SCIENCE AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICA 



trial practise, it must be evident to all that there is but little cooperation 

 between manufacturers and the universities. Manufacturers, and espe- 

 cially chemical manufacturers, have been quite naturally opposed to 

 publishing any discoveries made in their plants, since "knowledge is 

 power" in manufacturing as elsewhere, and new knowledge gained in the 

 laboratories of a company may often very properly be regarded as 

 among the most valuable assets of the concern. The universities and the 

 scientific societies, on the other hand, exist for the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, and from their standpoint the great disadvantage of the above 

 policy is this concealment of knowledge, for it results in a serious re- 

 tardation of the general growth and development of science in its broader 

 aspects, and renders it much more difficult for the universities to train 

 men properly for such industries, since all the text-books and general 

 knowledge available would in all probability be far behind the actual 

 manufacturing practise. Fortunately, the policy of industrial secrecy is 

 becoming more generally regarded in the light of reason, and there is 

 a growing inclination among manufacturers to disclose the details of in- 

 vestigations, which, according to tradition, would be carefully guarded. 

 These manufacturers appreciate the facts that public interest in chemical 

 achievements is stimulating to further fruitful research, that helpful sug- 

 gestions and information may come from other investigators upon the 

 publication of any results, and that the exchange of knowledge prevents 

 many costly repetitions. 



E. 



BASIC SCIENCE AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH: 

 A 1916 VIEW— J. J. CARTY 



CThe year 1916 gave unusual pause to the observer of the rise of 

 science in American industry. The grisly drama of the world's most 

 highly developed industrial nations hurling efficient destruction at one 

 another in Europe made Americans look on their own research with 

 new eyes. At the same time, the consolidation of American business 

 enterprises into giant corporations had called forth not only the gestures 

 of Theodore Roosevelt but the efforts of Woodrow Wilson to combat 

 the curse of bigness with the enforced competition of the Clayton Act. 

 Advocacy of small business and unbridled competition did not rest com- 

 fortably with advocacy of science in industry. For only large concerns 

 could afford research establishments of their own, and for small business 

 the only hope was some form of cooperation among competitors. J. J. 

 Carty, one of the pioneers of telephone research, whose career spanned 

 the whole period from lone inventor to highly organized laboratory, 

 managed to comment on both the impact of the W^ar and the advantages 

 of bigness in his 1916 presidential address to the American Institute of Elec- 

 trical Engineers. Compare his version of the relation of basic science to 

 industrial research with that of Langmuir. Also compare his ideas on 

 the organization of industrial research with those of Hamor. (J.J. Carty, 

 "The Relation of Pure Science to Industrial Research," Science, N. S. 

 XLIV [1916], 511-16.)] 



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