Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century

armies?" I asked.

  "Yes. In Europe, however, they have been constrained, by inability towring more taxes from the impoverished people, to gradually diminishtheir numbers. There, you know, the real government is now a coterieof bankers, mostly Israelites; and the kings and queens, andso-called presidents, are mere toys and puppets in their hands. Allidea of national glory, all chivalry, all pride, all battles forterritory or supremacy have long since ceased. Europe is a bankingassociation conducted exclusively for the benefit of the bankers.Bonds take the place of national aspirations. To squeeze the wretchedis the great end of government; to toil and submit, the destiny ofthe peoples.

  "The task which Hannibal attempted, so disastrously, to subject theLatin and mixed-Gothic races of Europe to the domination of theSemitic blood, as represented in the merchant-city of Carthage, hasbeen successfully accomplished in these latter days by the cousins ofthe Phœnicians, the Israelites. The nomadic children of Abrahamhave fought and schemed their way, through infinite depths ofpersecution, from their tents on the plains of Palestine, to a powerhigher than the thrones of Europe. The world is to-day Semitized. Thechildren of Japhet lie prostrate slaves at the feet of the childrenof Shem; and the sons of Ham bow humbly before their august dominion.

  "The standing armies of Europe are now simply armed police; for, asall the nations are owned by one power--the money power--there is nolonger any danger of their assaulting each other. But in the greed ofthe sordid commercial spirit which dominates the continent they havereduced, not only the numbers, but the pay of the soldiers, until itis little better than the compensation earned by the wretchedpeasantry and the mechanics; while years of peace and plunder havemade the rulers careless and secure. Hence our powerful associationhas spread among these people like wild-fire: the very armies arehoneycombed with our ideas, and many of the soldiers belong to theBrotherhood.

  "Here, in America, they have been wise enough to pay the soldiers oftheir standing army better salaries; and hence they do not so readilysympathize with our purposes. But we outnumber them ten to one, anddo not fear them. There is, however, one great obstacle which we havenot yet seen the way to overcome. More than a century ago, you know,dirigible air-ships were invented. The Oligarchy have a large forceof several thousands of these, sheathed with that light but strongmetal, aluminium; in popular speech they are known as _The Demons_.Sailing over a hostile force, they drop into its midst great bombs,loaded with the most deadly explosives, mixed with bullets; and,where one of these strikes the ground, it looks like the crater of anextinct volcano; while leveled rows of dead are strewed in everydirection around it. But this is not all. Some years since a Frenchchemist discovered a dreadful preparation, a subtle poison, which,falling upon the ground, being heavier than the air and yetexpansive, rolls, 'like a slow blot that spreads,' steadily over theearth in all directions, bringing sudden death to those that breatheit. The Frenchman sold the secret of its preparation to the Oligarchyfor a large sum; but he did not long enjoy his ill-gotten wealth. Hewas found dead in his bed the next day, poisoned by the air from afew drops of his own invention; killed, it is supposed, by thegovernments, so that they would possess forever the exclusivemonopoly of this terrible instrument of slaughter. It is upon thisthat they principally rely for defense from the uprisings of theoppressed people. These air-ships, 'the Demons,' are furnished withbombs, loaded with this powerful poison; and, when an outbreakoccurs, they sail, like great, foul birds, dark-winged and terrible,over the insurgents; they let fall a single bomb, which inspires suchterror in the multitude that those not instantaneously killed by thepoison fly with the utmost speed; and the contest is at an end. Wehave long labored to bring the men who arm these air-ships, and whomanufacture this poison, into our organization, but so far withoutsuccess. The Oligarchy knows their value, and pays them well. Wehave, however, bribed one or two of their men, not themselves in thesecret, but who have inspired the others to make demand after demandupon the government for increased pay, knowing that they heldeverything in their power. The Oligarchy has been constrained toyield to these demands, which have only led, under our inspiration,to still greater claims; and it is our hope that before long therulers will refuse to go farther in that direction; and then, in thediscontent that will inevitably follow, the men will yield to ourapproaches. It will be the old story over again--the army that wascalled in to defend effete Rome at last took possession of the empireand elected the emperors. This is the fate that cruelty and injusticeultimately bring upon their own heads--they are devoured by theirinstruments. As Manfred says:

  "'The spirits I have raised abandon me; The spells that I had recked of torture me.'"

  "You are right," I replied; "there is nothing that will insurepermanent peace but universal justice: that is the only soil thatgrows no poisons. Universal justice means equal opportunities for allmen and a repression by law of those gigantic abnormal selfishnesseswhich ruin millions for the benefit of thousands. In the old daysselfishness took the form of conquest, and the people were reduced toserfs. Then, in a later age, it assumed the shape of individualrobbery and murder. Laws were made against these crimes. Then itbroke forth in the shape of subtle combinations, 'rings,' or'trusts,' as they called them, corporations, and all the othercunning devices of the day, some of which scarcely manifestedthemselves on the surface, but which transferred the substance of oneman into the pockets of another, and reduced the people to slavery ascompletely and inevitably as ever the robber barons of old did theoriginal owners of the soil of Europe."

  CHAPTER XII.

  GABRIEL'S UTOPIA

  "But what would you do, my good Gabriel," said Maximilian, smiling,"if the reformation of the world were placed in your hands? Every manhas an Utopia in his head. Give me some idea of yours."

  "First," I said, "I should do away with all interest on money.Interest on money is the root and ground of the world's troubles. Itputs one man in a position of safety, while another is in a conditionof insecurity, and thereby it at once creates a radical distinctionin human society."

  "How do you make that out?" he asked.

  "The lender takes a mortgage on the borrower's land or house, orgoods, for, we will say, one-half or one-third their value; theborrower then assumes all the chances of life in his efforts to repaythe loan. If he is a farmer, he has to run the risk of the fickleelements. Rains may drown, droughts may burn up his crops. If amerchant, he encounters all the hazards of trade; the bankruptcy ofother tradesmen; the hostility of the elements sweeping awayagriculture, and so affecting commerce; the tempests that smite hisships, etc. If a mechanic, he is still more dependent upon thesuccess of all above him, and the mutations of commercial prosperity.He may lose employment; he may sicken; he may die. But behind allthese risks stands the money-lender, in perfect security. The failureof his customer only enriches him; for he takes for his loan propertyworth twice or thrice the sum he has advanced upon it. Given amillion of men and a hundred years of time, and the slightestadvantage possessed by any one class among the million must result,in the long run, in the most startling discrepancies of condition. Alittle evil grows like a ferment--it never ceases to operate; it isalways at work. Suppose I bring before you a handsome, rosy-cheekedyoung man, full of life and hope and health. I touch his lip with asingle _bacillus of phthisis pulmonalis_--consumption. It isinvisible to the eye; it is too small to be weighed. judged by allthe tests of the senses, it is too insignificant to be thought of;but it has the capacity to multiply itself indefinitely. The youthgoes off singing. Months, perhaps years, pass before the deadlydisorder begins to manifest itself; but in time the step loses itselasticity; the eyes become dull; the roses fade from the cheeks; thestrength departs, and eventually the joyous youth is but a shell--acadaverous, shrunken form, inclosing a shocking mass of putridity;and death ends the dreadful scene. Give one set of men in a communitya financial advantage over the rest, however slight--it may be almostinvisible--and at the end of centuries t
hat class so favored will owneverything and wreck the country. A penny, they say, put out atinterest the day Columbus sailed from Spain, and compounded eversince, would amount now to more than all the assessed value of allthe property, real, personal and mixed, on the two continents ofNorth and South America."

  "But," said Maximilian, "how would the men get along who wanted toborrow?"

  "The necessity to borrow is one of the results of borrowing. Thedisease produces the symptoms. The men who are enriched by borrowingare infinitely less in number than those who are ruined by it; andevery disaster to the middle class swells the number and decreasesthe opportunities of the helplessly poor. Money in itself isvalueless. It becomes valuable only by use--by exchange for thingsneedful for life or comfort. If money could not be loaned,