Improvements of The Age.
The advantages of Electrical conveyances. No fire departments
required and Insurance companies lose their grip. Tobacco chewing
and spitting prohibited in public places. Cigarettes are condemned
by law. Moderation in the use of wines. Great advancement in
medical science. A purified stage. Religious toleration becomes
more universal. Jews give Jerusalem the "marble heart."
The changes in our social system that signalized the period of 1999
were marked and contrasted very favorably with the conditions extant
in 1899.
Street noises that rendered city and often village life unendurable,
in 1899 were entirely [Uproar of Vehicles Abolished.] abolished in
1999. The clattering of horses' hoofs became unknown in city life. Milk
wagons, enormous furniture vans, the brewery wagon with its pyramid of
beer kegs, rattling express carts, mail delivery wagons and thundering
omnibuses no longer tortured the human ear in 1999. Automobiles had
sent the clattering hoofs to Tophet and electricity, with pneumatic
tires, was exclusively used in transportation.
It was a curious sight in 1999 to observe the life and animation of
rapidly moving, yet noiseless, vehicles in city streets. Shouting,
whistling and all loud noises were strictly prohibited on all public
avenues. The jingling of bells, the yells of street Arabs, the thunder
of wagon wheels over pavements and the pandemonium that reigned on
all streets in 1899 became memories of a strange past.
The black pall of smoke that hovered over manufacturing cities
and darkened the [Havanas Cent Apiece.] lives of all men, had
disappeared. Electricity drove smoke back into Hades and kept it
there. Manhattan, (formerly New York) the largest and grandest city
in the world in 1999, was no longer troubled in this manner. The only
smoke that was ever seen in city or country life curled up from Havana
cigars, of the best grades raised on American plantations in Cuba and
retailed in Manhattan for one cent apiece. Pipes were occasionally
used but had lost much of their former popularity. Workmen and the
poorest classes could enjoy a fragrant Havana for one cent and pipes
were no longer used on the mere pretence of economy.
In the 20th century the tobacco chewer's life was not an enjoyable
one. In many States of the Americas, in 1999, notably Brazil, East
Canada and Argentina, it became a penal offense to chew tobacco
in public. In 1999 tobacco chewing was everywhere regarded in the
United States of the Americas in the same light as opium smoking. It
was considered a filthy practice, one that must not be tolerated
in public. It was regarded as a danger to public health for men
to spit chewing tobacco on the street walks. Ladies in 1999 made
up their minds that they had got through stepping on tobacco quids
on the streets. Indeed, spitting had been prohibited in all public
places. The habit was filthy and dangerous, causing the spread of
disease germs. In 1980 it frequently happened that the city police
raided chewing tobacco joints and hauled the offenders before court
for fine.
But, perhaps the worst form of smoking was the diabolical cigarette. In
1899 it [Arrested for Smoking Cigarettes.] was already sapping the
youth of America, filling our hospitals with the sick and our State
asylums with imbeciles. Great fears were already entertained in 1899
as to the outcome, but public opinion did not realize the danger to
the national safety until 1912. In 1921 Congress passed a law making
the sale, importation or manufacture of cigarettes a felony. Every
inducement was extended by National and State Legislatures to encourage
the growth of the purest Havana and Manila tobaccos. The object was
to place a good, harmless cigar within the reach of everyone and to
discourage the chewing and cigarette practices.
In 1999 moderation in the use of wines and beverages became almost
universal. Even in the State of Mexico and other tropical States
of the Americas, drunkenness became almost unknown. In fact, it was
regarded as a deep disgrace and a penal offense to be caught drunk
in public. A drunken man was regarded in 1999 as a moral leper and
was isolated from his fellow creatures for a period of one year and
forever after was debarred from holding any public office. The law
was sternly administered in every case which carried conviction.
The vicious laws of 1899 which allowed the government to collect an
enormous [Drunkenness Very Rare.] revenue on spirituous liquors and
permitted manufacturers to poison their victims with noxious liquids
were greatly ameliorated. The National government took up the work
of purification in the matter of manufacturing all liquors. A much
purer and safer article, much less liable to injure one's health
and to intoxicate, was placed on the market. It was recognized that
the government could not regulate the appetites of people, but it
determined to regulate the purity of the liquors they drank. This
wise course produced a decided change for the better. Drunkenness was
reduced to a minimum and homes were made happier. Although men still
"drank" in 1999, none but an abject sot ever lost his mental balance
and disturbed public peace.
In 1999 vast strides of progress had been made in medicine and surgery,
and disease had been eliminated to a very large extent from our social
system. Science attained a complete mastery over the hitherto unknown
[Triumph of Mind Over Matter.] field of organisms. Man's mastery over
these agents marked the greatest stride ever made in the conquest of
mind over matter. All classes of bacteria were held under perfect
control. In 1999 contagious and infectious diseases occurred only
in sporadic form. The chief ills of life were those attendant upon
old age.
Specific organisms, namely those of construction and destruction,
were created at will in that year, and were made to work with certain
and perfect results. In this manner disease was easily combated.
Fire departments in the city lost much of their old-time importance. In
1999 only ten fire stations were required in the great metropolis of
Manhattan. In 1899 the population of New York was 3,500,000 and the
number of its brave firemen ran up in the ten thousands. In 1999 the
population of Manhattan was nearly 25,000,000 souls, and its fire
department required only three thousand firemen to operate it. The
reason for this is very simple. In 1899 fire was used everywhere;
while in 1999 very few houses had any use for that element. Electricity
had completely abolished fire as a domestic agent or motive power. In
1999 people never ceased to marvel how their predecessors got along
with so much fire, in one form or other, burning in their houses.
The sufferings of the poor in crowded city tenements during the fierce
heats of summer, with a coal stove in their room, [Very Little Fire
Used.] were recalled. The frightful heat took away all energy and
appetite. Then the burning kerosene lamps were called to mind. Furnaces
with roaring fires of coal, wood and oil, gas jets, matches, all
helped to increase the percentage of danger. Fire departments were
in great demand in the good old days of 1899, and insurance companies
amassed fortunes by the side of which Monte Cristo was a mere Lazarus.
In those days fire not only constantly threatened the destruction
of property, but many thousands of valuable lives were destroyed
every year by that element. In 1899 women still clung to their long,
dangerous and unhealthy skirts, long dresses that impeded their
movements and exposed them to constant danger from fire. Fearful
tales on land and sea were told of horrible sacrifices by fire. In
1999 all this was banished, never to return. Fires were extinguished
everywhere. A safer and better element had taken its place. The
Pharsees of India were, perhaps, the only people in 1999 who still
"worshipped" fire.
Theatres in 1999 were extensively patronized, but so rigid were the
laws against immoral displays that none ventured to violate. The
cause of morality generally had made strides of progress in the
20th century. The world grew brighter and better and became more
humane. Vice and immorality were suppressed, not so much by operation
and fear of the law but by Christianizing methods. As the world grew
older it became more manifest that crime and immorality must make
way for purity and honesty. Theatrical performances in 1999 were more
chaste, more attractive and entertaining. The exhibitions of nudity,
so [No Seeley Dinners in 1999.] common in 1899, became unknown to
the stage in 1999. Electricity was very successfully employed in all
scenic stage effects. Some spectacular performances were beautiful
visions of fairyland. Public entertainments carefully suppressed
all that appealed to the baser passions. In 1899 our churches and
theatres were still apart, but in 1999 so marked was the purity of
the stage and so lofty its ideals, that church members were not afraid
to acknowledge that they attended the theatres.
Churches, on the other hand, became more Christianized in 1999. The
envy, wrath and jealousy which existed between the denominations
and religions lost much of their acrimony in the 20th century. The
hatred and contempt that the Mohammedan [An Era of Fraternal Love.]
entertained for the Christian, had greatly softened. The Roman
Catholic, the Greek and Protestant Churches, followers of the same
Saviour, regarded each other with more fraternal feelings and became
more tolerant. As education became more generally diffused, humanity
broadened the heart. Children in 1999 could not comprehend the infamy
of a nation that could perpetrate the horrors of the Inquisition under
a pretext of serving the cause of a gentle Christ. Their minds could
not understand how in the 17th century both Protestants and Catholics
burned, pillaged and destroyed one another's property; burned men,
women and children at the stake and committed nameless horrors,
all under a sacrilegious pretext of serving a Divine Master. These
persecutions and the unfriendly feelings between opposing religions
almost disappeared toward the close of the 20th century. The acrimony
of the past was buried to a very large extent.
In 1899 the leading religions of the world, in point of numbers,
were Buddhism, and the followers of Confucius, who in that year
numbered 485,000,000 followers. Next in force of numbers at the
close of the nineteenth century ranked the Christians, who numbered
454,729,151. The Mohammedans numbered in 1899 about 170,000,000,
Brahmanists 139,000,000, and Pagans or Heathens 220,000,000.
Christians were by far the most enlightened, most powerful
and progressive religious [Christianity the Light of the World.]
element at the close of the nineteenth century and were firm believers
in the cause of education. Through their influence in the twentieth
century education became widely diffused. Turkey felt the force of
the movement, and the dense ignorance of its population became more
enlightened and less cruel. In 1999 the Christians of Armenia were
no longer held in bondage. The horrible massacres of 1894 which so
deeply stirred the hearts of all nations were memories of the past. The
Sublime Porte had ordered that education be made compulsory between
the ages of ten and fifteen years. Through English influence the cause
of education was also generally diffused throughout Africa. Where
education gained a foothold superstition was uprooted.
Christianity made rapid advance in the world in 1999, and Christians
outnumbered all other religious beliefs. The sublime gospel of the
Cross dominated the human family in that year, inspiring more love
and gentleness among men. The vital force of Christianity, perhaps
little understood in the nineteenth century, became a mighty lever for
good in the following century. At the close of the twentieth century
indications pointed to a general christianizing of all peoples of
the globe. The three leading powers of the world, the United States
of the Americas, Great Britain and Russia, and in fact the whole
of Europe, except Spain, which country was obliterated in 1930,
as already described, exerted a mighty moral force upon the other
nations. Even Japan was rapidly coming under the banner of the Cross.
In 1940 the ancient city of Jerusalem was delivered over into the
keeping of a Christian power. All the territory about that ancient
city, including the seaport of Jaffa, Bethlehem, the Mt. of Olives,
and other localities made sacred by the Mantle of our glorious Saviour
while on earth, were transferred by the Ottoman government into the
safe keeping of the German people.
The Jews never returned to Jerusalem to rule again in that
city. Centuries of persecution had driven them into every corner of
the globe and under the protection of every flag. They had no use
for Jerusalem in the twentieth century and nothing was farther from
their minds than the re-establishment of the Jewish hierarchy. Their
business had long been established all over the world and under no
consideration could they be induced to return to the land of their
forefathers, merely on a point of sentiment. Should the Messiah ever
again return to earth, they argued, it mattered little whether they
were huddled together in Jerusalem or scattered over the globe.