ROBERT S. MORISON 



else these clays, private philanthropy is living in a rapidlv 

 changing world. Federal support for scientific research in col- 

 leges and universities was approximately $15,000,000 in 1940, 

 and in 1958 was something like $440,000,000. The answer 

 to what proportion of this is basic research depends on whom 

 you ask. C. V. Kidd has recently noted that research workers 

 themselves estimate the amount of basic research at a figure 

 approximately double the one provided by the government 

 agencies which supply the funds. Perhaps we may content 

 ourselves with the general statement that the amount of money 

 available for the support of basic research is large. Many 

 experienced people will tell you that no first-class investigators, 

 and very few competent ones, need suffer for lack of research 

 funds if they have the foresight and are willing to take the 

 trouble to ask for them on time. Doubtless, too much of this 

 money is still doled out in packages with labels which are too 

 explicit and for times which are too short to allow adequate 

 flexibility and planning. But measures have been taken to cor- 

 rect these difficulties. Procedures now under study in Washing- 

 ton make it likely that a satisfactorily large proportion of funds 

 will be distributed for long periods of time and with few 

 restrictive strings attached. 



The time is very nearly here when private philanthropy 

 will no longer be distinguished from public support by the 

 greater flexibility and duration of its grants. What then? The 

 categorical funds like the Heart Association and the Cancer 

 Society, as we have seen, have pretty clearly drawn missions 

 and have shown an admirable capacity to adapt their policies 

 to rapidly shifting situations. The money put at their command 

 by a generous public is respectably large in relation to their 

 restricted missions. For the foreseeable future there seems little 

 danger that they will find themselves elbowed into an insignin- 

 cant corner by the increasing growth of government funds. 



242 



