As I gazed at the swift moving scenes, I was deeply impressed by the similarity between Mars and Thibet, in Asia, in point of rarity of air, climatic severity, and the superiority and authority of priests. Since the Martians worship fire and water, and venerate as twin goddesses their two tiny moons, which revolve so closely to their planet, I could see how this excessive number of priests was really necessary for the propagation of the State religion. Furthermore, the entire intellectual and cultural life of Mars is vested in the priesthood, and naturally all education and refinement center in the temple areas, just as the industrial and agricultural activities seem to converge at the great reservoirs.
All products, watered by irrigation, are grown under glass; and stored summer sunlight, a process as yet unknown to science on the earth, is used to melt the nightly deposits of frost which accumulate the year round. Horses, cattle and sheep were shown peacefully grazing in glass-enclosed corrals, which are electrically heated at night.
I observed particularly how all the homes in the sides of the canyons had glass fronts, which made the towering steep rocks look like the façade of a modern New York skyscraper. The power of the sun is not so great on Mars as on the earth, consequently the practical utilization of glass for living purposes is quite necessary for the conservation of the sun's light and heat. The materials of which glass is made abound on Mars, the great plateaus having a natural bed of glassy volcanic rock.
If I were here sedulously to outline all of the startling revelations concerning Mars I saw in this picture, it would take many pages; much easier it will be to outline just a few more of the more important disclosures. Unfortunately, there are a few taboos as far as the moral law of our earthly civilization is concerned.
For instance, a specialized offspring is being produced on Mars to save the white race from extinction. Respiratory diseases and their frightening toll of lives, caused by the climatic extremes and the particles of sand in the air, have long been a national calamity. For the begetting and production of the young, the healthiest and most beautiful women of the planet give themselves up to the State as a patriotic duty. Their mates are carefully selected for their mental and physical fitness.
These eugenic babies are born in special establishments attached to the temples, and reared at the expense of the State. The unmarried mothers were shown as they took part in the ceremonials of the temples; some appeared as dancers, while others attended the sacred fire and water shrines, also engaging in the weaving of fine tapestries and in rich embroidery work.
As this strange phase of Martian life was unrolled to our view, I suddenly remembered Jane, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, but the room was too dark to observe what effect this scene was having upon her. I must say that at no time did it seem vulgar and lewd; everything was conducted in perfect good taste and propriety.
I was surprised to find that the Martians are ruled by a dictator, a form of government of which I very much disapprove. A very despotic dictator, who has the supreme power to frame the laws and order punishment. And instead of labor unions, they have labor units—units of agriculture, engineering, science, and so on, each with a leader responsible to the dictator.
There's this to say about the Martians. Despite all the handicaps imposed by nature, they manage to enjoy themselves. Fête days in the temple areas are very frequent. In the coliseums they hold thrilling chariot races and gladiatorial combats between trained ape-men from the jungles, who use short swords.
I was rather horrified to learn that slavery is common among them, which will account for the almost constant warfare between them and the ape-men. The herculean task of building their fortifications, which covered many centuries, was made possible by the employment of the ape-men as slaves. The process of evolution seems to have slowed up in the Martian tropics, leaving black, hairy creatures, in form and in intelligence intermediate between the highest ape and man. These ape-men worship the enormous wolf of the deserts, a war-like beast, in peculiar rites of sacrifice and the blood-covenant, which is an outspring of totemism, a stage in all human development.