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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1335 



in the shortest possible time of more extensive 

 and more efficient means of transportation; 

 (3) the increase of the sources of physical 

 power and force; and (4) the maintenance 

 and increase of the ideals and the spiritual 

 forces of humanity. 



In considering the first three of these prob- 

 lems one can not escape the conclusion that 

 the scientist should and inevitably vrill be 

 one of the chief agents upon whom the world 

 must rely for aid in the solution of them. 



THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING PRODUCTION 



The world to-day is facing a serious short- 

 age of food supplies, which, in some European 

 countries, has already reached the acute stage 

 of famine conditions. In the United States 

 the farmers are facing a labor shortage which 

 in many cases is actually curtailing produc- 

 tion, while some, having arrived at an ad- 

 vanced age at which their physical stamina is 

 not strong enough to withstand the dis- 

 couraging situation, are not only disposing of 

 their farms but are actually abandoning them 

 and adding themselves to the already great 

 army of unproductive people in the towns 

 and cities. 



In this situation the trite and familiar say- 

 ing that "he who makes two blades of grass 

 grow where one grew before" takes on a new 

 meaning — a meaning not only of fame and 

 altruism but of dire necessity to the human 

 race. The chemist and the soil technologist 

 must show how the farmer can produce more 

 per acre; the engineer must devise machinery 

 for the production of crops on an increased 

 acreage with lessened labor; the physicist, 

 chemist, and electrical engineer must show us 

 how to get more and cheaper supplies of 

 nitrogen; the plant breeder must develop 

 more productive varieties of plants; and the 

 zoologist and botanist must find better meth- 

 ods of protecting the crops produced from 

 destruction. 



It is not, however, in food alone that we are 

 suffering from an underproduction. It is the 

 same story in clothing, household furnishings, 

 building materials, farm machinery, and other 

 vital supplies; and in the face of it all the 



laboring element is struggling for shorter 

 hours of labor and certainly in general a 

 consequent lessened productive capacity per 

 man. The laboring man of America appears 

 blind to the fact that his higher wages, greater 

 comfort, and general prosperity over that of 

 his European contemporary have been due 

 primarily to his greatly increased productive 

 capacity imder the conditions of industry as 

 carried on in this country. And his utter 

 fatuity in attempting to curtail the very 

 thing that contributes to his well-being is 

 one of the amazing things in the world to- 

 day. In spite of this paradoxical attitude the 

 laboring man is struggling for more leisure 

 and seems destined to attain it. 



THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING THE MEANS OF 

 TRANSPORTATION 



Turning for a minute to our second prob- 

 lem, the necessity of better and more eco- 

 nomical means of transportation, let us recall 

 briefly the conditions as they exist to-day. 

 Competent authorities estimate that the 

 coimtry's transportation needs in the last six 

 years have increased 45 per cent, while the 

 railroad facilities have increased but 2 per 

 cent. We are told that from 300,000 to SOO, 

 000 new freight cars and from 1,000 to 2,000 

 additional engines are needed at once while 

 Europe is infinitely worse off than we are. It 

 appears that some cities in southern Europe 

 actually faced famine conditions for a time, 

 at least, with supplies within reasonable dis- 

 tance but absolutely unavailable because no 

 means of transportation existed to bring them 

 within reach of the suffering community. 



The transportation problem in this country 

 has been developed by men whose principle 

 aim in former years, at least, has been to 

 make the railroads pay attractive dividends 

 on the stock which has often been watered 

 stock. The time has come, it seems to me, 

 when the whole matter should be put on a 

 thoroughly scientific basis by the technically, 

 scientifically trained man. The permanent 

 cure for many of the ills of transportation is 

 to determine by careful scientific research 

 and investigation more efficient and cheaper 



