•Sbptember 2, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



these terrible figures suggest that our gov- 

 ernment has not yet undertaken to dis- 

 charge its duty of protecting by legislation 

 large classes of its citizens engaged in in- 

 dispensable service to the community ? 



As time goes on, it appears that more 

 and more industries have a national scope. 

 Thus, it may be doubted whether the min- 

 ing of soft coal can be successfully regulated 

 ■by the separate legislation of single States ; 

 for coal mined in Virginia is necessarily in 

 competition with coal mined in Ohio, for 

 example, and the unprotected condition of 

 laborers in Ohio may prevent the adecjuate 

 protection of coal miners in Virginia. In- 

 terests common to many States certainly 

 suggest that the common government has 

 duties in regard to them. 



An established function of our national 

 government is the execution of public 

 works for the improvement of rivers and 

 harbors — works which redound to the ad- 

 vantage of the localities where they are 

 situated, to be sure, but also to that of the 

 people at large. These works are too often 

 executed in a slow, wasteful manner, which 

 no private person or corporation could pos- 

 sibly afford. As an illustration of bad gov- 

 ernment methods, and, therefore, of the 

 possibilities of improvement in govern- 

 mental efi&ciency, I take the Columbia 

 River at the Cascade Gorge. This im- 

 provement comprises works on a lock and 

 on a canal about three thousand feet long. 

 The original estimate of the cost was a 

 million and a-half dollars, and the work 

 was actually begun in 1878. At the end of 

 1891, when $1,609,324.94 had been ex- 

 pended on the work, the estimate for its 

 completion was a million and three-quarters 

 dollars. It is not yet finished, after the 

 lapse of twenty years. It is impossible for 

 the nation at large to take satisfaction in 

 grand works so feebly conducted. Such a 

 process impairs, rather than increases, the 

 self-respect of the nation ; for everybody 



perceives that it is a stupid and discredit- 

 able process. Whenever a public work 

 must be completed before the country can 

 derive any benefit from it the government 

 should prosecute the work with all the dis- 

 patch consistent with thoroughness of ex- 

 ecution. This single instance illustrates 

 the opportunities which exist for immense 

 improvement in the conduct of the opera- 

 tions of our government on public works. 



To illustrate further the directions in 

 which the beneficent expenditures of our 

 government might reasonably increased, 

 I now invite your attention to certain com- 

 parisons between items of military and 

 naval expenditure which the war has forced 

 on our attention, and the cost of some gov- 

 ernment establishments which are of special 

 interest to the Association. The annual 

 cost of the lighthouse establishment, on the 

 average of the five years from 1893 to 1897 

 inclusive, was three million dollars. The 

 cost of maintaining naval vessels in com- 

 mission during the year 1897 — a year of 

 peace — was nine millions of dollars. Now, 

 the lighthouse establishment is one of the 

 most interesting and useful departments of 

 national expenditure. It has a high scien- 

 tific quality, and also a protecting, guiding, 

 friendly quality. It calls forth in high degree 

 the best human qualities — -intelligence, fidel- 

 ity and watchfulness. With our resources 

 and our commercial needs, and our thous- 

 ands of miles of coasts and rivers, our light- 

 house establishment ought to be the best in 

 the world, as well as the most extensive. 

 Indeed, it ought to be absolutely as good as 

 it can be made. 



The progress of medical science imposes 

 upon modern governments a new duty to- 

 ward their citizens — the duty, namely, of 

 protecting them from contagious or infec- 

 tious diseases. This protection has to be 

 provided by means of inspection stations, 

 quarantines and other methods proper to 

 secure the isolation of infected persons. 



