372 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 168 



that an experiment may have a so-called practical 

 value and yet be worthless to the man of science. 

 What is science but accumulated and co ordinated 

 facts : What fact is there which confirms, disproves, 

 or illustrates any supposed law of vegetable or ani- 

 mal growth, that is not valuable to the scientific man, 

 and to the farmer as well ? What agricultural ex- 

 periment, worthy tbe name, but must perform this 

 function ? It is true, the farmer may be more in- 

 terested in the results of the experiment, as in a 

 comparative test of different varieties of wheat, 

 while the scientist may be more desirous of ascertain- 

 ing what constitutional peculiarity enables the one 

 variety to surpass the other in yield ; but in either 

 case the fact that the one variety is the more pro- 

 ductive is the stimulus of the investigatiou, and the 

 methods of culture must be the same if trustworthy 

 data are to be obtained for the use of either scientist 

 or farmer. I do not forget that valuable facts have 

 been learned from experiments which would be 

 utterly impracticable in the field, and I would be the 

 last to deny the usefulness of such work ; but, until 

 the applicability of these facts to the methods of the 

 farmer has been demonstrated by field experiment, 

 they are practically valueless. I do not deny that 

 the study of isolated individuals, or of small groups 

 of individuals, has a legitimate place in the work of 

 the experiment-station ; but, until the results of that 

 study are shown to be applicable to the field or to the 

 herd, they are worthless to the farmer, and equally 

 worthless to the scientist. But this demonstration 

 must be made by men trained to the scientific method. 



C. E. Thorxe. 



Settlement of labor differences. 



Last week's Science contains some views of Mr. N. 

 M. Butler on the ' Settlement of labor differences,' 

 which claim to be from the stand-point of ' science 

 and philosophy,' which is explained to mean freedom 

 from false notions and prejudices, and to be the ob- 

 servation of facts and relations as they are. 



He says that 1 we ' are apt to look upon the present 

 economic system as fixed and final. Who are ' we ' ? 

 'The fact as it is,' is that in America, England, 

 France, Germany, etc., men by the thousands and 

 hundreds of thousands most decidedly do not feel 

 that way at all. Numerous American citizens known 

 as Knights of labor have combined and organized for 

 the express purpose of changing the present wage 

 (i.e., private capital) system into an integral co- 

 operative one ; and, what is more, they work with 

 earnestness, determination, and devotion to realize 

 that end. Instead of 14 feeling an irresistible desire 

 to look upon the (social evolution) process as com- 

 pleted, and the book of evolution as closed," they feel 

 an irresistible conviction that society is entering on 

 the threshold of a new form of economic organiza- 

 tion. This belief is scientific ; that is, it is based on ex- 

 perience carefully made and closely analyzed, as may 

 be seen in the works of Karl Max, F. Engels, Henry 

 George, and very clearly in that American writer 

 George Gronlund's book, 1 The co-operative common- 

 wealth.' 



Mr. Butler says something about " the ethical fact 

 that there is a superiority of possessions." What can 

 it mean ? 



Mr. Butler adds his voice to the chorus of ' arbitra- 

 tion ' fetich- worshippers. Arbitration is to have 

 ' magic ' results. So it must, if it will harmonize the 



interests that are diametrically opposed, as are those 

 of capitalists and laborers in regard to sharing the 

 product of labor. 



But, say the ' arbitration ' and ' harmony ' preach- 

 ers and Mr. Butler, the product is the combined re- 

 sult of the efforts of the capitalist and laborer. Some- 

 times the capitalist adds his efforts to the work of 

 producing by direct labor, or indirectly by doing the 

 requisite directing of the work, and sometimes he 

 does not. When he does apply personal effort, he 

 is entitled to reward ; but that is a different thiug 

 from the profit on his capital which will go to him if 

 he hires managers or agents, or is merely an in- 

 vestor or shareholder in a business he neither does 

 nor can manage, nor in any way add ' effort ' of his 

 own to the work of production. 



No, the capitalist need not work. He can (and 

 many do) live in idleness, consuming enormously 

 without producing at all, and, on an average, he 

 never gives an equivalent of effort for what he gets : 

 hence there is want of equity in the capitalistic 

 system. 



It is self-evident that no arbitration, but only a 

 radical change of the system, can abolish this in- 

 justice; and this injustice is the cause of the 'labor 

 differences.' 



' Christian charity ' will not suffice here ; that is, 

 the 1 give all you have to the poor' doctrine will not 

 do, but, rather, a modernized adaptation of the in- 

 stitutions of the primitive Christians, who had some 

 primitive form of integral co-operation, for they 

 held ' all things in common ' (see the story of 

 Ananias). 



As to arbitration as a sort of palliative patchwork 

 for making temporary compromises, perhaps it is 

 good for that ; but ' brute force,' in the form of 

 police and militia, has to stand behind it to make 

 capitalists keep their agreement, which they have 

 broken in innumerable instances when it was in their 

 interest and power. 



Whether the change from the capitalistic to the co- 

 operative mode of production will be by 'brute force ' 

 depends on the resistance the capitalists make to the 

 course of evolution. History shows that privileged 

 classes generally have appealed to brute force when- 

 ever their privileges were in danger. 



The advice of science they do not heed. It is 

 interest that guides them. Science, that is, our 

 judgment of future facts by past ones, says the course 

 of evolution of human society tends to abrogate all 

 privileges and equalization of rights and duties. 

 This is the democratic principle. When applied to 

 social economy, it is termed ' socialism ' or ' social 

 democracy.' The capitalist cannot be a mere trustee 

 without first ceasing to be a capitalist. This implies 

 an entire change of the laws of property : hence the 

 advice of science to labor is, Organize to make the 

 requisite change of laws ; thac is, go into politics as 

 a party to establish an economic republic, electing 

 your directors of labors. That will settle all differ- 

 ences between capital and labor, because there will 

 be no capitalist, and all will be laborers or starve. 



Chas. Field. 



Eskimo building-snow. 



In your issue of Jan. 15, 1886, you give an illus- 

 tration of what purports to be ' hardened snow ' 

 impacted on a Mount Washington telegraph - pole 

 by a strong gale. During the past winter I have 



