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Table of Contents
Index415
vii
List of Tables, Figures,
and Photos
Tables
1.1 Defining “Public Policy” 4
1.2 A Public Policy Morphology 10
1.3 Selected Disciplines That Study Public Policy 11
3.1 Elements of American Political Stability 92
3.2 Separation (and Sharing) of Powers 98
4.1 Measuring Legislative Activity: Bills, Amendments, Joint Resolutions, and
Concurrent Resolutions in the 105th, 113th, and 115th Congresses 117
4.2 Committees in the 115th Congress 124
6.1 Types of Causal Theories with Examples 228
7.1 Levels of Policy Codification 250
7.2 Actors, Stability, and Visibility of Various Policy Types 260
7.3 Wilson’s Cost-Benefit Policy Typology 267
8.1 Three Views on the Appropriate Role of the Policy Analyst 293
8.2 Rational-Comprehensive Decision-Making and Bounded Rationality 298
9.1 Elements of Policy Design 308
9.2 Types of Policy Tools or Instruments 328
9.3 Characteristics of Policy Instruments 334
10.1 Explanations for Policy Failure 356
11.1 Anecdotes and Evidence 379
Figures
2.1 The Stages Model of the Policy Process 34
2.2 A Systems Model of Politics and Policy 36
viii
List of Tables, Figures, and Photos
ix
List of Tables, Figures, and Photos
Photos
1.1 Depending on the current state of politics, government sometimes changes
what it does and what it does not do. 5
3.1 Photographs such as this one, which became known as “Migrant Mother,” by
photographers working for New Deal agencies, both reflected the need for
New Deal programs and provided political support for a continued and strong
federal government role in relief. 85
3.2 The Social Security Act was a New Deal program that helped protect retirees
from poverty. 86
3.3 This sign, at a bus station in Rome, Georgia, is emblematic of the forms of
discrimination against African Americans that prevailed under Jim Crow laws. 101
3.4 1963 March on Washington. A view of over 200,000 marchers along the Capitol
Mall, August 28, 1963. 103
4.1 The U.S. Capitol building. Why has this building come to symbolize the whole
of the U.S. government? 118
5.1 Individuals in the United States may protest actions of government, industries,
or other people. From what you see here, do these individuals belong to any
formally organized or informal interest groups? What is being expressed with
their signs? 175
6.1 E-Scooter share programs are becoming increasingly popular in many U.S. cities. 208
7.1 A storefront displaying a sign indicating that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, or S.N.A.P., benefits are accepted there. This is an example of a
“redistributive” policy and, as such, is accompanied by fierce political debates
over these policies’ desirability. Why do you think this is so? 265
9.1 A Transportation Security Administration agent performing a scan on a
passenger. Do you think our system of aviation security was designed through
careful policy analysis? Or as a result of persuasive appeals to “do something”
after the September 11 attacks? Or both, or other reasons? 319
x
Preface to the
Fifth Edition
In a prior edition of this book, I wrote that “it has long been said that one never really gets to
know a subject until one has to teach it.” If this is true, it’s doubly true that one really learns a
subject when one writes a book about it. Indeed, I’ve learned a great deal about my field in the
course of revising this book, particularly while adding new material based on what I’ve learned in
my own research, and that I’ve learned from my colleagues. Like the prior editions, I have writ-
ten this book to be a starting point in what I hope you will find to be an interesting and fruitful
lifetime of thinking about and engaging in public policy making.
What struck me in rewriting this book is how similar this book is to other books in the
public policy field, and how it’s different. The main point of difference is this: the audience for
this book is students with some background in the study of politics, as well as students with
little or no background in the study of politics, particularly American politics. This aspect of
the book is based in the original motivation for writing this textbook. In the late 1990s and
early 2000s, I was part of the University at Albany’s (SUNY) master’s program in Biodiversity
and Conservation Policy. The program included a required course in politics and policy with an
emphasis on policies relating to environmental conservation. For many students, this course
was initially quite daunting, because most students who study the sciences do not study poli-
tics and policy extensively. Of course, these students were very bright and motivated, but they
found the complexity (or what my students called its “messiness”) and seemingly random com-
plexity of the policy process confusing. There are few “laws” of political behavior that work the
same way as the “laws” of physical phenomena.
My goal in writing this book is to provide an overview of the policy process that acknowledges
this complexity while showing how policy scholars have developed ways that we can think systemat-
ically about a seemingly chaotic process.This systematic thinking doesn’t approach the precision of,
say, a fundamental law of physics. But it helps us to focus on the important variables in policy making,
and, in particular for my students, it helped them to understand their role in this process.
There are many fine books on the public policy process, many of which introduce policy
theory, but which focus more on the actual content of public policy. One of my goals in writing
xi
Preface to the Fifth Edition
this book was to fill in the gap between the end of the theoretical sections of these books—
which are often quite thin, and which sometimes do not account for current scholarship in the
field—and the case studies that are staples in these textbooks. Striking the right balance in the
classroom between the theoretical and the substantive or “practical” is a challenge throughout
the social sciences, and I hope this book helps teachers balance these two important aspects
of the public policy curriculum. Indeed, one of the things I hope to stress is that there’s no real
separation between “theory” and “practice” or the so-called real world. Our theories are funda-
mentally about explaining what happens in the real world, not simply conjectures with no basis
in actual policy making. I have included examples in the book, based on my research or on inter-
esting things I’ve learned about from my colleagues, in the newspapers, or en route to learning
about something else. Such serendipitous discoveries make the study of public policy fresh and
fascinating, and I hope I’ve conveyed some of that excitement in this book.
Another motivation for this book was my interest in providing a primer in public policy for
advanced undergraduates or graduate students in courses and programs that are not primarily
about public policy, but in which an understanding of public policy is particularly useful. Such
courses include, among others, courses on engineering and public policy, science and technology
policy, social welfare policy or, indeed, any field in which government acts, and where students
would benefit from a readable but theoretically informed treatment of the policy process.
I also hope people who are returning to policy studies or are seeking to teach themselves
about the process will find this book useful. Returning students, and those who are pursuing
graduate studies after some years of professional experience, will find that policy studies grow
and change quite quickly. This book is intended to help students, whether they are studying in a
formal educational institution or on their own, to become current with some important ideas
in the study of policy. I urge all readers to think of this book as a beginning or a supplement, and
certainly not the final word on public policy.
Readers of this book will find that this book focuses primarily on policy making in the
United States. Many students will find that this book recapitulates concepts learned in introduc-
tory American politics courses.This is intentional, as this book was designed to provide students
who do not have extensive backgrounds in American politics with a single volume overview of
the policy process. While many of the theories that are introduced in this book can be applied
in other political systems and contexts, my expertise is in policy making in the United States.
Some of the examples contained in this book do draw on experiences from other countries, and
I hope that readers of this book from outside the United States are able to gain some insight
into the policy process in the United States, and to consider how what scholars working in the
United States are developing theories and ideas that have broader applications to other coun-
tries and systems.
xii
What’s Ahead
This book starts with an overview of the idea of policy studies as both an academic discipline
and an “applied” science. I review my thinking on what makes policy studies an appropriate
endeavor for systematic or scientific study, even when the subject of study seems to be so irra-
tional and even when we are the subject of the discipline itself!
Chapter 2 is an update of key social, economic, and demographic trends that influence and
will influence policy making for some time to come. Most students of political science and of
public policy have a broad sense of the ideas and trends reflected in the graphs contained in
Chapter 2, but I think there will be some surprises and interesting insights as well. This chapter
has been updated to the most current data available at the time of its writing in late 2018.
Chapter 3 focuses on the historical and structural features of American politics that influ-
ence public policy; this chapter contrasts with Chapter 2 in that it describes a more stable
set of external variables that shape public policy. This division between dynamic and changing
environmental variables reflects Paul Sabatier’s thinking in his Advocacy Coalition Framework
(described in greater detail) in the policy process. This discussion is particularly important, as
most political scientists and policy scholars acknowledge the importance of the structure and
rules under which policy making is conducted. Students are often taught—or at least are allowed
to conclude—that the rules and structure are neutral, and that anyone who wants to play the
game can get involved in politics and “make a difference” in their community.
By contrast, I argue that the founders of our constitutional order purposefully designed
our system to favor commercial interests and property holders and to make it hard for mass
publics to mobilize and seek a share of the wealth. For those interested in policy change, the
structure is troubling, for it suggests that mass movements and participatory democracy are not
likely to carry the day in policy debates. But, as highlighted throughout this book, there are cir-
cumstances under which policy can change, and sometimes policy changes quite rapidly. Indeed,
one of the most fascinating aspects of politics comes in understanding when, against the odds,
policy change based on mass mobilization is possible. And, of course, not all change is welcome,
and liberals and conservatives alike have engaged in attempts—often aided by the structure of
xiii
What’s Ahead
our system—to slow down policy change. I draw no normative conclusion here—we can simply
observe that the system is resistant to change to the frustration of some and the relief of others.
The various institutions and people that make public policy are described in Chapters 4 and
5. Chapter 4 describes the official or institutional actors in the process—the legislative, execu-
tive, and judiciary. Chapter 5 continues this discussion with the unofficial actors, such as interest
groups and media, and then outlines the ways in which we think about how all the actors come
together—in “iron triangles,” sub-governments, and issue networks—to debate and negotiate
policy alternatives. Much of this sort of material, particularly in Chapter 4, will be familiar, at least
in form, to students of American politics. My goal here is not simply to enumerate the various
political institutions but, instead, to explain why these institutions matter in making the public
policies that govern our lives.
Groups, power, and agenda setting are reviewed in Chapter 6. This is discussed at some
length, as agenda setting is among the most important stages of the policy process (and, not
coincidentally, it is the “stage” of the policy process in which much of my own research has been
focused). It is at this stage that groups exercise political power to achieve their goals, either by
promoting change or blocking it. The use of power in politics is subtle and complex, particularly
in our political system. Understanding of what power is, how it is acquired, and how it is used
to prevent issues from gaining attention is a key to understanding why any political system
does some things while not doing others, even in the face of obvious needs or logic that would
seem to compel a “superior” course of action. Again, this question of power is challenging, and
raises important questions about fairness, equity, and democratic governance, which are import-
ant considerations in any policy context.
Chapter 7 then describes several different ways one can categorize the substance of pol-
icies to better understand the political process behind making these policies. Like so much in
public policy studies, these descriptions of policy types are not final, but they are useful as a way
of stimulating thinking about what governments do, and what we ask governments to do.
Chapters 8, 9, and 10 were newly organized in the Fourth Edition, and this new organiza-
tion appears to have appealed to many students and instructors. Chapter 8 considers the rela-
tionship between the study of the policy process and the profession of the policy analyst. Many
students in the courses for which this book is assigned aspire to be policy analysts. I hope this
discussion is helpful in locating their role as analysts within the broader public policy process
while stimulating interest in reading more extensive books that are typically assigned in pol-
icy analysis courses. Chapter 8 helps explain how policy analysis and policy process studies
have common roots in work by, in particular, Harold Lasswell, but I also hope to highlight that
studies of the policy process differ in important ways from the study of policy analysis as a
professional practice.
Chapter 9 is devoted to a discussion of policy design and policy tools. While this subject is
inextricably related to the success or failure of policy implementation, the discussion of policy
xiv
What’s Ahead
implementation, failure, and learning is contained in its own chapter (Chapter 10). Policy imple-
mentation is a well-studied aspect of the policy process, which considers the oft-forgotten work
that must come after the excitement of policy enactment has passed. Implementation—putting
a program into effect—is often as difficult and contentious as policy design and enactment, and
in some cases is more difficult to manage. Because of the difficulties inherent in policy design
and implementation, many people will claim that policies have failed to meet their goals. I have
updated Chapter 10 with additional references and a discussion of the current state of imple-
mentation studies, which, to preview, is a lot more vibrant and active than what many scholars—
including myself—have believed about implementation. I then link implementation to ideas of
policy failure by outlining the various ways in which any policy can be said to be a failure. The
complexity of policy making, with interconnectedness of policy impacts but disjointed policy
design, makes real or claimed failure almost inevitable based on how one defines failure, which
makes policy implementation that much more daunting.
Chapter 11 puts all these elements of policy making together by considering modern theo-
ries of the policy process. By exploring theories and thinking of the policy process as a “system,”
the inputs to and outputs from the political system are summarized and discussed in terms
of their relationship to the political system, or what is often called “the black box” in systems
models. The second half of the chapter discusses five of the most commonly used frameworks
for studying the policy process. Five different approaches or frameworks are introduced, and the
descriptions of these approaches has been substantially expanded so as to introduce students to
these approaches. My hope is that this whets your appetite for further study of these approaches,
which are fascinating and which have remarkable similarities and important differences.
xv
What’s Ahead
could kill millions of people. As time passed, concerns about terrorism eased somewhat, but not
to their levels before September 11.
In any case, concerns about terrorism were replaced by deep concern with the state of the
national economy. The costs of the “bailout” of financial institutions, and of automakers GM and
Chrysler, helped cause the federal budget deficit to balloon to near-record levels. The growth
in the federal budget deficit slowed until after the election of Donald Trump as president in
2016. The major tax reform (or tax cut, depending on your position) enacted in 2017 yielded
decreased federal revenue and ballooning budget deficits.
It is a testament to the capacity and resilience of the American political and policy system
that some issues remain important even in the face of challenges like the financial crisis, ter-
rorism, environmental disasters, and the outcome of one of the most contentious elections in
American history. Because we are a large, generally wealthy, and powerful nation founded on a
set of principles that people hold dear—democracy, constitutional government, the rule of law,
and liberty, to name a few—these political controversies will persist in American politics, not
because we enjoy arguing (although some of us do enter politics for this reason!) but because
many people passionately care about these issues, and believe just as passionately that their
ideas are the ones that will work best. This passion has been evident in elections since at least
2008. And these passions help set policy-making goals for people who get involved in the policy
process. This book is about how these passions are translated into actions by government.
***
In the nearly 20 years since I first began writing this book, I have been privileged to hear from
many colleagues, students, and friends about how they used this book. I greatly value their
comments and suggestions.The First Edition would not have been possible without the extraor-
dinary help and support of Scott Barclay, Brian Davis, Mark Donovan, Ben Fordham, Jennifer
Krausnick, Regina Lawrence, Peter May, Henrik Minassians, Bob Nakamura, and Beryl Radin.
In the Second Edition, I acknowledged the debt I still owe to my students in my undergrad-
uate course, Introduction to Public Policy, and in my graduate courses in Politics and Policy and
Biodiversity and Conservation Policy at the University at Albany. And my friend and colleague
Sarah Anderson at Albany was a helpful and patient reader and critic. At Albany, two teaching
assistants, Paul Alexander and Michael Deegan, created the core of the definitions of the key
terms and the discussion questions.
Since joining the faculty at North Carolina State, I have revised this book three times,
with the assistance of advanced graduate students and undergraduates. The foundation for this
edition was laid, in the Fourth Edition, by an outstanding group of Ph.D. students at NC State—
Susan Camilleri, Annie Izod, Emily McCartha, and Meg Warnement—who, at various times,
took on the tedious work of updating citations, graphs and charts, and the other things that
xvi
What’s Ahead
have improved this edition. For the current edition of this book, graduate students Zach Lewis
and Katy Schwaeble tackled the many updates that were required. Our graduate student Brad
Johnson—an expert on the public participation process in public policy—contributed much of
the case study on net neutrality in Chapter 7. Any errors or omissions are, of course, mine, and
there would be many more were it not for the fantastic students I’ve worked with over the
years. I also owe a particular debt to Kristin O’Donovan, of Wayne State University, and Rob
DeLeo, of Bentley University, both of whom provided me with extensive comments and ideas
that I was able to use to improve this book.To all those friends and colleagues whose help I have
failed to acknowledge, I thank you all for your support, ideas, and friendship.
One thing hasn’t changed: I still dedicate this book to my wife Molly, and my kids Oskar and
Ike, for their love, patience, and tolerance of dad taking over the one really good computer in
the house during writing time. The boys are now starting to come of that age when politics and
government seems more relevant and immediate to them. I hope that, in writing this book, I can
inspire them and members of their generation, as well as the generations that came before and
will come after, to take an active interest in politics, government, and the maintenance of the
democratic institutions on which our system depends.
xvii
Introducing the Policy
1 Process
CHAPTER AT A GLANCE
CC Overview
CC Conclusion
CC Key Terms
CC Additional Reading
CC References
1
Introducing the Policy Process
Overview
This book is about how public policy is made in the United States. My goal in writing this book
is to introduce you to the way in which social scientists have developed theories of how public
policies are designed, enacted, and implemented. In particular, this book is about the public pol-
icy process, drawing on current research on how policy is made. This focus on policy process
theory sets this book apart from those textbooks on public policy that tend to summarize the
substance of public policy, such as “environmental policy” or “energy policy” or “health policy.”
Other public policy textbooks approach public policy from an economic perspective—as a form
of policy analysis, which can be rather different from analysis based in politics (Stone 2012) (I
take this topic up in Chapter 8). Many of these books develop new theories of the policy process,
but often those theories are unique to these textbooks, and are unfamiliar to those of us who
study policy making as a political activity.
This book focuses on approaches to the policy process that are currently being developed,
applied, tested, and refined by an active, interdisciplinary community of scholars from around the
world. I am very privileged to be a member of this community, and one of my goals in this book
is to invite you to join this diverse and lively community of scholars, and to help you to navigate
the wealth of ideas being generated in contemporary policy research.
This book describes how policy is shaped by and, in turn, shapes the social, institutional,
political, economic context in which public policy is made. Much of this description will be
familiar to anyone who has studied political science and, in particular, American politics. The
difference between this book and an introductory American politics textbook is that I am inter-
ested in how groups, institutions, and structures influence public policy making, starting with the
assumption that the proponents of new policies firmly believe that there are real problems that
require government attention, and that their preferred solutions are the best way to address
these problems.
Understanding the policy process in the way I outline in this book may help you to make
sense of how and why government makes decisions about what to do. For example, why
does the U.S. government allow some people to deduct mortgage interest from their income
taxes? Why don’t other countries, like Canada, offer similar incentives to buy houses? Why
don’t renters get similar tax breaks, or why don’t landlords get tax breaks that might reduce
rents? Would such tax breaks reduce rents? Why doesn’t the United States have a single-payer,
comprehensive health insurance system like many other countries? Why is the idea of creating
such a system so passionately resisted by some people? Why does the United States regulate
gun ownership far less stringently than do other nations? Of course, we could reframe the
question: why do other countries have stricter gun laws? What is it about different countries’
constitutions, cultures, politics, and institutions that make them differ from one another? In
2
Introducing the Policy Process
particular, what is it about the United States that makes it similar to other countries, as well
as different?
Other questions reveal puzzlement over the constitutional structure, and how that struc-
ture influences public policy. Why is the federal government so deeply involved in crime and
education policy when the U.S. constitutional system places the primary responsibility for these
programs in the state and local governments? Why would some states and the federal govern-
ment permit the use of capital punishment for certain crimes, while other states have stopped
using capital punishment? Another class of questions relates to the policy tools governments
employ to achieve certain goals. Is regulation of consumer product safety better for public safety,
or would greater reliance on the market and better information for consumers work better to
promote public safety? Do lower taxes on the wealthy spur greater investment in job creation,
or do lower taxes simply starve government of the funds to provide what we might argue are
essential public services, such as education or law enforcement? These are questions that moti-
vate many people of all ideological and political persuasions to better the public policy process
and its role in identifying, defining, and seeking solutions to public problems.
We ask these kinds of questions because we assume people want to be problem solvers, and
many people think that government should either help to solve problems or, where they believe
that government causes more problems than it solves, people want government to get out of
the way. People, therefore, study the policy process to better understand why government does
what it does, but people also study the process to learn how to create the policies they want
government to pursue. People participate in policy making because they perceive that there are
problems for which government, at some level, can provide solutions. Others participate, in turn,
because they believe that those problems may not exist at all, or, if they do exist, they are best
handled by markets, or by families, or by nonprofit organizations, or churches, or any number of
other means. We study public policy because we want to understand these problems. But, more
to the point of this book, we study the public policy process to better understand how people
and groups define problems, how they seek solutions to those problems, and how they persuade
other people that their ideas are superior to those promoted by other people and groups. The
ultimate goal for many policy scholars, as I will explore in more depth in the final chapter of this
book, is to help us to understand the conditions under which policies change.
3
Introducing the Policy Process
own role in policy making, as well as that of the organization they work for. As I was writing
this chapter for the First Edition of this book, a member of the policy analysis office of a New
York State agency called me. The agency was engaging in a strategic planning initiative; to do so,
it needed to establish its mission—its very reason for existence. Because this agency influences
taxation, spending, and government performance assessment—that is, public policy in the broad
sense—the caller was particularly interested in defining the term public policy, because it was
clear to her that her agency did indeed make public policy, but how could they be sure without
a good definition of the idea? She wanted a definition so that her agency could know better how
public policy relates to its work. The analyst ran through a list of the classic public policy texts,
and asked if these were good sources of a definition of public policy. She was puzzled because it
was hard to know which definition was the “right” one.
She was asking for a definition of “public policy” so that her agency could more readily
distinguish what is and what is not public policy, so as to focus its efforts on its public policy func-
tions. I shared with her Thomas Dye’s argument that the search for a definition of public policy
can degenerate into a word game that, eventually, does little to improve our understanding of the
idea. I suggested to the caller that she review the definitions outlined in Table 1.1, which shows
some examples of the definitions of public policy that one could draw from, and some strengths
and weaknesses of these definitions.
TABLE 1.1
Defining “Public Policy”
Definition Author
“The term public policy always refers to the actions of Clarke E. Cochran et al.a
government and the intentions that determine those actions.”
“Public policy is the outcome of the struggle in government over Clarke E. Cochran et al.
who gets what.”
“Whatever governments choose to do or not to do.” Thomas Dyeb
“Public policy consists of political decisions for implementing Charles L. Cochran and Eloise
programs to achieve societal goals.” F. Malonec
“Stated most simply, public policy is the sum of government B. Guy Petersd
activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as it has an
influence on the life of citizens.”
a Clarke E. Cochran et al., American Public Policy: An Introduction. 10th edn (Boston, MA: Cengage Wadsworth, 2010).
b Thomas R. Dye, Understanding Public Policy. 14th edn (Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013).
c Charles L. Cochran and Eloise F. Malone, Public Policy: Perspectives and Choices. 4th edn (Boulder, CO: Lynne
Rienner Publishers, 2010).
d B. Guy Peters, American Public Policy: Promise and Performance. 8th edn (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010).
4
Introducing the Policy Process
No single definition may ever be developed, but we can see these key attributes of public
policy:
CC Public policy is made in response to some sort of problem and that deserves some sort of
government response.
CC Public policy is made in the “public interest,” a term enclosed in quotation marks because
not everyone will agree on the public interest.
CC Policy is interpreted and implemented by public and private actors who have different moti-
vations, and therefore will bring different interpretations of problems and solutions.
CC Public policy is oriented toward a goal or desired state, such as reducing the incidence or
severity of some sort of a problem.
CC Policy is ultimately made by governments (Howlett, Ramesh, and Perl 2009, 5), even if the
ideas come from outside government or through the interaction of government and non-
governmental actors.
PHOTO 1.1
Depending on the current state of politics, government sometimes changes what it does and what it does
not do.
Source: Shutterstock.
5
Introducing the Policy Process
While reaching a consensus on one definition of public policy has proved difficult, all the
variants of the definition suggest that public policy making is public—it affects a greater variety
of people and interests than do private decisions. This is why government and the policies made
by government are sometimes so controversial, frustrating and, at the same time, very important.
I define a policy as a statement by government—at whatever level, in whatever form—of
what it intends to do about a public problem. For example, a law that says that those caught
driving while intoxicated will go to jail or lose their driving privileges is a statement of gov-
ernmental policy to punish drunk drivers. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a
statement of government policy about how the federal government will make decisions that
affect the natural environment.The First Amendment is itself a statement of public policy, which
specifies that Congress cannot abridge religious, speech, or press freedoms, by stating, “Con-
gress shall make no law . . .” The First Amendment is, therefore, a statement about where the
federal government will make no policy; of course, the interpretation of whether some policy
that is actually made somehow violates the First Amendment poses very difficult legal and
political decisions. These decisions are usually made by the courts. For example, the Court’s
decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a statement of
policy that claims to implement the free speech provisions of the First Amendment to the
Constitution, by stating that the federal government cannot regulate the independent political
speech of nonprofit organizations.
Because many scholars also define public policy as what government chooses not to do, we can
say that the lack of a definitive statement of policy may be evidence of an implicit policy decision,
which is quite different from a clear and explicit statement of policy, or from a vague and broad
statement of policy. The United States government has never declared, as a legal or constitu-
tional matter, rights to education, or healthcare, or decent housing, or a living wage; therefore,
we can assume that the implicit policy is that there is no right to these things, while some other
nations do express these as rights. By not making them rights, our government puts these sorts
of government or private services in a different category than, for example, the right to worship
or to have a jury trial. While we might pass policies to address the problems that arise when
dealing with these policy matters, we generally do not treat them as matters of right. In the
United States, one cannot claim that the failure of the federal government to provide education,
healthcare, or many other things violates a right stated or implied by the Constitution, although
people do make arguments based on rights to attempt to enact favorable policies (on the issue
of rights as policies, see Stone 2012, Chapter 15).
6
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
the Great Western was now given to the suitable distribution of the
metal.”
A balanced rudder and bilge keels were parts of her original
construction, and an unusual method of lapping the plates was used.
“Apart from their size, the design of the engines of the Great Britain
necessarily presented many peculiarities. The boilers, which were 6
in number, were placed touching each other, so as to form one large
boiler about 33 feet square, divided by one transverse and two
longitudinal partitions.
“It would seem that the boiler was worked with a pressure of
about 8 pounds on the square inch.
“The main shaft of the engine had a crank at either end of it, and
was made hollow; a stream of water being kept running through it,
so as to prevent heating in the bearings. An important part in the
design was the method by which motion was transmitted from the
engine-shaft to the screw-shaft, for the screw was arranged to go
three revolutions to each revolution of the engines. Where the
engines do not drive the screw directly, this is now universally
effected by means of toothed gearing; but when the engines of the
Great Britain were made, it was thought that this arrangement
would be too jarring and noisy. After much consideration, chains
were used, working round different-sized drums, with notches in
them, into which fitted projections on the chains.”
On July 10, 1843, this (for the time) great ship was floated out of
dock; but it was not until January 23, 1845, that she left Bristol for
London, making on her voyage an average of 121⁄3 knots an hour.
She left Liverpool for New York on August 26th, and arrived on
September 10th, having made the passage out in 14 days and 21
hours; she returned in 151⁄2 days. During the next winter, after one
more voyage to New York, alterations were made, to give a better
supply of steam, and a new screw was fitted. She made two voyages
to New York in 1846; and on September 22d she left Liverpool on a
third, but overran her reckoning and stranded in Dundrum Bay, on
the northeast coast of Ireland, when it was supposed she was only
rounding the Isle of Man. This unfortunate event completed the ruin
of the company, already in financial straits through the competition
of the Cunard line; and the ship after her rescue, effected August 27,
1847, almost a year after grounding, was “sold to Messrs. Gibbs,
Bright & Co., of Liverpool, by whom she was repaired and fitted with
auxiliary engines of 500 nominal horse-power. On a general survey
being made it was found that she had not suffered any alteration of
form, nor was she at all strained. She was taken out of dock in
October, 1851, and since that time she has made regular voyages
between Liverpool and Australia.”
These last few lines appear in the “Life of Brunel,” published in
1870. But she was later changed into a sailing-ship, and only in 1886
stranded again at the Falkland Islands. She was floated; but being
badly injured, was sold to serve as a hulk, and there no doubt will be
passed the last days of what may be regarded one of the famous
ships of the world. She was, for the time, as bold a conception as
was her great designer’s later venture, the Great Eastern.
The acceptance by the English Government of the Cunard
company’s bid for the contract for carrying the mails to America
resulted in putting afloat, in 1840, the Acadia, Britannia, Columbia,
and Caledonia. The first vessels of the Cunard line were all wooden
paddle-wheel steamers, with engines by Napier, of Glasgow, of the
usual side-lever class; the return-flue boilers and jet-condensers
were used, the latter holding their place for many years to come,
though surface condensation had already appeared as an
experiment. The company was to carry the mails fortnightly between
Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston, regular sailings to be adhered to, and
four vessels to be employed, for the sum of £81,000 ($400,000) per
annum. The contract was made for seven years, but was continued
from time to time for forty-six—no break occurring in this nearly half-
century’s service, when the Umbria—November 4, 1886—was the
first ship in the history of the company to leave Liverpool on the
regular day of sailing for America without mails. This break,
however, was but momentary, and the line almost at once resumed
its ancient duty.
The Britannia was the first of the fleet to sail; and, strange to say
(from the usual seaman’s point of view), Friday, July 4, 1840, was
the day selected. She arrived at Boston in 14 days and 8 hours, a
very successful passage for the time.
It must have required considerable moral courage in the
projectors to inaugurate such an undertaking on a day of the week
which has been so long on the black-list of sailor superstition,
notwithstanding it had the advantage of being the anniversary of the
Declaration of American Independence. The success of this line
ought certainly to rehabilitate Friday to a position of equality among
the more fortunate days, though it will be observed that none of the
transatlantic lines have yet selected it as a day of sailing.
The Britannia, which was representative of the quartette, was of
the following dimensions: Length of keel and fore rake, 207 ft.;
breadth of beam, 34 ft. 2 in.; depth of hold, 22 ft. 4 in.; mean
draught, 16 ft. 10 in.; displacement, 2,050 tons; diameter of
cylinder, 721⁄2 in.; length of stroke, 82 in.; number of boilers, 4;
pressure carried, 9 lbs. per sq. in.; number of furnaces, 12; fire-
grate area, 222 ft.; indicated horse-power, 740; coal consumption
per indicated horse-power per hour, 5.1 lbs.; coal consumption per
day, 38 tons; bunker capacity, 640 tons; cargo capacity, 225 tons;
cabin passengers carried, 90; average speed, 8.5 knots.
It will thus be seen that these ships were not an advance upon the
Great Western, but were even slightly smaller, with about the same
coal consumption and with rather less speed.
Plan of the Hibernia and Cambria.
The three other vessels of the Collins line were the Baltic, Atlantic,
and Pacific. They formed a notable fleet, and fixed for many years to
come the type of the American steamship in model and
arrangement. They were the work of a man of genius who had the
courage to cast aside tradition where it interfered with practical
purposes. The bowsprit was dispensed with; the vertical stem, now
so general, was adopted, and everything subordinated to the use of
the ships as steamers.
But great disaster was in store for these fine ships. The Arctic, on
September 21, 1854, while on her voyage out, was struck by the
French steamer Vesta, in a fog off Cape Race, and but 46 out of the
268 persons on board were saved. The Pacific left Liverpool on June
23, 1856, and was never heard of after. The Adriatic, a much finer
ship than any of her predecessors, was put afloat; but the line was
doomed. Extravagance in construction and management, combined
with the losses of two of their ships and a refusal of further aid from
the Government, were too much for the line to bear, and in 1858 the
end came. Ever since, the European companies, with the exception
of the time during which the line from Philadelphia has been running
and the time during which some desultory efforts have been put
forth, have had to compete among themselves. The sworn
statement of the Collins company had shown the first four ships to
have cost $2,944,142.71. The actual average cost of each of the first
28 voyages was $65,215.64; and the average receipts, $48,286.85—
showing a loss on each voyage of $16,928.79.
To discuss the causes of our failure to hold our own in the carrying
trade of the world may seem somewhat out of place, but the subject
is so interesting in many ways that a few words may not be amiss.
The following is a comparative table showing the steam tonnage
of the United States and of the British Empire, beginning with the
year in which ocean steam navigation may be said to have been put
fairly on its feet. Our own is divided into “oversea,” or that which can
trade beyond United States waters, and “enrolled,” which includes all
in home waters:
British
United States
Empire
Years Total
(including
Oversea Enrolled
Colonies)
1838 2,791 190,632 193,423 82,716
1840 4,155 198,184 202,339 95,807
1842 4,701 224,960 229,681 118,930
1844 6,909 265,270 272,179 125,675
1846 6,287 341,606 347,893 144,784
1848 16,068 411,823 427,891 168,087
1850 44,942 481,005 525,947 187,631
1852 79,704 563,536 643,240 227,306
1854 95,036 581,571 676,607 326,484
1855 115,045 … … …
1856 89,715 583,362 673,077 417,717
1858 78,027 651,363 729,390 488,415
1860 97,269 770,641 500,144 500,144
It will be seen from this table how great the extension of the use
of the steamboat had been in the United States in these earlier
years, as compared with that elsewhere. In 1852 our enrolled
tonnage had grown to more than half a million tons, or well on to
three times the whole of that of the British Empire, and our oversea
tonnage was about one-third of that of Great Britain and her
dependencies.
One reason for this very rapid increase in the enrolled tonnage
was, of course, the fact that railroads had not yet begun to seam the
West, as they were shortly to do: the steamboat was the great and
absolutely necessary means of transport, and was to hold its
prominence in this regard for some years yet to come. When this
change came, there came with it a change in circumstances which
went far beyond all other causes in removing our shipping from the
great place it had occupied in the first half of this century. But great
as was the effect worked by this change, there were certain minor
causes which have to be taken into account. We had grown in
maritime power through the events of the Napoleonic wars—which,
though they worked ruin to many an unlucky owner, enriched many
more—as we were for some years almost the only neutral bottoms
afloat; we had rapidly increased this power during the succeeding
forty years, during which time our ships were notably the finest
models and the most ably commanded on the seas; the best blood
of New England went into the service, and one has but to read the
reports of the English parliamentary commissions upon the shipping
subject to realize the proud position which our ships and, above all,
our ships’ captains held in the carrying trade. We had entered the
steam competition with an energy and ability that promised much,
but we gave little or no heed to changes in construction until long
after they had been accepted by the rest of the world; and it is to
this conservatism, paradoxical as the expression may seem applied
to our countrymen, that part of our misfortune was due.
The first of the changes we were so unwilling to accept was that
from wood to iron; the other was that from paddle to screw. Even so
late as the end of the decade 1860-70, while all the world else was
building ships of iron, propelled by screws, some of which were
driven by compound engines, our last remaining great company, the
Pacific Mail, put afloat four magnificent failures (from the commercial
point of view), differing scarcely in any point, except in size, from
those of 1850-56. They were of wood, and had the typically national
over-head beam engine. They were most comfortable and luxurious
boats; but the sending them into the battle of commerce at such a
date, was like pitting the old wooden three-decker with her sixty-four
pounders against the active steel cruiser of to-day and her modern
guns. Many of the iron screws built at the same time are still in
active service; but the fine old China, America, Alaska, and Japan
are long since gone, and with them much of the company’s success
and fortune.
Of course, one great reason for this non-acceptance was the fact
that, with us, wood for ship-building was still plentiful, and that it
was cheaper so to build than to build in iron, to which material
English builders were driven by an exact reversal of these
conditions; and the retention of the paddle over the screw was due
in a certain degree to the more frequent necessity of repair of
wooden screw ships, to which it is not possible to give the necessary
structural strength at the stern to withstand successfully the jarring
action of the screw at high speeds.
The part in advancing the British commercial fleet played by the
abrogation of the navigation laws, in 1849, which had their birth in
the time of Cromwell (and to which we have held with such tenacity,
as ours were modelled upon theirs), need only be barely mentioned.
British ship-owners were in despair at the change, and many sold off
their ship property to avoid what they expected to be the ruin of the
shipping trade, but the change was only to remove the fetters which
they had worn so long that they did not know them as such.
But the great and overwhelming cause, to which the effect of our
navigation laws were even secondary, was the opening up of the
vast region lying west of the earlier formed States; the building of
our gigantic system of railways; the exploitation, in a word, of the
great interior domain, of the possibilities of which, preceding 1850,
we were only dimly conscious, and so much of which had only just
been added by the results of the Mexican War. It is so difficult, from
the present standpoint, to realize the mighty work which has been
done on the American continent in this short space of forty years,
that its true bearings on this subject are sometimes disregarded. The
fact that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, at this date, was not running
its trains beyond Cumberland, Md., will give an impression of the
vastness of the work which was done later.
The period 1850-60 cannot be passed over without a mention of
the Great Eastern, though she can hardly be said to have been in
the line of practical development, which was not so much in
enlargement of hull as in change in character of machinery. Brunel’s
son, in his “Life” of his father, says: “It was no doubt his connection
with the Australian Mail Company (1851-53) that led Mr. Brunel to
work out into practical shape the idea of a great ship for the Indian
or Australian service, which had long occupied his mind.”
The Great Eastern was to attempt to solve by her bulk the
problem of coal capacity which was later to be solved by high
pressures and surface condensation. The ship finally determined on
was 680 feet long, 83 feet broad, with a mean draught of 25 feet,
with screw engines of 4,000 indicated horse-power and paddle-
engines of 2,600, to work with steam from 15 to 25 pounds pressure
—thus curiously uniting in herself at this transition period the two
rival systems of propulsion. She was begun at Millwall, London, in
the spring of 1854, and was finally launched, after many difficulties,
on January 30, 1858. Her history is too well known to be dwelt upon
here. She has experienced many vicissitudes and misfortunes, and it
is well that her great projector (who paid for her with his life, as he
died the year after her launching) did not live to see her used as an
exhibit, in 1886, in the River Mersey, her great sides serving to
blazon the name and fame of a Liverpool clothing establishment.
She was sold the next year for the pitiful sum of £8,000 and broken
up.
The year 1855 marks the high-water mark of the paddle-steamer
era. In that year were built the Adriatic, by the Collins line, and the
Persia, as a competitor (and the twenty-eighth ship of the company),
by the Cunard. But the former was of wood, the latter of iron. She
was among the earlier ships of this material to be built by the
Cunard company, and, with the slightly larger Scotia, built in 1862,
was, for some years after the cessation of the Collins line, the
favorite and most successful steamer upon the Atlantic. She was 376
feet long, 45 feet 3 inches broad, and of about 5,500 tons
displacement. Her cylinders were 1001⁄2 inches diameter, with 120
inches stroke, and she had—as also the preceding ship, the Arabia—
tubular boilers instead of the old flue.
How great an advantage she was upon their first ship will be seen
by the following comparison:
Britannia. Persia.
Coal necessary to steam to
New York 570 tons 1,400 tons
Cargo carried 224 „ 750 „
Passengers 90 250
Indicated power 710 3,600
Pressure per square inch 9 lbs. 33 lbs.
Coal per indicated horse-power per hour 5.1 „ 3.8 „
Speed 8.5 knots 13.1 knots
Thus, for two and a half times the quantity of coal nearly three
and a half times the cargo was carried, and nearly three times the
number of passengers. This result was due partially to increased
engine efficiency, and partially to increased size of ship; and thus to
a relative reduction of the power necessary to drive a given amount
of displacement.
The Scotia was almost a sister ship to the Persia, slightly
exceeding her in size, but with no radical differences which would
mark her as an advance upon the latter. She was the last of the old
régime in the Atlantic trade, and the same year in which she was
built saw the complete acceptance by the Cunard company of the
newer order of things, in the building of the iron screw steamer
China, of 4,000 tons displacement, with oscillating geared screw
engines of 2,200 indicated horse-power, with an average speed of
12.9 knots on a daily expenditure of 82 tons of coal. She was the
first of their ships to be fitted with a surface condenser. The Scotia
had been built as a paddle steamer rather in deference to the
prejudices of passengers than in conformity to the judgment of the
company, which had put afloat iron screw ships for their
Mediterranean trade as early as 1852 and 1853.
The Britannic.
Larger image (112 kB)
There had been this slow and gradual advance in ocean steam
pressures, with a consequent reduction in coal expenditure, when in
1856 came a movement in the direction of economy by the
introduction of the compound engine, by Messrs. Randolph Elder &
Co. (later John Elder & Co.), which was soon to develop into a
revolution in marine steam enginery. The Pacific Steam Navigation
Company has the credit of first accepting this change in applying it
to their ships, the Valparaiso and Inca. The original pressure used
was 25 pounds to the inch: the cylinders were 50 and 90 inches in
diameter, and the piston speed from 230 to 250 feet per minute. The
idea of using steam expansively by this means was of course not
new, as it dates back to Hornblower (1781), but with the low
pressures which had been used at sea there was no reason for its
adoption afloat. Difficulties were experienced by the Pacific company
with their earlier engines, but the line adhered to their change, and
for nearly fourteen years were almost alone in their practice.
These changes made the use of a cylindrical boiler necessary, as
the form best able to withstand the increased pressure. The old box-
like shape has disappeared; and if the shade of Oliver Evans is ever
able to visit us, it must be with an intense feeling of satisfaction to
find his ideas of eighty years since now accepted by all the world.
The date 1870 marks the advent of a new type of ship, in those of
the Oceanic Company, better known as the White Star line, built of
iron by Harland & Wolff, of Belfast—engined with compound engines,
and of extreme length as compared with their breadth. They
established a new form, style, and interior arrangement, which has
largely been followed by other lines, though the extreme
disproportion of length and beam is now disappearing. The Britannic
and Germanic, the two largest of the earlier of this line, are 468 feet
in length and 45 feet 3 inches in beam, carrying 220 cabin
passengers and 1,100 in the steerage, besides 150 crew. They
develop 5,000 indicated horse-power, and make their passage, with
remarkable regularity, in about 8 days 10 hours to Queenstown. The
earlier ships of this line, when first built, had a means of dropping
their propeller-shaft so as to immerse more deeply the screw; so
many inconveniences, however, were associated with this that it was
given up. Their general arrangement was a most marked advance
upon that of their predecessors—an excellent move was placing the
saloon forward instead of in the stern, a change almost universally
followed.
In the same year with the Britannic came out the City of Berlin, of
the Inman line, for some years the largest steamer afloat (after the
Great Eastern), being 520 feet in length by 44 feet beam, of 5,000
indicated power, and in every way a magnificent ship.
The Bothnia and Scythia were also built in 1874, by the Cunard
company, as representatives of the new type, but were smaller than
the ships of the same period built by the Inman and White Star
lines. They were of 6,080 tons displacement and 2,780 indicated
horse-power, with a speed of 13 knots. The pressure carried was 60
pounds. These ships had by far the largest cargo-carrying capacity
(3,000 tons measurement) and passenger accommodation (340 first-
cabin) of any yet built by the company. With the addition of this
great number of steamers, change was not to be expected for some
years; and it was not until 1879, when the Guion company put afloat
the Arizona, that a beginning was made of the tremendous rivalry
which has resulted in putting upon the seas, not only the wonderful
ships which are now running upon the Atlantic, but in extending
greatly the size and speed of those employed in other service.
Several things had combined in the latter part of this decade to
bring about this advance. The great change between 1860 and
1872, from the causes already noted, which had reduced coal
consumption by one-half, was followed by the introduction of
corrugated flues and steel as a material for both boilers and hull.
With this came still higher pressures, which were carried from 60 to
80 and 90 pounds. In August, 1881, a very interesting paper was
read by Mr. F. C. Marshall, of Newcastle, before the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers, in which he showed that a saving of 13.37
per cent. in fuel had been arrived at since 1872. The general type of
engine and boiler had remained the same in these nine years, but
the increased saving had been due chiefly to increased pressures. It
is curious that at the reading of both the paper by Sir Frederick
Bramwell, in 1872, and that of Mr. Marshall, in 1881, there should
have been pretty generally expressed a feeling that something like a
finality had been reached. So little was this opinion true that, though
over thirteen per cent. saving had been effected between these two
dates, a percentage of gain more than double this was to be
recorded between the latter date and 1886. In these matters it is
dangerous to prophesy; it is safer to believe all things possible.
Certainly the wildest dreamer of 1872 did not look forward to
crossing the Atlantic at 20 knots as a not unusual speed.
The Etruria
Larger image (178 kB)
In 1874 triple-expansion engines had been designed for the
Propontis by Mr. A. C. Kirk, of Napier & Sons, of Glasgow, which, on
account of failure in the boilers which were used, did not give at first
the results hoped for. In 1881 the Messrs. Napier fitted the Aberdeen
with engines of the same kind, steam at 125 pounds pressure per
square inch being used. In the next two years the change proceeded
slowly, but by 1885 the engineering mind had so largely accepted it
that a very large proportion of the engines built in that year were on
this principle, and at the present it may be regarded as being fully
accepted as was the compound engine ten years since. The saving
in fuel is generally reckoned at from twenty to twenty-five per cent.,
or, to put it more graphically, in the words of Mr. Parker, Chief
Engineer Surveyor of Lloyds, in his interesting paper, read in July,
1886, before the Institution of Naval Architects: “Two large
passenger steamers, of over 4,500 gross tonnage, having engines of
about 6,000 indicated horse-power, built of the same dimensions,
from the same lines, with similar propellers, are exactly alike in
every respect, except so far as their machinery is concerned. One
vessel is fitted with triple-expansion engines, working at a pressure
of 145 pounds per square inch; while the other vessel is fitted with
ordinary compound engines, working at a pressure of 90 pounds per
square inch. Both vessels are engaged in the same trade and steam
at the same rate of speed, viz., 12 knots an hour. The latter vessel in
a round voyage of 84 days burns 1,200 tons more coal than the
former.”
In the epoch 1879 to 1887 the following great ships had been
placed upon the Liverpool and New York lines, their best speeds to
that date being as shown:
Days. Hours. Minutes.
1. Etruria 6 5 31
2. Umbria (sister ship) slightly longer
3. Oregon 6 10 35
4. America 6 13 44
5. City of Rome 6 18 0
6. Alaska 6 18 37
7. Servia 6 23 55
8. Aurania 7 1 1
The time had thus been shortened much more than half since 1840,
and had been lessened forty per cent. since 1860.
In addition to the ships mentioned, there had been placed upon
the line from Bremen to New York (between 1879 and 1886)
touching at Southampton, England, eight new ships of the North
German Lloyd, which form 28 altogether, the most compact and
uniform fleet upon the Atlantic. The Trave, Saale, and Aller, were
then marvels of splendor and comfort, ranking in speed and power
very little short of the fastest of the Liverpool ships. They, as were
the others of the company’s eight “express” steamers, were built by
the great firm of John Elder & Co., of Glasgow, their machinery
being designed by Mr. Bryce-Douglas, to whose genius was also due
that of the Etruria and Umbria, the Oregon, Arizona, and Alaska. The
engines of the Trave, Saale, and Aller, however, were triple-
expansion, as were the Gascogne, Bourgogne, and Champagne
(their equals in speed and equipment), of the French Compagnie
Transatlantique, which were built in France. All these steamers are of
steel, with cellular bottoms carefully subdivided, and fitted with a
luxury and comfort quite unknown thirty years ago.
Steam Fastest
Name Grate Area I.H.P. Direction
Pressure Trip
New York and
Square Feet
Queenstown Lbs. D. H. M.
City of Paris was 1,293 150 18,350 5 19 18 Westward
now 1,026
City of New York was 1,080 150 18,100 5 21 19 Westward
now 1,096
Majestic 1,154 180 18,000 5 21 20 Westward
Teutonic 1,154 180 18,000 5 19 5 Westward
Etruria 1,606 110 14,300 6 6 57 Westward
Umbria 1,606 110 14,300 6 3 29 Westward
City of Rome 1,398 90 11,890 6 22 30 Eastward
New York and
Southampton
Columbia 1,226 150 13,680 6 15 0 Eastward
Normannia 1,452 160 16,352 6 17 2 Westward
Augusta Victoria 1,120 150 14,110 6 22 32 Eastward
Lahn … 150 9,500 7 3 0 Eastward
The crown is thus for the moment with the White Star, nor is it
likely to be torn away by anything short of the tremendous effort
involved in putting afloat a new, a bigger, and a more costly ship.
Owners must, of course, count the cost of such rivalry and must put
against the gain of say sixteen hours, in order to come to the
desired five days and twenty-three knots, the cost of the thousand
or twelve hundred tons more of coal which will have to be burned,
the doubled number of engine and fire-room force, the larger crew,
the interest on the greater investment. It is a large price to pay for a
gain of so small a bit of that we generally hold so cheap—but it will
be paid.
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