Abstract
IT is significant of the position which science now occupies in the iron and steel industry that Sir William Beardmore, the head of a great armament firm in Glasgow, and the president-elect of the Iron and Steel Institute, in discussing the various factors which determine the success of any particular process, said in his recent presidential address:—“Science comes first. It is the dominant factor because it should be the beginning of all things. . . .” He went on to point out that there is, however, a tendency at the moment to neglect the other factors, and especially the attitude of labour towards improved methods of manufacture which are evolved by scientific research. This attitude amounts in many cases to an absolute refusal to utilise such improvements, and when manufacturers are charged with a lack of enterprise in not adopting modifications which are demonstrably advantageous the reason frequently is that the obstructionist attitude of labour organisations renders those improvements impossible of execution. Sir William Beardmore quite rightly insists that the question is one of profound national importance. He says:—
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C., H. The Place of Science in Modern Metallurgical Industries . Nature 97, 312 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097312a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097312a0