Last but not the least of the advantages of cremation was the death blow it gave to [Spoils the Ghost Business.] the ghost industry. Superstition tottered when in 1999 graveyards had been abolished by law, as well as custom. The stately, white marble mausoleum which held the ashes of departed ones did not possess the gruesome appearance of the old fashioned cemeteries of 1899, with mounds and graves scattered in every direction, some of them in a condition of shameful neglect. There was something about a graveyard which was naturally repellent to the living. The ones who scoffed the loudest at ghosts, and were really very brave at noon time, were never favorably impressed with the idea of spending a few hours alone at night in a cemetery. When graveyards were abolished and bodies were promptly reduced to ashes after death, superstition began to weaken. Many people who would have been terrified at the suggestion of keeping a dead body in a house any unusual length of time, did not hesitate in many instances, to keep the ashes of several cremated members of the family for years, in their parlor. Cremation removed the sting of death, robbing it of its terrors. It was a blessing to the world and was thereafter ever sustained by enlightened ages. CHAPTER XX. Newspapers in 1999. They are still progressive and enterprising as ever and constitute one of the bulwarks of American liberties. The Pneumatic tube postal service and swift delivery of mails. Four daily deliveries of mail between Manhattan and San Francisco. A Submarine Railway Accident. A Marine Spider Crippled. Returns to Babyhood. Buying up Titles. It is the proud boast of America that as a nation it possesses a larger per centage of people who can read and write than any other nation on the habitable globe. Our excellent system of free schools and the avalanche of newspapers that find their way into every home, at a mere nominal cost, have vouchsafed a general diffusion of knowledge throughout our great Republic, filling every branch of art, industry, and every profession with men and women of brains and intelligence. The force and power of the newspapers in America in 1899, the perfect liberty of [Safeguards of Liberty.] the press, were regarded in that year as guarantees of public safety, mighty levers in forming public opinion. In 1999 the newspapers of the period had lost none of the prestige and influence they enjoyed in the old days of sail boats and steam engines. They were still handled in many instances with consummate skill and wielded a power that built, as well as shattered, governments. In current topics and in the chronicles of events, there existed a marked difference between the newspapers of 1899 and those of 1999. New elements and conditions had come into play which were unknown in the period of the nineteenth century, and as a natural result the newspaper of the twentieth century contained some curious and interesting articles.