New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Jor1pNaIJsT AZ PROPHET.

A JOURNALIST AS PROPHET
arswpsrs INTO THE FUTURE Suggestions as to
the Drift of Things BY David Goodman 'or"iy'
12mo, pages 1T. New-York and London u r.
Putnam's Sons.
As Mt Croly tells us tho Introduction TO this
tnterestins little book he had very good luck with
4 number of his predictions whom he was actively
engaged In Journalism the managing ed'tor
Of "The World" He foretold In 1871 mo
panic of 1873, Designating both the railroad
and the banking house which led the way ior
the general crash He also hit of very well
thu rruots of elections After ilhealth caused his
retirement from daily Journalism. he employed this
sxccpt,ona knack In asting the future OF business
and politics In a commercial paper, with results that
were often happy. This led to the preparation Oh
this book In which great variety OF themes is
treated In a somewhat fancIfu way and without, OF
course any pretence TO nfalble foresight. and yet
ALWAYS with a serious purpose. BY way of modcstly
Seprcf.tfng his own powers Mr. Croly ssrcasticaly
calls himself "slr Oracle,n and under that namc
holds dialogues with divers persons upon the outlook.
After this colloqmsl fashion he discusses the future
Of our politics, of foreign relations. and OF mar
riage the physical Improvement of the race, the
possibility OF a universal language. the fate OF the
negro the coming social war, and large array OF
other topics For example. Sir Oracle is alarmed at
the defenceless condition of the country. and when
the statesman he is talking with assures him that
this is OF peace. he replies with vigor
Sir O.-stuf and nonsense. There armed
soldiers in the Christian nations of Europe 10 day
world. We are on the eve of of the mghticst
conflicts that history has ever recorded china ana
Japan were both peace-lovlng nations without armies
or defences willing do anything TO avoid fighting
but the great powers of Europe compelled them 10
Protestant England and Catholic France sent their
armies Pehn force the Chinese to buy their OPIUM
nation that rich and unprotected which was not
pundered by some rob6er nation ina, was v@
Sir o.-Cermany. In the coming interna iona war war
the the s w al Wa aT These poW could easily
capture seacosst.' and Great Britain; through us
lakes and DESTROY or lay under contribution Rochester.
buffalo, Toledo. Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee.
Our PEOPLE know that potentially the most
powerful military and naval nation ON earth. bit
actually at present We are not IN P1Io a 20 neor
warships. guns nor forifcations The slugger suit
". van uOa mar sSnD wc With loaded reyover That
is our position today. The time is coming when wc
shall be terribly Inundated.
He sees In our Government. as In all othcrs'
steady expansion of power.
Stotesman-YoT prediction is then that our Gov
ernmen, will become more and moro paternal -
Goysrn8ents are nTs ahmf % new and Varied duties
when most of the nations wcre founded The King or
Emperor had very extensive powers. He led MS
armies. treated directly with foreign powers. was his
own treasurer, and filed as far as possible all the
prime minister appeared deS with foreign nations,
then treasurer to collect The taxes minister or
shas and generals 10 lead the different armies Com,
.afinctS
Louis NJ OF Franco with that Of The present irench
Republican Government Yon viii find thai tho
tendency IS toward the multiplication of deparments
at the seat Of Government as III nation grows; MOI,
wthstandng his royal prcrogs,ivos how little real
compared with Gladstone or a salisbury. the un-
crowned kings of to-day. The Cabinets of The latter
Notice how in tho United States steadily adding
TO the functions of the general Government We have
and other bureaus not to speak of he Interstate Com
Commission Of which were thought Of in
tln lima UFoclf and AharrG a
AZ ,rr W ntsrc., Of fbe Y.ticn such as agrictnre
trans port alton and probably labor The Blair Educa
tion bill may not become law while Grover Cleve-
land IS President, but I is as certain as destiny that
under the oversight of the central Government.
Sir Oracle makes many forecasts, encouraging
and otherwise. but a whole his philosophy Is a
cheerful He fears social CONFUSION as the re-
suit OF the growth of corporate power. the accumula
ton of wealth and the increasing difficulty of the poor
in getting justice, but regards the spells system as
dead and looks TO tho Australian method OF voting to
purify politics He breads social war when tho
cheap lands Of the West filed up and the readtust
the relations Of labor and capital no longer
lie postponed but believes the outcome will be good
instead of apprchcndlng the destruction Of cviza
ton some of our gloomy philosophers do. He pre-
diets that the of mulattoes Will die ont. and
that the blacks viii grow darker with each generation,
irregular alliances with the whites being less common
than they in days of slavery The United States
will absorb the eptre North American Continent In
ending the West indies and the Sandwich Islands,
hut will find grlevous problems to be solved in tho
assimilation of mongrel races. He does not expect
a peaccable acquisition of Canada. His views upon
the future relations of the less hopeful than
many other branches OF his philosophy. But the
OF 1t all Is frank optimism Before the Christian
has doubled its present age Sir Oracle believes
that the waste places Of the earth will he utilized It's
population will be very dense life will DO prolonged
and marriage being under proper regulation disease
Will be scarcely known. The whole globe will be
under Government, the labor question Will be
adjusted satisfactorily. and win the relations Of
the Mr.. Croly says his title page that the
book IS to be read and judged in the year 5000"
IL IS obvious that this is too early date TO pass upon
of rs representations, but this need not deter
any from reading them at once for they
entertaningly forth and suggestive Of thought