192 



Government is concerned? Then what are the priorities * * *? What will give 

 us the best results for the future, in the long run, considering such things as the 

 spin off? It is difficult to get guidance in this field ♦ * *. Well, we tried. The 

 Science Foundation tried. The National Academy tried. However, there is in- 

 tense competition between all segments. The trouble is there is too much com- 

 petition between scientists themselves, as to just what project they consider 

 best. They want their own project. Our job is to determine what is the best 

 overall.'* 



Moreover, the priorities do not remain constant. In the earliest 

 stages the opportunities for scientific discovery and technological de- 

 velopment are not as evident as they later become. Again quoting 

 Senator Magnuson : 



* * * We don't seem to receive much help from the scientific community on 

 the question of priorities * * *. We don't receive much help in determining pri- 

 orities from the agencies. 



They all want their projects, and then soon it mounts up, and we get very 

 little guidance as to priorities within what the country is capable of spending 

 in the research field. It would be my reaction that if the scientific community 

 had advised you in the beginning as to the priority on Mohole, they would 

 have placed it, perhaps, not at. high on tlie list as they might today. 



I think that once it has moved along this far, and the earth scientists and 

 the physicists have seen some of these spin-off benefits developing, the priority 

 has risen.'" 



Unfortunately for the Mohole supporters, their belated efforts to 

 substantiate the scientific merit of the project were inadequate to the 

 purpose. Some progress had been made in overcoming the impressive 

 technical difficulties, but the prospective cost made the project polit- 

 ically unacceptable. 



''* Senate. Independent offices appropriations for fiscal year 1967, op. cit., p. 1276. 

 " Ibid., pp. 1275-1276. 



