126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mainly, if not entirely, of an emotional 

 origin. There can be no doubt that this is 

 the fact, because not less than three fifths 

 of those who consult me in the earlier 

 stages recover without any other treatment 

 than a careful abstaining from whatever 

 excites undue emotions in the subject of 

 the distortion." My quotations were made 



from memory, and I regret that this error 

 occurred, as the distinction is an important 

 one. 



If you will kindly give me room for this 

 correction in your columns, you will oblige, 

 Yours very truly, 



Mary Taylor Bissell, M. D. 

 New York, March 5, 1888. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



EON. DA YID A. WELLS OJST ECONOMIC 

 DISTURBANCES. 



IN the present number of the "Month- 

 ly" will be found the concluding 

 article of the very interesting and valu- 

 able series contributed to our columns 

 by the Hon. David A. Wells. The sub- 

 ject which this able and well-equipped 

 writer has so amply discussed is one, it 

 is almost superfluous to say, of the very 

 highest importance. The condition of 

 the body politic is a matter to which 

 no one with the slightest pretensions to 

 intelligence can allow himself to be in- 

 different. Is it well with us, or is it 

 ill with us, in the social state ? — surely 

 that is a question which none but the 

 ignorant or the frivolous can regard as 

 other than most momentous. In dis- 

 cussing "economic disturbances" Mr. 

 Wells has had this question constantly 

 in view. He has written not as a mere 

 statistician, or as a devotee of the mar- 

 ket, but as a statesman, as a patriot, as 

 a friend of humanity. Our readers can 

 not have failed to notice the large spirit 

 of humanity that breathes through his 

 articles. We venture to say that no sim- 

 ilar series of articles was ever produced 

 more free from national prejudice or 

 the spirit of national selfishness. Mr. 

 Wells has watched, and has interested 

 himself in, the whole movement of civ- 

 ilization ; and he has the happy art of 

 communicating to his readers a similar 

 enlargement of thought and sympathy. 

 In the earlier articles of the series 

 attention was called to the universality, 

 among the more advanced nations of 

 the globe, of a condition of economic 



disturbance dating from about the year 

 1873, and continuing, with more or less 

 of fluctuation, to our own day. The 

 evidence offered as to the reality of the 

 phenomenon is, in the fullest sense, 

 demonstrative ; indeed, the leading 

 economists of all countries are fully 

 agreed as to the fact ; divergence of 

 opinion only begins with the discus- 

 sions of the cause or causes. Without 

 wishing to participate in the discussion 

 ourselves, we must express our convic- 

 tion that, in singling out as the great 

 cause of the prolonged crisis under 

 consideration the rapidity with which 

 modes and conditions of production 

 and transportation have changed during 

 the last fifteen years, our contributor is 

 essentially in the right. The picture 

 he has drawn of the fluctuations in 

 special trades, including displacements 

 of labor, consequent upon the progress 

 of invention and discovery, is striking 

 and powerful ; and it is not a matter of 

 surprise that, when attention is con- 

 centrated upon this picture, a very 

 gloomy forecast is apt to be formed of 

 the immediate future of society. With 

 displacement of labor, we see destruc- 

 tion of capital, financial uncertainty, 

 and a growing feeling, on tlie part both 

 of employers and employed, that they 

 are the sport of forces that can neither 

 be controlled nor calculated. No soon- 

 er is equilibrium partially restored, 

 through a dearly-purchased adaptation 

 to new conditions, than some further 

 discovery comes to throw everything 

 once more into confusion; nor does 

 any one know the moment when our 



