52 



the responsibility of the Nation for the welfare of its 

 individual citizens. 



The Department of Labor in both the Children's 

 Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics has con- 

 tinuous records covering a number of years which 

 must be thought of as fundamental materials in the 

 social sciences. These agencies have analyzed the facts 

 which they have collected far enough so that they can 

 properly be described as scientific agencies, not merely 

 servants of administration. 



Commissions and special investigating committees of 

 Congress and of State legislatures, and State constitu- 

 tional conventions have in a number of conspicuous 

 cases gathered and made available materials which are 

 of a fundamental type. A few conspicuous examples 

 of Congressional commissions wliich through their in- 

 quiries and publications have added largely to the 

 social sciences are the following : 



The Industrial Commission created by act of June 18, 189S. 



The Immigration Commission created by act of February 20, 

 1907. 



The National Monetary Commission created by act of May 30, 

 1908. 



The Industrial Relations Commission created by act of August 

 23, 1912. 



The Joint Commission on Agricultural Inquiry created by 

 concurrent resolution of June 7, 1921. 



Each of these commissions has to its credit a long list 

 of publications which are the results of elaborate in- 

 quiries carried on by technical experts who brought to 

 the service of the Government scientific equipment of 

 a superior order and prepared for the Government and 

 for social science reports which can properly be classi- 

 fied as contributions to pure research. 



Members of governmental research agencies who 

 have been consulted by members of the staff of this 

 inquiry are convinced that fimdamental research in the 

 social sciences is greatly stimulated by contact with 

 administrative agencies. They point out that there is 

 a certain sterility in much of the academic treatment of 

 social problems in courses given in universities because 

 of the lack of contact on the part of students and mem- 

 bers of the faculty with the problems which research 

 must solve. It is frequently stated by those who are 

 responsible for the appointment of university gradu- 

 ates in the bureaus of the Government that these grad- 

 uates are lacking in realistic understanding of the 

 problems of social organization. 



Facilities for Collecting 

 Social Science Data 



The Federal Government has facilities, many of 

 which are not now fully utilized, for collecting mate- 

 rials useful to the social sciences. — The recent Census 

 of Partial Employment, Unemployment, and Occupa- 



National Resources Committee 



tions utilized the mail carriers of the post offices of the 

 United States to gather information fi'om every family 

 of the Nation. The Department of Agriculture 

 through the county agents and through the land-grant 

 colleges is in direct contact with the rural population 

 of the United States more completely than any other 

 agency, private or public. The Foreign Service of the 

 Government is now used and could be used even more 

 largely in securing various types of infonnation. The 

 Works Progress Administration is in intimate contact 

 throughout the States with industrial and social condi- 

 tions. The Social Security Board has in its files infor- 

 mation about the employed population which is now of 

 unlimited importance and will in the future be even 

 more complete and significant. The Tennessee Valley 

 Authority knows intimately the conditions in the areas 

 which it covers. The Securities and Exchange Com- 

 mission utilizes the research results of such agencies as 

 the National Bureau for Economic Research and of 

 such private concerns as investment banks. The agents 

 of this Commission frequently have conferences with 

 brokers and others who have knowledge of financial 

 transactions and conditions. 



These and other examples which might be cited 

 make it clear that the Federal Goverimaent has unpar- 

 alleled possibilities of collecting information through 

 individuals who are now qualified or with very little 

 training could readily be prepared to bring to the 

 services of social science the information necessary for 

 fundamental studies that are much needed and are 

 quite beyond the reach of any other agency. There 

 is need for a better organization of these potential 

 sources of information. It is altogether conceivable 

 that the decennial census could be taken more efficiently 

 and far more economically than at present if certain 

 of the persons in the field whose services the Federal 

 Government has a right to command were employed in 

 collecting data. The appointment every 10 years of 

 a larse number of census enumerators who serve for a 

 short time in a service for which many of them have 

 very limited preparation has opened the way, as his- 

 tory shows with uimiistakable clearness, for interfer- 

 ence by spoils politics with scientific work to a degree 

 ■nhich has rendered the study of population figures 

 difficult and in some important respects invalid. It 

 should be possible, however, to correct most of the de- 

 fects which the employment of persons of inadequate 

 training introduces into the factual basis for the 

 study of social problems without involving the Gov- 

 enmient in any additional expense. "Wliat is needed is 

 organization. 



Status of Governmental Records 



The Federal Government has vast collections of 

 records which are in danger of neglect because of lack 



