COMMUNIA, IOWA 265
Bund had received full security for their investments, a promise
which obviously could mean no more than issuing stock certifi
cates to cover outstanding claims.
Weitling replied from New York, and addressed his appeal to
the Gemeinde still loyal to the Arbeiterbund, which at the time
perhaps had not more than 500 members. Many of his followers
had been offended by his frank reports on the events and person
alities involved in Communia's stormy career, and so he decided
that henceforth his duty would be "to quiet and heal" and to
protect his organization against "danger and loss." With admi
rable restraint he ignored the attacks on his personal character,
pleaded for unity, promised to conciliate Kreter and induce him
to act as treasurer of the Bund again, and agreed to stop all pay
ments to the colony for the present. He announced his readiness
to transfer the title to the forty acres of mill land and proposed
another new charter. His figures showed conclusively that the
opposition had only $4,500 at stake in Communia, whereas the
total investments of the Arbeiterbund were nearly $16,000. He
already had delivered the earlier "deed of trust" to his friend,
Heinrich Richter, with instructions to hold it as security for the
Bund and to deliver it to the colony only when a new deed had
been made out to the Arbeiterbund as a whole. Instead, Richter
had it recorded at the County Recorder's Office.
Weitling's complete answer to "The Forty Acre Question" was
published in Die Republik der Arbeiter on February 4, 1854. He
had been directed to appear on May 22 in the Iowa courts to
answer the charges pending against him. Although readily ad
mitting his mistakes, he accepted full responsibility for his efforts
to protect the Arbeiterbund and attributed his troubles with the
colony to the fact that certain individuals still had individual prop
erty rights in Communia. He believed that a confidential letter
addressed "To the Married" at the time when the women of the
colony were in revolt was responsible for many of his difficulties.
His frankness in reporting the actual state of affairs in Die Re
publik der Arbeiter certainly had not helped matters, but he was