PEACE IN INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19456, 12 October 1926, Page 10

PEACE IN INDUSTRY.

EMPLOYER AND HIS WORKERS THE NEED FOR CO-OPERATION. IMPORTANCE OF GOOD WAGES. That the remedy for much of the industrial unrest of t-o-day was the application to business of a policy of service before self, was the view expressed by Mr. E. S. 'Rowntree, of York, England, in an address given at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon yesterday. Mr. Rowntree emphasised the necessity for co-opera-tion between the employer and the worker. Employers, he said, asked for a spirit of esprit-de-corps among the workmen, yet they themselves thought only of their own good. Co-operation between capital and labour would mean an enormous leap forward in business. "If wo could see," said Mr. Rowntree, "the enormous amount of wasto through lack of co-operation we would be staggered by the sum." Industry had three aims, ho said. Firstly, it should creato goods or provide services of such kind and in such measure as wero necessary to the community. Secondly, in the process of wealth-produc-tion, industry should pay the greatest regard to the general welfare of the community and pursue no policy detrimental to it. Lastly, industry should distribute the wealth produced in such a manner as would best servo the highest ends of the community. The Wage-earning Class. In England some 75 per cent, of the population belonged to the wage-earning class, and it was of vital importance that this class should bo considered. The first duty of the employer was to ascertain what constituted a living wage. In the speaker's opinion a man's wage should bo sufficient to enable him to marry, live in a good home, bring up a family and leave enough over to provide for contingencies and a certain amount for pleasure. Very few employers ever tried to come to any conclusion regarding a living wage, being prepared to accept the recognised standard as final.

Raving conic to some conclusion regarding the correct amount to pay, the employer should try and pay it. If he was unable to pay the amount he should not rest until he could. Attention should* be given to the administration of his factory or business. "Personally," said Mr. Rowntree, "I have never seen a factory whose administration could not be improved." There were boundless possibilities for the application of science to industry. Very few employers had studied the science of administration. There was a need for staff-work and general co-opera-tion throughout. If the employer found he could not pay a satisfactory wage then he should consider his industry parasitic. Tho workers would co-operate with the employer if they knew he was trying to pay a good wage. It was to the advantage of a country to have a high rate of pay, a fact which England was just beginning to realise. Unemployment Problem.

Mr. Rowntreo said the fear of unemployment was constantly before the worker in England, Unemployment was a great evil to modern industrial society and was itself an outcome of the industrialisation of society. Unfortunately, it was tho worker who suffered, although he was not to blame for it. The help given for unemployment in England was very much misunderstood. Some people thought that the Government was pr.ying the coalminers now on strike. It was only those who were out of work and could not get work who received help. "We employers," continued the speaker, "aro bound to recognise our workers as co-operators in industry. The principle that ono man should bo the absolute 'boss' is false. It is only natural that men will be pleased to work for an employer who frankly accepts them as co-operators. They have no respect for a mere money-grabber. Can we blame the men for listening to the soap-box orator when we do not acquaint them with tho true position of business? * "When wo foster a spirit of real enthusiasm in onr factories we will be succeeding," he concluded. "If we wish to place service before self we have, to realise that industry is the life-blood of the nation, and is not just a means for turning out bank-notes."