by Mark Wicks
CHAPTER XIX
THE CHIEF OF THE MARTIAN COUNCIL DISCUSSES THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF OURWORLD AND MARS
It was a most strange, and, in fact, embarrassing situation for me--aninsignificant and very retiring man in my own country--to be thus calledupon to address a large company of the most important inhabitants ofanother world, and to try to make them understand the social andpolitical systems carried on by the nations on the earth. However, theposition had to be faced; so as clearly and concisely as I could Iexplained to them our various systems of government--our politicalsystems and our social conditions; mentioning in connection with thelatter the extremes of wealth and the extremes of poverty which oftenexisted side by side.
I touched upon the rivalries between the various nations, the enormousamounts of money expended in armaments for aggressive and defensivepurposes, our hereditary nobility, our land systems, trading, and alsothe great and difficult problems of poverty, drink, and unemploymentwith which we had to cope.
Whilst I was speaking, Merna, in a quiet tone of voice, translated tothe Martians sitting around us the purport of what I said; and I noticedthat often he only had to say a few words and the Martians' sense ofintuition enabled them to understand what was in his mind respecting myaddress and to follow my statements.
Now and then the Chief, or one of the tutors, would put searching andpertinent questions to me on various points, and these often brought outanswers which appeared to excite their surprise and interest.
When I had finished, Soranho then took up the theme, going fully andthoroughly into the several matters I had dealt with; and he concludedby saying, "We must, of course, make every allowance for the presentstate of development of the terrestrials, but all the same I canscarcely understand how it is they are unable to see that, speakingbroadly, their political and social systems are utterly wrong frombeginning to end, and must necessarily be disastrous to the welfare ofall. Of course, I speak from a Martian point of view.
"Here upon Mars the welfare of the whole community all over our planetis the first and most important consideration. The whole adultpopulation, both male and female, have an equal voice in the discussionof all matters with which the governing Council are concerned. Myoffice, as Chief of the Council, is held for a term of two Martianyears; and I am not a ruler imposing my own will upon the people, buttheir trusted servant, appointed to supervise the carrying into effectof the people's wishes, as expressed by their votes and by their ownappointed spokesmen.
"The whole of the land upon Mars belongs to the State, and is utilisedstrictly in the interests of the whole community; no one can hold it asa private possession, or use it for merely selfish purposes. Anecessary corollary to the private ownership of land is the overcrowdingof buildings upon small areas; and such general poverty and insanitaryconditions as those in which so many of your population have to live inwhat you have termed your 'slums' are the inevitable outcome of such asystem. Private ownership of large areas of land really involves alsothe practical ownership of the people upon it!
"I can assure you, Mr. Poynders, that no such overcrowding, poverty, orinsanitary conditions will be found upon our planet, go where you will.Our people are well and comfortably housed, and you will find ampleair-space and light around every dwelling.
"On Mars no office, rank, or privilege is hereditary. It is true we haveamongst us persons of different ranks or grades, but such honours asthese can only be gained as the reward of meritorious and usefulservices, and can only be held by the person who has earned them.
"We have no need of an army or navy, for we are all one united nation;so all the enormous expenditure which is wasted in your world ininternational rivalry and warfare is entirely avoided here, and schemesfor the general welfare of the people benefit instead. Ages ago weabandoned war as a folly and a crime; and our world-wide system ofcanals, which is a prime essential to our very existence, could neverhave been accomplished or maintained if one section of our populationhad been at war, or was likely to be at war, with another.
"Apart from all other considerations then, our vast canal system is aguarantee of unity and of permanent universal peace upon our planet;but, as I have said, we saw the folly of war, and abandoned it ages ago.
"Then, as regards the terrible curse of drink which you have mentioned;if such ever existed on Mars, it must have been in the most dim anddistant past, for we have no records of such a dreadful state of affairsas you have described as being even now one of your most difficultproblems to deal with. The absence of any excesses of this kind may,perhaps, help to account for the fact that our population is strong andhealthy, and few die of anything but old age.
"There is no such thing here as poverty or lack of employment. There iswork for all who are able to do it; and those who, by reason of age orinfirmity, are unable to work, are all honourably provided for, so thatthey can live in the same comfort as though they did work. This is notcharity or privilege, but the absolute right of all.
"Neither is there any over-working of any individual in our population,for the ordinary working day here is only six hours--about equal to sixhours and ten minutes in your world. No one need work longer than thisexcept for his own pleasure; all the remainder of the time can bedevoted to rest or recreation. No one need work at all when his powersare failing, as he will be amply provided for."
"But," I asked, "how do you manage with regard to those who will notwork? They are our most difficult people to deal with, and constitute agreat burden upon the community."
Soranho seemed astounded at this question, and exclaimed, "Is it reallypossible that such beings can exist? Here no one able to work woulddream of living an idle and useless life; their natural self-respectforbids it!
"I must, as I said, make allowances for your slower rate ofdevelopment; but I cannot help thinking that for ages past our peoplemust always have been upon a higher plane than terrestrials.
"You have been deploring the decrease in the birth-rate in your country,apparently because it places you, as regards population, in an inferiorposition to other countries, the inhabitants of which may at some timebecome your enemies. Yet, at the same time, you have told us that a verylarge number of your people are living in poverty and misery, that thepopulation is too numerous for work to be found for all, and that many,being unable to find a living in their own country, have gone out, orbeen sent out, to distant lands.
"What a tragedy this all is! If you had universal peace and reasonablehours of work, as we have, there would be no need for this striving toeffect an unnecessary and useless increase in the population; and, bydoing so, you are, in fact, only adding to your own poverty and otherdifficulties. A healthy and hardy population, which can be properlyprovided for and maintained, is what your country requires. On Mars youwill find very few families with more than three children!
"Then, as regards trade. Your international rivalries and systems ofwhat you term 'protection' seem specially designed to hinder trading,and to make it as difficult as possible, instead of encouraging the freeinterchange of commodities to the benefit of every one.
"You tell me," he continued, "that it is really the interest and desireof your nations to trade with each other, and that immense sums arespent in building ships and docks, and otherwise in facilitating trade.Yet I learn that tariff barriers are erected between some of thenations, and that tariffs are continually increased, for the purpose of_restricting_ trade! As a consequence, goods are either kept out of thecountries affected, or artificially increased in price; the poor beinghalf starved, or compelled to live upon inferior food!
"In addition, it appears that the collection of the tariffs involves theupkeep of an army of customs officials, the performance of whose dutiesis the cause of delay, harassment, and irritation to all who come withinthe sphere of their powers.
"How much more useful it would be if that expenditure were devoted tothe extension of trade and the uplifting of the people!
"Really, Mr. Poynders, when I think of all the
se things, I can only sayyou must not expect the Martians to admit your claim that terrestrialsare 'highly' civilised; for surely no 'highly' civilised people couldact so illogically and so unwisely, or be so wantonly cruel as to taxthe food of the poor!
"Such a policy must inevitably result in misery to the many, and reducethe stamina of the present and future generations.
"Your people have attained a high degree of civilisation in some things,but not in others; and as they become more advanced, they will look backon their past policy with feelings of amazement, and will, I am sure,regard it in exactly the same light as the Martians do now. I can onlyexpress the hope that their enlightenment will soon come."
It is useful sometimes to be enabled to see ourselves as others see us,and I was now learning how the Martians regarded us.
In defence of my own world and country, however, I pointed out thatmany of our thinkers and workers saw these matters in much the samelight as he did, and were endeavouring to educate their fellows in thesame views. Many were opposed to wars, and to the social conditions nowprevailing; but it would be vain to look for any great change in thenear future. An alteration in human nature must first be effected, andthat must necessarily be a matter of very slow growth.
I went on to inform him that one of our great poets had written asplendid "vision of the world and all the wonder that would be," inwhich he described our world as progressing:
"Till the war drum throbbed no longer, and the battle flags were furl'd In the Parliament of Man; the federation of the world."
"Mars," I remarked, "had already reached this ideal state of affairs;but it could not possibly be brought about in our world until a fardistant future: for it must be the result of slow development andgradual education of the people to see its necessity and practicability.
"Any attempt to make a sudden change would only result in tumult andworse disasters than we were exposed to at present. Any changes inregard to our land system must also be carried out by degrees, and afterthe most careful consideration, with the view of preventing anyinjustice being done to the present holders.
"Our poet," I further said, "evidently had in mind the probability that,before this consummation of universal peace could be reached, wars of amore terrible nature than we have ever known would take place, for hepictures:
'A rain of ghastly dew From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue.'
"It is not unlikely that the possibility, or the actual occurrence, ofsuch horrors as these may eventually bring about the cessation of warbetween the more civilised nations; and, as the uncivilised aregradually brought under control, there may be federations--notnecessarily amalgamations--of two or more nations. In the slow processof time these may unite in larger and more comprehensive federations,until at last the whole world will be embraced within them. This, ofcourse, is looking ages ahead of our present times.
"Few thinking people amongst us can regard war as anything but a direfulnecessity arising out of our present conditions; only the thoughtlessand those who batten upon such disasters can rejoice in the idea of whatI have heard termed 'a jolly good war!'
"Whatever our ideals may be, we must, as sensible people, act inaccordance with the demands of existing circumstances. It has been wellsaid that while we have a large criminal population we must protect ourpersons and property by means of bolts and bars, and the maintenance ofa police force; and in a like manner, whilst we are exposed to risk ofwar breaking out--perhaps through no fault of our own--we must maintainsufficient forces and armaments to cope with any forces which might belikely to be arrayed against us. This, however, does not afford us anyexcuse for not trying to do all we can to remove the causes which tendto manufacture criminals, or to bring about wars.
"If only as much energy and effort were used with the object of avertingwars by smoothing away difficulties and removing causes of frictionbetween the nations as there is effort and persistency on the other sideto aggravate, and even invent, conditions likely to cause mutualirritation, distrust, and dislike, much good would accrue. Nationsdepend largely for their prosperity upon their trade with other nations,and peace is the greatest interest to all; yet the actions of some noisyand hysterical sections amongst them are a constant source of danger,and are calculated to bring about wars which must inevitably prove mostdisastrous to all concerned.
"Our religion," I told him, "inculcated peace and goodwill to all men;all of us professed to believe in that. It is a good sign that there isa strong tendency amongst the religious teachers of various bodies tounite in the endeavour to promote peace amongst the nations, and many ofthem have done much to call attention to the urgent need of socialreforms, and have sacrificed their lives in arduous work for the benefitof their fellows.
"On the other hand, some of them are very militant, whilst others seemto regard it as their special mission to keep social matters as theyare. If this is the case amongst the teachers, it is no wonder that thepeople themselves are so slow in progressing!"
The Chief here expressed the hope that I was unduly pessimistic inregard to our rate of progress, and remarked that "He thought a greatadvance would be made much earlier than I seemed to anticipate. Events,"he added, "were evidently likely to move very rapidly indeed in severalparts of our world; and he was certain that a great upward movementwould soon follow."
I replied that "I sincerely hoped that such was the case, and that thegreat experience of the Martians with regard to the progress of ideascertainly enabled him to express a truer and more prophetic opinion thanI could possibly venture upon. At the same time I knew how difficult itwas to bring about changes of ideas and systems amongst large masses ofthe people; but notwithstanding all these things, I was of the sameopinion as a great poetical countryman of my friend M'Allister's, wholong ago wrote:
'It's coming yet, for a' that, That man to man, the whole world o'er, Shall brothers be, and a' that.'"
Eleeta showed her interest in her own sex by asking what part our womentook in the endeavour to improve our social and political conditions;and seemed very surprised when I said they had no voice in the electionof members of our Imperial Parliament, although many of them took anactive part in any work for the amelioration of our social conditions.
I then gave a short account of the women's suffrage movement, and wasspeaking of certain unwise actions of the militant party, when shesuddenly interrupted me by throwing up her hands and exclaiming--
"Oh, Mr. Poynders, do not say any more upon that point! I wish to thinkwell of your women and to make all allowances for them, but no Martianwomen could possibly behave in the manner you have described; theirinnate self-respect is too great to allow such conduct.
"We should all feel degraded in the eyes of our husbands, brothers, andsisters, if any such things occurred here; but they are quiteimpossible!
"Your women are entitled to a full share of the responsibilitiesconnected with the election of members of your state councils, just thesame as we have; but surely there are other and proper means ofobtaining their rights and privileges without resorting to such childishand unwomanly tactics as chaining themselves up, pestering high officersof state, and forcing their way into your council chambers."
I assured her that the majority of our women, both rich and poor, tookexactly the same view as she did on this matter, and were utterlyopposed to the methods adopted by the few, even where they themselveswere in favour of the franchise. Many, however, were so distressed bythe conduct of militant women that they opposed the franchisealtogether. The pity of it all was that the militant suffragettes seemedto glory in shocking their sisters' susceptibilities.
Eleeta then said that "For the sake of her sex she was glad to learnthat such behaviour did not meet with general approval; still, she hopedthat before long our women would be enabled to take up their properposition in connection with the election of our state councils."
After a little more desultory conversation, the Chief thanked me forwhat h
e was pleased to term "the interesting statement with which I hadfavoured them."
The meeting then broke up, but I observed that John, who had beensitting with Siloni all the time, seemed to find himself in verycongenial company, which he was not at all anxious to quit.
On our way home Merna took me fully into his confidence and told me ofhis hopes respecting Eleeta, at the same time giving me many particularsconcerning the beautiful young lady upon whom he had bestowed hisaffections.