September 30, 191 5j 



NATURE 



129 



Now while these remarks are undoubtedly true, they 

 are only a part of the truth. The evil is far wider than 

 in any special application, for, as the German knows 

 perfectly well, there are innumerable individual cases 

 of organisation in this country of equal efficiency to 

 any in his country, and he is glad enough to learn 

 from special cases. Let us take one, and I do so 

 because it shows that the man of science is capable 

 of industrial and manufacturing organisation, iif 

 he turns his mind to it. I refer to the case 'of the firm 

 known as Barr and Stroud, Ltd. (A brief account is 

 then given of the organisation of the foregoing works 

 for constructing range-finders.) 



Now I do not believe the Germans despise us for 

 our want per se of the application of spience to in- 

 dustry. I do not think they have much reason to ; but 

 what they do despise us for is the want of co-ordina- 

 tion, which I venture to say amounts to positive slack- 

 ness, which they are keen enough to observe per- 

 meating the whole of this country. They see different 

 sections, instead of being united for a common end, 

 quarrelling with each other, filled with mutual sus- 

 picion and distrust, with apparently no common bond 

 of union, and whereas the German is proud of the 

 Fatherland, he sees in this country large numbers 

 who seem, either through self-consciousness or ignor- 

 ance, to be ashamed to mention the subject of the 

 British Empire, or, what is worse, to acknowledge 

 that any love of their country is or could be a main- 

 spring and incentive to strenuous effort. 



The other day, Field Marshal von Moltke stated, 

 and there is no reason to disbelieve him, that great 

 as was the storage of ammunition and shells before 

 the war, the enormous demand far exceeded all 

 expectation, and Germany found herself for a time in 

 the same plight as her enemies, but he further stated 

 that Germany's emergence " from this dangerous posi- 

 tion was largely due to the extraordinary organisation, 

 which included not merely the adaptation of their 

 factories for munition purposes, but capacity for work 

 of the people, and the patriotic spirit of the German 

 workmen.'' 



This brings me to consider what is probably the 

 most serious feature in our national life to-day, which 

 I have already alluded to under the heading of educa- 

 tion, viz., the relation of employer and workman. It 

 is hopeless, as long as such ideas prevail which seem 

 to do at present, to think of any sound organisation 

 of our industrial system taking place, because the 

 interdependent parts are not arranged (and can never 

 be arranged until we change radically) with respect 

 to the whole. Now as one who has served an appren- 

 ticeship, who has taken his money weekly from a 

 tin box with hundreds of other men, who has been a 

 member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (in 

 fact, was working as an engine fitter when a Whit- 

 worth scholarship made a college career possible), I 

 am the last man to put this evil down entirely to the 

 working man. I know individually he is just as 

 capable of patriotism as any other class. Get him by 

 himself, even the men whose strikes have caused" such 

 despondency in the minds of our Allies, and who have 

 seriously jeopardised the very existence of the country, 

 and you will find (except in the sort of case to be 

 found in all classes of society), that he, as an indi- 

 vidual, is willing to make sacrifices, and if necessary 

 to give himself for his country. The truth is that the 

 canker which is eating the heart out of our industrial 

 life is due to an entirely wrong attitude of mind. 

 (Various matters illustrating this point were then dealt 

 with.) 



The matter of labour disputes is so serious as to 

 demand plain speaking. It must be admitted that 

 there are many employers and companies which, to 



NO. 2396, VOL. 96] 



satisfy themselves and their shareholders, extort the 

 largest possible dividends and pay the smallest possible 

 rate of wages, and do so apparently without the 

 slightest idea that the men and boys under them are 

 capable of education and personal influence. Can it 

 be wondered then that men under these conditions are 

 willing enough to listen to the orator who merely 

 appeals to their fighting instincts and join in the game 

 of grab as against the employer ? On the other hand, 

 strikes have occurred when employers have honour- 

 ably carried out their obligations and undertakings, 

 and the men have shamefully departed from an agree- 

 ment made by their chosen leaders, throwing over the 

 leaders the moment they have fancied it to their own 

 selfish interests to do so, and without a single thought 

 of their duty to the community as a whole. 



We have recently seen the Prime Minister and other 

 leading statesmen struggling, sometimes in vain, to 

 bring large bodies of men to a reasonable state of 

 mind. Is not this (and I speak without the slightest 

 reference to party questions) a case of Nemesis over- 

 taking us for having in so many cases pandered ta 

 the selfish instincts of large bodies of men in order to 

 secure their votes, instead of sternly telling them un. 

 palatable truths? 



There was recently an intensely interesting article 

 by the late Prof. Friedrich Paulson, previously pro- 

 fessor of philosophy in Berlin University, published in 

 the Educational Review of New York. In this article, 

 the subject of which was "old- and new-fashioned' 

 notions about education," he pointed out that the 

 whole of our educational system was going wrong,, 

 and that we could not escape the conviction that a 

 tendency towards weakness and effeminacy was its 

 chief trait. His three mottoes were : learn to obey ; 

 learn to apply yourself; learn to repress and overcome 

 desires; and he remarked with great truth under the 

 first heading : — " He who has not learned to do this 

 in childhood will have great difficulty in learning it in 

 later life; he will rarely get beyond the deplorable and 

 unhappy state that vacillates between outward sub- 

 mission and uproarious rebellion." 



Is not one of the first things the reform of our 

 educational system? 



One of the tasks to which the British Association 

 might bend its energies with the greatest benefit to 

 the country, is to bring about a reform of our educa- 

 tional system, so that while we do not kill individual 

 enterprise and freedom of thought, which have con- 

 tributed so largely to the political organisation and 

 constitution of the British Empire, of the value of 

 which we have had such wonderful evidence from- 

 our Colonies and Dependencies during this war, we 

 seek to implant in the minds of young and old those 

 ideas of discipline and service to the State, the want 

 of which so seriously threatens the successful organisa-- 

 tion of our industrial life. 



Conclusion. 

 In bringing my address to a close I hope I have 

 made it clear that I have had throughout a practical 

 object. Expressed briefly, it is that the service of 

 every agency is wanted for definite work at this crisis, 

 both in the actual war, and afterwards in the war of 

 industry which will be waged with equal intensity in 

 peace time. The British' Association cannot be said 

 to have undertaken as a whole a work of this kind, 

 yet one finds a general desire on the part of every 

 member that sornething should be done. With this 

 object I communicated with the president, and found 

 that both he and such of the officers as could be got 

 in touch with were in entire sympathy with the general 

 proposal, and advised that our section, like that of 

 Economics, shouH start at once with a committee on» 



