separable; a nation which borrows its 

 basic knowledge will be hopelessly 

 handicapped in the race for innova- 

 tion. The other world powers, we 

 know, intend to foster scientific re- 

 search in the future. Moreover, it is 

 part of our democratic creed to affirm 

 the intrinsic cultural and aesthetic 

 worth of man's attempt to ad\'ance 

 the frontiers of knowledge and un- 

 derstanding. By that same creed the 

 prestige of a nation is enhanced by 

 its contributions — made in a spirit of 

 friendlv cooperation and competition 

 — to the world-wide battle against 

 ignorance, want, and disease. 



The increasing need for the culti- 

 vation of science in this country is 

 onlv too apparent. Are we equipped 

 to meet it? Traditional support from 

 private gifts, from endowment in- 

 come, from grants by the large foun- 

 dations, and from appropriations by 

 State legislatures cannot meet the 

 need. Research in the natural sci- 

 ences and engineering is becoming 

 increasingly costly; and the infla- 

 tionary impact of the war is likely 

 to heighten the financial burden of 

 university research. The committee 

 has considered whether industry 

 could or should assume most of the 

 burden of support of fundamental 

 research or whether other adequate 

 sources of private assistance are in 

 sight. The answer appears to be in 

 the negative. 



The committee has therefore be- 

 come convinced that an increased 

 measure of Federal aid to scientific 

 research is necessary. Means must 

 be found for administering such aid 

 without incurring centralized control 

 or discouraging private support. 



Basically this problem is but one 

 example of a series of similar prob- 

 lems of government in a democracy. 

 Many of our important political de- 



cisions invoKe the necessity of bal- 

 ancing irreducible national functions 

 against the free play of individual 

 initiative. It is the belief of this com- 

 mittee that if certain basic safe- 

 guards are observed in designing a 

 plan for Government support to sci- 

 ence, great benefits can be achieved 

 without loss of initiative or freedom. 



The experience of the land-grant 

 colleges represents an important prece- 

 dent. The scale of Federal aid has 

 been modest but has led to very sig- 

 nificant results especially in agricul- 

 ture; it has not led to domination 

 by small groups; it has not been ca- 

 pricious and uncertain. On the con- 

 trary, it has progressed on a slowly 

 expanding scale for o\ex 80 years. 

 No evidence has been brought before 

 the committee that this sort of Fed- 

 eral aid has discouraged other sources 

 of support. The land-grant colleges 

 are examples of harmonious coopera- 

 tion among State and Federal Gov- 

 ernments, private indi\'iduals, and 

 industry. American experience with 

 support of higher education by State 

 and local governments has been ex- 

 tremely satisfactory, our vigorous 

 State universities standing as impres- 

 sive testimonials. 



The committee foresees that an in- 

 creased measure of Federal support 

 will raise new problems. We have, 

 therefore, carefully considered the 

 possibility of increasing Federal aid 

 for scientific research without, at the 

 same time, introducing undesirable 

 paternalism. For, in order to be 

 fruitful, scientific research must be 

 free — free from the influence of 

 pressure groups, free from the neces- 

 sity of producing immediate practical 

 results, free from dictation by any 

 central board. 



Many have been impressed by the 

 vyay in which certain fields of applied 



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