“Now, I do not wish to be understood that I am ridiculing your social
and industrial institutions, or that I blame any one for these poor,
pitiable conditions we find existing here on earth. We passed through
the same woful stages. Every well-informed person knows that your
world, as a whole, is better to-day than it ever was before. You enjoy
more security, more kindness, more intelligence and more freedom than
you ever did in any preceding age. The conditions which we find on
earth are, as a whole, undoubtedly nearly in tune with your social
and industrial culture; and the only known power in the universe that
can substitute a higher and nobler order of things is additional
intelligence. Acts, as we have seen, are always in harmony with the
intelligence of the actor.
“We can not hope to find much good work done in a world where the
division of labor is so imperfect as it is here with you. Your
so-called farmer is, as a rule, at the same time agriculturist,
horticulturist, stockbreeder, butcher, dairyman, shepherd, carpenter
and poultry raiser. On the other hand, your city laborer must
frequently be idle, or accept any kind of labor he can get, whether he
is proficient in it or whether he is a bungler at it.”
“There must be a great difference between our institutions and yours,”
said Mrs. Uwins.
“In some respects there is,” replied Mr. Midith. “Just compare the
appearance and conditions of our social and industrial world with
that of yours. Think of our magnificent residences--grand edifices,
furnished on the interior with all the domestic conveniences that
human ingenuity can contrive. The outer appearance is very imposing;
numerous large windows through which are seen the rich curtains and
through which the blitheful laugh of the inmates can be heard, and the
healthy countenances of free, rich men, women, and children can be
seen. Think how all these fine dwellings are located in the grandest
parks that nature and art can produce; how all varieties of flowers
and ornamental trees may be seen in all directions. Think of the
green, closely-mowed lawn; the cool, refreshing fountain playing on
the bosom of the artificial lakes in which men, women and children are
sportively swimming and bathing. Think how the odoriferous, life-giving
breeze enters every apartment of our palatial homes, which are neither
crowded in populous cities nor isolated in a lonely country. Think of
the smooth, shady boulevard on which numerous men, women and children
are seeking healthful, sportive exercise. Think of the spacious
conservatory and green-house, surrounded by glass, and containing
luxuriant tropical plants, whose foliage is as green, even when the
snow is two feet deep, as it is in its native climate. Think of the
productive garden, bearing the choicest vegetables that evolution
through the hand of the horticulturist has been able to produce; of
the enticing orchard with its endless variety of fruit trees and
shrubbery, its green lawns, and clean walks. Think of the ease with
which our farming is done, and the immense amount of agricultural work
we can do in a short time. Think how all our labor has turned almost
into play, and how much leisure time we enjoy. And lastly, think of the
intelligent free, rich, healthy inhabitants who have all learned that
the happiness of self includes the happiness of others. Such, upon a
brief, superficial contemplation, are a few of the more conspicuous
differences existing between our system and yours. Yet you should
always bear in mind that we have nothing on Mars but what you can have
right here on earth with a little additional intelligence, a little
more knowledge of yourselves and your fellowman. A little more kindness
and a little less cruelty. A little more peace and a little less
discord. A little more freedom and a little less jealousy. A little
wider and more voluntary co-operation and a little less single-handed
effort. A little more individualism and a little less paternalism and
co-operative coercion. A little more confidence in the operations and
uniformity of the so-called laws of nature, and a little less trust in
the pretended virtue of superstition. I, therefore, repeat again that
thousands of your foremost cultivated men and women here on earth are
already prepared to live a Marsian life, if they were not prevented by
your existing institutions and by the masses who are not yet ready for
such a harmonious life.”
“You have not told us anything about your mining,” said Mr. Uwins. “I
presume you do that with as much skill and facility as you do your
other work.”
“Yes; we mine on the same large plan as we do our other work,” replied
Mr. Midith, “Our mining machinery is very much improved, and we
need but little muscular power in the occupation of mining. We are
continually sinking more and deeper shafts, whereby we increase the
quantity and quality of our mining products. Every few communities fit
out a ‘prospecting’ gang, who are constantly employed in ‘prospecting’
for better mines in those communities which they represent; and
wherever we find the most productive ones, we work. In this manner we
find the most productive mines, and the best iron and other useful
minerals. We have also discovered how to manufacture aluminium
successfully and cheaply. This metal, on account of its cheapness and
advantageous properties, is now very largely used for mechanical,
architectural and other purposes.
“Much of our mining is done in the winter. Many of those who work on
the farm during the summer, work in the factory and mine during the
winter. Some of the agriculturists also work in the green-house during
the winter. In this manner, you see, our work of the whole year is
divided nearly uniformly. That is, we have as much work to do one
season of the year as another; and whenever we are in need of more
help in one occupation, for instance, such as harvesting, we can get
all the help we need from the factory and the mine. By this change,
we are never crowded in any work, nor are we ever out of work. These
conditions are highly conducive to human well-being. The body is not
burdened with overwork at one period of the year and stupefied on
account of inactivity at another.”
“Do you have many accidents in your mines?” asked Rev. Dudley, who
became more and more interested in Mr. Midith’s narrative.
“Very rarely one loses his life by accident in our mine. We value life
so highly that, if things are not very secure, no one will go into the
mine. We are not driven by a ‘boss’ and by poverty, like many of your
miners are, who have to go or lose their position. We go when and where
we like. No one has the power to throw us out of employment nor to make
us poor.
“There is still another important mining feature which I have not
explained to you, and that is this: The more we prospect the more
evenly do we find the mining products distributed on our world. Nearly
every community can now work a mine of some kind with advantage.
“From what I have said, you no doubt understand by this time that
we have long ago abandoned the use of coal for heating and lighting
purposes, and also for the generating of motive power. We use
electricity and compressed air for all this. We employ wonderfully
simple and powerful storage battery cells, which we charge either with
wind power, water power or with compressed air engines. Is it not
strange that the people of earth are already imitating us in these
fields? Your Paris, in France, is already using the storage battery
cells for lighting purposes. I notice in your _Scientific American_
of Jan. 30, 1892, that Niagara Falls and Buffalo, N. Y., are about to
utilize the waterfall power at that place for generating electricity
and compressing air. This is what the _Scientific American_ says:
“‘After the completion of the great tunnel works now in progress at
Niagara Falls, there will be nothing to hinder the rapid rise and
growth of that interesting town into a great and wonderful city. Its
dwellings and factories will be supplied with light, heat and motive
power at an extremely low cost, and useful industries of every kind
ought there to flourish with unwonted vigor. Domestic life will be
attended with many comforts and conveniences. The cook will only
need to touch a button, and presto! her electric stove be in full
operation, the pot will boil, the oven bake, the turkey roast, the
pump move, the washing machine turn; while the electric refrigerator
will freeze the water, preserve meat, vegetables, milk, butter, eggs
and other supplies. No coal, no wood, no dust, no dirt, no oil, no
gas. The lady of the house will be relieved of care. She presses a
button, and every nook and corner of her dwelling glow with cheerful
light. Touch another, and the electric fire glimmers in every room,
diffusing genial warmth. The electric lift takes her up or down stairs
in a jiffy. The telephone conveys her orders to market and distributes
her social commands among friends and neighbors. Niagara is in a fair
way to become famous as the great electrical city of the world. At any
rate, it will possess in a great degree the means for economic electric
generation and supply.
“‘Near to Niagara, only twenty-five miles distant, is Buffalo, already
a large and prosperous city, the head center of lake navigation. The
simple extension of conductors over the short distance above mentioned
will bring to the people of Buffalo a direct share in the economic
and other advantages of the new and great enterprise. Light, heat and
motive power for streets, vehicles, work-shops, factories, stores,
churches, dwellings can be supplied from the dynamos at Niagara, more
economically, probably, than by any other means. Local steam engines
may be dismissed; their occupation for Buffalo will be gone. Even the
steam fire engine may retire. The electric pump will beat them out of
sight.
“‘We look toward Niagara and Buffalo with hopeful interest, expecting
soon to witness these many novel applications of electricity for
industrial, domestic and municipal purposes. In the latter category
the promotion of the public health and the expulsion of disease by
electrical agencies seem to be among the reasonable possibilities of
the near future.’
[Illustration]
“The _Scientific American_ of Jan. 9, 1892, also shows a cut of an
electric carriage propelled by storage battery cells,” said Mr. Midith,
as he showed the cut of it and began to read as follows:
“‘The graceful vehicle illustrated in the accompanying picture is
interesting, as being undoubtedly the first carriage propelled by
electricity built in the West. It is the invention of William Morrison,
of Des Moines, Ia., and was built by Morrison and Schmidt, of that
city. It is intended for operation on ordinary city and country roads
and will carry twelve people comfortably.
“‘The power is furnished by 24 storage battery cells placed beneath
the seats.... This motor is of four horse power.... The steering is
attached to the forward axle and is controlled by a hand wheel in
front of the carriage. Mr. Morrison claims that his carriage has been
exhaustively and successfully tested in Des Moines, and that it has
been run continuously 13 hours, attaining a speed of 14 miles an hour.
He thinks that a much higher velocity can be attained if desirable.’”
Mr. Midith continued: “I noticed in the _Western Electrician_ of Sept.
17, 1892, that J. B. McDonald, president of the American Battery
Company, Chicago, purchased this electric carriage and is creating
quite an excitement with it on the streets of Chicago.
“From the foregoing articles appearing in your _Scientific American_,
we clearly see that the earthites (people living on earth) are closely
following the Marsites in their mechanical, as well as in their other
lines of progress. Of course all your electric apparatus and work is,
as yet, but the rude beginnings. All it needs is improvement. There is
an inexhaustible amount of electricity, and all you need do is to store
it up for use. Formerly we, like you now, used coal, wood and gas for
lighting, heating and motive purposes. But all of these were slowly
supplanted by compressed-air engines and electricity.
“Our large warehouses, factories, and mills built along the motor-lines
at short intervals, have on their large flat roofs, powerful windmills
which continually pour a strong current of electricity into a capacious
electric reservoir, or they are charging storage battery cells.
“In some localities on Mars, we still use compressed air. The powerful
windmills are always compressing air for the compressed-air engines.
Our compressed-air engines are almost similar to yours, but with you
the compressed-air engine is not a success on account of your limited
storage room for the compressed air, and also on account of occasional
local calms, during which time your supply of compressed air becomes
exhausted.
“We have overcome these difficulties. The communities of a large
area of country are all connected by large air-tubes, into which
the windmills are compressing air. At certain intervals along these
air-tubes are capacious air chambers for the reception of air. These
air-tubes are all around the communities the same as the motor-lines,
passing through all the ‘big-houses,’ warehouses, factories and mills,
where they drive compressed-air engines, which furnish all the motive
power for generating electricity and do all the other motor work. Thus
you see by this arrangement, we have a vast supply of air on hand, and
there is always a local wind somewhere over this extensive district of
communities which are connected by these air tubes.
“Where electricity is generated and stored directly by wind power,
which it is most places, the electric currents are led through all the
buildings, ‘big-houses,’ warehouse, factories, mills and barns. Here
it is used for heating, lighting, and motive power for loading and
unloading and for running machinery. Waterpower is also largely used
for the generation of electricity. Our carriages, farming machinery,
and all other movable vehicles and machinery, are propelled by the
electric storage battery cell. These cells are with us now very simple,
powerful and lasting. Every community has a large supply of them
stored for reserve, the same as you have a supply of coal on hand,
and our model windmills and waterfalls are charging them faster than
we need them. The force which manifests itself in the current of air
which drives the windmills is stored for future use, and this storing
is being done just the same, whether it is winter or summer, whether
we work or sleep. The _irregular_ motion of the wind is thus changed
into a perfectly _uniform_ motion of electricity and then applied to
machinery.
“Thus you see, we do not, like you, need water and fuel to run our
engines, nor do we need draft-animals to draw our plows and other
vehicles. Some communities, in order to charge their storage battery
cells, ship them to great waterfalls. Electricity is also led by wires
for long distances, and everywhere you are following us step by step.
It is true that your mechanical appliances are still very rude, but
you are improving them very rapidly, and, no doubt, you will before
long make wonderful achievements in the electric and other lines of
discoveries. In order to show your progress in the field of electric
science, let me read to you another article from the _Scientific
American_ of March 12, 1892.” Then Mr. Midith read as follows:
“‘_One Hundred Miles an Hour by Electricity!_
“‘The latest electrical scheme is for an electric railway between
Chicago and St. Louis. The following is from the prospectus of the
Chicago & St. Louis Electric Railroad Co., working under the patents of
Dr. Wellington Adams:
“‘The proposed road will be operated from one central station, located
at the mouth of a coal mine somewhere near the center of the road. The
railway company will operate this mine by means of electric mining
locomotives, electric drills, electric cutters, and electric lights,
which will greatly cheapen the present cost of the ordinary system of
mining coal. The possibility and economy of this method of mining has
already been established beyond dispute. The company will sell the good
coal that is mined at a handsome profit, and use only the waste, dust
and slack to run the engines which develop the power for operating the
mine and road, in connection with its distributing system of light
and power for consumers along the line of road. At the present time
such dust and slack is not only valueless, but has to be hauled away
at the expense of the mining company. The road will be divided up
into twenty-five sections of ten miles each, which will constitute a
complete block system, making it impossible for any two cars to run
at a high speed upon any single section at the same time, thus making
collisions impossible. There will be a complete block signaling system
by means of incandescent electric lights, with telephonic communication
between cars upon the same section, whether running or standing still.
The road will be illuminated by incandescent electric lamps for one
mile ahead and one mile behind every car while running. It will be
built in a practically straight line, and as far as possible will avoid
grade crossings of other roads. At all grade crossings, whether wagon
or railroad, a red electric light will be displayed and an electric
bell rung for two minutes before it is time for the train to pass. It
is intended to ultimately construct four tracks--two outside tracks
for local traffic and high class freight, while the two inner tracks
will be used exclusively for through passenger traffic, mail and high
class express. The through cars will not stop anywhere between the two
terminal cities between which they run. Spurs or branches will be run,
connecting the large cities along the line of the road with the main
through tracks, and from these cities to St. Louis and Chicago without
stop. Ultimately a street will be run along the sides of these tracks,
along which dwelling houses and stores will be built. On both sides
of these avenues the land will, ultimately, be laid out in building
lots one hundred feet front by two hundred feet deep, giving an area
of half an acre to each lot. These lots will be bought by people
from town seeking the healthy air of the country and pleasant homes
within quick and cleanly access of the city. Back of them they will
have the open farm lands, and in front of them the boulevard with the
electric railway, telephone and electric light; practically uniting
Washington avenue, St. Louis, with Michigan avenue, Chicago, by one
grand electric highway or boulevard, along which the farmer may secure
electric light and power for pumping, plowing, thrashing, chopping and
mixing fodder, shelling and grinding corn, and harvesting at night in
case of emergency; and the rural resident may secure electric lights
for the illumination of his dwelling, and electricity for heating and
cooking, and electric power for domestic purposes. Along this road
there will ultimately be a constant stream of travel. The population
will be scattered out into the country, and the centers of trade and
business relieved of their surplus, leaving more room for business
establishments near the great centers of trade, taking out of the
great bustle and crowd of the city those who are not immediately
engaged in trade, and leaving room for those who are. The result will
be of incalculable benefit to the whole population and land holders
throughout the district through which the proposed road will traverse.
It will bring into use and market a large amount of real estate
hitherto of but little value.
“‘Either of the three routes which this road proposes to take between
St. Louis and Chicago will be at least thirty-three miles shorter than
the shortest of the existing steam routes. The standard schedule time
of all through cars will be one hundred miles per hour. The trip from
St. Louis to Chicago can, therefore, be made in from two and a half to
three hours. It will be unnecessary to travel at night, therefore no
through passenger cars will be run after nine o’clock P. M., the tracks
being reserved at night for high-class freight, express and mail.
This does away with the necessity of running Pullman cars, and the
expense to the company attendant thereon, as well as to the traveling
public. No man will care about traveling at night when he can travel
in the daytime over a cleanly road which will land him so quickly at
his destination. Farmers along the line can build cheap side switches
with light rails, which will enable cars to be run directly to the
doors of their barns and granaries, to facilitate the transportation
of the produce of their land, thus rendering them largely independent
of the condition of the ordinary wagon roads, which, by the way,
have become very poor through neglect since the inauguration of the
railroad system. Thus will the large markets of St. Louis and Chicago
be practically at the door of every farmer throughout this district,
for the sale of his perishable produce. The moment the proposed road
is completed and put in operation, all lands throughout the district
traversed by the road will be increased in value from one to two
hundred per cent. and ultimately, and that at a day not very far
distant, the land immediately contiguous to the road will be selling by
the front foot instead of, as at present, by the acre, with very little
demand for even this.
“‘It will, of course, be to the highest interest of this company to
build this road and get it in operation in time for the World’s Fair,
so as to secure the immense traffic incident thereto. It is entirely
practicable, says the prospectus, to build such a road within the time
allotted. Steam roads of a much more difficult character have been
built much more rapidly; for instance, the Texas & Pacific extension
was built a distance of 615 miles in twenty-two months, four hundred
miles of which was through a region entirely destitute of railroads and
even of population, the cattle men at that time having failed even to
penetrate the greater portion with their herds. The country was of a
rough and hilly character, many summits being as high as three and four
thousand feet, with such modifications of climate as to make a trip
across the country a series of continual surprises. For a great portion
of the road a rate of two miles for every working day was maintained
for several months. Ties, fuel, and bridge timber had to be transported
from East Texas, a distance of from four to six hundred miles; rails
from Pennsylvania, seventeen hundred miles; and water from wherever it
could be gotten along the line. The present proposed road will have
none of these difficulties to contend with. It will have a practically
level country over which to build its road, which will be crossed at
intervals by steam roads, which can be utilized for the transportation
of its materials. An interesting fact may be stated in this connection,
that contracts can be made for the delivery of rails for the entire
road within six weeks from the day of giving the order.
“‘The electric carriage or car that will be run upon this proposed
electric road is a long, low, compact, light but strong car, having
two pairs of driving wheels, each of which are driven by a separate
and distinct electric motor. The whole weight of the car, with its
passengers, and of the two electric motors, comes upon these two pairs
of driving wheels, and is, therefore, all available for traction, or
adhesion between the rails and the wheels, through the agency of which
the car is propelled. The top of the car stands only nine feet from
the rail, which is three feet lower than the ordinary street car.
This brings the center of gravity very low and near to the track,
which decreases immensely the danger of jumping the track. It has a
wedge-shaped nose or front for cutting the air, which has the effect of
decreasing the air resistance and of helping to keep the car down upon
the track. The motor man stands immediately back of this wedge-shaped
front, and between his department and the rear wheels is the
compartment for the accommodation of passengers. In the rear of this is
a separate compartment for mail and high express. The driving wheels
are six feet in diameter, and are capable of making 500 revolutions in
a minute. The weight of the entire car, with its motors, is but ten
tons. It maybe interesting in this connection to state that a steam
locomotive, to make the same speed, if it were practicable, would have
to weigh in the neighborhood of one hundred tons, and the present
locomotive weighs from sixty to ninety tons. These electric carriages
or cars will be illuminated and heated by electricity, and will contain
all the modern appointments for the comfort of passengers. There will
be no conductors and no brakemen. It will be possible to stop the car
within half a mile by means of the motors themselves and auxiliary
electric brakes.’
“This is a grand scheme for the people of earth. I have read this
article to show that you are not so far behind the Marsites in
the science of mechanics as the masses of the common people seem
to believe. This article clearly shows that what I have told you
concerning our mechanical science is not a dream, but can by a little
improvement, by a little more genius, and by a little wider voluntary
co-operation, be applied equally well right here on earth. You need
nothing new, but only improve on what you already have. I believe that
the proposed enterprise is the grandest lesson in transportation and
intercommunication that the people of the earth have so far conceived.
There are still many monopolistic features in it as far as the social
and economic principles are concerned, but this proposed railway with
its lines of boulevards is a kind of a rude, primitive community, which
will no doubt grow in regularity, freedom and equitable prosperity.”
“How, Mr. Midith, do you conduct your manufacturing industry?” asked
Mrs. Uwins after Mr. Midith had finished speaking. “I suppose you
manufacture a great many nice things.”
“Our manufacturing is, of course, done on a large scale, and mostly
in those localities where the natural resources are best adapted for
it. The advantages of manufacturing on a _large_ scale are many and
important. Let us exemplify this more fully. When every individual had
to make his own garments and his own house, like primitive people do,
both clothes and houses were scarce and poor, for several reasons which
you undoubtedly understand. It is necessary, in order to manufacture a
good article with little labor, first, to be a skillful workman, and,
second, to have good tools and machinery to work with. The same person
cannot be skilled in all trades, and, even if he could, he should
still manufacture on a large scale; for it would require far too much
needless labor for every person to own as good machinery and tools as
many men can afford to own _together_, and the better the tools and
machinery, the _more_ and the _better_ goods can be manufactured with
the same amount of labor. Every individual can not own a good tailor
shop, a convenient shoe factory and a large watchmaking establishment.
‘Division of labor’ should be as complete as possible, not only among
individuals, but among communities as well.
“For instance, we have very large flouring mills, which have all the
latest improved milling machinery in them. This machinery is very
costly, and it would not be wise to have such a mill in each community.
Therefore, one community manufactures one article and another community
manufactures another, and some do not manufacture much at all.”
“Do you manufacture extraordinary fine cloth, jewelry, dress goods,
etc.?” asked Viola somewhat inquiringly, as she glanced at Mr. Midith.
Mr. Midith smiled with apparent satisfaction and replied: “Indeed, we
make fine cloths, some elegant jewelry, but we manufacture no dress
goods. You see we have no use for dress goods, because our ladies do
not wear _dresses_ like you do.”
“Do your ladies honestly wear no dresses!” exclaimed Viola
astonishingly. “What a strange world! a world without a dress in it!”
“Yes; our ladies wear no dresses,” responded Mr. Midith; “but we are
digressing from our subject. Some other evening I shall fully describe
our costume of both ladies and gentlemen.”
“Does not, then, manufacture and mining give a denser population to a
community than a community has which is engaged almost exclusively in
agriculture?” asked Mr. Uwins.
“Yes; they have a tendency to increase the density of population in a
community above the average. But a mine or factory which employs 10,000
hands is quite large; and an increase of ten thousand in a community
having in an average a population of 120,000 is not a large increase.”
“There is one feature in your system, Mr. Midith, I can not yet see
into, and I should like to have you make that a little plainer if you
can,” said Rev. Dudley, “and that feature is about the density of
population. I may be dull in comprehension, but it does not, in my
opinion, figure out well. You say that a square mile of land can, under
the same conditions, support as many, and no more, human beings on Mars
than it can on earth. You further say that your communities contain
about four townships; have, in an average, about 120,000 inhabitants.
Four townships contain 144 square miles. This gives a population of
over 800 to the square mile, while Belgium, the most densely populated
country on earth, has only a little over 500 to the square mile;
and political economists, I think, unanimously agree that, without
importation, the land of Belgium can not raise sufficient products to
support its own population.”
“Rev. Dudley, I think that I fully agree with your political economists
on the Belgium question of population. It is very likely true that
the land of Belgium can, under _your_ social and industrial system,
not support, without importation, its own inhabitants; but that does
not argue in favor of the fact that the Marsites, under a _different_
social and industrial system, can sustain, in superfluity, a population
nearly twice as dense as that of Belgium. I said _under the same
conditions_ the earth can sustain as dense a population as Mars can,
but the conditions are not the same. With a little patience and close
attention, I think I shall be able to clear up this question for you
satisfactorily.
“Let us take an illustration. If the American Indians, who formerly
lived a hunter’s life on the present area of the United States, had
been questioned before the discovery of America about the density of
population of their country, they would, no doubt, have said that
their country was more densely populated at that time than it had ever
been before, and that it would be utterly impossible for the land
area comprising the present limits of the United States to support a
population of over sixty millions of people who eat and waste so much,
who wear so many good clothes, and who live in such good wigwams as
the people of the United States actually do at the present time. Those
Indians would undoubtedly have further argued that they had better
weapons and tools, better wigwams, better clothes and better food than
any of their ancestors had enjoyed, and that therefore the earth would
be unable to do much better than it is already doing. But you, the
white man, actually showed the Indians differently, when you settled
among them. You changed the system of making a livelihood, to something
of which the Indians had never thought; and very likely if one could
have propounded a system similar to your present one, he would have
been branded a traitor to his country, and a heretic to his religion.
Instead of leading a hunter’s life, which requires a large territory
and a sparse population, you partially live on agricultural products,
and partially on _domestic_, instead of wild, animals. The Indian
lived almost exclusively on a flesh diet--game, while you cultivate
the soil and raised stock. Your industrial system is able to support a
population vastly more dense than the Indian’s system was capable of
supporting. So you see, the error was not that the earth is unable to
sustain a denser population than the Indian’s, but that the Indian was
not living under _that_ social and industrial system which _is_ capable
of sustaining a dense population. The Indians’ mistake was, that they
measured the possible maximum density of population by the standard of
_their_ social and industrial system. They knew that thousands of their
companions were in want, and that they were frequently pressing on
subsistence in all directions.
“Just so it is with you at the present time. You are apparently always
figuring on what can be done under your present system. You, by
adopting a social and industrial system which is capable of sustaining
a denser population, showed the Indians that they had not reached the
maximum density of population. Now I want to show you that you are as
mistaken on your present density of population as the Indians were on
theirs.
“We have seen that the Indians subsisted almost exclusively on animal
food--_game_, while you gradually became more and more a vegetarian,
and lived on the flesh of _domestic_ animals, instead of _wild game_.
Your system is capable of sustaining a denser population than the
Indian system is, but the Marsites have continued to change the system
which you began still further; therefore we are capable of supporting
a population of over 800 to the square mile, in superfluity, while you
are sometimes pressing on subsistence with a population of much less
that 100 to the square mile.
“Now let me briefly enumerate a few of the most conspicuous differences
existing between your system and ours, which enable us to sustain a
population so much denser than you can. A vegetarian requires much
less land area than a flesh eater, and we are almost exclusively
vegetarians, while you are partly vegetarians but largely carnivorous
(flesh eaters). We are wasting no land for the production of tea,
coffee, tobacco, intoxicating liquor, opium, etc., which we claim
contain very little if any nutriment. Much of your crops is spoiled
and damaged by curing it out doors; we do all our drying and curing
artificially, and not a particle is lost, spoiled or damaged. Our
clothing is not made and worn so wastefully, and our fashions are not
so changeable as yours. Our manner of cooking and eating is not half
so wasteful as yours. We save an immense amount of land by not fencing
it off into little lots and farms like you do. In this manner you,
first, waste the land occupied by the fences; secondly, you require
an immense amount of additional land on which to produce the fencing
material--posts and lumber; and thirdly, fencing requires labor which
involves a physiological waste that must be repaired by additional food
raised on land. We get our building material nearly all _out_ of the
earth, while you use largely lumber, etc., which are grown on the land
surface of the earth. Many of us live together in one house, and it
requires much less labor and material to build and maintain one large
residence than it does to build and maintain many smaller ones. By
extensive voluntary co-operation, we are enabled to do much work with
machinery which you have to do by hand; for instance, such as digging
potatoes, unloading corn and other grain, heating and lighting the
apartments, etc. We, who work on a large scale, have also much work for
each machine, while you, under your single-handed system, require many
machines, and have but little work for each; for example, a self-binder
owned by a farmer, who has perhaps no more than 50 acres of grain to
cut with it, while the machine is idle and decaying all the rest of the
year.
“You have a vast amount of wealth employed in an army and a navy. The
cavalry horses require feed; the man-of-war requires timber for its
construction; your fortifications, your arsenals, your guns, your
navy, etc., all require material which is largely produced by the land
surface. Their construction requires a vast amount of unproductive
labor--a physiological waste which must be repaired by food. Then,
again, you often destroy by war countless millions of wealth; in fact
you sometimes devastate whole countries. We have no war, no armies and
navies to support, no destruction of wealth by war. You have to raise
food for the reparation of the waste caused by your immense amount
of unproductive and destructive labor. You, as well as we, require
an immense amount of power to do the work: to build the houses, to
plow, sow, and harvest, to heat the apartments, to run the train and
factory. You raise and feed thousands and millions of draft-animals,
horses, oxen, and mules, which draw the plow, wagon, etc., for you;
they all have to be fed with feed which is raised on the _surface_ of
the earth, and which requires land area for its production. We have no
draft-animals to feed--no hay and corn to raise for them. We receive
all our motive power from the atmospheric current and water power.
Thus man, during his different stages of physical and intellectual
advancement, employs different motive power. Let us illustrate.
“In his primitive beginning, man carries his few burdens for
transportation on his back. Then he makes his slaves do it. Further on,
he uses the back of his domestic animals, which have to live from the
vegetable products of the earth; this, as I have said, requires land
area, and man by his labor must also aid in the successful production
of this feed. A little further on he uses the _direct_ wind power for
propelling his clumsy ship and for running his primitive mill. Now he
had power when the wind blew and none when it was calm; it was all
uncertainty and irregularity. To overcome these, he invents a powerful
steam engine which runs his ships, trains, factories, etc. But these
engines require an immense quantity of water and fuel. This water
is often difficult to get, and the fuel has to be raised on the land
surface in the form of timber, or it has to be mined out of the earth;
either method requires millions of days of labor. Still a little later
on, man learns how to store up electricity and successfully compress
air by the action of the atmospheric currents and water power. He
lays up a large supply of this motive power for future use, and for
unforeseen emergencies. This laid up motive power in the form of stored
electricity and compressed air, he can, at his pleasure, convert
into uniform mechanical motion. He applies it to his ships, trains,
factories, land engines, vehicles, and all other machinery. He uses it
for heating and lighting purposes, for drying and curing his grain and
hay, and for countless other things too numerous to mention.
“All this vast motive power which he now stores up by the aid of
evaporation and the atmospheric circulation involves scarcely
any waste. There is an inexhaustible quantity of it. Millions of
horse-powers are daily going to waste on every square mile of land
and sea. Thus the burdenless man begins to walk more erect and with
an increased elasticity in his step. His slave is emancipated. His
draught animal, which required feed and care, is extinct. The pride of
his mechanical genius, the steam engine for which he had to mine the
coal in the damp mine, has also disappeared from the stage of action.
And now the Marsites receive all their motive power from the present
sunbeam without being first organized into a vegetable or animal, or
without extracting it from the coal which was buried millions of ages
ago.
“Is it not marvelous how the human mind, with its limited experience,
has discovered such complex relations existing between certain
phenomena? For examples, how a tiny sunbeam, after having traversed
the abyss of space intervening the sun and our planets, warms the
atmosphere in certain localities; how this produces atmospheric
currents; how the windmills, driven by these currents, charge the
storage battery cells, and fill other electric reservoirs; and how
these cells and reservoirs of stored power furnish the motive power
for train, ship, aerial projectile, factory, carriage, plow, elevator,
etc., etc.; how they heat and light the factories, houses, stables,
cars, vehicles, roads, etc. What a grand accomplishment when one
contemplates this! What a display of human ingenuity; and yet we think
that with all these marvelous achievements, even the Marsites are only
living in the dawn of an approaching day whose effulgent brilliancy no
human intellect has thus far contemplated.
“The foregoing, as you no doubt comprehend, are a few of the many
reasons why we can support a denser population than you can.”