Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



65 



suits incomparable with those of the present study, and 

 prevent their use in analj'zing trends, excepting where 

 estimates have been made by the same person or oi'gan- 

 ization through successive years. 



A comprehensive functional analysis of Federal ex- 

 penditures was made by the late Edward B. Rosa of 

 the National Bureau of Standards, who reported in one 

 functional category expenditures for "research, educa- 

 tion, and development" for each of the years 1910 to 

 1920, inclusive. These estimates were continued by the 

 Bureau of Efficiency for the years 1921 to 1924. Later, 

 a compilation of similar character was prepared by 

 Marjorie Van de Water and Watson Davis, of Science 

 Service, for the years 1910, 1915, 1920 to 1933, inclusive, 

 and 1936, with supplementary estimates for research 

 only, for the fiscal years 1923 tJirough 1931, and for 

 research in natural sciences only, for 1923 through 1932, 

 and 1934 through 1937. 



A series of annual estimates carried back to the year 

 1915 was prepared by the Bureau of the Budget from 



1921 to 1933 for its functional classification of Federal 

 expenditures. One of the functions for which expendi- 

 tures were calculated was designated first as "science 

 and research" and later, without change of methods, as 

 "science and research, general." The amounts, how- 

 over, did not include all research expenditures but only 

 those not classified by the Bureau under more specific 

 functional headings. 



Several single-time compilations have also been pre- 

 pared. W. J. McGee, formerly of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, {prepared a table of appropriations for "scientific 

 bureaus" in 1902 (see Table E in Appendix). Ralph 

 B. Ward, then of the Brookings Institution, compiled 

 Experulitures and Budgeted Estimates 1930, 1933, 1935, 

 for the Support of the Work of Scientifi.c Bureaux 

 arul Independent Offices, which was confined to natural 

 sciences and technology. 



A consolidated table of totals reported in these pre- 

 vious studies is included in the Appendix of this 

 report. 



I. THE FACTS ABOUT FEDERAL EXPENDITURES FOR RESEARCH 



Limitations of Data on Research 

 Expenditures 



An attempt to estimate Federal expenditures for re- 

 search involves setting down precise figures to repre- 

 sent processes that cannot be consistently defined and 

 that usually constitute integi'al parts of administrative 

 or other noninvestigatory activities, such as promotion 

 of commerce or collection of the revenue.^ 



In addition to such general deficiencies inherent in 

 the data presented in the following sections, some omis- 

 sions are probable in spite of the systematic efforts to 

 obtain complete reports. There were several instances 

 where data were finally obtained for a research activity 

 personally known by the writer to exist, after a sup- 

 posedly final ofiicial statement omitting the activity 

 entirely had been received from the agency concerned. 

 Lack of personal knowledge probably prevented dis- 

 covery of other cases of similar omission. In one in- 

 stance, an agency officially transmitted the report of one 

 of its sub-units stating that it had no expenditures for 

 research, but afterward a representative orally ex- 

 pressed disappointment in the decision of the sub-unit 

 and described some of the pioneer investigations of par- 

 ticular promise that were being carried on. 



Particular efforts have been made to apply the cri- 

 teria of "research" as uniformly as possible to the varied 

 investigations in different bureaus and offices. Alloca- 

 tion of the costs of personnel, supplies, printing, travel, 

 and general administrative overhead between research 



'For a statement of the principal difficulties in preparing and using 

 such estimates tlie reader is referred to the Appendix and the second 

 section of the Introduction. 



and non-research activities has usually been left to the 

 agency concerned, although in this respect also, attempts 

 to keep the results as comparable as possible have been 

 made through discussions with budget officers or re- 

 search administrators, who supplied or reviewed the 

 information. 



Total Amounts of Researcli Expenditures 

 Fiscal Years 1937 and 1938 



Total Amounts from General and 

 Emergency Funds 



In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1937, the Federal 

 Government spent on research about 124 million dollars, 

 or nearly $1 for each person in the United States. 

 About 70 million dollars came from regular funds and 

 an additional 54 million dollars from emergency funds. 

 If Federal contributions and grants for research car- 

 ried on by non-Federal agencies are deducted from these 

 amounts, the expenditures for research within Federal 

 agencies for the fiscal year 1937 would be about 64 mil- 

 lion dollars from regular funds and approximately 11 

 million dollars from emergency funds. 



The corresponding figures for the fiscal year 1938 

 show increases of about 8 million dollars from regular 

 funds, and a decrease of nearly 24 million dollars in 

 emergency expenditures, for research purposes. The 

 resulting net decrease from the previous year brings 

 the total expenditures for research to about 108 million 

 dollars for the fiscal year 1938. Of this amount about 

 78 million dollars came from general funds and about 

 30 million dollars came from emergency appropria- 

 tions (see table 1). 



