SECTION 4. LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS AFFECTING THE RESEARCH 



ACTIVITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES 



By Charles M. Wiltse 



I. INTRODUCTION 



The Federal Government makes extensive use of sci- 

 entific research, both as an instrument of administration 

 and as a means of supplying the public with numerous 

 regulatory and informational services which have be- 

 come essential functions of the modern state. Laws 

 can be made and applied only in the light of exact 

 knowledge as to needs and conditions, and information 

 must be acquired before it can be disseminated. 



National defense, for example, requires constant re- 

 search to develop new weapons and improved materials 

 of war, and battles may be won in the laboratory before 

 armies take the field. The regulation of interstate and 

 foreign commerce requires information as to commodi- 

 ties bought and sold — their origin, quantity, quality, 

 and destination; and the protection of health demands 

 scientific study and control of the diseases of plants and 

 animals as well as those of human beings. The im- 

 provement of agriculture and of various industries such 

 as mining and fisheries, the conservation of natural 

 resources and the management of public lands, the pro- 

 tection of labor from exploitation and of the consumer 

 from fraudulently labeled goods, are among the activi- 

 ties of government which ai'e based upon scientific 

 research. 



To meet these research needs of government, a vast 

 scientific establishment has grown up, cari-ying on its 

 work in a multitude of laboratories at strategic centers 

 throughout the country, in field stations located in 

 every State and Territory, and by means of exploring 

 parties and collaborators in all parts of the world. 

 Some of this research is the work of a single agency, 

 some of it the cooperative product of several agencies; 

 some projects are undertaken directly by Government 

 employees and some under cooperative agreement with 

 State or private institutions; but whatever the method 



employed, the Federal Goverimient is the sfxinsor and 

 administrative center of research activities penetrating 

 every branch of science. 



The success or failure of this vast scientific enterprise 

 depends first and foremost ujjon Congress, which may 

 through grants of power, limitations, or financial pro- 

 visions, make effective research possible or foredoom 

 any research program to failure. For it is Congress 

 that writes the organic acts setting up scientific agencies 

 or imposing research functions, and it is Congress that 

 finances from year to year the agencies and activities 

 so provided. 



In the present study no attempt has been made to 

 catalog all of the legislative provisions now in force 

 which influence directly or indirectly the conduct of 

 research by tlie various scientific and statistical agencies 

 of the Federal Government. Neither the time allowed 

 for preparing this study nor the space available for 

 printing it has permitted so exhaustive a task; and the 

 value of such a catalog would in any case be doubtful. 

 The purpose of the following pages is rather to indi- 

 cate by illustration and example the more important 

 ways in which legislation may control research. The 

 report is factual rather than critical, and is intended to 

 be indicative rather than comprehensive. 



For purposes of discussion, legislative provisions 

 affecting the research activities of Federal agencies 

 have been classified as functional, administrative, and 

 financial. Functional provisions are defined as those 

 bearing upon the content and dissemination of the re- 

 search itself; administrative provisions are those bear- 

 ing upon the process or administration of research ; and 

 financial provisions are those dealing with the ap- 

 propriation and expenditure of funds for research. 



II. FUNCTIONAL PROVISIONS 



The most important provisions of a functional na- 

 ture which are commonly included in research statutes 

 are (1) tliose granting authority to c^mduct research, 

 or defining the field within which such research is to 

 be carried on; (2) those granting access to sources of 

 information not otherwise accessible; and (3) those 

 making stipulations with respect to publication or 



other disposition of the findings of research. These 

 three types of functional provision are treated in de- 

 tail in the following pages. 



Authority to Conduct Research 



The statutory grant of power to any research agency 

 serves to fix the limits within which investigations and 



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