AHC: "The King in Yellow" - 1920 Althist

[Radac]

Probably best known for its influence on cosmic horror as a genre, The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers published in 1895. The stories are all tied together through a play, The King in Yellow, and vary in terms of tone. The first two - The Repairer of Reputations and The Mask - are set in an alternate 1920s New York City. In the first paragraph, we're given a brief introduction to this alternate 1920s

Toward the end of the year 1920 the Government of the United States had practically completed the programme, adopted during the last months of President Winthrop's administration. The country was apparently tranquil. Everybody knows how the Tariff and Labour questions were settled. The war with Germany, incident on that country's seizure of the Samoan Islands, had left no visible scars upon the republic, and the temporary occupation of Norfolk by the invading army had been forgotten in the joy over repeated naval victories, and the subsequent ridiculous plight of General Von Gartenlaube's forces in the State of New Jersey. The Cuban and Hawaiian investments had paid one hundred per cent and the territory of Samoa was well worth its cost as a coaling station. The country was in a superb state of defence. Every coast city had been well supplied with land fortifications; the army under the parental eye of the General Staff, organized according to the Prussian system, had been increased to 300,000 men, with a territorial reserve of a million; and six magnificent squadrons of cruisers and battle-ships patrolled the six stations of the navigable seas, leaving a steam reserve amply fitted to control home waters. The gentlemen from the West had at last been constrained to acknowledge that a college for the training of diplomats was as necessary as law schools are for the training of barristers; consequently we were no longer represented abroad by incompetent patriots. The nation was prosperous; Chicago, for a moment paralyzed after a second great fire, had risen from its ruins, white and imperial, and more beautiful than the white city which had been built for its plaything in 1893. Everywhere good architecture was replacing bad, and even in New York, a sudden craving for decency had swept away a great portion of the existing horrors. Streets had been widened, properly paved and lighted, trees had been planted, squares laid out, elevated structures demolished and underground roads built to replace them. The new government buildings and barracks were fine bits of architecture, and the long system of stone quays which completely surrounded the island had been turned into parks which proved a god-send to the population. The subsidizing of the state theatre and state opera brought its own reward. The United States National Academy of Design was much like European institutions of the same kind. Nobody envied the Secretary of Fine Arts, either his cabinet position or his portfolio. The Secretary of Forestry and Game Preservation had a much easier time, thanks to the new system of National Mounted Police. We had profited well by the latest treaties with France and England; the exclusion of foreign-born Jews as a measure of self-preservation, the settlement of the new independent negro state of Suanee, the checking of immigration, the new laws concerning naturalization, and the gradual centralization of power in the executive all contributed to national calm and prosperity. When the Government solved the Indian problem and squadrons of Indian cavalry scouts in native costume were substituted for the pitiable organizations tacked on to the tail of skeletonized regiments by a former Secretary of War, the nation drew a long sigh of relief. When, after the colossal Congress of Religions, bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves and kindness and charity began to draw warring sects together, many thought the millennium had arrived, at least in the new world which after all is a world by itself.

But self-preservation is the first law, and the United States had to look on in helpless sorrow as Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium writhed in the throes of Anarchy, while Russia, watching from the Caucasus, stooped and bound them one by one.

Short notes on this -

• America went to war with Germany over the Samoan islands, in which Germany briefly occupied Norfolk, VA but would lose at sea, as well in a pivotal battle in New Jersey resulting in Germany's defeat and American acquisition of the islands. Cuba and Hawaii (as in OTL) are occupied.
• America reorganised its military with a Prussian-style general staff of 300,000 men, improved fortifications, a territorial reserve of a million; and six squadrons of cruisers and battle-ships patrolling "the six stations of the navigable seas", and equipped with Native American cavalry scouts (which "solved the Indian problem")
• The US has developed a more sophisticated foreign service along with investing more in public amenities and art
• "Bigotry and intolerance were laid in their graves" after a Congress of religions; at the same time, America has excluded all "foreign-born Jews" (probably not an endorsement of anti-Semitism from Chambers, since this is not really meant to be his ideal world)
• An "independent Negro state of Suanee" was formed
• Chicago was burned down in a second great fire and rebuilt in a more grand manner
• Power has been gradually centralised in the hands of the executive
• Suicide has been legalised as of 1920, with the first "Government Lethal Chamber" being formed in New York
• The outgoing president is named only as "Winthrop" - probably referencing a wealthy family from NY
• Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium are "writhing in the throes of anarchy" while Russia "stooped and bound them one by one"

(More can be read in the above paragraphs and the book itself)

My challenge for users of this site is to attempt to re-create this scenario with a PoD of 1895 - of course, without the supernatural stuff as of yet. Why? Simply for fun tbqh.

 

[Von Callay]

• An "independent Negro state of Suanee" was formed

I have to guess this is a reference to the Suwannee River that runs through Georgia and Florida?

 

[GBW]

I have to guess this is a reference to the Suwannee River that runs through Georgia and Florida?

I have to wonder if this is supposed to be a completely independent state, or merely another American state within the US formed out of south Georgia and a section of northern Florida, a sort of reservation with representation, with as much representation as there could be in a US where government powers are centralized more and more in the Executive branch.

 

[Von Callay]

I have to wonder if this is supposed to be a completely independent state, or merely another American state within the US formed out of south Georgia and a section of northern Florida, a sort of reservation with representation, with as much representation as there could be in a US where government powers are centralized more and more in the Executive branch.

I'm assuming, as I think you have to for looking at The Repairer of Reputations as AH, that there's a certain amount of latitude to be given to the narrator's claims without embracing them wholly. Suanee being a state or an American dependency intended as an ethic homeland like Indian reservations, that's something that could physically happen. But racism being actually solved forever by shoving all black people into a Florida swamp, not so much.

 

[GBW]

I'm assuming, as I think you have to for looking at The Repairer of Reputations as AH, that there's a certain amount of latitude to be given to the narrator's claims without embracing them wholly. Suanee being a state or an American dependency intended as an ethic homeland like Indian reservations, that's something that could physically happen. But racism being actually solved forever by shoving all black people into a Florida swamp, not so much.

OTL's reservations weren't the best pieces of land as seen at the times they were established either. Whenever they discovered that existing reservations had land or resources they hadn't known were there before, the reservations shrank and setlers took over what was taken. But, admittedly, I haven't read the book and don't know the context wholly, nor did I know the geography of the land in question. A brief study of the author, Robert W. Chambers, makes me think he wasn't overly familiar with the geography of the area in question either, living his life in New York City and Massachusetts when he wasn't abroad in Europe.

 

[Von Callay]

OTL's reservations weren't the best pieces of land as seen at the times they were established either. Whenever they discovered that existing reservations had land or resources they hadn't known were there before, the reservations shrank and setlers took over what was taken. But, admittedly, I haven't read the book and don't know the context wholly, nor did I know the geography of the land in question. A brief study of the author, Robert W. Chambers, makes me think he wasn't overly familiar with the geography of the area in question either, living his life in New York City and Massachusetts when he wasn't abroad in Europe.

The Repairer of Reputations, where the paragraph reproduced above comes from, is a short story, and you can read it here. It definitely does provide some useful context for evaluating what's said about the setting.

 

[Charles EP M.]

"We solved bigotry forever after moving black people and keeping new Jews out" seems a  very plausible political view for an alt-1895. If you can find the land for Suanee, maybe this is the early Great Migration being intercepted by offering southern black people a bantustan to go to rather than the north (and then making one easier to go to than the other).

 

[Charles EP M.]

Going through things, "shabby old buildings" in New York used as restaueants by "foreigners" were compulsory purchased and torn down for fancy new American buildings in the winter of 1898; in 1897, the statue of Garibaldi was torn down for one of Stuyvesant. Whatever the POD is arpund 1895, it causes a spike in xenophobia to happen fast.

 

[Von Callay]

The 'Secretary of Fine Arts' certainly sounds absurd, but there is actually a US Commission of Fine Arts dating from 1910 that advises the federal government on design and aesthetics for everything from the architecture of government buildings and monuments to the design of coins and medals, so it isn't that far off the mark.

Going through things, "shabby old buildings" in New York used as restaueants by "foreigners" were compulsory purchased and torn down for fancy new American buildings in the winter of 1898; in 1897, the statue of Garibaldi was torn down for one of Stuyvesant. Whatever the POD is arpund 1895, it causes a spike in xenophobia to happen fast.

A sharp rise in anti-foreign sentiment and centralization of executive power definitely sound like something that might happen in response to a war with Germany, because, well, it did, didn't it? On the one hand, a brief sharp conflict like the Spanish-American War didn't have the dramatic domestic impact of WW1, but that's perhaps the difference between the times and between McKinley and a Progressive like Wilson on top of the scale of the conflict.

I think @Radac is right about the Winthrop family of New York, but when I went looking to see if 'Von Gartenlaube' was a real person or not, I found that it was the name of a widely-read contemporary German newspaper, Die Gartenlaube, "The Garden Arbor."

 

[Charles EP M.]

A sharp rise in anti-foreign sentiment and centralization of executive power definitely sound like something that might happen in response to a war with Germany, because, well, it did, didn't it? On the one hand, a brief sharp conflict like the Spanish-American War didn't have the dramatic domestic impact of WW1, but that's perhaps the difference between the times and between McKinley and a Progressive like Wilson on top of the scale of the conflict.

A war with Germany where Virginia gets raided, no less (and the army clearly did damage to the US forces if the reforms are Prussian style)

 

[Radac]

A war with Germany where Virginia gets raided, no less (and the army clearly did damage to the US forces if the reforms are Prussian style)

Interestingly enough this was published 2 years before the German plans to invade the USA (in which a naval battle off Norfolk was considered) which were themselves discovered numerous years later.

 

[ForceA1]

Every coastal city having its own fortifications doesn't seem too far from the Taft-Endicott system, or planned First and Second World War expansions.