CRAFTSMANSHIP IN COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY.
Craftsmanship in Competitive industry. By C. R. Ashbee, M.A. (Essex House Press. 5s. net.)—This volume brings us face to face with some difficult social and economic questions. Mr. Ashbee tells us that there are three protests against the present order of things,—the first is Socialism, the second Tariff Reform, the third that of the Arts and Crafts against the industrial system. Wo need hardly say that if the third is to be judged by its companions, if we are to apply the maxim noscitur a sociis, we do not like it. At the same time, we have a certain sympathy for the movement, as far as we understand it. It is much to be regretted that the artisan is becoming less and less of a craftsman. The use of machinery and the subdivision of labour are the chief causes of it. When a man made a shoe, sole and upper leather, from heel to toe, he had a chance of making a work of art. But what is to be done P +rake the case of machine-made lace. We regret that the hand-made is driven out; but the machine makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of women to rejoice themselves with a bit of finery which would otherwise be out of their reach. There are things in which we go with Mr. Ashbee without reserve. He tells, for instance, a story of how he designed a silver brooch, how it was bought by some person unknown, whose manner, howevt3r, betrayed him, and reproduced by a certain firm with the label " Our exclusive design." The firm, when remonstrated with, replied that they were not responsible for the acts of their buyers (!), that novelties were always imitated—they themselves had suffered—and so forth. It is a pity that he did not see his way to publishing the names of these thieves. We must be content with warmly recommending Mr. Ashbee's book to our readers, not because we accept his theories, but because we are sure that it will greatly interest them.
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