Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a story

by Marianne Farningham

The first fact which they made public was the gratifying one that the money left by the Prince had already been doubled by the contributions of rich men who had been waiting for some opportunity to dispose of part of their wealth for the good of their country. This was the fruit of a conviction that had been for many past years growing, that a Christian man has no right to keep to himself the wealth which has been entrusted to him.

Another fact, which for the first time was put into words for the public information, was the somewhat disquieting one, for the war party, that it had now become exceedingly difficult to secure men for the British Army. The youth of the nation of these times had no taste for swords, and guns, and red coats. The veterans of the army often wondered what England could possibly do if she had to engage in a big war while so short of men. And although Englishmen believed still that their nation was destined to lead the world, it was evident to all thoughtful minds that it must be by other means than war, for even now she could not cope with other nations in regard to military power.

But, all the same, the Government was asked to reduce the standing army, since it would be wiser to do that than to let it die out gradually and ignominiously; and it was absolutely certain that this would be the case in the near future, since the Christian Churches of England had enlisted the youth of the nation in the grand army of the Young Crusaders, every member of which had solemnly sworn to preserve peace.

The committee, therefore, recommended the Government to give immediate effect to the Prince’s will; to allow men who had already served ten years in the army to leave it if they chose; and to give them, under certain conditions, a lump sum, instead of a pension, so that they might commence business or emigrate, or provide themselves with tools and equipments for labour. Had all this happened before, there would have been a great outcry that the already overstocked labour market would become congested by the turning into it of thousands of new men; but people were really wise enough now to see that it would be cheaper for these men to work than to be kept in idleness at the expense of the State, and they were learning to solve the problem of the over-production of commodities by the industrial classes by making it possible for the industrial classes themselves to enjoy the commodities which they were producing.

So the suggestions of the committee were accepted.

“Our Quixotic Government can no further go,” said one of the papers next morning; but its small light was snuffed out during the day, for the journals that were of consequence took the other side, and it became evident that the life and death of the Prince had converted an enormous number of thinkers.

Still, it was decided that such a drastic measure could not be carried out till after an appeal to the people, and the House of Commons first adopted the suggestion of the committee and then resigned. The step was at once proved to have been unnecessary. The people were in advance of their leaders, and had come to be their friends, and supporters of these good measures. The world looked on in wonder as one after another of the constituencies decided to return without opposition their present representatives to the new Parliament. In only a few cases was there a contested election, and in nearly every one of these there was returned a man more strongly on the side of the people, and for peace, than the one who had been deposed. The Government, therefore, went back to its work with its hands greatly strengthened.

And the first thing it did was to ask that a Council might be elected, consisting of the same number as the House of Commons, and elected in the same way, each constituency to send one man as the representative of the united churches of the locality, whose duty it would be to act for the churches in the direction of the social and domestic affairs of the nation. This Council was to sit in London for ten days of each quarter; and it was to take into consideration more than a few changes which were now admitted to be within the range of practical politics.

One of these was a new poor law. There was to be no more separation of the aged poor from their friends. No more was the answer to an appeal for help in the last extremity to be “The House or Nothing!” If an old man or woman, or both, had sons and daughters, or grandchildren willing to undertake the care of the failing life, if only a little pecuniary assistance were given, the assistance was to be at once vouchsafed. Young men who had become absolutely penniless through affliction, or loss, or through no fault of their own were to be henceforth helped into some sphere of work where they could live by their own earnings. If they were ill, they were to be nursed back into health, or sent into a convalescent home; if they were idiots, to an asylum; or, if incapable, to a place where kindly patient teachers would foster the little spark of intelligence within them. The children were to be taken away from the workhouse into a home—or, rather, the great uncomfortable building was, in some cases, to be itself altered and made home-like. But, for the most part, the workhouse was to be true to its name. If a man refused to work for his wife and children, he was to be captured and brought there with them, and compelled to support himself and them, unless he preferred to starve. If he treated them cruelly, he was to be, for the second offence, punished with the lash; and it was wonderful how soon this treatment made cowardly brutes civil in their treatment of those who were weak. But, at the same time, everything was done that could be to make the workhouse a city of refuge, where those who had made themselves and one another wretched learned to love one another and be happy.

And over these buildings were painted the words which Christendom was bent upon obeying, with shame that the obedience came so late: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”