Evening star., 1939-12-29

Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.
COLUMBUS, Dec. 29-A challenge to
science in the present struggle OF democ-
racy for existence was stressed before the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science, meeting here Wednes-
day night, by DR.. Wesley G. Mitchell,
Columbia University economist and
president of the association.
OF vital import, he said, Is q better
knowledge Of the laws governing social
behavior, with the objective Of an eco
nomic organization which viii permit the
distribution through increased national
income of as much wealth as can be pro-
duced.
Even in the best Of years." he said,
I'VE fail to provide national income
large enough to give American families
on the average what experts on house.
hold economics hold to be standard
of living adequate to maintain efficiency.
In bad years this inadequate income falls
off by fifth or sixth, and in the very
worst years by 40 per cent or more.
Proud as they are of our chronological
progress, engineers know that much Of
our equipment and many of our meth
ods are far behind the times. We fail
to make full use of knowledge that tech
biological applications of scientific dis
coveries have placed at our disposal"
1t is universally admitted, DR.. Mitch
ell said, that the social sciences lag far
behind the natural sciences, because they
deal with phenomena more complicated,
more variable, and less susceptible to
experiment. 1t is impossible to expert
ment at will upon social groups.
'"The most urgent item in the unfin-
ished business of science" declared DR..
Mitchell "is to increase knowledge Of
human behavior. II we had better in
sight into individual psychology we
might not be able to alter fundamental
drives, but we might be able to direct
them into beneficent channels. Preach
ing righteousness doubtless prevents men
from becoming as bestial as they might
otherwise become. Appeals to reason
prevent them from making as many
errors as they might otherwise make.
But the moralist and the nationalist
admit that the results of their efforts
are grievously Disappointing Scientific
men with any gift for self-analysis realize
that they have their own share of self
ishness and animosity. Perhaps, and
only perhaps, if we can come to clearer
understanding of how we behave we can
learn how to condition men so that their
energies will go less into making one
another miserable"
The outstanding requirement, he said.
is the preservation of freedom of expert
ment and freedom of thought and ex-
preston, without which progress is i'm
possible.
scientific men," he said, "are won't
to face facts, whether these facts con-
form to their wishes or not. Most OF
them are sufficiently emancipated from
conventional thinking to look critically
upon social institutions They contrast
the society of today with its proverty in
the midst of plenty, its class, racial and
international animosities, its puerile
aims and its destructive methods, to a
society they can imagine living in secur-
ity and comfort, using its increasing
knowledge to provide finer ]ife for all
mankind
THE contrast should not be accepted
in spirit of resignation. 1t is call
to action. Scientific men will not be
true to their own standards il they
let their actions be guided by their feel
ings. No current encouragement
should blind us to the great strides in
human welfare made since science as
sumed its modern form. No fit of i'm
patience over delays and relapses should
make us forget that knowledge is won
step by step, through the toilsome ef-
forts of thousands of men. To jump this
work with its numberless failures and its
gradually cumulating successes, expect
ing to land in Utopia, is to give up faith
in science for faith in magic. Men who
take scientific methods seriously as the
best hope of floundering mankind will
seek to apply them just as critically and
remorselessly in their social as in their
physical thinking.
But science cannot flourish in the
future and yield the fruits for which we
hope unless freedom of thought prevails.
That is a condition we have been in
cined to take for granted as part of
the heritage our predecessors won. Now
we realize that what they fought to win
we must fight to maintain. The investi-
gators right to follow truth wherever
it led was part of the common mans
right to freedom of conscience and free
dom of speech. These rights, were
established by political struggles and
embodied in political institutions The
democratic way of life and the scientific
way of thinking grew up together, each