The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-06-20
A DREAM OF 1898.
by Robert L.. Adamsou.

WI ~ pltSltSS, SuOuitI tN nhP IiOHi -
Rip Van Wrinkle sleep about July 4, 1898,
he would be caricaturet! and laughed 1T "a
oid-fashioned and old-fogyish. Changes at
present incOncciyable would confront HIM
on every side He would find this boasted
age OF enlightenment superseded by one
gran1y superior III everything that SlgnlneS
advancement and progress.
Human ken fails to grasp the possibilities
OF the next hundred years With the cur-
tain OF the future drawn aside, picture
so amazing, so full of new and surprising
things.is revealed, that the American OF
today guZes stupidity at the far-oit era, ana
utterly fails to comprehend the magnitude
and extent Of the evoiluions that hun
dred years will bring III every department
Of human progress and achievement. 10
living man can tell what the coming cen
tury will unfold. The future can only De
judged by the past, and thus viewed II IS
safe to predict remarkable advancement i'll
every branch of human endeavor. The I'M
mediate past has developed wonders IN the
world of science. The Development OF tho
subtle, but powerful, force OF Electricity
has scarcely yet begun. A hundred years
furnishing heat and being applied 10 do
nestle uses, as we'll IS performing many
Of the most delicate offices which have
baillcd the deepest thinkers Of the present
The tendency of the world is toward light.
Il began in darkness, and through much
The moral as well as the material world
has felt The cnligh!enjng effect OF the ages.
We Yet stand in the twilight: another
century will find us nearer the dawn.
In forecaSting the future, electricity sug-
gests to the mind the greatest possibilities.
Its present uses will be tame and crude, in
comparison with the advanced uses to which
il Will be put one hundred years from now,
If not entirely. it will in Il largo measure
have supplant2d steam L VIII move The.
g. Nv an ~
all countries will be enabled 20 speak and
be heard in every civilized land; it vii!
propcl the ships. drive the factory wheel,
and be used in thousand ways to lessen
domestic labor. ! believe that one hundred
wears from now the much-talled-of problem
of aerial navigation will be solved, and air
ships will be among the realized dreams
When this comes to pass. electricity Will
b. drawn upon to furnish the motive force.
The problem is truly in the air now, but
who knows how soon some master mind
will SEQ the way, and it will be done, and
the world will marvel and say: How sim
pie, How strange some one didn't think
of that before.
The tens of thousands uses in which cleo
tricity can be put have not yet begun to
dawn on the human mind. The telephone.
the monograph the tclaUtograph and the
manv other wonderful Inventions We're but
tr!n i ginning: but they discovered the
~ ociptr and miracles are to follow. See
ing by electricity i. among the possibilities
Of the future When this is perfected, it
will be Il daily practice OF inquiSitlye Ancri-
cans to call up old Mr.. Gladstone or Queen
Victoria to see the look of disgust as they
drop the telephone.
As an instance of the surprising things
that are expected of electricity, Professor
A. G., Bell the eminent student of ecc-
tricity. said not long ago that he believed
thought tranSference by electricity quite
practicable. He has oven gone 50 far as
to make several experiments on the line of
his startling theory He is at work on the
theory that thought is Il movement OF cleo
tricty in the brain. ana if he can get the
current on wire which he runs from one
head to another he believes the sensa tons
in the two connected heads will correspond.
He is at work, Also on an invention by
which he hopes to enable the blind to sec,
and which, if perfected. may lead to the
invention of a somewhat similar instrument
by which the blind may see.
Aluminium will figure largely in
the progress of the world with
in the next century. 1t will
to a great extent superscde iron. Its
ightness and durability comnends it for
many purposes for which it Is well htted
for use 1t will be used in building cars
and houses. A white city OF aHirlnuin
houses will not be an uncommon slgnt IN
the days of 1913 The cost OF pr?duclns
it will be materially l2Sscned and It's pro-
dlction will be as general as It's use
Politically, the condition OF America Will
be better in a hundred years than now
The people will have learned more ABOUT
the science of government. ana VIII De
better able to avoid the breakers that are
now, and have been, giving trouble TO
the people. But thea, Is now, there VIII
stfl be a class of Missionaries who cry out
against the existing order OF things alN
advocate the adoption of !deai theories
There will be fewer laws, and the whole
# Will no SlulDltr.
BY that time, kings and thrones VIII nave
disappeared The dominant ideas then III
all law and government, will be to secure
the greatest good of the people. There
will be fewer dcmogogical politicians,
Wealth will be more equally distributed
There will still be men of large fortunes
but the vast fortunes now, held by rev
mon will be diifused to the great beneht
of the toiling classes. There Will stu be
differences between capital and labor l
believe with Bill Nye on this point that
the laboring classes will always be NOR"
or less oppressed. and that the moro their
wages are increased the more fatl2ued they
will feel" Ideal conditions will never pre-
vail in reference to capital anu lapoI.
Then as now. those who produce wealth
will not control IT, r ,, :.
educational methods and the fruits OF /!
will be seen in higher types OF men and
women. They will be healthier among cth,
er things Education that VIII mt men ana ana
women for the practical concerns OF ire WI!
he sought in preference to that whlch po!'
ishes The twentieth century VIII De aoove
ali things practical, and the spirit OF tho
times will be shown in the methods OF e1u.
eating young people for the struggle OF
life I'LL L,,,,
In hundred years the world VIII know
vastly more about those hidden ana lnyS-
ferrous forces in men that are dlspiay"d IN
hypnotism, mesmerism. etc. teop!e are
herinning to learn more about these occult
Movers and as the years advance progress
in that direction will continue.
The newspapers of 1893 will be abreast
of the times. Newspapers are the mir
rors of the times, and are never behind the
neriod in which they are printed. Facts
accurately written, without coloring or
distortion will be the guiding aim of the
newspapers of the future. Facilities for
gathering and printing the news will be
far superior to those of our day. The
typography will be neat and tasty. In the
mechanical departments the paper will be
ND to date. The fast presses Of to1ay will
be as far behind as the hand press is now.
I fancy improved inventions will enable
the reporters of the future to set the type
for their articles as they write with less