The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-21
HOW COMMITTEE WORKED

which would be pigeon holed and for
gotten.
HOW COMMITTEE WORKED
AS matter of fact the committee
started just that way. 1t held few
meetings in 1913 and 1914 and then the
war came along. and it came to the con-
clusion that nothing could be done
while the war lasted, and 1t ceased
meeting. Then some one woke up. 1t is
not quite clear who that some one was,
but there is no doubt that much of the
credit for what has been done since, is
due to F. A. B. Newman, an education
department official who acted as Sec
rotary to the committee and wrote. the
report which will doubtless form the
basis for great advance in English
education. The some one, whoever he
was. switched the committee off its
original terms of reference altogether,
or rather gave them wider interpre-
tation than any one suspected was pos
sible. What happened is best described
in the words of the introduction to
the report:
But as the prospect of peace grew
more remote it became evident that the
question of further extension and en-
couragement of scientific and technolo-
gical instruction and research could not
he postponed until the end Of the war.
For many years before the war British
industry and commerce had been threat
ened by ingenious and active rivals; It
had suffered from a lack of organized
purpose and systematic development,
especially on the side of education;
after the war we shall need not only
to make good our losses but also to
coordinate and concentrate all ele-
ments of strength. For this purpose
we must be prepared to give serious
attention to education at every stage,
and especially to scientific and tech
biological education"
Then follows a review of the rise of
the British monopoly Of foreign trade,
which is now fast disappearing, and it's
causes, which the report points out were
due to Britian's command of the sea and
her early start in industry. How this
monopoly led to the neglect of science
is described as follows:
SPONTANEOUS EFFORT
"All this prosperity was the work
of spontaneous effort. The British fac
tories. the British shippers, the British
engineers, the British bankers, the
British emigrants, owed little to their
government except protection from
armed violence. There was no public
system for the encouragement of in
dustry, commerce or enterprise; there
was no public system of instruction in
the principles of that science which had
been borrowed at haphazard by the
early Adventures from the early in
ventors and researchers. Every firm
stood for itself Every firm was jeal-
Gus of it's trade connections and its
trade secrets. Educated men still held
themselves aloof from industry and
commerce, and the first founders of the
great businesses were in most cases
uneducated men, who had acquired their
own knowledge of men and things, but
felt no interest in the great expanse
of knowledge, explored and unexplored.
They had no notion that it contained
anything that could be of value to
them, expect here and there a practical
detail of which they could see the I'M
mediate application. If they came across
a man of science or his works, they
perceived that he had little thought
of practical applications; If he did ven
ture on a practical suggestion, he was
easily f1oored on the practical details
they did not see that their practical
acumen and his learning could form
valuable combination.
so long as the British monopoly was
maintained the practical common sense
and energy of British manufacturers aud
men of business sufficed for the imme-
date needs of industry and commerce.
But from about the year 1879 new phe-
ncmenon appeared. A nation. a new
nation, entered the field of competition.
About 1876 nation began to organize
itself as a nation for industrial and COM
mercial competition"
TRACES GERMANY'S RISE
The writer of the report then traces
the rise of United Germany as a nation
and describes the conditions with which