EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. 41. September, 1919. No. 4. 



At this time, when the experiment stations are feeling keenly the 

 pressure of unusual conditions, the necessity for rigid economy is 

 impressed upon every administrative officer. The question is not now 

 primarily one of growth and development, but of how to carry for- 

 ward the work of the station on its present basis, and how to get 

 done the things that need to be done and which the station has set 

 itself to do. It has become a very real problem with most of the 

 stations, often involving adjustment and even retrenchment. 



The exercise of economy in the conduct of such an enterprise calls 

 for clear thinking and discrimination. There is a false as well as a 

 true economy, and the decision between the two requires a clear inter- 

 pretation of the function of an experiment station and sound judg- 

 ment in the policy of management. Economy does not relate pri- 

 marily to the withholding of expenditure, although this is often 

 compelled by present necessity, but it applies quite as much to the 

 method and purpose which underlie the station work, and especially 

 to the best utilization of research ability in the presence of a depleted 

 supply. In its broad aspects judicious economy is the attempt to 

 make the utmost of all the available resources of the station, human, 

 physical, and financial, and direct these into the most effective 

 channels. 



With practically no increase in regular appropriations in the past 

 five years, reaching back to the time of prewar prices and conditions, 

 it goes without saying that every possible leak needs to be guarded ; 

 and this relates not only to expenditures but to lost motion and efforts 

 which are unproductive from the standpoint of the station. Economy 

 at such a time will dictate that the funds of the station and the 

 facilities at its disposal be devoted to activities properly within its 

 scope and which promise the most profitable returns. This means a 

 discriminating judgment guided by a policy and a plan well within 

 the scope and function of the station, designed to fit the exigency 

 without a lowering of quality or standards. 



The determination of such a policy and adaptation to present con- 

 ditions requires rigorous self-examination. There are some drains 

 upon the stations which may be corrected, and there are some hin- 



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