304 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, Xo. 1421 



research is not evidenced in any large way by 

 the recent action of Congress, let us say a very 

 few members of Congress, by which the publi- 

 cation of two periodicals in the interest of 

 agricultm-al research was suddenly ordered dis- 

 continued along with a lot of other publica- 

 tions of questionable value, most of which had 

 developed during or soon after the war period. 

 There is encouragement in the fact that some 

 leading members of Congress were not informed 

 as to what was occurring but now realize that 

 a serious mistake has been made and are ready 

 to help correct it. 



ESSENTIALS FOR HESEAKCH 



Well trained men and ample funds are the 

 essentials for research. It should be a nation- 

 al policy to train and encourage in every way 

 possible the right kind of men and women and 

 to supply funds to meet their reasonable needs 

 in research work in the interest of agriculture. 



(2) Efforts should be made always to en- 

 courage young men and women who have ability 

 and inclination of the right kind, to prepare 

 themselves for research work. Special scholar- 

 ships and fellowships should be provided by 

 the agricultural educational institutions to en- 

 able such persons to complete their fundament- 

 al training and later assistantships should be 

 provided to bring them into helpful contact 

 with older and well trained investigators and 

 due credit should be allowed for their own ef- 

 forts. As they advance in ability and in getting 

 worthwhile results their compensation should 

 be reasonably increased. Care shoidd be taken 

 to make this compensation as attractive as is 

 provided for persons of coiTCsponding ability 

 and service in allied lines of work. Failure in 

 this respect in recent years has resulted in 

 heavy losses from the ranks of research work- 

 ers in the Department of Agriculture and in 

 State experiment stations. During a period 

 of about six years, including the war, there was 

 a change of nearly eighty per cent, in the 

 scientific personnel engaged in agricultural re- 

 search throughout the country. Many of the 

 younger men went into war service, but the 

 greater losses to agricultural research came 

 from the resignation of older men who took 

 other more renumerative positions. The over- 



turn has been exceedingly large since the war. 

 On this account, and without reflection upon 

 those who have continued in research work or 

 who have recently gone into that work, it must 

 be admitted that research to-day, instead of 

 being the strongest link in the chain made up 

 of research, college education, and extension 

 work, is the weakest link. Research is the least 

 able of the three to meet the demands it should 

 care for. 



Funds for the support of agricultural re- 

 search as now available represent such a small 

 percentage of the interests concerned that they 

 are almost negligible by comparison. They 

 represent a much smaller per cent, of value of 

 output than is so expended by many a manu- 

 facturing plant in the interest of its output. 



(3) A principal requirement as to funds is 

 assiirance of permanent income. Without such 

 assurance strong men can not be induced to pre- 

 pare themselves adequately for research nor can 

 thej^ be retained in this work. Too often it 

 has been necessary to stop important experi- 

 mental work because of failure to continue ap- 

 Ijropriations. No one can tell what losses have 

 been suffered because important projects after 

 being conducted for an extended period of time 

 had to be discontinued with the faihu'e of ap- 

 propriations before the final results had been 

 secured. 



(4) As agricultural research relates in such 

 large measure to national problems, and the 

 work done in one state is of value in many 

 states and as agriculture is such a large factor 

 in all business, it is right that national funds 

 should be used in promoting agricultural re- 

 search in the different states. A precedent has 

 been furnished, and a national policy for agri- 

 cultural research should provide for enlarging 

 these national appropriations by small incre- 

 ments for a few years until they have reached 

 amounts commensurate with present demands, 

 as specified in the Purnell Bill, which would 

 provide fifteen thousand dollars annually addi- 

 tional to each state for experiment station work 

 and an additional ten thousand each year until 

 the amount is eighty-five thousand dollars. 

 These appropriations would be equivalent at 

 the start to less than one cent per capita per 

 year and would finally increase to about 



