CHAPTER II. 16
CHAPTER III. 28
CHAPTER IV. 44
CHAPTER V. 64
CHAPTER VI. 81
CHAPTER VII. 95
CHAPTER VIII. 115
LOOKING FURTHER FORWARD
BY
RICHARD MICHAELIS,
_Editor Chicago “Freie Presse.”_
AN ANSWER TO
LOOKING BACKWARD
BY
EDWARD BELLAMY.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK:
RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1890.
COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY RICHARD MICHAELIS.
PREFACE.
Every seeker after truth and reform is entitled to recognition, even
if his ways and methods are not ours. Mr. Edward Bellamy’s book:
“Looking Backward”, is an effort to improve the lot of mankind and
therefore commendable, but his reform proposition, stripped of its
fine coloring, is nothing but communism, a state of society, which has
proved a failure whenever established without a religious basis and
which without such basis is en vogue today only among some barbarous
and cannibal tribes.
Chicago has for the last fourteen years been the centre of the
communistic and anarchistic agitation in the United States, and in
defending the fundamental principles of American institutions against
these theories, that were imported from the overcrowded industrial
centres of Europe, I became quite familiar with them as well as
with the notions and peculiarities of social reformers, who imagine
themselves in possession of an infallible receipt to perfect not only
all human institutions but also human nature.
Of course Mr. Bellamy holds more moderate views than those Spies and
Parsons proclaimed, but he has this much in common with the Anarchists
and Communists of Chicago: he has become incapable of passing a fair
judgement upon our present institutions, conditions and men; he
overlooks all difficulties in the introduction of his proposed changes,
he really believes his socialistic air-castles must spring into
existence very soon and without obstruction, and he populates his fairy
palaces with angelic human beings, who would never by any possibility
do anything wrong. The surmise, that men and women in a communistic
state, would put off all selfishness, envy, hate, jealousy, wrangling
and desire to rule is just as reasonable as the supposition, that a man
can sleep one hundred and thirteen years and rise thereafter as young
and fresh as he went to bed.
What queer methods reformers sometimes advocate! John Most would in the
name of equal rights to all, first kill all men who are not in absolute
sympathy with his opinions, then abolish all laws and all officers,
and then let nature take its course.--Mr. Bellamy on the other hand
would, also in the name of equal rights, deprive all the clever and
industrious workers of a large or the largest part of the products of
their labor for the benefit of their awkward, stupid or lazy comrades!
And this would be what Mr. Bellamy is pleased to style justice and
equality!
And for the purpose of reaching this state of mock-equality, Mr.
Bellamy would as a matter of course have to _sacrifice competition_,
the gigantic power that elevated us all and Mr. Bellamy with us to the
present state of evolution! It is true that competition has been and is
now abused, but every institution is subject to abuse and the misuse
of a thing does not demonstrate that the thing in itself is wrong.
Nobody can deny that competition during the centuries of Christian
civilization has developed the brains and muscles of the human race and
that the continuous best efforts of humanity, stimulated by competition
during these many centuries, have lifted our race to a standard where
the mode of living of common laborers is more comfortable and desirable
than the everyday existence of the Kings of which Homer sings.
Every generation has to battle with certain problems, and it is the lot
of ours to overcome the difficulties between capital and labor, that
have been increased by the change in the methods of production since
the discovery of steam power.
We have to find ways and means not to avoid productive _work_ (--spoken
of by Mr. Bellamy as an _evil_--), but to cure the brain cancer of
our days: the permanent uncertainty of subsistence and the fear of
poverty. And we accomplish this by co-operation and by mutual insurance
companies, without retrograding to communism, that most barbarous state
of society.
The imperfect nature of man characterizes, as a matter of course,
all human institutions and it is the easiest thing in the world, by
“_looking backward_”, to find fault with living men as well as with the
present state of affairs and to build air castles inhabited by angels
only.
I will now _look forward_! By demonstrating what would be the logical
conclusion of Mr. Bellamy’s story, if fairly continued, I purpose to
show that he first tries to establish absolute equality and then,
despairing of success, advocates an inequality in many respects more
oppressive than the present state of things. I intend to demonstrate,
that under the regime, proposed by Mr. Bellamy, favoritism and
corruption would be very potent factors in public life. I expect to set
forth that personal liberty would fare so badly in Mr. Bellamy’s United
States, that the proud and independent American people would never
tolerate such a system, and to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that
the people would be much poorer in Mr. Bellamy’s condition of affairs,
than at the present time.
I do not deny that our society stands in need of many desirable
reforms; but I am not prepared to follow blindly Mr. Bellamy, John
Most, or anybody else, who pretends that he is ready to deliver
humanity from all evils on short notice, and I do not intend to jump
head over heels into the dark.
If Mr. Bellamy and his followers are quite sure that they can establish
the millennium, _let them try it_, like the communists of the Amana
Society who have started a community in the state of Iowa on a
religious basis. There are many thousands of acres of good government
lands left, where Mr. Bellamy and his friends may settle and show the
world what they can do! But they should not ask the people of the
United States to break up their present form of government and state of
society, before they have given their theories a trial and proved that
their calculations are correct.
RICHARD MICHAELIS.
CHICAGO, April 1890.
LOOKING FORWARD.
CHAPTER I.
For the purpose of introducing myself to those readers of this book,
who are not familiar with the contents of “Looking Backward”, edited
by Mr. Edward Bellamy, I will recapitulate the remarkable events of my
life up to the end of that extraordinary narrative.
Born in Boston on the 26th day of December 1857, I was baptized Julian
West, was educated in the schools and colleges of my city, but,
being in possession of a handsome fortune, did not devote myself to
any particular profession or trade. I became engaged to Miss Edith
Bartlett, a young lady of great beauty, and it was our intention to
marry as soon as my new house should be ready for occupation. The
completion of the building was frequently delayed by strikes of masons
and carpenters, and I occupied still the old fashioned house, where my
family had lived for three generations.
Suffering from insomnia, I had prepared in the basement and under the
foundations of the old building, a large vault, where the noises of a
great city would not disturb me. This vault was absolutely fire-proof,
and fresh air was assured by means of a small pipe running up to the
roof of the house.
To obtain sleep I was frequently forced to avail myself of the services
of a mesmerist, and it happened that on the 30th day of May 1887,
after two sleepless nights, I sent my colored servant Sawyer to a Dr.
Pillsbury, whom I was in the habit of employing. The doctor was about
to leave the city to establish himself in New Orleans, and this was
therefore the last time he would be able to treat me. I instructed
Sawyer to rouse me at nine o’clock the next morning, and under the
manipulations of the mesmerist I soon fell into a deep slumber.
When I opened my eyes again I found that I had slept 113 years, 3
months, and 11 days.
I discovered that the old house had been destroyed by fire and that
Sawyer had perished in the flames. Dr. Pillsbury had left Boston, the
existence of the vault where I slept was unknown to my friends, the
house had not been rebuilt and so I remained in a mesmerized condition
for over a hundred years, until a Dr. Leete, the occupant of a house
which was being erected on a part of the old lot, commenced to build a
laboratory and unearthed my vault in the year 2000.
I learned that Edith Bartlett, after mourning my loss fourteen years,
had married, that Dr. Leete’s wife was Edith Bartlett’s granddaughter,
and that his daughter Edith was therefore the great-granddaughter of
the young lady who had been my promised bride 113 years before.
The vigor of my manhood of thirty years overcame the shock of these
discoveries. I soon felt myself at home in Dr. Leete’s house, the more
so, because young Edith soon occupied the place in my heart once filled
by Edith Bartlett, and it was not long before Edith Leete, a somewhat
romantic, compassionate girl, consented with grace to become the
successor of her great-grandmother; to be my bride.
But the turn of my own fate is even less remarkable, than the change
that has taken place in the social order of things. Dr. Leete explained
to me the new organization of society.
Individual enterprises have ended. The nation creates everything
that individuals and corporations were producing at the end of the
nineteenth century. Every able bodied man, every healthy woman belongs
to the “industrial army”. They enter the force at the age of 21 and are
released at 45. Only in rare cases of necessity are men over 45 years
of age summoned to work.
Money is abolished, but all inhabitants of the United States receive
an equal share of the results of the work of the industrial army in
the form of a credit card, a piece of paste board on which dollars
and cents are marked. There is one store in each ward where people
can select such goods as they may desire. The value of the goods,
one purchases, is pricked out of his credit card and his account is
charged in the Government books with the amount of goods so purchased.
The meals are furnished by large cooking houses. Washing and repairing
are done in large laundries. One may take his meals home or eat them at
the cooking house. The bill of fare is very elaborate and one may have
even a special dining room. The amount to be paid for the meals differs
of course according to the bill of fare ordered and to the place where
the meal is taken.
Each family occupies a separate house; the furniture being the property
of the tenant. The rent, which depends on the size of the house, is
also pricked out of the credit card.
All inhabitants of the United States are obliged to attend school
until they have reached the age of 21. Then they become members of the
industrial army. During the first three years of their services they
are called recruits or apprentices and have to do the common labor
under the absolute command of the officers or overseers. A _record_ is
kept, in which are entered the ability and behavior of each recruit.
After the first three years of service, each recruit may select a
profession or a trade. As far as possible the volunteers are placed
in the trades they prefer. Recruits with the best records are given
the first choice. Some of them have to take a second or third choice,
and some are obliged to accept positions assigned to them by their
superiors.
All members of the army are, according to their ability and behavior,
divided into three grades, and apprentices with a first-class record
may, after their three years service, enter at once the first grades of
the different trades selected by them.
The general of the guild appoints all the officers of his trade. The
lieutenants must be taken from the members of the first grades. The
captains are chosen by the general from the lieutenants, the colonels
from the captains. The general of the guild himself is elected by
the former members of the trade, that is, those who have passed the
age of forty-five. The ex-members of all the guilds also elect the
chiefs of the ten great departments or groups of allied trades. The
chiefs are taken from the generals of the guilds. And the former guild
members also elect the President of the United States, who is taken
from the ranks of the retired chiefs of the ten great departments. The
President, the ten chiefs of the great departments and the generals of
all the guilds live in Washington.
The members of the industrial army have not the right to vote for any
of the officers by whom they are governed. They have no representation
during their 24 years of service; but if they have a complaint against
one of their superiors, they may bring their case before a judge whose
decision is final.
The judges are appointed by the President from the ranks of the retired
members of the guild for the term of five years.
Courts, lawyers, jails, sheriffs, tax-assessors, collectors and many
other officers have been abolished. Criminals are treated in hospitals
as persons mentally ill.
The National Government regulates the production. When it sees that
certain trades attract a very large number of volunteers, while other
trades fall short, the administration increases the working time of the
preferred trades and shortens the working hours of those needing more
volunteers.
The women have their own officers, generals, judges, and form an
auxiliary army of industry. They receive the same credit cards as the
men. Since the cooking and washing and repairing of household goods are
done outside, the women of the twentieth century have more time for
productive labor than had the women of a hundred years ago.
Recruits who have passed three years service, during which they are
assignable to any work at the discretion of their superiors, may enter
schools of technology, medicine, art, etc.; but if they cannot keep
pace with the classes, they must withdraw. Physicians, who do not find
sufficient employment, are assigned to work of another character.
If people desire the publication of a newspaper, they must club
together and give up enough of their credit cards to compensate the
nation for the loss of the work of the persons editing and printing the
paper.
If one desires to publish a book, he can write it in his hours of
leisure and can have it printed by giving up a part of his credit
card. For the copies sold he receives again a new credit.
Preachers are in a similar way employed by persons who desire to hear
their sermons.
Cripples or other people unable to do full work or any work at all,
receive their full credit cards, because the fact, that they are human
beings, entitles them to their full share of all good things produced
on earth.
The state governments within the United States have been abolished as
useless.
All other civilized nations have organized themselves on a similar
basis and are exchanging goods with each other. The yearly balances are
settled with national staple articles.
The new order of things enables people to live without cares, and one
of the consequences is the fact, that most of the men and women of an
average constitution live from eighty-five to ninety years.--
Such was the description of the new order of things given me by Dr.
Leete in a number of conversations. The doctor is very enthusiastic
over the organization of society of the twentieth century and does not
hesitate to call it the millennium.
The fear and uncertainty which I entertained in regard to my employment
were set at rest by Dr. Leete, who said, that I could, if I wished,
have the position of professor of the history of the nineteenth century
in the Shawmut College of Boston. I have accepted the offer and shall
enter upon my duties next Monday.