SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 1970-79 579 



was evident. But the subcommittee found a badly overworked and 

 underfunded condition which seriously threatened the health of the 

 Bureau. Charles Peck, Vice President of Owens-Corning Fiberglass Co. 

 and chairman of the NBS visiting committee, reported to Chairman 

 Thornton: 



NBS is on the brink of serious trouble. The persistent retrenchment that has taken 

 place there threatens to bring NBS to a mediocrity that is unacceptable. 



Peck outlined to the subcommittee- 

 shocking gaps in NBS' ability to carry out its basic assignment, even without 

 supplemental assignments. * * * The declining quality of work is reaching a critical 

 stage. One study indicated that basic research in constant dollars may have dwindled 

 to half the level of 10 years ago. Fifteen new laws since 1965 have given NBS as- 

 signments; yet the NBS overall budget in constant dollars has not increased. 



In April 1978, Congressman Brown went across the Capitol to 

 testify at additional oversight hearings being conducted by the Senate 

 Commerce Committee. In a thoughtful and wide-ranging analysis of 

 NBS, Brown expressed his concern about the new responsibilities 

 which had been piled onto the Bureau and the adequacy of its resources 

 to meet these new challenges. Teague told the House on June 28, 1978, 

 that starting in the spring of 1980 the committee would hold biennial 

 authorization hearings. Teague stated: 



A periodic authorization process will assure that the Bureau of Standards will 

 indeed be able to make its maximum contribution to the scientific knowledge and 

 technologv so important to our industrial innovation, growth, and economic well- 

 being. 



MATERIALS POLICY RESEARCH 



"What do we mean by materials? For current purposes the answer 

 is: just plain stuff to make things with." 



Thus spake Congressman Symington in 1976, in a formal address 

 to the House of Representatives, in keeping with his customary 

 distaste for gobbledygook. 



Throughout the 1970's, the Science Subcommittee devoted in- 

 creasing attention to the need for a national policy for materials 

 research. The rising importance of husbanding our energy resources 

 sparked renewed attention to this vital area. 



Most discussions of materials policy start with references to that 

 landmark 1952 report of the Paley commission, "Resources for Free- 

 dom," in the closing months of the Truman administration. The firm 

 building blocks of that study recall the favorite quotation of the first 

 chairman of the Science Subcommittee, Congressman Daddano, who 

 was wont to say: 



The great French philosopher, Andre Gide, once opened a lecture with these 

 words: "'All this has been said before — but, since nobody listened, it must be said 

 again." 



