phalanxes never solved the problem of what to do about those who did not assume their share of the work." Wage rates were another source of discord, with machine operators formally complaining in 1853 that their wages paid as members of the phalanx ran significantly behind wages paid for comparable work in competitive industry outside the association. Moreover, the wages paid to working members of the phalanx proved barely adequate to cover room, board, and clothing for families with children — causing the loss of many of the same and the undermining of hopes of passing the community to a new generation. The North American Phalanx was also hard hit by the loss of its chief carpenter, a skilled horticulturalist, and other leading members in an 1853 succession to join the fledgling Raritan Bay Union. In short order Raritan Bay members and financial supporters owned fully one-sixth of the North American Phalanx's stock, further weakening the older phalanx's resolve to continue. Dissolution Disaster came on September 10, 1854, when a fire swept the colony's mill and all its contents. No insurance was recovered, and the community found itself facing $30,000 in accumulated debt with no ready means of repayment. Of this, some $9,000 remained unpaid on the original mortgage, with additional bills accumulated for a new engine and boiler for the mill. Additionally, at the time of the fire the mill had housed a large quantity of wheat purchased on credit, for which the phalanx was financially responsible. While Horace Greeley offered to loan the association $12,000 for construction of a replacement facility, members of the phalanx ultimately decided not to take advantage of this offer, which would have boosted the debt load and necessitated another arduous reconstruction period. Instead, starting with the January 1855 stockholders' meeting, plans began to be made either to sell part of the phalanx's land to satisfy debt or to sell the community in whole. Efforts were made to sell the phalanx to a group organizing around Fourierist adherent Victor Considerant to act as a staging point for newcomers to his new colonization project in the state of Texas. No such agreement could be reached however. Instead in June 1855 the stockholders voted that the community should liquidate its assets and terminate its existence. In October community land was surveyed and divided into parcels ranging in size from 5 to 150 acres and sold at