176 SEA GRAJ^TT COLLEGES 



sonal opinion without necessarily implying a position on the part of 

 the Board of Regents. 



I would like to point out that tlie Smithsonian Institution has indeed 

 served as the parent body for organizations of scholars and scientists 

 later becoming mcorporated into new agencies. For example, harking 

 back to the comment made previously in response to your question, 

 Spencer Baird was indeed a part of the Smithsonian Institution and 

 was in many ways the father of research activities now residing in the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior. 



Similarly, the Smithsonian Institution has fostered, not by pre- 

 meditation I might add, basic research research leading to the develop- 

 ment of the NACA, the Weather Bureau, and in some ways the Na- 

 tional Bureau of Standards. 



Senator Pell. Excuse me. I was diverted for a moment. You say 

 that the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries did start in the Smithsonian 

 or did not ? 



Dr. Galler. I did not wish to give that impression, Mr. Chairman. 

 Spencer Baird laid the scientific groundwork for what later became 

 the research program now vested in the Department of Interior Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. To be specific, as one of the great m.arine 

 biologists of our Nation and as a person with considerable foresight, 

 envisioning the exploitation of the sea resulting from basic research, 

 he was instrumental in establishing a fishery commission which was 

 later to become tlie organization that we call the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries. So that indirectly one of the Secretaries of the Smithsonian 

 Institution was instrumental in introducing the scientific climate which 

 led to the establishment of an independent agency, and as I point out, 

 this was true also for other agencies formed from Smithsonian 

 activities. 



Their formation however, was not by premeditation. It was, rather, 

 recognition by tlie Regents that a body of scliolarship had reached a 

 point where it could become not only intellectually self-sustaining but 

 also programmatically self-sufficient. 



If we were to take on the organization sponsored in this bill, it would 

 be one of the first premeditated actions of this kind in the histor;y' of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Let me say, also, that the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution has always attempted to be responsive to the wishes of Con- 

 gress and the Chief Executive. That is the extent that I would be 

 prepared to speak on that particular question, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Pell. It is a somewhat circumferential reply, but I think 

 I get the message. 



I had another question here. Do you think the bill's emphasis on the 

 application of science is correct or wrong ? 



Dr. Galler. Mr. Chairman, I think that the emphasis is quite cor- 

 rect, provided it does not close the door to the need for basic knowledge 

 in order to sustain the applications. I would hope sincerely that the 

 bill would not emphasize or accentuate the schism that appears to exist 

 between the scientists who are engaged in the acquisition of funda- 

 mental information and those agencies who have large national respon- 

 sibilities of a mission-oriented character. There is indeed a schism. 

 It is one that is unfortunate, but it is perhaps a natural product of 

 growth of research and development in this country where we have 

 found that agencies responsible for mission oriented research are 



