Decembek 13, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



913 



Senate ; Regis Chauvenet (a son of W. M. 

 Chauvenet, who was president of the Asso- 

 ciation in 1870), president of the Colorado 

 School of Mines, and others who have taken 

 a conspicuous part in the development of 

 scientific thought in Colorado. The paper 

 closed with a brief appeal for the preserva- 

 tion in a suitable building of the remains 

 of the former inhabitants of Colorado and 

 the Southwest. 



' Dangers from Inaccuracy in Presenta- 

 tion of Transportation Problems' : James 

 H. Blodgett, A.m. Division of Statistics, 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C. 



Projects for transportation of water, both 

 for personal use and for irrigation of 

 crops, are necessary on a scale requiring 

 municipal or corporate association of effort. 

 In transportation of food and other com- 

 modities the railroad and the steamship 

 form the presenii culmination of carriers. 

 Water-works for cities, or for agriculture, 

 canal and ship enterprises call for govern- 

 ment aid. Railroads once largely aided by 

 public appropriations depend mainly on 

 sales of bonds and stocks to investors. In 

 some propositions to the public, error is 

 combined with truth to a dangerous extent. 

 Two groups of erroneous statements are now 

 particularly prominent, even in school 

 books, in regard to interior waterways : One 

 relates to a presumed project for a ship canal 

 between the Black and the Baltic seas, 

 ofi&cially disclaimed by Russia ; another as 

 to interior waterways between Boston and 

 Galveston, really no more than three feet 

 deep in the shallowest part, and between 

 the mouths of the St. Lawrence and the 

 Mississippi, no more than six feet deep for 

 long distances, with short narrow locks. 

 The Chicago Drainage Canal has as yet no 

 commercial relations. The limit of urban 

 population is liable to be determined by the 

 water supply. The extent of cultivation 

 upon Western plains is already limited by 



the availability of water. It is a question 

 whether taxation does not tend to increase 

 faster than average incomes or than mar- 

 ket values of property. Municipal repu- 

 diation ought to be unknown. Many mu- 

 nicipalities have reached the legal limits 

 of taxation and of indebtedness, but under 

 popular demand constitutions have been 

 amended and new municipal organizations 

 have been superimposed to place additional 

 taxes on the property. In Illinois, for ex- 

 ample, most of the following series of taxes 

 may represent separate authorities levying 

 independently. 



(a) National, (6) state, (c) county, {d) 

 township, (e) school district, (/) city, in- 

 corporated town, village, in addition to 

 school tax, {g) township high-school dis- 

 trict, (Ji) drainage district, {%) sanitary 

 district, {h) townships or road districts, for 

 hard roads. 



Most of these separate agencies can in- 

 cur debt not to exceed five per cent, of the 

 valuation, making possible a very large ag- 

 gregate obligation resting upon the taxable 

 property. Township high-schools, drain- 

 age districts, sanitary districts, hard- road 

 districts, are not numerous, but they are 

 possible in any part of the State under 

 general laws. 



' The Census of Cuba ' : Victor H. Olm- 

 sted, Assistant Director of the Census of 

 Cuba. 



The prospective establishment of an inde- 

 pendent government in Cuba made informa- 

 tion necessary concerning the numbers and 

 distribution, the education, the racial di- 

 visions, etc., of its population. The Amer- 

 ican authorities, after deliberate consulta- 

 tion with eminent Cubans, decided upon a 

 census of the island. The knowledge al- 

 ready had of the temperament of the people, 

 and of the probable obstacles to speedy 

 work, indicated that conditions in Cuba 

 were unfavorable to census-taking on a scale 

 so comprehensive as that of the United 



