Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
a. hope of the President to
!. see Washington the greatest

capit1l in the world is far adj
Il vanced toward realization in
- the particular phase of
science With the fulfillment of
plans now being executed. plans, for
instance, that have as an objective
the enormous sum of $50 200. 900 for
private research alone this hope will
De given a great impetus.
The earn gle Institution of Wash
ington already has an endowment of
SSu,O00,O 600, committee, of which
Herbert Hoover is chairman, is seek
ing to raise $4,000, 600 as an endow-
ment for research under the auspices
or the National Academy of Science
The Smithsonian Institution is en-
gaged in raising an endowment of
$lO,000,000 for its purposes. The total
of 10000, 900 thus is for only three
organizations here
Added to private research the
United States Government appropri-
6tes millions of dollars annually to
maintain many bureaus doing re-
search work of the highest impor-
tance, such as a dozen or more bu-
reaus in the Department of AgricuI-
ture. The public may be more famil-
lar with the Bureau of Standards,
an the Department of Commerce, than
with some other scientific investiga-
ton by the Government, but all of
IL Is of great significance and much
or 1t commands the admiration of
the foremost scientists in the world.
Scope of U. s. Research.
As at the Bureau of Standards, gov
ernmental effort i'm general is directed
largely to applied science, that is to
say, to finding immediate answers to
pressing practical problems in every
DAY affairs. The Southern planter,
Tor example, wants the boil weevil
extermlnated at once. Necessarily n
certain amount of fundamental scien-
title research goes along with the
application of scientific knowledge al
ready possessed, but it is such agen
cies as the Carnegie and Smithsonian
institutions that carry the burden of
bdSic inquiries, or the entertainment
or fundamental facts, which may be
used in solving particular problems.
Speaking in praise of the group of
Federal research workers here, often
underpaid, in view of the importance
OF their services, DIR. John c.. Merriam,
president of the Carnegie institution,
says:
In spite of difficulties the large
body of governmental bureaus have
come to be great centers of research
and have extraordinary influence upon
Washington to live it took me several
years to explain why during my
visit l never finished my task
nnally realized that there were so
many important bureaus to visit and
specialists to see that they could not
De compassed in one visit"
Longer View Advocated.
DR. Vernon Kellogg, secretary OF
the National Research Council, in the
National Academy of Sciences Build
Ing. bears similar testimony:
Probably no other city in America
has so many first-rate scientific men,
and the governmental group are do
ing work of inestimable value. 1t is
to be hoped that Congress-. while not
abating demands for quick solutions
of today's problems, will take a longer
view and support more fundamental
research than now is possible.
DIR. G. q. Abbot, assistant secretary
or the Smithsonian Institution atlas
the following comment In similar vein:
One lis continually astonished that
the Government is so well served by
its scientific workers as 1t is. Several
men could be mentioned whom the
world acknowledges as leaders in
their branches of science who receive
$500 year as their total compen-
sation. There. are hundreds of men
and women, experts, who are serving
the Government for salaries ranging
from $1,000 to $4,000 per annum."
Headquarters OF Science.
Amy attempt to list all of the scien-
tific activities centering in Washing.
ton would become tedious, but further
proof of the e-mnence of the city's po-
sition in this neld is afforded by the
fact that the American Association
for the Advancement Of Science, with
about $4,000 members, representing
virtually every phase OF research in
the Nation, maintains headquarters
here.
There is no pretense that Washing.
ton will become the actual scene of
every kind OF research. Splendidly
equipped laboratories are found here,
but in the nature of things scientific
research goes on in every part of the
country and throughout the world.
washington, however, is the center
from which many of these activities
radiate. The direction is here. while,
as with some of the enterprises of
the Carnegie institution, the actual
research may be In the desert of
ARIZONA, in western Australia, in Yu-
catan and many other places. The
Department OF Agriculture must do
much of it's research in the field. The
Smithsonian institution, wishing to
enrich the geological Park, sends an
expedition to Africa.
AS the oldest of the private scien-
+Jf,c bodies in Washington. the
smithsonian Institution (the gift of
= foreigner to the United States, but
not a governmental agency and re-
ceiving no Federal funds) has won
FOR itself universal reputation.
DIR. Abbot Reviews Record.
"The first secretary, Joseph Henry.
and his successor. Prof. Baird,
seized opportunities" said DR.. Abbot,
athat will never arise again. Com
tho at time when military and
railroad surveys were opening up
this continent, the institution en-
listed the aid of these bodies in
waiting scientific collections OF bo
tanical and geological specimens.
studies of Indian culture illustrated
Ia, extensive chronological collections
a-nd meteorological observations. Sec
sata,v Baird was also the pioneer
~ intensive study of the fishes of
o,,,. waters. In consequence of such
an early start in all these fields, the
restitution has built up an un-
eoualed mass of material and infor-
ration on the natural history of
this country.
"Secretary Henry inaugurated q
saryice in the diffusion of knowledge
which has done more than any other
nna thing To make the world front
~ science a unit. This service rs
the system of international exchange
- scientific literature by which
scientiic institutions of this country
axcbange publications with those oil
al, the rest of the world. Nearly al
nations have since initiated this