158 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1155 



is not necessary to good work is shown by 

 the seventy-five years' experience at Roth- 

 amsted. That auditing accomplishes all 

 that is necessary in addition to the public 

 reports of responsible boards of trustees is 

 shown by the experience of numerous insti- 

 tutions not yet under the blighting effects 

 of too much administration. That adminis- 

 tration is recognized as a deterrent to good 

 work is shown by the struggles of the state 

 universities everywhere, not only to free 

 themselves from this outside dominance 

 that is wasting funds, and crushing the life 

 out of institutions and men, but they are 

 also simplifying their own internal machin- 

 ery to the end that nothing should come 

 between the worker and his work. 



All progress in science is the result of 

 individual interest, initiative, invention and 

 energy, all of which must be resident in the 

 worker. The driving force that brings re- 

 sults is internal, not external, to the ex- 

 plorer after new truth. It beckons from 

 ahead and does not prod from behind. It 

 is akin to that attraction which drew ex- 

 plorers time after time to the pole, and not 

 akin to the whip that sends the slave to the 

 galley or the cotton field. 



Administration does no work. It is a 

 harness put upon activity. Its purpose is 

 not to actuate, but to restrain and forbid, as 

 witness the multitude of laws, boards, com- 

 missions, decisions and rulings that have 

 grown up — all restrictive. "Thou shalt 

 not" is the burden of most administrative 

 legislation and office rulings. 



The effect is delay, added expense, dis- 

 couragement of men, and unsatisfactory 

 service at every step, for after engaging the 

 best available men, administration proceeds 

 to tie their hands and to exploit their 

 funds. 



EFFECTS OF ADMINISTRATION ON MEN 



The effect of too much administration 

 upon the scientific worker is at first one of 



disappointment, then of discouragement, 

 and finally of disgust. Conditions as they 

 are now developing not only constitute an 

 unhealthy example for our young men in 

 college, but they are deterring thoughtful 

 men from entering the public service. Real 

 men are unwilling to subject themselves to 

 unnecessary restriction and petty annoy- 

 ances, the obvious exploitation of funds and 

 the artificial multiplication of administra- 

 tive positions, with their overhead charges 

 upon research and their power to bring re- 

 proach upon the best intentions and the 

 most faithful service. There is danger to 

 everybody when the crash comes, as it will 

 come when the public begins to understand 

 the foreign forces that have attached them- 

 selves to the serious business of research 

 in agriculture. 



But it is objected that without super- 

 vision much time and money are wasted; 

 besides some men are lazy. Granted with- 

 out argument! As to waste of time and 

 money, some of, both is inevitable. Many 

 excursions were made northward before the 

 pole was conquered. Perhaps some money, 

 even lives, were wasted, but not the attempt 

 as a whole. At the most no scheme could 

 be invented that so inevitably leads to time 

 service and fraud as the one now building 

 up around our institutions where the pub- 

 lie is made to feel that nobody is either 

 honest or capable save the "inspector" 

 and the appointed overlord who gets his 

 commission by executive appointment and 

 reports to nobody. "What guarantee have 

 we of his honesty? 



Modern efiieiency standards are devel- 

 oped from the manufacture of shoes, 

 clothes-pins, overalls, etc., and are expressed 

 in motions per hour. These standards are 

 not applicable to research. Money put into 

 research is bread cast upon the waters. In 

 the serious business of searching after new 

 truth, no man knows in advance the road 



