As related by Hildred, the United States has apparently prospered in the meantime, significantly improving its infrastructure. The rise of a new aristocratic elite in the United States has passed laws that reduce the influence and immigration of those considered foreign, including expelling all Jews and setting up a reservation system for those of African descent. Further forced assimilation of Native populations has also been implemented to resemble the use of Cossacks in the military (Chambers belies the extent to which this "solves" the "Indian problem" by also noting the installation of an equestrian statue of Philip Sheridan). Suicide has been legalized, and has been made generally and readily accessible in the newly established "Government Lethal Chambers" being rapidly rolled out across every town and city.