SCIENCE IN POLITICS, 581 



mankind, are too vast to be grappled by unaided individuals or even 

 by private corporations. They can be solved only by the combined 

 efforts of many trained experts, working with the best facilities and 

 under systematic direction, a state of affairs which can only be brought 

 about by governmental assistance. When that stops, science lan- 

 guishes ; and the growth of every industry, public or private, depend- 

 ent upon science, is checked. Since every modern government is ne- 

 cessarily in competition with other governments, either in the way of 

 increasing its resources or perfecting its means of defense, it follows 

 that aid to science is one of the factors essential to success ; and that 

 that nation which fails in far-sighted intelligence will lag behind in 

 material affairs also. Science, both pure and applied, has become a 

 necessity, upon which the welfare and very life of nations must de- 

 pend. No nation can fairly expect to receive all the benefits of sci- 

 ence while giving nothing in return. Even the narrowest utilitarian 

 must see what vast results sprang from the niggardly public grant 

 which rendered possible the first line of the Morse telegraph. 



But how shall aid be given ? At present, the scientific work of 

 the Government is done in a somewhat scattered way, with more or 

 less overlapping and duplication, and not always under the most 

 favorable circumstances. Some things which ought to be done are 

 neglected, as, for instance, the systematic investigation of pestilences, 

 such as the cholera and yellow fever ; others are done twice over by 

 different executive departments acting independently. In the army 

 and navy, apart from the strictly professional researches which the 

 officers are peculiarly fitted to carry on, some scientific work is done 

 in a decidedly amateurish way. Officers are sometimes detailed to 

 make experiments for which they have no special training, and for 

 which civilian experts should be employed ; just as if military or naval 

 rank conferred upon its holder an ex officio knowledge, applicable 

 everywhere. A naval officer, staff or Ime, spends three years at sea. 

 He returns to three years of duty on shore, quite rusty as regards pure 

 science, and is ordered to take charge of some laboratory, or to con- 

 duct the preparation of some special scientific report. He goes to 

 work as best he may, and after a while his services begin to have real 

 scientific value. Then he is sent to sea again, and some other lately 

 returned victim takes his place. His best efforts are wasted, and 

 science suffers ; not because of his fault, but in consequence of a bad 

 system. Fortunately, the system affects only a small part of our scien- 

 tific services ; for both army and navy employ specialists in various 

 lines of investigation : as in the Weather Bureau, the Observatory, the 

 Torpedo Station, and the preparation of the Nautical Almanac. Some- 

 times, however, it is anything but pleasant to see men of science of 

 established reputation subordinated to some unscientific officer under 

 the supercilious title of " civilian assistants." Full credit and responsi- 

 bility should be given where they properly belong. 



