THE NEW PLYMOUTH. 



THE PROJECTED COLONY A TYPE OF THE NEW LIFE OF ARID AMERICA. 



BY WILLIAM E. SMYTHE. 



THE new Plymouth Colony will be made. In 

 fact, it is at this moment in process of form- 

 ation, and shows the most unmistakable evi- 

 dences of early success. 



This is the colony that has been foreshadowed in 

 the editorial pages of THE IRRIGATION AGE for 

 more than a year, and which was somewhat definitely 

 outlined in the editorial department for December. 

 The new Plymouth is undertaken not as a private 

 enterprise, but as a public work, and as one feature of 

 a propaganda of irrigation ideas. It is drawing to 

 itself the wisdom and experience of prominent men in 

 the West, and is getting the hearty and generous 

 cooperation of distinguished men in the East. Ply- 

 mouth Colony is intended to serve as a luminous ex- 

 ample of what may be done by average people in 

 making industrial and social institutions where they 

 may realize independence and a high degree of pros- 

 perity. It has seemed absolutely necessary to make 

 the new Plymouth. True, we have Greeley, the Mor- 

 mon colonies of Utah, and the successful communities 

 of California, but these were made without much 

 notoriety at the time, and to quote their experience is 

 only a little less effective in moving public opinion than 

 to quote the experience of the ancient Greeks. To 

 provide a living argument for the possibilities of home- 

 making on irrigated lands, it is not only necessary to 

 make the new Plymouth to illustrate the best ideals, 

 but to make it in the presence of the American peo- 

 ple to-day, and to make it with such dramatic effect 

 that it will appeal powerfully to the popular imagin- 

 ation. 



This is the spirit in which I have undertaken this 

 colonial enterprise, and it is in this spirit that some 

 of the best practical men of the West, and some of 

 the noblest friends of humanity in the East, are lend- 

 ing their cooperation. The enterprise is open to the 

 most searching scrutiny in all its phases. A large 

 number of individuals took up the land under Desert 

 entry, and it is from them that it is purchased. No 

 person will have the slightest difficulty in ascertain- 

 ing precisely the terms on which they sold it. The 

 means required for the preliminary expenses of the 

 work were raised on the personal responsibility of the 

 projectors of the colony, and will be repaid by the 

 colonists themselves, under a plan which is discussed 

 further on in this article. I propose to make my own 

 home in Plymouth Colony, and to take some of my 

 dearest friends with me, which is perhaps the best 

 evidence of good faith that can be furnished. 



I.-PLYMOUTH AS A TYPE. 



Now, what will Plymouth illustrate, and what re- 

 sults do we hope to accomplish by making it in this 

 conspicuous way? 



THE COLONIAL AND ASSOCIATIVE PRINCIPLE. 



Plymouth will illustrate anew the strength of the 

 colonial principle. That is to say, it will demonstrate 

 that to form people into colonies or groups is far 

 more attractive and hopeful than to attempt settle- 

 ment as individuals. The conquest of Arid America 

 is to be accomplished by associated man, rather than 

 by individual effort. Irrigation is associative in its 



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essence. The canal is the bond of union which gives 

 landowners a common interest, and demands for its 

 best results a common effort. The cooperative prin- 

 ciple, in its true sense, has no part in the Plymouth 

 plan. Cooperation makes all the members of a com- 

 munity partners in all the affairs of life outside of the 

 family circle. Association means simply that men with 

 a common interest shall work together, obtaining such 

 advantages as come within the reach of their means, 

 but not binding them as partners in any sense. In 

 making public improvements, especially those that 

 deal with natural monopolies, and providing public 

 utilities, such as a libraries, parks and schools, men 

 may associate their efforts, and the power of a united 

 community is simply amazing. But in the field of busi- 

 ness, whether of the farm or of the workshop, they do 

 not cooperate, and hence the vital spark of what we 

 know as the cooperative principle is absent. Ply- 

 mouth aims at progress on associative lines, and I 

 believe it will demonstrate that very great results 

 are within the reach of settlers in a new country 

 when this principle is applied. It is the natural out- 

 growth of a colonial plan as opposed to the plan of 

 individual settlement, but it has none of the dangers 

 which have rendered the name of cooperation obnox- 

 ious to thrifty, successful people. 



THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM. 



The second great object of the new Plymouth will 

 be to demonstrate that there is an industrial system 

 in Arid America which enables every family to obtain 

 a generous living, regardless of panics, drouths, and 

 political misfortunes, and guarantees this living for 

 an indefinite period. 



The time has been when every man who went West 

 was moved by a spirit of speculation. This was true 

 not only of those who rushed to new towns, but 

 equally true of farmers. They have gambled in wheat, 

 corn and cotton, in oranges, prunes and raisins. In 

 their mad haste to get rich they have neglected to 

 get a living. The only philosophical basis for the 

 economy of farm life is that each family should own 

 its home, and that upon that home it should real- 

 ize, first of all, industrial independence by system- 

 atically producing the things it consumes. While 

 everybody at Plymouth will be at liberty to plan his 

 own farm as he chooses, the aim of its projectors is to 

 show how small farms can be organized with a view, 

 first, to the production of what the family consumes, 

 and, second, to the production of a wisely chosen sur- 

 plus, the sale of which will realize an income avail- 

 able for the improvement of the home, the education 

 of the children, and provision for old age. These 

 two ideas are the basis of the Plymouth industrial sys- 

 tem, and they lead, as inevitably as the waning night 

 unto the morning, to human independence in its best, 

 its truest, and its sweetest sense. Religious independ- 

 ence and political independence are well, but industrial 

 independence that is to say, independence in the 

 ability to protect and sustain the loved ones at our 

 fireside is the vital thing. Upon the basis of the 

 Plymouth industrial system millions of men may 

 realize this most sacred form of human independence. 



The associative principle affords still further possi- 

 bilities in the direction of organizing industry. Two 

 hundred families, possessing a fair degree of means 



