COMMUNIA, IOWA 245
geese, and ducks. One hundred dollars was available in ready cash.
The total value of the colony was estimated at $6,500 with debts
amounting to only $500.
As far as the physical comforts were concerned, Weitling re
ported an abundance of ham at each meal and the necessary quanti
ties of bread, butter, cheese, potatoes, pumpkins, and green veg
etables. However, there was a noted shortage of milk and sugar.
Coffee and buttermilk were the everyday drinks of the colonists.
A keg of brandy, from Cabet's distillery at Nauvoo, was reserved
for special occasions. A cellar had been set aside, and barley had
been planted to make possible the brewing of lagerbier. Four
linden trees had been planted around a well and with typical Ger
man sentimentality the spot had been named Wirtshauszu den vier
Linden. The colony also owned 160 acres located on both banks
of the Volga, only one hour's walk from the main cluster of
houses. Here it was planned to build in the following year a saw
mill, a distillery, and a flour mill at a cost of $3,000 with funds
provided by the Arbeiterbund.
Weitling's first visit to Communia was a fateful one. From that
time on, he and his entire program of pensions, social insurance,
banks, and co-operatives were inextricably involved in the affairs
of a colony which had little chance of succeeding. The drainage
of the funds of the Arbeiterbund into the colony began immedi
ately and continued until more than $10,000 had been sunk in
the venture. Yet neither mounting losses, internal bickering, litiga
tion, nor personal abuse could shake Weitling's faith in an enter
prise; he clung tenaciously to it until the final crash in 1855
dragged him and his movement into ruin.
As soon as Die Republik der Arbeiter announced the affiliation
of colony and Bund, contributions and applications for member
ship began to come in from simple souls who had faith in Weitling's leadership and expected to find security and happiness in a
community of equality based upon what they had read in his
books. A sight draft drawn on the St. Louis Arbeiterverein for
$500 was honored by that body and the money was spent immedi-