336 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 116. 



THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE GOV- 

 ERNMENT SCIENTIFIC WORK. 



Our readers are already aware that the con- 

 gressional committee appointed to consider the 

 organization of the surveys and other scientific 

 work of the government made no report at the 

 last session of congress. The commission was, 

 however, continued as a commission of the 

 succeeding congress. The expired places of 

 Messrs. Pendleton and Lyman were filled by 

 new appointments from the members elected 

 to the next congress. A meeting of the re- 

 organized bod}' has been held, which adjourned 

 until next November without coming to any 

 definite conclusion respecting the measures to 

 be finally proposed. Before adjourning, Major 

 Powell was authorized to make public the testi- 

 mony which he had laid before them on differ- 

 ent occasions, and which covers most of the 

 points to be acted on by the commission. 



Major Powell's statements naturally include 

 a very detailed account of the methods, work, 

 organization, and expenses of the survey over 

 which he presides. He also submitted his 

 views upon the best method of consolidating 

 the geological and coast surveys with the other 

 scientific bureaus of the government. This is 

 the realry important question before the com- 

 mission, since upon its decision must turn the 

 general efficienc}' of the government scientific 

 service for a long time to come. The neces- 

 sity for some such consolidation is strongl}- 

 felt in congress as well as outside of it. The 

 one danger to be avoided is that of some hast} T 

 plan being adopted, which ma}- suit the exi- 

 gencies of the moment, but may not work well 

 after those exigencies have passed. 



One very strong reason for placing the sci- 

 entific bureaus under one head, or in one de- 

 partment, is that scientific work has man} r 

 features peculiar to itself, which require it to 

 be conducted upon principles different in some 

 respects from those which prevail in other 

 departments. The head of an ordinary bureau 

 or department of the government, and indeed 

 every man in public life, is conversant only 

 with offices and duties which there is no serious 



difficulty in satisfactorily filling, with the aid of 

 that knowledge of men and of the world which 

 he acquires through his daily intercourse with 

 others. Such a person is accustomed to find- 

 ing scores of candidates for every office, from 

 whom a suitable selection is always possible. 

 The idea of an office for which there may be 

 no applicants, or, if there are any, for which 

 it is morally certain that the applicants are 

 all unfitted, no matter how good their recom- 

 mendations, is one which he finds it difficult to 

 assimilate. Indeed, in the case of the purely 

 scientific office, the ability to find the proper 

 men must be a part of the life education of the 

 man who is to make the selection. It is safe 

 to say that the best officers who have served 

 in the coast and geological surveys are men, 

 who, under the ordinary system of government 

 appointments, would never have been heard of 

 in connection with the positions which they so 

 ably fill. 



The same thing is true of the administration 

 of a scientific bureau. No uniform system 

 can be devised which will apply to all the de- 

 tails of a great scientific work. When we go 

 be}"ond the regular routine operations, it is 

 needful that the duties shall be accommodated 

 to the man, and that in many cases a larger 

 measure of liberty shall be allowed the latter 

 than could be tolerated in the usual operations 

 of a government department. All this requires, 

 on the part of the administrative head of the 

 department, an appreciation of the subject 

 which can only be acquired b}< long familiarity. 

 If the head is not specially charged with mas- 

 tering the peculiar methods of administration 

 thus rendered necessary, the chances are that 

 he will fall into one of two opposite errors : 

 either he will leave the heads of the scientific 

 bureaus to manage things in their own way, 

 without any administrative control whatever, 

 or he will exert his authority in such a way as 

 to endanger the efficienc}* of the work. The 

 former is undoubtedly the more natural course 

 to take, and thus arise the friction and dupli- 

 cation of work which so seriously impair effi- 

 ciency and discipline. 



Yet another feature of government scientific 



