IIL] TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 83 



has produced untold millions of wealth, in the narrow- 

 est economical sense of the word. 



Therefore, as the sum and crown of what is to be 

 done for technical education, I look to the provision 

 of a machinery for winnowing out the capacities and 

 giving them scope. When I was a member of the 

 London School Board, I said, in the course of a 

 speech, that our business was to provide a ladder, 

 reaching from the gutter to the university, along 

 which every child in the three kingdoms should have 

 the chance of climbing as far as he was fit to go. 

 This phrase was so much bandied about at the time, 

 that, to say truth, I am rather tired of it ; but I know 

 of no other which so fully expresses my belief, not 

 only about education in general, but about technical 

 education in particular. 



The essential foundation of all the organisation 

 needed for the promotion of education among handi- 

 craftsmen will, I believe, exist in this country, when 

 every working lad can feel that society has done as 

 much as lies in its power to remove all needless and 

 artificial obstacles from his path; that there is no 

 barrier, except such as exists in the nature of things, 

 between himself and whatever place in the social or- 

 ganisation he is fitted to fill ; and, more than this, 

 that, if he has capacity and industry, a hand is held 

 out to help him along any path which is wisely and 

 honestly chosen. 



I have endeavoured to point out to you that a 

 great deal of such an organisation already exists ; and 

 I am glad to be able to add that there is a good 



