UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
ASTROPHYSICAL. OBSERVATORY 
NATfONAL AIR MUSEUM 
NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
Washington 25,B.C. 
US. A. 
Dr. Alexander Wetmore 
c/o James Zetek 
Drawer C 
Balboa, Canal Zone 
Dear Dr. Wetmore: 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS 
FREER GALLERY OF ART 
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE 
CANAL ZONE BIOLOGICAL AREA 
March 29, 19^9 
There is not much on which to report, but I am sending you clippings in which 
you will undoubtedly be interested. Web True reported to me the other day that a 
telephone call had come in to his office during his absence indicating that my 
letter to Cole was apparently not satisfactory and that "they” would have to take 
it up with the Board of Regents. I have heard nothing from any of the regents 
yet but will stand pat on the basis of the letter I sent him, copy of which I 
enclosed with my letter to you of March 18. 
One of the recent Hoover reports dealing, among other things, with Federal 
research, states that while there is pretty good coordination within some of the 
individual departments, active over-all coordination is needed. They go on to add 
the following: 
Effort altog these lines within individual agencies is not enough. 
There is need for an organization to facilitate the development of research 
policy for the Federal Government as a whole. This was recognized in the 
report of the President’s Scientific Research Board. That Board recommended, 
as a first step, the establishment of an interdepartmental Committee on 
Scientific Research and Development. Such a committee was created by 
Executive order in December I9V7. It was directed to further the most 
effective administration of scientific research and development activities 
in the Federal Government, and was authorized to submit recommendations on 
research policy and administration directly to the President. 
The full potentialities of this committee have not been realized since 
its members have not as yet attacked major problems of research policy for the 
Federal Government as a whole. This may be due in part to lack of staff and 
funds. 
Personally I think our committee did a pretty good Job. They can't expect Federal 
research to be coordinated in one year by a small group of persons unassisted by 
any secretariat and who have more work of their own than they can do. There has 
not been a meeting of the Committee since you left. 
It does not appear that there will be any great reorganization in the government 
service and certainly not before your return. The Senate and the House have Just 
completed the Rent Control Bill, and the Senate is now debating E.C.A. The Interior 
Bill was Ju3t reported out from Committee yesterday. You will remember that 
National Park Service had $137>500 for their recreational work, including archeology 
for areas outside the Missouri, and that they were asking for $180,000 for 1950* 
