1919] EDITORIAL. 603 



Government enterprises, he maintains, differ from business onto 

 prises in that in t lu> former power and organization are united in one 

 head without the restraint on their use which prevail in business 

 interests. Appeal in practice is to the administrator. The con- 

 ditions which obtain in government service give to the administrator 

 all the advantages but none of the restraints thai regulate the rela- 

 tions of organizer and initiator under other condit ions as in business. 

 These conditions arc highly favorable to the "development of the 

 essentially selfish character of human nature." 



Men capable of supplying the initiative enter the government 

 service in his country, he believes, because of the prospect of steady, 

 continuous employment and regularity of pay and pension, reasons 

 which appeal especially to the unambitious, "to the man whose chief 

 desire is to live in contented ease." Since the system does not place 

 a premium on efficiency, Professor Leake holds that such a govern- 

 ment agency can never attain the efficiency of private enterprise. 



Defining the nature of research with much clarity, he points out the 

 difference between it and the product of the engineer or the cabinet 

 maker, which can be blocked out with accuracy in advance and is 

 tested by the way it serves its purpose. The designer or builder in 

 either case is judged by the results. With research it is never possible 

 to set out to attain a definite object with the same certainty of success, 

 and the investigator can not be judged entirely by the simple test of 

 achievement, which is the only test of efficiency the inexpert can 



apply- 



Research is characterized, in fact, as a lottery in which the prizes 

 are enormous, but in which there are a number of blanks. Govern- 

 ment is in a position to take this chance and it can take a liberal view 

 in the demand for tangible results, i. e., it is less disposed than com- 

 mercial bodies to exact them or discontinue the effort. 



Under government auspices, however, there is held to be the danger 

 that attention will be concentrated on the administrative aspects, and 

 to assume that if the administrative side is arranged for all will be 

 well. The essential condition for successful research is freedom, 

 freedom to select the line of work to suit the individual tempera- 

 ment and freedom to develop that line of work in accordance with 

 individual dictates. The first point of weakness inherent in govern- 

 ment management of research is failure to appreciate that research 

 is essentially individualistic, and that the men who undertake it are 

 not and can not be standardized. The choice must be made between 

 selecting a man and leaving him to develop the line of individuality 

 which best suits him, and selecting one whose special leanings ap- 

 pear to render him most likely to succeed in a particular investi- 

 gation. Too often appointments, it is held, are made for a particu- 

 lar purpose, but the man is selected without relation to special apti- 



