A DlX'KXNIAl, HlXOKI) 59 



of liostilitics. About 1)0 men in all attcMulcd these courses. As an 

 illustration of their praetieal worth it is reported that a new type of 

 eartridii'e ease box desio-ned bv one of these men saved the Ordnance 

 Department .%)(),()0() on the first contract, besides saving $1 ()(),()()() 

 worth of cargo s])ace. Instruction was also given dry kiln operators 

 at various ]jerio(ls. to sup])lement the individual instructional work 

 being done by laboratory representatives in the field. 



In concluding this chapter of the laboratory's history, record 

 should be made of the fact that it could not have been written had it 

 not been for the loyalty and enthusiasm of the individual members of 

 the staff and the spirit of the organization as a whole which overcame 

 seemingly insurmountable obstacles and pi'oduced the results. 



CHAPTEK V 



FIXAXCIAI. VAIAK OF KKSKAKCH KKSTLTS 



Closely related as the Forest l^roducts Fab.oratory is to much of 

 the business life of the country, and ha\'ing much of its research 

 applied directly to industrial processes, the acid test of. "does it pay?", 

 is more likely to be ap]jlied than it would be if the research conducted 

 here were entirely of an abstract nature. At the same time emphasis 

 should be placed on the fact that much of the laboratory work has been 

 and always w ill be in the field of pure science, laying the necessary 

 ground work for the applied type of research that finds expression in 

 many of the processes described earlier in this volume. AN'ith far 

 flung connections such as have been built u]) in ten years, and with no 

 definite knowledge of the ultimate distance traveled by the methods 

 and ideas radiating from here as a center, it is impossible to answer in 

 full the query, does it pay. or correctly estimate the true financial value 

 of the research results of the laboratory. Any honest estimate, natu- 

 rallv, falls short of the total. 



