120 OVER ON THE ISLAND

Enough for a year, our guide informed us. Some of it was hauled from a distance of ten or fifteen miles. I wonder how long the wood will last. And then, what happens?

As we left the village, we met a non-communist. They were not church-going people, he told us. They were Russellites, and held services in each other’s homes. He left us, and we sat down thought- fully by the road to think over what we had seen and heard of the strangest and most interesting community on Prince Edward Island.

Utopia? Perhaps! It depends, I suppose, on the way one looks at things. To most people, however, increased prosperity would lead them to want increased luxuries. If jealousy can be abolished, and apparently it has been here, and co-operation sub— stituted in its place, a great deal may be accomplished. “Keeping up with the Joneses” will never have a Chance to work havoc in Belle River, for they are all “ Joneses. ”

We wandered along the road and sat down on the edge of a field to think over what we had learned.

“Has it ever been tried before?”

“I think so. At East Aurora, in New York State, there was a co-operative plan in full swing years ago. There was, too, the Oneida Community in the same state.”

Utopia! It dates back so far—back past Sir Thomas More—back to the thoughtful Plato. How pleased Plato and More would be if they only knew that somewhere—somewhere—even in a country they had never heard of, two groups of people were basing their lives on the principles they had outlined. More came down through the years regarded as a