THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 5 



blows that could be skilfully given while for a moment it was in the 

 workable state. The poverty of the craftsman's appliances, the meagre- 

 ness of his little fire and the scantiness of the tools with which he made 

 his way bit by bit to his final achievement are in consonance with his life 

 of small details ruled by overmastering ideas. 



I need not illustrate further. It is indeed well known to you all that 

 the craftsmanship of a people is an expression of the best of its very self. 

 It is to the underlying reason that I would draw your attention now. 

 The mind of a nation is so expressed because its craftsmanship, interpreted 

 in its widest sense, represents its efEorts to live. Under this strong com- 

 pulsion the nation produces results which range from pots to poetry, and 

 all its products are stamped alike. That which we do ourselves is as 

 representative as a Greek vase or a Roman aqueduct or a suit of armour 

 from Milan. The craftsmanship of a nation is its very life. Even if we 

 consider it only in relation to the production of material things, the state 

 of a nation's craftsmanship is an index of its health. 



As a people departs from its primitive condition so also does its 

 craftsmanship. I would ask you to consider the nature of the change. 

 The elements of craftsmanship in its original form centre round the 

 individual. In his brain is the knowledge and imagination, in his hands 

 is the skill, and round about him lie the materials and the tools of his 

 craft. But as the years go by it becomes impossible that all the knowledge 

 and all the technical skill should be found in one person, and all the tools 

 be owned by him. The craftsman becomes an association of men, a great 

 manufacturing firm, even, we might say, a nation, if all the members of 

 the nation contribute through Government intervention and control to 

 the maintenance of some industry. Many hands, working in an alliance 

 which is often unconscious, are employed in bringing a product to its 

 finished form. It is a long step from the simple workshop of the old 

 single-handed craftsman to the vast complex factory of modern industry. 



If now we ask ourselves what has brought us to this new kind of 

 modern craftsmanship, this dependence on machinery with its wealth ot 

 production, its clattering, bustling activity, and its compelling influence 

 on the lives of all of us, we find that one simple cause has been continuously 

 operative. It is nothing more nor less than the urgent wish of the 

 individual to better his own condition : and, in his disinterested moods, the 

 condition of his neighbours. The change could never have been prevented. 



When Hargreaves thought that by a mechanical arrangement he could 

 manipulate several spinning wheels at one time, and succeeded, so that he 



