In retrospect;

              HASKINS & SELLS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO
CHICAGO BULLETIN LOS ANGELES
DETROIT SEATTLE
ST. LOUIS DENVER
CLEVELAND ATLANTA
BALTIMORE WATERTOWN
PITTSBURGH LONDON
VOL. I NEW Y O R K , JUNE 15, 1918 No. 4
In Retrospect
JU L I A N WEST fell asleep May 30, 1887.
He awoke September 10, 2000. At
least such is the experience ascribed to him
by Edward Bellamy in his bo'6k called
"Looking Backward."
Accustomed to insomnia Mr. West had
constructed in the cellar of his house a sleep­ing
chamber hermetically sealed, except for
a pipe communicating with a windmill on
the top of the house which insured the re­newal
of air.
When his wakefulness continued too
long at a time he was wont to call in a
mesmerist who through the practice of his
art was able to induce sleep.
The awakening process was left to a man­servant
who had been taught by the mes­merist
to perform the manipulations neces­sary
to restore the patient to consciousness.
On the occasion which gave rise to his
long slumber Mr. West had been put to sleep
as usual, with instructions to his man Saw­yer
to awaken him at nine o'clock the fol­lowing
morning. What happened during
the night was never disclosed. Presumably
the house burned, destroying the faithful
Sawyer, thus preventing his master's where­abouts
from becoming known.
When finally discovered, one hundred
and thirteen years later, by a learned doctor,
the excavation for whose house occasioned
the discovery, he was received into the doc­tor's
household. Much pleasure was de­rived
by both men from exchanges of in­formation
concerning the respective periods
with which each was familiar.
Some of the changes which Mr. West
found, according to the book, in the year
two thousand do not seem so strange to us
now as they must have done to those who
read the two hundred thousand copies which
were printed about the year eighteen-eighty-nine.
There was national organization of in­dustry
instead of private enterprise. Yet
Bellamy knew nothing of railroad, coal and
food administrators and the recently organ­ized
"Federal Express Company."
Society was so organized that the in­dividual
underwent the educational process
from the age of six to the age of twenty-one.
He, or she, served in the industrial
army from twenty-one to forty-five, when
retirement came. The balance of one's life
was spent in rest, recreation, travel, study,
or the pursuit of "hobbies."
The industrial army was employed in pro­duction
and distribution. Production was
controlled and regulated according to the
needs of the country. Distribution was ef­fected
through a system of central ware­houses
and ward stores.
Money was unknown. Incomes were pre­determined
and assigned to all in equal
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