June 11, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



579 



vision was made in the constitution for a 

 standing legislative committee. This com- 

 m.ittee was appointed for a number of years, 

 but gradually sank into " innocuous des- 

 uetude " through, lack of effort or of oppor- 

 tunity for rendering service. The question 

 now arises whether the present, when all 

 things are being made over, when all institu- 

 tions and societies are feeling the new im- 

 pulses furnished by the war, is not the proper 

 time for a rejuvenation of this committee. 

 It is safe to say that the academy in the past 

 has not at all impressed itself upon the 

 attention of our legislatures nor our citizen- 

 ship and that outstanding usefulness will 

 come to such a committee only after years 

 of steady growth in the size and activity of 

 the academy. The time to begin however is 

 now, and the way to gather to itself influence 

 and authority as an expert adviser is to begin 

 first with a thorough study of local scientific 

 problems and to put before the public in 

 speech and print definite facts and recom- 

 mendations. ISTo other opportunity for ex- 

 tension of academy activity and service seems 

 more fertile in possible good than this. ISTot 

 even the State University, which stands be- 

 fore the public in a peculiar sense as the 

 guardian of state scientific and industrial in- 

 terests, can appeal to all elements in the 

 state as a disinterested and representative 

 source of expert advice as can the Kentucky 

 Academy. There is distinct need for such a 

 force in the life of the state and the academy 

 must not prove false to her mission nor 

 neglect her manifest opportunity by failure 

 to assume the responsibility of leadership. 



Many problems face us in Kentucky that 

 will need the keen interest and intelligent 

 cooperation of the especially qualified mem- 

 bership of the academy. In this last legis- 

 lature there arose a rather minor question the 

 handing of which well illustrates how valu- 

 able can be the man who knows. A bill was 

 proposed which placed a bounty on hawks and 

 owls, the idea being that without exception 

 all such birds are pests, killing quail and 

 chickens with ruthlessness and dispatch. The 



bad science back of such a bill was discussed 

 in one of our societies at the university and 

 word was sent to the committee considering 

 the bill that the bill threatened injustice to a 

 large class of desirable bird citizens. As a 

 consequence two members of the Legislature 

 paid a visit to one of our professors for the 

 purpose of getting information, and were 

 quickly convinced that only the Cooper's 

 hawk is depraved while all the others are use- 

 ful in that they kill rats and other undesir- 

 ables. Tliis incident calls attention both to 

 the value of expert testimony and to the pre- 

 vailing lack of scientfic treatment of problems 

 affecting many people and widespread social 

 and industrial interests. In our hap-hazard, 

 hasty, self-confident, irresponsible law-making, 

 certainly some organization should stand out 

 before the public as a source of sane reliable 

 and unbiased scientific information. 



There is great need for scientific direction 

 and propaganda for the preservation of bird 

 life, for the proper appreciation of their eco- 

 nomic importance. Only last Tuesday one of 

 our professors stated before the Audubon 

 Society that the bird population of the state 

 and nation had been reduced approximately 

 50 per cent, in the last 15 years; and that the 

 causes were, next to cats, the destruction of 

 our woods and forests. And yet, he said, 

 birds are the greatest weapon of the farmers 

 against crop-ravaging insects. 



There is pressing need that wise research 

 and public education be devoted to the prob- 

 lems of forestry. Many problems of forestry 

 must be solved if the forests are to continue 

 adequate and the supply of lumber be on hand 

 for succeeding generations of men. The 

 mineral resources of the state present prob- 

 lems that must be the concern of all properly 

 qualified scientists of the state. The preser- 

 vation and development of our water-power 

 resources demand intelligent survey-work, per- 

 sistent public education and authoritative 

 advice to our legislatures. The growing of 

 tobacco has reached such proportions in the 

 state as to affect the well-being of large 

 numbers of citizens. It is not the part of 



