The Craftsman - 1902 - 02 - February

7/27/2019 The Craftsman - 1902 - 02 - February

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THE CRAFTSMANFEBRUARY MDCCCCII

CONTENTSRobert Owen and Factory Reform.A Word Concerning Some Great Religious Orders.

%y Irene Sargent.Traces of the Franciscans in California.

By Edwin Markham.A Visit to the Shop of William Morris.By El iweed Pomeroy, A. M .ERRATUM: The name of the writer upon The Haslemere Industries in the

January issue of The Craftsman, should read MARY SCHENCK WOOLMAN,and not as before given.

PUBLISHERS ANNOUNCEMENTS00TSUBSCRIPTIONS : Subscription price $2.00 the year, inadvance, postpaid to any address in the United States orCanada, and to begin with any desired number.TIREMITTANCES : Remittances may be made by PostOffice money order, bank cheques, express order, or inpostage stamps.T[CHANGE OF ADDRESS: When a change of addressis desired, both the old and the new address shouId begiven, and notice of the change should reach this office

not later than the fifteenth of the month, to affect thesucceeding issue, The publishers cannot be responsiblefor copies lost through failure to notify them of suchchanges.The United Crafts, Publishers, Eastwood,New York

Copyright, 1901 br Gustave Sticliloy



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FOREWORD66T HE CRAFTSMAN offers in its current andFebruary issue a sketch of Robert Owen, whoseclaims to the worlds gratitude are too often ignored in thespirit of Benthams criticism upon him that he began invapor and ended in smoke. He is here considered onlyin his relations to factory reform and legislation, and as tohis efforts in attempting to better the condition of thelaboring poor of England, to whom he wished to affordwork rather than charity; predictin the rapid advance ofpoverty in the British Isles whit has actuall taken

place; as the poor rates have increased from six iIundredand ninety thousand pounds sterlin in I758to over eightmillions at the present time, when t e actual annual ex-penditure of the Government upon pauperism rises to thesum of more than one hundred millions. In view of thesefacts, it is well to turn backward to consider the career ofone whose wise governance of his own and his friendsfinancial affairs, causes regret that he was not made rulerand master over many thin s.-I! he pity and tenderness ofRobert Owen toward the young children involved in theFactory System, suggested the fitness of recalling SirJohn Millars Christ in the House of His Parents : anEnglish Pre-Raphaelite picture which, at its first exhibi-tion, fifty years since, called forth scornful criticism, forthe reason that the figures entering into its compositionwere evidently drawn from the London poor, The child-laborer, weary and wounded, was a spectacle from whichthe Academy visitors turned with positive aversion, asBe1 ravia, at that time, ignored the existence of the EastEnb An article by a well-knownwriter, in the current issue, follows the traces of the Fran-



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iv FOREWORDciscan Friars in California. Its introduction among sub_jects exposing the graver aspects of the labor question will.doubtless be welcomed as offering a pleasing contrast.The March number of TheCraftsman will present as its chief article a paper uponThe Gothic Revival ; a subject which is treated by re-quest, and which is one that conceals beneath an artisticform a vital and present social interest.



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORYREFORMT HE life of Robert Owen derives its chief interest fromhis continuous efforts permanently to improve thecondition of the masses. It therefore merits a distinct placein economic and social history ; even though the reformsto which it was so freely, so spontaneously given have solong been in force as to cause forgetfulness of former con-ditions. As is universally true, only a part of the effortsof this life were effectively exerted and brought reward inthe form of progress; but it is not safe to regard the re-mainder as wasted energy and as unsubstantial visions.For failure in generous schemes falls and is absorbed intolarger and wiser plans, and enthusiasm is a beneficent,fertile force whose action i s so subtle that it refuses to be! auged. The path-breakers of any great movement, re-gious, governmental, or artistic, walk more or less indarkness; following the light which they see glimmeringin the distance. They are constantly turned aside by ob-stacles, with the result that those outside the movementbelieve them to be in pursuit of some deceptive, wander-ing will-o-the-wisp, But their very errors come to serveas warnings, and, at the end of their career, the pathstands made, open, and calling for the better-informed totraverse it; while they who have toiled and strug leddrop from sight and are forgotten. They who per ect,:rather than they who conceive, discover or invent, obtainthe worlds rewards. Criticism, censure and injustice arethe portion of those who first strug Ie a ainst an acce tedand long-existing oppression. Anfin tI;e case of SUCK sthese, the bitter portion of manhood is most often followedby a neglected old age and an unregretted death. At last,a tardy justice clears away the clouds of misapprehension,



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2 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORMand the reputed fanatics and disturbers of the worldspeace are seen by the light of subsequent events to havebeen the saviors of a cIass, a nation, or a race.The present interest in thestudy of all phases of de eneration should alone call forthatitude for the life-worg a of Robert Owen; since it is ac-owled ed that his personal experiments in factory re-form and the legislation of which he was the originatorand promoter rescued the youth of the English laboringclasses from the suffering and &very which encompassedthem in the Iate eighteenth and at the beginning of thenineteenth century, and, in so doing, assured the followinggenerations from the decay which then seemed to be theonIy legacy which could descend to them.To follow step by step the Iifeof this apostle and martyr of social reform is an instruc-tive lesson, whether one seeks historical light upon a crit-ical period of human affairs, or whether the wish be togain a supreme exam leand of success throug K of perseverance and devotion,apparent failure. For personallyRobert Owen matEIbe compared to the Swiss hero, Win-kelried, who, in e midst of battle, took to his breast asheaf of hostiIe spears and broke a path for the oppressed.As a man he must be consideredin his three-fold capacity of laborer, capitalist and econo-mist-statesman ; which somewhat extended considerationdemands a knowledge of the class in which he was born,of the world-events which occurred during the period ofhis activity, and of the ideals which rose before the ad-vanced minds of his time. The son of an artisan, and amember of a large family, he entered upeople, and early came to know througKn Iife among theassociation whatsufferings arise from poverty and ignorance. He wasthus practically trained for the pursuits of an object which,having begun in youth, he maintained, without onceturning aside, until the close of a long career.



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM 3~.__If we examine the condition of

the English workinand maturity, we %allclasses co-existent with his youths discover the sad incentive to hisIon and terrible strubiti! and that of his $ gle. For between the date of hi:eath there occurred the most rapidand extensive displacement of human labor by mechanicalmeans that has ever been effected in the worlds history.The increase of the productive capacity of Englandbrou7ht to the laborer no increase but that of suffering,and or many years no prospect of improvement openedbefore the sight of either people or reformer. The newproductive power was an untamed force, appalling in itsaction, but yet to a thoughtful observer promisinH mostdesirable results for the nation in growth of wea th andexpansion of influence, if once it could be regulated andset in the right direction, To gain control of the produc-tive power, to educate the people for a higher life in con-nection with daily labor, to promote intelligence, love oftruth, a kindlier intercourse, and a toleration of all formsof differences of thought-these considerations came toabsorb the ener es and at last the very being of him whomay be called a eEngland. creator of the present working-mansUp to the beginning of RobertOwens life as a laborer-that is, up to the last two decadesof the eighteenth century-the industrial system of Eng-land (which country may, in this connection, be taken asa type of the world) had been limited in its operations.Following the year 1780, a radical change occurred. Theartisans were drawn from the cottages in which nearlyall manufactures had been previously pursued, and theselaborers were supplemented by large numbers of the ruralpopulation who sought employment in the factories erectedon the river banks, where water could be applied as themotive power to the great mechanical devices which werethen coming into use. The relations of the employer and



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4 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM

the employed, as also the habits of both, completelychanged as a result of the new conditions. The import-ance of the employers enterprises, the great increase in thenumber of those employed, the suddenly acquired wealthof the factory owners sharply divided the classes intopayers and receivers of wages, with the consequent sepa-ration of life, interests and sympathy. Hitherto labor atthe spinning-wheel and the loom had been co-incidentwith the Wage of the land and the primitive domestic du-ties. But now the household was virtually disbanded.Each member of the group became an isolated individualcondemned to the mortal struggle for bare physical exist-ence. And the number of these necessary and unfortunatevictims of a new era was insufficient to the demands ofthe times. To-day, the great industrialstruggle which was then begun, has neither ceased norslackened, But the combatants have changed places.The working-men have air-red he advantage over theiradversaries; whereas, in tEe time of Robert Owens youth,they were too weak to aid themselves, and, until he arose,they stood without a champion. In a restricted sense,other good and true men labored in the same cause, andat the very beginning, but none save Owen understoodthe dangers of the new system-physical, moral and eco-nomic. None save him were wise, tactful and construc-tive, or proceeded b forethought, business methods andexecutive force, rat iIer than by exposure and violent de-nunciation.

The qualities characterizing himwould be regarded as native to his personality by thegreat majority of persons who might judge him. Andsuch they were to a certain degree, But as it is a peda-gogical principle that the best teachers are those who haveexperienced and conquered the difficulties which they seekto make clear to others ; so it is a fact that the success ofRobert Owen, as a man of affairs, a legislator and a



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM 5philanthropist, resulted from his practical knowledge of theneeds of the working-man acquired during the years ofhis apprenticeship. Another fact relative to his careerand one not infrequently met with in the lives of eminentmen, is that he was not intended or trained for the craftin which he so excelled. That is : he acquired rapidlyand by self-instruction his mastery as a cotton-spinner.The instantaneous seizure of principles was ever hisstrong point and therein lay the secret of whatever suc-cess he attained. He understood the wide difference separating theory and practice. He detected, at a glance, theflaws in any system, mechanical or administrative, thatfell beneath his notice and with no waste of time or energy,prepared the palliative or the remedy.As he is known principallythrough the events of his middle or late career, a fewnotes upon his more obscure childhood and early youthwill not be here misplaced.He was born in Montgomery-shire in I77 1, and was intended for the occupation of hisfather and his elder brother, who were saddlers. Havingbeen sent, at the age of ten years, to London, there toserve his apprenticeship, he was removed, within sixweeks of his arrival, to Lincolnshire, where he enteredthe service of a draper who was the proprietor of an ex-tensive and well ordered business,This first master stood as auide ana an inspiration for the child-apprentice, since hei?ad risen from the grade of a pack pedlar to that of a re-spected man of comparative wealth ; one moreover whohad read and studied considerably and was filled with thelove of nature. During the three or four years whichOwen passed in his service, the boy had unrestricted ac-cess to his library, and was given the early morning and 2eveninlove oB hours in which to gratify his already pronouncedliterature. This was undoubtedly theformative period of his life, and in such a light rincipalKe so re-



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6 ROBERT OWEN AND FACjrOPY REFORMgarded it-not only as a time of moderate and well em-ployed leisure, but also as one rich in experience whichserved him, when, in after years, he became a manufac-turer and commercial man upon a large scale. FromLincolnshire, he returned to London, to take service witha drawhit Rr owning a large shop upon old London Bridwas patronized chiefly by working-people, e,T isremoval to the metropolis was actuated by a desire, alwaysstrong in Owens character, to gain wider knowledge ofmen and thin s. But under the pressure of work whichlasted througa eighteen hours of the twenty-four, thephysical strength of the growing boy failed, and he re-ferred to his service in the not too stronThe experience gained in these days oB term: slavery.trial was a ainuseful to him, in that it brought him near the class Elchlater he was so signally to benefit. B&de, he was here,as in the place of his former labor, highly prized as aworker, and when, for the second time, he left London,his departure occasioned deep regret to his employers.His third and last service as apprentice-tradesman wasfulfilled in Manchester, where he was brought into closecontact with large numbers of the prosperous middle class :merchants and manufacturers who were the architects oftheir own fortunes. This engagement lasted until he hadcompleted his eighteenth year, when an event occurredwhich caused him to enter upon the real work of his life.He, at this time, formed a partnership with a practicalmechanic who wished to engage in cotton-spinning; thelatter being certain that a fortune lay in this industry, ifcarried on by the then new machine methods. The twoyoung men therefore built a shop in which to make themachines and to manufacture the yarn.The venture was to a degreesuccessful through Owens financial ability and his wisesupervision of the employes. But as his partner provedto be both ignorant and unpractical, the arrangement ter-minated within the first year of its existence ; Owen with-



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM 7

drawing with a capital of three mules (as the spinningmachines were called), a reel, and a mechanical device forpacking the yarn when finished in skeins, into bundles forthe market. With these appliances and the labor of threemen, Owen began an industry which gave the first yeara profit of three hundred pounds sterling: a most satisfac-tory result, if the times and the amount of the investmentbe considered. But the oun proprietor was reachingout for larger things, dTtlFn wi a true sense of his ownability which mifor the position 0H

ht have passed for audacity, he appliedmanager in one of the most importantof the Manchester factories. He at once obtained the post,and at his own price, which equaled the sum demandedby all the remaining anineteen he assumed t plicants united.K So, at the age ofe command of five hundred work-men ; the other duties assigned to him being to purchaseall raw material used, to provide the mill with new ma-chinery, to superintend the manufacture of the cotton intoyarn, to sell the finished product, to keep the accounts topay the wages : indeed to take the entire control and re-sponsibility of the first establishment for spinning finecotton that had ever been erected. And this as successorto one of the most scientific managers of the day.Owens description of the workand study which he pursued in order to master his situa-tion is interesting as offering one of the many proofs ofGeorge Eliots saying that genius is only infinite pains.I inslxted, he says, everything very minutely, closelyexamining the drawings of the machinery, as left by my

predecessor; and these were of great use to me, I wasat the mill with the first in the morning, and I locked upthe premises at night, taking the key with me. I con-tinued this silent inspection and superintendence day byday for six weeks, saying merely yes or no to the ques-tions as to what was to be done or otherwise, and, duringthat period, I did not give one direct order about any-thing.



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t3 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORMFrom this exercise of fidelity,

enerB and intelligence, there resulted within six monthsan o er of ultimate partnership in the industry. Mean-while, the boy reared in the shop, and with but a singleyears experience in the factory, so increased the accuracyof the spinning machinery and became so expert a judgeof the uafities of cotton, that he pIaced the ente rise withwhich % e was connected at the head of the Eng i h indus-tries of its class, If now we pass from these factsrelative to the persona&y of Robert Owen to a review ofthe industrial crisis in which he began his career as amanufacturer, we shall clearly see that he was one ofthose men who are created by opportunity at every criti-cal period of history to save their contemporaries and toassure the future well-being of society. The EngIishworking-man who gave the supreme efforts of his alertand penetrating mind to guide his country through thelabor crisis of the last I ears of the einot unworthy to be ran ed with those ahteenth century iseroes and martyrsof the cause of political unity who are caIIed Lincoln,Gambetta and Cavour. Rightly to judge of his claims tothe worlds memory and gratitude, we must appreciate theposition in which he stood.Previously to the time of RobertOwen alI crafts were practicaIIy carried on by hand labor :men, women and children, assisted by certain crude me-chanicaI contrivances, performing the work necessary tofeed, clothe and shelter the entire population. Humanlabor was, therefore, the prime factor of production, andthe most important element of wealth and progress.The first twenty years ofOwens Iife correspond to the transitional stage of indus-try. Within this period, the inventions of Watt, Har-greaves, Arkwright and Crompton revolutionized thecrafts by causing the displacement of man in favor of the



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM 9machine. In the old days, human labor and the conditionof the laborer were the first economic considerations. Butwith the new era new necessities appeared ; becoming evermore and more imperative, until now the great questioninvolvin Hlabor, wealth and progress is a question of themeans 0 applying machineof regulatin where work is to do, andto produce the operations oa 7 the machine in such way ase most profitable results.A second radical change in theindustrial situation-and one consequent upon the dis-placement of the man by the machine-is found in therelations between sup ly and demand. Under the handi-craft system, throug out England (cited as a typicalcountry), the people depended for employment upon thehome market, since the foreign trade was too light toenter into economic calculations. Therefore, employmentextended only as population increased ; and, alloyancebeing made for occasional epidemics and failures of crops,the volume of business did not greatly vary, year by year.Production and consumption practically baIancedTpe;tother, and speculation in trade was unknown.were no new commodities with possibilities to excitethose who dealt in them. There were no new markets inwhich to compete, and no fortunes suddenly to be acquired.The manufactures were, for the most part, domestic, andthe workers combined the tillage of small farms withtheir spinning and weaving. Bach manufacturer em-ployed a certain number of journeymen and apprentices,the amount of whose work he regulated according to themeans at his command, and whom he seldom actuallydismissed in times of depression, Trade was normal ingrowth, because it developed only through the increase ofits own requirements.hand labor, could not be Production as dependent upontoo rapidly multiplied; as thisaction would have entailed a sudden increase of skilledlaborers, who, in fact, could be formed but slowly, andwho, even if it had been possible to obtain them from out-



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old times, for primitive appliances and the restoration offormer conditions which could never again have reasonfor existence. It is one thing to vivify and another togalvanize, And periods, like livingrowth and decay. The change oB beings, have theirthe nineteenth cen-tury was inevitable, and the present system of labor is buta sinth f le stage in economic evolution of which the seriesus ar completed stands : slave-shop, work-shop, cottageand factory. The slave-shop of antiquity wasa means of production inseparable from the times whenone dominant, intellectual race subdued the less gifted,weaker peoples, and generated in them all the vices ofservility. In the next organic period, the Middle Ages, anew labor system arose, responsive to the needs of so-tie .

ii!The slave-shop was replaced by the work-shop,an the gilds instituted a fraternity of labor coextensivewith European civilization, inexorable as to honesty, butclose and tyrannous as to rules. This system likewisehavin Hfallen into decay, was replaced in England (ourtypica industrial country) by a new labor scheme, accord-ing to which each district manufactured for itself the mostnecessary articles of consumption ; a plan which naturallyfailed at the appearance of the reat mechanical appli-ances which were the fruit of !a te eighteenth centurygenius. Much of what was changed bythe factory-system has been improved. Much of the cen-sure cast upon the owners and overseers of the early mills

must be regarded as ill-advised, since the injustice and in-humanity attributed to them were, in man instances,relics of old times and conditions. Many or these evilshave been already corrected, and many more are but pre-paratory to a better and higher condition ot things. Themachinery having been invented, the household systemof manufactures could not be continued. But a moregenerous thoughtfulness, an economic sagacity like that of



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12 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM-_Robert Owen mi

abuses which maht have led to a system free from the

ZI; us indignant as we examine the earlyfactory system of the United Kingdom. The claims ofthis man to the worlds gratitude gained by the fact thathe was born too late to have a share in the establishmentof the new industrial system; that he was rather a re-former who realized with both brain and heart the suffer-ings of the workin %classes ; while he at no time under-valued or misappre ended the great mechanical and productive forces which had just sprung into being. It wasnot his policy or desire to restore the old system, butsimply to purify the new order of things, which hadchanged the occupation, and modes of life of the masses ;condemning multitudes to hopeless poverty and creatingfor others immense fortunes. He advocated a just use ofthe new wealth which was just beginning to flow intothemanufacturing districts of England. He gave his bestthought to devise a plan of education which should pro-duce in the peoRIe a moral and intellectual growth com-mensurate wit the advance of the nation in materialstrength, To a preciate the work of theretormer we must understand tl!which he struggled. e specific wrongs againstOn the establishment of thefacto7 system, many of the older craftsmen who werepast t e aa e to meet the new requirements, continued towork at t e hand looms set up in their cottages, But theyouth and life of the poor passed into the mills to giveimpetus to the textile industries which so enormously in-creased the wealth of England. In certain branches offactory detail, the work of young people was a necessity.But as the population was, in many cases, thinly scatteredin places affording waterpower, the difficulty of obtainingchild-labor was not easily overcome. To provide thisprime essential the English work-houses were put underrequisition. The pauper children so obtained were bound



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under indenture to the foreman or manager under whosesuperintendence they worked. They were engaged andsent to their destination in herds ; the work-house authori-ties insistinportion of tE that the contractors should receive a fair proe ailing and the feeble-minded. The children,once in the power of their employers, were housed in sheds ;their food was of the poorest kind and, in many cases,barely sufficient to sustain life ; while the beds in whichthey slept were no sooner vacated by one relay than theywere occupied by another force : an uncleanly arrange-ment destructive of all comfort, and which propagateddisease to an alarming extent. Long hours of labor wereexacted and frequently brutal floggings were given to re-vent the?y oung laborers from falling asleep over t eirwork. he evils culminated in the ravages of epidemics,which in the last decade of the eighteenth century sothreatened the life of whole communities that public in-quiry arose as to the source of the scourge and drew at-tention to the condition of the working Population.The factory egislation so fam-ous in the parliamentary history of the nineteenth century,may be said to have originated in a document preparedby the president of the Manchester Philosophical and Lit-erary Society, a friend of Robert Owen, who submittedhis investigations upon the prevailing labor system to athen recently formed committee, known as The Man-chester Board of Health. The counter movement thusbegun, had its opponents in the so-called laissez-fairedoctrine, by which it was insisted that as the employerscapital was his very own, he was justified in using it asbest pleased him, without being subjected to the interfer-ence of sentimentalists. It was urged that if the profitswere large, the risks were great, and that any change orreform in the system, by increasing the cost of production,would give the trade over into the hands of foreign com-petitors ; also, that as machinery was costly, it ought not



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to stand idle ; furthermore, testimony apparently reliableand expert was obtained from hysicians who declaredthat the facto7 labor was ligKt, and increased ratherthan diminishe the health and happiness of the childrenthus employed. Finally, there was a prejudice existingin the minds of the working-men that an attempt to regu-late labor was a practical infringement of the liberty of thelaborer, and one that might lead to oppression from thepretended philanthropists. The labor question was conse-quently a most difficult one, as the approaches to it werehindered alike by the selfishness of the mil-owners andthe gross ignorance of the laborer. But in spite of bitteropposition, the first Factory Act was passed in 1802,through the aid of the first Sir Robert Peel, himself a richmanufacturer, This measure limited the hours of workto twelve per diem; it authorized instruction for all apprentices in reading, writing and arithmetic, and providedalso for the cleansing and ventilating of factories. Theact, valuable as an expression of governmental and publicopinion, was almost useless in a practical sense, owing tothe decline in the apprentice system.In the first years of the factory,when water was the motive power, such a measure wouldhave served to lessen abuses, but when Watt had ad-justed his engine to the mechanism of the mules andlooms, then the plants were located in the towns whosedense po &ionK allowed the capitalists to emploxi child-labor wit out apprenticing the children. And in s wayignorant parents came to fix conditions which should havebeen regulated by wise provisions of law and authority.Thus a few decades sufficed toseparate society n the manufacturing districts of Englandinto two sharply marked divisions. A class monopolyarose, tremendous and oppressive ; while the laboringmasses being subjected to depressing, unsanitary and im-moral influences, degenerated with appalling rapidity.



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The succumbed beneath the evils of overcrowded cellar-dwe&.n fs, o germ-diseases resulting from breathing cot-ton-dust, of fever, scrofula, consumption and prematureold age, We have already seen that theagitation regarding factory reform be an within the nar-row circle of a Manchester Club. O!Owen was elected a member, and this society Robertthrou h its delibera-tions he added considerably to his knowle dge and culture ;while he himself gave out in return a spirit of humanitywhich animated and made practical what else had beenabstract ideas and vague theories.When arrived at the age oftwenty-seven, Owen had passed from the service ofothers, himself to become a partner in an industry knownas the Charlton Twist Company of Manchester, andalready a brilliant financial future was opening beforehim. The new firm rapidly attained a wide reputationwhich, in its turn, assured high prices and large profits.But, at this point, another important change occurred inhis circumstances. This, like all previous removals, wasnot due to fickleness, but solely to the turn and pressureof external affairs. As he had abandoned the postof a factory superintendent, by reason of an unforeseendomestic arrangement quick1 made by his employer, sonow he as suddenly remove dy o the viciniretaining his interest in his partnership an2 of Glasgow,incorporatingthat of his associates in the newly undertaken enterprise.This was the purchase of very extensive factories situatedat New Lanark, which were the property of a remarkableman, at once a manufacturer, a cotton-spinner, a merchant,banker and preacher, whose daughter Owen afterwardmarried, and whose friendship, once gained, never failedthe youn er man at moments when censure and suspic-ion as to 1 is motives threatened to condemn him tosilenceand idleness,



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may be cited the system of checks which he devised forcontrolling the conduct of the workmen. It is thus de-scribed by his biographer: He caused to be placed behindeach operative a four-sided piece of wood two inches longand one broad, each side painted with a different color,-black (bad), blue (average), yellow (good), and white(excellent).to han The wood tapered at the top, and was madefront: t\ upon a wire, with any one desired side to thee color indicating the conduct of the workman onthe previous day. Books of character were provided foreach department, these containing the same colors withthe same meaning; by which s stemdaily entered to the credit or t e a record wasdiscredit of eachindividual ; the record being numbered one, two, three,four, and the numbers beinso that the manager f averaged six times yearly,cou d learn, at a glance, thestanding of the workman for an entire year. At the in-stallment of the plan, many black and many blue markswere given, but gradually these two colors gave place tothe Ii hter hues, and faults in attention, care and punctu-ality t ecame more and more rare and unpardonable.For eight years he workedquietly and within the limits of his own factory: desiring pto effect practical local changes for the better, before un-dertaking the more important schemes which he had solong meditated for the relief of the poor and the oppressedthroughout the Kingdom. He slowly and solidly formedthe basis of his appeal to public opinion and Parliament.

In the ninth year of its existence,the New Lanark partnership was dissolved ; Owen pay-ing a large advance upon the original purchase price ofthe factory, and the remaining members of the firm whollywithdrawing. The dissolution was due to the demandmade by Owen that his associates should permit the erec-tion of expensive school buildings, and authorize a veryconsiderable annual outlay necessary to maintain them.



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Both the demand and the refusal were to be expected,since they represented the opposing desires, aims andpolicy of the two parties to the contract. The Londonand Manchester associates were commercial men, pure andsimple, who engaged in business for profit, and were cot-ton-spinners before being philanthropists. They foundtheir highest satisfaction in the statements of the annualbalance-sheet of the mills as conducted by Owen, ratherthan in the character, and condition of the operativeswhich had so improved under the same wise administra-tion. On the other hand, Owen saw with dismay a sys-tem of intensified selfishness spreading and developing inthe country as a result of the rapid profits gained by thenew industrial methods. The first named were men ofthe hour, tempered to the materialism of the age; whilethe pure-minded reformer sought to build for time and eter-nity. His schemes at this period of his life had nothingabnormal or visionary. His own practical experienceconvinced him that the improvement in the people asworkers, as well as men and women, which he purposedto effect through the medium of his contemplated schools,would, within no extended period, more than cover theexpenditure which he demanded, And in view of hisfinancial success during the time of his first experiments,it is but just and fair to believe that he mistook not hisown ability to do away with abuses and set up in theirstead a system permanently beneficial to both employerand employed. From this time forth, his struggle waswith principles rather than with men, his attachment tohis own ideas rapidly increased, and with the passage ofyears, he became more and more isolated in his thoughtand life. A second partnership involvinglarge capital was quickly formed, as Robert Owens repu-tation for business sa acity and integrity made associationwith him eagerly an f widely sought. Without delay heproceeded to erect the schools which he had planned;



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again to meet with opposition which extended to everyother form of improvement for the benefit of the workers,to the salaries given for superintendence, and to the largesums paid for wages. A second dissolution was the re-sult of these differences of opinion, and a third partnershipfollowed. Owen had now conducted the enterprise atNew Lanark for fourteen years, during which time hehad won the unreserved affection of the workmen. Andthrou hout the second association-a period of four years-heLd ff du ere constantly from the systematic and oppressive thwarting of his purposes : an opposition whichwas not justified by the financial outcome, since the ac-counts of the firm showed the net profits to have reachedone hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling. Amongthe partners of the third association was numbered JeremyBentham, the utilitarian philosopher, with whose sanctionOwen now felt free to act, The schools were thereforecompleted within the space of two years ( I8 14), and theyattracted the attention of educators the world over.The children were received be-tween the ages of one and twelve years, after which time,if their parents wished, they might enter the factories andcontribute to the support of their families. To assureself-respect on the part of the parents, and to separate theinstitution from charitable enterprises, a fee of three shill-in s was demanded annually for each child attending theaC ools; although the actual expense incurred by the es-tablishment rose to two pounds the Kear for each scholar.Wise provision was also made for t e employment of theyoun people when they entered the working period oftheir fe.ii Th ey were given a wide choice of employ-ments ; since if they did not accept work in the variousbranches of the cotton industry, they could elect to bemechanics, iron or brass founders, forgers, turners inwood or iron, builders, masons or carpenters. By thismeans, a self-sufficing community was created, and laborin repairs upon the mills and village was afforded to the



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20 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORMpeople, to the value of eight thousand pounds. The en-terprise when completed, was most gratifying to its pro_jector and very attractive to the outside world. Twocomments made upon it deserve to be noted, RobertOwen himself observed that all the houses in the villageformed a part of an establishment, which united, preceeded day by day with the regularity of clock-work.And the same impression of order and precision was dif-ferently conveyed by a cashier of the Bank of Enwhen he said, in astonishment at the newness of land,a e en-terprise, that it looked like the work of generations.Thus the first great work ofOwen the reformer was accomplished in the interest ofpopular education. But he was far from being a man ofone idea. His thou ht reached out to the workers inall the conditions oft a eir lives, He believed in the res-ponsibility of the mature toward the young to whom itwas his custom to say : Your character should beformed for you and not by you. He sought to promoteassociative and national effort in the cause of education,which he esteemed not so*much as a means of develop-ment for the individual, but as the strongest bulwark ofcorporate life. The plan of his schools at New Lanark,as well as the rational system of society which he for-mulated, was based upon ideas which he had gained bypractical experiments among the working classes, andalways before advocating or enforcing a principle, hegained the right to his action by thoroughly understand-ing both its nature and its workings. So effectual werethe methods of instruction devised by the amateur peda-Fogue-whose highest qualification for his work was hisove of humanity-that the Owen schools were visited byrepresentative men of all classes and nationalities to thenumber of thousands annually: among them being manyforeign princes and ambassadors acting in behalf of theirsovereigns. An examination of these schools



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in retrospect, from the distance of nearly a century, revealsthe modern spirit by which they were animated. Physi-cal culture by means of dancing and military drill, was anessential feature of the system. Kindness and confidencewere the incentives used to stimulate the love of studyand the sense of honor among the children.From 1816 to 1822 the schoolsat New Lanark continued to develop, and RobertOwensplan of dealing with the population of his village came tobe regarded as suited to the general condition of society,especially as applied to the poor, who were, at that time,rapidly increasing in numbers, and assuming a threaten-ing attitude toward their oppressors,At the latter named date, theBritish and Foreign Philanthropic Association, was or-ganized under the auspices of English royalty and nobil-iz , largely for the purpose of experimenting w&Owensp ns upon a much larger scale than the author of themhad attempted, But when final success seemed about tocrown the strenuous efforts of years, when outside cooperation was beginning to be active and most helpful,narrow fanaticism attacked the beneficent work fromwithin the circle of its origin, slowly sapped its strength,and at last brought it to an end, by undermining it withinsiduous doubts. A persecuting spirit arose in theperson of one of Owens latest partners, William Allen,who was a wealthy, influential and well-intentioned, al-though extremely bigoted man.

The reformer of Lanark, as thefacts recorded in this paper abundantly prove, acted uponsound economic principles in executing his educationalschzmes. He believed that enlightenment added to thevalue of the workman ; that ignorance, always a seriousobstacle to the happiness of the community, was further-more a prolific generator of vice and crime. He soughtto remove injurious example and to prevent evil associa-



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tion, And if his religious ideas were unorthodox, hismoral teachings, as well as his own life, were beyondcavil or reproach. His position, through the constantcriticism and suspicion which questioned his every action,grew untenable, and he decided to leave New Lanark.To this decision he was notdriven by a lack of conviction in either the rectitude orthe practicality of his own plans, Nor was his enthusi-asm cooled by advancing age. But he realized the neces-sity of creating in the public mind such favor towardpopular education as should neutralize throuthe bigotry which had thwarted his own ea hout Englandarts. He cannot be taxed with cowardice, for the difficulties withwhich he coped are today difficult to imagine, The news-paper, as we now know it, did not exist. The working-mans club was not as yet even conceived. The closingof the reat wars of Napoleon had thrown an immenseforce o discharged soldiery into artisan occupations, thuscreating an industrial crisis comparable with the agrariandisturbance which unsettled Roman affairs at the acces-sion of the Emperor Augustus. Worst of all, the unreas-oning hatred of machinery, as the destroyer of handlabor, was generating revolutionary ideas in the manu-facturing districts ; so that riots and machine breakinwere of common occurrence, while, on the other han i ,the Government ursued the unwise and tyrannous policyof silencing popuE r speech and suppressing the associa-tive spirit. Owen was forced to retire from his industrialwork, since he could no longer insist on the education ofall the young in his employ, and on such management ofthe factories at Lanark as should be consistent with thewelfare of all connected with them. In order to sustainhis principles, he determined entirely to devote himself tothe public career on which he had entered as early as1803. He was fully justified in his decision, for thetimes cried out for a reformer. Among the factory popu-lation, the idea of the family was rapidly disappearing.



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Parents trafficked in the lives of their neglected children,and, the children, grown adult, avenged their wrongsupon the aged and feeble. Selfishness, vice and the de-generacy caused by premature and excessive labor threat-ened to annihilate the producing classes of England.The Glasgow paper of 1803,before noted as the first of Owens public utterances, isregarded by students of economics as a remarkable docu-ment, It was addressed to the Board of Trade of theScotch city, and was primarily an appeal for the entranceof raw cotton into English ports free from customs duties.It was furthermore a general argument so far in advanceof the narrow trade doctrines of the times that it has nowthe character of a prophecy.Legislation favoring a broaderindustrial policy was slow, and twelve years elapsed be-fore Owen became again publicly active. In 18 15, heassembled a public meeting at Glasgow to consider thepolicy of asking the Government to remit the heavy dutiesupon raw cotton, and to consider measures for improvingthe condition of children and others emplored in connec-tion with the various textile manufactures. The first ofthese measures was accepted by the meetinsiasm. The other was not even secondef with enthu-, and Owendiscouraged by the selfishness and greed of the manu-facturers, declined to proceed farther with the meeting.He resolved to gain attention and sympathy by means ofthe address which he had delivered, and with this viewhe sent co es of it to the members of the Governmentand of botF Houses of Parliament. He also procured itspublication in the principal newspapers, metropolitan andprovincial, In this document, he made the emphatic state-m.ent that an apparent national greatness, founded onthe miseries of the people is not permanent and substan-tial power: And he ended with an appeal for mercy tohis brother manufacturers, crying out passionately:For deeply as I am interested



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24 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM _in the cotton manufacture, highly as I value the extendedHolitical power of my country, yet knowing as I do, fromong experience both in Scotland and in England, themiseries which the trade, as now conducted, inflicts uponthose to whom it gives employment, I do not hesitate tosay : Perish the cotton trade 1 Perish even the politicalsuperiority of our country !-if it depends on the cottontrade-rather than they shall be upheld by the sacrifice ofeverything valuable in life.And these words were not therhetoric of an orator calculating his effect upon his audi-ence, Nor were they those of a demagogue seeking todeceive his constituents in order to advance his personalambitions. Th ey were the utterances of a man enrichedthrough manufactures, and gifted with a commerci;I sensewhich turned to profit everything that he touched. Buthe had been born among the people, and the sorrowswhich he described were real to him, since he had beensurrounded by them, if he had not shared them. His sin-ceriYifte and devotion were absolute, and they for whom hehis voice were pauper children, flogged like slaves totheir tasks, often at the age of six, and forced each day oftheir lives to fourteen hours of toil. His appeal demandedthat their daily labor be shortened, and that they be leftfree toreache CYow strong, to be taught, and to play, until theythe age of twelve. The address of Robert Owenwas afterward condensed and formulated into a Bill,which, however, contained concessions to public opinion,in lengthenin the hours of labor, and lowering the ageat which chilf ren could be employed in the mills. The Billremained four years under discussion in Parliament, andon becoming a law, it was so mutilated as to have scarcelyany political value, But although poor as a remedialmeasure, the Act of 18 19 was the assertion on the part ofthe State to protect its citizens from the iniurious conse-quences of their own acts. It was the death-blow of the



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principle of laissez faire, according to the teaching ofwhich each industrial employer was absolute ruler in hisfactory, mine, or worksho .

!r he character of the Bill wasclearly understood by its opponents, who urged thatlegislative interference between the free laborer and hisemployer is a violent, highly dangerous and unconstitu-tional innovation, and can be justified only u n thestrong Hound of a well-established necessisition a so found an outlet in prophesies ofy Tgoppoasses connectedwith the industry of the nation : loss of profit to the manu-facturers ; of wages to the workers; and loss of the coun-trys trade, as a consequence of the more enlarged freedomof action enjoyed by the foreign producers. At this lateday it is useless to indicate that not one of these evils wasever realized. And it is but just to add that Englandwould willingly blot from its economic records those pageswhich cover the period between the rise of the factory sys-tem and the moment when, as a result of the work ofRobert Owen, the child-labo,rer was set free from the lashan: giitzn something of God s gifts of free air and sunlight. After the r. of the Act of18 19, Owen turned his attention to t e ev resulting fromthe rapid transference of the agricultural population to themanufacturing districts, and in this connection, he fore-stalled much of the thought which has been lately expressedby French economists and publicists, who but too clearlysee their fatherland threatened with the same misfortunesand not cheered by the same hopes as those which over-spread England in the early nineteenth century.At this time also, Owen wasengaged in schemes for the relief of the manufacturing andlaboring poor, which were at variance with the then pre-vailing methods, And here again he possessed knowl-edge which seems prophetic. His words might have beenuttered only esterday :



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26 ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM The immense sums, he says,

annually raised for the poor are lavished in utter disre-gard of every principle of public justice and economy,They offer greater rewards for idleness and vice than forindustry and virtue, and thus directly operate to increasethe degradation and misery of the classes whom the aredesigned to serve. No sum, however enormous, a&ml -istered after this manner, could be productive of any otherresult-rather will pauperism and wretchedness increasealong with the increase of an expenditure thus applied.And as remedial measures,Owen proposed to do away with the annual expenditure ofpoor-rates by making the alms-houses self-supporting ;also, to raise the pauper class by a new system of edu-cation and industrial training to the level of self-respectingand intelligent toilers. It is deeply to be regretted thatthese schemes are to-day as far from realization as at themoment when they were considered+ Pauperism is sti l lan inheritance, and still upon the increase in the UnitedKingdom ; now calling for an annual expenditure of morethan one million pounds sterling. Still, one factor in thisgreat social problem has become less difficult to treat,since the days of Robert Owen. The poor are less hos-tile to those who would aid them, less suspicious of thefriendliness of those born outside their ranks. But whenthe struggle for the factory children was the fiercest, theirchampion stood alone, deprived of all encouragement butthat of his sense of right.

classes he wrote:Of the operatives and workingI had no ublic intercoursewith them in any part of the two isfands, not even inLondon, They were strangers to me and to all my viewsand future intentions, I was at all periods of my pro-gress, their true friend; while their democratic and much-mistaken leaders taught them that I was their enemy, afriend to all in authority, and that I desired to make



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ROBERT OWEN AND FACTORY REFORM 27slaves of them in these villages of unity and co-operation.

In this struggle, Owen wassupported by no party, the men of influence by whom hewas surrounded were not invariably loyal to him whentrial came, and his chief reliance lay in the public press.The opposing forces which he had most to fear were thesecret defamation of his character, and the susEnglish Liberals, which was awakened by t Kicion of thee fact thatseveral members of the Government favored Factory Re-form.Thus ever more isolated and re-proached, Owen continued to work for the oppressed,the ignorant and the weak of England. Althoughnever for a moment neglecting his cherished Ieg-islative scheme for the relief of the factory children, hecorn leted plans for cooperative stores and for a LaborExKa nge, which should meet the necessities of the un-employed : labor being accepted as the source of wealthand the standard of value. He proposed to establish acenter of exchange in which every worker who producedanything of interchangeable worth, might dispose of itand receive its value in time notes, The material neces-sariI purchased was to be paid for in these notes atmarEet value, and the time spent in its manufacture wasreckoned at sixpence the hour. With the notes receivedin payment for his labor, the maker of any given articlemight purchase, in the exchanhis work and food for his fanJ e, material for continuing y. The plan was put intoexecution in London, and, for a time,

J?ave the fairest

promises of success. But it ultimately fa ed, through theattacks of enemies, imitation by dishonest competitors, andthe lack of the immense capital requisite to maintain it.Had the plan not suffered from these elements of disinte-gration in the early sta es of its growth, it is the belief ofcompetent authorities Bat, through its workings, everyworking-man in London, and eventually every laborer inEngland might have been exempt from want of employ-



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TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS INCALIFORNIAW HAT would have been the result if the Franciscansof Spanish California and the Puritans of Ply-mouth Rock had exchanged continent-sides on coming toAmerica i? For one thing we should have missed themost superb and harmonious type of architecture knownto the new continent-the architecture of the Old Missions-an architecture that even in its ruin claims for itself akingly lineage. Only the Spaniard had the feel-

ing for beauty traceable in those massive structures raisedout of the bare earth in noble stretch and curve, belowtheir mother-mountains. And this beauty-loving Span-iard (had his caravals found anchor at Plymouth Rock)could never have uplifted these mission pillars and domeson our Atlantic Seaboard, owing to the lack of tamed In-dian allies, whose patient unrecorded work made possiblehis architectural achievements in California.The Puritans would not havecarried to California the tradition of court and corridor, oftower and parapet. Their dealing with the Indian wouldhave called for no large structures. Their conscience,dulled to beauty as was Miltons after he turned fromLAZZegmand all her lovely train, would have approvedonly such bare, bleak buildings as the old MarbleheadTown House where much treason was hatched upa ainst King George ;

Hor, at best, a simple stiff little tem-p e like the Bruton Parish Church of Virginia, where theIndian maiden Pocahontas was baptized.The Franciscans came to Cafi-fornia in 1769, led by Father Juniper0 Serra, once a doc-tor of philosophy in the College of Majorca, Spain. Theywere not flying from persecution, but were proceeding un-der the commission of Spain to colonize and Christianize



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30 TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS

the long-waiting Spanish province of Alta California.They proceeded from Mexico-two parties by land andtwo by sea-under a tremendous contagion of enthusiasm,caught on the worldy side from Galvaez, the inspectorgeneral sent out from Spain to examine and reform allbranches of government-a contagion caught on thespiritual side from the saintly Serra, a friar as eager toshelter and save savages as a Pizarro to destroy them,All Spain was in a blaze of ex-altation. At last their northern lands were to be peopledwith Christian souls ! Cathedral bells rejoiced throughthe ni ht ; rockets soared to the stars ; guns thundered tothe h s.old Ladies vied with one another in flinging theira and silver ornaments into melting pots whence strongands molded the bells for the mission towers. So witha great passion of joy in the hearts of the planners (if notalways in the hearts of the humble workers) with thefeeling of a great work to be done and the sense of beingfollowed by the eyes of a watching nation, the Francis-cans set to work at their beautiful home-making in theUpper California, Durin i all the last half of theeighteenth century, through all t e troublous times of theAmerican and the French Revolutions, there on that hal-cyon western shore, the Franciscans were building anddwelling in pastoral peace and simplicity. Four missionswere founded in 1776, the year that old Saint Pauls ofNew York began its eventful life, From the mother mis-sion erected under the San Diego palms in 1769, on to thelast straggling structure b&t among Sonomas vines in1824, a sweep of seven hundred miles, twenty-one mis-sions were built, separated, one from another, by theleagues of a days journey. The mission architecture every-where followed the Spanish-Moorish type -one-storybuildings ranged about a rectangular open court, the roomsbeing surrounded by a corridor rising from massive arches.



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32 TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS

The old baptismal font, whosewaters have fallen on ten thousand heads, is still in thebaptistry where Indian hands first built it. In the presentchapel, the old-time dining-room, the ancient confessionalis still in use, and in the new sacristy, stored in cedarnchests, are gor eous vestments, silver holy water bowls,crotiers, candeL bra, golden chalices and cruets, bells andbook-rests, all made by hand and more beautiful thanany work of these latter days.In this sacristy, lurking in darkclosets, are wooden statues of the saints, their faces enam-eled in brilliant cosmetic, their eyes still bright and sharp.The old-time pictures of Stations of the Cross are gonefrom Capistrans. But at the Mission San Fernando aset remains; and it is worth a long journey to gaze ontheir monstrous drawindevoutly wrought in a and gruesome coloring, all soonor of the Saviours passion,Crude as little Johnnies sketches on his first slate, daubedin primary pigments, made of clays and crushed flowers,colors still painfully vivid after a hundred years of Timeserasing, still the pictures show a rudimentary art-sense,and a certain feeling for perspective and values. The oldIndians of this mission still remember the Indian artistwho all one summer was painting these pictures outsidethe chapel door. Leaving the Cathedral, youcome upon the court in and near which went on thework-a-day life in the mission, All about this pillaredcourt runs a portico whose roof made a promenade, afford-ing a survey of the country for miles around. At Capis-trans, the front of the rectangle adjoining the Cathedralmade the apartments of the padres. These rooms weremerec ells with floors of colored clay, each cell containin anarrow bed, with a stretched hide for a mattrass, an 8 amission blanket for a covering. Passing down the frontof this rectangle of buildings, you come to the guest roomsand the library.



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TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS 33

Missions, by the way, were intheir time the only taverns in California, and friend orfoe might bide and break bread in them at his own desire.It was esteemed a discourtesy to pass without dismounting;and, in the first pastoral days, a handful of unreckonedsilver was always left in the guests chamber to relievehis need if his purse was Iiwaited exchange for his jafiht. A fresh horse, too, alwaysed one.Books were few in the libraeach padre, under the order of Father Serra, had broug x ;three volumes : a missal, a book of devotions and a bookof history-little short thick volumes, bound in sheepskin,caught in hasps or tied with thongs, printed in Latin orSpanish, and with no date later than 1700. Many ofthese quaint old books are yet on the shelves, coveredwith dust but readable still.Next to the library came thequarters of the unmarried overseers and soldiers. Round-ing the corner and going down the sides, you come to theshops where smiths, cobblers, carpenters and coopersplied their crafts and taught the redskinned apprentices-alI workin together on clear days in the open square.On Satur cfiys, each man was given a dole of soap andrequired to take a bath. On Sunday afternoons theopensquare was the theatre for games, bull-fights, and rudemiracle plays. About the southeast corner werethe womens quarters, where the wool was carded, spunand woven, where the clothing was made, and where,under charge of a trus *iI matron, the Indian maidens werekept secluded until t eir early marriage. The roomsalong the rear were for the mission produce-beans, peas,tallow, soap, wine. The granary was around the nextand last corner; and adjoining it was a small dark roomused for a donjon. The dining-room oined the churchbuildings. A walled garden, into whit h no woman mightever step, was near the padres apartments. Here under



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34 TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANSthese tall still palms, beside a murmuring fountain, thefriars could retire into silence to meditate and to pray.Moving among the grey quietof the crumbling halls and courts, you find it hard to im-agine the busy thronging life of other days. First intothat old life came the da of the founding. Here stood amotley sheepskin-shirte dy rowd of guards ; here croucheda gasping multitude of pagans, Indians from the hillsaround; here passed to and fro a few sandaled padres incoarse grey gowns of serge girded with hempen rope.Many Indians that day were written in the book of bap-tism; and they and the padres began at once the longwork of building San Juan Capistrans by the Sea.They began but with the rudesttools, and with no skill save only that whichsprin s fromhearts desire. The women and children dug aand fetched it in their reed and willow baskets. e clayThencame the making of the bricks, the tiles and the adobes,the kneading of the clay with the wild oat straw, and theslow baking in the rude kilns or in the hot beat of thecoppery sun. Th ere was the cutting and the carrying ofthe rushes for lath-work fastened by leathern thon s.There were long expeditions to the far mountains to elltrees for beam and rafter ; there were swift home-comingswith the unwieldy timbers. Ceremoniously blessed bya padre in the forest, the timbers, one by one, were liftedto the patient backs of a line of Indians and, transferredfrom relay to relay, the timbers were not allowed to touchthe earth until deposited on the mission grounds.

It was years before the build-ings were completed-cathedral, court and corridors ;years before the mountain waters were led in aqueductsto fountain and field ; years before the orchards andranches were set apart by cacti hedges and adobe wallsspiked with crooked cattle-horns.At each mission the neoph es,were numbered by hundreds. Punctuality, order an dn-



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TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS 95

dustry were virtues sorely needed by the Indians, hithertoas irresponsible as squirrels ; so a system of signals andbells regulated the movements of the day. The morningangelus summoned high and low to rise and pass toprayers. After this came breakfast, each neophyte bring-ing his close-woven basket for his portion of atok orparched barley mush. Bells then summoned all to theirwork-the artisans to their shops, the herders and tillersto the fields, the women to their cloth and basket weaving;the alcade of each department giving his orders in semi-military style, the mayor-domo watching over the littleindustrial monarchy, At eleven, bells rang for a dinnerof mutton, beef and succotash. At two, labor was re-sumed until the peal of the evening angelus. There wasan early sup

xr of maize and later on there were vespersin the cha . Churchly decorum was enforcedby bead& and the women sat apart from the men afterthe fashion of the Plymouth meetinThe Indians proved to be quite skfifhouses of that day.ul in church music,and travelers speak with praise of the old Gregorian chantsby the young barbarians who made their own instru-ments and copied their own score upon sheepskin pages,printed in heroic notation visible across the chapel.It was in the main a beautifulpastoral life. Industry was made the law in place of idle-ness ; responsibility pushed aside savage vagabondage ;a concept of the l i v i nH God (however crudely held) tookthe place of unclean etichism. The Indians were con-

verts in name at least, carrying on the duties assigned tothem. They were not a keen-brained race, and thoughdocile, were brutish and lazy and made little progresstoward the state of gent es de azor, or reasonable beings fitto populate the pueblos. So when the politicians ofMexico, with an itching palm for the Pious Fund, con-spired to ve the Indians political rights, the Indians werefound afY unready for citizenship. Knowing neither



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96 TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANSsavage nor civic art, more helpless in their last stain their first, they fell into dissipation or back into

e thanL rbar-ism, and the little cycle of missionary effort seemed a mis-take of love. The mission Mgime, howeverfutile it may have been, however formal and external itsreligious training, seems to have touched upon some of thebest educational and sociological thought of our time. Itmade use of the wisdom Spain had learned from herRoman conquerors : the wisdom of taking the con uered

into full partnership. The ideas of daily contact o? supe-rior with inferior; the ideas of community of property andcooperation in labor; the ideas of the union of manuallabor and mental dril-all those were rudely exemplifiedin the mission life.ral wer from the With the passing of the tempo-Kp dres,arc tecture, Van x!i began the decay of the missionmen, wandering cattle, and the rav-ages of rain and wind and sun have all joined to breakand beat the structures down to dust. But the missionarchitecture is not entirely lost, for it is springing up intofresh life in some of the newer artistic structures of theWest. The California buildings at the ChicagoWorldsFair revealed to many the charm of this Spanish-Moorishdesi n, And Stanford University, after searching thewor d for a beautiful and fitting housing, chose the mis-sion type for a model ; and now the low home-like build-ings around Stanfords pillared court, with their roofs ofred tile above the green palms make perhaps the mostunique and pleasing college structure in the world.So perhaps the greatest legacyleft by the Franciscans is their chain of stone and adobebuildings, noble even in their ruins. One large and sev-eral smaller things, bound well together-a monarch witha lovely train- this makes a harmony in architecture,sa s Ruskin. And here, at every mission in the pastoralso tudes, the cathedral rises in austere dignity with an



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TRACES OF THE FRANCISCANS 97attendant group of minor buildings carrying on the cathe-dral lines. Beautiful and harmonious isthis architecture, built of humble materials, shaped withrude tools or tient handicraft, allceri 2 by uns El ed builders who ha B

lanned in loving sin-joy and faith in theirwor . It has the fine harmony that springs from theseizure of the simple means at hand, and from the echo ofform to use. Ornamentation was not often attempted,but, huge and bluff, every building was in daily use andwith proper care would have stood far into the centuries,These buildings have also the beauty that rises from adap-tation to environment, Balanced, unified, symmetrical,crowning gentle mesa or valley slope, they are of thenever failing proportions that seem to multiply and meltinto the mystery of the changeable hills beyond-hillssometimes tawny and soft as deer-skin, sometimes rich incolor as the burnt summer-hues of ,Persian praying rugs,sometimes irised like the rosy lilac of the wild doves breast.Built of the earth, these old structures seem at times as ifnot made by man but by Nature. For they repeat inlong stretches and long swells the contours of the girdlinhills about them, and give back their color tones of bu fand dun and tan and warm purple and rusty red. Indeed,under the wizarding of the night they seem as if they haddreamed over the dim fields since antiquity, even as theSphinx has brooded fLibya. or centuries over the grey sands of



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A WORD CONCERNING SOME GREATRELIGIOUS ORDERS

F OR every mind alive to the significance of history, thetraces of the great ecclesiastical orders in Americaare frauli ht with interest. They tell a story of obedienceto an i ea, of personal sacrifice, of the power of unitedeffort which refreshes and consoles in an age of material-ism. However far the world has advanced beyond thestage of science and philosophy which prevailed in thetimes of these pilgrim friars and priests, reverence is yetdue to them as to a constructive social force of the firstimportance. Especially is this true of the Franciscans,whose founder, the rapt visionary of As&i, still compelsthe homage of free-thinkers as well as of churchmen; stillattracts both writers and readers to consider the lesson ofhis life. The founding of the Franciscanand the Dominican orders-which events were nearlysynchronous-was the last great rally of the Church topreserve the unity of Christendom. It was the age ofPope Innocent III., who almost attained world-sovereiand this by the force of a spirit that stood for f nty,gress, freedom and justice, as was roven by litica protion in English affairs relating to tK Kps interven-e Magna Charta.It was this great pope who gavethe Franciscans their charter, and the Order was swornto poverty, chastity and obedience. Hard and asceticrules without doubt, but such as were necessary to propa-gate truth and to develo character.thusiasm of the spiritu ap And in the first en-crusade against vice and world-liness, the walls of the Franciscan mother-church at Assisiflamed out, beneath the pencil of Giotto, with the joys ofwhat in modern speech are called plain living and highthinking. With imperfect technique, but with a powerof story-telling scarcely surpassed in the history of the



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SOME GREAT RELIGIOUS ORDERS 99

plastic arts, Saint Francis is seen espousinAround him stand the scoffers of the world ;

Poverty.!&Ie he andhis bride are goaded and pricked by the great thorn-plantswhich encompass them.trial endured and the bloodAnd yet, as a reward of thesplants bloom with roses, t, from space to space theTEnpicture with all its intensesymbolism, isof the time a? et a transcript of an every-daong a Tuscan or Umbrian & assemblageghway. Itwarned the mediaeval Italian, tempted by the luxury ofthe city republics which was derived from Oriental com-

merce. It appeals yet to-day to the disciple of Emerson ;to all those who see clearly enough into the future to knowthat the permanence of society depends upon the mainte-nance of stern virtues. Another picture of as intensesymbolic meaning is one found on the walls of the basilicaof St. John Lateran, Rome- that mother and head of allthe Christian churches-which represents St. Francisand St, Dominic upholding the Car of the Church : a Sainton either side supportinhistory as well as to his holy charge. To lovers ofta e devout children of the faith ofRome the meanin of the allegory is clear.plained and exten f It may be ex-ed to those less penetrating, by a simplereference to the course of the two monks so distinand to the work of the orders which they foundeY ished,. TheFranciscans were to exemplify the love of Cod toward theuniverse, to carry the message of the brotherhood of manthroughout the world; to labor for the advent of an era ofpeace and good-will. Hence the legends of the tendernessof St. Francis for all created things; the stories of his ser-mons to birds and fishes, which to the sympathetic readerare not childish fairy tales, but which, instead, incorporatemodern thought under the in enuous semblance of medi-aevalism, just as the technicaEy imperfect art of the periodburns and flames with a spirituality superior to all restric-tions of time and place, It is indeed true that the purity



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40 SOME GREAT RELIGIOUS ORDERS

and religious fervor of the Franciscans deuickly, so that less than a century after t

enerated all too% t e foundation ofe order, Dante, with a bitterness which only Tuscanvituperative can attain, scathed the grey friars who wentabout hidin devils within their cowls. Still the exam-ple of Saint % rancis was set for all time, and his workbroadcast. The preachinto Wickliffe the idea of the E methods of his followers gaveollards whom he sent throughthe lanes and the by-paths of England to carry the Bibleto the people. The vows which made up the rule of St,Francis came to be pronounced in continents of whose ex-istence the founder never dreamed, and centuries after thehands and feet which received the Sti mata had turned todust, savages were Christianized by t e story of the self-denial, pity and tenderness of the monk of Assisi,A great idea oncethe world is never lost, and the Rule oP rejected intoSt. Franciswrought its purifying work upon the men of all nations,classes and conditions who gave themselves up to followit, The very acceptance of the three requisites of mem-bership in the Order could not fail to benefit the individualand to favor the cause of civilization in times of violence,and in the new countries in which the successors of St.Francis established their missions.Together with their essentialsof self-restraint, these friars carried with them the rudi-ments of all the sciences and the principles of all the artsthat make for the elevation and the beauty of life. Assimi-lative like all travelers, they gained from each people amongwhom they lived and labored, useful or aesthetic ideas.With the sure sense which comes from long-continued,well-directed training they adapted the sciences and thearts to new environments, as we find them to have donein the case of the Gothic-Moorish architecture which ren-ders so picturesque the mission districts of California,These towers, colonnaded courts, and curiously archeddoorways, aided by the enchantment of the surrounding



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SOME GREAT RELIGIOUS ORDERS 41

nature, must have created for the exiles a second Spain,reproducing their lost and distant home almost to the pointof deception; while the names of St, Francis, St. Claraand St. Antonio, given to the new places in which theylabored, constantly brought to their remembrance the livesand examples which they were set to emulate. TheFranciscans of California are comparable with the Jesuitsof Peru, who raising everywhere possible their domedchurches, thus multiplied for themselves the vision ofSt. Peters, which was for them the symbol and type ofRome. It is the foreign and old-worldcharacter given by the Spanish Franciscans to the mis-sions in California which to-day attracts the traveler, whois often seized with a desire to imitate structure and fittingsin surroundings quite hostile to their effect. The missionarchitecture demands the clear atmosphere, the play ofnatural color, the background of mountains by which thefriars profited when they reared their simple imitations ofstill more historic and admirable edifices. And thefittings of the missions were the proper belongings of menliving under the imperious rule of a high ideal and a artfrom ease and luxury. An incentive to labor, a ca H tohigher thought, to the principles of St. Francis adapted toa wider and wiser world than that of the thirteenth cen-tury, cries out from every bench and chair and desk of theSpanish missions, just as the inanimate objects of Savon-arolas cell have each a voice, strangely like that of theDominican friar whose compelling power brought theworldly and splendor-loving Florentines to the point ofburning in public their luxuries and superfluities.



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42 SOME GREAT RELIGIOUS ORDERS



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A VISIT TO THE SHOP OF WILLIAMMORRISA STROLL along Oxford St,, London, in the socialseason, convinces one that the En lish do notknow how to display goods. Here is one o the best re-tail sections in the largest city in the world, and the win-dows are so crowded with wares that, to borrow a popu-lar saying, one cannot see the forest because of the trees.As one nears Hyde Park, the grade of shops improves,yet within two blocks of Rotten Row, the parade groundof fashion and wealth, the modestly tasteful window atNo. 449 Oxford street, attracts little attention. It is notcrowded to repletion as the neighboring shop windowsare, and one thinks all the stock is shown. Perhaps in its, it lacks the al&in quality of the Parisian or$?$&ng effectiveness of Be American show-winddws.It is so quiet and modest that one is surprised, when al-most unconsciously he stops for a second glance. Thenthe few artistically arranli ed but really fine pieces of metalwork, pottery and drape stuffs, compel a glance at the

si n above, which reads : William Morris & Co., like anyit er tradesman. Ah! here in the busiest part ofbusy London, with its rush and roar of traffic, its fog anddirt, its hurrying crowds, its barter and sale, the dreamerof the Earthly Paradise, the idle singer of an emptyday as he called himself, has left his mark. Dropping hisbirth-right of ease, the young man, William Morris,known only as the graceful literary artificer, became inhis maturity, the master of many crafts, the strenuousSocialist orator, the active apostle of brotherhood, the au-



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44 A VISIT TO THE MORRIS SHOPthor of that most perfect of Utopias, News From No-where. It is a long distance from NewsFrom Nowhere to No. 449 Oxford St. It would seemthat the author of such a book, could not be practical ; t&tthe founder of so strong and practical a business, could nothave written the Utopia. Morris did both.Enterinpressed by its business-like air an 8 the store, one is im-yet it is entirely differ-ent in fitting from its neighbors. There are no longstretches of counters piled high with oods and with wait-ing clerks behind them. Here is a gpias case containingsome fine embroidery or tapestry; there a table, or cabinet, simply but strongly made, with dignified, pleasinglines, in the natural wood, and without the hi h lossgiven by cheap vanish. These are specimens of t eX or-ris furniture, On them are pieces of brass,metal, pottery, tiles, etc., examples of other crafts, whichMorris, the master craftsman taught the present work-men. These too have graceful shapes, soft, pleasing col-oring and scanty ornamentation which seems but thenatural flowering of the makers love of beauty.In a place where the right shinesthrough, is a painted glass window, and, on a neighboringtable, some small panes of the Morris glass. With lightbehind, these produce the effect of myriad jewels massedinto meaning. The few pieces of painted lass in stockare for sale, but no more can be obtaine B at present, asthe Morris Glass Works have enough orders for threeyears in advance. Near the glass, were a fewieces of the Arras tapestry.! This branch of the businessas also orders for years to come. OnIy trained work-men and women can make these exquisite products, Andnot only training but natural aptitude and artistic instinctare needed, but these last are much more common than



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A VISIT TO THE MORRIS SHOP 45

is generally thou ht.lass is usually ta

A piece of tapestry or of stainedI e work of one person and must be theowering of that persons individuality under favorableconditions.forever. Then it is a thing of beauty and a joyThe largest piece shown in theshop was some 4 x 2 1-2 feet in dimensions, and repre-sented St. George and the Dragon. It was a wonderfulblending of soft but brilliant color. The price was 70pounds, or $350. Most of this tapestry and glass goes intopublic buildings. The price puts it beyond the reach ofany but the very rich, and the Company prefers that theseexquisite works of art, be where the people can see them.There is not the same feeling about other products likewall-paper, stuffs, carpets, etc., as these are reproductionsof artistic designs. In a rack along the wall wererolls of chintzes and light silks, and, at the back, behind aprettydamasa

rill-work screen, were samples of silks, velvets,s and wall-papers. The patterns on many ofthese were designed by Morris, Burne-Jones, Rossetti andother famous artists. A number have been reproduced byAmerican manufacturers, but never with uite the sameeffect. In the Morris fabrics, the stuffs at t1 e base are thebest of their kind. The blue and white cotton chintz ismade of the best cotton fibre twisted into strong thread andwell-woven into substantial cloth. The same is true ofthe finest brocade or damask.No aniline dyes are used and

nothind but fast colors. It is a peculiarity of the vegeta-ble an animal dyes that they harmonize with one another,do not glitter, and rarely fade; when they do, they soften,but do not dull. The aniline or coal-tar dyes are muchmore brilliant and make more strikin effects, but theyrarely harmonize with the vegetable yes, and often donot harmonize with one another. Most of them rapidlyfade and when they do, it is not to a softer shade, but to a



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46 A VISIT TO THE MORRIS SHOP~-different and much duller color, Contrast this with thepeculiar, age-softening of the vegetable-dyed old tapestries !The effect there is very lovely. If the dyes had been ani-line, several of the colors, in fading, would have than edtheir character entirely. The result would have been f ulIand inharmonious. Stuffs that are made only to sell, areusually bright with aniline dyes and in interior decorations,the result is often exasperating to the artist,Ah ! what a world of soft, rich,blended colorings and flowing designs was revealed inthese stuffs and papers. Colorings and designs that do notforce themselves on the eye, do not stridently clamor forrecognition, do not stun, but produce an effect of quiet,dignified, restful beauty. We sta ed a short time withJoseph Cadbury, Es .,R the wealt Ky cocoa manufacturerand Quaker philant ropist, of the Manor House nearBirmingham. The dining room was decorated by Wm.Morris & Co. It is a large, lofty room with two greatbow windows to the east and south, and full of sun. It isfitted in dark greens and blues, with wood-work and fur-niture of dark oak, A stately organ fills one end, and onone side are doors, a buffet, and a low book-case,Windows with a noble outlook occupy the other two sides.Stately curtains of some dark stuff, undraped, but hangingin simple, almost severe folds, give dignity to the windows.There are divans with cushions, books, a writing desk andevidences of livin , but none of the bric-a-brac that cluttersmany American a ouses. The furniture is simple in form,honest in design and workmanship, and there is not toomuch of it. Unobtrusive but soft and pleasing rugs coverthe floor. Other details I cannot recall, but only the gen-eral impression of dignified beauty, a stately spaciousness,warmth, light and rest. Meals in that room, though ofbread and water, are banquets. Such a room is an aid tonoble living. This, I take it, is the aim of the



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A VISIT TO THE MORRIS SHOP 47

Morris decorations : that mans material environmentshould rest and inspire. In a large book-case at the rearof the second floor of the Morris shop, was a completeset of the Morris books. The most sumptuous one is theKelmscott Chaucer, printed on hand-made paper, withtype specially designed for it by Morris, with ink of ablackness and fineness, and letter-press of a clearness sel-dom seen, and with illustrations by Morris, Burne-Jones,Rossetti and others. The edition was small, is out ofprint now and is worth $500. This volume was not forsale. Since Morris death, the Company has stoppedprinting, and the Kelmscott books are growing scarce andvaluable, They certainly are exquisite specimens of theprinters art. Near by, on this second floor,were rugs of the same characteristics as the stuffs andpaper on the first floor, also embroideries, and an embroid-ery room; above were work-shops. Of course, only asmall part of the work is done in London, Morris abhorred great cities, and thought that they were excrescenceson social life. In his News From Nowhere, London israzed to the ground, save a few houses preserved as curiosi-ties. The workshops at Merton Abbey are beautifullysituated in a lovely country and have nothing of a factoryair. Men and women go there for work, not for wages.The conditions are such and the treatment such that itis work they love and their work is honest and intelligent.On their bill-head, Morris &Co. announce themselves as makers of painted glass, tiles,embroidery, Arras tapestry, chintzes, silks, velvets, etc.,wall-papers, carpets and furniture decorations. Their workis~not ow in price. It is not meant for the masses. But ithas a great effect directly on the mansions and palaces ofEngland, and indirectly on the homes of all the people inEngland, in America and all over the world,As far as his age and time



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48 THE PLANNING OF A HOME -would allow, Morris embodied in a practical, successful,working business, the principle that he so clearly statedwhen he wrote : Love of nature in all its forms must bethe ruling spirit of works of art, and the brain that guidesthe hand must be healthy and hopeful, must be keenlyalive to the surroundings of our own days.

THE PLANNING OF A HOME0 N a spring evening, three persons were seated in asmall reception room of a middle-class city dwelling.Through t

Documents

The Craftsman - 1902 - 02 - February