74 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 107. 



partment with which he was connected. 

 Either the originator or some other friend 

 of the scheme was put in charge of the 

 work, and if it proved beneficial it re- 

 ceived increased appropriations from year 

 to year, and finally grew to be a great 

 bureau. This method has led to some 

 strange connections. It was in this way 

 that the Coast Survey, the Commissioner of 

 Navigation, the Marine Hospital Service 

 and the Life Saving Service came to be 

 placed under the Treasury Department, 

 while the Navy Department controls the 

 National Observatory, the Hydrographic 

 OfBce and the Nautical Almanac. These 

 accidental connections, once established, 

 have usually been kept up, and so far, 

 although they are often as disadvantageous 

 as they are illogical, a majority of the 

 bureaus have remained in the departments 

 where they originated. 



The time has arrived when the successful 

 prosecution of the scientific work of the 

 government requires that these various 

 bureaus should be organized in accordance 

 with a logical plan. A general coordina- 

 tion of all such investigations must be the 

 next step in their development. It is pro- 

 posed in this paper to suggest a plan which, 

 it is believed, will, without injuring the 

 work of any of them, lead to a reorganiza- 

 tion of these bureaus and effect the neces- 

 sary coordination of their researches. 



The scientific agencies connected with the 

 execution of the laws, with the construction 

 of naval and military equipment, and with 

 the government schools, are, of course, not 

 included in this plan. A chemical labora- 

 tory will, for example, probably always be 

 needed in connection with the revenue office 

 of the Treasury Department, for the pur- 

 pose of analyzing sugars, alcoholic liquors, 

 etc. The War and Nav}^ Departments will 

 always need their own testing laboratories, 

 and both the naval and military academies 

 their extensive teaching equipments. The 



present discussion applies only to those 

 agencies of the government which are de- 

 signed to promote pure science or its appli- 

 cations to the discovery, conservation and 

 development of the resources of the country 

 in the broadest sense of these terms. 



A rational classification of these govern- 

 ment scientific agencies would begin with 

 the National Observatory and the Nautical 

 Almanac, which locate our planet in space 

 and our country upon the globe, and supply 

 our mariners with the data by which to 

 sail. Next would come the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, which determines the coast 

 and boundary lines of the country and its 

 chief heights and geographical positions. 

 Following this would come the Geological 

 Survey, which is charged with ' the classifi- 

 cation of the public lands and the examina- 

 tion of the geological structure and resources 

 of the national domain.' The Weather 

 Bureau, whose duty it is to investigate our 

 climate, and especially its relations to agri- 

 culture and other industries,would naturally 

 come next. This would be followed hy vari- 

 ous agencies for studying the fauna and 

 flora and determining the life zones, such 

 as the Biological Survey, the Divisions of 

 Entomology and of Botany, and the Na- 

 tional Museum, including the National Her- 

 barium. 



The great economic applications of the 

 principles elucidated by these surveys 

 would be carried out by another group of 

 bureaus, like the Forestry Bureau, the 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Bureaus, 

 and the Fish Commission. These, in turn, 

 would be followed by other agencies organ- 

 ized for the purpose of investigating great 

 economic problems, such as the forage in- 

 terests of the country, the irrigation ques- 

 tion, the industries of the arid region, and 

 so on. Finally, the new department should 

 include a great statistical agency, such as 

 the proposed permanent census bureau. 

 Statistics, showing the products of natural 



