TODAY THEN compiled by David Walter (American...

TODAY THEN compiled by David Walter (American & World Geographic Publishing / PO Box 5630 / Helena , MT 59604: $12.95; 160 pp., illustrated, paperback original). In conjunction with their coverage of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, reporters from the American Press Assn. asked 74 noted figures in politics, business, religion and the arts to describe American life 100 years in the future. Their replies form a revealing, often ironic literary time capsule: Former Postmaster General Thomas James asserted, “The citizens who live in the next century are not going to pay two cents for a letter postage stamp. The price will be reduced to one cent.” Social reformer T. V. Powderly prophesied “the contents of sewers will not flow into river and stream to send deadly vapors through the air,” while preacher David Swing predicted, “Near the close of the next century, some rare, noble woman will be elected President of the United States.”