"Yes, _him_," said Baker.
"That doesn't explain your wasting of Government funds on such an
institution as Clearwater. It doesn't explain your grants to--"
"Let me show you what does explain my grants," said Baker. "I have what
I call the Index--with a capital I, you know--"
"I don't care anything about your explanations or your Index!" Wily
exclaimed. "I'm here to serve notice that I represent the nation's
interest as well as that of Great Eastern. And I am not going to stand
by silently while you mismanage these sacred funds the way you have
chosen to do in recent months. I don't know what's happened to you,
Baker. You were never guilty of such mistakes before. But unless you can
assure me that the full normal grant can be restored to Great Eastern,
I'm going to see that your office is turned inside out by the Senate
Committee on Scientific Development, and that you, personally, are
thrown out."
Wily glared and breathed heavily after his speech. He sat waiting for
Baker's answer.
Baker gave it when Wily had stopped panting and turned to drumming his
fingers on the desk. "Unless your record of achievement is better this
year than it has been in recent years, Great Eastern may not get any
allotment at all next year," he said quietly.
Wily shaded toward deep red, verging on purple, as he rose. "You'll
regret this, Baker! This office belongs to American Science. I refuse to
see it desecrated by your gross mismanagement! Good day!"
[Illustration]
Baker smiled grimly as Wily stormed out. Then he picked up the phone and
asked Doris to get Fenwick at Clearwater. When Fenwick finally came on,
Baker said, "Wily was just here. I expected he would be the one. This is
going to be it. Send me everything you've got for release. We're going
to find out how right Sam Atkins was!"
He called the other maverick schools he'd given grants, and the penny
ante commercial organizations he'd set on their feet. He gave them the
same message.
It wasn't going to be easy or pleasant, he reflected. The biggest guns
of Scientific Authority would be trained on him before this was over.
* * * * *
Drew Pearson had the word even before it reached Baker. Baker read it at
breakfast a week after Wily's visit. The columnist said, "The next big
spending agency to come under the fire of Congressional Investigation is
none other than the high-echelon National Bureau of Scientific
Development. Dr. William Baker, head of the Agency, has been accused of
indiscriminate spending policies wholly unrelated to the national
interest. The accusers are a group of elite universities and top
manufacturing organizations that have benefited greatly from Baker's
handouts in years past. This year, Baker is accused of giving upwards of
five million dollars to crackpot groups and individuals who have no
standing in the scientific community whatever.
"If these charges are true, it is difficult to see what Dr. Baker is up
to. For many years he has had an enviable record as a tight-fisted,
hard-headed administrator of these important funds. Congress intends to
find out what's going on. The watchdog committee of Senator Landrus is
expected to call an investigation early next week."
Baker was notified that same afternoon.
* * * * *
Senator Landrus was a big, florid man, who moved about a committee
hearing chamber with the ponderous smoothness of a luxury liner. He was
never visited by a single doubt about the rightness of his chosen
course--no matter how erratic it might appear to an onlooker. His faith
in his established legislative procedures and in the established tenets
of Science was complete. Since he wore the shield of both camps, his
confidence in the path of Senator Robert Landrus was also unmarred by
questions.
Baker had faced him many times, but always as an ally. Now, recognizing
him as the enemy, Baker felt some small qualms, not because he feared
Landrus, but because so much was at stake in this hearing. So much
depended on his ability to guide the whims and uncertainties of this
mammoth vessel of Authority.
There was an unusual amount of press interest in what might have seemed
a routine and unspectacular hearing. No one could recall a previous
occasion when the recipients had challenged a Government handout agency
regarding the size of the handouts. While Landrus made his opening
statement several of the reporters fiddled with the idea of a headline
that said something about biting the hand that feeds. It wouldn't quite
come off.
Wily was invited to make his statement next, which he did with icy
reserve, never once looking in Baker's direction. He was followed by two
other university presidents and a string of laboratory directors. The
essence of their remarks was that Russia was going to beat the pants off
American researchers, and it was all Baker's fault.
This recital took up all of the morning and half the afternoon of the
first day. A dozen or so corporation executives were next on the docket
with complaints that their vast facilities were being hamstrung by
Baker's sudden switch of R & D funds to less qualified agents. Baker
observed that the ones complaining were some of those who had never
spent a nickel on genuine research until the Government began buying it.
He knew that Landrus had not observed this fact. It would have to be
called to the senator's attention.
By the end of the day, Landrus looked grave. It was obvious that he
could see nothing but villainy in Baker's recent performance. It had
been explained to him in careful detail by some of the most powerful men
in the nation. Baker was certainly guilty of criminal negligence, if not
more, in derailing these funds which Congress had intended should go to
the support of the nation's scientific leaders. Landrus felt a weary
depression. He hadn't really believed it would turn out this bad for
Baker, for whom he had had a considerable regard in times past.
"You have heard the testimony of these witnesses," Landrus said to
Baker. "Do you wish to reply or make a statement of your own, Dr.
Baker?"
"I most certainly do!" said Baker.
Landrus didn't see what was left for Baker to say. "Testimony will
resume tomorrow at nine a.m.," he said. "Dr. Baker will present his
statement at that time."
* * * * *
The press thought it looked bad for Baker, too. Some papers accused him
openly of attempting to sabotage the nation's research program. Wily and
his fellows, and Landrus, were commended for catching this defection
before it progressed any further.
Baker was well aware he was in a tight spot, and one which he had
deliberately created. But as far as he could see, it was the only chance
of utilizing the gift that Sam Atkins had left him. He felt confident he
had a fighting chance.
His battery of supporters had not even been noticed in the glare of
Wily's brilliant assembly, but Fenwick was there, and Ellerbee.
Fenwick's fair-haired boy, George, and a half dozen of his new recruits
were there. Also present were the heads of the other maverick schools
like Clearwater, and the presidents--some of whom doubled as
janitors--of the minor corporations Baker had sponsored.
Baker took the stand the following morning, armed with his charts and
displays. He looked completely confident as he addressed Landrus and the
assembly.
"Gentlemen--and ladies--" he said. "The corner grocery store was one of
America's most familiar and best loved institutions a generation or two
ago. In spite of this, it went out of business because we refused to
support it. May I ask why we refused to continue to support the corner
grocery?
"The answer is obvious. We began to find better bargains elsewhere, in
the supermarket. As much as we regret the passing of the oldtime grocer
I'm sure that none of us would seriously suggest we bring him back.
"For the same reason I suggest that the time may have come to reconsider
the bargains we have been getting in scientific developments and
inventions. Americans have always taken pride in driving a good, hard,
fair bargain. I see no reason why we should not do the same when we go
into the open market to buy ideas.
"Some months ago I began giving fresh consideration to the product we
were buying with the millions of dollars in grants made by NBSD. It was
obvious that we were buying an impressive collection of shiny, glass and
metal laboratories. We were buying giant pieces of laboratory equipment
and monstrous machines of other kinds. We were getting endless
quantities of fat reports--they fill thousands of miles of microfilm.
"Then I discovered an old picture of what I am sure all unbiased
scientists will recognize as the world's greatest laboratory--greatest
in terms of measurable output. I brought this picture with me."
Baker unrolled the first of his exhibits, a large photographic blowup.
The single, whitehaired figure seated at a desk was instantly
recognized. Wily and his group glanced at the picture and glared at
Baker.
"You recognize Dr. Einstein, of course," said Baker. "This is a
photograph of him at work in his laboratory at the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton."
"We are all familiar with the appearance of the great Dr. Einstein,"
said Landrus. "But you are not showing us anything of his laboratory, as
you claimed."
"Ah, but I am!" said Baker. "This is all the laboratory Dr. Einstein
ever had. A desk, a chair, some writing paper. You will note that even
the bookshelves behind him are bare except for a can of tobacco. The
greatest laboratory in the world, a place for a man's mind to work in
peace. Nuclear science began here."
Wily jumped to his feet. "This is absurd! No one denies the greatness of
Dr. Einstein's work, but where would he have been without billions of
dollars spent at Oak Ridge, Hanford, Los Alamos, and other great
laboratories. To say that Dr. Einstein did not use laboratory facilities
does not imply that vast expenditures for laboratories are not
necessary!"
"I should like to reverse your question, Dr. Wily, and then let it
rest," said Baker. "What would Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos have
done without Dr. Einstein?"
* * * * *
Senator Landrus floated up from his chair and raised his hands. "Let us
be orderly, gentlemen. Dr. Baker has the floor. I should not like to
have him interrupted again, please."
Baker nodded his thanks to the senator. "It has been charged," Baker
continued, "that the methods of NBSD in granting funds for research have
changed in recent times. This is entirely correct, and I should first
like to show the results of this change."
He unrolled a chart and pinned it to the board behind him. "This chart
shows what we have been paying and what we have been getting. The black
line on the upper half of the chart shows the number of millions of
dollars spent during the past five years. Our budget has had a
moderately steady rise. The green line shows the value of laboratories
constructed and equipment purchased. The red line shows the measure of
new concepts developed by the scientists in these laboratories, the
improvement on old concepts, and the invention of devices that are
fundamentally new in purpose or function."
The gallery leaned forward to stare at the chart. From press row came
the popping of flash cameras. Then a surge of spontaneous comment rolled
through the chamber as the audience observed the sharp rise of the red
line during the last six months, and the dropping of the green line.
Wily was on his feet again. "An imbecile should be able to see that the
trend of the red line is the direct result of the previous satisfactory
expenditures for facilities. One follows the other!"
Landrus banged for order.
"That's a very interesting point," said Baker. "I have another chart
here"--he unrolled and pinned it--"that shows the output in terms of
concepts and inventions, plotted against the size of the grants given to
the institution."
The curve went almost straight downhill.
Wily was screaming. "Such data are absolutely meaningless! Who can say
what constitutes a new idea, a new invention? The months of
groundwork--"
"It will be necessary to remove any further demonstrators from the
hearing room," said Landrus. "This will be an orderly hearing if I have
to evict everyone but Dr. Baker and myself. Please continue, doctor."
"I am quite willing for my figures and premises to be examined in all
detail," said Baker. "I will be glad to supply the necessary information
to anyone who desires it at the close of this session. In the meantime,
I should like to present a picture of the means which we have devised to
determine whether a grant should be made to any given applicant.
"I am sure you will agree, Senator Landrus and Committee members, that
it would be criminal to make such choices on any but the most scientific
basis. For this reason, we have chosen to eliminate all elements of
bias, chance, or outright error. We have developed a highly advanced
scientific tool which we know simply as The Index."
* * * * *
Baker posted another long chart on the wall, speaking as he went. "This
chart represents the index of an institution which shall remain
anonymous as Sample A. However, I would direct Dr. Wily's close
attention to this exhibit. The black median line indicates the boundary
of characteristics which have been determined as acceptable or
nonacceptable for grants. The colored areas on either side of the median
line show strength of the various factors represented in any one
institution. The Index is very simple. All that is required is that
fifty per cent of the area above the line be colored in order to be
eligible for a grant. You will note that in the case of Sample A the
requirement is not met."
Fenwick couldn't believe his eyes. The chart was almost like the first
one he had ever seen, the one prepared for Clearwater College months
ago. He hadn't even known that Baker was still using the idiotic Index.
Something was wrong, he told himself--all wrong.
"The Index is a composite," Baker was saying; "the final resultant of
many individual charts, and it is the individual charts that will show
you the factors which are measured. These factors are determined by an
analysis of information supplied directly by the institution.
"The first of these factors is admissions. For a college, it is
admission as a student. For a corporation, it is admission as an
employee. In each case we present the qualifications of the following at
college age: Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, Nicholai Tesla, James Watt,
Heinrich Hertz, Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Henry Ford. The
admissibility of this group of the world's scientific and the inventive
leaders is shown here." Baker pointed to a minute dab of red on the
chart.
"Gentlemen of the Committee," he said, "would you advise me to support
with a million-dollar grant an institution that would close its doors to
minds like those of Edison and Faraday?"
The roar of surf seemed to fill the committee room as Landrus banged in
vain on the table. Photographers' flashes lit the scene with spurts of
lightning. Wily was on his feet screaming, and Baker thought he heard
the word, "Fraud!" repeated numerous times. Landrus was finally heard,
"The room will be cleared at the next outburst!"
Baker wondered if he ever did carry out such a threat.
But Wily prevailed. "No such question was ever asked," he cried. "My
organization was never asked the ridiculous question of whether or not
it would admit these men. Of course we would admit them if they were
known to us!"
"I should like to answer the gentleman's objection," Baker said to
Landrus.
The senator nodded reluctantly.
"We did not, of course, present these men by name. That would have been
too obvious. We presented them in terms of their qualifications at the
age of college entrance. You see how many would have been turned down.
How many, therefore, who are the intellectual equals of these men are
also being turned down? Dr. Wily says they would be admitted if they
were known. But of course they could not be known at the start of their
careers!"
* * * * *
Baker turned the chart and quickly substituted another. "The second
standard is that of creativeness. We simply asked the applicants to
describe ten or more new ideas of speculations entertained by each
member of the staff during the past year. When we received this
information, we did not even read the descriptions; we merely plotted
the degree of response. As you see, the institution represented by
Sample A does not consider itself long on speculative ideas."
A titter rippled through the audience. Baker saw Wily poised, beet-red,
to spring up once more; then apparently he thought better of it and
slumped in his seat.
"Is this a fair test?" Baker asked rhetorically. "I submit that it is.
An institution that is in the business of fostering creativeness ought
to be guilty of a few new ideas once in a while!"
He changed charts once more and faced the listeners. "We have more than
twenty such factors that go into the composition of the Index. I will
not weary you with a recital of all of them, but I will present just one
more. We call this the area of communication, and it is plotted here for
Sample institution A."
Again, a dismal red smudge showed up at the bottom of the sheet. Fenwick
could hardly keep from chuckling aloud as he recalled the first time he
had seen such a chart. He hoped Baker was putting it over. If the
reaction of the gallery were any indication, he was doing so.
"A major activity of scientists in all ages has been writing reports of
their activities. If a man creates something new and talks only to
himself about it, the value of the man and his discovery to the world is
a big round zero. If a man creates something new and tells the whole
world about it, the value is at a maximum. Somewhere in between these
extremes lies the communicative activity of the modern scientist.
"There was a time when the scientist was the most literate of men, and
the writing of a scientific report was a work of literary art. The
lectures of Michael Faraday, Darwin's account of his great
research--these are literate reading still.
"There are few such men among us today. The modern scientists seldom
speak to you and me, but only to each other. To the extent their circle
of communication is limited, so is their value. Shall we support the man
who speaks to the world, or the man who speaks only in order to hear his
own echo?"
He had them now, Fenwick was convinced. He could quit any time and be
ahead. The gallery was smiling approval. The press was nodding and
whispering to each other. The senators wouldn't be human if they weren't
moved.
Baker swept aside all these charts now and placed another series before
the audience. "This is the Index on an institution to whom we have given
a sizable grant," he said. "Is there anyone here who would question our
decision?
"This institution would have accepted every one of the list of
scientists I gave you a moment ago. They would have had their chance
here. This institution has men in whom new ideas pop up like cherry
blossoms in the spring. I don't know how many of them are good ideas. No
one can tell at this stage, but, at least, these men are
_thinking_--which is a basic requirement for producing scientific
discovery.
"Finally, this institution is staffed by men who can't be shut up. They
don't communicate merely with each other. They talk about their ideas to
anyone who comes along. They write articles for little publications and
for big ones. They are in the home mechanics' journals and on
publishers' book lists.
"Most important of all, these are some of the men responsible for the
red line on the first curve I showed you. These are the men who have
produced the most new developments and inventions with the least amount
of money.
"I leave it to you, gentlemen. Has the National Bureau of Scientific
Development chosen correctly, or should we return to our former course?"
There were cheers and applause as Baker sat down. Landrus closed the
hearing with the announcement that the evidence would be examined at
length and a report issued. Wily hurried forward to buttonhole him as
the crowd filed out.
* * * * *
"It was a good show," Fenwick said, "but I'm still puzzled by what
you've done. This new Index is really just about as phony as your old
one."
They were seated in Baker's office once more. Baker smiled and glanced
through the window beyond Fenwick. "I suppose so," Baker admitted
finally, "but do you think Wily will be able to convince Landrus and his
committee of that no matter how big a dinner he buys him tonight?"
"No--I don't think he will."
"Then we've accomplished our purpose. Besides, there's a good deal of
truth buried in the Index. It's no lie that we can give them scientific
research at a cheaper price than ever before."
"But what was the purpose you were trying to accomplish?"
Baker hesitated. "To establish myself as an Authority," he said,
finally. "After today, I will be the recognized Authority on how to
manage the nation's greatest research and development program."
Fenwick stared, then gasped. "Authority--you? This is the thing you were
trying to fight. This is the great Plague Sam Atkins taught you--"
Baker was shaking his head and laughing. "No. Sam Atkins didn't tell me
that one man could become immune and fight the Plague head on all by
himself. He taught me something else that I didn't understand for a long
time. He told me that he who ceases to fear Authority becomes Authority.
"To become Authority was the last thing in the world I wanted. But
finally I recognized what Sam meant; it was the only way I could ever
accomplish anything in the face of this Plague. You can't tell men of
this culture that it is wrong to put themselves in total agreement with
Authority. If that's the program on which they've chosen to function,
the destruction of the program would destroy them, just as it did me.
There had to be another way.
"If men are afraid of lions, you don't teach them it's wrong for men to
be afraid of beasts; you teach them how to trap lions.
"If men are afraid of new knowledge-experiences, you don't teach them
that new knowledge is not to be feared. There was a time when men got
burned at the stake for such efforts. The response today is not entirely
different. No--when men are afraid of knowledge you teach them to trap
knowledge, just as you might teach them to trap lions.
"I can do this now because I have shown them that I am an Authority. I
can lead them and it will not fracture their basic program tapes, which
instruct them to be in accord with Authority. I can stop their battle
against those who are not possessed of the Plague. It may even be that I
can change the course of the Plague. Who knows?"
Fenwick was silent for a long time. Then he spoke again. "I read
somewhere about a caterpillar that's called the Processionary
Caterpillar. Several of them hook up, nose to fanny, and travel through
a forest wherever the whims of the front caterpillar take them.
"A naturalist once took a train of Processionary Caterpillars and placed
them on the rim of a flower pot in a continuous chain. They marched for
days around the flower pot, each one supposing the caterpillar in front
of him knew where he was going. Each was the Authority to the one
behind. Food and water were placed nearby, but the caterpillars
continued marching until they dropped off from exhaustion."