484 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



the director told Mr. Mills, is, that it would lead to a 

 difficulty in finding work for the people of the colony, and 

 it would then be less easy to manage them. The difficulty 

 in this case seems to be to provide against the possibility 

 of a too great success ! l 



The third consideration which points to the certainty 

 of success is, the demonstrable enormous waste of the 

 present capitalistic and competitive system ; and the 

 corresponding enormous economies of a community in 

 which all production would be carried on primarily for 

 consumption by the producers themselves. This economy 

 will be illustrated as we consider the organisation of such 

 a community. 



The Economics of an Industrial Community. 



A careful consideration of the whole problem by experts 

 will determine the minimum size of a colony calculated to 

 ensure the most economical production of all the chief 

 necessaries of life. Let us take it at about 5,000 persons, 

 including men, women and children, which is Mr. Mills' 

 estimate. Enough land will be required to grow all the 

 kinds of produce needed, both vegetable and animal say 

 two to three thousand acres and a skilled manager will 

 be engaged to superintend each separate department of 

 industry. Not only will bread, vegetables, fruit and meat 

 of all kinds be grown on the land, but the whole of the 

 needful manufactures will be carried on, aided by steam, 

 water, or wind power as may be found most convenient 

 and economical. To provide clothes, tools, furniture, 

 utensils, and conveniences of all kinds for 5,000 people, 

 workshops and factories of suitable dimensions will be 

 provided, and skilled workers in each department will be 

 selected from among the unemployed or partially employed. 

 A village with separate cottages or lodgings for families 

 and individuals, with central cooking and eating-rooms 

 for all who desire to use them, would form an essential 

 part of the colony. The village would be built on a high 

 yet central position, so that all the sewage could be 

 applied by gravitation to the lower and more distant 

 1 See, Poverty and the State, by H. V, Mills, Chapter X 



