ABSTRACT
T H E scheme of technological insight and proficiency current i n any given culture is manifestly a product of group life and is held as a common stock, and as mani festly the individual workman is helpless wi thout access to i t . I t is none too broad to say that he is a workman only because and so far as he effectually shares i n this common stock of technological equipment. He may be gifted i n a special degree w i t h workmanlike aptitudes, may by nature be stout or dextrous or keen-sighted or quick-wit ted or sagacious or industrious beyond his fellows; bu t w i t h a l l these gifts, so long as he has assimilated none of this common stock of workmanlike knowledge he remains simply an admirable parcel of human raw material ; he is of no effect i n industry. W i t h such special gifts or w i t h special t raining based on this common stock an individual may stand out among his fellows as a workman of exceptional meri t and value, and wi thout the common run of workmanlike aptitudes he may come to nothing wor th while as a workman even w i t h the largest opportunities and most sedulous training. I t is the two together that make the working force of the community; and i n both respects, both i n his i n herited and i n his acquired traits, the individual is a product of group life.
