Owen as Convincer

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Entrance to Topolobampo Harbor

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The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

In the letter to Mrs. Howland, it is clear that Edward E. enjoys Owen's company. Edward describes Owen holding a captive audience of twelve educated people for two hours. He also describes how Owen used maps to illustrate his claims and that, "he is able to answer every query." In addition, Edward describes Owen's ability to describe the colony by stating, "I am surprised at the readiness with which persons who have never heard of the scheme take hold of it." Edward’s claim speaks to Owen as a convincing rhetorician, and it speaks for the minds of the people of the time.

The two stationaries depicting an illustration of the Topolobampo coast and the layout for the colony are examples of Owen’s Credit Foncier advertising. Owen uses the image of the ship in Topolobampo Bay as a letterhead, and it displays to everyone who sees it the beauty of the harbor. Not only does the picture show a beautiful, sunshiny landscape, but it also displays the bay as a potential trade port with a ship in it. The picture also displays a house which represents civilization in the new land, but it is a small. This small house represents the indigenous people and small beginnings of the bay, but it also serves as a foundation for new colonists to the Credit Foncier to build.

The second letterhead too builds upon the beginnings of a colony on the lands of the Credit Foncier. The illustration depicts half-acre lots for colonists with communal kitchens in the center of four lots. These accommodations are nice for urbanites to have property, and they promote Owen’s idea of Integral Cooperation. Those who own the houses will be able to account for their own private property, but they will share resources community with their fellow colonists.

These three items display how Owen propagated his dream through word of mouth and through advertisements in his correspondence. Not only was his speech convincing, but he sold the utopian vision of the Credit Foncier well through enthralling descriptions.

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Step Right Up

Owen sent out this slip of paper for individuals to quickly sign up for the Credit Foncier company. Owen would use this in his initial drive to populate his colony in the year 1887 according to Catspaw Utopia. Additionally, it would allow Owen to keep track of the colonists he accrued since he assigned a value to land when it was worked by settlers as stated in Integral Cooperation at Work. These subscriptions would be the first in a chain of correspondence that easily set the way for settlers to join and work for the Topolobampo colony.

To persuade colonists, this memorandum comes with a letter from Owen. It recites the tenants of his books Integral Cooperation and Integral Cooperation at Work, and it attempts to sway people to his cause with these. It mentions cooperation to form a better life, the infrastructure of the colony, and their future steps to success. Owen hoped to sway a great many people easily and ship them to the colony in order to populate and work the land. This memorandum made that dream happen.