82 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
good many are asking more seriously than ever before: “Is the 
Academy worth while?” 
I for one would be frank to confess, that if the Academy is 
to continue indefinitely to be the poverty stricken organization 
that it has been in the past, it would not be worth the sacrifice 
and the effort that its members would have to make for it. Thru 
lack of funds for printing, we have not been able in the past to 
do in any effective manner, either of the two fundamental 
things which we state in our constitution to be the purposes 
for which we exist as an organization. Most of our publica- 
tions have been little more than mere apologies for what they 
might have been. They have consisted too largely of abstracts 
and have been published in such small editions that the papers 
printed in them have been quite effectively buried from sight. 
They have been neither an effective stimulus to scientific 
research, nor an adequate means for the dissemination of 
scientific knowledge. We have had some splendid programs, 
but we might have had much better programs, could we have 
offered a more attractive medium of publication. Money for 
the adequate publication and distribution of our transactions 
is the one thing needed to transform the Academy from a weak, 
struggling and ineffective organization, to a vigorous and 
effective organization that would draw all the forces of science 
in the State together and multiply their power for good. 
So, in my opinion, the question as to the worthwhileness of 
the Academy resolves itself into the question: “Is there any 
liklihood that we shall ultimately secure the aid from the State 
that is necessary to make it worth while?” I am persuaded 
that there is absolutely no question about this. We have 
probably been too patient and long-suffering in this matter. 
We have probably urged our cause with a modesty and a 
timidity that may be becoming to men of science, but which is 
not calculated to attain success in some other fields of activity. 
The State is thoroughly committed to the policy of aiding 
scientific and educational organizations by paying for the pub- 
lication and distribution of their proceedings, and the states of 
the middle west are most of them, committed to the policy of 
supporting state academies in this way. 
