REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1914. 13 



But more important indications of this progress are found in 

 the improvement of existing organizations and in the develop- 

 ment of new ones for the promotion of research, and in the aid 

 it is now practicable to give them without endangering their 

 sources of independent incomes and endowments. There is now 

 manifest, indeed, a widety spread and rapidly increasing appre- 

 ciation of the methods followed and of the results attained 

 in systematic investigation, and this is leading to numerous 

 well-defined efforts to secure definite knowledge and increased 

 efficiency in nearly every department of contemporary activity. 

 It may be safely predicted, therefore, that many independent 

 organizations will enter the fields of research in the near future. 

 The extensive, and probably unequalled, experience of the Insti- 

 tution, which is certain to be drawn upon heavily in this move- 

 ment, should be readily available, therefore, for use by our pro- 

 spective allies. Their entrance into these fields should be warmly 

 welcomed. No greater good fortune could come to the Institu- 

 tion, for example, than a division of labors with a number of 

 similarly well-founded establishments; and no greater good to 

 society can arise than from a wider distribution of the duties 

 and the responsibilities of research. Obviously important advan- 

 tages to individual establishments must come from a broader 

 dissemination of the vast aggregate of fruitless work now im- 

 posed upon them by those who claim the special privilege of 

 ignoring alike the teachings of experience and the demonstra- 

 tions of science. 



In keeping with this attitude of welcome towards similar 

 prospective organizations, it appears essential to add that with 

 them, as with educational institutions, the only relations that can 

 be stable and helpful are relations of reciprocity. These should be 

 such especially as to secure the greatest freedom of interchange, 

 among educational and research establishments, of eminent 

 investigators. For, while institutions may continue indefinitely 

 and thus have endless opportunities to add to the aggregates of 

 learning, the life tenure of the individual is limited, and hence 

 a full measure of usefulness to his race can not be rendered 

 unless he is granted liberties corresponding to superior capacities. 



