All patriotic citizens, who are well- 

 informed on these matters, agree that, 

 for military security, good public 

 health, full employment and a higher 

 standard of living after the war, these 

 deficits are very serious. 



In a recent radio address Dr. 

 Arthur H. Compton, Professor of 

 Physics in the University of Chicago 

 and Nobel Prize winner, said: 



It takes at least 6 years for a capable 

 18-year-old to train himself for effective 

 scientific research. Even if we should start 

 now to resume such training, it will thus 

 be at least 6 years before a normal supply 

 of young professionals will again be avail- 

 able to our laboratories. Can we afford to 

 wait any longer? 



Admiral J. A. Purer, Coordinator 

 of Research and Development, 

 United States Navy Department, has 

 said: 



I want to mention the great personal 

 interest that the Secretary of War, Mr. 

 Stimson, and the Secretary of the Navy, 

 Mr. Forrestal, are taking in postwar mili- 

 tary research. There is a growing belief 

 that important as it may be to maintain 

 after the war ground forces, air forces, and 

 sea forces of a size commensurate with our 

 national responsibilities, it may be even 

 more important to keep the weapons and 

 the material in general which we supply 

 to these forces in step with the advances 

 of science. Stocking our arsenals with the 

 weapons of this war is no guarantee that 

 we can win the next war with them. In 

 fact, that may be the quickest way of 

 losing the next war. It would be wiser to 

 maintain arsenals of only modest size 

 whether we are speaking of ships or guns 

 or aircraft and to use the money saved 

 thereby to continually replace the old 

 things with the new creations of the re- 

 search laboratory and of American inven- 

 tive genius. Our industry should be kept 

 alert to begin quickly the production of 

 the vast quantities of materials needed 

 when war threatens; and this readiness 

 should concern itself especially with the 

 new things. We hope for your aid in 

 supporting this position among those who 

 are engaged in research. 



Dr. Charles L. Parsons, Secretary 



of the American Chemical Society, 



wrote President Roosevelt: 



American technology has given birth to 

 the greatest power of all time. Today, we 

 are drying up prosperity at its source. Pub- 

 lic opinion of the future will view with 

 amazement the waste of scientists in 

 Wodd War JI * * * Our children and 

 our grandchildren will not forgive the loss 

 of an entire generation of scientists. 



Dr. Charles Allen Thomas, direc- 

 tor of the Monsanto Chemical Com- 

 pany's research laboratories, declared: 



Scientific suicide faces America unless 

 immediate and adequate steps are taken to 

 train replacements for technical men going 

 into the armed services. 



Statements of this type are fairly 

 representative of the thinking of in- 

 formed men in the armed services 

 and in civilian life. 



The situation, in brief, is that since 

 the passage of the Selective Service 

 Act in the autumn of 1940, there 

 have been practically no students 

 over 18, outside of students of medi- 

 cine and engineering in Army and 

 Navy programs, and a few 4-F's, who 

 have followed an integrated scien- 

 tific program in the United States. 

 Neither our allies nor, so far as is 

 known, our enemies have permitted 

 any such condition to develop; but 

 on the contrary have maintained or 

 increased national programs for the 

 training of scientists and technolo- 

 gists. It takes at least 6 years for a 

 capable 18-year-old person to train 

 himself for effective scientific re- 

 search. Having regard to this long 

 period of training and on the basis 

 of prewar figures showing both the 

 number of students of physical 

 science in graduate schools and of 

 doctoral degrees then conferred, the 

 accumulating deficit of scientists has 

 been calculated, with the results al- 

 ready presented. That these deficits 



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