JOURNAL 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. Ill APRIL 19, 1913 No. 8 



ECONOMICS. — The function of research in the regulation of 

 natural monopolies.^ E. B. Rosa, Bureau of Standards. 



The social and political unrest of the present day, which mani- 

 fested itself strikingly in the recent presidential campaign, is of 

 course due to more than one cause. Senator Root in a notable 

 speech recently delivered before the New York Chamber of Com- 

 merce, attributed this unrest in large measure to the mutual 

 distrust and mutual misunderstanding existing between the 

 leaders of the financial and industrial world on the one hand and 

 the great body of the American people on the other. To a large 

 audience of bankers, merchants, and captains of industry he said : 



There are hundreds of thousands of people outside our great indus- 

 trial communities who think you are a den of thieves. There are hun- 

 dreds of thousands of people who think the bankers and manufacturers 

 are no better than a set of confidence men. 



We have before us now great and serious questions regarding the 

 financial problems of the country, and this is what stands in the way of 

 their solution: It is that the men who understand the finances of the 

 country and the merchants engaged in great operations are under sus- 

 picion; great bodies of people will not accept what thej^ say about finance. 

 They will not accept what the experts say because they do not believe 



their motives are honest On the other hand, what is 



your attitude toward the people? There are many in this room tonight 

 who down deep in their hearts believe that great bodies of the American 

 people really want to destroy their business and confiscate their property. 

 Now, neither of these things is true; but one misunderstanding leads to 

 conduct which seems to justify another. , 



^ Address of the retiring president of the Philosophical Society of Washingtonf 

 delivered February 15, 1913. 



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