XXIV 



THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 

 JAMES R. ANGELI/ 



UNTIL the organization of the National Research Council, 

 scientific research in the United States had been carried 

 on by a group of agencies working for the most part in inde- 

 pendence of one another. Research in pure science has beerT^ 

 chiefly cultivated in the universities and in a small group of 

 privately endowed research institutes. The scientific bureaus 

 of the Federal Government and certain of the scientific agencies 

 of the several states have from time to time devoted themselves 

 to investigations in this field ; but in the main, they have almost 

 inevitably been monopolized by problems of applied science 

 possessing the urgency of pressing practical necessity. The 

 sum total of the scientific work carried on by these state and 

 federal agencies (e. g., the federal Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the state experiment stations, state geological surveys, 

 etc.) has been very large, and its significance for the welfare 

 of the public has been of the highest consequence. The re- 

 search aspects of applied science have also been represented 

 to some extent in the industrial laboratories of the country, 

 certain of which have been developed to a very high degree of 

 efficiency, although the number of such laboratories is lament- 

 ably small when compared with the need and the opportunity. 



Merely to state the foregoing facts is to suggest the valid , 

 conclusion that the best results in research can never accrue 

 under conditions so lacking in unity and coherence of purpose. , 

 The National Research Council, created by the relentless pres- 

 sure of the war, is endeavoring to secure in times of peace the 



