The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-08-24
Difficulties Confront Men, Chosen
BY Secretary Daniels 70
Plan National Defense
ALL NOT TRAINED
FOR WORK AHEAD
British Movement Has Adyan-
tage Of Highest Authority
In Each Line j
BY wAGDEMAR KAEMPFFBRr,
managing Editor Scientific American

BY wALDEMAR KAEMPFFBRr.
Managing Editor Scientific American)
Those who have followed the bitter
criticisms leveled In the London press
Ey novelists, scientists lawyers ard
editors at the ineffie!ency of the Brit
ish war Office and admiralty viii have
no difficulty in tracing to its source
the idea Of establishing civilian IN.
vehtors' boartl to mobilize the kInt ri.
can nation s ingenuity for tho be1eit
of the navy. II. q Wells is the head
and front Of the movement in Eng.
land; Secretary Daniels is simply his
American echo. 2.
England has responded to the agita.
ton forhented by Wells by ,fsatinI
an inventions board, with a .,elt. n
committee consisting of Admiral Fish.
err, Sir j. J. Thomson, Sir Charles Tar.
soma and George T. Beilby-in other
words, great naval commanded, b
great physicist, a great meehauisal
engineer and great chemist. That
central committee Is to be assistel by
o score of eonsultants, every one OF
whom is a distinguished authority in
his chosen field Of science.
Self:Made Men On Board
The corresponding American board
will comprise Thomas A. Edison, Or,
vile Wright, Simon Lake and otNsra
inventors, all OF them very much II
I the public eye and noted for their
remarkable practical achievements.
They. are popular heroes, self made,
practical men Of type which IS rtifl
regarded as infinitely superior tn the
university trained scientists. ...
England suffers from a national in,
ertia and must be violently Ihlk en-
into something like, Tehtonie activity
and system. The United States sui,
fers from the selRshness, the blind.
ness, and the stupidity of Congress-
composed not of real patriots but
largely of patronage distributors
Clearly, the Secretary has adopted the
only course which is likely 10 secute
congressional ,sHecognition---fhe course
of popular approval Whether the
men he has chosen are ht for their
appointed tasks, matters, not. Thry
loom larNe In the public eye; their
high.spirited, patriotic offer may not
he lightly refused.
Struggle Against Prejudice
That inventors should be eneourrg II
no one would be foolhardy enough IN
deny. When we remember that 'he
Maxim machine gun, the WRIGHT ilv.
ing machine, the JanneyH gun-eleyating
mechanism, the Lewis gun, Harvey
lied armor-to mention only a few
great nVentiOnS-were fr0wned down
by American government officials and
accepted after they had found favor
in the sight of supposedly less pro
gressive governments, we have reason
enough to applaud any sensible mas
ure which will enable Iis TO make the
most of our national ingenuity and
which will insure at least q sympa
thetic hearing for the inventor.
Most Of the revOlutfonizing mechan
isms which have made the modern
army and navy possible, which have
reduced the soldier to the level Of a
maehinist, sprang from the brain Of
civilian engineers and inventors Of rho
Edison, Lake and Wright type. MAYA
and military officers developed their
crude instruments of destruction to
their present pitch Of deadly pertcc
tion.
Trained Engineers Needed
Ii is the same in industry. Pioneer
inventions are rarely practical in a
commercial sense; they must be mold
cd into disable form by trained en-
gineers with minds less Imaginative
than those of Bell or a Morse. And
the history of every one Of these in.
ventions, whether they relate to a
new way of shaving chin bristles or
new way of blowing a regiment to
atoms at a distance of miles, is the
usual history of bitter, heart-rend
ing struggle against self.suffieieney
and prejudice. ..r&,#5tt
Inspired by Edison, the Secretary of
the Navy speaks Of establishing a
laboratory in which meritorious iuven-
lions may be tested and developed
That Is the one real constructive sug
gestiOn that has come out of this tu
multi. Every naval officer will indotse
it. NJ. ~ -
Bit once such laboratory ii estab,
lished, the inventors board win cease
to exist. A single director and CON.
n"tert staff Of chemists, inetalmfgists,
physicists and engineers win prove
suf1cient for the navyss needs. The
bureau of standards, the bureau OF
mines and other government labOra
tories perform their work quietly and
efficiently without any lay supervision,
and there is no reason why an inyen
tors board, even though headed by
an Edison, should dominate a naval
laboratory. " g."
There still remains the problem OF
handling the inventor not as II he
were monomaniae, but imam with
creative imagination. Who can
solve that satisfaetorilyf 1t is a
problem that confrOnts the manufrc,
turer as well as the goyernm ent-a
problem that implies a Knowledge of
human nature far more profound than
any psychologist can claim TO possess,
The best that can be hoped for Is The
establishment Of a sympathetic pnl'cy
and the selection OF broad minded
men Rs Judges of invention. VII sthe,
they be professional inYentora thar