The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-09-12

rapidity which every day acceleTates.
While humanity remained confined
upon two or three points CT Europe,
Asia and Africa this WAS unheedcd,
because, save these places of concen-
tration, the general life was still able
TO disperse at case upon tie open
spaces. the too great accumulation up
on certain points of the civilized earth ;
it is thus that colonization has peo.
pied by degrees countries, until
then uninhabited and uncultivated.-
Then commenced the first phase of the
progress of life by human action-thc
agricultural phase. During ten ccntu-
ries we went on in this manner. But
then we discovered the great coal de-
posits, and nearly at the same time
steam and chemistry. Then the earth
entered the Industrial phase, which
has only commenced within the last
sixty years. 1t is evident to those
who have looked into things that dur
ing half century bo:h beasts and
people show Il tendency to multiply,
TO abound, to swarm in a truly alarm
ing proportion. We eat more, we
drink more we breed silk worms, feed
poultry and faiten beef. Al the same
time, we plant upon every Side; we
make clearings we invent the fruitful
rotation of crops; we compose ariifl
cial fertilizers, which double the pro-
ductiyeness of the land; we are not
content with what the land p reduces
we sow bOuntilnlly in our rivers sal
mon at 5 francs slice, and oysters al
a sous the dozen. During this tine
we ferment enormous quantities ol
wine. beer and cider. We distil YER
liable rivers of brandy, and then We
burn millions of tons of coal, without
counting the incessant pcriecting o
apparatus for heating, the feliing O
houses, and finally the fabrication CIV
cry day at cheaper rates the wOolc,
and cotton stuiIs which serve to kecl
us warm.
TO this already sombrc picture it j:
proper to add tho insensatc develop
mcnt of public instruction., which ont
may consider as source of light an(
heat, for it multiplics production by
giving man the means of pertcctins
and extending his action unon nature
Behold where we arc, behold t(
what half century Of industrialisn
has conducted us! Evidently in al
this there are manifest symptoms of {
near approaching cxuberance, and We
may say that before 81 hundred year:
hence the earth will become obese
Then will commence the fearful perio(
when excess of production will leat
to excess of consumption excess @
consumption to excess of heat; excess
of heat to spontaneous combustion o
the earth and all its inhabitants. 1t i
not difficult 10 fOresee the series o
phenomena which will bring q
globe gradually to the final caiastro
phe.
Behold, then, what will take place
During a dozen Of centuries every
thing will 60 on better and better
Industry above all viii stride OF
with great steps. We shall com
mence at first by exhausting al
the coal beds then all the sources o
petroleum then we shall cut down al
the forests; then directly we shall
burn the oxygen Of the air and the ny
drogen of the water. AT this time
there will be upon the earth about {
thousand million steam engines of {
thousand horsepower each; that is
thousands of thousands millions o
horse-steam working day and night
All physical labor is done by machin.
ery or animals. Man is known nc
more, but under the form OF q learned
gymnast, practising only for hygiene
But while his machines vomit inces
sanity torrents of manufactured pro-
ducts, from his agricultural workshops
comes rushing out crowds more and
compact, of sheep, oxen, turkeys. pigs
ducks, calves, ana geese, all bursting
with fatness, believing, gobbling,
quacking, bleating, clucking, grun!ing
and asking with loud cries for con-
sumcrs. Now under the influence OF
an alimcntatiOn more and more abund-
ant, more and more succnlent, the
fecundity of the human and animal
races will increase from day to day.
Houses will rise story upon story. We
suppose first gardens, then courts,
cities and villages commence TO pro-
ject little by little lines of faubonrgs in
all directions. Soon the transvcrsal
lines will unite their RAYS.
The movement progresses; neigh
boring cities begin to touch. Paris
anneXes st. German, Versailles, then
Beauvais, then Chalons, then Orleans,
then Tours. Marseilles annexes Tou-
lon; Nice, Carpentras; Nismes, Bor-
deaux. Lyons and Lille divide the
rest, and Paris finishes by anncxing
Marscilles, Lyons, Lille and Bordeaux.
The same throughout all Europe the
same in all the four quarters of the
world.
But at the same time the animal
population increases. All the useless
kinds have disappeared. There re-
main Only oxen. sheen. horses and
poultry. Now to nourish all these,
opon spaces are needed for cultivation
and place begins to fail. We then re-
serve some lands for culture, We
crowd them together upon some fat
pastures, and lying in the midst OF
herbage six feet high, we see rolling
about unheard of races of sheep and
and oxen without horns, without hair
without tail, without hoofs, without
bones, and reduced by the art of breed