THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 18 



nursing fresh plants to take the place of the old, and preparing them for 

 their useful time of flowering. And so we see the meaning of the various 

 research organisations which have been set up in the basic industries, 

 such as the Fuel Research Board, the Cotton, the Woollen and the Silk 

 Research Associations, the research laboratories of the steel masters at 

 Sheffield. Much of our hope for the future is built upon their work. 



If craftsmanship, to fulfil its task of providing for the people, must be 

 continually improving its processes, then the nation that is to be successful 

 must possess the means and the will to improve, and here we come, I 

 think, to a notable point. May it not be said that in this country the 

 means exist even to a remarkable degree ? Our craftsmen as a whole, 

 including all grades, are possessed of qualities, intelligence, skill, accuracy, 

 and so on, which make improvement possible. How could our enterprises 

 in the past have been so often siiccessful if this had not been so 1 How 

 can we be succeeding so well in respect to the new industries of the present 

 if the capacity is not there 1 



Should it not, therefore, be our policy to take advantage of our country's 

 qualities by continually seeking for fresh industries or fresh adaptations 

 of the old ? We should not surely cling unduly to older activities when 

 they have reached the stage in which many others have learnt to do them 

 with equal efficiency, and when we can go on to something new and, it 

 may be, more difficult. We can, of course, bolster up old industries by 

 political methods, and I have no wish to decry such methods as always 

 incorrect. But clearly the best protection of all is the knowledge and skill 

 which can enable us to produce what others must ask us for because they 

 cannot so well make it themselves. 



These considerations lead naturally to a second aspect of the relations 

 between craftsmanship and science. The improvement of craftsmanship 

 depends in large part on the absorption and adaptation of scientific 

 discovery. How is the process to be encouraged ? 



We here come to a point which must be emphasised with all possible 

 vigour, because its importance is not always realised. Scientific knowledge 

 and experience if it is to be of full service must be in direct practical 

 contact with the problem that is to be solved. This must be clear to every 

 one of us from actual experience. If you have expert knowledge on any 

 subject and your advice is asked, your first instinct is, as you all know, 

 to ask to be allowed to see for yourself. It is only when all the circum- 

 stances are clear to you in their relation to the difiiculty that the solution 

 is likely to suggest, itself. And it may take much watching and patient 



