July 20, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



69 



perts welcomed and, if good, followed, and 

 every care taken to secure the greatest pos- 

 sible output for every dollar expended. A 

 large part of the income is used for salaries, 

 heating, lighting and repairs. According- 

 ly, a small increase in the resources will 

 produce a disproportionate increase in the 

 scientific results obtained. Much of the 

 work of a large observatory is routine, 

 studying thousands of stars in the same 

 way, the work extending, in some cases, 

 over many years. A great saving may be 

 effected by employing unskilled and there- 

 fore inexpensive labor, of course under 

 careful supervision. In this way a great 

 increase in the results can be obtained from 

 a moderate expenditure, and the amount 

 can be closely estimated in advance. 



The clerical work is largely copying 

 numbers on prearranged forms, and com- 

 puting in which only a knowledge of the 

 four rules of arithmetic is needed. Such 

 work roiust always be checked by an ex- 

 perienced assistant, and all errors detected 

 by duplicate or triplicate computations. 

 For such routine work we pay from 

 twenty-five to thirty cents an hour, which 

 is much above commercial rates for similar 

 work. Prices are much lower in Europe, 

 and supervision would also be cheaper 

 there. An exhibition of wood-carving and 

 embroidery has recently been held in Ber- 

 lin. Some beautiful specimens were shown 

 which had been paid for at the rate of half 

 a cent to three cents an hour. Less skill 

 would be required for much of the routine 

 work needed in an observatory. If Asiatic 

 labor could be employed, the prices would 

 be still less, although the cost of supervision 

 would be greater. In India, when tiger- 

 hunting, the beaters go into the jungle 

 armed only with a tin pan, which they beat 

 violently with a stick. They thus frighten 

 the tiger and chase him towards the tree in 

 the top of which the bold hunter is safely 

 seated, armed with a rifle. The beaters are 



paid the liberal sum of three to four cents 

 a day, which is 'increased to six cents if the 

 work is done properly and the tiger is 

 killed. The family of the beater would 

 probably prefer that he should engage in 

 almost any department of astronomical 

 research. The most savage despotism ' of 

 modern times was overthrown, and peace 

 and comfort brought for the first time to 

 the millions of inhabitants of Central 

 Africa, by soldiers, the greater portion of 

 whom were paid at the rate of five cents a 

 day. 



It is not unusual for the unsuccessful to 

 criticize those who are richer and more 

 powerful than themselves. In some coun- 

 tries this is done with the aid of dynamite 

 bombs. In others (I mention no names) it 

 takes the form of newspaper attacks on 

 wealthy men, corporations, trusts, insur- 

 ance companies and railroads. When we 

 begrudge the hundreds of millions acquired 

 by Standard Oil, should we not remember 

 how much of it was earned by the genius 

 of the men who evolved the most perfect 

 business organization the world has ever 

 known ? If we say that Mr. Carnegie ought 

 to distribute his millions among his work- 

 men, let us recall the fact that he was able 

 to sell three pounds of steel for two cents, 

 by giving to the Bethlehem Steel Works 

 an administration and management of 

 every detail, superior to that of any similar 

 corporation in existence. A great railway 

 system may misuse a large sum of money, 

 and yet this is a trifle compared with the 

 thousands of millions of dollars it brings 

 to the country by supporting a vast com- 

 munity of farmers who are enabled by its 

 aid to send the products of their farms to 

 the markets of the world. If we apply 

 these principles to astronomy we may ex- 

 pect the same advance that has been accom- 

 plished in commerce, agriculture and 

 manufacture. 



Who would object to a trust whose sole 



