ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Lt 
quirements, merits, and claims to attention are excessive as com- 
pared with the ideas of their acquaintances on the same points is not 
greater in the Army than elsewhere, but when an Army officer is 
afflicted in this way the attack is sometimes very severe, and the 
so-called influence which he brings to bear may cause a good deal 
of annoyance to the Department, even if it be not sufficient to obtain 
his ends. I have heard officers of high rank, in a fit of impatience 
under such circumstances, express a most hearty and emphatic wish 
that no special details were possible, so that lobbying for them 
should be useless. This, however, seems to me to be too heroic a 
remedy for the disease, which, after all, only produces comparatively 
trifling irritation and discomfort. 
The same evil exists, to a much greater extent, in the civil 
branches of the Government. Few persons can fully appreciate 
the loss of time, the worry, and the annoyance to which the respon- 
sible heads of some of our bureaus for scientific work are subjected 
through the desire of people for official position and for mainte- 
nance by the Government. They have to stand always at the bat 
and protect their wickets from the balls which are bowled at them 
in every direction, even from behind by some of their own subor- 
dinates. 
_Itis true that a great majority of the balls go wide and cause 
little trouble, and a majority of the bowlers soon get tired and 
leave the field, but there are generally a few persistent ones who 
gradually acquire no small degree of skill in discovering the weak 
or unguarded points, and succeed in making things lively for a time. 
Considered from the point of view of the public interests, such men 
are useful, for although they cause some loss of valuable time, and 
occasionally do a little damage by promoting hostile legislation, yet 
their criticisms are often worth taking into account; they tend to 
prevent the machine from getting into a rut, and they promote 
activity and attention to business on the part of administrative 
chiefs. It is a saying among dog fanciers that a few fleas on a dog 
are good for him rather than otherwise, as they compel him to take 
some exercise under any circumstances. 
At all events I think it very doubtful whether the jealousies and 
desire for position for one’s self or one’s friends which exist under 
present circumstances would be materially diminished under any 
other form of organization, even under a department of science. 
Some conflict of interests now exists it is true; some work is dupli- 
