Feedback on George F. Elmendorf's Idea For Mother's Research Center

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Another thing about your readers, MOTHER: Most of us have been living rather inflation-free for the last few years, while everyone else has been struggling along. That's because we've been converting the muscles in our arms and in our heads directly into goods without going through the intermediary of money. Most of us don't have much faith in the dollar, nor do we feel that capitalism is a very good solution to the world's problems. Therefore, we are, for the most part, penniless. We are, however, abundantly wealthy in goods, tools, comfort, guts, skills, and-most precious-all of the knowledge we have gained about how to survive and live well on a piece of land with almost no money and to make that land better than when we found it. You can read all the books you want, but you'll never get what you need to know except from experience . . . and that's what we've got.

On the other hand, the people with the money don't have the experience. If you carry out your proposal in its present form, what you'll end up with is a bunch of folks who invest their cash and set to work with no skills and-most important of all-no idea how much labor and discomfort homesteading takes. You'll lose money in the long run because of failures and dropouts and too much administration.

Finally, it's absolutely disastrous to imagine that a community of 5,000 could be psychologically sound. Five hundred would be the outside limit. You've got to be able to deal face to face with every person you do business with in order to have the kind of emotional security and concern for your fellow man that a group provides at best. You'd do better, MOTHER, to establish a network of small communities throughout America and elsewhere. Allow each to run itself completely independently and to pursue its own specialties, and set up a communications system among them. As travel becomes less feasible, it'll be a lot easier to spread the gospel, so to speak, if more people over a wider area have access to these now lifestyles.

In conclusion: If someone could offer us land in, say, five-or ten-acre plots where we knew there would be other homesteaders, I think a lot of us would go for it. We'd turn the place into a good, sound community. If you're thinking about a big expensive coop, then throw this letter in the wastebasket.

J.G.
Minnesota

Would we be interested in "rural, decentralized, ecological, organic living", in association with MOTHER'S Research Center? Our answer is a loud YES! Keep us up to the moment on developments. We don't want to appear overanxious, but we'd like to see this thing got started forthwith. The sooner the better! Yesterday, if possible.

R. & S.
California

The Research Center community idea is excellent, but I think the figure of $10,000 is unrealistic ... and anyhow, 1,000 people times $10,000 equals $10 million! A more down-to-earth scale would be 1,000 acres with 250 families on four-acre plots, all paying about $1,000 plus the cost of land and house. Then folks would have to lay down perhaps $2,500-a much more reasonable figure than $10,000-and MOTHER would still have a quarter of a million dollars to set up communal facilities and carry on research.

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