Rochester, Minn., who was unanimously elected. Dr. Mayo is one of the leading American surgeons and has the distinction of having declined all calls to large cities and institutions, preferring to remain in the small town where St. Mary's Hospital, of which he is one of the surgeons, was built for his father by the Franciscan sisters.
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
It is much to be regretted that there has been room for criticism of certain officers in the Department of Agriculture. It is also unfortunate that the work of the department may be injured by the lack of perspective and search for sensationalism with which the matter has been treated by the daily press. So far as is known only one officer of the department, and he not a scientific man, has been guilty of acts that warranted dismissal, but which scarcely justify prosecution in the courts. Two other officers of the department—scientific men of standing—have been charged with having connection with commercial concerns while retaining their positions under the government, but in both cases the connection was terminated some time ago. Whether the relation of these officers with the government was used to forward these business enterprises has not yet been made clear. In one case a patent for a discovery was taken out, and the patent given freely to the people of the United States. A company was, however, organized to supply the product. So far as the public knows, the man of science who made the discovery may have acted in an honorable manner. He might have resigned his position, taken out patents' and become a millionaire. On the contrary, he gave his patent to the people, and may have taken part in the organization of the company for the public benefit. It appears that at one time he considered resigning from the government service and entering the service of the company, which he certainly had a right to do, but that when he decided to remain in the Department of Agriculture, he gave up his connection with the company. Information has not been made public sufficient for any one to form a judgment as to the conduct of the two men of science referred to. It may have been entirely creditable to them, or it may indicate lack of a nice sense of honor. An instructor in one of our leading universities made a discovery in the course of a scientific investigation, which he patented and sold for several hundred thousand dollars to a corporation. So far from objecting to this arrangement the trustees gave the scientific man in question leave of absence in order that he might arrange for the sale of his patent in Germany, and shortly afterwards promoted him to a full professorship. If such an instance were now made public in a government department, it would probably be distorted and criticized on all sides, but both the scientific man and the university acted correctly. It is somewhat dangerous for the man of science to keep his eyes on the patent office or to meddle with commercial undertakings, for he may thus be distracted from more important work, but it is still more dangerous to subject the scientific man to orders and discipline from an official superior.
For example, a newspaper as respectable as the N. Y. Evening Post seems to regard it as a scandal that a scientific man received payment for an article contributed to a magazine. It would be entirely disastrous to the scientific work done under the government if it were ruled that scientific men could publish only in the government reports. The only reason why these positions are attractive to men of ability is that they have adequate material for scientific work, and that, in addition to the utilitarian work that they do for the government, they are able to contribute to the advancement
