June 10, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



527 



create them but oftener operates to weaken 

 or destroy them. 



Human relationships in industry we have 

 now and always have had, and, whether recog- 

 nized or not, they have caused quite as much 

 trouble as purely economic conditions, for the 

 state of a laborer's mind, more even than the 

 state of his purse, determines his acts. 



!N"o industrial question is of greater im- 

 portance than human relations in industry, 

 and none is more complex nor baffling. Yet 

 no pains can be spared, or are being spared, 

 to find remedial measures. Many hopeful 

 schemes for a better human organization of in- 

 dustry have been suggested and are under 

 trial, some fortunately with encouraging 

 promise. 



The dominant bearing of this discussion on 

 technical education is this: Our technical 

 schools are training the future brain workers 

 and managers of industry. We may, therefore, 

 well ask ourselves, at this time, if there is 

 anything we can do beyond what we are now 

 doing to train our students to understand more 

 fundamentally and to meet more successfully 

 the gravest of all their future repsonsibilities, 

 the organization and management of men. A 

 responsibility which they and we owe, not in- 

 dustry alone, but the whole economic, so- 

 cial, and political stability of the nation. 



Ernest Fox Nichols 



SCIENCE AND COMMUNITY TRUSTS 



The Research Information Service of the 

 National Research Council recently compiled 

 available information about funds for scien- 

 tific research. It appears that there are hun- 

 dreds of special funds, trusts or foundations 

 for the encouragement or support of research 

 in the mathematical, physical, and biological 

 sciences, and their applications in engineering, 

 medicine, agriculture and other useful arts. 

 The chief uses of these moneys are prizes, 

 medals, research scholarships or fellowships, 

 grants, sustaining appropriations, and endow- 

 ments. 



So numerous have been the requests to the 

 Research Council for information about 

 sources of research funds, availability of sup- 



port for specific projects, and mode of admin- 

 istration of particular trusts or foundations 

 that the Research Information Service has 

 created a special file for this information 

 which it is proposed to keep up to date for 

 the benefit of those who may desire to use it. 

 Furthermore, in order to give wider publicity 

 to the immediately available information, the 

 Council has issued a bulletin under the title, 

 " Funds available in 1920 in the United States 

 of America for the encouragement of scien- 

 tific research." This publication has been dis- 

 tributed widely to American scientists and to 

 those who are interested in furthering the de- 

 velopment of science.^ 



In the course of search for data on research 

 funds, it was discovered that some of the 

 recently created community foundations or 

 trusts control funds which may be used, at 

 the discretion of their distributing boards, for 

 scientific surveys or for research. If the re- 

 sources of community foundations be added 

 to the funds at present listed by the Re- 

 search Inforlnation Service as primarily for 

 research in the natural sciences, the total ap- 

 proximates five hundred million dollars. It 

 is estimated that for the encouragement and 

 support of scientific research through medals, 

 prizes, grants and research scholarships and 

 fellowships, between forty and fifty million 

 dollars is spent in the United States annually. 



The " community trust " idea is of peculiar 

 interest and significance in this connection. 

 In the year 1914 certain wise and far-sighted 

 citizens of Cleveland decided to organize for 

 the benefit of the community a trust to be 

 known as the Cleveland Foundation. This, 

 the original community trust, has grown to 

 a fund of approximately one hundred million 

 dollars, either given or bequeathed. Follow- 

 ing the lead of Cleveland, more than forty 

 other American cities have organized similar 

 trusts, primarily to assure greater security of 

 principal, flexibility in the use of income, and 

 prevention of obsolescence. 



1 Inquiries concerning research funds should be 

 addressed to the National Research Council, In- 

 formation Service, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue, 

 Washington, D. C. 



