The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 337
582 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Burning Bush
dining hall. It was well constructed but of rather shabby ma-
terial. Its front foundation was of brick, imported, for there
was no brick kiln in the community, and the rear foundation
was of logs. All of the other buildings have perished, but the
ruins of this structure still remain. Before electricity was in
common use in that countryside, the colony had a large, steam-
run dynamo, as well as running water and a sewer system. The
living quarters were small but warm and comfortable. Each
married man and his family had a house to themselves; single
persons lived in groups in larger houses, women in one place
and men in another.
The economic organization of the Burning Bush was some-
thing quite striking in Protestant America: every man who
joined the Metropolitan church gave it all of his earthly pos-
sessions and lived from the common storehouse of the member-
ship. This communistic practice attained its most nearly perfect
state in the agricultural communities. These were intended to be
self-sustaining economic units where all strove together for the
general good. All wealth was held in common, and everyone
who lived on the land ate from the communal table.
All business of this community was carried on in the name
of the Metropolitan Institute, of which Farson was president
and Edwin Harvey, secretary-treasurer. Though neither of
these men lived in the colony, they visited it often and had an
active interest in it. There was always in the colony a manager
who carried on the business dealings with the outside world.
The first of these managers was Harry L. Harvey, who later
went with his wife to India as a missionary. At the time of
the dissolution of the colony, the manager was a man named
Carson.
The Metropolitan Institute had various resources. First, there
was the property contributed to the common storehouse by the
members on joining the church; this source was inconsequential
after the earliest days, for people with much wealth did not
join in numbers. To raise capital for the venture, coupon notes
of a total face value of $150,000 were sold, probably at a dis-
count,4 to the farmers of the Middle West and to small investors
in Chicago; few of the notes were ever redeemed. There was
some revenue from surplus agricultural products and some in-
come from other industries carried on in the community. Then,
4Statement by J. L. Vandever, Tyler, Texas, personal interview.337
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/412/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.