30.
Boring a large Gun.
31.
Building an Ironclad.
32.
S.S. “Oceanic” in Dock.
33.
The launching of an Ironclad.
But the rolling of plates and bars of steel, and the hammering of blocks of hot metal together, are but the first and roughest processes in the highly complicated industries whereby from rocks of the earth are obtained those wonderful complicated tools of civilization which we call railways, and bridges, and locomotive engines, and mail steamers, and battleships, and guns, and—perhaps most delicate of all—the machine-tools used in factories for the making of machinery. Let us consider a few instances of these more advanced processes. Here we see one of the finest exhibitions of power—the boring of a steel gun while cold. Next we see the building of a battleship, also made of steel. Then follows the sight of the screws of a great ship. These screws are made of the most finely tempered metal, lest they should break under the constant strain to which they are exposed. Finally we have here the launching of a battleship—an occasion of rejoicing and holiday at the close of a year’s task. As she floats she displaces perhaps 15,000 tons of water. The great ship is of steel from end to end. It is the product of the work of thousands of people—the colliers who got the coal from the colliery; the miners who got the iron ore from the mine; the makers of iron who smelted the iron from the ore; the makers of steel who converted the iron into steel; the rollers of bars and plates, the builders of the ship and the builders of the engines. Presently there will have to be added also the builders of the guns. Then we must not forget the people who made the machinery wherewith these people worked, and also the people who built the houses, and made the clothes, and grew the food, which they needed for their living. Thus a whole society of people is required to construct the ships which defend the Empire of the King.
Let us turn for a moment to consider the large towns in which the British industries are carried on. We have here a phase of the national life very different from the quiet existence of the little market towns which we saw in the last Lecture. Outside London, there are some twenty very large towns in the British Isles. There are three of them—Glasgow, Liverpool-Birkenhead, and Manchester-Salford, each of which has a million people.
34.
Men Leaving Works.
35.
A Hospital Interior.
36.
A School Interior.
37.
A Public Park.