National Affairs: The Course of Empire

The frontier is gone but for the sons of the pioneers the instinct lingers on. To the desk of Nebraska's Senator Hugh Butler came the letter of a 14-year-old constituent. "I've written the Bureau of Land Management to inquire about buying property on Venus," it said. "I received the reply that it had no authority to give ownership. Therefore, I am asking you to write a bill. Something which would in the Senate further my interests. I am neither joking nor have I read too much science fiction. It appears that colonization of the universe is going to commence soon." Senator...