The Days of a Man 1825 



the words of Robert Dale Owen, Richard's elder 

 brother, men 



looked forward to the time when riches, because of their super- 

 fluity, would cease to be the end and aim of man's thoughts, 

 plottings, and lifelong strivings; when the mere possession of 

 wealth would no longer confer distinction, any more than 

 does the possession of water, than which there is no property 

 of greater worth. 



Maclure refused to invest money in Philadelphia 

 because, as he said, 



land in cities can no longer rise in value. The community 

 system must prevail, and in the course of a few years Phila- 

 delphia must be deserted, and those who live long enough may 

 come back here and see the foxes looking out of the windows. 



Robert It was therefore natural that Robert Owen, 1 

 Owen fresh from a varied career of reforms in Scotland, 

 and full of projects for the development of the New 

 World, found in Maclure an active co-worker. 

 Indeed, most of the learned men of New Harmony 

 were drawn there by Maclure. His special plan 

 was to conduct a School of Industry in which all 

 should be taught the arts of "the Conquest of 

 Nature." Farmers, for instance, should not be 

 mere tillers of the soil, but should be trained to make 

 the earth do its best. And at New Harmony he 

 published a magazine called The Disseminator of 

 Useful Knowledge, Containing Hints to the Youth 

 of the United States from the School of Industry. 

 The motto of this comprehensive sheet rightly pro- 

 claimed that "Ignorance is the Frightful Cause of 

 Human Misery." 



1 "Robert Owen, the shrewd, gullible, high-minded, wrong-headed, illustri- 

 ous, preposterous father of Socialism and Cooperation." LYTTON STRACHEY 



C 190 3 



