754 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 178. 



ing the station staff, wliose names were pub- 

 lished in our official organization list, February, 

 1897, six are now on the staff, three of the 

 officers retained being assistants. Our exami- 

 nation of the expenditures, publications and 

 work of the station has not revealed any good 

 and suflicient reasons for this radical reorgani- 

 zation." 



North Carolina. — " The station has been weak- 

 ened by the loss [i. e., dismissal] of successful 

 and experienced oflEicers and by the uncertain- 

 ties attending a change of management and a 

 somewhat dubious financial outlook." 



North Dakota. — " The recent dismissal of the 

 experienced veterinarian and the appointment 

 of an untried man in his place has awakened 

 fears that the infiuences which hitherto have 

 hindered the progress of the station are still at 

 work." 



Oregon. — "The affairs of the Oregon Station 

 during the past year have not been in a satis- 

 factory condition. * * * At the close of the 

 fiscal year the President and Director was re- 

 moved after one year's service. The Horticul- 

 turist and Assistant Botanist were also re- 

 moved." 



West Virginia. — "After some nine years of 

 faithful service, during which period he had 

 managed the station successfully under unusual 

 difficulties * * * the Director was dismissed 

 by the board at its first meeting, though no 

 charges affecting his personal or professional 

 standing were preferred." 



And so forth. Of course, it must not be 

 imagined that all the stations are subject to 

 these evils, nor would Dr. True admit for a 

 . moment that the stations as a whole are a fail- 

 ure. On the contrary, the splendid work done 

 by many of these institutions, such as those of 

 Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, Mas- 

 sachusetts, Cornell University, etc., cannot be 

 too highly praised or too warmly supported. 

 These wisely-governed stations have demon- 

 strated beyond question that the money spent 

 under the Hatch Act may be made to yield 

 handsome profits to the nation; that the ex- 

 penditure of national funds for scientific re- 

 search is one of the best means of preserving 

 and increasing the wealth and reputation of the 

 United States. We are indebted for very much 



to the laboratories of Europe ; but the time has- 

 come when one can rarely open a recent 

 European work on any branch of agricultural 

 science without finding numerous and flattering^ 

 references to the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture and Experiment Stations. If this is 

 so, what are the people of the United States 

 about that they permit such golden oppor- 

 tunities in many cases to be lost — muddled 

 away by men of whom it is charitable to sug- 

 gest that they are merely incompetent ? What 

 are the scientific men of this country thinking 

 of, that they witness unmoved the desecration 

 of the very temples of science? I do not sug- 

 gest or know of anything worse than is plainly 

 to be read in this report now before us, the 

 work of a cautious scientific man, who has had 

 every opportunity for ascertaining the actual 

 facts. It is not necessary to go behind Dr. 

 True's deliberate statement to find grounds for 

 an energetic movement in support of genuine 

 scientific work and workers in the experiment 

 stations. 



To merely contemplate the virtual loss of so 

 many thousand dollars through bad manage- 

 ment here and there would give quite an erron- 

 eous impression. We can afford to lose the 

 whole Hatch fund every year, if it must be, 

 without serious detriment to the nation ; but we- 

 cannot afford to lose the fruits of scientific research, 

 which are worth an incalculable sum. If one sta- 

 tion has produced good results, so can all, under 

 proper control. There is probably not a station 

 in which much good work has not been in prog- 

 ress at one time or another ; but in many in- 

 stances the natural fructification of a research 

 has been prevented, and in consequence past 

 efforts rendered unavailing. 



The duty of scientific men in this matter is 

 clear. They should, in the first place, seek tO' 

 become familiar with the good work of the sta- 

 tions, SO that they can appreciate what is being 

 done, and realize how much more might be 

 done. They should then make it their business 

 to protest vigorously against every effort to in- 

 terfere with competent workers, or interrupt 

 the continuity of their work ; while at the same 

 time educating the people to a sense of the pos- 

 sibilities inherent in experimental work. If 

 every man of science in this country would thu& 



