850 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



than statistics, he has undertaken to make 

 an analysis of the salient political and indus- 

 trial evils of our time, and to measure by 

 fundamental rules the departure, in some 

 of our governmental and industrial methods, 

 from those principles. Such a purpose,, it 

 may be observed, implies considerably more 

 than a superficial view of the labor and 

 other questions " of the day," and regard 

 to measures more abiding than the usual 

 makeshift expedients. Whoever reads the 

 book may not agree with the author, but he 

 will have taken in that which will promote 

 thought. Industrial liberty is defined to con- 

 sist " in the freedom of each individual ■ citi- 

 zen, guarded by such delegated authority 

 contributed by each as is necessary to pre- 

 serve this individual freedom equally to 

 each ; and this liberty includes the freedom 

 of each individual citizen to contract, and 

 the sanctity of contract." The subject of 

 the treatise is the effect which the world's 

 development in industry and in political 

 ideas, the growth of great industrial con- 

 cerns, and modern practice in legislation, 

 have had and are having upon the working 

 of this principle. . Steam and mechanical 

 inventions have worked a complete change 

 in the conditions of industry. Has it been 

 for good ? Mr. GrifiBn in England, and Mr. 

 Atkinson in America, answer from statistics 

 that, so far as physical wants are concerned, 

 it apparently has. But it is not the work- 

 man's absolute present condition, " so much 

 as a comparison of that condition or a con- 

 trast of it with the conditions around him, 

 that comes into question. In other words, 

 it is the increased disparity which constitutes 

 his ground for discontent. Indeed, it is easy 

 to understand that the bettered physical con- 

 dition of the laboring man may of itself be 

 a reason for bis discontent, when we consid- 

 er that this better condition has brought 

 with it a better discerning faculty, a better 

 power for comparing and contrasting con- 

 ditions, and an improved capacity for rea- 

 soning upon differences." Another potent 

 factor of recent growth in determining the 

 conditions of the present time is the indus- 

 trial corporation, which, having become mon- 

 arch of the chief fields of enterprise, has 

 been made a trust for the benefit of those 

 who manage it, at the expense of the public 

 for whom it is in theory supposed to have 



been primarily instituted, and even of a con- 

 siderable portion of its own constituency. 

 The corporation has had saddled upon it, to 

 prey upon the public and bind it, the new 

 form of trust, which is denominated a 

 " parasite," and comes accompanied by 

 other parasites upon industrial liberty. The 

 histories of the growth of the great railway 

 monopolies and the trusts which they carry, 

 and of the Standard Oil and the gas trusts, 

 are related. The remedy for these evils may 

 be sought in treating corporate managers as 

 trustees for the public ; but the obstacles in 

 the way of reform are formidable. They are 

 reviewed at length. The influence of pro- 

 tection — which is declared to be a theory 

 and not a principle — is next considered, and 

 found to be not good, but in violation of 

 natural law and encouraging to "trusts." 

 A paternal government is defined and con- 

 demned as one which " in any way erects or 

 creates obstacles tending to interfere with 

 the industrial incentives and equal political 

 rights of the citizen, or which fails to pre- 

 vent the creation of such obstacles, or to 

 remove existing ones." Under thFs dictum^ 

 protection, permission of discriminations, 

 the common- school system, legal-tender gov- 

 ernment obligations, priority of liens, and 

 business enterprises, direct or indirect, by 

 the government, are condemned ; but super- 

 vision and control of the government's ar- 

 tificial ci'eations — corporations — in matters 

 affecting the rights of citizens ; adminis- 

 trative acts for the whole people ; regula- 

 tion of the trafiic in intoxicants and poisons, 

 prevention of food adulterations, and other 

 acts of police, are not paternal, but within 

 the proper sphere of government. The au- 

 thor's views respecting the common-school 

 system, being different from those generally 

 prevailing, are dwelt upon at length. Pater- 

 nalism is less prevalent in America, and we 

 have a great advantage in the freedom with 

 which land may be alienated ; but in both 

 England and America a great deal remains 

 yet to be accomplished ; and much is hoped 

 for the man who will be the product of the 

 next civilization. 



The Chemical Analysis of Iron. By An- 

 drew A. Blair. Philadelphia : J. B. 

 Lippincott Company. Pp.282. Price, $4. 



This work is intended to embrace all the 



methods of value to the iron analyst. It 



