130 MORRIS LOEB 



scholarships beyond a doubt, but the relation between donor 

 and recipient is not free from restraint, and the probability 

 of human error in the selection of the right incumbent makes 

 the method a wasteful one at best. 



Far better is it to remove those obstacles which hamper all 

 work equally and are felt more severely by those whose means 

 are restricted and who have not yet earned the recognition 

 of the world at large. The laboratory*student is encumbered 

 by certain restrictions in America more than elsewhere. The 

 higher price of commodities affects him in many ways besides 

 the higher cost of living, rent of laboratory, installation of 

 equipment, purchase of supplies, salary of assistant, acquisition 

 of books. The advanced cost of labor militates against the 

 construction of certain grades of apparatus and the prepara- 

 tion of the rarer chemicals in this country; and a curiously 

 unscientific tariff law, while pretending to lift the duty from 

 articles required for educational purposes, practically forces 

 the colleges to make their purchases abroad and prevents 

 American dealers from carrying an adequate selection of im- 

 ported material. It is no exaggeration to state that this 

 duty-free importation clause, as interpreted by the United 

 States Treasury Department, forces the American chemist to 

 wait from two to three months before making an experiment 

 for which he could obtain his material in two or three days 

 if he were working abroad. 



To remove these disadvantages in time and cost, to provide 

 easy access to books and apparatus, to make room for the 

 independent scientific worker, are the ideals which hovered 

 before the eyes of those who planned this present enterprise. 

 Time will show whether they can all be realized, but what- 

 ever is done in this beautiful building, which we are about to 

 dedicate, must open free opportunities to all and show favor- 

 itism toward none, if the trust imposed upon its management 



