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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 7 
THE WEAL TH OF AMERICA. 
HOW IT IS DISTRIBUTED. 
Part V. 
At the present time, the wealth of the 
Shakers appears to consist chiefly in real 
estate. They are heavy land owners, 
and their buildings are large and very 
substantial. They are not communica¬ 
tive in respect to their property, but it is 
thought probable that they own, all 
told, over 100,000 acres of land, being 
by long odds the richest of the several 
communities that have been started in 
this country. 
This vast property has been acquired 
in a strictly honest way. Let us see 
how it was done. The Shakers saved 
every waste. They were people of kin¬ 
dred minds. Their tastes and desires 
were much alike. In matters of food, 
dress and living, everything could be 
done on a wholesale scale. There were 
no middlemen or handlers to demand a 
share of what they earned. The food 
wastes of one great family of 100 were 
but litttle more than the wastes of a 
family of 10. No taxes or tributes were 
ever paid to fashion or style. Ihey 
dressed simply for comfort—with no at¬ 
tempt to beautify or adorn the person. 
No jealousy or strife among them 
aroused competition of living. There 
were no poor folks scrimping and strain- 
iug in their efforts to make as good an 
‘•appearance” as their richer neighbors. 
There was no class of vulgar rich using 
their clothes and jewelry simply to ad¬ 
vertise their wealth. This saving in the 
cost of “ keeping up appearances ” was 
enough of itself to make the community 
rich. As a matter of fact, to-day this 
idea of placing “appearance” above 
real comfort in our expenditures is the 
thing that causes more poverty and dis¬ 
content than any other besides drunken¬ 
ness. These thoughtless wastes of the 
poor contribute to and make up the vast 
fortunes of the rich. 
While they have willingly paid their 
share of public taxes and charities, their 
local or community taxes have been small. 
They have spent nothing for law, forrurn 
or for useless vanity. The jail, the grog 
shop and the poorhouse which demand 
more and more of the wealth of the out¬ 
side world, are unknown to them. All 
these wastes are saved, and the^tshakers 
have saved in another way by bringing 
the factory close to the farm. There were 
no middlemen between them and their 
customers in their palmy days. Then- 
theory was a simple one. They raised 
on their farms the crops that could be 
handled so as to have a manufactured 
value added to them. Then they did the 
manufacturing and selling themselves, 
and thus saved all the profits of the 
middlemen. In other words, they were 
farmer, manufacturer and seller all in 
one. For example, they grew on their 
farm lands garden seeds, medicinal 
herbs, sweet corn, tomatoes, fruits, etc. 
Cheap Excursions to the West. 
Bountiful harvests are reported from 
all sections of the West and Northwest, 
and an exceptionally favorable oppor¬ 
tunity for home-seekers and those desir¬ 
ing a change of location is offered by 
the series of low-rate excursions which 
have been arranged by the Northwest¬ 
ern Line. Tickets for these excur¬ 
sions, with favorable time limits, will 
be sold on August 29, September 10 
and 24 to points in northern Wisconsin, 
Michigan, northwestern Iowa, western 
Minnesota, southern Dakota, Nebraska, 
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and a large 
number of other points. For full in¬ 
formation apply to agents of connect¬ 
ing lines, or address II. A. Gross, G. E. 
P. A., 423 Broadway, New York.— Adv. 
Within a stone’s throw of these farms, 
were buildings where the seeds were 
sorted and packed, the herbs made into 
medicines, the corn dried, the tomatoes 
canned, and the fruits preserved. They 
cut timber from their woodland and 
from it were made measures, broom 
handles, chairs, tubs, and numberless 
other things. Their wagons ran up and 
down all over the land, selling these 
products to those who cared to buy them. 
All these things being under one manage¬ 
ment, it is easy to see how the com¬ 
munity prospered, since all were sharers 
in the profits. The management of af¬ 
fairs is in the hands of a board composed 
of two men and two women, who con¬ 
duct all business arrangements. The 
others appear to know little of what is 
being done—they seem content to let the 
managers have supreme control. 
It has been argued by one critic that 
this system of government tends to de¬ 
velop two distinct classes among the 
Shakers. The naturally shrewd and 
commanding will, sooner or later, by 
mere force of personal gravity, come to 
form the governing class, while those 
less energetic by nature, will be content 
to be governed. For the good of the 
community, this is the best arrangement 
that could be made. Yet it cannot be 
said that the members are really on a 
business equality with this class govern¬ 
ment. 
Another thoughtful thing about them 
is the fact that their new members are, 
for the most part, drawn from two dubi¬ 
ous . sources : Unfortunates who, tired 
and discouraged with their struggles 
with the world, come to them for homes, 
and orphans and poor children given 
by guardians and parents. One who 
lays great stress upon the influences of 
pedigree and “blood,” would say that 
such material would provide but weak 
timber for any society household. Yet 
the great business success of the Shakers, 
and the numbers of superior men and 
women they have produced, would cer¬ 
tainly go to show that moral influence 
and purity of life will go far to remedy 
defects in pedigree or prenatal influ¬ 
ences The Shakers themselves attribute 
their peace and happiness, and their suc¬ 
cess in business, to the main fact that 
their chief object has been to lift their 
every day lives to a higher plane of living 
and thinking. They would say that God 
has blessed them because they have 
attempted to follow out His will on 
earth. 
Yet in spite of this past success, built 
on these simple and seemingly scientific 
principles, the business of the Shakers 
is not a fraction of what it was. Their 
seed and medicine trades have been given 
up, and most of their factories are 
closed. The leaders are evidently unde¬ 
cided as to what form of business to take 
up next. Like many individual farmers, 
they have far too much land for their 
own good. One man said to me : 
“ We have made one mistake with our 
property. We should have devoted at 
least part of it to founding and main¬ 
taining a great and thorough university 
where the ablest people of our order 
could expound and teach our principles. 
If, as we claim, our life and belief make 
men purer and happier, we should have 
brought the fact clearer home to the 
world that it might be shown to stand 
the test of the closest investigation.” 
But whatever should have been done, 
the fact remains that some influence has 
hurt the business of the Shakers. The 
same thing is true of other American 
communities. The Harmonists, at Econ¬ 
omy, Pa., were at one time exceedingly 
wealthy—chiefly through the influence 
of one man. Their wealth still remains, 
but the society is dwindling away. The 
Separatists at Zoar, O., the Oneida Com¬ 
munity, and other smaller societies, all 
feel the effect of some influence that has 
taken, not only their members, but their 
business away from them. Our next step 
will be to try to see what this fatal in¬ 
fluence's. 
THE SINGLE TAX IN DELAWARE. 
We recently called attention to the 
fact that the advocates of the single tax 
on land values, advocated by Henry 
George, are endeavoring to convert the 
people of Delaware to their belief. The 
following notes explain themselves : 
An Advocate of the Tax Talks. 
I noticed with extreme pleasure, The 
R. N.-Y.’s editorial on our single tax 
campaign in Delaware. The fair mind¬ 
edness of the editorial is such a contrast 
to the majority of the newspaper notices, 
that it is very refreshing. But what 
makes you think that we won't succeed 
in introducing the single tax here ? Is 
it that you think the merits of the single 
tax system are not strong enough to 
induce the people to make a change from 
their long-time system of taxing indus¬ 
try, energy and effort to the more 
rational one of drawing their revenue 
from that fund which all help to make 
—viz., land values? Or, is it that 
you think the average farmer in Dela¬ 
ware is too dense to comprehend the 
utility of a system of taxation which will 
lift the heavy end of the log from his 
shoulders (where it has so long rested), 
and place it on the broader and stronger 
shoulders of the owners of “ valuable” 
land (made valuable by the efforts of 
all the people, please remember) ? 
But I think you are wrong, whichever 
of the ideas prompted the editorial. 
Several years ago, I got the single tax 
fever (when one gets it once, it never 
(Continued on next page). 
HE WOMAN 
-who takes the surest 
way to gain a beautiful 
color and a wholesome 
skin will not take the 
cosmetics, paints and 
powders which soon 
injure the skin. Sal- 
1 low or wrinkled face, 
dull eyes and hollow 
cheeks, together with 
low spirits, follow the derangements, irreg¬ 
ularities and weaknesses peculiar to the 
sex. All women require a tonic and nervine 
at some period of their lives. Whether suf¬ 
fering from nervousness, dizziness, faint¬ 
ness, displacement of womanly organs, ca¬ 
tarrhal inflammation of the lining mem¬ 
branes, bearing-down sensations, or general 
debility, Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription 
reaches the origin of the trouble and cor¬ 
rects it. It’s a medicine which was discov¬ 
ered and used by an eminent physician for 
many years in all cases of “female com¬ 
plaint,” and those painful disorders that 
afflict womankind. If women are over¬ 
worked, run-down, tired or sleepless, if 
they are irritable, morbid and suffer from 
back-ache, they should turn to the right 
means for a permanent cure. Dr. Pierce’s 
Favorite Prescription fits just such cases, 
for it regulates and strengthens the special 
functions, builds up and invigorates the en¬ 
tire female system. 
DISEASE OF WOMB. 
Mrs. Cora S. Wilson, of 
Carlisle, Sullivan Co., Ind., 
writes: “I cannot say too 
much for Dr. Pierce’s Fa¬ 
vorite Prescription. I feel 
it my duty to sav to all wo¬ 
men who are suffering from 
any disease of the uterus 
that it is the best medicine 
on earth for them to use; 
I cannot praise it too high¬ 
ly for the good it did me. 
If any one doubts this, give 
them my name and ad¬ 
dress.” 
Mrs. Wilson. 
A pamphlet, containing a vast number of 
testimonials with reproduced photographs 
of those cured and giving full name and 
address of each, will be mailed to any ad¬ 
dress free ; or, Dr. Pierce’s large Treatise 
(168 pages) profusely illustrated with wood 
engravings and colored plates mailed post 
paid on receipt of io cents in stamps. Ad¬ 
dress, World’s Dispensary Medical Associ¬ 
ation, Buffalo, N. Y. 
are usually a sign that a woman has 
more than enough to do; that all 
her time and strength are utilized 
in doing heavy work; that she 
don’t use 
D 
Washing Powder. 
• If she did use this great cleaner, ^ 
• her heavy work would be so light" Z 
§ encd that the little things needn’t £ 
• be neglected. Gold Dust gives a # 
Z woman time to rest, time to go, Z 
5 time to read, and time to sew. Ev- 2 
• ery farmer’s wife should have a sup- • 
• ply of this great help. • 
Gold Dust Washing Powder has 
an additional value to the farmer for 
destroying insects. Send us your name 
and address and we will mail you an 
important booklet containing recipes 
for making Kerosene Emulsions, for 
spraying crops and trees and livestock. 
S TUB N. K. FAIRBANK CO., Z 
x Chicago, St. Louis, New York, 9 
Boston, Philadelphia. q 
9999 — 999 — 9999 — 99—99 
LS 
£chautauqua£ 
C (Li "Sti Reading Circle c 
THE AMERICAN YEAR 
A systematic course in American politics, 
C industry, and literature, illustrating the g 
Development of National Life. 
Why not supplement your desultory read- £ 
^ ing by a well-defined course for the coming 
★ wiiitei ? Chautauqua offers a practical, 
comprehensive plan. ^ 
^ JOHN H. VINCENT. Dept. 17 BUFFALO. N. Y. ★ 
% CYC LONE^FENCE 
The Cyclone 
with large cross wires close to¬ 
gether. That is why the Cyclone 
always maintains that upright 
demeanor, while the light cross 
stay fence droops under the 
weight of its own uselessness. 
~C~YCLON EWOVEfTwTRE 
FENCE COMPANY, 
HOLLY. MICH.f 
Buckeye Wrought Iron Punched Rail Fence. 
Also manufacturers of Iron Creating, Iron Turbine and 
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ltuekeye, Globe and iihamplon Lawn Mowers. Send 
for Illustrated Catalogue and Prices to 
MAST, FOOS & CO. SPRINCFIELD. Os 
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Double-Barreiied Testimonials. 
When our railway salesman went to Europe 
to attend the Inter-National Railway Con¬ 
gress, he carried a score of splendid testimon¬ 
ials from officials of the leading lines in 
America. We are not allowed to publish 
them, bat nearly all mentioned among other 
reasons why they used the Page, that “itsuit- 
ed the adjoining farmers.” Thus we are able 
to “stay on both sides of the fence,” some 
thing politicians can’t do. 
PAGE WOVEN WIRE FENCE CO., Adrian, Mich. 
FENCE 
Why pay 60 to 90c. a rod for fence when you can make the 
BEST WOVEN WIRE FENCE ON EARTH 1 
FOR 13 TO 20 CENTS A ROD? 
Horse high, bull strong, pig 
and chicken tight. A man 
and boy can make from 40 to 
60rodsaday. Over50styles. 
Illustrated catalogue Free. 
KITSELMAN BROTHERS 
Ridgeville. : Indiana. 
