Maech 22, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



279 



finds difficult to understand and to bear, 

 and must some time learn how to prevent. 

 Lewellts F. Barker 



THE NEED FOR ORGANIZATION OF 



AMERICAN BOTANISTS FOR MORE 



EFFECTIVE PROSECUTION OF 



WAR WORKi 



Our country is now passing through one 

 of the most critical periods in its history 

 and the manner in which we shall emerge 

 from this turmoil will depend on how suc- 

 cessfully we can apply a lesson now being 

 taught us by our arch-enemy Germany — 

 the value of organized effort. The central 

 empires are surpassed by the allies in man- 

 power and in economic resources of every 

 kind. But Germany is a marvel of organi- 

 zation and she has so thoroughly coordi- 

 nated all her activities, especially those re- 

 lating to war, that she is able to throw 

 every ounce of her power in any direction 

 desired. On this account she absolutely 

 dominates her allies, and to this she owes 

 her military efficiency and her powers of 

 endurance. The United States and the en- 

 tente nations are rapidly learning this les- 

 son and, although the daily press is filled 

 with stories of inaction and of clashing au- 

 thority and with reports of investigations 

 of alleged incompetency, still we see every- 

 where about us the evidences of greater co- 

 operation, of standardization in production 

 and of more thorough organization of all 

 our activities — signs which augur well for 

 future victory, for it is only by beating 

 Germany at her own game that we can hope 

 to win this war quickly. 



The increase of efficiency by organization 



1 Invitation paper before Section G of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 in joint session with the Botanical Society of 

 America and the American Phytopathological So- 

 ciety in 'a. symposium on War Problems in Botany, 

 Pittsburgh, December 29, 1917. 



is no new discovery of the Germans or of 

 this time of war. The remarkable develop- 

 ment of American industry has been due 

 in a large measure to the capacity of our 

 business men for organization. But Amer- 

 icans are independent beings and have 

 feared the evils of excessive organization — 

 the curbing of personal freedom and in- 

 itiative, and the reduction of the individ- 

 ual to the level of a cog in a smoothly run- 

 ning machine. The evils arising from over- 

 organization are probably more to be de- 

 plored than those due to under-organiza- 

 tion. Neither extreme develops the high- 

 est type of human being nor makes for last- 

 ing human progress. But in these times of 

 stress we must not hesitate — the necessity 

 for more thorough organization in all lines 

 is forced upon us, and botanists, together 

 with other scientists, must heed the call. 

 This is a scientific war and science, not 

 brute-force, must win it. Scientific workers 

 become individualistic, and pure research 

 naturally shuns the publicity of organiza- 

 tion, but many lines of research and applied 

 science in general are as much benefited by 

 cooperation as is any industry. 



Nowhere is the need for organization 

 greater than in connection with the food 

 supply, the importance of whose problems 

 has been pressed upon our attention by the 

 prevailing high prices and by the shortage 

 of sugar and other important food stuffs. 

 The relation of botanists to food produc- 

 tion is a vital one and as botanists we now 

 carry a grave responsibility. 



We also face a wonderful opportunity. 

 In the past botany has failed to receive the 

 full measure of popular appreciation it de- 

 serves, though no subject is more vitally 

 connected with human welfare and human 

 progress than the study of plants. Botany 

 is one of the oldest of human studies, yet 

 we have seen other sciences of smaller ac- 



