Test Bank for Principles of Financial Accounting 12th Edition
Test Bank for Principles of Financial Accounting 12th Edition
Test Bank for Principles of Financial Accounting 12th Edition
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5. 8. A debit has an unfavorable effect on an account.
True False
6. 9. For a T account, an account balance is the difference in total dollars between total debit footings and total
credit footings.
True False
10. A decrease in a liability is recorded by a credit.
True False
11. The double-entry system is possible because all business transactions have at least two equal and opposite
aspects.
True False
12. A decrease in the Owner's Capital account is recorded with a debit.
True False
13. Owner's withdrawals should appear on the statement of owner's equity.
True False
14. The Owner's Withdrawals account has a normal debit balance.
True False
15. The first step in the accounting cycle is to post the journal entries to the ledger and prepare a trial balance.
True False
16. The normal balance of an account is the side (debit or credit) used to decrease the account.
True False
17. The general ledger is the basic storage unit for accounting data and is used to accumulate
amounts from similar transactions.
True False
7. 18. One of the general rules of the double-entry system is that total debits must always be equal to total credits.
True False
19. Withdrawls and revenues are deductions from owner’s equity.
True False
20. When a withdrawal is made, the Cash account is debited and the Withdrawals account is credited.
True False
21. Liabilities are established with credits and eliminated with debits.
True False
22. Generally, before Accounts Receivable is debited, it is credited.
True False
23. A journal entry is a notation that consists of either a single debit or a single credit that is recorded in the
general ledger.
True False
24. Proper journal form is a way of recording a transaction with the date, debit account, and debit amount
shown on one line, and the credit account (indented) and credit amount shown on the next line.
True False
25. When a company records the purchase of 1 month of prepaid expense the transaction does not affect the
totals of assets or liabilities and owner’s equity.
True False
26. In a trial balance, all debits are listed before all credits.
True False
8. 27. A trial balance is normally prepared at the end of each business day.
True False
28. When the columns of the trial balance equal each other, it is still possible that errors may have occurred in
recording and posting the transactions.
True False
29. A transposition error will cause the trial balance to be out of balance by an amount that is evenly divisible
by two.
True False
30. Recording an account with a debit balance as a credit, or vice versa, will cause the trial balance to be out of
balance by an amount that is evenly divisible by two.
True False
31. Once in a while, a transaction leaves an account with a balance that isn’t “normal.” When this occurs, the
“abnormal” balance should be corrected to the “normal” balance before copying the balance into the trial
balance.
True False
32. A trial balance may be prepared at any point in time.
True False
33. The journal is a chronological record of all transactions.
True False
34. Entering transactions into the journal is called posting.
True False
35. In a journal entry, debits are always recorded before credits.
True False
9. 36. In a journal entry, debits are always indented.
True False
37. In a journal entry, the Post. Ref. column is left blank until the entry has been posted.
True False
38. It is never correct for a compound entry's debit totals and credit totals to be unequal.
True False
39. One might see “J5” correctly placed in the Post. Ref. column of the journal.
True False
40. Journal entries are typically posted to the ledger only at the end of the year.
True False
41. Another name for the ledger is the book of original entry.
True False
42. In the general journal, the year appears on the first line of the first column, the month on the next line of the
first column, and the day in the second column opposite the month.
True False
43. The general ledger is used to record the details of each transaction. The general journal is used to update
each account.
True False
44. When a company receives a product previously ordered, a recordable transaction has occurred.
True False
45. When a business hires a new employee, a recordable transaction has occurred.
True False
10. 46. A transaction should be recorded when title to merchandise passes from the supplier to the purchaser and
creates an obligation to pay.
True False
47. Purchase requests and purchase orders are economic events, and as such they affect a company’s financial
position, and are recognized in the accounting records.
True False
48. When a company pays an employee for work performed, it is considered an economic event that is not
recorded as a transaction.
True False
49. A purchase should usually not be recognized (recorded) before the title is transferred because, until that
point, the vendor has not fulfilled its contractual obligation and the buyer has no liability.
True False
50. The timing of cash flows is critical to a company’s ability to maintain adequate liquidity so that it can pay
its bills on time.
True False
51. All sales transactions generate immediate cash.
True False
52. In order to manage a company’s liquidity, managers and other users of financial information must
understand the difference between transactions that generate immediate cash and those that do not.
True False
53. One way a company can manage its expenditures is to rely on its creditors to give it time to pay for
purchases.
True False
54. All expenses incurred by a business are paid immediately in cash.
True False
11. 55. Purchasing office supplies on account is an example of one way a company can take advantage of deferring
a cash payment.
True False
56. When a business reports an asset at an inflated dollar amount, is has violated the measurement issue of
A. recognition.
B. valuation.
C. classification.
D. realization.
57. Which of the following is not a measurement issue in accounting?
A. When to record a business transaction.
B. How to classify the items of a business transaction.
C. How to classify the items of a business transaction.
D. Where to record a business transaction.
58. The issue of deciding when to record a transaction is solved by
A. properly classifying the transaction.
B. deciding on a point of recognition.
C. assigning historical cost to the transaction.
D. analyzing the intent of management.
59. The cost principle relates most closely to the
A. recognition point.
B. recognition issue.
C. valuation issue.
D. classification issue.
60. Which of the following is not a measurement issue in accounting?
A. Valuation.
B. Recognition.
C. Evaluation.
D. Classification.
12. 61. Which of the following is an illustration of the classification issue?
A. At what amount should land be shown on the balance sheet?
B. At what point should the payment of salaries to employees be recorded?
C. Should supplies be recorded as an asset or as an expense?
D. At what point should a bill be paid for the purchase of an item?
62. When a business erroneously records expenses as assets, it has violated the measurement issue of
A. communication.
B. classification.
C. valuation.
D. realization.
63. After initially recording an asset at cost, fair value is
A. the price at which an asset could be sold in a current transaction between independent parties.
B. the actual, or historical, price at which the asset was acquired.
C. the easiest value used to measure and record assets.
D. verifiable at all future dates by referring to the invoice price paid for the asset.
64. Proper depends on correctly analyzing the effect of each transaction and on maintaining a
system of accounts that reflects that effect.
A. classification
B. valuation
C. recognition
D. realization
65. Which of the following accounts is increased with a debit?
A. Jim Webb, Capital
B. Rent Payable
C. Service Revenue
D. Prepaid Insurance
66. Which of the following accounts is increased with a credit?
A. Office Supplies
B. Unearned Revenue
C. Land
D. Prepaid Insurance
13. 67. Which pair of accounts follows the rules of debit and credit in the same manner?
A. Service Revenue and Equipment
B. Land and Withdrawals
C. Notes Payable and Buildings
D. Wages Expense and Service Revenue
68. Which pair of accounts follows the rules of debit and credit in the opposite manner?
A. Prepaid Insurance and Withdrawals
B. Advertising Expense and Land
C. Withdrawals and Service Revenue
D. Interest Payable and Owner's Capital
69. The double-entry system
A. requires that each transaction be recorded with at least one debit and one credit.
B. requires that the total amount of the debits must always equal the total amount of the credits.
C. is based on the principle of duality.
D. All of these choices.
70. Which of the following accounts is not shown on the Statement of Owner’s Equity?
A. Owner’s Capital
B. Revenues
C. Expenses
D. Withdrawals
71. Which of the following is the final step in the accounting cycle?
A. Prepare financial statements.
B. Close the accounts.
C. Prepare and adjusted trial balance.
D. Post the journal entries to the ledger.
72. Which of the following is the first step in the accounting cycle?
A. Prepare financial statements.
B. Analyze business transactions from source documents.
C. Prepare and adjusted trial balance.
D. Post the journal entries to the ledger.
14. 73. The withdrawal of cash by the owner will
A. decrease net income.
B. increase liabilities.
C. not affect total assets.
D. decrease owner’s equity.
74. A company records a transaction in which six months' rent is paid in advance. Which of the following
journal entries records the transaction?
A. Prepaid Rent – Debit; Cash – Credit
B. Rent Receivable – Debit; Cash – Credit
C. Rent Revenue – Debit; Cash – Credit
D. Rent Expense– Debit; Cash – Credit.
75. Receiving cash from a customer for settlement of an Accounts Receivable will
A. decrease Owner’s Equity.
B. increase net income.
C. increase total assets.
D. not affect total assets.
76. Which of the following events does not require a journal entry?
A. Purchase of a one-year insurance policy.
B. Agreement to perform a service at a future date.
C. Payment for a service performed previously.
D. All of these choices.
77. When a company has performed a service but has not yet received payment, what is the required journal
entry to be recorded?
A. Accounts Receivable – Debit; Service Revenue – Credit
B. Service Revenue – Debit; Accounts Payable – Credit.
C. Service Revenue – Debit; Accounts Receivable – Credit
D. No entry is required until the cash is received.
78. When a service has been performed, but no cash has been received, which of the following statements is
true?
A. The entry would include a debit to Accounts Receivable.
B. The entry would include a debit to Accounts Payable.
C. The entry would include a credit to Unearned Revenue.
D. No entry is required until the cash is received.
15. 79. The controller for Tires and More, Inc. has recorded the following transactions during the month: the
purchase of equipment for $8,500 cash; payment of $6,300 for 3 months rent; and, collection of $2,400 from a
customer for services performed. At the beginning of the month the owner established the business by making
an investment of $15,000 cash. What is the balance in the Cash account at the end of the month, and is the
balance a debit or a credit?
A. $2,600 debit.
B. $2,600 credit.
C. $6,800 debit.
D. $15,200 debit.
80. The controller for Tires and More, Inc. has recorded the following transactions during the month: the
purchase of supplies on credit, $4,200; receipt of a bill for utilities for the month which is due on the 15th of the
next month, $1,200; and, partial payment on the balance due for supplies, $800. What is the balance in the
Accounts Payable account at the end of the month assuming a beginning balance of $0, and is the balance a
debit or a credit?
A. $4,600 debit.
B. $4,600 credit.
C. $3,400 credit.
D. $5,400 credit.
81. The controller for Tires and More, Inc. has recorded the following transactions during the month: the owner
established the business with a $20,000 investment on the 1st of the month; the company recorded $36,000 of
revenue for tires and services provided during the month; and expenses of $22,000 were recorded for the
month. What is the balance ofOwner’s Equity at the end of the month, and is the balance a debit or a credit?
A. $34,000 debit.
B. $34,000 credit.
C. $20,000 credit.
D. $6,000 debit.
82. The controller for Tires and More, Inc. has recorded the following transactions during the month: the owner
established the business with a $20,000 investment on the 1st of the month; the company recorded $36,000 of
revenue for tires and services provided during the month; and expenses of $22,000 were recorded for the
month. Additionally, on the last day of the month the owner withdrew $2,000 for personal expenses. What is
the balance of Owner’s Equity at the end of the month, and is the balance a debit or a credit?
A. $32,000 debit.
B. $32,000 credit.
C. $18,000 credit.
D. $36,000 debit.
16. 83. An $800 debit item is accidentally posted as a credit. The trial balance column totals will therefore differ by
A. $0
B. $400
C. $800
D. $1,600
84. The trial balance for Parker Company is as follows:
Parker Company
Trial Balance
January 31, 2014
Cash $ 6,000
Accounts Receivable 4,000
Art Supplies 6,000
Office Supplies 10,000
Prepaid Rent 14,000
Prepaid Insurance 10,000
Art Equipment 10,000
Office Equipment 6,000
Accounts Payable $ 10,000
Mike Parker, Capital 30,000
Mike Parker, Withdrawals ?
Advertising Fees Earned ?
Wages Expense ?
Utilities Expense 10,000
Telephone Expense 6,000
$ A $ B
If the balance of the Mike Parker, Withdrawals account were $100,000 and the balance of the Wages Expense account were $10,000, what would be
the amount of B?
A. $124,000
B. $150,000
C. $192,000
D. $152,000
17. 85. The trial balance for Parker Company is as follows:
Parker Company
Trial Balance
January 31, 2014
Cash $ 6,000
Accounts Receivable 4,000
Art Supplies 6,000
Office Supplies 10,000
Prepaid Rent 14,000
Prepaid Insurance 10,000
Art Equipment 10,000
Office Equipment 6,000
Accounts Payable $ 10,000
Mike Parker, Capital 30,000
Mike Parker, Withdrawals ?
Advertising Fees Earned ?
Wages Expense ?
Utilities Expense 10,000
Telephone Expense 6,000
$ A $ B
If the trial balance showed a balance of $14,000 in the Mike Parker, Withdrawals account and a balance of $30,000 in the Wages Expense account,
what would be the amount of Advertising Fees Earned for the period?
A. $106,000
B. $86,000
C. $116,000
D. $56,000
86. The trial balance for Parker Company is as follows:
Parker Company
Trial Balance
January 31, 2014
Cash $28,000
Accounts Receivable 4,000
Art Supplies 6,000
Office Supplies 10,000
Prepaid Rent 14,000
Prepaid Insurance 10,000
Art Equipment 10,000
Office Equipment 6,000
Accounts Payable $ 10,000
Mike Parker, Capital 30,000
Mike Parker, Withdrawals 14,000
Advertising Fees Earned 108,000
Wages Expense 30,000
Utilities Expense 10,000
Telephone Expense 6,000
$148,000 $148,000
18. On the trial balance, total assets equal
A. $108,000
B. $104,000
C. $88,000
D. $68,000
87. The trial balance for Parker Company is as follows:
Parker Company
Trial Balance
January 31, 2014
Cash $ 6,000
Accounts Receivable 4,000
Art Supplies 6,000
Office Supplies 10,000
Prepaid Rent 14,000
Prepaid Insurance 10,000
Art Equipment 10,000
Office Equipment 6,000
Accounts Payable $10,000
Mike Parker, Capital 30,000
Mike Parker, Withdrawals ?
Advertising Fees Earned ?
Wages Expense ?
Utilities Expense 10,000
Telephone Expense 6,000
$ A $ B
If the trial balance showed a balance of $16,000 in the Wages Expense account and a balance of $86,000 in the Advertising Fees Earned account,
what would be the amount of A?
A. $126,000
B. $106,000
C. $136,000
D. $116,000
19. 88. The trial balance for Parker Company is as follows:
Parker Company
Trial Balance
January 31, 2014
Cash $ 6,000
Accounts Receivable 4,000
Art Supplies 6,000
Office Supplies 10,000
Prepaid Rent 14,000
Prepaid Insurance 10,000
Art Equipment 10,000
Office Equipment 6,000
Accounts Payable $10,000
Mike Parker, Capital 30,000
Mike Parker, Withdrawals ?
Advertising Fees Earned ?
Wages Expense ?
Utilities Expense 10,000
Telephone Expense 6,000
$ A $ B
If the trial balance showed a balance of $8,000 in the Wages Expense account and a balance of $85,000 in the Advertising Fees Earned account, what
would be the amount of the Mike Parker, Withdrawals account?
A. $75,000
B. $53,000
C. $35,000
D. $63,000
89. Which of the following errors will not cause the debit and credit columns of the trial balance to be unequal?
A. A debit entry was recorded in the wrong account.
B. A debit was entered in an account as a credit.
C. The account balance was carried to the wrong column of the trial balance.
D. The balance of an account was incorrectly computed.
90. The primary purpose of the trial balance is to test the
A. recording of transactions.
B. analysis of transactions.
C. equality of debit and credit balances in the ledger.
D. equality of debit and credit balances in the journal.
91. A $155 credit item is posted as a debit. The trial balance column totals therefore will differ by
A. $310
B. $620
C. $155
D. $0
20. 92. Which of the following errors will cause the trial balance to be out of balance?
A. An entire transaction was entered in the general journal as $27 instead of $72.
B. An entire transaction was omitted from the general journal.
C. The balance of an account was incorrectly computed.
D. A debit entry was entered in the wrong debit account.
93. Which of the following errors will cause the trial balance to be out of balance?
A. Posting a debit to Land as a debit to Machinery.
B. Placing a debit balance amount into the credit balance column of the ledger.
C. Omitting an entire transaction.
D. Incorrectly recording the purchase of land for cash as a debit to Cash and a credit to Land.
94. The general journal does not have a column titled
A. Description.
B. Account Balance.
C. Date.
D. Post. Ref.
95. To find a description of a transaction, one should look at the
A. ledger.
B. trial balance.
C. journal.
D. chart of accounts.
96. Which of the following accounts might be placed first in a journal entry?
A. Interest Payable, when it has been decreased.
B. Accounts Receivable, when it has been decreased.
C. Unearned Revenue, when it has been increased.
D. Service Revenue, when it has been increased.
97. Which of the following accounts would be placed after the debit(s) in a journal entry?
A. Interest Payable, when it has been decreased.
B. Accounts Receivable, when it has been decreased.
C. Unearned Revenue, when it has been decreased.
D. Withdrawals, when it has been increased.
21. 98. Which of the following statements is false about a journal entry?
A. All debits are always listed before any credits.
B. It may have more than one debit or credit entry.
C. Credits are always indented.
D. Accounts that are increased are always listed first.
99. Which of the following accounts should be debited in a journal entry?
A. Accounts Receivable, when it has been decreased.
B. Withdrawals, when it has been increased.
C. Wages Payable, when it has been increased.
D. All of these choices.
100. The process of transferring journal entry information from the journal to the ledger is called
A. journalizing.
B. posting.
C. footing.
D. analzying.
101. The account most recently posted is determined most efficiently by referring to the
A. Post. Ref. column of the ledger.
B. balance column of the ledger.
C. date column of the general journal.
D. Post. Ref. column of the general journal.
102. Posting is performed by transferring information from the
A. source documents to the journal.
B. source documents to the ledger.
C. journal to the ledger.
D. ledger to the journal.
103. Which of the following guidelines is correct?
A. Dollar signs ($) are required in all financial statements and other schedules.
B. Account names are capitalized when referenced in text or listed in work documents like the journal or ledger.
C. In financial statements only the first word of an account name is capitalized.
D. All of these choices.
22. 104. Which of the following is a business event that is not considered a recordable transaction?
A. A company receives a product previously ordered.
B. A company pays an employee for work performed.
C. A customer inquires about the availability of a service.
D. A customer purchases a service.
105. Which of the following is a business event that is considered a recordable transaction?
A. A company hires a new employee.
B. A customer purchases merchandise.
C. A company orders a product from a supplier.
D. An employee sends a purchase requisition to the purchasing department.
106. A purchase is recognized in the accounting records when
A. payment is made for the item purchased.
B. the purchase requisition is sent to the purchasing department.
C. title transfers from the seller to the buyer.
D. the buyer receives the seller's bill.
107. Which of the following business events is not a transaction
A. Signing a contract.
B. Paying wages.
C. Receiving goods.
D. Purchasing a service.
108. Which of the following is not an example of egregious financial reporting frauds as discussed in the text?
A. Keeping the books open for a few days after the end of the reporting period.
B. Transferring assets to an affiliate at more than their actual value.
C. Recording as assets expenditures that should have been classfied as expenses.
D. Recording a liability when title to merchandise passes to the purchaser.
109. Which of the following is an example of egregious financial reporting fraud as discussed in the text?
A. Closing the books at the end of the reporting period.
B. Transferring assets to an affiliate at more than their actual value.
C. Recording as expenses expenditures that should have been classfied as expenses.
D. Recording a liability when title to merchandise passes to the purchaser.
23. 110. Slim Co. is ordering a new computer for its corporate office. Which of the following events would trigger
the recognition of the computer and related liability on Slim’s books?
A. The company generates a purchase order.
B. The purchasing department sends a purchase order to the supplier.
C. The company receives the computer.
D. The company receives the bill from the supplier.
111. Mesquite, Inc. is ordering a new machine to be used in its manufacturing facility. Which of the following
events would trigger the recognition of the machine and related liability on Mesquite’s books?
A. The company generates a purchase order.
B. A technician installs the machine on the floor of the manufacturing facility.
C. The company receives the machine.
D. The company pays the bill from the supplier.
112. Mesquite, Inc. engaged in the following transactions during October:
Performed services for cash $1,840
Performed services on credit 2,100
Purchased office supplies on account 800
Paid salaries in cash 900
Collected on account 600
Paid on account 400
What is the balance in cash after these transactions?
A. $940
B. $1,140
C. $740
D. $2,440
113. Mesquite, Inc. engaged in the following transactions during October:
Performed services for cash $1,840
Performed services on credit 2,100
Purchased office supplies on account 800
Paid salaries in cash 900
Collected on account 600
Paid on account 400
What is the amount of cash still to be received?
A. $2,300
B. $1,500
C. $1,900
D. $400
24. 114. Mesquite, Inc. engaged in the following transactions during October:
Performed services for cash $1,840
Performed services on credit 2,100
Purchased office supplies on account 800
Paid salaries in cash 900
Collected on account 600
Paid on account 400
What is the amount of cash still to be paid?
A. $2,300
B. $2,100
C. $1,300
D. $400
115. Copper Company engaged in the following transactions during April
Performed services for cash $215,000
Performed services on credit 168,000
Purchased office supplies on account 56,000
Paid salaries in cash 29,000
Collected on account 42,000
Paid on account 38,000
What is the amount of cash still to be paid?
A. $18,000
B. $47,000
C. $94,000
D. $52,000
116. Copper Company engaged in the following transactions during April
Performed services for cash $215,000
Performed services on credit 168,000
Purchased office supplies on account 56,000
Paid salaries in cash 29,000
Collected on account 42,000
Paid on account 38,000
What is the amount of cash still to be collected?
A. $126,000
B. $341,000
C. $144,000
D. $18,000
25. 117. Copper Company began operations in April and then engaged in the following transactions during April
Performed services for cash $215,000
Performed services on credit 168,000
Purchased office supplies on account 56,000
Paid salaries in cash 29,000
Collected on account 42,000
Paid on account 38,000
What is the balance in cash after these transactions?
A. $302,000
B. $190,000
C. $144,000
D. $87,000
118. Copper Company engaged in the following transactions during April
Performed services for cash $215,000
Performed services on credit 108,000
Purchased office supplies on account 56,000
Paid salaries in cash 129,000
Collected on account ??
Paid on account 38,000
If the balance in cash after these transactions is $115,000, how much cash was collected on account?
A. $67,000
B. $62,000
C. $15,000
D. $29,000
119. Copper Company began operations in April and then engaged in the following transactions during April
Performed services for cash $215,000
Performed services on credit 168,000
Purchased office supplies on account 56,000
Paid salaries in cash 29,000
Collected on account 22,000
Paid on account ??
If the balance in cash after these transactions is $165,000, how much cash was paid on account?
A. $43,000
B. $57,000
C. $1,000
D. $21,000
26. 120. Match each item with the correct statement below.
1. Recording transactions at the exchange price at the
point of recognition. Recognition
2. A series of steps that measure and communicate
useful information to decision makers. Valuation
3. Basic storage unit for accounting data and used to
accumulate amounts from similar transactions. Classificiation
4. Process of assigning a monetary amount to business
transactions.
5. A device used to ensure that the total of debits and
Accounting
cycle
credits in the accounts are equal. Journal
6. Process of assigning all the transactions in which a
business engages to appropriate categories, or
accounts. Trial balance
7. Refers to the decision as to when to record a business
transaction. Posting
8. The book of original entry. Cost principle
9. Left side. Account
10. Process of transferring transactions from the journal
to the ledger. Debit
121. Use this journal entry to answer the following question.
Nov. 16 Accoun 685
ts
Payable
Cash 685
Recorded payment of a liability
Explain how the above journal entry relates to the measurement issues of (a) recognition, (b) valuation, and (c) classification.
27. 122. Why is the Owner's Withdrawals account increased by a debit? Explain in terms of its relationship to
owner's equity.
123. For each of the following economic events determine whether the event is a business transaction on the
date it occurs and whether it’s recognized in the accounts on that date. Support your answer.
a On July 15, the controller of Kona Corporation orders a custom display case for the company’s store.
b. On July 31, a new administrative assistant is hired at a monthly salary of $3,500.
c. On July 31, the controller of Kona Corporation receives a bill for electricity for the month of July. The bill is
due on August 18 and will be paid on that date.
124. A trial balance proves that the accounts are in balance. Does a balanced trial balance also prove that all
the transactions are correctly analyzed and recorded? Why or why not?
28. 125. If a debit to Supplies were posted as a credit, and a credit of the same amount to Cash were posted as a
debit, what would be the effect, if any, on the two accounts and on the trial balance column totals?
126. What type of information does the general journal include for each transaction?
127. What are the steps in the posting process for the debit side of an entry?
128. Discuss the difference between business events that are transactions and those that are not. Why is the
distinction important?
29. 129. Ironwood Company has just started operations. The owner, Robert Ironwood, invested $10,000 to get the
business started. The company has made several sales on account, but has not yet collected any cash from these
sales. At this point, Ironwood’s cash flows for expenses are exceeding its cash flows from revenues. How
might Ironwood make up the difference so it can maintain its liquidity?
130. Using the following transactions, calculate (A) the ending balance of Cash, (B) the ending balance of
Accounts Receivable, (C) total liabilities, and (D) Owner’s Equity at the end of the period. For parts a, b, and d,
indicate whether each balance is debit or credit.
a. Opened business by investing $50,000 in cash.
b. Billed customers for services rendered, $10,000.
c. Paid for six months' subscription in advance, $2,500.
d. Received advertising bill, to be paid next week, $500.
e. Withdrawals of $4,000 were made by the owner.
f. Received $7,500 from customers billed in b.
g. Paid half of advertising bill.
h. Received $1,000 in advance of performing a service.
30. 131. Using the following transactions, calculate the ending balance of (A) total assets, (B) total liabilities, (C)
Cash, and (D) Owner’s Equity. Indicate whether each balance is debit or credit.
a. Opened business by investing $72,000 in cash.
b. Paid one year's insurance in advance, $4,800.
c. Billed customers for services rendered, $12,000.
d. Received utility bill, to be paid next month, $800.
e. Received $1,600 in advance of performing a service.
f. Received $8,800 from customers billed in c.
g. Paid $600 on the utility bill of d.
h. Withdrawals of $4,000 were made by the owner.
132. From the following alphabetical list of account balances, all of which are normal, for Ivy Maxx Company
on July 31, 2014, prepare a trial balance in proper form (the amount of Ivy Maxx, Withdrawals must be
computed) .
Accounts Payable $250
Accounts Receivable 100
Cash 40
Equipment 350
Ivy Maxx, Capital 75
Ivy Maxx, Withdrawals ?
Prepaid Advertising 10
Revenue Earned 200
Wages Expense 35
Wages Payable 25
31. 133. Using the alphabetical list of account balances presented below, all of which are normal, prepare a trial
balance for Cookies and Cream Company at June 30, 2014, in proper order. Compute the balance of the Cash
account.
Accounts Payable $280
Accounts Receivable 560
Cash ?
Equipment 800
Office Expense 360
Joan Cream, Capital 880
Service Revenue 600
134. From the following alphabetical list of account balances, all of which are normal, for Cannon Company on
September 30, 2014, prepare a trial balance in proper form (the amount of Tina Cannon, Withdrawals must be
computed) .
Accounts Payable $ 780
Accounts Receivable 460
Cash 400
Equipment 1,380
Prepaid Advertising 20
Revenue Earned 1,000
Tina Cannon, Capital 1,200
Tina Cannon, Withdrawals ?
Wages Expense 60
Wages Payable 20
135. Record the following transactions, using proper form, in the journal provided.
June 9 Provided services in the amount of $4,000, receiving $300 in partial payment.
19 Received $1,600 of the amount owed from June 9.
33. General
Journal
Date
Page 1
Descri
ption
136. In the journal provided, prepare journal entries without explanations for the following transactions. Write
“no entry” if none is needed.
a. Received a $1,000 invoice for this month's electricity. Payment will be made in 2 weeks.
b. Paid $1,200 for insurance premiums to cover the next six months.
c. The owner, Heidi Shop, withdrew $700.
d. The utility bill from part “a” is paid.
e. Purchased land for $50,000. The company paid half in cash and issued a promissory note for the other half.
Post.
Ref.
Debit Credit
34. 137. Provide explanations for the following related journal entries:
a. Cash 6,000
Mike Bradley, Capital 6,000
b. Law
Library
3,400
Accounts Payable 3,400
c. Cash 600
Accoun 1,000
ts
Receiva
ble
Legal Fees Earned 1,600
d. Cash 500
Accounts Receivable 500
e. Accoun 3,400
ts
Payable
Cash 3,400
138. Provide explanations for the following related journal entries:
a. Prep 4,000
aid
Rent
Cash 4,000
b. Truc 36,000
ks
Notes Payable 36,000
c. Cash600
Accounts Receivable 600
d. Note 18,000
s
Paya
ble
Cash 18,000
e. Cash2,500
Unearned Fees 2,500
36. “A FIERY RAIN
FELL FROM
EVERY QUARTER
OF THE SKY.”
center, with a velocity of about 173,000
kilometers per hour. Nearly forty minutes
after the first instant of contact, the heat of
this incandescent furnace, and the horrible
odor of sulphur, became so suffocating that a
few moments more of such torture would
have sufficed to destroy every vestige of life. Even the astronomers
crept painfully from room to room within the observatories which
they had endeavored to close hermetically, and sought shelter in the
cellars; and the young computor, whose acquaintance we have
already made, was the last to remain on the terrace, at Paris,—a few
seconds only, but long enough to witness the explosion of a
formidable bolide, which was rushing southward with the velocity of
lightning. But strength was lacking for further observations. One
could breathe no longer. Besides the heat and the dryness, so
destructive to every vital function, there was the carbonic-oxide
which was already beginning to poison the atmosphere. The ears
were filled with a dull, roaring sound, the heart beat ever more and
more violently; and still this choking odor of sulphur! At the same
time a fiery rain fell from every quarter of the sky, a rain of shooting
stars, the immense majority of which did not reach the earth,
although many fell upon the roofs, and the fires which they kindled
could be seen in every direction. To these fires from heaven the fires
of earth now made answer, and the world was surrounded with
electric flashes, as by an army. Everyone, without thinking for an
instant of flight, had abandoned all hope, expecting every moment to
be buried in the ruins of the world, and those who still clung to each
other, and whose only consolation was that of dying together, clung
closer, in a last embrace.
But the main body of the celestial army had passed, and a sort of
rarefaction, of vacuum, was produced in the atmosphere, perhaps as
the result of meteoric explosions; for suddenly the windows were
shattered, blown outwards, and the doors opened of themselves. A
violent wind arose, adding fury to the conflagration. Then the rain
fell in torrents, but reanimating at the same time the extinguished
hope of life, and waking mankind from its nightmare.
“The XXVth Century! Death of the Pope and all the bishops! Fall of
the comet at Rome! Paper, sir?”
37. “EXTRA!”
Scarcely a half hour had passed before people began to issue from
their cellars, feeling again the joy of living, and recovering gradually
from their apathy. Even before one had really begun to take any
account of the fires which were still raging, notwithstanding the
deluge or rain, the scream of the newsboy was heard in the hardly
awakened streets. Everywhere, at Paris, Marseilles, Brussels,
London, Vienna, Turin and Madrid, the same news was being
shouted, and before caring for the fires which were spreading on
every side, everyone bought the popular one-cent sheet, with its
sixteen illustrated pages fresh from the press.
“The Pope and the cardinals crushed to death! The sacred college
destroyed by the comet! Extra! Extra!”
The newsboys drove a busy trade, for everyone was anxious to know
the truth of these announcements, and eagerly bought the great
popular socialistic paper.
This is what had taken place. The American
Hebrew, to whom we have already referred,
and who, on the preceding Tuesday, had
managed to make several millions by the
reopening of the Paris and Chicago
exchanges, had not for a moment yielded to
despair, and, as in other days, the
monasteries had accepted bequests made in
view of the end of the world, so our
indefatigable speculator had thought best to
remain at his telephone, which he had caused
to be taken down for the nonce into a vast
subterranean gallery, hermetically closed.
Controlling special wires uniting Paris with
the principal cities of the world, he was in
constant communication with them. The
nucleus of the comet had contained within its
mass of incandescent gas a certain number of
solid uranolites, some of which measured
several kilometers in diameter. One of these masses had struck the
earth not far from Rome, and the Roman correspondent had sent the
following news by phonogram:
38. “All the cardinals and prelates of the council were assembled in
solemn fête under the dome of St. Peter. In this grandest temple of
Christendom, splendidly illuminated at the solemn hour of midnight,
amid the pious invocations of the chanting brotherhoods, the altars
smoking with the perfumed incense, and the organs filling the
recesses of the immense church with their tones of thunder, the
Pope, seated upon his throne, saw prostrate at his feet his faithful
people from every quarter of the world; but as he rose to pronounce
the final benediction a mass of iron, half as large as the city itself,
falling from the sky with the rapidity of lightning, crushed the
assembled multitudes, precipitating them into an abyss of unknown
depth, a veritable pit of hell. All Italy was shaken, and the roar of the
thunder was heard at Marseilles.”
The bolide had been seen in every city throughout Italy, through the
showers of meteorites and the burning atmosphere. It had illumined
the earth like a new sun with a brilliant red light, and a terrible
rending had followed its fall, as if the sky had really been split from
top to bottom. (This was the bolide which the young calculator of the
observatory of Paris had observed when, in spite of her zeal, the
suffocating fumes had driven her from the terrace.)
Seated at his telephone, our speculator received his despatches and
gave his orders, dictating sensational news to his journal, which was
printed simultaneously in all the principal cities of the world. A
quarter of an hour later these despatches appeared on the first page
of the XXVth Century, in New York, St. Petersburg and Melbourne,
as also in the capitals nearer Paris; an hour after the first edition a
second was announced.
“Paris in flames! The cities of Europe destroyed! Rome in ashes!
Here’s your XXVth Century, second edition!”
And in this new edition there was a very closely written article, from
the pen of an accomplished correspondent, dealing with the
consequences of the destruction of the sacred college.
“Twenty-fifth Century, fourth edition! New volcano in Italy!
Revolution in Naples! Paper, sir?”
The second had been followed by the fourth edition without any
regard to a third. It told how a bolide, weighing ten thousand tons, or
39. perhaps more, had fallen with the velocity above stated upon the
solfatara of Pozzuoli, penetrating and breaking in the light and
hollow crust of the ancient crater. The flames below had burst forth
in a new volcano, which, with Vesuvius, illuminated the Elysian
fields.
“Twenty-fifth Century, sixth edition! New island in the
Mediterranean! Conquests of England!”
A fragment of the head of the comet had fallen into the
Mediterranean to the west of Rome, forming an irregular island,
fifteen hundred meters in length by seven hundred in width, with an
altitude of about two hundred meters. The sea had boiled about it,
and huge tidal waves had swept the shores. But there happened to be
an Englishman nearby, whose first thought was to land in a creek of
the newly formed island, and scaling a rock, to plant the British flag
upon its highest peak.
Millions of copies of the journal of the famous speculator were
distributed broadcast over the world during this night of July 14th,
with accounts of the disaster, dictated by telephone from the office of
its director, who had taken measures to monopolize every item of
news. Everywhere these editions were eagerly read, even before the
necessary precautions were taken to extinguish the conflagrations
still raging. From the outset, the rain had afforded unexpected
succor, yet the material losses were immense, notwithstanding the
prevailing use of iron in building construction.
“Twenty-fifth Century, tenth edition! Great miracle at Rome!”
What miracle, it was easy enough to explain. In this latest edition,
the XXVth Century announced that its correspondent at Rome had
given circulation to a rumor which proved to be without foundation;
that the bolide had not destroyed Rome at all, but had fallen quite a
distance outside the city. St. Peter and the Vatican had been
miraculously preserved. But hundreds of millions of copies were sold
in every country of the world. It was an excellent stroke of business.
The crisis had passed. Little by little, men recovered their self-
possession, rejoicing in the mere fact of living.
40. THE COUNCIL
ASSEMBLED
UNDER THE
DOME OF ST.
PETER’S.
Throughout the night, the sky overhead was illuminated by the lurid
light of the comet, and by the meteorites which still fell in showers,
kindled on every side new conflagrations. When day came, about half
past three in the morning, more than three hours had passed since
the head of the comet had collided with the earth; the nucleus had
passed in a southwesterly direction, and the earth was still entirely
buried in the tail. The shock had taken place at eighteen minutes
after midnight; that is to say, fifty-eight minutes after midnight,
Paris time, exactly as predicted by the president of the Astronomical
society of France, whose statement our readers may remember.
Although, at the instant of collision, the greater part of the
hemisphere on the side of the comet had been effected by the
constricting dryness, the suffocating heat and the poisonous
sulphurous odors, as well as by deadening stupor, due to the
resistance encountered by the comet in traversing the atmosphere,
the supersaturation of the ozone with electricity, and the mixture of
nitrogen protoxide with the upper air, the other hemisphere had
experienced no other disturbance than that which followed inevitably
from the destroyed atmospheric equilibrium. Fortunately, the comet
41. had only skimmed the earth, and the shock had not been central.
Doubtless, also, the attraction of the earth had had much to do with
the fall of the bolides in Italy and the Mediterranean. At all events,
the orbit of the comet had been entirely altered by this perturbation,
while the earth and the moon continued tranquilly on their way
about the sun, as if nothing had happened. The orbit of the comet
had been changed by the earth’s attraction from a parabola to an
ellipse, its aphelion being situated near the ecliptic. When later
statistics of the comet’s victims were obtained, it was found that the
number of the dead was one-fortieth of the population of Europe. In
Paris alone, which extended over a part of the departments formerly
known as the Seine and Seine-et-Oise, and which contained nine
million inhabitants, there was more than two hundred thousand
deaths.
Prior to the fatal week, the mortality had increased threefold, and on
the 10th fourfold. This rate of increase had been arrested by the
confidence produced by the sessions of the Institute, and had even
diminished sensibly during Wednesday. Unfortunately, as the
threatening star drew near, the panic had resumed its sway. On the
following Thursday the normal mortality rate had increased fivefold,
and those of weak constitution had succumbed. On Friday, the 13th,
the day before the disaster, owing to privations of every kind, the
absence of food and sleep, the heat and feverish condition which it
induced, the effect of the excitement upon the heart and brain, the
mortality at Paris had reached the hitherto unheard of figure of ten
thousand! On the eventful night of the 14th, owing to the crowded
condition of the cellars, the vitiation of the atmosphere by the
carbonic-oxide gas, and suffocation due to the drying up of the lining
membrane of the throat, pulmonary congestion, anæsthesia, and
arrest of the circulation, the victims were more numerous than those
of the battles of former times, the total for that day reaching the
enormous sum of more than one hundred thousand. Some of those
mortally effected lived until the following day, and a certain number
survived longer, but in a hopeless condition. Not until a week had
elapsed was the normal death-rate re-established. During this
disastrous month 17,500 children were born at Paris, but nearly all
died. Medical statistics, subtracting from the general total the normal
mean, based upon a death-rate of twenty for every one thousand
42. inhabitants, that is, 492 per day, or 15,252 for the month, which
represents the number of those who would have died independently
of the comet, ascribed to the latter the difference between these two
numbers, namely, 222,633; of these, more than one-half, or more
than one hundred thousand, died of fear, by syncope, aneurisms or
cerebral congestions.
But this cataclysm did not bring about the end of the world. The
losses were made good by an apparent increase in human vitality,
such as had been observed formerly after destructive wars; the earth
continued to revolve in the light of the sun, and humanity to advance
toward a still higher destiny.
The comet had, above all, been the pretext for the discussion of every
possible phase of this great and important subject—the end of the
world.
GIRLS REFUSING
TO MARRY.
45. CHAPTER I.
The events which we have just described, and the discussions to
which they gave rise, took place in the twenty-fifth century of the
Christian era. Humanity was not destroyed by the shock of the
comet, although this was the most memorable event in its entire
history, and one never forgotten, notwithstanding the many
transformations which the race has since undergone. The earth had
continued to rotate and the sun to shine; little children had become
old men, and their places had been filled by others in the eternal
succession of generations. Centuries and ages had succeeded each
other, and humanity, slowly advancing in knowledge and happiness,
through a thousand transitory interruptions, had reached its apogee
and accomplished its destiny.
But how vast these series of transformations—physical and mental!
The population of Europe, from the year 1900 to the year 3000, had
increased from 375 to 700 millions; that of Asia, from 875 to 1000
millions; that of the Americas, from 120 to 1500 millions; that of
Africa, from 75 to 200 millions; that of Australia, from 5 to 60
millions; which, for the total population of the globe, gives an
increase of 2010 millions. And this increase had continued, with
some fluctuations.
Language had become transformed. The never-ceasing progress of
science and industry had created a large number of new words,
generally of Greek derivation. At the same time, the English language
had spread over the entire world. From the twenty-fifth to the
thirtieth centuries, the spoken language of Europe was based upon a
mixture of English, of French, and of Greek derivatives. Every effort
to create artificially a new universal language had failed.
46. Long before the twenty-fifth century, war had disappeared, and it
became difficult to conceive how a race which pretended to
knowledge and reason could have endured so long the yoke of clever
rascals who lived at its expense. In vain had later sovereigns
proclaimed, in high-sounding words, that war was a divine
institution; that it was the natural result of the struggle for existence;
that it constituted the noblest of professions; that patriotism was the
chief of virtues. In vain were battle-fields called fields of honor; in
vain were the statues of the victors erected in the most populous
cities. It was, at last, observed that, with the exception of certain
ants, no animal species had set an example of such boundless folly as
the human race; that the struggle for life did not consist in
slaughtering one another, but in the conquest of nature; that all the
resources of humanity were absolutely wasted in the bottomless gulf
of standing armies; and that the mere obligation of military service,
as formulated by law, was an encroachment upon human liberty, so
serious that, under the guise of honor, slavery had been re-
established.
Men perceived that the military system meant the maintenance of an
army of parasites and idlers, yielding a passive obedience to the
orders of diplomats, who were simply speculating upon human
credulity. In early times, war had been carried on between villages,
for the advantage and glory of chieftains, and this kind of petty
warfare still prevailed in the nineteenth century, between the villages
of central Africa, where even young men and women, persuaded of
their slavery, were seen, at certain times, to present themselves
voluntarily at the places where they were to be sacrificed. Reason
having, at last, begun to prevail, men had then formed themselves
into provinces, and a warfare between provinces arose—Athens
contending with Sparta, Rome with Carthage, Paris with Dijon; and
history had celebrated the glorious wars of the Duke of Burgundy
against the king of France, of the Normans against the Parisians, of
the Belgians against the Flemish, of the Saxons against the
Bavarians, of the Venetians against the Florentines, etc., etc. Later,
nations had been formed, thus doing away with provincial flags and
boundaries; but men continued to teach their children to hate their
neighbors, and citizens were accoutred for the sole purpose of
mutual extermination. Interminable wars arose, wars ceaselessly
47. renewed, between France, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria,
Russia, Turkey, etc. The development of weapons of destruction had
kept pace with the progress of chemistry, mechanics, aeronautics,
and most of the other sciences, and theorists were to be found,
especially among statesmen, who declared that war was the
necessary condition of progress, forgetting that it was only the sorry
heritage of barbarism, and that the majority of those who have
contributed to the progress of science and industry, electricity,
physics, mechanics, etc., have all been the most pacific of men.
Statistics had proved that war regularly claimed forty million victims
per century, 1100 per day, without truce or intermission, and had
made 1200 million corpses in three thousand years. It was not
surprising that nations had been exhausted and ruined, since in the
nineteenth century alone they had expended, to this end, the sum of
700,000 million francs. These divisions, appealing to patriotic
sentiments skillfully kept alive by politicians who lived upon them,
long prevented Europe from imitating the example of America in the
suppression of its armies, which consumed all its vital forces and
wasted yearly more than ten thousand million francs of the resources
acquired at such sacrifice by the laborer, and from forming a United
States of Europe. But though man could not make up his mind to do
away with the tinsel of national vanity, woman came to his rescue.
Under the inspiration of a woman of spirit, a league was formed of
the mothers of Europe, for the purpose of educating their children,
especially their daughters, to a horror of the barbarities of war. The
folly of men, the frivolity of the pretexts which arrayed nations
against each other, the knavery of statesmen who moved heaven and
earth to excite patriotism and blind the eyes of peoples; the absolute
uselessness of the wars of the past and of that European equilibrium
which was always disturbed and never established; the ruin of
nations; fields of battle strewn with the dead and the mangled, who,
an hour before, lived joyously in the bountiful sun of nature; widows
and orphans—in short, all the misery of war was forced upon the
mind, by conversation, recital and reading. In a single generation,
this rational education had freed the young from this remnant of
animalism, and inculcated a sentiment of profound horror for all
which recalled the barbarism of other days. Still, governments
refused to disarm, and the war budget was voted from year to year. It
48. was then that the young girls resolved never to marry a man who had
borne arms; and they kept their vow.
The early years of this league were trying ones, even for the young
girls: for the choice of more than one fell upon some fine-looking
officer, and, but for the universal reprobation, her heart might have
yielded. There were, it is true, some desertions; but, as those who
formed these marriages were, from the outset, despised and
ostracized by society, they were not numerous. Public opinion was
formed, and it was impossible to stem the tide.
For about five years there was scarcely a single marriage or union.
Every citizen was a soldier, in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain,
in every nation of Europe—all ready for a confederation of States, but
never recoiling before questions represented by the national flag. The
women held their ground; they felt that truth was on their side, but
their firmness would deliver humanity from the slavery which
oppressed it, and that they could not fail of victory. To the passionate
objurgations of certain men, they replied: “No; we will have nothing
more to do with fools;” and, if this state of affairs continued, they had
decided to keep their vow, or to emigrate to America, where,
centuries before, the military system had disappeared.
The most eloquent appeals for disarmament were made at every
session to the committee of administrators of the state, formerly
called deputies or senators. Finally, after a lapse of five years, face to
face with this wall of feminine opposition, which, day by day, grew
stronger and more impregnable, the deputies of every country, as if
animated by a common motive, eloquently advocated the cause of
women, and that very week disarmament was voted in Germany,
France, Italy, Austria and Spain.
49. It was spring-time. There was no disorder. Innumerable marriages
followed. Russia and England had held aloof from the movement, the
suffrage of women in these countries not having been unanimous.
But as all the states of Europe were formed into a republic the
ensuing year, uniting in a single confederated state, on the invitation
of the government of the United States of Europe, these two great
nations also decreed a gradual disarmament. Long before this time,
India had been lost to England, and the latter had become a republic.
As for Russia, the monarchical form of government still existed. It
was then the middle of the twenty-fourth century, and from that
epoch the narrow sentiment of patriotism was replaced by the
general one of humanity.
Delivery from the ball and chain of military slavery, Europe had
immediately gotten rid of the bureaucracy which had also exhausted
nations, condemned to perish, as it were, by plethora. But for this a
radical revolution was necessary. From that time on, Europe had
advanced as by magic in a marvellous progress—social, scientific,
artistic and industrial. Taxation, diminished by nine-tenths, served
only for the maintenance of internal order, the security of life and
property, the support of schools, and the encouragement of new
researches. But individual initiative was far more effective than the
old-time official centralization which for so many years had stifled
individual effort, and bureaucracy was dead and buried.
At last one breathed freely, one lived. In order to pay 700,000
millions every century to citizens withdrawn from all productive
50. work, and to maintain the bureaucracy, governments had been
obliged to increase taxation to a fearful degree. The result was that
everything was taxed; the air one breathes, the water one drinks, the
light and heat of the sun, bread, wine and every article of food,
clothing, houses, the streets of cities, the country roads, animals,
horses, oxen, dogs, cats, hens, rabbits, birds in cages, plants, flowers,
musical instruments, pianos, organs, violins, zithers, flutes,
trumpets, trades and professions, the married and the unmarried,
children, furniture—everything, absolutely everything; and this
taxation had grown until it equalled the net product of all human
labor, with the single exception of the “daily bread.” Then, all work
had ceased. It seemed thenceforth impossible to live. It was this state
of affairs which led to the great social revolution of the international
socialists, of which mention was made at the beginning of this book,
and to others which followed it. But these upheavals had not
definitely liberated Europe from the barbarism of bygone days, and it
was to the young women’s league that humanity owes its deliverance.
The unification of nations, of ideas, of languages, had brought about
also that of weights and measures. No nation had resisted the
universal adoption of the metric system, based upon the dimensions
of the planet itself. A single kind of money was in circulation. One
initial meridian ruled in geography. This meridian passed through
the observatory of Greenwich, and at its antipode the day changed its
name at noon.
51. “VOYAGES WERE MADE PREFERABLY
BY AIR-SHIPS.”
Nations which we call modern had vanished like those of the past.
France had disappeared in the twenty-eighth century, after an
existence of about two thousand years. Germany disappeared in the
thirty-second; Italy in the twenty-ninth; England had spread over the
surface of the ocean.
Meteorology had attained the precision of astronomy, and about the
thirtieth century the weather could be predicted without error.
The forests, sacrificed to agriculture and the manufacture of paper,
had entirely disappeared.
The legal rate of interest had fallen to one-half of one per cent.
Electricity had taken the place of steam. Railroads and pneumatic
tubes were still in use, but only for the transportation of freight.
Voyages were made preferably by dirigible balloons, aeroplanes and
air-ships, especially in the daytime.
This very fact of aerial navigation would have done away with
frontiers if the progress of reason had not already abolished them.
Constant intercourse between all parts of the globe had brought
about internationalism, and the absolutely free exchange of goods
and ideas. Custom-houses had been suppressed.
52. The telephonoscope disseminated immediately the most important
and interesting news. A comedy played at Chicago or Paris could be
heard and seen in every city of the world.
Astronomy had attained its end: the knowledge of the life of other
worlds and the establishment of communication with them. All
philosophy, all religion, was founded upon the progress of
astronomy.
Marvellous instruments in optics and physics had been invented. A
new substance took the place of glass, and had yielded the most
unexpected results to science. New natural forces had been
conquered.
Social progress had been no less great than that of science. Machines
driven by electricity had gradually taken the place of manual labor.
At the same time the production of food had become entirely
revolutionized. Chemical synthesis had succeeded in producing
sugar, albumen, the amides and fats, from the air, water and
vegetables, and, by skillfully varying the proportions, in forming the
most advantageous combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and
nitrogen, so that sumptuous repasts no longer consisted of the
smoking remains of slaughtered animals—beef, veal, lamb, pork,
chicken, fish and birds,—but were served amid the harmonies of
music in rooms adorned with plants ever green and flowers ever in
bloom, in an atmosphere laden with perfumes. Freed from the vulgar
necessity of masticating meats, the mouth absorbed the principles
necessary for the repair of organic tissues in exquisite drinks, fruits,
cakes and pills.
About the thirtieth century, especially, the nervous system began to
grow more delicate, and developed in unexpected ways. Woman was
still somewhat more narrow-minded than man, and her mental
operations differed from his as before (her exquisite sensibility
responding to sentimental considerations before reason could act in
the lower cells), and her head had remained smaller, her forehead
narrower; but the former was so elegantly placed upon a neck of such
supple grace, and rose so nobly from the shoulders and the bust, that
it compelled more than ever the admiration of man, not only as a
whole, but also by the penetrating sweetness and beauty of the
mouth and the light curls of its luxuriant hair. Although
53. comparatively smaller than that of man, the head of woman had
nevertheless increased in size with the exercise of the intellectual
faculties; but the cerebral circonvolutions had experienced the most
change, having become more numerous and more pronounced in
both sexes. In short, the head had grown, the body had diminished in
size. Giants were no longer to be seen.
Four permanent causes had modified insensibly the human form; the
development of the intellectual faculties and of the brain, the
decrease in manual labor and bodily exercise, the transformation of
food, and the marriage system. The first had increased the size of the
cranium as compared with the rest of the body; the second had
decreased the strength of the limbs; the third had diminished the size
of the abdomen and made the teeth finer and smaller; the tendency
of the fourth had been rather to perpetuate the classic forms of
human beauty: masculine beauty, the nobility of an uplifted
countenance, and the graceful outlines of womanhood. About the
two hundredth century of our era, a single race existed, rather small
in stature, light colored, in which anthropologists might, perhaps,
have discovered some form of Anglo-Saxon and Chinese descent.
Humanity had tended towards unity, one race, one language, one
general government, one religion. There were no more state
religions; only the voice of an enlightened conscience, and in this
unity former anthropological differences had disappeared.
In former ages poets had prophesied that in the marvellous progress
of things man would finally acquire wings, and fly through the air by
his muscular force alone; but they had not studied the origin of
anthropomorphic structure and had forgotten that for a man to have
at the same time arms and wings, he must belong to a zoölogical
order of sextupeds which does not exist on our planet; for man
belongs to the quadrupeds, a type which has been gradually
modified. But though he had not acquired new natural organs, he
had acquired artificial ones, to say nothing of his physical
transformation. He had conquered the region of the air and could
soar in the sky by light apparatus, whose motor power was
electricity, and the atmosphere had become his domain as it had
been that of the birds. It is very probable that if in the course of ages
a winged race could have acquired, by the development of its
54. faculties of observation, a brain analogous to that of even the most
primitive man, it would have soon dominated the human species and
replaced it by a new one,—a winged race of the same zoölogical type
as the quadrupeds and bipeds. But the force of gravity is an obstacle
to any such organic development of the winged species, and
humanity, grown more perfect, had remained master of the world.
At the same time, in the lapse of ages, the animal population of the
globe had completely changed. The wild species, lions, tigers, hyenas,
panthers, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, as also whales and seals,
had become extinct.
55. CHAPTER II.
About the one hundredth century of the
Christian era all resemblance between the
human race and monkeys had disappeared.
The nervous sensibility of man had become
intensified to a marvellous degree. The sense
of sight, of hearing, of smell, of touch, and of
taste, had gradually acquired a delicacy far
exceeding that of their earlier and grosser
manifestations. Through the study of the
electrical properties of living organisms, a
seventh sense, the electric sense, was created
outright, so to speak; and everyone possessed
the power of attracting and repelling both
living and inert matter, to a degree depending
upon the temperament of the individual. But
by far the most important of all the senses,
the one which played the greatest role in men’s relation to each
other, was the eighth, the psychic sense, by which communication at
a distance became possible.
A glimpse has been had of two other senses also, but their
development had been arrested from the very outset. The first had to
do with the visibility of the ultra violet rays, so sensitive to chemical
tests, but wholly invisible to the human eye. Experiments made in
this direction has resulted in the acquisition of no new power, and
had considerably impaired those previously enjoyed. The second was
the sense of orientation; but every effort made to develop it had
proved a failure, notwithstanding the attempt to make use of the
results of researches in terrestrial magnetism.
56. For some time past, the offspring of the once titled and aristocratic
classes of society had formed a sickly and feeble race, and the
governing body was recruited from among the more virile members
of the lower class, who, however, were in their turn soon enervated
by a worldly life. Subsequently, marriages were regulated on
established principles of selection and heredity.
The development of man’s intellectual faculties, and the cultivation
of psychical science, had wrought great changes in humanity. Latent
faculties of the soul had been discovered, faculties which had
remained dormant for perhaps a million years, during the earlier
reign of the grosser instincts, and, in proportion as food based upon
chemical principles was substituted for the coarse nourishment
which had prevailed for so long a time, these faculties came to light
and underwent a brilliant development. As a mental operation,
thought became a different thing from what it now is. Mind acted
readily upon mind at a distance, by virtue of a transcendental
magnetism, of which even children knew how to avail themselves.
“EVEN CHILDREN
KNEW HOW TO
AVAIL
THEMSELVES OF
IT.”
57. The first interastral communication was with the planet Mars, and
the second with Venus, the latter being maintained to the end of the
world; the former was interrupted by the death of the inhabitants of
Mars; whereas intercourse with Jupiter was only just beginning as
the human race neared its own end. A rigid application of the
principles of selection in the formation of marriages had resulted in a
really new race, resembling ours in organic form, but possessing
wholly different intellectual powers. For the once barbarous and
often blind methods of medicine, and even of surgery, had been
substituted by those derived from a knowledge of hypnotic, magnetic
and psychic forces, and telepathy had become a great and fruitful
science.
Simultaneously with man the planet also had been transformed.
Industry had produced mighty but ephemeral results. In the twenty-
fifth century, whose events we have just described, Paris had been for
a long time a seaport, and electric ships from the Atlantic, and from
the Pacific by the Isthmus of Panama, arrived at the quays of the
abbey of Saint Denis, beyond which the great capital extended far to
the north. The passage from the abbey of Saint Denis to the port of
London was made in a few hours, and many travellers availed
themselves of this route, in preference to the regular air route, the
tunnel, and the viaduct over the channel. Outside of Paris the same
activity reigned; for, in the twenty-fifth century also, the canal
uniting the Mediterranean with the Atlantic had been completed,
and the long detour by way of the Straits of Gibraltar had been
abandoned; and on the other hand a metallic tube, for carriages
driven by compressed air, united the Iberian republic, formerly
Spain and Portugal, with western Algeria, formerly Morocco. Paris
and Chicago then had nine million inhabitants, London, ten; New
York, twelve. Paris, continuing its growth toward the west from
century to century, now extended from the confluence of the Marne
beyond St. Germain. All great cities had grown at the expense of the
country. Agricultural products were manufactured by electricity;
hydrogen was extracted from sea-water; the energy of waterfalls and
tides were utilized for lighting purposes at a distance; the solar rays,
stored in summer, were distributed in winter, and the seasons had
almost disappeared, especially since the introduction of heat wells,
58. which brought to the surface of the soil the seemingly inexhaustible
heat of the earth’s interior.
But what is the twenty-fifth century in comparison with the thirtieth,
the fortieth, the hundredth!
Everyone knows the legend of the Arab of Kazwani, as related by a
traveller of the thirteenth century, who at that time, moreover, had
no idea of the duration of the epochs of nature. “Passing one day,” he
said, “by a very ancient and very populous city, I asked one of its
inhabitants how long a time it had been founded. ‘Truly,’ he replied,
‘it is a powerful city, but we do not know how long it has existed, and
our ancestors are as ignorant upon this subject as we.’
THE CHINESE CAPITOL.
“Five centuries later I passed by the same spot, and could perceive no
trace of the city. I asked a peasant who was gathering herbs on its
former site, how long it had been destroyed. ‘Of a truth,’ he replied,
‘that is a strange question. This field has always been what it now is.’
‘But was there not formerly a splendid city here?’ I asked. ‘Never,’ he
answered, ‘at least so far as we can judge from what we have seen,
and our fathers have never told us of any such thing.’
59. “On my return five hundred years later to the same place I found it
occupied by the sea; on the shore stood a group of fishermen, of
whom I asked at what period the land had been covered by the
ocean. ‘Is that question worthy of a man like you?’ they replied; ‘this
spot has always been such as you see it today.’
“At the end of five hundred years I returned again, and the sea had
disappeared. I inquired of a solitary man whom I encountered, when
this change had taken place; and he gave me the same reply.
“Finally, after an equal lapse of time, I returned once more, to find a
flourishing city, more populous and richer in monuments than that
which I had at first visited; and when I sought information as to its
origin, its inhabitants replied: ‘The date of its foundation is lost in
antiquity. We do not know how long it has existed, and our fathers
knew no more of this than we do.’”
How this fable illustrates the brevity of human memory and the
narrowness of our horizons in time as well as in space! We think that
the earth has always been what it now is; we conceive with difficulty
of the secular changes through which it has passed; the vastness of
these periods overwhelms us, as in astronomy we are overwhelmed
by the vast distances of space.
The time had come when Paris had ceased to be the capital of the
world.
After the fusion of the United States of Europe into a single
confederation, the Russian republic from St. Petersburg to
Constantinople had formed a sort of barrier against the invasion of
the Chinese, who had already established populous cities on the
shores of the Caspian sea. The nations of the past having disappeared
before the march of progress, and the nationalities of France,
England, Germany, Italy and Spain having for the same reason
passed away, communication between the east and west, between
Europe and America, had become more and more easy; and the sea
being no longer an obstacle to the march of humanity, free now as
the sun, the new territory of the vast continent of America had been
preferred by industrial enterprise to the exhausted lands of western
Europe, and already in the twenty-fifth century the center of
civilization was located on the shores of Lake Michigan in a new
Athens of nine million inhabitants, rivalling Paris. Thereafter the
60. elegant French capital had followed the example of its predecessors,
Rome, Athens, Memphis, Thebes, Nineveh and Babylon. The wealth,
the resources of every kind, the great attractions, were elsewhere.
In Spain, Italy and France, gradually abandoned by their inhabitants,
solitude spread slowly over the ruins of former cities. Lisbon had
disappeared, destroyed by the sea; Madrid, Rome, Naples and
Florence were in ruins. A little later, Paris, Lyons and Marseilles
were overtaken by the same fate.
Human types and languages had undergone such transformations
that it would have been impossible for an ethnologist or a linguist to
discover anything belonging to the past. For a long time neither
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, English nor German had been
spoken. Europe had migrated beyond the Atlantic, and Asia had
invaded Europe. The Chinese to the number of a thousand million
had spread over western Europe. Mingling with the Anglo-Saxon
race, they formed in some measure a new one. Their principal capital
stretched like an endless street along each side of the canal from
Bordeaux to Toulouse and Narbonne.
The causes which led to the foundation of Lutetia on an island in the
Seine, which had raised this city of the Parisians to the zenith of its
power in the twenty-fourth century, were no longer operative, and
Paris had disappeared simultaneously with the causes to which it
owed its origin and splendor. Commerce had taken possession of the
Mediterranean and the great oceanic highways, and the Iberian canal
had become the emporium of the world.
The littoral of the south and west of ancient France had been
protected by dikes against the invasion of the sea, but, owing to the
increase of population in the south and southwest, the north and
northwest had been neglected, and the slow and continual
subsidence of this region, observed ever since the time of Cæsar, had
reduced its level below that of the sea; and as the channel was ever
widening, and the cliffs between Cape Helder and Havre were being
worn away by the action of the sea, the Dutch dikes had been
abandoned to the ocean, which had invaded the Netherlands,
Belgium, and northern France, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam,
Antwerp, Versailles, Lille, Amiens and Rouen had sunk below the
water, and ships floated above their sea-covered ruins.
61. THE RUINS OF
PARIS.
Paris itself, finally abandoned in the sixtieth century, when the sea
had surrounded it as it now does Havre, was, in the eighty-fifth
century, covered with water to the height of the towers of Notre
Dame, and all that memorable plain, where were wrought out,
during so many years, the most brilliant of the world’s civilizations,
was swept by angry waves.[3]
3. In the nineteenth century, researches in natural history had
revealed the fact that secular vertical oscillations, vary with the
locality, were taking place in the earth’s crust, and had proved
that, from prehistoric times, the soil of western and southern
France had been slowly sinking and the sea slowly gaining
upon the land. One after another, the islands of Jersey, of
Minquiers, of Chaussey, of Écrehou, of Cezembre, of Mont-
Saint-Michel, had been detached from the continent by the sea;
the cities of Is, Helion, Tommen, Portzmeûr, Harbour, Saint
Louis, Monny, Bourgneuf, La Feillette, Paluel and Nazado had
been buried beneath its waves, and the Armorican peninsula
had slowly retreated before the advancing waters. The hour of
this invasion by the sea had struck, from century to century,
also for Herbavilla; to the west of Nantes; for Saint-Denis-Chef-
de-Caux, to the north of Havre; for Saint-Etienne-de-Paluel
62. and for Gardoine, to the north of Dol; for Tolente, to the west of
Brest; more than eighty habitable cities of Holland had been
submerged in the eleventh century, etc., etc. In other regions
the reverse had taken place, and the sea had retired; but to the
north and west of Paris this double action of the subsidence of
the land and the wearing away of the shores had, in less than
seven thousand years, made Paris accessible to ships of the
greatest tonnage.
As in the case of languages, ideas, customs and laws, so, also, the
manner of reckoning time had changed. It was still reckoned by years
and centuries, but the Christian era had been discarded, as also the
holy days of the calendar and the eras of the Mussulman, Jewish,
Chinese and African chronologies. There was now a single calendar
for the entire race, composed of twelve months, divided into four
equal trimesters of three months of thirty-one, thirty, and thirty
days, each trimester containing exactly thirteen weeks. New Year’s
Day was a fête day, and was not reckoned in with the year; every
bisextile year there were two. The week had been retained. Every
year commenced on the same day—Monday; and the same dates
always corresponded to the same days of the week. The year began
with the vernal equinox all over the world. The era, a purely
astronomical division of time, began with the coincidence of the
December solstice with perihelion, and was renewed every 25,765
years. This rational method had succeeded the fantastic divisions of
time formerly in use.
The geographical features of France, of Europe and of the entire
world had become modified, from century to century. Seas had
replaced continents, and new deposits at the bottom of the ocean
covered the vanished ages, forming new geological strata. Elsewhere,
continents had taken the place of seas. At the mouth of the Rhone,
for example, where the dry land had already encroached upon the
sea from Arles to the littoral, the continent gained to the south; in
Italy, the deposits of the Po had continued to gain upon the Adriatic,
as those of the Nile, the Tiber, and other rivers of later origin, had
gained upon the Mediterranean; and in other places the dunes had
increased, by various amounts, the domain of the dry land. The
contours of seas and continents had so changed that it would have
63. been absolutely impossible to make out the ancient geographical
maps of history.
The historian of nature does not deal with periods of five centuries,
like the Arab of the thirteenth century mentioned in the legend
related a moment ago. Ten times this period would scarcely suffice to
modify, sensibly, the configuration of the land, for five thousand
years are but a ripple on the ocean of time. It is by tens of thousands
of years that one must reckon if one would see continents sink below
the level of seas, and new territories emerging into the sunlight, as
the result of the secular changes in the level of the earth’s crust,
whose thickness and density varies from place to place, and whose
weight, resting upon the still plastic and mobile interior, causes vast
areas to oscillate. A slight disturbance of the equilibrium, an
insignificant dip of the scales, a change of less than a hundred
meters, often, in the length of the earth’s diameter of twelve
thousand kilometers, is sufficient to transform the surface of the
world.
And if we examine the ensemble of the history of the earth, by
periods of one hundred thousand years, for example, we see, that in
ten of these great epochs, that is, in a million years, the surface of the
globe has been many times transformed.
If we advance into the future a period of one or two million years, we
witness a vast flux and reflux of life and things. How many times in
this period of ten or twenty thousand centuries, how many times
have the waves of the sea covered the former dwelling-places of man!
How many times the earth has emerged anew, fresh and regenerated,
from the abysses of the ocean! In primitive times, when the still
warm and liquid planet was covered only by a thin shell, cooling on
the surface of the burning ocean within, these changes took place
brusquely, by sudden breaking down of natural barriers,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the uprising of mountain
ranges. Later, as this superficial crust grew thicker and became
consolidated, these transformations were more gradual; the slow
contraction of the earth had led to the formation of hollow spaces
within the solid envelope, to the falling in of portions of this envelope
upon the liquid nucleus, and finally to oscillating movements which
had changed the profile of the continents. Later still, insensible
64. modifications had been produced by external agents; on the one
hand the rivers, constantly carrying to their mouths the débris of the
mountains, had filled up the depths of the sea and slowly increased
the area of the dry land, making in time inland cities of ancient
seaports; and on the other hand, the action of the waves and of
storms, constantly eating away the shores, had increased the area of
the ocean at the expense of the dry land. Ceaselessly the geographical
configuration of the shore had changed. For the historian our planet
had become another world. Everything had changed: continents,
seas, shores, races, languages, customs, body and mind, sentiments,
ideas—everything. France beneath the waves, the bottom of the
Atlantic in the light of the sun, a portion of the United States gone, a
continent in the place of Oceanica, China submerged; death where
was life, and life where was death; and everywhere sunk into eternal
oblivion all which had once constituted the glory and greatness of
nations. If today one of us should emigrate to Mars, he would find
himself more at home than if, after the lapse of these future ages, he
should return to the earth.
65. CHAPTER III.
While these great changes in the planets were taking place, humanity
had continued to advance; for progress is the supreme law.
Terrestrial life, which began with the rudimentary protozoans,
without mouths, blind, deaf, mute and almost wholly destitute of
sensation, had acquired successively the marvellous organs of sense,
and had finally reached its climax in man, who, having also grown
more perfect with the lapse of centuries, had risen from his primitive
savage condition as the slave of nature to the position of a sovereign
who ruled the world by mind, and who had made it a paradise of
happiness, of pure contemplation, of knowledge and of pleasure.
Men had attained that degree of intelligence which enabled them to
live wisely and tranquilly. After a general disarmament had been
brought about, so rapid an increase in public riches and so great an
amelioration in the well-being of every citizen was observed, that the
efforts of intelligence and labor, no longer wasted by this intellectual
suicide, had been directed to the conquest of new forces of nature
and the constant improvement of civilization. The human body had
become insensibly transformed, or more exactly, transfigured.
Nearly all men were intelligent. They remembered with a smile the
childish ambitions of their ancestors whose aspiration was to be
someone rather than something, and who had struggled so feverishly
for outward show. They had learned that happiness resides in the
soul, that contentment is found only in study, that love is the sun of
the heart, that life is short and ought not to be lived superficially; and
thus all were happy in the possession of liberty of conscience, and
careless of those things which one cannot carry away.
Woman had acquired a perfect beauty. Her form had lost the fullness
of the Greek model and had become more slender; her skin was of a
66. translucent whiteness; her eyes were illuminated by the light of
dreams; her long and silky hair, in whose deep chestnut were
blended all the ruddy tints of the setting sun, fell in waves of rippling
light; the heavy animal jaw had become idealized, the mouth had
grown smaller, and in the presence of its sweet smile, at the sight of
its dazzling pearls between the soft rose of the lips, one could not
understand how lovers could have pressed such fervent kisses upon
the lips of women of earlier times, specimens of whose teeth,
resembling those of animals, had been preserved in the museums of
ethnography. It really seemed as if a new race had come into
existence, infinitely superior to that to which Aristotle, Kepler, Victor
Hugo, Phryne, or Diana of Poictiers had belonged.
Thanks to the progress in physiology, hygiene, and antiseptic
science, as well as to the general well-being and intelligence of the
race the duration of human life had been greatly prolonged, and it
was not unusual to see persons who had attained the age of 150
years. Death had not been conquered, but the secret of living without
growing old had been found, and the characteristics of youth were
retained beyond the age of one hundred.
But one fatherland existed on the planet, which, like a chorus heard
above the chords of some vast harmony, marched onward to its high
destiny, shining in the splendor of intellectual supremacy.
The internal heat of the globe, the light and warmth of the sun,
terrestrial magnetism, atmospheric electricity, inter-planetary
attraction, the psychic forces of the human soul, the unknown forces
which preside over destinies,—all these science had conquered and
controlled for the benefit of mankind. The only limits to its conquests
were the limitations of the human faculties themselves, which,
indeed, are feeble, especially when we compare them with those of
certain extra-terrestrial beings.
All the results of this vast progress, so slowly and gradually acquired
by the toil of centuries, must, in obedience to a law, mysterious and
inconceivable for the petty race of man, reach at last their apogee,
when further advance becomes impossible. The geometric curve
which represents this progress of the race, falls as it rises: starting
from zero, from the primitive nebulous cosmos, ascending through
67. THE VILLAGE
CEMETERY.
the ages of planetary and human history to its lofty summit, to
descend thereafter into a night that knows no morrow.
Yes! all this progress, all this knowledge, all
this happiness and glory, must one day be
swallowed up in oblivion, and the voice of
history itself be forever silenced. Life had a
beginning: it must have an end. The sun of
human hopes had risen, had ascended
victoriously to its meridian, it was now to set
and to disappear in endless night. To what
end then all this glory, all this struggling, all
these conquests, all these vanities, if light and
life must come to an end?
Martyrs and apostles, in every cause, have
poured out blood upon the earth, destined
also in its turn to perish.
Everything is doomed to decay, and death
must remain the final sovereign of the world.
Have you ever thought, in viewing a village
cemetery, how small it is, to contain the
generations buried there from time
immemorable? Man existed before the last
glacial epoch, which dates back 200,000 years; and the age of man
extends over a period of more than 250,000 years. Written history
dates from yesterday. Cut and polished flints have been found at
Paris, proving the presence of man on the banks of the Seine long
before the first historic record of the Gauls. The Parisians of the close
of the nineteenth century walk upon ground consecrated by more
than ten thousand years of ancestry. What remains of all who have
swarmed in this forum of the world? What is left of the Romans, the
Greeks, and the Asiatics, whose empires lasted for centuries? What
remains of the millions who have existed? Not even a handful of
ashes.
A human being dies every second, or about 86,000 a day, and an
equal number, or to speak more exactly, a little more than 86,000
are born daily. This figure, true for the nineteenth century, applies to
a long period, if we increase it proportionately to the time. The
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