532 ANNUAL KEPOET SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 1912. 



signs. Everywhere geologic research of practical problems is receiv- 

 ing more and more support, both publicly and privately. 



It is pertinent to consider the attitude of the public at large toward 

 this economic tendency. There are undoubtedly those who believe 

 that the direction of scientific work should rest entirely with the 

 investigator and not with the people. Let them bear in mind that 

 geologic investigations, since they involve heavy expenditures and 

 trespass on private property, can, for the most part, be properly car- 

 ried on only through Government agencies, in this differing from 

 such sciences as chemistry, physics, or biology, which can be fur- 

 thered by private means. If geologic surveys are properly a function 

 of the State, in the last analysis the people must be the final arbiters 

 as to what phase of the science is to be emphasized. In our democ- 

 racy the citizen has a right to inquire what he, as a member of the 

 body politic, is gaining by expenditures from the public purse. 



It is estimated, on the best data available, that durmg the past 

 quarter century the total grants for geologic work made by State 

 and Federal Governments aggregate over $8,000,000. This may be 

 regarded as evidence of public confidence. More significant to the 

 present discussion is the annual grant of funds during this interval, 

 and this is illustrated by a curve on the same diagram with those 

 showing character of publications (fig. 1). This curve is in part based 

 on estimates, but these are without doubt sufficiently accurate to 

 indicate that the total annual appropriations of State and Federal 

 Governments for geology have been augmented at a rate which 

 proves that they are affected by some other factor than that of in- 

 crease of population. The aimual grant of funds is now more than 

 double that of 25 years ago. It is probably safe to interpret this as 

 indicating that the present economic tendency in geology is approved 

 by the people of the United States. The close parallelism between 

 the lines marking the publications relating to applied geology and 

 the annual allotments of public funds for geologic surveys is probably 

 not enthely fortuitous. 



Perliaj)s the best measure of popular confidence in the results of 

 geologic research is the number of different geologic organizations 

 supported by public funds. We are apt to credit the obtaining of 

 Government support for this or that research entirely to some indi- 

 vidual or organization, forgetting that, until the general public has in 

 a measure been pei*suaded of its value, all efforts would be useless. 

 Therefore, when we find geologic surveys throughout the country 

 supported by Commonwealths having widely different social and 

 industrial conditions, it is fair to presume that the average citizen has 

 acquired the beUef that these are attaining results beneficial to the 

 : ', 'timunity. The numerical increase of State geologic surveys during 

 tnt Jast 25 years is illustrated by the curve on the diagram before you 



