EDITOR'S TABLE. 



553 



gait0t:'s s^^ije. 



SCIENCE AND THE STA TE. 



IT is probably not too much to 

 say that the true measure of the 

 intelligence and efficiency of a gov- 

 ernment is the extent to which, in 

 the various spheres of activity which 

 it controls, it recognizes the author- 

 ity and adopts the methods of sci- 

 ence. There is one department of 

 Government — the remark might be 

 applied to nearly all civilized gov- 

 ernments, and very pointedly to our 

 own — in which science receives a 

 large and serious recognition, and 

 that is the Navy Department. We 

 have lately had a striking exhibition, 

 which the world at large has watched 

 with great interest, of the high state 

 of efficiency to which a navy can 

 be brought in a comparatively short 

 space of time. If the question is 

 asked how it was done, there is but 

 one answer : it was done by recogniz- 

 ing science and working on scientific 

 lines. To work on scientific lines is 

 simply to study carefully, in the 

 light of the best available knowledge, 

 the means for accomplishing a de- 

 sired end, and having found the best 

 means, to adopt them in practice. 

 Our naval administration has fortu- 

 nately been able to repel if not whol- 

 ly, at least to a remarkable extent, 

 the intrusion of " political " influ- 

 ence, and has consequently been able 

 to apply itself without serious dis- 

 traction to the accomplishment of 

 its own special tasks. It has called 

 science to its aid not only as regards 

 purely physical questions, but as re- 

 gards questions of organization ; and 

 the result is that it has succeeded in 

 giving the nation not only ships and 

 guns, but the men who are fitted by 

 knowledge, by training, and by dis- 

 cipline to make the best possible use 

 of the ships and guns. 



Next to the navy in the recogni- 



tion accorded to science, but yet a 

 long way oif, comes the army. We are 

 speaking now, of course, of our own 

 army ; and what the " long way off " 

 meant in waste of money and of hu- 

 man life, in the suffering and misery 

 of brave men, is a too familiar tale. 

 Had science governed the operations 

 of the land forces and presided over 

 their whole organization to the same 

 extent that it did over the operations 

 and organization of the navy, a cer- 

 tain recent page of history would 

 have borne a very different record, 

 and would not have been so bur- 

 dened as it is with shame and heart- 

 ache to patriotic citizens. 



Killing and being killed are seri- 

 ous matters, and everybody under- 

 stands that the business can not safe- 

 ly be trifled with. That is why sci- 

 ence is allowed to have its own way 

 almost entirely in the navy, and to 

 exercise a large measure of control 

 in the army, with the effect of ren- 

 dering the first a nearly perfect ma- 

 chine, and giving to the latter a high 

 degree of efficiency for its own pur- 

 poses. But have we not here object 

 lessons which ought to be applied to 

 other departments of the Govern- 

 ment? Is it only in the matter of 

 killing that the aid of science is re- 

 quired ? Can the public at large not 

 rise to the conception that, if science 

 can make splendid killing machines, 

 it might also, if allowed fair play, 

 make excellent administrative ma- 

 chines for peaceful purposes? We 

 have departments which deal with 

 such important matters as currency 

 and finance, agriculture and statis- 

 tics, the administration of justice, 

 ,the control of railway traffic, the 

 erection of public buildings and the 

 improvement of waterw'ays, the car- 

 rying out of geodetic and geological 

 surveys, the representation of the 



