Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



13 



is not possible for the governmental civil agencies to 

 take advantage of the opportunities for advanced train- 

 ing which exist outside tlie Government. They cannot 

 under a ruling of the Comptroller General, assign em- 

 ployees on salary to study outside the governmental 

 service. The Arm}' and the Navy can do so. The de- 

 sirability of making provision under proper circum- 

 stances for an extension of the practice of the Army and 

 the Navy to other divisions of the governmental serv- 

 ice is set forth in a letter from the head of one of the 

 leading technical institutions of the country. The state- 

 ment made in this letter is in part as follows : 



The point that I desire to emphasize most strongly with respect 

 to the whole field which you are discussing is that, so far as my 

 connection with Government scientific services is concerned the 

 most obvious and disastrous weakness that I have found in the 

 present government procedures which I have met with in my 

 work is in the inability of a bureau which is in dire need of a 

 better trained personnel than it now has to do what both the 

 Army and Navy are now doing regularly, namely, sending its 

 younger men on furlough to outstanding centers of scientific 

 progress such as exist in institutions in this country and abroad 

 for further training and association. Whether your Board can 

 exert any influence to remove this great handicap or not I do 

 not know, but in my judgment it ought to be removed with 

 respect to practically all the scientific branches of the Govern- 

 ment, for in the last analysis the most vital element in our 

 progress as a nation, of course, has to do with personnel, and 

 every impediment we put in the way of getting good personnel 

 hits us at our most vulnerable point. 



Utilization of Non-Governmental 

 Personnel 



There are many lines of research important for tlie 

 Government for which the best qualified research 

 workers arc not in governmental erfiploy and probably 

 should not be. Under present conditions it is difficult 

 to secure the services on temporary appointments of 

 these outside research workers. The emergency 

 agencies of the Government are freer in this respect 

 than are the older, permanent agencies. 



Adviwry committees. — One device adopted by some 

 of the govcrmnental bureaus for securing the help of 

 persons not in the regular employ of the Government 

 is the organization of advisory conmiittees. In such 

 committees leading research workers have been 

 brought together to aid in the development and con- 

 duct of research programs within the Government. 

 In the field of aeronautics the Congress set up a so- 

 called "advisory committee" which is in reality a board 

 of strategy performing functions that go far beyond 

 mere advising. Committees have been appointed by 

 executive order to investigate special problems. A re- 

 cent example of this type is the Advisory Conmiittee 

 on Education, which made elaborate reports on various 

 aspects of public education. Other advisory com- 

 mittees have been appointed by secretaries of the sev- 

 eral executive departments or by bureau chiefs. 



Advisory committees are able to assist the govern- 

 mental agencies with which they are connected to very 

 different extents. Their contributions depend on (1) 

 the energy of the chairman, (2) the frequency of meet- 

 ing, (3) tlie attitude of tite governmental officials, (4) 

 the competency of the individual members of tlie com- 

 mittee, and (5) the funtls available for the work of the 

 committee. 



This siu'\ey did not include a special study of ad- 

 visory committees. It is impossible, therefore, to con- 

 tribute to the discussion of tlieir value, except in tei-ms 

 of the comments made by members of advisory com- 

 mittees and by governmental officials. 



One suggestion which was made several times, is 

 that the services of advisory committees would be im- 

 proved if the experience of each committee could be 

 made available to all others. Where a committer finds 

 it difficult to operate effectively, it might learn much 

 from another committee which has been more success- 

 ful. It is the belief of some who have been members 

 of advisory committees that the organization of a coun- 

 cil of chairmen of advisory committees would serve a 

 useful purpose. 



Experience in the Affiliation in 

 Research of Non-Federal Institutions 

 With Governmental Agencies 



In 1862 the Federal Government, which at that time 

 was not equipped to carry on extensive researches in 

 agi'iculture, took dteps to encourage research in all the 

 States by giving grants of land to be used in develop- 

 ing agriculture and the mechanic arts on a scientific 

 basis. The so-called "land-grant colleges" were estab- 

 lished as State institutions. They have received by 

 acts of the Congress subsequent to the original grants 

 of land a number of grants of money. Agricultural 

 experiment stations were set up at the land-grant in- 

 stitutions as centers of scientific experimentation. The 

 Government contributes stimulation, support, and a 

 measure of supervision to these experiment stations. 

 The land-grant institutions are also used by the Gov- 

 ernment in the conduct of a program of extension 

 education and service to the farmers of the country. 

 Through this extension service the findings of re- 

 search in agriculture and related subjects have been 

 made available to the people of the Nation. 



In conducting local researches and in cooperating 

 with govermnental research, the land-grant colleges 

 have given a demonstration of a method by which de- 

 centralized research activities can be stimulated and 

 carried on in close cooperation with Federal agencies. 

 A central research office in the Department of Agricul- 

 ture makes contracts with the agricultural experiment 

 stations, disburses funds under these contracts, and 

 otherwise assists in the prosecution of research. The 



