Here is what was taking place. After the Congressman delivered to the President the Martian message and gave him a general report, one of the companions, who recently served in the American army in Korea, began giving the President his own account of the adventures and experiences on the planet Mars, picturing the life of the Martians. He made an appeal to the President as follows:
"Starting in the seventeenth century, the ancestors of the great many living here, for numerous reasons left their home countries to establish themselves in new lands. Then they had good opportunities to emigrate to a newly discovered continent. Now, our earth has been entirely explored and there are no more new lands to emigrate to, except to the planet Mars, from which we just returned. We asked the Martians to grant us the privilege of permanently remaining on their planet, but they refused; first, they want us to clean our own house, and second, they are chary of introducing other new problems to their population.
"We would like to have you, if our plan meets with your approval, to ask congress to pass a law allocating to us four adjoining islands in the temperate zone of the Pacific where we fought our battles, or in some other territory, where we can colonize and experiment in living under a different economic system, similar to the one on Mars.
"We are seeking a solution, a possible change of conditions, without conflicts.
"At first, we would like to be helped by lend-lease from our government through the veterans bureau as per the allotments of our bill of rights. Then we would ask that the islands or territory be put under the protection but not under the rule of our government. Our new system of life may not prove to be 100% successful in a world where existence is interdependent, but we believe that a start in this direction should, within a reasonable length of time, show good results. We may even have to operate for awhile by bartering our products to obtain others from other parts of the earth. And of course the intercommunication, and shipments from and to our islands, of post offices, of telephone, telegraph, and even radio may have to be done with foreign exchange, but it would be handled solely by our post offices until gradually discontinued.
"These islands would be peopled by selected intelligent young families of our four different races. Each race would live separately and exclusively on its own island, but all would be federated under our same constitution and laws. The pioneers would have to be in good standing and of good mental and physical condition who are to start a new way of life. We propose to carefully investigate and select each applicant and try him out; if he proves to be willing, ambitious and cooperative, he will become one of our citizens. If not, he will be shipped back.
"These pioneers must include many of our disabled and crippled war veterans of proven integrity, to occupy positions of government administratives, and if capable, of faculty members in our new universities and schools; so that the strong ones can work at construction. No other people will be allowed to immigrate there, and visitors will be limited to a certain number and for a definite length of time.
"Upon landing on these islands, we would first need shelter for both ourselves and the domestic animals. We intend also to bring with us prefabricated metal houses which may be easily and quickly erected. These homes will be used by our first contingent and their domestic animals. After that we propose to build them ourselves of stone and concrete.
"It will be our irrevocable aim and principle to have absolutely fire-proof living quarters for man and beast.
"It is our intention to leave our families here until we have developed suitable shelters and conveniences for them. We propose to land in groups, to start reclamation, to clear the land, to dry up marshes, to survey and divide the islands into farming homestead tracts. We shall plan homes for a population of sixty thousand on each island within a few years.