the school-house.* Having spent their 
 days hitherto in running wild upon the camps, or 
 in the forest, as unaccustomed to discipline and 
 restraint as the birds of the air, it was very difficult 
 at first for the children to sit still in class, and the 
 Schoolmaster had to resort to unaccustomed 
 
 * Later the Schoolmaster ran two schools, at Las Ovejas and 
 La Novia respectively, at which he taught on alternate days, some 
 children attending both schools.
 
 222 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY 
 
 methods of teaching to retain their attention. It 
 was singularly interesting to note the wonderfully 
 rapid progress made by many of the hitherto 
 untutored lads and lasses, who literally lapped up 
 knowledge, with an avidity wholly unlike the indif- 
 ference to learning displayed by most more happily 
 circumstanced children. The deplorable state of 
 disunion which had so long prevailed at New 
 Australia was demonstrated by the fact that children 
 from different parts of the settlement at first formed 
 hostile cliques. Thus, the Los Amigos children 
 had little in common with those from Tuyu, and it 
 was very difficult to induce them to play together. 
 All such artificial distinctions soon disappeared 
 however, and it became evident that the school 
 would have a powerful effect in the healing of old 
 feuds. 
 
 The following true incident illustrates the dis- 
 tinctly primitive notions entertained by some of the 
 children. 
 
 As the water in the school-house well was 
 rather bad, the Schoolmaster was in the habit of 
 sending one boy, or two girls, with a bucket to bring 
 good cool water from a spring bubbling up just 
 inside the forest. Whenever the Schoolmaster 
 fetched this water himself it was particularly clear 
 and bright, but w'hen the children brought it it was 
 often quite muddy. One day the Schoolmaster had 
 sent two girls to fill the bucket in the usual way, 
 but started after them to show them how to draw it 
 without stirring up the bottom. The mystery was 
 explained when the Schoolmaster reached the monte 
 and found, resting upon the empty bucket, a small
 
 c 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 G 
 
 <u 
 
 5 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 o 
 
 -T.
 
 EARNEST YOUNG MEN 223 
 
 heap of clothes, and the two girls having a glorious 
 bathe in the spring. They were quite surprised 
 when he remonstrated with them. 
 
 " You mustn't bathe in my drinking water, you 
 know," he told them. "That is ver3^ dirty. I 
 don't like to drink water that you have bathed in." 
 
 "Oh, but sir," they exclaimed together, "we 
 don't use soap !" 
 
 Finding that his spring was the regular bathing 
 place for those little girls, the Schoolmaster had a 
 large pit dug beside it, and arranged that the over- 
 flow from the spring should run into it, so that in 
 future they might have their bathe, and he his 
 water, without mutual interference. 
 
 Within a short time the Schoolmaster added to 
 his other duties a night-school, which a number of 
 young men attended on three evenings a week with 
 great earnestness. By way of a return for his 
 services, they good-naturedly consented to attend 
 Sunday school also, and, in a short time, it became 
 a commonplace to hear them singing English 
 hymns to the accompaniment of guitar or concertina 
 when the day's work was done, not from any 
 devotional motive, but because they knew no other 
 English songs. Another result of the Sunday 
 school was that children would take their hymn 
 books home, and plague their parents to assist 
 them in committing to memory next Sunday's 
 hymns (since they could not yet read). In conse- 
 quence, the mothers were re-familiarised with the 
 old words they had themselves learned in their 
 childhood's days in Australia or Great Britain. 
 With little persuasion they began to drop in at
 
 224 NEW AUSTRALIA TO-DAY 
 
 Sunday school to hear the children singings, and so, 
 imperceptibly almost, the proceedings changed to a 
 regular Service, attended by adults as well as 
 children.* The arrival from England of a portable 
 harmonium was signalised by the establishment of 
 a regular choir night. Within a short time, in fact, 
 Divine Service on Sunday became a favourite insti- 
 tution at New Australia, which people rode long 
 distances to attend, bringing provision for an al 
 fresco picnic under the school verandah or in the 
 shade of an orange grove. 
 
 Quite apart from their religious significance, it 
 would be hard to exaggerate the goold effect upon 
 the general tone of the colony of those weekly re- 
 unions, which worked wonders in the patching up 
 of differences, and the renewing of old friendships. 
 At the same time they promoted the growth of a 
 healthy public opinion, which went a long way 
 towards checking intemperance and other abuses 
 that had become too common on the settlement. 
 By a coincidence the admission of the Deity to New 
 Australia synchronised with a remarkable improve- 
 ment in material prosperity and general progress. 
 Official proof of this fact may be found in the 
 Report of the British Consul for Paraguay, for the 
 year 1908. Under the heading "New Australia," 
 Mr. Consul Griffith reports as follows : 
 
 " The following data are taken from an interest- 
 ing report which has been furnished to me by the 
 Manager of the colony, Mr. Kennedy. The 
 colonists number 161 : 86 adults and 75 minors, 
 
 * At another General Meeting, held some months later, per- 
 mission to give daily religious instruction was cheerfully conceded.
 
 THE CONSUL'S REPORT 225 
 
 and they are, with few exceptions, all British 
 subjects — Australians, English, Irish, and Scotch. 
 The colony, which is agricultural and pastoral, is 
 said to be prospering slowly but surely, but no 
 marked progress can be expected until the means of 
 communication are improved, as the lands are thirty 
 miles distant from a railway or river, and, conse- 
 quently, being unable to market their produce, the 
 colonists confine their cultivation to the growing of 
 food-stuffs, fruits, and vegetables for their own 
 consumption. Cattle and horses do well on the 
 grazing lands of the colony, and to these the 
 colonists have, at present, to look for an income. 
 Notwithstanding the lack of communication and 
 consequent heavy cost of transport, a man with a 
 family can cultivate tobacco with advantage. Maize, 
 cassava, many varieties of beans, sweet potatoes, 
 sugar-cane, bananas, oranges, and peaches are 
 successfully cultivated, and experiments which have 
 been made with the yerba tree appear to be giving 
 good results. The colony possesses a well-equipped 
 steam saw mill, five stores, a small petit grain 
 distillery, and two caha (rum) stills."* 
 
 Thus the stalwarts who remained after the collapse 
 of William Lane's wild venture have made a 
 gallant fight back to prosperity, and have disproved 
 the allegation that it was the nature of the country, 
 rather than the evils inseparable from Socialism, 
 which caused the original failure. At the present 
 day the prosperity of those who remain at New 
 Australia colony is steadily increasing, and a 
 
 * Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Annual Series, No. 4362, 
 1909.
 
 226 COSME TO-DAY 
 
 number of the original Utopians who were re- 
 patriated have found their way back to Paraguay, 
 to share in the great advantages which the settle- 
 ment offers to Anglo-Saxons with agricultural 
 experience. If, as seems probable, the new Trans- 
 Paraguay railway, now in course of construction, 
 passes close to New Australia* the place is likely to 
 experience a boom, and the settlement there of many 
 hundreds of Australian families may yet become a 
 reality. Already conditions are vastly different 
 from what they were at the commencement of 1904. 
 The children are now well cared for, in all respects, 
 and compare well with those more happilv circum- 
 stanced in England. At the present day, New 
 Australia is neither a Utopian Eden nor a " hell 
 upon earth." It is an average community of sane, 
 sober, hard-working, self-respecting farmers, living 
 at peace with one another and taking for their 
 motto: "What we have we hold!" Never again 
 will they submit their fortunes to the ruinous rule 
 of Socialism in any guise — whether it call itself 
 " Christian Socialism," "Atheistic Socialism," or 
 merely " Co-operative Communism." 
 
 As has been seen, Cosme for many years made 
 no such progress. Till 1904 it endeavoured to keep 
 itself afloat by the publication in its journal of far- 
 fetched articles describing the happiness of its 
 people, which induced other credulous souls to join 
 them in the expectation of experiencing impossible 
 bliss. Cheated by false hopes, these newcomers 
 quickly fell into the growing quagmire of discontent 
 
 * It was recently stated in the Australian press that the main 
 line will cut right through it.
 
 COSME ABANDONS SOCIALIS^I 227 
 
 and misery. Things became worse every year; 
 the original glamour faded, and men's hearts hard- 
 ened as they had done at New Australia. The 
 feeling of bitterness against those who were sick 
 and unable to work, and against widows, and people 
 with large families parasitically dependent upon the 
 exertions of the adult able-bodied, was the saddest 
 feature of the place. It often happened that a man, 
 who was seriously ill, would stagger to his work 
 when he should have been lying up, for fear of the 
 boycotting which came to be systematically practised 
 towards any who failed to do their allotted day's 
 task. Rather than work for the benefit of "all" 
 any longer, many of the bachelors withdrew to 
 Sapucay, and obtained employment at the engineer- 
 ing works of the Paraguay Central Railway. 
 Married men, with families of young children, 
 remained tied to the spot, hopelessly striving to 
 make headway against the dead-weight of debt — 
 for everything was mortgaged — which bore them 
 down. 
 
 Eventually, as at New Australia, the Government 
 stepped in, withdrew the original grant, and divided 
 the Cosme settlement up, on the usual colonisation 
 terms, each family being allotted so much agricul- 
 tural and so much grazing land. "The Cosme 
 Colony has now definitely thrown its dreams over- 
 board," wrote a correspondent to an Australian 
 journal. " For several years before it abandoned 
 the original principles, it was an open secret 
 (scarcely even concealed by the interested parties) 
 that the few remaining members were held together 
 only by the expectation of the final break-up, when
 
 228 COSME TO-DAY 
 
 the property would be divided, and the fewer that 
 remained the greater individual share would accrue 
 to each." Thus, after wasting the best part of their 
 lives in hopeless experiments, the Cosmans were 
 given a new lease of life and they, too, began to 
 make some progress towards prosperity. As at 
 New Australia, a schoolmaster, appointed by 
 Bishop Every, now instructs the children and holds 
 religious services.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE. 
 
 Continental Socialism is frankly Atheistic, but in 
 English-speaking countries the existence of that 
 " curious hybrid," the Christian Socialist, obscures 
 the issue and makes it appear to some that there is 
 nothing necessarily antagonistic between Socialism 
 and Christianity. The whole question is too wide 
 a one to be thrashed out here, though the reader 
 may be reminded of Professor Flint's* observation 
 that that portion of the Christian Socialists' teach- 
 ing which is definitely Christian is not Socialistic, 
 while that portion which is definitely Socialistic is 
 not Christian. An ardent Christian and Social 
 Reformer, carried away by admiration for some 
 portion of the Socialist programme which coincides 
 with his own views on Social reform, is frequently 
 described by himself as a Christian Socialist, 
 although he w^ould repudiate with horror the views 
 of any eminent Socialist on the subject of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The logical attitude of the genuine Socialist 
 toward Christian Socialism is well shown in the 
 following reference : " Socialism is the natural 
 enemy of religion. A Christian Socialist is an 
 Anti-Socialist, No man can consistently be both a 
 Christian and a Socialist." 
 
 The fundamental difference between Socialism 
 and Christianity has been well summed up in 
 "Ethics of Socialism," by Mr. Belfort Bax : 
 
 '"Socialism." 
 
 P 229
 
 230 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE 
 
 "According to Christianity regeneration must come 
 from within. The ethics and rehgion of modern 
 Socialism, on the contrary, look for regeneration 
 from without, from material conditions and a higher 
 social life." Again, in his "Religion of Socialism," 
 the same w-riter explains : "In what sense Socialism 
 is not religious will be now clear. It utterly des- 
 pises the ' other world ' with all its stage properties 
 — that is, the present objects of religion." 
 
 Since this work is intended for general circulation 
 the writer refrains from quoting any of the more 
 crudely offensive references to Christianity in 
 which leading Socialists delight. The sales depart- 
 ment of the Clarion Press, 44, Worship Street, 
 E.C., or of the Independent Labour Party, St. 
 Bride's House, Salisbury Square, E.C., will 
 courteously inform the reader who desires to 
 follow the matter further where he can obtain 
 authoritative literature for a very small outlay. As 
 Mr. Robert Blatchford ("Nunquam" of the C/arzon), 
 author of "Merrie England," is the Socialist writer 
 with most influence and the widest circulation, the 
 adult English reader, whose own faith is firmly 
 implanted, and who wishes to understand the 
 Socialist attitude towards religion, cannot do better 
 than procure his book, " God and my Neighbour," 
 which has run through fourteen editions. That 
 book concludes with the words, "Let the Holy have 
 their Heaven. I am a man and an Infidel. . . . 
 Christianity is not true.'" 
 
 Lest it should be argued that it is a mere coincid- 
 ence that Mr. Blatchford, the Socialist, should also 
 be an opponent of religion, it is worth while quoting
 
 A SOCIALIST HYMN 231 
 
 Mr. Blatchford's own reason for "going out of his 
 way to attack religion." 
 
 " In reply, I beg to state," he asserts, "(i) that 
 I have not 'gone out of my way ' to attack religion. 
 It was because I found religion in my way that I 
 attacked it. (2) That I am working for Socialism 
 when I attack a religion which is hindering 
 Socialism. (3) That we must pull down before we 
 can build up, and that I hope to do a little building 
 if only on the foundation."* 
 
 It is because Socialists see that Socialism cannot 
 finally triumph until religion loses its hold upon 
 the people that Socialist Sunday schools have been 
 established, to inculcate the class war, in place of 
 ' peace on earth, good-will among men,' from 
 infancy. Instead of hearing the gentle words of 
 Him who said, "Let the little ones come unto Me 
 and forbid them not," the tiny mites who attend 
 those places are taught to lisp : 
 
 " Who is from aye a slave 
 
 To all the tyrant brood ? 
 Who oft for them must fight ? 
 
 And for them shed his blood ? — 
 O folk ! has thou not yet perceived, 
 
 'Tis thou that ever art deceived ! 
 Awake, ye men who toil ! 
 
 Up, Proletariat ! 
 Awake ye men, ye men who toil ! 
 
 Up, Proletariat !"t 
 
 *"God and my Neighbour," p. 190. 
 
 t The Socialist Sunday School Hymn Book, Hymn 43. 
 Compiled by The National Council of British Socialist Sunday 
 School Unions, 1910.
 
 232 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE 
 
 Modern Socialists have realised that the nullifica- 
 tion of religious belief can be brought about much 
 more easily by preserving a semblance to the out- 
 ward forms of religion than by suppressing Sunday 
 observances altogether. If careless parents, who 
 let their children attend such Sunday schools, feel 
 any doubts, they are quite set at rest on hearing that 
 the Bible is actually used in them. How it is used, 
 and what importance is attached to its teaching, 
 appears from the following extract from instructions 
 for conducting Sunday schools : 
 
 22. Lessons for older children (aged ii to i3|)-* 
 (i) Stories from Greek mythology, such as the 
 
 Siege of Troy, etc. 
 
 (2) Stories from some of Shakespeare's plays, 
 
 such as The Tempest, etc. 
 
 (3) Stories from Tennyson, Browning, etc. 
 
 (4) Stories from the chief sacred literatures — 
 
 Bible, Talmud, "Buddhist Birth stories, ' ' 
 etc., lives of Buddha, Mohammed, Con- 
 fucius, etc. 
 
 (5) Lives of the Saints, etc. 
 
 (6) Stories of Greeks and Romans, etc. 
 
 (7) " Child's Socialist Reader," etc. 
 
 (8) Systematic Moral lessons, etc. 
 
 23. The Senior Class should not have set moral 
 lessons. 
 
 When a child has been taught that a jumble of 
 stories from the Classics, the Vedas, the Koran, 
 
 * " Sunday Schools," by F. J. Gould, published by the Socialist 
 Church Union. Bradford, 1910.
 
 INCREASE OF SUICIDE 2, 
 
 .v> 
 
 etc., are of equal importance, in a religious sense, 
 with the Bible narrative, it is no more probable that 
 he will turn Christian when he reaches years of 
 discretion than that he will become a Mohammedan. 
 The establishment of a Socialist government in this 
 country would prepare the way for Anti-Christ in a 
 single sreneration. Some effects of the banishment 
 of religion from a community have been illustrated 
 in the story of New Australia. One of the most 
 startling of the phenomena which mark the spread 
 of Socialism on the Continent is the increase of 
 suicide, particularly among young children and the 
 aged (of neither of whom can it be alleged that they 
 take their own lives 'for fear of conscription '). 
 
 In the light of history, however, this deplorable 
 sign of the times can hardly be considered surpris- 
 ing, for a materialist creed has ever tended to the 
 light holding of life. 
 
 Among the ancients, a high value was set on life 
 by those who maintained the immortality of the 
 soul* and vice versa. In modern times, while 
 suicide is regarded with abhorrence by those who 
 hold any religious belief, materialists advocate a 
 State-aided system of "euthanasia" for those who 
 are weary of living. Self-destruction was considered 
 wholly permissible by Zeno, that Stoic leader who 
 foreshadowed modern Socialism in his cosmopolitan 
 " Republic," where money should not circulate, 
 and where courts of justice, churches, and family 
 life would have no place. His disciple, Seneca, for 
 
 * " Pythagoras forbids us to abandon our guard and post of life 
 without the orders of our commander, that is, of God." 
 
 — (yicero, " De Senectute."
 
 234 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE 
 
 years before he died by his own hand,* devoted 
 much anxious thought to the "way out." 
 
 In precisely the same way, Paul Lafargue, son- 
 in-law and disciple of Karl Marx, the founder of 
 Modern Socialism, deliberately planned the date of 
 his own extinction ten years in advance. 
 
 The celebrated author of "Droit a la Paresse"t 
 devoted himself with zeal, from the days of the 
 Commune onwards, to the propagation of Socialism 
 not only on the Continent but in England also. 
 When he committed suicide (in November, 1911) by 
 means of prussic acid, hypodermically injected, he 
 was suffering from no painful disease, as his last 
 testament shows. 
 
 " Sound in body and mind," he declared, " I am 
 killing myself before ruthless old age, which has 
 taken from me one by one the pleasures and joys of 
 existence, and has deprived me of my physical and 
 intellectual powers, paralyses my energy, and 
 breal^s my will, and makes me a burden to myself 
 and others. 
 
 " For many years I have pledged myself not to 
 pass the threescore years and ten ; I have fixed the 
 time for my departure from life, and I have prepared 
 the method of carrying out my resolution — a hypo- 
 dermic injection of prussic acid. 
 
 " I die with the supreme joy of being absolutely 
 certain that, in the near future, the cause to which 
 
 * It is true that Seneca ultimately committed suicide at the 
 invitation of his ruler, but his writings clearly show that he had 
 deliberately contemplated the act for years before he was called 
 upon to execute it. 
 
 t " The Right to Laziness."
 
 AT NEW AUSTRALIA 235 
 
 I have devoted myself for forty-five years will 
 triumph. 
 
 " Vive le Communisme ! Vive le Socialisme 
 international ! 
 
 Paul Lafargue."* 
 
 Nor was this an isolated case, due to some personal 
 eccentricity of Lafargue, the chosen disciple of Karl 
 Marx, for two of the latter's daughters, who were 
 equally impregnated with the pure gospel of 
 Socialism, took their own lives. The first was 
 Eleanor, wife of Dr. Edward Aveling, leading 
 Socialist and lecturer in biology at London L^niver- 
 sitv ; the second was Laura, wife of Paul Lafargue, 
 who perished with him. 
 
 This is not the place to embark upon an elaborate 
 examination of the ethics of suicide. The writer 
 wishes, however, to emphasise the fact, upon which 
 medical authorities are agreed, that suicide does not 
 necessarily imply insanity; the discovery that all 
 mundane things are vanity, coupled with unbelief 
 in extra-mundane compensations, may quite reason- 
 ably induce a sane, strong-minded Atheist to end 
 his profitless existence from sheer boredom. If this 
 be the case, it is to be expected that the revival of a 
 purely pagan outlook on life will be accompanied 
 by public approval of, and hasty resort to, the "way 
 out," for the most trifling of reasons. 
 
 The tendency for suicide to associate itself with 
 Socialism was illustrated in a remarkable manner 
 at New Australia. When the Schoolmaster arrived 
 there in 1904 he called upon A, one of the original 
 
 ♦ The "Daily News," November 28th, 1911.
 
 236 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE 
 
 settlers, a hard-working decent man, with a comfort- 
 able house, surrounded by much evidence of praise- 
 worthy industry. A, who had married a Scottish 
 woman — a seceder from Cosme— was a man of 
 considerable intelligence, an extreme Socialist, and 
 an Atheist. He was universally liked, especially 
 by the children, and was remarkably gentle in his 
 manners. He was, in fact, quite the last man of 
 whom one would expect any violent action. Yet, 
 next time the Schoolmaster visited that house, it was 
 in tragic cirumstances ; A had killed his wife and 
 taken his own life. How little that poor woman 
 thought, when she left her home in Scotland, to 
 experience the joys of Cosmeism, that this would 
 be her fate ! 
 
 Next, there was B, a man of education and the 
 kindest and most generous disposition. In his 
 case, fortunately, assistance came in time, and the 
 Schoolmaster had the satisfaction of nursing him 
 back to complete recovery. 
 
 C, was a personal friend of the Schoolmaster. 
 An Englishman of sterling worth, a veteran who 
 had fought many years before against the redskins 
 in the Western States of North America. A 
 bachelor and teetotaller, C was so devoted to 
 children that the Schoolmaster employed him as 
 caretaker and assistant at the Las Ovejas school, 
 which he conducted single-handed during the rainy 
 seasons, when the floods made it impossible for the 
 Schoolmaster himself to get there, from La Novia, 
 for a week or more at a time. When the School- 
 master returned to England, towards the end of 
 1905, he continued to pay a small salary to C to
 
 THE POSITION OF WOMAN 237 
 
 carry on the school until someone else could take up 
 the work. Some time later he was inexpressibly 
 shocked to learn that C had died, by his own hand, 
 in tragic circumstances. 
 
 These cases, which all occurred within a period of 
 eighteen months, among a population of less than 
 ninety adults, while proving nothing, certainly lend 
 colour to the theory of some intimate association 
 between suicide and Socialism. 
 
 Since the honourable position of woman in the 
 modern State is entirely due to the influence of 
 religion upon conduct, accumulating through the 
 ages, it is not surprising to find Socialists them- 
 selves admitting that the destruction of religion will 
 be accompanied by the degradation of womankind. 
 Although this subject has been touched upon in 
 Chapter V, the following quotations from works by 
 leading Socialists may be added : 
 
 " In the new moral world the irrational names of 
 man and wife, parent and child-, will be heard no 
 more. . . . All connection will be the result of 
 affection . . . (woman) in her trial will be comforted 
 and caressed by the whole community . . . the 
 children will undoubtedly be the property of the 
 whole community." — Robert Owen. 
 
 " Because we hold that Socialism will ultimately 
 survive as the only tenable moral code, we are 
 convinced that our present marriage custom and 
 present marital law alike must soon collapse." — 
 Professor Karl Pearson in " Socialism and Sex." 
 
 " Human beings must be in a position to act 
 freely where their strongest impulse is concerned, 
 as in the case of any other natural instinct. . . .
 
 238 RELIGION— MORALITY— SUICIDE 
 
 No one has to give an account of himself or herself, 
 and no third person has the slightest right of inter- 
 vention." — Herr Bebel in "Woman." 
 
 Evidence may be adduced to an indefinite extent 
 to show that such ideas are not confined to an 
 extreme set of writers in some one country. They 
 are the common property of sober-minded, well- 
 living, Socialist thinkers of all countries, at the 
 present moment. Any reader who doubts the truth 
 of this assertion, need only apply to any of the well- 
 known Socialist organisations for a list of leaflets 
 and works dealing with the subject. This is not a 
 topic upon which the writer cares to dilate at any 
 length in a work of this character. It may be stated 
 however, that, small though the community was, 
 illegitimacy was not unknown at " New Australia." 
 
 Such a statement may easily be met by an asser- 
 tion that irreligion, suicide, and loose morals are by 
 no means unusual phenomena in society as at 
 present constituted. True, but whereas, at present, 
 such evils are legislated against, and to a great 
 extent kept under by the force of a strong public 
 opinion, under a Socialistic regime they will be 
 deliberately approved and fostered by the State. 
 That is a distinction which makes all the difference. 
 Those who have studied at close quarters the 
 manners and customs of primitive races will see a 
 close correspondence between their habits and the 
 ideals of Socialism. It is difficult to resist the 
 conclusion that State Socialism amounts to nothing 
 less than a hideous form of State-enforced 
 barbarism.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Although it is notoriously dangerous to pro- 
 phesy, the progress which the New AustraHans 
 commenced to make immediately Socialism was 
 abandoned, irresistibly suggests the query : Sup- 
 posing a similar attempt at colonisation had been 
 made in Paraguay, by the same people, with equal 
 capital, but on an Individualistic orsimple co-opera- 
 tive basis, what would have been the result ? 
 
 From personal observation on the spot, from 
 careful discussions with those New Australian 
 colonists who have snatched some measure of 
 success from failure, and from the opinions 
 expressed by other Englishmen who have prospered 
 exceedingly in Paraguay, the writer has formed his 
 own conclusion. It is his firm conviction that, if 
 New Australia had been run on ordinary commercial 
 lines, so that every individual was encouraged to 
 labour by the knowledge that he, and his children, 
 would enjoy the fruits of his industry, the venture 
 would have proved an unqualified success. The 
 landing in South America of a great body of sturdy 
 Anglo-Saxon colonists might have done as much 
 for that continent as the advent of the New 
 Englanders did for North America. Paraguay 
 would have awakened from its long stagnation and 
 
 239
 
 240 CONCLUSION 
 
 resumed its place as one of the most progressive of 
 the sister RepubUcs ; the EngHsh bondholders and 
 others, whose interests in Paraguay run into 
 millions, would, among others, have reaped the 
 benefit of its renewed prosperity. 
 
 By this, the twentieth year of New Australia's 
 existence, the territory should have become a great 
 centre of industry, dotted with prosperous towns, 
 connected by railway with the Brazilian ports, as 
 well as with Asuncion and the Argentine. These 
 and much greater things could, and, in the writer's 
 opinion would, have been achieved, had the New- 
 Australians not been burdened with the curse of 
 Socialism. If, instead, patriotism had been the 
 animating spirit of the New Australian movement, 
 it thrills the imagination to project a vision of what 
 might have been accomplished. But patriotism has 
 nothing in common with Socialism. 
 
 Mismanagement, extravagance, favouritism, in- 
 dolence, discontent, heathenism, these are the 
 necessary accompaniments of Socialism ; while 
 industry, economy, thrift, independence, self- 
 respect, and satisfaction are sterling qualities called 
 forth by legitimate pride in individual ownership. 
 Of this truism the plain story of New Australia 
 serves as an excellent illustration. William Lane 
 set out to provide the world with an object lesson — 
 and succeeded in doing so. But history shows that 
 the world has rarely profited by object lessons. 
 Nations, like individuals, usually insist on buying 
 their own experience. From the rapid progress 
 Socialism is making to-day, it seems probable that 
 there are those now living who will see modern
 
 REAL TRAGEDY 241 
 
 civilisation reduced to chaos bv it. The sordid 
 drama rehearsed, on a tiny stage, at New Austraha 
 and Cosme, may soon be played on a vast scale with 
 the whole world for a theatre. When that day 
 comes it will be tragedy indeed ! 
 
 The End.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Political platform of the A. L. F. issued after 
 
 THE collapse OF THE MARITIME STRIKE OF 189O. 
 
 ' The general Council of the Australian Labour 
 Federation recommends to its various districts the 
 consideration of such political action as is demanded 
 by the increasing intelligence of the age, and the 
 desire for social justice which now moves the 
 workers of the world, 
 
 ' Federated political action is a force, the potency 
 of which, if rightly appreciated, is second only to 
 federated social action. All forces must be availed 
 of, if it is the purpose of the workers of Australia 
 to root out those social wrongs which deprive the 
 workers in other lands of all the happiness of 
 living, and already show themselves in this so-called 
 "paradise" of the working-man,' 
 
 ' This general Council is individually and collec- 
 tively convinced, and believes, as the vast majority 
 of thinking workers are coming to believe, that 
 social misery, poverty, vice, and enmity are the 
 natural fruits of the industrial system as it exists 
 to-day, denying to the workers the liberty to work 
 and live except by permission of a class which is 
 
 242
 
 APPENDIX A 243 
 
 permitted to hold for its o\vn advantage the means 
 of production and distribution, Avithout which none 
 can Hve. And this general Council is further con- 
 vinced, and believes, that by industrial re-organisa- 
 tion, as hereafter proposed, every man or woman 
 would be insured work, every old person and 
 young person and sick person would be insured 
 comfort, and every child born into the State would 
 be ensured full opportunity to develop its brain and 
 body as is possible in our civilisation, did we only 
 cease to compete with one another. 
 
 'Therefore this general Council recommends and 
 urges the unions and members of the Federation to 
 authorise its executive to declare that the present 
 industrial system, commonly called the competitive 
 system, is destructive, pernicious, and altogether 
 evil and must be replaced by a social system which 
 will not leave it in the power of one man to take 
 advantage of the necessities or disabilities of 
 another, and which will provide for all the workers 
 opportunities to avail themselves of the bounties of 
 nature, and to partake fully of the fruits of civilisa- 
 tion, to receive the full benefit of their share of the 
 common toil.' 
 
 The Federation's political aims are stated thus : 
 
 ' I. The nationalisation of all sources of wealth 
 and all means of production and exchanging wealth. 
 
 ' 2. The conducting by the State authority of all 
 production and all exchange. 
 
 '3. The pensioning by the Slate authoritv of all 
 child, aged, and invalid citizens. 
 
 ' 4. The saving by the State authority of such pro- 
 portion of the joint wealth-production as may be
 
 244 APPENDIX A 
 
 requisite for installing, maintaining, and increasing 
 national capital. 
 
 ' 5. The maintenance by the State authority from 
 the joint wealth-production of all education and 
 sanitary institutions. 
 
 * 6. The just division among all the citizens of 
 the State of all wealth-production, less only that 
 part retained for public and common requirements. 
 
 ' 7. The re-organisation of society upon the above 
 lines to be commenced at once, and pursued uninter- 
 ruptedly until social justice is fully secured to each 
 and every citizen.'
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Chapter I. — -Name, Object, Duration. 
 Art. I. The Name of the Company is "The New 
 
 »» 
 
 AustraHa Co-operative Colonization Society, 
 founded to carry out the objects expressed in tiie 
 following articles. 
 
 Art. II. The object of the Company is to acquire 
 and pioneer the lands granted by the Paraguayan 
 Government in the Departments of Ajos, Villa Rica, 
 Mbocyaty, Caaguazu, and other lands that may be 
 acquired beforehand, with the object of forming a 
 Co-operative Colony. 
 
 Art. III. The Company will have its head office 
 or seat in the colony Nueva Australia, Department 
 of Ajos, Paraguay. 
 
 Art. IV. The duration of the Society remains 
 fixed for twenty years, to count from the day on 
 which these statutes are approved by the Superior 
 Government. This term can be prolonged by a 
 general meeting of shareholders whose members 
 represent three-quarters of the total number of 
 shares subscribed. 
 
 Art. V. The Society can cease before the limit 
 of duration by a decision of a general meeting called 
 for that object, if sanctioned by a number of share- 
 holders representing three-quarters of the total. 
 ^ 245
 
 246 APPENDIX B 
 
 Chapter II. — Capital, Shares, and Rights of 
 THE Shareholders. 
 
 Art. VI. The capital of the Company is fixed at 
 ;^2o,ooo, divided into 2000 shares of ;^io each — 
 already subscribed and paid, which shares will pay 
 neither interest nor dividend. 
 
 Art. VII. Each shareholder will have the right 
 to effect contracts relating to his share with the 
 approval of the Directors, and only according to 
 their stipulations. A faithful copy of any contract 
 will be deposited in the head office of the Company, 
 and will be read immediately after the opening of a 
 general meeting of shareholders, and before begin- 
 ning to treat of other matters. No share will be 
 transferred in the books of the Company in a 
 manner contrary to the stipulations of such contracts 
 without previous consent of the Directory. No 
 shareholder will be recognised in any general meet- 
 ing contrary to the stipulations of these contracts. 
 
 Art. VIII. The President of the Company for 
 the time of its duration will act as mandatory of all 
 the shareholders residing abroad, excepting those 
 shareholders who give notice in writing that they 
 have named another shareholder to act individually 
 in their name. The shareholders residing abroad 
 will have the right to meet to examine accounts and 
 investigate the business of the Company, and can 
 at this meeting name their mandatories to represent 
 them in Paraguay. They and their representatives 
 will vote unanimously with the shares which they 
 hold. 
 
 Art. IX. Each six monthg a general meeting will
 
 APPENDIX B 247 
 
 be called at the head office of the Company on the 
 first Monday in September, and the first Monday in 
 March, at 3 p.m. Fifteen days beforehand notice 
 will be given, with a list of the matters to be 
 discussed. Any other matter despatched in such 
 meeting without a previous notice of forty-eight 
 hours will be considered null and void. If a 
 majority of shares are not represented by either the 
 presence of the shareholders or of their representa- 
 tives no such meeting nor any other meeting will be 
 valid, but will remain adjourned from week to week 
 for twenty-eight days. After the termination of 
 this period, any number of shareholders will con- 
 stitute a legal meeting. 
 
 Art. X. The half-yearly meeting of shareholders 
 will elect Directors and President, and will have 
 full power to investigate matters and examine the 
 business of the Company. The votes at all meet- 
 ings will be by shares, counting each share as one 
 vote. 
 
 Art. XI, An extraordinary meeting can be called 
 at any time by the President, and will be held at the 
 head office of the Company after the shareholders 
 have received notice a week before date of such 
 meeting. Such meeting will have all the rights of 
 the half-yearly meeting, and if representing a 
 twentieth part of the shares can call at any time a 
 general meeting of shareholders, giving to the 
 President, with their signatures at the foot, fifteen 
 days notice. 
 
 Art. XII. The first Directory will consist of four 
 persons whose functions will be honorary : William 
 Lane (President), Alfred Walker, Charles Holyer,
 
 248 APPENDIX B 
 
 and James Mooney, who will manage the business 
 of the Company for six months. Three Directors 
 form a quorum. The Directors will be eligible for 
 re-election, in case of a vacancy it must be filled by 
 the President until a general meeting can be called. 
 
 Art. XIII. The functions and duties of the 
 Directors are : (a) To manage all the society's in- 
 terests, and work for their greatest advantage ; 
 (h) to fix the Budget and authorise extraordinary 
 matters; (c) dictate internal regulations ; (if) authorise 
 contracts made by the Society, including those of 
 buying and selling; (e) present at the general meet- 
 ings the balances and reports, according to Art. 
 XVI. 
 
 Art. XIV. The functions and duties of the 
 President are : (a) To represent the Society legally ; 
 (b) to convene ordinary and extraordinary meetings 
 according to the statutes and with consent of the 
 Directory ; (c) to preside at the meetings and decide 
 the voting in cases of equality of votes in the 
 sessions of the Directory ; (d) to execute the resolu- 
 tions of the meetings and of the Directory, and to 
 provide for the carrying out of these statutes ; (e) to 
 sign, together with one Director, the provisions and 
 definite titles of the shares, receipts, transfers, con- 
 tracts, acts, and other documents that emanate from 
 the Society, and carry them through; (J) to sign, 
 together with one Director, the writings relating to 
 the concession of the land in favour of the Company 
 by the Superior Government. 
 
 Art. XV. There must be elected an Auditor 
 every six months at the general meeting. 
 
 Art. XVI. The Directors will present to the
 
 APPENDIX B 249 
 
 Auditor a report of the Company every three 
 months, which will be published for three days, 
 and each six months a balance and detailed account 
 of the operations of the Company, with proposals for 
 Reserves, etc. The Auditor will examine and give 
 his report in this respect. Ten days before the 
 general meeting the report and balance sheet will 
 be published in a newspaper which circulates in the 
 vicinity of the Company. 
 
 Art. XVII. A majority of three-fourths of the 
 shares will be required at an extraordinary meeting 
 called to resolve the following : Dissolution of the 
 Company, prolonging its duration, fusion with 
 other companies, reduction of capital, increase of 
 capital, change of object, all other modifications of 
 the Constitution.
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 After the arrival of the second contingent from 
 Australia certain regulations were altered in order 
 to check the dictatorial powers of the directors, and 
 many new ones were established. After revision, 
 (see p. 20), Clauses 10 and 11 read thus : 
 
 Executive Authority. 10. Director and a Board 
 of Management elected by a two-thirds majority in 
 a general ballot, to be sole executive authority. 
 
 Departmental Authority. 11. Superintendents 
 elected by a two-thirds majority of departmental 
 ballot to be sole departmental authority, subject to 
 the Director, and Board of Management. 
 
 The following is the text of the other supplement- 
 ary clauses introduced after the Socialists had 
 reached New Australia. Note the multiplication 
 of office-holders — directors, deputy-directors, man- 
 agers, superintendents, agents, etc. 
 
 INITIATIVE. 
 
 30. Any twenty-five members may at any time 
 take the initiative and convene a public meeting, of 
 which seven days' notice shall be given, for the con- 
 sideration of any stated business ; such meeting 
 may select its own chairman, and, provided a two- 
 thirds majority be obtained at a ballot vote seven 
 clear days after such meeting, the decision arrived 
 at shall be held valid and become law. 
 
 250
 
 APPENDIX C 251 
 
 MEMBERS. 
 
 31. Members of the Association shall be those 
 who have (a) satisfied the Board of Management or 
 any authorised agent as to their desirability ; 
 (b) signed the constitution and have complied with 
 all conditions. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP LIST. 
 
 32. The membership list of the N.A.C.S. A. 
 shall be kept in the central office of the Association 
 in Paraguay, and the persons whose names are on 
 the list shall be regarded as constituting the 
 said Association, and the list shall be subject to 
 alteration by the Director on twenty-one days' 
 notice being given of any intended addition or 
 erasure of names. 
 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 SS- The control of the Association shall be in the 
 hands of a Director and a Board of Management. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF BOARD. 
 
 34. The Board of Management shall be composed 
 of the Director and a Deputy Director, and two 
 managers from each community, elected by a two- 
 thirds majority vote of all voters. 
 
 35. The Board of Management may receive any 
 written suggestions, complaints, or other matters 
 which members may wish to bring before it.
 
 252 APPENDIX C 
 
 S6. Re-arrang-ement of representation upon the 
 Board of Management may be made at any time by 
 a two-thirds majority vote of all voters. 
 
 FUNCTIONS OF BOARD. 
 
 37. The Board of Management shall have full 
 authority (a) to expend the funds in its hands as 
 may seem to it best for the good of the Association ; 
 (b) to make such terms and arrangements with the 
 Government of Paraguay as may conduce to the 
 maintenance of cordial and loyal relationship with 
 such Government ; (c) it shall have all other powers 
 necessary for the carrying on of the purposes of the 
 Association. 
 
 EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY. 
 
 38. The Director shall exercise the authority, and 
 execute the recommendations and resolutions of the 
 Board of Management, excepting only the expend- 
 ing of the general funds of the Association. 
 
 DEPUTY DIRECTOR. 
 
 39. The Deputy Director shall supervise all 
 departments, and shall give a general monthly 
 report of all work done in each. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENTS . 
 
 40. Departmental Superintendents shall supervise 
 all work in their particular department ; shall faith- 
 fully keep a job time sheet, which they shall supply 
 to the Deputy Director in their respective communi- 
 ties, at least once a week, and shall have full
 
 APPENDIX C 253 
 
 control of, and be responsible for, all tools and 
 materials in their department. 
 
 TREASURER. 
 
 41. Election: A Treasurer shall be elected by a 
 two-thirds majority vote of all voters. 
 
 42. Functions : He shall have charge of the bank 
 books of the Association, and shall pay no money 
 except by order of the Board of Management. He 
 shall produce vouchers for all cash payments, and 
 any securities he may hold in hand at every audit 
 of accounts. He shall, on receipt of a written 
 notice, signed by the Director and any three of the 
 Board of Management, deliver up to the Director, 
 within seven days, all books, monies, cheques, and 
 other property of the Association which he may 
 possess. 
 
 43. Suspension : He shall be subject to suspen- 
 sion by the Director pending notification to the 
 members of the Association, who may by a two- 
 thirds majority declare the office vacant, and elect 
 another Treasurer at any time. 
 
 SECRETARY. 
 
 44. Election : The Secretary shall be elected by 
 a two-thirds majority vote of all voters. 
 
 45. Functions: He shall sign all official letters 
 and announcements of the Board of Management. 
 He shall receive all monies for the Board of 
 Management and put them at once into the bank 
 named by the Board, forwarding the deposit slip 
 to the Treasurer within three days of making the 
 deposit. He shall be under the instructions of the
 
 254 APPENDIX C 
 
 Director, and shall perform such duties as may be 
 assigned to him. He shall keep for reference all 
 reports and correspondence received by the Board 
 of Management, and copies of all reports and 
 correspondence emanating from the Board of 
 Management. Any member may examine the 
 records of the Association at any time and may 
 request a copy of any specified record at any time. 
 
 46. Suspension : He shall be subject to suspen- 
 sion by the Director pending notification to the 
 members, who may by a two-thirds majority declare 
 the office vacant and elect another Secretary at any 
 time. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 47. It shall be incumbent on all children, between 
 the ages of 6 and 15 years, to attend the Association 
 schools. Children who will not attend school shall 
 be compelled to work. 
 
 CO-OPERATION IN WOMEN'S WORK. 
 
 48. It shall be incumbent on all women to 
 organise for assisting in communal work to the 
 best of their ability, and for this purpose the women 
 in each settlement shall form themselves into a 
 committee for the purpose of deciding upon and 
 apportioning the work to be done by each. 
 
 49. In case of non-fulfilment of duties appor- 
 tioned by such committee they shall have power to 
 report the same to the Board of Management, who 
 will deal with the matter as provided for.
 
 APPENDIX C 255 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 50. The Association may at its discretion prohibit 
 the marriage of any man under 18 years of age or 
 any woman under 16 years of age. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 51. Qualification: Members of the Association 
 shall be those who have satisfied the Board of 
 Management, or their authorised agents, as to their 
 desirability, and signed the constitution. 
 
 52. Disqualification : The following shall not be 
 admitted to membership : (a) Any not knowing 
 English so as to understand and be understood, 
 excepting relatives or sweethearts of members ; 
 (b) any person of colour, including any married to 
 persons of colour; (c) any living together otherwise 
 than in lawful marriage ; (d) any of questionable 
 reputation ; (e) any person of such unsound health 
 as would render him or her a danger or a burden to 
 the community; (/) any objectionable by reason of 
 past disloyalty to the labour movement, or such 
 as are clearly opposed to the common good. 
 
 PAYMENTS. 
 
 53. Every member, by act of joining the Associa- 
 tion, agrees to subscribe to its funds all he may 
 possess when he is finally enrolled, tradesmen's 
 tools and personal effects excepted. Such subscrip- 
 tions to be not less than ;£i"30 for every male adult 
 above the age of eighteen years. 
 
 VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 54. Volunteers will be enrolled on the payment 
 of a preliminary fee of £10, which sum remains the
 
 256 APPENDIX C 
 
 property of the Association and cannot be with- 
 drawn. 
 
 FREIGHT AND PASSAGE. 
 
 55. All charges of freight, passage, etc., from 
 the point of departure to the colony, to be defrayed 
 by such volunteers. 
 
 PROBATION. 
 
 56. At the expiration of three months from the 
 date of their arrival in the colony, all volunteers will 
 be required to complete the necessary conditions of 
 membership, or leave the colony at their own 
 expense. 
 
 WIVES AND SINGLE WOMEN. 
 
 57. Wives of members are admitted free; also 
 all single women between the ages of 16 and 25 
 years. 
 
 EXCEPTIONS. 
 
 58. Exceptions may be made to all of the above 
 at the discretion of the Board of Management; or 
 its duly authorised agents. 
 
 AGENTS. 
 
 59. The Board of Management, with the consent 
 of members, shall appoint agents and such other 
 officers as will enable organisation to be effectually 
 conducted, and shall see that such officers are 
 acceptable to, and have the confidence of, all 
 members in their respective localities.
 
 APPENDIX C 257 
 
 60. To facilitate organisation, groups shall be 
 formed by authorised agents whenever convenient, 
 and shall be recognised as the centre of the Associa- 
 tion in their respective districts. 
 
 61. No agent shall bind the Association to the 
 carrying of any contract by a greater bond than the 
 deposit of such sums as may be at the time in his 
 hands, but he may, at his discretion agree by such 
 deposits, to increase the bond at a future date. 
 
 62. The authorised agents shall supervise emigra- 
 tion so as to lighten, as far as possible, the attendant 
 hardships; shall see that every member is provided 
 with personal necessaries, and that carriage is avail- 
 able, as far as possible, for personal effects ; shall 
 advise whenever necessary, and shall make regula- 
 tions as may seem desirable for the well-being of 
 emigrating members. 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO NON-MEMBERS. 
 
 63. The Association offers grants of lands to 
 individuals, or groups of individuals, not members 
 of the Association, on terms to be arranged between 
 such individuals and the Board of Management or 
 its duly authorised agents. Such terms to be 
 approved of by a two-thirds majority vote of all 
 voters. 
 
 AMENDMENT. 
 
 64. Amendment of this constitution and regula- 
 tions to be made only by a two-thirds majority vote 
 of all voters.
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 "LABOUR-CHECK" SYSTEM. 
 
 1. Each adult member of the Association is 
 entitled to a credit of $4.20 per week ; minors 
 between the ages of 15 and 18, $4; children as 
 below.* 
 
 2. A list of prices of articles, likely to be required, 
 will be kept posted in the store. The storekeeper 
 to order any articles asked for, if a credit exists to 
 the amount ordered and the article can be obtained 
 in Asuncion. 
 
 3. All articles grown on the settlement must be 
 sold through the store. Prices to be fixed by a 
 committee, consisting of the Director, the Secretary, 
 and the Storekeeper, and as far as possible at 
 current rates. 
 
 4. Members who receive their food from the co- 
 operative mess will form a committee, and instruct 
 the cooks at what rate they can draw from each 
 credit. 
 
 5. If the quantity of any article be limited, and 
 the demand greater than the supply, the said article 
 shall be divided among the applicants. 
 
 * Children between and 1 $0.50 
 
 „ „ land 5 1.80 
 
 „ „ 5 and 10 2.10 
 
 10andl5 3.0 
 
 258
 
 APPENDIX D 259 
 
 6. Each person over 15 years of age is also 
 entitled to a clothing allowance of $2 per week ; 
 under 15 years, $1 per week. The accumulation 
 under this rule to be solely spent on necessary 
 articles of clothing, ordered through the store. 
 
 7. A receiving book shall be kept by the Store- 
 keeper at each settlement, and all articles, whether 
 produced or imported, be entered therein, and 
 copies furnished to the central office. 
 
 8. The scale of diet, both as to quantities and 
 prices, shall be adjustable from time to time. 
 
 9. The Board of ^Management is empowered to 
 reduce any person's credit for proved offences. 
 
 May 2 1 St, 1895. 
 
 Note.— The Paraguayan dollar ^vas worth, in 1895, roughly 
 sixpence of English money.
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 THE IDEAL HOME. 
 
 In January, 1901, when Cosme Colony had been 
 in existence six and a half years, the citizens were 
 still living in such squalid dens that the community 
 drew up an official standard of design for dwellings, 
 to be erected "one for all and all for one." The 
 following w^as the standard (by no means realised) 
 adopted for size and build of Cosme dwelling- 
 houses : 
 
 Class i. For Single Men or Women : 
 
 A single-roomed cottage with floor space to the 
 amount of 144 sq. ft. with walls eight feet high 
 (from floor to the top of wall plate), of sawn slabs 
 with smooth side outward and pugged within ; one 
 fireplace and chimney ; two windows (maximum 
 size, 3^ by 2^ ft.) and one door, or two doors and 
 one window; verandah 5I ft. wide on one side of 
 cottage ; earthen floor ; posts of round hardwood ; 
 plates, rafters, and battens sawn ; gable ends of 
 sawn boards ; roof of whatever material may be 
 most convenient — thatch or shingle. 
 
 Class 2. For Families with not more than Two 
 Children, the elder of whom is not more than 
 five years old : 
 
 A two-roomed cottage with floor space to the 
 amount of 288 sq. ft.; walls 8 ft. high, pugged on 
 
 260
 
 APPENDIX E 261 
 
 both sides; partition 8 ft. high, of boards; fireplace 
 and chimney to living room. Floor and general 
 manner of building as for cottage 'Class i.' Front 
 verandah 5^ ft. wide, back verandah 7 ft. wide. 
 Detached kitchen with floor space of 120 sq. ft. in 
 addition to fireplace. Fireplace fitted with oven ; 
 walls of kitchen 6^ ft. high with projecting eaves. 
 
 Class 3. For Larger or Older Families than 
 Class 2 : 
 
 For each child or pair of children, more than tw^o 
 children, under four years of age, an additional room 
 will be provided by making verandah rooms of the 
 back verandah, the w-alls of which rooms will be of 
 sawn timber. In families where there are children 
 of each sex over six years of age, arrangements to 
 be made for separate bedroom accommodation. 
 
 R
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 For a note of the authorities mentioned in the body of this 
 work, see Index. 
 
 For further information concerning the origin and develop- 
 ment of Socialism in Australia, see : 
 
 Australian Socialism, by A. St. Ledger. 1909. Macmillan. 
 4s. 6d. net. 
 For a rapid survey of other attempts to realise in practice the 
 ideals of Socialism, see : ^ 
 
 The Failures of Socialism. With an Introduction by 
 Thomas Mackay. Anti- Socialist Union. Id. 
 For authoritative Socialist exposition of the aims of modern 
 Socialism, see the publications of : 
 
 The Clarion Press, 44, Worship Street, E.G. 
 The Fabian Society, 3, Clements Inn, Strand, W.C. 
 The Independent Labour Party, 23, Bride Lane, E.C. 
 The Social Democratic Party, Chandos ITall, Maiden Lane, 
 W.C. 
 For non-Socialist criticism of modern Socialism, see : 
 
 A Critical Examination of Socialism, by W. H. Mallock. 
 1908. John Murray. 6s. 
 
 262
 
 Map showing position of Cosme and New Australia.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Adelaide Advertiser, 130. 
 Anarchism, see Wells. 
 Asuncion, 70. 
 Australian Labour Federation, 7 
 
 (see Appendix A). 
 Australian Socialist Party, 1. 
 
 Barrier Miner, 101. 
 
 Bax, Mr. Belfort, 53, 229. 
 
 Bebel, Herr, 89, 238. 
 
 Bellamy, 5, 16. 
 
 Besant, Mrs., 62. 
 
 Blatchford, Mr. Robert (" Nun- 
 quam"), 61-63, 88-93, 97, 100, 
 113, 124, 136, 143, 147, 221, 
 230. 
 
 Botrill, Dr., 36, 84. 
 
 Buenos Aires Standard, 35. 
 
 riage service, 173 ; system of 
 credits, 179, 193; recruiting 
 for, 180, 200; housing at. 
 Appendix E : disputes at, 184, 
 192 ; secessions from, 186, 191, 
 199, 204 ; expulsions from, 190, 
 202 ; W. Lane leaves, 197 ; 
 changes principles, 198 ; aban- 
 dons Communism, 227. 
 
 Cosme Evening Xotes, 157. 
 
 Co^me Monthly, 156, 194, 203, 
 205. 
 
 Credits, 143, 179, 193, Appendix 
 D. 
 
 Daily Xews, 235. 
 Daily Express, 54. 
 "Droit a la Pare.sse," 234. 
 
 Casey, Mr., Ill, 127. 
 
 Chateaubriand, 30. 
 
 Christian Republic, see Jesuits. 
 
 Chubut, 28. 
 
 Clarion, 96, 230. 
 
 Conservative and Unionist, xi. 
 
 " Co-operative Commonwealth," 
 see Gronlund. 
 
 Cosme Colony, founded by W. 
 Lane, 155 ; privations at, 158, 
 194 ; and women's suffrage, 
 159 ; Agreement, 160 ; life at, 
 166, 172; initiation, 171; mar- 
 
 Economic Review, 10. 
 "Ethics of Socialism," 53, 229. 
 Every, Bishop, 214, 228. 
 Expulsions, 96, 190, 202. 
 
 "Fabian Essays," 62. 
 
 " Freeland," see Hertzka. 
 
 "Genie du Christianisme," 30. 
 Gilmore, Mrs., see Sydney Daily 
 
 Telegraph . 
 "God and my Neighbour," 221, 
 
 230. 
 
 263
 
 264 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gonzalez Colony, 106, 107. 
 Gonzalez. President, 29, 106, 107 
 Gronlund, Laurence, 122, 144, 
 147, 148. 
 
 Hertzka, Dr. Theodor, 18, 25, 
 76, 96. 
 
 Ingersoll, 63. 
 
 Jesuits, The, 29. 
 
 Kaufmann, Rev. M., 31. 
 Kennedy, Mr., 224. 
 Kidd, Frederick, 116, 210. 
 
 Labour Check System, see 
 Credits. 
 
 Lafargue, Paul, 234. 
 
 Ij Ami du Peujile, 117. 
 
 Lane, John, 155, 197. 
 
 Lane, Mrs. William, 3, 66, 87, 
 156. 
 
 Lane, William, early career, 2; 
 founds The Worker, 4; "The 
 Working Man's Paradise," 17; 
 New Australia Journal, 38; 
 and morals, 52, 56 ; appointed 
 Administrator, 80 ; benevolent 
 despotism, 93 ; expels New 
 Australians, 99 ; and justice, 
 105; resigns office, 115 ; secedes 
 from New Australia, 116; 
 founds Cosme Colony, 155 ; 
 and religion, 168; visits Eng- 
 land, 180 ; expels Cosmans, 
 190; leaves Cosme, 197. 
 
 La Novia, 215, 219. 
 
 Las Ovejas, 83, 113, 213, 219. 
 
 "Leaves from a Squatter's Note- 
 Book," 15. 
 
 Leek, 19, 28, 34, 205. 
 
 Logan, Captain, 51. 
 
 Loma Rugua, 113, 213, 218. 
 
 "Looking Backward," see 
 Bellamy. 
 
 Lopez, Dictator, 33. 
 
 Lopez, Dr., 32, 81. 
 
 Los Amigos, 150, 213, 218, 219, 
 222. 
 
 Macdonald, A., 146. 
 Macdonald, Mr. J. Ramsay, 
 
 M.P., xi. 
 Maeterlinck, 95. 
 " Merrie England," see Blatch- 
 
 ford. 
 Miller, John ( = W. Lane), 17. 
 Morality, see Socialism. 
 Morris, William, 53. 
 
 Neue Freie Presse, 18. 
 
 "New Atlantis," 29. 
 
 "New Australia," by Stewart 
 
 Grahame, xi. 
 "New Australia: A Report to 
 
 the British Board," by Rogers, 
 
 114, 138. 
 New Australia Journal, 38, 43, 
 
 72. 
 New Australians, character of, 
 
 49, 70, 106 ; disputes among, 
 
 57, 66, 77, 86, 103, 141, 220; 
 
 expulsion of, 96 ; secessions of, 
 
 104, 112; re-patriated, 108; 
 
 revise Constitution, 124 ; and
 
 INDEX 
 
 265 
 
 the eight-hour day, 138 ; aban- 
 don Socialism, 208 ; and suicide, 
 235 ; and illegitimacy, 238. 
 
 New Australia Co-operative 
 Settlement Association, prin- 
 ciples, 12 ; colour line, 19, 150 ; 
 Constitution, 20 ; selection of 
 site, 25 ; negotiations with 
 Paraguayan Government, 29, 
 32; prospectors' report, 34; 
 Articles of Association, 44, 
 and Appendix B ; organisa- 
 tion for, 16, 46, 109, 127, 156 ; 
 report to British Board of, 114, 
 138 ; Board of ^lanagement, 
 116, 126, 135, 137 ; revision of 
 laws, 124, and Appendix C ; 
 disastrous contracts, 139 ; 
 labour checks, 143, and Ap- 
 pendix D ; clothing allowance, 
 144; natives admitted, 150; 
 receives Government subsidy, 
 149 ; Constitution changed, 208 ; 
 grant of land withdrawn, 210. 
 
 "New Worlds for Old," see H. 
 G. Wells. 
 
 "Nunquam," see Blatchford. 
 
 Observer, 3. 
 
 Officials, 66, 69, 122, 132. 
 
 Official Gazette, 80. 
 
 " Organisation of Society," 62. 
 
 "Outcome of Individualism," 
 
 211. 
 Owen, Robert, 237. 
 
 Pal.TO-Socialists, 53. 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette, 137, 146. 
 
 Paraguay, history of, 25. 
 Pearson, Professor Karl, 237. 
 
 Reign of Terror, 94, 117, 230. 
 
 "Religion of Socialism," 230. 
 
 Reports, Foreign Office, Diplo- 
 matic and Consular, 70, 105, 
 108, 112, 135, 207, 225. 
 
 "Republic," by Zeno, 233. 
 
 " Revolutionists' Hand-Book," 
 see Shaw. 
 
 Rossel, General, 136. 
 
 "Royal Tar," 44, 65, 109, 127. 
 
 Saunders, 19, 28, 34 
 Schoolmaster, at New Australia, 
 
 214. 
 Segerland, Detective, 111. 
 Shaw, Mr. Bernard, 100, 120. 
 "Socialism," by Flint, 229. 
 " Socialism," by Morris and Bax, 
 
 53, 55. 
 "Socialism," by Stewart 
 
 Grahame, xi. 
 Socialism, and morality, 42, 52, 
 
 237; the ferocity of, 94; and 
 
 liberty, 113 ; and waste, 137 ; 
 
 and children, 210 ; and religion, 
 
 214, 221, 229; and .suicide, 233. 
 "Socialism and Communism," 31. 
 "Socialism and Sex," 237. 
 "Socialism and the Family," 54. 
 " Socialist Movement," xi. 
 Socialist Sunday Schools, 231. 
 "Socialist Sunday School Hymn 
 
 Book," 231. 
 South Atnerican Journal, 204 
 
 (note).
 
 266 
 
 INDEX 
 
 South Australian Register, 81. 
 
 Spencer, Herbert, 63. 
 
 Strike, The Great, 1. 
 
 "Sunday Schools," 232. 
 
 Sydney Bulletin, 49. 
 
 Sydney Daily Telegraph, 42, 51, 
 
 67, 151, 153, 158, 159, 205. 
 Sydney Worker, 197. 
 
 Taylor, H. S., 153. 
 Telegram, a bungled, 110. 
 Timber, valuable, 132. 
 
 Tozer, 80, 180, 188. 
 
 Tuyu Rugua, 213, 216, 219, 222. 
 
 Voltaire. 29. 
 
 Walker, 19, 34. 
 
 Wells, Mr. H. G., 53, 64, 68, 88, 
 
 119, 120 
 Westmijister Review, 2, 41. 
 Women's Votes, 58, 125, 159. 
 Worker, The 4, 97, 117. 
 
 Zeno, 233. 
 
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