Loma: A Citizen of Venus

"Long narrative on a cosmic germ theory of evolution. A Venusian comes to earth to educate the male fetus of an unwed mother so that the fetus will become the apostle of Venus's ideal culture. On Venus clothes are considered ugly and unsanitary, all human faculties are developed and 'balanced,' and social status is determined by a network of interpersonal relations among strangers, acquaintances, associates, brothers, sisters, lovers, and consorts -- the more of the latter three, the higher the status." - Roemer Excerpt from Loma: A Citizen of Venus Twenty years of active professional experience in occupations bringing me into intimate touch with human needs and a comprehension of the difficulties of supplying those needs under existing social conditions, combined with a nature yearning with infinite love for humanity, and especially that part of it which is represented in womanhood, have produced within my brain the thoughts which are herein expressed. Eight of these years were passed at the bar, in an active practice defending criminals, where I learned something of the causes and results of crime, and, most of all, the monstrous injustice of the criminal code of the entire civilized world. The last twelve years have been occupied in visiting every state of the Union, in the capacity of a lecturer, teacher and adviser, disseminating the truth as I have comprehended it, and listening with ears awakened by love and controlled by conscience, to the cry of the distressed in every department of life. The more I have studied and observed, the more I have loved. With the growth of love, came the comprehension of the evil conditions under which my beloved brothers and sisters in the race are laboring. To comprehend the conditions was to discover the cause. When the discovery of the cause of crime, degradation and poverty, disease and deformity was made and I began to realize that I held the key to a higher and better order of things in my grasp, I had no choice but to speak and to write. Had I restrained my voice or my typewriter, I would have sacrificed my manhood. I may offend many. So did Jesus and every philosopher who has dared to speak the truth against existing institutions, since the world began. With him, I will turn to the scriptures and read to the multitude as follows: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set it liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."