'J(J4 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 522. 



ployed in gainful occupations constantly 

 rises. The older economists did not have 

 the facts. They had to draw their con- 

 clusions from exceedingly limited observa- 

 tion, but with the data covering the whole 

 people the old views are overtui'ned, and we 

 Jiow recognize, as the result of statistical 

 inquiry, that not only does the percentage 

 ■of the total number of people employed in- 

 'Crease, but that the develoment is along the 

 lines of the most skilled labor and in the 

 ligher pursuits of life ; that the great body 

 ■of people constituting the base of the indus- 

 trial pyramid is constantly being narrowed, 

 and to the benefit of the whole. Scientific 

 inquiry in these directions, added to that 

 concerning the great engineering processes, 

 must lead to but one, and that a scientific, 

 conclusion. 



Scientific political economy must deal 

 with the question of alimentation, which 

 is important in all treatment of the labor 

 question, and is one of the most vital sub- 

 jects to attract present-day thinkers. The 

 physiological chemist is claiming attention, 

 ■<;nd rightly. He is trying to ascertain just 

 what foods are most important, not only 

 from a physiological point of view but 

 eecnomically, and as relating to the effi- 

 ciency of labor. Professor Marshall has 

 lately made an appeal for a larger number 

 ■of sympathetic students who have studied 

 working-class problems in a scientific spirit ; 

 luider this spirit this question of food and 

 the efficiency of labor as depending upon 

 the quality of food must be one of the prob- 

 lems. ^ATiat is the amount of nutrients 

 contained in different food materials 1 The 

 relative expense of different kinds of food? 

 The ratio of relative costs of protein, fats, 

 and carbo-hydrates, as well as the relative 

 proportion of these elements ? These facts 

 are being ascertained, and it is necessary to 

 know them and the influence of each upon 

 "the muscular as well as the mental capacity 

 and development of the individual. 



The economy of food must be treated 

 from two standpoints— the physiological 

 and the pecuniary. These elements can 

 not be separated if we are to understand 

 fully the effects of different foods upon the 

 efficiency of labor and the capacity of labor 

 to sustain itself. These things should 

 form a part of political economy. They 

 are certainly far more valuable than any 

 treatise upon rent or interest. Much has 

 been done, but more must be accomplished. 

 Governments, both State and Federal, as 

 well as municipal, are becoming interested 

 in these subjects, our own Federal Govern- 

 mejit for some years having carried on in- 

 vestigations relative to nutrition. The 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington has 

 taken up this subject with most friendly 

 interest, and under its direction some of 

 the wisest and most skillful experts of the 

 country are conducting their experiments. 

 The Federal laboratories are auxiliaries to 

 this inquiry, and I feel sure that with the 

 united efforts of governments, of scien- 

 tific institutions, and of professors in col- 

 leges and universities there will be pro- 

 duced a body of facts that will clearly and 

 definitely decide the great question of effi- 

 ciency of labor, so far as food is concerned. 



Going back some years, you will remem- 

 ber that Lord Brassey, when contracting 

 for the labor of men of different national- 

 ities in the construction of railroads, found 

 by actual experience the effect produced by 

 different kinds and qualities of food; that 

 when the food of the Italian laborer was 

 changed from macaroni and other things 

 belonging to his national diet to roast beef 

 and those things which make the British 

 workman so superior, his efficiency was in- 

 creased p7'0 tanto. 



It is difficult, through any statistical 

 method or through any method depending 

 entirely upon observation, to treat the labor 

 question in all its elements in a way to 

 secure beneficial results, so far as knowl- 



