Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

This man was not proposed as one designated by the popular voice, but was named by a certain Wise man as one of retired habits and uncommon genius. The council unanimously rejected the application, and passed a vote of censure on him for troubling them with the dreams of a maniac or an enthusiast. The members of the council were generally of opinion that to suppose the outside of such a world to be inhabited was as absurd as to suppose men to dwell on the outside of their houses. Another man was proposed as Wise, for devising a scheme to relieve the government from the trouble of superintending the distribution of things useful, in order to preserve equality in the comforts of the people throughout the land; and from constant attention to the emission and withdrawal of tokens, to maintain their regular value, and insure their proper effect. His plan was to substitute in place of the tokens a system of promissory obligations, to be issued by an association of individuals who should be always bound to redeem them. This plan, he contended, would greatly facilitate exchanges, and contribute to the convenience of government. His scheme was promptly condemned, as a device to cheat the people, by causing perpetual fluctuations in the nominal price of things; and he was recorded as a designing man, unfit to be of the order of Worthies. Another was proposed for admission as Wise, for composing a code of written laws, and writing a book to prove that the adoption of his project of numerous and particular laws in writing would conduce to the welfare of society, by enabling every one to know, with technical precision, what he might and what he might not do.