168 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
one of his most charming addresses, a speech which had little to do
with propaganda, and which was devoted largely to the subject
of immigration and what contributions the Germans could make
to the development of true republicanism in America. The speaker
was honest enough to report that not all of the 1,400 were inter
ested in the intellectual menu offered them. Apparently only about
400 listened to the address, while the others eagerly turned to the
food and drink to which the fifty-cent admission charge entitled
them, and Weitling complained that he had to yell himself hoarse
to be heard above the resulting tumult.
In July, 1851, Die Republik der Arbeiter reported that the
founder was ready to begin an official propaganda tour to build
circulation for the paper and to enroll members for an Arbeiter¬
bund. Weitling announced that he would issue a complete consti
tution in English, French, and German for the Workingmen's
League as soon as enough members had enrolled, and that monthly
payments to a pension fund would begin soon. When the member
ship reached 3,000, he would call a congress of delegates which
would represent all local groups.
Interested wherever he went in reporting on prices, rents,
wages, and conditions of employment, Weitling found that wages
were higher and rents lower in Connecticut than in New York. A
day laborer received $1.00 a day, and skilled workers as much as
$10 a week, and in the factories, he found employees working a
thirteen-hour day for $14 a week. Board and lodging were ob
tainable for $2. 75 a week. Weitling was surprised to find a German
community of about 300 in Bridgeport, and he learned that
Eduard Schroeter, a prominent figure among German-American
liberals and radicals, had been there before him to organize a con
gregation of freethinkers; apparently the Germans of Bridgeport
had no church as yet. Fifteen joined the Arbeiterbund and sub
scribed for Die Republik der Arbeiter. Weitling seized this op
portunity to visit the home of P. T. Barnum, a name which Ger
man editors used frequently as a synonym for American humbug.