SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 39 1 



the related sciences ; and the health and well-being not only of the work- 

 ers but of the whole population as well, are dependent upon advances 

 in medicine and sanitation ; so that the value of scientific advancement 

 to the welfare of the nation is many times greater than the cost of the 

 necessary research ; and 



Whereas, The increased productivity of industry resulting from 

 scientific research is a most potent factor in the ever-increasing struggle 

 of the workers to raise their standards of living, and the importance 

 of this factor must steadily increase since there is a limit beyond which 

 the average standard of living of the whole population cannot progress 

 by the usual methods of readjustment, which limit can only be raised by 

 research and the utilization of the results of research in industry; and 



Whereas, There are numerous important and pressing problems of 

 administration and regulation now faced by federal, state, and local 

 governments, the wise solution of which depends upon scientific and 

 technical research ; and 



Whereas, The war has brought home to all the nations engaged in it 

 the overwhelming importance of science and technology to national 

 welfare, whether in war or in peace, and not only is private initiative 

 attempting to organize far-reaching research in these fields on a national 

 scale, but in several countries governmental participation and support 

 of such undertakings are already active ; therefore be it 



Resolved, By the American Federation of Labor in convention as- 

 sembled, that a broad program of scientific and technical research is of 

 major importance to the national welfare and should be fostered in 

 every way by the Federal Government, and that the activities of the 

 Government itself in such research should be adequately and generously 

 supported in order that the work may be greatly strengthened and 

 extended ; and the Secretary of the Federation is instructed to transmit 

 copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the 

 President pro tempore of the Senate, and to the Speaker of the House of 

 Repi esentatives. 



Notes 



A "Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory" has been organized in the 

 Nitrate Division of the Ordnance Department, with headquarters at the 

 American University, in buildings formerly occupied by the Chemical 

 Warfare Service. Lieut. Col. A. B. Lamb, of the Chemical Warfare 

 Service, is director; Dr. R. C. Tolman, formerly of the Chemical War- 

 fare Service, and Prof. W. C. Bray, of the University of California, are 

 associate directors; and Dr. H. A. Curtis, formerly of the Nitrate 

 Division, Ordnance Department, is executive officer. The work on the 

 fixation of nitrogen carried on during the war in the Agricultural 

 Department laboratories at Arlington, Virginia, the Geophysical Labora- 

 tory, and elsewhere, will be concentrated at the American University. 

 In the absence of Col. Lamb in Europe, Dr. Tolman is acting director. 

 At present the staff consists of fifty -five persons. 



