Relatian of the Federal Government to Research 



37 



and in consequence the value of the weather service, 

 could be greatly improved in a comparatively short 

 time by permitting the detail of Bureau scientists to 

 universities for special training. 



The basis of the prohibition on sending Government 

 scientists to educational institutions for special study 

 is a decision of the Comptroller General rendered July 

 9, 1926, in response to a letter from the Secretary of 

 Agriculture.^ The reasoning is that the practice in 

 question is specifically authorized by statute in the case 

 of Army officers and enlisted men * and must there- 

 fore be similarly authorized by statute before any other 

 branch of the Government may make use of it, how- 

 ever beneficial it may be. The decision provides a 

 loophole in that the granting of leave of absence for 

 educational purposes is left to "administrative discre- 

 tion subject to statutory limitations"; but the lack of 

 approjjriation for the purpose serves as a sufficiently 

 real limitation. 



Efforts to Solve the Problem 



The Department of Agriculture has tried to mitigate 

 the force of this decision by setting up its own grad- 

 uate school in which courses are taught after hours by 

 specialists from the research bureaus, but this cannot 

 take the place of the intensive training under authori- 

 ties in paiticular fields which is possible at the uni- 

 versities. To a limited extent, also, individual bureaus 

 with complex requirements, such as Plant Industry 

 and Agricultural Engineering, have secured special 

 training for staff members at the land-grant colleges 

 where cooperative projects are under way, but this 

 method is likewise of limited application. The Biolog- 

 ical Survey is solving its jjarticular training problem 

 by establishing cooperative wildlife research units at 

 various land-grant colleges and taking steps to en- 

 courage conservation education at other universities, 

 thus laying the foundation for a future staff of suit- 

 ably trained workers. 



Policies differ mai'kedly in the matter of encouraging 

 employees to take courses after hours in local institu- 

 tions; but there would no doubt be more emphasis on 



• The official summary of the decision reads as follows : 



As there is no statutory authority to detail employees of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to educational institutions for courses of instruction 

 as iiart of their official duties, the employees are not entitled to com- 

 pensation for the time spent during regular office hours in attendance 

 at educational institutions whetlier or not the employees are required 

 to worlv compensatory time after regular office hours. 



The establishing of part-time positions in the Government service to 

 perform services the nature of which requires the whole time of other 

 employees, for the purpose of permitting such part-time employees to 

 attend educational institutions, is not authorized. 



The granting of leave of absence with or without pay for the pur- 

 pose of permitting employees of the Department of Agriculture to at- 

 tend educational institutions for courses of instruction is a matter 

 within the administrative discretion subject to statutory limitations. 

 (6 Comptroller General 15.) 



' United States Code, title 10, paragraph 535. 



tilis type of training if better facilities were available 

 in scientific fields. 



The War and Navy Departments, with respect to 

 personnel, are in a definitely superior position to that 

 of other governmental agencies in that each maintains 

 its own school of collegiate rank. The officer person- 

 nel, which directs all the research activities of both 

 services, is recruited before rather than after college 

 training and is instructed at Government expense in 

 the special fields required. JVIilitary training is, of 

 course, paramount at both academies; but those grad- 

 uates who show most aptitude for scientific work may 

 be given advanced training, either at civilian universi- 

 ties or at numerous special service schools such as the 

 Army Industrial College or the Naval Medical School. 



Even with these advantages, however, the research 

 units of both services have found it necessary to give 

 special training to civilian employees, who are not eli- 

 gible for detail to educational institutions. The case 

 is summarized by the Ordnance Department of the 

 Army : 



The salary scale of the Government is frequently not suffi- 

 cient to attract men already developed or to hold them if 

 specially qualified and recognized by industry as preeminent 

 in their field. It is therefore generally necessary for the De- 

 partment to employ qualified young men and to train them on 

 the job. 



No general solution for the problem of specialized 

 training seems to be necessary. The scientific bureaus 

 can solve it for themselves if they are given authority 

 to do so.' Several of the numerous suggestions made, 

 however, are worthy of consideration. An effective 

 arrangement is understood to be in use in Canada, 

 under which the Canadian Eeseai'ch Council sponsors 

 the assignment of staff members of the Dominion De- 

 partment of Agriculture to universities for special 

 study. An apprenticeship system similar to that of 

 the Social Science Research Council would be endorsed 

 by many bureau chiefs ; and a system of federally sup- 

 ported graduate fellowships at selected universities 

 might also serve the scientific needs of Government. 



Publication of Research Findings 



// the research of the Federal Govemrncnt is to he of 

 maxhnu7n value, findings must he prornptly fubllshed 

 or otherwise made available for general use. — Scientific 

 research is undertaken by the Federal Government for 

 utilitarian ends. It is therefore patently absurd to 



^TMs authority appears, at least in some measure, to have been 

 granted. Section 8 of Executive Order Number 7916, dated June 24, 

 1938, provides that the Civil Service Commission "shall, in cooperation 

 with operating departments and establishments, the Office of Education, 

 and public and private institutions of learning, establish practical train- 

 ing courses for empioyet-s in the departmental and Held services of the 

 classified civil service, and may by regulations provide credits in trans- 

 fer and promotion examinations for satisfactory completion of one or 

 more of such training courses." 



