LOOKING FORWARD
A Dream of the
United States of the Americas
in 1999
BY ARTHUR BIRD
Ex-Vice Consul-General of America
at Port-au-Prince, Hayti
PREFACE.
The author respectfully submits it as his firm and immovable
conviction, that the United States of America, in years to come,
will govern the entire Western Hemisphere.
The Stars and Stripes which never knew, nor ever will know defeat,
will, in years to come, gather under its protecting folds, every
nation and every island in this hemisphere.
It is a duty we Americans owe to the republics of Central and South
America to give them the benefits of our pacific government, the
rule of the People, by and for the People, exemplified in the great
Constitution of the United States of America.
America has to-day an inviolable Monroe Doctrine. Any attempt on the
part of Europe to violate the spirit or letter of that wise doctrine,
would be promptly resented by America.
Our American flag already protects and defends every republic in the
Americas. How many years will it require to convince the Central and
South American Republics that their security and path of safety is
to come under the flag that already protects them?
The purpose of this book is to clearly establish this important fact in
the mind of every patriotic American. Our glorious, starry banner will
rule the entire Western Hemisphere. It will be the emblem of Peace,
Liberty and Civilization, floating over a united America from Alaska
to Patagonia. This is America's Destiny.
In setting forth this great truth the author has avoided the well
beaten paths and dusty roads travelled by writers from the days of
the Deluge up to the hour of going to press, and it is to be hoped
that the reader, now and then, may find some refreshing scenery along
his pathway.
If this book serves to stimulate patriotic pride and strengthen
respect for our liberty-loving flag, it then will not have been
written in vain.
Most respectfully submitted,
The Author.
LOOKING FORWARD
----A Dream of----
THE UNITED STATES OF THE AMERICAS,
1999.
CHAPTER I.
The American Colossus.
A Dream of Magnificent Expansion. America becomes the Mightiest
Nation of the World and extends her Domain from Alaska to
Patagonia.
Gauged by certain standards and viewed from certain standpoints,
a mere century is but a brief compass of time.
From an individual point of view, in the daily routine of life, a
century appears to be an embryo-eternity. When time is gauged with
clock like precision and to each minute is allotted its full value,
a century assumes an unfathomable depth. But, in the cycles of time,
a century is a mere footprint in the passage of time; a small link
in the endless chain of eternity.
Time is easily annihilated by mental process. Witness the feat
performed by Mahomet, related in a certain chapter of the [Mahomet
on Rapid Transit.] Koran. The faithful are informed in this passage
of the Koran that the Prophet was awakened one morning from a deep,
refreshing slumber by an angel and was summoned into Paradise
to confer with Allah. While in the act of ascending to Heaven,
Mahomet's foot struck and upset a pitcher of water which stood near
the couch. The Koran unblushingly proclaims that the Prophet held 999
long conferences with Allah and had safely returned to his couch,
ready for another snooze, before the water in the falling pitcher
had time to spill on the floor!
There is something very refreshing in this narrative. It shows that
Mahomet was well up in rapid transit matters and again it proves the
sublime virtue of a man, a son of the desert, a turbaned Washington,
who couldn't tell a lie and who resisted the temptation to make this
batch of conferences with Allah an even thousand. Mahomet missed his
calling; he ought to have been a newspaper reporter.
Assuming the prerogatives of the Koran, the author, at one stroke
of his pen, proposes to annihilate time. Plunged into a profound
slumber he had a dream. Great men and little men; the renowned and
the ignorant; the philosopher and the Australian bushman; quakers
and cannibals; the prince and the peasant, all these and myriads of
others, have had their dreams. Love's dream has been the theme of all
ages, the burden of songs untold. The dream of conquest, the dream of
ambition and dreams of every human passion and desire have throbbed
within the human brain.
But the author's dream is not swayed by human emotions; it is not
the handmaid of [America's Giant Republic, 1999.] passion. It is a
dream that unseals the book of the future and reveals to the world
the colossal, peace-loving, giant republic of the universe in the
year of our Lord, 1999,
The United States of the Americas, the mightiest nation ever known
in contemporaneous history.
It is related that at a national anniversary celebration dinner, held
a few years ago, in the classic regions of Chicago, while the toasts
were being dissected, a guest arose and proposed to "Our Country,"--the
United States of America, bounded on the north by Canada; on the south
by the Gulf of Mexico; on the east by the Atlantic and on the west
by the Pacific Ocean. Another gentleman arose and protested warmly
against the narrow limits as ascribed to our beloved country. "Let
us," he continued, "drink to the prosperity of the United States of
America,--bounded on the north by the North Pole; on the south by
the Antarctic Region; on the east by the first chapter of the Book
of Genesis and on the west by the Day of Judgment."
At the fin-de-siecle of the twentieth century, in the year of our
Lord, 1999, the United States of the Americas were virtually bounded
as above related. The comparatively small segment of territory known
and officially recognized in 1899 as the United States of America,
still retained in 1999 its predominant importance, yet this territory
in the twentieth century became only a small fraction of an integral
whole. In 1899, compared with its neighbors, the United States of
America appeared like a whale by the side of little fishes,--a large
loaf compared with which its neighbor-nations in Central and South
America resembled little biscuits,--half baked at that.
In 1999 the little fishes were glad to come to the great American whale
for protection and become a part of our grand union. Our glorious
and ever-victorious banner remained precisely the same in 1999, as
it must ever remain for centuries yet unborn, the pride of America
and the glory of the world. The stripes on our noble flag were still
red and white alternately; the only difference was in the number of
the stars on the field of blue; they had increased from forty-five
to eighty-five and Old Glory proudly waved in 1999 over one mighty
united republic from Baffin's Bay to the straits of Magellan.
Place in your hand an acorn. Pause as you gaze upon it, consider the
mighty giant which slumbers within its bosom. It is only an acorn,--a
mere pigmy. Plant it; watch it as it develops into a mighty, towering
oak, which, in its majesty of strength seems to bid defiance to the
very heavens. Beneath its massive branches and grateful shade the
weary traveller may pause to rest his limbs and seek refuge from the
heat of day.
Our pilgrim fathers were the "acorns" of the colossal republic known
in 1999 as [Commenced on a Small Scale.] the United States of the
Americas. Little did they those pure and sturdy fathers, dream that
from their loins would spring the greatest and grandest government
descended to men since the promulgation of the Decalogue. From small
beginnings, great ends may often be accomplished. The avalanche that
rolls and thunders down the mountain side, sweeping before it forests
and boulders, begins business in a very small way. A little handful of
snow starts the uproar but before its headlong career has terminated,
the very mountain itself trembles beneath the mad rush.
So it was with that splendid political structure, known in 1999 as the
United States of the Americas. Its humble origin was easily traceable
to Plymouth Rock. From the landing of the pilgrims to the close of
the nineteenth century, the rapid growth of the Federal States left
nothing to be desired. But in the nineteenth century America was
still an acorn, from which a mighty oak was to be reared in 1999,
a tree under whose branches were sheltered in one mighty republic
all the territory from Hudson's Bay to Cape Horn.
In the year of our Lord 1999 the world gazed with an admiration,
akin to awe, upon [Eighty-five States in the Union.] the magnificent
spectacle presented by the United States of the Americas, a colossal
republic, embracing eighty-five states, bounded on its northern apex
by the states of Alaska, East and West Canada, while the state of
Patagonia guarded the extreme south of the American giant, including
all islands of the seas lying in the Western Hemisphere, between the
Arctic and Antarctic regions.
It frequently happens that the insignificant child of to-day, soon
becomes, by reason of growth and intellectual force, the leader of
the family, a tower of might and strength in their midst, one to whom
they look for counsel and protection.
So it was with America, the Child of Destiny. In 1776 America was a
mere infant, attached to the breast of a harsh, unloving mother. By
leaps and bounds this American infant budded into childhood, and in
the year of 1899 had already become a busy, good-natured youth, whose
prowess, industry and great future already commanded the respect of
the world. In 1899 the western hemisphere was politically divided into
independent republics, with the minor exception of certain European
dependencies, belonging to England, France and Denmark. The United
States in the year last named was universally regarded as a prodigy
in the family of nations. Its magnificent resources and its expanding
industries; its keen inventive genius; its limitless [A Big Fellow,
Decidedly.] agricultural wealth; its absolute liberty and entire
freedom from militarism, challenged the envy as well as the admiration
of the world, while the naval and military prowess of the young
American Republic, evidenced in the Spanish-American unpleasantness
of 1898, exacted from other nations a wholesome and enduring respect.
Such, in brief, was the condition of America in 1899. Little indeed was
the popular mind prepared for the extraordinary developments and the
remarkable series of events that brought about in 1999 the creation
of the United States of the Americas. In that memorable year all of
the independent republics of Central and South America had joined our
union and were governed under the great Constitution of 1776, which
is and always will be, the most inspiring document that ever issued
from the pen of man, one that will continue to bless mankind as lone
as the sun retains its power and the earth gives forth its fruits.
How did all this happen? The Dream furnishes the solution. Read on.