The British Industry: It's Development and Outlook. Presidential Address

JSGT 1922 V06 T108-T146

The industry stands to-day as a growing lad, the immediate son of somewhat impecunious and old-fashioned parents, but with forbears of no mean stock. It has no resources to fall back on save its own energy and enterprise; in its half-grown state it has plenty of imperfections, and lacks experience and the touch of confidence. It stands in need of faithful criticism, but equally in need of sympathetic help. Those of us who look on as godfathers and godmothers, brothers, and sisters, or even distant cousins, helping to guide its steps, may need to give, perhaps, something more than advice and be content to understand that it may not make our fortunes. But there is in it something more than a spark of life and no small power, even if at present lying latent; and some of us believe that the present hard time through which it is passing may in the long run only serve to harden it and make it more enduring when it comes of age.

W. E. S. Turner