The ugly towns that they had forced into
being, as Frankenstein was fashioned, from the materials of the charnel,
and that had no life in or from the good of the community, soon tumbled
into decay. The administration used parts of them in the construction of
the villages in which the Altrurians now mostly live; but generally these
towns were built of materials so fraudulent, in form so vile, that it was
judged best to burn them. In this way their sites were at once purified
and obliterated.
"We had, of course, a great many large cities under the old egoistic
conditions, which increased and fattened upon the country, and fed their
cancerous life with fresh infusions of its blood. We had several cities of
half a million, and one of more than a million; we had a score of them
with a population of a hundred thousand or more. We were very proud of
them, and vaunted them as a proof of our unparalleled prosperity, though
really they never were anything but congeries of millionaires and the
wretched creatures who served them and supplied them. Of course, there was
everywhere the appearance of enterprise and activity, but it meant final
loss for the great mass of the business men, large and small, and final
gain for the millionaires.
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