The morning times., 1897-01-23
DR.. DABNEY MAY Be NAMED.
He Is a Fayorite for the Head Of
the National Museum.
HE NIGHT DECLINE THE OFFER
While He Has a More Lucrative
Position at His Command in Ten
nessee, tn e Office Her e Would BE
More Directly in Line Of Desira-
BILE Promotion.

The new assistant secretary of the Smith
sonian Institution may be DR.. Charles w.
Dabney, now Assistant Secretary OF Agri-
culture A number of names have been
mentioned for the place and as the. day
for the meeting Of the regents, next
Wednesday, approaches the gossip grows
more active. Itwas stated yesterday after
noon that Dr. Dabney had been offered
the position, but that is doubtful. Smith
sonian officials when asked said they had
no more information on the subject than
an outsider, Secretary Langley has APP
parently not told any OF them whom he
will recommend at the meeting on Wednes
day, and 1T is even question whether,
in the midst of his many duties, he has
determined in his own mind upon man
for the place and secured assurance of
acceptance.
Among others spoken of rs Prof. Hart
Merriam ornithologist of the Agricultural
Department, but when the suggestion was
made TO Prof. Merriam he said promptly
that he would not take the position.
DR.. Dabney is out of the city and no eX-
preston could be obtained from him. His
friends say, however, that he would not
give up his place as president of the
University of Tennessee to accept the ap
pointment. Yet there are conditions which
would make it easy for him. The assistant
at the Smithsonian has full charge Of the
National Museum and his position is one
of great responsibility in spite OF com
paratively small salary. But more than
that the rule is UNMARRIED that tie assistant
secretary in time becomes the secretary,
and as such he is at the head of the Ameri
can scientific world He is in science
what the President is in politics DR..
Dabney is still a young man. Heis not yet
forty. He can well afford to wait.
Furthermore, DR.. Dabney would be in
line for another place even more to his
liking than that of secretary of the Smith
snnian. That is the head Of the proposed
Department OF Science. This idea of put
ting the scientific bureaus of the country
in one department with an executive Off
Ger at Sc 600 year at its head has been
discussed for more than a year, and DR..
Dabney has been one OF its most vigorous
advocates. In recent number OF Sci
ence" he had an article on the subject,
in which he pointed out the advantages of
such reorganization.
He showed that, omit ing all those
charged with purely executive business,
the government schools, and the testing
laboratories of the War and Navy Depart
mentS. the United States maintains twenty
eight scientific bureaus for developing our
resources and advancing industry, at a
cost OF nearly SO 600, 900 annually. They
employ over 5000 persons, in the entire
country.
Much valuable work has been and is
being done, but great deal more would
be accomplished and much money saved,
if all the bureaus, having this common
purpose, were consolidated in one depart
ment. Scattered as they now are through
ali the departments, operated under very
indefinite laws and supervised by differ
ent secretaries, usually not scientific men
and always overrun with other work, there
is ample opportunity for confusion and
duplication OF work and consequent loss OF
time and energy.
The government has. for example, three
separate and distinct agencies for measur-
ing the land of the country. connected with
two different departments; four separate
photographic offices for sounding the
waters OF bays, rivers, lakes, etc, In
four different departments; and five sepa-
rate chemical laboratories in the city OF
Washington alone. The statistics OF the
natural resources and products of the
country are collected by eight different
agencies connected with six different de-
partments aud bureaus, not counting the
census, which usually goes over the whole
field again.
If such department should be estab-
lished now DR.. Dabney, as a Democrat,
would hardly be named though it is pro-
posed to make the position nOn-political
But it is not likely that the department
will be established by this Congress- hardly
by the next. Infour years, after thorough
discussion, it may be done and then either
Democratic administrationmay V be reached
or DR.. Dabney's connection with q Demo
cratic administration would be so far
obscured by his occupancy of a purely
scientific position that he might well be
named.
AS a steppngstone the office at the
National Museum would probably be ac-
ceptablc. Hon. Gardiner G.. Hubbard. one
of the regents of the Smithsonian, is a
warm friend of the Assistant Secretary Of
Agriculture, and would do anything in his
power to advance his interests.
Dr.. Dabney's speciality as a scientist is
chemistry, with particular attention to
industrial problems, such as are being
solved in the development of modern agri-
culture.
.