444,,the444   ,,man ,,from ,,mars       
,,his ,,morals1 ,,politics   ,,and      
,,religion    ,,by   ,,william ,,simpson
    ,,third ,,edition    ,revised and   
,enlarged by an ,extended ,preface and a
   ,chapter on ,woman ,suffrage         
,press of   ,e4 ,d4 ,beattie1 #bjg      
,sacramento ,st4   ,san ,francisco      
,copyright1 #aijj1 by the ,author4      
,,to ,,the ,,memory   ,,of   ,,james    
,,lick    who1 by his munificent        
bequests to    ,,science1 ,,industry1   
,,charity ,,and ,,education    has      
indicated in the manner of their        
disposal1 that humanity1 wisdom1   and  
enlightenment1 arising out of the       
convictions of modern thought1   which  
holds these1 his beneficiaries to be the
 noblest and divinest   pursuits of     
mankind1 and the only possible agencies 
in the betterment   of society4    ,this
 ,book is reverently inscribed          
,,by ,,the ,,author4     ,,preface ,,to 
,,third ,,edition4   ,any one advanced  
in life who has enjoyed opportunities of

 knowledge derived from association with
 men and books1 and who has an          
inclination to reach the bottom of      
things by his own independent thought1  
is apt to arrive at conclusions         
regarding the world and society very    
different from those which had been     
early impressed upon him by his         
superiors and teachers4 ,from a         
suspicion1 at first reluctantly         
accepted1 but finally confirmed beyond a
 doubt1 he finds that he has been       
deceived in many things4 ,the discovery 
arouses no indignation because he knows 
that his early instructors were in most 
cases the victims of misdirection       
themselves1 and are therefore not to be 
held accountable for the promulgation of
 errors which they had mistaken for     
truths4 ,his self-emancipation has so   
filled his mind with a better hope for  
the future of the world1 and a higher   
opinion of his fellow men1 that the     
delight and satisfaction of the         
discovery overcomes every sentiment     

except pity for those who had been      
leading him astray1 and if the feeling  
of condemnation or censure comes to his 
mind at all1 it is only for those few   
who live and thrive upon those delusions
 having their origin in the past1 and   
whose chief purpose in life is to keep  
them alive and to bolster them up among 
the multitude4  ,in the new light that  
has come to him1 the world and society  
have been transformed to his view and   
understanding4 ,he discovers goodness in
 many places where his teachers had     
denied its existence1 and its definition
 has become so changed1 under his       
broader vision1 that humanity seems     
teeming with it everywhere1 and is ruled
 by it1 and those departments of it most
 affecting society he observes to be    
increasing1 and that instead of like an 
exotic in uncongenial soil1 hard to be  
retained by mankind1 it is perpetuated  
and cherished by natural human impulses4
 ,he finds1 also1 that the sum of       
badness in the world has been greatly   

exaggerated by his teachers1 and that   
those branches of it most interfering   
with the welfare of society are         
gradually being lessened1 and are likely
 to work out their extinction by the    
penalties of public disapproval4 ,these 
convictions make the world seem a       
brighter and better dwelling place4     
,they reveal to him the possibilities of
 its future1 and tend to divert his     
higher aims from the obscure paths where
 tradition had been leading them1 into  
more fruitful channels4 ,the truth will 
have at last dawned upon him1 bearing   
evidences in this age that none but the 
unenlightened can doubt1 that           
superstition1 during many of the        
centuries past1 has belittled the world1
 and has discouraged humanity in        
improving it1 under the mistaken        
assumption of the world's small         
comparative importance in the great     
outcome2 the circumstantial particulars1
 of which1 it pretends to hold by divine
 revelation4 ,having rid himself of     

these beliefs by a process of reasoning1
 and the assistance of the available    
knowledge of his time1 he arrives at the
 conclusion that the best work of       
humanity is not1 altogether that taught 
by the creeds1 and that its most        
divinely inspired motives are those     
which tend to increase the knowledge of 
worldly things1 those which add to the  
sum of goodness in society by exhibiting
 its practical effect toward happiness1 
and those also which assist in the great
 end of equalizing the burdens and      
enjoyments of life among all4  ,having  
these conclusions firmly established in 
his mind1 and the undeserved reverence  
from early training removed1 he becomes 
especially fitted to examine these old  
beliefs1 and to pass judgment upon them1
 without that taint of blind devotional 
fervor which the unremitted teaching of 
many centuries has rendered current in  
the world4 ,he observes of these old    
beliefs1 that during their supremacy1   
when their control of society was       

complete and unquestioned1 the material 
progress of mankind was least1 without  
any compensating condition to make up   
for the darkness1 and dead mental       
activity that had fallen upon it2 except
 that apparent hypnotic influence from  
the doctrines taught1 which made men    
careless of their miseries1 and         
indifferent to the things of the earth4 
,he observes1 further1 of these old     
beliefs1 that as modern knowledge       
reduces their hold of authority among   
men1 the world improves as it never did 
before4 ,even charity1 kindness1 and    
good will to men1 adopted1 and long     
taught as an inseparable part of them1  
multiply more rapidly as their weight in
 the management of human affairs grow   
less4 ,from these well attested facts he
 arrives at the conviction that those   
religious societies1 founded upon1 and  
which have for centuries labored to     
perpetuate these beliefs1 either are not
 possessed with all the elements of     
human progress1 or1 that having many of 

such elements1 they have others of such 
neutralizing and retarding effect as to 
render the first futile for such a      
purpose4 ,that the latter is the case1  
every year added to his experience of   
life removes the doubt1 and explains to 
his understanding why the religious     
societies of the world have failed in   
any great degree to advance the material
 and intellectual condition of mankind4 
,with a moral code1 every provision of  
which plainly indicates the method of a 
better social state1 these religious    
societies have indissolubly associated  
in their teachings certain doctrinal    
beliefs1 originating in a semi-barbarous
 age1 and laden with its superstitions1 
with that fatal assumption of divine    
authority which demands their acceptance
 every where and for all time4 ,beliefs 
of such unbending rigidity1 impossible  
adaption or amendment1 and intolerance  
of dissent1 on account of their         
pretended sacred character1 that the    
world has been kept in a turmoil        

discussing them since their             
introduction1 and the more salutary     
lessons of morality and spiritual hope  
have been outranked and submerged by    
these vain and profitless discussions4  
,these beautiful and attractive lessons 
of love1 kindness1 and charity1         
exemplified and taught through a        
personality1 whose gift of genius was to
 see1 above all other men1 the needs of 
humanity1 have attracted men and women  
into these religious societies as the   
hungry are attracted by stores of food4 
,once within their lines1 and imbued    
with the doctrines there found1 they see
 but little abroad in the outside world 
but the evil spirit of ,sheol4 ,to them1
 its shadow rests upon much of the      
business of life1 and with increased    
obscurity1 upon many of its pleasures4  
,it even shows to them among those      
humanities which are without their      
direction and cue4 ,it is only however  
among the many who openly deny their    
doctrines and authority that the evil   

spirit is seen by them in all its       
hideous and malevolent personality1 and 
their especial mission is to give battle
 in that direction4 ,between he who     
doubts1 no matter how respectfully1 and 
these religious societies1 are drawn    
their lines of kindness and charity1 and
 with their sermons of love1 and their  
protestations of good will to mankind   
fresh upon them1 they are at any time1  
transformed1 so far as their relations  
with a doubter are concerned1 into a    
band of hostile and relentless savages1 
with inflictions of punishment1 measured
 in degree by surrounding enlightenment1
 from the actual barbaric torture of the
 savage1 to mere social ostracism and   
avoidance4  ,if it were the sole purpose
 of all ,christian organizations to     
bring into general practice the         
civilizing precepts of their founder1   
they would become the most powerful     
agents in the world to human advancement
 and the betterment of social           
conditions1 but these precepts are made 

subordinate by them1 and are neither    
valued or estimated beyond their        
jurisdiction4 ,they count nothing as    
saving qualities without the            
acknowledgment of certain doctrines and 
methods accompanying them4 ,those       
beautiful sentiments of charity and     
kindness1 always so precious to the     
hearts of men1 and growing more so as   
the ages advance1 were not adopted nor  
promulgated entirely for civilizing     
purposes1 but mostly with the selfish   
view of capturing humanity to church    
interests4 ,with a like purpose1 knowing
 the mystic tendency of the masses1 the 
supernaturalisms1 made a part of these  
attractive precepts1 were adopted and   
upheld2 bringing into the world an      
endless multitude of barren illusions1  
provoking acrimonious contentions among 
men1 to no good purpose whatever1 and   
filling the pages of history with a     
description of scenes that are a torture
 even to the memory4  ,it is given only 
to those now living1 and who have       

experienced the longest terms of life1  
to personally compare the past with the 
present1 so far as their limited sojourn
 in the world extends4 ,they are living 
witnesses to the wonderful changes in   
society and its beliefs during the short
 period of two generations only4 ,they  
have seen many of these ancient         
supernatural dreams in all their power  
of authority1 and have watched them     
wilt1 and finally disappear1 under some 
silent influence1 after argument and    
reason had exhausted themselves against 
them in vain4 ,they have listened to    
those weekly expositions of infernal    
horrors1 common at one time1 in all the 
fear and trembling of childhood1 and    
have later1 witnessed the theories and  
beliefs which inspired them1 with many  
others equally obnoxious to reason1     
relegated to silence and disuse1 as     
antiquated and worn furniture1 no longer
 serviceable1 is consigned to the       
rubbish heap4 ,only two generations ago 
they have seen the literature of the    

churches in leather bound books         
occupying the best filled1 and most     
easily reached shelves of the libraries1
 and now laying neglected among the dust
 of the cellars2 not one retained for   
reference1 and even their titles        
forgotten4 ,they have seen1 in their    
time1 the clutches of superstition      
compelled to relax its hold upon the    
throats of many a worthy human          
enterprise4 ,they have witnessed the    
triumph of science in its many          
skirmishes with tradition1 and have been
 interested lookers-on1 while the famous
 battle of evolution raged4 ,they have  
seen it from start to finish1 and the   
amusing spectacle of its end1 when      
theology1 metaphorically speaking1      
dragged its bruised and trembling body  
out of the dust2 and wiping the blood   
from its pale and troubled face1        
unblushingly declared1 as it had in     
every like outcome before1 that there   
had been no conflict4  ,with all this1  
and within their own era of two         

generations only1 they have seen the    
world arise to such prodigies of        
advancement1 such marvels of practical  
charity and such activities in the      
pursuit of knowledge1 in so close and   
quick succession as to fill them with   
bewilderment and wonder1 and they will  
recognize1 at least such of them as     
reflect upon the matter1 that after     
conflicts innumerable1 and setbacks and 
suppressions1 the scientific have       
prevailed over the theological methods1 
and are at work in all the glories of   
their triumph1 and that the ancient     
modes of thought are at last masters of 
the civilized world after nearly two    
thousand years of battle4 ,the thread of
 civilization has been taken up and     
spliced at its point of rupture sixteen 
centuries ago4 ,all this activity in the
 building of roads1 bridges and         
aqueducts1 this tunnelling of mountains 
and rivers1 this straining to make      
available for the services of man all   
the elements of nature1 this untiring   

search to increase the comforts and     
conveniences of life1 this higher regard
 for pure secular learning1 regardless  
of where it may lead1 this diversion of 
art from the purposes of religious      
expression only1 to an exhibition of    
nature in all her beautiful forms1 this 
greater toleration of opinion1 this     
coming back to the earth in short1 after
 a long period of phantom chasing in the
 clouds1 is neither more nor less than  
the revival of paganism4 ,but paganism  
with its brutalities filtered out1 and  
the best1 and only civilizing parts of  
christianity1 its hope of immortality1  
its lessons of virtue1 its brotherhood  
and socialism retained1 the             
superstitions of paganism buried        
forever1 and those of christianity      
gradually dropping one by one into their
 graves4  ,he1 who now at three score   
and ten1 remembers when the sound of the
 flint and steel was a necessary prelude
 to the morning fire1 when the open fire
 place with its crane and pot hooks was 

the only resource for warmth and        
cooking1 when the largest city on the   
,american continent was without sewers  
or water conduits1 when a river steamer 
was a wonder upon which the curious     
gazed1 and ocean ones unheard of1 when  
railroads were in an experimental stage1
 when the belief that ghosts flitted    
about the graveyards was unquestioned   
and undenied1 when ,satan was said to   
have stalked upon the earth in person1  
his presence seriously considered and   
accounted for by many of the churches1  
when witchcraft1 only in the throes of  
death but not yet buried1 had many      
adherents in animated defence1 when the 
electrical experiments of ,franklin were
 reckoned in some places as the trifling
 of an infidel with the spirit of evil1 
can best appreciate1 by the comparison  
which reminiscence affords1 of these    
wonderful changes in thought1 and the   
significant accompaniment of increased  
mental activity in all things           
benefitting the race4 ,the close        

relations exhibited in this             
comparatively brief period between the  
growth of rationalism1 and that         
accelerated movement all along the line 
of science1 learning1 and everything    
tending to place humanity on a higher   
plain1 is more than a mere coincidence4 
,it is the operation of cause and       
effect1 better understood and           
acknowledged upon a closer examination4 
,the bursting forth1 as it were1 during 
this century of the united energies of  
mankind in the direction of knowledge1  
is an expansion after the removal of a  
pressure that has borne down upon them  
for ages4 ,those great things that men  
have accomplished lately1 they were as  
capable of centuries ago1 and it is not 
surprising that they had not until      
recently made greater advances1 when we 
estimate the weight of opposing forces4 
,there had been for centuries nothing   
more discouraging to the formation of   
scientific hopes and ambitions than the 
theological methods of thought1 and the 

atmosphere which surrounded them4 ,the  
more that atmosphere was saturated with 
the doctrines of the churches1 the more 
repellent it was to any intellectual    
effort toward outside things1 and       
especially one requiring such a monopoly
 of mental energy and attention as to   
interfere with the ,christian ideas of  
constant and unremitting devotion4      
,there was no cultivated field1 during  
the thousand years of supreme church    
jurisdiction1 where an independent      
scientific ambition could germinate4    
,within the church such an ambition was 
impossible4 ,it was not only against the
 spirit1 but the very letter of its     
teachings4 ,its foundation was laid by  
its victory over science1 in its        
overcome of which1 it proclaimed divine 
assistance and authority4 ,it already   
possessed a knowledge of all things     
appertaining to the earth and the       
8firmament0 above it which the ,almighty
 desired men to know4 ,the earth was not
 round1 it was the center of the        

universe4 ,it stood still while the sun 
moved daily over its surface1 getting   
back each morning into its place with   
the help of angels4 ,the rainbow was a  
sign placed in the heavens for a        
purpose4 ,every known phenomenon of     
nature was accounted for by scriptural  
reference4 ,the method of the creation  
of the world and the origin of man and  
of woman also1 the church possessed in  
circumstantial detail4 ,the moment true 
science began its work1 and ran counter 
to any of this fund of knowledge1       
assumed to have been furnished by the   
,almighty1 the trouble began4 ,but the  
trouble was not altogether with the     
honest investigator4 ,if his discovery  
tended to disprove what was known as    
scriptural truth1 and inadvertently had 
been allowed to gain the public ear1    
every prelate in the church began       
contriving to refute it4 ,a new         
opportunity for fame was opened to every
 ambitious theologian1 and there        
immediately began in rebuttal a spinning

 of texts1 and a style of metaphysical  
argument1 from one end of the church to 
the other1 which remain to this day as  
the most remarkable curiosities of      
sinuous reasoning and constrained       
thought on record4 ,all questions of a  
scientific character had but one method 
of settlement1 were they authorized or  
denied by scripture8 ,if denied as they 
usually were1 the disturber was either  
burned at the stake or made to recant4  
,fame1 that chief incentive to all high 
effort1 offered none of its rewards     
beyond theological circles1 and during  
the ten centuries of complete church    
supremacy1 any advance in knowledge     
which did not stir the animosity of     
theologians gained less public attention
 and applause than the wearing of a hair
 shirt or a crown of thorns4 ,during a  
thousand years the church had kept the  
world slumbering in the darkness of     
barbarism and superstition punishing    
with death those it could not convince4 
,any doubter of generally accepted      

beliefs1 either in religion or science1 
who can support his position with       
plausable argument1 is entitled at least
 to the consideration of being a        
thinker4 ,the constant taking off of    
every such one1 during a term counted by
 centuries1 could have no other effect  
than to reduce the average of           
intellectual vigor in the whole4 ,the   
husbandman1 who removes from his acres  
of growing grain the tallest and        
heaviest stalks1 and instead of saving  
them for seed1 destroys them1 insures1  
in time1 the misfortune of dwarfed      
fields and diminished harvests4 ,the    
church1 since its complete victory over 
paganism in the fourth century1 had not 
produced with its supreme control over  
all learning a single noted man of      
science1 or one promising to be such1   
whom it had not either suppressed or    
tortured to death1 not a painter or poet
 who had not devoted his genius         
principally to superstition or          
sensuality1 not a historian whose       

veracity is not doubted1 and not a      
single towering man of letters4 ,this1  
too1 in a people1 among whom mingled the
 descendants of the ,greek masters of   
literature and philosophy4 ,when1 about 
four centuries ago1 secular learning and
 free thought began their first open    
advances since pagan days1 the church1  
finding in every such movement some     
disturbance of its traditions1 and      
making no account of their benefit to   
mankind1 brought all its powers to bear 
for their suppression4 ,in laying to do 
so it pursued the same cruel policy it  
had adopted in former contests4 ,these  
cruelties and intimidations were        
practiced at a time when within the     
church were openly perpetrated          
corruptions of the most glaring         
character2 which together1 loosened its 
hold upon the consciences of men1 and   
made possible that revolt and division  
known as the ,reformation1 early in the 
sixteenth century4 ,coming nearer our   
own time1 and having to deal with       

theological conditions not yet entirely 
removed1 a little more detail is        
necessary4  ,the quarter century before 
and the century following the           
,reformation was a remarkable era in the
 world's history4 ,it was noted         
throughout as a desperate and continuous
 struggle by men of science to dispel   
the darkness that had so long enveloped 
the ,christian world4 ,the art of       
printing1 then recently discovered1 and 
just coming into practical working      
effect1 and the thoughts of men thereby 
communicated from one to the rest with a
 facility never before known1 had the   
effect of arousing mental activities    
everywhere4 ,from a load only partially 
removed men began exploring regions of  
science that had been interdicted1 and a
 great movement in positive knowledge   
began4 ,the most enlightened men of the 
time went over to the ,reformation1 and 
if within that body1 they had found the 
shelter and encouragement they deserved1
 the sixteenth century and the one      

following it would have been the most   
brilliant period on record except our   
own1 for scientific discoveries and the 
world's advancement4 ,such a conclusion 
is justified by taking note of the      
wonderful men of genius who came into   
the world during that time1 who1 with   
all the restrictions and limitations    
cast about them by the two churches1    
laid such new foundations in truth and  
learning1 that nothing was to be done by
 subsequent workers in the same lines   
but build upon them4 ,buffon1 who may   
justly be called the father of natural  
science1 with powers of research and    
gifts of presenting results showing     
genius of a high order1 by his simple   
statement of truths which are to-day    
truisms in science1 was dragged forth by
 the leaders of the ,reformation1 and   
forced to recant publicly and to print  
his recantation4 8,i abandon everything 
in my book respecting the formation of  
the earth1 and generally all which may  
be contrary to the narrative of ,moses40

 ,linnaeus1 the founder of a scientific 
system in botany1 and the discoverer of 
sex in plants1 was constantly hampered  
and constrained in his thoughts by the  
threats of the ,reformation4 ,a         
pretended miracle of turning water into 
blood appeared in his vicinity1 and     
after looking into it carefully he      
reported that the reddening of the water
 was caused by dense masses of minute   
insects4 ,when news of this explanation 
reached the ears of the ,protestant     
bishop he denounced this scientific     
discovery as a 8,satanic ,abyss40 8,when
 ,god allows such a miracle to take     
place10 said he1 8,satan endeavors1 and 
so does his ungodly and worldly tools1  
to make it signify nothing40 ,descartes1
 the founder of modern philosophy1 and  
ranked among the foremost mathematicians
 of his day1 yet1 his constant dread of 
persecution from ,protestantism led him 
steadily to veil his thoughts1 and to   
suppress them when they threatened to   
interfere with theological beliefs4     

,leibnitz1 the great thinker1 who came  
so near to the discovery of evolution1  
,spinoza1 and later ,hume1 ,kepler1     
,kant1 ,newton and many others1 which   
want of space prevents mention were     
likely to have done much more for       
science had not the theological         
atmosphere of the ,christian churches   
been so unpropitious4  ,the true story  
of ,galileo1 the monumental shame of    
,christianity1 cannot be told without   
implicating the younger with the older  
church4 ,the ,reformation looked on     
complaisantly and approvingly while this
 crime was being committed4 ,it was in  
complete accordance with its beliefs and
 methods4 ,the ,copernican system1 on   
account of the adoption of which1       
,galileo was persecuted was as          
strenuously and bitterly denounced by   
,protestants as ,catholics4 ,luther says
 8,people gave ear to an upstart        
astrologer1 who strove to show that the 
earth revolved1 and not the sun and     
moon4 ,this fool wishes to revise the   

whole system of astronomy1 but sacred   
scripture tells us that ,joshua         
commanded the sun to stand still1 and   
not the earth40 ,the recantation of this
 venerable scientist1 worn out with     
imprisonment and sorrow1 and in fear of 
torture and death1 is as follows3 8,i   
,galileo1 being in my seventieth year1  
being a prisoner on my knees before your
 eminences1 having before my eyes the   
,holy ,gospel1 which ,i touch with my   
hands1 abjure1 curse and detest the     
error and the heresy of the movement of 
the earth40 ,as the sphericity of the   
earth was suggested by ,aristotle1 and  
its movement had been a matter of       
earnest discussion by theologians for   
ages1 we see fit to transcribe here the 
argument of one of them1 made a long    
time ago it is true1 but nevertheless a 
fair sample of the theological methods  
of thought4 ,it is copied from a book   
written by one ,scipio ,chiaramonti1 and
 dedicated to ,cardinal ,barberini4     
8,animals which move have limbs and     

muscles1 the earth has no limbs and     
muscles1 therefore it does not move4 ,it
 is angels who make ,saturn1 ,jupiter1  
the ,sun1 etc41 turn round4 ,if the     
earth revolves it must also have an     
angel in the center to set it in motion2
 but only devils live there2 it would   
therefore be a devil who would impart   
motion to the earth40 ,all branches of  
the ,protestant church condemned the    
theory of the earth's movement4 ,calvin 
asked1 8,who will venture to place the  
authority of ,copernicus above that of  
the ,holy ,spirit80 ,wesley also        
denounced the new theory1 declaring it  
to 8tend toward infidelity40 ,the grand 
men who were coming forward in their    
efforts to advance knowledge unavoidably
 encroached upon many of the 8truths of 
scripture0 and both churches were       
equally engaged in their efforts to     
suppress them1 by argument if possible1 
but if not1 by fire and stake4 ,the     
,protestant church1 which has always    
made a claim of especial enlightenment1 

vied with the other in its cruel and    
relentless warfare upon what is known   
among the churches as heresy1 the proper
 definition of which is reason and      
common sense4 ,we have said that the    
case of ,galileo was the monumental     
shame of ,christendom2 the case of      
,servetus was a monumental crime1 which 
,protestantism alone must answer for4   
,the persecution of ,michael ,servetus  
by ,john ,calvin1 one of the leaders of 
the ,reformation1 was one of the most   
unjust and inhuman exercises of         
religious authority that the world has  
seen4 ,there were many features in this 
tragedy of burning at the stake1 that   
were out of the common4 ,the victim was 
a man of unblemished character1 of great
 learning1 and a scientist1 with a      
genius for investigation4 ,he was a     
skilled practitioner of medicine1 out of
 which profession he derived his income4
 ,he had made some advances in medical  
science1 coming so near to a discovery  
of the circulation of the blood1 that it

 is quite likely1 but for his untimely  
death1 he would have reached it instead 
of ,harvey1 many years afterward4 ,his  
active mind had led him to devote much  
of his leisure to the study of theology1
 and1 laboring among its problems1 he   
strove to reconcile a number of orthodox
 beliefs and doctrines with the         
scientific knowledge of his time1 not   
combating them or contriving at their   
destruction1 but by changing the sense  
of words1 to make them apparently accord
 with known elements of truth4 ,he was  
an ardent supporter of the ,reformation1
 and a friend and admirer of ,calvin1   
and he began and maintained for some    
time1 a correspondence with him1 with   
the view of obtaining his advice and    
support4 ,the proposed modification in  
the sense of scriptural texts1 was not  
favorably received by ,calvin1 and the  
two were drawn into a controversy1 which
 finally became acrimonious4 ,the world1
 at present1 partially recovered from   
its long period of hypnotized reason1 is

 able to appreciate the small value of  
the questions which engaged these two   
men1 and which led one to strike the    
other down to death1 and it is also able
 to judge how much ,servetus was in     
advance of his adversary in their       
discussions4  ,calvin maintained1 that  
under instructions from ,god1 through   
the ,bible1 an infant1 dying without    
baptism1 could not escape the tortures  
of ,hell1 a locality described by the   
same authority1 as a place of horrors1  
of endless burning amid sulphurous      
fires1 of never ending thirst1 and of a 
8weeping1 wailing and gnashing of teeth0
 through all time to come4 ,servetus    
expressed his doubts of the justice of  
this infliction upon sinless infants1   
and attempted to show that it was not   
authorized by the ,sacred ,book4 ,he    
also denied the doctrine of the ,holy   
,trinity1 as it was commonly received4  
,he did not deny a kind of ,trinity in  
the unity of ,god1 but believing that it
 was merely formal1 and not personal1   

mere distinctions in the divine essence1
 and that1 as generally understood1 it  
was a dream1 and an invention of the    
,fathers of the ,church4 ,he also       
asserted1 upon good authority1 that     
there was a ,christian doctrine before  
there was any adoption of the ,hebrew   
legends2 that these legends did not     
become a part of the church1 until      
nearly a century after the great moral  
teacher had met his cruel death4 ,he    
also came as near as he dared1 to       
expressing his belief1 that the ,son was
 merely a man1 with the divine          
inspiration in a large degree4 ,such    
advanced ideas as these1 asserted with  
the positiveness of conviction1 and     
backed with unanswerable argument1 were 
the cause of his undoing4  ,calvin1 at  
this time1 was at the head of a church  
already powerful4 ,he ruled it with an  
autocratic will1 and upon all questions 
of doctrinal beliefs1 he was the last   
court of appeal4 ,he had long accepted  
the homage of his followers1 as one     

selected by the ,almighty for their     
spiritual guidance1 and1 with the common
 weakness of humanity1 he became        
arbitrary and despotic in his management
 of church affairs4 ,he was always ready
 to advise and direct1 and in his first 
letters to ,servetus1 assumed some show 
of argument while denying his doctrines4
 ,servetus answered him1 not with that  
deference that his adversary usually    
received1 but in all the spirit of      
earnest debate4 ,nothing more           
exasperating to ,calvin could have      
occurred1 and to cap the climax of      
affront1 his adversary1 a mere layman1  
published a book 8,christianity         
,restored0 setting forth his advanced   
views1 and with a reckless temerity1    
sent the reformer a copy4 ,the          
controversy between them immediately    
degenerated into mutual recrimination   
and abuse4 ,calvin's anger was raised to
 a white heat1 when he saw the errors   
and blasphemies1 as he regarded them1   
and which he had vainly sought to       

combat1 confided to the printed page1   
and thrown broadcast upon the world4    
,besides the alleged heretical matter of
 the book1 he found himself taken to    
task1 declared to be in error1 and his  
most cherished doctrines controverted4  
,but he discovered withal some matter in
 the book which pleased him4 ,his enemy 
had committed himself in abusing the    
,papacy3 evidence sufficient to convict 
him at once of blasphemy in the ,roman  
,catholic city of ,vienne in ,france    
where ,servetus then resided1 and he    
proceeded at once to put the cruel      
scheme of his death into execution4 ,by 
information to the authorities at       
,vienne through dictated letters1 he    
succeeded in having ,servetus thrown    
into prison there1 from whence he       
escaped1 and became an outcast for      
months4 ,the malignant and inhuman      
manner in which this ,christian leader  
followed his innocent victim1 could     
scarcely have occurred upon any other   
question but a religious one1 and his   

murderous intent1 from the first1 is    
shown by a letter from ,calvin to a     
friend in which he says1 8,servetus     
wrote to me lately1 and besides his     
letter sent me a great volume of his    
ravings1 telling me1 with audacious     
arrogance1 that ,i should find there    
things stupendous and unheard of until  
now40 ,he offers to come thither if ,i  
approve2 but ,i will not pledge my faith
 to him2 for1 did he come1 if ,i have   
any authority here1 8,i ,,should ,,never
 ,,suffer ,,him ,,to ,,go ,,away        
,,alive40 ,and he proved himself1 in    
this instance1 true to his word4  ,the  
,roman ,catholic authorities of ,vienne1
 discovering after a while the          
connivance of ,calvin1 in putting the   
execution of his enemy on them1         
contrived1 it is said1 to make his      
escape easy4 ,they had no mind to have  
this work thrust upon them4 ,they       
probably felt that the reformers should 
take care of their own heretics4        
,servetus1 after his escape1 wandered   

about from place to place1 all the time 
his life in imminent danger1 and finally
 brought up in ,geneva1 the home of     
,calvin1 disguising himself1 and hiding 
in the outskirts4 ,what induced him to  
take such desperate chances is not      
positively known4 ,his intention is     
supposed to have been to go to ,naples1 
and to be gone from ,geneva on the first
 favorable opportunity4 ,weary of       
confinement1 and always piously         
inclined1 he ventured imprudently to    
show himself1 at the evening service of 
a neighboring church1 and being there   
recognized1 intimation of his presence  
was conveyed to ,calvin1 who1 without   
loss of a moment1 demanded his immediate
 arrest1 making his arraignment himself1
 and industriously working until the    
end1 as chief prosecutor and witness4   
,the barbaric cruelty during            
imprisonment to this famous man1 in an  
eminently ,christian community1 and by a
 ,christian leader is shown by the      
following letter from his prison cell4  

8,most noble ,lords1 it is now three    
weeks since ,i petitioned for an        
audience1 and ,i have to inform you that
 nothing has been done1 and ,i am in a  
more filthy plight than ever4 ,in       
addition1 ,i suffer terribly from the   
cold1 and from colic and my rupture1    
which causes me miseries4 ,it is very   
cruel that ,i am neither allowed to     
speak1 nor not have my most pressing    
wants supplied2 for the love of ,god    
sirs1 in pity give orders in my behalf40
 ,and here is another one3 8,my most    
honored ,lords1 ,i humbly entreat of you
 to put an end to these great delays1 or
 to exonerate me of the criminal charge4
 ,you must see that ,calvin is at his   
wits ends1 and knows not what more to   
say1 but for his pleasure1 would have me
 rot here in prison4 ,the lice eat me up
 alive1 my breeches are in rags1 and ,i 
have no change1 no doublet1 and but a   
single shirt in tatters40 ,thirty-eight 
articles of impeachment were drawn up by
 ,calvin1 and after a protracted trial1 

wherein he acted as chief interrogator1 
this unhappy victim was sentenced to be 
burnt at the stake4 ,servetus1 during   
his whole examination1 showed himself to
 be a brave1 conscientious1 religious   
man4 ,his answers to each one of the    
articles was able1 consistent1 and would
 have been considered in this day       
unanswerable1 and what is more his views
 have since been adopted by the most    
advanced of the ,christian sects4 ,the  
following is a description of his       
execution recorded at that time4  8,when
 he came in sight of the fatal pile1 the
 wretched ,servetus prostrated himself  
on the ground and for a while was       
absorbed in prayer4 ,rising and         
advancing a few steps he found himself  
in the hands of the executioner1 by whom
 he was made to sit on a block1 his feet
 just reaching the ground4 ,his body was
 then bound to the stake behind him by  
several turns of an iron chain1 whilst  
his neck was secured in like manner by  
the coil of a hempen rope4 ,his two     

books--the one in manuscript sent to    
,calvin in confidence six or eight years
 before for his stricture1 and a copy of
 the one lately printed at ,vienne--were
 fastened to his waist1 and his head was
 encircled in mockery with a chaplet of 
straw and green twigs bestrewed with    
brimstone4 ,the deadly torch was then   
applied to the fagots and flashed in his
 face2 and the brimstone catching1 and  
the flames rising1 wrung from the victim
 such a cry of anguish as struck terror 
into the surrounding crowd4 ,after this 
he was bravely silent2 but the wood     
being purposely green1 although the     
people aided the executioner in heaping 
the fagots upon him1 a long half hour   
elapsed before he ceased to show signs  
of life and suffering4 ,immediately     
before giving up the ghost1 with a last 
expiring effort he cried aloud1         
#8,jesus1 thou ,son of the eternal ,god1
 have compassion upon me6' ,all was then
 hushed1 save hissing and crackling of  
the green wood1 and by and by there     

remained no more of what had been       
,michael ,servetus1 but a charred and   
blackened trunk1 and a handful of       
ashes40 ,so died in advance of his age1 
this victim of religious fanaticism and 
personal hate1 a fitting triumph of the 
theological over the scientific methods 
of thought1 the result among many       
thousands like it of the adoption of the
 ,jewish legends by ,christianity1 and  
in this case1 brought about by a        
,christian leader1 the founder of a     
creed1 in which to this day1 enough of  
his spirit remains to make it the       
greatest enemy of free thought and      
liberal opinion1 among all the creeds of
 ,protestantism4 ,of this disgraceful   
tragedy was it the spirit of the ,master
 which led the inhuman crowd to vie with
 each other in piling on the fagots1 or 
was it the malign influence of a        
vindictive and cruel ,hebrew ,god8      
,every conflict between science and     
theology since the days of ,copernicus  
has resulted in an unequivocal victory  

for the former4 ,both churches resisted 
the truth of the rotundity and movement 
of the earth as though their existence  
depended upon it4 ,they fought each     
question as it arose in the same spirit4
 ,the ,mosaic account of the creation1  
the age of the world1 the deluge1 the   
length of man's sojourn upon the earth1 
are questions as effectively settled    
adversely to the 8truths of scripture0  
as the one for which ,galileo suffered4 
,and yet ,christianity lives1 and will  
continue to live and flourish1 solely on
 account of the inherent and increasing 
affinity of the human heart as          
civilization advances for the precepts  
and example of its founder4 ,if         
,christianity were destined to fall by  
the undermining of its legends it would 
fall now with the recent destruction of 
one upon which its existence appeared to
 depend1 which has1 more than any other1
 shaped its course and laid the         
foundation of its rituals4 ,the doctrine
 of evolution now established as a truth

 is the most serious and apparently     
destructive one that theology ever met4 
,the fact that man has ,,arisen from a  
condition of brutality1 instead of      
,,fallen from a state of perfection is1 
to ecclesiasticism1 a raking blow from  
stem to stern1 compared with all        
previous battles with science as the    
shot of a modern thirty-two pounder with
 old fashioned ordinance4 ,the legend of
 the fall of man1 compared with all     
others1 is the vilest4 ,it was brought  
from ,assyria1 by the ,hebrews1 who     
obtained it during their captivity1 from
 a barbarous people1 among whom it was  
current for ages1 and was thus inserted 
in our ,sacred ,book1 proofs of which   
have recently been found in deciphering 
the ,ninevite records4 ,a suspicion is  
not entirely without warrant that it may
 have been adopted with a purpose of    
creating miseries and sorrows in the    
multitude for the profitable occupation 
of a divinely authorized few in the     
business of consoling them1 and right   

well has it fulfilled its mission4 ,it  
has changed the facial expression of    
,christendom4 ,it has deepened the      
furrows of sorrow upon old age1 and     
fixed lines of care upon the features of
 youth4 ,it has brought the undeserved  
dejection of criminality1 and the       
downcast of shame1 where of right       
belongs the reflection of hopefulness   
and the light of expectancy4 ,it has    
incalculably multiplied the sorrows of  
life1 and created for each death a      
nightmare of imaginary horrors4 ,this   
legend is the foundation and inspiration
 of most of the evil and cruelty that   
,christianity has inflicted on human    
kind4 ,fabulous itself1 it has been the 
parent of unrealities1 witchcraft and   
magic for instance1 from which millions 
of innocent victims have been sacrificed
 to torture and death4 ,it has          
transformed reasonable enjoyments of    
life into crimes by the invention of a  
word1 which with the latitude given its 
definition1 has kept in trembling       

uncertainty the innocent and harmless4  
,to the parent it has bestowed the agony
 of dread for the fate of departed      
offspring1 guileless infants1 as well as
 the matured4 ,this legend of the fall  
of man has established in the paths of  
life its drag net ,sin1 a word of such  
unlimited theological definition1 that  
any one of average rectitude1 by some   
trifling inadvertance of thought or     
action1 is likely to bring upon himself 
the condemnation of a frowning ,god2 so 
that1 the worthy as well as the         
unworthy1 may not escape the services of
 theological assistance and             
intercession4 ,but for the doubt that   
exists1 and has probably always existed1
 except among the ignorant and sluggish 
minded1 of the truth of this puerile    
invention1 it would have reduced        
humanity long ago to a state of         
universal hopelessness and despair4     
,the theologians have but little left   
now but the miracles to defend1 and     
although it must be conceded by them    

that the miracle of ,joshua has fallen1 
others whose fallacy cannot be so well  
demonstrated by science1 are held to    
with the tenacity of desperation1 and in
 utter disregard of reason and common   
sense4 ,fortunately1 in the interest of 
truth1 we are given an opportunity to   
study the evolution of miracles1 in a   
case so modern that every statement in  
proof of their fallacy can be           
substantiated by the current literature 
of the time4 ,saint ,francis ,xavier was
 an earnest1 sincere and truthful       
,jesuit1 whose religious services were  
performed in the middle of the sixteenth
 century4 ,he gave up a promising career
 as professor in a ,paris academy1 and  
in his enthusiasm and devotion to       
,christianity1 went as missionary to the
 ,far ,east4 ,among the various tribes  
of lower ,india1 and afterward in ,japan
 he wrought untiringly1 toiling through 
village after village collecting the    
natives by means of a hand bell4 ,after 
twelve years of such efforts seeking new

 converts for religion1 he sacrificed   
his life on the desert island of ,san   
,chan4 ,during his career as missionary 
he wrote great numbers of letters1 which
 were preserved1 and have since been    
published1 and these1 with the letters  
of his contemporaries1 exhibit clearly  
all the features of his life4 ,no       
account of a miracle wrought by him     
appears either in his own letters or any
 contemporary document4 ,more than that1
 his brother missionaries1 who were in  
constant and loyal fellowship with him1 
make no illusions to them in their      
communications with each other1 or with 
their brethren in ,europe4 ,this silence
 regarding his miracles was clearly not 
due to any unbelief in them1 because    
these good missionary fathers were free 
to record the slightest occurrence which
 they thought evidence of ,divine favor4
 ,one of them sends a report that an    
illuminated cross had been recently seen
 in the heavens2 another that devils had
 been cast out of the natives by the use

 of holy water2 others send reports that
 lepers had been healed by baptism1 and 
that the blind and dumb had been        
restored by the rites of the church2 but
 to ,xavier no miracles are imputed by  
his associates during his life1 or      
during several years after his death4   
,on the contrary we find his own        
statements as to his personal           
limitations and the difficulties arising
 from them fully confirmed by his       
brother workers4 ,it is interesting for 
example1 in view of the claim afterwards
 made1 that the ,saint was divinely     
endowed for his mission with the 8gift  
of tongues0 to note in these letters    
confirmation of ,xavier's own statement 
utterly disproving the existence of any 
such ,divine gift1 and detailing the    
difficulties which he encountered from  
his want of knowing various languages1  
and the hard labor he underwent in      
learning the elements of the ,japanese  
tongue4 ,with all this evidence1 and    
much more available if necessary1 to    

prove that ,xavier never performed a    
miracle the church began building them  
up for him1 unmindful of the fact that  
he lived in an age of literature1 books 
and printed correspondence1 and not in  
those remote times when it held supreme 
control of all learning and             
communication by letters2 accordingly1  
the first of the ,xavier miracles began 
to appear about ten years after his     
death4 ,they multiplied from time to    
time beginning1 it is reasonable to     
suppose1 about the gossiping hearth and 
eagerly confirmed by the cloister1 until
 they began to be mentioned in church   
literature4 ,the first of which1 a      
letter twenty years after his death by a
 ,jesuit father entitled 8,on religious 
affairs in the ,indies0 says nothing of 
,xavier's miracles4 ,the next1 a        
publication called 8,history of ,india0 
thirty-six years after his death by     
another ,jesuit father dwells lightly on
 the alleged miracles4 ,the next1 sixty 
years later1 a 8,life of ,xavier0 shows 

an increase of his miracles1 and        
representing him as casting out devils1 
curing the sick1 stilling the tempest1  
raising the dead1 and performing        
miracles of all sorts4 ,since ,xavier   
was made a ,saint many other lives of   
him appeared1 one of them one hundred   
and sixty years after his death1 the    
best so far written and now esteemed a  
classic1 in which the old miracles were 
enormously multiplied4 ,according to his
 first biographer he saves one person   
from drowning by a miracle1 in this one 
he saves1 during his life time1 three4  
,in the first he raises three persons   
from the dead1 in this one fourteen4 ,in
 the first there is one miraculous      
supply of water1 in this one three1 and 
so on1 until this date when the ,xavier 
miracles are counted by hundreds4 ,this 
case of the evolution of miracles is    
largely copied from a recent publication
 of ,president ,white of ,cornell       
,university4 ,it is not only highly     
instructive as indicating the process by

 which these deceptions are evolved1 but
 also tends to the pleasant and welcome 
conviction that many of the earnest and 
self-sacrificing workers in the field of
 ,christianity1 to whom miracles are    
imputed were guiltless of them4 ,but    
more than all it shows the way to a     
reasoning mind by which1 through the    
present and coming rationalism1 a pure  
and worshipful personality shall retain 
his hold upon the affections of men4    
,those men of science and independent   
thought who went over to the            
,reformation1 expecting encouragement   
and protection under it1 were doomed to 
be disappointed4 ,it was not a movement 
caused by the pressure of enlightenment4
 ,at that period1 both ,germany and     
,england were far below ,italy in their 
conditions of knowledge and learning4   
,it was a rebellion caused by the       
oppression of evils1 and a desire for   
change in the management of church      
matters only4 ,every one of the         
superstitions of the old church were    

transferred to the new one4 ,the same1  
in fact a stricter literal adherence to 
the words of scripture in managing the  
affairs of life1 and in deciding        
questions of science1 were maintained1  
the same incessant watchfulness toward  
those men of learning who were          
threatening the 8truths of scripture0 in
 their scientific labors1 and the same  
cruelties invoked for their suppression1
 and the extinction of heresy4 ,no more 
intellectual freedom was permitted1     
except upon minor doctrinal points of   
beliefs1 and upon these there began     
those controversies which soon broke up 
the movement into factions or creeds4   
,the intention of the new church was to 
do away with those rituals and          
ceremonies1 which had been adopted from 
paganism as a compromise in the second  
and third centuries1 and to bring their 
church back as far as possible1 to that 
simplicity which characterized the first
 teachings of ,christianity4 ,but the   
leaders of the ,reformation never       

attempted nor had they any desire to    
bring back that entire freedom of       
thought and expression which existed in 
the early days4 ,no one with immunity   
would be allowed to deny the doctrine of
 the ,holy ,trinity or the truth of     
,immaculate ,conception1 as the old     
,greek philosophers were wont to do4    
,such vital questions it was torture and
 death to adversely consider1 ,servetus 
being an early victim to such temerity4 
,there were questions enough however    
within the limits of safe discussion1 to
 set agoing those unending controversies
 which distinguished ,protestantism to  
this day4 ,the newly acquired privilege 
of discussing sacred affairs among      
laymen as well as others1 were indulged 
in to such an extent that debate between
 the sects1 in defense of their several 
interpretations of scriptural texts1    
monopolized in society its hours of     
intercourse and conversation4 ,when     
their leaders were indulging in such    
discussion as the dialogue between ,eve 

and the ,serpent2 whether the ,serpent  
stood erect on his tail1 or in its      
natural coil when it was addressing     
,eve2 fixing the hour of this remarkable
 event2 accounting for the manner in    
which ,noah fed the animals in the ark2 
how fishes appeared before ,adam to be  
named by him1 and such troublesome      
problems1 laymen were mostly engaged in 
the examination of those doctrinal      
points which were dividing the movement 
into sects4 ,questions that had been    
settled centuries before by authority in
 the old church were dragged forth to   
renewed discussion4 ,luther was         
describing his frequent interviews with 
the devil in his bed room4 ,demons and  
witches were poisoning the air1 and     
bringing calamity and misfortune1       
against which there was but one         
safeguard and remedy1 reading texts of  
scripture and prayer4 ,but however the  
sects might differ in their             
understanding of the sacred language1   
upon a number of things they were all   

agreed2 every text of scripture was to  
be taken literally2 heresy could not be 
too severely punished2 a curtailment of 
the pleasures of life increased the     
chances of heaven2 the world was a 8sink
 of iniquity0 destined for early        
destruction1 and presided over by a ,god
 who never smiles1 and troubled by a    
devil who never sleeps1 the latter with 
millions of offspring1 man pursuing     
demons1 inflicting insanity1 sickness   
and many other of the misfortunes of    
life4  ,in these beliefs the two        
churches were in entire accord and must 
equally answer for the miseries and     
cruelties they have inflicted upon      
humanity in enforcing them4 ,theories   
and doctrines so persistently advanced  
and upheld by both churches1 and which  
have proved so disastrous to humanity do
 not properly belong1 and should have no
 place in ,christianity4 ,they are not  
only without the authority of the       
,master1 but are mostly in opposition to
 his teaching and example4 ,the most    

harmful of them owe their origin to the 
fables and myths introduced into the    
sacred book second-hand from ,egyptian  
and ,oriental sources1 centuries before 
the ,christian era1 and it is not       
surprising that legends due to the      
faculty of romance in the minds of some 
barbarous ,assyrians or ,pharos1 far    
back in the cradles of humanity1 when   
introduced as foundations for rules of  
life1 and as explanations of the        
mysterious processes of nature along the
 whole line of human advancement should 
have been constantly rejected and denied
 by the reasoning portion of mankind1   
and it is scarcely conceivable that now1
 within a few months of the twentieth   
century1 they should be upheld by both  
churches as inspirations of the ,deity4 
,not so surprising either when we       
consider that for seventeen centuries1  
the undeveloped minds of youth in all   
,christendom1 have been moulded into the
 acceptance of beliefs1 which1 had they 
been presented without that gradual     

absorption in which reason takes no part
 would have been long ago rejected on   
account of their improbability4 ,in no  
place is this better understood than    
among the churches1 and as a            
consequence1 they have been in perpetual
 contention with each other for the     
early education of youth4  ,the most    
inspiring and hopeful spectacle in all  
humanity is an assemblage1 wrapt in the 
devotional exercises of ,christianity1  
listening attentively to the eloquent   
ministrations of an earnest leader1 who 
pleads the cause of virtue and charity  
as it is exhibited in the written life  
and character of the ,model ,man4 ,the  
great central story never wearies in    
interest1 and never grows old2 a willing
 sacrifice and suffering for the benefit
 of mankind4 ,such never failing        
kindness1 such lessons of brotherhood1  
such love for men1 such tenderness for  
children1 such consideration beyond his 
time for women1 and with such a pathetic
 and suffering end as to capture their  

emotional natures for all time4 ,and    
above all bringing the tidings of a     
hope1 that comes to men1 as a boat of   
rescue comes to a storm-tossed ship     
slowly sinking into the depths2 so      
cherished in ,christian households as to
 become a worshiped member of them1 to  
be defended as one of them1 upheld if   
need be by force of arms and sacrifice  
of life4 ,and the lesson of it all1 and 
the hopefulness and inspiration of it   
all is1 that wherever mankind dwells1 be
 it in castles or cottages1 amid the    
crowds of cities1 or among quiet country
 fields1 there are laurels everywhere   
among them all for him who will         
sacrifice himself that others may gain2 
esteem and veneration among them all for
 him1 whose life is pure1 and whose ways
 are ways of kindness and charity4 ,vice
 can never reign supreme but for a time 
amid such inherent affinity for goodness
 implanted in every human heart1 and as 
the days of general consent and         
unobstructed knowledge enlighten and    

control the affairs of men1 more and    
more certain1 as time rolls on1 will    
come protests and rebellions against the
 temporary triumph of evil4  ,of that   
entrancing story which has captured     
civilization1 and has come to be a part 
of it1 what is there in the ,master that
 deserves such barbaric surroundings2   
such inconsequential details of obscure 
and barbarous lives2 such vindictive    
retaliations and brutal conflicts1      
sacrilegiously involving the ,deity as a
 promoter of them2 wild fictions of     
early ages1 inventions of the infancy of
 man1 conflicting accounts of historical
 events1 fragmentary parts by different 
persons at different periods2           
explanations in many branches of        
science1 now known to be mistaken and   
absurd1 and containing texts1 that      
either openly sanction or have been     
twisted into service of the most        
stupendous outrages that humanity has   
suffered4  8,considering the asserted   
origin of these records--indirectly from

 ,god himself--we might justly expect   
that they would bear to be tried by any 
standard that man can apply1 and        
vindicate their truth and excellence in 
the ordeal of human criticism4 ,we ought
 therefore to look for universality1    
completeness1 perfection4 ,we might     
expect that they would present us with  
just views of the nature and position of
 this world in which we live1 and that1 
whether dealing with the spiritual or   
material1 they would put to shame the   
most celebrated productions of human    
genius1 as the magnificent mechanism of 
the heavens1 and the beautiful forms of 
the earth are superior to the vain      
contrivances of man4 ,we might expect   
that they would propound with authority1
 and definitely settle those all        
important problems1 which have exercised
 the mental powers of the ablest men of 
,asia and ,europe for so many centuries1
 and which are at the foundation of all 
faith and all philosophy2 that they     
should distinctly tell us1 in           

unmistakable language1 what is ,god1    
what is the world1 what is the soul1 and
 whether man has any criterion of truth2
 that they should explain to us how evil
 can exist in a world1 the ,maker of    
which is omnipotent1 and altogether     
good2 that they should reveal to us in  
what the affairs of men are fixed by    
destiny1 in what by free will2 that they
 should teach us whence we came1 what is
 the object of our continuing here1 what
 is to become of us hereafter4 ,and     
since a written word claiming a divine  
origin must necessarily accredit itself1
 even to those most reluctant to receive
 it1 its internal evidences becoming    
stronger and not weaker1 with the       
strictness of the examination to which  
they are submitted1 it ought to deal    
with those things that may be           
demonstrated by the increasing knowledge
 and genius of many anticipating therein
 his conclusions4 ,such a work noble as 
may be its origin1 must not refuse1 but 
court the test of natural philosophy1   

regarding it not as an antagonist but as
 its best support4 ,as years pass on and
 human science becomes more exact and   
more comprehensive1 its conclusions must
 be found in unison therewith4 ,when    
occasion arises they should furnish us  
at least the foreshadowings of the great
 truths discovered by astronomy and     
geology1 not offering for them the wild 
fictions of earlier ages4 ,they should  
tell us how suns and worlds are         
distributed in infinite space1 and how1 
in their succession they come forth in  
limitless time4 ,they should say how far
 the dominion of ,god is carried out by 
law1 and what is the point at which it  
is his pleasure to resort to his own    
arbitrary will4 ,how grand would have   
been the description of the magnificent 
universe written by the omnipotent hand6
 ,of man they should set forth his      
relations to other living beings1 his   
place among them1 his privileges and    
responsibilities4 ,they should not leave
 him to grope his way through the       

vestiges of ,greek philosophy1 and to   
miss the truth at last1 but they should 
teach him wherein true knowledge        
consists1 anticipating the physical     
science1 physical power1 and physical   
well being of our own times1 nay1 even  
unfolding for our benefit things that we
 are still ignorant of4 ,the discussion 
of subjects1 so many and so high1 is not
 outside the scope of a work of such    
pretensions4 ,its manner of dealing with
 them is the only criterion it can offer
 of its authority to succeeding         
times40,a  ,how unlike this is our      
asserted ,sacred ,book1 with its fables1
 its myths and legends1 its deadly texts
 that have scourged mankind4 ,by its    
pretension of divine authority1 carrying
 forward into our civilization          
superstitions1 that otherwise would have
 melted away under the light of         
knowledge2 putting a limit to learning1 
obstructing it1 and denouncing it1 in   
many of its branches2 paralyzing        
thought1 and substituting in its stead a

 blind faith1 instituted and cultivated 
by ecclesiasticism1 to bring men under  
its control2 holding up as an example of
 divine favor1 the low moral standard of
 barbaric times2 recounting murders1    
incests1 adulteries and obscenities1    
that would have banished the book long  
since from the regions of refinement and
 civilization1 but for its assumed      
origin1 and which serve1 by their easy  
and undenied access to young minds1 as a
 stimulation to destructive pruriency2  
sanctioning human slavery1 and          
encouraging bloodshed by battle2 setting
 an example of extortionate tithes for  
the support of ecclesiasticism2 uttering
 the most heart-rending curses1 as      
coming directly from the ,almighty1 for 
failure to comply with his assumed      
commands1 and which have been made the  
example1 authorizing the horrible       
cruelties inflicted upon mankind by the 
churches1 literary models as they are of
 those anathemas1 interdicts1 and       
excommunications1 by which the older    

church terrorized humanity for fifteen  
hundred years4 8,i will also do this    
unto you1 ,i will even appoint over you 
terror1 consumption1 and the burning    
ague1 that shall consume the eyes1 and  
cause sorrow of heart1 and ye shall sow 
your seed in vain2 for your enemies     
shall eat it40 8,i will also send wild  
beasts among you1 which shall rob you of
 your children1 and destroy your cattle1
 and make you few in number1 and your   
highways shall be desolate40 8,for they 
went and served other gods1 and         
worshiped them1 gods whom they knew not1
 and whom he had not given unto them2   
and the anger of the ,lord was kindled  
against this land to bring upon it all  
the curses that are written in this     
book40 8,do not ,i hate them ,o ,lord   
that hate thee1 yea ,i hate them with a 
perfect hate40 8,thou shalt not suffer a
 witch to live40 8,a man1 also or a     
woman that hath a familiar spirit1 or   
that is a wizard1 shall surely be put to
 death40 8,and ye shall chase your      

enemies1 and they shall fall before you 
by the sword40 ,solely on the authority 
of such deadly texts as these1 and the  
book is full of them1 the world has been
 overspread in blood4 ,it was these that
 gave ,spain a pretended sanction of the
 ,lord to exterminate fifteen millions  
of people in ,mexico and ,peru1 with a  
better and higher civilization than     
itself1 and to rob them of their wealth 
and possessions4 ,it was these1 and such
 as these1 that authorized and          
instigated the ,inquisition1 which from 
#adha to #ahjh1 put to torture and      
horrible death by burning1 #cdj1jjj     
human beings4 ,it was these that induced
 the massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew with 
its #cj1jjj victims of fire and sword2  
the ,english persecutions under ,bloody 
,mary1 in which three hundred           
fellow-creatures perished2 the almost   
total annihilation of the ,albigenesis  
in the south of ,france4 ,this war was  
carried on with more ferocious cruelty  
than any ever recorded in history2 the  

fanatical fury of the soldiers was      
stimulated by the exhortations of the   
clergy4 ,at the storming of ,baziers1   
when it was proposed to spare the       
,catholics1 a monk exclaimed1 8,kill    
all1 ,god will recognize his own10 and  
the atrocious precept was but too well  
observed4 ,the war terminated by the    
complete devastation of the country1 and
 the almost complete extermination of   
its inhabitants4 ,following along in the
 bloody path of these barbaric          
scriptural commands1 we have to record  
the witch burnings of ,europe and       
,america1 during the term of ,christian 
supremacy1 calculated in the hundreds of
 thousands2 the ,crusades1 and purely   
religious wars since the time of        
,constantine1 whose victims are beyond  
computation2 and all this to no other   
purpose or end1 but that the world      
should be forced into the belief of1    
what is known to be1 the theological    
system of a low social development2 this
 the terrible cost to humanity1 for the 

adoption and systematic retention by the
 churches1 of the ancient ,jewish       
beliefs and modes of thought2 this the  
infliction1 that ecclesiasticism might  
prevail1 using the sermon on the mount  
to capture the consciences of men1 and  
scourging them with the mandates1 curses
 and punishments of a ,hebrew divinity1 
to bring them into line for its         
purposes4 ,in taking these ,jewish      
annals to its heart1 making them a part 
of itself1 as objects of example and    
worship1 has not ,christianity retarded 
the advance of mankind8 ,has it not1 by 
them1 obstructed knowledge1 prevented a 
greater expansion of human sympathy1 and
 prolonged the betterment of social     
conditions8  ,in these days of          
enlightenment and higher thought1 the   
vestiges are everywhere seen of our     
fifteen centuries of misdirection4      
,almost every ,christian life bears the 
impress of these cruel ,hebrew          
traditions4 ,the commander of a         
battleship in the war with ,spain1 after

 his slaughter of numbers of the enemy1 
assembles his men to give 8thanks to the
 ,lord10 and the next moment cautions   
them not to cheer because 8the poor     
fellows are dying10 illustrates1 that   
mingling of ,jewish superstition with   
the teaching and example of the ,master1
 to be observed everywhere in our       
present civilization4 ,the inherent     
religious impulses of mankind--natural  
religion--some of which1 finding no more
 congenial quarters1 is attracted to the
 churches1 regard war with feelings of  
greater repulsion than does orthodox    
theology1 indoctrinated in the belief of
 its divine sanction1 and consequently1 
the success of the ,american arms1 so   
plainly due to natural causes1 was      
celebrated by the churches in the usual 
ancient ,hebraic method by 8thanks to   
the ,lord40 ,the supreme intolerance of 
,christianity which has wrought such    
havoc with mankind1 is plainly due to   
the suggestions of ,hebrew scripture1   
and it is only the natural religion     

within the churches1 and that large     
portion outside of them1 which is       
forcing ,christianity into a purer      
worship1 and destroying its             
superstitions4 ,it demands for all      
things1 holy as well as unholy1 the     
right of critical examination1 and it   
sees but little else in our ,sacred     
,book worth preserving1 outside the     
sermon on the mount1 and its extensions4
 ,it is this natural religion of        
conscience1 encouraging and encouraged  
by science and reason1 which has wrested
 the control of civilization from       
ecclesiasticism4 ,its intellectual      
strength prevails at last over the      
intellectual strength of theology2 but  
the unthinking of the multitude are     
many1 and the battle commencing four    
centuries ago still lingers1 theology   
backed by its weak numbers1 its old     
weapons destroyed1 and science by its   
strong men with searchlights4  ,but the 
searchlights of science can not disturb 
the heart of ,christianity4 ,its        

doctrine of atonement1 destroyed by the 
established truth of evolution2 its     
account of the creation and the deluge1 
proved to be fables2 its miracles       
discredited1 and many of them           
demonstrated by science to be untrue1 it
 still holds within itself1 an element  
which is in harmony with the aspirations
 of mankind for the coming betterment on
 earth and hereafter4 ,all these things 
that it has lost are but perverted      
offrisings from its body1 not a part of 
the body itself4 8,love one another4 ,do
 unto others as you would that others   
shall do unto you10 are the golden words
 that have established it in the world  
as a living moving power4 ,of these its 
soul and life are composed1 and these no
 arrow of science can reach4 ,its dogmas
 aside1 every human being within the    
precincts of civilization is born a     
,christian1 and but for its early       
perversion at the hands of a crafty     
priesthood1 its intolerant and cruel    
career from forced and unworthy         

association1 all men1 learned as well as
 unlearned1 would be working in its     
ranks4  ,it came into the world and     
entered society1 making its way from    
below upward4 ,like all movements coming
 out of the lower levels1 it was        
socialistic4 ,its originator1 for he    
cannot be called its leader1 was the    
first person who had ever appeared in   
the world as the instigator of a great  
reform movement benefitting the whole of
 mankind without some apparent or       
suspected motive1 in denial of his      
absolute unselfishness1 and the movement
 in its early stages1 partaking and     
wholly composed of his inspiration1 was 
a pure unselfish socialism4 ,its members
 were bound together by the closest     
brotherhood1 loving and caring for each 
other by divine command2 declared equal 
by a mandate of ,heaven1 in an age when 
three-fourths of mankind were outcasts1 
uncared1 neglected1 and abused by a     
cruel oligarchy1 slaves and dependents1 
among whom it was a misfortune and      

misery to have been born1 and having a  
religion so purposeless and unpromising 
as to afford nothing but a momentary    
spectacular display4 ,to these people   
the new religion was as congenial and   
welcome as the warm sunshine and verdure
 of summer after a long sojourn in the  
,arctic4 ,its doctrines touched society 
where it had most need of their humane  
precepts and uprising4 ,for nearly a    
century no system of dogmas1 no doctrine
 of atonement1 no extensive church      
authority had been determined1 and the  
whole stress of religious teaching was  
directed toward the worship of a moral  
ideal1 and the cultivation of moral     
qualities4 ,its numbers1 which had been 
looked upon until then1 by the higher   
and governing class with either         
contemptuous silence1 or occasional     
argumentative opposition1 were become so
 increased that their political weight  
gave promise of a new field for the     
exercise of authority and power1 and    
from thence on began that addition of   

intellectual forces which have so       
completely changed its character4       
,every change instituted by its new     
leaders was with the sole purpose of    
increasing its numbers and of augmenting
 its political weight4 ,they began by   
making a compromise with paganism in    
adopting some of its rituals1 pandering 
to the imaginations of the uncultivated 
multitude by spectacular display1       
inventing a system of church government 
with an executive head1 adopting the    
,jewish annals for its organic laws and 
modes of thought1 cultivating a belief  
in miracles and increasing them on every
 opportune occasion1 until with the one 
end in view of overcoming the world as  
,csar did with his legions1 more bloody 
than ,csar1 taking into their hands a   
movement full of humanity1 instituted by
 men in the lower walks of life to      
soften their hard lines and give them   
new hopes1 and to increase their        
sympathies and feelings of brotherhood1 
it became1 and in many parts of the     

world remains to this day1 under its    
attached dispensation of ecclesiastical 
dogma and control1 a handmaid of kings  
and emperors in oppression1 an upholder 
of deadly superstition1 an intimidator  
of free thought and free learning1 an   
unconcerned looker-on upon the miseries 
of life beyond its proselyting interest1
 careless of the whole world and its    
affairs1 except so far as it can profit 
by its theory of exclusive salvation1   
and the mouth piece in cant phrases1    
which have long since lost their force  
and meaning1 of a lingering barbarism4  
,and yet the world was never so much in 
need of a pure ,christianity4 ,an       
expanded benevolence cherished and      
assisted as much by skepticism as the   
churches is one of the characteristics  
of modern society4 ,although the        
physically strong do not prey upon the  
physically weak as pitylessly as in the 
olden time1 the financially strong are  
preying upon the financially weak with  
as little conscience1 and the           

intellectually strong are preying upon  
the intellectually weak with as much    
cunning1 as they were in barbaric times4
 ,civilization has increased the two    
last mentioned evils4 ,the straggling   
masses under a load of grinding wealth1 
in their better knowledge are no longer 
appeased by the promises of an          
adulterated and composite ,christianity1
 whose chief business for centuries has 
been to set before them an awaiting     
paradise1 in recompense for their       
earthly wrongs2 but now1 the multitude  
impressed with a knowledge belonging to 
these times1 is proof against these     
allurements4 ,the toiling millions who  
make easy places for the few1 and       
increase their wealth1 and who have     
carried out to a successful end the     
brilliant material advancement which    
surrounds us1 is the world proper1 all  
the rest are merely dependants4 ,into   
this world and down among these quarters
 from whence it came ,christianity must 
prepare itself to re-enter1 and of this 

the shadow is already to be seen4 ,it   
must discard its dogmas and             
superstitions1 which it has even now    
consigned to partial obscurity and      
silence1 and in place of them1 take on  
the things of the world4 ,it must go    
among the money changers of the temples1
 and into the halls and by-ways of      
legislation1 giving battle everywhere   
with evil2 for it is through these that 
the world is given or denied its        
betterment1 and it must set science on  
its right hand1 recognizing it as an    
attribute of the ,deity4 ,christianity  
with this companion1 its pure ideal     
recovered from its ecclesiastical mists1
 setting out on its new journey through 
the world1 blazing the way for truth    
instead of suppressing it1 conforming   
itself in all ways to the natural       
religion of mankind1 would become to    
humanity what the sun is to the earth1  
comforting the souls of men by its      
hopes1 enlarging their charities by its 
precepts1 and warming into life many a  

germ of virtue and goodness1 which else1
 would never have blossomed1 to shed its
 moral fragrance on the earth4  ,the    
foregoing was written to indicate that  
line of thought1 whose convictions are  
briefly expressed1 here and there1      
through the pages of this little book1  
now offered to the public in its third  
edition4 ,it is always safer and        
pleasanter to deal with received        
theology in the spirit of reverence1    
usually found in literature2 thus       
offending no one1 and meeting the       
approval of a worthy and influential    
class2 but1 there are other reasons why 
an adverse criticism of theological     
methods and beliefs1 are not so often   
publicly exploited as their importance  
to society deserves4 ,in the first place
 experience has shown that errors of    
religious belief1 fixed upon the mind in
 infancy and youth1 are seldom removed  
by discussion4 ,we are not yet arrived  
at that stage1 when the love of truth so
 predominates in the minds of men1 that 

they will sacrifice every prejudice1 and
 reject all opposing influence to obtain
 it4 ,christianity has imposed an       
elaborate system of prejudices on every 
young mind within its jurisdiction and  
they have become entwined with all the  
most hallowed associations of childhood1
 appealing so strongly to the           
affections1 that any expressed denial of
 their exact truth excites1 in most     
cases1 a feeling of resentment1 and     
often stirs to petty persecution4 ,a    
large majority of the human race accept 
their opinions from authority1 and all  
authority heretofore has encouraged     
beliefs1 which appear so inseparably    
connected with the moral well being of  
society1 and which hold in continued    
supremacy1 institutions and modes of    
thought whose subversion it is alleged  
would be in many ways dangerous4 ,yet1  
the fact remains that it is mostly      
through its inroads upon these old      
beliefs that the world has arrived at   
its present stage of progress1 and the  

opinion of orthodox theologians that    
they should be retained in their        
entirety1 or of others that they should 
be abolished1 cuts no figure2 because1  
whether for good or evil in the opinions
 of men1 ,providence has ordained1 that 
those only which represent the truth    
shall live1 and knowing this of a       
certainty1 it becomes of the greatest   
interest to discover what society is    
likely to lose or gain by that          
modification of religious beliefs1      
wherein only the truth shall remain4 ,if
 we cannot foretell this future         
condition with certainty1 it is largely 
foreshadowed by past and present        
experience4 ,what the world has lost in 
the modification of religious beliefs1  
would be hard to find1 what it has      
gained would take volumes to recount4   
,in the most important of all human     
interests1 liberty of person1 liberty of
 conscience1 and liberty of speech1     
there has been1 as yet1 no adequate     
acknowledgement by mankind of the great 

services of the silent and avowed       
skepticism which brought about the      
consummation of these blessings4 ,the   
writings of ,moses1 the recorded wisdom 
of ,solomon1 the encyclicals of popes1  
and the sermons of bishops and priests1 
both ,protestant and ,catholic1 in their
 rising up of the lowly1 in their       
encouragement of brotherhood1 and in    
that exact and even justice to all men1 
so far as their practical services to   
humanity in these directions can be     
measured1 sink into an empty            
insignificance1 when compared with those
 organic declarations and laws1 upon    
which this great republic was founded1  
and which were the outcome and product  
of a then recent enlightenment1 due to  
the combined efforts of ,european       
skeptical writers1 who by their genius  
of sarcasm and incisive argument1 were  
disturbing the old theological modes of 
thought1 and awaking the world to wide  
strides in rationalism4 ,that these new 
,american rules of political equality1  

beacons of liberty for men to follow and
 admire1 obtained their inspiration and 
incentive from those new lights in      
literature1 which1 at that time1 were   
stirring the world of thought1 there can
 be no question4 ,in these famous       
,american documents1 were embodied the  
practical carrying out of principles1   
enunciated1 and suggested by the        
,european writers1 and the most active  
of the men engaged in the noble work of 
forming the new government1 are known to
 have been disciples of these leaders of
 anti-theologic thought4 ,our           
,declaration of ,independence and       
,federal ,constitution1 stand1 to-day1  
grand achievements of modern scientific 
thought1 and conspicuous triumphs of    
rationalism1 over old methods1          
foreshadowing in these1 its great works1
 a better wisdom to govern the affairs  
of men1 than all the ages guided by     
,hebrew tradition4 ,yet1 in these       
documents will be seen an overflowing of
 natural religion1 and the spirit of the

 ,master4 8,do unto others as ye would  
that others shall do unto you40  ,if we 
have for more than fifteen centuries1   
yielded ourselves to doctrines1 conveyed
 to us through all the highways of life1
 so assiduously1 that neither infancy1  
youth1 manhood or old age1 have escaped 
their tireless importunities for        
acceptance2 doctrines1 which consign    
seven-eighths of humanity to eternal    
torture for no faults to most of them   
but a lack of opportunity1 which under  
,providence has been denied1 it is not  
unreasonable to conclude1 with this     
experience of the mutability of human   
understanding1 that there are other     
beliefs fastened on our minds by ages of
 custom and mistaken thought1 equally   
untenable1 which may be as justly placed
 in our catalogue of errors4 ,where then
 shall we look for truth8 ,authority1 as
 we have seen1 is not an infallible     
guide4 ,we shall never know how much the
 industrious promulgation of error is   
due to the selfish love of corporate    

power1 how much to a pure benevolence4  
,neither are the brightest minds safe   
monitors in all things of thought4      
,aristotle defended slavery1 ,hobbes    
persecution1 ,johnson witchcraft1 and   
,gladstone religious superstition2 but1 
for all that1 we shall never arrive at  
the extremity of despair2 for a         
cultivation of the mind1 the deductive  
use of positive knowledge1 and the      
untrammeled exercise of reason1 lead to 
truth1 as directly1 as the line of      
gravity points to the center of the     
earth1 and only by these will its reign 
be established in the world4            
,w4 ,s4     ,,introductory4   ,my       
habitation is upon the plateau of a     
mountain in ,california4 ,i entered this
 region and became a settler by a       
fortuitous event4 ,about thirty-five    
years ago1 ,i took a summer outing from 
a close application to business in the  
metropolis1 and came here for a deer    
hunt4 ,one of those beautiful animals   
that ,i had wounded with my rifle led me

 further into this wild and picturesque 
locality than ,i had intended to go1 and
 ,i thus arrived upon this spot1 as ,i  
believe1 the first white man that ever  
set foot upon it4 ,reaching here late in
 the afternoon1 ,i found myself too far 
out of my path to return by daylight1   
and so1 building a fire1 ,i spent my    
first night alone in this weird place4  
,it was the first time in my life that  
,i had slept where some human creature  
was not within the sound of my voice1   
and from that night ,i date a change of 
sentiment1 thought1 and feeling1 which  
has altered my career1 and made me1 what
 ,i have chosen to be1 a recluse4  ,i   
had been living in the world about      
thirty years amid the artificial        
surroundings of a city4 ,i had scarcely 
looked upon the sky and heavens1 except 
between the margins of opposite         
house-tops4 ,i had viewed from infancy1 
without emotion1 the rising and setting 
of the sun from a horizon of chimneys   
and steeples2 and when these exhibitions

 first presented themselves to me here  
in this crystal atmosphere1 with an     
expanse from this altitude so new to me1
 they appeared like a revelation4 ,i    
seemed to have been suddenly ushered    
into the world1 and to be looking for   
the first time in my life upon the      
stupendous phenomena about me4  ,until  
this moment ,i had not approached a     
realization of the magnificence and     
prodigious wonders which the heavens    
afford to our observation4 ,it was here 
also that ,i began for the first time to
 enjoy those beautiful and curious      
processes of nature1 where the bursting 
germs1 ascending gradually out of the   
soil1 change their shapes1 multiply     
their organs1 and after a time crown    
themselves with brilliant and           
deliciously flavored flowers4 ,in my new
 observation and intimacy with plant    
growth1 with some previous knowledge of 
the science appertaining to it1 and with
 a newly discovered delight in marking  
the changes of position and the         

characters of the heavenly bodies by the
 greedy acquirement of all the          
information within my reach1 ,i have    
come to forego1 without regrets1 the    
social pleasures of life4  ,by the      
liberal laws of my country1 ,i have     
become possessed of this attractive     
spot1 and thus far1 ,i have chosen to   
retain it in its natural state4 ,i came 
here a young man4 ,i am now old4        
,thirty-five years of my life have been 
spent on this elevation1 with a         
self-banishment from society1 without in
 the least abating my interest in human 
affairs4 ,my communication with the     
world is mostly through books4 ,a weekly
 newspaper or two1 and such other       
publications as ,i may order1 are left  
for me in a hollow tree several miles   
away by the district messenger2 and thus
 no important event or new discovery in 
the world escapes me4  ,i have          
constructed with my own hands a cabin1  
having much convenience and comfort1 and
 also some outhouses1 which shelter my  

poultry and a pair of gentle cows1 which
 latter1 finding abundant food in the   
natural grasses about1 come to me       
regularly at milking time1 seemingly as 
much for the pleasure of being caressed1
 as to furnish me the principal         
nourishment of my life4  ,there is a    
trout steam in the center of my         
possession1 with expansions here and    
there1 which serve as bathing places for
 myself1 and out of which pure and cool 
drink is supplied to the few domestic   
animals about me4 ,this stream makes its
 way through the bottom of a hollow1 and
 is so overhung by the lofty branches of
 trees which grow upon its borders that 
the sunlight only enters in patches1 and
 is so reflected by the restless surface
 of the water as to mark its devious way
 with the appearance of a line of       
flashing mirrors4 ,the surrounding dense
 body of foliage1 from at least a       
hundred varieties of trees and shrubs1  
is tinted with a variegation of color   
seldom seen outside the tropics4 ,this  

charming spot has its voices1 as        
restless as the lights and shadows which
 play about within4 ,each miniature     
waterfall has its liquid note2 while    
during certain hours there comes from   
every quarter of the foliage above a    
confused melody of birds1 who1 ,i have  
reason to believe1 assemble there for   
entertainment and gossip4  ,outside of  
this watered region1 my homestead is    
interspersed with openings1 where the   
rich loam only awaits the labor of      
cultivation to produce a wealth of grain
 or fruit4 ,every tree and shrub within 
my possession of half a mile square1 by 
long familiarity1 seems to have become a
 part of myself4 ,we are living and     
ageing together4 ,i have watched in them
 the development of infancy1 the slow   
and gradual approach to youth1 and the  
turning point from maturity to old age4 
,among these old monarchs of the woods  
is here and there one tipped with the   
signs of superannuated decay4 ,about    
their feet lay many of their withered1  

sapless limbs4 ,they have lost their    
symmetry1 and stand in scraggy outline4 
,i see from year to year their gradual  
giving up of life1 while beside them a  
new generation arises4 ,there is a      
fellow feeling between us4 ,my hair     
grows thin and white and my step is no  
longer firm and elastic4 ,like them my  
share of life is growing to a close1 and
 yet ,i am an infant in years compared  
to many of them4 ,i bow to them with a  
sentiment of reverence4 ,they are my old
 men4 ,the younger ones are my          
children--mine6 ,what a grand thing it  
is to have these in my possession1--to  
hold in my own right such a choice piece
 of this blossoming earth1 where all the
 mysterious forces are at work day and  
night for me alone6  ,i have come also  
to have an abiding interest in the      
creatures who by nature are inhabitants 
of this place4 ,long ago have ,i laid   
aside my gun as an instrument of        
destruction1 and it rests now on its    
pegs above my pillow only as a defense4 

,by slow degrees ,i have gained a       
confidence with the native birds and    
animals which surround me1 so that it is
 wonderful how many of them welcome me  
and enjoy my presence4 ,there swarm to  
my poultry fold at feeding time myriads 
of quail and other birds1 who with an   
amusing assurance1 run about my feet and
 dispute for the crumbs that ,i scatter4
 ,the gray squirrels may be often seen  
scampering down from their hiding places
 in the trees to meet me1 in expectation
 of their accustomed relish of wheat    
grains1 which are stowed away for them  
in my pockets4 ,i have three pet deer1  
quite tame and domesticated1 whose      
intimate acquaintance was brought about 
in a singular way4 ,sitting on my       
doorstep one bright afternoon1 ,i had   
listened for some time to the baying of 
hounds in the neighboring mountains1    
when presently there came bounding      
toward me1 in terror1 a trembling doe1  
and with her beaming eyes fixed upon me1
 seeming to invoke my pity1 she         

literally threw herself into my arms4   
,taking in the situation at a glance1 ,i
 tried to force her into my door before 
the dogs arrived4 ,too late for that1 ,i
 could only arm myself with a stick from
 my woodpile1 when the whole yelping    
pack were upon us4 ,it was a hard fight1
 and only after many bites and scratches
 from the disappointed hounds did ,i    
beat them off4 ,i kept her in a secure  
outhouse for a few days1 where two      
beautiful fawns were born to her2 and   
ever since the mother and offspring have
 been my favorite pets1 following me    
about like children4 ,my acquaintance   
with other of the creatures about1      
though not so intimate1 is still of such
 a confidential kind that they manifest 
no terror at my approach1 and ,i am thus
 enabled to realize1 by this free       
exhibition of them1 how teeming with    
animal life is the earth in its most    
favored parts4  ,in my earlier years ,i 
have felt the cold blasts and torrid    
heats of other climes4 ,i now rest      

myself in the happy satisfaction that ,i
 have found in this equable temperature 
and agreeable surroundings a place where
 one may look upon life as a blessing4  
,i have acquired enough knowledge of    
some of the sciences to make an         
instrument or two of service to me1 and 
,i take especial interest in my         
telescope of three inches aperture1 in  
the use of which ,i spend many an hour  
which otherwise might hang heavily on my
 hands4 ,i have also a good microscope  
and field glass4 ,through the latter ,i 
bring to view the distant hillsides and 
mountain tops1 observing1 frequently1   
groups of deer grazing tranquilly1 and  
at times a family of panthers gamboling 
on the green carpet of an opening1 or an
 eagle feeding her young upon the       
inaccessible brink of a precipice2 and  
on rarer occasions1 a bear complacently 
munching acorns under some prolific old 
oak a mile away4 ,my microscope has     
revealed to me a world of wonders4 ,i   
have discovered by it the limitable     

range of our senses1 and how far below  
as well as above us the infinite        
extends4 ,i grope about in the darkness 
of my understanding between an atom and 
the outside limit of the stars1 every   
step toward either showing an increase  
of distance4 ,these things ,i pursue1   
not with the spirit and application of a
 student1 but rather for the            
entertainment which they furnish and the
 meditation they invoke4 ,i have learned
 all that is known of the motions and   
eccentricities of heavenly bodies within
 my telescopic vision1 and ,i never look
 upon them without rapture4 ,what are   
all other shows to this8 ,how many of   
these countless worlds are inhabited8   
,what beings are upon them8 ,how do they
 compare with us8 ,has it been given to 
them to comprehend eternity8 ,is        
knowledge with them intuitive or        
acquired8 ,thus do ,i lose myself in    
these bewildering fancies4  ,it may     
appear that ,i have avoided my share in 
the cares and duties of human           

association4 ,if ,i have1 it is from no 
lack of sympathy with my kind4 ,i look  
upon my fellow-men from my distant and  
somewhat isolated point of view1 without
 the usual diversion of active affairs1 
and both my pity and admiration are     
aroused4 ,the sufferings and sorrows of 
my kind seem appalling to me from this  
position1 while their heroism in the    
struggle for knowledge seems to me grand
 beyond expression4 ,i feel myself in   
the midst of civilization1 and yet apart
 from it4 ,if ,i have been a loser from 
that lack of social attrition which     
arouses the activities of thought1 it   
is1 nevertheless1 certain that ,i have  
not been submitted to a combination of  
those influences which render an error  
plausible4 ,the opinions and thoughts of
 the world come to me1 and ,i pass them 
in review with a full sense of the      
fallibility of individual opinion1 as   
well as an abiding faith in the steady  
approach of that collective truth1      
which1 sooner or later1 will overspread 

the world4     ,,the ,,man ,,from       
,,mars4     ,,chapter ,i4   ,my         
telescope is mounted in an apartment    
adjoining my cabin1 with an elevated    
exposure1 and has some extra            
contrivances for the convenience of     
adjustment1 designed and constructed by 
myself4 ,the instrument can be raised   
and lowered at pleasure1 and is         
protected by a movable dome1 which is   
easily laid aside by means of a couple  
of pullies4 ,it is a good one1 and for  
its size has remarkable power4 ,i have  
been enabled to reach with it double    
stars of the sixth magnitude1 frequently
 observing even ,orion1 with its        
beautiful double and multiple systems4  
,i can easily discover with it the most 
distant planet ,neptune1 and by their   
progressive displacement1 ,i have seen  
and recognized with it most of the      
asteroids4 ,i can get with it a fine    
view of ,jupiter1 that magnificent      
planet fourteen hundred times larger    
than our ,earth1 and have observed the  

black spots upon its surface1 and the   
transit of its moons4 ,the grand        
spectacle of ,saturn and its rings is   
brought to my observation with          
remarkable clearness4 ,i have so        
frequently looked into the dismal       
caverns and upon the towering mountains 
of our satellite1 the ,moon1 that its   
marks and bounds are as familiar to me  
as the neighboring hills4 ,but life is  
short1 and amid all this illimitable sea
 of worlds1 ,i have fixed my attention  
upon but one1 for that special study    
which my few remaining years will       
permit4 ,the heavenly body which most   
engages my attention is1 excepting our  
satellite1 the nearest one to us1 our   
neighboring planet ,mars4  ,i believe   
that body to be inhabited by beings in  
many respects like those of the earth4  
,my conclusion is adduced from many     
known facts concerning it4 ,mars has an 
atmosphere like ours4 ,its density does 
not differ materially from the ,earth4  
,the heat it derives from the sun1      

possibly modified by atmospheric        
conditions1 is quite likely the same as 
ours4 ,it has zones of varying          
temperature1 and seasons of summer and  
winter like the ,earth4 ,its days are   
about the same length as ours4 ,the ice 
and snow of its polar regions are       
plainly perceptible1 and vary in arrears
 exactly in accordance with its changing
 positions and distances from the sun4  
,from which we may infer1 without a     
doubt1 that its atmosphere contains     
moisture of the same chemical           
composition as ours1 and is condensed   
into rain and snow as with us4  ,there  
are striking points of difference1      
however1 between ,mars and the ,earth4  
,its diameter is a little less than half
 that of our planet1 and its surface is 
only about a quarter of ours1 while its 
volume is but a seventh part of our     
globe4 ,furthermore1 instead of a single
 satellite like ours it has two moons1  
which revolve in opposite directions    
around it1 neither of which in point of 

size can be compared to ours4  ,my      
knowledge of astronomy not being        
profound1 it has been the greatest      
pleasure and gratification to me to     
verify1 by my own observations1 the     
calculations and theories of the abler  
scientists4 ,appertaining to ,mars1 it  
is perhaps needless to say that there is
 a diversity of opinion among           
astronomers touching its physical       
conditions4 ,the unusual red color of   
its reflected light1 its bright and dark
 spots1 and the variation which is      
observed in the forms overspreading its 
disc1 are differently accounted for4 ,it
 is among such questions as these1 then1
 that my imagination and ingenuity are  
free to exercise themselves1 and the    
desire to settle some of these disputed 
points to my own satisfaction increases 
the eagerness of my observation4  ,i    
have watched for many years1 with       
anticipations of pleasure1 when ,mars   
would be in opposition1--or in other    
words1 when1 during its revolution upon 

its orbit1 it comes nearest to the      
,earth4 ,these occurrences of about     
every two years are holidays of pleasure
 and enjoyment to me4 ,there are1       
however1 rarer oppositions of ,mars1    
which occur only twice in a century1    
when the distance between us is reduced 
to the smallest limit2 and it has been  
my good fortune to get a finer view of  
this heavenly body at this shorter      
distance than will few human beings at  
present alive4  ,it can well be imagined
 what a supremely interesting event this
 was to me4 ,days before its culmination
 did ,i watch its progress approaching  
nearer and nearer to the ,earth4 ,each  
succeeding night exhibited to me its    
slowly magnifying proportions1 and the  
greater distinctness of objects on its  
surface4 ,here was a world of beings1 no
 doubt1 with aims and enterprises like  
ours1 rolling headlong through the      
heavens with a known velocity of        
fifty-four thousand miles an hour4 ,this
 planet was now approaching1 hourly1 its

 greatest possible proximity to the     
,earth4 ,that ,i should lose no time in 
devouring1 as ,i may say1 this unusual  
spectacle1 ,i had provided my telescope 
with a kind of clockwork contrivance1 by
 which it exactly kept pace with ,mars  
on its westward course4 ,during these   
few days1 ,i had forgotten everything   
else in my eagerness to feast my eyes on
 this rare show4 ,the nights had been   
favorable to observation2 and each      
evening after turning my instrument on  
the rapidly approaching planet1 my      
interest became so transfixed and       
absorbed that all my ordinary physical  
wants were suppressed4 ,i had lost in   
these few days of mental excitement all 
inclination for food and sleep4 ,no one 
could be freer from superstition than   
,i1 yet my mind was uneasy under an     
unaccountable premonition4 ,it gave some
 anxiety to think that on the very night
 of culmination1 when my interest would 
be at its height1 a change of weather   
might cut off the scene4 ,but aside from

 this1 in my somewhat feverish          
condition1 ,i could not restrain a sense
 of some impending and momentous event  
in my personal affairs4 ,some strange   
influence seemed to be disturbing the   
usual tranquil and placid condition of  
my mind4 ,i aroused myself from this1   
however1 and became thoroughly myself   
when the sun went down on the evening of
 my hope1 and left an atmosphere that   
was as perfect as ,i could wish for4    
,the sky was calm and clear1 with just  
enough moisture in the air to increase  
its transparency4 ,the ordinary evening 
sounds appeared stilled4 ,neither       
nighthawk nor owl seemed abroad1 and the
 usual rustling of leaves and swaying of
 tree-tops was suppressed by a calm that
 struck me as strange4 ,the day had been
 moderately warm1 and the sun-distilled 
odors of the firs and pines1 condensed  
by the coolness of twilight1 were       
filling the air with an agreeable       
perfume1 as though ,nature was burning  
incense in the celebration of some      

ancient rite1 during which every living 
and breathing thing about seemed bowed  
in silent reverence4 ,i had never known 
until now what assurance there was in   
the natural sounds which nightly fell   
upon my ears4 ,in my mountain home no   
feeling of loneliness ever came over me 
before4 ,i felt an especial longing now 
for the sound of a human voice1 for a   
companion upon whom ,i might discharge  
myself of the suggestions and beliefs   
appertaining to the subject of my       
investigation and study4 ,my mind was   
filled with conclusions touching the    
physical condition of ,mars1 which each 
new observation tended to corroborate4  
,i had my theory to give of its         
rose-colored light4 ,i had seen the     
clouds moving upon its surface1 its     
polar snows1 and its very atmosphere4 ,i
 had no doubt whatever1 now1 that it was
 inhabited1 and the anticipation of soon
 seeing it in its most favorable        
opposition with the ,earth1 was         
accompanied with a yearning that some   

human creature might share with me the  
rare spectacle4  ,as the twilight faded1
 ,i looked with my naked eyes toward the
 east1 and my other world was showing   
its red light near the horizon like a   
rising sun in miniature4 ,at midnight it
 would reach its culmination1 when      
viewing it through the least possible   
thickness of our atmosphere in its      
vertical position1 ,i would see it as no
 human being could see it again for over
 half a century4 ,the oppressive silence
 and tranquility remained unbroken1 and 
as ,i seated myself in my observatory   
and adjusted the telescope1 ,i felt     
myself not quite in my accustomed vigor 
of health4 ,the temperature had         
perceptibly raised1 when it had usually 
fallen as the night advanced4 ,the air  
was sultry4 ,a sensation of qualmishness
 came over me4 ,it came to my mind now  
that ,i had abused myself by a long     
neglect of sleep and regular meals4 ,but
 no sooner had ,i brought my instrument 
to a focus than ,i was myself again4    

,our beautiful neighbor was mounting the
 heavens1 reflecting the sun's light in 
a delicate crimson tint1 and in size of 
outline beyond my expectation4 ,i could 
plainly mark its rotation upon its axis 
by noting the slow movements of spots   
upon its disc1 and their sudden         
disappearance over its limb4 ,the hours 
seemed minutes to me4 ,my fatigue and   
illness were forgotten4 ,in my rapture  
of enjoyment the lingering wish         
increased that some fellow creature     
might share it with me4 ,my telescope1  
in tracing the planet's course had very 
nearly obtained a vertical position1    
when ,i was astonished to see the       
distant world suddenly disappear1 and   
begin to vibrate back and forth over the
 aperture of my instrument4 ,a moment's 
reflection explained the matter4 ,the   
,earth had shaken4 ,so trifling1        
however1 was the disturbance about me   
that it had not been felt4 ,but ,i had  
lost my focus1 and ,mars was already on 
its backward journey4 ,my grand holiday 

was over4  ,i immediately lowered the   
telescope and replaced its protecting   
dome4 ,gathering the few hasty notes ,i 
had prepared during my observation1 for 
future reference and elaboration1 ,i    
made my way to an apartment of my cabin 
which serves me for a library and bed   
chamber4 ,a number of shelves filled    
with books occupy one of its sides4 ,my 
bed rests in a corner4 ,an easy chair   
stands besides a table in the center1   
and under a window1 proportionately     
large1 fronting the south1 is placed a  
cushioned lounge of some pretentions to 
comfort and luxury4 ,i threw myself upon
 this1 after laying away my papers1 and 
the lower panes of my window being on a 
level with my head1 ,i looked out into  
the night4  ,the moon in its last       
quarter was just peeping over a near    
mountain4 ,its light1 partly obstructed 
by a network of tree-tops1 was throwing 
figures of light and shade over the     
adjacent opening1 so that the ground    
appeared to have spread upon it a       

colossal carpet1 with fantastic         
decorations of ebony and silver4 ,the   
air had grown a trifle cooler4 ,a gentle
 breeze was stirring out of the ,west1  
and the silence1 that had recently      
fallen so mysteriously upon me1 was     
being followed now by a normal condition
 of unrest4 ,as the moon rose higher1   
its fanciful shadows upon the ground    
dissolved1 and the level plateau        
adjacent to my window was uniformly     
covered with a clear1 bright light4     
,looking again1 and quite sensibly      
impressed with the changed condition of 
things about me1 ,i descried the figure 
of a man1 not far from my window2 and1  
strange to say1 ,i was neither alarmed  
nor startled at his presence4 ,his face1
 of which ,i saw but little more than   
its profile1 was turned upward looking  
at the moon1 and its expression was     
unmistakably one of admiration and      
wonder4 ,his long1 and apparently       
well-cared-for hair and beard1 reflected
 a golden sheen under the light above4  

,his arms were folded1 and his shape and
 attitude impressed me as being         
majestic4  ,while fixing my gaze        
intently on this strange form1 an       
expression of something wanting about it
 took possession of me1 when presently  
,i observed with surprise1 that although
 standing under the bright and          
unobstructed light of the moon1 no      
shadow was visible about it4 ,he        
remained for some time as immovable as a
 statue1 gazing upon our satellite as   
one who had never before looked upon so 
wondrous a sight1 and then1 with the air
 of one on unfamiliar ground1 he made an
 inquiring survey of my cabin1 and then 
directed his careful footsteps toward my
 doorway4     ,,chapter ,,ii4   ,this   
strange figure entered my cabin1 and    
without introduction or sign of         
salutation seated himself in my easy    
chair as though he were a member of my  
household1 an apparent rudeness which   
will be explained as ,i proceed4 ,i had 
now the first opportunity to get a good 

survey of my visitor4 ,he was a person  
of surpassing loveliness4 ,his face was 
of that spiritual kind which is seldom  
seen off the canvas of some of our art  
masters1 and it reflected a kindness of 
heart that is never realized except by  
the purest religious fancy4 ,his form   
was so high and elaborate in its        
development1 that ,i have only seen an  
approach to it in the best models4 ,his 
singular attractiveness ,i can only     
compare to that affinity which comes of 
pure sexual love1 captivating the       
beholder with a presence which drives   
away all thought but it4 ,his complexion
 had that ruddy clearness and           
transparency indicative of perfect      
health4 ,the hair of his head and       
beard1--both long and waving over       
shoulders and breast1--was of a hue that
 can be best described as the color of  
the ripe filbert1 with the fineness and 
lustre of unwoven silk4 ,his hands1     
although scrupulously clean and finely  
shaped1 bore the unmistakable signs of  

manual toil2 and yet he had the superior
 air and manner of one whose mission it 
was to instruct4 ,as he sat before me ,i
 felt like a child in the presence of a 
loved and loving parent4 ,my impression 
of him was entirely correct1 since his  
first word of utterance to me was a term
 of endearment4  8,my brother10 said he1
 8you have a beautiful world4 ,that moon
 of yours is magnificent40  ,to me this 
was a happy beginning4 ,here was1       
thought ,i1 a man after my own heart1   
whose soul was above the common things  
of life4 ,i could compare notes with him
 touching my study of ,mars4 ,providence
 had then sent me1 at last1 what ,i had 
so wanted1--some one to share and enjoy 
with me the triumphs of my labor2 so ,i 
immediately said to him3 8,as to the    
moon1 it is certainly very serviceable  
as a night reflector of the sun's light2
 but1 since its size is comparatively   
insignificant1 and its surface desolate 
and uninhabited1 it is thus an object of
 very little importance among heavenly  

bodies4 ,speaking of magnificent        
planets1 what do you think of ,mars80   
8,mars suits me10 said my visitor4      
,thinking my question too general1 ,i   
inquired3 8,do you think ,mars          
inhabited80  8,i am a good proof that it
 is10 said he4 8,i left that planet--let
 me see--by your time1 about one hour   
ago40  8,i either misunderstood you1 or 
you are not serious4 ,it is impossible40
  8,ah1 my brother10 said he1 8you are  
very little advanced in a knowledge of  
the properties of intelligence4 ,i am   
here by a process as yet unknown to you1
 and which may be best described in your
 language as reflection4 ,i am here by  
reflection4 ,that is to say1 my natural 
body is at my home1 on the planet1 which
 you call ,mars4 ,its spiritual         
counterpart is here4 ,you have already  
an inkling of this strange faculty of   
transferring intelligence1 in some of   
the phenomena on which is founded your  
spiritualistic creed4 ,we1 of the planet
 ,mars1 have been in the enjoyment of   

this discovery for centuries2 and while 
you of the ,earth are only able by your 
appliances of science to measure the    
size of our planet1 compute its         
distance1 estimate the shape and extent 
of its orbit1 and indulge in some vague 
conjectures appertaining to its         
condition1 we have been making a close  
and interesting study of your social    
affairs1 including1 of course1 your     
morals1 politics and religion4 ,you have
 only measured us as a planet4 ,we have 
measured you as a people1 and at least  
one of us1 as you perceive1 has mastered
 your language4 ,besides1 our           
development is over ten thousand years  
ahead of yours4 ,we can tell you more of
 your history than you know yourselves4 
,at a period of yours described by your 
writers as the stone age1 we had        
converted electricity into a motor and  
illuminating agent4 ,i know your        
thoughts4 ,you are surprised at what ,i 
have said1 and wish me to tell you      
something of the planet upon which ,i   

reside4  8,it will interest you to know 
that about the equatorial regions of    
,mars is found its highest civilization 
and densest settlement4 ,your torrid    
zone1 and the corresponding section of  
our planet1 are widely different4 ,in   
ours1 the climate is delightfully and   
evenly temperate4 ,the extent of our    
surface1 as you know1 is very much less 
than yours1 but the uniform quality of  
our land for cultivation1 and the       
smaller water surface1 compared with    
yours1 supports a population whose      
numbers would astonish you4 ,you may as 
well discharge your mind of the many    
conjectures which ascribe to each planet
 a quality of matter and intelligence   
peculiar to itself4 ,the whole universe 
is a unit1 as your spectroscope1 and the
 bodies from space that fall from time  
to time upon your surface1 must have    
suggested to you4 ,variable states of   
density and temperature modify the forms
 and organs of animal and vegetable     
life1 but matter is everywhere the same4

  8,your chemists have just arrived at  
that point of knowledge where ours were 
forty centuries ago4 ,yours recognize   
over sixty forms of matter as simple and
 elementary1 while ours have reduced    
them all to one1--the unit out of which 
all creation is formed4 ,from this you  
may infer that our discovery of the     
compound nature of the metals enables us
 to make them at pleasure4 ,this was a  
most fortunate and timely knowledge for 
us1 since they are distributed very     
sparsely on our planet4 ,it will no     
doubt be a strange thing to tell you1   
that we make gold at a less cost than   
iron1 and that consequently it is the   
cheapest metal in use4 ,you are about to
 ask me whether we make diamonds4 ,we   
have made them for centuries4 ,our      
factories turn them out in masses for   
the ornamental parts of buildings1 for  
which they are remarkably adapted on    
account of their brilliancy and         
indestructibility40  ,my strange visitor
 rested a little here1 with the evident 

intention of reading my thoughts1 and of
 enjoying my surprise4 ,while ,i was    
marvelling what great things chemical   
science must have done in other ways1 he
 appeared to anticipate my question4    
8,my brother10 said he1 8we are indebted
 to the science of chemistry for more   
than ,i can readily enumerate4 ,with us1
 as with you1 a large number of common  
and abundant substances differ only a   
trifle in chemical composition from     
others which are in great demand for the
 purposes of life4 ,the science of      
chemistry enables us to convert one into
 the other at will4 ,thus1 from wood we 
manufacture sugar1 starch1 and any      
number of other useful commodities4 ,by 
the double decomposition of air and     
water we generate a heat which1 for     
economy and easy regulation1 is better  
than anything the universe affords4 ,the
 clumsy1 unclean and inconvenient use of
 wood and coal for fuel is with us a    
practice of the past4  8,but chemistry  
has done for us an immeasurably greater 

service4 ,it has enabled us to provide  
for ourselves a food supply by the      
process of synthesis1 which1 in the     
extremity of crop shortage or failure1  
we can resort to as a means of averting 
famine4 ,you are aware1 in your present 
stage of chemical knowledge1 that all   
food products are composed of four      
simple ingredients1 ,carbon1 ,oxygen1   
,hydrogen and ,nitrogen1 found in       
abundant supply in the atmosphere and   
its natural mixture4 ,these1 with two or
 three earthy matters from the soil1 are
 the constituents of all food4 ,we      
forestall the slow assimilation of these
 by the organs of animals and plants1   
and by our chemical skill are enabled to
 combine them in proper proportion to   
form the proximate elements of all      
varieties of food1 wanting in nothing   
but the taste and flavor of the natural 
supply1 and on that account1 only used  
when compelled by necessity4  8,our     
advance in synthetic chemistry has      
enabled us to imitate nature's products 

in many of their organic forms4 ,besides
 those nitrogen compounds which we      
manufacture as life sustainers1 we      
produce many substances which are       
equivalent to those you obtain          
exclusively from animal and vegetable   
life4 ,we obtain in this way substitutes
 for leather1 horn1 ivory1 and also fats
 and oils1 albumen1 gluten1 starch1     
etc41 etc42 most of these better and in 
more convenient forms for industrial and
 culinary uses than nature furnishes    
them4 ,our textile fabrics are entirely 
derived from vegetable growth1 and we   
give them a quality of slow or quick    
conduction of heat to accord with their 
purposes of summer or winter wear4      
8,you may safely infer from what ,i have
 said that we slaughter no animals for  
food or raiment4 ,such demoralizing     
cruelty we have never practiced4 ,the   
ferocious examples of beasts and birds  
of prey we have never known1 and we have
 no extensive wastes over which they    
could live and flourish4 ,our animals   

which are limited in variety compared   
with yours are all domesticated1 and our
 treatment of them is so uniformly kind1
 that instead of avoiding us they court 
our society4 ,we have a clean and       
beautiful creature1 much smaller than   
your cow1 which gives us milk4 ,it is   
remarkably intelligent1 and is often    
admitted into our households to nurse   
our infants1 who become very fond of    
them4 ,our city parks are provided with 
these animals and it is a common sight  
to see them gamboling with children and 
quietly submitting themselves to their  
nourishment4  8,it is a part of our     
religion to believe that every living   
creature is related1 though distantly1  
to ourselves1 and to those of them      
especially which are brought into our   
service1 we owe not only an obligation  
of kindness1 but the care of attention  
in sickness and old age4 ,we have       
accordingly established places of       
retirement for them4 ,the kind relations
 existing for ages between us and all   

animal kind has modified their conduct  
to us in a way that would be striking to
 you1 and would lead you to believe that
 they possess more intelligence than you
 have given them credit for4 ,they come 
to us in their troubles1 and submit in  
the most human way to medical treatment 
in their hospitals4 ,you would be       
interested to note the friendly         
familiarity existing between us and our 
birds1 who in brilliancy of plumage and 
song are far ahead of yours4 ,they      
abound in our city parks1 and one has   
only to open the window and whistle and 
they will come flying into the          
apartment1 engaging themselves in a     
concert of song1 perched about on the   
furniture1 as a happy privilege4 ,on any
 other occasion when one comes silent   
and alone we know what it portends1 and 
it is tenderly carried to the bird      
hospital40  8,you have10 ,i ventured to 
enquire1 8railroads and boats for       
transportation80  8,we have neither10   
answered my visitor1 8nor do we require 

them1 for reasons easily explained4     
,there are two conditions of our planet 
which render the navigation of the air  
entirely safe and successful4 ,they are 
the greater density of our atmosphere1  
and the diminished force of gravity     
compared with yours4 ,our air ships1 as 
you would call them1 are easily made to 
sustain and move large cargoes1 by      
vacuum chambers and electric motors4    
,our inventors have long since          
surmounted the difficulties of adverse  
wind currents1 and these vessels1 of    
both public and private use1 may be seen
 constantly moving about in all         
directions1 and at all altitudes1 with  
but few serious accidents4  8,there are 
no large oceans like yours on ,mars1 and
 our rivers are so small as not to serve
 the purposes of commerce4 ,you will    
perceive1 then1 that our facilities for 
navigating the air were bestowed upon us
 as a means of transportation1 in lieu  
of the convenient waterways which you   
enjoy4 ,as you may anticipate1 from the 

small size of our rivers1 there are no  
extensive mountainous water sheds upon  
our surface4 ,instead of your immense1  
desolate1 and storm-beaten seas1 we have
 a series of lakes1 everywhere varying  
in size1 but none of them larger than   
seventy-five of your miles long1 and    
forty broad4  8,the relative density    
between water and an animal body being  
such on our planet as to render the     
possibility of drowning by accident     
impossible1 the fear and horror existing
 with you of involuntary immersion in   
the depths is entirely unknown4 ,our    
numerous lakes are therefore scenes of  
the most enjoyable1 and what would be   
with you1 reckless diversion4 ,the      
upsetting of a boat with its load of    
excursionists1 no matter where1 results 
in merely a harmless frolic4 ,the human 
body there sinks in the water only a    
little above its middle1 and we have    
contrived1 by web-like fastenings to the
 hands and feet1 a means of propulsion  
so rapid as to nearly equal our         

speediest locomotion on the land4       
,during our long summers1 when the      
temperature of the water is agreeable1  
lake journeys1 especially by the young1 
are among the most popular amusements4  
,this1 to you1 strange condition of     
density is productive of a state of     
affairs partaking of the humorous1      
although leading to much domestic       
perplexity and annoyance4 ,our children 
take to the water in the summer season  
as naturally as your water fowl1 and the
 loss of offspring upon the lakes1 at   
that tender age which precludes their   
knowledge of the return direction1 is   
the source of an immense amount of      
parental disturbance and worry4 ,the    
straying of children upon the waters is 
attended1 however1 with but little      
danger2 since1 if by any possibility    
they remain undiscovered during the     
night1 they can1 owing to the buoyancy  
of their bodies1 sleep tranquilly and   
delightfully upon their backs1 resting  
upon the cushions of the waters until   

rescued1 as they are sure to be on the  
succeeding day1 by one of the numerous  
airships constantly skimming the        
surface4  8,our land is generally       
rolling1 and there is a constant water  
movement in the channels connecting     
these small bodies of water1 not in a   
uniform direction toward the sea1 as    
with you1 but in all directions1 thus   
saving to us a power for mechanical     
purposes than which nothing better can  
be conceived4  8,our cities1 as you may 
imagine1 are not located as yours are2  
but1 since one place is as good as      
another for a distributing point1 the   
rule has been to build them up where    
conditions are favorable1 chiefly       
considered of which have been the       
health1 comfort1 and pleasure of their  
inhabitants4 ,it would be doing us      
injustice to believe that1 with our long
 period of development and progress1 we 
have not achieved something far ahead of
 you in the sanitary and labor-saving   
appliances about us1 especially in our  

metropolitan districts4 ,in the first   
place1 we use no wood whatever in the   
construction of our buildings1 having   
discovered long ago a tendency during   
its slow decay to absorb and retain the 
germs of disease and uncleanliness4     
,neither is its durability satisfactory2
 and its ready inflammability and lack  
of strength render it unfitted for our  
purposes4 ,we use1 instead1 a metallic  
alloy unknown to you1 which is          
susceptible of a high polish1 as        
inoxidizable as gold1 and with that     
character of penetrability which permits
 fastening with nails and shaping by    
tools1 with even greater exactness than 
you work with wood4  8,our cities are   
built with uniformity4 ,their growth is 
invariably from the center outward4     
,their location is not a matter of      
chance1 as yours generally is4 ,no site 
is chosen without the thorough          
examination and approval of a sanitary  
commission1 whose knowledge and         
sincerity we respect4 ,their foundation 

is made by the laying out of a large    
circular enclosure for the location of  
all public buildings1 among which1 in   
the center and more magnificent than all
 in its imposing loftiness and artistic 
finish1 is our temple of worship4 ,from 
this center radiate a set of wide and   
uniform thoroughfares1 and these are    
crossed at regular intervals by circular
 ones1 which begin at the center and are
 repeated to the circumference as a     
series of concentric rings40  ,the man  
from ,mars became silent for a moment1  
and ,i observed that for the first time 
his face was clouded a little4 ,he had  
spoken of a temple of worship1 and it   
had started in my mind a wish to hear   
something of the society and morals of  
his people1 and how they compared with  
us2 so ,i said to him3 8,i am grateful  
to you for your kindness in describing  
some of the material surroundings of    
your people1 but ,i would like very much
 to know something of your inner lives1 
of your thoughts and beliefs1 and how   

they affect your social condition40     
8,my brother10 said he1 8you wish me to 
make a comparison between our society   
and yours4 ,i can scarcely do so without
 the risk of giving you pain4 ,with our 
greater advancement1 we look back upon  
you as travelers over the same rough    
paths4 ,your journey is even a more     
difficult one than ours4 ,in your       
present state1 you appear to us as a    
world of discord1 confusion1 and strife4
 ,while we were long ago resolved into a
 single1 homogeneous people1 you are    
still divided into nations and          
countries1 unridden yet of the barbarous
 pride of combat4 ,we have but one      
religion4 ,yours are many and           
antagonistic4 ,i shall briefly make for 
you the comparison you wish1 hoping that
 it may bring no sense of pain to you1  
for1 to speak the truth1 the cruelty1   
the intense individual selfishness1 and 
the strange superstitions of the        
inhabitants of the ,earth will pass away
 out of the ages to come40     ,,chapter

 ,,iii4   8,comparing your society with 
ours10 began my celestial visitor1 8is  
like describing the difference between  
your present intellectual condition1 and
 the state you were in during your      
cave-dwelling period4 ,in review of your
 progress1 we recognize two chief       
agencies at work which have regenerated 
us1 viz43 the steady growth of human    
sympathy1 and the fading out of old     
superstitions4 ,in our advanced         
development1 with the first of these1 we
 have achieved a state of things in our 
society quite likely beyond your hopes4 
,for instance1 that feeling of regard   
and affinity for each other which is    
seldom found among you1 except in the   
midst of family ties1 we hold one for   
another among all4 ,if ,i were to select
 from among you a domestic circle1 the  
most refined and correct1 its           
disturbance and anxiety from the sorrows
 and misfortunes of one of its members  
would scarcely represent the feeling in 
a body of our people for the misfortunes

 of any4 ,we are shocked at your cruel  
indifference to the feelings of one     
another4 ,when we see one of you sinking
 by the wayside1 by means of one of the 
evils which you naturally inherit2 or   
overwhelmed1 perhaps1 with the penalties
 of a misadventure1 and looked upon by  
his fellows regardless of his smitten   
condition1 we can find no parallel to it
 among ourselves1 except in the         
traditions that have come to us out of  
our remote ages4  8,your national       
antagonisms1 your cruel wars1 and the   
immense sums wasted by you in           
maintaining millions of your people1    
trained for the sole purpose of         
slaughtering their fellows1 we regard as
 the one most disgraceful relic of your 
former supremely barbarous state4       
,while1 by the process of social        
development1 all your most cruel        
brutalisms have disappeared within the  
range of your higher civilization1 the  
remaining one1 of sending masses of your
 people into deadly combat for the      

settlement of political and religious   
questions1 is retained for reasons which
 are not wholly in concurrence with our 
sense of right4 ,in the first place1 no 
element of justice enters into the      
arbitration of a question1 whose        
settlement rests entirely upon the      
physical strength of the contestants2   
and all international settlements by    
this means are but temporary1 when the  
winning party has not coincidentally a  
prevailing sense of justice in its      
favor4 ,all your wars and battles1      
without a result on the side of equity  
and truth1 have been fought in vain4    
,your bloody misjudgments of one century
 often are1 and are ever like to be1    
reviewed and resubmitted to the same    
sanguinary and delusive arbitration in a
 succeeding one4 ,in these brutal       
encounters you stain your hands and     
garments in the blood of your fellow men
 without remorse1 because the wild      
instincts of your nature have never been
 suppressed in that particular          

direction4 ,those of you in authority1  
both civil and religious1 have this to  
answer for4 ,for the sake of a          
concurrence in the selfish schemes of   
your rulers1 they have instituted a     
series of glittering rewards for the    
most skillful of their wholesale        
murderers and you have in that way been 
educated to honor most1 those who could 
deal the heaviest blows4  8,we cannot   
take a survey of the motives which have 
instituted nearly all these sanguinary  
and dreadful encounters among you1      
without a sense of horror4 ,your        
civilization has witnessed only a single
 one of these terrible conflicts1       
wherein a purely humane question was    
involved4 ,your religions have not only 
been used to sanction this dire carnage1
 but have even themselves been          
participants in the slaughter of        
millions of your people4 ,you are not   
yet freed from the savagery of your     
remote fathers1 who1 ages ago1 entered  
those fierce contests between tribe and 

tribe1 with strong personal interests in
 the outcome4 ,the loss or gain of a    
battle meant to them either a share of  
spoils or probable torture and death4   
,yet you have kept alive this           
inclination to collective combat1 when  
individual loss or gain seldom cuts any 
figure in the incentive which impels you
 to battle4 ,and even beyond these      
physical encounters1 your struggles of  
life appear1 from our point of view1 to 
be divided between defense and attack1  
like the beasts of prey which still     
linger on your borders4  8,your society 
presents to us the spectacle of a       
continuous skirmish among yourselves1   
your whole mass struggling to mount the 
summit of their individual hopes and    
ambitions1 wounding and bruising each   
other with cruel unconcern4 ,our        
experience has taught us that this      
unhappy social condition is entirely due
 to the crude and imperfect stage of    
your development4 ,each of your new     
epochs brings some approach towards a   

better terrestrial life2 but you have   
not fairly considered nor endeavored to 
surmount the chief obstacle to your     
progress in that direction4 ,you have   
not yet learned to deal justly with one 
another4 ,by your system of unequal     
advantages1 one class is permitted1 and 
even encouraged1 to prey upon another   
one4 ,one or more of you will enter upon
 a scheme of personal gain without the  
slightest concern for its effect upon   
others4 ,you have permitted1 from time  
to time1 the passage of laws having a   
direct and unmistakable tendency to     
throw your wealth into the hands of a   
few1 and as a consequence1 to increase  
the hardships of the many4 ,your        
generation exults over all preceding    
ones in its progress in science and     
knowledge2 but even that has not served 
to soften or remove the asperities of   
your lives1 for the reason that most of 
the available material of this new      
advance has been prostituted to serve   
the interests of the few4  8,the growth 

of your social betterment rests almost  
entirely upon the total of your         
disciplined thought1 yet by your        
methods1 correct thinking is the rarest 
thing among you4 ,your social field1    
instead of being evenly stirred and     
seeded1 is cultivated in spots and      
patches4 ,even your knowledge has been  
converted into a weapon of tyranny and  
oppression1 and it is oftener pursued in
 the love of self than for the benefit  
of kind4 ,out of the helplessness of    
your neglected and unfavored masses1    
come the greater number of your         
individual accumulations of wealth4     
8,in our stage of progress such a state 
of things is impossible4 ,the           
performance of an act inflicting injury 
or even discomfort upon one or more     
fellow beings in our society1 brings its
 punishment in the general condemnation 
and disgrace which follows4 ,active     
benevolence1 which is with you an       
impulse1 sporadic and exceptional1 is   
with us an ever-present emotion1 and    

upon it we have founded the chief       
pleasures of life4 ,we have no          
eleemosynary establishments1 because    
they are not needed4 ,there can be no   
suffering from destitution among us1    
since each person finds in his own      
surroundings the ready1 helping hand4   
,no neglected orphan wanders about      
uncared for1 because each family finds  
its pleasures increased by the          
opportunity to bestow shelter4 ,each    
dwelling is open to all1 and no assuring
 salutation is needed to welcome the    
visitor4 ,he enters the house of the    
stranger1 as the stranger would enter   
his1 by the right of the universal      
brotherhood which prevails4  8,the love 
of our kind forms the corner stone of   
our single religion1 just as the like is
 made the foundation upon which your    
many creeds are built4 ,but while your  
religious teachings have brought no     
great fruits1 ours have yielded a       
harvest of glorious consequences4 ,if it
 will interest you1 ,i shall tell you   

why40     ,,chapter ,,iv4   ,at the dawn
 of1 and during the first stages of     
their civilization1 the people of the   
,earth found themselves surrounded with 
natural forces which1 in their scant    
knowledge of the laws of the universe1  
were ascribed to the arbitrary and      
willful caprices of a great hidden      
being4 ,they found a mysterious power   
above them1 and everywhere an           
overwhelming evidence of design4 ,the   
unthinkable and unknown character of the
 infinite and eternal was not then      
acknowledged2 and the failure of any to 
explain this unseen intelligence and    
power incited their imaginations to do  
for them what the closest investigation 
had failed to accomplish4 ,as may have  
been expected1 they clothed their       
imaginary deity with the qualities1     
propensities1 and passions of           
themselves4 ,any violent convulsion of  
nature was taken by them as a certain   
sign of his anger2 while the normal     
state of rest1 and the undisturbed      

processes of animal and vegetable       
development and growth were looked upon 
as concessions in their special favor4  
,from a belief in the supervision of the
 deity over every single one of the     
innumerable processes of nature1 they   
naturally imbibed the idea that they    
each were objects of his personal       
watchfulness and attention1 and as a    
consequence1 that all the fortunes and  
vicissitudes of their lives were        
dependent upon his moods4 ,it may very  
well be supposed that with this         
conception of the deity1 the chief      
purpose of life would be to find favor  
with ,him1 to discover his wishes1 and  
to learn his commands2 since1 in        
accordance with this simple and crude   
idea1 every one's success and comfort in
 life depended upon his conciliation4   
,with these views of nature and the     
universe1 they came in due time to      
observe that within themselves were     
feelings and sentiments entirely apart  
from the ordinary epicurean impulses    

which governed them4 ,we may imagine in 
those cruel times the warrior standing  
over his prostrate victim with upraised 
club1 stayed in the act of killing him  
by a sentiment of pity1 and enjoying    
afterward as a result of his compassion 
a pleasure which was as strange and     
unaccountable to him as his first sight 
of a comet4 ,there was no apparent      
motive whatever for his humane act4 ,on 
the contrary1 it had deprived him of    
spoil1 and reduced the honor of his     
victory4 ,and so1 all the inclinations  
to virtue which brought no material and 
immediate rewards were regarded as      
mysterious and inexplicable as the great
 hidden power1 and by a very natural    
sequence of reasoning1 a part of it4    
,as your civilization advanced1 it was  
to be seen that the virtues1 and        
especially those which had a direct     
influence upon material welfare1 grew   
and enlarged4 ,the path to honor was no 
longer exclusively through carnage and  
victory1 and the possession and         

cultivation of certain virtues brought  
consideration and respect4 ,it was at   
this critical stage of your progress    
that there was inflicted upon you an    
evil greater than any your people have  
known4 ,you were not content with       
viewing the deity as we do from afar1   
and with accepting the impulses of      
virtue as a part of yourselves1         
instituted for the wise purpose of a    
continuous self-development toward a    
better earthly life2 but instead1 in    
your unreasonable yearning to           
communicate with the supreme ,author1   
you surrendered yourself to the wiles of
 the seers1 and became the willing dupes
 of their delusions4  ,there is nothing 
more unhappy to tell of you than the    
consequences of this grave error4 ,your 
assumed possession of the commands and  
wishes of the ,deity in the shape of a  
revelation1 has proved more a misfortune
 than a blessing to you4 ,in the first  
place1 it has lowered your conception of
 the ,deity below ours4 ,it has turned  

your religion into a contest4 ,it has   
rendered possible the establishment of  
certain ecclesiastical bodies among you1
 who1 while assuming entire control of  
the morals of your people1 are beset in 
their internal parts with all the vices 
which come from cruelty1 cupidity1 and  
love of power4 ,besides1 your formulated
 conditions of punishments and rewards  
have degraded religion from a           
cultivation of virtue for itself1 and   
the immediate good it brings1 to a      
selfish scramble1 each one struggling to
 shoulder his way into the midst of     
celestial delights4  ,it can be easily  
understood why your religion1 with all  
its crudities and superstitions1 has    
taken so firm a hold upon your society4 
,you are constituted as we are1 with the
 same inherent elements of progress4    
,the steady increase of your affinity   
for the virtues1 and those who practice 
them1 is a marked quality of your       
career1 and as they all lead1 in one way
 or another1 towards that union of      

interests which constitutes the perfect 
social state1 you are thereby impelled  
by a natural and providential desire to 
build them up4 ,so that1 as a matter of 
fact1 there being an inherent love of   
goodness ingrafted in your very natures1
 your religious creeds have attracted   
you to them1 and held you in fetters1   
under the false theory that the good    
within you is but a contribution from   
their exclusive and abundant sources of 
supply4  ,it has been your misfortune to
 be held captive throughout your        
progress by the shrewd designs of your  
seers and prophets1 who have not failed 
until recently to supply you with an    
occasional change of supernatural       
pabulum1 to meet the new wants of a     
steadily advancing development4  ,when  
at a certain stage of your civilization1
 about two thousand years ago1 you had  
attained a point of intellectual culture
 among the few1 the fruits of which have
 been reflected upon you to this day1 in
 some of the grandest recorded          

achievements of human thought1 and while
 the masses were left to take their     
undirected way among the empty          
superstitions which conceded nothing to 
the growing human sympathy1 a seer      
appeared among you1 who served rather as
 a suggestion than as an immediate      
success4 ,after the lapse of sufficient 
time from his death to allow full scope 
for romance1 there was built up out of  
his memory by your seers a picture of   
all the virtues which had been growing  
within your hearts1 so entirely adapted 
to the new age that all the pent-up     
forces of human sympathy within its     
scope and influence surrendered to it4  
,but what might have been a triumph and 
a boon to you in the new impetus to a   
better and broader humanity1            
unfortunately held concealed within     
itself the subtle machinery of your     
seers and prophets1 and was guarded by  
their evil eyes1 so that with this      
tremendous lever to move you in the     
direction of their purposes1 instead of 

advancing you1 they have turned your    
civilization back upon itself more than 
a thousand years4 ,no historical fact is
 more capable of demonstration than     
this4 ,none has been more persistently  
and ingeniously denied1 and no natural  
sequence ever followed more directly a  
moving cause4 ,from a free and          
independent exercise of the intellectual
 activities in the direction of science1
 art1 philosophy1 and all knowledge     
pertaining to yourselves1 the ,earth    
upon which you dwell1 and the universe1 
so far as your vision extends1 the whole
 current of your thoughts was turned by 
the new doctrines toward a paradise1    
compared with which all things of the   
,earth were trifles4 ,when you were     
brought by the fascination of these     
promises1 and the unflagging efforts an 
interested body of ecclesiastics1 to a  
general belief in these doctrines1 you  
sank into an intellectual torpor1 from  
which you only emerged by a protest of  
your reason not yet wholly suppressed4  

,you cannot fail to see the utterly     
dehumanizing tendency of the influences 
which surrounded you for so many        
centuries4 ,the common aims and purposes
 of your lives were submerged by the one
 engrossing wish to reach heaven2 and   
while your imagination was carried away 
by its picture1 you were led1 without   
hesitation1 to place your feet upon the 
neck of any earthly enterprise that     
seemed to stand in its way4  ,from the  
beginning of your history you have      
accepted one object of worship after    
another1 each an ideal impersonation of 
the goodness which was inseparately a   
part of yourselves1 and which was given 
to you for the wise purpose of making   
your society possible1 and to perfect   
it2 just as the parental instinct was   
bestowed upon you to protect your       
infants4 ,all these subjects of         
adoration have perfectly reflected your 
intellectual condition1 and have been   
discarded1 one after another1 as they   
outlived their uses2 until you are just 

now beginning to realize1 that for all  
these many centuries you have been      
virtually worshipping yourselves4 ,your 
present ideal will1 in time1 share the  
fate of those which preceded it1 and in 
the absence of a prevailing             
superstition1 your seers luckily cannot 
build up for you another one4 ,your long
 period devoted to the pursuit of       
phantoms is rapidly passing away1 and   
your new age of rationalism is          
approaching4 ,you have no just          
conception of the evils it will remove1 
and the glories it has in store for you4
  ,the difference between your present  
and future religion can be easily       
outlined4 ,your present religion1 from a
 long course of erroneous teaching1 is  
intense1 aggressive and hysterical4 ,it 
feeds and fattens itself upon the       
miseries of life1 which it does not     
undertake to remove1 except in a        
meretricious way for effect4 ,your      
religion of the future will be tranquil 
and voluntary1 and its chief mission    

will be to permanently reduce the evils 
and misfortunes of life to a minimum4   
,the impulses of your present religion  
are entirely apart from the moral sense1
 a significant fact easily substantiated
 by a glance over the every-day life of 
your people4 ,except in their observance
 of religious forms1 your devout are not
 distinguished from your profane4 ,the  
practical virtues are no greater among  
believers than among unbelievers4 ,your 
coming religion will be founded upon the
 moral sense1 and will be inseparable   
from it4 ,it will support no doctrine of
 a ready and convenient atonement for   
bad acts1 as the present one does4 ,it  
will teach you that there can be no     
complete reparation of an evil deed     
except in its undoing1 and that such an 
act1 once performed1 spreads its dire   
consequences in accordance with its     
enormity over a part or the whole career
 of the doer4 ,it will not undertake to 
unburden the conscience of a crime1 nor 
to give assurance of celestial bliss to 

the most heinous of offenders1 upon the 
trifling and fallacious compliance with 
religious forms4  ,your peculiar        
religious beliefs have so shaped and    
moulded your character that we have     
observed1 what you are not likely to see
 of yourselves1 certain traits or       
inclinations which are not promising as 
factors in your ultimate regeneration4  
,your churches1 with the shrewd purpose 
of rendering their services invaluable1 
have given you to believe that your     
natural tendencies are evil1 and that   
the unavoidable misfortunes and sorrows 
of your lives are but penalties for your
 many misdeeds4 ,the general acceptance 
of this belief has lowered your pride1  
and given you1 to some extent1 that     
character of dejection and              
submissiveness which is entirely        
subversive to the attainment of any     
destiny to be reached by yourselves4    
,there is a quality of mind which we    
acknowledge as1 above all others1 the   
one which has assisted us to our present

 very desirable social condition1 and   
that is the feeling to resist the       
perpetration of a mean or bad act1 on   
account of the sense of degradation it  
inflicts upon the feelings of the doer4 
,this motive of conscience1 so plainly  
the offspring of self-esteem1 and       
growing out of a cultivation of the mind
 alone1 without any regard whatever to  
creed influences or teachings1 is       
totally ignored1 either as a promoter of
 virtue or preventive of vice1 by all   
the religions that have existed upon    
your planet4 ,the reason for this is    
easily explained4 ,under the knowledge  
that a cultivation of the mind and      
conscience1 without creed influence1 was
 capable of doing for you a better      
service in the advancement of your      
morals than your churches have          
performed1 it has been made a part of   
their doctrine to belittle and abuse    
your purely intellectual faculties1     
under the unwarranted and unreasonable  
imputation that the free exercise of    

your reason was an assumption beyond    
your right4 ,and all this1 too1 in face 
of the overwhelming evidence about you1 
that the most corroding and dangerous of
 your vices germinate and seed          
themselves only in places where the mind
 lies in fallow4  ,there comes to us    
from our remote ages1 through tradition 
and history1 an account of some         
superstitious beliefs1 but it has been  
our good fortune never to have had them 
built up into a system so overbearing   
and harmful as yours has been4 ,it      
cannot be said of us that we ever       
denounced honest intellectual efforts in
 any direction1 or that we ever regarded
 the expression of opinions founded on  
the dictates of reason as crimes1 and   
your punishment of such1 with all its   
atrocious and heart-rending details1    
serves as a lesson for the whole        
universe of worlds never to put trust in
 the smooth tongues and insinuating ways
 of the seers1 for the spirit of        
fairness and truth is not in them4 ,your

 restrictions and punishments of the    
free expression of thought1 inaugurated 
by the corporate organization of your   
present religion1 and maintained with   
more or less rigor to the present1 has  
left its blighting effects upon your    
society by encouraging some of the      
meanest of your vices4 ,the assumption  
that one of you shall not have the right
 to convey to another his opposing      
convictions upon any religious question 
is so outrageously unjust1 that it never
 could have been carried out in any     
other way than by the general belief    
that it was in accordance with the      
wishes and purposes of the ,almighty4   
,such a denial of the natural right of  
mankind could only be enforced when a   
majority of the multitude became        
converts to the doctrines which favored 
it4 ,the leaders of religious           
persecution1 during the centuries of    
church control1 were merely carrying out
 the wishes of this majority4 ,the      
spirit of intolerance1 once abroad1     

became the parent of those habits of    
concealed thought1 moral cowardice and  
hypocricy1 which even to the present1 so
 rule among you1 that sincerity in      
expressing religious belief is not      
universal4 ,in deference to the         
lingering opinion among a large body of 
your people that a dissension from old  
modes of religious thought is           
displeasing to the ,almighty1 and       
dangerous to society1 many of you are   
constantly led to veil their thoughts on
 these questions1 in dread of the social
 consequences which would follow their  
frank avowal4 ,many of skeptical        
tendencies are thus induced to hide     
their convictions in fear of disturbing 
their safe and comfortable positions in 
society4 ,by silently working the       
penalty of withholding their political  
and social support1 your great illogical
 multitude backed by their vigilant     
church organizations still maintain a   
terrorism over you4 ,consequently1 your 
writers are guarded in their lines1 your

 public speakers in their language1 your
 teachers in their instruction1 and your
 statesmen in their legislation1 that   
each shall not get beyond the soundings 
of orthodox religious belief1 while with
 the knowledge of your time1 most of    
them are conscious in their inner       
thoughts that they are trimming to avoid
 truth1 in the full knowledge1 that to  
this day upon the earth1 the surest     
human preferment is only for those who  
support error in this direction4  ,the  
most lamentable instances to be found   
among you of this evasion are your chief
 institutions of learning4 ,of all      
places these should be the first to lead
 in truth1 as they are best provided in 
all the equipments to find it2 yet under
 the prevailing terrorism their         
predicament is embarrassing and pitiful4
 ,while holding class instructions in   
evolution1 geology1 astronomy and       
kindred sciences1 they hesitate to      
openly deny those scriptural fallacies  
to which their knowledge is opposed1 and

 the farcical spectacle is daily enacted
 among many of them of a ceremonious    
reverence for these fallacies1 and at   
all times an artful evasion of any      
denial of their truth1 every one of     
which it is their especial business to  
disprove in the course of instruction4  
,i hope you will not infer from what ,i 
have said that the people of ,mars have 
not great reverence and veneration for  
the ,deity4 ,indeed1 it is the universal
 belief amongst us1 that the animus     
which is within us to do good to        
ourselves1 and to make pleasant the ways
 of life among each other1 is but the   
prompting of that divine presence which 
is leading us aright in the direction of
 the still better things to come4 ,as we
 see in all living things a constant    
development upward toward a state of    
perfection1 and having1 of all creatures
 else1 that within us most susceptible  
and easy of advancement in the universal
 march1 we simply take our place in the 
line4 ,what we have accomplished in that

 direction in our government1 society1  
and morals1 gives us new heart to       
further efforts1 and if our methods may 
be of any service to you1 ,i will give  
you some further account of them4       
,,chapter ,v4   ,the people of ,mars are
 impressed with the belief that the     
governments of the ,earth have made no  
great advance in the benefits and       
usefulness of their legislation during  
the last two thousand years4 ,we        
recognize amongst you1 only as movements
 of progress1 some provision1           
particularly in your own country1 for   
the free education of the people1 a few 
sanitary attentions1 and a slight       
awakening to the interests of your      
laboring class1 as about all worth      
mentioning4 ,it is true that your       
governments1 after originating          
themselves with only the simplest       
duties1 have come in time1 as your      
civilization advanced1 to take on       
increased and complicated services4 ,but
 in the multiplication of their duties1 

there is unfortunately little to be seen
 but an extension1 in various           
directions1 of their first purposes2    
which may be briefly stated as a defence
 of assault from without1 and a         
protection of person and property       
within4 ,we have come to regard the     
obligations of government as something  
beyond these1 and this difference of    
view affords a marked instance of our   
development and advance4  ,our idea of  
life is1 that since it is all we are    
given to know from the first to the last
 stages of our consciousness1 it is our 
duty and privilege to improve it1 and   
enjoy it to the fullest innocent and    
rational extent2 and that to this end   
there can be no separation of the moral 
and material interests2 for it is but an
 honest acknowledgment to say1 that     
constituted as we all are1 the crown of 
contentment and happiness is only for   
him who successfully cultivates both4   
,under this belief1 the general         
supervision of both moral and material  

affairs is placed in the hands of our   
government4 ,church and ,state are      
therefore one with us1 and it is        
entirely due to the rationalistic       
character of our religion that the      
alliance has proved so conducive to our 
progress and happiness4 ,there can be no
 such peaceable and continuous union    
with you at present1 because from the   
nature of your religious doctrines there
 must be a conflict of authority2 but   
you will come to it in time1 as out of  
it1 more than all else1--as ,i will     
endeavor to show1--will come the        
fullness of your destiny4  ,your efforts
 for the suppression of vice and crime1 
since the first stages of your history1 
are futile to a degree that must be     
appalling to you1 and the cause of your 
failure is due to conditions plainly    
apparent to us4 ,these conditions are   
that your governments1 for all these    
centuries1 have taken no official       
cognizance of virtue1 and have failed to
 see that there existed in their        

patronage of good deeds that tangible   
reward which would place all ambition   
for honor and prominence among them on  
uncompromising terms with evil4 ,you    
have only attempted to suppress crime by
 punishment1 while the powerful stimulus
 to virtue which your governments afford
 of precept and example have been       
neglected4 ,although1 in your           
undeveloped state of greed and          
selfishness1 you find it unsafe to trust
 your material interests in the hands of
 irresponsible bodies which you call    
monopolies1 yet you bestow the whole    
keeping and guidance of your morals upon
 societies and organizations of you     
fellow men1 who are even less           
responsible to authority than they4     
,under this state of things1 how can you
 expect anything better than your       
present chaotic state of religion1 and  
the loose1 unguided1 unrewarded1 and    
wholly spontaneous morality of your     
people4  ,our government1 in the        
furtherance of its religious duties1 has

 for centuries made a special           
recognition of the virtues1 and         
particularly those which bestow good    
upon others1 and it is only by the      
practice of such that public honors are 
achieved4 ,one of the happiest          
consequences of this has been1 to       
elevate only the most exemplary of our  
people to the head of public affairs1   
and from this comes a confidence and    
regard between our representatives and  
people1 which you can scarcely          
appreciate after your experience4       
,goodness therefore1 as we understand   
it1 is the only path to honor1 and the  
necessary high character of all holders 
of public trust reflects a distinction  
greater that those of any other         
positions in life4 ,this in turn1 as you
 may readily perceive1 induces a spirit 
of emulation to reach such elevated     
places1 beyond all considerations of    
emolument4  ,as a part of our moral     
system1 we hold the education of our    
people to be an indispensable and       

necessary adjunct4 ,in that we go a     
great deal further than what appear to  
us your narrow and mercenary views4 ,in 
a representative government like your   
own1 you have been constrained to adopt 
a system of free education1 for the     
purpose of securing the safety and      
permanence of your institutions2 and    
with no other motive even1 it is        
surprising that you will be divided in  
opinion touching the extent to which    
learning may be profitably imparted for 
this end alone2 because1 to us it seems 
that when you have conveyed to your     
youth no more than the elementary       
branches of learning1 you have provided 
but little else than a convenience to   
them in the business affairs of life4   
,it is only when the higher branches are
 acquired that the government receives  
an equivalent for its outlay1 in the    
well-disciplined and safe citizen       
returned to it4  ,we have1 however1     
motives beyond all this in the education
 of our masses1 and chief among them is 

the purpose to furnish knowledge to the 
minds of all1 out of which good may be  
naturally evolved2 and thus you will see
 at once how learning has become the    
chief part of our religion4 ,you are    
slow to acknowledge the great value of  
your purely secular education as a moral
 agent1 because of its disturbance      
recently with your cherished traditions2
 but this reason1 great as it is1 is    
supplemented with another one1 which    
fully accounts for the earnest          
opposition of your ecclesiastics4 ,so   
long as the learning of your schools was
 mixed up with creed influence and      
teachings1 it was virtually a part of   
the church1 and in harmony with it1 but 
on a separation of the two1 they became 
enemies by a well known social law2 your
 churches with their avowed purpose of  
improving your morals1 and your secular 
schools1 while in the performance of    
their duties1 occupying the same        
competing field4  ,you may easily       
imagine that1 with the religious impulse

 added1 we have carried our education a 
good deal further than you4 ,we consider
 the proposition unjust1 that learning  
should only be bestowed in accordance   
with the occupation or station in life4 
,your planet has always been beset with 
the evil of social classes1 which only  
increases with the advance of your      
civilization4 ,you can never rid        
yourselves of this fruitful source of   
disturbance except by our method1 which1
 as a matter of public policy1 pushes   
the education of every individual to the
 point of his capacity4 ,in this way we 
have completely obliterated the class   
interests and feelings4 ,we have been   
enabled to do this under conditions     
which you do not at present possess4    
,instead of the military or martial     
spirit which prevails with you1 and     
which is cultivated for purposes which  
appear to us unworthy of your age1 we   
have generated among ourselves an       
ambition in the ways of knowledge which 
takes its place4  ,we have leaders and  

heroes as you have1 but not one who has 
not gained his honors by some act in    
furtherance of the material1            
intellectual1 or moral progress of his  
race4 ,the memories of your greatest men
 are more honored by us than by         
yourselves4 ,men go down to their graves
 yearly among you whose achievements are
 the admiration and talk of our whole   
people4 ,he of you who discovered the   
theory of planetary motion1 he who found
 the law of gravitation1 and he also who
 ascertained the principle of evolution 
in organic life1 are scarcely known upon
 the ,earth1 except among the cultivated
 few2 while the whole world of ,mars is 
impressed with the services they have   
bestowed1 and discuss the great and     
everlasting effects of their work4  ,we 
have found much in the path of science  
that would astonish you1 and at each    
discovery the achievement was applauded 
and echoed from one side of our planet  
to the other4 ,at each one of these     
advances we feel ourselves getting      

nearer to the ,deity4 ,a triumph of     
science with us is a triumph of         
religion1 and while we go on            
strengthening ourselves1 and taking new 
heart at each step in the direction of  
knowledge1 a like progress with you only
 brings the superstitious framework upon
 which your religion is built into      
decay4  ,our religious devotion is      
essentially buoyant1 even joyous4 ,the  
sorrows of life which are not the direct
 and indirect results of indiscretions1 
and violations of natural laws1 we      
regard as an inheritance and not a      
punishment1 and we endeavor in all      
conceivable ways to lighten them and    
make them easier to bear4 ,for those in 
sickness among us1 the hand of love and 
sympathy is never absent2 and among the 
firm and undisturbed convictions of     
philosophic thought1 death is only a    
regret and never a terror4 ,your creeds 
administer to the final end in all ways 
to a point of agony2 they have          
ingeniously devised a theory of horrors 

for it1 out of which has been made to   
come their chief sustenance and support4
 ,the path of life which they declare as
 the only one leading into the promised 
eternity of bliss1 is the tortuous and  
difficult footway winding like a maze   
among the shadows of their churches4    
,although attentively guided throughout 
in this prescribed journey of life by   
your ecclesiastical teachers1 and your  
entrance and exit made difficult without
 their help1 yet1 by the very nature of 
their doctrines1 they could only bestow 
upon you at the last scene of all a     
torturing doubt4 ,we have promoted the  
serenity of death by removing as far as 
possible its sorrow4 ,with us1 the      
individual in his last moments is not   
overcome with any sympathetic dread of  
that approaching suffering for the wants
 of life among dependents1 which so     
often couples the agony of separation   
with an overwhelming sense of despair1  
as your society is constituted4 ,the end
 comes placidly to us1 in the belief    

that as we came from the ,deity1 so in  
the last we go back to ,him2 that the   
life beyond must be a higher life1      
because the moral sense grows constantly
 within us2 and that the region ahead of
 us must be a free1 open1 and hospitable
 one1 with no agonizing barriers        
separating families and friends1        
because1 in the growth of our tenderness
 and attachment to each other1 we can   
safely predict the evolution of a better
 and happier state4  ,prayer1 in the    
sense that it is understood and         
performed by you1 we regard as mere     
superstition4 ,it is an outcome of your 
lowest stages of mental evolution4 ,it  
is the spirit of that willing           
self-abasement and fear1 which          
prostrates the savage before his idol1  
soliciting aid in his works of carnage1 
or immunity from some violated law of   
nature1 or safety from some convulsion  
of the air1 land or sea4 ,carried       
forward into your civilization1 it has  
become no less unreasonable4 ,for       

thousands of years you have been daily  
calling on the ,deity for favors1 not   
one of which has been granted1 except   
seemingly by a coincidence4 ,the most   
conclusive tests have failed to convince
 the devout among you of the fallacy of 
prayer1 because1 as an institution of   
your churches1 under their theory of    
atonement1 it furnishes a ready escape  
to the conscience2 and for the reason   
also that it affords to the imagination1
 in its striking and novel situations of
 converse with the author of worlds1 a  
semblance of that pleasure which the    
lowly feel for concessions from the     
great4  ,it is quite in keeping with    
your conceptions of the ,deity that you 
should grovel and debase yourselves     
before ,him4 ,the whole tenor of your   
religious thought has been made to take 
on this color of self-degradation1      
which1 while serving to throw you more  
completely into the hands of your       
theological superiors1 is not warranted 
by any possible relations with the being

 you address4 ,you represent upon the   
,earth1 as we do on our planet1 the very
 highest form of life4 ,we both are the 
triumphant outcome of a process         
established by the great ,author        
infinite ages ago4 ,on us only1 among   
all beings1 has ,he bestowed the        
wonderful attributes of thought and     
reason1 which make us a part of         
,himself4 ,we are the only inheritors1  
by his own beneficial act1 of the power 
to discover and enjoy his beautiful     
methods of work1 and those magical      
transformations of mind and matter which
 convert1 out of the dead ashes of the  
past1 the blooming present1 with its    
assuring hope of a fruition to come4    
,what hint have we1 therefore1 in all   
his works1 that ,he has created us      
otherwise than as a labor of love1 and  
as the fullest expression of an         
evolutionary skill1 which marks all     
things about us8 ,by what authority1    
then1 are you called to bow yourselves  
in constant self-abasement before your  

great ,father1 who1 with parental       
solicitude1 has thrown open the whole   
,earth for your household1 has given you
 the power of domination over all       
creatures upon it1 and has taught you to
 make playthings of the very elements   
which surround you8 ,by what authority1 
except the unworthy example of your own 
barbarian instincts1 which demand for   
place and power a homage1 whose degree  
of prostration marks1 with a singular   
exactness1 your career all along1 from  
the savage ruler to the cultivated      
monarch8  ,outside of the fact that your
 continuous mendicancy has accomplished 
nothing for you1 you have an abundance  
of negative evidence to hint that your  
incessant supplication1 instead of      
bringing to you favors from the ,deity1 
has shadowed upon you in an unmistakable
 manner the signs of his displeasure4   
,for as he has raised you gradually out 
of the lower forms1 and enlarged your   
capacities1 until in the last he has    
taken you into his confidence so far as 

to teach you the methods of his work1   
and to deliver up to you the hitherto   
pent-up forces for your convenience and 
use1 yet in the progress of these       
concessions it is to be noted as a      
significant fact1 that your prayers have
 served rather to obstruct than to      
promote them4 ,indeed1 as there is      
nothing so conclusively the evidence of 
divine presence and help as material and
 intellectual progress1 it will be      
difficult to show1 in the record of     
terrestrial things1 that the supremacy  
of prayer has not invariably been       
followed by a temporary withdrawal of   
this divine assistance and support4     
,,chapter ,,vi4   ,our veneration for   
the ,deity1 which is truer and more     
sincere than yours1 arises from a widely
 different conception4 ,looking back    
upon the ages1 and what they have       
brought to us1 we perceive that each new
 development in matter brings an        
increase of those qualities which give  
us pleasure to behold4 ,beginning with  

the most unattractive shapes1 this      
process of change in organization and   
symmetry1 by an unalterable law of the  
,creator1 bring to us out of the        
ugliness of the past the beautiful of   
the present4 ,since1 therefore1 we see  
,him constantly at work1 transforming   
the ugly into the beautiful1 we believe 
,he is pleased with the colors1 shapes1 
and qualities of things which delight   
our own cultivated senses4 ,acting then 
on this conviction1 we surround         
ourselves with the beautiful in nature  
and art4  ,the change1 in the form of   
matter1 is not more instructive than the
 steady modification of intelligence1   
which1 from its primitive ignorance1    
superstition1 and brutality1 has        
gradually been raised step by step to   
its present higher grade of thought and 
action4 ,we recognize here a fact most  
important and significant to us4 ,while 
the divine energy is steadily at work1  
converting lower forms of matter into   
higher ones1 we are given no part in the

 proceeding4 ,it goes on without our    
assistance1 and we have no power to     
diminish or accelerate its steady onward
 course4 ,it is widely different with   
intelligence4 ,that is given into our   
hands1 with all its grand possibilities4
 ,in that1 we have evidence of the      
divine confidence to promote its        
advancement in view of the blessings it 
holds in store4 ,taking this view1 we   
have for centuries cultivated the mind  
in all directions of knowledge and      
feeling1 as the chief part of our       
religion4 ,the motion of the spheres is 
not more certainly the work of this     
great being1 than are these progressive 
changes in mind and matter4  ,we believe
 vice and ugliness to be convertible    
terms1 the latter a quality due to      
imperfectly developed matter1 and the   
first a property of intelligence in the 
same imperfect state2 just as beauty and
 virtue describe together1 or           
separately1 the same advanced evolution4
  ,but while working in harmony with the

 ,deity1 and assisting in his purposes1 
we have constantly in view1 as an       
incentive to action1 the consummation or
 goal to which all these changes tend4  
,we believe the outcome to be a         
spiritual life with all things knowable1
 and a state of perfection and happiness
 beyond our present conception4         
,happiness1 then1 being a religious     
aspiration1 we promote it in all ways to
 the innocent and reasonable            
inclinations of our present state4  ,our
 religion is consequently more jubilant 
than solemn4 ,we have no torments in    
store in it1 nor long drawn agonies and 
mortifications of the flesh4 ,its only  
business with death is to smooth its    
pillow1 and to reduce its attendant     
sorrows to the minimum4 ,to the         
misfortunes of the present our religion 
extends its hand of sympathy and        
material help4 ,to what purpose should  
it introduce and dwell upon the miseries
 and sorrows of the past8 ,we let the   
dead ages rest4 ,we can find nothing in 

their ashes to compare with the living4 
,the present is better than the past1 as
 the future will be better in exact     
measure with the new truths discovered1 
and the old fallacies cast aside4 ,you  
rake among the emanations of an early   
and imperfect development for monitors  
and guides1 and do honor to them for the
 mysteries they invoke4 ,you place the  
withered hand of the mummy into the warm
 palm of the living1 and your ceremony  
of introduction is a prayer that the    
living body may never depart from the   
dead form4  ,the untenable and          
unsupportable premises upon which your  
religions are based will lead to their  
decay4 ,nothing of them will remain to  
you but their spirituality4 ,shorn of   
their superstitions1 and guided by the  
intellect1 the spiritual part of them   
will be retained by you as a jewel      
repolished and in a new setting4  ,the  
orthodox among you are suspicious of the
 inroads of science1 unaware of the fact
 that in due time it will fix upon your 

belief the conviction of a future       
spiritual existence without the shadow  
of a doubt4 ,when you will have arrived 
at that point1 your ways of morality and
 progress will be so much increased1    
that you will regard your previous      
advancement as trifling4 ,to some1 your 
science appears to lend encouragement to
 materialistic beliefs4 ,this is only   
your half knowledge4 ,for some time to  
come your discoveries will tend in that 
direction of thought1 but all this will 
be superseded with a firm conviction of 
the existence of the ,deity1 and your   
steady approach to ,him4 ,the period of 
danger to you will arrive when you will 
have made the discovery1 as we have     
centuries ago1 of what may be described 
in your language as the universal       
diffusion of intelligence amongst all   
matter1 inorganic as well as organic4   
,it may be a startling proposition to   
announce to you that the quality which  
gives you the power of abstract thought 
is possessed in a lower degree by1 for  

instance1 the stones which lie beneath  
your feet2 yet such is the case1 for we 
have demonstrated beyond a doubt that   
the chemical forces and affinities are  
nothing else but low1 restricted1 and   
insensible forms of intelligent action4 
,the fact is best shown by the building 
up of organic bodies in their           
multiplication of cells4 ,each cell     
arranges itself in place1 and makes way 
to its successor1 under an inherited    
impulse of action from which it is      
unable to depart4 ,what are known among 
you as natural forces1 are merely forms 
of unconscious and restricted           
intelligences1 which have only the power
 to act in limited directions4 ,they    
both build up matter and tear it down   
for us4 ,they shape the crystal with    
mathematical uniformity1 and mark out   
the form of the plant with unerring     
precision4 ,the character of the agency 
bears no proportion to the magnitude of 
its work4 ,these low1 unconscious forms 
of intelligence1 which inspire the plant

 cell to build up its fanciful          
elevations1 and the infinitesimal atom  
to seek after and embrace its affinity1 
are precisely the same as that which    
directs the sea of worlds upon their    
swift and unvarying paths4 ,and yet with
 all their exactitude and infinity of   
scope1 they are as much below that      
independent1 self-conscious intelligence
 which guides our thoughts and actions1 
as the protoplasm is beneath the most   
highly organized and perfect form4      
,your theology has degraded you with the
 belief that you are mendicants1        
enjoying the favors of life as mere     
concessions from an all-powerful and    
exacting master2 and that your position 
in the cosmos bears a close relation to 
the insignificance of your material     
bodies1 and your feeble power in the    
stupendous energies which surround you4 
,your science will elevate you with the 
knowledge that you are peers in the     
great universe1 and that your stature   
has no comparative measure for its      

proportions in the height and breadth of
 your material world4 ,it will teach you
 that by slow degrees1 and through      
millions of ages1 you have become that  
elimination of the spiritual out of the 
vast number of divided intelligences    
which have built up and governed your   
natural world2 that you are the harvest 
and the fruition of the innumerable     
lower intelligences1 which were sown    
broadcast in the beginning to do their  
potent work4  ,in pursuing these        
matters1 your scientists will arrive at 
a number of important truths1 entirely  
in opposition to some of your present   
apparently established theories4 ,in    
your speculations touching the future   
state1 there is a tendency which ,i     
cannot designate by any other name in   
your language than narrowness4 ,you have
 come so recently to realize the immense
 sizes and distances of the heavenly    
bodies1 that their comparison with your 
former constricted views in that        
direction has produced a sense of       

helplessness in the attempt to fathom   
these infinite spaces4 ,but ages of     
contemplation will serve to broaden your
 views1 as well as to expand your hopes4
 ,encompassing or beside this broad     
universe we have evidence of a spiritual
 region1 like the firm land bordering   
upon your own great ocean1 which great  
body of water to the lower animal life  
within it is just as limitless and      
profound as the great cosmos is to      
yourselves4  ,you have but recently     
discovered a process of nature1 by whose
 slow changes1 animal life has been     
altered1 and its species modified and   
improved4 ,you know that the atmosphere1
 which encircled your ,earth at the     
beginning1 was not of a composition to  
support its present highly organized    
respiring life1 and that consequently1  
behind the ages the only living and     
moving things upon your planet were the 
scant air-consuming creatures1 who      
inhabited the water4 ,among the dark and
 cavernous depths of your oceans1 and   

the slimy ooze of your rivers and lakes1
 were located the cradles1 where nature 
began moulding the present graceful     
living and moving forms which now roam  
over your solid surface4 ,the ,creator's
 delicate laboratory1 for the beginning 
of animal life1 was placed among the    
equable temperatures1 and soft walls of 
water below the variable and desiccating
 atmosphere1 which everywhere surmounted
 it4 ,yourselves1 as well as all other  
living and breathing creatures1 had your
 foundations of life laid in the waters 
of the earth1 a fact1 of whose          
significant reminder is1 that nature has
 continuously provided for the          
protective presence of water in your    
embryo womb growth4  ,in your germal    
life1 the universe seemed to you nothing
 but a vast and unlimited expanse of    
water4 ,the submerged earth upon which  
you lay and rested1 with its murky      
surroundings1 and the expanse of sunless
 liquid clouds above you1 was the only  
world and universe you knew4 ,by what   

authority of reason or science then do  
you conclude1 that the stage of         
evolution1 which brought you out into   
the glorious sunshine and free air1 and 
adapted you with the form and           
comprehension you possess1 is the end8  
,from the cold1 sluggish1 and           
unconscious1 to the warm1 alert1 and    
intellectual1 is no greater a step of   
progress1 than the coming one1 which    
will make clear to your understanding   
the mysteries of life and nature1 so    
unknowable and unthinkable in your      
present immaturity4 ,out of your next   
stage of spiritual supremacy1 you will  
look back upon the present1 with all its
 conditions1 so condemned by the        
contrast of better things attained1 that
 it will be but little more to you than 
is now the repulsive uncanny1 and       
incommunicable habitat of your          
beginning4     ,,chapter ,,vii4   ,the  
confidential relations between our      
government and people have given it a   
parental character4 ,it has consequently

 been the study of our legislation for  
ages past to assuage1 as far as         
possible1 those natural evils which     
creep in as the result of unrestricted  
social forces4 ,regarding the whole mass
 of our inhabitants as a family1 the    
government could never feel that its    
duty was faithfully performed1 while a  
number of its people were1 relating to  
the ordinary enjoyments of life1 in a   
state of suppression from any removable 
cause4 ,you began your civilization1    
just as we began ours1 by the           
crystallization of society into two     
classes4 ,those who at first1 by thrift1
 acquisitiveness1 or strong arms1 became
 possessed of sufficient property to    
escape the necessity of daily toil for  
the sustenance of life2 and those who1  
by the absence of these qualities or    
from other causes1 were obliged from day
 to day to exercise their muscular and  
nervous energies for the benefit of     
those who found it profitable to use and
 pay for them4 ,this condition of       

society is a natural and just one1 and  
there is nothing whatever in it to      
prevent the largest possible amount of  
happiness to all4 ,but before many ages 
we discovered that the interests of the 
property class and the labor class were 
not equally equipped to maintain a fair 
and equitable relation with each other4 
,we found that the interests of labor in
 the many bore no comparison in its     
political weight with the great power of
 wealth in the few2 and foreseeing that 
subjugation in time1 of one by the      
other1 which your experience has shown1 
we made wide provision against it4  ,we 
acknowledge as the foundation of all    
material progress that the honest       
accumulation of wealth should be the    
privilege of all2 and that the rights of
 property should be protected1 and the  
enjoyment of it secured to everyone4    
,yet with these principles firmly and   
successfully carried out in our         
government1 we have for many centuries1 
considered it necessary to support and  

sustain the interests of the labor class
 by special legislative attention4 ,you 
have pursued a directly opposite course4
 ,from the beginning of your history the
 privilege of wealth to hold labor in   
subjection1 and to use it as an         
instrument of accumulation1 with about  
the same regard for its well being as   
the horse in the collar or the ox under 
its yoke1 has prevailed1 without the    
enactment of any sincere and effective  
law to assist and sustain it in its     
unequal contest4 ,on the contrary1 your 
statute books are filled with oppressive
 laws against the labor class2 and while
 in your most civilized districts these 
unjust enactments are nearly obsolete1  
there yet remains an average over your  
planet of such legal and social         
suppressions of the class whose strong  
arm supports you1 as to be reckoned by  
us as the most unhappy and discreditable
 feature of your social state4  ,it     
matters not how your economists may     
examine and discuss the relations of    

labor with its co-operative interests1  
so long as they offer no proposals of   
relief to it in the unjust burthen it   
bears of the hardships of life4 ,your   
common view that labor must be          
unavoidably submitted to the law of     
supply and demand1 and that1            
consequently1 eighty per cent of your   
people are to be helplessly left to take
 their chances of distress and suffering
 at each unfavorable turn of the labor  
market1 is peculiar to the planet upon  
which you live1 and is one of the most  
mistaken and unwise conclusions among   
you4 ,this heartless notion of yours is 
plainly the inheritance of your early   
cruel ages4 ,with such a state of things
 you can never have a very high state of
 civilization4 ,with so many of you     
constantly under the vicissitude of such
 adverse changes of condition1 there can
 be no steady progress of the whole1 and
 but little encouragement to thrift2 a  
lack of ambition must prevail in all the
 higher purposes of life1 and a general 

surrender to improvidence and the vices 
which follow4 ,for that class which has 
created your wealth1 and is constantly  
renewing it1 and which constitutes so   
large a portion of your whole           
population1 you can show nothing of     
legislative effort in its favor except  
indirectly1 through some of the purposes
 to smooth the way and increase the     
profits of capital4 ,the opportunities  
of your comparatively small capitalistic
 class to use for its purposes1 in an   
entirely heartless way1 the larger body 
of wealth producers1 have been made easy
 by natural conditions which would have 
been removed or corrected long ago1     
under a more humane and unselfish       
administration of your affairs1 and if  
your governments had not been           
exclusively in the hands of the smaller 
class mentioned4 ,we know of nothing    
more heartless and cruel of the         
governing classes of the ,earth1 than   
their careless submission of its        
wage-earners to the unrestricted        

influence of competition for employment1
 under the compromising condition of a  
necessity for bread4  ,in our philosophy
 we recognize only two honest ways of   
accumulating wealth4 ,one is the saving 
of wages1 and the other the profits of  
capital2 and our legislation has been   
chiefly directed to make the chances of 
wealth by these two methods as even as  
possible4 ,to perform this service      
effectually1 our greatest efforts have  
been directed toward the labor interest4
 ,we feel ourselves justified in this1  
because the welfare of about            
seven-eighths of our people is connected
 with this interest2 because to the     
labor class is entirely due the creation
 and constant renewal of all the wealth 
on our planet4 ,because1 also1 that     
capital has natural advantages over     
labor1 which are first1 its choice of   
time and place for investment2 second1  
its capacity to wait for opportunities  
without the risk of physical suffering  
by its owners1 and the leisure for      

thought and knowledge it affords to     
those who control it4 ,also1 that       
capital1 holding the position of a      
voluntary employer1 naturally assumes   
the rights and privileges of master1    
which labor1 in its constrained and     
dependent situation1 is obliged to      
acknowledge4  ,we have long since       
considered these unequal relations and  
tendencies1 and have proceeded to remedy
 them4 ,our legislation in behalf of the
 labor classes is the happiest and most 
satisfactory of any that we have4       
,without it our present civilization    
would be impossible4 ,before describing 
our methods1 let me direct your         
attention to the immediate and indirect 
causes which bear down upon the labor   
classes of your planet4  ,prominent     
among these is the promiscuous ownership
 of land4 ,the surrendering of the      
,earth's surface to the control of      
individual ownership is one of the most 
serious mistakes of your civilization4  
,it is not to be mentioned alone as the 

greatest objection to this1 that the    
planet upon which you were born is the  
natural inheritance of all of you1 from 
whose surface each and every one of you 
is destined to derive a sustenance1 and 
that a monopoly of it by the few is as  
plain a violation of justice as it would
 be to hold the atmosphere in private   
use by sections1 were such a thing      
possible4 ,but it is chiefly to be taken
 into consideration1 that your land     
policy enables the few to dominate the  
many1 suppresses one class and elevates 
another1 and insensibly transfers an    
undue portion of the earnings of labor  
into the pockets of your land-holding   
classes4  ,almost every influence now at
 work in the progress of your society   
tends to throw money into the hands of  
your land holders1 not fairly earned by 
themselves4 ,while the products of labor
 are cheapening from day to day1 partly 
due to increased skill1 and the         
appliance of machinery in their         
manufacture1 and partly1 also1 by the   

competition of labor1 owing to increase 
of population1 yet even by these very   
operations the value of landed property 
goes up4  ,you already estimate rent as 
a considerable element of cost in the   
production of your food materials1 and  
you are gradually approaching a period1 
when by the growth of population the    
cost of food will be very much increased
 by rent charges4 ,you have all along   
submitted to this monopoly of land from 
causes plainly apparent4 ,in the early  
days of your history all private        
ownership of land was acquired and held 
by force1 and it may be safely asserted 
that no title at present exists in any  
of your older countries that is not     
founded on violent conquest1 and that   
has not been maintained by an organized 
and armed authority1 whose existence    
depends upon retaining the system of    
ownership in vogue4 ,it is plain to see 
that when the demand of justice to all  
shall be the basis of political action1 
and especially when the cost of your    

food supply shall become greatly        
increased by the charges of rent1 your  
present system will not be quietly      
endured4  ,in your own more favored     
region of the ,earth may be found       
temporary conditions which tend not only
 to tolerate your present land ownership
 system1 but to render it popular4 ,your
 large area of unoccupied agricultural  
surface1 from which any of your citizens
 are permitted at small cost to select a
 portion with a title in perpetuity1    
destroys for the time being the         
monopolizing character of private       
ownership2 and while these governmental 
acts of land distribution are the most  
remarkable concessions to labor in human
 history1 we fail to discover anything  
in the practice but a temporary         
compromise between the interests of     
capital and labor4 ,as your society     
progresses you must arrive at the time  
when your landless class will be as     
effectually excluded from the privilege 
of ownership as they are at present in  

the older countries of the world4  ,your
 own country in the newness of its human
 possession1 by the lavish distribution 
of its territory into private hands1 has
 alleviated the burdens of labor        
elsewhere1 as well as within itself4 ,it
 has effected this in two ways3 first by
 withdrawing from the surplus population
 of densely inhabited districts abroad1 
and second by supplying from its rich   
agricultural lands a cheaper food supply
 to the older countries of the ,earth   
than they were able to furnish from     
their own soils4 ,but the most          
unreasonable among you cannot fail to   
perceive the speedy limit to these      
operations in the interests of labor1   
which after all must be considered as   
merely effecting a truce between that   
conflict of the laboring and landless   
many and the land-holding few which your
 people will surely witness in time4 ,we
 manage these things very differently on
 ,mars4     ,,chapter ,,viii4   ,the    
planet ,mars is held to be the          

inheritance of those who are born upon  
it4 ,admitting the self evident and     
uncontrovertible justice of this view1  
our government ages ago assumed the     
ownership and property control of it in 
trust for the equal benefit of all4 ,it 
has proceeded in accordance with this   
view to grant its uses for all the      
purposes of industry and pleasure1 in   
such a manner as to bestow the income of
 its rent equally upon every living     
inhabitant4 ,i can only give you some   
outlines of our admirable manner of     
accomplishing this purpose4  ,our       
agricultural districts are divided into 
small farms1 even in size1 with graded  
rents in accordance with the richness of
 their soils1 and other conditions4     
,sub-letting is not allowed1 and a chief
 purpose in making these allotments is1 
that the family residing upon each farm 
will be able to perform all the labor   
required4 ,this is in accordance with a 
principle which our government carries  
out in all possible ways1 to bring labor

 and capital into partnership4 ,the     
cultivator of the soil goes on with his 
improvements1 in the assurance that they
 are as secure to him as though his     
title were perpetual2 for in the event  
of a change of tenancy1 which is        
exceedingly rare1 a fair value is       
returned to him for all the fixed       
property which is the product of his    
labor4 ,it is provided that there shall 
be no competition in the occupancy1 and 
as the rent is but a nominal sum1 he    
feels no insecurity in his possession4  
,agricultural rents are graded annually1
 and are payable shortly after harvest4 
,they may be either higher or lower than
 those of the preceding year1 depending 
entirely on profits4  ,landlordism1 as  
it exists with you1 is unknown amongst  
us4 ,the rapacity which under your      
unjust system is admitted to an         
ownership in which no competition can   
possibly exist1 and at the same time is 
permitted to avail itself of that       
unlimited competition which the pressure

 of public necessity induces1 has       
neither foothold nor abiding place upon 
our planet4 ,under our system1 you will 
perceive that any increase of the       
profits of land is met by the tenant    
with an increase of rent1 and all those 
natural causes which advance the value  
of landed property add to the government
 income1 and in that way are shared by  
all4 ,our government derives its sole   
support from rent1 and no other tax or  
exaction is known4 ,with a percentage of
 the profits from the use of the land1  
which is never burdensome to the tenant1
 it has been enabled1 and has found it  
to its interest1 to carry out           
agricultural and municipal improvements 
and enterprises which individual        
ownership would never undertake4 ,it has
 drained our marshes1 and reclaimed our 
desert lands in the most efficient      
manner1 without the necessity of        
creating1 as with you1 an exacting      
monopoly1 which would claim of industry 
its lion's share of profits from the    

work4  ,the government interest in our  
municipal progress1 by virtue of its    
holdings1 has led it to carry out in the
 most complete manner those sanitary    
enterprises which render city life safe 
and enjoyable4 ,with its advantages of  
sole ownership of city land1 it is      
enabled to enforce certain uniform rules
 of taste in house and street           
construction1 which have made our cities
 as complete and harmonious as single   
works of art2 their symmetrical         
combinations of lines and curves as     
consistently meeting each other as in a 
separate architectural elevation4  ,as  
,i have already hinted to you1 a        
cultivation of the beautiful in art and 
nature is a part of our religion1 and we
 indulge in the gratification of        
esthetic inclinations as one of the     
greatest charms of life4 ,our government
 erects no buildings except public ones1
 and in their construction and fittings 
is manifested that universal love of the
 grand and beautiful which everywhere   

prevails4 ,your imagination is scarcely 
able to conceive the magnificence of our
 temples of worship1 and the charming   
perspectives of our streets and         
highways4 ,yet even our industrious     
attention to all this pleasing effect   
for the eye is held to be a matter of   
secondary importance1 when compared with
 the health-giving measures and         
regulations which prevail4  ,from the   
ground rents alone of every             
municipality1 free and abundant water1  
light and heat are supplied to every    
inhabitant2 and from the same source of 
income a complete insurance is furnished
 against individual loss from accidents1
 and all our dead are disposed of       
without cost to relatives and friends4  
,we place no dead bodies in the earth as
 you do1 considering such a practice not
 only barbarous1 but dangerous to the   
health of the living4 ,on the contrary1 
we extinguish them in a manner which you
 cannot follow from a lack of the       
required advance in chemical science4   

,ever since our discovery of the        
elementary unit we have had the power to
 reduce all matter into its original    
state1 and it serves us well1 that with 
our chemical appliances and due         
solemnity not a vestige of the dead is  
left to be preserved1 except their      
memories4  ,for the purpose of          
exhibiting to you the marked difference 
of effect on labor and industry between 
private and government ownership of     
land1 let us trace the institution and  
progress of one of your cities in       
comparison with one of ours4 ,these     
combinations of individual enterprise   
are to be found upon your planet in all 
stages of growth1 and may be most       
conveniently observed by you in this    
vicinity in their earlier periods of    
development4 ,they are instituted mostly
 with you in a fortuitous way1 a few    
individual interests forming the nucleus
 around which capital and labor are     
attracted1 under the outlook of         
increased population and trade1 to      

supply and create the various products  
of industry demanded4 ,the whole land   
surface of your new city1 including its 
prospective limits1 is immediately      
appropriated at a trifling cost1 by a   
single one or a smaller number of       
owners1 under laws conveniently designed
 for their purposes4 ,from this time    
forward the most extraordinary exactions
 from industry begin4 ,every stroke of  
the hammer and revolution of the fly    
wheel adds to the value of these        
possessions1 until in a short time there
 is no limit to the price or rent of    
them1 but the ability of industry to    
stand the tax4  ,during the earlier     
stage of your city's growth1 conditions 
exist which disappear later4 ,labor is  
specially favored4 ,the demand for it is
 as great as the supply1 if not greater1
 and its savings enable it to get a     
share1 by small investments1 in the     
steady advance of land values4 ,your new
 city1 supposing it to be a metropolis1 
is invested with all the elements of    

prosperity4 ,capital comes to it        
abundantly from abroad1 induced by the  
opportunities of profitable investment1 
and labor is equally attracted by high  
pay4 ,population increases1 together    
with all the enterprises of industry1   
and your land1 conveniently divided into
 small lots1 changes hands from one     
purchaser to another1 each realizing a  
satisfactory and handsome profit4 ,the  
monopolizing influences of land         
ownership are not generally felt1       
because of the large and unoccupied area
 of surface1 and the facility to all in 
the acquirement of titles4 ,labor enjoys
 an era of remarkable prosperity outside
 as well as within the limits of your   
city4 ,your government has donated to it
 millions of acres of fertile           
agricultural lands1 whose surface1 for  
the most part1 requires no great outlay 
of capital to fit it for the uses of    
husbandry2 and altogether1 the general  
contentment and thrift indicate that all
 material interests are equally equipped

 and uniformly successful in the        
struggle of life4 ,labor goes cheerfully
 to its daily toil1 and returns to its  
abundant board with a hope and ambition 
it has seldom known before4 ,all human  
purposes appear in a flourishing state1 
except1 it may incidentally be observed1
 that your religion at this period      
droops1 without its usual attention and 
support4  ,you are now1 we shall        
suppose1 at the end of the second decade
 in the history of your city1 and many  
changes are observable1 due to the      
progress of your society and            
civilization4 ,your metropolis may      
contain now about one hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants4 ,the market value 
of its land surface1 about three miles  
square1 has increased1 from the         
government price at which it was        
purchased by the single or half dozen   
purchasers1 from about seven thousand to
 three hundred and fifty millions of    
dollars1 and the whole value of the     
products of industry upon it may be     

reasonably estimated at a like sum4     
,with the privileges and partnership    
which labor has enjoyed in this great   
increase of values1 it is so far quiet  
and satisfied2 but unfortunately the    
inevitable outcome is not so promising  
to it4 ,the evil effects of your private
 ownership become more and more apparent
 as your city advances1 and when1 under 
the promptings of human greed and       
selfishness1 your landlords have fairly 
commenced their raid upon the industries
 of the city4 ,they now exact from you a
 tax in the form of land rent alone     
which consumes yearly the twentieth part
 of all the products of industry upon   
their possessions4 ,this enormous tax is
 exacted without the return of any      
service whatever except the privilege of
 a dwelling place4  ,your inhabitants   
are called upon also to provide for the 
necessities of government1 and an       
additional tax is levied therefore1     
which takes from the profits of labor   
and capital an amount equal to the tenth

 part of all their savings4 ,because the
 privilege of becoming a land owner is  
equal to all1 and is the hope of most of
 you1 you have permitted the            
transformation of this gift of nature   
into a monopoly1 the most arbitrary and 
consuming that can be conceived4  ,this 
gift of nature1 however1 is not the only
 one diverted from its equitable        
distribution1 and permitted to become   
the material of unrighteous exaction4   
,the process of the water1 heat1 and    
light supply1 so manifestly among the   
duties of your government to institute  
and superintend1 is given1 like your    
land1 to the management and control of  
private individuals2 thus converting    
these indispensable elements of life and
 comfort into money getters for wealth1 
and subtracting to an unnecessary degree
 from the profits of industry and the   
savings of labor4  ,we shall now suppose
 that your city has arrived at the      
termination of its fourth decade4 ,its  
population has increased two-fold1 and  

its land value has quadrupled2 but it is
 noticeable that your products of       
industry have not kept pace in their    
value with this enormous appreciation1  
and your ground rents alone now consume 
every ten years the whole cost of all   
buildings and their contents4 ,in other 
words1 every vestige of the accumulated 
labor of your city goes into the pockets
 of its landlords every ten years4      
,change now becomes apparent in social  
life4 ,competition has now reduced the  
wages of labor1 and it has very nearly  
lost its ability to share in some of the
 minor operations of capital4 ,the      
struggles of increasing numbers1        
precisely the same influence which has  
depressed wages1 have advanced land4    
,labor has lost much of its old buoyancy
 and hopefulness4 ,while raiment and    
food1 the products of its own industry1 
have fallen in price1 with a tendency to
 make up for its reduced income1 every  
other one of its living expenses is     
greatly increased4 ,allowing it its     

proper place with matrimonial ambitions 
and hopes1 the remarkable proportion of 
one fourth of its hard-earned wages is  
demanded of it in land rent alone1 for a
 dwelling spot in the midst of a region 
which nothing else but its own energies 
have produced from a wilderness4 ,every 
single one of the bounties of nature1   
except the air and sunshine1 are        
inaccessible without the charges of an  
intercepting medium4 ,the heat1 and     
light-giving materials of the earth1    
together with water1 the most useful and
 abundant of all1 are served out to it  
burdened with all the costs and profits 
levied by an organized and irresponsible
 few4  ,the capital engaged in your     
industries adjusts itself to all these  
burdens1 and is quiet under them1       
because it can readily reimburse itself 
by transferring all expenses and costs  
to prices4 ,there is no such escape for 
labor1 which not only pays these        
monopoly exactions directly1 but as a   
consumer is obliged by an indirect      

method to foot a large share of these   
bills for capital4 ,capital remains     
contented under these extraordinary     
demands for another reason4 ,all        
monopoly enterprises1 and especially    
that one of land1 furnish the safest and
 most profitable reservoirs of          
investment for its surplus earnings1 and
 when it does not already participate it
 looks forward to a partnership in their
 profits4  ,you can readily understand1 
then1 why the toilers of your city1 at  
this period of its history1 should show 
signs of sinking back into that         
dependent condition which characterizes 
them elsewhere upon your planet4 ,a few 
among them1 with great fortitude of     
restraint and large acquisitiveness1    
manage to lay by some of their earnings1
 but the margin between income and      
expense is so narrow that such a        
practice is not general4 ,so that from  
the disabling vicissitudes of life1 and 
a carelessness of habit induced by lack 
of ambition1 comes that distressful     

state of existence1 unknown on our      
planet1 but common enough on yours1     
where a human being1 with abundant      
stores of food and raiment surrounding  
him1 suffers for enough of them to      
supply his moderate wants4 ,poverty1    
which before had been only exceptional  
and sporadic1 assumes now the           
proportions of a numerous class among   
you1 and out of which1 by a lack of the 
opportunities of knowledge1 crime as    
naturally appears as weeds in a         
neglected husbandry4  ,another and      
significant change now becomes apparent 
in your social state4 ,during the first 
stages of your city's existence1 there  
had been no money invested except as    
capital4 ,every dollar laid out in that 
way had been shared by labor4 ,any      
increase in the volume of capital brings
 a corresponding prosperity to those who
 toil2 but the accumulations from the   
profits of capital have not generally   
been added to it1 and in many cases the 
capital itself has been led away into   

the many profitable monopoly enterprises
 which abound4 ,these now flourish as   
they never did before4 ,increase of     
population and trade has stimulated the 
various industries to increased         
supplies1 but the prices of all         
commodities instead of being raised are 
lowered4 ,the free and open competition 
within the precincts of capital and     
labor has effected this2 not greatly to 
the detriment of either1 because the    
producer in one department of industry  
is a consumer in many of the others1 and
 capital has increased its volume of    
business to make up for smaller profits4
 ,but you have within the borders of    
your city those money-making            
contrivances peculiar to your planet1   
wherein the natural effect of           
competition is entirely reversed1 and   
where the universal law of supply and   
demand is completely abrogated4 ,the    
worst and most disastrous of these is   
your system of land ownership4  ,into   
this1 and the other of your monopolies1 

capital pours its surplus1 and finally  
retires to them with its accumulations1 
deserting its partnership with labor1   
and appearing on the scene in the new   
form of wealth4 ,from a few instances1  
so rare as to be conspicuous1 your      
holders of large money accumulations    
become now a numerous and influential   
class4 ,while your society at one end   
has been sinking into poverty1 it blooms
 at the other with signs of unusual     
thrift4 ,with an increase of luxury on  
one hand1 and of want on the other1 your
 city is now approaching the normal     
state4 ,a few decades more it will have 
established within itself those         
relations between wealth1 capital1 and  
labor which are as inevitably the       
outcome of your land ownership system1  
as drouth and famine are the outcome of 
a lack of moisture in the soil4  ,we    
shall say now that your city contains a 
half million of inhabitants4 ,its       
surface is not extended in proportion   
with its increase in population1 the    

cost of space inducing a greater        
crowding of houses and people4 ,your    
labor products1 and the land upon which 
they rest1 have been so constantly      
receding from each other in values1 that
 now1 with all the forced economy of    
space1 your piles of goods1 merchandise1
 and houses1 if sold at their market    
value1 would not furnish more than a    
quarter enough of money to purchase the 
ground beneath them4 ,this enormous     
increase in the value of your city land 
is mostly the result of the             
opportunities its owners enjoy to prey  
upon the industries1 and at this stage  
the following very remarkable conditions
 may be observed3 ,while the city's     
capital1 properly so called1 is about   
three hundred millions of dollars1 and  
the number of its workers in industrial 
pursuits about one hundred thousand1 the
 aggregate earnings of both labor and   
capital combined have one quarter of the
 whole swept away by the demands of your
 landlords1 estimating ground rent      

alone4 ,and this enormous exaction1     
remember1 is imposed without rendering  
any service in return4 ,none of your    
economists will deny that this large    
drain does not come directly from the   
industries of your people1 and its      
exhausting effects are daily seen in the
 gradually hardening lines in the lives 
of those who toil4 ,in an early period1 
twenty persons in every hundred of your 
workers owned a portion of your city's  
surface4 ,now only four per cent are    
land owners1 and within a few decades   
not more than five in a thousand will   
dwell or pursue their avocations without
 the virtual consent of some            
superintending ground owner1 upon whose 
mercy in abstaining from ejectment or   
extortion they will remain in constant  
uncertainty4  ,the ownership of your    
city lots will now have gone almost     
exclusively into the hands of your      
leisure class2 and the vast sums of     
money drawn monthly for rent1 instead of
 being1 as formerly1 partly returned as 

capital1 to assist labor in the various 
industrial enterprises is now either    
dissipated in luxury1 expended in new   
possessions1 or invested in some of the 
many monopoly undertakings of the day4  
,the effects of this unjust burden are  
daily apparent4 ,it reduces the possible
 savings of labor and the accumulations 
of industry to such a minimum that      
success in these is the exception rather
 than the rule4 ,it is mostly because of
 this monopoly of land that life among  
your masses is a continuous and         
uninterrupted struggle2 and to this more
 than all else is due that unequal      
distribution of wealth which affords    
only the few that cultivation and       
knowledge which elevates them1 and that 
dooms the many to an unceasing wear of  
nerve and muscle to sustain themselves4 
,you cannot fail to have observed1 as   
one of the most promising signs of your 
destiny1 that wherever humanity in the  
midst of civilization is freest from the
 cares of sustenance supply1 it inclines

 to devote its leisure to a cultivation 
of the mind4 ,the crudeness and         
vulgarity of some1 and the refinement of
 others1 are entirely due to difference 
in opportunities of development1 and    
between these two there must always     
exist a great repulsion4 ,what good can 
you therefore expect of mankind as a    
whole1 so long as by your methods a few 
only are vouchsafed the opportunities   
for knowledge8  ,the forces at work     
within your society have now1 we we will
 say1 brought up your population and    
general conditions to the standard of   
those which may be found in the older   
portions of the ,earth4 ,your poverty is
 more intense and widespread1 with its  
corresponding increase in crime1 while  
your wealth has become more munificent  
and ostentatious4 ,impelled by the      
necessities of life and a brave         
emulation1 all your industries will be  
found in the highest strain of action4  
,the accumulated products of labor and  
its multiplied activity have given to   

you a semblance of prosperity and       
success4 ,but while in the course of    
your progress you have created new      
necessities and wants1 you have made no 
just provision by which they could be1  
as near as possible1 equally shared2 and
 as a consequence the apparent as well  
as the silent and concealed miseries of 
human life were never greater4  ,there  
is to be observed now a marked increase 
in the spread and influence of your     
religion4 ,as the hope of success in    
life becomes lessened1 and as the       
heartaches and distresses increase by   
your uneven struggles1 the suffering and
 disappointed masses turn naturally to  
another existence for what has been     
denied them in this2 and it can be said 
of all your religious theories1 that    
their contrivances to make you suffer   
uncomplainingly the outrages of         
authority are the best that could have  
been devised4 ,the few among you        
enjoying the bounties of life1          
surrounded by that want and privation   

whose voices they cannot escape1 and    
whose strong arms they cannot fail to   
observe1 turn instinctively to your     
religious doctrines with a sense of     
safety and protection4 ,the few favored 
ones1 looking over the vast multitude of
 their less fortunate brothers1 are     
conscious that the superabundance they  
enjoy has been doubtfully acquired1 and 
they are quick to embrace that          
convenient justification1 which ascribes
 the greater ills and burdens of the    
many to a preconceived and unalterable  
arrangement of the divine will4         
,,chapter ,,ix4   ,before bringing into 
comparison one of our cities it will be 
necessary to explain to you some of the 
processes which have rendered our       
present civilization possible4 ,you     
already have a hint1 from what ,i have  
said1 of the very striking difference   
between the society of ,mars and that of
 the ,earth1 in their handling of labor 
interests4 ,while with your careless and
 indifferent treatment1 labor remains   

degraded1 we have raised it to a point  
of honor4 ,we have arrived at our       
methods of its treatment by that        
philosophical induction which has       
interpreted to us the many reliable and 
unerring decrees of the divine will4    
,nature1 upon whom we depend for all we 
know of the supreme wishes1 has         
furnished indubitable signs that        
physical diligence is a saving and      
wholesome quality1 inseparable from     
intelligence1 in its extended sense as  
we know it1 upon which the very         
existence of all material things rests4 
,but even the activities of nature are  
not more indispensable to the firmness  
of the ,earth1 than individual mental   
and physical energy is to the well-being
 and progress of your society4 ,since   
one of these energies is as useful as   
the other in the economy of the world1  
we can conceive no reason why you should
 allow one of them to dominate the      
other2 nor how you can justify          
yourselves in bestowing upon one all the

 honors and emoluments1 while to the    
other you pursue a course denying       
opportunities1 and in all ways bringing 
upon it an inferior social scale4  ,we  
met these natural tendencies ages ago1  
by a determination to equalize1 as far  
as possible1 the burdens of life among  
all classes1 and to this end we have    
chiefly directed our efforts to sustain 
the interests of those who1 by a        
struggle for the necessities of life1   
are obliged to toil4 ,some very         
remarkable results have followed4 ,we   
have achieved that degree of justice    
where the skillful artisan1 by virtue of
 his manual cunning alone1 can acquire a
 certain elevation in our society1 and  
whose occupation is not subordinated by 
any other on our planet4 ,we have a very
 numerous class amongst us1 known by the
 best interpretation of your language as
 officers of industry1 who secure truer 
and more lasting honor than your        
military heroes4 ,our admiration of them
 arises from the fact that they assist  

to build up and restore the waste of    
those industrial products which sustain 
our lives4 ,the official grades among   
these compare somewhat with your        
military system4 ,their insignia of     
office is permanently worn on their     
dress1 and to achieve distinction in    
this line is the hope of all1 since     
without having worn the badge of office 
in some of these grades1 social or      
political distinction is difficult4 ,by 
methods1 long ago in vogue1 we have     
united our intellectual and manual      
training so that there should be no     
social separation between them4 ,but    
while equal distinction awaits the      
skillful pursuit of either path1 the    
highest honors are achieved by those who
 excel in both4 ,consequently our youth1
 encouraged by their parents and        
teachers1 become emulous of the         
qualities of physical endurance attached
 to labor1 and serve their terms among  
the toilers with a will that nothing but
 a high ambition could create4 ,this    

greater respect and consideration for   
physical industry than yours would have 
been impossible1 were it not that we    
have avoided the various causes which   
either suppress or degrade it4 ,in the  
first place1 we have decreed that it    
shall receive a fair share of its       
earnings4 ,chiefly in furtherance of    
this1 we have ordained that no          
individual holder of land shall rob it  
by taking to himself that appreciation  
in values which its diligence produces4 
,to this end also we have provided that 
wealth and capital shall not bear down  
upon it in the various monopoly         
exactions common with you4 ,but a       
measure of justice1 scarcely less       
effectual than these to elevate and     
sustain labor1 is our governmental      
system of fixing its rates of wages4    
,from what has been said it will not be 
hard for you to believe that a working  
man holds a very different position in  
society with us than with you4 ,upon the
 ,earth1 driven by the necessities of   

life1 and a cruel and unrestrained      
competition1 he is obliged to forego    
nearly all those opportunities which    
refine and elevate the mind4 ,he has    
little of leisure1 without the          
depression of muscular fatigue4 ,his    
habiliments are the badges of           
inferiority in your social scale1 and he
 trudges along on his tiresome1 hopeless
 journey1 bearing his condition as one  
under the prohibition of better things  
by an inexorable fate4 ,no competency   
rewards his unremitting toil1 though    
with the skill of his hands he is       
building the wealth of the world4 ,to   
the sordid and cunning comes fortune in 
possessions and estates2 while to him   
comes only the privilege to dwell in    
another's house1 and to partake of that 
fare whose chief quality shall be its   
capacity to restore the wasting energies
 of his body4  ,with us the pursuit of  
manual labor is attended with better    
conditions4 ,by securing to industry its
 rightful rewards1 it has been adopted  

by choice instead of compulsion1 as the 
best way to gain independence4 ,having  
no road to wealth1 except through the   
sterling qualities of industry and      
prudence1 industry and probity are the  
indispensable qualities which lead to   
the upper stratum of our society4 ,thus1
 you will perceive1 the natural laws of 
progression and development are         
encouraged to work out their beneficial 
results in the life of every individual4
  ,since1 from the cradle to the grave1 
all are surrounded with the living      
rewards of goodness1 we have no need of 
sermons4 ,we know no gilded vice4 ,it   
bears no fruits with us but destruction4
 ,you preach against it and reward it in
 the same breath4 ,you denounce it in   
empty words1 and at the next moment     
honor it with a bow4 ,you sanction the  
wholesale injury which your system      
inflicts upon each one1 hoping in the   
scramble to pocket the losses of others4
 ,the most desirable condition of life  
with you is that in which the attainment

 of wealth shall furnish personal       
gratification1 the accomplishment of    
which1 in most cases1 is through a line 
of public and private wrongs4 ,the      
better conditions of life with us are   
acquired in the fertilization of        
innumerable schemes for the common      
welfare4  ,you are not to make the      
mistake by supposing that our society   
has arrived at the dead level of        
equality4 ,we have no castes1 as you    
have1 holding apart from each other with
 marked distinctions of wealth4 ,but we 
have social grades1 as you have1 with   
the great difference that each one      
enjoys unenvied the pleasures within    
reach2 not the least of which is to     
share the cares as well as the delights 
of life with each other4 ,the feeling of
 contempt for one another is entirely   
unknown among the people of ,mars4 ,we  
have provided that there shall be no    
unlettered and vulgar substratum in our 
society to pity or condemn1 as you have4
 ,the even justice of our system has    

bestowed upon all equal opportunities of
 knowledge and cultivation4 ,as a       
result1 there is no individual living   
upon our planet who is superior to      
another1 except by a more assiduous     
exercise of mental or physical gifts1 or
 a higher cultivation of his spiritual  
nature4  ,a marked indication of our    
advanced social development is1 that we 
utterly refuse the performance of any   
act which is an injury1 even in a remote
 degree1 to our fellows2 while in the   
intense selfishness of your present     
state1 you are constantly sacrificing   
each other's interests4 ,with sentiments
 like these prevailing1 it is easy for  
you to understand why we have no class  
among us perpetually under less favored 
conditions than another class1 and why1 
acting under the great lesson of nature 
which has sent us all into life upon an 
equality1 we have ordained in all       
possible ways that the journey          
thereafter shall be fair and equal to   
all4  ,it is not possible for you to    

thoroughly understand or appreciate what
 ,i am to lay before you1 in a          
description of our society in municipal 
life1 without a further knowledge of    
some of our methods4 ,one of the most   
important of these1 is the perfection   
which we have brought to our science of 
statistics1 and the indispensable       
service it is made to perform in our    
political economy4 ,this branch of      
science is pursued by us as the most    
serviceable and practical of all4 ,we   
learn from it in a positive way many    
truths which your economists fail to    
reach1 and we have discovered by it many
 errors which have existed as the result
 of sophistical reasoning4 ,we use it as
 a rule and square to measure the       
speculations of philosophy1 as well as  
an every-day guide in the practical     
affairs of life4 ,its better value for  
us lies in the fact that our conclusions
 from it are adduced out of the records 
of centuries4 ,it is to social science  
what analysis is to chemistry4 ,it is   

only by a systematic and orderly record 
of the occurrences of nature1 and the   
changes and events of society1 that we  
have arrived at the many profound truths
 so deeply concerning our lives4 ,by it 
we have discovered how astonishingly    
nature holds1 concealed from common     
eyes1 so many of her processes1         
coquetting with us1 as it were1 in      
withholding her greatest favors without 
prolonged and incessant interrogation4  
,but although our store of scientific   
knowledge has been increased by these   
statistical labors1 we hold them of no  
less importance in managing the         
practical affairs of life4  ,our bureau 
of statistics is without question the   
most valuable department of our         
government4 ,it has been brought to its 
perfected condition by centuries of     
practice and improvement1 and upon it   
rests1 in a great measure1 the          
prosperity and happiness of our people4 
,by it1 mainly1 we are enabled to save  
our population from the distresses of   

over-production1 and the chance         
occurrences of uneven labor demand4     
,your experience has shown you that in  
times of depression the causes were     
plainly apparent4 ,we have merely       
arranged to anticipate these causes1 to 
sound the general alarm1 and to         
forestall them4 ,outside of the defects 
of your currency1 and your speculation1 
which are most prolific sources of      
industrial disaster1 comes that blind   
over-production1 entirely undirected by 
any reliable or authoritative knowledge 
of the existing capacity to consume4    
,you are having at times a large amount 
of misdirected labor in the form of     
products slow of sale2 and for the time 
being a supply1 so much in excess of    
demand1 does not return a full          
equivalent for the labor invested4      
,these frequent errors of production    
depress wages1 and are altogether more  
calamitous to labor than to capital2    
because labor is variously skilled1 and 
cannot readily transplant itself from   

one department of production to another1
 and is obliged1 under the conditions1  
either to accept reduced wages or to    
remain idle4 ,capital does not suffer as
 labor does in these constantly         
occurring over-supplies4 ,on the other  
hand1 it finds its opportunity1 either  
by waiting from a low to a high market  
for its returns1 or by changing its     
field of investment4 ,in these frequent 
partial or complete suspensions in the  
production of over-supplied commodities1
 labor is therefore the chief sufferer4 
,we have nearly a complete remedy for   
this in our system of statistics4 ,our  
planet in all its habitable parts is    
divided into districts1 in each of which
 is kept an accurate and systematic     
record of all available labor1 as well  
as an account of its different classes1 
with the separate capacity of each for  
production4 ,in connection therewith is 
also kept an account of all products    
turned out4 ,the information furnished  
in this way determines the surplus or   

deficiency of all commodities produced4 
,we are enabled thereby to know1 almost 
at a glance1 the drift of all labor     
energies1 and to direct them safely from
 any great redundancy of supply4 ,when  
engaged in the production of food       
supplies1 where nature becomes of       
necessity a party to this great         
co-operative arrangement1 we have       
devised a method that saves those who   
toil from the embarrassment and the     
frequent distress of an intermittent    
cost of living4 ,we had observed that   
the tendency of cheap food to lower the 
wages of labor1 and of dear food to     
raise them1 was not equal1 wages being  
much more easily lowered than raised    
under this natural influence4 ,our      
government has undertaken therefore to  
establish a fair and equitable          
adjustment between the cost of living   
and wage rates1 to be modified when     
occasion requires4  ,you are not to     
expect me to go into detail in these    
matters2 but as it may seem             

impracticable to you1 how any arbitrary 
rate of wages may be made to rule fairly
 among so many different people1 ,i will
 give you some account of our system of 
grading labor1 by which this difficulty 
is overcome4 ,we have formed out of the 
three qualities of ,,skill1 ,,strength  
and ,,activity a basis upon which to    
reckon the value of all individual      
labor4 ,each of these is divided into   
three grades1 and the highest valued    
workman is he who stands first in all4  
,the first grade in skill is considered 
equal to both the first and second      
grades of strength and activity in      
estimating wages2 and there is no first 
grade of skill allowed1 except in those 
industrial operations requiring much    
manual training4  ,the workman begins   
his career usually in the lowest grades 
of each1 although at times strength and 
activity are raised one grade at the    
beginning4 ,the wages of all labor are  
uniformly established by the government1
 in accordance with the standing of the 

individual and the certificate he holds1
 according him his status under this    
method of estimating his ability4 ,from 
middle life to old age changes usually  
occur in his grade1 and his             
apportionment of wages is consequently  
modified2 but so long as he retains his 
skill it goes far to keep up the        
allotment of fair wages against the loss
 of strength and activity4  ,this is    
merely an outline of our system4 ,its   
importance will be understood1 when you 
consider that by it we have established 
a uniform rate of wages for all1 and    
have saved our workmen from helplessly  
submitting themselves to the natural    
competition of dependent numbers1 and to
 the exacting patronage of a selfish and
 independent few4 ,although we have     
achieved this desideratum of uniform    
wages we are not unaware of the economic
 impossibility of rendering them        
constant1 and we have accordingly       
arranged that the rate shall be changed 
to correspond with the varying cost of  

living4 ,each year therefore1 after the 
gathering of our harvests1 our          
statistical bureau makes a report of    
food supply2 when any change1 if        
necessary1 is made in the rate of wages 
for the ensuing year1 thereby           
determining that labor shall enjoy a    
fair share of the wealth which it       
produces4  ,outside of the handicraft of
 the workmen1 we have established a     
scale for estimating a just rate of pay 
for all employees in professional and   
business pursuits4 ,this arrangement is 
based upon the qualities of ,,talent1   
,,intelligence and ,,capability4 ,each  
one of these is divided into three      
grades1 and whoever stands first in all 
of them is entitled1 of course1 to the  
highest pay for his services4 ,usually1 
however1 these high qualifications      
secure a reward beyond the scale4 ,this 
system of rewarding labor has a         
far-reaching effect in our political    
economy1 and is a complete uniformity   
with the general tendency of our efforts

 to promote steady values4 ,the most    
important element of cost in all        
commodities offered for sale is labor1  
and that can never be cheapened4 ,we    
have not a single product of industry in
 our list which represents in its labor 
cost1 as many of yours do1 the          
underpain1 gaunt and hopeless toil of   
some fellow creature struggling for the 
scanty means to live4  ,owing to our    
many concessions physical industry has  
been curtailed of that excessively      
wearisome and exhausting character known
 to you4 ,without the oppressions which 
bear down upon it on your planet1 its   
pursuit never reaches that forced       
extremity which brings the bent form and
 care-worn face4  ,a considerate custom 
has fixed our period of daily labor at  
six hours2 one-half of which1 under the 
equitable adjustment of our wage rates1 
affords sufficient pay1 under ordinary  
circumstances1 to furnish a liberal     
enjoyment of life4 ,under our system    
three hours of work each day affords a  

share of wealth somewhat in excess of   
the share usually obtained by the       
workmen of the ,earth for their average 
of ten hours' labor4 ,our industrial    
force has1 therefore1 a facility of     
expansion and contraction1 without      
distressful results1 which yours does   
not possess4 ,no serious changes are    
wrought with us by a reduction of       
working force to half time1 and         
consequent half pay2 while more or less 
pinching and misery are sure to follow  
such an occurrence with you4  ,from     
these careful attentions to the         
interests of labor1 we have brought it  
into repute as one of the most honorable
 as well as the most profitable pursuits
 of life4 ,i have endeavored to show you
 some of the ways by which this grand   
purpose has been attained4 ,i must not1 
however1 omit to remind you1 that as our
 government takes upon itself to perform
 innumerable enterprises1 which on the  
,earth are left to individuals and      
organizations of men1 its direct        

dealings with those who toil are more   
intimate and extensive than yours4 ,it  
is better enabled thereby to carry into 
operation those methods which           
distinguish our system4 ,the greater    
part of the energies of our government  
and the wisdom of our statesmanship have
 been directed to this end of supporting
 labor1 and out of it1 without question1
 comes the general serenity and         
contentment which prevail4     ,,chapter
 ,x4   ,when it is decided by our       
authorities that a new city shall be    
built to meet the requirements of       
increasing numbers1 and to establish    
that convenient co-operation in branches
 of industry and trade which close      
association affords1 its location is    
left entirely to the judgment of a board
 of government officers1 of sanitary and
 civil engineering skill4 ,if1 as is    
frequently the case1 the proposed site  
is already occupied by one or more      
tenants in rural pursuits1 they are     
scrupulously indemnified in all losses  

which result from their dispossession4  
,i wish to impress upon you here1 that a
 tenant1 under our government1 has even 
greater security of possession than your
 land owners4 ,the prevailing sense of  
justice1 and a widespread interest1 have
 established the right of a renter to   
hold and enjoy1 against all competition1
 his allotment during his life4 ,he has 
also the right1 under our custom1 to    
convey its possession by will2 and it is
 more generally the case on our planet  
than on yours1 that a piece of land is  
held for generations in the same family4
 ,our government exercises some rights  
of interference1 to the end that the    
size of a farm shall conform1 as near as
 possible1 to such dimensions as to     
employ no great excess of labor over    
that capable of being supplied by the   
family of the occupant4 ,in a general   
way1 the tenant enjoys the same rights  
of ownership which are held by your     
individual holders in fee1 except that  
he cannot convey title1 and does not    

take to himself any emolument arising   
from increased value4 ,his rent is      
simply an equivalent to your tax1 with  
the very important difference1 that its 
amount depends entirely on the season's 
productiveness1 and is never a burden4  
,once decided upon1 the proposed city   
becomes the subject of universal        
interest4 ,its plans are submitted and  
approved1 just as your proposals for a  
single edifice4 ,all its parts must     
conform with each other2 the choice of  
its location chiefly depends upon       
drainage and water supply1 and it       
possesses these advantages in the       
highest perfection4 ,every house must be
 erected in conformity with rules4 ,work
 is commenced by the erection of public 
buildings in the center1 and the laying 
of drain1 water1 heat and electric      
conduits through its newly surveyed     
streets4 ,people come to it1 as they    
come to your new cities1 for the purpose
 of gain in trade and industry1 and     
locate themselves as they choose under a

 fixed and uniform land rental4 ,they   
erect edifices as you do1 varying them  
as they like in their internal          
structure1 but strictly conforming in   
their outer elevations to the style     
adopted by our architectural commission1
 which supervises also the material     
employed1 and the safety and durability 
of the work4 ,any disreputable or       
depraved quarter is of course impossible
 under this plan2 nor could such an     
encouragement and propagation of crime  
exist in one of our cities1 as they do  
in yours1 even had we the class of      
tenants to people them4 ,it must be     
charged among the evils of your         
landlordism1 that it not only promotes  
vice through its tendency to impoverish 
your masses1 but is ready at all times  
to multiply it1 by affording quarters   
for convenient association4  ,the       
spectacle of our city in course of      
construction is very different from     
yours4 ,the government has set aside1   
what may be computed in your way as     

millions of money for the institution of
 various works designed for the health  
and comfort of the new population1 and  
people are arriving in thousands from   
all quarters to do the work4 ,every one 
of them is impressed with that feeling  
and interest which can only arise from  
ownership1 and there is not a single one
 of them who is not performing some of  
the work4 ,no one of them has a hope for
 honor and wealth by getting a monopoly 
of the land4 ,no rich man comes with his
 accumulations to get a perpetual lien  
upon the industries that are just now   
springing up1 and to hold for himself   
and his descendants the privilege of    
exacting daily for all time a larger    
share of the earnings of labor than your
 slaveholders derive from their human   
chattels4 ,all choose to work1 because  
it is both honorable and profitable to  
do so1 and also because it is a duty1   
the conscious fulfillment of which is   
attended with a feeling of happiness4   
,the systematic and regular use of the  

voluntary muscles1 without excessive    
fatigue1 has not only an important      
influence on health1 but assists as well
 to develop perfect and well rounded    
brains1 out of which can only come those
 evenly balanced minds which create1 out
 of the power of intelligence1 the      
blessings of human progress2 whence only
 come those level headed men1 who are   
distinguished among yourselves as being 
never wholly the product of learning4   
,it is an axiom with us1 that he who    
does not produce has no right to        
consume1 and this doctrine has been so  
carried out in our society that physical
 inertia1 no matter how much attended   
with wealth1 is exceedingly rare4 ,as a 
consequence1 affluence with us is not   
beset with the terrible penalties of ill
 health4 ,the muscular body in all      
conditions of life is made to act with  
the brain and nerves4  ,we shall        
suppose1 now1 our city has reached a    
period of its growth equal in time to   
your decade4 ,its grand temple is not   

quite completed4 ,its streets stretch   
away in the distance1 none of them      
narrower than a hundred of your feet1   
and some of them more than twice as     
wide1 to accommodate the airships and   
the larger warehouses4 ,the lines of    
uniform house fronts1 relieved on the   
street corners by elevated towers1 reach
 out sufficiently far into the gradually
 changing suburbs to give a hint of the 
long and beautiful perspectives that are
 to come4 ,from the center outwards     
there are reserved1 at intervals of     
about a half mile1 spaces corresponding 
with the area of two blocks1 which make 
a circular belt around the whole4 ,these
 are cultivated and embellished in the  
highest style of gardening and landscape
 art4 ,here are located our public      
baths1 statues1 monuments1              
conservatories1 and arenas for athletic 
sports4 ,these pleasure grounds1 so     
convenient and accessible1 diversify our
 city life with a taste and flavor of   
the country4 ,our city grows in a solid 

expansion4 ,there are no straggling     
suburbs1 like yours4 ,blocks are erected
 together1 and always in continuation of
 the appropriated space adjoining them4 
,the intercourse and demeanor of our    
population are1 as you may expect1      
unlike yours4 ,the general air of       
serenity and contentment1 the uniform   
politeness1 and the absence of          
degradation1 with its frequent          
unpleasant and disgraceful episodes1    
mark the difference between your city   
population and ours4  ,it concerns us   
most1 however1 to make a comparison of  
our wealth producing agencies1 and the  
channels of their distribution1 and for 
this purpose we shall take our          
metropolis as it stands in its maturity4
 ,it contains1 now1 like your city of   
advanced growth1 about three hundred    
thousand inhabitants4 ,its land rentals 
have been subjected to constant         
modification1 and are in some places    
very much higher than they were at      
first4 ,in certain localities1 where    

trade has concentrated1 the public fund 
has been increased by a considerable    
advance of rent to store keepers1 but   
there is no exorbitant demand of rent   
for such favored places as there is with
 you4 ,the purpose of rent with us being
 only to meet the expenses of           
government1 its total is limited2 and   
consequently1 while in the mercantile   
and trade districts1 where wealth and   
capital are most heavily engaged1 it has
 been materially advanced1 a            
corresponding reduction has taken place 
in the residence portions4 ,the direct  
and immediate effect1 therefore1 of an  
appreciation of land value1 is to reduce
 living expenses among the masses by    
curtailing their rents4 ,in the absence 
of any monopoly of private ownership1   
there is no case1 even in the most      
concentrated places1 where rent forms   
anywhere near so large a proportion of  
business expense as with you4 ,by your  
land ownership methods1 landlords have  
an access to both pockets of the tenant4

 ,out of one they take to the limit of  
their greed whatever sum they choose for
 the privilege of business quarters1 or 
a dwelling place1 and from the other a  
tithe on everything consumed by the     
enhanced cost of its distribution4  ,as 
our material wants and needs are very   
much like yours1 it is not hard to make 
a comparative estimate of the savings of
 industry4 ,we produce more wealth than 
you in a given time1 even with our      
shorter daily periods of work1 because1 
with few exceptions1 all are engaged in 
the business of production4 ,by this    
increased productiveness every consumer 
is richer4 ,he is able by a smaller     
amount of labor to procure a greater    
amount of the objects of desire4 ,our   
production is more perfect than yours1  
by the use of more perfect machinery4   
,our division of labor is more complete 
than yours4 ,our workmen having abundant
 leisure for intellectual development1  
all the practical advantages of         
knowledge and science are immediately   

brought into effect4 ,by avoiding your  
great waste of capital by excessive     
government expenditures1 it is          
constantly so abundant with us that its 
proportion to labor makes labor         
remunerative4  ,we have now assumed for 
the purpose of comparison that the two  
cities1 one of ,mars and one of the     
,earth1 have each three hundred thousand
 inhabitants2 and that1 allowing for    
women and children not engaged in       
productive industry1 one hundred        
thousand of each city is actively       
engaged in industrial pursuits4 ,as the 
general prosperity of each city depends 
upon the earnings of this one hundred   
thousand1 and the accumulations in      
capital and wealth upon the amount saved
 by these productive classes1 let us    
make a relative estimate of the         
opportunities each possess in individual
 savings4 ,having no common medium of   
exchange upon which to base our         
estimate1 let us take the value of a    
day's labor for that purpose4 ,the      

income of a city is derived from two    
sources1 the aggregate wages of its     
inhabitants1 and the combined profits of
 its capital4 ,the latter1 however1     
being entirely derived from consumers1  
is largely contributed to by the        
inhabitants themselves4 ,and for the    
reason that all imported products1 as   
well as those exported1 bear the profits
 of capital in their rates of sale1 we  
may safely say that an amount very      
nearly equal to the whole profits of    
capital of a city is paid by the        
consumers within its limits as capital  
profits4 ,the chief source of your      
city's yearly income then is about      
thirty-one million days' labor4 ,out of 
this you must pay for expenses1 under   
your system1 two million days' labor for
 government taxes1 fifteen million days'
 labor for ground rent1 two million     
days' labor for water1 two million days'
 labor for insurance1 and with the      
balance of ten million days' labor you  
must pay the cost of food1 raiment1     

fuel1 the portion of rent estimated in  
buildings1 together with the various    
incidentals of furniture and house      
lights4 ,you will observe that all these
 expenses except the first are largely  
loaded with the profits of capital1 so  
that with the income and expense as set 
forth you may be in a progressive       
condition1 as that term is defined by   
you4 ,that is to say1 your capital may  
increase1 and your wealth may be very   
greatly augmented4 ,the enormous        
proportion of your earnings carried away
 by rent1 although drawn very largely   
from your business districts1 is        
contributed equally by the whole in the 
increased cost of all products consumed4
 ,of your one hundred thousand          
producers1 it is safe to say that twenty
 thousand of them have capital          
investments4 ,among these is divided the
 whole of the surplus of the city's     
earnings4 ,the eighty thousand engaged  
in the business of directly creating    
wealth are doomed1 under your cruel     

system1 to sweat and toil from sun to   
sun without accumulations4 ,you accept  
this condition of things as inevitable1 
and your economists contend that the    
real or natural remuneration of labor is
 the bare means of subsistence4 ,we have
 seen the unrighteous origin of this    
prodigious fund1 which absorbs one third
 of the earnings of labor at least3 let 
us examine its perpetual effects upon   
the interests of those who toil4        
,looking upon your civilization1 we find
 in its modern aspects a wonderful      
increase in all the appliances and      
conditions which accumulate wealth4     
,among these may be specified a better  
and more economical division of labor1  
the discoveries of science1 labor saving
 inventions1 and altogether as a result1
 greatly increased productiveness4      
,added to these contributions of        
knowledge and science in the interest of
 the working class1 you have1 during the
 last century1 experienced the most     
remarkable acquisition in favor of labor

 that was ever known upon your planet4  
,i allude to the accession of new and   
fertile lands1 over which the boundaries
 of civilization have been extended1 and
 out of which1 by the new methods and   
contrivances both of husbandry and      
transportation1 the food supplies of the
 ,earth have been made to flow in a     
steady stream toward the districts of   
their consumption4 ,these immense       
advantages could not fail to have1 in   
some degree1 a beneficent effect upon   
your labor class4 ,inasmuch as your     
workmen of to-day are enabled to obtain 
more of the comforts of life than       
formerly1 real wages may be said to have
 considerably advanced4 ,their share1   
however1 of the wealth produced is as   
small a portion as formerly4 ,by the    
modern necessities which custom has     
rendered difficult to avoid1 they have  
become larger consumers1 which in itself
 has enabled your capital1 with its     
undue advantages1 to increase its store 
out of all proportion to a fair division

 of the wealth produced4 ,but the       
greater and cheaper food supply1 and the
 abundant capital of your recent times1 
while serving to neutralize the         
depressing effect of increase of        
population in the labor ranks1 and to   
institute a condition of general        
prosperity in trade and mercantile      
pursuits1 has at the same time offered  
to all your monopolists of land the     
opportunity to extort1 under the        
pressure of competition1 the whole      
surplus of the earnings of your workmen4
 ,precisely the same happy conditions   
which have brought a modicum of         
prosperity to them have created a richer
 field for your monopolists1 and        
especially for those of them who by     
their ownership of city land can exact  
from the extended demands of business1  
and a rapidly multiplying population1 an
 unfair portion of the wealth produced4 
,the unlimited privilege of             
appropriating to themselves the utmost  
share of the profits of industry1 gives 

a speculative value to the holdings of  
your landlords1 and serves in turn to   
furnish them the excuse of a parallel in
 their charges for rent to the current  
rate of interest on money4 ,if industry 
can be forced to make over to them a    
third of its earnings now1 the          
possibilities of the future shadow      
golden dreams1 which promise no less to 
them than the power of your imaginary   
,midas--dreams which encourage an easier
 wealth-making than was possessed by    
your olden barons1 who by force of arms 
were enabled to hold1--what your modern 
law and custom equally allows1--the     
privilege of sapping the industry of    
millions of busy hands of all else but a
 bare sustenance and a shelter from the 
elements4  ,that rent does not to any   
great extent enter into the cost of your
 agricultural products1 is due to the   
abundance of new land coming constantly 
under cultivation1 and to that          
equalizing of situations which your     
railroads promote4 ,an increase in the  

demand for food1 and the promise of an  
advance in its price1 brings under      
cultivation lands of lesser fertility or
 those more remote from your markets4   
,the monopoly power of agricultural land
 ownership is thereby effectually       
destroyed4 ,so long as these favorable  
conditions exist1 the cost of your food 
staples will be governed by the value   
alone of the labor employed4 ,the       
profits of capital1 therefore1 take no  
part in them until they leave the hands 
of the producer4 ,there is no value in  
your cultivated lands of the lesser     
fertility1 except in the opportunity    
they afford for labor to exchange its   
services for money4 ,this class of land 
fixes the price of and cheapens the food
 of the ,earth4 ,the value of all lands 
from these upwards in degrees of        
fertility is estimated by the amount of 
produce derived from a given amount of  
labor1 and except in a few favorite     
situations there is as yet no monopoly  
value in your cultivated lands4 ,to     

this1 more than anything else1 is due   
the comparative cheapness of your food1 
and the steady and unrestricted increase
 of your population4 ,in time1 however1 
for reasons to obvious to require       
mention1 rent must enter into the       
original element of cost among your food
 staples1 just as it now so largely     
takes a part in the cost of their       
distribution4 ,the fullest manifestation
 of the evils of your private ownership 
system will then take place4 ,the signs 
of what may occur at that rapidly       
approaching critical period are to be   
seen in the completely merciless        
character of your wealth holders1 who1  
in the face of a divine intelligence1   
which has so charitably provided an even
 abundance to all1 attempt to subvert   
the natural laws of trade by unfair     
combinations1 known among you as trusts 
and syndicates1 wherein the common      
welfare is made a sacrifice to their    
determined and unscrupulous love of     
gain4  ,you have perhaps not fully      

considered how it has come to pass that 
your wealth is so generally without the 
best feelings and impulses of humanity4 
,the desire to accumulate which pervades
 all classes can accomplish nothing in  
the ranks of labor1 except for those who
 possess it in an inordinate degree4    
,the anxiety for gain must be so intense
 as to overwhelm the wish for           
gratifications within reach1 and to     
produce a fortitude of restraint which  
denies every dispensable want and       
pleasure4 ,is is only the few who have  
this power of abstinence that can escape
 a life of drudgery4 ,the ranks of      
capital and wealth are largely recruited
 from this body of abstainers4 ,under   
the depressing effects of your          
monopolistic condition1 ordinary        
prudence and moderate abstemiousness are
 not1 as a rule1 capable of laying the  
foundation of wealth4 ,you have1        
consequently1 by a natural process of   
selection1 the ranks of your moneyed    
classes filled up1 for the most part1 by

 the most aggressively mercenary and    
acquisitive of your race2 while the     
better part of humanity1 where the      
self-sacrificing and generous impulses  
most prevail1 must pay the penalty of   
its virtues in unrelieved dependence4   
,your successful moneyed class1 coming  
in time to that place of power which its
 wealth procures for it1 shapes and     
directs your legislation2 which1 as you 
might expect1 instead of being devoted1 
as it should be1 chiefly to the support 
of measures to equalize and ameliorate  
the conditions of all classes1 works the
 machinery for government for its own   
selfish ends1 making easy and           
comfortable paths for those schemes     
which multiply its wealth4  ,while the  
wish to accumulate is acknowledged to be
 the fountain head of all material      
progress1 its accomplishment1 under our 
system1 is mostly the reward of those   
qualities of the mind which are not safe
 lessons for common acceptance4 ,your   
examples of material success are not    

good studies1 if charity and the true   
public spirit are to be considered as   
worthy of being enlarged by precept4    
,,chapter ,,xi4   ,our more advanced    
civilization and truer democracy exhibit
 themselves nowhere more strikingly1    
than in the way in which we have        
determined the equal division of land   
interests4 ,with our city of three      
hundred thousand inhabitants1 and its   
income during the same period of time as
 yours of thirty-one million days'      
labor1 there is assessed by our         
authorities about the sum as ground rent
 equivalent to eight million average    
days' pay of our workmen4 ,for this     
amount in hand1 our government furnishes
 to its tenants1 without further cost1  
perfected streets in constant repair1   
abundance of water for household and    
other purposes1 lights both in houses   
and streets1 heat by our system 7to you 
undiscovered71 perfect drainage without 
cost or repair of conduits1 insurance   
against individual loss by fire or      

flood1 free burial of the dead1 and a   
system of education bestowing upon every
 individual the higher branches of      
study4  ,besides this immense service1  
the government provides religious       
edifices1 buildings for public          
entertainment1 and pleasure grounds4    
,and all this1 you will bear in mind1 at
 a less cost to our population than your
 landlords exact of you for ground rent 
alone4 ,adding to this four million     
days' labor for rent1 paid to private   
owners of buildings1 and we have left   
nineteen million days' labor for living 
expenses not provided by our government1
 and out of which come all the profit   
and accumulations of capital1 except    
those derived from rents of buildings4  
,you will see thereby1 that with all the
 monopoly privileges that have fastened 
themselves upon your system done away   
with1 capital has yet a full scope to   
exercise its legitimate functions in the
 fields of production and distribution1 
apart from which it has no rights and is

 entitled to no legislative             
consideration4  ,it is only by expunging
 the demands and profits of capital that
 the government is enabled to furnish   
all these services mentioned at so small
 a cost4 ,we hold it to be a principle  
of justice1 that the natural elements   
should not be permitted to form the     
basis of corporate management or        
monopoly control1 and therefore instead 
of allowing capital the fullest         
privilege to appropriate those bounties 
of nature which are found ready for use1
 we have restricted its operations to a 
mere partnership with labor1 where it   
justly belongs4 ,in our endeavors to    
sustain labor1 and equalize its         
opportunities with capital1 we have gone
 much further than this4 ,we hold that  
all public necessities of general       
demand1 in the supplying of which large 
expenditures are required in fixed      
capital1 and which are not strictly in  
the line of production1 should be       
provided for by the government4 ,we     

remove the burdens of labor1 by         
relieving it of those large capital     
enterprises which subsist on it1 and    
which fail to share with it a reasonable
 portion of earnings4 ,the large sums of
 money and the special privileges       
required in these operations of supply1 
of which your railroad1 telephone and   
telegraph lines are prominent examples1 
obstruct the natural tendency of        
competition1 and capital and wealth are 
thereby permitted advantages over labor 
which they should not of right have4    
,the unlimited privilege of capital in  
these directions has been defended on   
the ground that it greatly accelerates  
your material progress2 that in private 
hands these enterprises can be more     
economically managed2 and that the      
centralization of power in a government 
would be dangerously increased by the   
proprietorship of such large            
undertakings4 ,all of these allegations 
except the first are without foundation 
in fact4 ,the growing political weight1 

especially in your representative       
governments1 of all monopoly            
combinations1 by reason of their wealth 
and large individual patronage1 presents
 to you the choice of either a          
government ruled by outside influences1 
which cannot be held responsible for the
 evils it inadvertently inflicts by the 
irresistible pressure from without1 or a
 government entirely and absolutely     
liable1 and to be held to a strict      
accountability for all encroachments    
upon the common welfare while handling  
these services of supply4 ,in the latter
 case your remedy is an easy one2 and   
may be readily applied2 while in the    
former1 nothing short of a political    
convulsion will serve you4 ,no advanced 
government upon your ,earth has ever    
undertaken a public service of any      
magnitude for a long term1 which has not
 been systematized and improved by all  
the available knowledge and science of  
its time4 ,the difference between a     
public and a private supply of a common 

demand is1 that to one is added the     
costs and profits of capital2 while the 
other1 shorn of these oftentimes        
excessive exactions1 is furnished at the
 cheapest rate possible4  ,any policy of
 your governments1 no matter how        
unwisely adopted1 becomes in time a     
fixture which is difficult to remove4   
,the abuses which it may be known to    
produce are tolerated long after its    
evil is understood4 ,yet1 there is      
scarcely one of these which has not had 
its active defenders4 ,the able defense 
of measures which have long since been  
expunged for their flagrant injustice1  
exhibit some of the most striking       
examples of mental obliquity in your    
annals4 ,no government of the ,earth1   
however1 in its long legislative career1
 was ever known to favor the laboring   
and landless over the interests of those
 holding endowments of the ,earth's     
surface4 ,what seems at a superficial   
glance to be in your own country such a 
measure1 in what may be generally termed

 your land policy1 with its homestead   
provisions1 becomes upon a closer       
examination delusive4 ,every one of your
 laws for the pretended purpose of      
bestowing your territory upon labor     
bears the covert design or connivance to
 further the opportunities of capital4  
,from the inauguration of your system1  
capital and wealth have been gradually  
absorbing your lands1 and the           
partnership of labor in them is as      
transitory and accidental as the        
opportunities afforded in the early     
stages of your city's growth4  ,the fact
 appears that1 in your present          
development1 the general sense of       
individual acquisitiveness among your   
governing classes is too great to deal  
fairly with the whole body of your      
people under such seductive             
opportunities for self-gain4 ,you cannot
 prevent1 under your present system of  
private ownership1 the lands now held by
 your people from drifting into a       
comparatively few hands4 ,this process1 

although going on for years1 gradually  
accelerates1 and will rapidly become    
apparent when the last of your public   
territory shall have passed out of the  
hands of your government4 ,the owners of
 your lands always have1 and will       
continue to govern the countries of the 
,earth4 ,no representative government   
can exist long without a system which   
prevents the monopoly of its territory  
by wealth4  ,no other idea appears to   
have been held by the founders of your  
nation1 but that your land was a        
chattel1 to be disposed of for money1   
and as much a subject of barter and     
speculation as merchandise1 and like it1
 liable to that depression in value     
which a superabundant supply produces4  
,its unequalled advantages as a subject 
for speculation became more and more    
apparent as your population increased4  
,it is a striking illustration of the   
irresistible influence of the mercenary 
impulse on your planet1 that those who  
were prominent in establishing so many  

advances toward equalizing the          
conditions and privileges of their      
fellow-men held1 in the aggregate among 
themselves1 the title and possession of 
which they stood ready to defend1 an    
area of the ,earth's surface equal to   
about eight million of your acres1 one  
hundred thousand acres being in         
possession of him who became the first  
presiding officer of your republic4 ,i  
do not refer to these facts in a spirit 
of censure to those men1 so enlightened 
and liberty loving beyond their times2  
but only to show that singular limit of 
vision which sincerely proclaimed the   
equality of all men1 which fostering a  
political method which must in time     
enslave or pauperize the majority4      
,there can be no doubt but that the     
unlimited privileges of capital in these
 directions have greatly accelerated    
your material progress4 ,the speedy     
utilization of the immense resources of 
your own republic has hidden and        
disguised the evil it was gradually     

producing4 ,the new fields of labor     
opened by the many monopoly enterprises 
have satisfied and quieted it2 and the  
open invitation1 for the time being1 of 
a partnership with capital in the       
occupancy of the soil for purposes of   
cultivation1 leaves no apparent ground  
of complaint among the masses who toil4 
,thus have your demands for labor been  
so much greater than the supply1 that   
large accessions have been drawn from   
the older countries of the ,earth4      
,these furnishing the bone and sinew for
 still more rapid development1 your     
progress has become the wonder of the   
age4 ,you will perceive1 however1 that  
the general prosperity among all classes
 of your society1 and the absence of any
 great public grievance1 is just that   
condition which render the incursions of
 capital and wealth easy1 so that during
 all your enormous accumulations by the 
hands of your workers1 out of which they
 have little to show of gain besides    
their living expenses1 the most         

stupendous moneyed fortunes of history  
have fallen into the hands of the few4  
,unlike the older countries of the      
,earth1 where the increasing poverty of 
the masses is a natural and unavoidable 
sequence of the large accumulations of  
wealth in few hands1 your poor do not   
grow sensibly poorer during this unequal
 distribution4 ,your enormous resources 
hold up labor to a condition of         
comparative prosperity during all these 
inroads upon it4 ,as a consequence1 of  
the abundance which the bounties of     
nature have supplied to you1 and the    
stimulated energies which your rewarded 
industries have induced1 your labor     
unconsciously submits to the extraction 
of an unfair portion of the wealth it   
produces without individual suffering4  
,the better condition of your workmen   
compared with those of other lands      
should not disguise the fact1 however1  
that capital and wealth get new         
assurance1 and encouraged to fresh      
demands upon the industries on this     

account4 ,although your poor do not yet 
grow sensibly poorer1 your rich are     
getting immeasurably richer4 ,the better
 opportunities for labor have brought   
millions of workers from abroad1 who in 
their rapid development of the country  
have so immensely appreciated land      
values that the bosom of the ,earth has 
been converted into a chattel for       
speculation1 and the chief business of  
wealth has been to pocket the increase  
which it has not earned4  ,you cannot   
fail to have observed1 that to this     
period your money class has had but     
little to do with land in your          
agricultural districts1 except to buy   
and sell it4 ,capital1 other than that  
limited quantity which has been created 
on the land1 has not thus far been led  
into the business of its cultivation1   
because from the abundance and easy     
acquirement of land it must come1 in so 
doing1 in such direct competition with  
labor as not to leave a satisfactory    
margin of profit4 ,when1 however1 your  

public lands shall have been all        
conveyed to private hands1 at which time
 the price of land products will not be 
governed as now by the willingness of   
labor to make out of their production a 
mere exchange for fair wages1 then1 and 
not till then1 will you find capital    
embarking to any great extent into the  
business of agriculture4  ,when this    
time arrives1 a change in your economy  
will gradually take place4 ,the         
relations held by labor with capital1   
which have heretofore been so modified  
by the easier conditions of the former1 
with its abundance of free soil to      
absorb its surplus1 will be driven back 
to its old state of greater dependence4 
,it will no longer experience the great 
advantage it has held so long in its    
partnership with the fertile earth4 ,its
 depression will reduce the earnings of 
innumerable monopoly schemes1 and the   
speculative opportunities of capital in 
the former rapid rise of land values    
will be reduced to a minimum4 ,the      

acquirement of land for use and         
cultivation will then become one of the 
most promising investments for capital  
extant4 ,there will be a rise in the    
price of food staples1 and rent for the 
first time in your history will enter   
into them as a large element of cost4   
,more than one easily recognized agency 
of your civilization will tend to reduce
 the number of your small farms1 and to 
throw the business of food supply       
completely under the control of your    
wealthy and capital class4 ,your small  
holders now occupying lands of the lower
 grades of fertility1 and who with their
 limited means but little more than     
sustain themselves1 will readily submit 
their titles to capitalists1 who with   
the advantage of costly labor saving    
machines1 will find the cultivation of a
 number of such tracts thrown into one  
of sufficient profit to engage their    
means4  ,the labor saving contrivances  
which your ingenuity has devised for    
agricultural pursuits will hasten the   

demand for larger holdings1 and although
 they greatly cheapen the expense of    
production1 they will not lower the     
market price of food4 ,while machinery  
more than makes up for its curtailment  
of the services of labor1 by its cheaper
 supplies to it in articles of          
manufacture1 no such open and           
unrestricted competition can exist in   
the supply of commodities which require1
 as a necessity of their production1 a  
natural agent whose possession is in    
every sense of the word a monopoly4     
,machinery has never cheapened the      
supply of raw materials which come      
directly from the soil1 because its use 
for cultivation has only been           
exceptional1 and it can never become    
general as long as land is held in small
 tracts4 ,this very condition is the one
 which will engage the attention of     
investors in land for the profits of    
use1 and at the first permanent advance 
in the price of your food staples the   
operation of turning small farms into   

large ones will begin4  ,the privilege  
and the hope of all to get possession of
 a large or small portion of the earth's
 surface1 gives to your personal        
ownership system an appearance of       
fairness not at variance with your      
popular aspirations of equality1 and the
 evil will not be generally admitted1   
until it gets to be more seriously felt4
  ,i am sorry to say of you that the    
principle of equality1 as we understand 
it1 has never been sincerely considered 
or acted upon by any of the governments 
of the earth4 ,you have taken it for    
granted that a serving and dependent    
class1 composing four-fifths of your    
numbers1 must always assist to make up  
the sum of your population1 and no      
legislative measure can be found in your
 records which sustains this large body 
of your people against the encroachments
 with which wealth and capital are      
continually permitted to invade their   
interests4 ,liberty itself is of but    
little value1 when life becomes a       

forfeiture of all the ways and means to 
improve it4 ,there is1 in fact1 no      
liberty in the correct sense1 where all 
the moments of life must be bartered for
 the means to live4  ,so far as your    
development has progressed1 the         
sentiment of brotherhood1 as we know it1
 has never intruded itself into the     
spirit of your legislation4 ,the        
spectacle of four-fifths of your number 
toiling from sun to sun to no purpose   
but that the balance may be enriched has
 inspired no compassion1 and evoked no  
measure of relief4 ,in the regions of   
your authority1 where there should be   
some touch of the fraternal instinct1   
nothing presides but the selfish and    
mercenary genius of ,mammon4 ,the divine
 impulse for better things is among you1
 but instead of laying out its work in  
the practical affair of life1 it has    
been diverted into the channels of your 
busy but unfruitful creeds4 ,you wear   
your religion like a holiday garment4   
,we have learned to wear ours as a      

common garb4  ,the past is burnt out1   
with a residue of but little value      
except as a warning4 ,the future is not 
ours1 but of the universe with its      
hidden and irrevocable destiny4 ,the    
present belongs to us1 and it is our    
creed to be happy in its possession4 ,we
 could have sown fears as you have1 and 
could have been as overwhelmed with     
their multiplied terrors4 ,we could have
 invented a circumstantial paradise like
 yours1 with its pathway of extinguished
 temporal hopes1 and its discouragements
 of the noblest ambitions to build out  
of the materials in sight2 but to what  
purpose except an unworthy one8 ,the    
present is ours4 ,our field is among the
 living things which surround us4 ,the  
most of life to us is its possibilities 
of happiness1 and the opportunities it  
affords for the enjoyment of our        
religious impulses to serve the ,deity  
in advancing ourselves and our society  
toward that state of perfection to which
 under the supreme intelligence all     

things are seen to tend4     ,,chapter  
,,xii4   ,a notable condition of your   
society compared with ours is the tardy 
advance of your women from that complete
 subjection to men which existed in your
 primary state4 ,it is not surprising   
that in your present stage of progress  
the males of your race should continue  
to usurp many of the privileges which   
came to them as an inheritance from a   
savage and brutal ancestry of           
comparatively recent existence1 and your
 gradual awakening to a sense of justice
 in that direction is one of the many   
evidences that you are moving along on  
the lines marked out for you by the     
divine law of evolution in thought4  ,we
 have found certain active qualities of 
mind1 predominating everywhere in women1
 indispensable to a better progress in  
social advancement1 and great things    
have been wrought to us by our present  
absolute equality of the sexes4 ,the    
full value of women as factors in social
 progress is not known1 nor even        

suspected by you1 because you have never
 witnessed the experiment of a complete 
withdrawal of those restrictions which  
hold them in subjection2 yet1 it is a   
fact that in what are truly the noblest 
advances in humanity1 they are your     
superiors4 ,they have left further      
behind them the brutalisms of the past1 
are deeper touched with your            
inhumanities1 and will go further to    
banish them than your men4  ,your       
estimate of the mental capacity of women
 is singularly erroneous4 ,the cropping 
out occasionally of their intellectual  
achievements1 and the marked increase of
 such with the multiplication of        
opportunities1 must have hinted to you  
that their silence1 and apparent        
inferiority in the higher mental        
efforts1 were alone due to their long   
period of subordination1 during which   
the usages of your society have         
discouraged any attempts to enter the   
field as competitors with men4 ,in the  
full swing of opportunity and           

encouragement allowed them by us1 they  
have raised themselves to a very high   
plane1 especially in literature1 poetry 
and art4 ,we owe to them many of our    
masterpieces in these attainments1 and  
their aptitude for study and            
investigation is shown in the even place
 they hold with us in science and the   
professions4 ,those feminine qualities  
of mind which are described by you as   
heart1 sympathy1 sentiment and emotion1 
and which are generally considered by   
you as out of place in affairs of state1
 are the very ones of which you have the
 greatest need in legislation4 ,it is   
principally through the feelings        
mentioned that divine impulses are      
expressed1 and yet that part of         
yourselves where they most prevail are  
excluded from your councils4  ,a model  
of all that is best in your governments 
is to be found no where except within   
the family4 ,the ready helpfulness and  
equal attention to the welfare of one   
another within its precincts1 extended  

into the motives and aims of your public
 policies1 embrace everything necessary 
to a perfect government2 yet1 you have  
selected out of the family for the sole 
direction of your public affairs its    
hardest and most selfish part1 its      
selfishness intensified in its dealings 
with society beyond the confines of     
home1 by those absorbing paternal       
responsibilities--in great measure due  
to the subordination of women--which in 
many ways interfere with efforts for the
 good of the whole4  ,from the nature of
 things your men are more easily        
overcome by evil political forces than  
your women would be4 ,the latter1 being 
more closely allied to the interests of 
the family1 in its moral training1 and  
less willing to sacrifice the benefit of
 example1 are consequently less         
corruptible than men4 ,women have a     
greater natural affinity for virtue than
 men1 more unselfishness and a larger   
concern for the moral welfare of        
mankind1 exhibited in their more earnest

 support of religion4  ,with the        
enfranchisement of women the humanities 
of life would enter more largely into   
your politics4 ,you have proofs of this 
in the few local instances where they   
have been granted suffrage rights4 ,the 
desirable family methods and sentiments1
 of which they are better exponents than
 men1 have never failed to come to the  
surface as indications of their         
presence4 ,they have invariably shown a 
greater inclination than men to consider
 the welfare of persons in legislation  
as against the welfare alone of         
property1 which has to the present so   
monopolized and corrupted your politics4
 ,your legislation in the hands of men  
alone has accomplished but little in    
alleviating the distresses of humanity4 
,the cold and calculating hand of       
speculation1 which invests only to call 
back its capital with high usury1 has   
always held your law making as a ready  
instrument for its purposes1 and without
 loftier views1 your governments will   

continue to miss their opportunities for
 benefitting mankind4 ,by the admission 
of women the higher sentiments would    
sooner find a place4 ,it would be the   
first step in bringing natural religion 
and politics together4 ,the present     
irrational state of your spiritual      
beliefs retards the adoption of a moral 
code in your systems of government4     
,with you1 the ,state is led to care for
 nothing in the interest of morality1   
except a punishment of its infractions4 
,it ignores1 as no part of its duties1  
all incentives to goodness1 and in      
dealing with crime the service of its   
prevention1 in any other way than       
punishment1 is not considered1          
principally because other departments of
 society have assumed for ages the      
public control and promotion of the     
virtues4  ,a wider range in the duties  
of government is opposed by many of you 
as objectionable paternalism4 ,such of  
you overlook the fact that there can be 
no paternalism in a republic4 ,such a   

system is co-operation pure and simple1 
and neither good nor evil can           
permanently exist without the consent of
 the whole4 ,the nearer you get to      
complete co-operation1 the more perfect 
your government becomes4 ,the greatest  
vices of misgovernment among you are to 
be found in granting precedence of one  
interest over others1 that interest in  
most cases being a capitalistic one1    
often antagonizing the welfare of many  
individuals4 ,among your industrial     
class1 less than one-tenth are          
employers1 whose political weight has so
 overcome the majority as to have       
excluded any direct legislation in its  
behalf1 and so far as these conditions  
exist1 the principle of co-operation    
which should be the corner stone of your
 government has not been faithfully     
carried out4 ,a greater1 and in our     
view1 a more glaring violation of this  
principle is your exclusion of women    
from the rights of representation in    
your government4 ,you cannot deny that  

they have separate interests to care    
for4 ,you will find upon examination of 
your assessment rolls that nearly       
one-fifth of all your real and personal 
estate is owned by them1 and of the     
greater part of the balance they are    
interested by matrimonial partnerships  
with men4 ,their property ownerships    
alone entitle them to the rights of     
suffrage1 in the denial of which you    
have no excuse whatever but the usage   
and custom of barbaric ages extended to 
the present1 and the prejudice of a     
society grown familiar and blinded to   
its injustice4 ,the struggles of labor  
for better recognition1 and the         
agitation for woman suffrage are        
evolutionary movements in thought1 and  
in your advanced government indicate the
 coming of a more perfect co-operation4 
,the political subjection of women1 and 
the subjection of labor helplessly to   
the law of supply and demand1 without   
legislative assistance or attention1 are
 at present your most prominent relics  

of barbarism4 ,they are both endured    
because the parties to be benefitted    
have never yet enjoyed the privileges   
due them4 ,neither one or the other are 
consequently aroused to action in their 
own behalf1 and when these rights are   
acquired by them it will be more owing  
to an enlightened public opinion than to
 any concerted action by themselves4 ,it
 is well known that your slaves had     
little to do with the abolition of      
slavery1 and it is therefore not a      
proper argument against the granting of 
these privileges that the persons to be 
benefitted are not all clamoring for    
them2 or that1 in the case of woman     
suffrage1 a large majority of women are 
indifferent and a few opposed4  ,the    
subjection of women to men in all the   
political and business affairs of life  
have greatly modified the characters of 
both4 ,you have confined the lives of   
your women to innumerable small details4
 ,her aspirations and powers have been  
confined within this narrow scope4 ,the 

absorption of their whole minds has been
 in a set of small ideas and            
occupations1 from one to the other in   
continuous exercise4 ,in such a life    
profound thought and loftier emotions   
are not encouraged4 ,they have but      
little incentive to the acquirement of  
general knowledge1 for it can be of no  
practical use to them1 and being early  
impressed with a sense of their         
dependence upon men1 their lives are    
given up to all the small devices for   
obtaining power over them in the        
sensuous fields of personal adornment   
and display4 ,theirs1 as well as other  
human minds1 must be shallowed under    
such conditions2 yet of the two sexes   
their duties are the most serious and   
responsible in shaping the destinies of 
mankind4 ,theirs is the chief part in   
the forming of minds1 both by heredity  
and training1 and with their limited    
opportunities for broadened thought you 
can look for nothing more in them than  
those narrow prejudices1 which are in   

turn transmitted1 and which are so      
manifest in all your society4 ,this     
narrowness is one of your most unhappy  
traits2 it is almost universal among    
you4 ,until quite recently you have only
 had a man here and there capable and   
willing to fairly examine a question    
which interferes with traditional       
beliefs and old modes of thought4 ,you  
have formed no conception of how much   
this state of things is due to the      
limited mental horizon in which your    
women have been confined4 ,the          
intellects of your best men have not    
been multiplied and reproduced as they  
should have been1 owing to the loss of  
their strength and fibre in the process 
of reproduction1 through your average   
non-high thought producing female minds4
  ,the extended barbaric relations which
 your women hold to men1 though greatly 
modified by civilization1 has carried   
with it enough of its primary feelings  
and motives to influence a large        
majority of your matrimonial            

engagements1 where in truth1 it may be  
said that the attraction is sensual to a
 degree not willingly acknowledged1 and 
this being more and more the case as you
 descend in the social scale1 you will  
find here your women going through life 
helplessly subject to the lingering     
brutalism which your customs and laws   
enforce4 ,it is from the animalism of   
these low life marriages that a large   
sum of your miseries and crimes are     
produced4 ,your inferior men have but   
little respect for those subject to     
their power1 and in many cases use a    
tyrannical authority over their         
defenseless wives in gratification of a 
mean instinct of humanity4 ,it is the   
only opportunity perhaps that brutal    
husbands enjoy in their whole lives to  
command a grown person who is under an  
obligation by law1 custom and religion  
to obey4 ,such a dangerous subjection of
 one human being to another could only  
be excused by a certainty that the      
welfare of your society depended upon   

it1 when in fact the condition is one of
 the obstacles to a better social state4
  ,during your barbaric period1 and for 
a long time thereafter1 women made no   
protest against her subordinate position
 in society4 ,it has been her place for 
ages to suffer more than her share of   
the pains and trials of human           
replenishment4 ,she has been taught to  
believe that this was her only part in  
the world's economy1 and men have held  
her to it by all the force of           
ecclesiastical and secular bonds4 ,in   
all your glorious modern achievements of
 science and general knowledge until    
lately she has not even been an invited 
spectator4 ,while the world in front has
 been all astir in the movements of     
progress1 she has only been permitted to
 listen and wonder at the applause      
through the rear windows of the nursery 
and kitchen2 not knowing what it all    
meant and not educated to approve1 or   
even to understand1 its glorious import4
 ,having never been accustomed to think 

on any great subject1 she has held to   
her traditions after they have been     
discredited and denied by the knowledge 
of her times1 and imparting them to     
childhood in all their ancient mixture  
of error has assisted to keep alive     
those prejudices among you which have so
 seriously blocked your advancement4    
,this is one of the penalties you have  
paid for your subjection of women4      
,those traditions to which she so       
defiantly clings she will never be      
persuaded to discard in her present     
dependent condition4 ,it may be said to 
her honor that they are mistakenly      
pursued as the only great method within 
her reach to indulge her concern for    
human welfare4 ,you must give her new   
duties1 and arouse in her new ambitions1
 before you can expect her to take her  
proper place beside man in the march of 
progress4 ,it is only within the last   
two or three generations that a glint of
 the outside enlightenment has          
penetrated her retired circle1 and under

 its revelation she is already in some  
quarters demanding her rights4 ,she is  
beginning to understand that procreation
 is not the chief purpose in life1 but  
only one of its incidentals2 that its   
processes from first to last are guided 
exclusively by animal instincts1 among  
which men have compelled her to         
sacrifice the best parts of her life2   
that although nature has imposed upon   
her the larger share in these processes1
 and all their pains1 it has also       
bestowed upon her capabilities which are
 clearly designed for more exalted      
stations than mere breeders of men and  
gratifiers of their animal pleasures1 so
 unduly stimulated on the earth as the  
unintellectual and chief attraction of  
the sexes4 ,you have perhaps but little 
conception of how much that reckless    
sexual impulse to matrimony1            
unrestrained by your laws1 and          
encouraged by your religion1 has swollen
 your ranks of poverty1 crime and       
imbecility4 ,your women in their        

dependence and subjection have but one  
source of power at their service1 and   
they have used it for all it was worth4 
,as a consequence1 even to the present  
period of your civilization1 qualities  
of mind cuts no figure against the      
voluptuous animalism of person in       
securing husbands than it did in        
barbaric times4  ,it is the rarest thing
 among you to find an intellectually    
mated husband and wife qualified by     
equal education and opportunities to be 
in perfect accord and sympathy in the   
pursuit of high purposes4 ,among your   
higher circles are to be found          
occasionally one of these congenial     
matings1 the happiest conditions of     
matrimonial existence1 where by good    
breeding and cultivation a man tacitly  
ignores his superiority under your      
unjust usages2 but although the wife may
 be in sympathy with the ambition and   
purposes of her husband in his          
intellectual labors she is seldom able  
to assist him owing to educational      

differences4 ,with us the wife has more 
than encouragement to offer4 ,her mind  
becomes a part of her husband's and     
increases his capabilities4 ,many of our
 highest achievements in brain work are 
the result of such collaboration of two 
minds working as one4 ,the rare cases   
instanced among you are only to be found
 in your cultivated circles1 below      
these1 in all degrees to the bottom     
mental equality in women is oftener the 
source of contention than happiness1 and
 you must expect to have this unhappy   
condition increased until you have      
granted them their rightful position in 
society4 ,so long as their subjection to
 men was hopeless and they were taught  
by their theological superiors to obey  
their husbands1 and by the same         
advisors1 their separation denied or    
discouraged1 they meekly submitted to   
abuse and suffering because without a   
hope of relief2 but as it is becoming   
more and more apparent to you that the  
subjection of your women is one of the  

many ancient fallacies1 the gradual     
reasoning of them out of existence is   
paving the way for woman's liberty4     
,nature has designed that women shall   
only devote a portion of her life to    
maternity and its attendant duties4 ,it 
has set her free of them at a time when 
her mind and body are fully capable of  
most of the avocations of life4 ,having 
fulfilled these great services to       
mankind1 you have ordained by custom and
 usage that she shall remain thereafter 
a mere unconsidered supernumerary on the
 world's stage4 ,in your lower circles  
she becomes a helpless drudge in the    
interests of her children1 and in the   
higher ones1 either an unwelcome        
retainer in the household of a daughter1
 or a more or less constrained member in
 the family of a son2 but in all of     
these her lot is a happy one when       
compared with her utter desolation in   
the world when her children have        
departed from her by immigration or     
death4 ,you have given her no part in   

great affairs1 and she has but little   
knowledge of or interest in them4 ,they 
afford her no entertainment amid her    
loneliness1 and by the narrow training  
of her faculties1 diverted only by the  
minor things of life1--its personal     
episodes and gossiping incidents--she   
lives out her remaining purposeless     
career4 ,this mere lack of mind         
expansion has been cited against her as 
a sex weakness1 but it is safe to       
predict that if men had been subject to 
such conditions1 without her deep human 
sympathies and her religion1 they would 
have fallen into complete mental        
imbecility1 and if men for all the ages 
past had been confined as she had been  
to duties requiring no high attainments1
 the present balance of mind work could 
not be shown in their favor4  ,with us  
maternity is not allowed to absorb the  
whole of a woman's life4 ,while we      
accord to her1 in consideration of its  
responsibilities and pains1 an exemption
 from all the physically exhausting     

occupations1 she is encouraged in all   
others to which her capabilities are    
adapted2 accordingly with us she is an  
open competitor with men in many lines  
of business1 some of which are entirely 
given over to her by general consent4   
,by multiplying her opportunities in    
this way1 she is not1 as with you in    
most cases1 helpless and dependent4 ,she
 moves around among men as their equal1 
discussing matters of business and      
questions of public policy like one of  
them4 ,she joins them in out door sports
 and athletics1 in which she often      
excels1 and these relations which the   
sexes hold to each other1 so differing  
from yours1 entirely changes their lines
 of attraction4 ,in their closer        
association with us it becomes possible 
for men and women to thoroughly         
understand each other4 ,they do not move
 in two separate worlds as with you1    
artfully disguising their characters and
 feelings from each other1 wearing a    
different manner as occasions require   

for deception4 ,men select matrimonial  
companions with us as they choose       
friends among themselves1 sympathy of   
feeling and sincerity being primary     
motives of attraction4 ,it is only the  
general untruthfulness of your society  
carried into matrimony which makes it in
 so many cases unhappy4 ,you have so    
inculcated the arts of deception and    
falsehood into your lives that they have
 come at last to be openly pursued as   
legitimate methods of thrift4 ,one could
 not find a better indication of the    
insincerity of your society than this   
metropolitan journal on your table4     
,here is a strong editorial commending  
truth1 another a well written homily on 
honesty1 and on the connecting pages1   
authorized by the same hands1 hundreds  
of advertisements in all shades of      
deception to catch the unwary4 ,with the
 gradual decadence of force as a means  
of preying upon one another1 you have so
 cultivated falsehood to take its place 
that the life of each individual among  

you is kept constantly on the watch to  
protect his interests4 ,hypocrisy in    
religion1 and deception in matrimony1   
belong to those vices which at present  
disgrace your civilization1 and of which
 your women must always suffer most so  
long as you keep them excluded from a   
free intercourse in the world's affairs4
  ,the difference in our treatment of   
women has very materially changed their 
points of attraction4 ,while we can see 
no beauty in a woman without            
enlightenment1 and can find no full     
companionship in her without her        
knowledge of our world and its affairs1 
these qualities are not so much         
considered by you4 ,the idea of a       
fitness to live together1 as equals in  
everything1 is not entertained1 by      
either the one or the other of you1 in  
these serious life contracts4 ,your     
women submit their dependence as a      
virtue1 and it is accepted1 as well as  
their gentleness1--so often assumed1--as
 a flattering offer to men's vanity of  

power4 ,there is seldom a marriage among
 you without the hidden satisfaction of 
a man with his new entrance into        
authority4 ,any subsequent development  
of individuality or independence of     
character in the women1 must result in  
discord4 ,we meet each other1 in such   
contracts1 on the common ground of      
equality4 ,there are no political or    
domestic rights which both do not       
equally enjoy2 consequently1 women are  
not tempted into blandishments1 and     
deceptions1 for the conquests of men4   
,owing to their independence and        
helpfulness1 the marriage proposal is   
never accepted as an extreme            
opportunity1 leading them to take       
desperate chances1 among conditions that
 are not promising to happiness4 ,this1 
you have forced them to do1 by closing  
all other doors against them4  ,you may 
suspect that the admission of women     
amongst us1 in the affairs of business  
and government1 has coarsened them1 and 
given them a character of what is known 

among you as masculinity4 ,that is not  
so4 ,their amiability of manner1 instead
 of being lost1 is conveyed and         
multiplied among our business methods4  
,all men1 among the civilized nations of
 the earth1 are softened by female      
association4 ,outside your regions of   
degradation1 this has been invariably   
the case1 and you have proofs of it     
already in the instances among you where
 women have taken a hand in affairs     
outside the household4 ,when1 by        
superior intelligence and force of      
character1 they have made their way to  
success and fame among the pursuits of  
men1 they have carried with them1 in    
every case1 that soft femininity of     
which they are naturally endowed4 ,your 
often expressed fears of hardening1 or  
in some injuring them1 by an admission  
to equal rights1 is not entirely        
sincere4 ,to keep on good terms with    
them1 and to retain their approbation1  
you have been led to conceal from them  
many of your doubtful business and      

political methods1 and you hesitate to  
admit them into these fields with you1  
not more from the dread of their        
contamination1 than the exposure it     
would bring about of ways1 which you    
have heretofore so carefully concealed4 
,there is many a successful politician1 
or business man among you1 who poses    
before his wife and lady friends as a   
hero of finance1 or statesmanship1 who  
could not do so1 did they share with him
 a knowledge of the incidents and       
manipulations which brought about his   
success4 ,deference to women1 and a     
regard for their esteem beyond that of  
men1 is a human attribute apparent in   
your whole history4 ,it has been the    
inspiration of your best poetry1 and    
your most stirring romance4 ,in your    
middle ages1 under what is known among  
you as chivalry1 it has led you to deeds
 of virtue in upholding the right1 far  
beyond the prevailing oppression4 ,how  
much the conduct of men is modified1 and
 their evil tendencies checked1 by a    

regard for the good opinion of women1   
every man can judge by examination of   
himself4 ,in how many dangerous moments 
has temptation been cast aside1 by the  
fear of evil report to some fond wife1  
mother1 sister1 daughter1 or lady       
friends1 when1 to sacrifice the good    
opinion of men alone1 would have been no
 bar8  ,by our greater attention to the 
laws of health1 and our governmental    
restriction of unhealthful marriages1   
which ,i will describe to you further   
on1 we have developed a far greater     
average of physical perfection in women 
that exists with you4 ,in connection    
with this there are other advantages    
which our women enjoy beyond yours1     
which greatly enhance their personal    
attractiveness and beauty4 ,their equal 
educational opportunities under our     
system1 of which they are not slow to   
avail themselves1 the hopefulness and   
lack of austerity in our religion1 and  
the interest they are led to exhibit in 
great affairs1 are so marked in their   

demeanor and physiognomy as to render   
them very different beings4 ,as we      
estimate beauty1 you have only a women  
here and there who compares with them4  
,among your mass of women1 the facial   
expression of their long subjection1 and
 its attendant conditions are strikingly
 observable to us4 ,features1 no matter 
how perfectly lined1 without the light  
of cultivation and knowledge1 and which 
are destined to become1 in conjugal     
association1 clouded with the cares of  
an overwrought maternity1 and dejected  
by a threatening and superstitious      
religion1 would have no charms to any   
member of our society4 ,with us1 their  
faces reflect the consciousness of      
absolute equality1 and are illuminated  
with daily religious duties1 which      
consist1 in accordance with our belief1 
in making the ways of life pleasant1 and
 its paths peaceful1 and in assisting in
 all things toward the improvement of   
ourselves and society1 in the process of
 which it is our religion to assist1 and

 in the performance of which1 they work 
with us as equals to attain4            
,,chapter ,,xiii4   ,you must have      
suspected before this that1 so far as   
the rapid accumulation of wealth is     
concerned1 our society was in that      
stationary condition so much dreaded by 
your economists as the end of all       
material progress4 ,an assumption among 
your thinkers that any permanent        
diminishment of the production of wealth
 is the forerunner of disaster to       
society1 is one of those mistakes easily
 accounted for by the surroundings of   
your present stage of development4 ,your
 experience teaches you that where the  
wealth producing energies are in the    
highest stage of action1 your           
civilization shows all its other forces 
equally advancing2 and where on the     
other hand1 capital and wealth are      
restricted1 there is a state of general 
stagnation4 ,these opposite conditions1 
however1 you will find to be1 more than 
anything else1 the result of difference 

in degrees of intelligence1 knowledge1  
and consequently ambition4 ,your aims1  
even the higher ones1 are so            
indissolubly connected with wealth as   
the means by which most of them are     
promoted1 that your incentives to       
acquire riches have become a part of    
your intellectual constitution4 ,where  
the penalty of a straightened financial 
condition is the forfeiture of          
everything which makes life desirable1  
even a denial of the opportunities of   
association with the better class1 and a
 surrender of offspring to the          
degradation and contempt which comes of 
limited knowledge1 it may reasonably be 
expected that the struggle for wealth   
would be keen4 ,equally as an incentive 
also are the innumerable avenues of     
gain1 which are everywhere open for the 
investment of capital1 and the          
remarkable profits which accrue to keep 
up the spirit of money-making adventure4
 ,you will certainly agree with me that 
this crushing1 elbowing1 and treading on

 each other's heels in the attempt to   
get money is not the best possible form 
or type of society3 more especially     
since you are not all fairly and evenly 
equipped in this struggle1 the mass of  
your people reap no benefit from it1 and
 its result is only to double up the    
incomes of the few4  ,stagnation is not 
necessarily a condition of the          
stationary state1 as many of your       
writers lead you to believe4 ,it is     
merely a revolution in the aims of      
society1 brought about by changes which 
are inevitable1 and which your          
civilization is sooner or later bound to
 reach4 ,every newly applied science and
 invention1 and above all every acre of 
land brought under cultivation1 render  
this period so much dreaded by you more 
remote2 but you will come to it all the 
same4 ,it will merely be a using up of  
all the resources of capital to         
,,rapidly multiply itself4 ,during your 
present progressive period1 so far as   
that term is applicable to the speedy   

gathering in of wealth1 your society    
presents to us an aspect of mercenary   
abandonment beyond anything we have ever
 experienced ourselves1 and with a full 
knowledge of the end that will come we  
look forward with a high degree of      
interest to that time when you will     
arrive at the stationary condition4  ,as
 you approach that period where the     
diminished profits of capital will      
discourage the great activity and       
aggressiveness which now characterize   
it1 some very great changes will        
gradually be brought about4 ,assuming   
that labor will continue to enlighten   
itself it will slowly change its        
relations with capital1 so that in the  
end instead of being below1 as it is    
now1 it will be on top1 as with us4     
,many of the ways by which wealth now   
multiplies itself will be shut off1 and 
with its acquirement no longer          
indispensable to the honors of life1 and
 the difficulties of its attainment in  
any large volume increased1 society will

 not be given so intensely to its       
individual accumulation4 ,your          
intellectual activities will be turned  
more in the direction of other motives4 
,to repair waste and provide for the    
necessities of the living will be about 
all that is left to employ your         
industries1 and there will be enough for
 capital to do within these limits to   
moderately enlarge itself2 while yet    
within this narrowed field1 limited     
wealth will be able to provide itself   
with income enough to sustain and reward
 habits of prudential saving4 ,although 
great wealth will be exceedingly        
difficult to obtain1 a fair competency  
will be within the reach of all2 since  
labor coming to the front1 owing to the 
weakened powers of wealth1 will assume  
its deserving place in the forces of    
economy and legislation1 and will demand
 and receive a fairer share of the      
profits of industry4  ,after the advance
 of civilization and knowledge beyond a 
certain period1 the ambitions and       

necessities of a people will furnish    
abundant incentives to keep society in a
 state of activity4 ,the energies of    
life are stimulated1 not so much by the 
large occasional rewards which come to a
 few1 like prizes in a lottery1 as the  
steady and certain remuneration of each 
day's output of action to all4 ,the     
ability to obtain from industry a       
considerable margin beyond the daily    
expenses of life is sufficient to keep  
alive the mental and physical energies1 
and is certain to bring about that      
general state of hopefulness1 which more
 than anything else promotes thrift and 
stimulates ambition4  ,it may be        
somewhat at variance with your views of 
political economy1 to believe that any  
reduction of the power and value of     
capital will not in a corresponding     
degree depress labor4 ,you must bear in 
mind1 however1 that the stationary      
state1 as exemplified by our society1   
differs from your progressive condition1
 not in the lesser abundance of capital1

 but in its better diffusion1 more      
dependent relations1 and smaller        
comparative profits4 ,it follows from   
this as a matter of course1 that it     
requires the possession of a larger     
amount of the products of labor to bring
 about that condition of life known as a
 competency than it does with you4 ,but 
by a well determined arrangement in all 
ways in favor of those who toil1 by     
which a fair margin is secured between  
income and expense1 the coveted         
independence is always within reach4    
,under our system1 capital becoming     
diffused among the masses in            
comparatively small portions1 and having
 no such extraordinary uses1 nor such   
high rates of interest as with you1 it  
assumes its natural place as an adjunct 
to all the enterprises of labor4 ,all   
our factories are consequently carried  
on by co-operation4 ,no such a thing is 
known on our planet as the owner of a   
manufacturing establishment depressing  
at his will and pleasure the pay of     

perhaps a whole community of working    
people4 ,when an establishment is       
required for the manufacture of some    
product in demand1 our workmen undertake
 it as a business belonging wholly to   
themselves1 and there is never any lack 
of means among them to do it4  ,the     
utter helpless condition of your        
workmen1 as a class1 is not entirely    
owing to their enforced scant share in  
the profits of industry4 ,whoever among 
them1 by greater abstinence or          
otherwise1 succeeds in saving any       
considerable portion of his earnings1   
hastens either to change his situation  
for that of employer1 where             
self-interest inclines him to favor low 
wages1 or to seek among the greater     
encouragements outside a change of      
occupation4 ,by this process capital and
 labor are constantly being divorced1   
and the ranks of your workmen are left  
to contain only those whose necessities 
hold them there4  ,in the condition of  
things with us1 bestowing upon labor all

 the emoluments of industry1 it becomes 
the most advantageous pursuit of life4  
,with wages at a uniform and fixed sum1 
from which there can be no deviation    
except to increase1 the working man     
proceeds to lay by his surplus1 until1  
in a reasonable time1 it can be made to 
do service in adding to the fruits of   
his toil4  ,in our society there is no  
possibility1 and no one has hopes of    
gaining money by chance4 ,we hold it to 
be a demoralizing evil that wealth      
should be obtained without industry4    
,the quality of mind which you honor    
under the name of shrewdness1 and which 
seldom hesitates to profit by the losses
 and even the miseries of others1 would 
find life a burden on account of the    
odium attached1 in any community on our 
planet4 ,the privilege to build up an   
individual fortune1 by taking from the  
substance of the whole people in any    
unlimited degree which an unscrupulous  
ingenuity can devise1 is one of the     
peculiarities of your civilization4 ,to 

this general license1 with its very     
small limitation1 is to be ascribed most
 of your social miseries4 ,the lessons  
presented to your youth at the very     
first glance at the affairs of life are 
calculated to impress them with the     
belief that success is not so much for  
the strong and considerate1 as it is for
 the wary and cunning2 and that the     
business of creating wealth is of the   
slightest importance1 when compared with
 the many successful arts and schemes   
for capturing it after its production4  
,the example is witnessed everywhere    
among you of money-making without loss  
of honor or respect1 by the method of   
drawing from others1 by taking advantage
 of their necessities1 excessive and    
unfair portions of their substance for  
some sort of service rendered4 ,the     
consequence is that life with you is    
constantly renewed1 on the one hand1 by 
persons with more or less inherited     
capital1 who are educated to believe    
that existence is a game1 whose winning 

instances are the best guides to follow2
 and on the other by the great mass of  
hereditary toilers who submit themselves
 as victims under sheer force of        
necessity and usage4 ,this state of your
 civilization brings into play many of  
your lower feelings1 as indispensable   
instruments of success4 ,when           
selfishness is the chief promoter of    
thrift1 practical charity is only       
aroused by unusual provocation4 ,the    
miseries of existence are unseen and    
unfelt by others than the sufferers     
themselves among you1 just as your      
senses become oblivious to the presence 
of disturbing influences which you find 
it unprofitable to suppress4 ,the       
necessity for each one looking out for  
himself in your fierce battles of life  
makes him unmindful of others4 ,yet     
benevolence dwells within all your      
hearts as a divine attribute1 which     
cannot be wholly destroyed1 no matter   
how neglected its cultivation4 ,like the
 retarded germination of seed in a too  

deeply surmounting soil1 it comes to the
 light among you here and there1 under  
favorable conditions1 with an increasing
 frequency which reveals your destiny as
 unerringly as the golden horizon       
presages the coming of the sun4  ,the   
difference in the degree by which each  
individual holds the common welfare in  
comparison with his own1 marks the stage
 of progress towards perfection in      
society4 ,you hold within yourselves1 by
 a divine provision1 the elements to    
this end4 ,your history is full of      
instances to prove that self-sacrifice  
is an act which inspires a greater      
commendation than any other4 ,all your  
normal mental organizations are endowed 
with the propensity to benefit others1  
which only the conditions of your       
society circumscribe by a conflict of   
interest4 ,what is now in your higher   
faculties1 during your present          
development1 a pleasure1 will become a  
passion by further progress and         
cultivation1 and1 by a still more       

extended pursuit1 a necessity to the    
tranquility and enjoyment of your lives4
 ,filial and parental love from mere    
instincts have grown among you to be the
 most gratifying of inclinations4       
,sexual affinity1 from its origin of    
brutal desire1 has been transformed1 in 
your higher circles1 to a pure and      
tender sentiment of disinterested       
regard4 ,not long ago your lunatics were
 chained to stakes like beasts4 ,your   
infected were left to die upon the      
roadsides4 ,your infirm were shut from  
sight1 consumed with vermin among their 
rags4 ,you house1 clothe1 and care for  
all these now with almost the solicitude
 that parents bestow upon children4 ,if 
you should submit yourselves now for a  
time to the presence of these old       
inhumanities1 and observe their         
disturbing effects upon the happiness of
 your lives1 it would be a fair         
measurement of your progress toward the 
stationary state4  ,supposing yourself  
to be one of an audience assembled for  

the purpose of obtaining pleasure from a
 performance on the stage1 your delight 
would1 in a large degree1 depend upon   
the manifestations of approval          
surrounding you4 ,any expression of     
dissatisfaction would spoil your        
enjoyment1 no matter upon what it might 
be founded4 ,it might arise1 for        
instance1 from unfair opportunities of  
view1 or from the usurped privilege of  
some to obstruct the vision of others4  
,your inclinations1 arising from no     
higher motive than self interest1 would 
lead you to assist in bringing about    
that state of general satisfaction which
 is indispensable to your own comfort   
and happiness4 ,this illustrates one of 
the motives which1 in our stage of      
development1 impels us to arrange that1 
so far possible1 every individual shall 
enjoy equal privileges in society4      
,happiness is simply not possible       
without it4  ,your moralists might argue
 that to close and intimate a sympathy  
with the misfortunes of others would    

keep us so constantly unhappy as to make
 life unendurable4 ,in answer to this1  
you have only to consider that if you   
separate from all your ills those which 
either directly or remotely are brought 
upon you by your imperfect social state1
 there are but few left besides death   
and its attendant sorrows4 ,and of these
 few entirely comprised under the heads 
of sickness and accidents1 there is a   
possibility of their greater            
diminishment by better modes of life4   
,that you are slowly and gradually      
moving towards the stationary condition1
 unmistakable evidence proves4 ,material
 as well as spiritual indications       
confirm this belief4 ,you can easily    
observe that wealth in the hands of the 
few is losing its opportunities for     
rapid increase4 ,in your oldest advanced
 regions it has already worked out its  
resources to the extent of endeavoring  
to find abroad occasions for profitable 
use4 ,but for the monopoly of land1     
which enables it to extract from        

industry an amount for its services out 
of all proportion with its value        
elsewhere1 it would have been much      
further advanced towards the stationary 
state4  ,one of the greatest obstacles  
opposing your approach towards the      
perfect society is your propensity to   
theorize and speculate upon matters     
which it is not given you to know4 ,we  
have a saying that he who gets his feet 
in the air is lost4 ,we mean by that to 
convey the idea1 that all speculation   
not founded on positive knowledge is so 
utterly worthless1 that any indulgence  
therein is useless to society4 ,the     
opinion is unchallenged among us1 that  
the inhabitants of the ,earth are too   
prone to get their feet in the air4 ,and
 yet the very ease by which this        
misfortune is accomplished among you is 
a proof of your goodness4 ,your         
inclination to virtue is your weak side 
of approach1 and all your inherent and  
intuitive charity1 which might during   
all these centuries have been exercised 

upon yourselves1 has been to a great    
extent wasted upon your schemes of      
salvation1 in which you have no         
assurance whatever but the wild promises
 of imagination4 ,when you come fully to
 understand that happiness1 true        
prosperity1 virtue1 and even beauty are 
but synonyms of truth1 and that misery1 
crime1 misfortune1 and ugliness are but 
other names for falsehood1 you will no  
longer have any dread or hesitation to  
search for that verity which destroys   
old beliefs1 even though that search    
melts into air your most cherished      
traditions4 ,you come to understand     
after a while that a truth can          
disseminate nothing but good2 and that a
 falsehood1 no matter how venerable with
 age1 nor how respectable by adoption1  
can generate little else than evil4     
,your creeds have attracted you and     
plowed deep into your affections1       
because in them is gathered from        
yourselves the divine sentiments of     
goodness1 out of which they are all     

robed in a pretended monopoly4 ,your    
virtues are brought into service within 
their narrow limits1 and your energies  
and substance consumed in the work of   
enlarging their influence1 while the    
more fruitful material for your         
charities lies neglected in the evils   
and miseries of your society4  ,the     
,earth is your dominion4 ,tread firmly  
upon it4 ,remember it has been put into 
your keeping1 and that your people are  
entirely responsible for its social     
condition4 ,he who assists to improve   
that1 serves the ,deity better than he  
who spends his life in genuflections and
 prayers4 ,when you look around among   
the wretched criminals among you1       
punished and unpunished1 and the        
poverty-stricken1 and the sad-eyed1     
neglected children2 see the unsuppressed
 temptations to evil1 the unrecognized  
virtue1 and the uneven opportunities for
 individual advancement1 you should bear
 in mind that all these are but         
evidences of the violation of the trust 

imposed in you by the divine            
intelligence4 ,there is1 perhaps1 no    
spectacle upon the ,earth that inspires 
more pity among the inhabitants of      
,mars1 than the constant waste of your  
best parts in submitting yourselves to  
the impositions of your seers1 who lead 
you away from your duties1 under the    
theory that the ,earth is merely a      
battle ground and field of conquest for 
the perpetuation of their doctrines1 all
 else upon it being blank vanities4     
,they have kept you away from the true  
business of your lives1 and have        
mesmerized you1 alternately terrifying  
and delighting you by unreal fancies2   
now exhibiting to you a paradise and at 
another time a nightmare4 ,they have    
involved you in a perpetual shadow1     
discouraging you of all hopes of        
brightness until your celestial birth4  
,by exhibiting only your grosser parts1 
and threatening the vengeance of an     
austere and capricious god of their own 
imaginary creation1 they both degrade   

you and belittle your conceptions of the
 ,deity4 ,you could bend your faces     
upward with a better sincerity1 if1     
instead of following phantoms all these 
ages1 with your feet in the air1 you    
could show a truer interpretation of the
 divine purpose in establishing a       
happier and more perfect dwelling       
together4     ,,chapter ,,xiv4   ,i     
reside within a city of ,mars which1 in 
point of population and grandeur1 is one
 of the first on our planet4 ,in        
accordance with our custom of           
designating such places with names of   
quality1 it would be known in your      
language as the city of ,good ,will4 ,as
 it is the type of all others1 you are  
already informed of a few of its general
 features4 ,i will1 however1 give you   
some fuller description of our society  
and surroundings1 in only the hasty and 
imperfect manner which this opportunity 
affords4  ,with much the same feelings  
and inclinations as yours1 and with that
 love and cultivation of the beautiful  

which we have pursued as an element of  
our religion1 uninterrupted as with you 
by those delusions which destroy art1 we
 have advanced much beyond you in that  
direction4  ,it is to be noted1 as a    
coincidence proving the unity of all    
intelligence within the universe1 that  
we have designed an architecture not    
unlike that of your ancient ,greece4    
,our isolated exteriors1 such as villas 
and country residences1 bear a close    
resemblance to some of your ancient     
styles4 ,in our cities we have been     
obliged to conform to the condition of  
aerial navigation1 which has greatly    
restricted our elevated ornamentation1  
and forced upon us a system of curves   
instead of angles in our projections4   
,one of the most notable differences    
between your construction and ours is   
the material and form of our roofs1     
which are uniformly of solid glass1 and 
dome shaped4 ,the substance is laid on  
in a plastic state1 hardens in a short  
time1 is purely transparent1 and as     

difficult to fracture as stone4 ,the    
upper story of every house becomes by   
this method the chief source of light   
for its interior1 and by ingeniously    
formed horizontal curtains can be       
darkened at will4 ,we believe this to be
 one of the most important sanitary     
arrangements we possess1 and to which   
may be chiefly ascribed the health and  
vigor of our bodies4 ,in these bright   
upper apartments we bathe ourselves in  
the sun1 and enjoy the constant bloom   
and fragrance of flowers4  ,by a natural
 adaption1 these glass roofs have become
 inseparably connected with our         
religious lives4 ,our interest in the   
wonderful nightly exhibitions which they
 permit is increased by the general     
knowledge we have cultivated of the     
character and motions of the heavenly   
bodies4 ,as a consequence1 there are but
 few among us who cannot describe the   
paths and directions of the planets2 and
 it is quite safe to say that a majority
 of our people can compute the periods  

of opposition and conjunction between   
them4 ,no other exhibition so feeds and 
stimulates our religious impulses1 as   
the grand display of divine power in the
 unceasing motions of the spheres4 ,we  
bring the spectacle within our          
households1 and dwell with it4 ,it is   
the altar upon which we worship the     
great unseen4  ,each block of buildings 
is surmounted by a single roof of the   
transparent character ,i have described4
 ,in this way we have utilized all the  
space for dwelling or business purposes1
 and prevented those unsightly back     
yards which disfigure the cities of the 
,earth and lower their sanitary         
condition4 ,usually there are no        
partition walls except in the lower     
stories1 and these lofty upper          
apartments1 especially if over          
dwellings1 have their flattened         
dome-shaped roofs supported by a series 
of columns and arches artistically      
wrought and decorated1 and their        
interiors adorned with growing flower   

and statuary1 so as to furnish a        
delightful resort1 convenient to the    
neighborhood and open to all4  ,these   
extensive halls are a necessity to the  
social character of our people4 ,you may
 imagine how an intercourse based on    
perfect equality1 and with the paramount
 idea of obtaining pleasure by bestowing
 it1 would have its enjoyments enlarged 
by the unrestricted and unselected      
numbers participating4 ,music and       
dancing are delights with us beyond your
 experience4 ,we enjoy the advantages of
 atmospheric conditions and a degree of 
gravitating force which are peculiarly  
adapted to heighten these enjoyments4   
,our voice tones1 seldom without        
cultivation1 acquire an energy and      
brilliancy in our atmosphere unknown to 
you4 ,a combination of trained voices   
with us is so vastly superior to        
instrumental music1 that the latter is  
not known except as a novelty4 ,since   
the force of gravity is less with us our
 bodies are much lighter than yours1 and

 our motions are consequently more airy 
and graceful4 ,in movements like dancing
 there is less muscular energy expended1
 and a greater pleasure attained4       
,under these vast transparent domes1    
looking out upon the universe of planets
 and stars1 we dance1 and sing our hymns
 of praise to the ,deity1 asking for    
nothing1 but uniting our voices in the  
rhythms of poetry and music in a        
thanksgiving for the pleasures of life1 
and for that guidance which has directed
 us clear of the deadly superstitions of
 our neighboring planet1 and for that   
intelligence which has led us to find   
our true religious duties in exercising 
our better impulses within our own      
fields of action4  ,over our business   
quarters these upper stories1 less      
ornate and well ventilated1 serve the   
purposes of factories and work shops1   
where the sun's rays1 not so intense as 
with you1 owing to our greater distance 
from it1 are let in to brighten the     
hours of those who toil4 ,among these   

locations of industry are conditions    
that would surprise you4 ,there is the  
indispensable anteroom beside the       
entrance of each1 where1 enjoying the   
comfortable furniture1 may be found a   
number of operatives waiting for the    
beginning of the three-hour shift4 ,they
 are all on terms of easy familiarity1  
yet among them may be found the         
president of the grand council1 who     
manages the affairs of the city1 the    
lecturer who presides at the temple1 and
 other prominent worthies mingled with  
the others who have achieved no honors  
beyond the work bench4 ,the person who  
is most complimented among the number is
 the one who has just been granted an   
advance of one grade in the skill of his
 calling4 ,he has attained what would be
 an equivalent in your society to the   
honors of a collegiate degree1 with the 
very material difference in his favor1  
that for years to come1 and perhaps as  
long as he lives1 his income is         
permanently increased by an enhanced    

value to his labor4 ,no competition will
 ever1 under our system1 render         
valueless this achievement of his4      
,your degrees of learning are but empty 
honors compared with this profitable    
distinction4 ,you insure no certain     
rewards for that acquirement of         
knowledge which has won its parchment of
 approval1 and the holder enjoys only   
the slim advantage which his certificate
 secures4 ,his degree wins him no bread1
 and the honors of his career rest      
uncertain1 with all his struggles ahead4
 ,our workman1 at each step of his      
advancement1 increases his income1 under
 the assurance and protection of our    
industrial methods1 with the certainty  
and stability of a government pension4  
,but while we have found it wise to     
honor and protect manual skill1 the     
physical strength of our people has for 
many ages been a subject of general     
attention4 ,among the productions of the
 ,supreme ,author which he is engaged in
 perfecting and beautifying1 the first  

in importance on your planet is surely  
man himself1 as a being animal as well  
as mental4 ,as an indolent1 weak and    
passive body is usually associated with 
a mind of the same character1 it is only
 by the cultivation of both together    
that society improves4 ,you have        
evidences enough of the inseparable     
connection between mental and physical  
energy1 and yet your cultivation of the 
body has engaged but little attention4  
,it seems to us one of the most serious 
objections to your religious            
abstractions1 that the spirit of all of 
them tends to deny or belittle the great
 service of healthy sinews and nerves in
 the progress of social improvement4    
,you will find intellectual stagnation  
everywhere upon the face of the ,earth1 
where incentives to muscular action are 
suppressed from whatever cause1 and you 
know by experience that the decay of    
mental vigor1 by a release from the     
necessity of bodily exercise1 has       
obliged the brawn and muscle of your    

age1 in more than one instance1 to come 
to the front in the management of       
affairs4  ,civilization1 at a certain   
degree of its progress1 is expected to  
assume duties which until then1 have    
been faithfully performed by nature     
alone4 ,like a good mother she has      
provided1 in your primitive state1      
against the degeneration of your bodies 
by the operation of her universal law1  
the survival of the fittest4 ,in your   
social betterment you can reasonably be 
expected to provide for yourselves some 
substitute to maintain that standard of 
hardihood and strength which had        
formerly been kept up by your primitive 
struggles for existence4  ,your         
knowledge of the laws of heredity has   
enabled you to improve upon the forms   
and qualities of all those creatures    
which have been taken from their native 
wilds to serve your uses2 and yet1 with 
a fatal inconsistency1 you consign your 
own bodies to a carelessness of         
procreation which totally ignores all   

well known methods of improvement4 ,the 
spectacle is common among you1 of the   
skilled breeder straining his knowledge 
to remedy defects of form in the lower  
animals in his possession1 while he and 
his progeny exhibit1 in their own       
bodies1 without concern or attention1   
the very same physical infirmities which
 he had so successfully banished in his 
brutes by parental selection4  ,the     
neglect of your opportunities in this   
direction is more surprising1 when it is
 considered how greatly you are         
suffering from it2 for although the     
achievement of a more general perfection
 of form and strength is invaluable to  
you1 as laying the foundation of a      
larger average of mental power and      
activity1 yet this is not more important
 to your society than the easy and      
certain eradication by judicious matings
 of the most persistent and fatal of    
your diseases4 ,it is appalling to      
estimate the sum of human misery        
perpetually transmitted congenitally in 

diseased tissues and functional defects4
  ,this evil1 which has prevailed among 
you until your bodily ills are almost   
innumerable1 you have been taught to    
consider as an arrangement of the divine
 will1 and you rest yourselves          
helplessly in the belief that its       
endurance without remedy is the penalty 
of life2 when1 in fact1 it is           
perpetuated chiefly by that             
over-powering individual selfishness    
which makes no account of the general   
good while gratifying sentiments of     
pleasure1 or greed4  ,i have already    
drawn your observation to that          
infallible test which marks the progress
 of social development--the average     
willingness of attention and sacrifice  
of individual interests to the common   
welfare4 ,from our achievements in that 
direction already described1 you may    
easily imagine that we have not         
neglected the opportunity to improve and
 benefit society by the observance of   
some of nature's simplest and most      

easily applied laws4  ,we are not       
embarrassed as you would be by protests 
of an infringement of personal liberty1 
because we have arrived beyond that     
stage where law and its enforcement are 
required4 ,official recommendation      
supported by a united public opinion1   
without any penalty for non-compliance  
except the general condemnation1 is our 
only resort in directing the conduct of 
our people4 ,under such a system1 any   
violation of individual rights is       
impossible4 ,it is enough in our society
 to determine that a measure is for the 
common good1 to secure its adoption     
without dissent4  ,accordingly1 it comes
 within the province of our ,government 
,health ,department to direct1 and in   
some degree supervise1 those marital    
engagements out of which our numbers are
 so constantly replenished4 ,this       
important business is closely associated
 with measures designed in other ways to
 promote our health1 and may be said to 
begin at the birth of every child4 ,each

 infant is carefully examined by medical
 experts1 and registered4 ,every        
peculiarity or bodily defect is         
recorded1 and rules of management       
furnished1 as remedies1 if found        
necessary4 ,every person1 young or old1 
is required periodically to pass a like 
examination4 ,the personal health       
register is open to all1 and the bodily 
condition of every inhabitant may be in 
that way ascertained4 ,none fail to     
avail themselves of information so      
greatly concerning themselves4          
,incipient diseases are in a vast number
 of cases remedied by this discovery of 
their unsuspected presence1 and the     
habits of life are often changed in time
 to head off some latent malady1 which  
in its early stages1 nothing but medical
 science could reveal4  ,the system     
establishes a public record of the      
physical standing1 either in lurking    
disease or deformity1 of every          
individual2 and as it is made the duty  
of our health department to declare its 

judgment of approval in every marriage  
contract1 we have no transmitted disease
 or deformities of body running through 
generations1 and multiplying the        
miseries of life1 as you have4 ,we have 
long ago stamped out by this method     
three-fourths of the diseases which are 
nourished by the habits of civilization4
 ,by this means we have secured a race  
of men and women so physically perfect  
as to cause existence to be accepted as 
a grateful patrimony4 ,you have         
interrogated nature in her laws of      
development1 and in her processes of    
modification both in forms and qualities
 of things1 and with a knowledge so     
acquired1 you have cultivated a world of
 animal and vegetable organisms to your 
better service4 ,we have done that1 too2
 but we have accomplished in that line  
something of incomparably more          
importance to us1 in advancing together 
by due cultivation and care our animal  
as well as our intellectual selves4     
,you cannot fail to discover in this1   

one of the effects of that striking     
divergence between our civilization and 
yours1 due to widely different          
interpretations of the divine will4 ,we 
look upon our planet with all its       
appurtenances as a bequest which has    
been delivered into our keeping for that
 assistance in progression so plainly   
the best and most exalted business of   
our lives1 and so unmistakably pleasing 
to the ,supreme ,author that every      
degree of its accomplishment is rewarded
 by signs of his favor4 ,from our better
 demonstrated spiritual belief1 we      
derive the inspiration to increase and  
bestow upon each other the best things  
of life2 while you1 under religious     
promptings from the same high source1   
condemn yourselves to abstinence and    
austerity4 ,you so misconceive the true 
relations between spiritual and material
 forces1 that instead of regarding each 
as the nursery and builder-up of the    
other1 you have devised a theory which  
brings them into antagonism as diverse  

influences2 the exercise of material    
concerns1 as you assume1 tending to lead
 you away from the divinity4  ,the      
effect of this mistaken view of life is 
plainly to be seen in your society and  
surroundings4 ,your material            
progression1 deprived of the religious  
impulse and enthusiasm1 and depending   
wholly upon the lower faculty of        
self-gain1 advances by slow degrees1    
frequently retrogresses1 and is not     
secure of a total relapse under so      
mercenary a moving power4 ,your forward 
movement1 instead of being compact and  
co-operative like ours1 drags along     
fitfully and laboriously1 marshaled     
alone by a struggling influence here and
 there1 under the dead weight of an     
indifferent and self absorbed multitude1
 and in open conflict with a host of    
disturbed traditions4  ,your doctrine of
 the absolute divorce of spiritual and  
material interests1 by wasting your best
 parts in the service of the            
world-condemning deity of your          

imagination1 and surrendering your      
temporal affairs to the sole exercise of
 your lower sentiments and feelings1 has
 spread its dire effects1 and may be    
traced in every phase of your society4  
,out of it comes that singular disregard
 for each other in all things except the
 spiritual1 and that perverted estimate 
of goodness1 which has consigned your   
science and learning with their         
influences1 together with your whole    
world of industry1 to places where      
unassisted and unencouraged they must   
work out their own doubtfully admitted  
and tardy rewards2 while your best      
enthusiasm and most active morality is  
led to waste among your many unreasoning
 schemes of salvation4  ,what but this  
unwarranted dissociation of spirit and  
matter1 of the body and soul1 of your   
physical and intellectual parts1        
regarding one as the degrading yokemate 
of the other instead of the counterpart 
and co-worker1 has taken all the heart  
out of your lives1 hidden from you the  

moral possibilities within your worldly 
reach1 and reduced the only existence   
you are so far called upon to improve   
into a dead and useless hibernation of  
your divinest faculties8 ,what more     
readily excuses and defends your        
indifference to the hard lines of human 
labor1 and your toleration of a system  
which dooms most of you to perpetual    
dependence1 than those mossgrown        
traditions which1 from their selected   
quarters among the supernatural and     
unseen1 are not disturbed or interested 
by your social wrongs1 and which in     
truth find their best patronage and most
 profitable employment where most       
prevail the miseries of life8 ,just in  
the degree in which you are already     
emancipated from these barren illusions1
 does your most humane work in social   
progress appear4  ,your inspirations of 
goodness come to you as they come to us1
 without the necessity of a revelation4 
,their encouragement is more faithfully 
secured by the benign influence which   

rewards their adoption1 than those      
written codes among you which assume1   
under doubtful motives1 their direction 
and control4 ,as surely as all the      
forces of nature may be traced to the   
heat of the sun1 so your impulses of    
virtue1 your heroism of good deeds1 and 
your spiritual hopes1 are conveyed to   
you in a germinal state without any     
intercepting medium1 with the first     
breath of of your bodies2 to be         
improved1 enlarged and harvested for the
 purposes and uses of society4  ,you    
turn over the surface of the ,earth and 
gather its fruits1 never doubting the   
superhuman forces in conjunction which  
reward your labor2 and yet your         
intellectual tillage is left to take its
 chances among circumscribed            
opportunities which no combined effort  
has attempted to enlarge4 ,your progress
 cannot be otherwise than uncertain and 
your governments will always be unstable
 in their foundations under your system1
 which at its best furnishes scarcely   

one disciplined mind in a hundred1 and  
the acquirements of that one1 too1      
resulting only from a spontaneous       
individual impulse1 with1 in most cases1
 no higher motives than self-gain and   
advancement4  ,your fields are not      
wanting in your attentions4 ,you bring  
profit to yourselves by the thorough    
tillage of your acres4 ,you multiply by 
your manipulation under nature's hints  
the life-supporting and pleasure-giving 
properties of the fruits and flowers of 
the ,earth to the extremest blossoming  
and abundance4 ,and yet in such a state 
of general crudity is your own divine   
essence of reason and thought1 that to  
this day no superstition is too absurd1 
no sophistry too transparent1 and no    
pretended reform too ill digested to    
take root and flourish1 even to the     
disintegration of large patches of your 
social life4 ,so that while no fault can
 be found with your progress in the     
handling of the material agents under   
your control1 the opinion is            

irresistible1 from our point of view1   
that you are assiduously cultivating    
everything but yourselves4     ,,chapter
 ,,xv4   ,we have1 like you1 wealth with
 its self-rewarding luxuries1 but its   
character is very different4 ,its chosen
 pleasures and inclinations are unlike  
yours4 ,acquisitiveness has no such     
controlling motives as with you4 ,the   
hope of social elevation1 the anxiety to
 place the sufferings of poverty beyond 
reach1 and the love of power1 are not   
elements in our desire for gain4 ,as an 
inducement to the accumulation of       
wealth1 all these motives are supplanted
 by the one overweening passion for     
distinguishment which its possession    
affords1 by contributing to the         
well-being and happiness of others4 ,the
 even opportunities of life1 and the    
entire absence of poverty as you have   
it1 with its miseries1 do away with the 
most fertile stimulus to individual     
greed among you2 and the strong passion 
to hoard1 which you call avarice1       

becomes with us1 from the singleness of 
its motives1 one of the noblest of our  
religious aspirations4 ,whatever        
luxuries wealth provides for itself are 
shared by all2 and since the nature and 
form of our society precludes the       
necessity of alms-giving1 charity1 as   
you understand it1 is unknown4 ,the     
general dissemination of self-pride and 
independence1 as much the result of our 
religious beliefs as of our political   
and educational methods1 secures us     
against those evils of indiscriminate   
charity which are found to paralyze     
industry everywhere upon the ,earth1 in 
its present stage of development4  ,in  
our political system we have provided so
 well for the even and sufficient reward
 of toil1 that our animal requirements1 
so easily supplied1 are never wanting in
 individual cases to the extent of      
suffering4 ,in the extremity of         
invalidism or other misfortune1         
assistance comes1 not in the form of    
charity as you know it1 but as the      

anxious and sympathetic support of a    
family to one of its members in         
distress4 ,the field of benevolence in  
wealth is1 therefore1 entirely within   
the province of education and art2 which
 in accordance with our religious       
aspirations and beliefs1 takes the same 
form in their furtherance of the        
purposes of the ,deity as your          
devotional enterprises of promulgating  
your religious faiths4  ,our rich       
contribute largely from their substance 
to the purposes of education1 with a    
philanthropy that is greatly intensified
 by the religious enthusiasm gratified  
by the act2 but they do not build nor   
contribute to our temples of worship as 
yours do1 since the attendance upon     
these is unsolicited and voluntary1 and 
a mere pleasurable gratification of our 
spiritual hopes and aspirations4        
,unattended by saving forms and         
conditions1 as with you1 the worship    
within our temples is not considered of 
consequence to our spiritual welfare4   

,these religious centers1 unlike yours1 
assume no power to condone or compromise
 with evil4 ,no burdened1 unclean       
conscience comes to them with the hope  
of absolution1 to return again laden    
with its misdeeds for another purging4  
,no wholesale peculator brings a portion
 of his evil gains as an atonement for  
the inflicted miseries of his avaricious
 career4 ,there is nothing whatever     
within our temples or surrounding them1 
but the peace and self conscious        
satisfaction of the divine co-operation 
in our efforts to cultivate ourselves1  
and the praise and glory of our own     
success forms the spirit of our worship4
  ,our society being without            
exclusiveness1 and the ostentation of   
riches a thing unknown1 there is no     
ambition to get beyond the general fare 
in dwellings4 ,the whole city block1    
surmounted by its one continuous roof1  
may be either a single or a number of   
dwellings1 to accord with the incomes of
 its occupants4 ,under our land system  

the cost of rent is such a small item in
 the living expenses1 that all are      
enabled to share alike in their         
housings1 and to equally enjoy the      
benefit of our wholesome sanitary       
provisions4 ,no one amongst us dwells in
 a hovel4 ,we labor that the            
surroundings of all shall be uniformly  
pleasant and comfortable4 ,with us the  
suspicion of unseen misery is enough to 
disturb the pleasures of life4 ,besides 
the unpleasant suggestions of discomfit 
which a rough and incommodious dwelling 
would arouse1 it would be considered by 
us a painful violation of taste1 and a  
sacrifice of the opportunities of art4  
,consequently within the limits of our  
cities you will not find any external   
distinction among our dwelling places1  
to denote the financial standing of     
their occupants4 ,but as a whole block  
becomes occasionally occupied by a      
single family1 whose large fortune      
enables them to enjoy its magnificent   
proportions1 there is not wanting within

 those luxuries of wealth urged by the  
prevailing tastes4 ,the establishment   
becomes the pride and pleasure of its   
locality4 ,in conformity with all other 
of the city's blocks1 it has three lofty
 stories4 ,the lower one on each of its 
facades consists of a series of         
,corinthian columns with highly wrought 
capitals1 resting upon which1 and       
forming the second story elevation1 are 
a line of arches1 supporting the flush  
outer walls of the story above4 ,this   
story1 which is abundantly lighted by   
its transparent roof1 has its exterior  
surface decorated in bas relief with    
architraves and cornices designed in our
 elaborate styles4 ,every block has an  
arched and vestibuled main entrance at  
each of its four corners1 over which    
there rises a tower containing a        
powerful electric light1 illuminating at
 night the interior as well as the      
surrounding streets4 ,as our            
thoroughfares which radiate from the    
city's center are straight1 and better  

adapted for business and the industries1
 they are devoted to these purposes4    
,consequently1 on the circular or       
concentric streets are located most of  
our dwellings2 the choicest of which1 as
 to location1 are those fronting the    
parks1 which1 as ,i have already given  
you to understand1 circumscribe at      
intervals every neighborhood of the     
city4 ,it is1 then1 in these convex or  
concave fronts1 standing on opposite    
lines of the park belt1 that the abodes 
of wealth are mostly to be found4  ,you 
would discover the whole of one of these
 buildings1 except its middle story1    
devoted to the use of the public1 and   
containing on its first floor a number  
of class rooms assigned to a system of  
teaching to which your kindergartens    
bear some similarity1 and a few others  
in which the scholars have advanced to a
 higher grade4 ,the character of the    
instruction would be indicated by the   
appliances and implements of industry   
everywhere to be seen1 the busy use of  

them at intervals by the classes1 and   
the pride and emulation of the scholars1
 in their struggling efforts toward     
skill in their handling4 ,in another    
room you would find a smaller class1 the
 special proteges of the owner1 composed
 of a few1 who1 by the early            
manifestations of an unusual promise1   
were being assisted in their pursuance  
of some branch of science or art4       
,outside of this department of          
instruction you would find an extensive 
library1 with its reading room          
attachments ingeniously arranged for    
convenience1 and a large apartment1     
usually in the center of the building1  
well lighted from the roof1 in which was
 collected the art treasures1 and upon  
which was lavished by its owner that    
fondness for the beautiful which becomes
 him as a member of our society4  ,the  
upper story is a public assembly chamber
 for occasions of rejoicing and         
pleasure1 and is adorned with statuary1 
fountains1 and blooming plants4 ,this   

grand apartment is so tempered in warmth
 by the cheap appliances of our         
municipality1 that it becomes a winter  
garden during our long1 inclement       
seasons1 when the parks are sere and    
icy4  ,one of these establishments would
 suggest to your view an exaggerated    
estimate of its founder's wealth4 ,in   
most cases his income extends but little
 beyond the support of this enterprise4 
,in his dream of wealth he has achieved 
the hope of his ambition1 and he stops  
there4  ,your passion of hoarding beyond
 a competency1 without purpose except   
the lust for hoarding1 is the offshoot  
of that instinct in the carnivorous     
brute1 which impels him to refuse to his
 hungry fellows any portion of his      
captured carcass1 one-tenth of which he 
cannot consume4 ,this low and brute-born
 heritage of greed only fails of a      
better suppression in your society1     
because you have neglected to entirely  
remedy1 by your political methods1 the  
generally precarious way in which your  

animal and intellectual wants are       
supplied4 ,suffering now follows just as
 close to a miss in your struggles for  
sustenance1 as it did when your         
skin-clad hunters failed of their game4 
,your passion to get and hold is        
intensified and brutalized in its lack  
of regard for the consequences to       
others1 by the large number of          
artificial necessities only attainable  
in your society by a considerable       
accumulation of money1 the want of which
 implies degradation1 and a sacrifice of
 many things that have grown to be dear 
to life4 ,every addition to the savings 
removes to a greater distance that      
dreaded condition of your civilization1 
known as poverty4 ,the insatiable       
character of the hoarding is not unlike 
the motive of overcaution in a wanderer1
 who1 terrorized by the appearance of a 
dreaded animal in his path1 increases   
his distance by flight far beyond all   
possible approach of the dangerous      
presence4  ,your breathless pursuit of  

wealth1 beyond all reasonable limit of  
obtaining the objects of desire1 is     
induced also by the remarkable          
opportunities its possession affords to 
appropriate the earnings of industry4   
,the capacity of your wealth to absorb  
and control the fruits of toil exists in
 a geometrical ratio of increase with   
the greater wealth employed1 and the    
taste of power once felt is seldom      
appeased1 but increases with every money
 addition4 ,under your favorable laws1  
it may extend to the privilege of a     
single individual exacting the whole    
surplus earnings of an army of busy     
workers4  ,through centuries of         
legislation and usuage you have         
established various processes1 by which 
wealth is enabled to extract an undue   
portion of the earnings of industry4    
,among these processes may be named     
rates of interest on money graded to the
 necessities of borrowers1 rents gauged 
by the ability of tenants to pay1       
monopoly supplies with prices fixed just

 below the point of compelled           
abstinence1 variations in the value of  
mediums of exchange1 with other         
unsuppressed agencies promoting frequent
 change of values for the opportunities 
of capital and the distress of labor2   
stupendous aggregations of wealth       
reversing the laws of economy by        
advancing the price of necessities on   
the one hand and depressing the wages of
 labor on the other2 and more successful
 than all1 a system of land             
proprietorship which permits holders of 
the ,earth's surface1 in addition to    
their privilege of exacting a large     
portion of the profits of industry in   
rent1 a further right to pocket1 in the 
form of appreciated values of their     
land1 an unearned share of the          
collective fruits of the industries     
which surround them4  ,our divergent    
views of existence are exemplified in   
the care we have taken to provide for an
 evener division of the products of     
industry4 ,with us1 property is the     

means1 and not the end1 beyond which    
there are any number of attainments in  
life incomparably more desirable and    
beneficial to society1 and our          
legislation has been directed chiefly to
 the care and cultivation of these4 ,the
 great aim of our government has been to
 provide for the well-being of persons1 
while it may be said of yours that the  
most attention has been devoted to the  
welfare of property2 by which is meant  
its protection and increase1 regardless 
of the manner of its distribution1 or   
the doubtful methods of its extraction  
from the energies of labor4 ,in the     
pursuit of this policy you are only     
perpetuating1 without much change1 your 
primitive conditions1 when the strong   
arm gathered the most of the wealth4    
,your early born instincts do not seem  
sufficiently evolutionized to co-operate
 in any undertaking which denies        
opportunities of the strong over the    
weak2 and the unhappy consequence is a  
society so mercenary that the general   

estimate among you is not from any      
quality which indicates a nearness to   
the ,deity1 but principally from the    
cool numerical calculations of property 
attachments4  ,the unity of our         
spiritual and temporal interests makes  
it necessary that every government act  
shall be a religious one4 ,the spirit of
 kindness1 and charity to all which is  
the only deserving part of your         
religions1 we have taken as the         
foundation of all our public acts1 and  
have made it the cornerstone of         
government itself4 ,our legislation1 if 
the mere assent to measures recommended 
can be called by that name1 considers   
first the welfare of persons comprising 
the whole1 subservient to which every   
possible interest must take its place4  
,and the welfare of persons1 in our     
politico-religious point of view1 is    
dependent upon the proper and equitable 
rewards of industry2 their equal        
opportunities of acquiring knowledge2 an
 encouragement of their morality by a   

recognition of their virtues1 making it 
the necessary stepping-stone to their   
advancement2 and the sweeping away of   
every social form which establishes a   
sense of inferiority1 destroys the pride
 of self1 and institutes that feeling of
 degradation which is the most prolific 
source of evil in society4  ,it is easy 
to note your tendency in these          
directions4 ,the barbaric institution of
 force and its concomitant of fear1 as  
agencies in the management and control  
of men1 is gradually being eliminated   
from all your progressive governments1  
and the better methods of assent and    
co-operation are getting in their       
salutary work of emancipation4          
,knowledge is spreading itself among    
you--no longer a dessert only upon a few
 favored tables1 but a chief dish under 
the newly acquired appetites of the     
many4 ,the glamour of your wealth and   
the impressiveness of your religion are 
losing their reverential respect1 with  
the focused light directed upon their   

doubtful origins4 ,you have inaugurated 
the beginning of a new faith1 with      
better spiritual foundations1 not       
condemning the world and its society1   
but loving it1 following in the         
footsteps of the divine presence within 
its limits1 taking a hand in its        
affairs1 and directing them towards the 
better possibilities in view4  ,ah1 my  
brother1 the coming of your ,messiah was
 both more and less than you have       
imagined4 ,the era of new and better    
things in social development is preceded
 by the gradual decay of old            
convictions1 which have served their    
time and are no longer useful1 except in
 their place within the catalogue of    
traditions to mark the progress of      
thought4  ,society assumes its beliefs  
under an impulse of progression1 as much
 controlled by evolutionary laws as the 
organic substances of the ,earth4 ,no   
one can teach the world4 ,with a free   
exercise of its intellectual faculty1 it
 teaches itself4 ,the power of an idea1 

among the moral forces1 is in its       
corresponding with a proper stage of    
development to receive it4 ,a solitary  
thought is useless1 as a moral agent1   
without its already existing half-formed
 figments scattered about in society4   
,its power to move lies in the          
coalescence of its parts4 ,ideas and    
beliefs have been adopted at different  
stages of your civilization1 and have   
served as great motors to progress1     
which1 ages before1 were enunciated     
without impression4 ,society rids itself
 of its rudimentary impressions and     
beliefs1 in much the same manner that an
 animal1 under changing environments1   
sheds its old organs and develops new   
ones4 ,every new belief affecting       
society is subservient to it1 and is    
only adopted slowly and by degrees4 ,if 
it be a truth making its way1 its final 
installation is marked by an            
unquestioned acquiescence and an        
undisturbed tranquility4 ,if an error1  
agitation and unrest mark the whole     

period of its accession4  ,the coming of
 your ,messiah was more than you have   
supposed1 because grander and more      
imposing than its assumed               
supernaturalisms was its enthronement of
 two central ideas4 ,one was the        
adoption of the sentiment of brotherhood
 as a means of adjusting the relations  
of men with each other1 and the other   
was the inauguration of spiritual hope  
as a guide in the actions of life4 ,out 
of this beginning has come all that is  
good in your social progress4 ,the      
general acceptance of these ideas1 as   
agencies in your civilization1 began its
 work by weakening the old society1 and 
it finally destroyed it by extinguishing
 the bands of physical force which held 
it together4 ,the cultivation of these  
inspirational beliefs in their purity1  
as they were bestowed upon you by the   
divine intelligence1 would have soon    
brought to you the same peace and good  
will that they have shed upon the       
inhabitants of ,mars2 but you were not  

to be indulged so soon in this happy    
offering4 ,the few who had been         
dominating the many for ages1           
appropriating their earnings1 and even  
sacrificing their lives1 in a lust for  
power and wealth1 were not to let escape
 them so fine an opportunity to hold the
 simple-minded by a new agency1 ten-fold
 more subjugating than the old method of
 coercion by force4 ,the religious      
superstition of the age1 a mere         
diversion for the untaught multitude1   
inert and unpromising1 was vitalized by 
the infusion of these new1 humane and   
spiritual impulses2 and1 with many added
 ingeniously contrived supernaturalisms1
 and an attractive moral code1 it was   
built up into a system and organized    
into a society which has borne its heavy
 weight upon your progress1 and spread  
its dominion more successfully than the 
war-like legions it supplanted4 ,it has 
accomplished no good which is not       
entirely due to the irresistible        
expansion of the truths it appropriated 

at its inception out of nature's        
evolutionary process of social          
development1 viz41 the regard for one   
another1 as a guide in all the actions  
of life1 and that hope eternal which    
spiritualizes and elevates our          
existence4  ,the coming of your ,messiah
 was less than you have believed1       
because you have mistaken a personality1
 in which the genius of advanced and    
salutary doctrines manifested itself1   
for a part and presence of the ,deity   
himself4 ,as the promulgation of        
thoughts that were conceived under the  
inspiration and pressure of a natural   
force in the process of social          
development is less than the awful      
presence and verbal communication of the
 ,deity1 so1 in the same degree1 was the
 coming of your ,messiah less4  ,but you
 will have a second coming1 my brother1 
unperverted by the craft of your seers1 
and uncontaminated with the             
superstitions of a crude society like   
the first4 ,it will be of you and a part

 of you1 raising you up to a higher     
esteem of yourselves1 glorifying you as 
the progenitors of all good1 under a    
divine and irresistible law of          
betterment4 ,it will relieve you of the 
evil thoughts that have condemned and   
degraded you4 ,the new hope1 like a     
newly discovered strength1 will push out
 in all directions1 in the exercise of  
its salutary work4 ,instead of discourse
 and exhortation to the lowly and down  
trodden1 with promises as impossible of 
denial as of verification1 it will lift 
them upon their feet by the strong hand 
of a better social method4 ,like the    
first coming1 its symbolic picture will 
be carved into monuments1 reproduced in 
all the departments of art1 and         
cherished as the chief reminder of your 
duties and obligations to the ,deity4   
,it will be no symbol of anguish and    
sorrow1 like the first1 but in place of 
it ,,the ,,divine ,,figure ,,of ,a      
,,strong ,,man ,,supporting ,,and       
,,encouraging ,a ,,weak ,,one4 ,yes1 my 

brother1 you will have a s-e-c-o-n-d    
c-o-m--         99       99       99    
99       99  ,what is all this8 ,i raise
 myself upon my couch ,the sun is an    
hour up4 ,through my window ,i see an   
enquiring group1 marvelling at my       
tardiness4 ,my cows linger for their    
milking1 and utter their complaints in a
 gentle lowing4 ,my pet deer stand with 
their large wondering eyes fixed upon   
me1 and the appearance of my face at the
 pane has drawn toward me my whole      
restless and scrabbling flock of        
poultry1 impatient for their morning    
feed4 ,i look toward the easy chair and 
it is empty4 ,my celestial visitor has  
departed4     ,,footnote3  ,a ,draper's 
,intellectual ,development of ,europe4  
,,transcriber',s ,,notes3     ,obvious  
typographical errors have been          
corrected4    ,inconsistencies in       
hyphenation have been standardized4     
,archaic spelling which may have been in
 use at the time of     publication has 
been retained4