REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1916. 17 



the number of those possessing such quahfications has increased 

 much more rapidly than the resources of the Institution (or than 

 the resources of all research agencies combined) have increased to 

 meet this and other growing financial needs. Not only has 

 income failed to keep pace with worthy demands, but, as repeat- 

 edly pointed out hitherto, the purchasing capacity of income has 

 steadily declined since the foundation of the Institution. Thus it 

 happens that now, just as the merits of the system of Research 

 Associates have come to be generally recognized, it is essential to 

 suspend extension of this system, and it may become essential 

 to curtail to some extent the amounts of the grants hitherto made 

 to those who have helped most to develop this remarkably 

 effective division of the Institution's activities. 



It should be evident from the preceding paragraphs of tliis 

 section of the report, as well as from numerous passages in 

 previous reports, that the income of the Institution is not onl}^ 

 not equal to popular estimates, but that it is not equal even to the 

 legitimate demands on it for research. This proposition is easily 

 verified, although few people believe it and fewer still are willing 

 to undertake the small arithmetical labor essential for its dem- 

 onstration. On the other hand, it is admitted by everybody 

 that the Institution is not doing as much as it could, but the 

 simple reasons for this obvious fact appear to be far from equally 

 obvious. Whether it would be desirable, if practicable, to 

 double, say, the endowment, and hence the income, of the 

 Institution is a question well worthy of consideration. But 

 along with many reasons why it would be so desirable there might 

 be adduced also many other reasons why it would not. This is, 

 indeed, a fundamental question whose dehberate consideration 

 should precede the next step. We possess as yet no well-defined 

 and generally accepted theory of a research organization. The 

 Institution, plainly enough, stands somewhat in isolation. It 

 would prosper better, probably, and be better understood, cer- 

 tainly, if it had more contemporaries with which to divide not 

 only the vast fields of opportunity, but also the vast aggregate of 

 fruitless labors imposed on those who should be preoccupied 

 with the business of research. In the meantime, while no expan- 

 sion is permissible under existing income, the current activities 

 of the Institution may continue without serious modification of 

 plans or impairment of efficiency. 



