540 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 43. 



could generally be more economically man- 

 aged by feeders than by trunk lines, com- 

 peting lines enforce higher rates for the ser- 

 vice rendered. Had a proper regard for 

 public economj' been maintained the West 

 Shore Eailroad, for instance, would never 

 have been built. 



Now look at the management of our mu- 

 nicipal affairs. Water j^ipes under the care 

 of one commission are laid in one trench, 

 gas pipes under another management in a 

 second trench, and so with the sewers and 

 the steam pipes, and the conduits for wires 

 and for other purposes. Each companjr is re- 

 sponsible for its own ditch and its contents, 

 but the cost of the trench is, in each case, 

 added to the cost of the service rendered, 

 and the community has to pay for the manj^ 

 managements and their lack of cooperative 

 understanding. It is not an unknown thing 

 after a town is well paved to have the pave- 

 ment ruined by the subsequent laying of 

 water and sewer pipes, with the additional 

 expense of repaving the street over the 

 trench. Were all pipes put together in a 

 suitable and accessible conduit, paid for by 

 the managements of the different pipe lines, 

 and were the conduits built before any of 

 the trenches are dug, a certain net gain to 

 the community would ensue. Conduits 

 could, in most cases, be built for less than 

 the total expense of the trenches, and 

 could be constructed in the streets of our 

 large cities, thus avoiding the dead loss in- 

 curred whenever the streets are torn up for 

 repairs. 



Another instance is found in our colleges 

 and universities, where useless duplication, 

 arising from petty jealousy and depart- 

 mental rivalry, results in direct loss to the 

 institution. One professor delivers a lec- 

 ture on iron ore, as part of the course in 

 geology, and another, lecturing on the 

 strength of materials, goes over the same 

 ground. One department buys a machine 

 to test the strength of boiler plates; another 



invests in one to test bridge riv^ets, and an- 

 other in one to test building stone ; while a 

 single machine would serve all three de- 

 partments were there some authoritative 

 head to make proper arrangements. 



Our elective machinery is run in the 

 same spendthrift way. City and National 

 elections come at different times, and the 

 cost to the country is doubled in conse- 

 quence. In November a Presidential elec- 

 tion is held, and the following Spring the 

 same big engine — inspectors, clerks, halls, 

 etc. — must be put in motion, and run a 

 whole day for the purpose of electing a 

 school trustee or a road commissioner. 

 With our taxes it is the same stor^^ In 

 February the assessors make out lists, per- 

 form all the necessary work and the State 

 tax is collected at great expense; in June 

 the same outlay, both of time and money, is 

 again necessary to collect the city tax; 

 while, were both done at the same time, 

 nearlj' half the labor and expense could be 

 saved. 



Instances could be cited almost indefi- 

 nitely to show that we continually spend a 

 great deal of money to no purpose, money 

 which does not add to the store of the 

 world's wealth, money which, so far as any 

 lasting good or any visible result is con- 

 cerned, is absolutely thrown away. We 

 have grown up with it, and it seems natural 

 and necessarjr to us. Our vision is limited, 

 and provided the thing to be done is done, 

 we do not concern ourselves as to whether, 

 or not, it is accomplished in the most eco- 

 nomical and altruistical manner possible. 

 New waj'S are being forced on us, as they 

 have been on older countries, and as a 

 nation we are bound to consider the ques- 

 tions of the hour in a broader and more 

 communistic fashion than any individual, 

 who weighs only the chances of his personal 

 advantage, would do. It does not follow, 

 that we, as a people, are not capable of 

 improvement because there are instances 



