SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



At a time when the interest in the industrial 

 organization of society is so great as it is at the 

 present moment, it seems proper that Science 

 should do its part in giving an opportunity for 

 the free discussion of the views of any who have 

 made especial study of social questions. It is 

 elaimed by the leaders of the working-classes, 

 so called, that the real advances in society or- 

 ganization are not led by the doctrinaires of the 

 schools, but by hard-fisted workingmen. who 

 know more of their physical and intellectual 

 wants than they do of logic. These self -asserting 

 leaders compliment the professors upon their well- 

 rounded sentences, giving a history of what has 

 been accomplished, and sketching what may be 

 the outcome of the future, but they look upon 

 the schoolmen as little more than scribes. De- 

 spite this lowly position to which the professors 

 of political science are assigned, there can be no 

 doubt of the necessity of giving the reading- 

 classes as good an opportunity as possible for 

 appreciating the present condition of social sci- 

 ence and for understanding the questions which 

 are now demanding solution. Before venturing 

 upon the wide field of sociology, it is well first 

 to present a clear statement of the tenets of po- 

 litical economy as they are advanced by the 

 writers of the times. There exists in this country, 

 as well as abroad, a body of students, principally 

 young men, who, after pointing out the continued 

 progress in the tenets of political science as time 

 changes society, insist that the at present, or 

 recently, held dogmas are not dogmas at all, but 

 must yield to other rules of expediency involved 

 by the changing condition of industrial activity. 



Of course, it is well understood that one main 

 difference between this new school and the old 

 is in asserting the desirability of greater inter- 

 ference in industry on the part of the state. 

 Somebody might say that this idea has come 

 from Germany, where the state initiative is so 

 paramount in all enterprise ; but the adherents of 



No. 168. — 1886. 



the new school repudiate the assertion that their 

 movement is a German movement, and claim 

 that the discontent with the application of anti- 

 quated doctrines made itself felt in the valley of 

 the Po, the heart of New England, and on the 

 banks of the Thames. In a word, they say that 

 the times are ripe for a decided renovation of the 

 tenets of political economy ; and it is with a view 

 of giving this school an opportunity of propound- 

 ing the fundamental principles which they think 

 should rule at the present time in that science, 

 that a series of articles has been arranged to 

 appear in Science. This series begins in the 

 present number with one upon ' The change in 

 the tenets of political economy with time,' by 

 Mr. Edwin R. A. Seligman of Columbia college. 

 Others will follow by Prof. E. J. James, on ' The 

 state as a factor in economics ; ' by Prof. R. T. 

 Ely, on < Ethics and economics ; ' by Prof. H. C. 

 Adams, on * The idea of property as an economic 

 category,' showing how this varies with our ideas 

 of what is best suited to the times ; by Prof. J. B. 

 Clark, upon * The limits of competition, natural 

 and artificial ; ' by Prof. R. M. Smith, on < The 

 methods of investigation in economics ; ' and by 

 Prof. Simon Patten, on ' The effect of the con- 

 sumption of wealth on the economic condition 

 of society.' The article in the present number, 

 by Mr. Selignian. is intended to present a review 

 of the history of the industrial organization up to 

 the present time, and to indicate in what direc- 

 tion the further development may take place. 

 The other articles of the series will probably be 

 accompanied by criticism from the pens of those 

 belonging to the so-called orthodox school. 



Several violent tornadoes in Minnesota and 

 Iowa, on the afternoon of April 14, proved un- 

 usually destructive to life and property on account 

 of finding towns in then way. The description 

 of them in the associated press reports is exceed- 

 ingly poor, by reason of the reporters' unsuccess- 

 ful efforts to do rhetorical justice to the sad 

 occasion ; but it may be gathered that there 

 was a number of separate tornadoes occurring 

 at about the same time, and following the cus- 

 tomary south-west to north-east path, though 

 there is confusion in the statements with respect 



