168 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 82. 



And the political-economist knows that this 

 means increase of national wealth, while the 

 statesman sees in it enhanced national stability 

 and power. Yet, by the natural method on 

 which civilization advances, the conditions to 

 this much-needed settlement can never be 

 secured. 



Notwithstanding this, I believe this end will 

 yet be reached. The human race is rapidly 

 outgrowing the natural or genetic method. 

 There is another method, scarcely as yet rec- 

 ognized by the political-economists, but which 

 is being more and more resorted to by enlight- 

 ened men for overcoming such great physical 

 obstacles to the attainment of clearly-perceived 

 advantages. This is the method of foresight, 

 or calculation. Individuals employ it for the 

 attainment of both private and public ends. 

 Capitalists combine, and lead civilization into 

 regions it would otherwise never have pene- 

 trated. It is very probable that a gigantic 

 irrigating compan}^ will some time be formed, 

 which will, by degrees, accomplish more or 

 less satisfactorily the desired object. But, in 

 such case, great evils are likely to result, — evils 

 analogous to those that have arisen from per- 

 mitting great corporations to construct much- 

 needed transcontinental lines of railway. An 

 immense irrigation monopoly would inevitably 

 grow up, which would largely neutralize the 

 benefits derived from the project. Settlement 

 would be impeded by excessive water-rates ; 

 and endless litigation, and conflicting legal 

 decisions, would constantly deter population, 

 and jeopardize industry. 



A far better plan would undoubtedly be state 

 action. If the territory of Montana possessed 

 the means to undertake such a scheme, it could 

 scarcely fail to prove highly remunerative at 

 the end of a certain period. But here some 

 such an obstacle exists as in the case of mere 

 spontaneous settlement. Not until these tracts 

 are already well-peopled will the territory pos- 

 sess the means of inducing settlement ; and we 

 have again a l vicious circle, 5 which ends where 

 it begins. 



The only unobjectionable plan, as it seems to 

 me, is national action. The nation is the lar- 

 gest of all capitalists, and, at the same time, 

 has no tendencies towards monopoly. If we 

 could obtain the same degree of collective fore- 

 sight in the general government as exists in 

 the average capitalist, nothing could be easier 

 than for the United States, acting as a corpo- 

 ration that seeks only its own interest, not only 

 to secure the particular end of which we are 

 now speaking, but to develop its own resources, 

 and increase its wealth and prosperity in num- 



berless other directions, by the ordinary exer- 

 cise of such foresight. 



The present case seems to be one in which 

 the nation has a special interest, rendering it 

 peculiarly fitting that it should extend its aid. 

 It is of the utmost importance as a matter of 

 national security, and of immunit}' from dan- 

 gers which no statesman can foresee, that the 

 •rapidly-growing west, with its peculiar interests, 

 be cemented as speedily and firmly as possible 

 to the east ; and nothing can so effectually 

 secure this end as to make the population of 

 the entire Union an unbroken phalanx from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



Lester F. Ward. 



LAWSUITS AGAINST GRUBS AND 

 GRASSHOPPERS. 



Everybody knows that migrations of grasshop- 

 pers were a hard plague in biblical times, and even 

 before them. Ever since those remote centuries this 

 plague has not ceased to disturb mankind, accompa- 

 nied or followed hy failure of crops, by famine and 

 pestilence. Wherever these hideous guests arrived, 

 the most persistent war has been waged against them, 

 but it has always ended with the defeat of mankind. 

 The consequences were the same as in all other de- 

 feats in those remote times. When men were help- 

 less, the intervention of the law or the intervention 

 of God was called upon to interfere, and to stop the 

 ravaging intruders. The reasoning of the people was 

 indeed rational, considering the low state of culture 

 and education. The officers and representatives of 

 the law, as well as the clergy, the natural interpreters 

 between the people and God, were obliged to submit 

 to the wishes of the helpless and therefore unruly 

 people. It is to be supposed that both acted in good 

 faith ; nevertheless, we find sometimes indications of 

 a more advanced intelligence, and it is evident that 

 they have then submitted only because resistance was 

 impossible. As such proceedings would have been 

 too ridiculous and useless if not done in a seemingly 

 lawful and imposing form, we find that by and by 

 the development of laws against obnoxious creatures 

 in the middle ages was perfected. A defender was 

 given to the miscreant, as it was deemed lawful that 

 he could not be judged and condemned without being 

 heard andj defended. According to the opinion of 

 the old jurists, even to the devil a defender cannot 

 be denied : therefore we find a number of curious 

 law cases reported in those times. In the south of 

 France, a pig which had killed a child was con- 

 demned and hanged. Some thieves were hanged, 

 together with their dogs; and the Lex Carolina con- 

 tains a number of paragraphs, not very fit to be 

 repeated, which imposed the sentence of death on 

 animals. Lawsuits against creatures obnoxious to 

 men, and injuring their property, are often reported 

 by the chroniclers, sometimes with a certain kind of 



