1900 Predictions of the 20th Century

Dec. 31, 2000 — -- As The New York World observed on Dec. 29, 1900, “When the last week of the year is also the last week of the century and when anticipation is free to extend itself along the limitless vista of the coming 100 years, we all become, instinctively and irresistibly, 20th century prophets. Nobody is thinking of anything else now.”

Possibilities seemed “like dreams of paradise,” according to The Philadelphia Press. Such thoughts persisted despite contrarians like Ambrose Bierce, who billed his column in as “a record of individual opinion and dissent,” and seemed to think 1900’s forecasters of the future would look silly, if they were remembered at all in 2000.

Scientists thought we’d talk with Martians, and that perhaps they’d resemble giant dragonflies with 72-foot wingspans. Andrew Carnegie hoped warfare would “become the most dishonorable” profession, and Secretary of the Navy John D. Long held the common belief that war would be abolished.

Papers told New Yorkers their city would have 30 million citizens, with more commuting daily from as far as 500 miles away via submarine, electric cars, super-fast trains and personal airships.

The French artist Carolus Duran expected humans to go from “hideously malconformed” to beautiful, with help from natural selection and a selective ban on reproduction. Feminists thought women’s rights would blossom. Others expected an end to slang, unjust monarchies and materialistic Christmases.

Following are some of the predictions. All from December 1900 or January 1901, except as indicated.

“Locomotion in the air [will be] as common as bicycle riding is now.” — Alfred E. Henschel,New York Herald

“The owner of a [flying] machine, or even the man who did not own one, by patronizing the express lines, could live 500 miles away and yet do business in the city day by day, going by air line to his home each night.” — Theodore Waters, New York Herald

“Aerial cars will ply between great centers of population, arriving and departing on fixed schedules and carrying their human cargoes.” — Henry Litchfield West, Washington Post