lO 



sions should be permitted to employ, under its own control, all pro- 

 cesses which can contribute to the solution of its problems. In 

 organizations which are essentially single bureaus, the ungrudg- 

 ing cooperation of members of the staff on any single problem should 

 be a fundamental requirement. 



(3) With respect to departments and institutions, the welfare of 

 research requires that it should be differentiated as far as possible from 

 other functions, such as administration, teaching and propaganda. In 

 the several states the tendency to assign executive functions to state 

 departments, and education and research to other more or less distinct 

 agencies, should be encouraged. 



The same principle should be applied to the relations of the individ- 

 ual. It is highly important that the research worker shall be enabled 

 to remain within the atmosphere of inquiry and shall not have his 

 continuity of thought and effort frequently interrupted by activities 

 foreign to the spirit and purpose of inquiry such as executive duties, 

 routine classroom teaching, extension teaching, propaganda and the 

 like. 



(4) An essential requirement of the investigator is freedom of 

 research. The investigator must be free from any coercion whatever. 

 Scientific truth is a product of the individual mind through the exercise 

 of its judicial capacity in the interpretation of data. Any bias that 

 distorts the view or any influence that forces hasty or immature 

 generalizations, is fatal to sound conclusions. Whenever the investi- 

 gator is for any reason over anxious for popular approval, or is made 

 to consider the relation of his conclusions to future support, or in any 

 way is restrained from exercising his unbiased judgment in reaching, 

 and in dealing with his results, he is subject to influences dangerous to 

 the integrity of the teachings of science. 



For this reason the research work of either a state or national 

 agency should be as far removed from immediate and frequent depen- 

 dence on legislation, with the consequent pressure for speedy results, 

 as is consistent with due responsibility for the expenditure of public 

 funds. The investigator should have such reasonable assurance of con- 

 tinued support as will enable him to formulate broad plans and 

 impart continuity to his work. Real research cannot produce fruits 

 in a day. Wheat is a valuable crop, but we may well plant a few 

 apple trees and give them time to grow. 



While, of course, the expenditure of public money in research should 

 ultimately result in increasing prosperity in the largest sense, and while 

 a legislative body must be the final judge of the efficiency of the 

 agencies which it creates for the promotion of agriculture, such a body 



