184 



National Resources Committee 



clearly the relation of each part to the whole. As an 

 illustration, one thing that could be done would be 

 for the Department of Agriculture to publish cards, 

 similar to the Library of Congress catalog cards, one 

 for each project nnder way in the Department and in 

 the experiment stations, for distribution to the stations 

 and to all who care to buy them. The same advantage 

 could perliaps be attained if the Department would 

 mimeograph for distribution lists of active projects in 

 each subject matter field, similar to those now prepared 

 in the field of Home Economics. 



Improvement of Research Personnel 

 at the Ph. D. Graduate Level 



Becniitment to the Graduate School of More Able 

 Men. — The first problem in the improvement of re- 

 search personnel is very plainly to recruit an abler 

 group of young men and women to go through train- 

 ing for research. A recent remark by an official of a 

 large industry to the effect that any company desiring 

 to secure the ablest young men at a certain great 

 technical institution must select and engage them at 

 the end of the freshman year indicates the way in- 

 dustry looks upon the matter. Undoubtedly in many 

 instances the most brilliant and competent youth can 

 be identified in high school or during their freshman 

 year in college. If teachers and professors of sufficient 

 enthusiasm and interest in their students would con- 

 cern themselves for the future of scholarly work and 

 research at this period, undoubtedly a considerably in- 

 creased number of the youth most capable of distin- 

 guished work in research would be recruited to that 

 field. 



Provision of More Scholarships and Fellowships.— 

 It would seem that a better administration of such stu- 

 dent aid as is now available, stressing aid to those of 

 greatest ability rather than to those of greatest pov- 

 erty, together with larger funds for student aid, might 

 result in more able youth preparing for research. 



On the basis of the rather slight data available it 

 seems probable that while about 30 percent of the 

 youth of college age among the people in the upper 

 three deciles of economic ability go to college, less than 

 1 percent of those in the lowest three deciles enter col- 

 lege. A more careful search for the ablest youth in 

 the lower economic levels, supported by reasonable 

 funds, might accomplish a good deal. The National 

 Youth Administration has made a start in this direc- 

 tion and has rendered a very great service, but the 

 amount each youth can receive is so small and the labor 

 on National Youth Administration projects and other 

 work necessary to earn a living so great that it often 

 prevents the able students from demonstrating their 

 real ability. 



As our dependence upon research increases it will 

 become increasingly necessary to maintain an adequate 

 sujjply of research workers, and we cannot hope to 

 draw this supply exclusively from the higher income 

 groups. A far more serious effort to find and train 

 competent youth in the lower levels of economic abil- 

 ity must be made if we are to keep pace with our needs 

 in this respect. 



Some are skeptical of the advantage of scholarships 

 and fellowships. A careful study of this matter ac- 

 companied by some carefully planned experiments in 

 granting scholarships of varied amounts and on varied 

 conditions might prove of great value. Competitive 

 Federal scholarships and fellowships might go far to 

 arouse interest as well as to develop some able men. 

 Scholarships to the military and naval academies have 

 proved very valuable. Scholarships of a similar type 

 aimed to prepare research men for Govermnent service 

 might well prove even more valuable. Harvard Uni- 

 ^■ersity has recently begun the award of generous 

 undergraduate scholarships to men of high promise 

 throughout the country. The results of this experi- 

 ment will be interesting. 



Greater discn7nin.ation in admissions to the gradu- 

 ate school.— Many of the graduate schools admit any 

 college graduate who pays his fees. 'V\1iile perhaps 

 only a few of the less worthy continue to the doctorate, 

 the tone of the school is lowered and standards are 

 affected. If the emphasis could be strongly shifted 

 from numbers enrolled to the quality of the graduates 

 much good might be effected. 



The policy at Princeton University is mteresting 

 in that the governing board has limited the number 

 of graduate students to 250. Inasmuch as the total 

 number of graduate students in any department is 

 rather definitely fixed, there is a strong internal pres- 

 sure to encourage the less competent to drop out with a 

 master's degree, while a promising college graduate 

 is admitted to take his place. It seems probable that 

 from this policy, Princeton has 250 of the most promis- 

 ing graduate students in the country constantly 

 enrolled. 



Teachers' College at Columbia has limited those 

 facidty members who direct research to productive 

 scholars, who in turn limit the students who do gradu- 

 ate work under their direction to those interested in 

 the particular field of the professor's specialty. This 

 policy has introduced a form of limitation which will 

 reduce the number of candidates for the Ph. D. degree 

 in that institution and should materially improve their 

 quality as research men. 



Many graduate schools, and particularly those which 

 have entered on this work more recently, seem to have 

 no very clear policy designed to limit enrollment to 



