SCIENCE IN POLITICS. 585 



nearly carried out ; for the mode of procedure is just that which best 

 fits the solution of scientific problems. The same mental habits are 

 required in both directions ; and, other things being equal, the man 

 best trained in such habits will succeed best in handling either class of 

 questions. Secondly, a tariff most directly affects manufactures ; for 

 the articles which it considers are either manufactured or used in man- 

 ufacturing. Nearly every important manufacture of the present day 

 involves applications of science, which ramify from industry to in- 

 dustry in the most complex way. If, therefore, we wish to study in- 

 telligently the relations of manufactures to each other, we must bear 

 in mind the principles of the sciences so applied. Or, to speak more 

 moderately and to the point, a knowledge of science is of direct use in 

 attacking the tariff question. Two illustrations may serve to empha- 

 size this argument : 



Sulphuric acid is used in vast quantities in various manufacturing 

 industries, and in this country it is mostly made from Sicilian sulphur. 

 Some years ago a committee of Congress, adjusting a tariff, proposed 

 to tax the sulphur, but to admit the acid duty free ; the two things 

 being considered separately, and without thought of their industrial 

 relations to each other. Fortunately, the mistake was pointed out and 

 corrected in the committee-room ; but, if the error had become law, 

 the production of sulphuric acid in the United States would have been 

 stopped, and every industry using the acid would have been affected. 

 For instance, the manufacturer of fertilizers would be directly con- 

 cerned in the consequences of such legislation, and through him it 

 would touch the farmers. 



My second illustration is of a different kind. When a tariff is to 

 be framed or modified, the old strife between free-trade and protection 

 is renewed. The advocates of the latter policy urge that in the long 

 run protection, by favoring competition, lowers prices and benefits the 

 consumer ; and, for evidence, they cite the present cheapness of iron 

 and steel. A man of scientific education, working upon a tariff scheme, 

 would hear this argument, and ask two questions concerning the case 

 in point : First, is the alleged cheapening of iron real, or only appar- 

 ent and due to a redistribution of ratios ? Secondly, if it is real, how 

 much of it has been caused by tariff legislation, and how much by the 

 improvements which science has made in the production of iron ? Upon 

 the answers to these questions his final action will depend ; for no 

 intelligent estimate of the relations between the tariff and the iron 

 industry could be framed independently of such answers. The fact 

 that science is all the time modifying industrial processes complicates 

 the issue between different tariff systems to an extent which only a 

 man of scientific knowledge can fairly appreciate. 



In 1794, during the Reign of Terror, Lavoisier, the greatest chemist 

 of his time and an able statesman as well, was sentenced to the guillo- 

 tine. Futile attempts were made to secure him a reprieve, in order 



