THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA II 



These men whom I have quoted are men who have had years 

 of successful experience in industrial research. If their con- 

 clusions are correct, and I believe they are, it is not so much 

 a question of how the universities are to assist the industries 

 in encouraging technical research as of how the industries shall 

 assist the universities in encouraging research in pure science. 



When a larger number of men, both within and without 

 industrial science, take the broad view of these gentlemen whom 

 I have quoted, the problems of technical science as well as 

 of pure science will be well on the way to successful solution. 

 Then, too, we shall no longer hear the view, now so often 

 expressed, that if the university professor of science would 

 deign to spend the time which he now devotes to pure scientific 

 research, in investigating some of the minor technical prob- 

 lems he might add materially to his income. As long as such 

 advice is current and as long as university professors take 

 such advice, so long will science in America remain below a 

 productive level. 



I have now discussed some of the conditions surrounding 

 scientific positions in America and their influence on productive 

 scholarship. It is almost self-evident that, at the root, Ameri- 

 can scholarship suffers from a lack of adequate remuneration. 

 It is unnecessary for me to go into details, these have been 

 published where they are accessible to anyone who is interested. 

 However, it will be worth while to trace out in the case of 

 chemical science how this economic force acts. What I have to 

 say about chemistry is, in a measure, applicable to the whole 

 academic profession, but chemistry suffers more than the others 

 because competition for able men between the institutions and 

 the industries is exceedingly keen. The movement has been 

 clearly apparent for more than ten years. The war has aggra- 

 vated conditions and from anything that can be seen now, it 

 will be a long time before these conditions are even measur- 

 ably relieved. 



The financial returns for academic activity are scarcely com- 

 parable with those of the professions such as law, medicine, 

 engineering, etc., and in most cases a longer period of training 

 is required. The financial returns, moreover, bear little rela- 



