The Lunarian Professor and His Remarkable Revelations Concerning the Earth, the Moon and Mars / Together with An Account of the Cruise of the Sally Ann

by James B. Alexander

“All right,” I answered, “consider it done. I am already there.”

“Do you not remember,” he went on, “that a little while ago you expressed a wish that it might have been your lot to live say 200 years later than you did, so as to share and experience the glory your race would have attained by that time? Well you are in effect now there, and while you shall never experience it in your own person, you shall have a close glimpse of it and be able to compare your anticipation with the reality.

“We are now celebrating January 1, 2100. As you look around, you see very much that is unfamiliar and miss many things you used to see. Take a map of the world and examine it. You will find only three general governments on earth. First is the “Great Union of Free States”, which you have heard of, but now comprising all America, the Pacific Islands, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, The West Indies, Ireland and Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, New Guinea and the Philippines. Thus you see the principal change in this government during the century consists in the full annexation of all the South American States north of Chili and Argentine, and the Annexation of England, Scotland and Wales and the Scandinavian states. The language of this great empire is almost exclusively English, which however, has been greatly corrupted, some say, or enriched according to others, by the incorporation of a large number of foreign words, mostly Spanish, due to the intimate relations between the English speaking peoples and those who used the Spanish and Portuguese. South America has been settled and cultivated and is the most productive county on earth; a fairy land, a paradise. Nothing can compare with it except some of the finest portions of the Sahara desert, which has been developed by the French; and some of the East India Islands.

“Next is the Russo-Asiatic empire that comprises Russia in Europe and all Asia except Arabia. It is styled the ‘Russasia.’ The government is a limited monarchy, very much like that of Great Britain in your day. The Russians in Europe and Siberia are represented by a parliament, which is the supreme legislative authority for the entire empire. The Asiatic States are governed by governors appointed by the emperor at St. Petersburg and most of them have local legislatures that regulate their local affairs. All China and parts of India, Persia and Tartary, and Afghanistan are divided into convenient sized states possessing this local autonomy. All of this territory is being developed by the combined enterprise of the Russians and the Chinese, the latter scarcely second to the former. Mongolia and Mantchooria have been supplied with railroads and settled by both Chinese and Russians. The Chinese have also migrated in great numbers into Tartary and settled up what used to be the western end of the Chinese empire. They have even settled in great numbers in Russia and in western Asia. A great change came over the Chinese after their war with Japan in 1894-5. They perceived that they were beaten by western methods, and they suddenly conceived a respect for the ways of the foreign devils as extreme as their contempt for them had been before. They had always been on good terms with the Russians while they disliked the English, French and Americans. Having determined to adopt western ways, they selected the Russians for their instructors and welcomed their capital and enterprise in the introduction of railways, opening mines, improving their water ways, introducing western machinery and manufactures. When the Russians in order to protect their interests began a military occupation of the country, they were not opposed, but rather welcomed by the progressive party. The Chinese were not a military people, and were really in need of a coalition that would enable them to resist the aggressions of the nations of western Europe, and the Japanese. The remodeling of Chinese institutions under the tutelage of the Russians advanced rapidly. Probably the most radical and important innovation was the introduction of the Russian alphabet and the phonetic spelling of the Chinese language by its use. This enabled the Chinese youth to learn their own language much more easily, and it led directly to the study of the Russian which became very necessary to a large extent, on account of the intimate intercourse between the two people, and on account of the new ideas, processes and things, the names of which were Russian without Chinese equivalents. This finally led to the universal use of Russian by the educated Chinese.

“After the formal annexation of China, the Russian became the official language, and the Chinese language has gradually fallen into disuse and is now almost extinct. The Chinese say of their ancient tongue and the bug marks and turkey tracks that constituted its written expression, “we were little children when we used that language.”

“The Russian has also to a great extent superseded the Tartar, Turkish, Persian and other tongues current in Central Asia. In doing this, however, it has become considerably corrupted itself.

“The third great empire comprises all the territory not included in the other two, and embraces all of Continental Europe except Russia and the Scandinavian States, and all of Africa except that part south of the 10th parallel of S. Lat. and Arabia. It is called the Euro-Afric Confederacy. Tremendous activity has been displayed by the Europeans in the settlement and improvement of Africa during the past two centuries. The whole continent has been gridironed with railroads, all of it has been civilized and the most unpromising part—the Sahara desert has been made a vast garden.

“The French have been most active in the northern part, the Italians in the eastern part, the Portuguese and Germans in the central portions, the English in the southern. The Congo and German States being open to free trade, they came to be frequented by merchants from all Europe and these were soon followed by permanent settlers. After a time these people became tired of being governed from Europe, and set up for themselves, declaring themselves independent, much as the United States did in 1776. But in this case there was no opposition for the principle of free intercourse and unrestricted trade having been firmly established, the mother countries did not care to superintend the internal affairs of the young states, and readily consented to their independence. But this independence proved to be the forerunner of a more extensive union namely the Euro-Afric Confederacy. It was the last to be formed of the three great empires that now cover the world. The states comprising it are mostly republics. But a few in middle Africa, Guinea and the Sondan, are limited monarchies. The native races of Africa are rapidly being displaced by the Europeans and will totally disappear in a few generations as the North American Indians did in your day. A large migration of Negroes took place from the United States to Africa during the 20th century, but they did not thrive, and the race is vastly reduced both in Africa and America.”

“That is strange,” said I, “for in my day the negroes were very numerous in the southern states—a majority in some places—and the question how they were to be disposed of constituted one of the questions of state of that period.”