+More Startling Prophecies.+
The old lady talked fast now, often stopping for a minute or so to look
at what appeared hieroglyphics on her memorandum papers:
"I told you that I was 86 years old and the period that I am talking to
you about is just 86 years hence, so that I am merely looking ahead 86
years instead of looking backward that length of time. Please do not
confound my subject to the present time for all that I tell you is to
take place in 1999 although I speak of it as having already occurred. My
foresight is just as keen as my hindsight and all that I am telling you
is a reality to me even if it has not yet actually taken place. But it
will happen so, and just as I relate it to you.
"I forgot to tell you that the doctors will be under the supervision of
the City Commissioners. They will be paid from the city treasury and all
fees accruing from the public for medical service will be paid into the
municipal treasury. The doctors will be paid according to their ability
and civil service examination will be required ere a doctor will be
allowed to practice.
"All lawyers will have their offices in the court house and will be
assigned to cases as they come up in rotation. Each attorney must work
for the best good of his client but all cases will have a preliminary
examination before a board of three judges and unless, in their esteem,
the case is a meritorious one, it will be summarily thrown out of court.
"Lawyers cannot collect fees from clients but will receive a salary
paid out of the common fund, their emoluments greatly depending upon the
value of their services, the number of cases each has won, etc. This
state of affairs is much appreciated by both practitioner and client and
works well.
"The ministers, too, come under the supervision of the City Commission,
but as it is impossible for anyone to tell how many souls they save it
has been decided that their emoluments must come from their clients who
are the better judge of their minister's value.
"It was in the year 1950 that it became quite observable that corn,
wheat, rye and other cereals entering into the production of alcohol
had lost the power to ferment and to be converted into beer, wine and
whiskey. This was a startling announcement to the old topers but it was
nevertheless a fact and the science of making alcohol has become a lost
art.
"One would think that this would put the distilleries and breweries out
of business, but man is very resourceful and immediately those in the
liquor business began casting around for a substitute for their former
product and a splendid one was discovered which more than filled all
requirements and now, Weinhard's brewery still managed by Paul Wessinger
the Fourth, and the Gambrinus brewery, with a Mr. George Leithoff, Jr.,
at the helm, are manufacturing a beverage which exhilarates but does not
inebriate. Both of these institutions have grown to five times the size
of the early part of the century and, inasmuch as there can be no law
directed against the sale of their beverages, there is no license fee
exacted by the city from the cafes or other resorts retailing these
wares. W. J. Van Schuyver & Co., Rothschild Bros., Blumauer, Hoch & Co.,
L. Germanus, L. Coblentz & Co., still continue in business with new
faces, the old names are still on the signs, but they, too, are selling
a splendid substitute for alcoholic beverages."
The old lady paused for a minute and with a laugh remarked, "I'd like to
be able to give you of the present day the recipe for this substitute
but it would affect the gift I possess of foreshadowing the future and
I'll have to leave it a secret.
"The lighting of the city is done by one immense electric light
suspended in the air at a height of several thousand feet which
illumines the city as bright as the brightest day. No deep black shadows
are cast as was the case in former days, but a gentle, steady, pervading
light is given and a person need not have gas fixtures or electric light
fixtures in his home or place of business as the city light illumines
exactly as does the sun.
"Heat is furnished by the city through a thorough pipe system and it is
compulsory on all citizens to patronize the city's heat. No fuel in the
shape of wood and coal is used and the loss by fire is nominal and for
this reason, the premiums on fire insurance policies have been cut down
to one-quarter of the former cost. The working out of this idea has
materially helped to beautify the city and actually put the street
cleaning department out of business.
"There being so very few horses raised the overplus of stock feed is
used in the propagation of hogs and cattle and, as a consequence, the
meat and milk product has greatly increased and the prices have been
very much lessened.
"The disciples of Burbank, the once renowned horticulturist have been
getting busy and as a result many new fruits and vegetables have been
put on the market, their flavor and excellence outstripping anything
known in the early twentieth century.
"We have now one universal, common language. The vocabulary is not very
copious, the dictionary containing less than 8,000 words but it is
capable of expressing every idea that the human mind may evolve. This
innovation has made it easy, particularly for the young scholar and
student. Latin and Greek, commonly known as the dead languages are now
very dead, as even the churches have given up their usage.
"High above the clouds at Fort Stevens, is erected a tower that pierces
the sky to several thousand feet, and far above the cloud line. Here are
half a dozen men concontantly on watch with the latest improved
telescopes. Their mission is to apprize the garrison below of the
approach of an enemy by sea. From their lofty height and through the
modern telescope, ships at a distance of 100 miles at sea can be
distinctly sighted and the alarm given to the ever-watchful garrison.
"Signals between the watchers in the lighthouse and the officers manning
the guns indicate the exact location of the approaching enemy and an
attack can be repelled and the greatest Dreadnaught blown out of the
water at this long range at the will of the gunners. It is in this way
that the entire Pacific Coast is defended, but it is pleasureable to
state, that there has been no semblance of war for over 50 years and all
the earth is at peace.
"Irrigation in Eastern Oregon and Washington has produced 10 times the
amount of wheat formerly raised and wheat is shipped to all parts of the
world from the numerous and well equipped elevators on the Willamette
river.
"I must now tell you what I consider the greatest of all the world's
inventions and it seems a pity that it has been bottled up so long
merely to line the pockets of a few sordid railroad owners.
"The device was invented in 1925 by a young man named Wallace Going and
it consisted of an apparatus which may be so applied to a balloon or
other object suspended in midair, which, when properly adjusted and at a
certain height from the earth, will shake off or cast off the
gravitation of the earth allowing it to suspend in space as an
independent planet. The idea being one of quick transit, the balloonist
after freeing his ship from the earth's attraction will hang in space
till his destination rolls around to him. The earth moves from west to
east, so that it will take a little more than 20 hours, at this
latitude, to have New York roll around to you, but if you are in New
York it would take but four hours to come to Portland, provided they are
in exactly the same latitude. Do you understand me? Of course, if you
started from Los Angeles, you would touch some point in the southern
states and if your destination happened to be New York City, you would
have to take the cars to that point. This has become a favorite way to
cross the continent. It is quick and absolutely without any danger so
very few travel overland by the railroads, that mode of locomotion being
used almost entirely for weighty and bulky merchandise.
"When young Wallace Going approached the President of the
Transcontinental Railroad with his invention, he was laughed to scorn,
but the young man gave a practical demonstration ascending in his
balloon and allowing the earth to pass in review before him arriving at
Portland again, or rather, rolling around to Portland again 23 hours
55 minutes later. A vast sum was paid young Going for his invention, but
the railroad companies stuck to their privilege of bottling it up, fully
realizing the revolution it would create in business once it was
established. The patent ran out in 25 years when the device became
public property and now it is in general use from Alaska on the north to
Terra del Fuego on the south and there has been very few mishaps to any
of the carriers.
"You can see, therefore, how the number of railroads running north and
south must have increased and how the traffic across the continent has
diminished.
"And still the end of the wonders are not yet," and the interesting old
lady stopped to consult her memorandum book.
"You will want to know, of course, who are in business in Portland at
the time I am talking about, A. D. 1999, and I will gladly answer all
your enquiries, as I have a city directory for the year 1998, but it
will do for our use," and the old lady took a ponderous book from her
bag.
Illustration: End of Chapter 3.