368 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



their obligations, it is worthy of all attention that in the physical 

 and mechanical phases of its development the railroad is a marvel 

 of orderly design, a monument of human energy, organization, 

 and skill, to the perfection of which every branch of scientific 

 research has contributed and revealed to man the proper adapta- 

 tion of means to ends. 



In a recent article* it was pointed out that to increase the 

 specific gravity of water would at once disturb its relations to 

 every other form of matter, and that the equilibrium so destroyed 

 could only be restored by a return to natural adjustments. Do 

 not the disordered industrial relations of our railroads present a 

 striking parallel ? — for, with regard to their social and economic 

 relations, viz., to the investors who own them, to the employe's 

 who operate them, and to the public who employ them, their 

 adjustments are non-adapted, and have thus far proved non- 

 adaptable ; for innumerable laws, intended to be remedial, have 

 only served to increase the disorder and perplexity. Is it not 

 time that we ceased our vain attempts to neutralize by balancing 

 unmeasured, unweighed, and complicated forces, and turn our 

 attention to the discovery of the original sources of disturbance, 

 so that by shutting off the steam and applying the brakes the 

 equilibrium of adjustments will be reinstated ? 



In the examination of the many evils which it is sought to 

 remedy, I will refer to articles in recent publications, contributed 

 by gentlemen whose experience and intimate knowledge of details 

 connected with railroad management enable them to speak with 

 authority, and I can not but conclude that an analysis will show 

 all the disturbances enumerated to have their origin in two groups 

 of stimulating laws, and in their repeal will be found the only true 

 and permanent remedy. 



" The Political Control of Railways "f is a general argument 

 against legislation which prescribes and enforces regulations for 

 the administration of railroad proprerties. The author calls for 

 the repeal of the Interstate Commerce Bill, and of adverse laws 

 enacted by the States ; but such enactments had their origin in an 

 effort to restore the equilibrium between the railroads and the 

 public, and they stand as the reactions of, and not as the active 

 causes of, the original disorder. It is true the repeal of these laws 

 might restore harmony between the railroads, but only by a fur- 

 ther unbalancing of the relations between the railroad companies 

 and the public. The argument is substantially this : that having 

 built roads without regard to commercial necessities or demands, 

 investors should be permitted to unite in pools, etc., to secure the 



*"Law as a Disturber pf Social Order," "Popular Science Monthly," March, 1889, 

 p. 632. 



f Appleton Morgan, "Popular Science Monthly," February, 1889. 



