68 



Range and Percentage of Research 

 Expenditures by Agencies 



A. few agencies in the Federal Government are de- 

 voted almost oolely to research for the immediate bene- 

 fit of specific groups of citizens. Other agencies carry 

 on research primarily to improve their own internal 

 administration. The relative proportion of the two 

 contrasting functions of outside service and internal 

 improvement within any one bureau or independent 

 office is the most important reason for the wide varia- 

 tions in amounts and percentages of total expenditures 

 devoted to research by the different agencies. 



There are 20 bureaus or offices in the 10 Cabinet 

 departments and 3 independent agencies which ex- 

 pended more than a million dollars a year for research 

 in either one or both of the fiscal years 1937 and 1938. 

 Only the Office of Experiment Stations spent (in 

 grants) as much as $5,000,000 a year for research. 

 Three bureaus spent over 31/2 million dollars a year 

 each, and eight others spent over 2 million dollars each 

 in either one or both of the fiscal years 1937 and 1938. 

 Tables 4 and 5 show the amounts spent for research 

 by each of these major research agencies, although 

 table 4 excludes grants made through the Office of Ex- 



Table 5. — Research expenditures from regular funds hy 23 liu- 

 reaus and independent offices, fiscal years 1037 and 1038 



[Arranged in order of research expenditures in 1937] 



Amount of re- 

 search expend- 

 itures (in 

 thousands of 

 dollars) 



Grand total, including grants and con- 

 tributions 



70,264 



1. OflQce of Experiment Stations (Agricul- 



ture) ' 



2. Air Corps (War).-- 



3. Bureau of Plant Industry (.Agriculture)-. 

 •1. Geological Survey (Interior)- 



5. Coast and Geodetic Survey (Commerce).. 



6. Bureau of Aeronautics (Navy) 



7. Bureau of .Agricultural Economics (Agri- 



culture^ ' 



8. Bureau oft he Cen.sus (Commerce) 



9. Public Health Service (Treasury) 



10. Bureau n( Enlomolopy und Plant (Juar- 



antine (.Agriculture) ' 



11. Tennessee Valley .Authority 



12. Forest Service (Agriculture) ' 



13. Bureau of Mines (Inlerior) 



14. Soil Conservation Service (Agriculture)--. 



15. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils (Agricul- 



ture) - 



16. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 



merce (Commerce) 



17. Ordnance Department (War) 



18. Civilian Coaservatinn Corps 



19. Bureau 111 Animal Industry (Agriculture) 



20. National Advisory Committee for Aero- 



nautics. _ 



21. Bureau of Engineering (Navy) 



22. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Labor) - , 



23. National Bureau of Standards (Com- 



merce) 



All other bureaus and independent agencies . , 



1937 



5,R50 

 4,540 

 4,460 

 3,739 

 2,721 

 2,628 



2,224 

 2,219 

 2,119 



2, 06:i 

 2.016 

 1,910 

 1,602 

 1,311 



1,383 



1,377 

 1,360 

 1,292 

 1,272 



1.241 



1,010 



966 



»S62 

 19, 009 



1938 



78, 468 



6,464 

 3,S78 

 4,876 

 4,000 

 2, 79.' 

 3,021 



2,385 

 2.271 

 2.863 



2.214 

 1,609 

 2,118 

 1,745 

 1,541 



1,425 



1,459 



1,360 



749 



1,390 



1.442 



2,875 

 1,004 



•1,076 

 23,221 



Percentage of nil 

 Federal research 



Simple 



1937 



8.2 

 4.9 

 6.2 

 5.1 

 3 6 

 4.6 



3.0 

 2 9 

 3.6 



2 8 

 2 2 

 2!? 

 2.2 

 2.0 



1.8 



1.9 

 1.7 

 1.0 

 1.8 



1.8 

 3.7 

 1.3 



1.4 

 29.6 



Cumula- 

 tive 



8.3 



14.8 

 21.1 

 26.4 

 30 i 

 34.0 



37.2 

 40.4 

 43.4 



46.3 

 49.2 

 51.9 

 54.2 

 ,')0.4 



68.1 



60.4 

 62.3 

 64. 1 

 65.9 



67.7 

 69. 1 

 70.5 



71.7 

 100.0 



8.2 

 13.1 

 19.3 

 24.4 

 28.0 

 32.6 



35.6 

 38.5 

 42.1 



44,9 

 47. 1 

 ■19 8 

 52. 

 5^0 



55.8 



57.7 

 59.4 

 60.4 

 62.2 



64.0 

 67.7 

 69.0 



70.4 

 100.0 



National Resources Committee 



periment Stations, which are included in table 5. Ta- 

 h\& 5 shows that one-fourth of research expenditures 

 from regular funds is from 4 bureaus, while one-half 

 of the total is from 12 bureaus. 



In tables 6 and 13 the Federal agencies reporting re- 

 search are distributed according to the percentage of 

 regidar operating funds expended for research pur- 

 poses in the fiscal year 1938. The summary in table 6 

 shows that 31 Federal agencies use more than half 

 their financial resources for research, and an additional 

 35 use more than one quarter of their funds for this 

 purpose. 



Table 6. — Numher of Federal agencies iy percentage of operat- 

 ing expenses (from regular funds) used for research purposes, 

 fiscal year 1038 



Percentage of operating expenses (regular 

 funds) used for research 



Agencies reporting research. 



99 to 100 percent 



90 to 99 percent 



80 to 89 percent 



70 to 79 percent 



60 to 69 percent 



60 to 59 percent 



40 to 49 percent 



30 to 39 percent 



20 to 29 percent 



10 to 19 percent 



1 to 9 percent 



Less than 1 percent.. 



Number of agencies 



Bureaus, 

 etc.. in De- 

 partments 



Indepen- 

 dent 

 agencies 



29 



2 

 

 

 1 

 

 2 

 

 1 

 

 1 



16 

 7 



1 For names of agencies, see table 13. Excludes 4 agencies coimted in table 3, 

 for which research expenditures are included in table, as follows: A bureau and an 

 independent agency having research expenditures in 1937 but none in 1933: and 

 miscellaneous work in the general administrative organization of 2 departments for 

 which no comparable percentages were feasible. 



Research Expenditures According to 

 Subject and Purpose 



Classification by Subject 



The jDossibility of classifying Federal activities into 

 subject fields was tested briefly. A comprehensive 

 classification pi'oved impracticable. Opinions differed 

 sharply among competent persons working in the same 

 field about the proper classification of specific investi- 

 gations. Furthermore, most inquiries would have to 

 be classified under several categories, some of which 

 might not be readily apparent even when accurate and 

 comprehensive titles were carried by the studies." To 

 divide expenditures for such inquiries artificially into 

 amounts applicable to each subject would be absurd, 

 and to list the total amount under each i^ossible head- 

 ing would involve extensive multiple counting. Either 

 method would require preparation of material for a 

 complete subject catalog of research projects. The at- 

 tempt to compile research expenditures by a systematic 

 subject classification was therefore abandoned. 



' Expenditures are principally grants to Plate agricultural experiment stations. 



• Some activities defined as "research" for this study have not been included as 

 such in the annual figure for research published by the Department of Agnculture. 



• Exclusive of amounts reimbursed for work carried on (or other agencies. 



'The study Family Disbursements of Wage Earners and Salaried 

 Workers Is a case in point. 



