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6 Scientific Problems of Human Migration: Wisster POLICY OF THE COMMITTEE After submission of the subcommittee reports, the Committee gave careful consideration to the opinions and recommendations therein, to- gether with independent individual recommendations filed in the office of the chairman. Also, there was available a special report by Lucy A. Dewey, which presented a general review based upon the literature on immigration together with a general bibliography. The chief value of the report lay in its formulation of the several specific problems arising from the presence of immigrant groups in the United States. As a matter of general policy it was agreed,- that in the consideration of projects, preference should be given to those investigations aimed at the fundamental factors in the migration complex. Many inquiries into subjects of this kind are to meet immediate needs, furnish such data as may serve to guide the formulation of immediate governmental or industrial procedures. Although the Committee fully recognized the value and need of such immediate aids, it realized that the compiling of the information necessary to such procedure would contribute little to the solution of the basic problems involved or to the development of new methods for the study of migrating groups. As pointed out in two of the sub-committee reports, the need was for improvement in method, devising and perfecting tools for the solution of the problems. These are, after all, the important contributions in research. The information before the Committee, and the opinions expressed by its advisers, indicated that in the respects mentioned the situation in the three respective lines of investigation designated was not quite the same; social and economic problems falling into one class, somewhat in con- trast to psychology and biology. In the matter of social and economic problems, it was felt that present methods and technique were sufficient for the preliminary development of lines of research as recommended in the sub-committees' report. On the other hand, it was the opinion of our biological and psychological advisers, that although preliminary exploration of the several fields had already been made, the methods and technique available were wholly inadequate for the intensive study of specific problems. Examination of the detailed reports of the conferences and of the sub-committees will make this clear. It appeared that the immediate problems of migration were largely social and economic, and, therefore, the original recom- mendations urged that fuller and-more complete information be secured on designated economic and social aspects of migration in the United States. The results of such inquiries would have an immediate bearing upon the subject, being in large part fact-finding; but at the same time
