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

“They use only electrically purified water or rain water, and far less than was consumed in your day. The houses are all fireproof and the fire departments have very little use for water, using chemical extinguishers. The factories for the manufacture of food stuffs, the mineral wood, furniture, vehicles, textile fabrics etc., are usually placed in suburbs at a little distance from the cities, and the working people pass back and forth by the cars or flyers. The usual day’s work is 4 to 6 hours and all sorts of work is paid by the hour. Manufactured goods are stored in the business quarters of the cities, and delivered where ordered as in your day, but by more exact and complete means.

“There has not for many ages been any sexual distinction in clothes, and the slavery of fashion was long ago abolished. The costumes show the individuality of their owners and are extremely various; a mixed company looking like a congress of the nations of your day.”

“How do they manage their political affairs?” I inquired.

“They can scarcely be said to have any local political affairs to be managed. They have very large and extensive business affairs, and they are managed as business and not as politics. All the employes in the several business departments of the state are first taken from the schools where they have been educated and prepared for the occupations they wished to be qualified to follow. All vacancies to responsible places are filled on civil service principles. The foremen receive a little higher wages than the common hands, but nobody receives any profits except the tax or tariff the state puts on goods it makes and sells.

“The workers in each particular trade or occupation in any state form a society or guild, presided over by a board or commission elected by the members of the guild from a list of candidates who have passed examination for competency. There is another board elected by the whole people that has the general oversight of all business and the equalization of wages.

“The guild board receives from the state the raw material it consumes and is charged with it. It sees to its distribution among the shops of the guild, receives and turns over to the state the articles made by the guild, certifies to the pay rolls, and to the cost of the articles made. It determines the amount of material required and the number of men that shall be employed, basing its regulation on the requisition of the general board for the goods which in turn gets its data from the store keepers who make requisitions on the board according to the public demand for the goods. The guild board determines the number of men it can employ and if it has too many the fact is reported to the general board whose business it is to find work for the surplus men in another trade. The guild board naturally anxious to preserve the credit of its own guild, always selects the least competent of their men for transfer. The general board is constantly posted as to the demand for labor in the different guilds and can usually assign the men to places suited to their capacity, which commonly admits of more or less variety of employment, their school education being conducted with that view. If the trades are all full or if the men prove unfit to perform such skilled labor as is required, they are furnished laboring work not requiring skill of which there is always plenty in the procurement of raw materials for food, minerals, agricultural products, building materials etc. As most of the things produced including food can be kept an indefinite length of time, there is no objection to a considerable accumulation ahead. When this happens and it often does, the community is in a prosperous condition for it has more than enough. It is a sign that the workmen have saved their money instead of buying goods with it. They may knock off work and take holiday till the stocks are reduced. Sometimes the fashion changes, and the state has something on hand it cannot sell. Like any other manufacturer it must sell at a sacrifice for what it can get, and use better judgment next time. The general board looks out for that. This board also equalizes wages in the several trades, lowering the pay in those trades into which there is the greatest tendency to crowd and raising it in those that are deserted. Striking in a body is not allowed. But many or all the members of a guild may give notice of an intention to leave, and they are then allowed to do so, a small number at a time. The general board inquires into the cause of the dissatisfaction and rectifies it if possible. If the wages are high enough the fact will be proved by other workmen coming from other trades or other places to take the job, in which case the disgruntled men must take such other work as the board can find for them or remain idle if they prefer to. If they are not high enough the vacancies will remain unfilled till the board raises them.

“When men are idle, by no fault of their own, but because all places are filled, the state is bound to feed and clothe them. This is the theory, but it is very rarely put into practice. Since they prefer to let them work at something rather than be idle even if the work is not in great demand.”

“They seem to have but little use for apothecaries and doctors, how about lawyers and courts?”

“There is no such thing now as the practice of law as formerly understood. In your day the lawyer was called an officer of the court. But in reality he was a partizan of one of the litigants bent on gaining a victory for his client regardless of the justice of his cause; and he often gained it when he knew it was unjust. Each town or district is supplied with a board of lawyers three, five or seven according to population, and these comprise the court. They are elected by the people from the law graduates of the state school, for a definite term. Any small case is heard by either one of the lawyers upon whom both litigants can agree, both sides being heard and witnesses examined by him. If either litigant is dissatisfied with his decision he may appeal to the full bench, whose decision by a majority is final on questions of fact. But if a minority dissents on points of law a further appeal as to the law is allowed to be made to the Supreme Court of the state, the dissenting minority preparing the case for the higher court, and the majority preparing the counter case in defense of their decision. The defeated party pays the costs. These, however, are comparatively light, lawyers receiving no higher pay than mechanics. But as the position brings distinction there are always enough candidates for it. They are only paid as lawyers for the actual time spent by them, and often increase their income by other employment; for there is but a small amount of litigation.

“The criminal procedure is almost as simple. A person accused of a petty crime is brought before a single lawyer who examines the witnesses for both sides and decides the case, if the accused is not satisfied he appeals to the full bench, and the minority of that bench may carry an appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court. In important cases the legal bench may summon the bench of a neighboring town or district to sit with them in the case and share the responsibility. There is no criminal class and crime of any sort is very rare. It is regarded as an insanity and a family in which it is developed is at once prevented from going further in the hereditary transmission of it. There is no capital punishment.”