New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-10-19
Science in the War
And After
By Professor r. A. MilIiken
Of the University of Chicago

10 impossible to distribute more than
IS created, and where the wealth is
once created there is no little evidence
that natural processes, in the long
run. do q good deal, at least in demo-
cratic countries, toward producing a
more or less reasonable distribution.
The inequalities and injustices which
strike the eye are Of much less gen.
eral significance than the superficial
observer realizes. A progressive econ
omlst told me the other day that I
was probably making an over-estirhate
when / stated that complete level
ling of all incomes in the United
States might possibly increase the in
come Of the average worker by 10
per cent. | am informed, by one who
is in position to know the facts, that
such complete dwelling in the tele-
phone industry, for example. could no..
increase the average income of the
wage-earner by more than 2 or 5 per
cent, and that | have been given,
from what I consider fairly reliable
sources, about the same figures for
the steel industry. 1t is probable that
the total possibilities of improvement
of conditions through changes in dis
tribution are very limited, while pos
sibilities of improvement through in
crease in production are incalculable.
One Little Adr0nCe
However important, then, the prob
lens Of distribution may be there can
be no uncertainty about the even great
er Importance of the problems Of pro-
duction. One little new advance like
the discovery of ductile tungsten. which
makes electric light one-third as ex-
pensive az it was before, is larger
contribution to human wellbeing than
all kinds of changes Ia the social order.
The man who finds a way to so harves st
his hay as to make a given plot of
ground feed twice as many cattle as
it did before has contributed immeas-
urably to human welfare. So has the
biologist who shows mankind how to
agate nationally instead Of in accord
ance with the law OF the jungle. Or.
again, the pure scientists who for
ten years worked out the properties
of discharges of negative electricity
through highly exhausted bulbs and
so made possible the use of pure cleo
tron discharges in multiplying enor-
mously the possibilities OF telephone
and Geographic communication-the
cornerstone of international good will
have made their lives count for hu-
manity as very few political or social
reformers have ever been able to do.
Investing Wealth
Fifth, there is q new opportunity
in science for the man who wishes
to invest his wealth so that it will
yield the largest possible returns to
his country and his race. The United
States has not, in the past, been the
leading scientific nation; it cannot even
claim to have been on par with two
or three of the foremost scientific
nations, at least If population is con-
sidered in assigning places.
The universities cannot possibly full
fill their function of selecting and de-
veloping scientific men OF outstand-
ing ability unless they create within
themselves the atmosphere of scientific
research. The creation of research
mon may not be the prime function
of al universities, but it should GER
tainly be the prime function Of some