150 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1364 



was estimated in 1919 that there were 200 

 acres of date palms already established in the 

 Coachella and Imperial Valleys of California. 

 Concerning this industry Dr. Fairchild says 

 not only have our experts " been instrumental 

 in building up this industry, but their study 

 of the methods of propagation, the diseases 

 and methods of their control, the insect pests 

 and the requirements of the date palm con- 

 stitute the largest collection of exact data now 

 in existence in regard to this industry, and 

 the Old World has had to come to America for 

 the latest information in regard to this in- 

 dustry. Too great emphasis can not be placed 

 upon this accomplishment and the manner in 

 which he [Mr. Swingle] has brought it about. 

 It represents in my mind one of the most re- 

 markable pieces of agricultural work which 

 has been done in recent times." 



Among the recent most successful animals 

 imported into the United States are the Aber- 

 deen-Angus cattle, the Herefords, and the 

 Belgian draft horses. Among the Hereford 

 cattle, solely since 1901, America has developed 

 a polled or hornless variety which has added 

 another virtue — that of early maturity, thus 

 producing " baiby beef."^ 



Thus through national, state, county and 

 private expenditure of millions of dollars an- 

 nually, we now have as integral parts of our 

 economic life scores of plants and animals 

 which were alien importations only a few years 

 ago. Over extensive areas there is so much 

 of common knowledge about these plants and 

 animals that as public opinion it dictates com- 

 mon policies and practises. 

 \ Shift the picture just a little. While we 

 carefully nurtured many of our native plants, 

 the native Indians who were here so long that 

 they had become a distinct breed of mankind, 

 and who in thousands of years of adjustment 

 to American conditions had fitted American 

 environmental areas better than did their 

 plants, we either slew, or as remnants segre- 

 gated as enforced dependents, not only rob- 



Personal letter from George M. Bommel, chief, 

 Animal Husbandry Division, TJ. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



bing them of their native life which had de- 

 veloped their own peculiar strengths, and 

 preventing them from building into the com- 

 mon life of America, but condemning them to 

 sure deterioration. A scientific study of the 

 American Indians as the men who had ad- 

 justed themselves to American environments 

 for thousands of years would have been rea- 

 sonable. What elements of strength, resist- 

 ance or immunization had those men devel- 

 oped to have so long withstood the varied 

 harshness of our American environment? 

 Perhaps these qualities may be seen to be the 

 prerequisites of permanent survival in Amer- 

 ica. The American plant breeder has long 

 made use of hardy native plants to make his 

 more prolific hybrids more resistent to cold, 

 drought, disease and insect pest. Had we 

 been as intelligent in the matter of the In- 

 dians as we have been with plants and ani- 

 mals there is little question that conditions 

 would have been better for the Indians, and 

 they might have added desirable strength to 

 our nation. 



Again shift the picture. While we have 

 imported so many plants and animals, and 

 with scientific knowledge and care have built 

 them into our common life, there have been 

 coming to our shores, of their own volition, 

 peoples from over the earth of many breeds 

 and many cultures who have distributed them- 

 selves here in many different environmental 

 areas. In striking contrast with our state of 

 knowledge about imported plants and animals 

 we possess almost no scientific knowledge 

 about these peoples such that it has become 

 public opinion even among educated persons — 

 to say nothing about its dictating nation-wide 

 policies and practises. 



i I wish to state again as I stated in 1914, but 

 with added emphasis, the imperative need in 

 America of scientific research among modern 

 peoples along the lines of ethnic heredity, en- 

 vironmental influences, amalgamation and as- 

 similation, and the need of laboratories to 

 further this research and conserve its results. 

 That we to-day should have abundant labora- 

 tories for practically every science except 

 anthropology, and ignore the richness of the 



