Evening star., 1924-12-21

marine craft The Federal Power Com
mission Is linking the engineers and
scientists in O. nationwide scheme Of
power development that will build up
all sections Of the country and reduce
| costs OF production and transportation
charges on practically all commodities
| that enter into our daily life.
Even Congress itself in the National
| Botanic Garden and in providing proper
ventilation and acoustics for. It's own as
semblages, employs q force of scien-
tific specialists.
Difference Ins Science.
| Now-those who read this article
must realize that there Is a distinc-
| ton between applied science, which
| charactertzes most OF the government
work and pure science. The former
seeks some immediate, practical re-
suit such as the War and Navy De-
partments are most interested In. The
Smithsonian Institution best repre-
sents the pure science work. 1t has
no immediate object. but delves into
science for science sake and to add
to the sum total of scientific knowl-
edge. 1t has no practical problem to
solve.
! AS examples of work that other de-
lpartments are doing to get some prac-
teal results that benefits US in our
daily lives
The Bureau of Standards, as its
name tells us, seeks TO set UP stand
ards of quality. Then on request 1t
compares articles that enter into our
daily life with the standards so as to
see whether we are getting what We
ought TO get. II tests the dishes from
which we eat, the material in the
clothes we wear, the quality of paint
that goes on our house, the tensile
strength of the materials used In
building our house, whether our
watches keep correct time. etc.
Guards Food supply.
Just as this Bureau of Standards
tests what We wear and the house
we live In, the Department of Agri-
culture guards our food supply. The
Bureau OF Chemistry has a whole
| building in Washington filled with
| laboratories for testing the purity of
| food products and other laboratories
all over the country. The Bureau of
Animal Industry similarly protects
US against impure meats and meat
products. The Insecticide and Fungi
eide Board guards against improper
branding OF rat and bug poisons,
sprays and other matters that affect
our lives in ways far beyond our
vision and understanding. The Fed
! eral Horticultural Board protects US
against invasion of insect pests that
destroy food crops, forests and or
chards. The Bureau of Entomology is
a co-ordinated activity TO check the
spread of destructive insects.
! The Forest Service is doing a big
work in it's scientific laboratory at
Madison, Wis, in determining various
| uses to which forest products can be
put in commerce-for example, pret-
| ty neckties are now being made out
| of wood waste.
! The Geological Survey carries on a
| basically important function by de-
veloping all essential facts regard
! ing water supply.
Enters Into All Lines.
So, If you let your mind dwell just
bit on your daily life checked up
against these Federal activities you
will see that there Is scarcely any
thing you can think of where Uncle
| Sam hasn't expert scientists at work
| bettering our living conditions.
| How many of these scientists does
| he employ? Too many TO count. off
| hand; but--in the recent reclassifica-
| tion OF government employees, in the
National Capital, at the seat OF Gov
ernment, IL was shown that in the
! professional and scientific service,
| there are 1853 or per cent or the
! whole number of people in the Dis
! trfct; and in the sub-professional
service. which may be said to be as
sistants to the scientists, there are
2,539 persons or ass per cent Of all
the people in the District. So that
| roughly in those two scientific classi-
| fications there are nearly 13 per cent
| of the whole number.
| And while they constitute the
| greatest scientific force assembled
anywhere in the world, they do not
| draw. large salaries, The average in
/ the scientific grade is s3,2s4 and in
| the grade of assistants 1t is s1,605
! per annum.
| Copyright, 1924, by VIII P. Kennedy
! (The twenty-second article in this
/ series will be The Seat of Govern
| ment." 1t will be printed in this
4 Daper next Wednesday,