12 CIRCULAR NO. 117, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



which permits the gradual encroachment of so-called precedents and 

 forms upon real progressive action. The work of the bureau con- 

 stantly leads into uncharted and untried fields. No man imbued with 

 the true scientific spirit can successfully progress in an atmosphere 

 where every move is to be weighed in the scales of precedent and 

 handled as if it were a case in a court of law. Statute law and scien- 

 tific progress are in a measure incompatible, or perhaps I should say 

 that the ordinary legal mind finds it difficult to recognize the driving 

 force which impels every scientific worker to break precedents in the 

 search for truth. We shall need competent counsel and we shall need 

 discipline to constantly keep to the front the fact that in our legal 

 affairs and in our fiscal affairs we are simply using these forces as a 

 means to an end. We need the help and counsel of these branches of 

 the service, but we need to be free to judge how to receive and apply 

 this help. 



There has been a tendency of late to apply to institutions similar 

 to ours certain ideas of discipline that are necessarily abhorrent to 

 men engaged in scientific work. I refer to high-pressure systems 

 where attempts are made to measure and blueprint each man's activi- 

 ties in terms of mechanical equivalents. This system may be all very 

 well where the object is to turn out clocks, automobiles, or quick-firing 

 guns, but it would be fatal to the best scientific constructive work. 



We have already referred in a general way to the fair deal and to 

 efficiency reward. I can only reiterate what I have many times said, 

 that the highest efficiency depends on sympathy and encouragement of 

 individuality combined with consistent unity of purpose. Encour- 

 agement of individuality alone might lead to dissipation of energy, 

 but if wisely directed and sympathetically encouraged it can be made 

 to act in unity upon all big problems, and in this way the best and 

 most lasting results can be secured. 



To secure a fair deal, therefore, and to assure an efficiency reward 

 there seems no need for consolidation of related lines of work. By 

 centering interest in big problems we can attain our ends much more 

 effectively, for, instead of creating conditions offering opportunity 

 for sharp lines of cleavage, we cross all lines, and thus each man is 

 made to feel that he holds a vital interest in the whole scheme. If 

 the individual worker is made to feel this and assured that he will 

 always have his just due, our future will take care of itself. 



[Cir. 117] 



