Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



103 



eleven antemeridian of the eighth day following that to which 

 the respective reiwrts relate • * * (u. S. C. 7: 475). 



And a like degree of detail is in effect witli respect to 

 the monthly crop reports of the Bureau of Agricul- 

 tural Economics. The monthly crop report — 



* * * shall be printed and distributed on or before the 

 twelfth day of each month, and shall embrace statements of 

 the condition of crops by States, in the United States, with 

 such explanations, comparisons, and information as may be use- 

 ful for illustrating the above matter, and it shall be sub- 



mitted to and oflirinlly approved by the Secretary of Agriciil- 

 lurc before being issued or pulilished. (U. S. C. 7: 411a.) 



Detailed tobacco statistics are to be published quar- 

 terly by the Department of Agriculture, and various 

 other statistical iivl'oi'mation having to do with crops 

 is to be published annually. 



Ainiual statistical reports are required also of the 

 Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Conunerce, the Bu- 

 reau of Internal Revenue, and other agencies. 



III. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 



Administrative provisions, affecting the research ac- 

 tivities of Federal agencies are those dealing with the 

 organization of research and the process of investiga- 

 tion rather than with the nature of the research itself. 

 These are discussed below under two main headings, 

 namely, (1) Research Personnel; and (2) Cooperation 

 with Other Agencies. 



Research Personnel 



Congress may exert a profoui^d influence on govern- 

 mental research through restrictions on the use of per- 

 sonnel, and through the latitude allowed in the ap- 

 pointment of professional employees, consultants, and 

 experts. 



Qualifications Prescribed 



Statutes establishing research agencies often specify 

 in some degree the qualifications of personnel to be 

 employed. The first instances occurred before the es- 

 tablishment of the Civil Service Commission, and since 

 that time qualifications have been defined only with 

 reference to special technicians and to membei's of 

 boards or commissions whose offices are not under the 

 classified service. 



The first prescription of this kind was contained 

 in the act establishing the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 in 1884 (23 Stat. 31), which specified that the Chief 

 of the Bureau was to be a veterinarian. Provision 

 also was made for appointment of two agents, "who 

 shall be practical stockraisers or experienced business- 

 men familiar with questions pertaining to commercial 

 transactions in livestock * * *." The organic act 

 of the Bureau of Mines similarly specifies that the 

 Director is to be technically tramed, and scientific 

 employees of the Geological Survey are to be selected 

 "exclusively for their qualifications as professional ex- 

 perts." (U. S. C. 43:34.) In the same connection 

 the Commissioner of Fisheries is described as "a per- 

 son of scientific and practical acquaintance with the 

 fish and fisheries * * *." (U. S. C. 16: 741.) 



The power to prescribe personnel qualifications was in- 

 voked in a somewhat different connection in the Smith- 



Hughes Act of 1917 (39 Stat. 929) setting up the Federal 

 Board for Vocational Education. In addition to the 

 Cabinet members of the Board, the act provides for three 

 citizen members who should represent respectively the 

 interests of manufacturing and commerce, agriculture, 

 and labor. The Tennessee Valley Authority Act pro- 

 vides that "all the members of the Board shall be 

 persons wlio profess a belief in the feasibility and wis- 

 dom of this Act" (48 Stat. 68) ; and the statute creating 

 the Central Statistical Board specifies that the "chair- 

 man and all the members shall be persons technically 

 trained in statistics, economics, or public administra- 

 tion, known in their profession as of high standing and 

 wide experience." 



Membership on the various independent regulatory 

 commissions is in each case restricted to persons hav- 

 ing no private connection with or pecuniary interest in 

 the industry subject to regulation — a restriction which 

 has tended to become more rigorous as new commis- 

 sions are created. Thus, no person shall hold office as 

 a member of the United States Maritime Commission 

 "who, within 3 years prior to his appointment, shall 

 have been employed by, or have had any pecuniary 

 interest in, any carrier by water or substantial pecuniary 

 interest in any other person who derives a substantial 

 portion of his revenues from any business associated 

 with ships or shipping * * *" (49 Stat. 1985-6). 

 Such jn-ovisions as this, of coui'se, bear only indirectly 

 on research, but it is quite as important for fact-find- 

 ing to be unbiased as it is for the rule-making power, 

 to be exercised without prejudice. 



The minimum rank and experience of chiefs of the 

 various scientific bureaus of the War and Navy Depart- 

 ments are usuallj^ specified. 



Exemptions From Civil Service 



The civil service does not always attract the more 

 able men in the higher positions, and the privilege of 

 employing on a temporary or per diem basis the most 

 competent scientist for a given job may mean the dif- 

 ference between success and failure in the undertaking. 

 Statutes providing for research activities, therefore. 



