Textile Institute

The Journal of the TEXTILE INSTITUTE Official Journal for Communications (Transactions) released for Publication by the British Cotton Industry Research Association (including its Rayon and Silk Sections), the Wool Industries Research Association the Linen Industry Research Association and the Technological Laboratory of the Indian Central Cotton Committee CONTENTS PROCEEDINGS SECTION The Mather Lecture, “ Pattern for Industry ”—Cronshaw ... P65-P76 Annual Report, Balance Sheet and Accounts lor 1944 ... P77-P81 Section Annual Meetings ... P82-P84 Scottish Section P84 Bolton Section ................................................................... P84 General Items : Institute Membership, Obituary, Employment Register,, Institute Meetings ... ... ... ... ... P85-P86 TRANSACTIONS SECTION 11—An Analysis of the Irregularities in Worsted Yarns and Slivers— Waggett ............................................................................................T 131-T 146 ABSTRACTS SECTION ...................................................... ... A237-A284 THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE ST. MARY'S PARSONAGE, MANCHESTER T E L E P H O N E BLA c KFRIARS 2 0 16 JUNE 1945 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE Vol. XXXVI JUNE 1945 No. 6 MATHER LECTURE PATTERN FOR INDUSTRY* B y C. J. T. C r o n s h a w The first Mather Lecture was given in 1919 and since that time, for the annual sequence has been broken only three times, more than a score of addresses have been delivered before the Fellows, Associates and Members of this Institute. Thus the Mather Lecture has become almost an Institution in itself. The series of lectures have shown a great diversity and have ranged widely, seeking subject matter in science, art, education, economics, technology, and industry. All of this is both proper and appropriate and completely within the scope of this Institute which is concerned with the problems of an industry which, though the present vogue is to decry, is nevertheless more diverse and accomplished than that in any other country in the world. One other point, a personal one for those honoured by an invitation to become a Mather Lecturer, does emerge inherently from the gamut of titles which have gone before ; and that is the selection of a theme upon which to address you. The problem of selecting a subject that might seem to have some interest for you and yet to a certain extent be within my own experience, I have endeavoured to solve by the title “ Pattern for Industry.” . I purposely leave out the definite article because to do otherwise would seem to proffer a unique and comprehensive solution for your consumption which I am far from suggest ing. Even the inclusion of the indefinite article risks an appearance that is still too rigid, perhaps implying amongst other things that here is pattern which is so to speak “ tailor-made ” and all ready for use. Insofar as the first part of my title is concerned I can assume your interest because the subject of pattern, though used may be in another sense, is the cardinal virtue of the textile pro cess of weaving. Nor do I need to stress that it is pattern—the warp and the weft—which gives to textile fabrics such an infinite flexibility in every direction as is unmatched by any other continuous material. As we proceed, I hope we may agree that flexibility is one of the qualities which is inherent in any pattern. The second part of my title—Industry—carries no burden of apology ; in it all of us have a deep and abiding interest. Our whole future directly and indirectly depends upon it. I have had the great advantage of spending 30 years in various capacities in an industry which has its being on the very threshold of science, a'nd it would, I think, argue a culpable lack of curiosity if I had not developed some opinions in regard to one particular type of industry. I can not myself repay the great compliment that the Textile Institute has done me to-day in better manner than by sharing these opinions, duly pointed by examples, with you. * Lecture delivered on the occasion of the Annual General Meeting of the Textile Institute, held in Manchester on 2nd May, 1945- P66 Proceedings The most I conceive my object to be is to suggest some thoughts that merit your consideration. After all, this Mather Lecture is a personal affair on the part of the lecturer and was never intended to represent any final and definite creed. It is, as I gather from reading what has gone before, such an introduc tion to a subject of importance which still allows and, maybe incites, any person who is interested and so minded to do some further voyaging on his own behalf, and to do that voyaging unaccompanied. Judged in this way, the invitation to deliver a Mather Lecture is a much appreciated opportunity to say some things without involving the Institute, committing any colleagues or disturbing any friendships—a privileged occasion to put a point of view which is entirely personal and yet not altogether shorn of that sense of responsibility that arises from being in the sequence of distinction that the Mather Lecture, so far at any rate, has brought to its service. The first approach to our subject is to enquire briefly what is the real business of industry. It seeks, of course, to accomplish many things, but our present need is to discover its ultimate purpose and to hope for such a definition as will clearly and uniquely ascertain its inevitable aim. Many things we know it must accomplish, but those, whilst part of its continuing existence, are not the heart and kernel of its being. It should, of course, have due earning capacity because, as someone said, the man with money in his pocket is the master of circumstances, and I would judge this true of industry also. It must be the means of giving employment, but this is part of the reward of industry and not the thing itself. The heart of Industry is the continuing development of skill; the skill of all its people, aided and abetted without let or hindrance by the manifold resources of a modern and progressing world. And if that skill can make fair claim to be unique then so much the better. That this definition is a correct one is, I think, shown by the fact that if this degree of skill can be brought to bear all other requirements of industry automatically in due course follow. And now in order to proceed further we must, I think, look over our shoulder back into the past. The function of history is much more than to satisfy a curiosity about the past. History is a case book which is available to all of us and it can be made to yield general principles just as efficiently as any medical case book can to the student of medicine. History may not repeat itself in the sense that identical situations are reproduced, for there are inevitable changes in the scale, rate of change, and complexity of human affairs. Nevertheless we can discover the same phenomenon leading to similar results again and again, and even discern old errors cropping up with distressing frequency. For example, Lipson1 in, a recent book points out that unemployment as a problem is four centuries old, and further suggests that present-day writers on this topic will find most of their original ideas for its solution anticipated by a Royal Commission which sat as early as 1622. In Arthur Bryant’s “ Years of Victory ” we can read a vivid record of nine years in the 19th Century which, except in extent and size parallels with uncanny exactness recent events—threatened invasion off these shores, a New Order at our door, a Continental blockade in operation, and a cruel tyranny to fight against. Our own experience is a wonderful and much used expedient for relating cause and effect when the time interval between them is only part of a life time, but we need history at our elbow to relate cause and effect when the relationship has tarried beyond a person’s own experience. It is worth while remarking that, normally speaking, most of us prefer a short time relation between cause and effect and are apt to deny this relationship at all if it tarries too long. For this reason history as many of us learnt it in early juvenile days, abounded in simple relationship of cause and effect. Some of you will remember that highly diverting book “ 1066 and all that ,” 2 which poked fun at this human weakness by its deliberately concise and forthright review of English history, adding, moreover, as a postcript to each successive event, “ And that was a good thing,” or, alternatively, “ And that was a bad thing.” Mather Lecture This notion of cause and effect arose out of man’s natural tendency to look at the world from his own point of view rather than from the point of view of a person anxious to find out the truth about nature, as it actually is. During the last few centuries, encouraged by his apparently increasing control over events, man has come to regard himself as having within his power a definite and deliberate causative effect. Thus it is that the word " cause ” has come to imply the power to compel a particular effect or result. The conditions that constitute the cause of any event are infinite in number, and thedr presence cannot be detected in any simple manner but require analysis by a trained statistical expert and the observations must be done over a wide range or over a long period of time. All so-called scientific laws come from this method of approach. Thus in the search for causes we must seek sequences of events which over periods of time repeat themselves more or less automatically, like the seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, or, as does a chemist in an array of experiments, as for example, when investigating chemical reactions in a laboratory.

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