Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth CenturyDonnelly, Ignatius
Science
Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century
Donnelly, Ignatius
Dystopias -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Science fiction; Social problems -- Fiction; Twentieth century -- Fiction
We shall not seek to produce uniformity of recompense for all kinds
of work; for we know that skilled labor is intrinsically worth more
than unskilled; and there are some forms of intellectual toil that
are more valuable to the world than any muscular exertion. The object
will be not to drag down, but to lift up; and, above all, to prevent
the masses from falling into that awful slough of wretchedness which
has just culminated in world-wide disaster.
The government will also regulate the number of apprentices who shall
enter any given trade or pursuit. For instance, there may be too many
shoemakers and not enough farmers; if, now, more shoemakers crowd
into that trade, they will simply help starve those already there;
but if they are distributed to farming, and other employments, where
there is a lack, then there is more work for the shoemakers, and in
time a necessity for more shoemakers.
There is no reason why the ingenuity of man should not be applied to
these great questions. It has conquered the forces of steam and
electricity, but it has neglected the great adjustments of society,
on which the happiness of millions depends. If the same intelligence
which has been bestowed on perfecting the steam-engine had been
directed to a consideration of the correlations of man to man, and
pursuit to pursuit, supply and demand would have precisely matched
each other, and there need have been no pauperism in the world--save
that of the sick and imbecile. And the very mendicants would begin to
rise when the superincumbent pressure of those who live on the edge
of pauperism had been withdrawn.
We deny gold and silver any function as money except for small
amounts--such as five dollars or less. We know of no supplies of
those metals in our mountains, and if we tied our prosperity to their
chariot, the little, comparatively, there is among us, would
gradually gravitate into a few hands, and these men would become the
masters of the country. We issue, therefore, a legal-tender paper
money, receivable for all indebtedness, public and private, and not
to be increased beyond a certain _per capita_ of population.
We decree a limitation upon the amount of land or money any one man
can possess. All above that must be used, either by the owner or the
government, in works of public usefulness.
There is but one town in our colony--it is indeed not much more than
a village--called Stanley. The republic has taken possession of all
the land in and contiguous to it, not already built on--paying the
owners the present price of the same; and hereafter no lots will be
sold except to persons who buy to build homes for themselves; and
these lots will be sold at the original cost price. Thus the
opportunity for the poor to secure homes will never be diminished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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