664 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII, No. 1115 



work in several departments. Thus the re- 

 sponsibility in large measure falls back 

 upon the bureaus themselves — they must 

 provide that careful coordination which 

 precludes wasteful competition and pro- 

 motes helpful cooperation. To return for 

 a moment to my text, I do not know that 

 the successful coordination of the work of 

 our two Surveys has been due in any large 

 degree to the influence of Congress, al- 

 though my experience is that appropriation 

 committees do watch these details, nor have 

 I ever known any Secretary of the Interior 

 or of the Treasury or of Commerce to de- 

 fine this wise policy ; the happy result must 

 be credited rather to a small group of ad- 

 ministrative chiefs in each of these two 

 scientific bureaus. 



The obligation for the proper conduct of 

 the scientific work of the government, there- 

 fore, can not be lifted from the shoulders 

 of the bureau chiefs and their immediate 

 associates in the work of administration. 

 Moreover, this responsibility is a double one 

 — we should feel not only the duty as pub- 

 lic servants to avoid wasteful use of the 

 public money, but also the obligation as 

 scientists to conserve scientific effort by pre- 

 venting duplication in research and in pub- 

 lication. Aside from the absurdity that 

 lies in the spectacle of bureau chiefs trying 

 to impress congressional committees, do we 

 not by our acts suggest a lack of faith in 

 science itself ? We talk impressively of the 

 day of highly specialized science and then 

 go out and poach on what is properly the 

 domain of others. Since the days of Aris- 

 totle students of politics have recognized as 

 a weakness in democracies the habit of not 

 appreciating the value of trained special- 

 ists. Within a few weeks the London Fi- 

 nancial News remarked editorially upon the 

 national neglect of science to which is now 

 attributed the bulk of the British failures 

 under the test of war. But as self-labeled 



scientists are we not oiirselves similarly 

 lacking in our appreciation of the value of 

 science and of scientific organization in so 

 far as we fail to recognize that by reason 

 of its experience and its personnel some 

 other bureau, even in another department, 

 can better handle a certain subject than our 

 own bureau. Especially when a new idea 

 is before the public are we apt to be tem- 

 porarily blinded by its popularity and thus 

 lose sight of the eternal fitness of things. 

 I can best illustrate this by mention of a 

 current topic. The fixation of nitrogen is a 

 matter of national importance; plainly the 

 military departments are most concerned by 

 reason of their need of nitric acid for muni- 

 tions, yet as against any claims of the War 

 and Navy Departments must be set the fact 

 that nitrogen is one of the essential ele- 

 ments in fertilizers, and its production is 

 therefore of vital concern to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture ; however, the mineral 

 deposits necessary to the fixation process 

 are to a large extent under the jurisdiction 

 of the Department of the Interior, not to 

 mention some of the most available power 

 sites ; nor must I overlook the fact that this 

 subject was first investigated and reported 

 upon by a bureau in the Department of 

 Commerce. So the competitive contest is 

 on, but the obviously most reasonable con- 

 sideration is still in the background. What 

 department or bureau, if any, has already 

 on its rolls the force of hydraulic and con- 

 struction engineers ready to begin the pre- 

 liminary studies and surveys and the or- 

 ganization already adapted to push the con- 

 struction of the plant, should Congress au- 

 thorize this innovation in governmental 

 activity? As evidence of my good faith in 

 mentioning this illustration, let me add that 

 an investigative bureau like the Geological 

 Survey is not organized on a plan at all 

 adapted to the construction and operation 

 of an industrial plant; and all that I may 



