THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 17 



Two lines of effort, demanding very different modes of pro- 

 cedure, lay before the Council in entering upon its war serv- 

 ices. Many new scientific methods, unfamiliar in the United 

 States, had been developed and successfully applied by our 

 Allies during the war. It was a matter of the first importance 

 that we should lose no time in profiting by such advantages, 

 which demanded for their application the organization of 

 new services in the army and navy, and the enlistment of large 

 numbers of scientific men for service at home and in the field. 

 In the second place, experience abroad had shown the necessity 

 of conducting researches for the solution of military, naval, 

 and industrial problems, even after war had begun. It goes 

 without saying that such researches, which demand much time 

 and thought, should have been initiated years before the out- 

 break ef war. But as preparedness for national defense had 

 been as sadly neglected in its scientific aspects as on its more 

 obviously military side, there was no alternative. In Ger- 

 many, where a short war had been expected, the men of science 

 had been called upon after the outbreak of hostilities to develop 

 new processes and to provide substitutes for commodities cut 

 off by the blockade. In France and England, researches con- 

 ducted under the disturbing conditions of war had been equally 

 successful. It was plain that we in the United States must 

 lose no time in taking advantage of our great national asset 

 of scientific men and laboratories. 



At this point a fundamental principle in the policy of the Na- 

 tional Research Council should be mentioned. In spite of its 

 establishment for the promotion and utilization of scientific re- 

 search, the Council took the stand from the outset that in time 

 of war the proper procedure is to adopt and immediately to 

 utilize at the front the best available military device for the ac- 

 complishment of any purpose in view, before attempting to 

 develop a more effective means of serving the same end. 

 When men and means were available, researches for the im- 

 provement of such devices, or for the development of new ones, 

 might advantageously be initiated in many cases, but there 



