NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
733 
they are fitted and for which they are unsatisfactory investigated. Many of 
these facts are obtainable only if commercial firms offer their hearty coopera- 
tion and support. They are not trade secrets but pertain to specialized in- 
dustries and are not usually available in pubhshed form. 
These agricultural, botanical and industrial data, if brought together in a 
systematic manner, will have a lasting value and will serve as a basis for 
placing economic botany on the high plane of usefulness that industrial chem- 
istry has held for many years. But they will not meet the practical require- 
ments of economic life unless considered from the commercial viewpoint. 
They must be supplemented by all available statistics concerning the impor- 
tation and exportation of each product, and the prices current through a term 
of years. 
Finally, there must be a reference library department. Information is of 
little use unless it is systematized in such a manner that it is readily avail- 
able. Adequate cross reference catalogues containing citations of the best 
literature must therefore be kept up to date. 
This, in a general way, is the work which the Botanical Raw Products 
Committee must do to be in a position to act as an industrial service bureau. 
This is the work which, though it must be continuous, though it never reaches 
completion, is really preliminary to the main activities listed above. True 
service must come from actual contact with the technical problems of manu- 
facturers and importers. 
For the Committee, Edward M. East, Chairman. 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
MEETINGS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
The thirtieth meeting of the Executive Committee convened in the offices 
of the Council in the Munsey Building, Washington, D. C.,on September 13, 
1917, and was called to order at 3.00 p.m. by the Vice-Chairman, Mr. Milhkan. 
Messrs. Bogert, Dunn, Millikan, Noyes and Vaughan were present, and, 
by invitation, Messers. Durand, G. N. Lewis, Manning, and MendenhaU. 
Discussion took place with regard to the advisability of extending the 
scope of the Research Council, so to have it serve, if practicable, as a means 
to bring about the coordination and centralization of research activities 
carried on in connection with the war in different bureaus of the Departments 
of the Government. Mr. Millikan outlined the development of the work of 
the Council in its capacity as an advisory agent for the scientific services of 
the Signal Corps and presented the following statement which has been pre- 
pared with the approval' of the Chief Signal Officer as expressive of existing 
relations : 
The Science and Research Division of the Signal Corps, established on July 16 under the 
direction of the National Research Council, of which Major Millikan is the Executive Officer, 
