THE STRUGGLE EOR MANUFACTURES 499 



In so far as the difficulties arose from the absence of 

 scientific and technical knowledge, or of manipulative skill, the 

 conditions to-day are all in our favour, but the introduction of 

 a new industry is still a matter involving sustained effort, of 

 difficulty and risk to the person embarking upon the enterprise. 



Britain is essentially a manufacturing nation, and it is as 

 such that it has taken its high position in the world. This 

 position is to be maintained only by constant watchfulness, on 

 the one hand, to retain existing manufactures, and on the other, 

 as in the evolution of industry, new processes and new products 

 come forward to displace the existing manufactures, to embark 

 upon these new processes and the manufacture of the new pro- 

 ducts. If, owing to our " beastly blyndnesse," as William 

 Cholmeley put it in 1553, lack of initiative, or dread of risk, we 

 allow the new industry to become firmly planted in foreign 

 soil, when at last we find it ousting the productions of our 

 own older manufacture we shall find the difficulty of acquiring 

 it vastly increased. 



The English system of patents for invention dates from the 

 reign of Elizabeth, but originally it did not contemplate re- 

 warding the mere ingenuity of an inventor. It was devised to 

 encourage and protect the man who actually did something for 

 the benefit of the commonwealth by setting on foot new manu- 

 factures which found employment for our people — if by utilising 

 our own natural products, so much the better; something which 

 conduced directly to the independence and power of the nation. 

 This something might result from a scheme or device originating 

 in the brain of the patentee, but that was not material. In 

 process of time the position has changed entirely, and, as is 

 well known, a patent is now granted in respect of the novelty 

 of an invention. 



In some quarters it is thought that it would be well to 

 revert, to some extent, to the Elizabethan policy. It does 

 seem a matter worthy of careful consideration whether, apart 

 from the question of the protection of new inventions, some 

 measures could not be devised to encourage, and protect in the 

 initial stages of his enterprise, the man who expends his brain, 

 risks his capital, struggles with, and overcomes the many 

 practical difficulties necessarily encountered and brings a new 

 industry into being. 



