Christopher Evans

“ We do not interfere in the affairs of other countries, but try to promote peace and good will among all nations. We have enforced a law that met with bitter opposition in England and the United States of America and brought us to the verge of war, but the common sense of the working men and women in both countries forced their Government to yield and it has proved a blessing to the sailors. ”

“ I looked through the visitors' telescope and to my astonishment the sun was blue and when I asked one of the astronomers present the reason for it he replied that the sun was a great dynamo and that the dazzling brightness seen at low altitudes was caused by our atmosphere offering like the filament in an incandescent lamp great resistance to the electric energy of the sun producing a brilliant glow and if you were able to go outside the atmosphere of our earth you would only see the sun as a dark body in space and you would find yourself in absolute darkness and eternal silence. ”

“ This great measure eliminated the aristocracy in the Army and made the Emperor the idol of the soldiers, so that from that time forward every effort of the aristocracy to oppose the Emperor in giving to the country a Government by the people was futile for the Army supported him with a force that was irresistible. ”

“ The railway lines were run through the country so as to bring the produce of the people to market and to bring all the people in touch with one another. Hundreds of short lines were in operation that by themselves did not pay operating expenses, but as they formed a part of the whole railway system of the Republic under one management, they were beneficial to the people. The rate for all kinds of freight, except grain and vegetables, was five mills per ton per mile for all distances, and for grain, fruit and vegetables two mills per ton per mile. ”

“ When we have to use drainage tunnels for our mines we carry the water off from the mouth of the tunnel in a flume, placing quicksilver in the riffles, and if it is a copper mine we place scrap iron in the water and we also use the water for power to assist us in mining, so that at the present time we extract and reduce ore at a lower rate than in other parts of the world, for there is no wastefill management and no overproduction, for in all our mining operations we work those that cost the least, and we operate our coal mines in the same way. ”

“ The law for divorce was enforced by the Department of Health, as doctors were, from their knowledge of human frailty, the best judges to decide whether a man and woman should live together in the married state or be separated, and while the law provided for a compulsory decree of divorce for adultery, which was a felony, it also allowed divorce for incompatibility of temperament. A court of six Government physicians, three males and three females, heard all divorce cases in every district. ”

“ Gentle reader, don't think that this law is cruel or unjust, for the amount of evil that a depraved woman can commit in spreading, that loathsome disease, syphilis, is incalculable, and Christ when he told the woman that had committed adultery that he did not condemn her also added: "Go and sin no more." ”

“ There are no Government or private detective agencies in our country, but a constant watch is kept on all public officials as well as private violators of the law, by the Government placing for sale in every postoffice and every military station and every prison Government envelopes with fifty-cent stamps on them, and any person interfering in the sending or tampering with said letters is punished by imprisonment for five years at hard labor. ”

“ I visited several experimental farms under the management of the Department of Agriculture and was informed by the superintendent of the farm that the Government had a small farm of six hundred and forty acres in every district in which was situated the District High School where boys and girls were taught how to farm and to raise stock and poultry to the best advantage, and also large farms at every military reservation where persons convicted of crime were taught how to become useful members of society. ”

“ To insure an even temperature in the mine we keep a supply of liquid aid on every level, which is renewed daily, connecting the liquid air chest with the pipe that supplies fresh air to the workings. No expense is spared in taking care of the health and safety of the workmen and if a man gets sick or injured he gets the same pay as if he is working, and if a workman gets killed his wife receives the same pay that he received as long as she lives, and his children are as well provided for by the government. ”

“ The last absolute ruler we had was one of those great men that God in His infinite wisdom brings into the world at stated intervals to exercise a dominating influence in human affairs and to give a fresh impetus to human progress. ”

“ The wages of all Government employees were fixed by law and could not be raised or lowered except by a two-thirds vote of the people, and only one bill from each department could be submitted by the Parliament to the people to vote on at each election, so that graft and corrupt practices could gain no footing by appealing to selfish interests. ”

“ To avoid the folly of locking up large amounts of money received for taxes each year on the one hand, or permitting stock-gamblers and money-sharks, on the other hand, to use it, each district was allowed by law to issue district banknotes of one dollar denomination, guaranteed by the Government, drawing two per cent. a year interest up to eighty per cent. ”

“ Every corporation, before shutting down its works, had to serve ten days' notice on its employees and also file a copy of it with the District Court, stating its reasons for so doing, and if the labor union protested, the Court heard the case and if there was unsufficient cause shown by the corporation it had to continue work until such time as it showed good and sufficient reasons to stop work. The Government strictly enforced the eight-hour law, and no working woman was permitted to work overtime. ”

“ The Government exhibited at every district fair the most improved machinery in use for bettering the means of production with skilled mechanics to operate it and any person desiring to purchase a machine could buy it from the Government at the actual cost of manufacture with twenty per cent. added. The Government prizes at the district fairs excited and aroused a growing interest in the people to improve their condition and by bringing them together in great gatherings made them more friendly to one another with a broader and deeper feeling for humanity. ”

“ We have one great university for orphan children and those without a name, and from it all the departments of the government are supplied with secretaries, clerks, typewriters and messengers, and as they are physically, mentally and morally trained for the duties of life, they are highly prized in the matrimonial market. ”

“ Corporations are allowed, but no watered stock and every stockholder has the same vote in electing officers of the company, whether he holds one share or any other number of shares, and any conspiracy to corner the market or to enhance the price of any article produced or manufactured is punished as a felony, the penalty being five years at hard labor in prison. ”

“ Children were not allowed to work for wages under any circumstances for they were the wards of the State, but men could work overtime if the union permitted them, with double pay for it. The Government granted a pension of half the wages yearly received by every working man and woman that was over sixty years of age and a full pension wage to every working man or woman over seventy years of age, no matter what their financial condition was at that time. ”

“ I was introduced to the President of the United Workers of Eurasia and he told me that all the working men and women were united in one great union and that the present Minister of Labor was a lady who for years had championed the cause of Labor and that she was unceasing in her efforts to better their condition now that she was at the head of the Department of Labor. ”

“ We employ a corps of metallurgists experimenting to discover better methods in reducing and they have made great progress so that ores that were left in the mine or on the dump are now worked with handsome profit to the government Our workmen all carry life and health insurance, one-half paid by the men monthly and the other half by the government, and where a mine is shut down by the government the miners are furnished employment in another place, so that they are never idle. ”

“ A committee of six physicians, three males and three females, in the service of the Government in every district were required by law to examine every person desiring marriage and if the person examined was affected with tuberculosis, cancer, scrofula, leprosy, syphilis, or any other loathsome or contagious disease, then that person was denied a license to marry ”

“ She informed me that in no school throughout the country, save one, were the dead, or foreign, languages taught, and in that one only for the purpose of correct translation in the interest of science, for practical education is what people need. ”

“ We sink the shaft to within twenty feet of the tunnel level and then quit sinking until the tunnel is completed. We use a tunneling machine, boring a tunnel six feet in diameter at the rate of one hundred feet per day. We run the tunnel directly under the shaft and then withdraw all the men and machinery from the tunnel, put a six-inch drill into the shaft that makes a hole into the tunnel, and quickly drains the mine. Then we begin to stope out at the lowest level, filling in the waste upward, and taking out only ore to be conveyed to the mill or smelter. ”

“ The Government issued banknotes drawing two per cent. a year, and loaned money on land and on goods in the Government warehouses and conducted a fire insurance business, but no insurance was paid on any property that was insured in the building where the fire broke out, and on no buildings that were not fireproof. No life insurance was allowed and no corporation or individual was allowed to carry on an insurance business and no person was permitted to insure property or life in the country in any foreign corporation, and no stock exchanges or gambling in futures were allowed. ”

“ All the electric current to run the hoists and the compressed air to drive the drilling machines and to maintain free circulation of air throughout the workings, comes down that shaft and all the surplus water is pumped up it to the two-thousand-foot level, where it is carried off by the drainage tunnel and a complete system of escape ladders-besides at every level is a hoisting engine and cage to take the workmen up if danger threatens them. ”

“ As I left the navy yard I thought what a pity it was that the people inhabiting the other countries of the earth were not governed as these people are, for then there would be no need of battleships and the kindly earth would slumber lapped in Universal Laws. ”

“ The Government manufactured charcoal on a large scale in fireproof brick kilns, that turned out ten thousand bushels of charcoal to the kiln, with elevated railroad tracks running between the rows of kilns, so that the wood was unloaded from the cars into the kilns and on the outside of the kilns were sunken railroad tracks so that the charcoal when drawn from the kilns could be loaded into the cars with the least, amount of labor, enabling the Government to sell charcoal in one-hundred-pound sacks at one dollar for two hundred pounds, or at the rate of ten dollars a ton. ”

“ Every person appointed to office, as well as those elected by the people, had to be examined physically, mentally and morally in the same manner as those applying for a license to practice a profession or desiring to marry. ”

“ Every person before casting a ballot at the polls was required to show a receipt from the Department of Health that two dollars had been paid into the Old Age Pension fund for the previous year, which was a salutary measure in preserving the purity of elections by eliminating the shiftless and improvident from participation in the election. ”

“ The law held one degree of murder and that was with malice aforethought, but where a person killed a human being wantonly, without cause or malice, the homicide was committed to the Lunatic Asylum, and, after one year's imprisonment, deprived of the sexual organs, and if his or her conduct endangered the peace or safety of the community, were to be chloroformed. ”

“ No costs were charged to either complainant or defendant in any case, either civil or criminal, but if a person brought complaint without just and sufficient cause, the law provided that they should be examined by the Court, and if found sane, they should be imprisoned for one year at hard labor, and if insane, to be sent immediately to the Lunatic Asylum. ”

“ They are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, typewriting, typesetting and practical geometry, so as to draw lines, angles and circles and find their volumes and areas, but algebra, astronomy, grammar, geology, physiology, biology and metaphysics are reserved for the high schools, where every boy and girl is sent when they are fifteen years of age and kept there for three years at the expense of the government. ”

“ No cigarettes were manufactured or sold by the Government or admitted into Eurasia, as it was recognized by all intelligent people who took a warm interest in human progress that the use of tobacco in the form of cigarettes had an injurious effect on the young, through the pernicious habit of inhaling the smoke. ”

“ Under the law no person was allowed to marry until twenty-one years of age, male and female, and any person violating this law was punished by one year's imprisonment at hard labor in the district in which this law had been violated. ”

“ The aristocracy almost to a man swore to a low valuation, so when five years had passed the Emperor issued a decree appropriating to Government use all land over and above six hundred and forty acres held by private owners and paying for it one-fifth of the total assessment for the previous five years with twenty per cent. added for improvements, the aristocracy had to accept it and their power was broken forever, for the Emperor leased the land to the cultivators of the soil at the rate of four per cent. ”

“ In "Eurasia" the author describes an ideal republic where many of the problems that confront us are worked out. The book describes in an interesting and readable way how government is administered in this ideal republic. The government is one in which women take their full share of responsibility, the school children are trained in the problems they will meet in life, and more emphasis is laid on character building than on the dead languages. The children of both sexes are taught useful trades. All school children are taught to swim. ”

“ The railways were built directly by the Government, employing soldiers to do the work, and no contracts were allowed, Government superintendents and foremen bossing the construction, even to getting out ties in the Government forests and the rails made in Government mills and foundries. The Government built railroads at less cost than they were built for in any other part of the world and politicians had no chance to get their political friends into soft berths at the expense of the taxpayers. ”

“ Any person practicing fortune-telling or any other fraudulent calling was tried for obtaining money under false pretenses, and on conviction thereof was sentenced to five years' imprisonment at hard labor at the rock crusher. The result of this wise law showed in the total absence of bands of gypsies, dancing dervishes, holy rollers and strolling vagabonds of every description in Eurasia. If a man or woman was found anywhere in Eurasia without visible means of support the Department of Health found work for them until such time as they could better their condition. ”

“ The Emperor saw the evil effects of the liquor traffic and to abate the evil he abolished the manufacture and sale of liquors by individuals and placed their manufacture and sale in the care of the Department of Manufactures and year by year he added tobacco, drugs and chemicals, sugar, salt, tea, coffee, coal oil, stone coal, charcoal and all the metals, and placed the coinage and currency of the Empire under the control of the Department of Finance known throughout the world as the Bank of Eurasia. ”

“ All persons whose income was less than one thousand dollars paid no income tax. The tax was one per cent. on one thousand dollars, the rate increasing with the amount of income up to fifty thousand dollars a year, when it was fifty per cent., leaving the owner twenty-five thousand dollars, and for all incomes over fifty thousand dollars a year the surplus over twenty-five thousand dollars went to the Government and as a result of this wise policy there were no Jay Goulds or J. D. Rockefellers in Eurasia. ”