Terra Firme

“ Interstellar travel begins, Solar System terraforming ceases. 2128 -- President Chang, with cooperation of Solar Federation Congress, proclaims Terran Empire and assumes Throne (22 Jan, Empire Day) , forms Rangers, directs regularization of English. 2130 -- Imperial Palace built in Antarctica. Shapers leave Terra, begin creating Sandeman race. ”

“ The practice of terra-culture must be varied to meet the different conditions of soil and climate under which it is pursued; but sound general principles hold good everywhere, and only need the exercise of ordinary judgment and common sense for their application to our own wants. This is now better understood than heretofore, and hence we are better prepared to profit by draughts from the fount of universal knowledge. ”

“ But Terran life is intelligent. Martian life can not be—"
"See?" chortled Cliff Lane.
Hotang Lu swung upon the Venusite. "Stellor Downing is Terran," he said stoutly. "Venus can not support intelligent life either," he added in a mollifying tone.
"They do," objected Kennebec.
"By support I mean spawn," said Hotang Lu. "To support does not mean to 'be converted to'."
"Oh."
"Terra controls. Terra takes over. Terra is the Planet of Terror. Her minions rule the Galaxy, her mutants are the fear and the death of all. Linzete of Sscantoo capitulated because of two things. ”

“ From the reflections of Lazzaro Moro, we may assure ourselves that these are the effects of earthquakes in past times, which have changed vast spaces of sea into terra firma, and inhabited lands into seas. In this, more than in any other department of physics, are observations and experiments indispensable, and we must diligently consider facts. The land is known, wherever we make excavations, to be composed of different strata or soils placed one above the other, some of sand, some of rock, some of chalk, others of marl, coal, pummice, gypsum, lime, and the rest. ”

“ The use of Terra's secret weapon is critical. It must be employed at exactly the opportune moment, and not one minute before and not one minute after. There must be, for psychological reasons you all know, a certain amount of normal, mine-run fighting before we employ our secret. ”

“ Vorgan returned to Indan Ko. "Tlemban, tell me something. Was Terra behind your decision?"
"Yes," admitted Indan Ko. "Terra pointed out that the Galaxy must be united and that the Loard-vogh were doing just that. Terra does not grant that the means you are using are correct to their ideals, but they admit that you are doing it quickly and efficiently. And they point out that we can never hope to win, ergo we should make the best of defeat. ”

“ This was real; she was giving orders to the Captain of an Imperial Battle Cruiser, certain they would be obeyed. "When we arrive in the Terran system, take station in the asteroid belt. Then call Defense Satellite Five and have them inform us of any Irschschan ship landing near the Palace. When you receive that word, start for Terra and call me. As soon as you have Chang in orbit, Ranger Medart and I, along with any crew members who have mind shields and are willing to volunteer, will take a lander down and attempt to take Thark in the act of invading the Palace." ”

“ It contains dwellings for its inmates of goodly architecture, ranged in pairs, at intervals, round a quadrangle of singular beauty, where the figures of those who enjoy its shady walks are seen through arches of the finest moulded brick, decorated with the most exquisite reliefs in terra-cotta. Every tenement has its rooms complete, and its separate garden and vineyard, while the library close by is of the noblest and fullest for a private institution. ”

“ Though the sun's heat and light fall upon the rock of Gibraltar or the sands of Arabia for ever, or however intensely, yet they are for ever barren. And so, on the other hand, the richest soil can produce nothing in darkness and cold. Thus, in order to production, it is seen that two distinct things are necessary, first a proper organization, structure, or constitution in the soil and secondly the influence of active powers from the sun and heavens operating upon that soil. ”

“ As an instance of what private enterprise can accomplish, I may mention that in the far west now, I am privileged to be a co-worker with a public-spirited and wealthy land owner, and on rich soil, such as we have for countless leagues on our great western plains, he is now irrigating and preparing land for sowing with tropical crops, and the result may be the introduction of several new and remunerative industries. ”

“ From the felling of the trees in the forest, the tilling of the soil and the mining of the ore, through all the steps and processes required to produce from the raw material the complicated machine or the costly fabric, there must have been co-operation, and all incongruous elements and resistant forces must have been eliminated or overcome. ”

“ Co-operative enterprises have been successful in many commercial and mechanical pursuits. As a rule such enterprises have failed so far as land and its cultivation are concerned. But there is no apparent reason why they should be less successful than are the enterprises of commerce and manufacture. Our purpose is to combine all laborious or productive occupations. Behold, my brothers, this beautiful valley! God has secreted in almost every inch of its soil the gift of productivity. Yonder the mountains tower above us. God has made the forest to yield fuel and lumber for our use. ”

“ Mining companies, railroad, ranching and plantation companies, and private individuals had invested in a land that has been called "the storehouse of the world," because of its fabulous resources in mineral wealth and fertile soil. ”

“ The whole land was bound together with a network of iron roads that linked the factories and foundries to the fields and mines, and blasted the landscape with the enterprise that spoiled the lives of men. ”

“ Making the blue metal which you see, quarrying stone and ore and coal for the smelters and glass factories, the fabrication of dress material and fabrics for houses, making our boats and canal ships, cutting down the forests in the Martian highlands, cultivating fruits and flowers and the great wheat fields are the chief industries, and there are lesser lines of work, as the potteries and the instrument makers.
"'There are no industries in the City of Light. ”

“ Some, like me, favour the system of large holdings, because they seem more in accord with science and progress, with the increased use of machinery, and the circulation of large sums of money. Others, on the contrary, only believe in [Pg 129] individual effort, and praise the system of small holdings; dreaming of cultivation on the most minute scale; a system in which every one would produce his own manure, look after his own quarter of an acre, sort out his seeds one by one, allotting the required soil to each kind, and then raise each plant by itself under glass. ”

“ Hardship has bred impatience and exasperation, especially since Earth, with its vast population, has remained the chief market.
"On Mars, with its immense desert areas, new soil is demanded to feed a growing population. ”

“ Naked, swarthy, coarse, but hearty, look those tillers of the fields, as we view them in the midst of their labours transplanting the rice plants from their damp bed, in which they have been closely reared, into more open order, where each stem shall have room to grow and ripen. Mark the neat regularity of the drills, the cleanliness of the soil—not a weed or tare—what an abundance of labour must be at command. That the grateful soil fully repays farmer and labourer for time and trouble, we have proof in many a Japanese sketch. ”

“ Wherever we go with our plea for the foresighted and economical use of the earth and its remaining resources, we are met with the question: "But what can I do?" The answer is simple. Find your place in the nearest team working to utilize, conserve, and, where possible, enlarge the natural wealth of the planet. If no such team exists, join with your neighbors in organizing one. Take seriously your assignment to use the part of the earth with which you are in contact intelligently, economically, wisely. ”

“ Allowing for errors, either of excess or deficiency, which are inevitable in a subject that does not admit of exact measurement, one point stands out very clearly as the result of my enquiry: the Geotrupes are enthusiastic buriers; they take underground a great deal more than is necessary for their consumption. As this work is performed, in varying degrees, by legions of collaborators, large and small, it is evident that the purification of the soil must benefit to a considerable extent and that the public health is to be congratulated on having this army of auxiliaries in its service. ”

“ The mine hath two ways into it, the one by sea and the other by land; but a man may go into it by land, and return the same way if he please, and so he may enter into it by sea, and by sea he may come forth of it: but I for variety's sake went in by sea, and out by land. Now men may object, how can a man go into a mine, the entrance of it being into the sea, but that the sea will follow him, and so drown the mine? ”

“ On Niflheim, there are about a thousand Terrans, and not more than five hundred geeks, all employed on construction-work and in the mines, on the planet itself, working directly under Terran supervision. We use them because they have four hands, and in the power-driven contragravity armor that's necessary there, they can manipulate more controls and do more things at once than we can. Here on Uller, at the polar mines, there are about ten thousand geeks working under five hundred Terrans, and most of the latter are engineers or technicians who don't do supervisory work. ”

“ No more than the mine and the forest are the ship of war and the factory. These elements, with their constitution perfect, and their proportion suitable, are still a mere chaos. They must be put in their places. They must not be where their own properties would place them. They must be made to assume a particular arrangement, or we can have no regular and permanent course of nature. ”

“ The insignificant terraces thus formed by earth caught in its descent while in solution appear disproportioned to the labour of their construction, and the laborious system would suggest an extreme scarcity of land suitable for agricultural operations. ”

“ Some day the possibilities of the Torrid Zone may come to us as a great discovery.
There is need of men in forestry; for we must win back the trees we have slain with such ruthless hand. The lumberman of the future will pick ripe trees and save the rest as carefully as the herdsman selects his stock. In engineering, in mining, in invention, there are endless possibilities. Every man who masters what is already known in any one branch of applied science, makes his own fortune. ”

“ 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 possible. You already have a hint, from what I have said, of the very striking difference between the society of Mars and that of the Earth, in their handling of labor interests. While with your careless and indifferent treatment, labor remains degraded, we have raised it to a point of honor. ”

“ As servants of the twelfth, and lowest, rank, your duty will be the mining of unconsumed zronon, employed by the Owners to maintain their home and their glorious gateway on an equal level of brilliance to that of the stars themselves. Death awaits that servant who lags in his output. Your destination will be the eighth mining planet, nearest the edge of the Trespass Limit. ”

“ When he has to dig himself a retreat that shall shelter him against the rigours of winter, the Geotrupes really deserves his name: none can compare with him for the depth of the pit or the perfection and rapidity of the work. In sandy ground, easily excavated, I have dug up some that were buried over a yard deep. Others carried their digging farther still, tiring both my patience and my implements. There you have the skilled well-sinker, the inimitable earth-borer. When the cold sets in, he will be able to descend to some stratum where the frost has lost its terrors. ”

“ Scientific men, and tourists who seek for new routes of travel, will appreciate it at once; and I trust that the time is near at hand when our mercantile men, by the perusal of such a work, will see how wide a field lies before them for future commercial enterprise. This portion of the tropics abounds in natural resources which only need the stimulus of capital to draw them forth to the light; to create among the natives a desire for articles of civilization in exchange for the crude productions of the forest ”

“ It is, therefore, both the interest and the duty of the proprietors of the soil to arouse themselves, if they would continue such, to the duties that are imposed on them. There is a scope for energy and exertion, and some will ever be in advance of others; but there is one keystone to every exertion on the part of the crofter open to all, and that is, granting security of tenure by leases. ”

“ For, if it is said that we cannot raise these products of the91 soil in competition with some other part of the earth’s surface, all it proves is that we have come to the wrong spot to seek them. If, however, the soil can support the population under an arrangement by which certain industries support themselves, and those which do not pay besides, then it is plain that the former are really supporting the whole population—part directly and part indirectly, through a circuitous and wasteful organization. ”

“ Farmers are cultivating their broad acres, woodsmen are chopping and hewing in the forest, miners are drilling in underground chambers, and the products of farm, forest, and mine are finding their way by river, road, and rail to the great distributing centres. In the town the machinery of mill and factory keeps busy thousands of operatives, and turns out manufactured products to compete with the products of the soil for right of way to the cities of the New World and the Old. ”