PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 495 
as impartial as that of any other science. ‘The discovery of exact laws,’ 
said W. K. Clifford, ‘has only one purpose—the guidance of conduct by means 
of them. The laws of political economy are as rigid as those of gravitation; 
wealth distributes itself as surely as water finds its level. But the use we 
have to make of the laws of gravitation is not to sit down and cry ‘‘ Kismet”’ 
to the flowing stream, but to construct irrigation works.’ 
Organised Labour hag on more than one occasion pronounced a benison upon 
scientific research, and urged that full facilities should be afforded to those 
who undertake it. Not long ago the American Federation of Labour in Con- 
vention assembled resolved ‘ that a broad programme of scientific and technical 
research is of major importance to the national welfare,’ and in a noteworthy 
document insisted upon its essential value in the development of industries, 
increased production, and the general welfare of the workers. The British 
Labour Party has also stated that it places the ‘advancement of science in 
the forefront of its political programme,’ but its manifesto refers particularly 
to the ‘undeveloped science of society’ rather than to the science of material 
things; and whatever Labour may declare officially, it is scarcely too much to 
say that artisans in general show less active interest in scientific knowledge 
now than they did fifty years ago. Not by the study of science does a manual 
worker become a leader among his fellows, but by the discovery of wrongs to 
be remedied or rights to be established, and by fertility of resource in disputa- 
tions concerning them. This is natural enough, yet when we remember that 
many of the greatest pioneers in the fields of pure and applied science were of 
humble origin it is surprising that Labour makes no effort to keep men of 
this type within its lodges. 
If Trades Unions were true to their title, and not merely wage unions, 
their members would give as much attention to papers on scientific principles of 
their industry, craftsmanship, and possible new developments as they do to 
the consideration of the uttermost they can claim and secure for their members. 
Not a single labour organisation concerns itself with actual means of industrial 
progress, but only with the sharing of the profits from processes or machinery 
devised by others. Labour may express approval of scientific and technical 
research, but if it wishes to be a creative force it should take part in this work 
instead of limiting itself to getting the greatest possible advantage from the 
results. Under present conditions an artisan with original ideas or inventive 
genius has to go outside the circle of his union to describe his work, and he 
thus becomes separated from his fellows through no fault of his own. His 
contributions are judged by a scientific or technical society purely on their 
merit and without any consideration as to his social position. Labour can never 
be great until it affords like opportunities to its own original men by accepting 
and issuing papers upon discoveries of value to science and industry. When it 
does this, and its publications occupy an honoured place among those of 
scientific and technical societies, it will be able to command a position in 
national polity which can never be justly conceded to any organisation concerned 
solely with the rights and privileges of a single class in the community. 
We know, of course, that few workmen can be expected to possess sufficient 
knowledge and originality to make developments important enough to be 
recorded in papers for the benefit of science or industry generaily, but every 
such contribution published by a Trade Union or other Labour organisation, 
federated or otherwise, would do far more to command respect than sheaves 
of pamphlets upon economic aspects of industry from the point of view of 
workpeople. If no fundamental or suggestive papers of this kind are forth- 
coming, or if organised Labour persists in its policy of letting its men of 
