The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-02

posed, each black witk moving null
titudes.
Electricity the Only Motive Power.
All chimneys have disappeared.
Electric light, heat and power have
long since done away with the use
of steam, even for cooking. From
the height at which Mr.. Smith is fly
ing he looks down upon avenues of
trees and flowers through which cir
culate the moving sidewalks. There
is no dust, for there are neither
wagons nor horses.
Suddenly platoon of flying police
dashes into the cloud of airships,
making a lane among them for a
giant that darkens the horizon. A
siren booms and a majestic shadow
scars over the city. 1t is the express
aerial Atlantic liner Paris-New York,
which arrives at a. m. every day
and settles like an albatross to dis
charge its passengers upon vast
landing stage where Central Park
was a hundred years ago.
The great cooperative societies
absorbed the small factories and
shops long ago. Each has tower
in which all branches Of it's industry
are conducted. 1t is upon the ter
race of one Of these that John
Smiths aerotaxi sets him down. II
is called the Shoe House. For the
elegant John Smith is working
shoemaker in the morning. The ex.
treme division of fortunes and labor
abolished all idlers In this society,
where every one takes his share of
moderate work that is never firing
and even manual labor is no longe-
considered to be degrading.
The workshop is vast. AS wall it
has fifty tiers of cells lighted from
the cutside-like the cells of gi-
gantic dove-cote a thousand feet
high. Each cell contains one man
or several men, but machinery does
everything and the workman IS only
the intelligence that directs.
On arriving Mr.. Smith registers his
presence and goes to his own COM
partment, where he sits comfortably
in an arm chair at table covered
with instruments. Mirrors enable
him to watch in the space occupied
by the machines, which fills the cen
ter Of the skyscraper from cellar
to roof, that particular bit Of mach
anism which is his department. From
time to time he touches spring, in
.errupts or opens circuit or sends
message over the telephone, hold
ling in his plump hand-as soft as
that of a bureaucrat---the little lever
which regulates the movement OF. a
wheel hundred feet in diameter
that performs automatically the
work formerly done by hundred
men.
Mr.. Smiths every movement Is
registered by a dynamometer. An
other machine registers the number
of hours he is at work. These rec
ords are transmitted to central mo
chine which automatically calculates
his salary.
When his attention is not immedi-
ately necessary he chats with distant
persons, listens attantively through
the microphone to the lectures some
professor at Columbia or Harvard is
giving to his pupils,
The clocks of the city chime noon.
The workman's day is over. A few
hours have sufficed for word of
workers to produce whatever man
kind needs in food. clothes, paper,
light, heat, etc., for day. A slot
above his desk opens and John
Smiths diurnal salary falls out. He
is free for the rest of the day.
The flood from the factories pours
out upon the city, flows over the
bridges, spreads out upon the ter
races, humming with life. On the
edge OF the streets three sidewalks
move at graduated speeds, in order
that people may step from one to the
other without danger. That nearest
the houses permits the promenaders
to inspect the window displays in Tie
shops. There is a sidewalk for those
who are in hurry and one 'Lr those
who merely want to loaf. Tha latter
has seats, telephones and little cafes
upon it.
Appetite guides Mr.. Smith to res
taurant. No walters are to be seen.
He glances over the menu, which is
record of the progress of culinary
chemistry, and selects for his ll:nch-
con two scrambled eggs with grated
| cheese, beefsteak, salaI and
strawberry ice cream. He speaEs his
order to the table as he would have
done years ago to an attentive Lead
waiter.
The table opens and from the
hollow arise plate, bread, forks,
wine and a steaming dish full Of o
golden mass. Needless to say. no
hen laid those eggs; they are an ad-
mirable composition Of artificial al
bumen. No cow gave the milk from
which this cheese was made; no vine
grew grapes to make this wine.
A periscope in the middle of the
table reflects into the basement the
| image Of this man and his luncheon,
so that when he has finished the first
course and pushes back his plate this
vanishes instantly and is replaced
quickly by fine juicy synthetic beef
steak and artificial lettuce.