16 
program has been enriched, and our collections (living plants, 
herbarium, and library) have increased in size and value, and the 
public demands upon the Garden have become steadily greater. 
= 
These and other facts, to be recorded more in detail in the follow- 
ing pages, testify that the Garden is rendering a substantial and 
— 
much needed service to the local community and to science and 
education at large. Having completed its period of adolescence 
t 
first vote in favor of a continued and expanding program of 
boat 
1¢ Botanic Garden exercises the right of franchise by casting its 
pubhe service through promoting the advancement and diffusion 
among all the people of a knowledge and love of plant life in every 
aspect. 
Not the least of the distressing effects of a period of economic 
depression is the fact that organizations and institutions estab- 
lished for the promotion of knowledge, education, and culture are 
lable to suffer diminished financial support. This may not only 
involve reduction of staff and other employees (thus adding to the 
amount of unemployment), but may also cause diminished ef- 
ficiency and the curtailment of activities which minister to in- 
tellectual and spiritual needs. This danger is recognized in a 
statement recently published by the Charity Organization Society 
of New York. 
“The enemies which must be held at bay this winter are starva- 
tion, disease, and demoralisation. The Charity Organization So- 
ciety . . . wishes to broadcast far and wide, with emphasis, that 
the health, recreational, and so-called character-building organiza- 
fions are needed more than ever as our ‘second line of defense’ 
this winter... . Many givers have felt that they are perhaps 
‘frills’ at a time lke this. But they are by no means luxuries. 
— 
Give—but give to the well organized, responsible, health, 
recreational, and character-building organizations, those with years 
of community service to their credit.” 
We are so accustomed, in this “ mechanical age,” to evaluate 
science in terms of its practical applications in commerce, com- 
munication, agriculture, et cetera, that we often lose sight of what 
are its really most important and far-reaching values in emancipat- 
ing the human mind from superstition and bigotry and wrong 
methods in the pursuit of knowledge, and in enlarging our mental 
