The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-28

the months were brought into core spondence. And, moreover, as the king put it to Firmin. it was decided to mail down Easter.' Tn these matters, as in so many matters, the new civilization came as a sihplifcation of ancient complications. The history of the caI- endar throughout the world is a his tory of inadequate adjustment, of at tempts to fix seedtime and midwinter, that go back into the very beginning of human society, and this final rectf= dcation had a symbolic value quite be- yond it's practical convenience But the council would have no rash nor harsh innovations, no strange names for the months and no alteration in the numbering of the years.
 The world had already been put upon one universal monetary basis. For some months after the accession of the council the worlds affairs had been carried on without any sound currency at all. Over great regions money was still in use, but with the most extTav- agant variations in price and the most disconcerting fluctuations of public confidence. The ancient rarity Of gold upon which the entire system rested was gone. Gold was now a waste product ID fine release Of atomic ener- gy, and it was plain that no metal could be the basis. of the monetary sys tenn again Henceforth all coins must be token coins Yet the whole world was accustomed to metallic money and a vast rroDortion of existing hti- man relationships had grown up upon n cash basis and were almost fncon- ceivahle without that convenient iqui- dating factor. It seemed absolutely necessary to the life of the social or ganization to have some sort Of cur- rency, and the, council had therefore to discover some real value upon which to rest it. Various such apparently stable values as land and hours or work were considered. Ultimately tha government. which WAS now in pos session of most of the supplies Of en- ergy releasing material, fixed a certain number of nnits of energy as the value Of a gold sovereign, declared a son
 ereign to be worth exactly 20 marks. 25 francs, 45, and so forth, with the Oth- CT current units of the world and ufi- dertook under various quaIfeatiofs and conditions to deliver energy upon demand as payment for every sov- ereign presented On the whole this worked satisfactorily. They saved the face of the pound sterling. Coin was rehabilitated. and after a phase oE price fluctuations began to settle down to definite equtvalents and uses again, with names and everyday values fac
 niIiar to the co1mon run Of people.
 As the Brissago council came to realize that what 1t had supposed to be temporary camps of refugees were rapidly developing into great towns of a new type and that tt was remold- Ing the world in spite ef itself, ft de cided to place this work Of redistrib- uting the nonagricultural population in the hands Of a compacter and better qualified special committee. That com mittee is now, far more than the coun- cil or any other of its delegated com xnittees, the active government Of the world Developed from an almost in- visible germ Of town planning that came obscureIy into existence in Eu rope or America (the question is still In dispute) somewhere in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, its work, the continual active planning and replanning Of the world as place of human habitation, is now, so to speak, the collective. material activity of the race. The spontaneous. disOr- derly spreadings and recessions of pop uIations, as almless and mechanical the trickling Of spilled water, which was the substance of history for end less years, giving rise here Co conges- tions, there to chronic devastating wars and everywhere to a discomfort and disorderliness that was at its best only picturesque Is at an end. Men spread now, with the whole power of the race to aid them, into every available re zion of the earth. Their cities are no longer tethered to running water and the proximity of cultivation, their plans are no longer affected by strategic con alterations or thoughts Of social inse- curity. The aeroplane and the nearly costless mobile car have abolished trade routes, common language and a universal law have abolished thou sand restraining inconveniences, and so an astonishing dispersal of habita- ti0ns has begun. One may live any where. And so it is that our cities now are true social gatherings, each with a character of it's own and distinctive interests of it's own. and most of them with a common occupation. They lie out In the former deserts, those long wasted sunbaths of the race they tow CT amidst eternal snows. they hide in remote islands and bask on broad Ia goons For a time the whole tendency of mankind was to desert the river valleys in which the race had been crad1ed for half million years, but now that the war against flies has been waged so successfully that this pestflential branch of life is nearly e1c tinct they are returning thither with a renewed appetite for gardens laced by watercourses and for pleasant liv- ing amidst islands and houseboats and bridges and nocturnal lanterns reflect ed on the sea.
 tTo Be Continued-)
 R,,v NJo,V French < Ya,,tel, E31,fl,s