ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLIII 
she was repaired the vessel could make eleven miles an hour. The 
head of the Department very properly orders an examination. 
Now, it might occur to superficial persons that those who repaired 
that ship had made mistakes. But the examining board weighs the 
evidence carefully, and it deliberately comes to the conclusion that 
the fault lies wholly with some unknown person who is more than 
three thousand miles away. The matter is mysterious, but the 
result is certain. The Government has been cheated, the money is 
gone, and the local politicians are happy. And the curious thing 
is that the public accepts the report of the examining board as en- 
tirely satisfactory. There is not a whisper of dissent from any news- 
paper in the land. And, after all, it is only half a million dollars, 
and do we not throw away ten times as much every year on rivers 
and harbors? Have we not seen a Senator boasting in his 
speeches that during the last twenty years more of the public money 
has been expended on the mountain streams of his own State than 
that State has paid taxes into the public treasury. 
Now change the case and let us suppose that some scientific man 
by bad management of his own or by failure of an assistant, has 
wasted ten thousand dollars of the public money. Ah, this is quite 
a different matter, and must be looked at from a different stand- 
point. How soon do we hear some smug official complacently re- 
mark that he always knew that scientific men cannot do business. 
And how eagerly the newspapers seize upon the case; how indig- 
nant the editors become, and how the head lines flctre. Is thee 
one law for the public functionary and another for the man of 
science ? 
But it is not right to leave this matter without further considera- 
tion. When we look at the advantageous position occupied by the 
officer of the army or navy we see immediately that this dod¢s not 
come from any personal merit he may have, but from the fact that 
he is recognized by law as an essential part of the Government. 
This position renders him in theory impersonal, and it is assumed 
that he has no private business of his own, but all his interests are 
one with those of the public. He has his member of the Cabinet 
to represent his views. His appropriations never fail, and he has 
no need to summon men from distant parts of the country to push 
his bills through Congress. Now, so long as the scientific man is. 
looked upon merely as an expert and an adventurer, and has no 
regular channel of communication with the Government he will 
