12 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



and what the limits of the jurisdiction of each of the subordinate bureaus 

 should be * * *. 



BUREAU OP SCIENCE 



In no other division of its labors has your committee proceeded with 

 greater caution and we believe with greater thoroughness than in that 

 which refers to the Bureau of Science. This was necessary both because 

 of the highly scientific work in which the Bureau is engaged and also 

 because of the various criticisms which have been made for years past. 

 Your committee confesses that at the time of beginning the investigation 

 of the Bureau of Science we were rather prejudiced against it and were 

 inclined to think that it was an expensive and unnecessary governmental 

 activity, but the deeper we went into the matter, the more certain it 

 seemed to us that both in its theoretical as well as in its practical work 

 the Bureau of Science has rendered abundant return for the money which 

 it has cost. Its work is far more practical and is of much greater and 

 more immediate material value than is popularly supposed. 



In theory, as well as practically, the organization of such an institution as 

 the Bureau of Science is excellent, involving as it does the centralization and 

 concentration of all governmental and scientific investigations, thereby, on 

 the one hand, assuring better results as to efficiency and economy and, on 

 the other, preventing the so often criticized duplication of almost identical 

 work by different organizations. The amount of investigation work carried 

 on in the Philippine Government is not large as compared with that of many 

 other countries in the world, but it is very varied. Thus the Bureau of 

 Health must perform or have performed laboratory work in chemical, 

 botanical, entomological, microscopical, bacteriological, and pathological 

 branches. The Philippine General Hospital needs similar facilities. The 

 professors and advanced students of the University demand the same 

 facilities for carrying on important work. The Bureau of Agriculture 

 needs similar laboratory facilities for its work, and the Bureau of Forestry 

 needs a certain amount of research work in relation to forestry. The 

 Bureau of Public Works must have a large number of chemical analyses 

 made to test the materials of construction used in architecture and engineer- 

 ing, and similar analyses are needed by the Bureau of Supply, the Bureau of 

 Customs, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 



Adequate laboratory equipment is exceedingly expensive, and the amount 

 of work needed by few, if any, of the bureaus above mentioned is sufficient 

 to justify the equipment and maintenance of an independent laboratory 

 with the necessary subordinate personnel, etc. In the aggregate, however, 

 the work of such character performed by all bureaus of the Government 

 is amply sufficient to justify the expenditures required for maintaining 

 the Bureau of Science, which was formerly known as "The Bureau of 

 Government Laboratories." Here all of the investigative work requiring 

 laboratory facilities can be performed adequately and comparatively in- 

 expensively for all branches of the Government. 



Nor is this the only reason that can be adduced in favor of maintaining 

 the Bureau of Science. Not only in the matter of equipment is centraliza- 

 tion necessary but it is also necessary in order to avoid duplication and 

 in order to utilize to the fullest extent the results of all investigation work. 

 In a country like the Philippines, which in a scientific sense is a new 

 field, there must also be carried on a large amount of investigative work 

 which at first seems to have no bearing or immediate relation to the 



