184 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vor,. XXIII. No. 579. 



functions of g-overnment. By whatsoever 

 road reached the ultimate if not early out- 

 come will probably be some form of central- 

 ized control with diffused or decentralized 

 ownership. Meanwhile, the exactions of 

 monopoly, the feebleness of legal re- 

 straints, the heaping up of fabulous foi'- 

 tunes, the prejudice of the ignorant, the 

 envy of the incapable; apd through all and 

 over all the inappeasable voice of labor de- 

 manding, not without reason, a larger share 

 of the wealth which it produces. 



That these great consolidations are 

 wholly desirable I certainly do not pretend. 

 On the contrary, they occasion much cause 

 for regret and not a little for grave appre- 

 hension. The utilization of new forces, the 

 transfer to new methods, the control of 

 producing and distributing agencies by 

 huge combinations, must in the nature of 

 the case inflict many hardships and involve 

 many surrenders. But a great principle 

 underlies this movement, the principle of 

 industrial peace and efficiency, the principle 

 of cooperation. Beside all question that 

 principle is to govern, despite all draw- 

 backs its operation will be beneficent. 



So, in the unrest and discontent around 

 us, deep-seated and alarming here and 

 there, I read the desperate attempt to avoid 

 the effects of industrial competition and a 

 tremendous protest against its savage re- 

 prisals. Every trust and combination, 

 whether organized by capitalists or by 

 artisans, every strike and lockout, is a 

 repudiation of its teachings and a denial 

 of its pretensions. The competitive theory 

 may have answered the age of mules and 

 sailboats and spinning-wheels, but it fails 

 to satisfy the interlacing needs, or to sus- 

 tain the interdependent activities, which 

 are founded On modern methods of inter- 

 course and distribution ; it is a theory un- 

 suited to the era of railways and wireless 

 telegraphy, this era of ours, so restless in 

 thought, so resistless in action. 



I much mistake, therefore, if we are not 

 entering upon a period of great transi- 

 tions, a period of difficulty and many dan- 

 gers. The whole structure of industry and 

 social life is liable to be subjected to a 

 strain— possibly to a shock— for which ex- 

 perience furnishes no guiding precedent. 

 We have settled the administrative ques- 

 tions; we can collect taxes, build court- 

 houses and pay the policeman. We have 

 settled the political questions; the nation 

 lives and will live, the greatest and grand- 

 est in all the earth. But the further test 

 is now to come, the test of the ocean liner 

 and the limited express. Can we settle the 

 economic questions? Can we raise this 

 wide realm of industry from selfishness to 

 charity, from strife to friendship, from 

 competition to cooperation, from the war- 

 ring instincts of the savage state to the, 

 larger and nobler needs of associated life? 

 This is the problem of railroad and steam- 

 ship, of telegraph and telephone, of the 

 subtle and limitless forces of modern life, 

 the problem which will test the wisdom of 

 statesmanship and tax the resources of 

 public authority. 



Martin A. Knapp. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 A Systematic Handhooh of Volumetric An- 

 alysis. By Fr.\ncis Sutton, F.I.C, F.C.S., 

 etc. Ninth Edition, revised and enlarged. 

 Philadelphia, P. Blakiston, Son & Co. 

 Sutton's ' Analysis ' is so well known that 

 the highest praise that can be paid this book 

 is the statement that it is even better than 

 the eighth edition. But few new chapters 

 have been added, the most important being 

 on magnesium and the azo-dyes. The indi- 

 vidual chapters have been but little changed. 

 Pew new methods have been added and fewer 

 obsolete processes dropped. Conservatism is 

 undoubtedly necessary in a work of this kind, 

 but it may be carried too far. The book 

 would be more valuable if the author with his 

 large experience were more ready to discard 



