December 24, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



895 



indefinitely. If something has to be done, 

 it must be done immediately — not in five or 

 ten years henee, when it may be too late. 



In all of our present scientific research 

 laboratories, time seems of relatively little 

 or no account; problems which can not be 

 solved to-day can be solved to-morrow or in 

 ten years or during the next generations; 

 but this is not the ease with the problems 

 connected with the contemplated defense 

 of our country ; the solution of these prob- 

 lems can not be postponed. They demand 

 immediate action. 



Nor is the condition of our navy similar 

 to that of an industrial concern that can 

 afford to take chances with machinery or 

 equipment which is not strictly up to date, 

 and still show some commercial success. 

 For instance, recent events have demon- 

 strated that there is no use building the 

 best and newest fortresses against an enemy 

 who possesses guns strong enough to de- 

 molish everything in existence. 



Nor is there any chance of success in 

 using the very best artillery at anything 

 like equal chances if your adversary can 

 do his scouting and range-finding with 

 aeroplanes provided with reliable engines, 

 while your aeroplanes are equipped with 

 motors which give out at unexpected mo- 

 ments. 



In our clumsy war with weak Spain, we 

 went into the field with black powder when 

 all other nations, even Spain, were equipped 

 with smokeless powder. Why? Because 

 we had postponed too long studying the 

 chemistry of the subject. 



The fact is that if we require a navy at 

 all, our navy can not afford to use anything 

 but the very best and most efficient means 

 of defense. Not to possess the very best 

 might put us in the same absurd condi- 

 tion as the wooden navies of the world 

 were in after our civil war had established 

 the supremacy of the iron-clad vessel. 



The contemplated outlay for the navy 

 for the next five years, for new ships, avia- 

 tion and reserve of munitions, amounts to 

 about $500,000,000. These tremendous ex- 

 penditures of money, in order to be of real 

 value, ought to be made as efficient as pos- 

 sible. All doubtful and inferior devices 

 must be eliminated by direct experiment, 

 by research and tests, before it is too late 

 to remedy them. 



This requires accelerated action; in fact, 

 Mr. Edison's personal opinion was that re- 

 search and laboratory work in this instance 

 "should go on night and day without in- 

 termission" instead of the usual easy-go- 

 ing short-day plan followed in laboratories. 



If one single automobile concern in the 

 United States finds it to its advantage to 

 spend in one year half a million dollars on 

 testing, research, or experimentation, how 

 much more important is the business of the 

 United States navy, where money not spent 

 wisely is better not spent at all, because 

 then at least we shall not have the illusion 

 that we are equipped for defense, when we 

 have merely lost our money on antiquated 

 devices. 



Without mentioning any spectacular 

 problems of modern warfare, it might be 

 stated that such a prosaic detail as the 

 corrosion of condenser tubes of our war 

 ships involves an annual damage of about 

 $2,000,000. If $1,000,000 were spent on re- 

 search on this problem alone, with the re- 

 sult of reducing the damage to one half the 

 total outlay would be compensated in a few 

 months' time, aside from the important fact 

 that our fleet would be stronger because less 

 of our ships would be unavailable for serv- 

 ice. 



It was brought out that there was little 

 use in spending so many millions on flying 

 machines as long as there was any doubt 

 on the reliability of their engines, and until 

 an absolutely well-tried and standardized 



