December 30, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



905 



edge is concerned. The statistics of wages 

 have undergone a very decided evolution 

 through the application of scientific 

 methods suggested by economists. It can 

 be learned easily— and has been stated- 

 how many men are required permanently 

 to perform the services of a large number 

 of men employed temporarily. The effi- 

 ciency of labor relates specifically to this 

 subject. For instance, it was ascertained 

 a few years ago that in a number of estab- 

 lishments producing pig iron 310 different 

 employees were required to carry on the 

 works, but that if the workmen had been 

 employed continuously only 71 would have 

 been necessary; that the average earnings 

 of the 310 individual employees were $169, 

 while the consequent average earnings per 

 employee if the work had been continuous 

 for the 71 men would have been $734 per 

 year. A scientific economic analysis of 

 such conditions would probably show a 

 variance necessary to a true economic con- 

 clusion ; but political economy has not yet 

 attacked such problems with the same force 

 with which it has dealt with other and less 

 important matters. 



The treatment of the labor question 

 must, if there are great results to be se- 

 cured, be brought under the same scientific 

 methods that are applied in other direc- 

 tions : and there are various other statisti- 

 cal elements which, for the intelligence of 

 all people, both employers and employed, 

 require the application of scientific anal- 

 ysis, for I take it that the relations of 

 employer and employee will not be as fully 

 harmonized as may be desired until such 

 application is made. The employer does 

 not understand fully the conditions of his 

 own work : the employee certainly does not 

 understand the conditions of production. 

 All these conditions are the result of scien- 

 tific development, and that development, 

 in order to secure the very best results in 

 establishing a rational basis for treatment, 



must have further elucidation before great 

 results can be expected. 



As another instance, the voh;me of 

 products at different periods, as shown by 

 values, is the prolific source of most 

 pernicious doctrines. Our official statistic- 

 ians have been wrestling with this subject 

 for many years, and some advance has been 

 made, especially during the last national 

 census. I refer particularly to the dupli- 

 cation of values. "We say that the product 

 of the mechanical and manufacturing es- 

 tablishments of the United States is, in. 

 round numbers, over $13,000,000,000, but 

 this amount represents the value of raw 

 material and labor, each producer return- 

 ing the full value of his product, which 

 may become the raw material of other 

 manufacturers all along the linCj.^ The 

 deduction of the value of the raw material 

 from the total value of the products, of 

 course, simplifies the problem, but it does 

 not scientifically solve it. Scientific 

 methods must be resorted to, and if the 

 political economists, in connection with 

 their allies, the statisticians, will under- 

 take this problem greater progress will be 

 made. So far hints only are to be found 

 in the books. These hints, of course, are 

 familiar to all statisticians, hut the diffi- 

 culty of securing the true product without 

 exhai;sting the treasury is one of great 

 complexity. 



So in the whole field of sociology, involv- 

 ing crime, charity, benevolence, and all that 

 pertains to the efforts of society to remedy 

 existing evils, we need a new method of 

 treatment. There is such a thing as scien- 

 tific charity, which is immediately con- 

 cerned with the economic welfare of the 

 people. The great questions of insurance 

 —how to remedy or provide for the eco- 

 nomic insecurity which belongs to the pres- 

 ent wage system, the compensation of work- 

 ing men for accidents, and everything of 

 the kind— must be the subject of treatment 



