CHAPTER XXIII.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 entirelyUproar of VehiclesAbolished.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 theHavanas 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 opiumsmoking. 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 itArrested 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 winesand 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 enormousDrunkenness 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 unknownTriumph 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 adomestic 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, soNo 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. Thehatred and contempt that the MohammedanAn 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 asacrilegiouspretext 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 religiousChristianity 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 indicationspointed 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.
CHAPTER XXIII.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 entirelyUproar of VehiclesAbolished.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 theHavanas 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 opiumsmoking. 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 itArrested 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 winesand 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 enormousDrunkenness 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 unknownTriumph 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 adomestic 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, soNo 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. Thehatred and contempt that the MohammedanAn 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 asacrilegiouspretext 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 religiousChristianity 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 indicationspointed 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.
CHAPTER XXIII.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 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 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 entirelyUproar of VehiclesAbolished.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 theHavanas 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 opiumsmoking. 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 itArrested 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 winesand 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 enormousDrunkenness 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 unknownTriumph 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 adomestic 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, soNo 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. Thehatred and contempt that the MohammedanAn 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 asacrilegiouspretext 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 religiousChristianity 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 indicationspointed 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.
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 entirelyUproar of VehiclesAbolished.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 theHavanas 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 opiumsmoking. 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 itArrested 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 winesand 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 enormousDrunkenness 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 unknownTriumph 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 adomestic 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, soNo 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. Thehatred and contempt that the MohammedanAn 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 asacrilegiouspretext 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 religiousChristianity 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 indicationspointed 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.