92 



stages constitutes the basic principles of the science of trans- 

 portation. 



But while science has guided practice in transportation to 

 its present state of development, it is not true that practice 

 has always been scientific, nor is it, in all cases, so to-day. 

 The reverse is true. It is to this phase of my subject that I 

 wish especially to direct your attention. A railway friend 

 of long experience, a self-made man, well described the situa- 

 tion, when after talking of his early experiences as a motive- 

 power official, and especially of the mistakes he had made, he 

 concluded by saying, "My railroad has paid a lot of money for 

 the things I have found out." The statement was undoubt- 

 edly true, and it would still be true if applied to railway com- 

 panies in general, or to companies engaged in other forms of 

 transportation. If we except certain very recent develop- 

 ments in transportation, chiefly those depending upon elec- 

 trical power and those involving aerial flight, it is the in- 

 ventor and the promoter who have led the way rather than 

 the scientist. The scientist has studied the phenomena result- 

 ing from the work of the inventor, has formulated principles 

 of action into laws and has announced these laws for the more 

 orderly marshaling of subsequent movements, but too often 

 he has not himself been constructive. Captains of transpor- 

 tation and many of their lieutenants, impatient in their desire 

 to secure tangible results, not infrequently prefer a head- 

 long process with all the dangers and expense which such a 

 course involves, to slower and more certain methods. More- 

 over, many such practical men believe that the things which 

 they do. and do well, are beyond the ken of Ihc scientist. In 

 the matter of rate making, for example, and in many of the 

 problems of train operation, the belief is current that experi- 

 ence and common sense are the only safeguards. 



Now the fact is that in tl'ic conduct of every system of 

 business, there are principles which underlie procedure. They 

 ma}' nr)t be recognized as principles by those most concerned, 

 but they are there nevertheless, and it is the part of the 

 scientist to discover them, to determine the relation which each 



