AN ANSWER TO LOOKING BACKWARD EDWARD BELLAMY. CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: Rand, McNally 2t Company, Publishers. Copyright, 1890, by Richard MichaelisLOOKING FURTHER FORWARD. PREFACE, Every seeker after truth and reform is entitled to recognition, even if his ways and methods are not ours. Mr. Edward Bellamy's book: '^Looking Back- ward", is an effort to improve the lot of mankind and therefore commendable, but his reform proposi- tion, stripped of its fine coloring, is nothing but communism, a state of society, which has proved a failure whenever established without a religious basis and which without such basis is en vogue today only among some barbarous and cannibal tribes, Chicago has for the last fourteen years been the centre of the communistic and anarchistic agitation in the United States, and in defending the fundamen- tal principles of American institutions against these theories, that were imported from the overcrowded industrial centres of Europe, I became quite familiar with them as well as with the notions and peculiari- ties of social reformers, who imagine themselves in possession of an infallible receipt to perfect not onlY all human institutions but also human natureOf course Mr. Bellamy holds more moderate views than those Spies and Parsons proclaimed, but he has this much in common with the Anarchists and Communists of Chicago: he has become incapable of passing a fair judgement upon our present institu- tions, conditions and men ; he overlooks all difficul- ties in the introduction of his proposed changes, he really believes his socialistic air-castles must spring into existence very soon and without obstruction, and he populates his fairy palaces with angelic human beings, who would never by any possibility do any- thing wrong. The surmise, that men and women in a communistic state, would put off all selfishness, envy, hate, jealousy, wrangling and desire to rule is just as reasonable as the supposition, that a man can sleep one hundred and thirteen years and rise there- after as young and fresh as he went to bed. What queer methods reformers sometimes advo- cate! John Most would in the name of equal rights to all, first kill all men who are not in absolute sym- pathy with his opinions, then abolish all laws and all officers, and then let nature take its course. — Mr. Bellamy on the other hand would, also in the name of equal rights, deprive all the clever and industrious workers of a large or the largest part of the products of their labor for the benefit of their awkward, stupid or lazy comrades ! And this would be what Mr. Bellamy is pleased to style justice and equality ! And for the purpose of reaching this state of mock- equality, Mr. Bellamy would as a matter of course have to sacrifice competition, the gigantic power that elevated us all and Mr. Bellamy with us to the present state of evolution! It is true that competition has been and is now abused, but every institution is subject to abuse and the misuse of a thing does not demonstrate that the thing in itself is wrong. Nobody can deny that competition during the centuries of Christian civilization has developed the brains and muscles of the human race and that the continuous best efforts of humanity, stimulated by competition during these many centuries, have lifted our race to a standard where the mode of living of common laborers is more comfortable and desirable than the everyday existence of the Kings of which Homer sings. Every generation has to battle with certain prob- lems, and it is the lot of ours to overcome the diffi- culties between capital and labor, that have been increased by the change in the methods of production since the discovery of steam power.. .

We have to find ways and means not to avoid 
productive work ( — spoken of by Mr. Bellamy as 
an evil — ), but to cure the brain cancer of our days: 
the permanent uncertainty of subsistance and the 
fear of poverty. And we accomplish this by co- 
operation and by mutual insurance companies, with- 
out retrograding to communism, that most barbarous 
state of society. 

The imperfect nature of man characterizes, as a 
matter of course, all human institutions and it is the 
easiest thing in the world, by ^Hooking backward^\ to 
find fault with living men as well as with the present 
state of affairs and to build air castles inhabited by 
angels only. 

I will now look forward ! By demonstrating what 
would be the logical conclusion of Mr. Bellamy's 
story, if fairly continued, T purpose to show that he 
first tries to establish absolute equality and then, 
despairing of success, advocates an inequality in 
many respects more oppressive than the present state 
of things. I intend to demonstrate, that under the 
regime, proposed by Mr. Bellamy, favoritism and 
corruption would be very potent factors in public 
life. I expect to set forth that personal liberty would 
fare so badly in Mr. Bellamy's United States, that 
the proud and independent American people would 
never tolerate such a system, and to prove beyond a 
reasonable doubt, that the people would be much

poorer in Mr. Bellamy's condition of affairs, than at 

the present time* 

I do not deny that our society stands in need of 
many desirable reforms; but I am not prepared to fol- 
low blindly Mr. Bellamy, John Most, or anybody else, 
who pretends that he is ready to deliver humanity from 
all evils on short notice, and I do not intend to jump 
head over heels into the dark. 

If Mr» Bellamy and his followers c'^re quite sure 
that they can establish the millennium, /et them try 
it, like the communists ot the Amana Society who 
have started a community in the state of Iowa on a 
religious basis. There are many thousands of acres 
of good government lands left, where Mr. Bellamy 
and his friends may settle and show the world what 
they can do! But they should not ask the people of 
the United States to break up their present form of 
government and state of society, before they have 
given their theories a trial and proved that their 
calculations are correct. |^ 

Richard Michaelis. 
Chicago, April 1890. 


For the purpose of introducing myself to those 
readers of this book, who are not familiar with the 
contents of "Looking Backward", edited by Mr. 
Edward Bellamy, I will recapitulate the remarkable 
events of my life up to the end of that extraordinary 
narrative. 

Born in Boston on the 26th day of December 
1857, I was baptized Julian West, was educated in 
the schools and colleges of my city, but, being in 
possession of a handsome fortune, did not devote 
myself to any particular profession or trade. I be- 
came engaged to Miss Edith Bartlett, a young lady 
of great beauty, and it was our intention to marry 
as soon as my new house should be ready for occu- 
pation. The completion 01 the building was fre- 
quently delayed by strikes of masons and carpenters, 
and I occupied still the old fashioned house, where 
my family had lived for three generations. 

Suffering from insomnia, I had prepared in the 
basement and under the foundations of the old build- 



lo LOOKING FORWARD. 

ing, a large vault, where the noises of a great city 
would not disturb me. This vault was absolutely 
fire-proof, and fresh air was assured by means of a 
small pipe running up to the roof of the house. 

To obtain sleep I was frequently forced to avail 
myself of the services of a mesmerist, and it happened 
that on the 30th day of May 1887, after two sleepless 
nights, I sent my colored servant Sawyer to a Dr. Pills- 
bury, whom I was in the habit of employing. The 
doctor was about to leave the city to establish him- 
self in New Orleans, and this was therefore the last 
time he would be able to treat me. I instructed 
Sawyer to rouse me at nine o'clock the next morning, 
and under the manipulations of the mesmerist I soon 
fell into a deep slumber. 

When I opened my eyes again I found that I had 
slept 113 years, 3 months, and 11 days. 

I discovered that the old house had been destroyed 
by fire and that Sawyer had perished in the flames. 
Dr. Pillsbury had left Boston, the existence of the 
vault where I slept was unknown to my friends, the 
house had not been rebuilt and so I remained in a 
mesmerized condition for over a hundred years, until 
a Dr. Leete, the occupant of a house which was being 
erected on a part of the old lot, commenced to build 
a laboratory and unearthed my vault in the year 
2000. 

I learned that Edith Bartlett, after mourning my 
loss fourteen years, had married, that Dr. Leete's 
wife was Edith Bartlett's granddaughter, and that his 



LOOKING FORWARD. ii 

daughter Edith was therefore the great-granddaugher 
of the young lady who had been my promised bride 
113 years before. 

The vigor of my manhood of thirty years overcame 
the shock of these discoveries, I soon felt myself 
at home in Dr, Leete's house, the more so, because 
young Edith soon occupied the place in my heart 
once filled by Edith Bartlett, and it was not long before 
Edith Leete, a somewhat romantic, compassionate 
girl, consented with grace to become the successor of 
her great-grandmother; to be my bride» 

But the turn of my own fate is even less remark- 
able, than the change that has taken place in the 
social order of things. Dr. Leete explained to me 
the new organization of society. 

Individual enterprises have ended. The nation 
creates everything that individuals and corporations 
were producing at the end of the nineteenth century. 
Every able bodied man, every healthy woman 
belongs to the '^industrial army". They enter the 
force at the age of 21 and are released at 45. Only 
in rare cases of necessity are men over 45 years of 
age summoned to work. 

Money is abolished, but all inhabitants of the 
United States receive an equal share of the results of 
the work of the industrial army in the form of a 
credit card, a piece of paste board on which dollars 
and cents are marked. There is one store in each 
ward where people can select such goods as they 
may desire* The value of the goods, one purchases. 



12 LOOKING FORWARD. 

is pricked out of his credit card and his account is 
charged in the Government books with the amount 
of goods so purchased. 

The meals are furnished by large cooking houses. 
Washing and repairing are done in large laundries. 
One may take his meals home or eat them at the 
cooking house. The bill of fare is very elaborate 
and one may have even a special dining room. The 
amount to be paid for the meals differs of course 
according to the bill of fare ordered and to the place 
where the meal is taken. 

Each family occupies a separate house; the furni- 
ture being the property of the tenant. The rent, 
which depends on the size of the house, is also 
pricked out of the credit card. 

All inhabitants of the United States are obliged to 
attend school until they have reached the age of 21. 
Then they become members of the industrial army. 
During the first three years of their services they are 
called recruits or apprentices and have to do the 
common labor under the absolute command of the 
officers or overseers, A record is kept, in which are 
entered the ability and behavior of each recruit. 

After the first three years of service, each recruit 
may select a profession or a trade. As far as possi- 
ble the volunteers are placed in the trades they 
prefer. Recruits with the best records are given the 
first choice. Some of them have to take a second or 
third choice, and some are obliged to accept 
positions assigned to them by their superiors. 



LOOKING FORWARD. 13 

All members of the army are, according to their 
ability and behavior, divided into three grades, and 
apprentices with a first-class record may, after their 
three years service, enter at once the first grades of 
the different trades selected by them. 

The general of the guild appoints all the officers of 
his trade* The lieutenants must be taken from the 
members of the first grades. The captains are chosen 
by the general from the lieutenants, the colonels from 
the captains. The general of the guild himself is 
elected by the former members of the trade, that is, 
those who have passed the age of forty-five. The ex- 
members of all the guilds also elect the chiefs of the 
ten great departments or groups of allied trades. The 
chiefs are taken from the generals of the guilds. And 
the former guild members also elect the President of 
the United States, who is taken from the ranks of 
th*^ retired chiefs of the ten great departments. The 
President, the ten chiefs of the great departments and 
the generals of all the guilds live in Washington. 

The members of the industrial army have not the 
right to vote for any of the officers by whom they 
are governed. They have no representation during their 
24 years of service ; but if they have a complaint 
against one of their superiors, they may bring their 
case before a judge whose decision is final. 

The judges are appointed by the President from 
the ranks of the retired members of the guild for the 
term of five years. 

Courts, lawyers, jails, sheriffs, tax-assessors, collec- 



14 LOOKING FORWARD. 

tors and many other ofificers have been abolished. 
Criminals are treated in hospitals as persons men- 
tally ill 

The National Government regulates the production. 
When it sees that certain trades attract a very large 
number of volunteers, while other trades fall short, 
the administration increases the working time of the 
preferred trades and shortens the working hours of 
those needing more volunteers. 

The women have their own officers, generals, 
judges, and form an auxiliary army of industry. 
They receive the same credit cards as the men. 
Since the cooking and washing and repairing of 
household goods are done outside, the women of the 
twentieth century have more time for productive 
labor than had the women of a hundred years ago. 

Recruits who have passed three years service, 
during which they are assignable to any work at the 
discretion of their superiors, may enter schools of 
technology, medicine, art, etc.; but if they cannot 
keep pace with the classes, they must withdraw. 
Physicians, who do not find sufficient employment, 
are assigned to work of another character. 

If people desire the publication of a newspaper, 
they must club together and give up enough of their 
credit cards to compensate the nation for the loss of 
the work of the persons editing and printing the 
paper. 

If one desires to publish a book, he can write it in 
his hours of leisure and can have it printed by giving  

up a part of his credit card.

 For the copies sold he 
receives again a new credit. 

Preachers are in a similar way employed by per- 
sons who desire to hear their sermons 

Cripples or other people unable to do full work 
or any work at all, receive their full credit cards, 
because the fact, that they are human beings, entitles 
them to their full share of all good things produced 
on earth. 

The state governments within the United States 
have been abolished as useless. 

All other civilized nations have organized them- 
selves on a similar basis and are exchanging goods 
with each other. The yearly balances are settled 
with national staple articles. 

The new order of things enables people to live 
without cares, and one of the consequences is the 
fact, that most of the men and women of an average 
constitution live from eighty-five to ninety years. — 

Such was the description of the new order of 
things given me by Dr. Leete in a number of conver- 
sations. The doctor is very enthusiastic over the 
organization of society of the twentieth century and 
does not hesitate to call it the millennium. 

The fear and uncertainty which I entertained in 
regard to my employment were set at rest by Dr. 
Leete, who said, that I could, if I wished, have the 
position of professor of the history of the nineteenth 
century in the Shawmut College of Boston. I have 
accepted the offer and shall enter upon my duties 
next Monday. 



CHAPTER II, 

When I first entered the large hall of Shawmut 
College, where I was to deliver my lectures, I noticed 
near the door of the room a gentleman of about forty 
years of age. He was too old to be one of the 
students and as I had not seen him when Dr. Leete 
introduced me to the professors of the institution, 
I was somewhat curious to know in what capacity 
he honored my debut* 

The cordial reception I had met at the hands of 
the professors, the fact that every seat of the large 
hall was occupied, acted as a stimulus and when Dr. 
White, the president of Shawmut College had intro- 
duced me with a few complimentary remarks as a 
living witness of the nineteenth century, I began 
my first lecture in the b^st of spirits. 

My speech contained naturally many of the points 
that Dr. Leete had most dwelt upon, when, in his 
conversations with me, he had compared the organ- 
ization of society of the nineteenth and that of the 
twentieth centuries* 

I said in substance, that my hearers must not 
expect a synopsis of the civilization of the two cen- 
turies or a panegyric of the present state of affairs. 
I would point out but a few conditions, regulations 



LOOKING FORWARD. 17 

and institutions that could serve as criterion of the 
spirit of their times. 

As characteristic of the spirit of the civilization of 
the nineteenth century, I described the insane com- 
petition, where a man in a foul fight must "cheat, 
overreach, supplant, defraud, buy below worth and 
sell above, break down the business by which his 
neighbor fed his young ones, tempt men to buy what 
they ought not and to sell what they should not, 
grind their laborers, sweat their debtors, cozen their 
creditors,"*) in order to be able to support those 
dependent on him. I showed "that there had been 
many a man among the people of the nineteenth 
century who, if it had been merely a question of his 
own life would sooner have given it up than nour- 
ished it by bread snatched from others,"f ) I pictured 
the consequences of this insane and annihilating 
competition as a constant wear on the brains and 
bodies of the past generation, intensified by the per- 
manent fear of poverty. The spectre of uncertainty 
walked constantly beside the man of the nineteenth 
century, sat at his table and went to bed with him, 
even whispering in his ears: "Do your work ever so 
well, rise early and toil till late, rob cunningly or 
serve faithfully, you shall never know security. 

*) Such parts of Mr. Bellamy's book as are characteristic of 
his manner of dealing with the present and with the future, I 
give with marks of quotation, adding in a foot note the page of 
"Looking Backward," where the sentence may be found. The 
above remarks are taken from page 277, 

t) Page 277. 



i8 LOOKING FORWARD. 

Rich you may be now and still come to poverty at 
last. Leave ever so much wealth to your children, 
you can not buy the assurance, that your son may 
not be the servant of your servant or that your 
daughter will not sell herself for bread/'**) 

And while one hundred and thirteen years ago all 
men worked like slaves, until completely exhausted, 
without having even a guaranty that they would not die 
in poverty or from hunger, the men of the twentieth 
century were walking in the sunlight of freedom, 
security, happiness and equality. After receiving an 
excellent education in standard schools and then 
passing through an apprenticeship of three years, the 
young people of the twentieth century select their 
vocation. Short hours of work permit them, even 
during the years of service in the industrial army 
to spend more time for the continuation of their 
studies and for recreation than the people who lived 
a hundred years ago had ever believed

 to be consistent with a successful management 

of industries, 
farming or public affairs. 

Free from all cares, in perfect harmony with each 
Other, without the disturbing influence of political 
parties, enjoying a wealth unprecedented in the histo- 
ry of nations, we might verily say: "The long and 
weary winter of our race is ended. Its summer has 
begun. Humanity has burst the chrysalis. The 
heavens are before it!

 "Then you must of course disapprove the views 
developed in my lecture ? " 

"Your address will undoubtedly be published in 
extenso in all the administration organs, that is, in 
nearly every newspaper in the land'', said Mr» Forest, 
evading a direct answer to my question. 

"Administration organs you say", I asked with sur- 
prise: "Has the administration organs, and why does 
it need them? " 

"Of course the administration has organs", answered 
Forest. "And it is both difficult and unpleasant to 
edit an opposition paper. Therefore we have only a 
few of them." 

"But Dr. Leete said: "We have no parties or poli- 
ticians and as for demagoguery and corruption, they 
are words having only a historical significance."*) 
And yet you speak of opposition and of administra- 
tion papers ? " I said this very likely with an express- 
ion of some doubt in my eyes. 

My companion broke into a loud laugh, after which 
he asked: "Excuse, please, my merriment, but Dr. 
Leete is a great joker, who never fails to "bring down 
the house." Well ! Well ! That is too good. I wish 
I could have seen his face when he gave you that 
information." 

And Mr. Forest laughed again. 

*) Page 60. 



22 LOOKING FORWARD. 

"I beg your pardon, Mr. West", he continued, when 
I met his merriment with silence; *^but you would not 
only excuse but share my laughter, if you were famil- 
iar with our public life, if you knew Dr» Leete ls well 
as I do and then learned that he had claimed, we were 
suffering from a want of politicians. But I wish to say 
right here", added Mr. Forest in a more composed 
tone, '^that I have not a poor opinion of Dr. Leete. 
He is a practical joker^ a shrewd politician, but other- 
wise as good a man as our time can produce.'^ 

"Dr. Ivcete is a politician?" I asked in the utmost 
astonishment. 

"Yes. Dr. Leete is the most influential leader of 
the administration party in Boston. I owe it to his 
kind interference, that I am still connected with the 
college." 

Noticing that I did not know how to construe this 
statement, Mr. Forest added: 

"When, in comparing the civilization of your days 
with ours, 1 came to the conclusion, that communism 
had proved a failure, I was accused of misleading and 
corrupting the students and the usual sentence in such 
cases: "confinement in an insane asylum", was passed. 
Because, it is claimed, that only a madman could find 
fault with the best organization of society ever intro- 
duced. Dr. Leete, however, declared, that my in 
sanity was so harmless, that confinement in an asylum 
seemed unnecessary, besides being too expensive. I 
could still earn my living by doing light work about 
the college building; and my case would serve as a 



LOOKING FORWARD. 23 

warning to all the professors and students to be care- 
ful in their expressions and teachings^ So I retained 
the liberty in which we glory and was spared doing 
street cleaning or some such work, which is generally 
awarded to "kickers" against the administration." 

"The students seem to share your opinion, at least 
they received my remarks very coldly," I remarked, 
in order to avoid a discussion of the qualities of my 
host. 

Mr. Forest's keen grey eyes rested for a moment 
upon my face, and then he said in a friendly tone: 

"I believe you were convinced of what you said, 
Mr. West; but did it not occur to you, that you treated 
your time and your contemporaries very severely ? 
Did competition really demand, that one should de- 
fraud his neighbor, grind his laborers, sweat his debtors 
and snatch the bread from others? Were the majority 
of the men of your time swindlers and Shylocks? Were 
the laborers all slaves, working each day until com- 
pletely exhausted? I remember distinctly, that the 
wage-workers of your time struck frequently for eight 
hours, declining to work nine or ten hours per diem 
for good pay. I think you had a strong, proud and 
independent class of laborers, who could not fairly be 
regarded as slaves. And as for the girls, I have seen 
the statements and complaints, that help for house- 
keeping was very scarce in your days and was paid 
from $2. to I5. per week, with board, so that there was 
no excuse for any decent girl to sell herself for bread. — 
Of course your state of civilization was very far from 



24 LOOKING FORWARD. 

being faultless; in fact there is no such thing as per- 
fection in anything. But your description of the 
civilization of the nineteenth century is painted in 
such dark colors, that our students, who are somewhat 
familiar with the history of those days, could not very 
well enthuse over your lecture; especially as ma^y of 
these young men do not regard our present institutions 
with such complete admiration as you do. I speak 
frankly, Mr. West, and I hope you will excuse my 
frankness, because of my desire to serve you in de- 
scribing men, things and institutions as I see them." 

The warm tone of his voice and the sympathetic 
expression of his eyes caused me to shake hands with 
Forest, although everything he had said went directly 
against my friends, my views, my feehngs and my 
interests. I left him in an uneasy mood and walked 
home revolving in my mind his criticism of my 
lecture. 

I met Dr. Leete and the ladies, and Edith inquired 
whether my debut as professor had satisfied my expec- 
tations. 

I have always tried to be frank and true : so I 
gave Dr. Leete and his family a synopsis of my 
speech, mentioned the cool reception of my address 
and my disappointment. I spoke of Mr. Forest's 
criticism, leaving out, of course, his observations rela- 
tive to Dr. Leete, and confessed that his censure was 
not wholly undeserved inasmuch as I had gone too far 
in charging upon the whole people the bad qualities 
which reckless competition had stamped on certain 
individuals. 



LOOKING FORWARD. 2$ 

Dr. Leete was evidently not altogether pleased with 
my remarks. After a short pause he said: "I think 
the reckless competition of the last part of the nine- 
teenth century could not fail to demoralize more or 
less, in most cases more, all the people, who were 
conducting a business or who had to work for a liv- 
ing, I think furthermore that your lecture was an 
excellent exposition of principles and that you have 
no reason to yield an inch of your position. The 
cold reception you met with, ought not to worry you. 
It is due to Forest, who has planted in the hearts of 
our students his idiosyncrasy, his blind admiration of 
competition and his aversion to our form of civiliza- 
tion. It is your task to enlighten the young men in 
regard to the comparative merits of the two orders of 
things. — Mr. Forest is placing a heavy tax on the 
patience of his fellow citizens by his persistent efforts 
to mislead the students. — Did he mention the fact 
that he was your predecessor?" 

"He did, when I asked him if he were a member of 
the college staff of teachers. He said that he was 
discharged for his heresy and that he owed his com- 
paratively lenient treatment to you." 

"It is not Forest's habit to conceal his opinions 
and he may have given you a nice idea of Dr. Leete", 
my host said with a smile, 

I thought best under the circumstances to repeat 
Forest's remarks in regard to Dr. Leete, which remarks 
were very good natured and rather complimentary to 
my host. I may add that I desired very much to 



26 LOOKING FORWARD. 

know what Dr. Leete would say in answer to the 
charge of being a politician and a leader of the ad- 
ministration party. 

So I said: "Mr. Forest laughed heartily when I 
repeated your remarks that you have no party nor 
politicians. He called you a great practical joker, a 
shrewd politician, the leader of the administration 
party in Boston and a good man." 

Dr. Leete smiled somewhat grimly as he replied: 
"That is a character I ought to be grateful for, con- 
sidering that it comes from a faultfinder like Forest. 
Concerning his references to me as a politician I will 
say that I never held an office, but that the administra- 
tion has occasionally consulted me and other citizens 
on important questions* Political parties we have 
not* There are of course a few incurable faultfinders 
like Mr. Forest and a few radical growlers, but we 
pay but little attention to them so long as they do 
not disturb the pubHc peace. If they do, we send 
them to a hospital where they receive proper treat- 
ment.'' 

Althoug- these words were spoken in the tone of 
light conversation, they impressed me deeply.

 "If they 
do, we send them to a hospital, where they receive 
proper treatment.'* Did not this confirm Forest's 
statement, that the usual sentence 

against the opponents of communism 

was confinement in an insane 
asylum?" 

A BOOK FROM 1890....