Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
See also:ONEIDA COMMUNITY (or See also:Bible Communists)
, an See also:American communistic society at See also:Oneida, See also:Madison See also:county, New See also:York, which has attracted wide See also:interest on See also:account of its pecuniary success and its See also:peculiar religious and social principles (see See also:COMMUNISM)
.
Its founder, See also: Having started with a very small See also:capital (the inventoried valuation of its property in 1857 was only $67,000), the community gradually See also:grew in See also:numbers and prospered as a business concern . Its relations with the surrounding See also:population, after the first few years, became very friendly . The members won the reputation of being good, industrious citizens, whose word was always " as good as their See also:bond "; against whom no See also:charge of intemperance, See also:profanity or See also:crime was ever brought . But the communists claimed that among true Christians " mine and thine " in property matters should cease to exist, as among the See also:early pentecostal believers; and, moreover, that the same unselfish spirit should pervade and See also:control all human relations . And notwithstanding these very radical principles, which were freely propounded and discussed in their weekly See also:paper, the communists wee not seriously disturbed for a See also:quarter of a See also:century . But from 1873 to 1879 active See also:measures favouring legislative See also:action against the community, specially instigated by Prof . John W . Mears, (1825–1880, were taken by several ecclesiastical bodies of Central New York . These measures culminated in a See also:conference held at See also:Syracuse University on the 14th of See also:February 1879, when denunciatory resolutions against the community were passed and legal measures advised . Mr Noyes, the founder and See also:leader of the community, had repeatedly said to his followers that the time might come when it would be necessary, in deference to public See also:opinion, to recede from the See also:practical assertion of their social principles; and on the loth of See also:August of this year (1879) he said definitely to them that in his See also:judgment that time had come, and he thereupon proposed that the community " give up the practice of Complex See also:Marriage, not as renouncing belief in the principles and prospective finality of that institution, but in deference to public sentiment." This proposition was considered and accepted in full See also:assembly of the community on the 26th of the same See also:month . This See also:great See also:change was followed by other changes of vital importance, finally resulting in the transformation of the Oneida Community into the incorporated Oneida Community, Limited, a co-operative See also:joint-stock See also:company, in which each See also:person's interest was represented by the shares of stock See also:standing in his name on the books of the company . In the reorganization the adult members fared alike in the See also:matter of remuneration for past services—those who by See also:reason of See also:ill-See also:health had been unable to contribute to the common fund receiving the same as those who by reason of strength and ability had contributed most thereto; besides, the old and infirm had the See also:option of accepting a life-guaranty in lieu of work; and hence there were no cases of suffering and want at the time the transformation from a common-property interest to an individual stock interest was made; and in the new company all were guaranteed remunerative labour .
This occurred on the 1st of See also:January 1881, at which time the business and property of the community were transferred to the incorporated stock company, and stock issued therefor to the amount of $600,000
.
In the subsequent twenty-eight years this capital stock was doubled, and dividends averaging more than 6 % per annum were paid
.
Aside from the home buildings and the large acreage devoted to agriculture and fruit raising, the present capital of the company is invested, first, in its hard-See also:ware See also:department at Kenwood, N.Y.,manufacturing steel See also:game-traps, and weldless chains of every description; second, the silk department at Kenwood, N.Y., manufacturing sewing silk, See also:machine twist and embroidery silks; third, the fruit department at Kenwood, N.Y., whose reputation for putting up pure, whole-some fruits and vegetables is probably the highest in the See also:country; See also:fourth, the tableware department, at See also:Niagara Falls, N.Y., which manufactures the now celebrated Community See also:Silver; fifth, the See also:Canadian department, with factory at Niagara Falls, See also:Ontario, See also:Canada, where the hardware lines are manufactured for Canadian See also:trade
.
The See also:annual sales of all departments aggregate over $2,000,000
.
The See also:officers of the company consist of a president, secretary, treasurer and assistant treasurer, and there were in 1909 eleven See also:directors
.
Each of the five leading departments is managed by a See also:superintendent, and all are under the supervision of the See also:general manager
.
Nearly all the superintendents and the general manager were in agog See also:young men who were born in the community, and have devoted their life-work to the interests of the company
.
Selling offices are maintained in New York See also:City
.
See also:Chicago, St See also: With this in view the company has laid out small villages, in many ways making them attractive and sanitary, and has encouraged the See also:building of houses by its employes . Much has been accomplished in this direction by providing desirable building-sites at moderate expense, and paying a See also:bonus of from $See also:loo to $200 in See also:cash to every employe who builds his own home . The company has also taken an interest in the See also:schools in the vicinity of its factories, with the idea of offering to the See also:children of its employes facilities for a good See also:education . The communism of John H . Noyes was based on his See also:interpretation of the New Testament . In his pamphlet, Bible Communism (1848), he affirmed that the second coming of See also:Christ occurred at the See also:close of the apostolic See also:age, immediately after the destruction of See also:Jerusalem, and he argued from many New Testament passages, especially r John 1, 7, that after the second coming and the beginning of Christ's reign upon the See also:earth, the true See also:standard of Christian See also:character was sinlessness, which was possible through vital See also:union with Christ, that all selfishness was to be done away with, both in property in things and in persons, or, in other words, that communism was to be finally established in all the relations of life . But, while affirming that the same spirit which on the See also:day of See also:Pentecost abolished exclusiveness in regard to See also:money tends to obliterate all other property distinctions, he had no See also:affiliation with those commonly termed See also:Free Lovers, because their principles and practices seemed to him to tend toward anarchy . " Our Communities," he said, " are families as distinctly bounded and separated from promiscuous society as See also:ordinary households . The tie that binds us together is as permanent and sacred, to say the least, as that of common marriage, for it is our See also:religion . We receive no new members (except by deception and See also:mistake) who do not give See also:heart and See also:hand to the See also:family interest for life and for ever . Community of property extends just as far as freedom of love . Every See also:man's care and every See also:dollar of the common property are pledged for the See also:maintenance and See also:protection of the See also:women and the education of the children of the Community." The community was much interested in the question of See also:race improvement by scientific means, and maintained with much force of See also:argument that at least as much scientific See also:attention should be given to the See also:physical improvement of human beings as is given to the improvement of domestic animals; and they referred to the results of their t wn incomplete stirpicultural experiments as indicative of what may be expected in the far future, when the conditions of human See also:reproduction are no longer controlled by See also:chance, social position, See also:wealth, impulse or lust .
The community claimed to have solved among themselves the labour question, all kinds of service being regarded as equally See also:honourable, and every person being respected according to his real character
.
The members had some peculiarities of See also:dress, mostly confined, however, to the women, whose costumes included a See also:short dress and pantalets, which were appreciated for their convenience, if not for their beauty
.
The women also adopted the practice of wearing short See also:hair, which it was claimed saved time and vanity
.
See also:Tobacco, intoxicants, profanity, See also:obscenity found no place in the community
.
The community See also:diet consisted largely of vegetables and fruits; See also:meat, See also:tea and See also:coffee being served only occasionally
.
For securing good See also:order and the improvement of the members, the community placed much reliance upon a very peculiar See also:system of See also:plain speaking they termed mutual See also:criticism; which originated in a secret society of missionary brethren with which Mr Noyes was connected while pursuing his theological studies at Andover See also:Seminary, and whose members submitted themselves in turn to the sincerest comment of one another as a means of personal improvement
.
Under Mr Noyes's supervision it became in the Oneida Community a See also:principal means of discipline and See also:government
.
There was a standing See also:committee of criticism, selected by the community, and changed from time to time, thus giving all an opportunity to serve both as critics and subjects, and justifying the See also:term " mutual " which they gave to the system
.
The subject was free to have others besides the committee present, or to have critics only of his own choice, or to invite an expression from the whole community
.
Noyes edited The Perfectionist (New Haven, See also:Connecticut, 1834, and Putney, Vermont, 1843-1846) ; The See also:Witness (See also:Ithaca, New York, and Putney, 1838-1843) ; The Spiritual See also:Magazine (Putney, 1846-1847 ; Oneida, 1848-1850) ; The Free See also:
See a See also:series of articles in the Manufacturer and Builder (New York, 1891-1894). by " C
.
R
.
Edson " (i.e
.
C
.
E
.
See also:Robinson) ; The Oneida Community, by See also:Allan Estlake (a member of the community) (Igoo); See also:Morris Hillquit's History of Socialism in the United States (New York, 1903), and especially See also:
The descendants of Niall spread over Ireland and became divided into two See also:main branches, the See also:northern and the See also:southern Hy Neill, to one or other of which nearly all the high-See also:kings (and-ri) of Ireland from the 5th to the 12th century belonged; the descendants of Eoghan being the See also:chief of the northern Hy Neill.' Eoghan was grandfather of Murkertagh (Muircheartach) (d
.
533),
' A See also:list of these kings will be found in P
.
W
.
Joyce's A Social History of See also:Ancient Ireland (See also:London, 1903), vol. i. pp
.
70, 71
.
said to have been the first Christian king of Ireland, whose mother, Eirc or Erca, became by a subsequent marriage the grandmother of St See also:Columba
.
Of this monarch, known as Murkertagh See also:MacNeill (Niall), and sometimes by reference to his mother as Murkertagh Mac Erca, the See also:story is told, illustrating an ancient See also:Celtic See also:custom, that in making a See also:league with a tribe in icleath he emphasized the inviolability of the treaty by having it written with the See also:blood of both clans mixed in one See also:vessel
.
Murkertagh was chief of the great See also:north Irish See also:clan, the Cinel Eoghain,l and after becoming king of Ireland about the year 517, he wrested from a neighbouring clan a See also:tract of country in the mod.ern County Derry, which remained till the 17th century in the See also:possession of the Cinel Eoghain
.
The inauguration See also:
Niall of the See also:black See also:knee), one of the most famous of the early Irish kings, from whom the family surname of the O'Neills was derived
.
His See also:brother Domhnall (Donnell) was king of Ailech, a See also:district in Donegal and Derry; the royal See also:palace, the ruined See also:masonry of which is still to be seen, being on the See also:summit of a See also:
See Joyce, op. cit. i
.
166
.
2 The See also:adoption of hereditary names became general in Ireland, in obedience, it is said, to an See also:ordinance of Brian Born, about the end of the loth century
.
For the method of their formation see Joyce,
op. cit. ii
.
19
.
the support of the See also:earl of Ulster, was inaugurated' See also:prince, or lord, of Tyrone in 1291; and his son See also: |
|
|
[back] ONEIDA (a corruption of their proper name Oneyotka-... |
[next] ONEONTA |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.