1920] EDITORIAL. 707 



As at the 1010 mootinfr in Chicaf;o, interest in research may a<rain 

 he said to have heen the keynote of the convention. Reference has 

 ahvady l)cen made to the strong indorsements of Chancellor Avery 

 and Secretary Meredith, but these were only typical of what was 

 in the minds of the speakers and members <renerally. Seldom, if 

 ever, has the realization of its fundamental importance to the. entire 

 structure of agricultural advancement been more in evidence, espe- 

 cially among those whose immediate work is along administrative, 

 instructional, and extension lines. 



This interest was reflected in the consistently large attendance at 

 the meetings of the subsection on experiment station work. This sub- 

 section devoted one of its sessions to the consideration of the general 

 outlook for the stations and means of enlisting popular support for 

 their work. The second session included a paper on institutional co- 

 operation in research, and the reports of the various standing com- 

 mittees. There was also an exhibit of methods of keeping records in 

 experimental work, assembled and arranged by Director Watts and 

 containing material collected from a considerable number of the 

 stations. 



The subsection opened its program with a review of the effects of 

 the war on research in agriculture, presented by Dr. E. W. Allen, 

 Chief of the Office of Experiment Stations. This review dealt pri- 

 marily with the efl'ect on the experiment stations as typical research 

 agencies. As regards personnel, it showed a turnover in the stations 

 for the ]:)eriod from 1014 to 1010 of over eighty per cent, a net decline 

 of two hunilred fifty persons in the combined station staffs, and a 

 withdrawal from station work of no less than three hundred seventy 

 department heads and leaders of special lines. These changes, to- 

 gether with the difliculty in filling vacancies with thoroughly trained 

 men, were shown to have resulted in many cases in a trend toward a 

 loAver grade of inquiry, a performance of the simpler routine features 

 with an omission of the constructive inquiry essential in original 

 research, and a more elementary outlining of new research projects. 



Evidences were also show:n that under the lack of special incentive 

 fewer men arc preparing for research as a career. Other untoward 

 developments have been the employment of fewer assistants with 

 consequent greater performance of routine duties by project leaders, 

 the loss of experienced directors, the increasing tendency to "double 

 up" the directorship with other positions, and the diversion of the 

 attention of administrative officers in general to other urgent lines. 



Efforts to retrieve such conditions were declared to be impeded by 

 the stationary conditions of station resources in the face of ascending 

 operating costs, and the enlarged demands upon the staffs for teach- 

 ing and extension duties. Instances were cited of a few States in 



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