NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR RESEARCH—GRAF 419 
men, in part to make up the acute shortage which developed during 
the war, and partly to assure a supply of well-equipped men to carry 
forward the increased research this country must undertake. 
One of the first steps to be taken in increasing trained research 
personnel is to eliminate much of the wastage of promising students 
who for financial reasons fall by the wayside before completing their 
academic training. The salvage of superior students from this group 
is an efficient and economical plan, for they have completed part of 
their training and their capabilities are already known. Scholar- 
ships should be awarded only to those who can profit from university 
training, and the leaders among the students should be educated just 
so far as this education is of use to them and to society. Those chosen 
to seek further knowledge should meet the high qualifications estab- 
lished by James B. Conant. 
For the scholar, the seeker after truth, whether he be mathematician, arche- 
ologist, scientist, philosopher, poet, or theologian, must come into the court of 
public opinion not only with clean hands but with a consecrated heart. He must 
have integrity of purpose, a disciplined imagination, and the power of critical 
analysis of both the problem at hand and his own contributions. In addition, 
he must have high standards of performance as to the technical aspects of his 
task. 
In granting scholarships it would seem wise to examine present 
organizations experienced in this field to learn whether the existing 
machinery or methods for this purpose are capable of administering 
a larger Government-sponsored scholarship program. It would be 
wasteful to ignore demonstrated accomplishment in this specialized 
field. : 
In training young scientists it must be borne in mind that quantity 
can never take the place of quality. New ideas, or new applications 
of old ideas, do not arise from oceans of minds. They come from a 
few superior minds in which inquiry, knowledge, and imagination are 
compounded in favorable proportions. Linnaeus long ago noted that 
encouragement should be given to clever students, “for the great dis- 
coverers are among them, as comets among the stars.” The effective- 
ness of a training program depends almost entirely on the ability of the 
teachers, as has been so often demonstrated where a single preeminent 
professor has carried his department to first rank within the nation. 
If outstanding students are to be aided in obtaining the training neces- 
sary to speed research at full efficiency, it is equally important to relieve 
the outstanding teachers of the extraneous duties which reduce their 
use as teachers. It may even be said to be more important, for a single 
teacher may train and inspire many discoverers. In any training pro- 
gram it is thus necessary to seek both students and teachers. Once 
these are brought together in an environment favorable to science, it 
will be demonstrated that huge numbers of investigators are not 
required to keep our country among the world leaders in science. 
