simple in form, without the usual complications of the life of even
three hundred years ago, much less of that of today. And yet this
communal or Socialistic system in Plymouth resulted in such a marked
lack of interest among the inhabitants, the whole arrangement worked so
badly, that the settlement verged on failure and destruction. The system
virtually was abolished after only three years trial in the year 1623
and good results showed themselves immediately. "Individual effort
returned with the prospect of individual gain." The cause of the failure
is evident,--the system was opposed to the fundamental facts of human
nature.

But what is "human nature"? Let us take a definition from the Socialists
themselves. "If the phrase means anything at all, it means man, with his
loves and hates, his desire for pleasure and aversion to pain, his noble
and ignoble traits, his interests, feelings, beliefs, prejudices,
ignorance, knowledge, fears and hopes. All these motives, desires and
emotions vary in each individual, some of them usually dominating over
the rest, yet all more or less active. Some one or more of them may be
cultivated by favorable environment or almost crushed by an unfavorable
environment. A saint may be dragged down to hell by adverse conditions
and a rake win eminence in the same environment. If the cultured
educator ... was suddenly forced to earn his living in a vile mining
center, his polish would soon wear off, and he would brood over a world
that now strikes him as on the whole all right. If cast adrift at sea,
within a week the wolf stare of hunger would make him and his associates
seriously consider casting lots as to who should be eaten. Later the
feast might actually begin and ... human nature find it easy enough to
gnaw the shin bone of a fellow castaway. This thing we call human nature
is a bundle of emotions and desires that will find expression in
different ways, according to the environment in which it is located, as