18 



National Resources Committee 



Employees of the Government of the United States 

 are often seriously limited in the possibility of attend- 

 ing scientific meetings abroad when their attendance 

 would go far to promote international friendliness and 

 cooperation. 



Budget Provisions for Research 



The scientific workers in the Government recognize 

 the necessity of tlie most rigorous scrutiny of public 

 expendituies. They find themselves prevented, how- 

 ever, fi-om entering upon scientific investigations which 

 they deem to be important because of the difficulty of 

 making clear to the Bureau of the Budget and to the 

 Congress the desirability of certain research enter- 

 prises. Established lines of research which have been 

 passed on and approved secure renewed appropriations 

 much more readily than do new research projects. 

 With the advance of science and the appearance of 

 new problems in the Government, it frequently becomes 

 urgently necessary for research to enter new fields. 

 It is the belief of many of the research workers in the 

 Government and of outside scientists acquainted with 

 the I'esearch program of the Government that it would 

 be advantageous if means could be found of insuring 

 more adequate consideration of proposals for research 

 before decisions are made with regard to Budget items. 

 The Congress has now passed a proposal to increase 

 by more than double the staff of the Bureau of the 

 Budget. Tliis increase in staff will permit far more 

 detailed examination of requests for appropriations 

 for research than is at present possible. It is suggested 

 earlier in this repoi't that the national councils of 

 research workers be drawn into closer association with 

 governmental research. Any device which will result 

 in a more adequate weighing by the Bureau of the 

 Budget and by the Congress of the requests for funds 

 with which to carry on properly sponsored research 

 projects will be of advantage. 



Requests for appropriations have often been inade- 

 quately presented. Scientific agencies are shown by a 

 review of the hearings before the Appropriations Com- 

 mittees of the Congress to have been timid in their 

 statements. They have failed to make clear that re- 

 search is essential to the public welfare. The attitude 

 assumed by appropriating authorities has not infre- 

 quently been that research workers are making requests 

 for personal and selfish reasons. 



There is need for frankness and clarity in presenting 

 the claims of research. Members of the Congress 

 should be informed with convincing directness reofard- 

 ing the character and purposes of each research activ- 

 ity projected. There are cases in which research 

 projects liave been covered up because of fear that 

 they would not receive support if they were fully de- 

 scribed. A single case of this type does much to jeop- 

 ardize the future of research in the Government. 



The development of research is inevitable ; it is quite 

 as certain as the progress of civilization. Research 

 will profit in the long run if its defenders are bold in 

 presenting its claims and insisting that these claims 

 are legitimate and imperative. As the President wrote 

 in his letter approving this survey: "Research is one 

 of the Nation's very greatest resources." 



Coordination of Research Activities 

 Within the Government 



The Government is so complex in its sti-ucture and 

 so broad in the scope of its activities that sometimes 

 (here is duplication of studies or employment by dif- 

 ferent agencies of research of methods of inquiry which 

 are conflicting or overlapping. With respect to dupli- 

 cation, it was found in this survey that there is very 

 little evidence of waste through refjetition of investi- 

 gations. Confirmation of research results is often 

 quite as important as their first discovery. Repetition 

 of investigations also serves in many cases to add find- 

 ings which were overlooked in the first inquiry. 



'V\nien two agencies employ entirely different meth- 

 ods of inquiry, conflicts sometimes result. The Gov- 

 ernment took a step which has been amply justified 

 by experience when it created the Central Statistical 

 Board, which has the function of coordinating the 

 statistical methods of different branches of the Gov- 

 ernment. This Board has a staff which operates under 

 its direction. The Board is made u]) of representa- 

 tives of some of the major agencies that collect basic 

 statistics. 



There are a great many committees of coordination 

 which serve to bring together representatives of dif- 

 ferent agencies more or less closely related in the 

 investigations that they carry on. Finally, there are 

 informal personal confei'ences at which coordination is 

 often promoted even more effectively than it would be 

 through a formal committee. 



It has been stated by some of the rese-arch workers 

 in the Government that efforts at coordination have 

 led to the multiplication of committees until attend- 

 ance on the meetings of these committees has become 

 a burden. Some channeling of coordination through 

 a limited number of avenues of intercommunication 

 seems desirable. If a small number of general coordi- 

 nating boards somewhat on the analogy of the Central 

 Statistical Board could be devised, it seems likely that 

 coordination would be promoted. The type of organ- 

 ization which has developed in the national councils 

 is suggestive of a possible solution of the problem here 

 raised. If there were a board on natural-science 

 projects, one on social-science projects, one on educa- 

 tion, and one devoted to the humanities, the founda- 

 tion might be laid for internal coordination of govern- 

 mental research and also for productive coordination 

 of such research with that of outside agencies. 



