I had seen, during my never-to-be-forgotten
journey, many worlds without gaseous air.

I would not have gone thither had it not been for an unaccountable
desire impelling me. Obedient to my impulse, I soon found myself on this
odd planet which I have named Airess.

I at once observed that the people are formed without nose or lungs. The
nose is substituted by an opening into which liquid air is received and
through which it passes to a bodily reservoir of two lobes in the
vicinity of the heart. When I saw how these people were obliged to fill
their living vessels with this air-supplying liquid, I at once thought
of the manner in which we in our world fill our lamps with oil to
furnish light and heat.

Now it is true that nature supplies this liquid air in reasonable
abundance, and no doubt all the people would have been happy until now
had it not been for the unjust scheming of a few unprincipled men.

The strange story of the air problem on this distant world is so similar
to the food problem of ours that I have time to describe it briefly.

There were certain men in Airess, shrewd above their fellows, who
secretly combined to secure a controlling interest in all the land
producing liquid air.

In course of time these shrewd schemers, who are known as monopolists,
gathered this liquid air into large tanks and warehouses, and put an
exorbitant price upon it. The business flourished greatly because
everybody was daily in need of liquid air.

The many sources of air-supply were guarded and men were employed to
carry the liquid from the raw springs to the private tanks of the
monopolists. Not long after this, when the monopolists saw that they
controlled all the liquid air of the country, they had rigid laws passed
forbidding the importation of air from any other country. Then when all
preliminaries were arranged, the magnates raised the price of their
commodity.

The burden fell most heavily on the persons of limited means, for some
were compelled to give half of their earnings for air.

The monopolists grew richer and richer, while the poor became still
poorer, until a cry went up for cheaper living. Then the
generous-hearted magnates decided to build new and larger storehouses,
thus giving employment to the large army of impoverished workmen. Thus
did the poor feel very grateful for the privilege of earning enough to
satisfy their hungry stomachs.

With the larger storehouses now in operation the magnates we