"Can there be anything too horrible for the enemies of the Fatherland?" said the Kaiser to the pale Chancellor, with a glint in his eyes which no man in Germany cares to see.

"I must ask pardon," replied the Chancellor. "I was astonished, indeed, almost . . . frightened, if your Majesty will allow me to say so -- frightened for the sake of Humanity, if such an awful invention as that becomes realized!"

"And what is your opinion, Field Marshal?" asked the Kaiser.

"A most excellent invention, your Majesty," said the Field Marshal, "provided that it belongs only to the Fatherland."

Long before novels 2010, 2001, or 1984 riveted the world, George Griffith's The World Peril of 1910 thrilled readers with its all-too-credible depiction of the dangers and opportunities ahead.