Bristol News

[From the Colonist.]

THE WARM SPRINGS COLONY.
The Origin and Purpose of this
Movement.
It is natural for all men, and espe-
cially for Americans, to believe that
some well considered step in life, some
purchase, or movement or combina-
tion, will greatly aid in securing a
better fortune. Tens, yes, hundreds
of thousands of poor but industrious
men in the Eastern and Middle States,
have believed that the right thing for
them to do was to go west, and thous-
ands to-day are living in affluence on
land which, if they had stayed East, would to-day
be grinding along at a poor, dying rate
of stony pasture land not worth $10
an acre.
Most colonies have been agricu-
ltural only, and their inquiry has been
for land that was cheap yet productive.
A few months ago a score or two of ar-
tisans began to discuss the feasibility
of going to some country where land
and water-power is cheap, where food
is abundant, health excellent, scenery
noble, and where they could find a
good local market for what they could
make. They organized, elected offi-
cers and commenced correspondence
and investigation. The high regions
of the South attracted their attention;
they studied the Cumberland plateau,
the mountains around Chattanooga,
the broken regions of West Virginia;
they made some search on the Pacific
slope. These inquiries were kept up
for many weeks, and the result of them
was that for climate, health, scenery,
water-power, timber, ease of access,
promise of good market, they turned
with satisfaction to the mountains east
of Knoxville and Greeneville. The
next step was to learn what spot in all
that region gave most promise. After
careful search and asking many ques-
tions of good observers, their attention
was arrested and fixed upon a proper-
ty eight miles from the western base
of the Alleghany mountains, 25 miles
S. E. of Greenville, Tenn., the Warm
Spring, of Madison County, N. C.
We gleaned all the facts with relation
to it that were easily accessible, but
feeling the importance of a judgement
on the subject in which we might con-
fide, Mr. Lyman, of the Tribune, was
employed to visit the region and give
the property a minute examination.
It will be seen by a study of Mr.
Lyman's report that a large number
of mechanics and skilled workmen can
at once find employment. The repair
and enlargement of the hotel will im-
ply an outlay of at least $5,000. Its fur-
niture and equipments, which we pro-
pose to make on the spot, will cost sev-
eral thousand more. Our plan is to
proceed at once to erect a saw-mill,
grist-mill, a shop with all the machin-
ery necessary for making furniture,
tools, and other articles of wooden-
ware.
The organization on which we work
is substantially as follows: The mem-
bers of the colony have elected a Pres-
ident, a Vice-President, Secretary and
Treasurer. Also three Auditors, and
a Board of Directors, twelve in num-
ber. These, excepting the Auditors,
compose a Board of Management who
discuss and pass upon all matters relat-
ing to the interests of the Colony. All
expenses are ordered by them and no
bill can be paid without their approval.
The duties of the Trustees are to de-
vise the purchase of property, the erec-
tion of buildings, the purchase of ma-
chinery and supplies. No bill can be
paid unless endorsed by two of the
Trustees.
The leading feature of our plan is to
allow and to urge every one to be a
part owner of the shop or building or
yard in which he works. That is all
we mean by the word co-operation.
And we think the justice, equality and
fairness of this plan will please every
man who has suffered or seen others
suffer from the tyranny of capital.
Our motto is--"Strength in Union."
down with the one man power, the
man who puts in three hours of skill-
ed labor is just as good as a man who
puts in a dollar to buy the lathe that
helps that skilled laborer. We seek to
flank this direct clash between money
and muscle; and we do it by giving
every man a chance to be a part own-
er in the mill, the dam, the wheel, the
band, and the machine with which he
works. He is part owner of the
ground around the mill, and of the
stream on which it stands: yes, when
he looks up from his work and sees a
cloud-capped mountain with its rough
coat of pines, and ivy, and hemlock,
and a wild stream dashing over the
granite, he can say: part of all that is
mine, our line runs back of that peak,
our children can pick up those knots
and limbs for firewood, they can gath-
er chestnuts and berries on it, and if
iron or marble, or copper or zinc is
found under those rocks, I am part
owner of the mine.
In this way we propose to make at
Warm Springs a rational and christian
democracy, a town where there is no-
body rich and nobody poor, where no
mill-owner's carriage dashes mud on
the legs of a tired worker in that mill:
where the price of labor is regulated
by the nature of things, and the actu-
al state of the market; and the true
relation of the day's work to a bushel
of wheat, not by the will of the em-
ployer. If a man remains poor and
helpless in such a community, the
fault is all his own; if another man
wishes to be a grandee, he will find
nobody to lord it over, nobody to hob-
nob with. It is to secure this state of
things that we have said to the world:
"come, throw in a hundred dollars
and unite in this movement, buy a
share or two shares." Our call has
been responded to, we have bought a
large and valuable property, and
made a handsome cash payment on
both real and personal property. The
enterprise is no longer a plan; it is a
fact.