As Easy as A.B.C.

Kipling, Rudyard. "As Easy as A.B.C." A Diversity of Creatures. 1917. Coll. The Science Fiction Stories of Rudyard Kipling.

Political fiction set in the same world as "With the Night Mail", but a bit later: 2065 CE. In this future, the Aerial Board of Control pretty well runs things (cf. H. G. Wells's "Wings Over the World" in Things to Come), and there is world-wide communication. The happy ending of the story shows the full restoration of bureaucratic rule. (RDE, 09/05/95)