They were intended to increase British efficiency and
well-being, and our statesmen received every courtesy and help in
studying German methods. It will be said by many that we shall not study
those methods again. Perhaps not. They may prefer an English method as
propounded by Lord Headley when speaking at a luncheon in connection
with the Bakery and Confectionery Trades Exhibition held at Islington.
The report is from the _Glasgow Herald_ as reproduced in the _Labour
Leader_ (October 21, 1915):

In regard to many industries, the plain fact was that the
foreigner lived much more cheaply than the British workman and
charged far less for his labour. Where labour, and not
machinery, formed a small part of the cost of production we
should be able to compete with the foreigner, and that should be
the case in high class confectionery more than in anything else.
If we were to defeat the foreigner in other industries after the
war, it seemed to him that the British workman would have to
consent to work for lower wages than hitherto. At any rate, he
hoped so, in order that the country might supply itself with
necessities without having to go abroad for them.

It seems to me that in this way we should "defeat" not only the
foreigner, but the Englishman as well--except the privileged few who
could get workmen at low wages without lowering their profits. I
remember saying to a Colonial lady that we had gained much from the
science of German settlers in this country. "Damn German science," was
her reply. A certain type of employer desires two protections--protection
against the knowledge of the foreigner, and protection against the
aspirations of the worker. Both the knowledge and the aspirations of
others are a disturbance of repose.

At a Nottingham meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry the
unscientific character of British methods was again emphasised. So, too,
at the Edinburgh meeting in December, 1914.

Principal A. P. Laurie, speaking of paints and colours, said: "There
were very few cases among those he had inquired into of a chemical, a
colour product, or a pigment which was being made both in Germany and in
England in which the German product was not better than that made in
this country.... Again, it was admitted that German barytes was better
ground than English. Yet an extensive literature on barytes and barytes
mining had been published by the Germans, showing exact