The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-28


war, and IN theory the New Atlantis and
the Utopia Of More, like China and Japan
through many centuries Of e1ectuai prac-
tise, held themselves isolated from IN
truders. Such late examples OF utopian
speculation as Buffers satirical 'Erehwoh
and Mr.. Stead's queendom OF inverted
sexual conditions In central Africa 1ouno
the Tibetan method Of slaughterlng the
inqulring visitor a simple, sufficient RUE.
1t Is unquestionably true, however, ae
Mr.. Wells reminds US, that the trend Oh
modern thought Is against the permanence
OF any such enclosure. "We are acuteiy
aware nowadays that, however suotiy
oontrived State may be, outside your
boundary lines the epidemic, the oreeoing
barbarian or the economic power VIII
gather its strength to overcome you. Inc
swift march OF invention IL all for the m
vader. Now, perhaps, you might sui
guard a rocky coast or narrow pass
but what OF that near tomorrow, When
the flying machine soars overhead, Tree
to descend at this point or that2 state
powerful enough to keep Isolated unoer
modern conditions would be powerful
enough to rule the world. would be indeed,
not actively ruling, yet passively ac-
quiescent In all other human organiza-
tions, and 80 responsible for them alto
gether. World State. therefore, 1t must be-
Thus we start with the postulate that
there Is no room for q modern Utopia in
central Africa or in South America, or
round about the Pole, those last refugees
OF localities Neither does the floating
isle Of La Cite Morellyste any longer avail.
We need planet. But where should the
planet be placed? Mr.. Wells answers:
'Out beyond Sirius. far in the deeps OF
space. beyond the fight of cannon ball
flying for billion years, beyond the range
Of unaided vision blazes the star that is
our Utopia's sun. To those who know
where to look, with a good opera glass
aiding good eyes, it and three fellows that
seem in cluster with it-though they are
Incredible billions of miles nearer--make
just the fainteet speck OF light. About 1t
90 planets, even as our planets, but weav-
ing a different fate. and in its place among
them Is Utopia, with its sister mate, the
Moon. 1t is a planet like our planet, the
same continents, the same islands, the
same oceans and seas; another Fuji-Yama
Is beautiful there, dominating another
Yokohama; and another Matterhorn over
looks the icy disorder OF another Theodule.
It Is 80 like our planet that a terrestrial
botanist might find his every species there,
even to the meanest pondweed or the re-
hottest Alpine blossom" In a word, the
visitor from our earth would note scarcely
any change Of landscape or Of physical
environment.
1t is also taken for granted that the far
distant planet would have inhabitants
inherently the same as those who people
the surface OF our globe. 1t Is further
assumed ths- the visitor would encounter
no linguistic impediments to intercourse;
that the world State to which he would
be introduced would have common Ian
guage, a language sufficiently like his own
to be ineligible. Touching this point,
our author says: 'The language of Utopia
will, no doubt, be one and indivisible. All
mankind will. in the measure Of their in
dividual differences and quality. have
been brought into the same phase, into a
common resonance Of thought, but the
language they will speak will stnl be a
living tongue: that is to say, an animated
system OF imperfections, which every in
cividual man will infinitesimaly modify.
Through the universal freedom of ex-
change and movement, however. the de-
veloping change in its general spirit will
be worldwide change; that is, indeed,
the essential quality Of Utopia's univer-
salty 90. : ..,' !.
Mr.. Wells fancies that the Utopian tongue
would be "a coaleeced language; syn
thesis Of many. Such language as Eng
lish Is. Of course. a coalesced language;
it is coalesoence OF Anglo-Saxon and
oh N Il ho1o Iatt x.yolIol
into one speech more ample and more pow
erful and beautiful than any Of It's COM
ponents The Utopian verna cular might
we'll present a more spacious coalescenoe,
and hold in the frame Of such an unin-
flected or slightly infected idiom as English
already presents profuse vocabulary
into which have been cast dozen once
separate tongues. superpoeed and then
welded together through biling,la and
trilingual compromises In the past in
genious men have speoulated on the in
quiry Which language will survive2' The
question was badly put, think now
that this wedding and survival of several
in common offspring is a far more prob
able thing
We observe, lastly, that, inasmuch as
the newly discovered planet is to be world
State. and inasmuch as it is to be peopled
with beings essentially human. we must
face the fact that differences of race will
be met with. Here we come on a charac-
teristic difference between a modern Utopia
and almost all its predecessors. Even
the lower class Of Plato's republic was not
specifically Of different race. But this is
Utopia as wide as Christian charity, and
white and black, brown red and yellow,
all tints Of skin, all types Of body and char
acter will be there" How the differences
are to DO adjusted Is, Of course, a master
question, for which, as we shall see a sepa-
rate chapter is reserved Meanwhile, all
we need to note and under inc is the stipula-
ton that every race on our own planet
Is to be found strictly paralleled there,
and In relative numbers the same-only
with an entirely different set Of traditions.
ideals, ideas and purposes, and so moving
und sr those different skies to an altogether
different destiny
The first thing that will strike the reader
in the chapter which deals with the position
Of women in the modern Utopia is that the