Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century

closely together that there is room for only two wagonsto pass abreast. We determined to assemble all our men the next dayat this place, and build up a high wall that would completely cut offcommunication with the external world, making the wall so thick andstrong that it would be impossible for any force that was likely tocome against us to batter it down.

  This was successfully accomplished; and a smooth, straight wall,thirty feet high and about fifty broad at its widest point, now risesup between our colony and the external world. It was a melancholyreflection that we--human beings--were thus compelled to exclude ourfellow-men.

  We also stationed a guard at a high point near the wall, andcommanding a view of its approaches for many miles; and we agreedupon a system of bale-fires (_Bael_ fires), or signal beacons, towarn the whole settlement, in case of the approach of an enemy.

  We next established a workshop, under the charge of Carl Jansen, inwhich he trained some of our young men in metal-working, and theyproceeded to make a large supply of magazine rifles, so that everyman in the settlement might be well armed. Carl is one of thosequiet, unpretending men whose performance is always better than theirpromise; and he is a skillful worker in the metals. The iron and coalwe found in abundance in our mountains. We also cast a number ofpowerful cannon, placed on very high wheels, and which could be firedvertically in case we were attacked by air-ships;--although I thoughtit probable that the secret of their manufacture would be lost to theworld in the destruction of civilization. We, however, carefullyhoused the Demon under a shed, built for the purpose, intending, whenwe had time, to make other air-ships like it, with which tocommunicate with the external world, should we desire to do so.

  Having taken all steps necessary to protect ourselves from others, wethen began to devise means by which we might protect ourselves fromourselves; for the worst enemies of a people are always found intheir own midst, in their passions and vanities. And the mostdangerous foes of a nation do not advance with drums beating andcolors flying, but creep upon it insidiously, with the noiseless feetof a fatal malady.

  In this work I received great help from Max, and especially from hisfather. The latter had quite recovered the tone of his mind. He wasfamiliar with all the philosophies of government, and he continued tobe filled with an ardent desire to benefit mankind. Max had seemed,for some days after our arrival, to be seriously depressed, broodingover his own thoughts; and he seized eagerly upon the work I gave himto do, as if he would make up by service to our people for anyinjuries he had done the world. We held many consultations. For goodpurposes and honest instincts we may trust to the multitude; but forlong-sighted thoughts of philanthropy, of statesmanship andstatecraft, we must look to a few superior intellects. It is,however, rarely that the capacity to do good and the desire to dogood are found united in one man.

  When we had formulated our scheme of government we called the peopletogether again; and after several days of debate it was substantiallyagreed upon.

  In our constitution, we first of all acknowledged our dependence onAlmighty God; believing that all good impulses on earth spring fromhis heart, and that no government can prosper which does not possesshis blessing.

  We decreed, secondly, a republican form of government. Every adultman and woman of sound mind is permitted to vote. We adopted a systemof voting that we believed would insure perfect secrecy and preventbribery--something like that which had already been in vogue, in somecountries, before the revolution of the Proletariat.

  The highest offense known to our laws is treason against the state,and this consists not only in levying war against the government, butin corrupting the voter or the office-holder; or in the voter oroffice-holder selling his vote or his services. For these crimes thepenalty is death. But, as they are in their very nature secretoffenses, we provide, in these cases only, for three forms ofverdict: "guilty," "not guilty" and "suspected." This latter verdictapplies to cases where the jury are morally satisfied, from thesurrounding circumstances, that the man is guilty, although there isnot enough direct and positive testimony to convict him. The jurythen have the power--not as a punishment to the man, but for thesafety of the community--to declare him incapable of voting orholding office for a period of not less than one nor more than fiveyears. We rank bribery and corruption as high treason; becauseexperience has demonstrated that they are more deadly in theirconsequences to a people than open war against the government, andmany times more so than murder.

  We decreed, next, universal and compulsory education. No one can votewho cannot read and write. We believe that one man's ignorance shouldnot countervail the just influence of another man's intelligence.Ignorance is not only ruinous to the individual, but destructive tosociety. It is an epidemic which scatters death everywhere.

  We abolish all private schools, except the higher institutions andcolleges. We believe it to be essential to the peace and safety ofthe commonwealth that the children of all the people, rich and poor,should, during the period of growth, associate together. In this way,race, sectarian and caste prejudices are obliterated, and the wholecommunity grow up together as brethren. Otherwise, in a generation ortwo, we shall have the people split up into hostile factions, fencedin by doctrinal bigotries, suspicious of one another, andantagonizing one another in politics, business and everything else.

  But, as we believe that it is not right to cultivate the heads of theyoung to the exclusion of their hearts, we mingle with abstractknowledge a cult of morality and religion, to be agreed upon by thedifferent churches; for there are a hundred points wherein they agreeto one wherein they differ. And, as to the points peculiar to eachcreed, we require the children to attend school but five days in theweek, thus leaving one day for the parents or pastors to take chargeof their religious training in addition to the care given them onSundays.

  We abolish all interest on money, and punish with imprisonment theman who receives it.

  The state owns all roads, streets, telegraph or telephone lines,railroads and mines, and takes exclusive control of the mails andexpress matter.

  As these departments will in time furnish employment for a great manyofficials, who might be massed together by the party in power, andwielded for political purposes, we decree that any man who acceptsoffice relinquishes, for the time being, his right of suffrage. Theservants of the people have no right to help rule them; and he whothinks more of his right to vote than of an office is at liberty torefuse an appointment.

  As we have not an hereditary nobility, as in England, or greatgeographical subdivisions, as in America, we are constrained, informing our Congress or Parliament, to fall back upon a new device.

  Our governing body, called _The People_, is divided into threebranches. The first is elected exclusively by the producers, to-wit:the workmen in the towns and the farmers and mechanics in thecountry; and those they elect must belong to their own class. Asthese constitute the great bulk of the people, the body thatrepresents them stands for the House of Commons in England, or theHouse of Representatives in America. The second branch is electedexclusively by and from the merchants and manufacturers, and all whoare engaged in trade, or as employers of labor. The third branch,which is the smallest of the three, is selected by the authors,newspaper writers, artists, scientists, philosophers and literarypeople generally. This branch is expected to hold the balance ofpower, where the other two bodies cannot agree. It may be expectedthat they will be distinguished by broad and philanthropic views andnew and generous conceptions. Where a question arises as to which ofthese three groups or subdivisions a voter belongs to, the matter isto be decided by the president of the Republic.

  No law can be passed, in the first instance, unless it receives amajority vote in each of the three branches, or a two-thirds vote intwo of them. Where a difference of opinion arises upon any point oflegislation, the three branches are to assemble together and discussthe matter at issue, and try to reach an agreement. As, however, theexperience of the world has shown that there is more danger of theupper classes combining to op
press the producers than there is of theproducers conspiring to govern them,--except in the last desperateextremity, as shown recently,--it is therefore decreed that if theCommons, by a three-fourths vote, pass any measure, it becomes a law,notwithstanding the veto of the other two branches.

  The executive is elected by the Congress for a period of four years,and is not eligible for re-election. He has no veto and no control ofany patronage. In the election of president a two-thirds vote of eachbranch is necessary.

  Whenever it can be shown, in the future, that in any foreign countrythe wages of labor and the prosperity of the people are as high as inour own, then free trade with that people is decreed. But wheneverthe people of another country are in greater poverty, or working at alower rate of wages than our own, then all commercial intercoursewith them shall be totally interdicted. For impoverished labor on oneside of a line, unless walled out, must inevitably drag down labor onthe other side of the line to a like condition.