Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



181 



each responsible for a special line of research. Much 

 of this research is financed bj' the industry. All con- 

 cerned seem to feel that the Council, in its unique 

 relationship, has contributed much to, the advance in 

 highway construction. 



•2. The I'irixioii of Engineering of the Council 

 brought attention to the untold millions of dollars 

 damage by marine borers to wooden structures in sea 

 water. A committee was set up by the Council of 

 engineers, chemists, physicists, biologists, and bacter- 

 iologists and after a 3-year study a very valuable 

 report was published on the best way for the early 

 detection of damage by ship worms in harbor struc- 

 tures. 



3. A Committee on Sedimentation in the Division 

 of Geology and Geography has been actively studying 

 this field in geology for 15 years. At intervals of 5 

 years comprehensive treatises on the subject have been 

 published, settmg forth the latest findings in the field. 

 The Division of Geology and Geography has also pub- 

 lislied a bulletin. Suggestions of Needed Research in 

 Geology and Geography, that has been very acceptable 

 to men in the science as indicated by the rapid sale of 

 the edition. 



4. The National Research Council has also awarded 

 the postdoctoral fellowships that have been so gener- 

 ously financed by the Kockefeller Foundation. The 

 value of these can scarcely be overestimated. 



This Council seems to be ideally organized to 

 secure cooperation between men of different depart- 

 ments and institutions, including the various Govern- 

 ment agencies, to attack and solve any given problem. 

 It is also in a very strong position to stimulate reseaixh 

 in any or all fields of the natural sciences. It is, how- 

 ever, very limited in its financial resources. 



The Social Science Research Council. — The Social 

 Science Research Comicil repi'esents se\en national so- 

 cieties in the fields of anthropology, economics, history, 

 political science, psychology, sociology, and statistics. 

 This Council, working largelj' through 23 committees, 

 surveys the fields of the social sciences and plans needed 

 research, administers grants for research, maintains 

 predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in social 

 sciences, and makes grants-in-aid. It has done 

 much through fellowships, carefully administered, to 

 strengthen the personnel in the social sciences. 



The American Council on Education. — The Ameri- 

 can Council on Education represents 30 of the national 

 associations in all fields of education, elementary, sec- 

 ondary and higher, as "well as 364 of the leading uni- 

 versities and colleges. It operates largely through its 

 executive and planning committees and tlirougli a 

 series of special committees to plan and carry on re- 

 search in many special fields of education. 



The Problems and Plans Committee of the Council 

 consists of a group of the ablest men in education in 

 America who carefully review, in quarterly meetings, 

 the most vital needs of the country in research in 

 education. Projects that have been endorsed by this 

 Committee and approved by the Executive Committee 

 have usually obtained adequate funds and have been 

 actively prosecuted. The present extensive study of 

 ihe problems of American youth is typical of such 

 studies. 



Bringing together representatives of all levels of 

 education, the Council has endeavored to coordinate 

 them and maintain a constant survey of all of Ameri- 

 can education. 



The American Council of Learned Societies. — The 

 American Council of Learned Societies, representing 20 

 national societies, endeavors to cover the fields of litera- 

 ture, philology, philosophy, art, music, history, and 

 anthropology. It has bent its resources to enlarge the 

 scope of humanistic studies and to implement scholar- 

 ship in its fields. 



1. To enlarge the scope of huinanistic studies, the 

 Chinese and Japanese languages have been promoted 

 in six universities. Arabic and Islamic have also been 

 encouraged. An endeavor has been made to extend 

 the geographical interest of scholars, greatly centered 

 in Europe, all round the earth. A general effort has 

 been made to extend the linguistic conipetence of 

 American scholars. The scientific study of music and 

 the history of ideas have both been encouraged. 



2. Various enterprises to implement scholarship ha\ e 

 been undertaken. Study aids, in the form of fellow- 

 ships at all levels and of varying amounts up to $2,500, 

 have been awarded to a considerable number of schol- 

 ars. From $15,000 to $40,000 a year has been so spent. 

 As much as $40,000 a year has been given in subven- 

 tions to aid in the publication of books of high schol- 

 arly value, not commercially profitable. Direct grants 

 of from $100 to $500 in a total of as high as $20,000 

 a year, have been made to scholars to enable them to 

 prosecute pi'omising studies. Another very important 

 service which the Council has rendered has been to pay 

 the expenses of the travel of scholars appointed by 

 the Council to Committees. These Committees, con- 

 sidering problems of national importance to scholars, 

 liavo done much to stimulate and vitalize research. 



Aid From the Government 



It is especially interesting to learn what the Gov- 

 ernment—which is now spending more on research 

 than any other one agency, and more than all the uni- 

 versities combined — is doing to promote or assist re- 

 search. The Government, in the Department of Agri- 

 culture, the Coast and Geodetic Sui'vey, the Geological 



