Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

LYMAN JAMES BRIGGS 311
The Bureau was also fully staffed. Not long before, Dr. Burgess
observed that "for the first time in many years the Bureau now has a com-
plete administrative and scientific roster.36 The addition of more than
300 new members in 1931 brought the total Bureau staff to 1,066, despite
the recent loss of some of its best people who had left for better pay else-
where.37 In order to maintain this staff, Burgess proposed not only to operate
as economically as possible but to give special attention to those activities
"tending to relieve the business depression and unemployment," that is,
industrial research, stimulation of new industries, standardization, and build-
ing and housing.38
The sense of well-being was brief. In the spring of 1932 Dr. Burgess
learned that Bureau funds for the coming year were to be reduced by one-
fifth, affecting every item in his budget.39 But he did not live to see this
disaster or the subsequent effects of the depression on the Bureau.
Six months previously, in October 1931, while presiding at a Wednes-
day meeting of his division chiefs, Dr. Burgess suffered a slight stroke result-
ing in a partial paralysis from which he recovered after 3 months of care.4° A
second and fatal stroke occurred on July 2, 1932, while he was working at
his desk in South building. He had been with the Bureau for almost 30
of his 58 years.
Dr. Briggs, assistant director for research and testing, became acting
director upon the death of Dr. Burgess. A week later Secretary of Commerce
Robert P. Lamont wrote to the Visiting Committee asking its assistance in
recommending a successor to Dr. Burgess. He was, Lamont said, a strong
believer in filling vacancies from within the service and for that reason
suggested Dr. Briggs's name. Charles F. Kettering, a senior member of the
committee, replied that he himself did not know Briggs very well, but it had
been his experience that it was often better to bring in someone from outside.
The point was discussed in committee correspondence for several• months.
It was December before the Visiting Committee met and formally recom-
mended Dr. Briggs.4'
'° NBS Annual Report 1926, p. 1.
Letter, GKB to Office of Department of Commerce, June 11, 1930 (NBS Box 296, AP),
named 28 in the professional group at the Bureau who had resigned since mid-1928.
Memo, GKB for Secretary of Commerce Lamont, Apr. 16, 1932 (NBS Box 339, AG), told
of 8 members of the automotive section, including its chief, who left in 1927 to set up a research
department at the Studebaker Corp., at almost three times their Bureau salaries.
38
Memo, GKB for Administrative Assistant to Secretary of Commerce, May 14, 1931
(NBS Box 331, IG).
Science, 75, supp. 11 (April 1932).
40
Letter, Lamont to Kettering, Oct. 30, 1931 (Department of Commerce, Visiting Committee
file, NARG 40, 67009/5) ; Briggs at Hearings * * * 1933 (Jan. 8, 1932), p. 212.
41
Letter, Lamont to K. T. Compton, July 13, 1932; letter, Kettering to Lamont, July 20,
1932; letter, Compton to Chapin, Dec. 1, 1932 (NARG 40, file 67009/5, Pt. 2).