586 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1304 



, The fact that there have been 77 resignations 

 from the scientific force of the United States Geo- 

 logdcal Survey, Department of the Interior, during 

 the last year — 17 per cent, of the force — suggests 

 inadequacy of compensation, and the percentage of 

 resignations in the clerical and non-scientific force 

 was even larger. This statement of course does 

 not include separations to enter military service. 

 The larges.t inroad upon the Geological Survey 

 ef&cieney comes from the oil companies; the final 

 result of the pioneer work of the federal geologists 

 in applying geologic methods to the search of oil 

 and gas is thait a large proportion of the leading 

 oil geologists the world over are United States 

 .Geological Survey graduates. Indeed, the future 

 decline in popularity of the Geological Survey as 

 a recruiting station for oil-company personnel will 

 be due simply to the fact that the experienced 

 oil geologists who remain in the government serv- 

 ice are from personal preference immune to out- 

 side offers. 



The relations between government salaries and 

 outside salaries of geologists has been definitely 

 determined in a compilation of the records of 29 

 geologists who left government service after re- 

 ceiving an average salary of $2,271. The average 

 initial salary of these men in private employ was 

 $5,121, and after about two years of average serv- 

 ice this compensation averaged $7,804, and eight 

 of these geologists receive $10,000 or more. The 

 disparity is even greater if consideration is given 

 to the large financial returns ftfom investments 

 made by the private geologists in connection with 

 their professional work, a privilege properly de- 

 nied by statute to the official geologist. 



That the value of these men as specialists and 

 consulting geologists is far greater to the country 

 at large than to private corporations is undeniable. 

 Turthermore, it is important to note that most of 

 these geologists had persisted to the limit of en- 

 durance with a magnificent spirit based on their 

 love of scientific research and their desire to con- 

 tribute to the sum of geologic knowledge. Most 

 of them have been forced out of the service by 

 sheer financial necessity. Unless adequate meas- 

 ures are taken to ameliorate the situation, the 

 geologic staff is destined to suffer far greater de- 

 terioration of morale and depletion in its ablest, 

 most responsable, most experienced and most valu- 

 able members. The Geological Survey is passing 

 into a stage when, with greater need than ever for 

 systematic geologic work in the country, it is ceas- 

 ing to be attractive to the young men of greatest 

 ability, training and promise. This situation de- 



serves prompt and effective remedy, for it threat- 

 ens most seriously to cripple this branch of the 

 public service. 



REDUCED RAILWAY FARES TO MEETINGS OF 

 SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES 



Me. Frederic S. Hazard, assistant secretary 

 of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and representatives of the 

 American Historical Association and other 

 societies meeting at Cleveland have been in 

 correspondence with the IJ. S. Railway Ad- 

 ministration in regard to reduced fares which 

 have not been granted. In their letter they 

 say: 



We respectfully submit that this narrow inter- 

 pretation of the term "educational" constitutes a 

 discrimination against the learned and scientifle 

 societies of the country which is prejudicial not 

 only to their interests but to the general cause of 

 education in America viewed in any comprehen- 

 sive way. 



It is well known that these societies are not in 

 any sense political, commercial or m'oney-making, 

 but are solely scientific and educational. Their 

 membership, especially that part of it which 

 usually attends their meetings, is largely composed 

 of teachers in universities, colleges and the public 

 schools and of men and women engaged in scien- 

 tific research. To these members the benefit de- 

 rived from annual contact with their colleagues is 

 of no small importance, and is reflected in their 

 work in the classroom or laboratory. To the pub- 

 lic-school teachers the meetings afford almost the 

 only opportunity of coming into close touch with 

 the leading specialists and advanced teachers in 

 their respective fields. It is impossible to over- 

 estimate the advantage to the educational system 

 of the country that has come from these annual 

 gatherings of teachers and investigators; from the 

 point of view of content it is certainly as impor- 

 tant as is, from the point of view of method and 

 administration the advantage that has been gained 

 from the meetings of the purely pedagogical so- 

 cieties. 



But it should be emphasized that the scientific 

 societies have always laid stress upon the pedagog- 

 ical aspects of their work. They constantly pro- 

 vide in their meetings for special sessions devoted 

 to the teaching of their various disciplines. Some 

 of them have long maintained standing committees 

 on teaching, and have published reports which have 

 been adopted throughout the country as the basis 



