SURVEY OF INDUSTRIAL FIELD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16515, 16 August 1919, Page 6

SURVEY OF INDUSTRIAL FIELD.

MR, ROWNTREE SETS FORTH LABOUR’S INDUSTRIAL DEMANDS. “IF THEY ARE MET ON FAIR TERMS. WE SHALL HAVE PEACE.” t (Special to the Christian Science Monitor.) LONDON, England. Air. B. Seebohm Rowntree, the wellknown publicist and writer on .social questions, and a director of the firm of Rowntree and Co., York, has written ihe following article for the Chistian .Science Monitor. — T think it was Karl Marx who prophesied that Britain was the only European country which Mould pass thiough an industrial revolution without bloodshed and without injustice. Tim accuracy of the propheefy will soon be tested, for revolutionary changes are already occurring, and one need not bo very long-sighted to see them covering the whole field of industry, h deed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep pace with their rapidity. A suivey of the industrial situation written to-day is likely to be out of date in a month or two. “At times of such swift and ividespread changes, there is always danger of ill-considered action and of panic legislation. Employers especially are so' absorbed in dealing with problems which call for instant solution, that they do not give themselves lime to survey the whole situation calmly and dispassionately. Yet without Midi an impartial survey, the trend of events may bo decided almost by chance, and lead to results which neither Capita: nor Labour really desires.

CAUSES OF LABOUR UNREST. ‘’The present Labour unrest is due to many causes, and it is important to separate those, which are permanent from those which are temporary. Among the latte-- wo may note especially the high cost, of living, and the anxiety to which this gives rise, a certain. impatience due to the exhaustion aiid strain of a. long war, uncertainty, as to tho method of fulfillment of tho promises given to trade unions, the knowledge that many people have made, enormous profits out of a world disaster, and the belief that a nation which can find £7,000,000 a day for war, over a period of years, car afford to maintain its workers on a scale that formerly seemed wolLnigJi impossible. Moreover, there is a strong feeling ijmong the workers that the psychological moment lor them to improve'their lot lias arrived, and that if they fail to take tho fullest possible advantage of it. such an opportunity mav never occur again. They think that industrial conditions, in a year or two, will have settled down, for good or evil, into a groove, and then it will be a. slow and laborious process to change them. ‘ But underneath those temporary causes of unrest, there are others which arc permanent, and only as wo .succeed in removing these can we hope, for any enduring settlement. Biiefly. the permanent causes arc four. First.' the workers, better educated, more alert, more conscious both oi their disabilities and of their strength than they have, ever been before, arc determined to .secure a .standard or living which, at the very least, will raise them above the poverty lino. They refuse to believe that it. is nil essential condition of modern society that tho great mass of them, year after year, should constantly he confronted hv tho problems of making two ends nicot. Meanwhile, they sec much ot the wealth of tho community continually sidetracked, as it wore, in favoui of the comparative few. and they grow more and more determined to safeguard the interests of the many. DEMAND FOR CONTROL. “Secondly, workers have, begun to protest against the position occupied by Labour in tho world of industry. There is a resolute and definite claim on their part to take a share in controlling industrial conditions. The views of the Syndicalist and Guild Socialist are only held by a small minority, hut tho demand for a substantial measure of control is widespread. "Thirdly, there is a demand that workers who are capable of working and willing to work should ho freed from the menace of unemployment, which at present hangs like a dark, cloud over Die lives of millions. “Lastly, the workers ask for shorter hours. " There is a growing conviction among them' that life should mean something more than ‘bed and work.’ Moral and intellectual claims have not been preached in vain, and those who load in the Labour ranks realise fully that a man who leaves homo for work at 5 or 5.30 in the morning, and does not return until 5.30 or 6 o’clock at night, has neither the vitality nor the leisure for self-development. “These, then, are Labours four principal demands. If they are met on fair terms, wo shas have industrial peace. If they are refused, wo. shall have industrial'war. Clearly, wo must decide whether they are Just and reasonable. If wo believe that they are, th.cn wc must, without delay, consider how to give effect to them, not in a niwgardlv or parsimonious spirit, but as”fully 'as tho economic circumstances of industry will permit. . “But let us beware of a serious danger. The demands which I have formulated must be dealt with, not only at once, but as a whole. To attempt to deal with them separately, or in a piecemeal, half-hearted fashion, is to court certain failure.

WAGES AMD COST OE LIVING

“Clearly, the advance in wages which we wish to secure must be an advance in real wages. An advance which involves a corresponding advance in the cost of living can serve no useful purpose. But, as Dr. Bowley has cleaTly demonstrated in his pamphlet on ‘The Division of the Product of Industry,’ a substantial increase in wages involves an increased production and an increased efficiency which can only ho gniuanteed hv the whole-hearted efforts of employers and workers alike. Now, cordial co-operation .between Capital and Labour is impossible, unless Labour is "iven a real share in controlling working conditions, and is adequately safeguarded against the consequences of unemployment a Using from any purely temporary dislocation which may “follow on the introduction of labour-saving machinery or improved methods. , . ■“Coming to concrete proposals for immediate action, 1 believe that the

folowjyig steps should bei taken, if we desire to have peace in the world of industry. •T. A trade hoard should bo set up for every- industry, and the duty should he imposed upon it by statute, of fixing, a.t the earliest possible moment, minimum wages which will enable a man to marry and to maintain a family of normal size in a state of physical efficiency, with a certain margin for contingencies and recreation. ‘"For the woman worker, the minimum wage should be sufficient to maintain her in health and respectability with, similarly, a small margin for incidental expenses. I Think that this method is preferable to that of fixing a national minimum wage by Parliament. ... , “2. As ai first step toward giving the workers a quite definite share in the control of industry, Whitley councils should bo established in all industries, lint I am confident that these will fail without the universal establishment of workshop committees which exercise real authority. In addition, a commission Should ho sot up to consider whether the workers should be given still further control at once, and if so, bv what methods. ‘ ‘‘3, An inquiry should immediately be set on foot into the difficult question of how the workers may best share in the prosperity of the industries in which they are engaged. Profit-sharing, as ordinarily practiced, has not been generally successful in stimulating their best efforts. Some scheme must be devised whereby the workers will have before them all the facts regarding the profits made in their particular 'industry. When Capital has been paid, the minimum amount which will attract whatever supplies of it are necessary for the development of that industry. the remainder of the profits must' be shared between Capital and Labour in an-agreed proportion.. It most be made worth while for every worker to do his best. In any arrangement come to, it would of course be necessary to safeguard the interests ol the consumer.

“4. Unemployment insurance- on a scale which will, free Ihe workers from any danger of veal suffering or privation through hick of work should be made universal and compulsory. Its cost should bo distributed between tho workers, the employers, and the Slate, as it is in tho insured trades. •■5. Parliament should at once pass an act making -IS. or perhaps 47 hours, the maximum normal working week in all - industries. Modifications, according to seasons, would bo necessary in certain trades. DEPRECATES SUPERFICIAL* REMEDIES. “It may be, urged by some readers that these are drastic proposals, but the position to-day is such that no superficial remedy will avail to bring about an industrial peace. Fundamental changes are called for. If we face the situation boldly and wisely, an industrial revolution whose consequences are wholly good, may be brought about bv peaceful moans. But it those who, in the past, have exercised an autocratic sway, buying labour as cheaply as possible, and scrapping it without a thought when it hud served their purpose, insist on carrying into the new world the methods they employed in the old one, wo shall still have a revolution, but it may well be disastrous both to Capital and Labour. “Only if wc make it clear that we realise'the situation, and arc .already coping with it to the best of our ability, can wc justly ask the workers ,to bo patient, and to remember that Rome v.as not built in a day. I Jhink that they could tic persuaded to patience if they could bo quite certain Unit Rome was actually being built with all possible speed. But. rightly or wrongly, they suspect that tho employing classes do ' not really mean business in the groat task of creating a now and bet for England. Now this suspicion cannot ho.”oxorcised by promises of prophecies. hi one way or another, our vast community must actually pool its interests, and those must load the way who have the most to pool. Wo have faced death, we must now face life, not in classes, not as sections, and not as individuals, but as a united nation. ”