January 5, 1906. J 



SCIENCE. 



ment which relieves the monotony of rou- 

 tine work and enables one to see more or 

 less of the world. In some universities 

 the professors are allowed a year's absence 

 once in seven years, but they are then gen- 

 erally on half -pay and have to provide for 

 their own traveling expenses out of a re- 

 duced income. 



There is supposed to be a certain glamour 

 attached to government positions in all coun- 

 tries, but, as far as scientific men are con- 

 cerned, those in government employ have, 

 like others, to depend for their reputation 

 on their merits rather than on their posi- 

 tions. Even in the case of Germany, where 

 it is generally supposed that official posi- 

 tions are more highly esteemed than in this 

 country, to be a professor in one of the 

 leading universities is a distinction as great 

 as to be a government official, that is, in 

 the capacity of a scientific worker. There 

 is a certain class of men who would always 

 find Washington more congenial than any 

 other place. To them the interviewing of 

 members of Congress and other officials is 

 a pleasure. To them the newspaper cor- 

 respondent is always welcome. Although 

 they may have great scientific and admin- 

 istrative ability which enables them to ac- 

 complish a great deal of good work, they 

 are so constituted by nature that they 

 never can be quite contented unless they 

 have the opportunity of mixing in the stir 

 and bustle of the world and of being heard 

 of men and seen of women. This class of 

 men is a small one and, I am inclined to 

 believe, is growing smaller. It does not 

 include the great majority of those, whose 

 Avork is of the most value to the govern- 

 ment. This large majority prefer condi- 

 tions which allow them to work in peace 

 and quiet, and security of tenure' in office 

 without the feeling that sooner or later 

 there may be an overturning of some kind 

 is what they desire most in addition to 

 adequate salaries. This possibility of 



some unexpected change in policy is the 

 great disturbing feature in Washington, 

 and that such changes must occur sooner 

 or later is inevitable because the atmos- 

 phere of Washington must always be polit- 

 ical. This does not mean that the scien- 

 tific men employed by the government need 

 concern themselves with politics. In the 

 past that may have been the case, but there 

 is no reason to suppose that at the present 

 day a botanist would have to be a Republi- 

 can botanist or an entomologist a Demo- 

 cratic entomologist to be sure of his posi- 

 tion. Nevertheless, politics must always be 

 a disturbing element because the scientific 

 workers must be assigned to some bureau 

 of some department, and the secretaries, the 

 heads of the departments, are always poli- 

 ticians and always will be. I do not in- 

 tend to use the word in its degraded sense, 

 although it might be going too far to use 

 the word statesmen as applied to all secre- 

 taries. At any rate all will admit that 

 they can hardly be expected to be scientific 

 men or to have, except in very rare cases, 

 any real knowledge of scientific subjects. 

 They are appointed because they represent 

 some political interest and change with the 

 party and generally with the administra- 

 tion, so that their service is short. One 

 secretary succeeds another at short inter- 

 vals and the policy of one may not be the 

 policy of another. One may believe that 

 there can not be too much scientific work; 

 another that science unless sordidly prac- 

 tical is worthless. The policy of launching 

 out on seientifie work of all kinds without 

 regard to expense, on the ground that our 

 country is rich and that there is no need 

 of counting the dollars and cents, is sure 

 to be followed by indiscriminate retrench- 

 ment. In any case a secretary is obliged 

 to look out for his own interests in relation 

 to his party and in political crises no one 

 can tell what may be done. Suppose that 

 the presidents of all universities were 



