The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling

174 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST

Kalamazoo, he discovered his old collaborator in Switzerland,
Simon Schmidt, now working as a tanner. The little settlement at
the time had only thirteen Germans, but a number of Hollanders
lived near by.
By September, Weitling reached Milwaukee, where a colony
of interesting and intellectual Germans gave him a warm welcome,
echoed by a friendly Milwaukee press. He was invited to stay at
the home of G. F. Becker, a colleague from Paris days. The singing
society of the Arbeiter und Bildungsverein gave a reception for
its distinguished visitor, and here Weitling met its director of four-
part singing who was another of his old friends, a communist tailor
from Switzerland.

In this "German Athens," the rising empire of the German
brewery barons, Weitling found that wages and working condi­
tions were bad, but that beer gardens and music were plentiful.
Various German dialects were spoken on the streets, and there
were many excellent bakeries. Milwaukee, at the time, supported
three German papers and a German school with a staff of three
teachers. Its Freie Gemeinde met in its own building and was able
to pay Eduard Schroeter, its "speaker," a salary of $300 a year.
The cost of living was low, butter selling at eleven cents a pound,
eggs at seven cents a dozen, and beer for five cents a large glass.
"We live here as in a German city," Weitling wrote sentimentally,
"hear singing in the streets in the evening, see German signs and
churches, read German papers, and go to German entertain­
ments."
On the other hand, Weitling pointed out, real-estate values had
gone up sharply, so that lots on which hunters had shot wild ducks
only six years earlier now sold for $1,010, the unearned increment
lining the pockets of speculators. He did not like the large number
of Catholic churches in Milwaukee, the wretched bridges in the
German sections of the the city, the large number of Democrats,
and the numerous lodges to which so many of the population be­
longed.
His stay in Milwaukee proved very pleasant, despite a heat