Return to Milestones Vol. 4, No. 4
FROM: The Harmony Society in Pennsylvania, published in 1937 by the William Penn Association.
A great deal of the contact which the society had with the outer world was confined to Germans. When Charles Nordhoff, preparing his series of sketches of communistic societies, visited Economy in 1875, he found that the 100 hired laborers and their children were German, as were the 30 adopted children of the Economites. German was the principal language spoken, but all members also spoke English.
In addition to adopting children and educating them, the Economites carried on a number of other philanthropic enterprises. Disasters such as the Pittsburgh fire in 1845, the Chicago fire in 1871 and the first Johnstown flood found them generous. They sent money to immigrant families detained at port; they donated the ground in Beaver Falls for establishment of Geneva College; they gave or loaned large sums to help individuals and restored payments to mortgagors whose property had reverted to the society.
Excessive generosity partly contributed to the decrease in fortunes of the Harmony Society. But there were other, more important causes. The Beaver Falls works all operated at a loss, and many of the workmen could not meet the payments on their homes. These losses the society shouldered. In Economy hired laborers gradually replaced the society members in field and shop-laborers who were paid as well as fed and lodged-whose care cost the society a $100,000 loss annually. Then there was the matter of the PittsburghChartiers & Youghiogheny Railroad investment, which eventually lost for the society $500,000. Altogether, at the beginning of April, 1892, the Society was $1,474,958.58 in debt.
The ironic part of the situation was that while only three persons, Trustee Duss, Judge Henry Hice and an accountant, James Dickson, knew the precarious financial condition of the society, the public and members believed it to be more wealthy than ever. For years the press had carried stories which made the public believe that the Harmonites owned property amounting to at least $4,000,000. Even the older trustees, Jonathan Lenz and Jacob Henrici, were unaware of true conditions, never having kept adequate accounts. "They are not to be blamed," John Duss afterward wrote, "under the circumstances having always been self-supporting, the keeping of accounts must have seemed to them a waste of time."
From this situation there arose a series of events which had repercussions lasting almost to the present day. When Duss succeeded Trustee Lenz in 1890, he began an investigation of the society's assets and liabilities. Quickly sensing the state of affairs, but not daring to let the news become public for fear of sending the organization into bankruptcy and the old members to the poor house, he began his difficult task of financial readjustment.
His first step was to sell the railroad stock for $400,000. In an effort to reduce expenditures he paid the day laborers adequate wages and required them to maintain themselves. Then sales of other properties were put through, but still the condition of the Economy Savings Institution was precarious. Finally, in October, 1892, he obtained through his friend, J. T. Brooks, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Lines, a $400,000 loan on 2,800 acres of the Harmony site, and a personal loan of $200,000. By manipulating these funds and selling much of the collateral, Duss was able to steady the wobbling legs of the society.
But these financial affairs, involved as they were, may be considered of small proportions compared to the avalanche of law-suits that followed. Senior Trustee Henrici died on Christmas day, 1892. In February, 1893, a bill in equity was brought in Beaver Court, by Benjamin and Henry Feucht and several others, against the society. The member plaintiffs charged, among other things, that mismanagement of affairs on the part of Trustee Duss had reduced the society's finances by $2,000,000.
Instrumental in settling this case was the evidence of the society's affairs, as revealed in the statement prepared for Duss by the accountant and signed by Trustee Henrici before his death. The court, which had been asked to appoint a receiver, dissolve the society and divide the assets, refused the petition and thoroughly vindicated Duss.
On the heels of the first suit came a second. This time an attorney, who almost 10 years before had failed in a similar action, dug up a law passed in 1855 which prohibited any religious society from accumulating more than $5,000 a year. When the case was argued before the Attorney General, the latter decided that the act of 1855 was not applicable, as the Harmony Society had not been organized as a religious body.
At about the same time 107 persons who claimed to be George Rapp's heirs, headed by the German consul at Philadelphia, sought to take out letters of administration on the George Rapp estate. The Registrar and Recorder, as had his predecessor in 1885, refused to grant the letters, and Judge Wickham in dismissing- the appeal told the claimants it would be just as profitable for them to "take out letter on the estate of Adam as on the estate of George Rapp." Nevertheless, similar action has been threatened several times since, despite the fact that possibility of any other heirship ceased when George Rapp's interest in the society was vested in his granddaughter, Gertrude.
Among other threatening squalls successfully weathered was the case of a woman who had been injured in the laundry, who received damages outside of court. Another so-called heir of the society's founders who threatened suit was put off. A laborer who sued for a year's wages found his efforts vain when a jury accepted evidence that final settlement had been made with him.
Then came the hurricane! In June, 1894, a bill in equity against the trustees, members of the society, as well as Judge Hice, John Reeves and the Union Trust Company of Beaver-all concerned in administering the financial affairs-was filed in the United States District Court by Christian Schwartz of West Virginia, in collaboration with a number of disgruntled ex-members and would-be heirs. In addition to all the charges brought in the first suit of the Feucht family, the plaintiffs charged misconduct on the part of Duss and other members
Answers to the bill were made in August, with hearings and cross-examinations going on until Feburary, 1896, accompanied by a tremendous amount of newspaper notoriety.
To expedite matters, a master was appointed to hear the case. Early in the proceedings, the judge had ruled that the plaintiffs might examine Duss in regard to "the alleged dissolution of the society *** and the abandonment of its purposes," but not in regard to his "alleged personal misconduct unless they have a proprietary title." When the master began hearings, the plaintiffs substituted the work "principles" for "purposes," resulting in exhaustive testimony on the daily lives of the members.
The hearings dragged on until 1898, and in April of that year the master submitted his findings; they were favorable to the society in every point. When exceptions were filed, and the United States District Court again immersed itself in the matter, the judge's decision coincided with the master's, and the United States District Court of Appeals in 1900 upheld the society and its senior trustee. Finally, on October 27, 1902, the United States Supreme Court concluded the case with; "Judgment affirmed!" This ended the seven weary years of one piece of litigation.
Other suits which had been brought in the meantime were quickly settled. The society enjoyed a breathing spell during which Duss succeeded in selling more property. He induced the American Bridge Company to buy a mile and a half of land and locate on it the plant which quickly developed Ambridge into a large community. With the proceeds he was able to pay some of the money due the society's attorney. He then resigned his trusteeship, in 1903, to devote all his time to his orchestra. Mrs. Duss succeeded him in office and was aided by C. A. Dickson, son of the former auditor. By 1905 there remained only two members, Mrs. Duss and Franz Gillman. They wound up the affairs and dissolved the society.
But even dissolution of the society failed to put an end to litigation. In 1907 Duss and his wife were sued by two women who, claiming to be collateral heirs of George Rapp, asked for a share of the estate. Not until 1913, after appeal to higher courts, was the case finally settled in favor of the defendants, and by that time another action had begun. This time (1910) proceedings were initiated to turn over to the State all the property which had belonged to the society at the time of the dissolution -escheat proceedings which are customary when there are no heirs to an estate. This action consumed five years' time, partly because of three changes in the office of State Attorney General and partly because Mr. and Mrs Duss were legal residents of Florida when the action started. When settlement finally was reached in 1916, the Beaver County Land Company, concerned in the matter, deeded to the State the Great House and Garden, half the Music Hall block with various buildings, and paid $15,000 in addition.
At the suggestion of Gilbert A. Hays, whose mother had been shown kindness by the Harmony Society, a bill was passed by the Legislature creating the Harmony Society Historical Association, which functions under the State Historical Commission. When this was accomplished, Mr. and Mrs. Duss loaned to the association their extensive collection of furniture, tools, paintings and other museum piece for public exhibition.
A few first-floor rooms in the Great House are filled with furniture and relics of the old Economites. The garden has been left intact and in the summer is still a place of beauty, but seldom are concerts held there. Like the Great House, the Music Hall is also open to the public, and scattered between Church Street and the Ohio River, and between Twelfth and Sixteenth Streets, are many of the old houses standing much as they were more than a hundred years ago.
To the visitor acquainted with Harmonite history, each object whispers a message, perhaps of worldly well-being and spiritual bliss; perhaps of frustration and defeat. Somehow he forgets, in the soothing presence of these visible and invisible mementoes of the dead, the discord marking the Harmony Society's latter years. Instead, he finds himself marvelling at the steadfastness of this little Rappite band which, paradoxically, failed so successfully.