Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



71 



ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION, BY 



3R0AD SUBJECT FIELDS, OF RESEARCH 



EXPENDITURES FROM EMERGENCY AND 



REGULAR FUNDS - 1938 



l-EMERGENCY FUNDS 

 I I - REGULAR FUNDS 



REGULAR 

 FUNDS 



EMERGENCY 

 FUNDS 



20 40 60 



MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 



80 



NATURAL 

 'SCIENCES 



^ 



SOCIAL 

 "SCIENCES 



I I - OTHER 



sciences and statistics in the fiscal years 1937 and 1938. 

 If these estimates of research expenditures from emer- 

 gency funds are combined with corresponding data 

 from regular funds, it appeals that research in the 

 natural sciences accounted for about two-fifths of all 

 Federal research expenditures in the fiscal year 1937, 

 and for nearly one-half of such expenditures in the 

 fiscal year 1938. As the total amount spent for research 

 from emergency funds decreased from 1937 to 1938, 

 and the amount from regular funds increased, the 

 natural sciences gained both absolutely and in relation 

 to social sciences in terms of dollars expended. 



About 60 different bureaus and independent offices 

 are responsible for research projects in natural science 

 and technology, while about 80 agencies carry on in- 

 quiries that would be classed as social science or sta- 



tistics. Since the category in these tables for "unallo- 

 cated library, archival, and administrative aids to 

 research" is a residual one, containing only aids to 

 research that have not been classified elsewliere, the 

 distribution of these amounts is of no comparable sig- 

 nificance (see table 11). Table 7 shows that 8 of the 

 10 Cabinet Departments have reported expenditures for 

 research that has been classified as natural science and 

 technology; while 7 departments are represented by 

 social sciences and statistical investigations, and 6 

 departments carry on some form of surveys or 

 mapping. 



Research Expenditures by Purpose 



A classification of research expenditures by purpose 

 rather than by field shows that over half of such ex- 

 penditures of the Federal Government is devoted to 

 either the promotion of agriculture or the improvement 

 of the Army and Navy. Promotion of agriculture, rep- 

 resented by the activities of the Farm Credit Adminis- 

 tration and the Department of Agriculture, accounts 

 for 37 percent of total research expenditures in both 

 fiscal years 1937 and 1938. Next in size of expenditure 

 comes military and naval i-esearch, which represents 

 20 percent of the total in 1937 and about 22 percent 

 in 1938. Basic data for these calculations are from 

 table 11. 



Recent Trends in Research Expenditures 



Quinquennial Data from Illustrative 

 Agencies 



Table 9 summarizes the information obtained from 

 agencies in response to requests for readily available 

 data for the fiscal years 1923, 1928, and 1933 that would 

 be comparable to research expenditures given for the 

 fiscal years 1937 and 1938. In a few cases additional 

 information was compiled from the Budget of the 

 United States Government for the respective years. 



The totals in table 9, which uiclude data for the whole 

 Department of Agi'iculture and 13 other agencies rep- 

 resented by data for each of the 5 years listed, show that 

 research expenditures rose from about $20,000,000 in 

 1923 to about $44,000,000 in 1938, an increase of over 

 120 percent. The corresponding increase for the 13 

 agencies other than the Department of Agi-iculture is 

 almost 90 percent. Increases in expenditures by indi- 

 vidual bureaus are, with some exceptions, substantial 

 and continuous when viewed by such 5-year intervals. 



Importance of the Census in 

 Historical Comparisons 



The yeai"S used in table 9 to show rec«nt trends in 

 lesearch expenditures were chosen to avoid the periods 

 of the heaviest expense for the decennial censuses. In 



