Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/105

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE

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��search in the mechanic arts and engi- neering, and the sciences, such as physics and chemistry, on which they are based. The agricultural interests have always had great influence on leg- islation and in this case they have led the way. It is to be hoped that re- search in the engineering sciences will now be equally encouraged by the pas- sage of the Newlands bill, which ap- propriates $15,000 to each state and territory for conducting investigations in engineering and publishing the re- sults.

Some scientific men may believe that more could be accomplished by the es- tablishment of one great research lab- oratory or by granting the money only to institutions already distinguished for their contributions to science. There is, however, much to be said for initiating investigation in fifty widely scattered centers where work is already being done in agricultural science. It bringd the value of research to the attention of the students of the college and the people of the state, and each station has the possibility of great development. In any case the passage of the bill as it stands is the most feasible method at present to extend research and will forward rather than interfere with other methods.

BESOLUTIONS OF THE COMMIT- TEE OF ONE HUNDRED

The Committee of One Hundred on Scientific Research of the American As- sociation for the Advancement of Sci- ence has given consideration to the New- lands bill and has passed the resolu- tions which follow:

Whereas the applications of science have made democracy possible by so de- creasing the labor required from each that equal opportunity can be given to all;

Whereas in a democracy scientific re- search, which is for the general benefit and can not usually be sold to individ- uals, must be supported by the public;

Whereas a combination of national and state support and control is desir- able in education and in research and its value has been fully proved by the

��laud grant colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts, established in the states and territories by the Congress in 1862;

Whereas there is in connection with each of those colleges an agricultural experiment station to which the na- tional government appropriates an- nually $30,000 for agricultural research, the results of which have been of untold value to agriculture and to the nation;

Whereas experiment stations for the mechanic arts and engineering, includ- ing in their scope research in physics, chemistry and other sciences, would be of equal value to the nation and would repay manyfold their cost, and

Whereas at the present time atten- tion is directed to the need of prepara- tion for every emergency, and this can best be accomplished by the advance- ment of science and the ability of our people to meet new conditions as they arise ;

Resolved that the Committee of One Hundred on Scientific Research of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science earnestly recommends the passage of the Senate Bill intro- duced by Mr. Newlands to establish ex- periment stations in engineering and in the other branches of the mechanic arts in connection with the colleges estab- lished by the Congress in the several states and territories, with an annual appropriation to each of $15,000 for conducting investigations and experi- ments and printing and distributing the results; and further

Resolved that the committee urges each of the ten thousand members of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science to use all proper efforts to bring the importance of the measure before members of the con- gress and to the attention of the public.

NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SCIENCE

As claimed in the preamble to the resolutions of the Committee of One Hundred, science can only flourish in a democracy if it is supported by the peo- ple. A democratic system is favorable to mechanical inventions for there are large numbers who have a common school education, who see the need and have the opportunity to devise improve- nents in their tools. In the cotton gin and the harvester, the sewing machine and the typewriter, the telegraph and ihe telephone, in the develoiiment of the

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