a large extent because of the efforts of men such as Robert E. Lee, conditions are still poor for ethnic minorities. Immigration is encouraged nevertheless, with immigrants being made subjects (not citizens) of the Confederacy, similar to the conquered Latin American population. Suffrage is limited to males whose ancestors were Confederate citizens on July 4, 1864. Technology developed along different lines, as the internal combustion engine, incandescent light bulb, and heavier-than-air flying craft were never created. Steam-powered "minibiles" and dirigibles are the primary powered means of transportation in wealthier nations; most people still ride horses for short distances or take trains for longer trips. All communication is done by letter or telegraphs, which by this point had become a fixture in all prosperous homes in much the way that telephones had in reality, and all children learned to understand telegraphy at an early age until the act became as common and as natural as reading. Film is also still developed, with sound being produced by a machine operated by compressed air. In sharp contrast to the Confederacy's prosperity, the United States is depicted as a rump state trapped in perpetual recession, with unemployment and corruption rampant. The U.S. is so destitute that a transcontinental railroad is never constructed past Iowa, while the Confederacy built seven. The only community of Americans who are generally prosperous are the Mormons in the western State of Deseret, who still practice polygamy. Otherwise, only successful landowners and the few lucky winners of the highly popular national lottery are able to rise above the semi-destitute lives of average citizens; most able-bodied adults are reduced to "indenting" themselves to businesspeople in exchange for the meager economic security that such affords. U.S. citizens are more hostile to Blacks than Confederates, seeing them as a major cause of the Union's downfall, and unwanted competition over the few available jobs. Those blacks who have not left the U.S. for Africa are constantly derided, harassed, threatened, and sometimes mass-lynched by whites. The Republican and Democratic parties have faded away; a new two party system consists of the Confederate-influenced Whigs and the ineffectual Populists. (The narrator lists William Jennings Bryan, George Norris, and Norman Thomas among the most famous Populists and describes the election of Whig Thomas E. Dewey as President in 1940.) The U.S. military is practically nonexistent (apparently a provision of the 1864 treaty), with foreign powers frequently deploying troops