JANUARY 26, 1912] 
waste would accrue, but there are never- 
theless substantial differences between pub- 
lic and private enterprise. The former is 
managed with a less degree of care and 
supervision. Given a certain object, the 
expense of securing it by public manage- 
ment is usually greater than under private 
control. There is a still more important 
factor. The aim and nature of public ex- 
penditures differ materially from private 
investments. The latter are made with a 
view to an adequate return, a profitable 
income on the amount expended; in many 
instances, the former look to objects of a 
less essential nature, sometimes to monu- 
ments of grandeur or of art, which do not 
subserve any immediate purpose of utility. 
Public activities are often undertaken for 
conserving health or maintaining more per- 
fect order and have in view considerations 
of general welfare most commendable in 
their nature, but such as would not be 
initiated in expectation of immediate 
profit. Again, they oftentimes provide 
for new facilities on a scale which private 
enterprise would not attempt. To all 
these must be added—and especial atten- 
tion is called to this—the enormous burden 
of military and naval armaments now 
amounting, in the more civilized nations, 
to two billions per year, an economic waste 
which imposes an almost unendurable bur- 
den upon the world’s resources. Again in 
prosperous times a disposition to indulge 
im excess and unwise undertakings is con- 
stantly manifest both in public and private 
expenditures. So long as there are limita- 
tions upon our ability to forecast the fu- 
ture, this will be true. No more helpful 
consummation in commerce and industry 
could be wished than that which by careful 
weighing of future needs and probabilities 
could adjust present activity to future 
demand. 
In this connection it must be stated that 
SCIENCE 
133 
the inequality of the supplies of raw ma- 
terial requisite for human needs is a promi- 
nent factor in the situation. The lumber 
supply of the United States, which at one 
time seemed abundant and even inexhaust- 
ible, in view of the great demand for build- 
ings, furniture, implements, etc., has been 
diminished to such an extent as to threaten 
an early exhaustion. Perhaps the wisest 
policy would have suggested that the state 
limit the cutting of timber and require 
that new forests be planted. -However that 
may be, the diminishing supply of timber 
in the face of unusual demand has caused 
a rapid increase in the price of products 
of the forest, the advance from 1900 to 
1910 being the greatest of any single class. 
A comparison of the figures prepared by 
the Bureau of Commerce and Labor shows 
that between 1900 and 1910 the wholesale 
prices of wooden ware and furniture in- 
ereased about 20 per cent., while the prices 
of window glass and grades of earthenware 
decreased nearly as much. For this di- 
vergence there is an evident explanation, 
namely, that the supply of timber is be- 
coming more scanty while that of sand and 
clay and other materials for glass and 
earthenware is inexhaustible and readily 
available. 
There have been numerous illustrations 
of the increase in prices in the history 
of progressive countries. According to 
Boeckh, in the time of Solon an ox in 
Athens cost 5 drachmas, or nearly 3 shil- 
lings, a sheep 1 drachma, a bushel and 
3 gallons of corn 1 drachma. Two hun- 
dred years later the prices rose to five times 
and in many eases to ten or twenty times 
their former amount. The quantity of 
money was increased by the spoil obtained 
by successful military operations and by 
the development of mining in the islands 
of the Mediterranean, in Attica itself, and 
in Thrace and the island of Thesos. In 
