204 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNISTprinciple and procedure settled by an appeal to these basic sources.
The founder and chief promoter of the Arbeiterbund promptly
provided himself with an account book, in which he planned to
keep an exact record of the receipts from each member of the
organization, with such additional data as the date and place of
admission to the Bund, a record of the individual's initial deposit
of $10, and of his monthly dues of $1.00, and other notations about
the member's travels and personal experiences. At various points
in his career, Weitling was charged with profiteering at the ex
pense of the workers. The evidence is to the contrary. His account
book was preserved when, late in life, he destroyed a large part
of his personal papers, and it reveals a man of scrupulous honesty
and simple living habits. His own name appears in the book as the
first member of the Bund. He paid his initial deposit of $10 and
his monthly dues like everyone else. These payments totalled
$180.80. His expenses for his various activities were held to a
surprisingly low figure. Each member had a membership book in
which his dues were receipted, and Weitling carried a book like
all the rest. The accounts which have been preserved for 1851,
1852, and 1853 include the names of some 500 members, arranged
in columns, and also a list of the "withdrawals."
Throughout 1851, largely because of his own activities in the
field, various local groups and many individuals joined the Bund
and sent their payments to headquarters in New York. These
revenues came from many cities, and they are not to be confused
with the larger sums which local bodies raised for the establish
ment of co-operative stores and workshops or for workers' meet
ing halls in their own localities. These Workers' Halls (Arbeiter
Hallen) were social and cultural centers for the German element
as well as meeting places for labor groups or mutual-insurance so
cieties. Weitling personally visited a number of these halls and
addressed the brethren during the five years of his leadership and
periodically printed model constitutions for such workers' bene
fit societies. The receipt of the first issue of Die Republik der
Arbeiter in San Antonio was responsible for the formation of an