484 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 224 



men at that depth did not know of it at all until they 

 came out of the mine. No damage was done to any 

 of the mines. The deepest workings are seven hun- 

 dred feet. 



As an interesting coincidence, I will mention, that, 

 while in the Salt KiTer valley two weeks ago, I was 

 informed by Mr. Frank Gushing the ethnologist, who 

 is making extensive excavations in the old ruins 

 aboitnding there, that one of the princijial if not 

 the main cause of the abandonment of so populous 

 and fertile a valley was earthquakes. As there are 

 no records of any occiarring since that time, Mr. 

 Gushing may take the blame of suggesting this. I 

 am without trustworthy information concerning the 

 extent of the disturbance; but, as- near as I can 

 judge, it is about twelve hundred miles long by six 

 hundred in width. There were no magnetic dis- 

 turbances whatever. 



Since writing the above, additional information 

 has come to hand that modifies my opinion some- 

 what as to the extent and character of this disturb- 

 ance. From Senor Gampi and Mr. L. A. Richards of 

 Sonora, I am informed that the disttirbance in their 

 section of the coixntry was profound. Thej'^ are 

 living in Sonora, Mexico, about two hundred miles 

 south of here, in the Fronteras valley. The first 

 shock was felt there about three o'clock on May 3. 

 In Fronteras ten houses were thrown down, one 

 child was killed, and one woman fatallj^ injured. In 

 Cumpas, still farther south, foiir houses were de- 

 stroyed, no one hurt. Extending the entire length 

 of the valley, over one hundred miles, are fissiires 

 varying in width from a few inches to ten feet, 

 having a northerly and southerly direction. From 

 this information it is safe to conclude that the centre 

 or area of worst vibration lies to the soiTth of this 

 and in Mexico. It will take at least a month to 

 secure requisite information to make a report. That 

 country is sparsely settled, with no telegraphic com- 

 munication or railroads ; nothing but wagon-roads, 

 and those very poor. These gentlemen confirm the 

 Teport of mountain fires immediately succeeding the 

 shock. They think that the entire valley has sub- 

 sided a little. 



Also at the San Bernardino ranch, ninety miles 

 south-east of here, all the buildings on the place 

 were thrown down. They were built of adobe, and 

 were substantial. This place lies within a short dis- 

 tance of some extinct ci-aters, and is in the centre 

 of an ancient volcanic belt. 



Later reports make the disturbance in Mexico, 

 about the same region mentioned above, as very 

 destructive. As some lack verification, I defer re- 

 porti^l^ them until further word is received. 



G. E. GOODFELLOW. 



Tombstoi -), A. T., May 7. 



vf Defence of a civil academy. 



'ih^'^^^Hitorial columns of Science (May 13, 1887) 

 are guilty of a manifest inconsistency upon the sub- 

 ject of state aid to the higher education. In your 

 first column you condemn, in strong language, my 

 idea of a civil academy at Washington, projjosed in 

 the circular of information, No. 1, 1887, bureau of 

 education. In your fifth column you quote, with evi- 

 dent respect. Professor Jowett's views upon govern- 

 ment aid to the university colleges of England. You 

 even give publicity to this statement, without dis- 

 sent : "No principle of political economy forbids 



the application of public money to the education of 

 those who cannot afford to help themselves. Such 

 an expenditure is really one of the best affairs of 

 business in Avhich a nation can engage." You venture 

 to add that there is some prospect of Dr. Jowett's 

 plea being effective. While it is not to be expected, 

 in the present transitional stage of political economy 

 and in the present condition of American politics, 

 that all men should agree upon the necessity of edu- 

 cation and science for good government, it is at least 

 fair to demand some degi'ee of consistency in a scien- 

 tific journal. 



Furthermore, I beg to differ from your opinion 

 that this country is dotted with colleges where any 

 young man may obtain all needful political educa- 

 tion. If there is one thing needfiil at the present 

 time in our American civic life, it is instruction in" 

 the art of administration. Over against your state- 

 ment, let me place that of Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, re- 

 cently exijressed before the graduate students of 

 historjr and politics in the Johns Hopkins university. 

 From his practical connection with the civil-service 

 commission, he may be presumed ttx know what he 

 was saying. He said there was not a single institu- 

 tion in the United States where a man could learn 

 what reformers wish to know about scientific meth- 

 ods of administration. Mr. Eaton may have ignored 

 one or two oases of political training in this coun- 

 try ; but every fair-minded man must admit, upon 

 reflection, that American colleges do not teach this 

 subject. You say it is well enough to train men for 

 the army and navy, but intimate that our prospective 

 civil servants can acquire adequate training " from 

 any village school, and will not ask the government 

 for alms that they may the later live from the public 

 purse." No, our public men sometimes try to carry 

 the entire bag, and distribute public bounty, or 

 ' spoils,' to all their friends and constituents. They 

 even vote in state legislatiires for free text-books in 

 common schools, and allow publishers to corrupt 

 school-committees. Who teaches ' the homely prov- 

 erbs of Poor Eichard ' to our local politicians nowa- 

 days, and who ever heard of the A B C of finance in 

 ' any village school ' ? Do the spoils system and the 

 history of American legislation, municipal, state, 

 and national, indicate that our public servants have 

 been well grounded in common honesty and good 

 political economy? Before pronouncing judgment 

 upon my suggestion as ijoor economy, you might 

 profitably compare the cost of scientific administra- 

 tion with the present American system. Materials 

 for the comparison may be found in the civil lists of 

 various European countries. 



My plea was for a civil-service academy, recruited 

 by congressional appointment from men pronounced 

 fit by our state universities. It was for a civic West 

 Point. It was for the political training of able and 

 mature young men in a political environment, in the 

 capital of the nation. It was a jDlea for ojjening the 

 channel of communication between our universities 

 and public life, between political science and politi- 

 cal praxis. I proposed that the highest education 

 in the country and the most expert talent now in the 

 service of the government should both be made 

 tributary to the training of picked young men for a 

 term of two years, partly by lectures, and more 

 especially by practical work in government bureaus, 

 after the manner of the seminary connected with the 

 Statistical bureau in Berlin, which is recruited by 

 university graduates of the highest ability. 



