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taken. By consulting with the technologists in the industry, and with 

 academic authorities engaged in coal research, the subcommittee se- 

 cured supplementary information as to the scope and possible eco- 

 nomic consequences of a vigorous program of applied research in coal. 

 Fmally, by presenting a final opportunity for both the specialists of 

 the Bureau of Mines and the policy spokesmen of the trade associa- 

 tions of the coal industry to react to the evidence, and to refine their 

 own earlier testimony, the subcommittee was able to assess the respon- 

 siveness of both sources to the evidence. 



The emphasis on sliort-range research in coal — on one kind of ap- 

 plied research rather than another — was apparently shown by later 

 events to be of less consequence than was attaclied to this distinction 

 by members of the sul^committee. The conclusion seems to be suggested 

 that all new teclmology matures on its own built-in time schedule, 

 and that attempts to force it more quickly to exploitation tend to be 

 costly and wasteful. 



The attempt to separate the Office of Coal Research from the Bureau 

 of Mines, and even from the Department of the Interior, appeared to 

 relate to a philosophic concept that a long-standing or old-line agency 

 was unlikely to possess the initiative and vigor to undertake a creative 

 program yielding a quick and significant economic impact. Although 

 this is apparently a widely-held view, it is hard to find confirming 

 evidence. On the other hand, the effort at this separation was beneficial 

 in that it generated congressional pressure on the Bureau of Mines to 

 evidence a greater creativity and also dramatized the significance of 

 contract research as against in-house research in Government labora- 

 tories. It seems reasonable to expect that intensified competition be- 

 tween these two research sectors would be healthy. The question re- 

 mains, however, as to whether such competition is likely to occur under 

 the institutional arrangements favored by the House Appropriations 

 Committee and by the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, that 

 encourage coordination of OCR research with the program of the 

 Bureau of Mines. 



