The black pall of smoke that hovered over manufacturing cities and darkened the Havanas Cent Apiece. lives of all men, had disappeared. Electricity drove smoke back into Hades and kept it there. Manhattan, (formerly New York) the largest and grandest city in the world in 1999, was no longer troubled in this manner. The only smoke that was ever seen in city or country life curled up from Havana cigars, of the best grades raised on American plantations in Cuba and retailed in Manhattan for one cent apiece. Pipes were occasionally used but had lost much of their former popularity. Workmen and the poorest classes could enjoy a fragrant Havana for one cent and pipes were no longer used on the mere pretence of economy.
In the 20th century the tobacco chewer’s life was not an enjoyable one. In many States of the Americas, in 1999, notably Brazil, East Canada and Argentina, it became a penal offense to chew tobacco in public. In 1999 tobacco chewing was everywhere regarded in the United States of the Americas in the same light as opium smoking. It was considered a filthy practice, one that must not be tolerated in public. It was regarded as a danger to public health for men to spit chewing tobacco on the street walks. Ladies in 1999 made up their minds that they had got through stepping on tobacco quids on the streets. Indeed, spitting had been prohibited in all public places. The habit was filthy and dangerous, causing the spread of disease germs. In 1980 it frequently happened that the city police raided chewing tobacco joints and hauled the offenders before court for fine.
But, perhaps the worst form of smoking was the diabolical cigarette. In 1899 it Arrested for Smoking Cigarettes. was already sapping the youth of America, filling our hospitals with the sick and our State asylums with imbeciles. Great fears were already entertained in 1899 as to the outcome, but public opinion did not realize the danger to the national safety until 1912. In 1921 Congress passed a law making the sale, importation or manufacture of cigarettes a felony. Every inducement was extended by National and State Legislatures to encourage the growth of the purest Havana and Manila tobaccos. The object was to place a good, harmless cigar within the reach of everyone and to discourage the chewing and cigarette practices.
In 1999 moderation in the use of wines and beverages became almost universal. Even in the State of Mexico and other tropical States of the Americas, drunkenness became almost unknown. In fact, it was regarded as a deep disgrace and a penal offense to be caught drunk in public. A drunken man was regarded in 1999 as a moral leper and was isolated from his fellow creatures for a period of one year and forever after was debarred from holding any public office. The law was sternly administered in every case which carried conviction.
The vicious laws of 1899 which allowed the government to collect an enormous Drunkenness Very Rare. revenue on spirituous liquors and permitted manufacturers to poison their victims with noxious liquids were greatly ameliorated. The National government took up the work of purification in the matter of manufacturing all liquors. A much purer and safer article, much less liable to injure one’s health and to intoxicate, was placed on the market. It was recognized that the government could not regulate the appetites of people, but it determined to regulate the purity of the liquors they drank. This wise course produced a decided change for the better. Drunkenness was reduced to a minimum and homes were made happier. Although men still “drank” in 1999, none but an abject sot ever lost his mental balance and disturbed public peace.
In 1999 vast strides of progress had been made in medicine and surgery, and disease had been eliminated to a very large extent from our social system. Science attained a complete mastery over the hitherto unknown Triumph of Mind Over Matter. field of organisms. Man’s mastery over these agents marked the greatest stride ever made in the conquest of mind over matter. All classes of bacteria were held under perfect control. In 1999 contagious and infectious diseases occurred only in sporadic form. The chief ills of life were those attendant upon old age.
Specific organisms, namely those of construction and destruction, were created at will in that year, and were made to work with certain and perfect results. In this manner disease was easily combated.
Fire departments in the city lost much of their old-time importance. In 1999 only ten fire stations were required in the great metropolis of Manhattan. In 1899 the population of New York was 3,500,000 and the number of its brave firemen ran up in the ten thousands. In 1999 the population of Manhattan was nearly 25,000,000 souls, and its fire department required only three thousand firemen to operate it. The reason for this is very simple. In 1899 fire was used everywhere; while in 1999 very few houses had any use for that element. Electricity had completely abolished fire as a domestic agent or motive power. In 1999 people never ceased to marvel how their predecessors got along with so much fire, in one form or other, burning in their houses.
The sufferings of the poor in crowded city tenements during the fierce heats of summer, with a coal stove in their room, Very Little Fire Used. were recalled. The frightful heat took away all energy and appetite. Then the burning kerosene lamps were called to mind. Furnaces with roaring fires of coal, wood and oil, gas jets, matches, all helped to increase the percentage of danger. Fire departments were in great demand in the good old days of 1899, and insurance companies amassed fortunes by the side of which Monte Cristo was a mere Lazarus.
In those days fire not only constantly threatened the destruction of property, but many thousands of valuable lives were destroyed every year by that element. In 1899 women still clung to their long, dangerous and unhealthy skirts, long dresses that impeded their movements and exposed them to constant danger from fire. Fearful tales on land and sea were told of horrible sacrifices by fire. In 1999 all this was banished, never to return. Fires were extinguished everywhere. A safer and better element had taken its place. The Pharsees of India were, perhaps, the only people in 1999 who still “worshipped” fire.