6 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



to Congress. In order that the subject may be clearly under- 

 stood, the language of Section 8 of the act referred to should be 

 quoted: 



" Sec. 8. The National Academy of Sciences is required, at their next meeting, 

 to take into consideration the methods and expenses of conducting all surveys of 

 a scientific character, and all chemical, testing, and experimental laboratories, and 

 to report to Congress as soon thereafter as may be practicable a plan for consoli- 

 dating such surveys, chemical, testing, and experimental laboratories, so as to 

 effectually prevent duplication of work and reduce expenditures without detriment 

 to the public service." 



A committee was promptly appointed, and that committee 

 gave serious and prolonged attention to the subject. In due 

 time the committee submitted its report to the Council of the 

 Academy. The Council having approved, the President trans- 

 mitted the report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives 

 and the presiding officer of the Senate. Everything was done 

 in proper form, so far as could be determined. The President of 

 the Academy congratulated himself on the personnel of the com- 

 mittee which he had appointed, upon the report, and upon the 

 fact that the Academy had performed an important duty and had 

 been, as he thought, of real service to the National Government. 



It were well, perhaps, to close the account of the incident at 

 this point, but unfortunately the moral would be lost, and the 

 only object of telling the story at all is to point the moral. Well, 

 what happened next? It is not necessary to go into detail. The 

 result was humiliating to the committee that drew up the 

 report — and possibly to the President. That report seems to have 

 been promptly pigeonholed. It is certain that, so far as we have 

 any information on the subject, it was not given serious con- 

 sideration by Congress. And yet, whatever may have been its 

 imperfections, that report represented the views of a group of 

 eminent men of science who had devoted much time and thought 

 to the study of the problem before them and who, at the request 

 of the President of the United States, had been given every 

 opportunity to learn the facts. Such an experience need not dis- 

 hearten. The charter still holds good; and, accordingly, the 



