DISCUSSION OF SCIENCE LEGISLATION 17 



From the foregoing discussion it will be recognized that in the U. S. 

 we have a dual system of incentives. From the capitalist system we have 

 inherited an extremely effective set of incentives. It is generally recognized 

 that the large spread in pay between different jobs of various types is 

 quite proper and has played an important part in the development of our 

 industries and in our general standard of living. Nobody reasonably ex- 

 pects that the president of a large corporation should receive the same pay 

 as his least paid employee. On the other hand, we have been taking it for 

 granted that the government should recognize no class distinctions but 

 should treat all its citizens as equals. Occasionally this is qualified by say- 

 ing all should have equal opportunities. It cannot be maintained that men 

 are equal in abilities, in skills, or in usefulness to the community. If all 

 men are to be made equal in fact, the question arises whether it is worth- 

 while to have equal opportunities merely to become equal to everyone else. 

 Progress depends upon the opportunity of exceptional men to become 

 leaders. 



During the war, especially since 1943, scientific war work for the Army 

 and Navy has frequently been greatly retarded by the failure to defer 

 young men of exceptional training or ability. No other country suffered 

 as greatly as we did from this short-sighted policy. This has been empha- 

 sized in the Bush report. Since the end of the war, the reasons for drafting 

 men, especially those needed for reconversion of our industries to a peace 

 time basis have now largely disappeared. Yet we find that our reserves of 

 scientific men are now being depleted faster than ever before because their 

 work in industries or government laboratories is no longer a valid reason 

 for deferment. This subject has been very ably discussed by Walter J. 

 Murphy in an editorial in the September number of Chemical and Engi- 

 neering News. Those who have read what the Bush report has to say on 

 the unwise drafting of scientific men should also read this article by 

 Murphy to bring his information up to date. 



Incentives in Russia. I was invited to attend the 220th anniversary of 

 the founding of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in Leningrad and 

 Moscow last June. I was particularly impressed by the tremendous em- 

 phasis placed upon incentives in Russia today. Since 193 1 the Soviet 

 Government has adopted the policy that the rates of pay should be deter- 

 mined not by a man's needs but by his services to the state. They seem to 

 have carried this policy through consistently and successfully. It is con- 

 tinually being pointed out by the Russians that their system of incentives 

 brings efficiency and is thus one of the main factors that will help to make 

 Russia great and will make possible a higher standard of living. 



They not only pay the industrial workers by piece work rates but they 

 have especially high piece work rates for that part of a man's production 



