Funding problem 100 years ago

Surprisingly, with all the scientific progress, little has changed in the world of science, in terms of the interaction of "pure" science and so-called practical science. Here is a characteristic quote:

What we really need in psychology is more of the spirit of Sylvester, who exclaimed, when he had made a discovery in higher mathematics, that he thanked God he had discovered something no one could ever use. What he apparently meant was that he was thankful for the opportunity and ability to work on a problem without reference to the further usefulness of its solution; for that is the way in which great advances in science are really made.

The practical urge to lay hasty foundation and use them prematurely is not entirely the fault of the psychologist. Every psychologist knows how difficult it is to get appropriations and maintenance for purely scientific work, and how much more impressive to the powers that control money is something which is “practical,” however flimsy and evanescent its “practicality.” The amount of money wasted in practical work which might be saved if more were available for the fundamental scientific work on which eventual practical applications depend, is, of course, enormous, and even in psychology it is relatively large. 

But it was written in 1925, 100 years ago (Dunlap (1925) The Experimental Methods of psychology). But it seems that it could be written now.