DAEL WOLFLE 



dation officer can always defend the allocation of funds on the 

 grounds that each individual project was judged by a panel of 

 qualified scientists and that the funds were allotted on the 

 basis of the individual merits of the projects reviewed. If un- 

 restricted funds were granted to departments or institutions, 

 it would be more obvious, but not necessarily more true, that 

 the funds were being allotted in the hope and with the faith 

 that they would be used wisely and constructively. The ad- 

 ministrator, however, would not have the defense that he now 

 has of project grants, and would have to be prepared to face the 

 pressures of college presidents and faculties, congressmen, busi- 

 ness associates, and other supporters of disappointed applicants. 

 This is a serious practical difficulty, but it would nevertheless 

 be advantageous for universities to have larger amounts of unre- 

 stricted money. For there has been repeated testimony that un- 

 restricted funds give more flexibility and continued strength 

 than does an equal amount of project money. 



In order to give wide support to university scientists, in 

 order to free their creative scholarship from limitations, the 

 symposium discussion again and again emphasized this prin- 

 ciple : Universities must always he expected to 'perform the larg- 

 est share of hasic research. In order to expand their research 

 activities, universities must have larger amounts of unrestricted 

 money. 



Even if the universities were as well financed as the 

 symposium would like to see them, special grants would still 

 sometimes be necessary. Research in some fields calls for such 

 costly equipment that no university by itself can pay the bill. 

 President Eisenhower gave an example in announcing to the 

 participants plans for federal financing of a two-mile-long par- 

 ticle accelerator expected to cost more than $100 million to 

 construct and some $15 million a year to operate. 



Special grants and contracts can appropriately be used 



270 



