February 13, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



241 



to do was to publish a bulletin of miscel- 

 laneous educational information, to be put 

 forth in occasional issues, as matter of 

 practical value should become available. 

 When I broached this plan to my associates 

 in the bureau, one of them, having a long 

 memory, called my attention to an obscure 

 clause in an Act of Congress already ten 

 years old, which expressly provided for 

 such a publication. This was encouraging. 

 But there was no appropriation to cover 

 the cost of printing. As in the case of 

 other miscellaneous printing for this office, 

 an allotment must be secured from a gen- 

 eral appropriation for printing in the De- 

 partment of the Interior, and that was 

 under the secretary's immediate control. 



I laid the case before the acting secre- 

 tary, calling his attention to the fact that 

 the proposed publication had already been 

 authorized by Congress, and also that it 

 would enable the bureau to discharge more 

 effectively one of the chief functions as- 

 signed to it in the Act for its establishment, 

 namely, that of distributing educational 

 information. He had himself been a mem- 

 ber of Congress. He listened to my state- 

 ment most courteously, and then replied 

 that the thing could not be done. The 

 money was needed for other uses. 



There was, fortunately, present at the 

 interview one of the indispensable men of 

 the department. A fair number of such 

 men are to be found distributed through 

 the several branches of the government — 

 men of sane judgment, possessed of un- 

 limited and accurate information, devoted 

 to the interests which their several offices 

 serve, and free from that form of ambition 

 which would prompt them to intrigue for 

 their own advancement. There is no rea- 

 son why I should not make individual men- 

 tion of Mr. W. B. Acker, to whom I have 

 referred. I doubt not he is still serving 

 the public from that piled-up desk of his; 



and I hope the public will long enjoy and 

 appreciate his services. 



I had already consulted him with refer- 

 ence to my little publication plan. The 

 acting secretary glanced toward his sub- 

 ordinate when pronouncing his adverse de- 

 cision. Most tactfully then the under offi- 

 cial reminded the high official that the very 

 modest sum required could be spared with- 

 out appreciable detriment to any other 

 interest, and that the legality of such use 

 of the fund was beyond question. With 

 only two or three sentences, the scale was 

 turned. The expenditure was approved, 

 and the preparation of the first issue of the, 

 bulletin was immediately begun. 



I believe the publication has been a iise- 

 ful one from the start, and it is now having^ 

 a great development at the hands of Com- 

 missioner Claxton. 



A few such experiences as that described 

 above led me to the all-too-hasty generaliza- 

 tion that if a public official desired to do 

 anything new in Washington, he would 

 either find that it is already in the law of 

 the land, or that it is impossible — and some- 

 times both at once. 



With other assistant secretaries, and in- 

 deed with the one referred to above, I had 

 other relations in plenty which I can recall 

 only with warm appreciation and grati- 

 tude. 



But to come back to the legislative side 

 of the matter. Here, again, I must avoid 

 too sweeping a statement. In the matter 

 of appropriations, I fared as well as my 

 predecessors or perhaps a little better. In- 

 cluding the provision for the Alaska work, 

 the appropriations were increased in those 

 five years by about 68 per cent. This would 

 not be so bad a showing, were it not that 

 the total amount was pitifully small as 

 compared with the magnitude of the inter- 

 ests and needs involved. For the year 

 1911-1912, the appropriation for the 



