Show 1 Scientists for Unhampered Freedom Fl in Research Reseal ch Work T ol l By New Anal Analyst and Commentator 1 ThU Service 1616 Eye Street NW of Washington D. D C. C The bomb which leveled Hiroshima Hiroshi Hiroshi- ma and ond has since been echoing in inthe inthe inthe the Pacific did something to congress congress con con- gress that could not riot have been done donee before the e i sion LIOn It Induced r 4 the senate to loosen the public purse strings toi to i the extent of votIng voting vot vote ing to subsidize a aI national scientific research tion I I Scientists Scientists' dont don't have many votes Kw so the persuasion couldn't have come by way of a lobby The public Imagination had bad been stirred Suddenly Suddenly Sud Sud- denly the layman realized that science sd- sd ence was a powerful factor in war He realized too that perhaps men who could smash the atom and make it smash the enemy might learn how to use the powers of the sleepIng sleep sleep- sleeping Ing giant giant atomic atomic energy for energy for the good as well as the thc ill of mankind At this writing congress has not completed action of ot the bill but probably will have done so by the time these lines are read The idea o of a national research program seemed very good to me Therefore Therefore There There- fore I was somewhat surprised to hear a pharmacological authority of my acquaintance say SlY that passage of this legislation would be as destructive destructive de de- de in the field of science as the bomb was In the midst of Hiroshima Hiroshima Hiro Hire shima and Nagasaki He made the observation in a group several of whom were scientists His hearers appeared to echo his sentiments sentiments- sentiments which I later learned he had set forth in the recent Bulletin of ot the American Association of University University Uni Uni- Professors He Dr Theodore Theodore Theo Theo- dore Koppanyi said In an analysis analysis anal anal- ysis of the bill bill a basic wrong immediately immediately im im- im mediately leaps to the eye ee This is the assumption that scientific research re re- re search earch can be initiated or pre pro scribed for If this assumption could be grounded ground cd the natural sequel Sequel se Se- quel to a national research foundation tion would be federal foundations to initiate and prescribe for the composition of music music the painting of pictures the writing of poems and the establishment of social controls controls con can troIs and education for science is probably the most personal and individualistic in individualistic of all human ors No agency however authorized and directed can develop a national policy for scientific research Difficult to Pass On Projects The theories and ways of thinking think think- ing jag of scientists Dr Koppanyi explained ex explained ex- ex and his colleagues agreed are as diverse as the world Itself Itsell How can we set up a court with the power to pass on what is good and what is not good for science he asked and then he turned to me meI I with this question Would you approve approve ap ape ap- ap prove of having a member of your p profession profession-a a commentator or news- news writer writer appointed appointed by a President of I the United States as head of a similarly similarly sim sim- similarly selected group of your colleagues col eol- eol leagues who were made privy to private government information which was barred from tram other speakers speak speak- ers or writers Naturally I said No That would be the end of the freedom of the press and radio Then Dr Koppanyi concluded You can spend a lot of money and get no return But if you trust Inhuman in inhuman inhuman human ingenuity motivated by desire de dc sire of public service the love of science recognition and maybe selfish aims alike you will have done more for basic science than you could ever do with billions of dollars dol dollars dol- dol lars of federal money Social Science Study Lags Spokesmen for the so-called so social sciences the study of people of Individuals and groups were loudin loud loudin loudin in criticizing the omission from the bill of provisions for research in this field An engineer spoke for the social scientists in these words Weve gone miles ahead In our study of In In- things In physics chemIstry chemistry chem chern and the other sciences that deal with inorganic matter compared compared com com- pared to our advancement in the study of human beings why beIngs why they act the way they do under given conditions their relations to other individuals and to groups and the action of the groups in relation to each other He spoke of the re recent ent pogrom in Sn Kielce Poland where the Jews were attacked and killed It all started from a false rumor a planted plant ed rumor The very same thing the engineer pointed out touched of oft off the riots three years ago in Detroit Those arc are known facts but there is very little public knowledge of what causes such action how it can be prevented Possession Is Law to Russ Russian expropriation of Austrian property and her delaying tactics insetting in Sn insetting setting of the peace conference date seem to be predicated on the theory Why Thy start any discussions of who gets what 1 if IL you can operate on the old theory that possession is nine points of the law Possession is an Important factor Take the recent experience of a Philadelphia horse Around midnight midnight mid mid- night one night a horse walked into a residential district and began devouring devouring de de- de gardens of dahlias morn morn- ing glories snapdragons and other flowers The Infuriated householders household household- ers tried to shoo the horse away but buthe buthe buthe he kicked at them and went right righton on expropriating the bourgeois blooms However in the good old American tradition a policeman appeared appeared ap ape ap- ap I with a rope and lassoed the beast He was removed to the police police po po- po lice stables where he couldn't exercise a veto on this purely procedural pro process This subversive tendency in the animal world was revealed in another an other part of Philadelphia at about the same time Returning from a week-end week a householder and his I family who had started a counterrevolutionary counter counterrevolutionary revolutionary campaign against what the they thought to to be a harmless mouse found a sized large-sized rat in the trap they had set The rat with the trap attached as a minor incumbrance brance went right after the family which climbed tables and chairs This time when the cop came he felt aggressive warfare Justifiable and finished the rat with his reactionary reactionary night I Congress' Congress Work Is Never Done Congressmen Invariably come to work January 14 brisk of step bright of eye confident they'll have all the bills passed all the necessary business disposed of by July 1 at atthe atthe i the latest so they can go home to their fences I The old timers of course know they are just kidding themselves I Business is never completed by July 1 I though the they work from sun to sun for like womans woman's congress congress' work Is never done Consequently I fishing trips motor jaunts and Important Im ira I electioneering have to be postponed while house and senate members labor in hi Washington heat to complete minute last-minute legislation This year it was the that fevered c congressional brows I late Into July Debate was so furious furi furl ous night sessions were so frequent that I wasn't surprised when I heard hearda a man in the visitors visitor's gallery atthe of at the capitol ask Why did they wait so long to get at the OPA bill Seems to me they always have a alot alot alot lot of stuff left to do at the end of ofa a session that they could have taken up earlier Do they always let lct it go so long that these closing days sound like a rowdy jam session I reported this remark to a man I who knows Capitol Hill as you and andI I know the short-cut short home There are arc no jams In congress he answered as he inhaled another tablespoonful of the famous senate restaurant bean soup Not even on OPA I modestly needled No uNo he said but Ill I'll admit they came to a near jam when they had to work like the dickens to get the bill to the President before the theOPA theOPA theOPA OPA expired But they did get It to him he was talking about the first OPA bill bill and and it was better than a lot of people had expected That was no jam What is a jam then What we used to have in the days of the lame duck session he came back promptly Then congress con eon gress had to adjourn on March 4 A one-man one filibuster could stymie legislation up to midnight of March 4 and it would never be passed Then congress might act hastily and perhaps unwisely to meet Its inexorable deadline A jam then is when congress is forced to precipitate action or to tono tono tono no action That's a congressional opinion Id I'd still like to hear what Harry Truman would define as a congressional jam |