18 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 627 



somewhat below the normal water level. 

 \Yi\en the water has been pushed down suf- 

 ficiently air enters this pipe, and its escape 

 relieves the excess of pressure. "When the 

 blowoff is in operation the appearance at 

 its mouth greatly resembles the eruption of 

 a powerful geyser. The stream of spray, 

 due to the entrance of water with the air 

 from the chamber, is thrown sometimes to 

 a height of 400 feet. 



The capacity when all intake shafts are 

 operating is about 5,000 horse power. So 

 far but one intake is used. This under test 

 at near its maximum capacity showed an 

 «fSciency of better than 82 per cent, while 

 ■delivering 11,930 cubic feet of air per 

 minute at 128 pounds absolute pressure. 



All machinery at the stamp mill and at 

 the mine, whether on the surface or under- 

 ground, is operated by compressed air. 

 Beside utilizing cheap power the com- 

 pressor has obvious advantages over the 

 usual machine in the absence of parts to 

 get out of order and in low cost of attend- 

 ance.^ 



The foregoing examples are presented to 

 Section D as illustrating the type of prob- 

 lems which are arising in connection with 

 the extensive operations at great depths on 

 the low-grade lodes of the Lake Superior 

 copper district. 



P. W. McNair 

 Michigan College of Mines, 

 December, 1906 



WHY HAS THE DOCTRINE OF LAIS8EZ 

 FAIRE BEEN ABANDONED?^ 



Perhaps the most remarkable change 

 which economic opinion has undergone 



' See description by A. L. Carnahan in the 

 Mining World of August 25, 1906, and by C. 

 H. Taylor in Mining and Scientific Press, August 

 18, 1906. 



' Address of tlie vice-president before Section I. 

 - — Social and Economic Science — at tlie New York 

 meeting of tlie American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science. 



during the last fifty years has been the 

 change from the extreme laissez faire doc- 

 trines of the classical economists to the 

 modern doctrines of governmental regula- 

 tion and social control. And yet there has 

 been very little attempt to explain why 

 laissez faire has been so generally aban- 

 doned. Its abandonment has been gradual 

 and almost unconscious, not so much the 

 result of any rival abstract doctrine, as the 

 cumulative effect of experience, which in 

 hundreds of individual cases has brought 

 men face to face with the practical limita- 

 tions of the let-alone policy. The move- 

 ment is fast bringing us back to the old 

 view by virtue of which economics was first 

 named political economy. 



The revival of governmental activity in 

 economic affairs is due to causes which 

 are partly political and partly economic. 

 This paper has to do chiefly with the eco- 

 nomic causes and we shall, therefore, 

 merely note in passing the chief political 

 aspects of the problem. One reason for 

 the extension of governmental control of 

 industry is the growing strength of gov- 

 ernmental control in general and of pop- 

 ular confidence in it. Laissez faire was a 

 natural doctrine in a time when govern- 

 ments were weak and inefficient. Change 

 of power has brought change of the theory 

 of power. Compulsory workmen's insur- 

 ance we find in the strongly developed 

 German Empire; railway rate regulation 

 follows increased power and centralization 

 of government. It may even be said that 

 much of the modern government regula- 

 tion of industry resulted from the attempt 

 of governments to extend its powers in 

 self-defense. It has been felt, for instance, 

 that if the government did not control the 

 railroads, the railroads would control the 

 government. Government regulation here 

 has taken on the aspect of a struggle for 

 supremacy. Just as England feels the 



