the outlook of the world is
decidedly discouraging. But is he right? I think not.
    Looking Backward, although in form a fanciful romance, is intended, in all
seriousness, as a forecast, in accordance with the principles of evolution, of
the next stage in the industrial and social development of humanity, especially
in this country; and no part of it is believed by the author to be better
supported by the indications of probability than the implied prediction that the
dawn of the new era is already near at hand, and that the full day will swiftly
follow. Does this seem at first thought incredible, in view of the vastness of
the changes presupposed? What is the teaching of history, but that great
national transformations, while ages in unnoticed preparation, when once
inaugurated, are accomplished with a rapidity and resistless momentum
proportioned to their magnitude, not limited by it?
    In 1759, when Quebec fell, the might of England in America seemed
irresistible, and the vassalage of the colonies assured. Nevertheless, thirty
years later, the first President of the American Republic was inaugurated. In
1849, after Novara, Italian prospects appeared as hopeless as at any time since
the Middle Ages; yet only fifteen years after, Victor Emmanuel was crowned King
of United Italy. In 1864, the fulfillment of the thousand-year dream of German
unity was apparently as far off as ever. Seven years later it had been realized,
and William had assumed at Versailles the Crown of Barbarossa. In 1832, the
original Anti-slavery Society was formed in Boston by a few so-called
visionaries. Thirty-eight years later, in 1870, the society disbanded, its
programme fully carried out.
    These precedents do not, of course, prove that any such industrial and
social transformation as is outlined in Looking Backward is impending; but they
do show that, when the moral and economical conditions for it are ripe, it may
be expected to go forward with great rapidity. On no other stage are the scenes
shifted with a swiftness so like magic as on the great stage of history when
once the hour strikes. The question is not, then, how extensive the
scene-shifting must be to set the stage for the new fraternal civilization, but
whether there are any special indications that a social transformation is at
hand. The causes that have been bringing it ever nearer have been at work from
immemorial time. To the stream of tendency setting toward an ultimate
realization of a form of society which, while vastly more efficient for material
prosperity, should also satisfy and not outrage the moral instincts, every sigh
of