12 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



depend on those relations between craftsmanship and science which I 

 have been trying to define. I would now consider these relations from 

 one or two separate points of view. In the first instance let nie say a 

 word concerning the general connection between science and that condition 

 in industry which is known as mass production. 



It must always be the aim of an industrial organisation to devise and 

 set going one of those systems of manufacture on a large scale with which 

 we have become familiar in recent years. With the aid of suitably designed 

 macliiuery and methods, great numbers or quantities of some article in 

 general demand can be produced at a comparatively small running cost. 

 Generally, however, the initial cost is heavy, for the designing of the 

 machinery and the planning of the methods call for great experience and 

 skill, and they demand much time spent in the acquirement of the necessary 

 knowledge and its utilisation in design. Once the process is under way 

 it may be possible, and it seems to happen on a sufficiently attractive 

 number of occasions, that a smooth and peaceful running of the machinery 

 brings in the wished-for returns. But every such phase of production 

 comes to a natural end. An improved process is devised, and the new 

 displaces the old. Or it may be a factory is set up in another country 

 where labourers can be hired more cheaply ; they may be intrinsically 

 inferior, but that will not matter if they can be drilled into the mechanical 

 process ; and, as long as the machine runs true, the standard will not fall 

 below a certain value. The event is in accord with expectation because 

 men will always try to improve their productivity by the use of new 

 knowledge or more favourable conditions, so that those who fail to recognise 

 the principle will be left behind by those who do not. The stereotyping 

 of some process can only be fruitful for its allotted time. Mass production 

 is in its way splendid, ministering to the necessities and conveniences of 

 many who must otherwise have gone without. But, if it is brought to 

 8uch a pitch that its processes call for little intelligence in their working, 

 then cheap people of little intelligence will be found, in the end, to be in 

 charge. 



The relation of science to mass production is therefore both that of 

 builder and that of destroyer. Mass productions are temporary lulls in 

 the movement of imagination and knowledge. Much skill and thought 

 and care may be required to arrange for one of those quiet and profitable 

 times ; the machine is set going and for a while goes by itself. But new 

 applications of scientific knowledge, new ideas, new processes, new machines 

 umst always be in preparation. In the parks the gardeners are always 



