practice, in the use of research per- 

 sonnel, wiiich research institutes and 

 especialh industrial lahoratcMies had 

 found to be economical and cllicicnt.' 

 The results showed that, just prior to 

 the war, university science depart- 

 ments were spending on the direct 

 operating costs of research — appara- 

 tus, materials, technical assistance — 

 sums of the order of 10 to 40 cents 

 for ever\' dollar of salary paid to 

 members of the research staff. A fie- 

 ure of 15 to 20 cents per salary dollar 

 was typical of most departments. Fig- 

 ures abo\'e 30 cents were uncommon 

 and were considered to be distinctly 

 liberal by standards of current univer- 

 sity practice. By contrast, in a similar 

 survey of a number of industrial re- 

 search laboratories, a figure of 40 

 cents for direct research expenditures, 

 per dollar of salarv paid to the re- 

 search staff, was the lowest encoun- 

 tered.' In most of the firms report- 

 ing, the research expenditures ranged 

 from $1 to $3 for each dollar of sal- 

 arv. Industries ha\'e found that gen- 

 erous expenditures for assistance to 

 research workers are economical in 

 the long run. Clearly steps must be 

 taken to help the universities bring 

 their supplementary research expend- 

 itures more into line with the best 

 practice. 



If the prewar support of research 

 in uni\'ersities was inadequate, the 

 postwar situation promises to be 

 worse, unless drastic remedies are 

 applied. In view of the wartime in- 

 crease of some 27 percent in the price 

 level of all goods,- each of the already 

 inadequate university research dollars 

 will go much less far than before the 

 war. It is as though every natural 

 science department had alreadv re- 



^ See appendix B. 



- B. L. S. Cost of Lh'ing Index, all items, 

 March 15, 1940, to January 15, 1945. 



cei\ed a cut in its postwar research 

 budget ol from one cpiartcr to one- 

 third. 



This prospect is serious lor all uni- 

 \'ersitics but i~)crhaps most acute for 

 the 25 universities just below the first 

 half dozen in size and resources. The 

 large wartime unix'crsity research lab- 

 oratories ha\'e drawn upon the inter- 

 mediate uni\ersities for staffs. Such 

 tried and experienced men can make 

 \'aluable contributions in their home 

 institutions if adequate funds are 

 made available. Here lies the imme- 

 diate opportunity from the Nation's 

 point of view, although much also re- 

 mains to be done at the highest and 

 lowest le\'els. 



B. Form of Aid to Universities 



Althou^ih the Go\'ernment mav 

 render important indirect aid to imi- 

 versities by keeping its own labora- 

 tories, libraries and other research fa- 

 cilities at a high level of efficiency, 

 the principal need is for direct finan- 

 cial support under conditions which 

 will not endanger academic freedom 

 and the personal independence of 

 the investipator. 



This committee does not feel that 

 it is desirable to supply these funds 

 by a series of annual conoressional 

 appropriations for specific projects; 

 the difficulties these have raised 

 within the Government service testify 

 to the e\'ils that would be introduced 

 into the university environment by 

 this practice. The preservation of 

 academic freedom requires that funds 

 be allocated in a way that would 

 minimize the possibility of external 

 control and would encourage long- 

 term projects. 



Experience in other countries and 

 the example of the successful private 

 foundations suggest that a largely 

 autonomous board with a staff of 



93 



