Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-27
The Vanishing
Government Scientist
BY Frederic j. Haskin

| Commission on Reconsideration of Sala-
! ricH.
Therc arc two kinds OF employees which
| Uncle Sam can no longer obtain. One il
| the highly trained technical or scientific
worker who is in great demand by indus
| try and business, and who can earn any
where from twice 10 ten times as much
| outside az the government Will pay him.
| The other is the vanishing class, com
poscd of men whoac qualifications arc
absolutely necessary TO the government,
but who are seldom wanted in private
| enterprise. These include the rneteorolo-
gisis, plant disease experts, astronomers
copperplate engrnvers, land Office sur
veyors, seed testing experts, and various
| others.
Most of the present employees in this
class entered the government ten, twenty
| five or fifty years ago, when government
nav WAS considered remunerative. Now
| they have grown experienced IN their
particular specialties, and as there rs no
competition for their services they stay
on until thew die. But rs vacancies occur
no more satisfactory candidates can be
obtained.
SALARIES TOO SMALL.
Tho futility of trying TO get new men
shown recently when the National Re
search Council wrote to forty leading
colleges and universities to ask II their
graduates were interested In federal
service. and II not, why not. Carnegie
University. Yale, and most of the other
universities reported that not one of their
recent graduates would consider the
| government service as career, while
California and Massachusetts, Universi-
ties said that they had advised their men
not to enter the government. inadequate
compensation was the explanation Of this
| attitude of the colleges. Whist NJ means
tn the country can best be understood by
taking random INSTANCES Of the work
now done by such men.
Take the weather Bureau, whose ex-
peris warn stockmen, farmers, and or
chsrd growers Of storms. and frosts, there
bv saving millions Of dollars yearly TO
the nation. All sorts Of people besides
farmers RELY on the diosun of the waether-
men too. In construction work, for
instance. the Weather Bureau report
settles the question of whether cement
will harden If il il laid today, while ship
owner would not consider sending cargo
across Lake Huron, If the Weather
Bureau reported tho approsch OF .
severe storm.
The entrance salary IN this important
bureau is at present 81 0S0. bonus
bringing it mp IN 81 ,520is usually granted
IN short time, and. If he sticks on for
decade or go. the faithful meteorologist
may get 5000. Some years ago, $1,000
wae.a worthy goal for a young man who
resolved this talents 10 science and his
country Now, the man who has enough
a A. fssef
that he will have hurricane next Tues
day usually has sense enough 20 pick
out po-t,on that will pay better than
that of metcrorologist ia the federal
service.
The Weather Bureau prides itself on
its accuracy which the puhlc does no
ALWAYS appreciate but 10 is afraid that
its reputation will go TO smash II It has to
take messenger boys for weather fore
casters, AZ it expects ~ do coon, for bright
young college graduates don't look At
81, ,0S0 these days.
Another bureau apprehensiyn for Its
future IL the Naval Observatory Pro-
fcssor Hill. an astronomical expert from
the Observatory showed the Reciasss'tscz.-
tion Commissioner a few significant facts
at hearing the other day.
The safety OF passengers and mariners
on the high seas depends on the work OF
the Naval Observatory, he said. We
live away out there III the woods and
prepare for publication the Nautical
Almanac by which latitude and longitude
are determined at sea. The Nautical
Almanac is also necessary TO astronomers
IN their everyday work and IL used 10
determine accurately latitude and longl-
tude OF any position on land.
Rave To TRAIN YOUNG MEN
eve also test chronometers for the
navy's men-ol-war. We buy these Instru-
ments only on approval. We test an
instrument six months IN varying tenn
peratures, and then SIX months IA the
ordinary temperature of a room. chrono-
meter that is to guide a $40, ,ooO, 600 battle
ship must have the most accurate tests
possible.
we ordinarily employ only college grad
yates, but the astronomy that we use
is not usually taught in universities, SO
when young man comes TO uS we have
to train him 1t has been my job for the
past four wears to train these men and
see them go It has been one continuous
going out all the while. The government
gives us the finest instruments In the
world 10 work with, and that is an
inspiration 10 scientist, but 1T does not
hold the ambitious young man OF today.
DR.. Hill told of one man IN the astrono-
mical department who is ninety-one years
old When asked how long tins man had
served the government, DIR. Hill said /:
We'll, when he'd been in the service fifty
years we gave him watch, and that 5
some twenty years back.
This man, highly educated, gets 5000
as translator and clerk. Once he was
chief clerk, but when his duties became
too onerous he asked for a less exacting
position and obtained it, at a lower
salary He has served the government
seventy odd years and never received
$1,000 year
The attitude of the truly scientific mind
WAS amusingly brought out when another
Mathematical astronomer bewailed the
governments lack of scientific material.
when new man does come, he
doesn't stay long g-snough 10 do anything, =
he explained sadly. ''Our problems take
from six months TO ten years to work
out"
Ten years?" queried one reclassifer
In astonlshment.
'Oh, yes, reiterated the scientist 1T
took ten years to determine the orbit of
Mars. You see you have to take the
observations and reduce them, and by
computation determine the errors IN the
different elements or the eccentriclties of
the elements of the orbit. That viii take
some years; You have to determine those
eccentricities with good deal of nicely"
he concluded.
T. when you finish, how do you know