A Journey in Other Worlds
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the Orinoco than it was for the Father of his Country to travel
from New York or Philadelphia to the site of the city named in
his honour.
"Adequate and really rapid transportation facilities have done
much to bind the different parts of the country together, and to
rub off the edges of local prejudice. Though we always favour
peace, no nation would think of opposing the expressed wishes of
the United States, and our moral power for good is tremendous.
The name Japhet means enlargement, and the prophecy seems about
to be literally fulfilled by these his descendants. The bankrupt
suffering of so many European Continental powers had also other
results. It enabled the socialists--who have never been able to
see beyond themselves--to force their governments into selling
their colonies in the Eastern hemisphere to England, and their
islands in the Western to us, in order to realize upon them.
With the addition of Canada to the United States and its loss to
the British Empire, the land possessions of the two powers became
about equal, our Union being a trifle the larger. All danger of
war being removed by the Canadian change, a healthful and
friendly competition took its place, the nations competing in
their growth on different hemispheres. England easily added
large areas in Asia and Africa, while the United States grew as
we have seen. The race is still, in a sense, neck-and-neck, and
the English-speakers together possess nearly half the globe. The
world's recent rate of progress would have been impossible
without this approximation to a universal language. The causes
that checkmated the Continental powers have ceased to exist.
Many millions of men whose principal thought had been to destroy
other members of the race became producers, but it was then too
late, for the heavy armaments had done their work.
"Let us now glance at the times as they are, and see how the
Business of life is transacted. Manhattan Island has something
over 2,500,000 inhabitants, and is surrounded by a belt of
population, several miles wide, of 12,000,000 more, of which it
is the focus, so that the entire city contains more than
14,500,000 souls. The several hundred square miles of land and
water forming greater New York are perfectly united by numerous
bridges, tunnels, and electric ferries, while the city's great
natural advantages have been enhanced and beautified by every
ingenious device. No main avenue in the newer sections is less
than two hundred feet wide, containing shade and fruit trees, a
bridle-path, broad sidewalks, and open spaces for carriages and
bicycles. Several fine diagonal streets and breathing-squares
have also been provided in the older sections, and the existing
parks have been supplemented by intermediate ones, all being
connected by parkways to form continuous chains.
"The hollow masts of our ships--to glance at another phase en
passant--carry windmills instead of sails, through which the wind
performs the work, of storing a great part of the energy required
to run them at sea, while they are discharging or loading cargo
in port; and it can, of course, work to better advantage while
they are stationary than when they are running before it. These
turbines are made entirely of light metal, and fold when not in
use, so that only the frames are visible. Sometimes these also
fold and are housed, or wholly disappear within the mast.
Steam-boilers are also placed at the foci of huge concave
mirrors, often a hundred feet in diameter, the required heat
being supplied by the sun, without smoke, instead of by bulky and
dirty coal. This discovery gave commercial value to Sahara and
other tropical deserts, which are now desirable for mill-sites
and for generating power, on account of the directness with which
they receive the sun's rays and their freedom from clouds. Mile
after mile Africa has been won for the uses of civilization, till
great stretches that were considered impassible are as productive
as gardens. Our condensers, which compress, cool, and rarefy
air, enabling travellers to obtain water and even ice from the
atmosphere, are great aids in desert exploration, removing
absolutely the principal distress of the ancient caravan. The
erstwhile 'Dark Continent' has a larger white population now than
North America had a hundred years ago, and has this advantage for
the future, that it contains 11,600,000 square miles, while North
America has less than 9,000,000. Every part of the globe will
soon sustain about as large and prosperous a population as the
amount of energy it receives from the sun and other sources will
warrant; public debts and the efficiency of the governments being
the variable elements.
"The rabbits in Australia, and the far more objectionable
poisonous snakes in South America and India, have been
exterminated by the capture of a few dozen of the creatures in
the infested districts, their inoculation with the virus similar
to the murus tiphi, tuberculosis or any other contagious-germ
complaint to which the species treated was particularly
susceptible, and the release of these individuals when the
disease was seen to be taking hold. The rabbits and serpents
released at once returned to&n
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