842 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heart of Africa, and, above and beyond the 

 trade considerations, would settle forever, 

 in accordance with natural development, 

 the question of race hatreds among us, by 

 affording a career in a new and virgin field, 

 to every turbulent, reckless, and energetic 

 spirit among the colored Americans. These 

 are the advantages. The cost is the direct 

 mileage to steamers of one thousand tons 

 or upward capacity, less the indirect advan- 

 tage of trade. The profit of the freight 

 and passenger traffic is probable during the 

 second year. The time is now. But the 

 fact remains that the Solons at Washington 

 are more interested in the distribution of 

 the offices than the future prosperity of the 

 country, and that our republic is so strong 

 that no safety-valve is needed until after 

 the explosion. C. E. Chittenden. 



Scranton, Pa., February 15, 1883. 



RAILWAY CONSOLIDATION. 



Memrs. Editors. 



I always enjoy and value your able jour- 

 nal, and feel in reading it that the actual 

 facts are treated of without any fear or 

 turning aside. 



I must express particularly the degree 

 of education I have received from the paper 

 on railway consolidation as especially ex- 

 emplified by the Union and Central Pacific 

 roads. 



I see now, what I had failed before to 

 recognize, that only complete consolidation 

 of all the routes to the Pacific is needed to 

 perfect the contribution of all the railways 

 can offer to rendering that coast Utopian 

 in fact. 



There were once impressions in the minds 

 of ill-informed men that two gigantic and 

 immensely subsidized corporations, the Pa- 

 cific roads and Pacific Mail, had combined to 

 wring all that was possible from the public 

 that contributed so generously to give them 

 existence. 



Another fancy was, that rates were so 

 much higher to points far this side of San 

 Francisco, that shippers sent goods through 

 and brought them back, at way-freight rates, 

 to save money. It was even asserted that 

 paying through rates would not secure the 

 right of unloading en route. 



Newspapers not inspired with integrity 

 have even started the rumor that merchants 

 who would not sign a bond committing them- 

 selves to sending all their freight by the Pa- 

 cific roads were not given favorable rates. 

 How sad that such things have been written 

 and said ; and how bitterly must men feel 

 who read the last sentence of your exhaust- 

 ive article, and are conscious that, before 

 reading the decimals that so accurately 

 measure the blessings of consolidation, they 

 thought that roads untrammeled by legisla- 



tion might become imbued with some selfish 

 motive ! 



The odious term " monopoly " being treat- 

 ed with scientific accuracy becomes a charm- 

 ing expression, and, beyond question, the 

 time will soon come when its perfection may 

 be arrived at by the simple result of all trans- 

 portation being consolidated in the hands of 

 one man. Then it can be done at a mini- 

 mum profit, from the fact that there will be 

 but one family to maintain from the net earn- 

 ings, and, of course, a railway-man is prone 

 to all economy. 



Very few feel called upon to pay their 

 own fare, or the hauling of the cars in which 

 they deny themselves the simple necessaries 

 of life, sturdily confining themselves to the 

 bare luxuries. 



The tramps which the engines so often 

 cast aside, mangled masses of flesh and old 

 clothing, may have done more for practical 

 progress than the railway " beat " who lords 

 it at the stockholders' cost. Put this is no 

 matter, if the magnate who hurls along over 

 unguarded crossings, with no regard for life 

 or limb, can only go sixty miles an hour, and 

 arrange a consolidation in a few moments. 



It is well that your magazine can so read- 

 ily dispel " fundamental misconception " by 

 the clear enunciation of " economic laws " 

 as to remove all the old ideas, in twelve 

 pages of comparative lines and decisive 

 decimals. 



So guarded, the public is safe, and the 

 "politician and the press," other than the 

 strictly scientific, are needless. 



Grateful for information so serene and 



simple, I am, yours very truly, 



L. W. Ledtakd. 



Feenwood Farm, Cazenovia, N. Y., 

 February 19, 1883. 



THE COPYRIGHT DISCUSSION. 



Messrs. Editors: 



My object in writing the article which 

 appeared in your March number, on " Pi- 

 ratical Publishers," was to provoke such 

 a discussion of the subject of international 

 copyright as its importance demands, and 

 I am neither disappointed nor displeased 

 with the rather severe editorial strictures 

 which followed it. But, while I am quite 

 willing to concede that some of your argu- 

 ments have sufficient force to weaken, in a 

 measure, those presented by me, I am firm 

 in the conviction that most of my positions 

 have been unsuccessfully assailed. 



I write, however, now, to prevent mis- 

 apprehension, by stating what I ought to 

 have said before putting my name to the 

 article referred to that I have no personal 

 concern in the question under discussion, 

 being no longer a republishes and having 

 no interest, pecuniary or otherwise, in the 



