584 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 955 



ventilation of cars; the investigation of 

 accidents; the weighing of freight and the 

 testing of the scales, including the scales 

 on which empty and loaded cars are 

 weighed. These and many other questions 

 may come before both state and federal 

 commissions, but not all of them have been 

 fully considered as yet by either. Similar 

 duties pertain also to other utilities that 

 are essentially monopolies, as telegraph 

 companies, express companies, sleeping-car 

 companies, water-supply companies, local 

 express, transfer and cab companies. In 

 so far as these utilities carry on an inter- 

 state business, they are also dealt with by 

 the federal interstate commerce commis- 

 sion. 



COOPERATION NECESSARY IN REGULATION 



It appears from the above formidable, 

 although incomplete, list of duties devolv- 

 ing upon a state public-utility commission 

 that to fully measure up to its responsibili- 

 ties would require a considerable staff of 

 engineers, accountants and scientific as- 

 sitants, besides its traveling inspectors and 

 administrative ofRcers. To decide many 

 of the questions arising requires more tech- 

 nical knowledge than the experts either of 

 the commission or the utility companies 

 possess. Indeed, many of the questions 

 can only be answered by extended re- 

 searches carried out by scientists, engineers 

 or statisticians working with the best of 

 facilities. The interests at stake are in the 

 aggregate so great that such researches 

 ought to be made, and yet the cost would 

 be too great for every state to do the work 

 independently, or even for the richest of 

 the states to undertake it alone.* The best 



•■Extract from Professor R. T. Ely in his "Out- 

 lines of Economies, ' ' 1908 : 



' ' The tasks which confront such commissions 

 are stupendous, and the expense of conducting 

 their work, when it is properly conducted, is enor- 

 mous. ... On the whole, however, it is fortunate 



Way in which the work can be well done 

 and kept up to date is for all the states to 

 cooperate, and for the federal government 

 to assist and coordinate the work. This is 

 being done to some extent already, al- 

 though comparatively few of the states as 

 yet have commissions that are handling 

 public utilities generally, and hence the 

 work is only fairly begun. On the part 

 of the federal government, the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission and the Bureau of 

 Standards are cooperating with the state 

 commissions, the latter with regard to 

 standards and engineering questions which 

 fall within its province. Some of these 

 questions may be mentioned briefly. 



INSTRUMENTS AND STANDARDS 



The instruments and standards em- 

 ployed in the measurement of heat, light 

 and electrical power have been the subject 

 of much study and investigation at the 

 Bureau of Standards. The thermometers 

 and pyrometers of various kinds employed 

 in temperature measurements, and calo- 

 rimeters of different types for use in meas- 

 uring the heat of combustion of gases and 

 solids, are calibrated and certified by the 

 bureau, and standard samples of certified 

 calorific value are furnished, so that the 

 testing apparatus of public-service com- 

 missions, public-utility companies and con- 

 sulting engineers will agree (or special 

 tests be made if they disagree) and causes 



that the public have resolved to give this method 

 of reform a thorough trial. It seems to be the 

 next logical step in the evolution of natural mon- 

 opoly, and does not appear to be attended with 

 any grave danger. If it fails it will at least have 

 trained up a corps of public servants thoroughly 

 familiar with the operation of public-utility enter- 

 prises, and will at the same time have thoroughly 

 convinced the people that there is no other alter- 

 native but public ownership and operation." This 

 was WTitten five years ago, and much progress has 

 been made since then. 



