eneral scientific
method proposed by Mr. Owen for the abolition of poverty, ignorance and
crime, it will be the greatest step of progress ever seen in the history
of the world."

In proposing that the clergy, nobility and mill-owners should unite for
the good of mankind, Mr. Hase was not guilty of subtle humor or ironical
suggestion. He was an honest and sincere man who had been exposed to the
contagious enthusiasm of Mr. Owen.

Owen was fifty-seven years of age, practical man that he was, before he
realized that the clergy, the nobility and the rich mill-owners had
already entered into an unconscious pact to let mankind go to
Gehenna--just so long as the honors, emoluments and dividends were
preserved. That is to say, the solicitation of the Church is not and
never has been for the welfare of the people; it is for the welfare of
the Church for which churchmen fight. All persecution turns on this
point.

If the stability of the Church is threatened, the Churchmen awake and
cry, "To Arms!" In this respect the Church, the nobility and vested
capital have everything in common--they want perpetuity and security.
They seek safety. All of the big joint-stock companies had in their
directorates members of the nobility and the clergy. The bishops held
vast estates--they were Lords.

Robert Owen did not represent either the Church or the nobility. He was
a very exceptional and unique product; he was a workingman who had
become a philanthropic capitalist. He was a lover of humanity, filled
with a holy zeal to better the condition of the laborer.

* * * * *

The mills at New Lanark were making money, but the shareholders in
London were not satisfied with their dividends. They considered Owen's
plans for educating the workingman chimerical. In one respect they knew
that Owen was sane: he could take the raw stock and produce the quality
of goods that had a market value. He had trained up a valuable and
skilled force of foremen and workers. Things were prosperous and would
be much more so if Owen would only cease dreaming dreams and devote
himself to the commercial end of the game.

If he would not do this, then he must buy their stock or sell them a
controlling interest of his own.

He chose the latter.

In Eighteen Hundred Twenty-five, when he was fifty-five years old, he
sailed for America. He gave lectures in New York, Boston, Philadelphia
and Washington on his new order of economics. He