Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



providing Federal aid for the State agricultural ex- 

 periment stations, authorize the annual appropriation 

 of a specific sum, while others, like the act creatino; the 

 Rural Electrification Administration (49 Stat. 1303, 

 1365) merely authorize the appropriation of "such 

 sums as sliall be necessary." 



Expenditures 



Organic acts usually specify the type of expenditure 

 for which the authorized appropriation may be used. 

 Tlie extent to which funds may be used for personal 

 services, buildings, equipment, books, traveling ex- 

 penses, printing and binding, and other items may 

 have an important bearing on the adequacy and effi- 

 ciency of a research program. Facilities and equip- 

 ment are as important for many types of research as 

 are competent technicians, and the right to travel may 

 be vital. 



Provisions regarding expenditures are of two gen- 

 eral types: (1) an authorization to spend the sums 

 appropriated for certain specified purposes; and (2) 

 a limitation on the expenditure of funds for other 

 enumerated purposes. 



Authorized Expenditures. — The wording of expendi- 

 ture autliorizationg diffei-s from agency to agency and 

 from year to year. The Hatch Act of 1887, for ex- 

 ample, provides that the annual appropriation may be 

 used for "necessary expenses of conducting investiga- 

 tions and experiments and printing and distributing 

 the results," those administering the fund being left 

 to determine what expenditures are necessary. 



Equally simple is the language of the Interstate 

 Commerce Act in the same year, which provides that 

 "all of the expenses of the Commission, including all 

 necessary expenses for transportation incurred by the 

 Commissioners, or by their employees under their or- 

 ders, in making any investigation in any other places 

 than in the city of Washington, shall be allowed and 

 paid * * *;" and similar provisions are in effect 

 with respect to other well established agencies. The 

 Secretary of the Interior "may authorize the purchase 

 of such law books, books of reference, periodicals, engi- 

 neering and statistical publications as are needed in 

 carrying out the surveys and examinations authorized 

 by the reclamation law" (U. S. C. 43 : 379) ; and the 

 purchase of "professional and scientific books and peri- 

 odicals needed for statistical purposes by the scientific 

 divisions of the United States Geological Survey" is 

 provided in the same manner (U. S. C. 43:36). The 

 Secretary of the Treasury, on recommendation of the 

 Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, is au- 

 thorized to make "such expenditures (including expen- 

 ditures for personal services and rent at the seat of 

 government, for books of reference, periodicals, and 



109 



exhibits, and for printing and binding) as he deems 

 necessary for tlie proper administration" of the Na- 

 tional Institute of Health (U. S. C. 42:23d). 



More recently, however, and especially since the estab- 

 lislnnent of tlie Office of Comptroller General, Congress 

 has defined "necessary expenditures" in the organic 

 statutes in considerable detail. The Bankliead-Jones 

 Act of 1935, whicli adds the latest increment to the ex- 

 periment station funds, provides (iiat the appropriation 

 shall be available also "for the purchase and rental of 

 land and the construction of buildings necessary for 

 conducting research provided in this title, for the equip- 

 ment and maintenance of such buildings, and for print- 

 ing and disseminating tlie re'-dlts of research" ; and the 

 Farm Tenant Act of 1937 authorizes the Secretary of 

 Agriculture to — 



make necessary expenditures for personal services and rent at 

 tlie seat of government and elsewhere; contract stenographic 

 reporting services ; purchase and exchange supplies and equip- 

 ment, law books, books of reference, directories, periodicals, 

 newspapers, and press clippings ; travel and subsistence ex- 

 penses, including the expense of attendance at meetings and 

 conferences ; purchase, operation, and maintenance, at the seat 

 of government and elsewhere, of motor-propelled passenger- 

 carrying and other vehicles; printing and binding; and for such 

 other facilities and senices as he may from time to time find 

 necessary for the proper administration of this chapter. 



The Secretary may also make contracts for services and 

 purchase of supplies without requesting bids if the 

 total amount involved is less than $300; and he may 

 make payments prior to audit and settlement by the 

 General Accounting Office. 



More recent statutes setting up research agencies or 

 outlining research j^rograms are generally similar in 

 their provisions to the act just referred to, subject of 

 course to numerous individual variations. Tlie pro- 

 vision for purchase without bids does not always occur, 

 and the amount may vary from $50 to the $300 noted 

 above. The items enumerated differ with the type of 

 work contemplated, and the phrase "subject to audit 

 under the general law" or its equivalent may be used, 

 but is hardly necessary. The wording of the National 

 Labor Relations Act is to the effect that all expenses, in- 

 cluding travel and subsistence, shall be "allowed and 

 paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers" approved 

 by the Board. 



Special exceptions in particular cases also may be 

 authorized, such as the permission granted to the Sec- 

 retary of War and to the Secretary of the Navy to 

 purchase, without bids, either in the United States or 

 elsewhere, "such designs, aircraft, aircraft parts, or 

 aeronautical accessories as may be necessary in his judg- 

 ment for experimental purposes * * *" (U. S. C. 

 10:310k). 



Limitations on Expenditures. — In organic acts ex- 

 penditure provisions sometimes include limiting pro- 



