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 ge