SCIENCE AND THE PRESS 61 



personal experiences of my own that are decisive on the point, 

 and if this is so, you can understand how difficult it is for me 

 to avoid calling attention as pointedly and publicly as I can 

 to what I consider to be a grave national danger. You will 

 understand how solicitous I am that the great cohort of public 

 advisors represented by the Press should lose no opportunity 

 of urging upon the community the importance of this question. 

 It is no good doing it upon hearsay ; we do not want mere 

 commonplaces such as are the currency of the ordinary speaker 

 at a prize distribution ; we want to have incorporated in the 

 Press a sufficient amount of direct first-hand knowledge of 

 these matters, so that real conviction may be heard behind the 

 well-turned phrases, so that the pressure may be incessant and 

 no opportunities lost. 



I can imagine someone contesting the assertions I have 

 made. I could myself point to some splendid examples which 

 this country has furnished of the applications of science to 

 industry, of branches of manufacture in which we have nothing 

 to learn, and in which we lead the world. I could give you 

 examples from abroad, where with tremendous scientific para- 

 phernalia they are not doing quite as well as we are here by 

 the use of rather more mother-wit ; and I could end up by 

 saying like a true Briton I am sure amidst applause that an 

 ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory a profound truth 

 provided, of course, that the practice is good and the theory bad. 



The subject is a complicated and difficult one. It is not, 

 perhaps, as complicated and difficult as the fiscal question. 

 Supposing, however, for the sake of argument, that it is equally 

 important, what are the relative resources of the Press for in- 

 forming public opinion on the two questions? You know that 

 there is not a single newspaper that could afford to be without 

 expert knowledge on industrial finance. How many are there, 

 I will not say that have access, but who think it important to 

 have access, to expert knowledge on industrial science ? 



