Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



search involving cooperative financing have been little 

 used except in grant-in-aid services such as the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations, and a few other isolated 

 cases, mostly under Federal agencies originally estab- 

 lished under emergency acts. Several outstanding 

 cases of cooperative statistical reporting have been and 

 are now in existence, in which each cooperating agency 

 pays for specific persons, or processes wholly necessary 

 to its work, so that joint financing is nominally 

 avoided. There is, however, at least one case of a 

 series of studies, each of a particular interest to a 

 different region or locality, being carried on by a Fed- 

 eral agency without intimate and active cooperation 

 of the States or local institutions, partly at least on 

 account of the difficulties of joint financing. 



Restrictions on Expenditures for Printing 



One of the criticisms most frequently heard with re- 

 spect to present arrangements for financing research is 

 the limitation on funds for printing. The Congress 

 has not specifically limited printing for research more 

 than printing for other puri^oses, but has imijlied, by its 

 method of appropriation for all printing, that too 

 much will be authorized by Federal agencies unless the 

 amounts available for this purpose are strictly limited. 

 Wliile there may be some foundation for this judgment, 

 the result has been, in many cases, that the findings of 

 an expensive research project are not made known ade- 

 quately, and in some cases, almost not at all. Within 

 each agency the specified amounts for printing are apt 

 to be battled over by the different possible users, and 

 the research representatives, who often need large 

 amovmts, do not win many skirmishes. 



The most obvious result of this policy is the more or 

 less real deprivation of potential beneficiaries of a 

 study, who either do not know of the study's existence 

 or who are not able to consult the research director or 

 read his typed manuscript. Almost equally impor- 

 tant, however, is the effect of stopping or postponing 

 subsequent research projects which seem fated for a 

 similar anonjTnous grave in a Government filing cabi- 

 net. In addition, the effect on the morale of the re- 

 search personnel is serious, since scientists are eager to 

 see their findings in print, and consider publication 

 of their results as a major part of their compensation. 

 Both extravagance and niggardliness can be charged 

 to a policy of spending millions to find out something, 

 but hardly a cent to let the results become known. 

 Lastly, there sometimes results from the limited funds 

 a discrimination between research and more ephemeral 

 activities in favor of the latter. The value of sending 

 current information to citizens is obvious, but the use- 

 fulness of disseminating analytical studies, which will 



85 



be read by few in their original form and will be only 

 gradually digested through others' works into the na- 

 tion's intellectual circulation, is not always so evident. 



To remedy this situation, the suggestion has often 

 been made that no important research activity should 

 be begun without earmarking an adequate amount of 

 funds for prompt publication of the most important 

 results. Such a rule would, however, presuppose the 

 ability of research directors to forecast for each study 

 the approximate time of completion and extent of find- 

 ings to be published. 



The restriction on printing funds, together with the 

 20 percent priority surcharge of the Government 

 Printing Office for rush work, happens to discriminate 

 against the older research agencies with regular funds 

 as compared with newer agencies financed by emer- 

 gency funds that are not restricted as to printing. The 

 agencies without emergency funds do not usually have 

 printing funds available to pay extra charges for rush 

 orders. On the other hand, the emergency funds are 

 adequate to permit payment of the priority surcharge 

 for nearly every printing job financed from such funds. 

 Moreover, the bulk of these priority orders is sufficient 

 to take up most of the excess capacity of the Govern- 

 ment Printing Office whenever the Congress is in ses- 

 sion. Hence, such printing as is possible for the older 

 research agencies is often delayed for many weeks 

 except during a congi-essional recess. 



One of the best known large research bureaus in the 

 Federal Govenmient had its already scanty printing 

 fimd seriously cut at the time of the Economy Acts in 

 the early 1930's, so that its periodic reports, containing 

 both current data of immediate importance and results 

 of fundamental scientific studies, were kept going only 

 on a skeleton basis for a short time until the agency 

 became the beneficiary of emergency funds to enlarge 

 its program for recovery purposes. Since the data 

 previously published were important to the new pro- 

 gram, it was possible to use emergency funds to rees- 

 tablish the printing of its reports. Such legal subter- 

 fuges should not be necessary if the problem of financ- 

 ing research publications were met specifically and 

 comprehensively. 



Comprehensive Economy Drives 



Representatives of research agencies seem to have an 

 especial fear of comprehensive economy drives. The 

 argument is, briefly, that research activities suffer espe- 

 cially in any comprehensive move for wholesale reduc- 

 tions in expenditures, because types of activities other 

 than research appear less vulnerable to administrative 

 officers. For example, regulatory functions, where they 

 occur, usually constitute the chief purpose for which 

 an agency was created. Although there may sometimes 



