fill it as the result of an examination, but I think one of them would get it. One man who gets $2,000 would have a chance to get it. He has been offered $2,700 on the outside. He has simply stayed there with the expectation of being appointed to the corps of professors of mathematics, and, also, because he has started in on a job of work and wants to finish it.

Under the act of Congress of February 4, 1880, a commission was appointed, composed of William Pinckney White, a Senator from Maryland; Leopold Morse, a Member of Congress from Massachusetts; Rear Admiral John Rogers, then the superintendent of the Naval Observatory; Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, president of Columbia College; Prof. H. A. Rowland, of Johns Hopkins University; and Prof. C. S. Hastings. That commission made this report:

National observatories have not been provided by Governments simply out of the generous desire to promote the advancement of science. The motive which has prompted their erection has been far less disinterested than this, and is found in the encouragement such institutions afford to commerce by the security with which they surround navigation. It is probable that no appropriations from the public treasury of any commercial nation has ever been repaid so many thousandfold as those which have been made for the improvement of our knowledge of the positions and movements of the heavenly bodies. But the benefits thus gained are only secured by long, continuious, patient, and perservering observations on the part of those who sacrifice themselves to this exhausting task.

In the case of a work of that kind the national observatories are different from the ordinary observatories. Our job out there is to get the positions of the heavenly bodies and to record them and put them in the Nautical Almanac, so that the navigator, when he wants to get his position by the heavenly bodies, takes his observations and then refers to the Nautical Almanac. The work they do is of value to the surveyor in the same way. But if you take the outside observatory, as a rule, they do more showy work in the way of hunting for some new comet, or something of that kind, which is not of any immediate practical value. I do not mean to say that is has no ultimate scientific value, but it has no immediate practical value. The only people who are doing what we call this position work are the astronomers at the Government observatories.

Now, if you let that institution go down, you will simply have no information respecting the positions of the stars, sun, moon, etc. Suppose every great country should drop this kind of work. Navigation would be brought to a standstill and surveying would be brought to a standstill. How would yet get your time? We furnish the country with the time. This position astronomical work requires a set of men who give all of their time to it. They are out there every night when it is clear. The buildings can not be heated, becaused you have to have the same air inside as outside. Heated air going past the telescope would make the observations inaccurate. You have got to bring to this class of work men who are trained for it and who know what they are about. When you consider that the earth turns around once every 24 hours and goes around the sun once a year, and that the sun travels through space at the rate of 12 miles a second, you can appreciate what a job it is to keep track of heavenly bodies. If we did not keep track of them, pretty soon we would be lost. You have got to have men who can do this work accurately. People ordinarily do not appreciate the importance of

this. I told the Secretary that if he did not grant this position we would lose the able men. I told him that we would not only lose them now, but that it would take 10 years to get the men together again to do that work. I asked them if they proposed to let Germany and England do all of that astronomical work. Every navigator, every surveyor, every almanac maker, and every railroad man who sets his watch must depend on our observations of the actual positions of the heavenly bodies. I asked them, "Do you want to drop out and let England and Germany determine these positions, and go to them for it, falling back to the position of a third or fourth rate nation, and in time of war have nothing for ourselves?" If you do not, you have got to keep these people there.

Mr. STAFFORD. Did you convince the Secretary?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir: I did.

Mr. BYRNS. I am not surprised that you convinced him.

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. If you gentlemen will come out there some night, I will show you the kind of work we are doing. They are continually keeping track of the movements of these heavenly bodies and recording them for use in the Nautical Almanac. I asked for two men, and Mr. Roosevelt said, "Give him one." Well, I did not agree with that, but if we have one place there will be movement all along; then, in course of time, we would want another one. The truth of the whole business is that you must have men there who know what they are doing and men that you can depend upon. If you once break up an organization like that, it will take years and years to get that class of men back together again. One of the two men whom, I think, would get this position, although I would give it by examination, is now getting $2,000 and has been offered $2.700 on the outside. He would not stay for a minute except for expectation of promotion to the corps of professors of mathematics, which has now been abolished. I wrote this in my letter to the Secretary:

During the past 20 years the number of professors of mathematics assigned to the Naval Observatory at any one time and engaged in astronomical work has varied from three to seven, the average being five. The present number is three, hence the request for two civilian astronomers.

We have a fourth professor there who is not an astronomer, but he is a man who has been at the Naval Academy. He left the academy and came to me, and is doing office work, keeping track of the expenditures and things of that kind. He is not an astronomer. I further said:

The number of professors in the corps of professors of mathematics, United States Navy, is at present one less than authorized by law before Congress directed that vacancies should not be filled. It was hoped to secure the assignment to the observatory of the one appointed to fill this vacancy, and also of the one appointed to fill the vacancy that would have occurred September 13, 1916, had not the law of August 29, 1916, postponed retirements for age two years. Both of these professors who were to retire were at one time engaged in astronomical work at the Naval Observatory.

Two of the principal instruments of the observatory, which had always been in charge of professors of mathematics until recently, are now in charge of assistant astronomers-(1) the 9-inch transit circle, successively in charge of Profs. Newcomb, Harkness, Eastman, Skinner, Eichelberger, and Littell, from 1865 to 1913, is now in charge of an assistant astronomer; (2) the 6-inch transit circle, successively in charge of Profs. Skinner, Updegraff. Eichelberger, and Littell, from 1899 to 1911. is now in charge of an assistant astronomer. Due to the general advance of the science of astronomy, the work of these instruments is even more exacting as to scientific attainments than formerly.

In 1899 a board of visitors, consisting of Senator William E. Chandler; Representative Alston G. Dayton; Prof. Edward C. Pickering, director of the Harvard College Observatory; Prof. George C. Comstock, director of the Washburn Observatory; and Prof. George E. Hale, director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, was appointed to make recommendations concerning the Naval Observatory. This board recommended that there should be included in the personnel of the observatory a director of the Nautical Almanac and a first, second, third, and fourth astronomer, the five persons to be professors of mathematics, United States Navy, or civilians. Professors of mathematics are now filling the positions of director of the Nautical Almanac and of two astronomers.

It is recommended for the foregoing reasons that Congress be asked to appropriate for two astronomers at annual salaries of $3,200 and $2,800, respectively. These are the figures recommended 17 years ago by the board of visitors for the third and fourth astronomers.

A similar condition to that described above will arise on the retirement of each of the professors now assigned to the observatory,

The present scale of civilian salaries at the observatory, $2,400, $2,000, $1,800, etc., without the prospect of possible appointment to the corps of professors of mathematics, will not enable the observatory to secure and hold first-class astronomers who can readily get higher salaries elsewhere, and without whom the Naval Observatory will inevitably run down. Physicists in the Bureau of Standards get $3,000 and $3,600.

In the Geological Survey, geologists get from $2,400 to $4,500; geographers from $3,000 to $3,600.

In the Coast and Geodetic Survey the salaries of assistants range from $4,000 down, there being eight with salaries between $3,000 and $4,000, both inclusive. These positions are filled by men of comparatively the same order of scientific attainment as astronomers.

I do not know why it is that they remain at the observatory at these salaries, unless it is because astronomers are so fond of their work, that if you could prevent them from marrying, you would keep them forever. But they do go and get married, and then they naturally want to make enough to provide a living. If it were not for that, I think these astronomers would be willing to stay there and look through the telescope the remainder of their days with no more compensation. In the old days astronomers usually married women who were likewise astronomers, and they would work together. M. GOOD. Both would be stargazers?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir; and they would all stargaze forever. I had a man leave me to get a better position in the Patent Office. All of them pay higher salaries than the Navy Department does. This man came in and said to me, "I am going to burn up all the notes I have made at the observatory." I said, "Why?" He said, “I am going to get married, and if I keep those notes I am afraid I might desert my wife." Then, one day he said to me, "After a while I am coming back to you." I do not think you could ever fill those places. While we are on that, let me say that besides doing this work for navigation, the Naval Observatory looks out for and furnishes the time for the country. There are over 4,000 places that get wireless time from us, and they absolutely depend on us for time. I have had one or two discussions with the department about some improvements I wanted to make in the time service there. I have. said to them, "I would like to stop this time service for a week, and let everybody know how much they depend upon it, because the people generally do not think about it." I have had one or two settos with outside astronomers about that. For instance, one of them, who is in a big observatory, put a statement in his annual report to the effect that he had an instrument at his observatory that was devoted to the purpose of keeping tab on our time. So I wrote him

a letter saying that I would like to have their figures on us, because we wanted our time to be all right. He said, in reply, "We have no time to compare with that of the Naval Observatory.' Really, unless you provide this position, we will lose our best men and maybe lose 10 years of the work. Of course, all of the civilized countries divide this work between them. England, Germany, France, and ourselves have an agreement under which we taken certain parts of the sky, and we all help out in that way. That kind of astronomical work has got to be done by the Government and not by outsiders. There is not enough fame in it for the outsiders.

Mr. STAFFORD. In your opinion, you will be able to retain this man if you increase the salary?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir; I think so. But in the future I think we will need more-that is, as these professors of mathematics go out, we will need more to keep up this movement.

Mr. BYRNS. As I understand it, under this legislation you have referred to, that corps of professors of mathematics has been abolished?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. You say that that legislation

Capt. HOOGEWERFF (interposing). That cuts them off, and now the corps of professors of mathematics is abolished, and no more appointments will be made to that corps.

Mr. BYRNS. That is, when they retire?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir; as they retire their places will not be filled. One of them would have gone this September. All of them are not at the observatory, but some of them are at the Naval Academy. That corps of professors of mathematics has been used for a lot of things. They were established originally particularly to teach the naval officers navigation and to do astronomical work at the Naval Observatory. So some of them came out there and were astronomers, and there have been some eminent astronomers among them. So that the corps of professors of mathematics, as you might say, has been a double corps-that is, some of them have jobs at Annapolis and some of them are astronomers at the Naval Observatory. Whenever there has been a vacancy at the observatory the tendency of the Secretary, or whoever it would be, was to fill it by appointing another man who was an astronomer. They should be appointed there as the result of an examination, and you do not get as good results when they are appointed in some other

way.

Mr. STAFFORD. It is not clear in my mind whether this corps of professors of mathematics was intended for professorial work at the Academy or for astronomical work at the observatory.

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. It is divided. Some of them are at the observatory as astronomers, and some are at the Naval Academy. A number of them have always been at the observatory, while others are teachers, and have been for years down at the Naval Academy.

Mr. STAFFORD. Then those who have been carried on this roll, during the time that they were carried on the roll, have devoted their time exclusively to astronomical work at the Naval Observatory?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir; those I have spoken of.

Mr. BYRNS. They were carried in the Naval bill?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. And by reason of that legislative provision you have referred to, if you lose one of them at the Naval Observatory here, the place can not be filled from the corps of professors of mathematics.

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. We have not actually lost any of them, but one of those vacancies should have come to us this fall. There would have been a vacancy that should have come to the Naval Observatory. The observatory is now two short of its average. In fact, I had to fight for one of those people. When a vacancy comes due, we should get it, and we are now two short of professors of mathematics. But, as I have said, we will not get any more now. We will not get any more, and the number will keep on decreasing. It so happens that three of them at the observatory are now of very much the same age, and they will go out together and be retired. Then we will have no one to take their places, and if that should happen we would not be able to get out the Nautical Almanac.

Mr. STAFFORD. How old are they?

Capt. HOOGEWERFF. From 57 to 48.

Now, the next change is in calling this one place astronomer, and changing the other to assistant astronomer. They were called assistants before. That is merely a change in the wording, which I do not think makes any difference.

ASSISTANT IN DEPARTMENT OF NAUTICAL INSTRUMENTS.

The next change is an increase in the salary of the assistant in the Department of Nautical Instruments. This man looks out for the navigation instruments of the Navy. Until 1915 the professors of mathematics, the buildings and grounds, and instruments at the observatory were provided for in the Navy bill, but the question came up that we were drawing from both the naval bill and the legislative bill. So I came down here with the Secretary's permission and told Mr. Fitzgerald that I would drop out of the Navy bill entirely and would come to this bill for everything-in other words, so they could not say that we were taking out of two pockets. The Navy bought land out there, built the buildings, and provided the instruments; and has looked out for the care of the buildings and grounds. We looked to the naval bill for that, and this committee simply looked out for the civilian clerks and people of that kind, but now we are right over on this bill and nowhere else. Capt. Snowden told you about that. Then, when the question came up of an increase in the Navy, necessitating an increase in the number of clerks, etc., our force should have been increased. The Naval Observatory looks out for the navigation instruments of the Navy and attends to the purchase of them. That is not under this appropriation, but it is under the appropriation of the Bureau of Navigation of the Navy Department called "instruments and supplies." That covers all the compasses, sextants, spyglasses, and everything of that kind. It also includes all of the new things in the way of instruments for submarines and for the naval aircraft. We look out for all that.

Now, when the question came up of providing an increase in the Navy which necessitated an increase in the number of clerks this was

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