The new labour movement in Great Britain; management and men

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

THE NEW
LABOUR MOVEMENT

IN GREAT BRITAIN
MANAGEMENT AND MEN

BY
MEYER BLOOMFIELD

T. FISHER UNWIN Lie.
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE

HD

v ^k & v^

4

196?

TO
MY WIFE

PREFACE

In passing from war to normal conditions of pro-
duction British Industry is facing a host of labor
problems and it is resolutely undertaking measures
to solve them.

Whatever may be his own particular economic in-
terests or outlook every thinking American is aware
that industry in the United States faces problems of
a similar nature. Unlike Britain however, we are not
for the moment under quite the same pressure to
effect a settlement of insistent issues in the field of
Industrial Relations.

But the issues are here. Both wisdom and con-
science admonish that they be met with intelligent sym-
pathy. A policy of drift is no policy at all, and in
the present circumstances such a situation is not with-
out its dangers. The time is favorable for construc-
tive work, through joint effort by employers and the
rank and file of workers, in meeting at least some of
the most important of those questions which are
lumped under the heading of the labor problem.

Fortunately we have before us the guidance of pres-
ent British experience. Moreover a hopeful factor in
the situation is the circumstance that a growing num-
ber of employers and a host of spokesmen for the
working masses have the vision and the spirit which
if united with energy and candor to the end of making
VPT»V relationships sound will give to American indus-

fry'a future &Jl.of promise.

vii

viii PREFACE

Although we have not suffered as has Britain the
need for action is clear. Our normal industrial ac-
tivities have largely escaped the ravages of warfare
for four years and more. There has not been that
drain on America's man-power which the British Isles
have experienced. Our human losses have indeed been
grievous, our sacrifices great. But in England, Scot-
land and Wales there is scarcely a home which has
not in some way felt the lethal breath of the trenches.
There the war spared nobody and the people have
come out of the ordeal with mind, will and purpose
profoundly stirred. In the industrial world this
thought has taken shape : — British industry must in
future speak the joint purposes of the parties engaged
in its operations; it must manage its affairs so as to
assure to its workers larger returns than before in
self-respect, satisfaction and security.

It was my good fortune in the fall of 1918 to be
commissioned by the " Saturday Evening Post" to visit
the industrial centers of Great Britain and tell of con-
ditions as they appeared toward the close of the war
and during the period immediately following the Ar-
mistice. For all their trying preoccupation with war
duties, officials of the Government, of the labor organ-
izations and of the Labor Party, employers, and men
and women foremost in the significant movements of
the country gave liberally of their time and counsel
and opened up fruitful sources of information. My
thanks are due to the " Saturday Evening Post" for
permission to reprint the series of articles that I had
written for it.

For constant personal assistance, criticism anjl con-
tribution of material, I must acknowlad^iriy mdebted-

PREFACE ix

ness to Wilson Harris of the "London Daily News/'
Herbert Tracey of the Labor Party, E. J. Phelan of
the Ministry of Labor, and Miss Mary Crosbie of the
Woman's Trade Union League. Sir Robert Hatfield,
W. L. Hichens, P. J. Pybus, Charles Renold, Gordon
Selfridge and Seebohm Eowntree made it possible for
me to see what progressive employers were doing.
I owe thanks for unfailing friendliness and help to
Lord Eustace Percy and A. Zimmern of the Foreign
Office, Sir Stephenson Kent, John Chartres, Lord
Pirrie, Major Evelyn Wrench, Major C. T. Holland;
Albert Mansbridge of the Workers' Educational Asso-
ciation; A. W. Tyler of the Cooperative Printing So-
ciety; George Lansbury of the "Herald"; J. T. Brown-
lie, the head of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers ;
H. H. MacTaggart; J. H. Thomas, Arthur Hen-
derson and C. W. Bowerman; W. A. Appleton, Sec-
retary of the General Federation of Trade Unions;
J. S. May, General Secretary of the International
Cooperative Alliance; A. H. Paterson, Secretary of
the National Alliance of Employer and Employed;
Joseph Thorp, John Hilton of the Garton Founda-
tion, Henry Clay, G. D. H. Cole and the other mem-
bers of that most stimulating group which meet weekly
in the "Dean's Yard" basement; S. K. Ratcliffe of the
"Manchester Guardian"; J. C. Squires of the "New
Statesman"; and Geoffrey Dawson, Editor of the
"Times." I owe much to the men and women in the
mines, mills, factories and shipyards of Great Britain,
for their personal letters, their interviews and general
spirit of helpfulness.

The main text of this book is made up of articles
written for the "Saturday Evening Post," but new

x PREFACE

and illustrative material has been added which serves
the practical purpose of showing in detail just what
new arrangements in Industrial Eelations are at work.
This material is important and carries a message for
industry in the United States. We do not need to
imitate maybe, but in furthering the ends of better out-
put and a worthier manhood and womanhood in Amer-
ican industry, we stand to profit from an informed in-
terest in what industrial Britain is thinking and doing.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN .... 3

II MORE OUTPUT 33

III SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN ... 69

IV CONTROL OF THE JOB 100

V As THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 137

VI How BRITISH LABOR SEES IT . . ^ . . . .176

APPENDICES
APPENDIX A

LABOR'S STATEMENT ON THE HOUSING PROBLEM AFTER
THE WAR 209

The extreme urgency — the extent of the shortage — what will
happen when the rent restriction act expires ? — who is to build
the new cottages? — the government policy

REPORT BY MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION ON HOUSING IN

ENGLAND AND WALES 216

I. A LABGE TASK

II. HOUSING BEFORE THE WAB

The shortage of houses — defective and insanitary dwell-
ings— slum areas — some illustrations — towns — country
districts

III. ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE HOUSING CONDITIONS

The provision of houses — the improvement of existing
housing and the removal of slums — the control of
building and town planning

IV. THE EFFECT OF THE WAR

Shortage — defective houses and slums — the coat of build-
ing— supply of materials

V. THE NEED FOR ACTION

Effect of bad housing on health and life — housing and
industrial unrest — demobilization and unemployment

VI. THE HOUSING POLICY AFTER THE WAR

Local government board inquiry — arrangement of streets
and buildings and lay-out of estates — private enterprise
— some other important committees — conclusion
xi

xii CONTENTS

APPENDIX B PAGE

REPORT BY MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION ON RAW MATE-
RIALS AND EMPLOYMENT 235

Metal trades — textile industries — boot and shoe industry —
timber — paper-making — other industries — general conclusions —
the organization of control

APPENDIX C

THE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE FROM WITHIN .... 250
A day with the manager

APPENDIX D

REPORT OF A CONFERENCE BETWEEN OR3ANIZERS OF TRADE
UNIONS, BRISTOL EMPLOYERS AND OTHERS CONCERNED
WITH THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN, CON-
VENED BY THE BRISTOL ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRIAL
RECONSTRUCTION, ON THE 16TH AND 17TH MARCH,
1918, ON THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AFTER
THE WAR 253

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

II. THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AFTER THB
WAR

III. THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WORKERS

IV. THE WHITLET REPORTS

V. THE REMUNERATION OF WOMEN WORKERS
VI. WELFARE WORK

APPENDIX E

LABOR'S PRONOUNCEMENT ON THE RESTORATION OF TRADE
UNION CUSTOMS AFTER THE WAR 269

I. BEFORE THE MUNITIONS ACT

II. THE MUNITION OF WAR ACT, 1915

III. THE MUNITIONS OF WAR (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1018

IV. SUMMARY OF THE GUARANTEES

V. NOTE ON GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS

APPENDIX F

THE LABOR PARTY'S STATEMENT ON THE LABOR PROBLEMS

AFTER THE WAR 287

Demobilization — the machinery for securing employment — the
restoration of trade union conditions — the prevention of unem-
ployment— the maintenance of the standard of life — the legal
minimum wage — the nationalization of railways — the nationali-
zation of mines — agriculture — taxation — franchise — the position
of women after the war — education and child welfare — educa-
tional

CONTENTS xiii

APPENDIX G PAGE

INDUSTRIAL REPORTS. NUMBER 1. INDUSTRIAL, COUNCILS 297

I. LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE MINISTER OF LABOR TO THE
LEADING EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS AND TRADE
UNIONS

INDUSTRIAL REPORTS. NUMBER 2. WORKS COMMITTEES . 311
I. INTRODUCTION
II. ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF WAB DEVELOPMENTS

III. CONSTITUTION

IV. PROCEDURE
V. FUNCTIONS

VI. RELATIONS WITH TRADE UNIONS
VII. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Appendix I — Works committees

Appendix II — Reports on individual worts committees,

etc.
Appendix III — Summary of a district investigation in

the engineering and shipbuilding industries
Appendix IV — Joint timekeeping committees
Appendix V — National and district schemes — snop

stewards

Appendix VI — Ministry of reconstruction
Appendix VII — Scheme of loca. joint pits committees

APPENDIX H

THE PREDECESSOR OF THE WHITLEY SCHEME .... 466

The needs of the industrial situation — the scheme — the compul-
sory code — the voluntary code — the congestion of the parlia-
mentary machine — the reception of the scheme — two problems —
conclusion

APPENDIX 479

Proposal for a builder's national industrial parliament — intro-
duction— a national industrial parliament for the building indus-
try argument — proposal — name — objects — program method — re-
sult— legal sanction for compulsory code — status of industrial par-
liament— suggested constitution — suggested auxiliary assemblies

THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY . 486

The industrial council for the building industry — constitution and
rules adopted 1st August, 1918, Ministry of Labor — the indus-
trial council for the building industry (building trades parlia-
ment)— Constitution and rules — standing orders governing pro-
cedure in debate at meetings of the council

APPENDIX I

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THH POTTERY INDUSTRY . . . 499

Objects and constitution — inaugural meeting — manufacturers'
representatives — operatives' representatives — business of the first
meeting — Major Wedgwood — rateable value — the outcome of the

xiv CONTENTS

PAGE
DR. ADDISON, M.P 509

The government blamed — representative associations — one recog-
nized authority — labor's reward — raw material supplies — a ques-
tion of cost — an illustration — the priority question — articles of
the association — transport facilities — for the benefit of trade

MR. ROBERTS, M.P 518

A close analysis — an encouraging reception — employees' frank
acceptance — the Whitley Council — government ownership — the
short cut to Utopia — the training of men — minimum standard —
an authoritative voice — after-war shortage — the right end

APPENDIX J

TRADE PARLIAMENTS 531

The reconstruction of industry by industry itself — the problem
is urgent — industry responsible for its own development — the
Whitley report — its root idea — the organization of an industrial
council — no interference with the individual management of in-
dustries— the relation between the state and the industrial coun-
cils— variety of constitution essential — problems of the transition
period — the permanent problems of industry — industrial councils
not wages boards under a new name — the corporate interests of
industry in its special problems — improved social status of the
industrial classes — the place of industry in the community — the
advantage of industrial councils to the state — the self-develop-
ment of each industry — a stepping stone towards industrial
reconstruction

REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION COUNCIL . 541
Report for the year December, 1917-1918

APPENDIX K

RULES FOR WORKING THE HANS RENOLD SHOP STEWARDS'

COMMITTEE . 544

APPENDIX L

WORKSHOP COMMITTEES 546

Suggested lines of development— -preface — contents — introduction
— scope of workers' shop organizations; management questions
•which could be devolved, wholly or in part — types of organiza-
tion— summary and conclusions of sections I and II — comments
on working

APPENDIX M

LABOR PARTY CONSTITUTION 572

Name — membership — party objects — party program — the party
conference — the national executive — parliamentary candidatures
— affiliation fees

CONTENTS xv

PAGE

STANDING ORDERS 576

Annual conference — agenda — voting — national executive — treas-
urer— secretary — annual conference arrangements committee

THE LABOR PARTY 579

Constitution and rules for local labor parties in single and un-
divided boroughs — objects — management

THE . . . LABOR PARTY 581

Rules and constitution — membership — objects — management —
contributions — officers — ward committees annual meeting — can-
didatures— miscellaneous

INDEX . 585

MANAGEMENT AXD MEN

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

CHAPTER I

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN

OUT of the welter of many isms and programs
which the passing of the war cloud from these
British Isles has brought to light two things are clear :
One, that pre-war »state of mind of employer and of
those who work for him has undergone a change; the
other, that unless the peace ahead is to be both sterile
and stormy every capable man's shoulder must be put
to the wheel of industry and help begin the mending of
the war wastage with more and better work than has
ever been done before.

If anything can be said to be settled in a time of so
much unsettlement, of moving from a gigantic war
footing to normal, it is the fact that both duty and
self-interest require for the job of starting up the in-
dustrial circulation of the nation something of that
same patriotic spirit all round which made it possi-
ble to overcome the great peril.

All the agitation and discussion now going on
throughout the land a big word covers, and it means
all sorts of things to all sorts of people. That word
is reconstruction. To some — not a large number, per-
haps, so far as one can judge, but a noisy and an en-
ergetic crowd, skilful in capitalizing every element

3

4 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of inevitable disaffection in these troublous times of
change — the only reconstruction worth looking at bears
one brand and familiar trade-mark: Kussian Bol-
shevism. The Bolshevist is right on the job in this
war-burdened land, and he is making himself heard
whenever and wherever opportunity offers. In this
home of free speech he does n 't have to work under
cover. You will find him out in the factory yard, on
the bus top, in both East and West End tea shops;
and he is in his element at the mass meetings, whose
number is legion.

Go to any Albert Hall gathering, whatever may be
the purpose of the meeting; he is on hand to capture
the meeting if he can, to heckle the speakers, and in
general to start something. One Sunday night not
long ago this hall was packed to the roof. A voice in
the topmost gallery, louder than that of the poor
speaker who was trying to hold his audience, yelled
"We want a Trotsky revolution. ' ' There were
cheers and cries and applause, but none so vehement
as those which followed the retort of the young man
of the pale face and the silver badge — the insignia of
the returned and disabled soldier: "Why don't you
clear out then and go back to Russia 1" And these
familiar exercises over, the speaker was allowed to
proceed.

British good sense has always been the saving grace
in every emergency, and it may be said to be getting
into action at this juncture for all the threatening dif-
ferences so vehemently aired. One good sign of this
is the general inclination to face with sympathy and
good will, and also with a serious effort at understand-
ing, the new purposes which have taken hold of the

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 5

minds of the people. One evening while waiting for
the doors of an assembly hall to open I was talking with
my neighbor in line. He was a postman in uniform.

"What is coming off in this country ?" I asked.
"People are talking about changes. Is Russia going
to be the model !"

"Not by a long way, it is n't — unless some very tall
blunders are made. We have the vote, and now six
million women are going to vote. We go along the con-
stitutional way. We want no mob rule tearing every-
thing up. The Bolshies are only Prussians painted
red. We have n't put up with four years to save our
country and then let them do what we wouldn't let
Jerry do."

Jerry is trench for Hun.

More and better work, carried on under conditions
which satisfy those who do it, be they managers or
laborers, that their good will can be in it — these are
the twin peaks of what may be called the general labor
problem here. All sorts of other peaks and ridges
line the industrial horizon ; all sorts of trails and path-
ways show on the industrial map which many are bus-
ily redrawing — but they do not all lead to the Promised
Land.

All through the war the country has been prosper-
ous. Women who never before saw the inside of big
Piccadilly and Regent Street shops became familiar
customers of the luxury departments. That ghost
which haunted the very retreats of pre-war states-
men, unemployment, was happily laid, at least for the
time being. There was work enough — something new
in British memory. Labor disturbances, though not
unknown during the war, fell to a small figure, for war

6 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

power has a way of bringing industrial disputants to
terms, and short shrift for the recalcitrant. A grim
reminder of this force was a tattered poster I saw on
the wall of a Clyde yard machine shop serving notice
on a body of strikers that within seven days they would
be called to the colors unless they returned to work.
The poster was dated September, 1918; it seems ages
ago in tone.

Industrial peace, then, there has been, on the whole ;
but this is not to say that industrial unrest had van-
ished. The illusion of general prosperity covered up
the real situation, while a marvelous national sacrifice
to ward off imminent disaster submerged every other
emotion. The heavy exertion of war-making does not
usually carry over into the moods of peace. Let go
the tension and a reaction easy to mark sets in. The
spirit of ready sacrifice keyed up the population for
nearly four and a half years ; and all the people made
sacrifices — rich and poor alike ; make no mistake about
that. Now war at best is a spendthrift business, and
the future is its prey. Unemployment passed out of
the country during the war because trade was booming,
new demands on the labor power mounted daily, pro-
ductive men by the million left their work places for
the Front, the government became the great spender
and almost monopolized the purchasing power of the
nation, having to pay no regard to the consequences
of destroying rather than replenishing things. Give
up these huge artificial stimulants and there is some
job ahead.

Will the generous spirit which floated the British
nation through the war last long enough to save it from
rocks in the peace channels? The indications are that

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 7

it will. Only facts have to be faced and spades and
things called by no camouflaged words. Right through
the war there were charges and counter charges be-
tween employers and employed. Bad feeling, distrust,
calling of names were not infrequent. Each side as-
serted solemnly and without reserve that the other
was putting self above country and was busy making
ready for the day when war pressure was off and the
field open once more for the best man to win. Em-
ployers have complained of labor profiteering, slack-
ness, indiscipline and shocking time-keeping — that is,
absence from work. The men talk of fat war profits
despite the tax bills, oppression of the workers, subtle
attempts to undermine their organizations, and, to top
it all, the jump in living expenses. During the war
these recriminations got but little hearing. Now they
hold the front page.

There can be no question that, while the war was on,
a real brotherhood of sacrifice was the general senti-
ment of the nation. Industrial bitterness was, like
politics, adjourned for the period of the conflict. How
to keep something of that spirit alive and give that
bit of the civilized world not yet in eruption a chance
to build for the future of its own people and do some-
thing for those of the shaken lands — here is the big-
gest problem in industrial statesmanship.

The return to peace calls for a sloughing off of old-
time formulas in the industrial bargain; a scrapping
of platitudes; a truce to inertia; a frank facing of
what has to be done. This is not the special chore of
any specially ordained set of men. It is supremely
the chore of every fair-minded man, be his job what it
may. Not much headway will be made if the old imps

8 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of class suspicion and stupidity hold the stage, nor if
lively cooperation among all the parties concerned
fails to obtain. Never have said parties been so much
in one boat as now, whether they are aware of this fact
or not.

What the war did was to push the problem and fact
of industrial unrest into the background; it did little
to cure it. No intelligent man believed that it would
stay down when peace came and the cement of common
effort crumbled.

The entire subject of industrial unrest was gone into
carefully by a commission made up of first-rate citi-
zens. These men were not theorists, and they did not
start out to prove any pet idea of their own. When
they finished their job they told the country some plain
truths, of use to keep in mind at the present time. Un-
rest, these hard-headed men said, was nothing new in
the industrial life of the country. So far as it arose
from small or temporary causes the matter could be
dealt with by a little application of judgment and un-
selfishness. But the unrest which went down deeper
and kept smoldering, with here and there an outbreak
of bad temper and disaffection — that called for a broad-
minded view of conditions which had to be dealt with
in a statesmanlike way. The commission did not fool
itself into believing that individual agitators were re-
sponsible for chronic discontent. They mince no
words, to be sure, when they view the performances
of extremists who bow to no authority but that of their
own impulses and undermine the influence of the
workers7 chosen representatives in supporting orderly
trade agreements. But the heart of British labor,
take it by and large, is sound ; the typical workingman

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 9

believes in constitutional methods; one hears this
phrase used again and again everywhere — but this
same typical workingman has grievances a-plenty.
Soaring food prices and general profiteering are con-
stant sources of embitterment. Though the govern-
ment has skimmed the cream off profits and incomes
the men believe that an unconscionable amount of sud-
den affluence has come to many, and they are mad clear
through.

Shortage of houses has for years been a crying evil,
but very little has been done about it.1 Big war wages
have made no difference so far as getting accommoda-
tions is concerned, and thousands of families who want
to live as the English-speaking race has learned to live
find it impossible. All sorts of petty restrictions, lack
of enterprise and obstructive land laws have stood in
the way and have bred a mountain of ill feeling. No
pronouncement of the government has met with more
hearty approval than that connected with its housing
program. As far back as 1901 it was shown that in
England and Wales alone nearly three million persons
lived more than two in a room. In Scotland and in
Ireland conditions were even worse.

The house famine has been growing on the country.
During the war building operations came to a stand-
still of course. The result to-day is bad overcrowding
and congestion in nearly every town in Great Britain —
in all the mining districts, where the men are bitter
and discontent is rampant; in all the agricultural sec-
tions; and notoriously in the leading manufacturing

i See page 209. Labor's Statement on the Housing Problem after the
War. Report by Ministry of Reconstruction on Housing in England
and Wales.

10 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

centers. The common estimate is that the country is
about one million houses short. At present landlords
are prevented from raising rents above the pre-war
figure by the Restriction of Rent Act. They cry out
that ruin is staring them in the face. The act holds
good for six months longer, after which a jump in
house rentals must surely come. That will not help
matters. From every point of view there is the most
urgent need for prompt action. If there is, no one will
expect miracles; the men will wait a reasonable time
for houses if they see that the country is at last awake
to this need and is doing something worth while to
meet it. But they will not put up with more promises.

There is another reason for a bold housing venture :
No one knows just how much unemployment, even of a
temporary kind, may hit the country; or where it will
occur. All sorts of dislocations are taking place, and
more are bound to take place during the crucial next
six months. Until the factories have had time to get
back to their proper work and raw materials are forth-
coming sufficient to enable industry to get into its
stride there will be a period of anxiety for everybody.
The building of a large number of houses would pro-
vide legitimate employment to thousands — hundreds of
thousands of men who would be otherwise out of work.
To provide three hundred thousand houses would em-
ploy four hundred thousand men of the building and
allied trades and spur the furniture and other house-
hold trades.

As the present cost of building material is more than
double that of the pre-war figure, and as prices may
in a few years go down somewhat, no builder is inclined
to take all the risks. The government is therefore

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 11

making its plans for a national house-building project
subsidized by the state under an arrangement with
various local governments.

National aid for housing, both as a commendable em-
ployment project and as a means of meeting the out-
spoken demands on the part of masses of workers for
better conditions, is only one line of state activity.
There will be a large extension of such activity in other
directions. What has already been promised only
foreshadows other far-reaching enterprises intended
to serve the same purposes. Lands, forests, farms,
highways, transportation, public education, social in-
surance— these are among the topics which have left
the academic shades and have become live practical
issues.

When war broke, this country saw employers and
workmen carry on their various occupations under a
heavy crust of custom, tradition, habit and trade prac-
tices which must represent the overgrowths of a cen-
tury or more. When speed in production became a
life-and-death necessity to the nation a clean sweep had
to be made at once of every sort of obstruction. The
government called in representatives of the big trade
unions, and with them drew up what has since become
known as the Treasury Agreement.

This agreement called for a speeding up, and a
manning of the factories regardless of any previous
conditions or understandings. New and faster ma-
chinery was to be introduced, operations split up so
as to allow for dilution of the working force by men and
women of less skill; emergency training courses set
up in place of the traditional apprenticeship ; and pay-
ment by results enforced. Doors were thrown open to

12 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

newcomers in trades hitherto the precious preserves of
highly competent craftsmen. To help win the war,
and in view of the agreement, trade unions gave up
rules and provisions which they had built up through
the generations.

The government pledged itself to "restore," when
the war ended, all that the unions had waived. Here
is the restoration pledge and the guaranty:

Provided that the conditions set out are accepted by the Govern-
ment as applicable to all contracts for the execution of war muni-
tions and equipments the workmen's representatives at the Con-
ference are of opinion that during the war period the relaxation of
the present trade practices is imperative, and that each Union be
recommended to take into favorable consideration such changes in
working conditions or trade customs as may be necessary with a
view to accelerating the output of war munitions or equipments.

The recommendations are conditional on Government requiring
all contractors and sub-contractors engaged on munitions and equip-
ments of war or other work required for the satisfactory comple-
tion of the war to give an undertaking to the following effect:

1. Any departure during the war from the practice ruling in our
workshops, shipyards, and other industries prior to the war shall
only be for the period of the war.

2. No change in practice made during the war shall be allowed to
prejudice the position of the workpeople in our employment, or of
their Trade Unions in regard to the resumption and maintenance
after the war of any rules or customs existing prior to the war.

3. In any readjustment of staff which may have to be effected
after the war priority of employment will be given to workmen in
our employment at the beginning of the war who are serving with
the colors or who are now in our employment.

4. Where the custom of a shop is changed during the war by the
introduction of semi-skilled men to perform work hitherto performed
by a class of workmen of higher skill, the rates paid shall be the
usual rates of the district for that class of work.

5. The relaxation of existing demarcation restrictions or admis-
sion of semi-skilled or female labor shall not affect adversely the
rates customarily paid for the job. In cases where men who or-
dinarily do the work are adversely affected thereby, the necessary

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 13

readjustments shall be made so that they can maintain their previous
earnings.

6. A record of the nature of the departure from the conditions
prevailing before the date of this undertaking shall be kept and
shall be open for inspection by the authorized representative of
the Government.

7. Due notice shall be given to the workmen concerned wherever
practicable of any changes of working conditions which it is desired
to introduce as the result of this arrangement, and opportunity of
local consultation with men or their representatives shall be given
if desired.

8. All differences with our workmen engaged on Government
work arising out of changes so introduced or with regard to wages
or conditions of employment arising out of the war shall be settled
without stoppage of work.

9. It is clearly understood that nothing in this undertaking is to
prejudice the position of employers or employees after the war.

[Signed] D. LLOYD GEORGE
WALTER RUNCIMAN
ARTHUR HENDERSON
Chairman of Workmen's Representatives

WM. MOSSES

Secretary of Workmen's Representatives
March 19, 1915

This is the war charter of restoration. The men are
asking the government to redeem its pledge. But,
alas, it is much easier to talk restoration than to re-
store amid new conditions and emergencies. Efficiency
once tasted and pronounced good cannot be so easily
dispensed with. To slow down production at this
time to the basis before the war would be for the Brit-
ish Empire to commit industrial hari-kari. Getting
rid of the new workers who have shown themselves
highly proficient is something not to be lightly under-
taken. Here is a hard nut to crack — employer, work-
men and government are wrestling with this restora-
tion business. To the credit of all concerned be it said,

14 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

restoration in the strict sense used when the pledge
was made is quite generally recognized to be impossi-
ble. The line of final settlement lies in new under-
standings and safeguards worked out to protect both
the interests of the men and of the industries of the
country.

Eight here let me pay a tribute to the sane influence
of Mr. Gompers ' speeches in this country. Conditions
being different here from what they are in the United
States the labor organizations between the two coun-
tries vary. Fundamentally their aims may be alike,
but they do not see eye to eye in every particular. Mr.
Gompers' long experience has taught him that an in-
dustry must be efficient and profitable if any gains are
to be made. He is for efficiency as well as for a fair
distribution of the results of such efficiency. Many
people here have been puzzled by Mr. Gompers' advo-
cacy of improved production. It sounded to them as
if he were preaching the employers' gospel. This
state of mind shows the nature of the gap which has
yawned between employers and employed in this coun-
try. Gradually the meaning of his preachment is com-
ing home, and these words of his are frequently quoted :

" We are not going to have the trouble in our country
that Britain had with restriction of production. We
in the United States have followed a different policy.
We say to the employers, Bring in all the improved ma-
chinery and new tools that you can find. We will help
you to improve them still further and we will get the
utmost product out of them. But what we insist on is
the limitation of the hours of labor for the individual
to eight hours per day. Work two shifts if you please,
or work your machinery all round the twenty-four

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 15

hours if you like with three shifts, and we will help
you, but we insist on the normal working day with full
physical effort. We will not agree to that overwork
producing the poison of overfatigue, which destroys
the maximum of production, undermines the health of
the individual worker and destroys his capacity for
daily industrial effort. "

Demobilization, civil and military, is actively under
way. Millions of men and women are involved. Mir-
acles cannot be worked to make the process of starting
up the normal activities of industrial plants coincide
exactly with the flow of labor. Therefore hitches oc-
cur, human log jams, and it takes some skill to keep up
a semblance of order. One factory, without a word
of notice, suddenly discharged its thousand munition
girls. The next morning the place looked as if it had
been through an air raid.

What manufacturers fear most just now is not a
possible shortage of labor or even exactions on the
part of labor ; they are worried lest raw material may
not come in fast enough to keep their organizations
going.1

The conversion of British industry into a vast war
machine was a great achievement. Its reconversion
to a peace basis will be an achievement still greater.
In the one case the withdrawal of men for the army and
the demand for war material were relatively gradual
—the national munition factories were not first put in
hand till the war was nearly a year old ; in the other
the change will have to be accomplished within a space
almost of weeks, unless the nation is to sustain an eco-

i See page 235. Report by Ministry of Reconstruction on Raw Mate-
rials and Employment.

16 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

nomic loss which it is in no condition to contemplate.

Moreover, though preparations for demobilization
have long been in train the catastrophic collapse of
the Central Powers in October was a result outside all
calculations. It was always safe to count on three
months ' warning of the coming of peace. In the event
there was not three weeks. The army, it is true, is still
in the field, and demobilization on the great scale may
be some distance off yet. But the pivotal men, those
who just missed exemption as indispensable, are al-
ready coming back; and apart altogether from the
army there are three million or more war workers in
munitions and other supply industries at home who
must not be kept a day longer than is absolutely essen-
tial in unproductive employment.

The immediate problem therefore is twofold: The
war workers have to be disbanded, and disbanded in
such a way that they shall neither be turned out on the
streets nor let loose to capture the picked places in in-
dustry before the men still at the Front get their
chance. That means, speaking broadly, that the whole
field of employment has to be organized ; that so far as
is possible workers shall not be turned adrift till new
places are open for them ; and that sufficient posts shall
be kept open in every industry to insure absolute equal-
ity of opportunity for the men in France and the
Balkans and Mesopotamia and Palestine when in due
time they get back from the trenches to the workshop.

That problem has been gone into by a dozen different
committees in the past two years, and in the main the
machinery for dealing with it is ready. The govern-
ment departments chiefly concerned are the Ministry
of Munitions and the Ministry of Labor. The task of

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 17

the former is to regulate the release of munition work-
ers, the task of the latter to find places for the sud-
denly unemployed. The Ministry of Labor has been
strengthened for its new responsibilities by the trans-
ference to it of the late head of the labor-supply de-
partment of the Ministry of Munitions, Sir Stephenson
Kent, who will be the actual director of the whole de-
mobilization strategy.

The machinery chosen is the employment-exchange
system.1 The exchanges were first set up under the
Board of Trade in 1910, and were transferred to the
Ministry of Labor on the creation of that department
in 1916. Their function in peacetime was, as their
name shows, to adjust the supply of labor to the de-
mand throughout the country, to keep lists of all va-
cancies, of all men wanting work, and to facilitate the
transfer of workmen where necessary from one district
to another. At the same time they were responsible
for the working of the unemployment section of the
National Insurance Act.

The exchanges have not been an unqualified success
— that for various reasons, notably the fact that in all
skilled trades the men's trade unions served in them-
selves as effective agencies for the supply of labor.
Now, however, the employment exchanges are being
rapidly strengthened and increased in number to enable
tbem to deal with a far greater problem than they
were ever designed to handle.

Two factors are simplifying the demobilization : In
the first place the Ministry of Munitions has some con-
trol over the rate of dismissals. The production of

i See page 250. "The Employment Exchange from Within" — Maga-
zine of the Ministry of Labor.

18 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

munitions was not shut down to the blast of a whistle
on November eleventh. On the contrary orders were
immediately given that jobs half or two-thirds finished
should be completed, and at the same time the plants
were used wherever possible to produce commercial
commodities instead of war material, with the same
employees and on the same machines. Thus before
the armistice was a fortnight old shell makers were
turning out files and springs, grenade makers were
manufacturing dairy separators, other munition firms
were on the point of setting to work on electrical fit-
tings, or toys, or furniture, or dairy utensils.

Then there was the fact that while thousands of men
were wanting work thousands of employers were want-
ing men. When matters are finally adjusted there is
going to be no lack of employment for years to come
in Great Britain, though dark uncertainties are still
present. Apart from the demands that will be made
by France and Belgium for building material and fur-
niture and machinery, the whole fabric of Britain itself
is waiting to be put in repair. The mines must be
worked at the highest pressure to make up the coal
deficiency ; the permanent way and the rolling stock of
the railways must be overhauled from top to bottom;
a million houses, and furniture to fill them, have to be
constructed; and in a score of other industries that
have been nearly at a standstill for the last four years
every man who was in the trade before will find work
to keep him employed on overtime for as far ahead as
he can see.

That of course assumes that supplies of raw ma-
terials will be forthcoming, and it leaves out of account
for the moment the fact that there are hundreds of

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 19

thousands of workers — principally women — competing
in the labor market who were never competing in it
before. But speaking generally the problem is to see
that no employer is kept waiting for workers and no
workers are kept waiting for work. That is what the
employment exchange has to look after. Its equipment
for the task consists of a manager of each exchange,
with an advisory committee of employers and work-
men in the locality to support him. Every large town
has its exchange, often with several branches, and
throughout the smaller towns and villages there are
resident agents serving the same purpose as the fully
developed exchange. The system is centralized in
London in the Ministry of Labor.

By the middle of November the exchanges were hard
at work dealing with the flow of discharged war work-
ers. From the workers' point of view the situation
was not desperate, for all who had been engaged on
munitions, in the widest sense, were guaranteed unem-
ployment pay for six months at the rate of twenty-
four shillings a week in the case of men and twenty
shillings in the case of women. That is no great figure,
with the cost of living what it is to-day, but it is a
material relief to the drain imposed by a spell of un-
employment on savings, and after years of unbroken
physical strain there are many to whom the prospect
of a few weeks ' holiday is welcome enough.

That, however, does not lessen the magnitude of the
great changeover, and it has to be remembered that
for one worker who voluntarily takes a few weeks '
rest a dozen will of necessity be kept idle while ma-
chinery and plant are being readapted from their war

20 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to their peace operations. And the moment demobili-
zation begins in earnest their numbers will be multi-
plied daily. For the soldiers an effective scheme is in
operation. They, like the munition workers, have un-
employment pay guaranteed, and in their case over a
period of twelve months instead of six. At the same
time steps have been taken to keep the volume of even
temporary unemployment at the lowest level. Every
employer who wants a particular workman back is in-
vited to ask for him, and every soldier who wants a
particular piece of work is invited to apply for it.
That holds good whether the soldier is in England or
abroad. A postcard is given him to fill up asking
whether he has a job waiting, and if so where. If he
has not he states what kind of work he wants and in
what locality. The employers meanwhile are also fill-
ing up postcards giving full particulars of the names
and regiment and address of the men they want, and
stating what kind of employment is waiting for them.
All postcards from all sources ultimately reach the em-
ployment exchange for the appropriate district, after
which it is easy to fit together the man who wants a
particular employer and the employer who wants that
particular man, while the others can be disposed of
rather less immediately by the ordinary process of
bringing together the supply and the demand.

But a scheme that works on paper may run on every
kind of snag in practice. That is true of the demobili-
zation plans. One difficulty that is going to arise is
the wage question. That is inevitable. An attempt
has been made to get round it by an act hurriedly
passed to prohibit for the next six months the lowering

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 21

of the wage minimum current in a number of important
trades without the special sanction of a government
arbitrator. That is something, but it should be ob-
served that it applies only to the minimum, not the
average wage rate. At the best, overtime at special
rates will be at an end, and highly paid munition work-
ers will have to be content to go home at the week-end
with much lighter pockets than in the past. It is not
to be expected that they will flock with enthusiasm into
employment where that prospect is before them.
Many, moreover — and this is particularly true of the
soldiers — will find their old work distasteful, and will
probably enough prefer work in some industry that
would soon be overstocked if all the applications for
it were entertained.

That desire for change is seen on a small scale in
the case of munition girls who either actually were or
would in due course have become domestic servants.
There is every sign of a general refusal to exchange
the relative freedom of industrial life for the restraints
of domestic employment, and the difficulties of the
average middle class household are likely to be quite
as acute during the first months of peace as they have
been through the last two or three years of war. The
same tendency will be found in men and women brought
up to other trades. Many men, for example, whose
life hitherto has been passed in offices and workshops
will declare for open-air occupation in the future,
either on the land in England or on the land in some
British colony. That raises the question of training
as well as employment, for the recognition is at last
dawning on the British people that agriculture is a

22 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

skilled trade, and there will be no fear of the returned
soldier being pitchforked into it untrained and un-
equipped.

These are the problems the employment exchanges
have before them — and if the exchanges are run as mere
machinery and nothing more they are going to break
down very completely and very quickly. It is easy
enough to pick up such convenient terms as "the trans-
ference of labor, " and to talk lightly of "drafting,"
say, bricklayers from London to Lancashire. But
when all is said a workman is a man and not a piece
of mechanism. Neither is he a snail carrying his
house on his back. The house he lives in is built into
the ground and he has to leave it where it is when he
goes somewhere else. For that reason he has a strong
prejudice against going somewhere else. He is not
going to be moved about the country like a pawn on a
chessboard by some government official, particularly
after a gruelling four years or so in the army. If he
has got to go he must be satisfied that the move is for
his own benefit.

That is where the employment-exchange advisory
committees will come in. They have had compara-
tively little to do in the past, but their testing time has
come now. Half the membership of each committee
consists of trade unionists, so that the workman com-
ing under their purview can count on sympathetic treat-
ment. If the advisory committees can create and
maintain a humanizing atmosphere throughout the em-
ployment-exchange system they should find it in their
power to apply just that lubricant of good will and
understanding that will keep the wheels of the ma-
chine running smooth and silent.

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 23

An overlooked factor in easing up the employment
situation here is the quiet process of emigration which
is going on. Here is a solution for some of the present
industrial problems which is at once attractive and dis-
quieting. No one has been especially pushing this
movement, for it is a movement, and it is growing in
volume. Employers are frankly anxious. The loss of
a skilled adult worker may be definitely measured in
terms of so many dollars invested. Change of habita-
tion is not confined to the roving and the adventurous ;
it is quite as often a sign of vitality and ambition.
Hundreds of men and women may be seen crowding
the window displays of the various dominion-govern-
ment offices along the Strand. Hundreds have gone
within to ask for literature and make inquiries. Can-
ada, Australia, New Zealand and the South African
lands can make good use of the energetic men and
women who have done such notable war work here
during these four years past. Workingmen and their
families are seeking better prospects abroad. They
do not wish to put up with a period of anxiety about a
job. Returned soldiers with a taste for the open gaze
at the alluring landscapes and views of work outdoors
in the spacious overseas dominions. They take away
with them the folders and the prospectuses, and there
is a serious look on their faces. Is history repeating
itself? Every great war has resulted in a large shift
of population.

The work of reconstruction and of restoration is
going forward rapidly, not without its daily perplexi-
ties and fresh difficulties, but its stride is evident.
Trade unions and the workers generally through their
Labor Party are disposed to make the transition time

24 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

as orderly as possible. They willingly accept the new
conditions in industry, knowing that the future of their
country is at stake in the decisions that are being
made. They will throw themselves into the task of
upbuilding if they can secure in return a frank recog-
nition of the moral advance which labor has made as
a national force — an appreciation of the new self-
respect which has taken hold of the humblest toiler.
The workers ask for an improved status, a finer rela-
tion than they have had hitherto in the scheme of man-
agement. They think that within their own range of
interests and opportunities they have contributions of
value to make to the industries in which they are en-
gaged. They regard employment as a venture in co-
operation.

Such views and aspirations find no opposition on
the part of the best employers here. On the contrary
they are welcomed as holding out a promise of better
relations and more productive organization. Here are
the words of a great employer whose goods fill the
world markets :

"It is idle to hope to increase output unless the con-
fidence of the workers can be gained and their coopera-
tion enlisted ; unless, in other words, they can be placed
in a position to understand how their work is needed
for the sake of the future of the country, in the same
way as they learned to understand the meaning and
the purpose of their military duties. Confidence must
take the place of suspicion, and public service the place
of sectional self-interest in the relation between the two
parties, or the lesson of the war will not have been
learned."

Mighty little progress, and one-sided at that, will

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 25

take place in restoring and reconstructing if the women
are left out of the account.1 The woman worker has
filled a big place in the war enterprise; she has been
told this over and over again, and she admits it. She
doesn't for one little bit see herself as merely an in-
cident in the industrial happenings of the moment;
nor does she look upon her own peculiar industrial
requirements as second to those of her male fellow
worker. Men may propose this or that, and they do,
but these women war workers have come to be con-
siderable disposers, and likewise alert and astute pro-
posers themselves. Before the war there were six
million women workers in the United Kingdom, not
far from a third of them in domestic service. For the
actual replacement of men who had been called away
for military service eight hundred thousand women
were taken on. Some will go now, others will stay.
Figures can be only guesswork just at present. I asked
an intelligent-looking, fine-faced woman, filing deli-
cate turbine blades in an engine shop, what she ex-
pected to do when the war was over.

1 ' Well, sir, ' ' she replied deliberately as she laid down
her file and started to wipe her spectacles, "I came
here to help out in the war, and I have been working
here for three years. If any soldier comes back or
any wounded man from the service I will give up my
place to him. I counted on doing that when I came
here. But if any other kind of a man wants this place
—well, I have as much right to live as he has."

Where did the woman's industrial army come from?
As nearly as one can figure it out more than one hun-

i See page 253. Report of a conference on The Position of Women in
Industry after the War.

26 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

dred thousand women came from the ranks of house-
hold servants; a large number had been working in a
small way for themselves ; girls came from school and
farm and fishing village; women from their husband-
less homes; thousands who had no need of the wage
came for patriotic reasons, because the country called
them. They have all of them earned their salt. They
have made good. It is a safe guess to say that women
will from now on be in industry in greater numbers
than ever before. Many trades will be short-handed
for some time to come. They will want the women.
Suspended or reduced industries will soon be brisk
again and they are glad to have the workers who have
given such a good account of themselves in difficult
trades. The question of wages will be a knotty one to
settle, and many adjustments will have to be made
day by day.

Woman is no longer an accident in industry. She
has come to stay, and to take her place alongside the
man in all schemes, plans, projects and programs which
may be forthcoming. She asks no favors. All she
insists on is a reasonably rapid acknowledgment of the
fact that she has arrived, and she is strong in the con-
viction that her attaining industrial majority will be
to the good all around.

There have been exaggerated impressions as to the
substitution of men by women. At the most, replace-
ment by women of skilled men has not been large.
The increase in the machine trades, for example, has
been almost entirely due to shell making, which in-
volves working, for the most part, automatic or semi-
automatic machinery. So far as shipbuilding is con-
cerned, the number of women is negligible. The po-

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 27

sition of the skilled craftsman is not seriously preju-
diced by the competition of the woman worker, except
as processes are broken up and simplified so they call
for less general skill. Whatever competition occurs
between men and women workers will be found on the
levels of unskill or semi-skill, and here labor-saving
machinery is likely to play a big part in the near fu-
ture.

When the Mexican peon has made his three or four
days' wages he is ready to knock off, take his ease in
his little neighborhood grog shop, bask in its sunny
dooryard, and call it a week. He sees no reason for
extending himself beyond what is needed just to keep
him and perhaps his wife and children. If a few days '
work will do it, so much the better. When his pockets
are empty and the liquor has worked itself ofT, the call
of the job is heard once more. The problem of alco-
hol is not a simple one to deal with anywhere ; the evils
to which it gives rise are too deeply rooted for any
simple statement of remedies. We may be certain
of this, whatever experts and laymen, reformers and
standpatters may say on the subject — the words of a
mine boss I once heard in a Western copper country
to a miner reeling toward the cage shaft hold true:
"See here, son, booze and mining can't work the same
shift. "

Great Britain has to face the drink question as one
of its huge reconstruction jobs. Industry cannot come
back to normal and better conditions with its pre-war
drink load as it was. Employers and many labor of-
ficials realize this. One of the largest employers in
England told a group of people the other day gath-
ered to consider this question that Great Britain could

28 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

not hold her own with the United States unless the al-
cohol traffic was suppressed.

"Whatever may be said for the public house, the
club and the home as regards drink, let us not forget
that we have lost one million productive men, and
about half this number in disabled. We may be im-
poverished industrially. America has lost much less,
she is rich and growing richer — and is going dry.
Does any one believe that we can compete with her on
any equal terms if we let drink grip us as it did be-
fore !"

There is a strong campaign on for a national-health
bill. Lloyd George has thrown himself into this cam-
paign with vigor and with a lively sense of its im-
portance to the British Empire's industrial restora-
tion. "What is the first thing the great war has shown
us?" he said the other day. "The appalling waste of
human material in this country. Those who were in
charge of recruiting came to the conclusion that if the
people of this country had lived under proper condi-
tions, were properly fed and housed, and lived under
healthy conditions free from various evils and conse-
quent diseases, had lived their lives in the full vigor
— you could have had a million more men available and
fit to put into the army. There are millions who are
below par. You cannot bring up children under bad
conditions. Put it at its lowest, all trade, commerce,
industry — they all suffer through it."

The liquor business is coming under public control.
Such regulation as was exercised during the war, with
a reduction in the supply and a lowering of the alco-
hol content of beverages, effected at once a reduction

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 29

in arrests for drunkenness of men and women to one-
third of the pre-war figures, deaths from alcoholism to
one-fourth, and insanity from the same cause to one-
half. From the side of industry, regularity of attend-
ance, or " time-keeping " as it is called here, practically
doubled.

Steady employment under the best possible condi-
tions is the demand of every worker and of every
worker's spokesman in this country. It is a well-
founded demand. To bring this about is to steady this
country as it has not known steadiness for decades.
Every intelligent employer believes in this demand,
for he knows that there will be little chance to make
the wheels of industry hum and keep humming without
a settlement of this universal hope.

What does labor ask of industry! It has formu-
lated its program. Here it is in a nutshell: The
throwing open of lands for use and development by the
people; a public-health act to prevent preventable ill-
ness ; a million new houses built at public expense and
let at fair rents ; nationalization of the public services,
mines, railways, shipping, armaments and electric
power; extension of trade unionism; a national mini-
mum wage for each industry based on determinations
by industrial boards sitting for each industry; aboli-
tion of the menace of unemployment ; limitation of the
hours of labor; drastic overhauling of the various
laws dealing with factory conditions, safety and work-
men's compensation; enlargement of the cooperative
movement ; international labor legislation to deal with
the competition of sweated goods ; revision of taxation
upward; and equal treatment of men and women in
government and in industry.

30 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

These purposes the spokesmen of the British labor
forces have set themselves the task of bringing about
through the power of their vote. They look to the
method of parliamentary action as the means for ac-
complishing their aims and program. Any other
method than that which democracy holds out is in their
judgment suicidal. Only by keeping industry free
from dislocation can any benefits come or last.

The war has shown the vastness of the slack or re-
serve energy which can be used for the national need.
The repair of the deteriorated or damaged fabric of
industry, the furnishing of new capital for expanded
ventures in foreign trade, modernizing industrial
plants, new taxation burdens of the war legacy, the
high rate of interest which must prevail — these things
will make it impossible to continue the level of real
wages and standard of comfort which have reached
down to classes formerly quite submerged in the scale
of industry, without a very large increase in the ag-
gregate product. Labor and capital are busy with
solutions of this huge problem. Never before have
groups of industrial captains and representatives of
workmen been so much in conference as they are dur-
ing these days. They are busy sizing up the problem
and laying down the rules of the game. Both sides
have learned lessons of value out of their war experi-
ence. They accept the proposition of better and more
efficient work, a larger use of the man power of the
country, better organization and discipline of the labor
forces, more enterprise and wisdom on the part of
managers and employers, a larger application of sci-
ence to industry, better industrial training — these are
the topics they confer about, knowing that to settle

FROM WAR TO WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN 31

these matters is to assure the production which alone
means prosperity for all.

These issues are not new of course. They were
ripening before the war. For a long time warnings
of the rapid strides made by Germany and the United
States had been uttered. But there was too much
self-complacency to give heed. Even government
figures had shown that the nation's output of wealth
was not enough, even if ideally distributed, to provide
a satisfactory standard of comfort.

The century-long fight against poverty was only a
preliminary skirmish. The war has proved to be its
most effective antagonist. By the middle of 1918 ap-
plications for pauper relief had fallen to two-thirds
those received in 1914. It is not against poverty that
the minds of employers, employed and statesmen are
now directed. Funds started early in the war to
relieve cases of hardship due to war causes have re-
mained untouched. The big problem now is one of
intelligent teamplay and cooperation.

Extremists on both sides may make the work of re-
construction difficult. If they succeed they will have
chaos for their pains. For capital it would mean par-
alysis ; for labor untold privations ; for all concerned a
wrecking of the springs of production out of which
comforts come.

The way of hope lies along an industrial policy which
reckons with the new viewpoint and new possibilities
of mutual arrangement based on respect for what each
factor in industry means to the other. Level-headed
men in all camps subscribe to this view and are com-
mitted to this procedure. A competent authority con-
sulted by all industrial leaders here has said: "To

32 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

hold the balance true between the economic and the hu-
man side of the problem; to increase at once the ex-
tent and the quality of the output ; to make the work of
each man in any position an integral and worthy part
of his life as a citizen — this is a task for us as truly
national as that of victory in war. ' '

CHAPTEE II

MORE OUTPUT

IN August, 1914, a certain Midland city of England,
noted for its big trade in textiles, started to put
itself on a war basis. By the close of the war its
weekly output of munitions was as follows : One hun-
dred and twenty thousand shells; twelve million fuse
components ; one hundred tank shells ; twenty-five tank
gear boxes ; fifty searchlights ; two hundred machine-
gun emplacements; half a million airplane details.

To a people like the British — and this was the case
with us — war-making meant some tall improvising.
A church decorator turned out ten completed flying
machines each week; a water-meter factory supplied
millions of fuses ; a plant normally busy with the mak-
ing of wire netting soon became a principal producer
of airplane parts; grain elevators became shell fac-
tories; a plant noted for its shoe machinery handled
gun mountings; paper makers became trench-bomb
manufacturers ; and a large cloth mill made a reputa-
tion for its hand grenades. An old malt house, em-
ploying six hundred women, had begun to supply fifty
thousand fuses weekly when a fire burned it to the
ground. Within a few days a skating rink near by
took its place.

The stress of war has blown new life into British
industry. What had been accepted as a matter of
course — dependence, for example, upon Germany for

34, MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the supply of certain industrial essentials — has given
way to a new spirit of self-reliance and enterprise.
Mica is absolutely necessary to the electrical industry.
India produces fifty per cent of this article, Canada
fifteen per cent and German East Africa ten per cent.
Yet the mica market was all but moved from London
to Hamburg, owing to the skill with which Germany
had captured the control of the Indian mica trade and
laid her plans for dominating the electrical industry.
At present mica from the Indian Empire can be ex-
ported to London only. To her capture of the tung-
sten industry Germany owed in large measure her
superiority in munitions production in the early stages
of the war. Great Britain to-day produces all the high-
speed steel needed for her industries and can export
at reasonable prices a large supply to her Allies. Be-
fore the war the United Kingdom's production of
ferrochrome, basic in the manufacture of certain
steels, was a negligible quantity. There is a plant to-
day at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the power for which is
obtained from the waste gases of coke ovens, turning
out a sufficient quantity of ferrochrome to take care of
all British requirements for years to come.

Out of two hundred and forty thousand tons of
spelter in various forms used annually before the war
seventy-seven per cent was imported, chiefly from Ger-
many, Belgium and Holland. Now the flow of Aus-
tralian concentrates has been completed diverted from
Germany to England, and there has taken place a
doubling and in some cases a trebling of British zinc-
smelting plants. A long step forward has been taken
in eliminating Germany as a provider of potash. The
Stassfurt mines used to send over thirty thousand

MORE OUTPUT 35

tons of potash annually. It has been found, however,
that fifty thousand tons of potash were going to waste
each year in the dust or fumes from blast-furnace
gases. Plants have been started or made over to save
at least eighteen thousand tons from this source alone.

Among the close calls England suffered in the course
of the war one of the most menacing arose out of its
former dependence on Germany and Austria for scien-
tific and optical glass. At the outbreak of the war a
large part of the British artillery was equipped with
gun sights manufactured exclusively in Germany.
British output of this vital product to-day has multi-
plied twenty times, and the country is self-supporting
so far as the finer grades of glass are concerned.

Much might be written about the big changes of a
mechanical kind — changes in labor-saving devices, im-
proved machinery, analyses of minute manufacturing
costs, greater accuracy of workmanship and better in-
dustrial organization. Mechanical conveyors are be-
ing used in shop transport to an extent never dreamed
of or encouraged before the war. Electric trucks are
common where once swarms of men, and women, too,
perspired over clumsy loads. A new interest in in-
dustrial research has led to the starting of plant labor-
atories and arrangements for cooperation with the
technical schools.

A transformation of British industry is under way,
and there is a changing viewpoint both on the part of
employer and employed as to the big problem ahead.
In a literal sense the war has paid for — paid in full —
paid for by the lives of brave men; paid for by the
limbs and physical senses of hundreds of thousands of
youth in their prime ; paid for by hours of toil of men

36 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and women and children in shops and mines, fields and
highways; and paid for by the thousands of millions
of gold thrown into the war furnace. The debt alone
remains.

Now it is elementary economics to say that payment
of a debt can finally be made in one way only — in goods.
There is no other way. Production is the only answer.
All debts are finally liquidated in terms of things made.
Be productive and all things shall be added unto you.
This commandment cannot be trifled with without gen-
eral misery as the penalty. But there is human nature
to reckon with, and the practices with which it incases
itself; and this human nature is no monopoly of any
aggregation of men.

We may be as glib as we please about the necessity
of production — no one gainsays it — but living up to all
that it implies calls for a considerable amount of self-
criticism. Things being as they are, the business of
turning out goods sufficient in quantity and quality to
pay mountainous obligations and give all concerned
the wherewithal to enjoy a decent standard of life and
supply incentive for exertion requires a certain "meet-
ing of the minds, " as the lawyers put it; a getting to-
gether of the parties chiefly concerned with this pro-
ducing business in order to lay down the rules of the
game, to draw up, as it were, the constitution under
which said parties agree to live and work together and
forward the common business, as far as there is any
intention of a common purpose between and among
them.

War wastage means a huge bill for replacement and
restoration — at least it does to a people who will not
go under ; and this bill can be met only through a lively

MORE OUTPUT 37

speeding up of industrial activities. And this speed-
ing up depends on the ideas and enthusiasms, or their
lack, which animate or depress the parties to the task.

A good deal has been said about restrictions on out-
put practised by workingmen and their organizations.
The blame has been generally laid on the shoulders of
one party alone. The fact is that workingmen have
universally condemned such restriction, or what looked
like it, perpetrated by their own employers. They saw,
with the clearness of experts, how deadening to effi-
cient production have been the conservatism in meth-
ods ; retention of plants long out of date, inconvenient
in their design and wasteful in their demands on time
and on energy which should have gone into the work
itself; they saw an unwillingness to make needed al-
terations, scrap antiquated tools and adopt the best
current practice. They have been subjected to dead-
ening influences all around. They know it and speak
of it. Good workmen do not want to stay long in such
places, because some protective craft instinct tells them
that their own skill will suffer if they do. The truth
is that men who have spent years at a trade and who
take pride in their workmanship are among the best
critics of equipment, methods and managerial stand-
ards.

No one defends the go-slow policy; no one believes
that good can come out of a dishonest attitude toward
one's work and contract. Condemnation is general,
nowhr^e more outspoken than among enlightened
workmen. But this does not tell the whole story.
We must understand what is in the minds of the men
who by unwritten law or hardened custom put brakes
on the wheels of industry; and by understanding we

38 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

do not condone a mutually disastrous situation, but are
in a position to deal with it intelligently. In the first
place it is no longer startling to say that long hours
of work defeat their ends. For a long time agitation
against long hours was based largely on humanitarian
grounds. Not until clear-sighted employers proved
to their own satisfaction and the satisfaction of their
fellow employers that there was a point beyond which
the labor of men became a liability instead of an asset
was this movement lifted into the realm of the prac-
tical. Sir Robert Hatfield told a group of business
men the other day how his adoption of the eight-hour
day twenty-five years ago led to the present gigantic
size of his organization. Workingmen had long felt
that they could do better work if they had an oppor-
tunity for rest, family life and self-improvement.
But there were men of influence who dreaded the effect
of a shorter workday on their own production and the
demoralization which they believed would come with
leisure. These fears, spoken freely for decades past
in this land of liberty-loving men, have rankled deeply.
They have been stupid fears, stupidly maintained, and
have done harm. Enough to say, workmen do not
wish to have any such paternal concern for their wel-
fare, they do not need it and they resent it bitterly.
Furthermore, the example of the most successful em-
ployers has proved that greater production depends
on greater all-around efficiency rather than on the
number of hours worked.

The war was not three months old before the prob-
lem of increasing the production of munitions in Great
Britain became a burning issue. More material had
to be got out of the factories and more work out of the

MORE OUTPUT 39

men. The two hung together, for though improved
methods might in themselves result in an increased
output, the essential reform was a redoubling of ef-
fort by the men who controlled the methods.

There was no question whether the men were cap-
able of increased effort. They were capable. And yet
with the war in full swing and the armies in vital need
of munitions the factories were still running well be
low the level of their maximum capacity. The ob-
stacle in the path was the trade-union restrictions, a
subject on which throughout the war misunderstand-
ing has prevailed and much bitterness has been en-
gendered.

The restrictions themselves had a reasonable origin.
They sprang from the workmen's perpetual fear of
unemployment, combined with the belief — sometimes
baseless, sometimes only too well grounded — that the
employer's constant aim was to exact from his em-
ployees the greatest possible amount of work and pay
them the lowest possible wages. To counter those real
or imaginary dangers the different unions in self -pro-
tection evolved gradually a formidable series of trade
customs and usages, designed to guard their members
against the allied perils of unemployment and over-
strain.

That system of trade customs embraced not only the
standard rates of wages and the length of the normal
working day, together with the arrangements for over-
time, night work, Sunday duty, mealtimes and holi-
days, but also the exact classes of operatives — appren-
ticed or skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, laborers or
women — to be engaged or not to be engaged for vari-
ous kinds of work, upon particular processes or with

40 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

different types of machine; whether nonunionists
should be employed at all ; what process should be em-
ployed for particular tasks; what machines should be
used for particular jobs ; how the machines should be
placed in relation to each other and the speed at which
they should work; whether one operative should com-
plete a whole job or form part of a team of specialized
operatives, each doing a different process ; what wages,
if any, should be paid in the interval between jobs or
while waiting for material ; and what notice .of termina-
tion of engagement should be given; whether boys or
girls should be employed at all, or in what processes or
with what machines, or in what proportion to the adult
workmen.

These customs decided whether the remuneration
should be by time or by the piece, and under what con-
ditions, at what rates and with what allowances; and
perhaps, where they existed, most severely criticized
of all, but by no means universally existing, what
amount of output by each operative should be con-
sidered a fair day's work, not to be considerably ex-
ceeded under penalty of the serious displeasure of the
workshop.

In no union had the practices falling under the head
of restriction of output been more systematically de-
veloped or become more firmly established than in the
powerful Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the
union, as it happened, concerned beyond any other in
the output of munitions. It was manifest that war
conditions meant an immediate challenge to the ma-
chinists' whole position. Between union rules for re-
striction of output and national demands for a maxi-
mum output there could be no accommodation. The

MORE OUTPUT 41

situation was perplexing and perilous. The navy
wanted more ships, the army wanted more shells, more
explosives, more machine guns, more aeroplanes, and
in face of that overwhelming need the men were stand-
ing obdurately on their rights, "imperiling the lives of
their sons and brothers at the Front rather than brace
themselves to work up to the limit of their strength or
let their unskilled comrades share the high wages they
were drawing. "

So argued day after day speakers and writers who
saw only one side of the question and had neither
knowledge of nor regard for the other. For there was
another side, and it consisted in this: The customs
prevailing in the engineering trade represented rights
won after years, almost after generations, of conflict
with the employers. Bit by bit, as often as not as the
result of some successful strike, the fabric of trade-
union privileges had been built up; and the whole of
the position so secured the men were now asked to
abandon without a protest. They were to drop back
into the conditions of twenty years ago, and that with-
out any semblance of a binding guaranty that when
the war was over the rights they had relinquished
would be restored.

But much more than merely that was involved.
That the abandonment of "demarkation" restrictions
and the admission of unskilled men, perhaps even of
women, into the closed preserves of the skilled, to-
gether with the abolition of limitation of output, would
lead to an expansion in the production of munitions
nobody doubted. But that it might lead coincidently
to a substantial inflation of the employers' profits was
equally certain to the minds of the workers; and the

42 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

expansion of the employers' profits was not an object
for which the men were prepared to sacrifice the fruits
of all their earlier industrial victories.

On those rocks the first attempts of the employers,
in December, 1914, to secure the cooperation of the men
in the reorganization of workshop conditions came to
grief. The unions demanded more binding guaranties
of restitution than the employers were able to give,
and the negotiations made no substantial progress till
the government itself took the matter up some three
months later. As the result of its efforts an agree-
ment, as I pointed out in a previous chapter, was
eventually signed — by Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Run-
ciman on behalf of the cabinet, and Mr. Arthur Hen-
derson and Mr. Mosses representing the men — that
forms the basis of the whole structure of work-shop
organization built up during the war period.

That agreement provided, in a sentence, that men
engaged on war work should suspend for the whole
duration of hostilities a number of specified practices
which impede production, on the explicit guaranty by
the government of full and complete restitution in
every particular at the end of the war period. In
return the government on its part undertook to devise
a scheme of taxation which would insure that the profits
derived from the men's increased efforts should go not
into the pockets of the employers but into the national
exchequer.

Under this compact, which was embodied in the Mu-
nitions of War Act and has been amplified and ex-
tended from time to time, the whole fabric of trade-
union customs and usages has been jettisoned for the
period of the war. Munition Courts have been es-

MORE OUTPUT 43

tablished to deal with the breaches of the agreement,
strikes were for a considerable period declared illegal
and arbitration was made compulsory; while to pre-
vent " poaching " by employers a system of "leaving
certificates " was instituted under which no man leav-
ing his employment against his employer's will and
without good cause shown could be given work within
the next six weeks by any employer to whom the regu-
lation applied. These particular restrictions, under
which the men became increasingly restive, were sub-
sequently modified, but the workman still remained un-
der a discipline that formed a sharp contrast to his pre-
war freedom and independence.

To enumerate the details of the temporary revolu-
tion would take too much space. It is enough to recall
the main heads of the change, such as the introduction
of women and laborers to do expert work under the
supervision of skilled craftsmen; the establishment of
new machinery ; the change of processes and the break-
ing up of jobs to admit of the employment of the un-
skilled; the substitution of piecework and bonus sys-
tem for time rates; the increase in the hours of labor
and variation in the rates for overtime; the speeding
up of production ; the abolition of all artificial restric-
tions on output; and the suspension of all demarkation
regulations.

That has been the position in the munitions industry
throughout the war, the term munitions being used
here in the British sense to cover almost every form
of direct war work. There can be no question that
the war changes have added enormously to the mechan-
ical efficiency of industry, and if mechanical efficiency
were the only aim to be considered the case for their

44 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

retention would be overwhelming. That statement,
however, needs qualification in at least one important
particular: The physical strain placed on the work-
ers has been maintained without disastrous results for
three to four years, but that does not mean that it
could be maintained indefinitely without grave detri-
ment both to health and to output. The investiga-
tions into the health of the workers, conducted by an
able committee presided over by Sir George Newman,
Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, made
it clear that such practices as seven-days-a-week work
have not even the advantage of an increased output to
recommend them.

In any case, the question is not worth arguing on that
level, for no sane man would concentrate on industrial
efficiency to the exclusion of every other aim in con-
sidering the labor problem in peacetime. What the
workingman is concerned about is not only how to earn
the highest possible wages but also how to live the
best balanced life. He insists on the restoration of
the established customs and usages. High-tension
pressure and no restrictions may be necessary in war,
but they are not going to continue into peace. That
is the workman's view, and that is the condition on
which new contracts with employers will be made.

Here lies the justification for the men's demand for
a complete restitution, though it is impossible, of the
rights they have surrendered — a demand which the
government is not in a position to resist. The provi-
sions of the government 's agreement with the men were
specific. They undertook to restore without qualifica-
tion or subtraction every custom and practice the men
abandoned under the 1915 agreement. The time has

MORE OUTPUT 45

come for the redemption of that pledge. The govern-
ment, indeed, after repeated promises and postpone-
ments, did on the eve of the general election lay before
a conference of the men's representatives the draft of
a bill designed to give effect to their undertaking. The
men, after a careful examination, considered it in many
important respects unsatisfactory, and it had not been
laid before Parliament when the session ended. The
result of the delay is that hundreds of manufacturers
are unable to plan out their contracts because they are
entirely in the dark as to what the labor conditions
will be.

One solution of the problem is always open: The
government can fulfil its pledges to the letter and re-
establish every abandoned trade usage as it existed in
July, 1914. That, unfortunately, may prove in the
end to be the only course possible. But in the mean-
time there is a good deal of natural reluctance to do
any such thing, for to fall back to the conditions of
1914 would be to fetter industry at the moment when it
is very essential that it should be left free and elastic.
The task before managers and men is to decide how
to profit in common and in agreement by the experi-
ence of the war.

On that no satisfactory result will be arrived at on
the basis of an enforced compromise. The men claim
that if they are to surrender any of the rights of the
past the surrender must be absolutely voluntary, and
it must be made after, not before, the title to complete
restoration has been accorded them by an Act of Par-
liament.1

i See page 269. Labor's Pronouncement on the Restoration of Trade
Union Customs after the War.

46 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

There is a great deal to be said for that contention,
for a true labor settlement would go far beyond even
the wide limits of the ground covered by the various
Munitions of War Acts. It would include not only
the conditions of labor but the rights of capital. One
of the greatest British employers has recently laid it
down that "no business is entitled to make unlimited
profits " and that "the principle of the profits tax
should therefore be retained after the war." If the
restoration of trade-union rights had to be deferred
till a decision of those larger issues had been reached
there would intervene a period of intolerable uncer-
tainty and irritation. On a settlement the successful
restarting of the peace industries depends. The men
will have to forego some of the rights they have
guarded so jealously, and the employers on their side
will have to be reconciled to reciprocal concessions.
Fortunately, the association of employers and work-
men in different industries on advisory committees and
joint councils promises to generate a spirit of accom-
modation on either side that should make smooth the
path of what might be very difficult negotiations.

The essential conditions of settlement are that no
class of men — and if possible no individual man-
should be the worse off for the surrender of usages
detrimental to the efficiency of industry as a whole.
That raises, for example, the question of the retention
of women in places once filled by men. In one great
shipyard all the cranes are now worked by women, who
do the job quite as efficiently as the men, while the men
are released for other work that the women could not
handle. This is a war change and the question is

MORE OUTPUT 47

asked what will happen when the old crane drivers
come back and demand the reinstatement to which they
are legally entitled. Apart from the hardship to the
women the reversion to the old conditions would be
thoroughly bad industrial economy. The firm there-
fore proposes to offer the returning men other posi-
tions as good in all respects as those they filled before
the war.

Such changes will need to be carefully watched, for
no two jobs are precisely comparable in every particu-
lar; but it is along those lines that the settlement may
be looked for. If it is such as to avert the menace of
unemployment, to guard against any fall in real wages
and to maintain the worker 's freedom the men may well
be prepared to forego some of those artificial restric-
tions that appeared so necessary for their protection
before the war. They are sufficiently strong to resist
any attempt to take advantage of the new conditions,
and the prevailing legislative sentiment will probably
assist them to give legal force to such wage standards
and labor regulations as may be agreed on as mutually
beneficial by the bulk of the workmen and the bulk of
the employers.

There are bodies of workmen who have frankly fol-
lowed the go-slow policy; they have done so and still
wish to do so deliberately in the assumed interests of
their class and calling — this in the mistaken belief that
there is only so much work to go around, and that if
they got through with it too soon they would have
"the sack" alone to look forward to. They have not
realized — and what opportunity was there for them
to do so? — that work and wages are elastic proposi-

48 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tions; that wages come out of the stream of produc-
tion. Widen the stream and you widen the wage op-
portunity.

Why should workmen have seen this truth when re-
spectable names were associated with the doctrine of
limits to the wage? Moreover, the easy-going prac-
tices in hiring and firing and memories of unfair ad-
vantages taken of their increased efficiency counseled
a restraint against over-eager effort. The whole situa-
tion has been too wasteful to be regarded with any sat-
isfaction. In this transition time it is being considered
frankly and fearlessly. The remedy lies with the em-
ployer more than it does with his employees. Greater
security of tenure, removal of the fear of sudden un-
employment, and safeguards against a lowering rate,
which is a penalty on efficiency, will do more to do away
with suffocating restrictions than all the exhortations
in the world.

If we try to catalogue the wastes that stand in the
way of increased output, which output everybody con-
cedes is the basis of prosperity and will alone make
good the war damage, we should have to place at the
head of the list the waste from ill will, or rather from
absence of good will. I have always held that good
will is as big a factor in rapid and economical produc-
tion as skill itself. Great Britain has begun to think
about the place of this valuable article, good will, in
its production program. I do not mean to suggest that
this is a new thought ; far from it ; there are establish-
ments that have understood it and lived up to its sug-
gestions for more than a generation. But never has
there been so widespread an effort as now to work out
a basis of mutual confidence in the relation of employer

MORE OUTPUT 49

and employed. It may fairly be said that all parties
realize that the production called for is out of the ques-
tion unless a new spirit of reciprocity is at work. To
make this spirit possible waste prevention is one of the
first obligations — prevention of wastes material and
wastes human.

The war has thrown a searchlight on the way in
which industry has been carried on for a generation
past. Wartime economies have taught far-reaching
lessons. The German submarine has been the cham-
pion promoter of British agriculture. Before the war
half the total food consumed in the British Islands was
brought overseas. But for the navy these islands
would have been starved into submission. The navy
not only kept open the channels of supply ; it gave the
country time to get busy on a great program of agri-
cultural 'development. Though the Belgian farmer
produces one hundred dollars an acre to twenty dollars
of the British farmer, and the German farmer feeds
about seventy persons to fifty persons fed by the Brit-
ish farmer for every hundred acres of land worked,
the efficiency of the land worker here is not so low as
these figures might indicate. The production per man
in Germany is only two-thirds that of the farmer in
this country.

These islands could not probably under the best con-
ditions produce enough food to be self-sustaining, but
with an extension of the tillage opportunities wonder-
fully abundant here there never need be any fear of
suffering even in the face of a complete blockade. The
holdings of land in small allotments for cultivation
trebled during the war. In England and Wales they
rose from about half a million to one million and a

50 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

half. Kitchen gardens still fringe the outlying sec-
tions of every industrial town; crops of fresh green
vegetables raised near by swell the Covent Garden
market stalls. Fifty thousand women volunteered
their services in the Women's Land Army; not far
from a quarter of a million women were at work on the
land throughout the war.

Lost time, lost motion, spoiled material and a gen-
eral slowing down of plant are subjects of sharp in-
vestigation these days. Never has scientific manage-
ment, regarded as a distinct American importation, ex-
cited so much interest as well as controversy. As far
as the spokesmen of labor are concerned they welcome
every step forward in the way of scientific research,
the use of the chemist, metallurgist, fuel analyst
and other technical specialists. They say that men
of science have not been sufficiently utilized thus far
in industry. That factory organization can be vastly
improved is generally conceded. Positions held by
poorly trained men should be in the hands of those
equipped with a knowledge of the best modern meth-
ods ; closer figuring of costs and frank comparisons as
between plants and districts should be more common.
The planning and routing of jobs and a much better
coordination among the various units of the same or-
ganization are obviously things that should prevail.
Labor welcomes the use of science in industrial man-
agement just as it respects the services of the expert
in civil service and other governmental activities. It
holds large reservations, however, as to those matters,
apart from technical problems of management, which
it believes are vitally matters of general human con-
cern.

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On this point one of the greatest employers in the
country, speaking at a public debate in a workmen's
educational center, said: "Scientific management —
that is, science in management, as the sane leaders of
this movement look upon it — is not a solution of the
whole industrial problem; it does not settle, and does
not pretend to settle, how much of the products of in-
dustry ought to go to workman, manager, investor;
it does not solve the unemployment problem or lay
down rules for industrial harmony. These problems
have been in existence long before any definite system
of efficiency engineering was laid down in print. But
one advantage of such a system, honestly and sensibly
worked out, is to make much easier an approach to
some of these problems. To help make men more pro-
ductive with the least waste possible consistent with
good upkeep of men and plant is fundamental good
sense and applies everywhere/'

The war has brought home the meaning of produc-
tion as nothing hitherto could have done. In carrying
on the war the accumulated wealth of the country was,
of course, largely untouched, though it was devoted to
new purposes. Houses, lands, railways, roads, canals
are still here. Day by day the people have had to meet
the huge demands of the military establishments.
Beef, jam, tea, clothing, railway wagons, shells and
armament — to the tune of about thirty million dollars
a day — were requisitioned. These represent fresh
production on a scale which deserves the adjective
miraculous. Savings, borrowings, selling of securi-
ties, abstinence and enforced economies of various
kinds — these helped to meet the current bills. But a
large debt has been left for the future to meet — an an-

52 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

nual interest charge of more than a billion dollars to
raise, over and above the taxes levied. Ultimately
this debt must be paid — and paying for the war means
replacing the things that have been destroyed, so as to
have at least as much as before ; must be paid for by
a larger output or by getting on with less.

" We can easily write off our war debt by more out-
put"— this is the opinion of a man who is generally
regarded as one of the leading authorities in matters
industrial — "and this increase does not have to be any-
thing extravagant, if all work altogether. If every-
body should add ten per cent to his productivity the
bill can be met — everybody, not a few or a class of
workers. The war has shown us that we can easily
exert ourselves even more than ten per cent. There
was always too much loafing, from the heads of indus-
try down to the manual workers. We made far too
little use of machinery. There is far too much drink-
ing. Cut the drink bill of 1916 alone by fifty per cent
and you have four hundred million dollars saved. We
are still using horses — or worse still, human labor —
where we should use steam power, motors and the
electric current. We too often use old-fashioned steam
power for electric power. The government, I'm glad
to say, is going in for a large development of cheap
electric power for the country — one of our crying
needs. What we do to-day is done too often with
ridiculously little science.

"Of course we can increase our output. Now we
must do this or be poorer. Look at what makes for
production — the factors that go into it are still here.
Our land, for example, has not been devastated as it

MORE OUTPUT 53

has been in Belgium, France and Poland. Our stocks
are here, machinery, tools, buildings. We must recog-
nize that the labor is not all here. Our toll in death
and disablement is great. Our loss in labor power can
be made good; though we can never fill the void and
lessen our sorrow, we can with a bit more time and ex-
ertion on the part of the labor power we have make up.
I do not mean to suggest that we should overwork labor
and add to its strain. Nothing would be more unwise.
Much depends on organization, and such organization
as we have had we still have. It has not all been
knocked to pieces.

"We must insist on the land being used to produce
the maximum amount of food for the people instead
of the biggest interest or rent. Our factories show too
much dirt and disorder and waste of confusion. As a
rule we must take one to our new munition plants to
show a model workplace. It is very bad for us to take
things easily ; it is not healthy. It is far better to be
alert for a comparatively short day than to go slum-
mocking about all day. I have seen skilled workmen
do this, and they soon break down in efficiency.

"It all comes to be a question of putting more brains
into industry. We have too often been putting our
brains into trying to cheat each other; we must learn
to apply them not merely to make profit but produce.
The true way is to discover how to prevent waste and
loss, to find how to do an operation in half the time and
with half the effort — how to save half the capital.
This is real economy and an addition to actual produc-
tion. "

No man in England has a stronger hold on the

54 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

thoughts and confidence of workingmen 's organizations
than the man I have just quoted. Here are his views
as to how to get the most out of labor :

"By labor I mean, of course, the human beings who
carry on the manual work. When you consider that
we have something like fifteen million of these men and
women who are manual working wage-earners, and
that everything depends on their health and strength
and training as to how effective they will be in indus-
try, what a lesson that is to take care of the health and
education of the people, and especially of the genera-
tion which is growing up. We killed more babies
wantonly in 191.5 through our public neglect than all
the lives lost in the war on our side.

"Consider what an advance it would be if all the
boys and girls out of the fifteen million workers, in-
stead of being allowed, as a large number now are, to
grow up rather clumsy, stupid louts who have not had
their intelligence awakened, were turned out with as
good minds, say, as the ordinary workingman student
of the Workingmen 's Educational Association classes.
Think of the increased productivity in the real sense
that such a trained and disciplined labor force would
mean.

"We have so far muddled along without organiza-
tion, but now we recognize that we have to face a great
emergency. We must produce more or go short.
This can be done by large-scale organization alone.
How best to bring this about will take a good deal of
investigation and discovery. We have too many
separate people doing the same thing. To avoid the
peril of monopoly we have no end of wasteful compe-
tition. Coal is our key industry. This industry has

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fallen into the hands of about fifteen hundred coal own-
ers, working over three thousand separate mines, with-
out any regard to what each other is doing. This is
true of our transport, agriculture and machine trades.
Our main hope is in thorough reorganization on a na-
tional scale. "

Closely related to the whole question of industrial
expansion for the peace situation is the question of
wages. What has done more than anything else to
cause a feeling of panic among workingmen for a year
past has been the dread that once the end of the war
was announced a sudden drop in wages would take
place along the whole gamut of industry. This dread
has seized on every class of wage-earner.

Eight through the war the big department stores
were doing an abnormally large business, in many
cases outrunning their sales for the previous year by
fifty and sixty per cent. On the day that the armistice
was signed the stores looked like a deserted village.
For a few days the slump in business was accounted
for by the celebrations and let-up after four hard years
of strain. Then the influenza epidemic was dragged
in as an explanation. But the slump kept up. Mer-
chants called in their department chiefs to find out
what had made the bottom fall out of business. Slowly
the true explanation came to light. Eetrenchment was
the order of the day. With the shutting down of war
orders a large proportion of trade automatically shut
down. Thousands who were getting bonuses of vari-
ous sorts and wages based on a labor-scarcity value
were waiting for the scaling down of income that they
believed must come.

No such drop has so far taken place. But the gen-

56 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

eral feeling was one of discounting what seemed the
inevitable, and money was being spent on bare necessi-
ties only. An improved tone may be noted now. The
business of the shops is picking up. Wages are not
tumbling; nor prices. Everything is being done to
steady the situation, but there is still a feeling of uncer-
tainty.

The question of post-war wages is coming up for set-
tlement. Much good has been done by statements of
various large employers that no change in the wage
scale would take place if only production could be
maintained on the most efficient basis possible. Dur-
ing the greater part of the war period workers in most
of the big industries, especially in those doing war
work, were directly subject to compulsory arbitration.
They were compelled to submit all differences for set-
tlement by the government, without recourse to strike.
Under the Munitions of War Act there was provided
the additional power of acting in all industrial disputes
by what was called Royal Proclamation, and this power
was used in disputes, such as those which rose in the
coal industry and among the dock laborers. A Com-
mittee on Production was established to deal with con-
ditions in the engineering trades, so called — that is,
the metal trades. It became a wage tribunal on a large
scale. It struggled throughout its career with about
two hundred different wage standards or, rather, wage
districts. The workers' organizations have been try-
ing to reduce this chaos of two hundred to about a
dozen clearly defined scales. There are about three
hundred thousand members on the rolls of one of these
organizations, and on their output much of Britain's
industrial restoration depends. There is good reason,

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then, for the present activity in clearing up the tangled
wage situation. Coal miners and railway men have
been virtually state employees throughout the war, and
the pre-war system of collective bargaining was the
method used in all new wage adjustments.

Trade boards, at work for years before the war,
acting very much like the Minimum Wage Boards in
our states, continued without any change. All these
boards have raised the minimum rates, which by cer-
tain new legal provisions come into effect earlier than
has hitherto been the case. Wartime experience in
wage adjustments will probably affect the methods
used from now on. As the country needs nothing so
much as a stable period of recuperation it is certain
that the whole question of wage adjustment will be
treated not piecemeal, as hitherto, and by localities,
but — for big industries at least — -by a policy of cen-
tralized wage negotiation and award. For example,
workers in the metal trades, foundries, shipbuilding,
chemical, docking and transportation industries have
secured advances on a national scale, and national ne-
gotiations have begun to take the place of the old-time
method of local wage arrangements.

No one can go very far into the production situation
here without a fresh look at the wastage from the bung-
hole — the alcoholic bunghole. There may be such a
thing as making too much of the drink situation here,
because most men are sober, clean living and law abid-
ing. Workingmen are not heavy drinkers, taken as
a whole, and it is a fact worth noting that many of
the well-known labor representatives here are total
abstainers. But this is undeniably true: If any one
thing threatens the large-scale output for which the

58 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

whole country is organizing itself it is a drink situa-
tion such as was familiar before the war. This coun-
try has been no worse in this respect than many an-
other. If any people anywhere in the world follow
the ways of order these of the British Isles most cer-
tainly do. But there is and there has been enough of
a liquor problem here to make any slurring over of its
mischief a source of great danger.

At the risk of going over familiar ground I must say
something about the war experience with the liquor
trade. During the war the drink question ceased to be
a purely reform issue. It was dealt with entirely as a
production question, and the temperance reformer as
such was elbowed away by the business man, industrial
magnate, efficiency expert and doctor, who were con-
cerned wholly with the winning of the war. The drink
traffic was assailed because it lessened working power
and fighting power. From the point of view of both
efficiency and economy the case against drink was
argued with vigor, and -there was every indication that
at one time the government was about to prohibit the
manufacture and sale of drink out of hand.

With emphasis and point Lloyd George, in a speech
delivered in February, 1915, put the anti-drink ef-
ficiency case in words thaJt struck right home. He de-
clared that drink was causing delay in the production
of necessary materials.

"Most of our workmen, " he said, "are putting every
ounce of strength into this urgent work for their coun-
try, loyally and patriotically. But that is not true of
all. There are some, I am sorry to say, who shirk their
duty in this emergency. I hear of workmen in arma-
ment works who refuse to work a full week 's work for

MORE OUTPUT 59

the nation's need. What is the reason? They are a
minority. But you must remember a small minority
of workmen can throw a whole works out of gear.
What is the reason!

"Sometimes it is one thing, sometimes another, but
let us be perfectly candid : It is mostly the lure of the
drink. They refuse to work full time, and when they
return, their strength and efficiency are impaired by
the way in which they have spent their leisure. Drink
is doing us more damage in the war than all the Ger-
man submarines put together."

He repeated his charge at a conference of the trade
unions in the following month, and stated he was speak-
ing on the authority of reports from the Admiralty and
War Office. His indictment was confirmed even by the
Transport Workers Federation, which stated that the
diminished efficiency of the intemperate minority — "so
interdependent is modern labor" — showed a marked
influence upon the output of the total number of men
engaged in any set of operations but, though admitting
the charge, it went on to suggest one positive remedy
—that while work was being done during the night in
shipyards, docks and other places of production some
provision should be made for necessary refreshment.

How the authorities dealt with the problem is an in-
teresting chapter in war history. The problem pre-
sented some new features. There had been a great
shift in the distribution of labor. Men left their homes
and to some extent abandoned settled habits, gathering
in bulk round the new munition factories, some of
which were located in isolated places, some in and
near the big towns. And these new aggregations of
workingmen, cut off largely from the normal influences

60 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of home life, earning good wages for the most part,
but having scant leisure, and without much inclination
after a hard day's work for active recreation, were
naturally an easy prey for the public house. Excesses
in drinking are a common reaction from overwork.
Figures show a close relation between good earnings
and drunkenness. A committee appointed to inves-
tigate health matters among munition workers re-
ported in dealing with hours of labor that fatigue
"meant temptation to men to use alcohol; they are too
tired to eat, and seek a stimulant."

The committee insisted on facilities for workers to
obtain a hot meal, especially at night ; and a clear case
was made out quite early in the investigation for the
setting up of industrial canteens in docks, works and
yards. Living as great masses of men were in hut-
ments, crowded tenements and even tents near the
works, the ordinary strain was intensified by loss of
rest and absence of home care ; and this led, of course,
to still more drinking.

Such was the situation. In dealing with it the au-
thorities undertook a policy of restriction; they cur-
tailed the hours of sale, prohibited the sale of liquors
above a specified strength, and sought to remove in-
centives to excess by establishing canteens for the sale
of nonalcoholic refreshment, and by prohibiting treat-
ing and chalking up. Convivial drinking was shown to
be the cause of nearly half the convictions in the po-
lice courts ; and the practice of chalking up a score for
the habitues of a "pub" and getting a settlement on
pay day is one that makes a glass in hand worth two
in the pay envelope. The control policy was embodied

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in the Defense of the Realm Act, and gave large pow-
ers to a board to control the drink trade.

These powers were exercised in many ways ; licensed
houses and clubs were closed or their hours of business
reduced, the sale and supply of particular kinds of
liquor restricted and the importations of liquor into
specified districts prohibited. The zones of restriction
were gradually widened, because different hours of
sale, for instance, in small contiguous districts had the
effect of providing drinking men with facilities not
foreseen by the liquor board. There were demands for
the application of a common order to large districts.

At the close of 1915 half the population of Britain
was under the board's orders, and at the end of 1917
roughly thirty-eight millions of Britain's total popu-
lation of forty-one millions were enjoying the benefits
of the control policy.

Hours of sale were reduced enormously. Before the
war public houses were normally open for nearly
twenty hours out of the twenty-four; the board re-
duced them to something like an average of five hours
and a half — two hours and a half at midday and three
hours in the evening, generally from six o'clock to
nine. At the same time the alcoholic strength of liquor
was reduced, especially in the case of spirits, and the
sale of spirits over the week-ends was later prohibited.
Unsuccessful attempts were made to ration drinks by
fixing a maximum quantity, and there was also some
effort to check drinking among the women. Carrying
out a constructive policy the board established nearly
a thousand industrial canteens — most of them in con-
nection with the national munition factories and "con-

62 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

trolled establishments, " a number in the shipyards
and docks. In some four districts the board actually
became public-house managers, acquiring by direct
purchase breweries, licensed houses and "off" li-
censes; two of the four breweries thus acquired were
closed, and about a third of the two hundred and odd
licensed houses.

The whole question is now up for final settlement.
What the ultimate solution will be no one can say,
but this may be ventured as a safe prediction : There
is too much at stake just now, in a convalescing world,
if it be convalescing, for any needless complication,
difficulty and obstacle to be tolerated, and from every
point of view an unrestricted, profit-seeking liquor
traffic along the lines of the good old days before the
war is simply unthinkable.

There is not a more respected employer in all Eng-
land than Mr. W. L. Hichens, whose various interests
embrace a pay roll of thirty-five thousand employees.
I asked him for his views as to the output question and
how labor and management were going to meet it.

"As a large employer of labor I am more interested
in questions affecting labor and capital than in any-
thing else, save the winning of the war. The war has
given us a new angle of vision in regard to many
things. Before the war we lived in an age of indi-
vidualism. Employers organized themselves into fed-
erations, work people organized themselves into trade
unions, and both of these organizations existed for the
purpose of seeking their own interests. Other classes
of society followed suit, with the result that individual
or class interests ranked first and the interests of the
country as a whole took second place. Then came the

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war, and straightway some three million men in this
country were found to offer the supreme sacrifice of
their lives, not for themselves or for a group but for
their country. The cloud's seemed to lift ; our horizon
extended; we realized that patriotism ranked above
individualism and that the supreme good of the coun-
try could only be secured by self-sacrifice. Many of us
even began to dream dreams and to picture to our-
selves the wider form of patriotism after the war.
And we woke up surprised to find how far away we
had drifted from the old individualism of pre-war
days."

"This widened outlook, I think, applies to the subject
of production. Before the war how many men made it
their ideal to try to put together a competence at the
earliest possible moment in order that they might re-
tire and live happily ever afterward? How many
young men and women were there who thought it no
shame to live a life of idleness if they could afford to
do so? But the war again has changed all that. We
realize now that there is an unlimited demand for
everything that we can produce; it seems to me that
if it is an essential thing for us to work as hard as
we can in order to preserve our liberties it will also
be a valuable thing if after the war we can realize that
it is worth while then to work as hard as we can for
the sake of the whole community.

"As I say, to-day there is an unlimited demand for
everything we can produce. Now everybody knows
that if we import from abroad we have got to pay in
one of four ways : By means of selling our securities ;
or by exporting gold— but the supply of gold is small
compared to our requirements ; a third way is that we

64 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

can raise loans in the countries with which we wish to
trade — that again is not an unlimited source of sup-
ply; the fourth and by far the most important way is
that we can exchange the goods which we want to
buy in other countries for goods exported from this
country. And that, everybody will realize, is by far
the most satisfactory way of achieving our object.

"Now there are ways in which more can be done.
The first is by means of increased government organ-
ization. I do not personally think that a very great
deal can be done in that way; for one thing because
the sturdy independence of Englishmen, which is a
very valuable quality and far superior to the unreason-
ing docility of the Germans, does not lend itself too
much to government organization. Individual liberty
has its price, but it is worth paying for. However,
there are certain things government can do.

"But though in this way a good deal can be done,
yet I believe that we have got for the most part to de-
pend upon our own individual enterprise and effort.
I feel convinced that the production of this country can
be largely increased because I believe that it is still in
us to make a much bigger effort than we have hitherto.
Before the war the output per workingman in the
United States was two and a half times as great as
the output per workingman in this country. Of course
statistics are always open to suspicion, and that figure
is subject to considerable qualifications in particular,
because in the United States you have far more labor-
saving devices than we have in this country. The
fault of that, I am free to confess, lies very largely with
the employers at home, who have not taken the trouble,
in a great many cases, to find out what the latest and

MORE OUTPUT 65

most efficient labor-saving devices were, because they
felt that they could rely on a comparatively cheap labor
supply.

"It may be surprising to say that even now some
restriction of output should exist, but the reason is
not really far to seek. The fact of the matter is that
we have been unable in this respect to shake clear al-
together of our pre-war ideas, and we have been un-
able to adopt the new angle of vision which we have
adopted in other cases. Eestriction of output, as
everybody knows, is a weapon in the fight between
labor and capital. There is no real object in restrict-
ing output in the hope that the employer will be deluded
into the belief that it is impossible to produce an in-
creased amount of work. Moreover, I think one can
easily show that restriction of output is a bad plan any-
how, because it is only by increasing output that one
can increase wages. After all, one can only pay wages
out of production, and if production is reduced the
obvious thing is that wages will in the long run have
to be reduced too. Labor argues that it ought to have
a larger part of the profit that now goes to capital.
But the difficulty is that after allowing a reasonable
margin of profit for capital the balance at the best of
times would not go very far in improving the position
of labor. It would not enable very much bigger wages
to be paid than are paid to-day. The only way really
to pay considerably higher wages is to increase sub-
stantially the production of the country.

"I think that if these points are clearly and dispas-
sionately argued it will be difficult for labor to deny
their justice and truth ; but at the same time they will,
I believe, carry very little conviction to the mind of

66 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the workingman, because he will feel — and, in my
opinion, quite rightly — that the statement is far too
one-sided to be at all convincing to him. He will say :
4 Our difficulty is that, supposing we are to increase
production very considerably, what guaranty have we
got that that increase will go to us and not all be ap-
propriated by capital! ' The real grievance that labor
feels is that capital has in the past taken more than
its fair share of the good things of this world, and I
think if one looks at the matter broadly one must ad-
mit that there is a good deal of truth in this contention.
One has to remember that this country is a democracy
and that in a democracy it is necessary for all the mem-
bers to get together for the problems that they have
to decide. This is one of the biggest problems that
calls for decision, and it is imperative that we should
have mature thought jointly in order that we may
come to a right conclusion. ' '

There are hopeful signs a-plenty that British in-
dustry is getting ready for a large expansion, and
that this expansion will not be of mechanical kind
alone. The big production which every manufacturer
is looking forward to will have in view the big fact that
confidence between management and men is the only
lasting foundation on which to get results. More out-
put and more .mutual confidence will go hand in hand.
There is no question in any quarter that increased ef-
ficiency must come soon. It is under way right now.
Both the volume and the quality of output are con-
siderations in every program of the merchant and
manufacturer.

To get this result industrial leaders -are looking in
the direction of improving the organization and its

MORE OUTPUT 67

personnel, of eliminating waste and friction, and most
important of all, of giving enough attention to the
problem of increasing the opportunities of coopera-
tion between management and men. The best em-
ployers here appreciate the fact that raising the level
of productive capacity is finally a question of improv-
ing the conditions under which the work is done and
the spirit in which the parties concerned carry on un-
der the same roof. There has been far too great a
sacrifice during an eternity of the war period, and
both this country and the world in general are too
sorely in need of recuperation for much patience with
the slacker — the moral slacker as well as the indus-
trial slacker. And a moral slacker is a man who will
not play the game according to the new rules and the
new ideals of industrial team play.

While on a recent four-hundred-mile tour of the dev-
astated country of Northern France and Belgium we
were leaving Cambrai, a terrible skeleton of its former
glory. Kain and mist softened the raw edges of its
desolation. Houses telescoped, the roof of a big
church covering a row of shattered buildings half a
block away, trees lying across the brick piles which
once were dwelling places — in this City of the Dead
there stands one entire front of a building, the rest of
it mingling its dust with the dust and rubbish of the
town. On it are the letters : Chambre de Commerce.
Round this ruin German prisoners were clearing a
roadway, Chinese labor battalions were propping up
the leaning party walls, and everywhere was the
Tommy busily trying to do such tidying up as was
possible.

A whole cityful of men, women and children, scat-

68 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tered to the four winds, are anxiously awaiting word
to return to the place they had once called home. And
this Chamber of Commerce, once the heart of the
town's business life, with the only intact front wall
in its neighborhood, waits for goods to flow through
again and bring occupation, self-support and self-re-
spect to a stricken population.

Cambrai is only a symbol and a type of want, im-
poverishment and insufficiency. The spirit of the
Tommy, cheerfully and silently at work in the thank-
less task of bringing order, safety and opportunity,
meager enough, in these abominations of desolation, is
the spirit in which the productive energies of the
world must be put forth for years to come. The need
is great. Cambrai differs from the unwrecked places
of civilization only in the circumstance that what right-
minded men have ahead of them in the way of effort
and service is so painfully visible there.

CHAPTER in

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN

THE business of handling a large force of men
is no longer a mystery. It is something which
can be put into words plain enough for the average
man to understand. Keeping an organization going
through power over other men takes far less brains
than does the winning of their cooperation by appeal
to their intelligence and their interest." A leader in
British industry voices in these words an important
change in the viewpoint of industrial executives. "I
expect all my fellow employees, whatever may be
their work, to help. I know that they can help improve
our organization and our product. And they know
that I appreciate such help. I want to see them grow
in management skill and point of view. One way to
do this is to open up opportunities for all to know the
problems we have to meet day by day, and to take
counsel with them. Our men see things which we can-
not 'see. No man can be a judge in his own cause. If
we tolerate this we have the formula that might is
right, something that we have just defeated. We
want an Anglo-Saxon, not a Prussian, ideal of industry
and its management. That ideal is of service on the
part of every man engaged in it — or we all move in
a kind of living death. If there is no ideal of service
we have to find out how far we are the cause of this
failure. Men ordinarily give about the response we

69

70 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

look for in them. There is no reason for any failure
to make employment a service if we try hard enough.
But we must believe first that it is. A few years ago
I was interested in a company started to trade on the
Gold Coast. We decided to limit our profits to a rea-
sonable figure, and to turn over the surplus for the
benefit of the inhabitants of the country with which
we were trading. There was no cant, no humbug or
charity about it. We did not sell silk hats to the
naked natives. We sought a fair trade, gave good
value, and used the fund to supply real wants, such as
medical care, for which there was no extra charge.
It was our idea that the country had already paid us
for this service through our trade. "

Production of the goods for which a shaken world
is waiting does not altogether depend on how much the
man at the bench will extend himself, though more solid
effort all round is needed; nor on how far workmen
will collectively throw over practices which hold pro-
duction back. They will do this, given certain assur-
ances. Nor does it rest on the changes in plant and
tools which the employer is introducing, though all
those things will help and go a long way. It hangs
on things that go deeper into essential human nature,
and the wise man is he who takes careful account of
those things. Management of men is just manage-
ment of human nature, and this human nature after a
long siege of war strain and of danger, alarms, and
situations which have stirred the brain cells of the
multitude is not quite the human nature that it was
before the war. There can be no doubt that every-
where you sense a wish to settle down, a longing for
quiet and for the ordinary routine of everyday life.

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 71

That settling down will not take place until certain
difficulties are adjusted and a certain uneasiness ap-
peased. Unless these things are done disaffection will
be there to harass and disturb.

Some share for this unsettled state of mind which
one glimpses in going up and down industrial centers
can be traced to sharp resentment against the kind of
supervision under which the men have been working.
Not that this supervision has been always harsh or
incapable — -such an assertion would be unfair and ex-
aggerated. In many instances there has been wisdom,
understanding. But while employers have theorized
and experimented the workers have been thinking hard
on the whole management proposition, and they cher-
ish certain strong convictions as to how they should
be dealt with. These convictions are not always
clearly stated; but the purpose is clear enough, even
though the phrasing favored by the more aggressive
would, if carried to its conclusion, undo all organiza-
tion and tumble industry into a heap.

But, I repeat, the men have been busily brooding
over notions of something better in shop relationship
than they have had before, and as thoughts are facts
it is worth while trying to understand what is behind
their feeling about the conduct of the workshop and
their part in it.

Having worked at full tilt throughout the war, and
believing that they were sharing, as never before, with
foremen, managers and employers in a common busi-
ness directed to a common end — namely, that of win-
ning the war — the workmen, take them as a whole, have
developed in this war experience a new interest in the
industrial organization of which they have been a part,

12 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and a new sense of their relation to it. They are giv-
ing up, if they have not already abandoned, the idea
that they are mere sojourners in their place of employ-
ment. All through the war they were told again and
again — and they were disposed to believe it — that in
their hands lay victory or disaster; that they were
needed just where they were ; that they were the heart
and the solar plexus of the organization; and that
nothing could excuse any slacking or shifting about—
in short, that they belonged very much right where
they found themselves.

Every effort was made to steady the working force.
For a time men were not allowed to flit from job to job.
Pressure of all sorts was used to hold them to their
work. And when the pressure — that of the war regu-
lations especially — was relaxed, public opinion and
shop opinion against the floater and the job hobo came
in to help. So the number of job changes was kept
down. Every man was expected to do his duty, and if
he was a workman exempt from military service there
was an additional reason to stand by. And the men
stood by; and the longer they stayed the more they
made comparisons, both mental and vocal, of the per-
sonnel that gave them orders and instructions and had
the say over their comings and goings.

Every plant on war work and very many others have
been under a most lively public scrutiny. Everybody
seemed to know all about their inner workings. What-
ever may have been the privacy they once enjoyed, the
strictly internal affairs — the domestic gossip, as it
were — of every great establishment became common
property. Eating places, the canteens, the pubs, the
smoking coaches — all became daily centers of exchange

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 73

and quotation in rating of managerial idols — or the
contrary, as the case may have been, and often was.
And out of these informal and universal juries certain
notions as regards management and the man power
under its ordering came into view, as I have already
intimated, and though of low visibility at first it yet
was of sufficient significance to furnish the abler among
employers with food for thought.

This is the lesson that struck home the hardest:
That the chain of management is never any stronger
than its weakest foreman link. By foreman I mean
any of the variety of in-between officials of the plant —
overseer, boss, leading man or whatever the local desig-
nation may be — for the man who comes directly in con-
tact with the men, stands in their eyes for manage-
ment as a whole, and rules their shop life and duties.
This foreman, unfortunately for industry, appears in
the drama as more or less of a pocketed, sidetracked
individual, though his part is that of intermediary be-
tween the man at the top and the rank and file. He
was neither expected nor encouraged to broaden his
own industrial outlook. He had been put into a niche
and was left there so long as he didn't give any trouble
and delivered the output according to schedule. Con-
ferences there were aplenty, but he was not among
those present; executives met to shape up far-reach-
ing policies, but he never sat in. As of the poor, short
and simple annals only were expected of him.

The only trouble with this proposition is that the sit-
uation does not lend itself to any such simplicity.
There is not a man on the whole industrial general staff
who influences as much the temper, tone and smooth
working of an industry as does this same unconsidered

74 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

foreman person. He deals with human nature every
minute, and that same human nature deals with him
about as frequently, and the action and reaction of
these forces, to use laboratory lingo, is a subject suit-
able for minds well above the freshman grade. To
sidetrack this foreman then — that is, to fail to help him
grow in insight — is to choke up a vital channel of com-
munication between management and men.

The folly of it has come home to those abler employ-
ers before mentioned. They are getting at least a
glimpse of their men's real attitude and intention.
Their enlightenment is not sudden. It has been going
on for years, the war merely accelerating the process.
Many men of affairs having the interest or desire could
find out the best that was being done or thought any-
where. They could read or travel and talk with any
man whose industrial opinions they cared for. With-
out much trouble they could give themselves as wide
a knowledge of industrial questions as they pleased.
There is nothing disparaging in pointing out that the
business executive to-day is, on the whole, decades in
advance of his immediate predecessors as regards in-
dustrial insight. And there is coming up a new genera-
tion of industrial leaders in Britain, bred in a sym-
pathy with democracy, which promises much for the
future of industry and for right relations among those
who share its burden.

One of the first improvements concerns that yawn-
ing mental gap between the man who has the power to
give orders and those who take them. The building up
of an enlightened f oremanship is one of the big and as
yet mainly untackled jobs of management. That here
and there good beginnings have been made only

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 75

strengthens the sense of need. As clear and decisive
is the need, if management is to win the respect of the
managed, for finer tools than have thus far been used.
The man power that is enlisted for the world's re-
construction will have to be dealt with in terms that
suggest an understanding of its hopes and sense of
values.1 To grasp this is to have the secret of suc-
cessful management in the days to come.

At the other end the masses, the rank and file, the
working forces — however we choose to put it — have
also been undergoing a mental overhauling. The ex-
tent of it is even yet hardly realized by the man who
leaves his office after the day's work, sees the men flow
through the gates, and then proceeds to his home or
club, where he meets those who think as he does, have
about the same kind of information as to what is going
on, and where he never gets a glimmer of a life which
takes on fresh vigor and fervor after the factory win-
dows are darkened.

To get an idea of what is really happening to the
workingman one must go to the sources of his inspira-
tion— to his meetings and gathering places, to the eve-
ning school, the public school, the free lectures, read
the press and the literature of the crowded quarters,
and browse among their dingy bookstalls and pushcarts
laden with the solidest reading matter outside of the
specialists ' reference shelves. And these are only a few
of the stimulants of the modern workman. Intelligent
executives are aware of these stirrings and are not
unsympathetic with them. They are, in fact, earnestly
trying to square their own ideas of handling the work-

i See page 287. The Labor Party's Statement on the Labor Problems
after the \Yar.

76 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

force with this new self-respect of their employees.
The motive that prompts them is not wholly selfish.
They welcome the coming of an organization in which
the lowliest member may feel that he has something to
chip in of suggestion, criticism and idealism.

Industrial unrest in Britain can no longer be ac-
counted for by dissatisfaction with wage rates or hours
of labor, as in the early days of trade-union agitation.
There was a time, not long past, when it was possible
to ask in regard to a particular dispute "How much do
they want this time?" An increase of a penny an
hour or a couple of shillings a week represented gener-
ally the extent of the demands. Sometimes the men re-
sented bad factory conditions or objected to the man-
ners or lack of manners of their foremen, and ceased
work in protest; sometimes they wanted a shorter
working day, less overtime, a rearrangement of rest
days, and the like ; but broadly it may be said that un-
til a few years ago the workers as a class were not
much in revolt against any system as such or acutely
conscious of there being anything wrong with their
place in industry. Within a short period, however, a
marked change has taken place in attitude. A new
note of criticism crept into their propaganda, denying
the claim that industry was already well managed and
could not be improved. Among large sections of the
workers, especially among the younger men, a new
temper has appeared.

Their ideas are easy to dismiss with a contemptuous
shrug as half-baked notions of the imperfectly edu-
cated. Imperfectly educated, indeed, the younger
workingmen may be, and victims of phrases ; but these
men are tenacious; one creed is expounded by the en-

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 77

ergetic men of the guild movement and the shop-stew-
ard movement, which declares that the worker is no
longer a mere cog in the industrial machine. It in-
furiates the worker to be described as a "hand"; he
repudiates the notion that he ought to be content
with a slow amelioration of his lot. Much of his dis-
like of the welfare schemes put forward by employers,
his contempt of profit-sharing arrangements, still more
his suspicion of ' ' scientific management ' ' cannot be ex-
plained except by reference to his stubborn suspicion
that his claim to be treated as a human being is subtly
being circumvented.' It is less and less possible to
humor him. What he wants is to be treated as an
equal. One has only to come into contact with these
groups of which I speak to realize that increases in
wages, shorter working hours, welfare schemes, pen-
sions and even a share of the profits, though desirable
in themselves, do not go far enough. The active spirits
among the rank and file are bent upon raising the status
of their class.

The amount of quiet but effective education going on
among the workmen of these isles is barely appreci-
ated by the public at large. Ask the man on the street
what he knows about the Workers' Educational As-
sociation and he will probably tell you that he has never
heard of it ; or, if he has, the chances are that he har-
bors a misty notion of its being some academic sort of
thing. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
This association and other like activities among the
men have in view the big, long-headed purpose of fit-
ting the British worker for a large place and respon-
sibility in the conduct of industry. The rank and file
are taking in hand the job of improving the man-power

78 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

quality of the country, doing this in the strong convic-
tion that only as they fit themselves can they hope to
get and keep a bigger role in the management of in-
dustry. Oxford University has been in this undertak-
ing a noteworthy assistance and inspiration. Some
of the brightest and ablest graduates of this and, in-
deed, of other universities, too, have been leaders and
teachers in this work.

What is the Workers' Educational Association, or
the W. E. A., as it is better known? Founded in 1903
by a group of trade union and cooperative society mem-
bers the W. E. A. now comprises nearly three thousand
organizations, such as trades councils, cooperative edu-
cation committees, workingmen 's clubs and teachers '
associations. Its local branches cover the industrial
centers of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. Sup-
port for this work flows from a large number of small
contributions and from government grants. Work-
men enroll for as much as a three years' course, and
keep up a good attendance. In the summer school for
workingmen at Oxford you will find a roomful of men
—potters, plumbers, carpenters, miners and machin-
ists— wrestling over economic questions with profes-
sors of world-wide fame.

Prof. Gilbert Murray, the famous Greek scholar,
tells this incident:

11 There was a close friend of mine, once my secre-
tary, who gave up that post to become a W. E. A.
teacher. In this new work he had a very small salary,
and hard work. He had offers at higher salaries, but
he refused them all for this teaching of workingmen.
When the war came he enlisted, and after he had re-

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 79

ceived a commission he found himself commanding
some of those North Country miners who before the
war used to form his classes in history and political
science. When he was mortally wounded some of his
men almost gave up their own lives in a long and brave
effort to save him. One of these men later received
the Victoria Cross for his effort to save his teacher
commander. "

Ruskin College, at Oxford, was founded to bring
workingmen under university influence, and among
other activities it has been carrying on correspondence
courses for the men who could not become residents.
The Central Labor College is a rebel offshoot of this
institution, and operates through the Plebs League.
This college is supported by the National Union of
Eailwaymen and the South Wales Miners' Federation.
The state of the mind of the Plebs League is sufficiently
indicated by its motto: "I can promise to be candid
but not impartial. " A monthly, the " Plebs Maga-
zine, " was issued until suppressed by the government,
it is generally believed for its revolutionary activities
during the war. The Commission on Industrial Un-
rest found that the propaganda of the Central Labor
College was one of the chief sources of trouble in
South Wales coal district. In March, 1917, the com-
mission states, nineteen classes were being conducted
in South Wales, with some five hundred men in at-
tendance. But the influence of the work could not be
measured by the small membership of these classes.
This influence is, as the committee points out, "de-
liberate of purpose/* and forms a leaven which can
on occasion ferment considerably.

How many men if they were asked what was the

80 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

greatest business enterprise in the British Empire-
greatest in volume of trade combined with the largest
number of shareholders — could answer offhand "The
cooperative movement "? Here is one of the giant en-
terprises of the present day. It is the biggest school
of business on earth, providing workmen with experi-
ence in business management such as nothing else
gives; it is the recruiting and training station for in-
dustrial leaders to a degree which warrants my giv-
ing more than passing mention to the workings of the
cooperative movement.

In origin the movement dates back to the days of
Robert Owen and the Eochdale Pioneers — the first co-
operative store being that founded at Eochdale in Lan-
cashire by the now historic twenty-eight poor weavers,
who in December, 1844, opened the Auld Weyvurs'
Shop, in Toad Lane, as a grocery store. This shop
at first was open only on Saturday and Monday eve-
nings ; one member acting as salesman, another as sec-
retary, a third as cashier to a trade of about ten dol-
lars a week, while a fourth was custodian of the capital,
amounting to less than one hundred and fifty dollars,
gathered by dint of hard saving. To-day the coopera-
tive stores are the recognized medium of supply for
the household necessities of not much less than half the
industrial population of Great Britain.

The device that made the Rochdale Pioneers the
type of all time and established the movement was the
division of ' ' profits ' ' or surplus on the purchases of all
the customers.

From the humble beginnings of twenty-eight mem-
bers the movement has grown, until to-day the United

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 81

Kingdom includes fifteen hundred societies with an
aggregate membership of three and a half million
shareholders. Its annual trade is now no less than one
billion dollars ; its capital in shares, loans and deposits
amounts to three hundred and forty millions; its re-
serve fund equals four hundred millions, with a
"profit" or surplus of one hundred millions a year.
The value of its land, buildings and stock is one hun-
dred millions, and it has at least fifty millions invested
in house-building schemes for its members. The per-
sons employed directly in the movement number one
hundred and sixty thousand, and the annual wages bill
is sixty millions. More than six hundred thousand
dollars annually is set aside for purposes of education,
propaganda and recreation; a similiar sum being de-
voted to charitable purposes.

When it is remembered that the whole of this colos-
sal undertaking is managed by workingmen, such as
colliers, engineers, weavers, spinners and carpenters,
who give their scant leisure without any fee or reward,
and travel up and down the land in the interest of this
movement for bare expenses, we realize at once that
something almost religiously deep and strong must be
acting on the minds of this great army.

J. S. May, the general secretary of the International
Cooperative Alliance, told me: "One of the funda-
mental principles of the movement is that it shall have
no dealings with the liquor traffic. In spite of the
grocers' licenses this principle is rigidly adhered to,
and so far from weakening on the question as the
movement develops the tendency is, for example, in
acquiring land either for business purposes or the

82 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

many housing schemes of the societies, to extinguish
existing licenses, and certainly to prevent them from
operating on cooperative soil.

"Of course the great contribution which the move-
ment has made to the well-being of the people lies in
facilities for thrift. In the first place, the system of
cash payments for all goods has worked a revolution
in the habits of the people once compromised by the
system of * truck7 which many employers set up in their
factories. Robert Owen made the first practical ex-
periment to combat this evil at his works at New Lan-
ark in the early days of the nineteenth century by es-
tablishing a cost-price store for the use of his work-
people. Their wages were paid in the full instead of
being set off against their score at the shop of the
master and they were at liberty to spend their wages
at the store which Owen had provided or to go else-
where. Such a scheme was then considered quixotic
in the extreme, but the modern cooperative movement
has done much to secure the passing of the Truck Acts
which abolished the whole bad system.

4 'The plan of building up share capital by small pay-
ments of six cents and upward, together with the later
rule that dividends on purchases should be capitalized
up to the amount of the minimum shareholding, made
the thrift of the members nearly automatic. Many
a family to-day realizes to the full the truth of the
saying that 'an Englishman's house is his castle7
simply as the result of the saving thus practised.
They have literally eaten themselves into their own
house and home.

"The boards or committees of management consist
solely of working men arid women, who are elected and

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 83

usually serve for one year. Their services are gra-
tuitous except in the case of the cooperative wholesale
societies, where they are required to give their whole
time to the work, and are therefore paid salaries, the
highest of which is under twenty-five hundred dollars
a year.

" After the committees of management come the
business managers and secretaries. The training of
such men has been a fairly long and varied process,
which will best be illustrated by one or two examples.
Alexander McLeod, the late general manager and sec-
retary of the Woolwich Society, was a working machin-
ist in the Royal Arsenal over fifty years ago. He and
his shopmates decided to establish a cooperative so-
ciety in Woolwich. They began in a small back room
in a side street near the entrance to the factory, and
announced in the workshop that they would attend on
certain evenings in the week to distribute the chest
of tea purchased by the aid of the combined contribu-
tions of their shopmates. Eventually a shop was taken
in the town and the society grew until to-day it numbers
over fifty thousand members and its trade approxi-
mates to one half million sterling a year. It is the
largest and most successful society near London.

i 'In more recent times the movement has been com-
pelled, by reason of its rapid increase and the dearth
of men acquainted with the peculiarities of coopera-
tive trade, to train its own managers. Generally
speaking, this is practicable because each society is
autonomous, and begins in small ways. There is little
difficulty in obtaining from an existing society a man
trained in the methods of buying and selling who is
capable of controlling operations at the start of a new

84 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

society, especially when assured of the assistance and
advice which the central federations of our societies
place at his disposal in the matter of purchasing,
stocks, accountancy, and so on. As the society grows
and spreads into branches salesmen who show business
aptitude and initiative are selected to take charge of
the branch shops. Here begins a very important part
of the training.

"When the history of the great war comes to be
written in all its fullness the world will be amazed to
learn what a great part the cooperative organization
and the influence of its ideals have played in securing
the best interests of the nations affected by the war.
I refer directly to the influence and work of the asso-
ciations of workingmen and women. Whether you
look to Britain or France or Kussia, or even among the
Central Powers of Europe arrayed against the forces
of democracy and liberty, the result is the same.
Every government has been faced with the necessity
of providing for the needs of its civil population out of
a depleted larder and a world shortage of foodstuffs
and other necessaries of life.

"The stocks available to the civil population were
still further reduced by the necessity of insuring to the
army at the Front a full supply of the best that the
world afforded. Faced with the necessity of dis-
tributing supplies on the basis of the miracle of the
loaves and fishes; confronted also with the possibility
—if they failed to secure something like equitable dis-
tribution— of discontent and anarchy at home, the gov-
ernments of Europe separately but as if with one con-
sent adopted a national form of cooperation. We are
far from saying that their application of cooperative

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 85

methods was complete or even scientifically applied.
The governments had commandeered stocks, fixed
prices and directed the channels through which goods
should pass to the consumers. The cooperative so-
cieties were not only practically immune from all the
severities of control, except the difficulty in obtaining
supplies, but their experience and practice had been
the touchstone of government prices and the consum-
ers' needs during the war. Again, it must not be as-
sumed that the prices which have been fixed by the
Ministry of Food have been the lowest at which co-
operators could conduct their business. ' '

In any large town, particularly in the north of Eng-
land, you cannot walk for ten minutes through any in-
dustrial neighborhood without coming on two or three
branches of the cooperative store that serves it. If
they are merely local branches they will look like any
ordinary shop. If you happen to strike the central
store you will find it housed in an imposing block of
buildings not much different from the department
store in the United States.

The main feature of the cooperative store is that it
exists not for the general public but for its registered
customers, and as a rule no one but the registered cus-
tomer gets a cent of profit out of the concern. That
does not mean that the ordinary housewife cannot buy
at a cooperative store. She can. You can go into a
store yourself and buy a pair of shoes or a soft hat or
a loaf of bread or a leg of mutton or a stone of pota-
toes or a ton of coal, and pay for them at the market
price. The store has no objection to selling to you,
but if you want to reap the advantages that give the
cooperative movement its reason for existence you

86 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

must become a member and get an official number.
That is a very simple matter. All that is necessary
is to invest anything, from five dollars to a thousand,
in the store. Five per cent is paid on the money and at
the same time you become entitled to a share in the
profits of the business, in proportion not to your hold-
ing of stock but to the volume of your purchases over
the counter.

Every time the mechanic's wife goes to the store
for her week's groceries or her bread or her fuel or her
pots and pans she gives her number at the pay desk
and receives in return a check with the amount of her
purchase marked on it. At the end of every quarter
the store 's books are balanced, and all the profits, after
payment of rent, wages, management expenses and the
fixed dividend on capital, are divided among the mem-
ber-purchasers in proportion to the totals of their ac-
counts with the store for the period.

There is one exception to that: In addition to the
payment to purchasers there is often a small bonus
given to employees. The principle involved in that
is important, but the actual benefit to the employees is
small, as is shown by the fact that in 1916 the 1484 re-
tail cooperative stores in Great Britain paid out nearly
sixty million dollars in profits divided among pur-
chasers, and only about three hundred and seventy
thousand dollars in bonus to employees. The rate at
which members get repayment varies in different so-
cieties and at different periods from perhaps four per
cent to twelve and a half per cent of what they have
spent in the preceding three months. That amount
they can either draw in cash or reinvest in the store
at five or six per cent interest.

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 87

That is a bare outline of the general principles on
which the cooperative movement is based, but it gives
no adequate impression of the hold the movement has
established on the industrial communities in Great
Britain. To get that you need to go and explore for
yourself the possibilities of a particular store. Take
as a fair example the society — the full title of every
retail store is li Industrial Cooperative Society, Ltd."
—at Plymouth, one of the largest and most prosperous
in the south of England. The locality served by the so-
ciety contains a population of 250,000 people, and of
these it is claimed that 180,000 draw the greater part
of their commodities from the central store or its
branches. The actual membership of the store is
more than 30,000, but most of these are buying not for
a single person but for a family, so that the number
squares well enough with the 180,000 given above.
Each member has five dollars or more — often a good
deal more — invested in the business. The members
are at once the customers and capitalists. The con-
cern belongs to them. They finance it and they buy
from it, and at the end of every quarter they get back
a substantial dividend based on the amount of their
purchases.

A cooperative society of this type throws its net
wide. At the central store, with its restaurant, its
library and its lecture hall, you can buy anything man,
woman or child can need, from a pint of milk to a ton
of coal. But in volume of business the central store
probably does a good deal less than the total of its
branches. They are scattered throughout the town
and in a number of surrounding villages, while in other
villages, where there is no actual store, a motor-truck

88 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

service from Plymouth connects the consumer direct on
two or three days a week with the central establish-
ment. The branch store may stock every kind of
goods or it may deal in one particular line, such as
milk or bread or meat or vegetables. In the recent
shortage of labor and transport a scheme was devised
to reduce the deliveries of milk by setting up milk de-
pots all over the town, at which consumers could call
for what they needed, without going more than a few
hundred yards from their doors.

Though the most striking feature of the cooperative
movement is the pecuniary advantage it gives to its
members it has purposes other than merely financial.
Most societies before paying out the quarterly dividend
deduct an assessment, usually of five per cent, for edu-
cational purposes. Out of that they pay instructors,
run evening classes, and arrange excellent lectures,
either free or at a nominal admission fee. The Ply-
mouth Society has gone much further. A few years
ago a large estate on the seacoast about ten miles from
the town came into the market. The cooperative so-
ciety bid for it and got it. It included some nine or
ten farms, which are being developed to supply the so-
ciety with milk and poultry and meat and vegetables ;
and also two or three excellent houses with well laid-
out grounds. Two of these, placed in beautiful sur-
roundings, have been fitted up as guest houses, at whicli
members of the society — the great majority of them,
it must be remembered, mechanics — can spend a week
or a week-end or a fortnight at rates representing a
bare margin above operating costs. From time to
time lecture schools are arranged here, three days or a

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 89

week being devoted to the study of economic or social
or literary subjects.

The guest houses happen to lie off the lines of rail-
way, and in order that they may be put to the fullest
uses the management of the society, having little use
through the summer months for its motor coal carts,
fits them out as chars-d-bancs and runs half -day trips
out from Plymouth to the house on the coast, carrying
its members ten miles out and ten miles back, giving
them tea and charging them twenty-five cents for the
service.

Here is a typical program of these conferences :

FIRST WEEK: Saturday, August 4, to Friday, August 10.
8:45 A. 3i. to 10:30 A.M. Morning Lectures, followed by discus-
sion. Subject of course for week: The Future of British Co-
operation.

6 :45 p. M. to 8 :00 p. M., Evening Classes.

CLASS SUBJECTS: CLASS A: The Report of the Cooperative Sur-
vey Committee.
CLASS B: The Cooperative Control

of Raw Materials.
CLASS C: Cooperative Finance.

MORNING LECTURES
MONDAY

DAILY SUBJECT— The Lessons of the Past and Their Indication of

Future Possibilities.

CLASS A. DAILY SUBJECT — Retail and Wholesale Distribution.
CLASS B. DAILY SUBJECT — The Necessity for Cooperative Control.
CLASS C. DAILY SUBJECT — Powers and Limitations of Societies in

Raising Capital.

TUESDAY

DAILY SUBJECT — The Future in Home Markets.

CLASS A. DAILY SUBJECT — Cooperative Production.

CLASS B. DAILY SUBJECT — Requirements essential to a Cooperative
Control.

CLASS C. DAILY SUBJECT — Present-Day Resources and Their In-
crease.

90 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

The cooperative wholesale society is a remarkable
organization. It is a vast productive concern which
supplies practically no one but the retail stores affili-
ated with it. The relation of the retail store to the
wholesale society is exactly that of the individual con-
sumer to the retail store. Every store becomes a mem-
ber of the wholesale society, investing capital in it,
buying from it, and receiving back periodically its share
of the wholesale society's profits in the form of a divi-
dend on what is has purchased. This dividend, of
course, explains why the retail societies' stores are
filled with the products of the wholesale society in-
stead of those of private manufacturers. On that
basis the cooperative wholesale society has built up one
of the largest trading concerns in the United King-
dom. Its turnover in 1917, the last year for which
official figures are published, exceeded two hundred and
seventy million dollars — and the volume of trade is
steadily increasing. It owns tea plantations and coal
mines, wharves and granaries and steamers, flour mills
and shoe and clothing factories, foundries and farms—
every kind of plant, in short, needed to supply,
through the medium of the distribution stores, the
wants of a clientele amounting to some twelve to fif-
teen million people.

A movement as vast as this has become could not
entirely escape the strictures of even sympathetic crit-
ics. One of its foundation principles is to "conciliate
the conflicting interests of the capitalists, the worker
and the purchaser, through the equitable division
among them of the fund commonly known as profit."
That is an admirable ideal ; and so far as the capitalist
and the purchaser are concerned it is completely real-

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 91

ized, for under the cooperative system the capitalist
and the purchaser are one. Where the scheme fails
to fulfil early hopes is in regard to its own employees.
In the distributive societies, as has been said, the em-
ployees often share to a small extent in the quarterly
dividend. But in the case of the wholesale society,
which is an employer on a very large scale, the relation
between the management and the workers is not very
different from that which we find between ordinary
employers and their operatives. The wages are not
materially higher, and except in a few special cases
the workers have no more control over industry than
they would have if employed by a private manufac-
turer. As a consequence industrial disputes are of
periodic occurrence, and strikes, which ought to be
unknown under a true cooperative system, have by no
means been eradicated. The truth appears to be that
though the movement has put the relation between
capital and consumer on a new and satisfactory foot-
ing it has not come near solving the problem of the re-
lation between capital and labor.

But if that is true of the movement as a whole there
are a number of special instances in which suggestive
experiments in the way of true cooperative production
are in progress. These take the form of associations
of workers combining for their own benefit, and for
the most part with their own capital, to set up a fac-
tory where they can work under conditions laid down
by themselves, disposing of their goods through the
ordinary channels of trade or through some coopera-
tive society which is glad to enter into trade relations
with a concern animated so largely by its own motives.
One of the most interesting of such enterprises, the

92 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Walsall Locks and Cart Gear, Ltd., which has been
in existence for some forty-five years, does an exten-
sive export trade, having thus, of course, to face on
even terms the competition of the ordinary private
manufacturer. The management committee consists
wholly of employees and is appointed by the share-
holders, most of the latter being employees also. The
workers, therefore, are completely self -managed. The
wages paid are said to be the best in the trade, and
the employees get in addition, from the annual profits,
a bonus equaling five to ten per cent on their yearly
wage.

Other like organizations could be mentioned.
There is, for example, a well-known printing business,
the Garden City Press, at Letchworth. There are
clothing factories at Kettering, Wellingborough and
elsewhere ; some fifteen boot and shoe factories in dif-
ferent localities ; and a number of other isolated busi-
nesses based on the same principle of self-government
and equal division of profits.

The progress of these self-managed productive so-
cieties well deserves attention, for the principle they
embody would appear to supply one answer to the grow-
ing demand of every class of worker for a larger share
in management. Yet the fact remains that the self-
management movement is making little headway ex-
cept in the case of agriculture. Agriculture, however,
cannot quite fairly be compared with the instances that
have been quoted, because in those cases the point in
question was a combination between employees, while
in this case it is a combination between a number of in-
dependent farmers. None the less, the movement now
in progress is of great significance. Following the ex-

SIDELIGHTS OX INDUSTRY 93

ample of Ireland, where the Irish Agricultural Organi-
zation Society, under the wise and stimulating guidance
of Sir Horace Plunkett, has lifted the whole farming
industry of the country into prosperity, farmers' co-
operative societies fostered by a central agricultural
organization society are springing up all over England.
For the most part these are connected with the dairy-
ing side of agriculture, the farmers of a given locality
combining to establish a central factory or depot to
which they send their milk each day to be cooled and
Pasteurized and despatched to the town or made into
cream or butter on the premises. The factory is con-
trolled by the farmers themselves through a manager
appointed by them in their capacity of shareholders.
The movement is growing rapidly and will certainly
increase in scope as well as in the territory it covers.
Cooperative buying of seeds, fertilizers and equipment
is being added to cooperative selling, and in connection
with the Central Agricultural Organization Society an
Agricultural Wholesale Society has just been founded
to undertake the manufacture of machinery for the co-
operative factories and the individual farmers who
own them.

The cooperative movement in Great Britain in its
different forms has secured a place in the economic life
of the country which goes entirely unobserved by the
average business man. But it should be observed that
the movement has established a hold only on the indus-
trial population. That hold it has immensely strength-
ened during the war, for at a time when the cry of
profiteering was rife the cooperative-society member
knew himself to be absolutely secure, since every penny
of extra profit his store might make would come back

94 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

into his own pocket and those of his fellow members
at the end of every quarter. One sign of the impor-
tance of the cooperative movement is the fact that it is
at present discussing the starting of a national daily
paper, while it has come for the first time into the po-
litical field, having run ten candidates at the recent
general election on a special cooperative ticket. Few
great movements in Great Britain are less understood
or better worth understanding, and none is having a
more marked influence on the man-power situation.

What the success of the cooperative movement
teaches is just this: The way to bigger industrial op-
portunity and satisfaction is along the line of prepa-
ration, effort and staying power. That the man power
of the country can fill a bigger place than it has done
up to now is proved by its capacity to swing one of the
greatest businesses in the world. Men who care in-
telligently enough to be willing to pay the price may go
as far in industrial leadership and management as they
choose. But the price is always preparation. No in-
dustry can be run on the basis of a debating club. It
is sure to dry up while the resolutions are on the table.
Management is an affair of brains and not emotions.
Its technic has to be won patiently. Though no mys-
tery— as I have pointed out in the opening quotation—
the business of operating a going concern is no sport
for the amateur. Mr. Sidney Webb has said many
harsh things of industry as it has been carried on, but
nobody has put the matter of management in clearer
words :

" Under any social order, from now to Utopia, man-
agement is indispensable and all-enduring. The more
that men become capable of cooperation in enterprise of

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 95

larger and larger scope, and of greater and greater
complexity, the more indispensable becomes the man-
ager to any high degree of efficiency of human effort."

British employers are now frankly facing the broad-
ening of the foundation for management. They can
no longer hold a narrow view of the foreman's or the
manager's place as they come to perceive that if the
basis of shop administration is broadened much benefit
for industry will result. The times are much too
critical for old prejudices or traditions to be allowed
to defeat the coming together of the forces that keep
the wheels of industry turning. Where beginnings
have been made in widening the opportunity for team-
work in management the results have given satisfac-
tion.

Observe, too, that the man power of industry is in
itself a resource in management. To see and use it as
such is the beginning of industrial wisdom. Both con-
sciously and by indirection the cooperative movement
takes this proposition for granted.

A factory in the north of England employing two
thousand mechanics has been for two years intrusting
to a committee of its employees all matters of shop
discipline, investigation of grievances, and reports on
conditions which needed the attention of the manage-
ment. The chairman of this committee has written to
tell me of his work.

"Our first aim was," he .writes, "to prevent friction
wherever possible between man and man, or between
the employees and the management. Looking back
over the past two years of my own experiences I am
amazed when I consider the number of complaints that
were laid before our committee for investigation. The

96 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

majority were of bogus character. Through lack of
knowledge men thought they had a legitimate grievance
against the foreman or the management, and when we
carefully inquired into the complaints we very often
discovered it was only a delusion. We should never
accept any statement or grievance as gospel truth.
By this method you do not discredit yourself or the'
committee by putting up a bad case to the management.

" Also you reduce the friction to a minimum, because
you wipe out a fancied grievance. When we decide
that an employee is not justified in his complaint it has
more effect with the men in the shop than a decision
of the foreman, because the committee is the counsel
set up to represent the interest of the men.

' * On the committee we do not want talking machines.
We want the best men in the shop with the greatest
amount of common sense. It is vitally important to
encourage the best men to be elected, and make the
position a post of honor. The works management
should recognize this committee. After careful inquiry
into cases, individual or departmental, they decide on
what cases go before the management — Which acts with-
out delay — and discuss pros and cons. If there is a
really good case, and the management is wishful to be
fair and just, there can be no doubt of the result. "

There is a dynamo-manufacturing plant in Bradford
employing more than four thousand men, which has
developed its works and shop committee system to an
extraordinary degree. Team spirit has been a slogan
with the capable men who direct this successful es-
tablishment; the general manager of the works is a
good type of the new executive who sees in the work-

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 97

ing force an overlooked asset in the proper direction of
industry.

"I suppose that in every country," he said in out-
lining the plant policy, " there are a certain number
of the community who love a bogy.

"Now that the war is over and the bogy of German
domination, which has certainly been a pretty substan-
tial one, has disappeared, the latest bogy is that of not
ordinary industrial unrest but blood-red revolution.
This revolution apparently is to come because labor,
born with a greater share of original sin than the share-
holding classes, has now been rendered, by govern-
ment pampering and a totally unnecessary education,
quite impossible. This represents with tolerable ac-
curacy the view of some of my class.

i 'While it is ridiculous to take the views expressed
above about the future industrial situation it is equally
ridiculous to under-estimate the complex nature of the
problem which confronts British industry at the mo-
ment. British labor is not Bolshevik ; British labor is
not even republican ; but it is sane and it is progressive.
You cannot expect a workman to be a semigenius in
your interest and a fool in his own.

"The war has merely accelerated the labor policy,
it has not increased the claims of labor. Labor is out
for a new ' orientation'; it is claiming 'a place in the
sun.'

"Industry is like a panorama changing all the time
even while the actors are moving, and this is what so
many people overlook. Some of them have not no-
ticed that since their grandfather built the business the
whole scenery has changed from the early- Victorian

98 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

background on which the structure was originally built
up.

"Now I come to my first point: The mid- Victorian
owner of the business negotiated with his men himself ;
he knew them mostly by name and he knew the rami-
fications of his business ; and what is more important
still, he did his own work in labor difficulties; he did
not leave it to the foreman. Almost without exception
British concerns leave the foreman to do the impos-
sible work. The boss gives away the concessions and
when he has not anything to concede the foreman is
deputed to tell them so, consequently the foreman's
popularity is not at all good.

"During the war munition tribunals were set up in
each town. We proposed to our men that they should
be their own tribunal. Later we decided to go still
farther and suggested choosing a chairman of their
own, to handle the decisions of this body on workmen
who by misdemeanor had brought themselves under the
Munitions of War Act and should rightly have gone
down to the government tribunal. All fines were given
to charitable funds. No one was bound to come to our
tribunal unless he liked, but could go to the one in the
town; and a Gilbertian situation was created by the
central tribunal's asking us what sentence we had given
for a particular offense, so that they could give the
same."

Industry is at bottom a problem in man power.
That problem is big enough to call for every ounce of
intelligence and force latent and active not only in the
managing staff but in the anonymous rank and file.
How to pool for the good of industry, and of those who

SIDELIGHTS ON INDUSTRY 99

work in it, all that scattered, sometimes discordant,
and generally too little used human power is the big
problem before those who are looking ahead.

British industry stands to gain a new vitality and
promise so far as it bases its scheme of management
on a respect for what the everyday worker has it in
him to contribute. A new foremanship is coming into
play. Managers and men are learning to speak a com-
mon language and to think in terms of purposes that
neither can misuse without general injury.

CHAPTER IV

CONTKOL OF THE JOB

''\ ^7 HAT will British industry look like, now that
V V the war is over? Does the war mean a slump
in British initiative ?" You hear questions like this
wherever you go, and wherever British business men
or manufacturers foregather. What they have in
mind is not the volume of their future trade.

Trade will no doubt be good, given the tonnage.
American competition is something to think about, but
it is n't that which gives much concern just at present.

Eeconstruction is what men are thinking of, and by
this they mean the kind of team play and sense of com-
mon interest that may or may not obtain in the relation
of employer and employed, and in the task of restoring
the economic life of the nation to a sound peace foot-
ing. Industrial policy is the topic of chief interest.
An early understanding of what it is to be is urgently
sought. Whatever else may be put off, an agreement
on this question and policy cannot.

And it is not to Parliament or any other public body
that men are looking for a solution. The answer, all
agree, lies with industry itself, with each trade and
business embraced under this general head. In the
hands of the men who carry on the industrial life of the
country — owners, managers and the rank and file-
rests the fate finally of any industrial policy adopted.
If they reach a working basis for the forwarding of

100

CONTROL OF THE JOB 101

their common business, with due regard for interests
other than their own, all will be well. If they do not,
reconstruction will halt and stagger, and well-being,
prosperity, opportunity — call it what you please — will
take wing.

In these circumstances the wrecker alone has his
innings; his ax is ready to hand. There is no occa-
sion for any panic of course. For all the strain of
four years' nightmare neither workmen nor managers
show any signs of having lost their heads. Quite the
other way; they are amazingly sound in their head-
work, and their zeal is far from winded.

The spirit and the unshaken common sense of the
nation were expressed exactly the other day by the
Minister of Labor, who in a talk on this very topic of
new industrial policy told a group of manufacturers
and labor representatives :

"It is your duty to see to it that we go about this
business in a sane and British way. Our people are
not easily lured away by the fanaticism whose dreary
and blood-stained doings have so often led simple men
to disaster and disillusionment, as in the case of un-
happy Eussia. We must find something firm — to guide
us against corrupting doctrines. Our new problems
are much more intricate and difficult than were those
we had to face during the war. No state department
can do things so well as those who are engaged in a
particular trade can do for themselves. I am sup-
posed to be a bureaucrat, being a minister of the
Crown. I realize the limitations of office. Greater
efficiency lies with those employers and employed who
work out together the problems of their common busi-
ness. There must be good, all-round organization in

K)i2 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

every trade. We need a representative industrial
council in every business, which can speak with an au-
thoritative voice for the whole industry. The govern-
ment will refer to such councils for the purpose of
guidance.

"The keystone of our country's industrial future is
in the getting together of employer and employee.
For the period we have ahead we need the most active
and the closest cooperation between them. We have
recommended to both sides the scheme of the Whitley
report, which scheme is now in successful operation in
a number of industries. We do not ask you to swallow
this plan or use it if you have something as good or
better which does the work in your own particular
trade. Only we point out the need of some such basic
principle and organization for every industry; a body
which can speak for it in a representative way. Such
a plan is typically British. It does not make for revo-
lution. Ready-made Utopia is the will-o'-the-wisp
which has lured men in all ages. We possess intelli-
gence enough to distinguish what is possible and prac-
ticable from the glamour of magic vistas."

So industrial Britain is going in for a tryout, a fair
experimenting with the suggestions and the proposals
outlined in the famous Whitley reports.1 The cam-
paign has been sufficiently promising to wring this ac-
knowledgment from the "Munchner Neueste Nachrich-
ten:" "The attempts made by the English to reform
industry deserve consideration by us also, since in the
great struggle after the war that nation will certainly
come off best which carries over unimpaired from the

6 page 207. Industrial Reports No. 1, 2 and 3.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 103

war period into peace the ideal of work for the common
good, and which takes due account, not only in politics
but in the organization of industry, of the self-con-
sciousness of the people which has grown so immensely
during the war. Without losing sight of our own spe-
cial circumstances we have every reason to follow with
the greatest attention the development of the situation
in England. "

" Whitley" has become a sort of slogan in the British
industrial world to-day. The Right Honorable J. H.
Whitley, deputy speaker of the House of Commons, is
a member of a large firm of Yorkshire cotton spinners.
In 1916 the Cabinet Reconstruction Committee set up
by Mr. Asquith appointed him chairman of a special
committee charged with going into the whole question
of the future relations between employer and employed.
This committee was made up of twelve members, and
included trade-union officials like J. R. Clynes, who
later became Food Controller; economists like J. A.
Hobson and Prof. S. J. Chapman; employers like Sir
Gilbert Claughton, general manager of the London and
North Western Railway; two women, and other well-
known specialists. The appointment of this commit-
tee was most opportune, and it was obviously neces-
sary. Considering the industrial situation at the time,
the committee appeared if anything somewhat belated.
For more than two years before the Whitley group
started its work unrest had been rife and threatened
to spread, how far no one could guess. Industry was
in a ferment ; what showed on the surface of things was
only less disconcerting than what could be surmised
from the undercurrent. Only the declaration of war
averted the imminent total paralysis of the country's

104 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

transportation system, with the coal miners and the
building-trades workmen ready to join in.

In London the building industry was completely tied
up by both strike and lockout. To bring matters to a
head the national body of building-trades employers
had decided on a nation-wide lockout in support of the
London employers. Only the outbreak of war put a
stop to such a suicidal move. With local civil wars
threatening in all directions, with irresponsible groups
of men possessed of the power to bring about all sorts
of industrial dislocation and inflicting untold misery
•ipon the public — the situation was about as bad as it
could be. All through the early stages of war bitter
passions were smoldering; mutual distrust and ill will
agitated employer and employed.

War considerations suppressed the news of certain
disquieting episodes in this home struggle. In the
Clyde valley, for example, the men, going over the
heads of their constituted officials, and led by a small
group of shop stewards, began a movement which at-
tained no little momentum before it was headed off,
and which was known as the Withdrawal of Labor
Committee. No word of it got abroad. This com-
mittee represented the very negation of the ideas and
method of collective bargaining. It made for anarchy
in the industrial world, and was naturally exposed to
destruction by the same method it sought to use against
the orderly course of negotiation and binding agree-
ment.

Obviously the war could not be won while such a
situation continued, nor could industry readily recover
even after victory on the battlefield, were it ever so
glorious. Eecrimination was useless ; both sides could

CONTROL OF THE JOB 105

play that game, and did with zest. Nor could a resort
to force avail. Conflagrations are not quenched by
violent emotions, nor are states of mind corrected by
the bobby 's truncheon. The public at large was clam-
oring for a truce, if not a healing, in this dark situation.
Bales of printed matter show how much public interest
was agitated, what fears were felt for the boys across
the Channel. Letters to the " Times " are the normal
safety valve in ordinary emergencies, but at this par-
ticular juncture that institution failed to work.

So the Whitley Committee set out in troubled waters
to find a binding principle and program; a program
which, whatever modifications might be imposed by
local conditions, should at least point a way to indus-
trial peace.

Among her other familiar abhorrences Nature ab-
hors an industrial vacuum. Laissez faire is impos-
sible. The committee wisely spent no time on causes
of unrest; it was not an investigating body set up to
probe into the past ; it took unrest for granted and pro-
ceeded to find out what could be done about it. Its
main business was to devise ways and means best
suited to the exigencies of the time. Through thick
and thin the committee held fast to this big fact : The
trouble was not one altogether of wages, hours or con-
ditions. All these had a part, a very large part, in the
temper of the industrial districts. But they counted
for less than many people supposed. Adjustments
may be made to meet demands in wages, hours, and
the like ; frequently matters look as if settled for good,
but soon the same old discontent crops up. This has
been the case in Great Britain throughout the war, and
I dare say it is typical of industrial history everywhere

106 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

else. The milk in the coconut is a larger share in con-
trol over those matters which affect the daily interests
of the workingman. Naturally the average employer
is unprepared for any such scrambling of his man-
agerial eggs, and it is not too much to say that the aver-
age worker has not prepared himself for real service
in this respect.

But the subject does not end here. Though the mass
of England's industrial workers do not clamor for the
ousting of the employer, suppression of his managers
and executive force, and the substitution of a new
regime composed of the names on his pay roll, the idea
of a larger share in control has taken root. And dur-
ing these reconstruction days a vigorous and unwearied
group of industrial crusaders are pushing it with mil-
lennial ardor. But, as I have said, the general temper
is not extreme, the specter of Russian conditions, if
nothing else, serving as a grim caution against flying
leaps with the industrial organization.

The Whitley Committee saw what wise employers
have also seen, that there is an instinct among the
workers which represents something wholesome in hu-
man nature and something beneficial to industry if a
way could be found to satisfy it and yet keep industry
sound. The committee held that the way of promise
was in the direction of building on the idea of mutual-
ity— not of the lion-and-lamb-lying-down-together busi-
ness, but the idea of association between equals, be-
tween necessary principals in the industrial organiza-
tion. And with this controlling thought the committee
proceeded.

The Whitley Committee was appointed "to make
and consider suggestions for securing a permanent

CONTROL OF THE JOB 107

improvement in the relations between employers and
workmen; to recommend means for securing that in-
dustrial conditions affecting the relations between em-
ployers and workmen shall be systematically reviewed
by those concerned, with a view to improving condi-
tions in the future. "

In March, 1917, the committee reported, recommend-
ing the establishment in all well-organized trades of
joint standing industrial councils, representative of
employers and employed; and in July of that year a
letter was addressed by the Minister of Labor to all
the principal employers' associations and trades
unions, asking for their views. By October, 1917, so
many favorable replies had been received that the War
Cabinet decided to adopt the report as part of its re-
construction policy and instructed the Ministry of La-
bor to assist in the formation of joint industrial coun-
cils. In October, 1917, a second report on joint stand-
ing industrial councils was presented, further elaborat-
ing the scheme.

At the present time joint industrial councils have
been established in the baking, bedstead, bobbins,
building, chemical, china clay, furniture, gold and sil-
ver, hosiery, leather goods, matches, paint and varnish,
pottery, rubber, silk, vehicle and building trades. Ne-
gotiations are going on in the surgical instruments,
waterworks, woolen and worsted and other trades.

The machinery suggested by the Whitley reports is
based on the principle of local option. The committee
recommend that in addition to the national councils
representing the whole industry there should be cre-
ated joint district councils and works committees, sub-
sidiary to the national councils. The district councils

108 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

would deal with questions having a local character; the
works committee would deal with all questions domes-
tic to a particular plant.

It is a feature of the scheme that the constitution of
the national and district councils, of the works com-
mittee, and of all subcommittees of any of these bodies,
shall be based upon the principle of equal representa-
tion of employers and employed. A typical council
will thus consist of an equal number of representatives
appointed by the employers' associations and the
trades unions, the chairman as a rule being chosen al-
ternately from among the employers and the workers.
The exact lines on which works committees are formed
vary according to the conditions of the several indus-
tries, but in each case the lines adopted are the result
of agreement between the employers and the men.

Whatever methods of representation and voting are
adopted special consideration is given to the position
of foremen and others in similar posts. These men
are sometimes members of the unions and sometimes
not. In some cases they have their own unions. Their
functions are partly those specially belonging to man-
agement, partly those of labor. Their position is one
of great importance and they may become either a
great aid or a serious obstacle to progress. The steps
taken to insure their representation vary in each in-
dustry, but the committee lays emphasis on their place
in any successful operation of the plan.

The Ministry of Labor supplies any national council
with a representative appointed to act as a liaison of-
ficer between the council and the various government
departments. The acceptance of such assistance is
purely voluntary, and a nominee of the ministry is ap-

CONTROL OF THE JOB 109

pointed only at the request of a council. A majority
of the councils have, however, made this request.

As to the scope of the councils the Ministry of Labor
has made the following suggestions :

Means to secure the largest possible measure of joint
action between employers and workpeople for the de-
velopment of the industry as a part of national life
and for the improvement of the conditions of all en-
gaged in the industry.

Regular consideration of wages, hours and working
conditions in the industry as a whole.

The consideration of measures for regularizing pro-
duction and employment.

The consideration of the existing machinery for the
settlement of differences between different parties and
sections in the industry, and the establishment of ma-
chinery for this purpose where it does not already ex-
ist, with the object of securing the speedy settlement
of difficulties.

The collection of statistics and information on mat-
ters appertaining to the industry.

The encouragement of the study of processes and
design and of research, with a view to perfecting the
products of the industry.

The provision of facilities for the full consideration
and utilization of inventions and any improvement in
machinery or method, and for the adequate safeguard-
ing of the rights of the designers of such improve-
ments, and to secure that such improvement in method
or invention shall give to each party an equitable share
of the benefits, financially or otherwise, arising there-
from.

Inquiries into special problems of the industry, in-

110 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

eluding the comparative study of the organization and
methods of the industry in this and other countries,
and, where desirable, the publication of reports.

The improvement of the health conditions obtaining
in the industry, and the provision of special treatment
where necessary for workers in the industry.

The supervision of, entry into and training for the
industry, and cooperation with educational authorities
in arranging education in all its branches for the in-
dustry.

The issue to the press of authoritative statements
upon matters affecting the industry of general interest
to the community.

Representation of the needs and opinions of the in-
dustry to the government, government departments
and other authorities.

The following objects have also been included in
some of the council constitutions :

The consideration of measures for securing the in-
clusion of all employers and workpeople in their re-
spective associations.

The arrangement of lectures and the holding of con-
ferences on subjects of general interest to the industry.

Cooperation with the joint industrial councils for
other industries to deal with matters of common in-
terest.

Demobilization and resettlement, the training of dis-
abled soldiers and sailors, the position of returning
apprentices, the priority of release of "pivotal" men
from the army and navy, education, and the rationing
of raw materials, are among the subjects that have al-
ready been taken up by councils formed under the
scheme.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 111

Now in this scheme of industrial organization there
are three points that seem to call for special emphasis :

In the first place, the scheme goes a long way to-
ward securing industrial autonomy. Though the de-
cisions of a national industrial council have no statu-
tory force they do represent the considered opinion of
the employers and the men, and in practice they are
binding on the industry as a whole.

In the second place, the machinery is decentralized
and elastic. The provision for district councils and
works committees is of importance, for it insures the
direct discussion and settlement of local questions by
those whom they immediately concern. It is clear that
the possibilities of development are very wide. Here
is a simple and elastic machinery by which all the
parties to any industry can be brought together for
cooperation. New methods of organization can be
tested by experiment, and adopted or rejected accord-
ing to the teaching of experience ; and in the meantime
the ordinary work of the councils and committees cre-
ates an atmosphere of broader sympathies and under-
standing in which the discussion of new issues can be
carried on with a better prospect of general agreement.

In the third place — and this is the most important
point of all — the object of the councils is not merely to
settle or even to avert disputes, but, as I have pointed
out, to secure cooperation in the improvement of in-
dustry : and this idea is nowhere better expressed than
in the work of the Builders' National Industrial Par-
liament, which was in process of formation at the time
the first Whitley report appeared.

Though the decision of the Ministry of Labor to treat
councils as the channel of communication adds greatly

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to their value it would be a mistake to lay too much
emphasis on this official relationship. The great ad-
vantage of the plan is the opportunity for industry to
work out its own salvation in the light of its own spe-
cial knowledge.

The principal report of the Whitley Committee, pub-
lished in March, 1917, was unanimous, and its recom-
mendations have gained universal recognition as a wise
and practical compromise between the views of the
conservative employer, who regards all trades-union
activities with suspicion, and the revolutionist, who
aims at destroying the existing industrial structure
altogether.

The main proposal of the Whitley Committee — the
establishment in every industry of a permanent joint
council of employers and employed — looks on the face
of it obvious enough. In point of fact, the acceptance
of that principle was a revolution in itself, for it meant
the recognition of a community as the basic fact in the
industrial world rather than an antagonism of inter-
est between employers and employed. Always the de-
velopment of industrial organization, both on the men's
and on the employers' side, has proceeded entirely
along separate lines. The employers' associations and
men's unions have in fact acted as a continual chal-
lenge to one another, each trying to consolidate its own
position in order to have power to drive a hard bar-
gain with the other. The master stroke of the Whit-
ley Committee was to take the two organizations as
they stood and, far from trying to weaken the influ-
ence of either, try to make each as comprehensive as
possible, in order that by acting together instead of
in opposition they might be able to legislate effec-

CONTROL OF THE JOB 113

tively for all the interests comprised in the industry.

The Whitley Committee made one bold decision at
the outset: It resolved not to trouble its head in the
first instance about methods for settling industrial dis-
putes. The secret of half the disputes that arise lies
in the fact that both sides approach each other as
natural antagonists and never get into serious nego-
tiations at all till feelings on each side are already
exacerbated by the signs of a coming collision. Get the
men and managers to cooperate as a regular practice
in fair weather, said the Whitley Committee, and in
foul weather they will find their own way of averting a
dispute before it becomes dangerous. Following that
principle the committee stuck to positive proposals.
Every trade, it said, ought to have at the center a na-
tional joint council, bringing together the men's unions
on the one hand and the employers' associations on the
other. That joint machinery ought to be reproduced
locally in the form of district councils and works com-
mittees, each composed of equal numbers of employers
and employed, with or without an independent chair-
man.

The kind of question a joint council deals with,
either directly or through its local councils and com-
mittees, includes the better utilization of the workers'
knowledge and experience ; the means of increasing the
control of the workers over conditions in industry ; the
settlement of the general principles of employment,
such as the basis of time and piece rates and their re-
lation to one another; industrial training; methods of
negotiation on points of difference between employer
and employed; industrial research and the application
of its results; the use, development and protection of

114. MANAGEMENT AND MEN

inventions and improvements devised by workers ; gen-
eral cooperation in increasing the efficiency of the in-
dustry ; and the promotion of or declaration of a com-
mon opinion on legislation affecting the industry.

On that foundation Whitley councils in more than
twenty different industries have been formed. The
experiment so far has fully justified itself, but the time
for judging it in earnest is not yet. War conditions of
industry have been entirely abnormal. The national
crisis was bound in any event to work powerfully for
cooperation between employers and employed, and the
influences operating against industrial disputes have
been strong. The real test of the Whitley scheme will
come in the next two or three years, when reconstructed
industry settles down once more into fixed grooves.

If the new cooperation can survive the pains of re-
construction and stand its ground under the new in-
dustrial conditions, its permanence as part of the es-
tablished mechanism of industry should be assured.
There is every prospect, indeed, that it will extend and
develop into something more, for if the workers' de-
mands for a larger control over industry are to be sat-
isfied the Whitley councils provide the most obvious
means of satisfying them constitutionally.

Before considering that, however, it is worth while
examining the achievements of a Whitley council in
actual working. One of the earliest councils to be
formed was that in the painting and decorating trade.
The national joint council was intended to meet four
times a year, but it was found that at least twice as
many sessions were required to deal with the business.
Its purpose, according to its official statement, was

CONTROL OF THE JOB 115

"to promote the continuous and progressive improve-
ment of the industry, to realize its organic unity as a
great national service, and to advance the well-being
and status of all connected with it."

The council does not profess to concern itself pri-
marily with the settlement of industrial disputes, but
its aid and advice are, in point of fact, constantly
sought in local controversies. Its chief business has
been the equalization of real wages throughout the
country, the prevention of unemployment by the better
organization of the industry, arrangement for the em-
ployment of disabled soldiers and sailors on such terms
that their pensions shall not be allowed to depress the
wage standard, the promotion of technical training
and research, the conditions of apprenticeship and the
pooling of schemes for the better conduct of the in-
dustry.

The wage question has been taken in hand in earnest,
and rates have been revised in different districts — al-
ways with an upward tendency — with a view to estab-
lishing a national system of rates which will insure
that men doing the same work in different parts of the
country get a wage which, taking into account the va-
riations in the cost of living in different districts,
represents the same value.

At the same time the joint action of employers and
men has proved singularly effective in bringing pres-
sure to bear on any employers or operatives who had
thoughts of staying outside the scheme for their own
advantage. A case occurred in the early days of the
painters' and decorators' joint council, in which cer-
tain employees were called out on strike by their trades

116 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

union because their employer had stood out of the em-
ployers' organization. After contesting the matter
for a month he swung permanently into line.

In other industries work at least as useful has been
accomplished. The building-trades industrial council
has opened a special employment exchange in London,
managed by a joint committee. The chemical indus-
trial council appoints each month a mobile conciliation
committee, consisting of six of its own members, who
undertake to be ready to go at a moment's notice to
any part of the country to advise on the settlement of a
dispute. The joint council for the china-clay industry
is occupying itself with questions of education, re-
search and statistics, and the health and welfare of the
workers. The furniture-trade council has a commit-
tee for rationing raw material for the industry. In
the woolen worsted trade a council following substan-
tially, though not identically, the lines of the Whitley
Council has been formed to regulate the trade during
the transition after-war period, from the rationing of
the raw material to the distribution of the finished
product. In the shipyards the joint council has con-
cerned itself particularly with the reduction of lost
time and hindrances to output generally.

Let us look into the Workings of one or two of these
councils — the well-known industrial council for the
building industry— the Building Trades Parliament,
as many call it — and the national council of the pottery
industry.

The story of the Building Trades Parliament can
best be told in the words of one of its organizers and
leaders :

"As a manager and director in several enterprises

CONTROL OF THE JOB 117

I have touched the industrial problem first hand. I
became involved, much against my will, in the London
building troubles of 1914. On the heels of the strike
came the war, which was a wonderful demonstration
of the whole people's unity. This gave me a lead. I
began to realize that the old industrial idea of coercion,
antagonism and resistance ignored some of the most
powerful forces that actuated men. Thinking work-
men said that the normal condition of industry is one
of suppressed war. One employers' association issued
a public statement calling for defense against labor ag-
gression.

"What is the result of such a condition! Two
groups meet as hostile bodies, a tug of war follows,
and instead of constructive work we have sterile con-
troversy and waste. Now industry needs no truce but
courage to take forward steps, supported by the con-
structive genius of both sides in common council. I
felt that labor should take the first step.

"Being no longer an employer at the time, I wrote
to the organization of carpenters and joiners, my for-
mer antagonists, suggesting that they invite the em-
ployers' federation to join with them in setting up an
industrial parliament, representing management and
labor in equal numbers. My idea was not to super-
sede any existing association or to provide a new means
to settle disputes. I wished to see all the parties mo-
bilize for genuine service to the industry.

"Our wage schedule throughout the country, in over
one hundred towns in England and Wales alone, was
in a state of chaos, giving no end of trouble. By
standardizing this schedule we should do away with a
large part of the friction and with unfair competition.

118 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Prevailing methods caused needless unemployment,
and cooperation would help reduce this evil. By com-
mon effort we could provide for the employment of
partially disabled soldiers, which is an obligation on
every industry, but there are difficulties connected with
it which can best be settled in conference.

" There were questions as to the employment of
women, trade training, overtime pay, traveling and
lodging allowances, and discharge — all of which are
matters best disposed of through a conference board
which after discussion would work for standardized
practice.

"Well, the upshot of it all was a unanimous agree-
ment to start this work, and the parliament came into
existence last August. In its membership are thirty-
two employers, sixty-six building-trades subcontract-
ors, and sixty-six delegates from the operatives' trade
organizations. Here we have a new line for industry,
representing true British tradition of justice and self-
government as applied to industrial relations. The
spectacle of organized management and man power
uniting their energies on a program of reconstruction
and advance is unique. The building industry is one
of the largest and most important of the staple trades.
It is time that barriers which have held it back give
way to a real team spirit. "

Constitutions make dry reading, but in view of the
foregoing statement I can venture a few lines from the
book of rules adopted by the parliament of the build-
ing trades : x

i See page 466, Memorandum on Industrial Self-Government, the
Industrial Council for the Building Industry.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 119

The name shall be The Industrial Council for the
Building Industry [Building Trades Parliament], here-
inafter referred to as the Council.

The Council is established to secure the largest pos-
sible measure of joint action between employers and
workpeople for the development of the industry as a
part of national life, and for the improvement of the
conditions of all engaged in that industry.

It will be open to the Council to take any action that
falls within the scope of this general definition. More
specific objects will follow:

1. To recommend means for securing that industrial
conditions affecting employers and operatives, or the
relations between them, shall be systematically re-
viewed by those concerned, with a view to their im-
provement.

2. To consider, discuss and formulate opinion upon
any proposals which proffer, to those engaged in the
industry, the means of attaining improved conditions
and a higher standard of life, and involve the enlist-
ment of their active and continuous cooperation in the
development of the industry, and to make recommenda-
tions thereon, including such questions as measures
for—

Regularizing production and employment.

The provision of a graduated scale of minimum rates
designed to maintain real wages as nearly as possible
on a level throughout the country.

Minimizing the fluctuations of trade by intelligent
anticipation and the augmentation of demand in slack
periods.

Scientific management and reduction of costs.

Welfare methods.

120 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Closer association between commercial and aesthetic
requirements.

The inclusion of all employers and workpeople in
their respective associations.

The revision and improvement of existing machinery
for the settlement of differences between different sec-
tions of the industry, or for the provision of such ma-
chinery where nonexistent, with the object of securing
the speedy settlement of difficulties.

The better utilization of the practical knowledge and
experience of those engaged in the industry.

Securing to the workpeople a greater share in and
responsibility for the determination and observance
of the conditions under which their work is carried on.

The settlement of the general principles governing
the conditions of employment, including the methods
of fixing, paying and readjusting wages, having regard
to the need for securing to all engaged in the industry
a share in the increased prosperity of the industry.

Insuring to the workpeople the greatest possible se-
curity of earnings and employment.

Dealing with the many difficulties which arise with
regard to the method and amount of payment apart
from the fixing of general standard rates.

3. To collect and circulate statistics and information
on matters appertaining to the industry.

4. To promote research and the study and improve-
ment of processes, design, and standards and methods
of workmanship, with a view of perfecting the products
of the industry.

5. To provide facilities for the full consideration
and utilization of inventions and improvements in ma-
chinery or methods, and for adequately safeguarding

CONTROL OF THE JOB

the rights of the designers or inventors thereof; and
to secure that the benefits, financial or otherwise, aris-
ing therefrom, shall be equitably apportioned among
the designers or inventors, the proprietors or lessees,
and the operators thereof.

6. The supervision of entry into and training for
the industry and cooperation with the educational au-
thorities in arranging education in all its branches for
the industry.

7. The issue to the press of authoritative statements
upon matters affecting the industry of general interest
to the community.

8. Eepresentation of the needs and opinions of the
industry to government departments and local authori-
ties.

9. The consideration of any other matters that may
be referred to it by the government or any government
department.

10. Cooperation with the Joint Industrial Councils
of other industries to deal with problems of common
interest.

11. To provide, as far as practicable, that important
proposals affecting the industry shall be fully ven-
tilated and discussed through the medium of commit-
tees of inquiry, joint district boards, works commit-
tees, the trade papers, and the general press ; in order
that the opinion of members of the industry and of the
general public thereon may be accurately gaged be-
fore definite decisions are taken.

Unlike the building council the furniture joint indus-
trial council, which started in July, 1918, has on sev-
eral occasions been asked to mediate or arbitrate on
questions in dispute between operatives and employers.

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

The council has under consideration the establish-
ment of a national conciliation board for the trade,
which, when the district councils are formed, will no
doubt be linked up with district conciliation boards.
The council has held four meetings up to date, and has
appointed an executive committee, a resettlement com-
mittee, a committee on conciliation machinery and an
education committee.

A subcommittee, consisting of the two chairmen, has
been appointed to organize district councils in the dif-
ferent localities — including Ireland, with a view to get-
ting the Irish employers and men to cooperate in the
work of the national council.

When all the district councils are set up it is pro-
posed to reconstitute the national council on a terri-
torial basis.

The national council of the pottery industry is now
an established institution, and is another illustration
of good sense at work on the problem of promoting
team spirit in industry.1 As in the case of the build-
ing trades the suggestion of the council first came from
the employees. This council is designed to regulate
wages and selling prices, to promote training for the
industry, to improve health and other conditions, and
to encourage improved methods of production.

The pottery industry before the war was in an un-
satisfactory condition. Its returns pleased neither
manufacturer nor worker. The usual ill feeling pre-
vailed. Earnings were low and irregular. Bad sani-
tary conditions were common, with potter's asthma and
lead poisoning ever-present dangers. There was too
much driving, and it was bitterly resented. From the

i See page 499, National Council of the Pottery Industry.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 123

manufacturer's side there was much to complain of.
Profits were small in comparison with other industries.
With fifty-eight processes there was difficulty in or-
ganizing work on a proper basis. Unrestricted com-
petition, price cutting and wage cutting kept the in-
dustry on a low level. Common rules to correct these
conditions were a clear necessity, and to this task the
council has been giving its attention for over a year.

The problems with which the pottery council deals
are the most important problems before the industry.

The first is that of wages. Wage rates in the pot-
tery trade are in a chaotic condition, and neither unions
nor employers' associations have even the materials
for the establishment of anything like uniform rates
for similar work throughout the industry. A statistics
subcommittee has begun an investigation into the ac-
tual rates and conditions of work in each of the sec-
tions of the industry, and the result of this will show
how far a systematic list is practicable, and what form
it should take. Along with this investigation the same
committee has been authorized to ask manufacturers'
associations to supply it with certain returns as to
average profits on turnover with a view to finding out
what are the normal earnings of capital in the industry.

The wage-and-conditions subcommittee has drafted
a scheme of works committee. The research subcom-
mittee is in touch with the national Department of
Scientific Research to secure the recognition of the
council's claim to representation on the governing body
of any research association that may be established.
Meanwhile the committee is looking into conditions as
regards health, and so on, in the workshop, its chair-
man being the managing director of one of the most

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

up-to-date firms in industry. Another committee is
working with the Design and Industries Association,
which has held successful meetings in the district ; the
wages-and-conditions committee is also overhauling the
methods of apprenticeship, which, like the wage sys-
tem, have never been systematized.

Though all this activity cannot bear fruit for some
time the other phase of the council's work — namely, the
representation of the needs of the industry to the gov-
ernment— has already proved important. Thus, the
council took steps at the second meeting to bring the
needs of the industry before the Controller of Ship-
ping. A delegation waited on the Minister of Eecon-
struction to call his attention to the difficulty with which
the china branch had been faced by the cutting off of
supplies of South America bone, and secured addi-
tional supplies from home resources.

Another type of work is represented by the action
of the council with regard to disabled sailors and sol-
diers and the problems of demobilization. A joint
committee, which existed before the council was formed,
to advise the local military-service tribunal on the se-
lection of men for retention in the industry, has be-
come a committee charged with the questions regarding
demobilization. This committee is preparing a report
on the openings for disabled sailors and soldiers in the
industry, and on the training required.

Unquestionably the council has been successful in
promoting what was after all its principal object-
namely, the improvement of relations between employ-
ers and employed. This was shown at the end of last
March, when the general demand for a greater in-
crease in wages than had ever been made was nego-

CONTROL OF THE JOB 125

tiated successfully without serious ill feeling on either
side, and without calling in the assistance of an out-
side arbitrator, as has usually been necessary in the
past.

As big a feature of the joint-government movement
in British industry as the councils are the works com-
mittees. Such committees are by no means new.
They had been in operation for years before the war.
But in certain industries, notably in the metal trades,
the war conditions stimulated their growth to such an
extent, and worked such changes in their form and ac-
tivities, that works committees to-day are in many
places a characteristic result of wartime interest in
better industrial relations.

The causes that promoted the growth of a new type
of works committee during the war are various, but
they may be roughly traced first to the shop stewards,
then to the dilution of the working force by a large
number of unskilled workers, methods of pay, ab-
senteeism, safeguards against overstrain, and a gen-
eral sentiment looking to a closer knitting up of the
personnel.

Most trade unions have official shop stewards, known
by various names as shop delegates, works representa-
tives, yard-committee .men, and the like. Their duties
are well known, consisting of such matters as looking
after the maintenance of the agreement in force, col-
lection of union dues, and settlement of grievances.
But one effect of the war has been to enhance the po-
sition and prestige of the shop steward. Unable to
strike because of war stipulations, among which was
one making the official who called it liable to prosecu-
tion, the men naturally turned to their shop steward,

126 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

who held a less conspicuous place. He was a free man.
His power within the shop and, indeed, within the plant
was as wide as he chose to make it.

What the public generally fails to recognize in the
position of the average union leader is the undertow
always at work to weaken his usefulness. The most
serious problem that leaders with organizing sense
have to face is a strong tendency away from central
control toward a larger measure of initiative locally
and within each shop. The men are impatient of de-
lay; they want to dispose of their difficulties by short
cuts. A functionary far away in London, or wherever
headquarters may be, is not near enough to the scene,
the men believe, to understand; and they look with
suspicion on the so-called judicial attitude, the state
of mind of a man who must balance one thing with an-
other. This is a penalty always for big organization.
The men have been chafing against the slowness and
remoteness of it all, and the shop steward has been en-
couraged to take things in hand.

Works committees, with shop stewards as the mov-
ing spirit, have been started all through the trades.
They have attempted to regulate the flow of " di-
lutees, " keeping careful check on the men who have
been brought in from the outside. Piecework rates
and pressure of increased output have given these com-
mittees and managers many hours of agony. Owing
to public clamor against slackness in coal mining, com-
mittees were started to watch the absentee records of
the men and effect an improvement.

War-work strain has made it necessary to regard
the physical welfare of the workers. Long hours have
been worked; night shifts have been added to day

CONTROL OF THE JOB 127

shifts; work places have been overcrowded, and such
facilities as were obtained were greatly overtaxed,
while the introduction of women in shops where none
were previously employed raised a number of new
problems. No better way of handling such questions
could be found than through committees of workers
most directly concerned, and the result has been a
multiplication of such committees, with a voice in the
conditions under which they worked.

An automobile plant located in the north of Eng-
land, and employing six thousand men and about a
thousand women, has a shop steward for each one of
its forty departments, and the works committee is made
up of these stewards. There are no women among
them, but a woman representative is present when the
management and the stewards take up any question
that affects the women employees. There are many
conferences between the management and the commit-
tee, but they are not regular because it has been found
there is not always business to warrant it. Much is
settled with the foremen and never comes before the
man higher up. The foremen have learned — and they
have been encouraged to learn — how to meet with the
committee and come to an understanding with it. All
meetings are on the employer's time, and the manage-
ment has never failed to carry out a decision agreed
to in conference.

The blast-furnace workers in the Cleveland and Dur-
ham districts for over a year had in hand the trouble-
some question of time-keeping, or attendance, which of
course is at bottom a question of output. Through
works committees appointed by the men, often joined
by committees from the ironmasters' association, un-

128 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

steady workers are warned, counseled or fined as the
case may require. The fines collected are turned over
to some local fund or charity as the men decide. Both
parties to this arrangement agree that it has given sat-
isfaction.

Pit committees are found in most of the coal-mining
districts. Not all have proved successful, but where
they have worked they have justified their existence.
They are " responsible for dealing with questions of
workmen losing work or failing to do their best."

Here is what a workman, a practical miner, has to
say on this subject :

"We have found out that output, which the Coal
Controller has been urging on us, is not alone cut down
by absence from work; faulty management has some-
thing to do with it. Miners have to wait for timber ;
there are all sorts of hardships in getting to our work
and back home. We have to wait for tubs, which are
few and scarce and not passed round evenly. The
committee can fine the men, but not the management
where it falls short. But where management has
played fair the output of coal and the wages of the
men have increased.

" We do not have any way of getting the foreman to
improve his methods, and this spoils much of the good
that might be done. He does not pay for dead work,
such as emptying dirt or packing it ; he should pay for
so many tubs. He measures ripping by going to the
narrowest instead of the widest part of the level; this
may mean to the man a difference of five shillings on
that piece of work. Wagons are not sent round the
mines according to any fair system.

"One large colliery has a canteen, and the commit-

CONTROL OF THE JOB 129

tee has given help to manage it. Many men are called
on to work overtime, and if they cannot get food they
cannot be efficient. This colliery with the canteen sells
a good meal and hot drinks at cost prices. I know
when the winter time comes on and the output of coal
depends on the surface workers sticking to their work
this colliery has rest periods and hot drinks are passed
out. Elsewhere the men have to knock off on account
of the weather. "

Among the results of placing a larger responsibility
for conditions on the men, or on their chosen repre-
sentatives, has been a marked decrease in those little
frictions of the shop which waste the time of busy man-
agers and take longer to settle than really important
questions of policy. The experience of firms that have
not hesitated to put into practice their belief in the
capacity of the rank and file to deal with matters that
had hitherto been entirely in the hands of management
shows that a new confidence develops and that new
ways suggest themselves for checking controversies be-
fore they reach a serious stage. Ideas are not lacking
if the right atmosphere prevails, and these ideas make
for order and advance. The fact that so-called sugges-
tion or complaint boxes so generally fail in getting for
the management a true picture of what the men have in
mind proves that something is wanting, and that want
is not in the men. Employees who are told that they
are paid to work and not to think are turned from
assets to liabilities. Works committees and, in fact,
all sorts of other committees which give the men en-
couragement to use their heads, have succeeded in
Clearing away countless little obstructions and mis-
understandings which in the aggregate have the re-

130 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

suit of putting up a wall between those who, to do
their work as it should be done, need above everything
contact and frank speech.

I was in the yard of a well-known engine factory in
the north of England when one workman was explain-
ing to another, a newcomer, something about the con-
ditions of that plant.

"This shop," he said, "always has one foot in the
street. Three of the men who went to the boss with a
kick got the sack. So we don't believe in working be-
tween meals. We want forty-four hours, but if we
hold on we will do better than that because our dele-
gate says he knows a way to get forty hours."

Three miles away from this place is a factory which
takes pride in the fact that it has never had a walkout
or a strike during the war. On the wall in the office
of the general manager is a large framed chart show-
ing a fairly considerable committee system. All the
committees head up in a shop-steward works commit-
tee. The management and the committee keep min-
utes of all the meetings. Conferences are system-
atized and treated as a serious part of the executive
program.

With a reduction of war orders the new plants built
for that special purpose are shutting down. The
works committee has been handling, in collaboration
with the general manager, the problem of discharge of
the new workers, especially the young women who were
engaged for the period of the war. I was present
when three hundred girls were being paid off, with a
two weeks ' extra wage, and they were coursing through
the shops making their farewells, the foremen shout-
ing their good wishes to them at the gates.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 131

In the words of a man who has watched the activities
of the works committees and knows the manufacturers
of England and Scotland :

"Wherever these works committees have been a
success you will find the consensus of opinion is — as
many a manufacturer has put it — that they have been
'the best thing that has ever happened to the place/

Such an opinion could not be so general if experi-
ence had not demonstrated the value of the works-com-
mittee plan or shown that it was something more than
a piece of machinery and different from the old in-
struments for conciliation. Getting down to rock bot-
tom, works committees mean discussion; and discus-
sion takes time, as everybody knows. This is the the-
oretical objection, which now and again is thrown up.
But you have only to total the minutes and the hours
that are wasted by the management in plants that have
no such committees or, if they have, never put in enough
thought to vitalize them and make them count for
something, to discover that the greater waste is under
the old system. And there is this in addition : What-
ever is settled through conference between manage-
ment and committee has a chance of staying settled, of
leading to something reasonably permanent. And this
is what the Whitley people had in mind.

Whatever the scheme adopted, the essential thing is
that somewhere in it a joint purpose shall be at work.
Unless there be an honest intention of cooperation be-
tween the parties to the industrial bargain it would be
far better to let the laissez-faire method run its course.
The Whitley scheme is not a cast-iron scheme. No
rigid program will work or be of use in all industries ;
indeed, it may be useless even in one if it be inflexible.

132 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

There is nothing to be gained by minimizing the diffi-
culties, and some of these difficulties are important.
Be they what they may there is no excuse for inaction.
The cause is big enough to call for willingness to take
new ways to meet old issues. And the cooperating
spirit is not the worst guide for industry to use.1

As has been said, the Whitley scheme, considered
in the large, has as yet hardly stood a serious test.
Two or three of the general councils are doing about
as well as any industrial experiment thus far at-
tempted. No one who has watched their operation can
question that they are well worth while, and deserve
encouragement. Both sides to the undertaking speak
well of it, and wish to see at least five years' trial be-
fore passing any final opinion. Keal experiments
along the line of industrial team play are so few and
far between that one feels a peculiar interest in the
Whitley developments; and all the more because the
underlying idea is to build up on what already exists
instead of taking out all the complicated and delicate
works of the industrial machine, with the hope of mak-
ing a fresh start.

Though, as stated above, more than twenty councils
are already in being there will soon be thirty and over.
Most of them have been formed in the past few months,
during a period which cannot be said to represent
normal conditions. Therefore few of the councils can
be expected to be in full running order. In the main,
approved by public opinion, at least by that portion
of it which takes any interest in labor problems or is
alive to the fact that these problems overshadow every

i See page 531, Trade Parliaments.

CONTROL OF THE JOB 133

other in importance, the Whitley, and indeed every
other approach to a solution of the question of indus-
trial relations, has its opposition. In the eyes of the
industrial revolutionary the salient defect of the trade
parliament and council is that they again stereotype
the old relationship between employer and employed,
and it is precisely that relationship which industrial
revolution is out to abolish. But in point of fact the
Whitley councils do not necessarily assume any such
going back to pre-war relationship. That they mili-
tate against overnight industrial upheaval is true.
That they point the way of reason and mutual under-
standing as opposed to violence and destruction is also
obvious. But they by no means work against indus-
trial evolution. On the contrary, they open up one of
the very few hopeful ways thus far proposed — ways
which commend themselves to thinking men in all
groups concerned — for the next step to be taken. If
larger share in management is gradually to pass into
the hands of the managed by far the best way for it to
come about will be an orderly transference of responsi-
bility through such joint councils and committees as
are set up under the Whitley scheme.

But in any case the time for complete transference
is not yet. Nobody with whom I have talked — and I
have the views of men who have given years to the
advancing of labor interests — wishes to see any whole-
sale or precipitate action. As they see it, any for-
ward step taken must offer reasonable assurance of
success, and not result through unforeseen disaster in
setting back the progress the workers have already
made.

They believe that no experiment, however roseate

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

its setting and its promises, is sufficiently valuable to
justify a jeopardizing of labor's gains and position.
More than other men these experienced leaders in trade
organization, trusted by the masses whom they repre-
sent, know the cost of every forward step and what
the price has been to bring about such advance as has
been made. Responsibility has made them circum-
spect. The stake, they hold, is far too precious for
any tampering by untried hands. These views, need-
less to say, though quite representative not only of the
spokesmen but also of the large mass of British work-
ers, are not shared by an energetic element who, though
in the minority, are yet influential out of all proportion
to their numbers.

Here is the real trouble: So far as actual experi-
ments in an entirely new order of industrial control go,
practically no progress has been made. The idea of
the union itself, or of a group of workers collectively,
undertaking definite contracts has been seriously
mooted, and it is an idea full of interesting possibili-
ties. Given an adequate technical organization there
would seem to be no reason why a body of men could
not in combination act in a given contract very much
as a private contractor does. This combine, group or
union would undertake for a given sum to deliver a
given output or complete a certain piece of work, hand-
ling all those matters which fall under the general head
of employment and shop management.

The only concrete instance of importance in which
the experiment has been tried in England was the erec-
tion of the London headquarters of the Theosophical
Society a short time before the war. At the moment
when the work was to be started a serious building

CONTROL OF THE JOB 135

strike was on in London, and the building committee of
the society, sympathetic with the men and at the same
time anxious to get their building erected, negotiated
a contract directly with the men's union.

Though the experiment met with an initial success it
was not possible to give it a fair test because war
broke out before the work got far.

Ordinary building operations came to a standstill
through government order, and this particular struc-
ture was taken over in an unfinished condition by a
government department to be completed and used for
official purposes.

Altogether the actual British advance toward an in-
creased share in the control of the job is slow and fitful.
Here and there beginnings have been made in distrib-
uting the load of management and supervision, as in
the case of the miners who during the war made them-
selves responsible for reducing lost time in the pits.
There were other isolated but unimportant innovations,
from which no particular moral can be drawn. Never-
theless, there can be no doubt that we are on the eve
of developments in the direction of increased coopera-
tion in control. If coming events have in this case cast
singularly few shadows before them we do have be-
fore us a certain amount of instructive war experience
with the scheme of the Whitley councils and the works
committees.

We may be certain that the principle of teamwork
in management, whatever the language in which it finds
expression, is not a passing thing or a fantastic dream
of the visionary.

It is a principle which has taken hold of men, which
invites the best brains for its incorporation into the

136 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

fabric of management, and which if sanely and sin-
cerely made the basis of relations between employer
and employee holds out the biggest hope for industry.

CHAPTER V

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYEE SEES IT

NOT many months ago a group of employers repre-
senting the principal plants in one of the most
noted and successful industries of Great Britain met
in London. They came together for the purpose of
drafting a set of guiding principles in the management
of their business. They aimed to put down in black
and white the terms of the relationship between em-
ployer and employed. In more ways than one this
conference in London is absolutely unique. Here were
men employing thousands. Conditions in their indus-
try have always been good. Some of the men who at-
tended are known throughout the world for the excel-
lence of their plant surroundings and the care with
which they promote the physical well-being of their
operatives.

This London meeting did not lay down any rules
for the employee; no grievances against the workers
were aired ; every minute of the long sessions was taken
up with the task of formulating propositions by which
the leaders of this particular industry agreed to carry
on their labor policy.

" We cannot afford to neglect the urgent needs and
the outstanding opportunities that confront us in our
factories, " they said. So they proceeded to draw up
a program of their duties as regards wages, the place
of the worker in the management, security of employ-

137

138 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ment, working conditions, disposal of the profits, and
social life.

In the matter of wages the conclusion was that these
should always be sufficient to enable a man to marry,
live in a decent house, provide means for upkeep of the
physical efficiency of the family, with a margin for con-
tingencies and recreation.

"The worker asks to-day, " they determined, "for
more than an improvement in his economic condition.
We admit the justice of this claim, and we must co-
operate with him and treat him as we should wish to
be treated ourselves. "We propose to create suitable
machinery for this purpose; but we believe that the
more essential thing is a living desire to give full ex-
pression of a belief in right relations. Experience on
shop or works committees trains the members in par-
ticipation. We shall promote the formation of such
committees. "

As to security of employment, it was decided that it
is the duty of employers to do their utmost to abolish
casual labor and to make employment regular. The
business should be carefully organized to remedy
unemployment evils. "The dismissal of employees
should only take place as a last resort. Only men and
women who can be relied on to act justly should be
given the power of dismissal. The opinion of a works
council would be helpful."

The working condition of a factory should enable
and encourage a worker to be and to do his best.
These conditions should be administered under two
heads :

"PERSONAL. From the moment a worker enters a
factory he should be regarded as a part of a living or-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 139

ganism, not a mere dividend-producing machine, and
treated with respect and courtesy. There should be
no nagging or bullying by those in authority, but, on
the contrary, insight and leadership. This involves
careful choice of overlookers and managers, who
should be able both to lead and inspire. At present
such officers are often selected solely on account of
their technical knowledge, and sometimes because they
possess the faculty of getting work out of men by driv-
ing them.

"But if the managers and foremen are to be men of
the right type they should have ample opportunities
for becoming acquainted with our point of view, and
also for acquiring a broad, sane outlook on human and
industrial relationships. Such opportunities could
hardly be given in the course of one or two conferences ;
but a series of classes or conferences under right lead-
ership might be arranged — some for those already in
positions of responsibility, others for those who desire
to fit themselves for such posts in the future. Happi-
ness in work should be regarded as a definite aim and
nsset, and the personal well-being of every worker
should be an essential part of the employer's objective.

"MATERIAL. Employers should surround their
workers with a material environment such as they
would desire for themselves or for their children.
This will mean that work-rooms are properly venti-
lated and kept at suitable temperatures, that they are
adequately lit, and that due regard is paid to cleanli-
ness. Cloakrooms and lavatories should be so kept
that employees coming from respectable homes may
find no cause for complaint. The workers should be
safeguarded against any undue strain from the length

140 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of the working day or the severity of labor. In de-
termining systems of payment it should never be for-
gotten that unwise methods of stimulating workers to
do their utmost may result in overstrain. Facilities
should be given them for spending the dinner hour un-
der restful and comfortable conditions, as well as for
obtaining food at reasonable rates. If such facilities
cannot be provided within the factory they might per-
haps be arranged outside. Again, in organizing the
work employers should remember that confinement to
one monotonous task, not only month after month but
year after year, is apt to deaden tie intellect and de-
press the vitality of the worker. If it be urged that to
carry out the above suggestions would often involve too
great an expenditure we reply that inefficiency and low
productivity in the workers are frequently due to the
absence of suitable working conditions.

"CONCLUSIONS. Pioneers and pathfinders and the
makers of roads are needed just as urgently in the in-
dustrial sphere as in the opening up of new tracts of
fertile country. But we believe that if the longing for
a better order once grips the employing classes such
pioneers will not be lacking. ' '

Touching by reason of their work and wide interests
all phases of British industry and its problems, the
personal statements by big business and industrial
leaders here will give a fair picture of what may be
called the noiilabor viewpoint on present industrial
conditions. The labor viewpoint in its relation to
events impending in the new Parliament just elected,
and to events on the Continent — particularly in that
industrial Vesuvius which once was Eussia — will be the
subject of the next and concluding chapter.

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 141

A man who has done business with the leading man-
ufacturers in and round London as a technical consult-
ant for years said:

"Just now our country is divided into two nations,
with no league as yet for enforcing peace between
them. I refer to capital and labor, managing and
managed. It is a rough division, of course, but well
understood. Normally trouble between the two is
smoldering; given fuel it breaks into flame. It has
become the business of a number of embittered men,
not all dishonest or unintelligent — besides, such things
don 't matter much, anyway, when trouble is on — to fan
this flame into conflagration. What seems to embitter
them more than any opposition of employer is the un-
readiness, the unwillingness of the people whom they
exhort to get worked up. But bitterness and violence
will never solve anything. At least no solution of
theirs can do what understanding cooperation can do.
Among employers as well as among the working
masses you see two schools growing up — they were in
session long before the war — one a school of reason,
the other a school of force.

"We have, first, the labor extremist — not necessarily
a workingman himself or a man who has ever had ex-
perience in building up a real, going labor organiza-
tion— who wants industrial war; who has been busy
these three years past playing on class prejudice in
every possible way. He is sincere, and some of the
facts he throws up to us need our attention, to say the
least. Then there is the extremist on the other side,
also sincere, with some facts, too, at his command, who
sees the beginning of the end in any attempt to be soft
or patient. Let me say for British industry that the

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

dog-fight basis is going out rapidly, and the mass of
employers are no whit behind others in desire to do the
right thing. They have given up abusing labor for
having power without responsibility; the remedy as
they see it is not to break the power but to increase the
responsibility.

"So if this big concern, common to both parties, is to
prosper, if the school of reason is to prevail — and there
are wise heads both among employers and working-
men who form it — it must have the backing of an in-
structed public opinion. Lack of imagination is our
big obstacle. A great upheaval may be the chance of
revolutionaries who are wreckers. But there is a bet-
ter chance these days for the upbuilders. War does
not produce ; it destroys. To say that industry is war
is to say that industry is waste, something the common
sense of the people laughs at. But to leave industry's
door open for war is of course the negation of sense.
The way of hope is in better production under a
larger direction of industry. Passing out accumulated
wealth in the form of extravagant wages or prizes, dis-
tributing capital as working expenses is the shortest
road to national suicide.

"We need to look at work itself and the way it is
carried on. Under right direction — something which
the men as much as the management must supply-
work should mean initiative, more enterprise and serv-
ice. The reconstruction we all talk about means just
one thing: Removal of strife through reconciliation;
and reconciliation depends on new motives at work in
the conduct of industry. From the national point of
view the employer is a failure if he does not manage
to pay not only dividends on the capital he must bor-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 14-3

row but wages sufficient for the employee to live as a
citizen should, and, in addition, supply opportunity for
the employee to find incentives for service during em-
ployment. ' '

The head of a Sheffield firm tapping world markets
with its product gives time now to industrial problems
which he used to spend in building up his great organ-
ization. ' ' I have been waiting for years, ' ' he said, ' i to
do this very thing, because I think it is the main busi-
ness of an employer to see to it that his foundations are
sound, and by foundations I mean the satisfaction of
the working force with their conditions and with their
position. Many years ago, against much opposition in
the trade, we refused to join in a reduction of wages
by one shilling a head. Times were bad, to be sure,
but I felt that it was our business, inasmuch as we
had been settling everything for ourselves, to shoulder
the load of depression. Our stand held up any further
attempt to dock wages. Three months later conditions
improved and I was thanked by my former opponents
for the stand I took.

"In the same way we started years ago with a shorter
workday. Dire predictions of our ruin filled our mail ;
we were supposed to be defying economic laws. Well,
events have proved that we were merely a little ahead
of our time, and our growth proves meanwhile that
prosperity depends a good deal on whether your men
work with you or not.

"I have served on a good many committees, but I
have not seen enough workmen's representatives on
them. Once I was on a committee to look into the ques-
tion of our mineral resources. The best lead I had
was from a man who was once a miner and is now in a

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

small business of his own. I made it my business to
look him up, and he gave me the idea of a central
bureau of information, which is the key to our utilizing
the country's mineral and other resources. We should
open up every avenue of education for the worker ; in-
dustry suffers because the worker starts life handi-
capped by entering too early to have given himself a
schooling and a sound body. And once he has this
education opportunity must be afforded for him to use
it.

" Modern labor is very irksome where it is of a repe-
titive kind. It hardly calls out the best in any man.
And the more irksome the work the poorer the wage;
this is too 6f ten the rule. Now I do not know whether
we are any wiser than anybody else or have a better
selection of men. I think we are about the average.
But we have never had a strike. This is due to a pol-
icy. We have a round table for the discussion by all
concerned of every possible question that arises and
interests our employees. If they have any matter that
seems important to them that is enough guaranty for
us that it is important.

"We do not live by bread alone; this is said often
enough, but we do not take it home with us. We once
started our works at six in the morning. Before the
men could get a good sleep they had to rise from bed
and scurry off to work. We are not early risers in this
country, as are the Americans. So we had much bad
time keeping and no end of irritation. The men,
many of them, did not come in until they had their
breakfast. We tried starting a half hour later, but
that made no difference. Then we started at seven-
twenty- five, and omitted the break at nine o'clock.

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 145

The scheme nearly fell down because of the opposition
of the men. Before long, however, the scheme suc-
ceeded, all hands agreeing that it was on the right lines.
Our mistake was in not going over the whole situation
with the men and letting their judgment and knowledge
settle the thing. To-day our late start attracts many
workers to our firm.

"Our clerks and salaried people have vacations with
pay. I shall never be satisfied until every laborer may
take his vacation with pay. The cost is not the main
consideration. We cannot balance dollars or pounds
against the health and well-being of men and women.
Hope is the great stimulus. We want our working
force to find scope for their ambitions. They are en-
titled to a high standard of living. We claim it for
ourselves, do we not?

"Our plants cover one hundred and fifty acres. The
famous Eiver Don, mentioned by Chaucer, is near by.
In the sixteenth century apprentices working in Shef-
field struck because they were fed on its salmon every
day. They surely had the right to some variety. As I
view the industrial future of my country I believe we
are in for the abolition of squalor, misery and bad
conditions.

' ' Our people, who have saved the country and helped
in no small way to save the world, are entitled to con-
tentment, good pay, decent homes with gardens, and
an education for their children to enable them to fit
themselves for the life which appeals to them most,
and to make fine men and women of them.

"These are not the visions of a dreamer. Out of
the ashes of the war we want to raise something worth
while. War has given us many new problems, but we

146 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

are tackling them in the proper spirit. I do not mean
to wait until the shadow of the grave falls before I do
my share and pay my debt to my fellow workers.
They are the molders of their own destiny. I want
to have the privilege while I can yet be active to join
with them in making industry a big opportunity for all
of us and for the nation. "

Men like Mr. Balfour are the trustees of a fund,
known as the Garton Foundation, which has been spe-
cializing on the subject of industrial reconstruction.
The secretary of this foundation has had ample oppor-
tunity to size up the situation, and this is how he views
it:

"Let me try briefly to sketch the industrial situation
likely to prevail after the war. The demobilization of
several millions of men and the rearrangement of the
employment of several million men and women, muni-
tion workers and the like, will throw a vast number of
workers on the labor market. Yet I do not think there
will be much unemployment. Civil demands will take
the place of war demands. The task will be rather the
right distribution than the provision of employment,
the bringing together of the worker and the work.

"Much more serious in prospect is the situation in
regard to wages. Unless a special effort is made the
total national output, and consequently the national
income, may be smaller than before the war. Out of
the total national wealth a large slice will be required
for repairs and rebuilding. Though labor will be in
demand we have to face the fact that discontent may be
aggravated by certain features in the general temper
of the nation. An effort so stupendous as that made
during the war is followed by sure reaction. Unless a

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 147

fresh stimulus follows the*e will come a dull and bick-
ering mood. Such moods incline to a breaking down
rather than a building up. Though most men, I be-
lieve, want to see normal conditions restored as soon
as possible no one can tell how many men are at-
tracted by the idea of continuing the use of force to
settle further problems of ours. What has been over-
thrown in wrar will not long be tolerated under an-
other guise in peace. The industrial order toward
which we must work is one in which an evil spirit is
replaced by cooperation, equality, freedom and mutual
aid. Industry is a phase of the art of living together.
Responsibility rather than authority will keep it
sound. "

' ' Our industrial problem is at root one of human na-
ture. The ill will that has poisoned industrial rela-
tions in the past springs in large part from a failure
of understanding. It has been believed that industry
was a game of beggar-my-neighbor, a game in which
one side could gain only at the expense of the other.
The belief is as false as it is pernicious. There are
divergent interests between employers and employed,
but they are enormously outweighed by the interests
that are common to both. The law of industry is not
conflict but cooperation. Secrecy is the father of much
evil. The parties to industry must lower their defenses
and come out courageously on to the open ground.

"The present demands of labor go far beyond mere
questions of wages or even hours and working condi-
tions. The official program of the Labor Party in-
cludes nationalization of land, railways, coal mines,
shipping, power stations and the insurance business,
together with a large state control over prices, wages

148 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and profits. The guild movement proposes to set up
in each industry an autonomous government, and the
rank-and-file movement, which is rapidly growing in
strength, proposes to do the same for each shop. The
real strength behind these programs is uncertain, but
the unrest they indicate is a dominant factor in the
situation. The use of industrial organization to
achieve certain ends was seen in the seamen's boycott,
and in the proposals one hears now and again for work-
men 's and soldiers* councils in this country.

"It is a common assumption that it is only the prop-
ertied classes who have anything to lose in an out-
break of class warfare or industrial conflict, and the
assumption is untrue. The methods of conflict are
very effective for pulling down; they are both inef-
fective and uncertain as means of building up. Now
the idea of partnership in industry does not mean that
the functions of capital, management and labor must
or should be merged ; that no useful part can be played
by the investor; or that the technical side of a business
can be removed from expert control.

"During the next few years we shall probably see
British industry organize itself for the purpose of
raising both the standard of production and the stan-
dard of industrial life to a higher level. "

Talk with any representative manufacturer or busi-
ness man in Great Britain and you will be struck by
the common note as to what is ahead for industry.
There is no depression, though quite apart from labor
problems war has left a legacy of problems galore for
them to face. Perhaps a truer picture of what has
happened would be to say that, in the supreme effort
which Britain made, considerations of the future

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 149

played almost no part. One keeps forever marveling
at these unboastful, uncomplaining people. By dint
of probing information dribbles out, of industries
abandoned, commerce thrown overboard, all in order to
keep up the flow of supplies to the Front, not to that of
the British alone, but as unreservedly to that of the
Allies — French, Italian, Serbian, Belgian and Ameri-
can ; especially the American. One business after an-
other has been stripped bare to meet these needs.
Markets long the pride of English export trade have
been neglected. But there 's never a wail or a
whimper.

Locked up in the archives of the War Office, and in
the bureaus which have had in charge the nerve-strain-
ing business of rationing the country's factory pro-
duct between demands at home and those at the Front,
are records, as yet unpublished, of how British em-
ployers played their part in the war. Take the cement
business as one example. Inroads made upon skilled
•labor by recruiting, difficulty in getting new machinery
or repairs made to old machinery, hit the cement in-
dustry in the United Kingdom a serious blow. But at
the same time demands for war purposes were enor-
mous ; fortifications, gun emplacements, hospitals, mu-
nition factories — all had to have their share.

Then the United States came into the war. When
our armies appeared big demands came for cement in
the construction of hospitals, camps and gun emplace-
ments in France. To meet these the export of cement
was absolutely shut down. Remember that the United
Kingdom had an important export trade in cement, its
chief markets being India and South America. Owing
to the absence of supplies from Belgium and Germany

150 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the export price jumped. The profit in export of ce-
ment promised to be enormous. English manufactur-
ers saw the growing competition of the United States
in South America. Certain English brands of cement
had a good footing in South America; manufacturers
could see their market slipping away from them. In
spite of this situation English manufacturers and mer-
chants most loyally helped in the restrictions imposed
upon them.

"Our American and our other Allies wanted it;
we '11 think about our market presently "; this is how
they put it to you.

After the signing of the armistice cement manufac-
turers sought to recapture their export markets. It
was pointed out to them, however, that the ravages
of war remained, even though hostilities had ceased,
and that it was in the interest of the country that
supplies should be held for rebuilding purposes. So,
though restrictions on the sale of cement within the
United Kingdom have been removed, the government-
still retains control over export. Only a very small
quantity, compared with the pre-war figures, is per-
mitted to leave the country. Of course the manufac-
turers feel the loss of their overseas trade, but they
are standing by — devotion to their country, as always,
the first consideration.

Take the tin-plate industry, for another illustration.
Tin plate is one of the important weapons of warfare ;
on it the feeding of armies depends. The soldier's
rations in nearly every form are packed in this metal.
Conditions under which this war has been fought forced
the use of quantities of cold rations, which of neces-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 151

sity have to be packed in tin plate ; in a region like Italy
or Saloniki, troops had to remain for weeks on the
peaks or sides of mountains, far removed from their
base, almost out of touch with transport.

Very early in the war an acute shortage of tin plate
made itself felt. Apart from its uses in the packing
of foodstuffs it is an indispensable element in muni-
tions. Lack of freight facilities further cut down the
supplies of tin. Then demands for steel for guns, shell
and other supplies made it necessary to ration the
quantity of steel available for the tin-plate industry.
France, Italy, Serbia and Belgium were largely de-
pendent upon British supplies, and allocations of tin
plate had to be made by the British Government to
the Allied governments. The shortage within the
United Kingdom became so acute that the use of tin
plate for every nonessential purpose had to be cur-
tailed or altogether abolished.

The effect upon the tin box-making industry was al-
most disastrous.

Finally, the tin-plate manufacturers had to sacrifice
their export trade. British tin plate has always been
in great demand throughout the world. Enormous
quantities were exported before the war to South
America for the use of the packing industry. The loyal
cooperation not only of the manufacturers but also of
the tin-box makers answered the call of the govern-
ment. Every attempt was made to salvage old tin
plate; and large quantities of old cans and tin linkigs
have been brought back from various theaters of war
and distributed to the factories in the United Kingdom
in order to keep them going as well as circumstances

152 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

would allow. But British industry went in for win-
ning the war ; problems of trade and markets were ad-
journed for its duration.

The head of probably the largest rubber works in the
Old World, who is also a leading figure in an asso-
ciation of manufacturers representing two billion dol-
lars of capital, looks forward to a program on national
scale for improvement in the neglected physical sur-
roundings of the workers. He believes that something
practical and lasting will come from the spirit of team-
work stirring in Great Britain.

"It is not too much to hope," he said, "that disap-
pearance of antagonisms will be one of the results of
the loyal comradeship of all classes during the past
four years. Cooperation must be the watchword; on
the one side the employer must be prepared to pay
good and adequate wages for good work. He must
also be prepared to remove from the minds of work-
men the dread of what has hitherto been the conse-
quences of unemployment and sickness. It must be
recognized that very often the worker finds himself on
the unemployed market through no fault of his own.

"It is up to both employers and employed to prove
to each other that the mutual suspicions of the past
are no longer justified. In all probability the state will
demand a definite percentage on an equitable basis
of profits made in industry. If so, this must not be
used as a means of restricting the fullest possible pro-
duction. Both employers and employed must bear in
mind that full production, in addition to benefiting
themselves directly, will bring indirect benefit inas-
much as it will contribute to the general well-being of
the state.

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 153

" Every facility should be given to insure the intelli-
gent interest of the workers in every phase of the in-
dustry in which they are concerned. They should be
educated on questions such as the supply of raw ma-
terial, its production and purchase, the selling and
marketing of goods, and in short all commercial opera-
tions that affect the work in which they are engaged.
This should be one of the results of the recent establish-
ment of industrial councils under the Whitley scheme.

"The question uppermost in the minds of all in
Britain to-day, be they directors, managers or clerks
in the countinghouse, machine minders in the shop or
sweepers in the yard, is whether, now that the Ger-
mans are beaten, there shall be peace or war in indus-
try.

' ' There are people, and many of them, who say that
industrial strife is unthinkable. These people point
to the united front which employer, workmen and
women presented to the common enemy all these past
weary four years ; to the officers in the trenches saving
the lives of their men and the men dying for their
officers; to the women of society entering munition
works and laboring at bench and machine side by side
with the girls from the unfavored quarters; and the
workwomen leaving all sorts of places for the manu-
facture of shell. Europe could not have held out with-
out Britain, nor America have come over in time, and
Britain's strength was the strength of all, not a part,
of her sons and daughters.

"Nevertheless, now that the purpose for which this
unity came into being is accomplished, it is in the bal-
ance whether, as far as industry is concerned, the
truce to internal war will not be broken and the old,

154 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

old struggle of capital and labor be renewed on a vaster
scale than ever before.

"The reasons are not far to seek. First, every one
has been at strain during the war. Business has been
hard. Work in yard and shop and office has been very
hard. Nerves all round have been on edge, not for
weeks or months, but for years. You in America know
better than most people what that means — for you are
the hardest and most concentrated workers in the
world. Then, think of the anxiety and suffering of
literally millions of our workers — whether managers
or staff — with their loved ones away in trench or on
the sea or, worst of all, in German or Turkish hands.

"Can you wonder if, now that the strain relaxes,
we over here, after the first great sigh of relief and
thankfulness and triumph, feel irritable and uneasy
and inclined to turn to the consideration of personal
matters in the spirit of overtired people who, having
nursed their sick back to life, now when they need rest
find that they must work harder than ever to get enough
to live on and pay the doctor's bill?

1 ' That is the condition of industrial folk all round in
this country, and no doubt in others. Then, every-
thing has been topsy-turvy. No employer has been
able to call his works his own, while workpeople on
their side in hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions,
of cases have had to leave home and work under most
uncomfortable and artificial conditions, to say the least
of it, without any holiday to speak of and without any
family life.

"Now on top of all this we have to handle the de-
mobilization of sailors and soldiers, some five millions ;
and of munition workers, three millions ; and to adjust

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 155

every kind of war process in industry to peace condi-
tions. If all these circumstances are reviewed I do
not think this nation, with all its faults, should be too
hardly judged if, now that it has to set its affairs in
order, it kicks up a certain amount of dust in the
process.

"That dust will be raised is certain. We are an
awkward-tempered crowd, we Britishers; and all of
us, whether English, Scotch or Irish — or, as most of us
are, a blend of all three — take kindly to a good square
row among ourselves at times, as ducks to water. But
there are rows and rows, and there is all the difference
in the world between a 'dust up7 between men who be-
neath the surface are comrades, and men who, though
smooth when they meet, keep knives in their boots.

"There are in every trade employers and profiteers
ready and eager to exploit labor and grind the faces
of the poor. But they will not be able, these people,
to upset the life and destroy the balance of the nation
which has achieved what Britain has achieved in the
mighty struggle we have won.

"I have been in Manchester and Birmingham, in
Sheffield, in Liverpool, in Cardiff and in Newcastle, and
in almost every other center where the lif eblood of our
industries runs. And everywhere I have found that
the moment a straight appeal for fair play is put to
any meeting of workmen and employers by trusted
leaders on each side there comes a response that
crushes to pulp the storming and shrieking of those
who would destroy."

Never before the present time have so many big
business men given such sober, persevering and un-
prejudiced thought to industrial problems. Before the

156 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

war you would have had to do some running around to
get a line on what might be called the viewpoint of in-
dustry. There was a viewpoint, of course, if that is
the word for an utter lack of understanding on the part
of the average employer of forces working in the field
of industrial relations and management. Tradition
and outworn notions about the place of labor bandaged
the eyes and clouded the thinking of the everyday ex-
ecutive.

Labor, on the other hand, had its viewpoint and its
program, unmistakably, for years back. The war only
accentuated the outline and the detail of that program.
There was no mistaking what workmen wanted; they
had their case in good shape.

The average employer had other things on his mind
than concern with bothersome labor questions ; besides,
it was usually the chore of some subordinate to worry
about such matters. To-day no man is too big or too
busy in the industrial organization to give time and
thought to the human factors in the situation; and
eager interest in these questions no longer necessarily
indicates a weak head. With the best executive brains
of industry foremost in the present discussion of Brit-
ain's economic future there is warrant enough for an
attitude of hopefulness. The example of those rare
employers who years ago defied tradition and insisted
on regarding industry mainly as a human proposition
has borne fruit. But the larger credit for the present
spirit is due to the influence of a great experience in
common suffering and sacrifice. The men whose con-
structive abilities had built up the Empire's industries
were not slow in catching the significant lessons of this
experience; their brains are -now at the country's dis-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 157

posal, as they have been throughout the war, ready to
serve in the reconstruction.

War came to an end abruptly, as every one knows.
It might be supposed that, with the four years of agony
over, business men would make a rush upon the gov-
ernment, clamor for the privileges war had about an-
nihilated, and proclaim the instant resumption of ' 'busi-
ne&s as usual." There is reason enough for starting
up. But business made no such rush nor set up much
of any clamor ; and as for proclamations, the Britisher
is not much of a proclaimer. Instead of scramble,
from the morning of the armistice to this very minute,
the processes of thoughtful planning have operated
and characterized the transition from war to peace.
And what is more to the point, the first concern of every
industrial leader has been not with recapture of trade
but with making a fresh start, a right start in the mat-
ter of industrial relations.

A man who has done as much as any one individual
to build up the industries of Western England is giving
practically all his time to this work. He is for doing
away with delay and procrastination. He maintains
that there is information enough at hand for a start in
settling the relation of employer and employed.

"We have had investigations enough," he said; "let
us do something now. There is sense enough on both
sides to put behind us some of the problems that have
been harassing industry. Our insularity, so often a
stumbling block, may in this instance be our safeguard.
As for immediate measures that can be taken to deal
with the situation, it is clear that they must be pro-
gressive to an extent hitherto unparalleled, and that
the grievances of labor must be met in the most gen-

158 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

erous spirit. There is little doubt that they have, many
of them, a substantial foundation in fact. Belief is
more important than truth, and labor 's conviction that
it has not had a square deal will not be shaken by any
evidence which it is likely can be adduced before a
royal commission.

"If the sense of injury can be removed by a generous
pledges bill and by setting up machinery for the in-
vestigation of profiteering and undue profits; if, fur-
ther, labor's desire for increased control of its indus-
trial life is generously met by rapid extension on the
lines foreshadowed by the Whitley report; and if, on
the one hand, on all occasions labor is honestly and
fairly met and not left with a sense of having been
used for a purpose, and, on the other, is not treated like
a troublesome and unruly schoolboy who has to be hu-
mored by his elders ; if, in fact, labor is understood as
having come to manhood — there is every hope that the
difficulties of the transition period will be successfully
met."

The president of the National Alliance of Employer
and Employed, Frederick Huth Jackson, spoke for this
large organization when he said the other day that all
men are now agreed that the industrial system of five
years ago can never return.

"A new spirit is emerging out of our perplexities,"
he said, "the national viewpoint taking the place of the
sectional, and men who in past days were as far apart
as the poles in their outlook and opinions are trying
now to give a practical meaning to that worn phrase,
1 community of interest.7 It is to the work of eliminat-
ing bureaucratic control as far as possible and of hu-
manizing problems of industrial reconstruction that

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 159

our alliance has set its hand, with results that are en-
couraging/'

A concrete illustration of how this humanizing of in-
dustrial relations can be carried out is to be found in
the Hans Eenold Works at Manchester.1 In this plant
you find a very detailed program of shop and manage-
ment relationships, undertaken, as the executives are
careful to inform you, merely as experiments. They
are not afraid of experiments. The moving spirit of
the concern, Charles Eenold, son of the founder, who
set his ideals to work at the same time with his me-
chanical inventions, is a Cornell graduate, who has the
fixed conviction that industrial management is entering
on a new stage. And because he has this notion and
finds that opposition to it in the trade- is disappearing
he is hopeful for the nation's industrial future.

What he is after is to find out by actual trial how far
under present conditions the necessary machinery can
be set up within an industry for distributing the mana-
gerial load. If industrial life fails to satisfy the
worker, he argues, even with advances in wages and re-
duction of hours, there must be still something left for
a manager to do. The Eenold Works use a large num-
ber of automatic machines. Apparently every im-
provement in the automatic workings of these machines
deepened a resentment which the men felt but said little
about, at least within hearing of the management ; and
Charles Eenold was intelligent enough to sense this
feeling or "atmosphere."

The easy remedy of telling men who did n 't like be-
coming cogs in a machine to make way for those who

i See page 546, Workshop Committees, C. G. Renold.

160 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

did never entered his mind. He enjoyed the initiative,
freedom and interest that he found in his daily work,
and he saw no reason why some of these benefits might
not go even with work on automatic tools. There was
no changing the machines of course, or the nature of
the work. But there seemed to be opportunities that
might offer valuable compensations. And these op-
portunities lay in the direction of more democratic
methods in conducting the business of production.
There was " enough power and responsibility to go
round ; the management need never miss a share going
to the employee."

The joint-management scheme of the Eenold plant is
divided into two main sections. In the first section are
all those items that are accepted as within the unques-
tioned rights of the workers. In the first place, when
men are members of outside labor organizations there
is need of some parallel agency within the plant to
supervise agreements negotiated and handle the detail
from the intimate shop, rather than from the outside,
viewpoint.

Now the way to act under a system of trade agree-
ments is to begin at once making sure that the rates
agreed on are actually received by all the individuals
concerned; and furthermore, to make sure that rates
and scales of wages apply fairly. Nor is this all.
Every promise of advances in pay must be fulfilled.
Hedging is nowhere so fatal as in industry. In the
matter of piece rates, however set, whether by collective
or individual agreement, the basis for each price must
be such as to leave no doubt or suspicion in the em-
ployee's mind. All the data must be placed where men
may come freely to examine them.

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 161

The management finds occasion from time to time to
instal a new machine or introduce a change in process
which is likely, for a time at least, to result in cutting
down the number of men employed in that process.
Here is work cut out for a shop or works committee to
advise how the change may be brought about with the
least hardship to the men. These changes, too, often
require a new classification of the operatives, a new
grading of the men on the pay roll. Conference is the
obvious method for avoiding the countless disputes in
all such innovations.

Grievances are normal to every aggregation of men.
Where means are provided for airing them, checking
any petty tyranny which they reveal, there is no reason
for any bad feeling in the works ; to the sensible man-
ager every grievance freely spoken is a source of help.

For all those questions which involve what may be
called the social life of a factory the Eenold idea is to
provide as much self-government as possible — such
questions as, for example, restriction of smoking, shop
tidiness, cleaning and oiling of machines, care of over-
alls, time-checking rules, pay days, use of lavatories,
general behavior, meal hours, holiday work, day and
night shifts, safety work, medical examination, wash-
ing accommodations, drinking-water supply, and a num-
ber more — all of them matters in which the employee
has more interest to see properly carried out than even
the management.

"More important than any making over of the man-
agement machinery, " Mr. Renold said; "more impor-
tant even than prompt remedying of specific grievances
is the establishing of some degree of human touch and
sympathy between management and men. I cannot em-

162 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

phasize too strongly that the hopefulness of any experi-
ment lies not in any machinery nor even in wideness of
power of self-government by the workers, but in the
degree to which touch and, if possible, friendliness can
be established.

"In any case of new rules or new developments or
new workshop policy there is always difficulty in get-
ting the rank and file to know what the management is
driving at. The change may be all to the good ; but the
mere fact that it is new and not understood may lead to
trouble. If wise use is made of committees of workers
all such changes would be discussed, explained, and it
is not extravagant to expect that these men would soon
spread a correct version of the management's inten-
tions among their fellow workers.

"Take the matter of promotions or appointments of
foremen. There is usually bad feeling and more. Ex-
tremists have urged that workmen should choose their
own foremen by election. This may become possible
when more experience in self-management is in the
possession of the workers, but the present difficulty is
that a number of parties and distinct problems are in-
volved. A worker is naturally interested in the human
qualities of the foreman, his sympathies, fairness or
helpfulness. Other foremen size up the technical fit-
ness of their new colleague. The manager expects skill
in handling men and keeping up the producing require-
ments of the plant. Each of these parties is looking
for a different set of qualities. Yet it is worth while
making an earnest attempt to reach a common under-
standing through free discussion.

"One thing more than any other, however, is of
practical help : The management must lay down a

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 163

clear statement of the qualities deemed necessary for
such a post. This done, everybody has an impersonal
standard to go by. Another vital point: The extent
to which management functions can be delegated or
policies brought up for discussion with the men de-
pends very largely on the degree of completeness with
which the management itself is organized. Where
this is haphazard only autocratic control is possible.
Therefore the better organized and more constitu-
tional— in the sense of having known rules and pro-
cedures— the management is, the more possible it
makes joint action. "

Human nature is on the job at the Renold works, as
it is pretty much everywhere else. The men of the
tool-room shops handed in one day the following reso-
lution :

"Whilst agreeing through abnormal conditions to
the introduction of women in the tool room we wish to
record our objection to any woman being placed in any
position of authority for discipline purposes. " The
men explained that they felt they were "giving a lot
away in allowing women to invade their trade and
strongly resented any woman coming into a position of
authority. " Thanks to the attitude of the women
there was no further problem.

What a peep behind the war curtain is a proposition
like this, which the Renold, and many another manage-
ment, has had to face: "Payment for stoppage of
work in case of Zeppelin raids. "

A delegation representing the two hundred men of a
certain shop waited on the joint committee with a pro-
posal that the men should have full pay if they re-
mained in the factory during air raids ; or be allowed

164 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to go home without any record of absence. Think of
the squabble, recriminations and bad temper that ques-
tions of pay when work ceases through no fault of the
men always give rise to. Many a bitter strike dates
from such issues, hitting against the stone wall of a
deadlock.

How did the Eenold management and its committee
system meet this situation? The answer was payment
in full for the first hour after the stoppage and half
pay thereafter for the men who stayed in the works,
waiting to restart; "considering that the circum-
stances which bring about these stoppages were out of
control of both the management and the men, and that
the firm stood proportionately to lose more than the
men, it is the opinion of the representatives that this
is an equitable arrangement. " And note the further
comment of the men's committee: "Instruction to
dissuading people from going home was justified be-
cause it generally happened that an early restart was
possible, and the loss to both sides would be less than
by sending people away immediately warning of a raid
was given, and anyway it was generally recognized that
it was safer to remain under cover, and it was only
serving the enemy's purpose to stop production more
than need be."

British industry has ground for a hopeful view of
the future so long as good sense remains the keystone
of its management. The can 't-be-done school among
employers is on the way to wholesale conversion.
What has been already done, and done so well, leaves
little excuse for the industrial laggard. No better
friends of British industry exist than the mass of the
rank and file. Given reasonable opportunity, as indus-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 165

trial leaders have begun to do, for satisfaction with
industrial life, and big resources in the way of team
spirit, efficiency and sustained good work — the contri-
bution of the working force — may be added to the stock
of Britain's assets. Failing this there is certain risk
of turning friend into foe, a hopeful attitude into one
of antagonism, and of loading industry with burdens
that it could never so little afford to carry as now.

Prominent employers say that if only their fellow
employers desist from harking back to conditions that
have gone for good the future may be made one of big
promise. There will be problems without end, and
many of them will concern industrial relations, but this
need not be disquieting. Industry has always had
labor problems to face. There is now more general
knowledge to face them with, and perhaps a truer ap-
preciation on the part of both management and men of
the essential dependence of each upon the other.

I have been impressed by the utter absence of senti-
mentalism in expressions I have heard among employ-
ers as to what industrial relations in the near future
are to be. This has seemed to me the most promising
fact and guaranty in the situation. Cool judgment,
instead of a mush of unworkable platitudes and benev-
olences, is being brought to bear on questions that call
for the same headwork that serious engineering or
organization problems demand. To say the least, all
such questions are on a par so far as the tax on the best
possible brain power is concerned. And on the ques-
tion of sound relations in Britain's workshops you will
find first-rate brain power in action now.

Mr. Gordon Selfridge needs as little introduction in
the United States as he does in England. Holding the

166 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

unique position of a very successful American mer-
chant in the center of Britain's retail trade he knows
what the merchant and manufacturer as well as the
bulk of the population here are thinking of, indus-
trially speaking.

"I think that much of the unrest has been due," Mr.
Self ridge said, "to the attitude of some employers.
Trouble between labor and capital is frequently due to
the employer ; and in so many cases we discover when
the employer has grown from the ranks of labor he
becomes autocratic, using just those elements which
irritate and which give a desire to hit back.

"Leaders among labor say that in addition to good
wages, and so on, the workers feel that as growing
human beings and as citizens they ought to have more
voice in the management. If I may be personal — in
this business, where we have about five thousand em-
ployees, the discipline of the house is in the hands of a
staff or employee council, which is an elected body and
which is entirely independent of the working manage-
ment of the house, because the general good judgment
of the staff council representing the employees keeps
it always in the center of the road.

"I cannot but feel that the steady, unhysterical,
good common sense which permeates this community
and practically every member of it this side will not
be effected by the Continental upheaval.

"There is a great difference between a political con-
dition and a commercial condition. Commerce is open
for any one to employ his ability as he chooses and as
he is able, and there is no sovereign state in that great
field of occupation. If a manager become bumptious
and overimpressed with his authority he is going to

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 167

do that which irritates and which gives the other side
the feeling that it has been treated unjustly; and the
people of our race and with our lines of thought object
above everything else to that which we consider
injustice.

"If the manager employs the same kind of good sense
in the careful control and the direction and supervision
of those people who are upon his pay roll that he him-
self would like under the same circumstances there is
likely to be no trouble whatever.

"We have, however, reached that time when the ab-
sence of that good sense is going to make trouble much
easier than it was a generation or more ago, because
the so-called common people or the multitude are ap-
proaching more closely to those who have heretofore
been recognized as the favored few. There is less dif-
ference to-day between the duke and the street cleaner
than there ever was before.

"As to the question, will there be enough work! —
that will depend largely upon the energy that is em-
ployed by those who have the thing in hand. There
will be no trouble in finding plenty of employment for
those who are pressing the opportunities of this empire
if those who really are in the position to use energy and
enterprise do utilize their ability as they should. In
other words, the whole world is Great Britain's field in
which she could trade, and trade and commerce are the
things which really keep the country going, because
they are the wage earners of the state. If, therefore,
they are in a position to do so they should use the enter-
prise and the energy which are so desirable and attract
the different parts of the world through their mer-
chandise, taking up as much as they can of the trade

168 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

which Germany has sacrificed, at least for the moment.
There should be no trouble whatever in a very great
era of prosperity for this country.

"The stores that are dealing locally must look for
their results to the general welfare of the country, and
if the country as a whole is prosperous they will do
well, and vice versa. Our Christmas trade has been
very much the biggest, I think, England has ever had.
We broke all records in a thousand places, and I think
it has been generally good all over the country. The
causes of this boom are general light-heartedness of the
people, the fact that the shadow of war is removed, the
fact that a very large number of the community had
been earning excellent wages, and also that Christmas
in Great Britain is always a time for demonstrating
that feeling of good will, and therefore it was the best
time to show its relief.

"Before the war there was in the industrial life of
England very much too much of the conservative spirit
which let well enough alone and which said 'Why
should we change from the methods of our fathers T
That was undesirable and inefficient spirit, and could
only have resulted in a serious setback to England's
commercial spirit. It was that spirit which had been
allowed to grow that made it very much easier for
Germany to get her large trade. The reason that
spirit had been allowed to grow was because to many
in England the game of success did not seem quite
worth the candle, and the spirit of the love of ease was
considered more desirable than the love of efficiency.

"We have learned that the productive ability of this
small country is, when pushed hard, very much greater
than heretofore has been considered possible. With

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 169

the great manufacturing districts of Northern France
in the hands of the soldiers and producing no material,
with restrictions which made importation from Amer-
ica and other foreign countries practically impossible,
the manufacturing sections of this country have geared
themselves up to such a rate that they have not only
supplied us in Great Britain with all the merchandise
we want and more, but they have furnished enormous
amounts for France, Italy, and so- on.

1 1 1 cannot speak too highly of the splendid work that
the women of this country have done at that moment
when their assistance was so necessary. They grasped
the oar and pulled with all their might to bring this
boat into harbor, and they have raised themselves enor-
mously in the respect of the entire community as being
efficient in those things in which heretofore they have
had not much opportunity of proving themselves.

"General wages, it is hoped, will not seriously drop
from their present rates. It will become difficult to
maintain them artificially ; on the other hand the stand-
ards of living must be maintained by every effort which
those who are leading in any way in this country can
use. As far as we are concerned we shall make no
reductions in wages or salaries in this store.

"There has thus far been no important relaxation
in the control of raw material. Certain things have
been released and we expect this relaxation to come
very quickly; I cannot discover that there is any seri-
ous desire on the part of the government to maintain
the control, except perhaps in the matter of wool and
where the distribution of the raw material must be
safeguarded by the state and where manufacturers
must be safeguarded for preventing in any way any

170 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

profiteering. The business men of Great Britain have
as a very general rule been splendidly patriotic and un-
selfish, thinking during the past four years or so that
the great thing was to win the war rather than that
their individual selves should be protected.

"The impression that I would convey, if I were
speaking to the merchants and business men of Amer-
ica, is that the spirit of the business men of Great
Britain is right. The present condition of mind is as
one would like to see it — in the direction of reasonable-
ness, good judgment and the safeguarding of the state ;
and the more we men of business recognize that each
one of our institutions, or businesses, or whatever we
choose to call them, is one of the assets of the state,
then the more nearly do we bring our occupation called
business into the line of a profession, using the word
profession in the highest sense of the term.

"Every merchant is asking himself, What about
business for the coming months and years 1 Prophecy
is unsatisfactory work, but we have concluded that we
shall push business with utmost effort and energy ; that
we shall work harder than ever to adopt new ideas."

Sir Stephenson Kent, one of the big industrial lead-
ers and employers in England, is in charge of the in-
dustrial demobilization work. During the war his con-
ferences with American employers and labor groups
were among the most helpful in bringing to light the
size of the job we had in hand. Here is his view of the
British situation:

"In making any statement about the industrial situ-
ation in England it is inevitable that difficulties should
be dwelt upon. The problems with which we are faced
are obvious ; solutions are often obscure or only half-

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 171

revealed. But it would be a mistake to infer that be-
cause perplexities abound the outlook depresses. The
tasks and dangers confronting us at the beginning of
the war were of far greater magnitude. Nevertheless,
though prophets of evil were not wanting, the tasks
have been performed and the dangers overcome. Thus
the great experience of the recent past justifies us in
turning our faces to the future in a spirit of reasonable
optimism.

"It is not easy to define briefly the mutual attitude
of employer and workman during the war. The com-
plicating factor was the interposition of a third party —
the state. The improved terms granted by employers
—vastly higher wages, shorter hours, improved wel-
fare conditions — may be attributed, justly no doubt, in
part to the overriding necessity of stimulating output ;
in part to the assistance given by the state to employers
who initiated welfare work in their factories; and in
part to the power of employers to recoup themselves
for the grant of higher wages by the adjustment of
their contract prices. The workers in pressing for
such improvements as I have indicated, as well as a
share in factory management, have no doubt been
influenced by the high price of food, the spectacle of
profiteering in some quarters, and apprehensions for
their post-war future owing to the transformation of
mechanical methods and the inrush of semiskilled men
and women into the highly skilled crafts.

"But it would be a great mistake to conclude that the
workers have been influenced merely by self-interest
and that the employers have made only those conces-
sions for which they could procure an equivalent from
the state. Behind all these superficial indications of

178 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

interested feeling there has undoubtedly been on both
sides a conscious working for a great common end,
which even divergent interests have not been able to ob-
scure. Employers — by assenting to a national scheme
for the periodic revision of wages in various industries,
by conceding greatly reduced hours of work, by agree-
ing in many cases to the shop-committee system and in
some leading instances strongly promoting it, and by
doing what they could amid the rapid turmoil of enor-
mous war production to humanize the conditions of
factory life — have displayed a spirit of humanity and
quickness to appreciate the lessons taught by the con-
centrated industrial experience of the last four years.
Again, the hard, willing, devoted work of the millions
engaged on the output of munitions can be appreciated
only by those who have been able to study it at close
range; but as strikes which have occurred may have
attracted attention disproportionate to their relative
significance it is worth pointing out here that notwith-
standing the reactions of war strain the time lost
through trade disputes during the period of the war
has been an exceedingly small fraction of the whole
working time.

"As to how far the better elements of feeling and
practical experience produced in the atmosphere of
war will be solidified and made permanent in the less
acutely idealistic days of peace, much will depend upon
the whole commercial position after the coming period
of transition. Prophecies are out of the question.
The most hopeful prospect lies in developing the spirit
of mutual respect and understanding between employ-
ers and their workers to which I have already made
reference. Bring parties with competing interests

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 173

round the same table, let them ventilate their differ-
ences freely face to face, and we may look for an
atmosphere in which fair-minded accommodation be-
comes possible.

' ' It is with that goal in view that the government is
actively promoting the Whitley scheme of joint indus-
trial councils, supplemented by industrial-reconstruc-
tion committees linking up with the work of the trade
boards and existing representative joint bodies. It is
also maintaining trade-union advisory committees at
the headquarters of government departments, as well
as local-labor advisory committees to assist in decen-
tralized administration.

"It may still be possible to discern a really acute
difference between the aims of even 'good' employers
and 'good' workmen. The employers realize that high
wages and attractive conditions are necessary to pro-
duce contented workers, but they claim that increased
output is an indispensable accompaniment of these.
On the other hand the worker is apt to suspect in sug-
gestions of payment by results, in scientific manage-
ment and in efficiency methods an attack on collective
bargaining and the menace of considerable unemploy-
ment. The workers ask not only for comfort in the
present but security for the future, and for some
measure of control of the industry in which they are
concerned. It is in this general situation that the pro-
motion of direct negotiation and joint action as between
the employing and employed classes is seen to be of the
first importance.

"Apart from labor questions perhaps the greatest
problem facing British industry at present from the
employer's point of view is the fact that while on the

174 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

one hand the costs of raw materials and of production
are very high there is on the other hand apprehension
that prices of manufactured articles may fall heavily.
As a consequence, though the need of the world for
manufactured articles has never been greater and
masses of orders are waiting to be placed, manufac-
turers in many cases are hanging back.

"The questions of the readaptation of plant and of
taxation are also factors in the internal situation,
while, looking to the outside, the recovery of markets
and trade connections is an issue of prime urgency.
From a narrowly national standpoint — such a stand-
point as might have seemed natural before we had
all learned the lessons of the great war — it might be
said that America is not specially interested and con-
cerned in our solving these problems of ours. But
these are not pre-war days and I think that perhaps
in America as well as in England we shall try to sur-
vey things in a more comprehensive and generous
spirit. No doubt labor policies in England and Amer-
ica must sooner or later follow the same broad lines.
Interchange of views, experience and experiments
should be of great interest and value to both countries.

"It may be said that industry tends toward inter-
nationalization and that the international relations of
labor are only less close than those of capital. A de-
mand is springing up in all countries — and not only on
the side of labor — for an international code of indus-
try: a flexible code, susceptible of local modifications,
which would remove some of the local fears with which
employers listen to the demands of labor. Employers
in any one country are deterred from making such
concessions by fear of foreign competition. This may

AS THE BRITISH EMPLOYER SEES IT 175

or may not be a valid argument, but it would clearly be
advantageous to all parties to reconstruct the founda-
tions of industrial life in such a way as to restore the
confidence which is now so often lacking among the
three partners in the world's work — employers, em-
ployed and the state.

"It is not for England to teach America. England
and America are fellow learners in the school of world
experience. We may exchange thoughts, ideas, sug-
gestions and records to our mutual and lasting advan-
tage, but one would hesitate a long time before assum-
ing a didactic attitude on any of the subjects I have
touched upon. Closer and more frequent consultation
would, I think, be very desirable, and possibly we may
in the future see conferences taking place periodically
between the Departments of Labor of the United King-
dom and the United States.

"Nothing but good can come from exchange of ideas
and experience, and I look forward to the day when
such questions as hours of the working week will be a
matter of international discussion governed by inter-
national experience and by international demand. Se-
curity of employment and certainty of market should
be our goal, and only by international discussions and
agreements shall we be able to achieve our common
aim. ' '

CHAPTER VI

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT

EVEEY labor question in Great Britain is at the
same time a political question. This fact
should be kept in mind at all times or much that is go-
ing on in the industrial world here in England will not
be fully understood. For those of us who look on la-
bor matters from the American point of view this ad-
monition is especially necessary. In the United States
the labor movement and all its particular trade-union
activities may be said to be a complete and self-con-
tained affair, apart from the currents of politics. La-
bor's program is never merged into or wholly identi-
fied with that of the existing national parties.

There is a sense, of course, in which every live indus-
trial topic in a free country is also political or govern-
mental. When a large body of men press for the set-
tlement of any question or the adoption of certain
measures, department heads, legislatures, governors,
and even Presidents may be moved to take a hand.
Still all this, with us at any rate, is more or less acci-
dental. It is not supposed to be the business of our
public officials, and certainly not the business of party
chiefs, to engage very actively in framing or further-
ing industrial policies for the labor forces of the coun-
try. And we have no distinctive party comprised of
Labor representatives for the special purpose of send-
ing men of their own choosing to Congress or to state
legislatures.

In Great Britain the line of separation between labor

176

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 177

and political machinery is obliterated. Questions like
the eight-hour day, minimum wage, child labor, employ-
ment of women and collective bargaining are not merely
subjects for discussion between employers and em-
ployed or between trade unions and employers' asso-
ciations ; they are among the principal concerns of the
political parties, and the very special concern of one
party in particular: The Labor Party.1

The promotion of specific reforms or legislation in
which the manual workers are interested more often
takes the form in Great Britain of political than of
trade-union action. The campaign is the accepted sub-
stitute for the general strike. As a matter of fact
both forms of agitation, industrial and political, go on
simultaneously, the latter, however, excelling in vigor
and in general public interest. Parliamentary action
is regarded as by far the more desirable method of
getting results, the strike as an inferior and desperate
resort.

To capture Parliament — that is, to win a majority of
seats in the House of Commons — is labor's aim. This
done, industrial reconstruction may be brought about
in a constitutional way, the British way. And when a
given course can be described as typically British the
last word has been said for it.

The Labor Party is as characteristic a creation of
the British labor movement as is the corresponding
industrial body, the Trades-Union Congress. Most of
the trade unions of the country are affiliated with both,
supply the bulk of the funds by means of a levy upon
their local treasuries or assessment on their members,
and through delegates selected for the purpose they

i See page 572, The Labor Party Constitution.

178 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

direct the affairs of both the Labor Party and the
Trades-Union Congress.

Strictly speaking, the Labor Party is not a political
party as we ordinarily understand it. It is, in fact, a
federation of labor organizations, plus a number of
socialist societies, plus a miscellaneous alliance of trade
councils, professional groups and a sprinkling of men
and women — writers, lecturers, clergymen, social
workers, ' ' intellectuals " and others — all of whom com-
bine, not as spokesmen for any specific interest such as
mining, teaching, printing or the like, but definitely as
labor politicians.

And right here another word of explanation is in
order. The term politician as the British use it never
carries with it implications of the sort with which we
are unhappily familiar. You don't insult anybody
here with it. You merely describe an interest of his,
or a chief occupation, as if you said of a man that he
is a doctor, engineer, journalist or soldier.

Parliament, as I have mentioned, is the goal of the
Labor Party's efforts; the majority of the party's rep-
resentatives in the House of Commons have always
been trade-union leaders. There have been times when
men not members of unions have sat in the House as the
party's spokesmen; because of their work for the party
or for the labor movement in general they were taken
into the fold, given a place in the party 's councils, and
backed as the party's candidates in an election. In the
general election held last December not one of this out-
side group won. Every man of the sixty who were
elected on the Labor Party ticket holds some trade-
union office or is directly connected with some labor
organization.

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 179

The newspapers were not slow in seizing on this
result the moment the figures were known. " Labor
Cleans House, " "Loyal Labor Wins, "" Pacifism
Down and Out" — these are among the milder headlines
by which the country was apprised of the verdict.
There can be no question as to what the five million
and more voters — women were among them for the
first time— had in mind when they gave victory to the
banners of Mr. Lloyd George and his ticket. Much
more even than the men the women seem to have made
loyalty to the country their acid test in casting their
first vote ; and rightly or wrongly they singled out can-
didates on the basis of this simple test for slaughter or
success. Only a deliberateness of selection such as
this can explain the apparently overwhelming victory
of the Prime Minister. The country decided to stand
by the present government, which had conducted the
war to a successful conclusion, and to return only those
Labor candidates whose record left no doubt as to
their position throughout the war and their intention
as regards the fate of its instigators. This much is
clear, for all the hubbub of explanation and commen-
tary.

But what the headlines and first impressions failed to
show was the very important fact that the aggregate
difference in the votes between the winning and the
losing parties was not more than half a million, a slen-
der enough margin, though, as I have said, by no means
controverting the decisiveness of the verdict.

To understand how labor views the immediate future
in Britain, what its policies are and are likely to be, we
must go behind the returns and see just what did hap-
pen in the election. The topic is as full of life to-day

180 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

as it was in December ; in fact, much more so. Labor
has its own idea as to what the verdict of the election
meant, and it is proceeding to carry out in a pretty
definite way the mandate that it believes the country
has given it.

In the United States our habit on the morning after
election is to let bygones be bygones and forget poli-
tics, unless we have some personal interest or cause at
stake, until the open season is on again. It is quite
the other way here ; especially so with the Labor forces,
which just at present are unusually busy. And labor,
or Labor, is on the map these days, politically speak-
ing; also industrially and internationally speaking.

In the British labor movement there have been cycles
of interest and of indifference as regards mixing labor
and politics. For a long time there was opposition to
labor's going out of its regular trade-action course in
order to obtain conditions or concessions that it de-
manded. At the present moment the pendulum has
swung in the direction of great hopes, though some-
what modified by the poorer election showing than was
expected — hopes of controlling Parliament in the near
future and setting up a Labor government for the
United Kingdom.

In 1900 the fusion of trade-union and socialist forces
resulted in the birth of the Labor Party. From that
time forward the political growth of labor has pro-
ceeded apace. In 1906 twenty-nine out of fifty candi-
dates on the Labor ticket captured seats in the House
of Commons, formed themselves into a parliamentary
party with their own whips and officers, and launched
the Labor Party as a going concern and political con-

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 181

testant. In 1910 the party fighting in seventy-eight
constituencies carried forty of them.

Up to the beginning of the war a generally compact,
well-organized group of trade-union and socialist mem-
bers in the House of Commons worked with more or
less internal harmony to promote industrial measures,
such as prevention of unemployment, improvement in
factory and mining conditions, nationalization of min-
eral resources, and the protection of unions against re-
strictions regarded as detrimental to the interests of
labor. The war immediately worked confusion and
disunity in the ranks of political labor. The partner-
ship of labor and socialist groups looked to be at an
end. Broadly speaking the line of cleavage between
the trade unions and the socialists seemed to be this:
The trade unions unhesitatingly sprang to the support
of the government in its move against the German
peril; they took what was described as the national,
the patriotic viewpoint. The socialists, on the other
hand, proclaimed their international viewpoint, which
was generally branded throughout the country as un-
patriotic and pro-German, not even possessing the
crude virtues of that large group of German socialists
who, misled or coerced into believing that their coun-
try was in danger, stood by their own government.

The Asquith Ministry invited the cooperation of
the trade-union members in Parliament and appointed
to various posts men like Arthur Henderson of the
Iron-Founders; Roberts of the Typographical Asso-
ciation; and Brace of the Miners. Later, under Mr.
Lloyd George, other trade-union men appeared in
large numbers as government officials. Clynes, the

182 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Food Controller, belongs to the Gas Workers — now
called the General Workers Union; Hodge, the Pen-
sion Minister, to the Steel Smelters; and Barnes, the
labor member of the War Cabinet, to the Engineers.

While the trade-union wing of the party increased
and strengthened its connection with the war admin-
istration the socialists pursued an opposite course,
forming an aggressive left wing, which was bitterly as-
sailed by the public in general and more especially by
the trade-union leaders of the party.

Then came the December, 1918, election. You may
buttonhole a dozen different individuals and the cer-
tainty is that you will get about as many individual
explanations as to what the general election in Great
Britain really signified. You will soon give up hope
of getting anything that might be called a consensus
of opinion.

Lloyd George fathered and headed the so-called
Coalition ticket. The Coalitionist will tell you that
the country showed that it wanted the Prime Minister
in and the "old gang" out. The veteran Liberal
maintains that the people have been pushed off their
feet by a forced election, sprung when nobody was look-
ing and when there was no real issue before the coun-
try. Labor asks you to look at its two and a half
million votes, with two-thirds of the soldiers unable to
cast their ballot, and say if things are not looking up.

There is no question that labor on the whole expected
a larger result, though the gain is, as we shall see, one
to be most respectfully considered. Fewer seats were
won than showed in the prospect. To some extent la-
bor campaigned on anticoalition lines, which meant,
for all practical purposes, anti-Lloyd George. Shortly

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 183

before the election Labor Party delegates in an all-
day conference decided to withdraw from all participa-
tion in the Lloyd George administration. This act,
coupled with the fact that it carried among its candi-
dates fifty known to be left-wing "radicals and paci-
fists, " placed the labor campaign under very obvious
disadvantage so far as the contest before the country
was concerned.

Nevertheless the Labor Party made a showing which
promises to make it the principal opposition party in
the next Parliament, a role full of interesting possibili-
ties. Only about half of the total electorate went to
the polls, and out of that number labor secured nearly
one-quarter — that is to say, two and a half million
votes out of ten million. The whole of the left social-
ist wing was wiped out. There were sixty labor can-
didates elected out of the 361 in the field; no fewer
than twenty-eight of these come from the miners'
unions ; the unskilled workers won five seats ; shipbuild-
ing and other crafts, eleven.

The outstanding fact is the return of trade union-
ists and the defeat of all others. Mr. Henderson's
defeat despite his war record — the loss of one son in
action and the service in the field of his two other
sons — was the undoubted result of a misunderstand-
ing of his loyalty and intense desire to see Prussianism
destroyed.

Now one reason for stressing this election result is
its bearing on the international drama which is about
to open both in the Paris Peace Conference and in
the labor conference also to be held in Paris.

By the trade unionists just elected there is no mis-
apprehension as to the country's intentions so recently

184 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

registered. Women, six million of them, newly en-
franchised, helped to emphasize the decision. The
country has swung toward the right, expressing its
determination for a clean finish to the war job, still
incomplete. There is no escaping that conclusion,
whichever way the figures are studied, and whatever
may be one's personal feeling as to the justice or in-
justice meted out in the case of sundry unsuccessful
candidates. Where there were 290 Conservatives in
the old House of Commons there are well over 390 in
the new House. The Liberal Party has been squeezed
out of existence, and though the Labor Party repre-
sentation has greatly increased its strength it is dis-
tinctly more conservative or moderate in complexion
than it was with its mixture of right and left wings in
the House.

On the last Saturday night in December, when the re-
turns showed how the country had voted, a discomfited
candidate declared : " The people have not been heard
from yet."

His friend quietly rejoined: "Well, there must
have been a few people among that five million which
went Coalition."

Mr. Clynes judged the situation more wisely. "Of
course we accept the verdict of the poll," he said.
11 Labor needs no other weapon to secure its ends.
The masses of wage earners form the greater part of
the electorate, and there is no change in our social or-
der, no economic alteration which organized workers
desire which they could not obtain from the floor of
the House of Commons if they preferred to send their
representatives in large enough numbers.

"Labor, as we desire to see it, should stand for or-

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 185

der; it should stand for the law, because the time may
come when labor may have to make the law; and if
labor wishes to see that example followed labor must
not hesitate to set the example. The verdict of the
poll for the time being is a verdict which labor men
should accept, and I protest against these open in-
vitations to the wage earners to use the weapon of the
strike and seek to menace either the public or Parlia-
ment with the threat that men will come out in the
street and leave the workshops because the men have
not been returned to the House of Commons. I do
not think that any labor man at any time need fear
the loss of anything worth having by indulging in a
little candor. Certainly, it is more than possible that
in the early years to come public confidence in the
capacity of labor to legislate will increase. I hope to
see the unity, which in such large degree was shown
among all classes for the purposes of the war, continue
for the purposes of peace and for the attainment of
mutual benefit in the future. ' '

Doubtless the words I have just quoted represent
what may be called the normal view of labor, both as
regards the election and the spirit in which the in-
dustrial policies of the near future are to be framed.
And yet it must be pointed out that from a survey of
the labor viewpoint the present position is both satis-
factory and unsatisfactory. Labor has strengthened
its position in the House of Commons. This is clear
enough. But it has not strengthened it in any rea-
sonable proportion to the increase of its voting power
in the country. That means that what may not incon-
ceivably be a dangerous situation has been created.
Labor has made up its mind that certain reforms shall

186 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

become law, and that its voice in the affairs of the na-
tion shall be effective in the carrying out of these re-
forms. It is committed to the carrying out of these
reforms. It is committed to the constitutional method
—a large portion of labor is. Another section shows
impatience with this legal procedure. They advocate
direct action, the weapon of the strike and industrial
paralysis.

On the present moderate group in the House will fall
the burden of demonstrating the parliamentary ad-
vantage in fighting, for example, for a general eight-
hour day. During the election strong labor leaders
said that an effective Labor Party inside the House was
the surest guaranty against outbreaks of Bolshevism
outside. They have now to make their claim good.

What may be expected to happen? That depends
on two or three uncertain factors ; on whether, for ex-
ample, Mr. Lloyd George holds his followers or parts
company with them. On the face of it the Prime Min-
ister's position is impregnable, for he will have behind
him five-sixths of the House of Commons. The Prime
Minister's pace is somewhat faster than is usual to
some of his supporters, and he may decline to slow
down or they to speed up. Such a development may
arise, particularly when questions like land national-
ization come to be tackled.

An early approach by the government to the most
urgent social-reform problems is certainly to be looked
for, with the qualified support of all parties in the
House. The Labor Party will support such reforms
in principle, but urge that they be made more sweep-
ing. How far the Prime Minister's majority will go
with him is but guesswork at present. But the Prime

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 187

Minister's words the other day have a special sig-
nificance— if the government did not do its best to ful-
fil the promises made he would no longer be the head
of the government, but would go back to the people and
ask for a renewal of their confidence.

On a good many questions the labor members may
find themselves very largely at one with the govern-
ment. On others they are sure not to be. In such a
matter as railway nationalization, for example, dif-
ferences are certain to arise on at least two points.
The first will be on the issue whether the state shall
acquire the railways or control their management, as
it has done throughout the war. There are a number
of railroad directors in the House of Commons who
will resist state ownership and stand out for control
exercised through commissions. Labor will be in solid
opposition to any such proposal. It is out for full
ownership, and demands, moreover, representation for
the workers in the management.

The Prime Minister has pledged himself to full na-
tionalization of the railroads. But then will come the
second battle — on the question of the price to be paid
to the present stockholders. Proposals that touch
men's pockets are apt to be looked at from different
angles.

That is one example of the differences that are bound
to arise between labor and the government all along
the line. They will arise beyond any question on the
first budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents,
for labor is pledged to the proposition of a tax on
capital — a proposition which the whole Conservative
Party will fight to the death. On Ireland there can be
little agreement. Tariff questions will not produce

188 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

quite so acute a division, for labor is not solid on this
matter. On tariffs, however, the official labor policy
is to press for a system of international industrial
legislation which will make measures for the shutting
out of " dumped" goods unnecessary. That policy is
to be pushed at the Paris Labor Conference.

But the question on which the most serious attention
is fixed is whether there will or will not be a manifesta-
tion of what is known as "direct" action — that is to
say, strikes and violence — as a means of enforcing the
will of labor. All the responsible labor leaders have
denounced such action repeatedly and emphatically.
Mr. Henderson has condemned the suggestion again
and again. So has Mr. J. H. Thomas. So has Mr.
Clynes. Practically the whole of the sixty labor mem-
bers just returned to Parliament would be against it.
But that does not wholly dispose of the danger. The
recent election, as Mr. Kamsay MacDonald declared
amid a thunder of cheers at one Albert Hall meeting,
is an open incentive to direct action. A volume of
votes that should have given labor 170 seats in the
House of Commons has, by the chances of the ballot
box, given it sixty, and those sixty are ranged against
a solid majority that constitutes the Prime Minister
an unchallenged dictator if he chooses to use his power
in that way. Certain sections of labor are taking the
view that since the road of political action is barred
against them the only hope left is to try some other.

Bolshevism, however that term is interpreted, has
taken firm root nowhere in Great Britain. In 1917,
when the Soviets in Eussia were in the first flush of
their career, a great labor conference was held at Leeds
with the object of establishing a system of workers'

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 189

and soldiers' councils throughout Great Britain. The
conference had little support from the moderate men in
the labor movement and it left no permanent result
behind it at all.

But though there is no Bolshevism in Britain to-
day that does not mean that the recurring symptoms
of Bolshevism can be ignored. The madness that has
made havoc of Eussia has a tendency to blow westward.
It may stop at the Rhine, but it will not stop even at
the North Sea if unwisely dealt with.

For that kind of manifestation two or three danger
spots have to be noted. One is the South Wales min-
ing valleys; another is the shipyards of the Clyde;
another the machine shops in the Midlands. There
are signs and omens on the Clyde and elsewhere to
which all those who are qualified to judge attach im-
portance. Bolshevism may or may not increase ; that
will be determined largely on industrial grounds. If
demobilization is well organized, employment is good,
wages are high and management open-minded, there
will be no serious fears of grave labor troubles. But
if there is any breakdown in the restarting of industry,
if there is cause for knots of unemployed to gather at
street corners and organize red-flag processions, Brit-
ish ministers may find themselves faced with about as
big a problem as the war itself.

One vital factor in the situation is the worker 's real-
ization of his place in industry. That is true to-day
as it has never been true before. Hitherto the poten-
tiality of power has been there, but it could never be
realized for lack of efficient organization. The labor
movement has passed beyond that point now. Just
before the war broke out a huge trade-union merger

190 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

was effected. An amalgamation was carried out bring-
ing into one association the federated unions of the
miners, the railwaymen and the transport workers-
carters, dockers, tramwaymen and others — through-
out the kingdom. This " Triple Alliance," as it is
termed, embraces something like a million and a quarter
workers.

It cannot be forgotten that there has been some fore-
taste, even during the war, of drastic labor action.
Last November a big labor demonstration was to be
held at the Albert Hall, London 's largest auditorium.
When everything had been arranged the trustees of
the hall canceled the contract on the ground that "no
revolutionary sentiments would be encouraged."

The organizers of the meeting appealed to a certain
government department. The department said it could
not interfere in the matter.

At this point the electricians' trade union heard what
was happening. They forthwith cut off all the electric
light in the hall while a big concert was in progress.
That was only a beginning. The second step was to
see that all the trains on the Underground Railway
passed the stations serving the Albert Hall without
stopping, and the third to arrange that no omnibus
and no taxicab should put down passengers anywhere
within a mile of the hall. There was no need to carry
these latter projects into effect, for the government
department that had been unable to interfere got busy.
The trustees were told they had got to carry out their
contract, and the end of the affair was that instead
of one labor demonstration two were held, on succes-
sive evenings. There was an element of British good
humor in the situation that kept everybody cheerful,

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 191

but no one who had any knowledge of the situation was
blind to the significance of such an incident.

At present, as has been said, the sky is fairly clear,
and if there is a disposition to meet labor's program
fairly there is no reason why it should not remain, clear.
But the situation is emphatically not one that lends
itself to bungling or insincerities.

With the end of the war there came a revival of in-
terest in the idea of labor internationalism. Labor
is naturally anxious to bring the full weight of its in-
fluence to bear upon the making of peace and intends
to present to the Peace Congress a comprehensive
statement of its view upon the problems of the settle-
ment.

Labor asks in the first place for direct representa-
tion in the official Peace Congress, but is not likely to
get it in the form for which it asked. It is probable,
however, that labor will be represented in the Indus-
trial Commission which this country is expected to set
up in connection with the Peace Congress, as it has
done already with the establishment of a League of
Nations section under the chairmanship of Lord Bob-
ert Cecil. Its appointment is an earnest on the gov-
ernment side that labor questions will receive a proper
share of attention in the Peace Congress. Both the
British and the French Governments have shown a
disposition to consult organized labor on the question
of international labor legislation, and even seem pre-
pared to associate labor representatives with their own
plenipotentiaries in preparing proposals for submis-
sion to the Peace Congress. The Paris conference is
intended to focus labor opinion on the problem of peace,
especially upon two points in regard to which labor is

192 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

extremely anxious to make its influence felt. One
point is the formulating of a charter of international
labor legislation. Henderson, the leader of British la-
bor, who is chiefly responsible for the promotion of the
conference, has stated in the course of the last few
days the labor view on this matter as follows :

' i Labor 's view is that the adoption of the charter of
international labor legislation which it will be the task
of the conference to formulate is one of the necessary
safeguards of future peace. Economic antagonisms
between nations, unfair competition in trade, all help
to intensify national jealousies and sow the seeds of
war. The way to deal with this problem is to work for
an approximate equality of conditions in all countries
and to maintain these conditions by the authority and
influence of the League of Nations. "

These are the ideas with which labor men approach
the question of peace. The purpose of the coming
conference is to give effect to labor's conception of a
satisfactory settlement of the war. In this confer-
ence all the working-class organizations of the several
countries will be represented. It will probably sit in
two sections : A trades-union conference composed of
representatives from national bodies like the American
Federation of Labor, the Confederation Generale du
Travail, the British Trades Union Congress, possibly
also the British General Federation of Trade Unions,
and other bodies from Scandinavia, Belgium and else-
where ; and a political section of the conference, organ-
ized to some extent on the basis of the old Interna-
national Socialist Bureau. Joint sessions are to be
arranged between the industrial and political sections
in order to compare notes and present a common pro-

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 193

gram to the Peace Congress. Together the two groups
or sections will produce a program of international
labor legislation which the Peace Congress will be in-
vited to incorporate in the Peace Treaty, and will sug-
gest machinery for maintaining and extending these
international provisions in connection with the League
of Nations. The program has yet to be worked out.
What is in the minds of the leaders is first of all pro-
tection for the women and children in industry, meas-
ures against sweating, and the limitation of hours of
work, and factory legislation for the protection of the
workers generally under international auspices.
What is expected to result from the discussions upon
this phase of the peace problem is some form of in-
ternational machinery for purposes of supervision
and control, in connection with the League of Nations,
over the national industries.

It is obvious that labor attaches to the League of
Nations power to deal with questions not usually re-
garded as coming within its scope. Ultimately, it is
evident, labor expects to see the league become the
great authority in the world, dealing not only with
political matters and questions of foreign policy but
with economic problems and the trade relations of one
country with another and the world at large.

In any international program or body representa-
tive of labor forces the dominating influences will
doubtless be the British and the American contingents.
The purposes and the organization of the American
Federation of Labor are well known, the policy thus
far pursued being one of straight trade-union activity,
free from national political affiliations.

In Britain, on the other hand, the labor forces al-

194. MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ways present a dual character, as we have seen — the
political and the industrial. There is no such simplic-
ity either of purpose or of organization so character-
istic of the American labor movement, and because of
this fact there is a good deal of bewilderment in the
mind of the average onlooker here ; one is never sure
of unanimity, never sure that the pronouncement of
one group one day will not be offset by the counter
manifesto of other groups on succeeding days.

The truth is that there are several labor movements
in Great Britain, held together by the slenderest of
threads and presenting a united front mainly for the
accomplishment of specific ends. All the while these
movements and forces are contending for mastery.
To be sure, one 's reliance is always on the trusted and
tried leaders, who represent the prevailing moderate
spirit of the British worker and the tendency of most
people here to seek to win whatever ends they have
in view through constitutional methods.

But an appreciation of labor's view of the indus-
trial future in the country, and of its coming activities
in the larger arena of European politics and industrial
policy, requires a brief explanation of what the Brit-
ish labor movement really is.

The total trade-union membership of the country is
five million and a quarter. The General Federation
of Trade Unions includes about one hundred and fifty
unions belonging to some twenty industries. The
more important unions outside of this federation are
the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Miners'
Federation of Great Britain, and the National Union
of Eailwaymen, with a membership of more than a
million and a half.

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 195

The General Federation is an industrial body look-
ing after purely trade-organization interests. The
Trades Union Congress, with a more complete trade-
union representation, is the general forum and policy-
declaring body for the labor movement, with a Parlia-
mentary section, in which matters of legislation and
relations with various governmental agencies are con-
sidered.

Within the unions themselves vital differences of
opinion prevail. There is the endless contest between
organization along craft lines and along industrial
lines. The question of labor merged into larger groups
is a source of much controversy; and finally the re-
verse question of splitting up into smaller units, such
as shop-steward groups, a tendency away from strong
central control, constantly threatens the stability of
the bigger unions.

A special instance of the movement toward large
units is the Triple Industrial Alliance I have already
mentioned, of the National Union of Eailwaymen, the
Miners' Federation of Great Britain and The Na-
tional Transport Workers' Federation. This body is
designed to insure joint action where joint interests
are concerned, and though its members are not bound
to support each other in a strike it is planned that all
members should be informed of any strike which is
contemplated and all should then discuss the desirabil-
ity of joint action. Here is, in fact, a tentative step
toward the "one big union"; and though its power
would be almost invincible if joint action occurred it
shows no sign of absorbing other unions, and it there-
fore stands outside the main conflicts of the trade-
union world referred to above. It may be noted that

196 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the three members of it are already practically in-
dustrial unions in the full sense. The cotton industry
and the mining industry are almost unique in being able
to draw for their officials on men who have had any
kind of special training. In the cotton industry the
complications of price lists has led to the appointment
of experts in every district, who are chosen practically
on the basis of a competitive examination. In the
mining industry miners' agents and check weighers
also require considerable technical knowledge beyond
that of mere industrial skill.

This is perhaps the reason why the organization in
these two industries has been so complete and effective.
Again, in the mining industry certain districts, in par-
ticular South Wales and Lanarkshire, have shown a
tendency in their industrial organization to adopt ex-
tremist leaders and to press on the national organiza-
tion an extreme industrial program. The fact that in
both South Wales and Lanarkshire conditions of life
are exceptionally bad is probably more than a coinci-
dence, and though certain propagandist efforts cannot
be left out of account the evil conditions which made
these districts a fertile field for agitation must be con-
sidered as one, at least, of the factors in their irrecon-
cilable attitude.

To sum up, therefore, labor industrially is repre-
sented by a very complicated set of organizations.
There is a tendency in them toward larger units, but
there are forces which tell powerfully against it and
which at least will make it a slow process. There is
a weakness in the lack of trained administrative of-
ficials and there is a grave danger in the overcentral-
ization of the machinery of many of the big unions.

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 197

There is, in brief, a lack of cohesion in the movement
as a whole, even on questions of purely trade-union
policy. ^

These weaknesses are not new. They were, in fact,
inevitable in the condition in which trade unions took
their birth and grew to their present stature. For
that reason there have been those periods during which
industrial labor has oscillated between the two methods
of attaining its ends — the industrial and the political.
A perfect industrial organization would be supreme at
all times but the weaknesses of imperfect organization
gave success to the industrial struggle only when other
circumstances were favorable to its ends. When, how-
ever, such conditions told against it and its efforts
resulted in failure there was a natural reaction toward
those who insisted that greater results might be ob-
tained by the political method. The story of labor in
this country may be regarded on the broadest lines as
falling into three stages, of which two are complete.
It had first to fight for the right to organize. Only
a short time ago trade unions were illegal associations,
and leaders of such illegal movements were liable to
deportation and were actually deported for their ac-
tivities. When the right to organize had been gained,
the next step was to organize up and down the land.
The legal position of a trade union is still a somewhat
indefinite thing. But it may be said that substantially
trade unions have a large measure of freedom. Now
that that freedom has been gained, the next stage, of
which we have seen only the beginning, is the stage in
which the masses are groping for the effective control
of industrial power.

Labor's organization has grown out of a myriad

198 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

scattered organizations, each jealous of its own rights ;
its political machinery is based on the acceptance of
candidates by an affiliated union or other affiliated body
and by the local organization of the party. These con-
siderations once more emphasize the importance of
continually bearing in mind the dual organization of
labor, the two phases, industrial and political, which
continually react, neither of which can be appreciated
without a consideration of the other.

A word must be said concerning connections with
organized labor outside the United Kingdom. Here
again the two phases of industrial and political organ-
ization are apparent. Industrially, international or-
ganization has not yet become of much importance.
International organization exists in some thirty-two
British trades or crafts, of which the most important
are the International Miners * Federation and the In-
ternational Textile Workers' Federation. Besides
these there is the general body known as the Interna-
tional Federation of Trade Unions, which covers
twenty-one countries, including practically all those in
which there is a trade-union movement. The func-
tions of this body are mainly confined to the holding
of an annual conference and to an attempt to arrange
for an interchange of industrial information between
the organized workers of the various countries. It has
also attempted to produce a uniform set of labor sta-
tistics, though without much success. Great Britain
is represented on it by the General Federation of Trade
Unions, which, as has been seen, covers only a portion
of the organized workers in the kingdom and does not
include some of the biggest and most powerful unions.
It seems possible, however, that this body may gain

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 199

a new importance and may wield more practical in-
fluence in the future if, as is anticipated, international
labor legislation becomes a regular function of a
League of Nations.

The political organization of labor internationally is
of much greater importance. The origin of the Inter-
national was due to Karl Marx, and it is interesting
to remember that its genesis took place in London in
1864, though it is only since 1889 that regular meetings
have been held and it was in 1900 that was formed the
permanent body known as the International Socialist
Bureau. The connection between the bureau and the
labor and socialist organizations of Great Britain
is secured by a joint committee known as the
British section of the International Socialist Bu-
reau. This body consists of five delegates from
the Labor Party: two from the Independent Labor
Party, two from the British Socialist Party and
one from the Fabian Society, together with the three
British delegates to the central body. The apparent
collapse of the whole international movement when
faced with the outbreak of a European war can easily
be exaggerated; strong common elements on which it
could be rebuilt subsisted, except in the case of the
Germans ; and the efforts which were made from time
to time to secure its resurrection have not been without
their effect.

Many circumstances now continue to secure for it a
new and more promising future, though it has also to
face new difficulties. On the one hand there is the
increasing feeling of solidarity among the workers of
the various nations, on the other the sharper differ-
ences among the labor and socialist bodies; and just

200 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

as the Labor Party in Great Britain has had to find
a working arrangement with the industrial organiza-
tion, so too the International on the question of inter-
national labor legislation will have to secure coopera-
tion with the International Trade-Union Federation.
In Great Britain the coordination was easy since the
personnel, industrial and political, is so largely the
same. Internationally there is greater divergence,
and the great labor movement of America, though
represented on the International Trade-Union Federa-
tion, has not so far a separate political organization,
and if it had it would probably find the atmosphere of
the International much too extreme. Hence the In-
ternational will find it difficult to secure a real coher-
ence on industrial matters.

A much more serious difficulty in the way of inter-
national solidarity is the split within the national or-
ganizations as regards the attitude toward the Eussian
Bolsheviki and their claims to represent the Eussian
people. So far as this country is concerned, its ver-
dict is on record. The moderate and dominant sec-
tions of the labor movement, opposed to anarchy, have
carried the day, and credentials from Bolshevist
sources will be most critically examined. It is the con-
viction of more than one leader here that the greatest
menace to the success of the Eussian Eevolution has
been the terrorists who seized the reins, kept the people
in check by a liberal sprinkling of funds and machine
guns, and who have no hope of remaining in control
except as they can duplicate the Eussian chaos, de-
struction of industry and capture of all labor organiza-
tions in other countries. Hope lies in the solid centre
bloc typified by men like J. H. Thomas and Clynes and

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 201

Henderson. The lurking danger lies in the smaller
revolutionary bodies, often fortunate in clever political
leadership, and their power to exploit industrial fric-
tion or political discontent. <

The danger of revolution is, however small, never
negligible. At a time when the apparently unassail-
able autocracy of Russia has crumbled away, when
Europe almost from end to end is in chaos, it is no
longer safe to regard even the soundest of systems as
exempt from assault. The revolutionary spirit is
abroad and the international organization of labor
provides numerous channels for its transference here
if circumstances not now apparent make British labor
a suitable host for infection.

It is necessary to point out briefly what are the
characteristics of the labor movement in Europe. In
France we have again the duality of an industrial and
a political movement. The Confederation Generale
du Travail is the industrial organization and the Parti
Socialiste the political. Both are small, measured by
membership— about 600,000 in the case of the C. G. T.,
and 60,000 in the case of the Parti — but their influence
and importance are not to be gaged in this way. The
Socialist Party, for example, obtained 102 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies, the total number of deputies be-
ing 602. Besides the 102 members of the Socialist
Party there are thirty " Independent " Socialist depu-
ties.

Both organizations — that is, the Parti and the C. G.
T. — represent broadly the same point of view. This
year arrangements have been made for the closer union
of the two organizations and for better cooperation in
their joint aims. The political movement differs from

202 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the British labor movement, however, most character-
istically in the nature of its leadership and in its
theory. It is essentially doctrinaire, its leaders "in-
tellectuals," with a distinct philosophic bent in their
writings and propaganda; its general policy and atti-
tude are in this country regarded as extreme.

The Italian labor movement is in outline very sim-
ilar to the French. On the industrial side is the Con-
federazione Generale de Lavoro, and on the political,
the Socialist Party. Political unity is not so marked
as in the case of France, and during the war the gov-
ernment received support from some elements of the
extreme left as well as from the right. The general
tendencies in both the industrial and political move-
ments, however, arfc very extreme, more so even than
of the French, and approximate closely to those of
the Socialist Labor Party in England.

In Norway and Sweden the radical movement is
strong and is in close alliance with the labor organiza-
tions. Having been subjected to Bolshevik propa-
ganda it has become more extreme and may develop
dangerously in spite of the moderation of its best-
known leaders, such as Branting. The movement has
also gained ground in Denmark.

Eecent events in Holland have served to bring into
prominence the divisions of the movement — a right
group, the center, and the party generally, led by
Troelstra; and the left or extremist wing — and have
given some indication of its aims and strength. The
revolutionary movement commanded the adhesion of
only a minority of the workers ; had Troelstra not been
so sure of his victory as to announce publicly when
the revolution would begin the revolutionaries might

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 203

have been temporarily successful in a coup d'etat. As
it was, the result was an overwhelming demonstration
of loyalty to the constitution and the Queen.

The labor organizations themselves can claim to
have been the first to direct attention to the necessity
for international labor legislation, and recently in
England, . France, Italy, the Scandinavian countries
and in Belgium they have either urged in general or
indicated in detail the problems to be tackled — the right
of trade-union combination, the restriction of danger-
ous trades, the provision of holidays and leisure, in-
surance, the regulation of the employment of juvenile
and female labor and so on. The practical accomplish-
ment of the international regulation of these, and of
humane conditions of industry in general, means an
infinite accumulation of detailed knowledge; and none
is better fitted by experience and by interest to assist
in its collection and to interpret it for the guidance
of legislatures than is organized labor. If, therefore,
this problem is tackled by a League of Nations as one
of its essential functions, one at least of the main
present mistrusts of labor will have been removed.
Moderate labor leaders in all the European countries
will be able to strengthen their position by the solid
argument of something done.

There is one final factor which cannot be left out of
account, and that is Russia. It should be first of all
noted that Russia — or at all events the Bolshevik ele-
ments which now control it — has no place or function
in the securing of better industrial conditions by means
of international legislation. The Bolshevik theory
does not allow of any compromise with existing govern-
ment or of any action which would involve any recogni-

204 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tion of its rights. International legislation or agree-
ment binding the individual states to place certain re-
strictions on industry is something to which Russian
representatives could not subscribe, since in their po-
litical and industrial system the employer or manage-
ment as we know it does not exist. It is not, therefore,
in this practical field that Eussian influence may be felt.

Its importance lies in its determined propaganda, the
destructiveness of which it would be fatal to underesti-
mate.

All parties, political or industrial, are striving to-
ward ideals which even their most fervid adherents
admit are incapable of attainment except by slow
progress. Their policy is to make that progress as
rapidly as possible, but step by step. Even the so-
cialistic theory of Marx looked to an evolution in
which industrialism must live its full life — and collapse
eventually. It was in fact this argument which the
majority socialists in Germany employed to fortify
their support of German imperialism during the war,
urging that the sooner Germany reached the dominant
position to which she was undoubtedly progressing,
the sooner would capitalism have run its course; and
in the face of this universal doctrine of slow evolution
— toward whatever end — the extremist who demanded
a sudden overthrow of industrial organization at one
blow laid himself open to the charge of the maddest
unreason.

Bolshevism in Russia, however, has persuaded a cer-
tain type of mind that the apparently impossible can
be done, and that the results, good or ill, can be sus-
tained. Adherents of extreme doctrines are doubting
now whether they should not revise their ideas as to

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 205

the means by which their ideals can be attained, and
this attitude of doubt is fertile soil for Bolshevik prop-
aganda. In England, where most of the leaders of
labor are hard-headed men from the industries, not
prone to vague enthusiasms, there is naturally a ten-
dency to judge by results and to refuse to be stam-
peded into support of the Bolshevik method or end,
with news daily flowing into England of atrocities,
famine and industrial chaos in Russia. But it must
not be forgotten that the declared intention of the
Bolshevik Government is to secure international rev-
olution, and that it is led by men who are experts
trained for the purpose. They count it a gain to split
any movement, provided one section be more extreme
than the original was as a whole.

He would be a wizard indeed who attempted to chart
or predict the course of industrial events for the
months to come. There is still too much confusion;
our knowledge of the situation in various countries is
too incomplete for any clear indication of the direction
in which the discordant forces covered by the phrases
" labor movement " and " labor viewpoint " are mov-
ing. We are certain of the course that American
labor will pursue both in its home and its international
policy. Behind Mr. Gompers and his colleagues there
stands a solid body of trade-union opinion and sup-
port, the fruit of years of growth and experience.

Back of the elected leaders and spokesmen of the
British labor forces there is a powerful body of mod-
erate, typically British workers who will resist to the
utmost any excursions into unknown fields of industrial
experimenting at the expense of a movement which
took a century of struggle to bring to its present stage.

206 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Cooperating with these forces for constructive meth-
ods are the most respected employers and managers,
and a body of public opinion favorable to the cause of
labor 's advance.

Britain and America will no doubt have more to do
with shaping the course of events in Europe than all
other countries combined. But the path of labor 's
representatives from the English-speaking countries
will not be an easy one. Plans or traps, as one may
choose to view them, have been laid for the capture of
the delegations. Rumors will soon fly thick; propa-
gandists are on the job ; nothing will be overlooked that
may give the impression in Great Britain and in Amer-
ica that trusted leaders have succumbed to the pro-
jects of upheaval. But Continental Europe will find
that neither British nor American representatives are
novices. Labor in both countries not only looks for-
ward to a peace period marked by orderly progress in
industrial relations but is especially impressed by the
tremendous importance of maintaining industry in-
tact in order to save the victims of Europe 's industrial
chaos.

That a new international note is coming into the
English-speaking labor world is obvious. There is
a tendency to regard the results of the recent general
election as a condemnation of international entangle-
ment. To the extent that such entanglement imports
an alien spirit into labor policy and implies a disre-
gard of natural typical loyalties of the people there
were indeed both condemnation and repudiation.

Yet even during the war British labor kept alive the
idea of international labor relations through the inter-

HOW BRITISH LABOR SEES IT 207

allied conferences, which were held in London in 1915,
1917 and 1918. At these conferences labor's views on
the meaning of the world war and its solutions of the
problems raised by it were set forth in the well-known
Memorandum of War Aims.

Summing up the labor viewpoint and situation in
Great Britain I should say that the outstanding event
that will make the year 1919 a landmark in these mat-
ters is the definite emergence of the Labor Party as
the government's chief alternative and opposition
party. It is the old labor party enlarged and definitely
reconstituted.

About a year ago the party constitution was changed
in order to strengthen the membership and give it
greater weight in political life. One innovation was
the formal recognition of the interest of "all pro-
ducers by hand or brain." Unlike Bolshevists, the
Labor Party does not regard the industrial organizer,
specialist and manager as anathema. He is an in-
dispensable factor in production, unless, as in Russia,
industry is to be reduced to primitive conditions of
barter. It is of interest to note that lately Lenine has
been pleading with his coadjutors to entice the fugitive
employers and managers back by most extravagant
sums of money, in order to resurrect the dead in-
dustries of his country.

The present leaders of the Labor Party are clear-
headed patriotic men, with experience in building up
and with a keen industrial sense. Backed by the
strong Trades-Union Congress, which recently sig-
nalized its fiftieth birthday by sending a message of
congratulation to the Forces, the prospects on which

208 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the majority of the labor forces base their hopes are
good. It is not conceivable that the present govern-
ment will disappoint these hopes.

Signs point to a far-reaching program of national
reforms on which labor, government and thinking em-
ployers will unite. The keynote is: "Make Britain
a good country to live in; its industries fit places to
work in."

APPENDIX A

WITH ILLUSTBATIVE MATERIAL

LABOR'S STATEMENT

ON
THE HOUSING PROBLEM AFTER THE WAR

THE EXTREME URGENCY

On no subject — not even that of demobilization — is it so urgent
that Parliament and the Government should come to a decision of
policy as on housing. Once a decision has been come to with re-
gard to the method of demobilizing the Army, or with regard to the
transfer of the 3,000,000 munition workers to productive employ-
ment, there need be no delay in carrying out the decision. But
houses do not become instantly ready for occupation on the Gov-
ernment giving the order. Many months must necessarily elapse
between the decision to provide dwellings and the entry of the
families into these new homes. It is emphatically a matter for the
present War Cabinet within the next few weeks. If the Labor
Party is unable to get the Government to decide its housing policy
many months in advance of peace, the new houses will not be in
existence for the soldiers to return to.

THE EXTENT OF THE SHORTAGE

What creates the urgency is, in most parts of Great Britain and
in Dublin and Belfast, the appalling shortage of houses for the wage
earners, and the consequent overcrowding, notwithstanding the tem-
porary absence of 5,000,000 men in the Army and Navy. This
shortage is due to three causes —

(a) We were already overcrowded ten years ago. No family,
large or small, ought anywhere to be living more than two persons
to a room — yet the census of 1901 showed that, in England and
Wales alone, there were then no fewer than 2,667,506 persons living
(in tenements of one to four rooms) more than two to a room. In
the southern half of Scotland and in some parts of Ireland (nota-
bly Dublin and Belfast) conditions were even worse. In Glasgow,

209

210 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

for example, where every room in the artisan's house is used as
a bed-room, no less than 55.7 per cent, of the whole population were
living more than two persons to a room, and 27.9 per cent, actually
more than three persons to a room. Overcrowding is even worse
amongst the metal workers and miners of Coatbridge, where more
than three-fourths of the population (76.7 per cent.) were living
in one and t\vo-roomed houses; nearly half (45 per cent.) were
living more than three persons to a room; and 71.2 per cent, more
than two persons to a room. There was thus already in 1901, a
shortage of many hundred thousand rooms; and the 80,000 new
working-class dwellings that were then being put up annually did no
more than keep pace with the increase of population.

(b) The speculative builder gradually gave up the building of
working-class cottages and tenements; and from 1907 onward the
number of new houses built to let at less than 10s. per week rapidly
declined, and (including all municipal, rural landlord, and philan-
thropic building) it has latterly, taking the country as a whole,
year by year fallen far short of the annual increase of population.
Thus the shortage in all the districts in which the population has
been increasing became acute.

(c) During the three years of war all such building (except in
about a dozen "munition areas," specially subsidized by the Gov-
ernment) has ceased — it has, in fact, been prohibited.

The result is that, in nearly all the towns of Great Britain, as
also in Dublin and Belfast, in all the mining districts, and in nearly
all the agricultural areas of England and Wales, and in parts of
Scotland the overcrowding has become intensified. Even the Presi-
dent of the Local Government Board for England and Wales (Mr.
Hayes Fisher), when acting as Parlimentary Secretary, was driven
to estimate the deficiency of working-class cottages and flats at
half-a-million. This is well below the truth. Including Scotland
and Ireland, at least 1,000,000 new dwellings, to be let at not more
than a few shillings a week, according to size, are urgently required.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THE RENT RESTRICTION ACT EXPIRES?

At present (although the Act is often evaded) landlords are pre-
vented from raising rents above the pre-war figure by the Restric-
tion of Rent and Mortgages Act. These landlords complain that
the Act is depriving them of several million pounds a year of in-
come. It is due to expire six months after peace is proclaimed.
Unless something is done there will then be, in many towns, and
in many mining and agricultural districts, a bound up in rents,

APPENDIX A 211

sometimes of as much as 5s. a week! Such a rise, just in the midst
of the industrial dislocation caused by the discharge of half the en-
tire wage-earning class from the munition works and the Army,
would cause the most severe distress.

Of course, the Rent Restriction Act might, by a new Statute, be
continued in force. But the Act cannot be continued indefinitely.
The only way to prevent "scarcity rents" is to get the requisite mil-
lion new dwellings actually ready for occupation.

WHO IS TO BUILD THE NEW COTTAGES?

The times will be bad for speculative building; all materials will
continue dear for years to come ; loans of capital will be hard to get,
and the rate of interest will remain high. If speculative builders
found no profit in putting up working-class dwellings before the
war, it is plain that they will be quite unable to do so under the
more adverse conditions that will now prevail. We cannot possibly
allow grants of public money to private builders. Cooperative so-
cieties will find it equally impossible to build without loss. We
cannot rely on philanthropic landowners and charitable trusts for
more than a trifling proportion of the need. What are called "pub-
lic utility societies" (in which the shareholders content themselves
with 5 per cent, dividends) cannot now operate without subsidies
from public funds.

It seems clear that no one but the municipalities and the National
Government can possibly shoulder the task of building 1,000,000
new rural and urban dwellings — 5,000,000 additional rooms — which
may cost at the high prices that will prevail, at least £250,000,000.

THE GOVERNMENT POLICY

The duty of providing houses for the people is at present placed
on the local authorities (Town and District Councils; in London the
L. C. C. and Metropolitan Borough Councils; in Scotland the
Burgh Councils), which have very large powers under the Housing
Acts. But the Councilors (who often have houses of their own
to let) are usually unwilling to proceed at all; they are very much
afraid of any charge on the rates; and they never decide to make
anything like an adequate increase in the number of dwellings avail-
able for wage-earning families. In face of the high prices for ma-
terials and the increased rate of interest for loans no local authority
can nowadays put up working-class dwellings of any kind — any
more than the speculative builder can — otherwise than with a heavy

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

annual deficit, which would become a change on the rates. No
local authority will incur this loss.

The Government accordingly adopted the policy (announced in
the House of Commons 27th November, 1914) of a Free Grant from
the Exchequer (in addition to loans at cost price) of such a propor-
tion of the cost of each housing scheme by a local authority as
would enable the local authority to charge the customary rents and
yet avoid loss. As publicly declared by Lord Rhondda, this is still
the Government policy, but during the war it has been put in opera-
tion only in about a dozen "munition areas" where additional houses
were most urgently required. In these cases the Free Grant from
the Exchequer has been, on an average, about 20 per cent, of the
total cost. In no other way could the Government get these houses
built. It is plain that, after the war, there will, equally, be no other
way.

. What we have to secure is that the absolutely necessary 1,000,000
new dwellings shall be built, where they are wanted, of the kind that
is wanted, as soon as they are wanted. The rate at which the whole
1,000,000 can be put up must depend on the materials and labor
being available. But assuming that sufficient materials can be pro-
vided, and that men of the building trades would otherwise be un-
employed, the whole 1,000,000 new houses ought to be completed
within four years from the declaration of peace. It must be remem-
bered that, after the war, the population of the Untted Kingdom
will be fully as large as it was before the war. Great as have been
the losses by war, they are more than counterbalanced by the almost
complete stoppage of emigration during the war. Emigration will
doubtless begin again when peace comes, but it is very doubtful
whether it will at once assume its former proportions. Hence we
shall still be needing at least 100,000 additional new houses a year,
even after the present shortage of 1,000,000 is made up, as long as
the population continues to increase at its present rate.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OUGHT TO BE CALLED UPON TO DO AT ONCE

What is urgently needed is an immediate decision as to the Gov-
ernment housing policy, so that all the necessary preparations can
be made in advance, ready for the actual building to begin the day
after peace is declared.

(a) The Government must promptly inform all the local authori-
ties that the requisite 1,000,000 new dwellings have got to be built,
and that each place will have its assigned quota.

APPENDIX A 213

The local authorities will certainly hang back; some will not want
to have any more working-class dwellings; property owners will
everywhere prefer to let rents go to scarcity figures; hardly any
Council will be ready to build either quickly or enough. The three
Local Government Boards for England and Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland ought to fix and officially proclaim the quota of new dwell-
ings that each local authority must, within four years, get built —
taking into account, for each place, such statistics as (i.) the num-
ber of persons living more than two to a room at the census of
1911; (ii.) the subsequent estimated increase or decrease of popu-
lation; (iii.) the estimated number of dwellings needed to be closed
as insanitary; and (iv.) the number of dwellings to let.

(b) The local authority should everywhere be required to decide,
within one month) whether or not it will undertake to build the quota
thus fixed, upon the terms offered by the Government.

It is better that the local authority should build for its own dis-
trict than that the Central Government should have to undertake
the task; and the local authority should, therefore, be given the
option of doing its duty. But it is, in the national interest, impera-
tive that the full number of new dwellings of the kind required
should actually be put up within the allotted time; and if any local
authority (which is now temporarily outside the control of the local
electorate) will not undertake its share of the task, the Central
Government will simply have to do the work itself. A declaration
to this effect will bring most recalcitrant Councilors to reason. If
they find that the new dwellings will anyhow be built in their dis-
trict, they will prefer the work to be undertaken by their, own
Council rather than by the Government Department.

But the Local Government Board must make it clear that the
scheme will involve no charge on the rates. The Free Grant from
the Exchequer (in addition to the loan of the rest of the cost on the
best possible terms) must be sufficient to enable the balance sheet to
show no annual deficit, counting on rents within the actual means of
wage-earning tenants and certainly no more than those customary
in the locality, and providing for the actual cost of the sites, the
swollen expense of building, sufficient allowance for management
and repairs, and whatever interest and sinking fund the Government
requires.

(c) The land must be at once secured (or a legal option obtained)
under the summary process of the Defense of the Realm Act or some
equally speedy procedure.

If land has to be acquired under the Housing Acts, not only is
the compensation sometimes excessive (which will now be a matter

21-4 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

for the Government to consider), but — what is more important — the
delays are interminable. It often takes a local authority a couple
of years between deciding on a housing scheme and getting posses-
sion of the site chosen. Unless the Government sees to it that the
sites for the 1,000,000 new dwellings are secured at once, or at any
rate during the war, there will be no new homes for the soldiers to
come back to.

(d) The plans must equally be prepared and approved in advance;
and the local authorities should be required to have them ready
within three months of the decision to provide so many dwellings.

The Local Government Board might, for the sake of expedition
and economy, supply every local authority with alternative sets of
model plans; but we do not want a uniformly ugly "Government
cottage" dumped down all over the country! The model plans
should be sent only as suggestions for the assistance of the local
authority, to be adapted to local conditions, or to be improved on.

The plans must, of course, provide for cottages or other dwellings
of different sizes and accommodation, of up-to-date sanitary con-
struction; each home to be "self-contained"; with rooms of adequate
floor space, height, and window lighting; properly equipped with
kitchen range with hot water fittings, stoves, sinks, and gas and
water laid on (where available) ; with sufficient cupboards and
storage for food and coal; and invariably with a fitted bath. Every
cottage must stand in its own garden of not less than one-eighth
of an acre. We ought to determine that the 1,000,000 "Dwellings
of the Great Peace" shall be a model for the ensuing generation.

(e) The Government must for four years secure "priority" for
these 1,000,000 working-class dwellings as regards all building ma-
terials.

When peace comes there will be a general shortage of all building
materials all over the world (notably timber, cement, bricks and
building stone, builders' ironwork, and house fittings). As between
nations, there will probably have to be an international control of
exportable surpluses, so that each can get its share. Within eacli
nation the Government will have to control all supplies, and assign
what can be spared to the different objects, on the principle of
"first things first." Thus the only building that can be permitted
(until supplies become abundant) will be that which is urgently
required, not for private profit or the personal comfort of the rich,
but in the public interest. Along with the necessary renewing or
enlarging of factories, railways, public enterprises, etc., must come,
in the first rank of priority, the 1,000,000 new working-class dwell-

APPENDIX A 215

ings that axe so urgently needed. For a long time to come there
can clearly be no using of materials for palaces, hotels, or any
"luxury" buildings until the shortage in cottages has been made
good. This "priority" needs to be emphasized.

(/) The 1,000,000 new dwellings should be everywhere begun the
day after peace is declared; but should be proceeded with, month
by month, strictly in correspondence with the supply of building
trades workmen, so as to leave practically none of them at any time
unemployed.

The sooner the whole 1,000,000 new dwellings are completed the
better for the nation (and the earlier we can let the Rent Restric-
tion Act expire and safely restore to the property owner his free-
dom to charge whatever rent he can get!). But it will depend on
the War Office how quickly the hundreds of thousands of brick-
layers, masons, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers, and building la-
borers are released from the Army, or from the other occupations
to which they have had to turn. The Employment Exchanges, which
will have to pay these building operatives their unemployment
benefit, should, therefore, report to the Local Government Board,
week by week, how many are available and in what towns; and the
Government should arrange for all public building works to proceed
at a greater or less rate, in exact correspondence with the available
supply of labor and thus prevent unemployment.

(g) Where the local authority obstinately refuses to build the.
quota assigned to it, the Local Government Board should itself
undertake the building, placing the work under the supervision of a
local committee appointed by itself, on which the Trades Council,
the local Trade Union branches, and the local women's industrial
organizations should be represented.

The nation cannot afford to permit the shortage of working-class
dwellings to continue, even where the local Councilors (not having
to run the gauntlet of an election) refuse to undertake the necessary
housing scheme. The Government must be prepared, in these cases,
itself to build. It can offer the local authority the dwellings when
completed, either at cost price less the usual Free Grant, or at a
valuation.

THE COST

To build, properly and healthily, 1,000,000 new working-class
dwellings in all parts of the United Kingdom in both rural and
urban areas may probably cost, at the high prices that will prevail,
£250,000,000 (the cost of five or six weeks of the war). But even

216 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

charging no more than the rents customary in each locality, prob-
ably £200,000,000 of this cost would be no more than a sound finan-
cial investment, covering not only repairs, management, and interest,
but also a sinking fund to repay the whole debt within 60 years. The
real expense would be represented by the Free Grant from the Ex-
chequer to enable the several housing schemes to pay their way. If
the Government were to lend the whole capital free of interest (thus
permitting an actual reduction of rent), this would involve a cost to
the Exchequer in the first year (assuming that the Government bor-
rows at 5 per cent.) of £12,500,000. If the Government, as an
alternative, makes the same sort of Free Grant as it has done in a
dozen "munition areas/' just sufficient to enable the local authorities
to avoid any charge on the rates at rents not exceeding those here-
tofore customary (putting this Free Grant at an average of 20 per
cent.), we get a total expense, once for all, of no more than £50,000,-
000 — less than ten days' cost of the war; less even than would be
covered by a continuation for three months of the excess profits tax !
The nation cannot afford not to do it.

REPORT BY MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION

ON
HOUSING IN ENGLAND AND WALES

I. A LARGE TASK

One of our greatest and most urgent tasks after the war will be
to secure good and healthy homes for all. We should aim that the
houses of the future be well built, have sufficient accommodation,
and that there be enough of them to prevent overcrowding. They
should have sufficient light and air and not be built in long monoto-
nous rows. Sufficient open space, not merely for health but for
amenity, should be provided, and adequate gardens. Moreover, in
the plans of the houses and the lay-out of the land regard must be
had to beauty as well as health. Not merely should the planning of
the new houses and their surroundings satisfy this high standard,
but existing houses, which are defective or insanitary, should be
made thoroughly fit or be demolished. The crowded slum areas and
narrow courts which disfigure so many of our towns and which have
caused so much disease and suffering should be cleared or properly
restored.

All this may sound ideal, but the gigantic transformations which
have taken place during the war give hope that in time we may
achieve the whole of this task. Of course, it will take time, and we

APPENDIX A 217

shall have to work by stages and must make sure that each step is a
safe and sure one. But if we set out with that earnestness of
purpose and energy which we have shown in the war, this transfor-
mation of Britain will be accomplished. This is a duty we owe to
ourselves, but still more to the men serving overseas who have given
up so much and who must be assured of decent and healthy homes
when their fighting is over.

The Housing problem has not arisen out of the war, but has merely
been rendered more urgent and more difficult by its effects. Even
before the war the housing of the workers was very far short of a
decent standard. A. certain proportion, and in some cases a con-
siderable proportion, of the population were living under over-
crowded conditions in narrow streets of houses or tenements with-
out adequate light and air or open spaces. Many of the houses
and tenements themselves were quite unfit for human beings to live
in. Each year of the war made conditions considerably worse , and,
as we shall show, the present Housing problem may be now stated
as consisting in:

(a) A shortage of houses amounting to between 300,000 and
400,000 for England and Wales. This is quite apart from any
further shortage which would be created by the closing of slum
houses.

(b) A large number of defective and insanitary houses which are
unfit for human beings to live in.

(o) In many towns slum areas consisting of crowded and narrow
courts and streets.

To solve the problem, therefore, it will be necessary first to have
sufficient houses well planned and well laid out; secondly, to close
and demolish unfit houses, or to see that they are properly and
thoroughly repaired; and thirdly, to clear and improve the slum
areas which disfigure so many of our towns. It is the object of this
booklet to show the measures which will be necessary in order to
achieve this. But to do so, it is first necessary to review briefly
the position before the war and to see what steps were being taken
to improve conditions, and why they had failed to attain their
object.

II. HOUSING BEFORE THE WAR

THE SHORTAGE OF HOUSES

According to the Report of the Census of 1911 no fewer than
one-tenth of the population were living under overcrowded condi-
tions. It must be remembered that the standard for overcrowding

218 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

adopted by the Census Authorities is a low one. People are only
regarded as being overcrowded if they are living more than two to
a room, including living-rooms. Thus, if a cottage or tenement
consists of two bedrooms and living-room it is only regarded as
overcrowded if there are more than six persons living in it. Fur-
ther, children under fourteen are only counted as half a person.
To find that one-tenth of the population were overcrowded on this
standard gives some idea how serious was the shortage of houses.
It is true that in some cases overcrowding was due to the fact that
the family could not afford to pay for sufficient rooms, and that
until the causes of poverty are removed no final solution of the
housing problem can be attained. But even when this is allowed
for, it undoubtedly remains a fact that large masses of people were
overcrowded simply because there was not sufficient house room. To
quote a well-known* phrase, there was "no room to live."

The shortage of houses was not confined to the towns or to any
one part of the country, but existed in towns and villages through-
out the length and breadth of Great Britain. It is true there were
some places and districts which were well supplied with houses, but
the evidence of the census figures and of the reports of Medical
Officers of Health clearly showed that the shortage was widespread.

DEFECTIVE AND INSANITARY DWELLINGS

The trouble did not end with the mere shortage of houses and the
consequent overcrowding. A large number of the inhabited houses,
both in town and country, were dilapidated or insanitary, and in
many cases also dark and damp. The reports of the Medical Officers
of Health of the various Borough, Urban, and Rural District Coun-
cils testified to these defective conditions. In many cases the houses
could not by any possible method of repair have been put into a
satisfactory condition, and in a still larger number of cases, though
capable of repair, they were, in fact, not touched, and in their exist-
ing state were not reasonably fit for human beings to dwell in.
Here again it is important to remember that the conditions existed
both in town and country.

SLUM AREAS

In many towns there were whole areas, sometimes large, sometimes
small, which were overcrowded with houses and in which there was a
deficiency of adequate air and light. In these districts the streets
and courts were narrow and sunless, and the conditions could not be
dealt with merely by improving the individual houses but required

APPENDIX A 219

the clearance and improvement of the whole area. These slum areas,
in the main, were to be found in the larger towns, but they also
existed in quite small country towns, and even in villages. They
fostered the spread of disease and prevented healthy life both physi-
cal and moral.

SOME ILLUSTRATIONS

To illustrate the conditions we have described the official and pub-
lished reports of Medical Officers of Health of two towns and two
rural districts may be quoted. They are selected at random and, as
they present facts neither better nor worse than hundreds of reports
of Medical Officers for other districts, the names of the towns and
districts are not mentioned. To mention the names might imply that
the conditions of these particular places were worse than elsewhere,
and this is far from being the case.

TOWNS

"There are probably between 40,000 and 50,000 back-to-back
houses, a large number of which are in courtyards, or in short ter-
races shut in behind houses which face the street. Much of this
class of property is becoming worn out, and as a result owners are,
to an ever-increasing extent, lessening their expenditure on its up-
keep. During 1912 there were 926 houses 'represented' as unfit for
human habitation.

"The condition of many of the older houses in the district cannot
be considered satisfactory. Sunlight and fresh air are prime neces-
sities for ensuring health and minimizing disease, but these are un-
attainable in the crowded slum, and in the houses with no through
ventilation, of which there are many in your district.

COUNTRY DISTRICTS

"There is in many villages a clamant need for new and better
dwellings, and after these have been erected, for the closure and
demolition of many of the old ones. Certain villages have suffered
evident demoralization as a result of the slow deterioration of the
housing conditions of the people.

"There were forty-nine cottages inspected last year in which noth-
ing short of pulling down and entirely rebuilding could make them
habitable. And besides these things were discovered forty-four
cases of overcrowding. ... In nearly all these cases it was almost
impossible to abate the overcrowding as there were no other cottages
available for the tenants to go into. It must be borne in mind that
were it not that cottages are so scarce throughout the district, a

220 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

much larger number would be condemned and really required to be
closed."

This, then, was the housing situation before the war. Let us
now see what steps were being taken to remedy this state of affairs,
as the success or failure of these steps has an important bearing on
the program for housing reform which we hope to see in the future.

III. ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE HOUSING CONDITIONS

Various Acts of Parliament were passed during the nineteenth
and the present century for the purpose of improving the condi-
tions under which the workers were housed. The basis of the pres-
ent law is the Housing Act of 1890, but its provisions have been
amended and enlarged by various other Acts, particularly the Hous-
ing and Town Planning Act of 1909. In addition, many of the
provisions of the Public Health Acts (particularly the Act of 1875)
deal with housing questions.

Under all these Acts the Local Authority — i.e., the Borough or
Urban District Council in the towns and the Rural District Council
in the counties, and in London for some purposes the County Coun-
cil— is the responsible authority for carrying out the law, subject to
the general supervision of the Local Government Board. (The
Local Authorities employ Medical Officers of Health, Surveyors, and
Sanitary Inspectors to assist them in carrying out their duties.)

THE PROVISION OF HOUSES

Under the present Housing Acts Local Authorities have very wide
powers of providing houses for the working-classes. They may
purchase or lease existing houses, and adapt, improve, and furnish
them. They may purchase land (compulsorily, if necessary) and
build houses themselves, or they may simply purchase the land,
make streets and sewers, and lease it upon condition that the lessees
erect and maintain on it approved dwellings for the working-classes.
They have powers not only to build dwelling-houses, but also to pro-
vide shops, recreation grounds, and gardens for the benefit of the
tenants of the dwelling-houses. For all these purposes they may
borrow the full amount from the State at the lowest rate at which
the State can afford to lend. Any four inhabitant householders in
the district may complain to the Local Government Board that the
Local Authority has failed to exercise the above powers, whereupon,
after a public inquiry, the Local Government Board may order it
to do so.

APPENDIX A

In addition to conferring these powers upon Local Authorities the
Housing Acts also make provision for the granting of loans by the
State to societies and individuals erecting houses for the working-
classes. Loans can be obtained by companies or private individuals
for this purpose up to 50 per cent, of the value of the premises.
Public Utility Societies (that is to say, cooperative or other societies
registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts and
limiting their profits to 5 per cent.) may obtain such advance up to
66% per cent.

In the aggregate relatively little use has been made of these powers,
though in the few years immediately before the war the activities of
Local Authorities in the way of building were rapidly increasing.
The number of houses for which loans to Local Authorities were
sanctioned in the years ending 31st March, 1911, to 1915, were 464,
1,021, 1,880, 3,335 and 4,408 respectively. These figures show an
encouraging increase. But it still remained true that the number
built even in the last year before the war was only a small propor-
tion of the total required to make up the shortage of working-class
dwellings.

THE IMPROVEMENT OP EXISTING HOUSING AND THE REMOVAL OF

SLUMS

There are extensive powers for improving the standard of existing
houses. Local Authorities have power to make by-laws for pre-
venting overcrowding and ensuring a certain minimum of sanitation
and convenience. The Housing Acts require the Local Authorities
to cause inspections to be made of the houses in their area. If any
dwelling-house it found to be in a state so dangerous or injurious to
health as to be unfit for human habitation the Local Authority must
make a closing order prohibiting the use of the dwelling-house for
human habitation until it is rendered fit. If, after a time, the house
has not been made fit, and is not reasonably likely to be or cannot be
made fit, the authority must make a "demolition order."

In addition, in the case of houses under certain rentals which are
"not reasonably fit for human habitation," the Local Authority must
give notice to the landlord requiring him to do specified repairs, and
if these are not done by the landlord the authority may do them
and charge him with the cost.

In the case of a house which, though not in itself unfit, obstructs
other houses, they may order it to be pulled down, paying the owner
reasonable compensation.

Considerable and growing use has been made of the powers of

222 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

dealing with individual houses, particularly since the passing of the
Act of 1909. Thus the number of houses made fit in this way at
the expense of the owners was increased from 19,463 in 1911 to
67,065 in 1914. Though the improvement has been considerable and
is encouraging, yet a great deal remains to be done. Many Local
Authorities, in spite of pressure from the Local Government Board,
failed to make any use whatever of their powers, and many have
made quite inadequate use of them. The problem is closely bound
up with the question of shortage of houseroom. So long as tenants
have no alternative accommodation, Local Authorities will hesitate
to close houses, even though convinced of their unfitness.

Where the powers of dealing with individual houses are inade-
quate owing to the whole area being so congested and so badly
planned that only a complete clearance and rebuilding of the area
will remedy the mischief, the Local Authority may prepare a scheme
for that purpose. In that case compensation must be paid to the
owners for the premises demolished, except in the cases of particular
houses which could not reasonably be made fit for habitation.

The expense of purchasing whole areas (including often factories
and other good buildings) and of clearing and improving them has
been so great that schemes have been carried out in only very few
cases. Only two or three schemes a year were submitted in the years
before the war.

There is urgent need for devising some fair method of dealing with
these plague-spots of our cities in some more economical way.

THE CONTROL OF BUILDING AND TOWN PLANNING

During the nineteenth century increasing control over the erection
of new houses was established. Local Authorities were empowered
(and in some instances required) to make by-laws for that purpose.
In this way a control (varying with the different districts) was im-
posed over, for example, water-supply and drainage for houses, the
materials employed in their construction and height of rooms. In
consequence of these provisions a great improvement was obtained
in the character of the individual houses erected by private enter-
prise, although considerable hardship and expense is alleged to have
arisen in some cases from the inelasticity of the by-laws. (A special
committee, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Stephen Walsh, M.P.,
is now considering the whole question of by-laws.)

Valuable though these provisions were in raising the standard of
individual houses, they still left the planning and laying-out of areas
to the accident of circumstances. No proper foresight was exer-
cised in regard to the future development of a district. Areas were

APPENDIX A 223

used indifferently for industrial and residential purposes, to the
detriment of both the manufacturer and the resident. Finally,
houses were crowded on sites in dreary monotonous rows, to the
sacrifice both of health and amenity.

In 1909 the first statutory provision on the subject of Town Plan-
ning was made in the Housing and Town-Planning Act. Power was
given to Local Authorities, with the consent of the Local Govern-
ment Board, to prepare a town-planning scheme as respects any
land in course of development or likely to be used for building pur-
poses. The subject of Town Planning is dealt with in a separate
pamphlet.

IV. THE EFFECT OF THE WAR

The effect of the war has been

(1) to increase considerably the shortage of houses;

(2) to suspend practically all work in connection with the closing
and repairing of unfit houses and the clearing of slums;

(3) to increase the cost of building and the rate of interest on
capital ;

(4) to produce an acute shortage of building materials.

SHORTAGE

Since 1915 very few working-class houses have been built except
in certain munition and shipbuilding areas. Even in these areas
houses have only been built where absolutely essential and in insuf-
ficient quantities.

The Local Government Board have recently been making an
inquiry from the Local Authorities of England and Wales as to the
shortage of houses in their districts. They were asked to state the
number of new houses which (a) were required now, and (b) should
be built at the close of the war, to provide the necessary accommo-
dation for the working classes in their districts. Up to date returns
have been received from about 1,500 Authorities. They show a
total of 170,000 in regard to (a), and 190,000 in regard to (b).
Thus, if the war were to end at once there would be an immediate
necessity for building between 300,000 and 400,000 houses.

DEFECTIVE HOUSES AND SLUMS

At the same time, owing to the shortage of labor and materials
only the most necessary repairs have been effected. Local Authori-
ties have been unable to issue Closing Orders in the case of defective
houses, or to give notice to owners to repair. In 1915 the Local

224. MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Government Board issued a circular to Local Authorities suggesting
that

"whilst not unduly relaxing the standard of public health adminis-
tration in their area, Local Authorities should, as far as possible, re-
frain from requiring the execution of work the cost of which has to
be borne by private individuals unless the work is urgently necessary
for the removal of nuisances or the protection of health."

The special circumstances due to the war have made this necessary,
but the general effect has been that the quality of existing houses has
steadily deteriorated. Very few slum areas have been cleared or
improvement schemes started.

THE COST OF BUILDING

The cost of building rose considerably during the ten years before
the war. Since the outbreak of war the increase has been very great,
and it is now nearly twice as great as it was before the war. And it
is calculated that even when peace is restored the cost will still be
half as much again as it was in 1914. Thus, a house which would
have cost £200 before the war will probably cost at least £300 after.
Further, owing to the immense amount of borrowing for war pur-
poses the rate of interest on capital has very much increased.
Before the war the State was lending money for housing purposes to
Local Authorities at 3l/2 per cent., while now it can only lend at 51/2
per cent. In this connection it must be borne in mind that as the
result of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restric-
tions) Act, 1915, the rents of houses in existence before the war have
remained at the same level as they were in 1914.

SUPPLY OF MATERIALS

Owing to the great demand for timber and the scarcity of labor
for brickyards and other building material industries, the supply has
been very much reduced. This whole question is being investigated
by a special committee.

We now propose to show how important it is to make early ar-
rangements for the building of the large number of houses required
in the years immediately after the war, and then to show the lines
upon which our policy must be framed in order to secure that the
houses are in fact built.

APPENDIX A 225

V. THE NEED FOR ACTION

Thus the housing situation, bad as it was in 1914, is far more
serious as the result of the war, and the importance of dealing rap-
idly and effectively with the problem after the war cannot be exag-
gerated. Bad and inadequate housing has serious effects on both
social and industrial conditions. It is one of the chief causes of the
spread of disease, of infant mortality, and of physical deterioration,
and also of social and industrial unrest. On the other hand, to build
a large number of new houses is essential for increased food produc-
tion and rapid demobilization, and will assist in preventing unem-
ployment after the war.

EFFECT OF BAD HOUSING ON HEALTH AND LIFE

It is well known that overcrowding and bad housing conditions
have a very serious effect upon health. Where there is confined
space, insufficient air, lack of sunlight, dampness, bad drainage or
overcrowding, disease spreads more rapidly and there is a serious
increase both of infant mortality and the general death rate. Thus,
Dr. Mair, who made a special investigation into the subject, found
that the number of deaths from pulmonary disease and the diseases
of young children were half as much again in back-to-back houses
as in ordinary dwelling-houses.

The effects of overcrowding and insanitary dwelling-houses upon
tuberculosis are notorious. An examination of the reports of the
London Tuberculosis Dispensaries shows that one-half of the pa-
tients under the care of these institutions live in dwellings with one
or two rooms only. In the report of one of these dispensaries we
find:

"Only 134 out of 766 patients suffering from definite signs of pul-
monary tuberculosis occupied separated rooms at night time. The
others were sleeping in rooms shared by one or more persons, and
of these only 179 slept in separate beds, the remaining 453 actually
sleeping in the same beds as one or more members of the family."

What bad housing conditions mean in individual cases may be
illustrated from the following quotation from the report of another
dispensary :

"At No. 181 Mrs. Simms will be found, but she is in such deep
trouble that we hardly like to knock. For this morning early, Simms
woke up, and coughed and died. Uninsured, with no savings or

226 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

earnings, there poor Simms lies, and the five small children stand
round, looking wide-eyed and wondering on their first sight of Death.
A starved fire flickers in the grate. The windows are not merely
closed, but round the edges of each sash is pasted tight a double
strip of paper. For through the old and loosely-fitted woodwork
come otherwise piercing draughts on winter nights. These win-
dows have for long been sealed with paper so as to keep out both
winter draughts and summer breezes. The paper was fixed by the
preceding tenants, who when they were evicted were found to num-
ber fourteen in all. Fourteen souls in two small rooms with sealed
windows. The seeds of Death were sown thick and fast on the floors
of No. 181."

Bad housing conditions affect not merely physical health but the
general standard of life. How is it possible to keep a home clean
and comfortable if it consists of two rooms only, while the family
number fourteen? How is it possible to maintain decency when
there are insufficient bedrooms to separate the sexes, or when — as is
not uncommon in some of our towns — there is only one sanitary
convenience to six tenements?

HOUSING AND INDUSTRIAL UNREST

Last year a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the
causes of Industrial Unrest. Great Britain was divided into eight
areas and separate Commissions examined the causes of unrest in
each of these areas. In their reports the Commissioners in seven
out of the eight districts specifically drew attention to the fact of
insufficient and bad housing being a cause of unrest.

Thus, those for the North-Eastern area say that they "have thought
it right to point out that the housing question was put forward as one
of the general causes of industrial unrest, which should in the na-
tional interest be dealt with at an early date." The report for the
Yorkshire area emphasizes the necessity for a large program of
social reform after the war, "including especially sufficient increase
in and improvement of housing accommodation." And the Com-
missioners for Wales say "it is clear from the large amount of evi-
dence received that unsatisfactory surroundings and inadequacy of
housing accommodation is a factor of great importance in the causa-
tion of unrest."

FOOD PRODUCTION AND THE RETURN TO THE LAND

We have come to realize the importance of increasing the produc-
tion of home-grown food. At present we are not getting the full

APPENDIX A S27

produce of the land owing to lack of labor. But when the war is
over it will be possible to have a sufficient supply of labor provided
that the conditions are such as to attract the returning soldier back
to the land and give him reasonable prospects. But men are not
going back to the land whatever the attractions of an open-air life
unless they are reasonably sure of decent and healthy homes. While
married soldiers, who were formerly on the land, in many cases have
cottages to return to, single men who are desirous of marrying will
be unable to find homes in the country districts unless effective steps
are taken. It must be remembered, too, that the policy of plowing
up two million additional acres of grass land will necessitate in-
creased labor and therefore more cottages. Thus it is essential that
a large number of good cottages with reasonable gardens should be
built in the country districts as early as possible.

DEMOBILIZATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT

At the end of the war we hope to see the soldiers and sailors
demobilized as soon as possible, both for their sakes and our own.
Apart from military exigencies and the difficulties of transport there
will be two questions having a very important bearing upon the speed
with which demobilization can take place. One is the question
whether there are houses for the soldiers to go to when discharged.
The other is whether there is employment available. The transition
from a war to a peace basis will cause, at the least, very great dis-
location in industry and finance, and at the same time there may be
considerable unemployment.

It will not be possible to reestablish quickly those industries for
which raw materials are scarce, or have to be imported. Shipping
will be short and will be largely occupied in the transport of troops
and food. But building materials can be produced almost entirely
in this country. It is true that there will be a shortage of timber,
but experiments are now being made for reducing to a minimum the
quantity of timber used in the building of cottages. In all prob-
ability it may be said that at least nine-tenths of the necessary mate-
rials for building, such as brick, cement, iron-mongery, slate, tiles,
can be produced in the country.

If schemes for building as many of the necessary houses as prac-
ticable were ready to be put into operation immediately after the
declaration of peace, it would materially assist in solving the unem-
ployment problem. Work would be provided for brickmakers and
others engaged in the manufacture of building material: for brick-
layers, masons, carpenters, joiners, and plumbers, and all others

228 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

taking part in the actual building of houses. It would also provide
direct employment for a large number of workers in roadmaking,
sewering, and estate development ; and indirect employment to others
in the furnishing and other trades. It is not exaggerating to say
that, having regard to the large number of houses required, work
might be provided in this way for over one million men, and this
would be the largest single contribution to the unemployment prob-
lem. The State must see that its citizens are maintained after the
war. It will be much better to do this by employing them on vitally
necessary and useful work than by keeping them when no longer
wanted in the Army or granting them insurance doles to walk the
streets.

A proper housing scheme, therefore, will not only fill an urgent
need, but will accelerate demobilization and reduce unemployment.
If a further reason be wanted for a progressive housing policy there
is one more convincing than all others. It is that as a bare measure
of justice, every man who has given of his best in fighting or working
for his country should be regarded as entitled as of right to a decent
home in pleasant surroundings. As Mr. Walter Long, when Presi-
dent of the Local Government Board, said in reply to a deputation
on "Housing After the War" :

"It would indeed be a crime — a black crime — if reading as we do
the wonderful accounts of the sufferings which our heroes have to
undergo in the trenches ... we sat still now and did nothing. . . .
To let them come from horrible water-logged trenches to something
little better than a pigsty here would indeed be criminal on the part
of ourselves, and would be a negation of all we have said during this
war, that we can never repay these men for what they have done
for us."

Or as Dr. Addison, Minister of Reconstruction, puts it: "Those
who have suffered the hardships of war and the long bitterness of
separation deserved better of us than to have to pass their lives in
a slum."

VI. THE HOUSING POLICY AFTER THE WAR

We have shown that the situation at the end of the war will con-
sist in a shortage of housing amounting to between 300,000 and
400,000 for England and Wales alone, and in the existence of large
numbers of slum dwellings and slum areas. This housing problem

APPENDIX A 229

must be solved as early as possible if we are to secure homes for
returning soldiers. The solution is also essential if we are to prevent
industrial unrest, to secure adequate employment, and to remove one
of the greatest causes of infant mortality and the spread of disease.

What steps are the Government taking to deal with this difficult
situation ?

The whole question is being carefully considered by both the Local
Government Board and the Ministry of Reconstruction, each of whom
have strong advisory committees on the subject. In some directions
active steps have already been taken, while in others schemes are
being formulated. At the outset it is important to emphasize that
the building of new houses is the most urgent matter. It is no good
thinking of clearing slum areas or of issuing Closing Orders in the
case of individual bad houses unless there is sufficient alternative
accommodation.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD INQUIRY

Therefore, the first step was to ascertain where the new houses
were required. For this purpose the Local Government Board, on
28th July, 1917, sent an inquiry form to all the Local Authorities in
town and country asking them to state how many houses will be
needed in their districts. We have shown that returns have been
received from over 1,500 authorities showing an immediate shortage
of 170,000, which will be increased by another 190,000 on the conclu-
sion of the war. This affords a good basis for preparing plans, but,
of course, it must be remembered that while many Local Authorities
have made adequate returns, in some districts the inhabitants feel
that the Local Authority has under-estimated the shortage, while one-
sixth of the Authorities have made no returns at all. Probably the
Authorities in some of these cases have been awaiting a decision as
to the form and extent of the financial assistance which was to be
given. This has now been announced.

It should be added that 900 Local Authorities have reported that
they have already prepared, or are in course of preparing, or are
willing to prepare schemes for the erection of more than 150,000
houses in all.

The President of the Local Government Board has stated recently
that:

"All were conscious of the terrible shortage of houses and the fact
that the private builder could not be relied upon to make good the
deficiency. Hence they could only turn to the Local Authorities."

230 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

As we showed, the financial difficulties, owing to the increased cost of
building and rate of interest, will be considerable.

It was decided by the War Cabinet in July, 1917, that substantial
financial assistance would be given "to those Local Authorities who
are prepared to carry through without delay, at the conclusion of
the war, a program of housing for the working classes which is ap-
proved by the Local Government Board."

In a circular issued by the Local Government Board it is stated
that this assistance is to take the following form. An annual grant
is to be made for not less than seven years sufficient to relieve the
Local Authority of three-quarters of the estimated annual loss on
the housing scheme. At the end of that time the property is to be
valued, and three-quarters of the excess of the amount of the loan
outstanding over the then value of the property will be met by the
State. Briefly, therefore, in the case of approved schemes the State
will bear three-quarters of the loss and the Local Authority the
remainder. But there are some districts where it would be a serious
burden for the Local Authority to have to bear even a quarter of any
loss. In all cases where one quarter of the estimated annual deficit
would involve the levying of a rate of more than a penny in the £
the Local Government Board is to have discretion to increase the
Government grant. But the loss to be borne by the Local Authority
in such case must not be reduced below the produce of a rate of a
penny in the £.

This assistance is only to be available for a limited time after the
war and subject to the condition that in all ordinary cases building
shall be commenced within two months, and completed within twelve
months, from the date of the Local Government Board sanctioning
the loan for the scheme.

As regards the loans for the schemes it is stated that "any loans by
the State for the purpose of assisted schemes would be made at the
full market rate of interest current from time to time, and not at
the preferential rates ordinarily allowed for housing loans, in order
(1) that the whole of the State assistance may be given under one
head, and (2) that Local Authorities may be encouraged to borrow
on their own credit rather than to have recourse to State capital
funds." And again, the Treasury ask that "It may be made quite
clear that the precise date at which the execution of any schemes
approved by the Board can be commenced must depend on circum-
stances which cannot at present be foreseen, and that the financial
position may be such that it may be necessary to give precedence to
the more urgent cases, even to the exclusion for the time being of the
less urgent."

APPENDIX A 231

In the circular Mr. Hayes Fisher expresses the hope that in every
case where there is need for houses not likely to be met by any form
of private enterprise the Local Authority will see that a housing
scheme is prepared with as little delay as possible.

Where the Local Authorities, in spite of an admitted need, fail to
take adequate steps Mr. Fisher has plainly hinted in public speeches
that they will be supplanted by some other authority who will see
that houses are built.

PLANS AND ARRANGEMENTS OF THE HOUSES

As regards the plans for the construction of the houses and the
laying-out of the land, the Local Government Board have recently
issued a memorandum containing advice to Local Authorities and
plans.

It is not possible to quote more than a few extracts from this
interesting document, but the following quotations show that in sanc-
tioning schemes the Local Government Board will require a high
standard to be adopted :

"The type of dwelling required in ordinary circumstances is the
self-contained house. Occasionally there may be a demand for ac-
commodation of a limited character — e.g., accommodation for newly-
married couples or for aged persons without a family — and in such
cases it may be desirable to meet the demand by the provision of
two-story houses consisting of two self-contained dwellings; but,
generally, it would seem desirable to avoid the erection of blocks of
buildings containing a series of tenements.

"It is desirable that simplicity of design and economy in construc-
tion and general arrangements should be aimed at, but it would be
well to bear in mind that houses erected by a local authority ought
generally to be such as will be a model or standard for working-
class dwellings which may be erected by private persons.

"The house should be designed to meet the reasonable needs of the
prospective occupants, and the internal arrangements will, no doubt,
be influenced to some extent by custom of the locality and by the
habits of the population."

In order that no stone may be left unturned to secure the best
advice obtainable both as regards economy of construction (which
is particularly important in present circumstances) and the best
possible types of plans, special inquiries have been instituted. To
deal with the first point, the Local Government Board have appointed
a committee under the chairmanship of* Sir Tudor Walters, M.P.,
who are asked:

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

"To consider questions of building construction in connection with
the provision of dwellings for the working classes in England and
Wales, and report upon methods of securing economy and despatch
in the provision of such dwellings."

A Sub-Committee of this Committee is making practical experiments
into the methods of cheapening construction and of getting over the
difficulty with regard to the shortage of timber and certain other
materials.

By arrangement with the Local Government Board the Institute of
British Architects has been conducting a competition for the best
types of cottage plans. For this purpose the country has been
divided up into various districts and plans for each of the districts
asked for, so that regard may be had to special local requirements
and supply of materials. Further, it has been recognized that in
considering the plans of new cottages, and particularly the internal
arrangements, regard must be had to the convenience and comfort of
the housewife, and that the best way of ensuring this was to inspect
various types of houses and to consult with the housewives them-
selves. For this purpose, therefore, a Women's Committee has been
appointed by the Minister of Reconstruction, with Lady Emmott as
chairman, to consider the whole question from the point of view of
the housewife.

ARRANGEMENT OF STREETS AND BUILDINGS AND LAY-OUT OF
ESTATES

The Local Government Board memorandum, already quoted, draws
attention to the necessity for securing a good lay-out of land "which
is being developed by Local Authorities. In this connection regard
must be had both to health and amenities, as the following extracts
show:

"The arrangements of houses on the site, and to some extent the
design of the houses, will depend upon the size, situation, and char-
acter of the land, but the site should be so utilized as to secure ample
open space in connection with the houses and the best possible aspect
for the living-rooms. The latter point should be borne in mind in
fixing the direction of any new streets required to be constructed.

"Overcrowding of houses on a site should be avoided. Although
some regard must be paid to the cost of the site and the extent to
which street works will be necessary, the number of houses to be
erected on each acre of land should be kept within strictly reasonable
limits.

"It is desirable that houses should be set back from the street-line,

APPENDIX A 233

so as to allow small gardens or forecourts to intervene between the
houses and the streets.

"It is undesirable that long rows of houses without a break should
be constructed ; and, as a rule, the number of houses in a continuous
row should not exceed eight or ten. Long rows are open to objec-
tion, not only because overcrowding of houses on the site may be
the result, but also because they give a monotonous and depressing
appearance and prevent easy inter-communication between streets."

No definite rule has been laid down as to the number of houses
which should be allowed to be built on a given area of land. But
in the circular of the 18th March, 1918, mentioned above, it is stated
that "the aim should be to provide that in ordinary circumstances
not more than twelve houses (or in agricultural areas eight houses)
should be placed on an acre of land wherever this is possible without
materially increasing the cost of the scheme. This will give sufficient
land for gardens, allotments, and open spaces."

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

It should be pointed out that while the great urgency of the
problem will make it necessary to rely on Local Authorities for pro-
viding a large proportion of the houses required there is no proposal
to rule out private enterprise. On the contrary, it has been definitely
stated by the Local Government Board that :

"the complete solution of the housing problem is not likely to be
accomplished except with the cooperation of private enterprise, in-
cluding public utility societies, and that in order to secure the full
advantage of their help it may be advisable for the State to offer
them assistance in one or other of the directions which are now under
the consideration of a Conference sitting at the Local Government
Board."

No definite statement can yet be made as to the form of assistance
which could be given to private enterprise, or what conditions would
have to be imposed. But a Committee has been appointed by the
Minister of Reconstruction, with the Right Hon. Henry Hobhouse as
chairman, "To consider and advise on the practicability of assisting
any bodies or persons (other than Local Authorities) to build dwell-
ings for the working classes immediately after the war, whether by
means of loans, grants, or other subsidies, and whether through the
agency of the State or Municipal Banks or otherwise."

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

SOME OTHER IMPORTANT COMMITTEES

We have shown that the supply of building materials and their
price will be a most important factor in housing after the war.
The Ministry of Reconstruction, therefore, has appointed a Com-
mittee, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. P. Carmichael, to inquire
into the whole question of supply and price of materials.

Acquisition of land is also an important matter in connection with
housing, and there is a Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction
under the chairmanship of Mr. Leslie Scott, K.C., M.P., inquiring
into the methods of acquiring land and of valuing it so as to insure
that land can be obtained at reasonable prices.

As already stated, there is a Committee on the question of by-laws
under the chairmanship of Mr. Stephen Walsh, M.P.

A Committee, too, has recently been appointed (of whom Lord
Hunter is Chairman) to consider the legislation embodied in the
Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restrictions) Act,
1915, and its amendments, in relation to housing after the war, and
to recommend what steps should be taken to remove any difficulties
which may arise in connection with it.

While it is necessary to regard the provision of new houses as the
first call upon the efforts of Local Authorities, it must be remem-
bered that it will be necessary also to deal with slum dwellings and
slum areas.

Among other matters under consideration are possible amendments
of Part I. of the Finance (1909-10) Act, of Rating, and of adapta-
tion of middle-class houses to meet the requirements of workers.

CONCLUSION

It will be seen that the Government is taking active steps to
prepare to deal with the vast housing problem which will arise at the
conclusion of the war, but it cannot be stated too strongly that much
of the success of the schemes under consideration will depend upon
the active cooperation of the people generally. It is important that
all citizens should be fully alive to the largeness of the task to be
accomplished. The matter should be discussed and considered from
every point of view. Local considerations should be taken into
account, and where necessary pressure should be brought to bear
upon members of Local Councils where it is felt that they are not
sufficiently active. It is only by the cooperation of all that the ideal
will be achieved.

APPENDIX B

REPORT BY MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION

ON
RAW MATERIALS AND EMPLOYMENT

The supply of raw materials for industry is a fundamental prob-
lem of reconstruction. Demobilization, resettlement, the revival of
industry both for home consumption and for export, all depend upon
an adequate supply and a reasonable distribution of raw materials.
When the men and women who have been doing munition work have
been discharged and when the men return from the Army, it will be
absolutely essential that cotton and wool and leather and iron ore and
other raw materials should be obtainable in large quantities.

No one can foresee exactly what the situation will be for some
months to come, but we can make estimates of our probable needs
and we can make provision for possible dangers of the transition
from war to peace. The problems interlock one with another. One
industry can go ahead only if others also are at work, and all our
British industries are dependent ultimately upon the supply of raw
material from abroad, and, therefore, upon our ships. But we must
concentrate our attention here upon the material, leaving the position
with regard to shipping for consideration elsewhere.

We shall pass by for our present purpose all raw material which
is not imported into the United Kingdom. Some of our ore and
some wool is produced here ; and its production is largely dependent
upon the amount of labor available. The same is true of brick and
cement, the raw materials for the building trades. But as soon as
demobilization begins we shall probably have enough labor to put
into our home production, and therefore it is only imported raw
materials which constitute a problem. It is possible, however, to
state that the situation will not be so difficult as it was, until a few
months ago, expected to be. The supply of raw materials is not
likely to be seriously deficient, even in regard to those industries for
which it will fall short of the normal supply. What is needed is
careful supervision to avoid waste rather than any drastic measures
of Government control.

There are many different aspects of this problem of the supply of
imported raw material. Our financial standing as a nation is de-

235

236 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

pendent upon imported raw material for the production of goods for
export. Our cotton trade, for example, is a great part of our export
trade, and cotton manufacture in England is entirely dependent upon
imports. Again, if we do not secure a supply of imported raw
material for the boot and shoe trade, or the woolen trade, our manu-
facturers of machinery will, be unable to find sufficient orders.

Employment, however, is a more urgent problem than the problem
of finance and commerce; and employment depends upon imported
raw material. It is therefore onty from this point of view that we
shall here attempt to describe the situation with which we shall be
faced during the transition from war to peace. There were about
2,300,000 men and 700,000 women in the metal and chemical trades
during the War. Most of these women and about 200,000 of these
men will be leaving their occupation and seeking for non-munitions
work. About three or four million men will come back from the
fighting forces; and there will be a considerable transference from
one industry to another. But the industries which now have less
labor than they had in July, 1914, are precisely those which need
imported raw material. For example, the building industry has
about 460,000 men less than it then had, the textile industries 200,000
less, the paper and printing industries 100,000 less. Those numbers
show that there will be work for all returning men and ex-munition
workers if we have raw material. We need cotton, wool, timber,
wood-pulp, and many other materials from abroad. That is the
general nature of the problem : but we can be yet more precise ; and
for this purpose it will be necessary to review shortly the probable
position at the end of the War in the chief industries which depend
upon imported raw material.

METAL TRADES

Our Iron and Steel and Engineering industries depend upon
about 7,000,000 tons of iron ore imported in a year. In 1913 out of
the 7,442,249 tons imported 4,714,039 tons came from Spain, and
since the proportion of ore in our imports has been maintained
during the War for the sake of munitions, there will certainly be no
shortage. If, however, the German demand revives after the War,
and unless the present control is retained, the price of Spanish ore
may rise considerably.

The problem on which employment depends in the engineering
and allied industries is that of price and distribution. Great num-
bers of men and women will naturally leave the metal trades now
that the urgent need for munitions has ceased; but because of the

APPENDIX B 237

need for engineering products throughout the world there will prob-
ably be more employment in engineering than there was in 1914.
The various metal trades then employed about 1,634,000 men and
170,000 women ; and, so far as the supply of material goes, the only
problem will be that of the price of imported ore.

With regard to the supplies of material for the metal trades, the
Minister of Reconstruction spoke as follows in the House of Com-
mons, on November 12th : —

". . . There has been a great increase in our capacity for the
utilization of home ore and arrangements are being made by the
Shipping Controller which will render it possible to import as large
a quantity of foreign ore as was imported prior to the War. It is
proposed to release iron and steel forthwith. The difficulties which
may arise owing to the fact that through the exigencies of war the
price of steel now stands at an artificial level have not been over-
looked, and it is intended to continue orders fixing for a period a
maximum price for steel, though this may involve continuing some
measure of Government assistance for that period.

"With regard to other metals, I am glad to be able to assure the
House that there is a sufficient supply available to render it possible
to release some from control now and nearly all the rest within six
months. I am convinced after a close survey of the position that we
shall be able to meet the demands which reconstruction will make on
our resources. But while I am satisfied that there will be enough
for all if it is equitably divided, there must be no selfish attempts
on the part of individuals to secure more than their share, and for
this purpose it may be necessary to take precautions against hoard-
ing.

"Steps are being taken in the meantime to secure the release of
much usable stock and to grant further supplies of metals to those
industries now limited to a fixed ration. Great discrimination will
be required in the discharge of this duty, but the various Controls will
call into counsel representatives of the trades concerned and ease
their own task by setting Industry to govern itself."

As regards the non-ferrous metals, a very small amount of tin or
copper, for example, gives employment to great numbers, for many
industries use a little of each of these metals, and without a supply
of them many in the engineering or brass-working trades would be
without employment. There is, however, no reason to fear a short-
age of non-ferrous metals, and it remains only to supervise the dis-
tribution.

238 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

TEXTILE INDUSTRIES

Our great Cotton industry is entirely dependent upon imported
raw materials. Various kinds of raw cotton come to us from the
U. S. A., from Egypt, India, Brazil, and West Africa. In 1913 our
cotton mills in Lancashire consumed 3,281,509 bales of American
cotton and 400,000 bales of Egyptian cotton.

The number of spindles at work on August 31st, 1913, in the
United Kingdom was 55,653,000, which was 39 per cent, of all the
spindles in the world.

In July, 1914, cotton spinning and weaving employed about 274,-
000 men and 415,000 women; but in 1918 there are only 157,000
men and 379,000 women employed. Therefore, 117,000 men and
36,000 women less than in 1914 are dependent upon our present sup-
plies, and of those many are working on short time. Will those
who have gone out of the industry and wish to return find a place as
soon as the War is ended? Will the manufacturers begin at once to
work their machines fully?

It is unlikely that any difficulty will occur in finding a market for
our cotton goods, although it is true that some other countries, par-
ticularly Japan, have enlarged their place in the world-market dur-
ing the War. The general shortage of the last few years in the
supply of cotton goods has created a large demand, and therefore
the problem of finding employment in the cotton trade reduces itself
to a problem of the supply of raw material. First, the allocation of
immediately available supplies will be necessary, for even before we
import more we can use our stocks more rapidly as soon as peace is
secure. During the War the Cotton Control Board has regulated
the consumption of raw material, and it will probably continue to
control the situation during the transition to peace. The Board
consists of representatives of employers and workers in the Cotton
industry, together with some Government officials. It has introduced
the principle of payment to those workers who are put on short
time owing to a lack of raw material; and it practically insures the
workers against unemployment and under-employment.

The available supplies will probably be increased very rapidly
now that peace is in sight and we can release ships from carrying
munitions of war; and the remaining problem of allocation to the
different mills will then become easier. There will be a world de-
mand for raw cotton from America, but so long as the price is not
prohibitive there should be enough to supply our industries. The
supply in Egypt is less than it was in 1914— about 800,000 bales in
the place of one million — since wheat had to be grown in Egypt in-

APPENDIX B 239

stead of cotton; but there is a Control Commission in Alexandria
which will presumably continue to exist for a short time after the
War in order that the most may be made of such supplies as exist.
In the case of cotton, the shortage of supply in other countries will
have to be considered, and that problem we shall refer to below.
But from what has been so far said it will be clear that adequate
employment in the trade cannot be secured unless there is some
supervision and control of supplies.

The woolen and worsted industry, chiefly in Yorkshire, employed
in July, 1914, about 134,000 men and 170,000 women. It now em-
ploys about 100,000 men and about the same number of women as
in 1914. There is therefore not much room to take on more workers ;
and the raw material now used for army purposes can probably be
used for peace production. But we must allow for the fact that the
returning armies in all countries will need civilian clothing, that
stocks of clothing are low and that foreign markets are clamoring
for woolen goods. Clearly, therefore, if material is adequate there
may be more employment in the industry than in 1914. No special
problem arises except in regard to future supplies and prices and the
possible danger to the trade if the wool supplies of the world are
competed for after the War. Other countries are in desperate need
of wool ; and we are now protected by the circumstances of the War
from feeling the effect of an abnormal world-shortage of wool.
Therefore, although there is no immediate danger of unemployment
in this trade owing to lack of raw material in England, some kind of
international organization may be necessary soon after the War.

We have now the Wool Control Board, which will probably con-
tinue its operations during the transition from war to peace; and
there will be the Wool Council to look after the interests of all
concerned.

BOOT AND SHOE INDUSTRY

The problem for the Boot and Shoe industry will be the supply of
hides from America, of calf-skins from the Continent, of goat-skins
from India and South America. Our net imports in 1913 were as
follows:— hides worth £3,000,000, skins worth £1,749,000, and leather
worth £5,057,000. The quantities in 1913 of our net imports of
hides were 727,000 cwts., and of leather 771,000 cwts.; but in 1915
the net imports had risen to 1,375,000 cwts. of hides and 1,316,000
cwts. of leather. Special efforts had been made to secure leather for
army boots, not only for our own soldiers but for our Allies, and
some of the stocks accumulated may be suitable for civilian needs.

240 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Probably there will not be any lack of heavy leathers, although light
leather and skins may be deficient in quantity.

The trade employed about 110,000 men and 56,000 women in 1914,
and now employs about 81,000 men and 71,000 women. Many of the
men, however, are unskilled substitutes, and they will probably be
replaced by skilled men, for the unskilled man may have been able to
work at the standardized patterns of Army boots and civilian war-
time boots, but his place will have to be taken by the skilled man
when leather is available for the better class of boots after the War.
There should be so great a civilian demand that probably all men in
the boot and shoe trade before the War will easily find employment.
The transition to peace production will be very rapid and there will
probably follow a time of good employment — possibly an expansion
of the numbers employed in 1914. The raw material problem is re-
duced to maintaining generally the present supply of hides which
are required for the tanning of sole leather, and obtaining more of
the lighter dressed upper leathers.

TIMBER

The housing program for after the War depends partly upon the
supplies of timber; and, of course, the building trade cannot re-
sume its full activities until we have timber enough in the United
Kingdom. Building has practically ceased during the War. In
July, 1914, 758,000 men and 5,900 women were employed, and there
are now employed only about 400,000 men and 25,000 women.
Those who have left for the Army or for munitions will desire to
come back, and the urgent need for houses makes it a national inter-
est that building should revive speedily. We should need about
100,000 standards of timber a month, without regard to pit-props
and other uses for wood. We have now on hand only enough for
three months' use under peace conditions.

The supply depends upon shipping, and this may very well be
available; but we have to be on the look-out to secure w!:at timber
can be had. In Sweden and Finland there are about 2,000,000
standards ; and some 600,000 standards are sawn and ready for ship-
ment from Canada, Mexico and Scandinavia.

The Minister of Reconstruction, in the speech already referred to,
said : —

"The position as regards timber is difficult. It is bulky and our
tonnage has to be economized, but apart from this there is little
doubt that events in Russia, which has so far been our largest source
of supply, will seriously affect the situation. Arrangements are in

APPENDIX B 241

hand to provide supplies from overseas, but it is clear that continued
felling will be necessary at home for some time to come, and with
this need in view woods have been purchased ahead by the Timber
Supplies Department."

PAPER-MAKING

The important raw materials for Paper-making are wood-pulp
and Esparto grass. We were using before the War about 81,500
tons of wood-pulp a month, but only one-sixth of that amount is
now available in the United Kingdom. The Paper Controller was
compelled to restrict the use of paper and the import of pulp; and
other countries have set up industries in paper and printing since
the War.

In the paper-making and printing trades in July, 1914, there were
employed about 260,000 men and 147,000 women, and now there are
employed 160,000 men and 143,000 women. The restricted employ-
ment is largely due to the lack of raw materials ; and there is urgent
need for an increase in supply before the men of these trades are
demobilized from the Army.

OTHER INDUSTRIES

The industries shortly reviewed above are not the only industries
dependent upon imported materials. In the first place, material
such as rubber takes little tonnage and gives a large proportion of
employment as compared to some other materials, and yet the supply
may be deficient in view of the immense demand consequent on the
War. And rubber is important not only for those who work at
rubber manufactures, but because so many other trades depend upon
or are closely connected with its use. Motor and cycle makers, for
instance, are in that position; and these trades before the War em-
ployed about 118,000 men and 10,500 women.

The food production industries are largely dependent upon im-
ported raw material ; and quite apart from the maintenance of food
supplies the import of sugar, cocoa and other such articles is neces-
sary for the employment of thousands of workers.

In this connection we may note the peculiar problem of women's
employment. Most women in industry before the War were em-
ployed in the textile, clothing, and food-production industries; and
these are precisely the industries which are most dependent upon
imported raw material. Now, during the War about a million more
women have come into industry than were in industry in 1914.
Many of these went from dress-making and millinery, many from

242 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

domestic service, many from their home-work. The number of
women employed outside their own homes and exclusively of domes-
tice service in 1914 was 3,276,000. It is estimated that about 400,000
during the War have left domestic service and dress-making in order
to enter industry, and at the close of the War about 4,809,000
women were employed in industry and commerce. But even if those
who were employed at home and in domestic service return to their
former work, there will still be a surplus of women in industry on
the pre-war basis. If men are unemployed, work may be found in
road-making or in building or in other "heavy" occupations. But
none of these occupations provides employment for women; and,
indeed, the truth is that there is no "stop-gap" occupation which may
be used if great numbers of women are unemployed. The only im-
mediate remedy for possible unemployment is the expansion of the
demand for women in the careers they normally followed before the
War.

The supply of imported raw materials is therefore of the first
importance for the employment of women. The more textile and
food material we have, the more easily we shall be able to find places
for all the women who wish to continue in the mills and the work-
shops.

Again, we cannot afford to neglect the situation outside the United
Kingdom, if we are to understand the problem of raw materials.
The sources of our supply are in many instances the same as the
sources of supply for France and Italy. France, for example, im-
ported 346,160,000 kilograms of raw cotton in 1912, and Italy 214,-
086,000 kilograms. France had in 1912 about seven million spindles
and Italy four and a half millions. According to the 1906 Census
the number of persons employed in France in the Cotton industry
was 167,000, and in the Clothing trades, which depended on Cotton
and Wool, about 938,900 were employed. The textile industries in
Italy in 1911 employed only 30,780 persons, so some of the Italian
imports must have gone elsewhere to be manufactured. It is, how-
ever, obvious that the supplies of cotton should not be thought of
simply in the terms of our own needs. We owe it to our Allies to
see that they too have employment. And even if we allow for
destruction of machines and men during the War, it is clear that in
those countries also the Governments will desire raw material to
give employment before they demobilize their armies and discharge
their munition workers.

We should also consider the position of Germany, should she be
without raw material for the textile industries. In 1913 Germany
imported cotton worth 600 million marks and wool worth 400 mil-

APPENDIX B

lion marks. In Saxony, where the textile industry is chiefly carried
on, in 1912 there were 255,766 persons employed in various textile
trades. They now have no cotton. But if we want them all to con-
tribute to the restoration of devastated territories, we shall have to
give them employment. Whatever policy, therefore, is adopted, full
consideration must be given to the position of the various nations.
To leave the situation uncontrolled might be disastrous. Of
course, there may be enough material to go round; it may be that
no one will try to "corner" supplies; and it may be that prices will
not rise rapidly as a result of competitive buying. But we cannot
rely upon merchants loving one another; still less can we rely on
their loving the manufacturers. Therefore, without being unduly
suspicious, we may have to make preparations for supervision and
control of the supplies of raw material on an international scale.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

The important point which must be realized is that the normal
organization of trade has been so disturbed by War conditions that
the supply of raw materials cannot be left to depend upon the
operation of forces at work before the War. The transition from
war to peace adds new problems to those of supply during the War;
and for this reason the Government has given special consideration
to the question of raw material supply. The first danger to be
avoided is a general scramble. But this involves some Government
control or supervision, to be gradually relaxed as the supplies be-
come more adequate. The control will exist only where there is a
shortage of supply or if there is a shortage of ships; and it will
exist only for the assistance of the industries in the general inter-
ests of the nation. The next step must be to secure that materials
are provided for the industries somewhat in advance of the demo-
bilization of men from the Army or the discharge from war work.
The Government will therefore hasten the importation of material
in order to shorten the period of demobilization.

In view of the danger of unemployment, special consideration
must be given to those trades which give employment to a large num-
ber of perspns. Cotton, for example, may have to take precedence
of timber. And secondly, if great numbers are employed in any
trade on raw material which does not take up much tonnage, some
precedence should be given to such raw material. The principle,
therefore, according to which we must allocate our tonnage for im-
ports of raw material must involve a consideration of employment.

But the problem cannot be solved by simply counting the number
employed in one industry, since the raw material for one industry

244 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

may set going many other subordinate trades. From this point of
view timber may be more important than cotton, if the building
trades can set going all dependent trades such as furnishing, sanitary
engineering, and the rest.

It will be understood that it is no part of our purpose here to
decide which trades should take precedence or which imported mate-
rial will employ most labor. It is sufficient if it be recognized by the
public that the problem is both urgent and very complex. It is
likely, as we may learn from our English habits, and, indeed,, from
the history of all successful administration, that the organization to
control the situation must be tentative at first and flexible enough
to be modified as the situation changes. We cannot have a Code
Napoleon for raw materials.

THE ORGANIZATION OF CONTROL

How is the allocation of tonnage and the distribution of material
among the trades to be done? The Government has established a
Priorities Committee of Cabinet Ministers on the model of the
present War Priorities Committee. This will be the ultimate au-
thority for allocating raw materials; and it will naturally see that
the needs of the State take precedence of the requirements of in-
dustry; for example, in the case of material for building.

Secondly, a Standing Council has been established consisting of
leading men in industry and commerce, together with representa-
tives of labor and of the departments chiefly concerned. This
Council will advise the Cabinet Committee on the allocation of ton-
nage to the different materials and the distribution of them to the
industries. It will practically decide on the amount which industry
can have.

The Standing Council will naturally take account and make use
of the organization for the control of raw material which already
exists.

During the war period the principal of raw materials of in-
dustries have been in various ways under strict Governmental con-
trol. This control has been vested for the most part in three
departments : —

Ministry of Munitions Metals and ore.

War Office Wool, hemp, flax, jute, hides and

skins, and tanning materials.
Board of Trade Cotton (and miscellaneous).

The control of materials required for building has been dis-

APPENDIX B 245

tributed as follows: Ministry of Munitions, steel and bricks; War
Office, cement; the Timber Controller (working under the direction
of the Board of Trade), timber.

The central direction of all these control departments now lies
with the newly constituted Standing Council which meets at the
Ministry of Reconstruction, 2 Queen Anne's Gate Buildings, S. W.
This Council, which is responsible to the Committee of Cabinet
Ministers (with offices at 11, Pall Mall, S. W. 1), will be charged
with the decision of all questions relating to the priority and the
allocation of materials in the Reconstruction period, and will de-
termine whether, in any given material control is necessary, and if so,
to what extent and in what form. It is hoped that such control as
may be necessary may be gradually more and more devolved upon
organizations representing the trades concerned. At present it is
arranged that the Control Authorities which have, during the War,
controlled particular materials should "carry on" under a general
instruction that applications for materials should be considered by
them sympathetically and upon a new basis. The Standing Coun-
cil has been in almost daily session since it was formed; but it is
obvious that an estimate, both of the requirement and supply of
materials, can only be formed after a very wide and careful survey.
Pending the completion of such a survey, it is possible to speak only
in a very general fashion as to the probable situation with regard
to the supply of materials in the immediate future, and any state-
ment must be necessarily of a very guarded character.

The industries themselves will provide organizations for advising
on the demand for material among the firms concerned. There will,
therefore, be Trade Organizations — Industrial Councils or Commit-
tees in each industry — whose advice will be sought by the Govern-
ment when the controlling authorities are considering the needs of
this or that trade.

Such is the organization; but in order to understand its working
it is necessary to reverse the order we have named, for the success
of the scheme will depend upon the vitality and energy of those
actually engaged in industry.

If the industries are prepared to say what material they need
and what number they can employ, the organization we have briefly
described will be able to set to work in the early days of peace;
and it is hoped that the procedure will be of the following kind.

The industries should each have some fully representative organ-
ization which will put before the Government, among other things,
the need for raw material. Presumably a Joint Industrial Council
will have a Committee to consider this need ; and special Committees

246 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

will be set up in those industries in which no Joint Industrial
Council exists. It will be for the industries to arrange the com-
position of the Committees; but most of those so far set up and
recognized by the Government are joint Committees, containing
both labor representatives and representatives of the employers.
It will be easily understood that since employment in so many cases
depends upon the amount of raw material obtained and the method
of its distribution, representatives of labor are very much inter-
ested in raw material supply. The Government has accepted the
recommendations of the Whitley Committee in regard to Joint In-
dustrial Councils; and the Ministry of Labor has been able to pro-
mote organization in many industries. The Ministry of Recon-
struction meanwhile has brought into existence various joint Com-
mittees known as Interim Industrial Reconstruction Committees.
All such bodies, therefore, will naturally give attention to raw ma-
terial supply.

Some of the work of reviewing the need for raw materials has
already been done; and various special Committees of representa-
tives of industry have already made recommendations to the Ministry
of Reconstruction. The problems these Committees have consid-
ered are indicated in their terms of reference, which were generally
as follows: —

To consider and report upon —

The nature and amount of supplies of materials and foodstuffs
which in their opinion will be required by the United Kingdom dur-
ing the period which will elapse between the termination of the War
and the restoration of a normal condition of trade; and the steps
which should be taken to procure these supplies, having regard to : —

(a) The probable requirements of India, the Dominions and
Crown Colonies for such supplies at the close of hostilities.

(b) The probable requirements of belligerents and neutrals for
such supplies at the close of hostilities.

(c) The sources from which, and the conditions under which such
supplies can be obtained and transported and, in particular, the ex-
tent to which they might be obtained from the United Kingdom or
within the Empire or from Allied or Neutral countries.

Representative joint Committees of the different trades will have
to consider similar problems; but their first task will be to collect
from the firms or associations concerned information as to the
amount of labor they can employ, the rapidity with which their
machinery can be set going on "peace" production, and the amount
of raw material they could use on this machinery. If the full
amount cannot be supplied at once, the responsible organization

APPENDIX B 247

representing the industry may have to allocate a proportion to the
different firms, perhaps following the plan adopted by the Cotton
Control Board. It will obviously be more in the national interest
if many firms employ many persons working on short time rather
than that a few firms should be working a few employees very hard
while no employment is obtainable under other firms in the same
trade.

If we suppose, then, that the trades have made a review of their
needs and have indicated to the Ministry of Labor the number of
persons they can employ and the rate at which new employees can
be taken on, the representative Committee then passes on to the
Standing Council the statement of the requirements of the industry
for raw material.

The Standing Council will have to adjust the claims of the dif-
ferent industries. The members of that Council will be informed
of the supplies available and, presumably, of any questions of
general policy which will affect the raw material supply. It is
contemplated that there shall be an Imperial Board to consider in
relation to the problems of the Standing Council the supplies ob-
tainable within the Empire. The Dominions Royal Commission has
already reported on certain improvements which may be undertaken
in coordinating the commerce and industry of the British Empire;
and in their reports will be found further details as to the raw
material we usually imported before the War from other parts of
the Empire and from foreign countries.

It will be the task of the Standing Council not only to allocate
as much raw material as can be carried between the different in-
dustries, but also to see that there is an organization for arranging
for the distribution of the material within each industry which
needs to be rationed. Thus, as far as possible, advice on the need
for supplies will be sought from representatives of the industries.
The principle of control where control exists will be quite different
from the war-time control by the State, for the State in time of war
is buyer and user of most of the commodities controlled, but as
soon as peace is secured, private purchase and private use . will
begin again to dominate the markets.

It is, therefore, essential that the control should not be from
above, but should be exercised by those immediately concerned in
industry; and, further, obviously fewer materials will need to be
controlled in proportion as we return to normal life. The findings
of the Standing Council will be put before the Cabinet Committee
for post-war priorities; and this Cabinet Committee will have the
duty of finally deciding the proportion of tonnage to be allotted

248 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to the different imported raw materials. It is to be hoped that in
the case of most of the raw materials the need for this allocation will
pass very soon after peace is secured. The critical time comes with
the demobilization of the Forces and the discharge of civil war-
workers. It is clear that coordination between the rate of discharge
and the amount of raw material to give employment can be secured
only by a large view of the whole problem. But as soon as the
returning soldiers and the discharged munition workers obtain em-
ployment they will provide employment for others. For example,
the more speedily our textile manufacture turns to full "peace"
production, the more workers will be required in the clothing trades
and in the various occupations, in shops and stores, by which goods
are distributed.

Not only will the different industries have to be thought of, but
also the different localities. It may in some cases be necessary to
give opportunities for employment in places in which none of the
greater industries is found. Therefore the raw material supplies
may have to be so distributed that certain towns may have a share
quite apart from their importance as industrial centers. Lace, for
example, is not an urgently needed article for reconstruction, but
the lace trade employs so many that it may be in the national in-
terest to give it priority to some non-essential trade which employs
few, and the lace trade is in certain districts which may need special
consideration.

It will be understood that the examples we have given are purely
hypothetical, as there is no reason to expect any particular crisis
in this or that industry or in this or that district. The organiza-
tion which we have described is to work for the avoidance of a
danger; it is not created to cure an evil already in existence. Fore-
sight is what is required.

Over all control there will remain for a time some of the present
inter-Ally machinery for securing supplies; for we must suppose
that in obtaining and allocating supplies to our own industries
due regard will be paid to the needs of the devastated territories
of Belgium, France, and Serbia. Moreover, we are bound in honor
to consider the needs of French and Italian industry.

The organization of the control by which food and raw materials
will be distributed by the Allies is the subject of another pamphlet
in this series. But a short summary of the situation may be given
here in order to complete the description of the supply of raw ma-
terials. We have had during the War an Allied Maritime Trans-
port Council, which allocated the tonnage for the various imports
to the countries of the alliance. This Council was advised by Pro-

APPENDIX B 249

gram Committees, which drew up lists of the requirements of the
different nations for this or that material. But there have been also
organizations for the joint purchase of foods needed by all the Allies.
It was found that if each country attempted to buy separately in
North or South America, the price was forced up : and yet it was
not to the advantage, for example, of France or England that either
should pay more because the other was buying. An arrangement
was, therefore, made for joint purchases, and this has been effective
chiefly in regard to foodstuffs. In regard to wool for army cloth-
ing the British Government has had control of most of the sup-
plies, and an adjustment is made between the needs of the different
Allies. In regard to cotton, the United States Government con-
trols the sale in the States, and the British Government controls
the whole of the Egyptian crop. But it has been recognized during
the War that such material as was available was to be allocated
according to the needs of the different countries, and this principle
cannot cease to be applied in the difficult time of transition from
war to peace. We must therefore expect to find for some time an
international arrangement for the control of raw materials.

The whole scheme involves much difficult adjustment of claims,
and an organization equal to the problem is now being worked out.
This is already partly in existence; some of the War organization
needing only modification to adapt it to peace. But the greatest
need will be public and general cooperation among all concerned in
industry. The ordinary citizen can do very much to smooth the
crossing from war to peace.

APPENDIX C
THE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE FROM WITHIN

A DAY WITH THE MANAGER

(From Report to Ministry of Labor)

Managers of Employment Exchanges, in the variety, number and
novelty of the things which fill their crowded hours, yield to no
other class of public servant. Take these leaves from the life of
one amongst them. A mass of correspondence reaches him daily.
Most of it will deal with routine matters, but each letter must be ex-
amined, and 20 or 30 will require personal attention. Meanwhile the
telephone will have rung and various questions have been answered,
necessitating reference to a volume of instructions, an Act of Parlia-
ment, a Statutory Order or a file of papers. The questions are
varied, and will range from a request for advice about an opening
for a son to an employer asking "What's this about 12V& per
cent.?"

The post-bag is always interesting, if rather overwhelming. The
following will indicate the variety of the inquiries which reach an
Exchange. An Englishwoman in California desires to return to
England, and is refused a passport unless she has a guarantee of
work; will the manager say whether the Consul is entitled to make
this stipulation? Another lady seeks war work for her dog. A
wife, whose husband has failed to communicate with her, inquires
for his address. Then there are the people who, needless to say,
will "write to the Government about it," all of which communica-
tions come to the Manager for investigation and report; and no
communication from an ambassador could receive more punctilious
attention.

Department circulars and instructions will usually occupy the
next hour or two. Meantime the Manager has smoothed out some
difficulty about a War Munition Volunteer, Women for the Land, or
some other of the many corps recruited through an Exchange.
The next item is visits to local firms to clear up matters requiring
a personal interview,

250

APPENDIX C 251

Arriving back, he finds a workman waiting. The man is badly
needed at a distance, but prefers a job nearer home. The clerk
has been trying to persuade him to take up the more urgent work.
There is no power to compel it, and the Manager has only his own
personality to depend upon in such cases. Presently he finds him-
self with a non-union workman complaining that favor is shown to
Society men at the Exchange (or it may equally likely be a Society
man complaining of favor in the reverse direction). The Manager
usually has the matter cleared up sooner or later, for the com-
plaining workman, once he is shown the actual working of the
Exchange system, and treated as a sort of partner in the concern,
is usually a fair-minded man and open to conviction.

Meals are hurried matters in Exchanges, and our Manager will
probably have other visits to firms to pay after his lunch. On his
return to the Exchange he finds a mass of correspondence, reports
and returns to be examined and sent away. Somehow he will find
time to consult with the Military Tribunal, the Food Control Com-
mittee, or some other Department with which his work is associated.
Questions will arise as to Unemployment Insurance, Military Service,
Restricted Occupations, permits for aliens to work upon munitions,
transfer of Munition Volunteers desiring a change. Men in all
parts of the kingdom, and even abroad, will write to their Exchange
as to being released for work upon munitions or farms. Occasion-
ally a soldier will write to ask why his wife has been recruited for the
Women's Army Corps. Another — such is the contrariety of hu-
man nature — will ask why his wife has not been recruited. Scores
of questions arise outside the business of an Exchange altogether —
Health Insurance is a favorite — and one Manager has been threat-
ened with serious trouble because he had not removed the dust of
an irate householder. All these questions must receive careful at-
tention before an answer is given. The mistakes of the public
servant do not end quietly or quickly; they meander on for months
around Whitehall, in and out of the newspapers, and perhaps into
the House of Commons.

The Manager of an Exchange must make himself master of a
dozen or twenty Acts of Parliament, with all their attendant Regu-
lations. The Statutory Orders touching his work are numbered in
hundreds. Not only must he know these, but he must be able to
explain them — quite another quality — and to explain them in such
a way that workers unaccustomed to legal phrases and formulae
may be able to understand them. War legislation is a hurried
matter, and consequently teems with difficulties, but your Exchange
Manager has to see it through. That writer who described officials

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

as never taking responsibility or acting without precedent would re-
ceive a shock from a day with the Manager of an Exchange.

The evenings are frequently occupied with Committee meetings,
and it is a tired man who finds himself about 9.30 p. M. eating the
meal which should have been consumed several hours earlier. Many
Managers serve upon six committees in addition to their ordinary
duties.

Even in sleep their trials are not ended. One was aroused at 2
A. M. by twenty fitters, arrived to carry out urgent work in a dock-
yard, and the Manager, pausing only to add to his scanty night attire,
set out to conduct them thither.

Somewhere amongst all this our Manager must find time to see
to repairs of his premises, applications by his staff, supplies of
furniture and of stationery, of coals, soap and candles, for no
servant of the Empire, from Governor-General to village policeman,
is more completely responsible for his district. But they are mostly
men accustomed to responsibility from their early days. Some have
been heads of departments in commercial life, others were fore-
men in workshops, and many were leaders and organizers of trade
unions.

Life for a Manager is never dull, whatever else it may be. Here
and there they are wearing out; they will never rust out.

APPENDIX D

REPORT OF A CONFERENCE

BETWEEN ORGANIZERS OF TRADE UNIONS, BRISTOL EMPLOYERS AND
OTHERS CONCERNED WITH THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT OP
WOMEN, CONVENED BY THE BRISTOL ASSOCIATION FOR INDUS-
TRIAL RECONSTRUCTION, ON THE 16TH AND 17TH MARCH, 1918,
ON THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AFTER THE WAR.

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

(1) At the present time it is estimated that not less than 4,713,-
000 women are engaged in industrial occupations, covering well-
nigh the whole field of industry. At the end of the War a very
large number of these women will be displaced as war industries
are shut down and factories gradually pass from a war to a peace
footing. As soon as an armistice is declared a large number of
women will be discharged from the various munition factories, and
on the declaration of peace, factories in every part of the country
will discharge many thousands of women workers.

(2) The absorption of scores of thousands of women thus dis-
placed from occupations which they have followed for a prolonged
period will create a series of industrial problems of an exceedingly
grave character.

A large number of women now employed in industry have en-
tered industrial life for the first time since the outbreak of war.
While, doubtless, many at the termination of hostilities will be
anxious to resume their normal mode of life, and leave industrial
occupations, it seems clear that a very large number, for one reason
or another, will elect to remain in industry. Some have found a new
freedom in their work, and are disinclined to return to the com-
parative monotony which is the lot of the "stay-at-home" woman.
Others, having developed a real liking for their work, will wish
to continue it. Others, owing to the necessity of supporting, or
helping to support, male relations who have been incapacitated in
the War, or owing to the increased cost of living, or other pecuniary
reasons, will of necessity have to earn their own living. Others
have to do so because their men folk will return no more. For

253

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

these and other reasons we are of opinion that the number of women
desiring to remain in industry after the War, both actual and rela-
tive, will very greatly exceed the number of women engaged in in-
dustrial occupations before the outbreak of hostilities.

(3) From these premises a number of problems emerge: —

(i.) Into what industries should the women displaced at the con-
clusion of peace be directed?

(ii.) In what industries should women be retained, and from
which should they retire in favor of male labor?

(iii.) What is the best type of industrial organization for women
workers ?

(iv.) Upon what lines should we proceed in the great task of
industrial reorganization which will follow the War?

(v.) Upon what principle should the remuneration of women
workers be based?

(vi.) How far is welfare work necessary or desirable?

(4) If a solution is to be found for these, and kindred problems,
a definite industrial policy, as to the position of women workers
after the War, is needed.

II. THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AFTER THE WAR

(1) The underlying fact in relation to the position of woman in
industry is that her position as an industrial worker is, and always
must be, of secondary importance to her position in the home. To
provide the conditions which render a strong and healthy family
life possible to all is the first interest of the State, since the family
is the foundation stone of the social system.

(2) It is, accordingly, the duty of the State to ensure that women
are only employed as factors in industrial efficiency in so far as
the interests of family life and the healthy development of the race
are not prejudiced.

(3) Whilst the experience of the War has shown that women
can adapt themselves to the needs of almost any calling, it is clear
that many occupations now being followed by women are unsuitable
for the permanent employment of female labor.

We welcome the admirable series of Reports issued by the Health
of Munition Workers' Committee and, in our opinion, a thorough
inquiry into the effect of different occupations on the health and
physique of women should be undertaken, at the earliest possible
date, as a necessary part of the preparation which is made for the
task of Demobilization. It is obvious that a final decision as to the
effect of many occupations on the health of women engaged therein

APPENDIX D 255

can only be arrived at after the lapse of a considerable period of
time, but, in view of the importance of the issues involved, we feel
that sufficient experience has now been gained to justify such an
inquiry being instituted. Such an investigation would probably
result in certain occupations being ruled out, on physical grounds,
as unsuitable for the employment of women. After the War, it
should be made illegal for women to be employed in such occupa-
tions.

(4) The entry of women workers into, or their continuance in,
industries suitable, so far as questions of health and physique are
concerned, for the employment of women involves the consideration
of wider problems. Before setting out our conclusions as to the
employment of women after the War in such industries it will be
convenient to place on record certain facts: —

(i.) It is estimated that the total number of women employed
in industrial and commercial occupations, other than do-
mestic occupations, was 4,713,000 in October, 1917, as
compared with 3,287,000 in July, 1914 — an increase of
1,426,000.

(ii.) Of the 4,713,000 women engaged in industrial and com-
mercial occupations, 1,413,000 were directly replacing men.
(iii.) The number of women employed solely on munitions work
was 704,000 out of a total of 1,400,000 employed in the pro-
duction and distribution of commodities for the British and
Allied Governments.

(iv.) The following table shows in detail the estimated distribu-
tion among the various industries of the women engaged
therein, in July, 1914, and October, 1917, respectively,
namely : —

Number employed in
Occupation. July, 1914 Oct., 1917.

Controlled and Private Industries 2,176,000 2,706,000

Government Establishments 2,000 216,000

Gas, Water and Electricity (Local Authorities) 600 4,600

Agriculture (Great Britain), Permanent Labor ^0,000 ^9,000
Transport, including Tramway Services

(Estimated) 18,200 111,200

Finance (Banking, Insurance, etc.) 9,500 67,500

Commerce 496,000 831,000

Professions 67,500 89,500

Hotels, Public Houses, Cinemas, Theaters, etc. 176,000 200,000

i Numbers vary according to the season of the year.

256 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Civil Service (Post Office) 60,500 107,000

Other Civil Services 4,500 51,000

Other Services under Local Authorities 196,200 226,200

(v.) The figures given in the above table do not include domestic
workers, women employed in certain small workshops and
workrooms, or women working in Naval, Military or Red
Cross hospitals. In pre-war days domestic service provided
employment for a far larger number of women than any
other form of occupation. The number so employed in 1911
was 1,620,000. It is estimated that since the outbreak of
war there has been a displacement of some 400,000 women
from domestic service and small workshops.

(5) In estimating the extent of the problems raised by the em-
ployment of women after the war, it may be assumed that a propor-
tion of the 1,426,000 women who have entered industry since the
outbreak of war will return to their homes, or will be able to do so
without suffering any great hardship, at the termination of hostili-
ties. It is, however, impossible to form any estimate as to what
proportion will be able to do so.

Presumably it will be possible for 400,000 women to return to
domestic service or small workshops, from which they have been
withdrawn, either by the attraction of higher remuneration or the
needs of the country. If, however, women are to be persuaded to
enter these occupations in large numbers, the wages, hours and con-
ditions of work will require very considerable amendment. In par-
ticular, the conditions of domestic service will have to be greatly im-
proved, especially on the side of allowing a much greater amount of
freedom to those engaged therein.

(6) It may be anticipated that the 704,000 women now engaged
on munitions work will either have to seek other employment or
cease to be industrial workers, at any rate for a time, after the
war is terminated; and, in addition to this number, a considerable
percentage of the 696,000 who are at present engaged on Govern-
ment work other than munitions work will no longer be needed.
On the other hand, workers in such industries as the manufacture
of clothing and footwear will probably merely be transferred from
war to civilian production, unless this transfer is delayed or pre-
vented owing to shortage of raw materials.

(7) Many women who are replacing men in Government offices
and works will have to be willing to give place to the men as they
return from their military duties, and a definite policy of regarding
the right of the men now serving in the Navy or Army to return to
their former occupations should be insisted upon as a simple act

APPENDIX D 257

of justice. This policy, in our opinion, should be applied generally
in all cases where women have replaced men for reasons attributable
directly or indirectly to the war. Women have helped, and are
helping, the Nation splendidly, but they must realize that men have
not forfeited their right to their jobs by answering their Country's
call and doing work which women cannot undertake.

(8) Consideration of the foregoing facts appears to justify the
conclusion, already stated in the first Section of this Report, that
the cessation of hostilities will be followed by a great dislocation
of female labor, involving the necessity of providing fresh occupa-
tion for the greater part of 1,426,000 women and girls.

(9) The problem thus presented will be rendered more difficult
of solution by reason of the shortage of wellnigh every class of raw
material (except steel and certain chemicals), which appears in-
evitable in consequence of retarded production, depletion of stocks,
and destruction of shipping. Time will also be required to re-
organize the workshops and factories for the requirements of normal
commercial production.

(10) For these, amongst other reasons, it appears certain that
there must be a period after the war, of how long duration it is
impossible to say, during which a reduction of the demand for labor
is inevitable. We have considered the line of policy which should
be followed in order to endeavor to meet the situation which will
arise in consequence, and our conclusions are as follows:

(i.) That the first consideration should be to arrange for the
suitable employment of all demobilized men, and men dis-
charged from industrial establishments engaged upon the
production of munitions of war.

(ii.) That women should, as a matter of course, relinquish
the jobs in which they have replaced men for reasons di-
rectly or indirectly attributable to the war, so long as men
are available to fill them.

(iii.) That the school-leaving age should be raised to 15, in or-
der that juvenile labor may not compete with adult labor
during the period of demobilization and the readjustment
of industry to peace conditions.

We note with satisfaction that the Education (No. 2) Bill, 1918,
now before Parliament proposes to confer upon Educational
Authorities power to raise the school-leaving age to 15, and
we feel that this power should be exercised in the interests
alike of the Nation and of Industry.

(iv.) A determined and sustained effort should be made to at-
tract as large a number of women as possible into those

258 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

industries which, by reason of their nature, are more par-
ticularly suitable for the employment of female labor.
Such industries are incapable of exact definition, since the
suitability or otherwise of any industry for the employment
of women is constantly altering as new processes and meth-
ods of manufacture are introduced. Certain industries,
nevertheless, stand out as those for which women are spe-
cially adapted. A complete list of such industries is im-
possible; but by way of illustration we would instance the
textile industries, the boot and shoe trade, the printing and
allied trades, laundry, garment making, millinery, confec-
tionery, tobacco, the paper, stationery and allied trades,
sections of the pottery industry, work in retail shops, clerical
occupations, and domestic service.

Many of our schools are understaffed, and the teaching profes-
sion, consequently, can absorb a great many women; and
if the school-leaving age is raised to 15, as we think it
should be, many thousands of extra teachers will be required
immediately.

It has, moreover, become clear that the land, especially the less
heavy and more skilled processes of dairy work, gardening,
fruit growing, etc., offers an expanding sphere of employ-
ment for women workers. The wage rates and conditions
of work in these and other occupations suitable for the
regular employment of women should receive the immediate
consideration of those who, by reason of the general dis-
placement of labor at the end of the war, will then be avail-
able to return to or enter into them.

(v.) The extent to which married women are engaged in in-
dustrial employment should be reduced to the narrowest pos-
sible limits. Women with dependents (children or inca-
pacitated husbands) should receive adequate pensions, so
as to avoid the necessity of their being forced to enter in-
dustrial occupations in order to live.

(vi.) The hours of labor for women engaged in industrial occupa-
tions, permitted under the Factory Act, 1901, should be dras-
tically reduced. Under the law as it now stands, women
may be employed (except on Saturday or its equivalent)
for a working day of 12 hours, subject to one-and-a-half
hours for meals (or two hours in textile and certain other
factories), and for unbroken spells of five hours' duration,
save in textile factories, in which case the unbroken spell
must not exceed four-and-a-half hours.

APPENDIX D 259

These hours, in our opinion, are much too long, both in the ag-
gregate and in the length of the spell which may be worked
without a break.

We are of opinion that the policy of an eight-hour day on five
days a week, and four hours on Saturday or its equivalent,
making a total working week of 44 hours, should be adopted.
We believe that these hours of labor would in no way re-
duce the productive capacity of factories if properly or-
ganized. Indeed, the evidence afforded by the Health of
Munition Workers' Committee tends to show that the pro-
ductive capacity of the workers would rather be increased.
In our opinion four hours is the maximum length of time
which should be worked by a woman without a break, and
we think that the best results would be obtained if un-
broken spells of work did not extend beyond three hours.
Our experience leads us to believe that most women cannot
work properly without a break for a longer period.
While we do not feel able to express a final opinion upon the
suggestions recently made for the reorganization of factory
practice on the basis of two shifts of six hours each, we think
such suggestions are worthy of serious consideration.
(11) We have, in the preceding paragraphs, outlined the policy
which we think should be followed at the end of the war. There is,
however, in our judgment one essential condition to any hope of a
satisfactory solution of the many problems involved, namely, that
the organization of women workers in properly constituted Trade
Unions must be proceeded with as rapidly as possible. Many
women, however, will inevitably have to face a period, and prob-
ably a long period, of unemployment. The provision made under
the National Insurance Acts, 1911-17, will help to tide them over
this period of enforced inactivity, but we feel that the amount of
benefit, 7/-per week, paid under the Unemployment Insurance
Scheme contained in these Statutes, is quite inadequate, and steps
should, we think, be taken to supplement the statutory benefit by
voluntary insurance, under schemes promoted and administered by
the Trade Unions concerned.

III. THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WORKERS

(1) Upon the question of the industrial organization of women
two divergent views were expressed: —

(i.) That the peculiar needs of women can be best met by the
organization of women workers into separate Women's
Unions.

260 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(ii.) That the only satisfactory mode of organization for women
is to incorporate them, on equal terms with the men, into
Unions, based on the several industries.

(2) In support of the first view, it was urged that, while men
have had long experience of industrial organization, women are
only just beginning, and at present lack any developed social con-
sciousness, and are much behind men in education, experience and
breadth of outlook. Accordingly, a large part of the work which
must be undertaken by women's organizations is educational, and
the necessary educative work can best be carried out in organiza-
tions specially constituted and administered for women.

(3) In support of the second view, it was urged that the su-
periority of men in the matter of education and intelligence was
to a great extent imaginary, and that the same might be said as
to the extent to which any considerable social consciousness had been
attained in men's organizations. At any rate, the difference be-
tween men and women in these respects was not sufficiently great
to prevent the effective association of men and women in the same
Union organization. The branch life of the men's Union is a great
educational force, and the best results would be attained by intro-
ducing women on equal terms with men into the same organizations.

(4) We have given careful consideration to the issues thus raised,
and the majority of those attending the Conference are of opinion
that the interests of women will be best served if the operatives in
the several industries are organized in Unions constituted on the
basis of the industry in which their members are employed, irre-
spective of sex, and that women should be accorded an equal status
with men in the branch life and organization of the Unions.

(5) As a result of the discussion which has taken place, we feel
that there is urgent need for drastic simplification of Trade Union
organization. The number of Unions at present existing — over
1,100 — together with the complexity which inevitably results from
so large a number of organizations, many of which overlap and com-
pete with one another, creates great and needless administrative
difficulties, and constitutes a serious handicap to the solidarity of
Labor. We understand, for instance, that there are 187 operatives'
Unions in the Engineering and allied trades.

(6) We think that many considerations make it desirable that
there should be a reorganization of the Unions, with the object (a)
of reducing their numbers, and (b) of reorganizing the workers on
the basis of the industry in which they are employed.

(7) The Employers' Associations are in much the same position
as the Trade Unions. They are for the most part very incom-

APPENDIX D 261

plete, and often ineffective, and require coordination and extension.

(8) We are of opinion that the first essential step towards a
policy of Industrial Reconstruction is to organize all operatives in
their respective Trade Unions, and all employers in appropriate
Trade Associations.

(9) A Trade Union, whether of employers or operatives, does
not exist solely to further the purely economic interests of its mem-
bers, important as these undoubtedly are. A Trade Union fulfils,
or is capable of fulfilling and should fulfil, wider functions. If it is
to play its proper place in the organized life of the Nation, a Trade
Union must aim at associating its members for the better discharge
of their duties to the community at large, as well as for the pursuit
of their individual or sectional interests and rights. A Trade Union
should fulfil important social and educational functions as well as
economic. It should aim at affording to its members an opportunity
to gain a deeper social consciousness and to enter upon a life of
richer and fuller experience. It is of the greatest importance, there-
fore, that care should be taken to see that the ideal side of Trade
Unionism is kept well to the fore in Union propaganda. We feel
that the best interests of Unionism will not be served by enrolling
large numbers of new members who have not grasped the under-
lying ideals of the movement, and join a Union solely on a "bread
and butter" basis. Such a policy is bound to render Trade Union
organization fatally unstable and immensely difficult to maintain.
Those charged with the duty of organizing women should, therefore,
leave no stone unturned to bring home to the women concerned the
high ideals for which modern Unionism should stand, and to impress
upon them the essential importance of personal loyalty to their
fellow-members, to the industry of which they form part, and to the
community of which they are citizens.

10. Great as have been the services rendered by the Trade Unions
to the Nation in the past, and during the war, we feel that in the
future they are destined to render yet greater service. The battle
for recognition is well-nigh won. By adopting the first Whitley
Report the present Government, on behalf of the Nation, has defi-
nitely recognized Trade Unions as essential factors in the industrial
organization of the national life and the starting-point of Industrial
Reconstruction. This action on the part of the Government fur-
nishes an additional reason for a great and rapid extension and
simplification of Trade Union organization for both employers and
operatives.

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

IV. THE WHITLEY REPORTS

(1) We have given careful consideration to the three Whitley Re-
ports, and the policy outlined therein of constituting a new control
in industry by establishing, in each industry, a system of industrial
self-government through the medium of Joint Standing Industrial
Councils, equally representative of the organized employers and
operatives engaged in the industry. We are of opinion that the
proposals contained in the Reports afford a practical basis for the
reorganization of industry, and indicate a sound line of advance
towards Industrial Reconstruction.

(2) We welcome the proposals of the second Whitley Report,
which aim at bringing all unorganized industries under the control of
Trade Boards, having powers extended to questions affecting both
wages and hours of labor, and questions cognate to wages and hours.
For reasons which are set forth in the section of the present Report
dealing with the remuneration of women workers, we are of opinion
that there is urgent need for a very wide extension of Trade Boards.

(3) We notice with interest and endorse the stress laid in the
Reports upon the importance of Works Committees. In our opin-
ion the principle of Works Committees is sound and the formation
of such Committees should be encouraged, quite apart from their
operation as a part of the Whitley Scheme of industrial self-govern-
ment. Such committees are, in our judgment, of the greatest pos-
sible service for the satisfactory conduct of industry, and afford one
of the best practical methods of securing better relations between
management and the operatives.

V. THE REMUNERATION OF WOMEN WORKERS

(1) It is generally admitted that a considerable number of women
engaged in industry before the war were not paid a living wage.
There were several causes which seem to us to have contributed to
bring this about.

(i.) Until recently comparatively few women were organized, and,
consequently, they were obliged to accept whatever wages
were offered them.

(ii.) Women were mainly employed in the less skilled or un-
skilled trades, the work required of them being of a repe-
tition character which was easily and quickly picked up.
The supply of labor suitable for work of this character
tended, in many localities, to exceed the demand, conse-

APPENDIX D 263

quently a low rate of wage sufficed to command the services
of a sufficient number of women.

(iii.) Many girls entered industry with no intention of remaining
for any great length of time; it was merely necessary to
bridge the gap between school days and marriage. The
amount of wages received was in many cases not a matter
of serious concern. They were content with the equivalent
of pocket money. It was impossible for the employers to
distinguish or differentiate between women who entered in-
dustry for the purpose of earning their own living, and,
possibly, supporting not only themselves but dependents as
well, and the "pocket-money" entrants, and the presence of
the latter inevitably operated to depress wages,
(iv.) Although many women have dependents to support, the
majority have not. They are, consequently, able to main-
tain a fairly satisfactory standard of life on a lower wage
than a man usually requires to maintain a similar standard,
(v.) There would appear to be in the minds of some employers
an element of prejudice against the employment of women,
because they are less physically fit than men for some occu-
pations. In accordance with this view, the work of women
is regarded as of less worth than that of men, and should
be rewarded therefore at a rate of remuneration substan-
tially lower than that which men can rightly claim,
(vi.) It has been very generally assumed that a woman can live
on a smaller income than a man. We believe that this as-
sumption is erroneous.

(vii.) Trade Boards, on being constituted, have tended to fix
minimum rates for women workers with regard to the wages
actually received by the lower-paid workers, in the indus-
tries concerned, before the Boards were established. The
rates fixed, consequently, were low.

(2) For the reasons already given in the earlier sections of this
Report, the war has materially affected the economic position of
women. Many of the causes which formerly tended to maintain
the wages paid to women operatives at a low figure will no longer
operate in the post-war period. Moreover, during the war large
numbers of women have grown accustomed to earn comparatively
high wages, and the rates of wages paid to women generally have
risen considerably in consequence of the standards established by
the Orders made by the Ministry of Munitions, under Section 6 of
the Munitions of War Act, 1916, fixing the rate of remuneration for

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

women employed on various kinds of munitions work. For these
reasons, it is certain that women will in the future demand, and are
justly entitled to receive, a much higher rate of remuneration for
their services than in pre-war days. Women are now presented
with a unique opportunity to raise permanently the standard of
women's remuneration in industrial occupations. The standards
established by the Government during the war will afford very im-
portant precedents, and steps should be taken without delay to pre-
vent the rates obtained during the past three years being lowered.
The first essential step to this end is thorough and efficient organiza-
tion. The second is to formulate some definite principle on which
to proceed in future negotiations on wage questions.

(3) With the necessity and form of organization we have already
dealt in the second section of this Report. It remains to consider
what basis should be adopted when fixing the rate of remuneration
to be paid to women workers.

Now that women are rapidly becoming organized, either in Trade
Unions of their own or in men's Unions, standard rates will grad-
ually become established in the organized industries by collective
bargaining, either on the lines hitherto practised, or upon the Joint
Industrial Councils, National and District, proposed by the Whitley
Committee. In unorganized industries the same result will be ob-
tained by the decisions of Trade Boards. The fact, however, that
machinery exists for fixing standard or minimum rates of wages
does not in any way dispense with the necessity of arriving at some
intelligible principle as the basis upon which such rates should be
fixed.

(4) A demand is at present made in many quarters, on behalf of
women workers, for equal pay for equal work for men and women
alike. This principle is, however, much easier to assert than to
apply. It is not always easy to say when equal work is performed.
It is, moreover, by no means clear that, if applied, the principle will
always operate to the pecuniary advantage of the woman. Many
employers, if faced with the necessity of paying equal rates to men
and women, would prefer to employ men. On the other hand, if
women can be employed on the same work as men at lower wages
than those demanded by men, the men's standard of life is endan-
gered. This last point is of such great importance that, notwith-
standing the difficulties involved, we think that the principle of equal
pay for equal work, in the sense that a woman should receive the
same rate of pay as a man for the same volume and quality of
work, assuming equal adaptability to other necessary work, should

APPENDIX D 265

be adopted as the basis of women's remuneration in all cases where
women are employed on work which has been hitherto regarded as
men's work.

(5) In ether occupations followed by women we favor the follow-
ing principle, namely, that in determining the rate of wage which
should be paid, a distinction should be drawn between a minimum
or "basic" wage and additional wages above the minimum, which
may conveniently be termed "secondary" wages. The former should
be determined primarily by human needs; the latter by the value of
the service rendered, as compared with the value of the services
rendered by workers who are receiving the basic or minimum wage.

(6) The "basic" wage for a woman of average industry and ca-
pacity should be the sum necessary to maintain her in a decent
dwelling and in a state of full physical efficiency, and to allow a
reasonable margin for recreation and contingencies.

(7) The "secondary" wage should be determined by the cash value
to be placed upon any special gift or qualification required for the
performance of the work undertaken.

(8) The cash equivalent of the "basic" and "secondary" wages
in any industry or particular instance must be determined, in the
organized industries, by agreement, either between the Unions and
the Employers' Association or the individual employers, as the case
may be, by the ordinary processes of collective bargaining as at
present practised, or upon the Joint Industrial Councils which we
hope will be established in the near future, and in unorganized in-
dustries, by Trade Boards established under statutory powers.
Some organization for the purpose is imperatively needed in every
industry if much confusion, bitterness and strife is to be avoided.
We should prefer to see the work of fixing rates undertaken by the
self-governing industrial bodies proposed in the first Report of the
Whitley Committee, but, failing these, we feel that it is necessary
that immediate steps should be taken to extend the Trade Boards
Act to all industries, and to enlarge the powers of the Boards on the
lines suggested in the second of the Reports of the Whitley Commit-
tee. We note with satisfaction that legislation to this end is con-
templated in the near future. There is no reason, in the nature of
things, why a Trade Board should fix minimum rates with reference
to the rates paid in the poorly-paid shops. In the future we do
not believe that they will be so fixed. Minimum rates should, we
think, be determined with reference to the wages paid by "good
employers," the standard adopted in the Fair Wages Clauses ap-
proved by resolution of the House of Commons.

266 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(9) We favor some such plan as above set forth to any attempt
to define a "living wage" in terms of money. This cannot be done
satisfactorily, since values are constantly changing. It seems to us
better to lay down the main factors which should be considered in
determining what is a "living wage," and embody these factors in
a formula such as that set out above. The formula can then be
"priced out," so to speak, and adjusted from time to time as occa-
sion demands.

(10) The proposals outlined above do not fully meet the case of
women with dependents. We are unable to come to any satisfactory
conclusion as to how this very serious question should be dealt with.
The basic wage for women will inevitably be fixed with reference to
the needs of a single and unencumbered woman of average capacity.
No other course, indeed, appears to be possible. If she has depend-
ents, they must be otherwise provided for. It seems to us that such
provision is an obligation which should rest upon the community as
a whole, and must be made irrespective of industrial relationships.
We are entirely opposed to the recent tendency in industrial legis-
lation to complicate industrial questions by throwing upon industry
non-industrial functions.

VI. WELFAEE WORK

(1) While we recognize that the development of Welfare Work
in recent years is part of the general movement which aims at
humanizing industrial life, we nevertheless feel that the lines upon
which this work is developing are very far from satisfactory.

(2) In the first place, we think that the phrases "Welfare Work,"
"Welfare Supervisor," etc., are unfortunate, and lead to grave mis-
apprehension as to the objects sought to be attained by the work
with which these terms are associated. They are held to imply the
idea of patronage. We think that it is very desirable that a new
designation should be applied to this branch of industrial organiza-
tion. Again, largely in consequence of the greatly increased need
for work of this description entailed by the war, a large number of
women appointed as Welfare Supervisors have been quite unsuited
for the work. They have lacked experience and understanding of
industrial conditions, and have often been tactless in exercising the
very delicate tasks entrusted to them. For these reasons the whole
idea of welfare work is misunderstood, and has come to be regarded
with suspicion, by large numbers of operatives. There is grave
danger of the whole movement falling into serious disrepute in
consequence. This, we think, would be a great misfortune, inas-

APPENDIX D 267

much as, when its proper function is understood, we believe that
there is a great field of usefulness open to welfare work, conducted
by suitable and properly trained persons.

The appointment of Welfare Supervisors marks a new idea in
Factory organization. It denotes a new sense of responsibility on
the part of those who employ the labor of others for the well-being
of those whom they employ. The function, accordingly, of a Wel-
fare Supervisor is to see that proper attention is paid to the "hu-
man," as contrasted with the productive, aspects of factory life and
work.

(3) Girls fresh from the discipline of a well-ordered school need
help and friendly supervision in the unfamiliar turmoil of their new
surroundings. They are not women, and cannot be treated as such.
High wages, and in many cases the absence of the father, tend to
relax home control. Healthy and organized recreation is frequently
difficult or impossible to obtain. If smooth working is to be secured,
the real causes of discontent and trouble must be ascertained and
appreciated. The problems involved are a special branch of factory
administration, and they are likely to remain unsolved unless suitable
women are specially trained and deputed for the purpose. They in-
clude questions of character and behavior; the maintenance of suit-
able and convenient sanitary accommodation; the maintenance of
health under the strain and stress of industrial work, which re-
quires constant oversight of hours, rest periods, overtime and night
work.

(4) For these reasons we are of opinion that, under present con-
ditions, Welfare Supervisors are desirable wherever girls under 18
years of age are employed.

(5) We are also of opinion that Welfare Supervisors will in many
cases be found desirable in works where adult women are employed.
As businesses are at present organized a woman is rarely, if ever,
found among the active body of Directors, and many questions con-
stantly arise in the daily routine of factory management, where
women are employed, which it is exceedingly difficult and ofttimes
impossible for a man to deal with satisfactorily, and consequently
the presence of a well-trained and sympathetic woman, entrusted
with the duties specified above, is of the greatest possible assistance,
both to the women employed and to the management.

(6) Generally, in our opinion, a Welfare Supervisor should be re-
sponsible to the principals only, and the greatest possible care should
be taken to appoint only suitable and specially trained persons for
undertaking these delicate and responsible duties. The officer ap-
pointed should be a woman of good standing and education, sympa-

268 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

thetic, tactful and sensible in dealing with others, and having, if not
actual experience, at least a good understanding of industrial con-
ditions.

(7) A Welfare Supervisor should not, in our judgment, generally
undertake home visiting, except at the request of the person to be
visited, or his or her parents or guardians in the case of young
people.

APPENDIX E

LABOR'S PRONOUNCEMENT ON THE RESTORATION OF
TRADE UNION CUSTOMS AFTER THE WAR.

The Government has guaranteed the restoration of Trade Union
rights after the war, and this guarantee has been the material factor
in inducing Trade Unions to suspend their rules for the period of
the war. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that the Trade
Unions should have the fullest possible knowledge of the scope and
substance of the Government guarantees. In the following memo-
randum the attempt is made to set out all the definite guarantees that
have been given, together with some of the most important pro-
nouncements of leading Ministers with regard to them.

Though the guarantees are most clearly set out in the Second
Schedule to the Munitions of War Act, 1915, it has been thought
well to begin with a short historical introduction, showing how the
need for the guarantees first arose and received recognition.

I. — BEFORE THE MUNITIONS ACT

The shortage of labor began to be felt in the engineering industry
as early as November, 1914. By that time, unemployment among
skilled engineers had practically disappeared, and the enlistment of
skilled men had aggravated a shortage which in any case would have
become serious. On November 26th a Composite Conference was
held between the A.S.E., the Toolmakers, and the Engineering Em-
ployers' Federation to discuss the introduction of female labor on
certain machines at Messrs. Vickers, Crayford. An agreement was
finally secured by which women in this firm were allowed on purely
automatic machines only, the settlement to be —

"observed until the termination of the war, when the whole ques-
tion shall be discussed, if desired, without the foregoing settlement
being urged to the prejudice of either party."

This purely local settlement was no sooner secured than the En-
gineering Employers' Federation approached the Trade Unions and
asked them to refrain from pressing to an issue during the war any
question of the manning of machines or hand operations, demarca-
tion, employment of non-unionists or women, and working of un-

269

270 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

limited overtime. The only guarantee suggested by the employers
was in the following terms : —

"The following arrangements shall have effect during the war, and
shall in no way prejudice any of the parties on any of the points
covered, and the parties shall at the termination of the war, as the
Federation and the Unions now undertake, revert to the conditions
which existed in the respective shops on the outbreak of hostilities."

These proposals were rejected by the Trade Unions, and it was
after their rejection that the Government first formally intervened.
Already, on January 2nd, the War Office and the Admiralty had
written to the Trade Unions asking them to accelerate production,
and the Board of Trade had urged the importance of a settlement.
On February 4th the Government appointed the Committee on Pro-
duction, which, during the following months, issued a series of re-
ports on which subsequent Government action was largely based.
In addition, on February 8th, Mr. Tennant made in the House of
Commons his much criticized speech calling for the relaxation of
Trade Union rules.

The most important Memoranda of the Committee on Production
were issued on February 20th. They dealt respectively with the
Production of Shells and Fuses, with the Avoidance of Disputes,
and with the following suggested form of guarantee to workpeople : —

"In order to safeguard the position of the Trade Unions and of
the workpeople concerned we think that each contracting firm should
give an undertaking, to be held on behalf of the Unions, in the follow-
ing terms : —
"To His MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT:

"We hereby undertake that any departure during the War from the
practice ruling in our workshops and shipyards prior to the war
shall only be for the period of the war.

"No change in practice made during the war shall be allowed to
prejudice the position of the workpeople in our employment or of
their Trade Unions in regard to the resumption and maintenance
after the war of any rules or customs existing prior to the war.

"In any readjustment of staff which may have to be effected after
the war, priority of employment will be given to workmen in our em-
ployment at the beginning of the war who are serving with the colors
or who are now in our employment.

"Name of firm

"Date . »

APPENDIX E 271

This suggested guarantee forms the basis of the safeguarding
clauses of the Treasury Agreement.

The first fruits of the activity of the Committee on Production was
the Shells and Fuses Agreement, concluded on March 5th at a Con-
ference between the Engineering Employers' Federation and the
Trade Unions concerned. Only the clauses in this agreement which
deal with restoration after the war are here quoted : —

"(6) Operations on which skilled men are at present employed,
but which, by reason of their character can be performed by semi-
skilled or female labor, may be done by such labor during the war
period.

"Where semi-skilled or female labor is employed in place of skilled
labor the rates paid shall be the usual rates of the district obtaining
for the operations performed.

"(7) The Federation undertakes that the fact of the restrictions
being temporarily removed shall not be used to the ultimate prejudice
of the workpeople or their Trade Unions.

"(8) Any federated employer shall at the conclusion of the war,
unless the Government notify that the emergency continues, reinstate
the working conditions of his f actory on the pre-war basis, and as far
as possible afford reemployment to his men who are at present serv-
ing with His Majesty's Forces.

"(9) These proposals shall not warrant any employer making such
arrangements in the shops as will effect a permanent restriction of
employment of any trade in favor of semi-skilled men or female
labor.

"(10) The employers agree that they will not, after this war, take
advantage of this agreement to decrease wages, premium bonus times,
or piecework prices (unless warranted by alteration in the means
or method of manufacture) or break down established conditions,
and will adopt such proposals only for the object of increasing out-
put in the present extraordinary circumstances.

"(13) In the event of semi-skilled or female labor being employed
as per the foregoing clauses they shall first be affected by any neces-
sary discharges either before or after the war period.

"(14) The liberty of any employer to take advantage of these
proposals shall be subject to acquiescence in all the provisions thereof
and to intimation of his acquiescence to the local representatives of
the Unions through his local association."

The last of the series of special Memoranda by the Committee on
Production was published on March 4th. Acting upon these Memo-

272 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

randa, the Government summoned the first Treasury Conference for
March 17th. The Conference, which was addressed by Mr. Lloyd
George, appointed a special sub-committee, which afterwards became
the National Labor Advisory Committee. This Committee drew up
proposals, largely based on the reports of the Committee on Produc-
tion, and these reports, after amendment, were endorsed by the full
Conference with the exception of the Miners' Federation of Great
Britain, whose delegates refused to accept compulsory arbitration,
and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, who demanded further
safeguards. As we shall see, the second of these bodies subsequently
accepted the agreement, these further safeguards having been
promised.

It is necessary to set out in full the clauses of the Treasury Agree-
ment dealing with the restoration of Trade Union conditions after
the war, as these form the first substantial guarantee afforded to
Labor.

(4) Provided that the conditions set out in paragraph (5) are ac-
cepted by the Government as applicable to all contracts for the exe-
cution of war munitions and equipments the workmen's representa-
tives at the Conference are of opinion that during the war period the
relaxation of the present trade practices is imperative, and that each
Union be recommended to take into favorable consideration such
changes in working conditions or trade customs as may be necessary
with a view to accelerating the output of war munitions or equip-
ments.

(5) The recommendations contained in paragraph (4) are con-
ditional on Government requiring all contractors and sub-con-
tractors engaged on munitions and equipments of war or other work
required for the satisfactory completion of the war to give an un-
dertaking to the following effect : —

(i.) Any departure during the war from the practice ruling in our
workshops, shipyards, and other industries prior to the war
shall only be for the period of the war.

(ti.) No change in practice made during the war shall be allowed
to prejudice the position of the workpeople in our employ-
ment, or of their Trade Unions in regard to the resumption
and maintenance after the war of any rules or customs exist-
ing prior to the war.

(iii.) In any readjustment of staff which may have to be effected
after the war priority of employment will be given to work-
men in our employment at the beginning of the war who are

APPENDIX E 273

serving with the colors or who are now in our employment.

(iv.) Where the custom of a shop is changed during the war by
the introduction of semi-skilled men to perform work
hitherto performed by a class of workmen of higher skill,
the rates paid shall be the usual rates of the district for
that class of work.

(v.) The relaxation of existing demarcation restrictions or ad-
mission of semi-skilled or female labor shall not affect
adversely the rates customarily paid for the job. In cases
where men who ordinarily do the work are adversely affected
thereby, the necessary readjustments shall be made so that
they can maintain their previous earnings.

(vi.) A record of the nature of the departure from the conditions
prevailing before the date of this undertaking shall be kept
and shall be open for inspection by the authorized repre-
sentative of the Government.

(vii.) Due notice shall be given to the workmen concerned wherever
practicable of any changes of working conditions which it is
desired to introduce as the result of this arrangement, and
opportunity of local consultation with men or their repre-
sentatives shall be given if desired.

(viii.) All differences with our workmen engaged on Government
work arising out of changes so introduced or with regard to
wages or conditions of employment arising out of the war
shall be settled without stoppage of work in accordance with
the procedure laid down in paragraph (2).

(ix.) It is clearly understood that except as expressly provided in
the fourth paragraph of clause 5 nothing in this undertaking
is to prejudice the position of employers or employes after
the war.
(Signed) D. LLOYD GEORGE.

WALTER RUNCIMAN.
ARTHUR HENDERSON

(Chairman of Workmen's Representatives).
WM. MOSSES

(Secretary of Workmen's Representatives).
March 19th, 1915.

For convenience, the material difference between the clauses of this
undertaking and those of Schedule II. of the Munitions Act are set
out here, although Schedule II. itself is quoted on a later page.

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

TREASURY AGREEMENT SCHEDULE II.

Clause (iii.) "or who are now in "or who were in the owners' em-

our employment'1 ployment when the establish-
ment became a controlled
establishment."

Clause (vi.) "conditions prevail- "conditions prevailing when the
ing before the date of this establishment became a con-
undertaking." trolled establishment"

Clause (vii.) "desired to intro- "desired to introduce as the result

duce as a result of this ar- of the establishment becoming

rangement" a controlled establishment."

Clause (viii.) "in accordance "in accordance with this Act

with the procedure laid down without stoppage of work."
in paragraph (2)."

There are other small verbal changes; but these alone affect the
meaning of the document. The net effect of the changes is this: —

(1) Under the Munitions Act a statutory guarantee is given apply-
ing only to controlled establishments and dating only from the day
on which any particular establishment becomes controlled.

(2) Under the Treasury Agreement, this guarantee is dated back
to March 19th, 1915, in the case of all establishments which availed
themselves of the Treasury Agreement, whether they subsequently
became controlled or not. But this guarantee has no statutory force,
and rests only on an undertaking given by firms to the Government.

It will be seen that the acceptance of the Treasury Agreement by
the Unions was conditional upon the employer giving a guarantee to
the Government that Trade Union rules and customs should be re-
stored after the war. It would be desirable to discover from the
Government the number of guarantees from individual firms under
the Treasury Agreement which they secured on behalf of the Unions
between the date of the agreement and the passage of the Act.

Mr. Arthur Henderson, speaking during the Committee stage of
the Munitions Bill on July 1st, 1915, used these words:—

"We have to keep in mind that this schedule has been operating
since the the 19th of March, and has been made a condition of Gov-
ernment contracts that have been given out since that date."

The passage of the Munitions Act, it will be understood, did not
remove the necessity for these guarantees, which serve to pre-date the
provisions of Schedule II. by a number of months. Moreover, the
Treasury Agreement applied to certain trades and industries which

APPENDIX E 275

did not come under the provisions of Schedule II. of the Munitions
Act, and in their cases the Treasury Agreement still holds good as a
guarantee of restoration. In order that the importance of this point
may be realized a list of the Unions which accepted the agreement,
divided into large groups, is given. It will be seen that textile
workers, railwaymen, transport workers, boot and shoe operatives,
and others are included.
(A.) GENERAL.

The Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress.

The General Federation of Trade Unions.
(B.) ENGINEERING.

Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

Steam Engine Makers.

United Machine Workers.

Amalgamated Toolmakers.

United Patternmakers.

Friendly Society of Ironfounders.

Associated Ironmolders of Scotland.

Associated Blacksmiths and Ironworkers.

Electrical Trades Union.

Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades.
(C.) SHIPBUILDING.

United Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders.

Shipconstructors' and Shipwrights' Association.

Sheet Iron Workers and Light Platers.

Shipbuilding Trades Agreement Committee.
(D.) IRON AND STEEL TRADES.

British Steel Smelters.

Associated Iron and Steel Workers.
(E.) OTHER METAL TRADES.

National Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers.

General Union of Braziers and Sheet Metal Workers.

Operative Plumbers.
(F.) WOODWORKERS.

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.

General Union of Carpenters and Joiners.

House and Ship Painters and Decorators.

Scottish Painters.

Furnishing Trades Association.

Woodcutting Machinists.

Amalgamated Cabinet Makers.
(G.) LABORERS.

National Union of Gasworkers and General Laborers.

276 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Workers' Union.

National Amalgamated Union of Labor.
(H.) TRANSPORT.

National Union of Railwaymen.

National Transport Workers' Federation.
(I.) WOOLEN.

General Union of Textile Workers.
(J.) BOOT AND SHOE.

National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives.
The Amalgamated Society of Engineers, as we have seen, was not
satisfied with the safeguards provided by the Treasury Agreement.
Accordingly, on March 25th, 1915, a Special Conference was held
between the A.S.E. and the Government, at which Mr. Lloyd George
gave, on behalf of the Government, a further undertaking in the
following terms: —

ACCELERATION OF OUTPUT ON GOVERNMENT WORK

At a meeting held at the Treasury on March 25th, 1915, between
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of
Trade and the Executive Council and Organizing District Delegates
of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Chancellor explained
the circumstances in which it had become essential for the successful
prosecution of the war to conclude an agreement with the Trade
Unions for the acceleration of output on Government work. After
discussion, the representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Engi-
neers resolved that in the light of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
statement and explanations the agreement be accepted by the Union,
and expressed a desire that the following statements by the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer in answer to questions put to him as to the
meaning of various clauses in the memorandum agreed upon at a
conference with workmen's representatives on March 17th-19th be
put on record : —

1. That it is the intention of the Government to conclude ar-
rangements with all important firms engaged wholly or mainly upon
engineering and shipbuilding work for war purposes, under which
their profits will be limited, with a view to securing that benefit
resulting from the relaxation of trade restrictions or practices shall
accrue to the State.

2. That the relaxation of trade practices contemplated in the agree-
ment relates solely to work done for war purposes during the war
period.

3. That in the case of the introduction of new inventions which

APPENDIX E 277

were not in existence in the pre-war period, the class of workmen to
be employed on this work after the war should be determined accord-
ing to the practice prevailing before the war in the case of the class
of work most nearly analogous.

4. That on demand by the workmen the Government Department
concerned will be prepared to certify whether the work in question
is needed for war purposes.

5. That the Government will undertake to use its influence to se-
cure the restoration of previous conditions in every case after the
war.

D. LLOYD GEORGE.

WALTER RUNCIMAN.

J. T. BROWNLIE, Chairman.

W. HAROLD HUTCHINSON, Executive Council.

GEORGE RYDER, Organizing District Delegate.

ROBERT YOUNG, General Secretary.

II. — THE MUNITION OF WAR ACT, 1915

No further pledges were given until the passage of the Munitions of
War Act in July, 1915. The effect of this Act was to create a special
class of controlled establishments in which profits were limited, and
"any rule, practice, or custom not having the force of law which tends
to restrict production or employment" was suspended for the period
of the war. The provisions for suspension of Trade Union customs
and the guarantees of restoration under the Act are alike limited to
controlled establishments.

The passage in the Act itself which makes provision for restoration
is as follows : —

4. (4) The owner of the establishment shall be deemed to have
entered into an undertaking to carry out the provisions set out in
the second Schedule to this Act, and any owner or contractor or sub-
contractor who breaks or attempts to break such an undertaking
shall be guilty of an offense under this Act.

20. (2) This Act shall have effect only so long as the office of
Minister of Munitions and the Ministry of Munitions exist: —

Provided that [Part I. of] * this Act shall continue to apply for a
period of twelve months after the conclusion of the present war to
any difference arising in relation to the performance by the owner
of any establishment of his undertaking to carry out the provisions

i The words in square brackets were struck out in the Amending Act
of 1916.

278 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

set out in the second Schedule to this Act, notwithstanding that the
office of Minister of Munitions and the Ministry of Munitions have
ceased to exist.

14. (1) Any person guilty of an offense under this Act —
(a) shall, if the offense is a contravention of or failure to comply
with an award, be liable to a fine not exceeding £5 for each day or
part of a day during which the contravention or failure to comply
continues, and, if the person guilty of the offense is an employer,
for each man in respect of whom the contravention or failure takes
place.

(2) A fine for any offense, under this Act, shall be recoverable only
before the munitions tribunal established for the purpose.

SCHEDULE II.

1. Any departure during the war from the practice ruling in the
workshops, shipyards, and other industries prior to the war, shall
only be for the period of the war.

2. No change in practice made during the war shall be allowed
to prejudice the position of the workmen in the owners' employment,
or of their Trade Unions in regard to the resumption and main-
tenance after the war of any rules or customs existing prior to the
war.

3. In any readjustment of staff which may have to be effected after
the war priority of employment will be given to workmen in the
owners' employment at the beginning of the war who have been serv-
ing with the colors or who were in the owners' employment when the
establishment became a controlled establishment.

4. Where the custom of a shop is changed during the war by the
introduction of semi-skilled men to perform work hitherto performed
by a class of workmen of higher skill, the time and piece rates paid
shall be the usual rates of the district for that class of work.

5. The relaxation of existing demarcation restrictions or admission
of semi-skilled or female labor shall not affect adversely the rates
customarily paid for the job. In cases where men who ordinarily do
the work are adversely affected thereby, the necessary readjustments
shall be made so that they can maintain their previous earnings.

6. A record of the nature of the departure from the conditions
prevailing when the establishment became a controlled establishment
shall be kept, and shall be open for inspection by the authorized
representative of the Government.

7. Due notice shall be given to the workmen concerned wherever
practicable of any changes of working conditions which it is desired
to introduce as the result of the establishment becoming a controlled

APPENDIX E 279

establishment, and opportunity for local consultation with workmen
or their representatives shall be given if desired.

8. All differences with workmen engaged on Government work
arising out of changes so introduced or with regard to wages or con-
ditions of employment arising out of the war shall be settled in
accordance with this Act without stoppage of work.

9. Nothing in this Schedule (except as provided by the third para-
graph thereof) shall prejudice the position of employers or persons
employed after the war.

In September the Minister of Munitions set up the Central Labor
Supply Committee in order to give greater effect to the suspension of
Trade Union rules. This Committee, on which employers and em-
ployed were represented, together with the Ministry of Munitions,
drew up the Dilution of Labor Scheme, and the Circulars L. 2 and
L. 3, which lay down rates of wages for women on men's work and
for unskilled and semi-skilled men on skilled men's work. These
Circulars contain no new guarantees; but, in issuing them, the Min-
istry of Munitions expressly drew attention to the fact that they
were "strictly confined to the war period and subject to the observ-
ance of Schedule II. of the Munitions of War Act."

III. — THE MUNITIONS OF WAR (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1916

Most of the new guarantees given to Labor in connection with the
amendment of the Munitions Act at the close of 1915 dealt rather
with the rates of wages to be paid during the war and with the actual
administration of the Act than with the question of restoration. At-
tempts were made to introduce a new clause greatly extending the
scope of the records of departures from Trade Union custom which
must be kept under Schedule II. This, however, was opposed by the
Government, and negatived without a division. The only clause
containing an important new guarantee had to do with the question
of non-union labor l : —

15. Where non-union labor is introduced during the war into any
class of work in a controlled establishment in which it was the prac-
tice prior to the war to employ union labor exclusively, the owner
of the establishment shall be deemed to have undertaken that such
introduction shall be only for the period of the war, and if he breaks
or attempts to break such an undertaking he shall be guilty of an
offense under the principal Act and liable to a fine not exceeding

i Two purely drafting amendments designed to remedy technical flaws
in the principal Act have been ignored, and, in describing the principal
Act, it has been assumed that these amendments have taken effect.

280 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

£50; but, subject as aforesaid, such introduction shall not be deemed
to be a change of working conditions.

IV. — SUMMARY OF THE GUARANTEES

1. A general promise has been given, and many times repeated,
that all changes made during the war are only for the period of the
war, and that restoration will take place in all cases when the war is
over.

2. Statutory form has been given to this promise in the case of
establishments which are controlled under the Munitions of War
Acts. Only in such establishments are Trade Union rules suspended
by law, and only in such establishments is there a legal guarantee of
restoration.

3. In other cases, i.e., in regard to establishments which are not
controlled and in industries outside the scope of Part II. of the
Munitions Act, the guarantees of restoration depend on the Treasury
Agreement and on undertakings entered into by firms and by the
Government. These guarantees are obligations of honor; but are not
legally enforceable.

4. Priority of employment after the war is guaranteed by law in
the case of controlled establishments to men serving with the colors,
and to men who were employed in any establishment when it became
controlled.

5. A similar guarantee, resting upon the Treasury Agreement and
not legally enforceable, exists in the case of establishments which are
not controlled. This guarantee also holds good as from March 19th,
1915, in the case of establishments which subsequently became con-
trolled (i.e., a man who was employed between March and July in an
establishment which became controlled under the Munitions Acts is
guaranteed priority of employment under the Treasury Agreement).

6. The Government has given a promise, which has not the force
of law, that where new inventions are introduced, the class of work-
men to operate them after the war shall be determined according to
the practice prevailing before the war in the nearest analogous class
of work.

7. It is guaranteed by law that where non-union labor is introduced
on any class of work in a controlled establishment, in which it was
the practice prior to the war to employ union labor exclusively, the
introduction of such labor shall be only for the war period.

APPENDIX E 281

V. — NOTE ON GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS

The question has arisen whether the Government itself, in its
capacity as employer, is bound by the above pledges. The following
answer, given by the Prime Minister on August 21st, 1916, in answer
to a question by Mr. Duncan, explains the position: —

"The Crown, not being expressly named in the Munitions of War
Act, 1915, is not as a matter of law bound by its provisions. There
is a special machinery for settling such questions in the dockyards to
which it seems desirable to resort in the first instance. There are
other cases in which it is practically impossible to arbitrate in regard
to isolated classes without reference to the interest of others. It is
quite recognized that, subject to exceptional cases, the spirit of this
provision of the Act should be observed by Government Depart-
ments."

The question and answer in this case refer only to "the pro-
visions for the avoidance of disputes enforced upon private em-
ployers" ; but it is to be presumed that the answer applies in principle
to the restoration of Trade Union conditions after the war.

APPENDIX

In the following Appendix there have been gathered together for
reference the most important statements made by responsible mem-
bers of the Government on the question of Trade Union rules. Ex-
tracts from the early speeches of Mr. Tennant and Mr. Harold Baker,
on behalf of the War Office, in February, 1915, though they con-
tain no reference to guarantees, have been given because they are
the earliest Government pronouncements on the matter of Trade
Union rules. Apart from these two extracts, only passages contain-
ing explicit promises of restoration after the war are included : —

MR. TENNANT'S SPEECH, HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY STH,
1915 :—

"I would appeal to the hon. gentlemen below the gangway (the
Labor Party) to help us to organize the forces of labor, to help us so
that where one man goes to join the colors his place may be taken by
a man who is not of military age, or of military physique, or by a
woman. I believe that might be done.

"I would ask them to assist the Government also in granting only
for the period of the war some form of relaxation of their rules and
regulations.

282 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

"In the works of many firms, not so much armament firms as cloth-
ing firms, Factory Act rules and regulations have been largely abro-
gated already, and I would seriously ask the Labor Party whether
they could not prevail upon the Trade Unionists in this country to
adopt a measure of a purely temporary kind for the relaxation of
some of the more stringent regulations."

MR. HAROLD BAKER'S SPEECH, HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 9TH,
1915 :—

"There are certain steps which may be considered desirable. The
Trade Unions have a perfectly proper desire to safeguard their in-
terests against the time when peace returns. If we leave these
things to be settled by fair and proper discussion outside we shall
be more likely to achieve the result desired."

LORD KITCHENER'S SPEECH, HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 15TH, 1915 : —

"It has been brought to my notice on more than one occasion that
the restrictions of Trade Unions have undoubtedly added to our diffi-
culties, not so much in obtaining sufficient labor, as in making the
best use of that labor. I am confident, however, that the seriousness
of the position as regards our supplies has only to be mentioned and
all concerned will agree to waive for the period of the war any of
those restrictions which prevent in the very slightest degree our
utilizing all the labor available to the fullest extent that is possible."

"The second proposition is the suspension where necessary during
the war of restrictions of output. Here, again, I want to make it
perfectly clear that I am only discussing this suspension during the
war. The increase in output is so essential to us, where we have to
turn out munitions of war not merely for ourselves but to help our
Allies, that I do hope you will help us for the moment by suspend-
ing the operation of any rules or regulations which tend to diminish
the output. I know it is a very difficult question for you to decide
upon, but it is very important for the State at the present juncture."

MR. ASQUITH'S SPEECH, MARCH 20TH, 1915: —

"What are those sacrifices? They may, I think, be summarized
under three heads — limitation of profits, the temporary suspension of
restrictive rules and customs, and the provision of reasonable com-
pensation in cases of proved injury or loss. The first, you observe,
falls upon the employer, and the second upon the men — especially
upon those men who are members of Trade Unions — and the third

APPENDIX E 283

upon the State. Let me deal with each of them in a single sentence.
As to profits, I believe we shall all agree that the firms and com-
panies who are supplying the State with munitions of war should
not be entitled thereby to make undue profits out of them. That we
know is the opinion, and is going to be the practice of some of the
greatest and most representative of those bodies. Under the second
head, I believe there is an equally general agreement, and I hope and
trust that that agreement will be translated into practice, and that
restrictive regulations, whether as regards output or as regards
demarcation of different classes of labor — regulations on long expe-
rience, which we may without prejudice agree to be quite appropriate
to normal conditions — may be suspended while war lasts, to be
resumed thereafter. I know well that an agreement to that effect
has been come to between the Federation of Engineering Employers
and the great Trade Union, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers,
which is the custodian and the experienced and tried trustee of the
interests of the men, and I would venture to express a strong appeal
that the agreement may be carried out not only as between the
parties to it, but with the general assent of all men who in this
critical stage of our fortunes are engaged in the fabrications of muni-
tions of war. They will suffer for nothing in the long run.

"I am not one of those, if there be such, who think that in these
matters the Trade Unions have been pursuing chimeras or indulging
in a passion for domineering and restrictive regulation. I believe,
on the contrary, that the great bulk, I won't say all — many of them
are much open to argument — but the great bulk of the rules and
customs which they have adopted as the fruit of long experience are
justified by that experience, and have tended not to dimmish but to
increase the output of our industries. But we are living in ex-
ceptional times. We have to meet a special emergency, and you may
be sure they will not be prejudicing the interests of their Unions or
the cause which the Union represents if they consent, so long as
those critical conditions prevail, to a temporary waiving and sus-
pension of those customs and rules."

MR. LLOYD GEORGE, TREASURY CONFERENCE, MARCH 22ND, 1915: —

"As to that ... we realized that when Labor was making con-
cessions to us by relaxing certain rules during the period of the war
Labor was quite right in insisting on the strictest safeguards against
those concessions being abused. I think you may say that we have
practically accepted the safeguards suggested by the delegates; we
were so entirely in agreement with them as to the desirability
of protecting the workmen's interests in the matter."

284 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

MR. LLOYD GEORGE'S SPEECH, HOUSE OF COMMONS, INTRODUCING THE

MUNITIONS BILL, JUNE 23RD, 1915.

"The next thing is the suspension during the war, on the honor and
pledge of the nation that things would be restored exactly to the
position they were in before the suspension, of all these restrictions
and practices that interfere with the increase of the output of war
materials."

THE HOME SECRETARY (SiR JOHN SIMON), SPEAKING ON THE SECOND

READING OF THE MUNITIONS BILL, JUNE 28TH, 1915.
"In the first place, you must make it plain, and you must not only
make it plain, but as far as may be you must provide in your Statute
that this concession that workpeople make in the crisis of the war for
the country's sake is a temporary concession, which does not in the
least prejudice their established rights so hardly won after, in many
cases, a long struggle in times past. This is a provision for the war,
and for the war only, and it is an essential condition of that which we
are asking, that when the war is over the honor of the House of Com-
mons is pledged, the promise of the Government is given, and all
who really try to carry this Bill undertake that organized workpeople
are not to suffer because of the temporary abandonment of Trade
Union restrictions."

MR. LLOYD GEORGE'S STATEMENT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON

PROGRESS OF MUNITIONS DEPARTMENT, JULY 28TH, 1915.
"I hope they will take not merely a promise, but a solemn under-
taking put in an Act of Parliament by which not merely the Govern-
ment, but the whole of the House of Commons and the House of
Lords undertook that at the end of the war the fact of their abandon-
ing those practices now will not prevent them restoring the practices
at the end of the war. It is so vital that this should be done during
the war that even an undertaking of that kind must be honored."

MR. LLOYD GEORGE'S SPEECH TO THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS,

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1915 : —

"The next undertaking we gave was that we would give a guarantee
that at the end of the war the pre-war conditions would be restored.
How have we done that? We have done it, not merely by solemn
declaration on the part of the Government, but we have embodied
them in an Act of Parliament. We have a statutory guarantee car-
ried unanimously by Parliament, by men of all parties — employers,
workmen, Liberal, Unionist, conscriptionist, anti-conscriptionist, pro-
German, and anti-German — all sorts and conditions of men. They
are all in it, and they are all committed to that guarantee."

APPENDIX E 285

MB. ASQUITH'S REPLY TO THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE DEPUTATION, AUG-
UST SRD, 1916. ("TIMES" REPORT.)

"Mr. Asquith said they were already taking steps to collect and
classify the various war pledges, if he might so describe them, which
had been given affecting Trade Union practices. So far as some-
thing like 4,000 controlled establishments were concerned, Part I. of
the Munitions Act provided for the continuance of an arbitration
machinery for the interpretation of these agreements for a year after
the war, and the Government were carefully considering what ma-
chinery was required to dispose of differences of interpretation, if
there be such, in agreements affecting other works and establish-
ments. Speaking generally on this point, he wished to say that the
pledges which had been given, and the obligations incurred under
them, were, in the view of the Government, obligations of honor and
indisputably valid, and nothing but the assent of all the parties con-
cerned could vary them or dispense with their complete fulfilment."

("DAILY CHRONICLE" REPORT.)

"On the first of the five proposals put before him (restoration of
Trade Union practices after the war) the Prime Minister said that
most explicit and emphatic pledges had been given that all Trade
Union conditions should be restored after the war, and the Govern-
ment had no intention of departing from that pledge in the least
degree. Provision was made for the interpretation of these agree-
ments in all controlled establishments, and the Government was care-
fully considering the kind of machinery to be set up to dispose of
the difficulties of interpretation in other establishments."

MR. MONTAGU'S SPEECH, HOUSE OF COMMONS, AUGUST 15rn, 1916.

"But the cessation of disputes and the postponement of the re-
forms which slowly emerged from the clash of conflicting interests
do not exhaust the full measure of the sacrifices which organized
Labor has made. The Trade Unions place on one side the whole
armor of Trade Union regulations upon which they had hitherto re-
lied. For the weapons slowly forged during long years of struggle
— rules and customs relating to hours of labor, overtime, the right
of entrance to trades, demarcation of industry, the regulation of boy
labor, and the exclusion of women from certain classes of occupa-
tions— all these, directly or indirectly, might have tended to reduce
the output during the war. The Government asked Labor to put all
these on one side. It was a great deal to ask. I doubt if any com-
munity has ever been asked for greater sacrifices, but with a loyalty
and statesmanship which cannot be over-estimated the request was

286 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

readily granted. The Trade Unions required, and they were right
to require, a scrupulous record and recognition of what they were
conceding. It was promised to them as a right, but they will receive
more, not only the restoration of the system they temporarily aban-
doned, but the gratitude of the Army and of the nation, and they
will, I trust, place the nation still further in their debt by playing an
important part in devising some system which will reconcile in the
future conflicting industrial interests."

APPENDIX F

THE LABOR PARTY'S STATEMENT

ON

THE LABOR PROBLEMS AFTER THE WAR

DEMOBILIZATION

(i.) That when peace comes the demobilization and discharge of
the seven or eight million wage-earners now paid from public funds,
either for service with the Colors or on munition work and other war
trades, will bring to the whole wage-earning class grave peril of Un-
employment, Reduction of Wages, and a lasting Degradation of the
Standard of Life, which can be prevented only by deliberate National
Organization ;

(ii.) That this Conference accordingly calls upon the Government
to formulate its plan, and make in advance all arrangements neces-
sary for coping with so unparalleled a dislocation of industry;

(iii.) That regard should be had, in stopping Government orders,
reducing the staff of the National Factories, and demobilizing the
Army to the state of the Labor Market in particular industries and
in different districts, so as both to supply the kinds of labor most
urgently required for the revival of peace production, and to prevent
any congestion of Unemployed;

(iv.) That it is imperative that suitable provision against being
turned suddenly adrift without resources should be made not only
for the soldiers, but also for the three million operatives in muni-
tion work and other war trades, who will be discharged before most
of the Army can be disbanded;

(v.) That the Conference, noting the month's furlough, gratuity,
free railway ticket, and a year's Unemployment Benefit if out of
work already promised to the soldier, urges that (a) there should be
no gap between the cessation of his pay and separation allowance
and the beginning of his Unemployment Benefit, and (6) that this
special ex-soldier's Unemployment Benefit given to all should be ad-
ditional to any Benefit under the National Insurance Act, to which
many men are already entitled in respect of contributions deducted
from their wages; and

(vi.) That any Government which allows the discharged soldier to

287

288 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

fall into the clutches of the Poor Law should be instantly driven
from office by an outburst of popular indignation.

THE MACHINERY FOB SECURING EMPLOYMENT

(i.) That the Conference emphatically protests against the work of
re-settling the disbanded soldiers and discharged munition workers
into new situations — which is a national obligation — being deemed
* matter for charity ; and against this public duty being handed over
either to committees of philanthropists or benevolent societies, or to
any of the military or recruiting authorities;

(ii.) That in view of the fact that the best organization for plac-
ing men in situations is a national Trade Union having local
Branches throughout the Kingdom, every soldier should be allowed,
if he chooses, to have a duplicate of his industrial discharge notice
sent through, one month before the date fixed for his discharge, to
the Secretary of the Trade Union to which he belongs or wishes to
belong ;

(iii.) That, apart from this use of the Trade Union, it is necessary
to make use of some such public machinery as that of the Employ-
ment Exchanges, but that before the existing Exchanges (which
would need to be greatly extended) can receive the cooperation and
support of the organized Labor Movement, without which their oper-
ations can never be fully successful, it is imperative that they should
be drastically reformed on the lines laid down in the Demobilization
Report of the Labor after the War Committee, and, in particular,
that each Exchange should be placed under the supervision and con-
trol of a Joint Committee of Employers and Trade Unionists, in
equal numbers.

(iv.) That no Trade Union shall be brought within Part II. of the
National Insurance Act, whether administered by the Employment
Exchanges or otherwise, unless it has been first consulted, and agrees
to its inclusion therein.

THE RESTORATION OF TRADE UNION CONDITIONS

(i.) That this Conference reminds the Government that it is
pledged unreservedly and unconditionally, and the nation with it, in
the most solemn manner, to the Restoration after the War of all the
rules, conditions and customs that prevailed in the workshops before
the War ; and to the abrogation, when peace comes, of all the changes
introduced not only in the National Factories and the 4,500 Con-
trolled Establishments, but also in the large number of others to
which provisions of the Munitions Acts have been applied;

APPENDIX F 289

(ii.) That the Conference places on record its confident expecta-
tion and desire that if any employers should be so unscrupulous as
to hesitate to fulfil this pledge, the Government will see to it that,
in no industry and in no district, is any quibbling evasion permitted
of an obligation in which the whole Labor Movement has an in-
terest.

(iii.) In view of the unsatisfactory character of the provisions in
the Munitions Act dealing with the restoration of Trade Union
customs after the war, the Conference calls upon the Government to
provide adequate statutory machinery for restoration:

"(a) By securing that all provisions in the Acts necessary to en-
force restoration shall continue in operation for a full year after the
restrictive provisions abrogating Trade Union rules (Section 4 (3),
and giving Munitions Tribunals disciplinary powers over workmen
(Section 7) have been terminated.

"(b) By removing all restrictions upon the right of the workmen
to strike for the restoration of the customs which have been abro-
gated.

"(c) By limiting Compulsory Arbitration strictly to the War
period and providing fully that the right to prosecute an employer
for a failure to restore Trade Union customs shall continue for a
full year after the termination of the restrictive powers in the Acts.

"The Conference further calls upon Parliament to limit all re-
strictive legislation directed against workpeople strictly to the War
period, and, subject to the above exceptions, calls for the abrogation
of restrictive clauses in the Munitions of War Acts and in the De-
fense of the Realm Acts, immediately upon the conclusion of hos-
tilities."

THE PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT

(i.) That in the opinion of this Conference it is the duty of the
Government to adopt a policy of deliberately and systematically
preventing the occurrence of Unemployment, instead of (as hereto-
fore) letting Unemployment occur, and then seeking, vainly and
expensively, to relieve the Unemployed;

(ii.) That the Government can, if it chooses, arrange the public
works and the orders of National Departments and Local Authori-
ties in such a way as to maintain the aggregate demand for labor
in the whole Kingdom (including that of capitalist employers) ap-
proximately at a uniform level from year to year; and it is there-
fore the first duty of the Government to prevent any considerable
or widespread fluctuations in the total numbers employed in times
of good or bad trade.

290 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(iii.) That in order to prepare for the possibility of there being
extensive Unemployment, either in the course of demobilization, and
in the first years of peace, it is essential that the Government should
make all necessary preparations for putting instantly in hand di-
rectly or through the Local Authorities, such urgently needed public
works as (a) the rehousing of the population alike in rural districts,
mining villages and town slums, to the extent, possibly, of 200
millions sterling; (b) the immediate making-good of the shortage of
schools, training colleges, technical colleges, etc.; (c) new roads;
(d) light railways; (e) the reorganization of the canal system;
(/) afforestation; (g) the reclamation of land; (h) the develop-
ment and better equipment of our ports and harbors; (i) the open-
ing up of access to land by small holdings and other practicable
ways.

(iv.) That in order to relieve any pressure of an overstocked
Labor Market, the opportunity should be taken (a) to raise the
school-leaving age to 16; (b) to increase the number of bursaries
for Secondary and Higher Education; and (c) to shorten the hours
of labor of all young persons to enable them to attend technical and
other classes in the daytime.

(v.) That wherever practicable the hours of labor should be re-
duced to not more than 48 per week, without reduction of the
standard rates of wages; and that legislation should be introduced
accordingly.

THE MAINTENANCE OF THE STANDARD OF LIFE

(i.) That it is of supreme national importance that there should
not be any Degradation of the Standard of Life of the popula-
tion; and it is accordingly the duty of the Government to see to it
that, when peace comes, the Standard Rates of Wages in all trades
should, relatively to the cost of living, be fully maintained.

(ii.) That is should be made clear to employers that any attempt
to reduce the customary rates of wages when peace comes, or to
take advantage of the dislocation of demobilization to worsen the
conditions of labor, will certainly lead to embittered industrial strife,
which will be in the highest degree detrimental to the national in-
terests; and the Government should therefore take steps to avert
such a calamity.

(iii.) That the Government should not only, as the greatest em-
ployer of labor, set a good example in this respect, but should
also seek to influence employers by proclaiming in advance that it
will not attempt to lower the Standard Rates or conditions in public

APPENDIX F 291

employment, by announcing that it will insist on the most rigorous
observance of the Fair Wages Clause in public contracts, and by
recommending every Local Authority to adopt the same policy.

THE LEGAL MINIMUM WAGE

(i.) That the Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act should be main-
tained in force, and suitably amended so as to ensure greater uni-
formity of conditions among the several districts, and so as to make
the District Minimum in all cases an effective reality;

(ii.) That in view of the fact that many millions of wage-
earners, notably, women, carmen, agricultural laborers, and work-
men in various occupations, are unable by combination to obtain
wages adequate for decent maintenance in health, the Trade Boards
Act should be amended and made to apply to all industrial em-
ployments in which the bulk of those employed obtain less than 30s.
per week.

(iii.) That this minimum of not less than 30s. per week be a
statutory minimum for all trades.

THE NATIONALIZATION OF RAILWAYS

(i.) That the Conference most emphatically protests against the
Railways, which are under Government control, being handed back
after the war to the control of the shareholders, whose only interest
is that of extracting the largest possible dividend;

(ii.) The Conference asks that the partial Nationalization which
has taken place should be completed and extended to those canals
which are still outside railway control; and the shareholders should
be got rid of by taking over their present property at its fair mar-
ket value; and that the transformation of the railways and canals
into a unified public service of transport and communication, ad-
ministered solely in the public interest with arrangements for the
participation in the managements, both local and central, of all
grades of employees, should be one of the first tasks of the Govern-
ment after the war.

THE NATIONALIZATION OF MINES

(i.) That in the opinion of this Conference the time has come
when this country should no longer be dependent for its coal supply
on a small number of capitalist colliery proprietors, coal-merchants
and dealers, among whom there is an increasing tendency to com-
binations and price-arrangements, by which the consumer is made to
pay a quite unnecessary price for coal; and that the Government

292 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

should at once take over all coal and other mines, work them as a
national enterprise, and appropriate to the nation all rents and
profits;

(ii.) That in organizing the nation's coal supply on the basis
of production for use instead of production for profit, due arrange-
ments should be made for the participation in the management, both
local and central, of the employees of all grades;

(iii.) That the Government Coal Department might undertake
the supply for export and shipping, the Local Authorities and all
industrial consumers of any magnitude; delivering the coal for
domestic consumption to any railway station at a fixed price, as
unalterable and as uniform as that of the postage stamp, for re-
tailing and delivery at a fixed additional charge just covering cost.

AGRICULTURE

(i.) That the present arrangements for the production and dis-
tribution of food in this country amount to nothing short of a na-
tional disgrace, and must be radically altered without delay;

(ii.) That it is imperative that the Government should promptly
resume control of the nation's agricultural land, and organize its
utilization not for rent, not for game, not for the social amenity of
a small social class, not even for obtaining the largest percentage
on the capital employed, but solely with a view to the production of
the largest possible proportion of the foodstuffs required by the
population of these islands at a price not exceeding that for which
they can be brought from other lands;

(iii.) That this can probably best be attained by a combination
of (a) Government farms, administered on a large scale, with the
utmost use of machinery; (b) Small Holdings made accessible to
practical agriculturists; (a) Municipal enterprises in agriculture,
in conjunction with municipal institutions of various kinds, milk
depots, sewage works, etc.; (d) farms let to Cooperative Societies
and other tenants, under covenants requiring the kind of cultivation
desired ;

(iv.) That under all systems the agricultural laborer must be se-
cured a decent cottage, an allotment, and a Living Wage;

(v.) That the distribution of foodstuffs in the towns — from milk
and meat to bread and vegetables — should be taken out of the
hands of the present multiplicity of dealers and shopkeepers, and
organized by Democratic Consumers, Cooperative Societies and the
Local Authorities working in conjunction.

APPENDIX F 293

TAXATION

(i.) That in view of the enormous debts contracted during the
war and of the necessity to lighten national financial burdens in
order to enable the country to compete successfully on the markets
of the world so soon as peace comes, this Conference demands that
an equitable system of conscription of accumulated wealth should
be put into operation forthwith, believing that no system of income
tax or excess profits duties will yield enough to free the country
from oppressive debts, and that any attempt to tax food or the
other necessities of life would be unjust and ruinous to the masses
of the people;

(ii.) That the only solution of the difficulties that have arisen is
a system of taxation by which the necessary national income shall
be derived mainly from direct taxation and imposts upon luxuries,
and that the taxation upon unearned incomes should be substantially
increased and graded so that on the higher scales it should be not
less than 15s. in the pound;

(iii.) That the whole system of land taxation should be revised
so that effect should be given to the fact that the land of the nation,
which has been defended by the lives and sufferings of its people,
shall belong to the nation and be used for the nation's benefit.

(iv.) That as during the war the Government has had to come
to the assistance of the banking institutions of the country, and that
it has been found necessary to pay very high rates for the money
raised, adding considerably to the annual burden resulting from the
war, every effort should be made to nationalize the banking system
of the country in order to free the community from private ex-
ploitation.

"That this Conference emphatically protests against the repeated
attempts to bring Cooperative dividends within the scope of the
Income Tax."

"That this Conference, recognizing that the huge national ex-
penditure, caused by the War, has to be met by increased taxation,
declares that those who claim the ownership of the land of the
country should be required to make a special contribution towards
its defense. It therefore calls upon the Government to impose a
direct tax on land values in the next Budget, and to enable this to
be done, to use the powers conferred by the Defense of the Realm
Act to compel all owners of land to furnish an immediate declara-

294 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tion of the present value, extent, and character of all land in their
possession.

"That this Conference affirms that such a tax, in addition to pro-
viding a large amount of revenue, would open up the land to the
people, increase the production of home grown food, and thus
materially reduce the prevailing high cost of living, tend to raise
wages, and lessen the evil of unemployment which threatens on the
close of the war."

FRANCHISE

(i.) That this Conference declares that the war has made ob-
solete all our past system of enfranchisement and registration;

(ii.) That the only solution of the difficulties that have arisen
is Adult Suffrage, including women;

(iii.) That registration should be so conducted that every properly
qualified person should have the opportunity to vote at elections, and
that this entails both a short period of qualification and continuous
registration;

(iv.) That soldiers and munition workers should not only have
the right of voting conferred upon them, but that arrangements
should be made by which that right can be exercised, including the
provision of facilities for all candidates to put their views fairly
before these electors; and that as far as possible similar arrange-
ments should be made for the convenience of seamen and other
electors necessarily absent from thir constituencies;

(v.) That redistribution of electorates should take place at once;

(vi.) That no election conducted on the present register, or before
the above changes have been made, can return a Parliament which
represents the nation.

THE POSITION OP WOMEN AFTER THE WAR

"That in view of the great national services rendered by women
during this time of war, and of the importance of maintaining a
high level of wages for both men and women workers, this Confer-
ence urges:

"(i.) That work or maintenance at fair rates should be provided
for all women displaced from their employment to make way
for men returning from service with the forces or other
national work.

"(ii.) That full inquiry should be made into trades and processes
previously held to be unhealthy or in any way unsuitable
for women, but now being carried on by them, with a view
to making recommendations as to their further employ-
ment in such trades.

APPENDIX F 295

"(ill) That all women employed in trades formerly closed to
them should only continue to be so employed at Trade
Union rates of wages.

"(iv.) That Trade Unions should accept women members in all
trades in which they are employed."

EDUCATION AND CHILD WELFARE

Administrative

"Such alterations of the Education Act of 1902 as shall secure
full public responsibility for the maintenance and control of all
grades of schools, colleges and universities.

"Abolition of all education fees.

"Raising of the school leaving age to 16, with increased number
of maintenance grants, graded according to age and circumstances.

"Universal free compulsory secondary education.

"No partial or half time exemptions before fulfilment of regular
secondary course, and not then unless agreed to by the school
doctor.

"Education Authority to have equal jurisdiction over part time
factory employment as over non-factory employment.

"Larger proportion of local education costs to be borne by Na-
tional Treasury.

"Pensions for secondary teachers, as in case of elementary teach-
ers in England.

Hygienic

"Hygienic conditions in elementary schools to be brought up to
minimum standard of best secondary schools.

"School Doctor to be certifying surgeon for half -timers and young
persons in employment.

"Full scheme of free public medical service to expectant and
nursing mothers and their children; in the case of the latter, to be
continued up to school age and properly coordinated with the school
medical service.

"Swimming baths, gymnasia, and the best known scheme of phys-
ical training for every child passing through the schools.

"A scheme of physical instruction for all young people from 16
to 20 years of age.

"Amendment of Provision of Meals Act, so as to provide meals
out of public funds for all school children certified by the school
doctor to be improperly or insufficiently nourished.

296 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

EDUCATIONAL

"Higher scale of teachers' salaries and higher minimum standard
of equipment for teachers, with fuller provision of facilities for in-
tending teachers, and more generous public help for all accepted
candidates.

"Reduction of size of classes in elementary schools to that of
secondary schools.

"Playing fields to be provided for elementary schools.

"All higher forms of education, Technical and University, to be
coordinated under public control and entirely free to all pupils de-
sirous of undertaking the course provided.

"Principle of open-air schools to be adopted for all schools at
earliest possible moment. A great increase of the system of camp
schools, vacation centers. Travel studies by sea and land.

"No specialization until last year of secondary school course,
when bias given in direction, Technical, Professional or Commercial,
as part of a general education."

APPENDIX G

INDUSTRIAL REPORTS. NUMBER I.
INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS

The Whitley Report, together with the Letter of the Minister of
Labor explaining the Government's view of its proposals.

I. LETTER ADDRESSED BY THE MINISTER OF LABOR
TO THE LEADING EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS AND
TRADE UNIONS

MINISTRY OF LABOR,

MONTAGU HOUSE,

WHITEHALL, S.W. 1.

2Qth October, 1917.
SIR,

In July last a circular letter was addressed by the Ministry of
Labor to all the principal Employers' Associations and Trade
Unions asking for their views on the proposals made in the Report
of the Whitley Committee on Joint Standing Industrial Councils, a
further copy of which is enclosed. As a result of the replies which
have been received from a large number of Employers' organiza-
tions and Trade Unions generally favoring the adoption of those
proposals, the War Cabinet have decided to adopt the Report as part
of the policy which they hope to see carried into effect in the field
of industrial reconstruction.

In order that the precise effect of this decision may not be mis-
understood, I desire to draw attention to one or two points which
have been raised in the communications made to the Ministry on the
subject, and on which some misapprehension appears to exist in some
quarters.

In the first place, fears have been expressed that the proposal to
set up Industrial Councils indicates an intention to introduce an ele-
ment of State interference which has hitherto not existed in in-
dustry. This is not the case. The formation and constitution of
the Councils must be principally the work of the industries them-
selves. Although, for reasons which will be explained later, the

297

298 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Government are very anxious that such Councils should be estab-
lished in all the well-organized industries with as little delay as
possible, they fully realize that the success of the scheme must de-
pend upon a general agreement among the various organizations
within a given industry and a clearly expressed demand for the
creation of a Council. Moreover, when formed, the Councils would
be independent bodies electing their own officers and free to deter-
mine their own functions and procedure with reference to the
peculiar needs of each trade. In fact, they would be autonomous
bodies, and they would, in effect, make possible a larger degree of
self-government in industry than exists to-day.

Secondly, the Report has been interpreted as meaning that the
general constitution which it suggests should be applied without
modification to each industry. This is entirely contrary to the
view of the Government on the matter. To any one with a knowl-
edge of the diverse kinds of machinery already in operation, and
the varying geographical and industrial conditions which affect
different industries it will be obvious that no rigid scheme can be
applied to all of them. Each industry must therefore adapt the
proposals made in the Report as may seem most suitable to its own
needs. In some industries, for instance, it may be considered by
both employers and employed that a system of Works Committees
is unnecessary owing to the perfection of the arrangements already
in operation for dealing with the difficulties arising in particular
works between the management and the trade union officials. In
others Works Committees have done very valuable work where they
have been introduced and their extension on agreed lines deserves
every encouragement. Again, in industries which are largely based
on district organizations it will probably be found desirable to assign
more important functions to the District Councils than would be
the case in trades which are more completely centralized in national
bodies. All these questions will have to be threshed out by the
industries themselves and settled in harmony with their particular
needs.

Thirdly, it should be made clear that representation on the In-
dustrial Councils is intended to be on the basis of existing organiza-
tions among employers and workmen concerned in each industry,
although it will, of course, be open to the Councils, when formed,
to grant representation to any new bodies which may come into ex-
istence and which may be entitled to representation. The authority,
and consequently the usefulness of the Councils will depend en-
tirely on the extent to which they represent the different interests

APPENDIX G 299

and enjoy the whole-hearted support of the existing organizations,
and it is therefore desirable that representation should be determined
on as broad a basis as possible.

Lastly, it has been suggested that the scheme is intended to pro-
mote compulsory arbitration. This is certainly not the case. What-
ever agreements may be made for dealing with disputes must be left
to the industry itself to frame, and their efficacy must depend upon
the voluntary cooperation of the organizations concerned in carrying
them out.

I should now like to explain some of the reasons which have made
the Government anxious to see Industrial Councils established as
soon as possible in the organized trades. The experience of the
war has shown the need for frequent consultation between the Gov-
ernment and the chosen representatives of both employers and work-
men on vital questions concerning those industries which have been
most affected by war conditions. In some instances different Gov-
ernment Departments have approached different organizations in
the same industry, and in many cases the absence of joint representa-
tive bodies which can speak for their industries as a whole and
voice the joint opinion of employers and workmen, has been found
to render negotiations much more difficult than they would other-
wise have been. The case of the cotton trade, where the industry is
being regulated during a very difficult time by a Joint Board of
Control, indicates how greatly the task of the State can be alleviated
by a self-governing body capable of taking charge of the interests
of the whole industry. The problems of the period of transition
and reconstruction will not be less difficult than those which the
war has created, and the Government accordingly feel that the task
of rebuilding the social and economic fabric on a broader and surer
foundation will be rendered much easier if in the organized trades
there exist representative bodies to which the various questions of
difficulty can be referred for consideration and advice as they arise.
There are a number of such questions on which the Government will
need the united and considered opinion of each large industry, such
as the demobilization of the Forces, the re-settlement of munition
workers in civil industries, apprenticeship (especially where inter-
rupted by war service), the training and employment of disabled
soldiers, and the control of raw materials; and the more it is able
to avail itself of such an opinion the more satisfactory and stable the
solution of these questions is likely to be.

Further, it will be necessary in the national interest to ensure

300 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

a settlement of the more permanent questions which have caused
differences between employers and employed in the past, on such
a basis as to prevent the occurrence of disputes and of serious stop-
pages in the difficult period during which the problems just referred
to will have to be solved. It is felt that this object can only be
secured by the existence of permanent bodies on the lines suggested
by the Whitley Report, which will be capable not merely of dealing
with disputes when they arise, but of settling the big questions at
issue so far as possible on such a basis as to prevent serious con-
flicts arising at all.

The above statement of the functions of the Councils is not in-
tended to be exhaustive, but only to indicate some of the more im-
mediate questions which they will be called upon to deal with when
set up. Their general objects are described in the words of the
Report as being "to offer to workpeople the means of attaining
improved conditions of employment and a higher standard of com-
fort generally, and involve the enlistment of their active and con-
tinuous cooperation in the promotion of industry." Some further
specific questions, which the Councils might consider, were indi-
cated by the Committee in paragraph 16 of the Report, and it will
be for the Councils themselves to determine what matters they shall
deal with. Further, such Councils would obviously be the suitable
bodies to make representations to the Government as to legislation,
which they think would be of advantage to their industry.

In order, therefore, that the Councils may be able to fulfil the
duties which they will be asked to undertake, and that they may have
the requisite status for doing so, the Government desire it to be
understood that the Councils will be recognized as the official stand-
ing Consultative Committees to the Government on all future ques-
tions affecting the industries which they represent, and that they
will be the normal channel through which the opinion and experience
of an industry will be sought on all questions with which the in-
dustry is concerned. It will be seen, therefore, that it is intended
that Industrial Councils should play a definite and permanent part
in the economic life of the country, and the Government feels that
it can rely on both employers and workmen to cooperate in order
to make that part a worthy one.

I hope, therefore, that you will take this letter as a formal re-
quest to your organization on the part of the Government to con-
sider the question of carrying out the recommendations of the Re-
port so far as they are applicable to your industry. The Ministry
of Labor will be willing to give every assistance in its power in the
establishment of Industrial Councils, and will be glad to receive

APPENDIX G 301

suggestions as to the way in which it can be given most effectively.
In particular, it will be ready to assist in the convening of repre-
sentative conferences to discuss the establishment of Councils, to
provide secretarial assistance and to be represented, if desired, in
a consultative capacity at the preliminary meetings. The Ministry
will be glad to be kept informed of any progress made in the direc-
tion of forming Councils. Although the scheme is only intended, and
indeed can only be applied, in trades which are well organized on
both sides, I would point out that it rests with those trades which
do not at present possess a sufficient organization to bring it about if
they desire to apply it to themselves.

In conclusion, I would again emphasize the pressing need for the
representative organizations of employers and workpeople to come
together in the organized trades and to prepare themselves for the
problems of reconstruction by forming Councils competent to deal
with them. The Government trust that they will approach these
problems not as two opposing forces each bent on getting as much
and giving as little as can be contrived, but as forces having a com-
mon interest in working together for the welfare of their industry,
not merely for the sake of those concerned in it, but also for the
sake of the nation which depends so largely on its industries for
its well-being. If the spirit which has enabled all classes to over-
come by willing cooperation the innumerable dangers and difficulties
which have beset us during the war is applied to the problems of
Reconstruction, I am convinced that they can be solved in a way
which will lay the foundation of the future prosperity of the country
and of those engaged in its great industries.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEO. H. ROBERTS.

INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS

REPORT OF THE RECONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE ON RELATIONS BE-
TWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED

The Committee consisted of the following members: —
THE RIGHT HON. J. H. WHITLEY, M.P., Chairman.

(Chairman of Committees, House of Commons.)
Mr. F. S. BUTTON (formerly Member of Executive Council, Amal-
gamated Society of Engineers).

302 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Sir G. J. CARTER, K.B.E. (Chairman, Shipbuilding Employers'

Federation).
Professor S. J. CHAPMAN, C.B.E. (Professor of Political Economy,

University of Manchester).
Sir. GILBERT CLAUGHTON, Bart. (Chairman, London and North

Western Railway Company).
Mr. J. R. CLYNES, M.P. (President National Union of General

Workers).
Mr. J. A. HOBSON.
Miss SUSAN LAWRENCE (Member of London County Council and

Member of the Executive Committee of the Women's Trade

Union League).

Mr. J. J. MALLON (Secretary, National Anti-Sweating League).
Sir THOS. A. RATCLIFFE-ELLIS (Secretary, Mining Association of

Great Britain).
Mr. ROBERT SMILLIE (President, Miners' Federation of Great

Britain ) .

Mr. ALLAN M. SMITH (Chairman, Engineering Employers' Federa-
tion).
Miss MONA WILSON (National Health Insurance Commissioner).

Mr. H. J. WILSON, Ministry of Labor,
Mr. ARTHUR GREENWOOD,

Secretaries.

To the Right Honorable D. LLOYD GEORGE, M.P., Prime Minister.
SIR,

We have the honor to submit the following Interim Report on
Joint Standing Industrial Councils.

2. The terms of reference to the Sub-Committee are : —

"(1) To make and consider suggestions for securing a per-
manent improvement in the relations between employers and
workmen.

"(2) To recommend means for securing that industrial con-
ditions affecting the relations between employers and workmen
shall be systematically reviewed by those concerned, with a
view to improving conditions in the future."

3. After a general consideration of our duties in relation to the
matters referred to us, we decided first to address ourselves to the
problem of establishing permanently improved relations between
employers and employed in the main industries of the country, in
which there exist representative organizations on both sides. The
present report accordingly deals more especially with these trades.

APPENDIX G 303

We are proceeding with the consideration of the problems connected
with the industries which are less well organized.

4. We appreciate that under the pressure of the war both em-
ployers and workpeople and their organizations are very much
pre-occupied, but, notwithstanding, we believe it to be of the high-
est importance that our proposals should be put before those con-
cerned without delay, so that employers and employed may meet in
the near future and discuss the problems before them.

5. The circumstances of the present time are admitted on all sides
to offer a great opportunity for securing a permanent improvement
in the relations between employers and employed, while failure to
utilize the opportunity may involve the nation in grave industrial
difficulties at the end of the war.

It is generally allowed that the war almost enforced some re-
construction of industry, and in considering the subjects referred to
us we have kept in view the need for securing in the development
of reconstruction the largest possible measure of cooperation be-
tween employers and employed.

In the interests of the community it is vital that after the war
the cooperation of all classes, established during the war, should
continue, and more especially with regard to the relations between
employers and employed. For securing improvement in the latter,
it is essential that any proposals put forward should offer to work-
people the means of attaining improved conditions of employment
and a higher standard of comfort generally, and involve the enlist-
ment of their active and continuous cooperation in the promotion
of industry.

To this end, the establishment for each industry of an organiza-
tion, representative of employers and workpeople, to have as its
object the regular consideration of matters affecting the progress and
well-being of the trade from the point of view of all those engaged
in it, so far as this is consistent with the general interest of the
community, appears to us necessary.

6. Many complicated problems have arisen during the war which
have a bearing both on employers and workpeople, and may affect
the relations between them. It is clear that industrial conditions
will need careful handling if grave difficulties and strained rela-
tions are to be avoided after the war has ended. The precise na-
ture of the problems to be faced naturally varies from industry
to industry, and even from branch to branch within the same in-
dustry. Their treatment consequently will need an intimate knowl-
edge of the facts and circumstances of each trade, and such knowl-

304; MANAGEMENT AND MEN

edge is to be found only among those directly connected with the
trade.

7. With a view to providing means for carrying out the policy
outlined above, we recommend that His Majesty's Government should
propose without delay to the various associations of employers and
employed the formation of Joint Standing Industrial Councils in
the several industries, where they do not already exist, composed of
representatives of employers and employed, regard being paid to
the various sections of the industry and the various classes of la-
bor engaged.

8. The appointment of a Chairman or Chairmen should, we think,
be left to the Council who may decide that these should be—

(1) A Chairman for each side of the Council;

(2) A Chairman and Vice-Chairman selected from the mem-
bers of the Council (one from each side of the Council) ;

(3) A Chairman chosen by the Council from independent
persons outside the industry; or

(4) A Chairman nominated by such person or authority as
the Council may determine or, failing agreement, by the Gov-
ernment.

9. The Council should meet at regular and frequent intervals.

10. The objects to which the consideration of the Councils should
be directed should be appropriate matters affecting the several in-
dustries and particularly the establishment of a closer cooperation
between employers and employed. Questions connected with de-
mobilization will call for early attention.

11. One of the chief factors in the problem, as it at first pre-
sents itself, consists of the guarantees given by the Government,
with Parliamentary sanction, and the various undertakings entered
into by employers, to restore the Trade Union rules and customs
suspended during the war. While this does not mean that all the
lessons learnt during the war should be ignored, it does mean that
the definite cooperation and acquiescence by both employers and em-
ployed must be a condition of any setting aside of these guarantees
or undertakings, and that, if new arrangements are to be reached,
in themselves more satisfactory to all parties but not in strict ac-
cordance with the guarantees, they must be the joint work of em-
ployers and employed.

12. The matters to be considered by the Councils must inevitably
differ widely from industry to industry, as different circumstances
and conditions call for different treatment, but we are of opinion
that the suggestions set forth below ought to be taken into account.

APPENDIX G 305

subject to such modification in each case as may serve to adapt them
to the needs of the various industries.

13. In the well-organized industries, one of the first questions to
be considered should be the establishment of local and works or-
ganizations to supplement and make more effective the work of the
central bodies. It is not enough to secure cooperation at the center
between the national organizations; it is equally necessary to en-
list the activity and support of employers and employed in the dis-
tricts and in individual establishments. The National Industrial
Council should not be regarded as complete in itself; what is needed
is a triple organization — in the workshops, the districts, and na-
tionally. Moreover, it is essential that the organization at each of
these three stages should proceed on a common principle, and that
the greatest measure of common action between them should be
secured.

14. With this end in view, we are of opinion that the following
proposals should be laid before the National Industrial Councils: —

(a) That District Councils, representative of the Trade Unions
and of the Employers' Association in the industry,
should be created, or developed out of the existing
machinery for negotiation in the various trades.
(6) That Works Committees, representative of the management
and of the workers employed, should be instituted in
particular works to act in close cooperation with the
district and national machinery.

As it is of the highest importance that the scheme making pro-
vision for these Committees should be such as to secure the support
of the Trade Unions and Employers' Associations concerned, its de-
sign should be a matter for agreement between these organizations.
Just as regular meetings and continuity of cooperation are es-
sential in the case of the National Industrial Councils, so they seem
to be necessary in the case of the district and works organizations.
The object is to secure cooperation by granting to workpeople a
greater share in the consideration of matters affecting their in-
dustry, and this can only be achieved by keeping employers and
workpeople in constant touch.

15. The respective functions of Works Committees, District
Councils, and National Councils will no doubt require to be deter-
mined separately in accordance with the varying conditions of dif-
ferent industries. Care will need to be taken in each case to delimit
accurately their respective functions, in order to avoid overlapping
and resulting friction. For instance, where conditions of employ-
ment are determined by national agreements, the District Councils

306 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

or Works Committees should not be allowed to contract out of con-
ditions so laid down, nor, where conditions are determined by local
agreements, should such power be allowed to Works Committees.

16. Among the questions with which it is suggested that the Na-
tional Councils should deal or allocate to District Councils or Works
Committees the following may be selected for special mention : —

(i) The better utilization of the practical knowledge and
experience of the workpeople.

(ii) Means for securing to the workpeople a greater share
in and responsibility for the determination and observance of
the conditions under which their work is carried on.

(iii) The settlement of the general principles governing the
conditions of employment, including the methods of fixing, pay-
ing, and readjusting wages, having regard to the need for se-
curing to the workpeople a share in the increased prosperity
of the industry.

(iv) The establishment of regular methods of negotiation
for issues arising between employers and workpeople, with a
view both to the prevention of differences, and to their better
adjustment when they appear.

(v) Means of ensuring to the workpeople the greatest possi-
ble security of earnings and employment, without undue re-
striction upon change of occupation or employer.

(vi.) Methods of fixing and adjusting earnings, piecework
prices, etc., and of dealing with the many difficulties which arise
with regard to the method and amount of payment apart from
the fixing of general standard rates, which are already covered
by paragraph (iii).

(vii) Technical education and training.

(viii) Industrial research and the full utilization of its re-
sults.

(ix) The provision of facilities for the full consideration
and utilization of inventions and improvement designed by work-
people, and for the adequate safeguarding of the rights of the
designers of such improvements.

(x) Improvements of processes, machinery and organization
and appropriate questions relating to management and the ex-
amination of industrial experiments, with special reference to
cooperation in carrying new ideas into effect and full considera-
tion of the workpeople's point of view in relation to them.

(xi) Proposed legislation affecting the industry.

17. The methods by which the functions of the proposed Councils
should be correlated to those of joint bodies in the different districts,

APPENDIX G 307

and in the various works within the districts, must necessarily vary
according to the trade. It may, therefore, be the best policy to
leave it to the trades themselves to formulate schemes suitable to
their special circumstances, it being understood that it is essential
to secure in each industry the fullest measure of cooperation be-
tween employers and employed, both generally, through the National
Councils, and specifically, through district Committees and work-
shop Committees :

18. It would seem advisable that the Government should put the
proposals relating to National Industrial Councils before the em-
ployers' and workpeople's associations and request them to adopt
such measures as are needful for their establishment where they do
not already exist. Suitable steps should also be taken, at the proper
time, to put the matter before the general public.

19. In forwarding the proposals to the parties concerned, we
think thr Government should offer to be represented in an advisory
capacity at the preliminary meetings of a Council, if the parties so
desire. We are also of opinion that the Government should under-
take to supply to the various Councils such information on in-
dustrial subjects as may be available and likely to prove of value.

20. It has been suggested that means must be devised to safe-
guard the interests of the community against possible action of an
anti-social character on the part of the Councils. We have, how-
ever, here assumed that the Councils, in their work of promoting
the interests of their own industries, will have regard for the Na-
tional interest. If they fulfil their functions they will be the best
builders of national prosperity. The State never parts with its
inherent over-riding power, but such power may be least needed
when least obtruded.

21. It appears to us that it may be desirable at some later stage
for the State to give the sanction of law to agreements made by the
Councils, but the initiative in this direction should come from the
Councils themselves.

22. The plans sketched in the foregoing paragraphs are applicable
in the form in which they are given only to industries in which
there are responsible associations of employers and workpeople
which can claim to be fairly representative. The case of the less
well-organized trades or sections of a trade necessarily needs further
consideration. We hope to be in a position shortly to put forward
recommendations that will prepare the way for the active utilization
in these trades of the same practical cooperation as is foreshadowed
in proposals made above for the more highly-organized trades.

23. It may be desirable to state here our considered opinion that

308 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

an essential condition of securing a permanent improvement in the
relations between employers and employed is that there should be
adequate organization on the part of both employers and work-
people. The proposals outlined for joint cooperation throughout
the several industries depend for their ultimate success upon there
being such organization on both sides; and such organization is
necessary also to provide means whereby the arrangements and
agreements made for the industry may be effectively carried out.

24. We have thought it well to refrain from making suggestions
or offering opinions with regard to such matters as profit-sharing,
co-partnership, or particular systems of wages, etc. It would be
impracticable for us to make any useful general recommendations
on such matters, having regard to the varying conditions in different
trades. We are convinced, moreover, that a permanent improve-
ment in the relations between employers and employed must be
founded upon something other than a cash basis. What is wanted
is that the workpeople should have a greater opportunity of par-
ticipating in the discussion about and adjustment of those parts of
industry by which they are most affected.

25. The schemes recommended in this Report are intended not
merely for the treatment of industrial problems when they have be-
come acute, but also, and more especially, to prevent their becom-
ing acute. We believe that regular meetings to discuss industrial
questions, apart from and prior to any differences with regard to
them that may have begun to cause friction, will materially reduce
the number of occasions on which, in the view of either employers
or employed, it is necessary to contemplate recourse to a stoppage
of work.

26. We venture to hope that representative men in each industry,
with pride in their calling and care for its place as a contributor
to the national well-being, will come together in the manner here
suggested, and apply themselves to promoting industrial harmony
and efficiency and removing the obstacles that have hitherto stood
in the way.

We have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient Servants,

J. H. WHITLEY, Chairman.

F. S. BUTTON.
GEO. J. CARTER.
S. J. CHAPMAN.

G. H. CLAUGHTON.
J. R. CLYNES.

J. A. HOBSON.

APPENDIX G

309

A. SUSAN LAWRENCE.

J. J. MALLON.

T-HOS. R. RATCLIFFE-ELLIS.

ROBT. SMILLIE.

ALLAN M. SMITH.

MONA WILSON.

H. J. WILSON,
ARTHUR GREENWOOD,

Secretaries.

8th March, 1917.

APPENDIX

The following questions were addressed by the Reconstruction
Committee to the Sub-Committee on the Relations between Employ-
ers and Employed in order to make clear certain points which ap-
peared to call for further elucidation. The answers given are sub-
joined.

Q. 1. In what class of Industries does the Interim Report pro-
pose that Industrial Councils shall be established? What basis of
classification has the Sub-Committee in view?

A. 1. It has been suggested that, for the purpose of considering
the establishment of Industrial Councils, or other bodies designed to
assist in the improvement of relations between employers and em-
ployed, the various industries should be grouped into three classes —
(a) industries in which organization on the part of employers and
employed is sufficiently developed to render the Councils representa-
tive; (b) industries in which either as regards employers and em-
ployed, or both, the degree of organization, though considerable, is
less marked than in (a) and is insufficient to be regarded as repre-
sentative; and (c) industries in which organization is so imperfect,
either as regards employers or employed, or both, that no Associa-
tions can be said adequately to represent those engaged in the trade.

It will be clear that an analysis of industries will show a number
which are on the border lines between these groups, and special con-
sideration will have to be given to such trades. So far as groups
(a) and (c) are concerned, a fairly large number of trades can
readily be assigned to them; group (b) is necessarily more inde-
terminate.

For trades in group (a) the Committee have proposed the es-
tablishment of Joint Standing Industrial Councils in the several
trades. In dealing with the various industries it may be necessary

310 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to consider specially the case of parts of industries in group (a)
where organization is not fully developed.

Q. 2. Is the machinery proposed intended to be in addition to or
in substitution for existing machinery? Is it proposed that exist-
ing machinery should be superseded? By "existing machinery" is
meant Conciliation Boards and all other organizations for joint
conference and discussion between Employers and Employed.

A. 2. In most organized trades there already exist joint bodies
for particular purposes. It is not proposed that the Industrial
Councils should necessarily disturb these existing bodies. A coun-
cil would be free, if it chose and if the bodies concerned approved,
to merge existing Committees, etc., in the Council or to link them
with the Council as Sub-Committees.

Q. 3. Is it understood that membership of the Councils is to be
confined to representatives elected by Employers' Associations and
Trade Unions? What is the view of the Sub-Committee regarding
the entry of new organizations established after the Councils have
been set up?

A. 3. It is intended that the Councils should be composed only
of representatives of Trade Unions and Employers' Associations,
and that new organizations should be admitted only with the ap-
proval of the particular side of the Council of which the organiza-
tion would form a part.

Q. 4. (a) — Is it intended that decisions reached by the Councils
shall be binding upon the bodies comprising them? If so} is such
binding effect to be conditional upon the consent of each Employers'
Association or Trade Union affected?

A. 4. (a) It is contemplated that agreements reached by Indus-
trial Councils should (whilst not, of course, possessing the binding
force of law) carry with them the same obligation of observance as
exists in the case of other agreements between Employers' Associa-
tions and Trade Unions. A Council, being on its workmen's side
based on the Trade Unions concerned in the industry, its powers
or authority could only be such as the constituent Trade Unions
freely agreed to.

$.4. (b) In particular, is it intended that all pledges given either
by the Government or employers for the restoration of Trade Union
rules and practices after the war shall be redeemed without quali-
fication unless the particular Trade Union concerned agrees to al-
teration; or, on the contrary, that the Industrial Council shall have
power to decide such question by a majority vote of the workmen's
representatives from all the Trade Unions in the industry?

A. 4. (b) It is clearly intended that all pledges relating to the

APPENDIX G 311

restoration of Trade Union rules shall be redeemed without quali-
fication unless the particular Trade Union concerned agrees to al-
teration ; and it is not intended that the Council shall have power to
decide such questions by a majority vote of the workmen's repre-
sentatives from all the Trade Unions in the industry.

INDUSTRIAL. REPORTS. NUMBER 2.

WORKS COMMITTEES

REPORT OF AN ENQUIRY MADE BY THE MINISTRY OF LABOR

PREFACE

Owing to the great changes in industry which the war has pro-
duced, particularly in engineering, the need for closer relations be-
tween employer and workmen has become increasingly felt. The
old trade union machinery has often been overburdened and has
not always sufficed to deal with the innumerable questions arising
from day to day in the shops. These conditions have encouraged
the growth of Works Committees as a means of direct and constant
communication between employer and workmen, and as the forma-
tion of such Committees in industries where the conditions require
or favor them has been recommended by the Whitley Committee as
part of the industrial organization of the future, it was thought
that it would be useful to collect particulars of existing Works
Committees and to publish them for the information of those who
might be interested in the matter.

The following report is based on an inquiry made by members
of the Department as to the constitution and working of Works
Committees in a number of different industries, including Engi-
neering, Shipbuilding, Iron and Steel, Boot and Shoe, Mining,
Printing, Woolen and Worsted, Pottery, and Furniture. The en-
quiry did not aim at being exhaustive, but an attempt was made
to examine carefully typical committees in the chief industries where
they were known to exist, with a view to bringing out the different
objects, functions, methods of procedure, and constitutions which
have been tried in actual practice. The opinions of those interested
in the Committees, on the side both of the management and of
the workmen, have been sought, and the sincere thanks of the De-
partment are due to Directors, Managers, Trade Union officials,
Shop Stewards, and others for their courtesy and the trouble they

312 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

have taken to help the enquiry at a time when all were burdened by
the extra duties imposed on them by the war. Our special thanks
are also due to the Ministry of Munitions of War and the Admiralty
Shipyard Labor Department, and to those individuals, firms, Com-
mittees and Associations who have given permission for the publica-
tion of the particulars of Works Committees which appear in the
Appendices.

No attempt has been made to draw any general conclusions or
to sketch any ideal form of Works Committee. The object aimed
at has been to present the facts as accurately as possible, to point
out the various difficulties which have been encountered and the
various methods which have been devised to meet them. In this way
it was hoped that this Report might be of some value as furnish-
ing guidance and suggestions to those who are concerned with
working out the problem of Works Committees for their own indus-
try or their own establishment.

Since this volume was prepared, the Whitley Committee have is-
sued their Third Report which deals with Works Committees and
which recommends the collection of information regarding exist-
ing Works Committees.

D. J. SHACKLETON.

MINISTRY OF LABOR.
March, 1918.

WORKS COMMITTEES

I. — INTRODUCTION

The extent of the existence of Works Committees before the war
is largely a matter of definition. Our estimate of their scope will
vary according as we give the term a wide interpretation, or confine
it to committees representative of all the workpeople in an es-
tablishment. Works Committees in this latter sense of the term
existed before the war in various industries, and in some instances
they had been in existence for many years. If the term is in-
terpreted in a wide sense, and taken to include various kinds of
committees, such as those representative of individual trades or
departments, or those which have come into existence at particular
times and for limited purposes, the number in existence before the
war is greatly increased. In certain industries, however, notably
engineering, the conditions of war have produced such a change in
both the form and function of workshop organization, that the dis-
cussion of the general idea of Works Committees may be said to

APPENDIX G 313

have developed out of those conditions. Since, however, the Works
Committee, on the whole, springs from the common methods of
trade union organization inside the workshop, as they existed long
before the beginning of the war, some reference to these methods
is necessary as an introduction to this report upon some of the com-
mittees which are now in operation.

Before this works organization is considered, it may be noted
that certain of the immediate causes which have led to the rise of
works committees during the war — the methods of remuneration
(piecework or profit-sharing or bonus on output), welfare, collec-
tions for charity, and, to some extent, dilution also — were already
operative in the formation of earlier Works Committees.

Works Committees before the War.

The majority of Trade Unions have official shop stewards, though
these officials may be known by some other name — such as "shop
delegates," "works representatives," "collectors," "yard committee-
men," or, in one case at least, "works directors." In certain cases
also the name committee — Watch or Vigilant Committee — is at-
tached to the body of shop stewards in an establishment. It may
even be said that the Works Committee is older than trade union-
ism; the "chapel," for instance (the ancient organization of the
workmen in each printing office), goes back much farther than the
end of the 17th century. Such shop clubs were not confined to any
one industry. They were, however, quite different things from a
works organization formed of representatives of permanent Trade
Unions, and would now be represented by a committee of workers
in a non-Union shop. To-day the duties of the "chapel," as laid
down in the rules of various unions in the industry, include those
discharged by shop stewards in many other trades. Apart from
(1) functions obviously intended to sustain the fabric of the Trade
Union — the collection of dues, the interrogation of defaulters and
newcomers, and the like — the duties of shop stewards are stated in
the rules of different Unions to include (2) the regular supply to
the branch or district committee of information respecting any
encroachment upon recognized Trade Union conditions, participa-
tion in deputations to the management in connection with griev-
ances,1 the calling of shop meetings of the members to discuss

i Participation in deputations to the management has naturally
tended to the formation of committees. This may have happened when
representatives of different trades joined together to present common
grievances; the management may again have suggested the formation
of a committee as an alternative to a number of sectional deputations.

314 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

grievances, etc. The stewards are in one case held "responsible for
the conduct of the shop according to rules." The actual degree of
organization of the shop stewards varies among the Trade Unions.
In some cases all the shop stewards of a Union in a district hold
regular meetings once a month with the district committee of the
Union. Certain Unions supply their shop stewards with official
cards. In other cases, however, there is no regular machinery for
consultation between the shop stewards and the Union officials, and
no certificates of official recognition are supplied to the shop
stewards. There is variety also in regard to the election and the
deposition of shop stewards; some hold office for a definite period,
while others may be deposed at any time. Most commonly the
election is made in the department by the men of the Union, though
there are cases in which appointment to the office is made by Trade
Union branches.

(1) In regard to the first-mentioned duties of shop stewards — the
collection of subscriptions and the examination of credentials of
membership — two facts may be noted. The first is that such meth-
ods of organization are not confined to workers whose daily work is
done in a fixed establishment, but are also used on certain forms of
more or less migratory work, such as building construction. The
"ticket" steward commonly examines new men taken into employ-
ment on a building job. The second fact to be noted is that in
certain industries, in a number of areas, a regular system of Works
Committees, linked together in district organizations, had developed
several years before the war for the purpose of the more efficient
achievement of these objects.

(2) But both in theory and in practice the work of shop stew-
ards— or of committees of shop stewards — has generally extended
beyond these functions. As an example of practice, the apparently
unsuitable case of building work may first be taken. Committees —
somewhat loosely organized it may be, but nevertheless committees,
and so considered by those responsible for their formation — have
been formed in the building trade; and the scope of these commit-
tees has embraced the second and wider class of duties mentioned
above. It has for years been common in certain districts for the

The appointment of deputations of workpeople to meet the management
is, of course, not confined to trade unionist workmen; it has always
been a feature of modern industry in both organized and unorganized
establishments. In organized establishments, however, there has always
been a tendency for the shop stewards to be represented on such depu-
tations.

APPENDIX G 315

"ticket" stewards on a big building job to come together, and to
elect a secretary, who in some cases (it may be noted) has been a
representative of the laborers. Such a committee of stewards may
make representations to, or be consulted by, the employer on ques-
tions such as the proper allocation of work in order that sufficient
inside operations may be reserved for wet weather. Another ques-
tion which such committees have been known to bring forward is
that of extra payment in consequence of the inconvenient situation
of some particular job. (This, perhaps, is strictly Trade Union
business.) In demanding adequate provision for the heating of
tea cans and for the enjoyment of meals such committees may be
said to have anticipated in their own way the modern Welfare
Committee. In many industries the same combination of shop
stewards and the same practice of making united representations
to the employer — a practice not necessarily "recognized" — have been
attempted at different times and with varying degrees of success.
In some cases in which such methods have been successfully applied
in engineering and shipbuilding the initiative has come from the
side of the management. It remains true, of course, that the shop
steward system up to the present has been in the main only a trade
system, and that the committees formed under it can be classed
under Works Committees only if the term is given the wide scope
mentioned at the beginning of this report. If the term is used in
this wider sense, committees will be found to have existed for many
years in a number of industries where piecework is in operation.
Some of these are dealt with in a later paragraph.

Another of the functions of shop stewards — the calling of shop
meetings — appears to form the basis of a system of Works Com-
mittees in certain industries, which include, at any rate in some
districts, the furnishing trades. The shop meeting, for which the
rules of most Trade Unions make provision, is a meeting of the
members of a Union; but the term has another meaning which has
gained currency during the war — viz., a meeting of all the trades
in a works — and it is interesting to note that, in part, at least, of
the furnishing industry, this has long been the recognized meaning.
Here the meetings are regular (monthly), and the stewards, not
necessarily drawn from all the trades, make their report about mem-
bership and the like. The shop stewards in a furnishing works
may in this way form a Works Committee with a secretary. At the
same time it would appear that for the settlement of piece prices
certain Unions in the furnishing trades, such as that of the up-
holsterers, work through their own shop stewards.1

i The position in the furnishing trade is somewhat indefinite. Some

316 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Committees for the arrangement of piece prices, which are found
in a great variety of industries, are convenient examples of (a)
trade or departmental organization as contrasted with works or-
ganization; and (b) the informal nature and composition of many
committees. In regard to (a), the method of the upholsterers has
already been mentioned. Usually there are only a small number of
upholsterers in any one establishment; fifteen would mean a very
considerable firm. In smaller establishments the shop steward or
stewards of the Union usually carry through the negotiations for any
new work not covered by the shop "log," or list of piece prices. If
they are unsuccessful, the full-time Trade Union official comes into
the bargaining operations. In one establishment, however, in which
an exceptionally large number of upholsterers are employed in
several departments or "floors," the Departmental or Trade Com-
mittee has been in existence for many years. This is composed of
all the stewards — three elected from each of the "floors" — and from
this committee again three head stewards are chosen. For the par-
ticular work of any floor the appropriate stewards undertake the
preliminary negotiations; but if these are unsuccessful, the ques-
tion in dispute will come before the committee, and be dealt with
by the head stewards in consultation with the management before
it is — probably with the assent of a shop meeting — given into the
hands of the Trade Union official. The pottery industry supplies
examples of both (a) and (b). Pricing Committees are found in
most sections of the trade; and there may be several committees in
a single factory. In the sanitary trade a standing committee is
usual. In many factories, however, the method employed is for
the operative concerned to call in two or three mates to assist him
in arranging the price of a new job. The men called in need not
be the same on each occasion. The existence of several committees
in one factory may be exemplified by an establishment in the Jet and
Rockingham branch of the industry, in which there have been for
many years Pricing Committees for jiggerers (makers), turners
and handlers. In this case none but Trade Unionists can sit on the

years ago there would appear to have been Joint Committees of employ-
ers and employees in several districts, but these have disappeared. A
system of Departmental Committees for the fixing of rates for sub-
normal workers is still in operation in certain districts, and was more
common until quite recently, when piecework was abolished in some
areas. In a few establishments these committees appear to have been
Works and not Departmental Committees. These committees are ad
hoc bodies, called into being for a particular purpose by the shop
steward (or stewards) who form the element of continuity.

APPENDIX G 317

committee; but this is by no means a universal rule. In works,
however, in which there are Trade Unionists the practice is to elect
to the committee one (or more) of them, who is expected to serve
as a connecting link between the committee and the District Com-
mittee of the Trade Union.

The position of the "chapel" in relation to the London com-
positors' scale is an old and well-established case of a works organi-
zation taking part among other functions in the regulation of piece-
work.

In other trades in which piecework is in operation, and where
complete standardization of lists has been found impracticable, meth-
ods more or less similar to those mentioned above are found. In
this connection the development of Works Committees in engineer-
ing establishments during the war is significant. The engineering
trades have always resisted piecework; but, at the same time, they
have generally bargained on an individual basis for any work
done on this system. The extension of piecework and the growth
of the method of collective bargaining in the shop — by Works Com-
mittees or stewards — have gone on side by side; and it would
appear that, to a considerable degree, the one is the immediate
cause of the other. Even in industries in which price lists for
piecework are used there are commonly occasions on which a par-
ticular job is not covered by the list, and in certain cases jobs can-
not be listed at all. In this connection it may be noted that in
mining the method of joint pit committees — as well as the Joint
District Board — has been in operation in certain districts for a
long time, and the method is embodied in the rules of various dis-
tricts under the Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act of 1912. In
several districts disputes as to whether a workman has forfeited
his right to the minimum must be discussed by two officials of the
mine and two representatives of the local lodge of the Union before
they are taken to the district Joint Board committee, and in one
district the representatives from each side are four in number.

The fact that in many mining districts the Trade Union branch —
or lodge — is composed only of the men working in one pit makes
the Lodge Committee in effect a Pit Committee.1 It is not a com-
plete Works Committee — in the stricter sense of the term — except
in those places in which the enginemen and certain other workers,
who commonly belong to other Unions, are members of the local

i Even where the basis of the miners' branch is not the pit but, say,
the village, each of the several pits in the village commonly has its com-
mittee.

318 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Miners' association. The tendency of certain other Unions — e.g.,
those in the iron and steel industry — to organize on the basis of
the works is interesting from the same standpoint.1

It may be noted that in many cases Conciliation Boards are really
Works Committees. This is so when the joint board is composed
of representatives of the workpeople in one establishment and of
members of the firm. Such boards — with varying degrees of con-
nection between the workmen's side and the Trade Unions — have
been formed in individual establishments belonging to a variety of
industries.

Nomenclature.

A distinction must be drawn between "Works Committees" and
"Shop Committees." The former cover the whole of a works (or
even, in some cases, the whole of two or three contiguous works) ;
the latter cover a particular department or shop in a works. Among
Works Committees it is possible to distinguish three varieties. The
first and main variety may be called the "Industrial Committee."
Such a committee, generally constituted on a Trade Union basis,
deals with particular questions affecting the conditions and re-
muneration of labor in a given works — questions of principle being
reserved for the district or national organizations concerned. It is
this variety which, being the most important, is often called by the
general name of Works Committee. A second variety may be called
the "Welfare Committee." Such a committee, representing as a
rule all the workers in a given works, deals with what may be termed
works amenities — ventilation, sanitation, and the like. A third va-
riety, which may be merged with the second, or may be distinct, is
the "Social Union," or, more exactly, the committee governing the
Social Union, where one exists, of the workers employed in the
same establishment. Such a committee is concerned with games,
recreations, study-circles, picnics and the like.

Apart from these main types there are, of course, local varieties
of all sorts. There may be, for instance, a separate "Mess-room
Committee"; or, again, there may be a separate "Women's Com-
mittee." There may be a committee peculiar to a small section of
workers (e.g., tool-makers), which handles a large and important
area of functions in regard to those workers. Finally, even though
there is no regular or standing Works Committees, it may be the

i It may be noted that the circumstances of industry in general in the
18th and early 19th century made for a greater correspondence between
organization by locality and organization by establishment than exists
to-day.

APPENDIX G 319

case that committees are created ad hoc whenever an important
question arises in a works, and that these committees are consulted
by the management with a view to settling such questions. This
indeed is the procedure followed in some of the works where the re-
lations of management and men are most amicable. In some cases
the committee so formed consists of the shop stewards of the separ-
ate trades.

It may be added that some committees are "joint," and embrace
representatives of both men and management, meeting together in
regular session; while others (and this is the general rule) are com-
mittees of workmen only, but meet the management from time to
time (sometimes regularly, and sometimes occasionally; sometimes
directly, and sometimes through their chairman or secretary) to
settle grievances and to give or receive information.

Various names have been applied to committees formed during
the war. particularly to those formed to deal with such questions
as timekeeping. Among the names are u Workers' Advisory Board,"
"Works' Tribunal," "Vigilant Committee," and "Works' Council." 1

II. ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF WAE DEVELOPMEN 7 S

The causes which have brought Works Committees into existence
during the war, and the circumstances attending their origin, are
naturally very different. A classification of origins may, however,
be attempted under the following heads: —

(1) Shop stewards.

(2) Dilution.

(3) Methods of remuneration.

(4) Timekeeping.

(5) Welfare.

(6) War charity.

(7) Other causes.

Shop Stewards.

To a very considerable extent the first three headings must be
treated together. This is particularly true of engineering works.
It has already been pointed out that shop stewards with a con-
siderable range of duties were a normal feature of Trade Union
organization before the war. It has also been seen that, though

i "Works Committee," it may be noted, is sometimes taken to mean
only a Joint Committee of management and employees. The name is
not used in this narrow sense in this report. "Shop Committee" is
sometimes used in the sense in which "Works Committee" is defined
above, i.e., for a committee covering not merely a department but the
whole of a work§.

320 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

for the most part these stewards acted only for their own separate
organizations, this was not their only method of operation. One
effect of the war has been to enhance the position and prestige of
the shop stewards. The loss of the right to strike has depressed
the position of Trade Union officials, who were thus deprived of
the chief weapon they controlled and, if they had organized strikes,
would have been liable to prosecution. Under these conditions the
shop stewards, more unknown and therefore less exposed, began to
exercise more power. Nor was this all. In an industry such as
engineering, questions of dilution and, again, of payment by results
raised matters of detail which needed some shop machinery for
their solution. Such questions often concerned the members of
several Unions in the same establishment; and the common interest
of men working side by side often led to concerted action. Though
many Works Committees instituted during the war can be traced
to one or other of these sources, and though most of the committees
thus called into existence may be said to have worked to the satis-
faction of all grades of workpeople, it is true that in certain cases
the question of dilution has produced committees of shop stewards
with conflicting interests. In certain places two committees have
been formed, one composed of the shop stewards of the skilled
trades, and the other confined to the stewards of the Unions repre-
senting the unskilled and semi-skilled men.

It may be added that this tendency among workpeople to bring
their organization more closely to bear upon workshop conditions
is to be seen in industries which have been much less affected by
the war than engineering. The tendency preceded, but has been
strengthened by the war.

Dilution.

To gain the consent of the National Unions was not in itself
enough to settle the question of dilution; for it is obvious that in
a complicated trade such as engineering, with its many varieties,
questions of detail might arise in almost every works which needed
some machinery for their solution. This has led to the introduction
of Dilution Committees in many establishments. These committees,
consisting of representatives of the workers (mainly, of course,
the skilled workers), discuss with the management on what ma-
chines or processes, to what extent, and under what conditions dilu-
tion shall be introduced. Committees of this character, dealing
with an important range of economic questions, have often been
led to raise other questions than that of dilution, and to bring for-
ward for discussion with the management, with which they were

APPENDIX G 321

being brought into constant contact by the problems of dilution,
questions and grievances of a general character. Sometimes the
committee has remained in name a Dilution Committee, while it
was in reality a Works Committee. Sometimes a definite change
has been made, and the Dilution Committee, with more or less
change in its composition, has been turned into a Works Commit-
tee. In any case, the problem of dilution has been one of the most
potent forces in forwarding the movement towards Works Commit-
tees. Though there has been a marked tendency for Dilution Com-
mittees to develop into Works Committees, it may be noted that
in one or two cases the Dilution Committee was formed after, and
as a sub-committee of, the Works Committee.

The importance of the connection between a Works Committee
and the Trade Unions is indicated by complaints that Dilution
Committees' negotiations have violated Trade Union agreements.

Methods of Remuneration.

One of the necessities of the war has been to increase output;
and one method which suggested itself for this purpose was that of
payment by results in trades where timework was the normal prac-
tice. In many trades any system of piecework is very unpopular,
and, in the past, has been strongly opposed. This is true of engi-
neering, where the Unions had left any piecework which was intro-
duced to the control of individual bargaining. The rapid extension
of piecework in such trades has led to a variety of forms of col-
lective bargaining. In some establishments a new piece-price is
submitted to the Works Committee before it is discussed with the
individual workman. In others an Appeals Committee has been
instituted to consider and bring forward complaints against piece-
prices or premium bonus times fixed by the management. In others,
again, something on the lines previously mentioned as existing in
parts of the pottery industry has been developed; and prices have
been discussed, not with the individual workman, but with the
workman and two or three of his mates on similar work. In other
establishments various forms of collective or group bonus on output
(or output value) have been adopted; and in some of these cases
committees have been formed either temporarily, in order to dis-
cuss the introduction of the new method, or permanently, in order
to supervise its working. In other cases committees have been
formed to deal with timekeeping bonuses or profit-sharing schemes.1

i A great variety of bonus schemes is in operation in munitions fac-
tories, many of which are not understood by the workpeople concerned.
It would appear to be necessary that not only should there be a com-

322 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Committees connected with methods of remuneration are not, in
themselves, Works Committees proper. They may be committees
representing only a small section of the establishment (e. g., the
toolmakers), while the rest of the workmen in the establishment
are not concerned and are represented by no committee. They
may, again, be partial in scope as well as in membership, and deal
with no other matters than that of a bonus. This, however, is un-
likely and seems unusual. A committee connected with a bonus
system often comes to embrace a wider scope, and will bring forward,
or be consulted by the management about, other matters.

Timekeeping.

Committees whose sole function, or one of whose main functions,
is the improvement of timekeeping, have been instituted in the coal
mining industry, at the ironworks in Cleveland and Durham, and in
a number of engineering and munitions factories. The Pithead,
or Output, or Absentee, Committees, as they are variously called,
commonly deal with the negligence of mine officials as well as with
cases of absenteeism. The committees at the Cleveland and Dur-
ham blast furnaces are confined to the one function of improvement
of timekeeping.

Welfare.

The strain of the war has introduced conditions which have made
it necessary to consider ways of promoting the physical welfare
of the workers. Long hours have been worked; night shifts have
been added to day shifts; workshops have sometimes been crowded;
the introduction of women workers by the side of men, in occu-
pations where women had not previously been employed, has raised
a number of questions. Matters such as the best distribution of
working hours, the provision of canteens and mess-rooms, and the
improvement of ventilation and sanitation, have all demanded at-
tention. On such matters, where the interest of the workers is
paramount, the simplest course is obviously to consult them, and to
receive their complaints and suggestions through their own ac-
credited representatives. This course has been adopted in a number
of establishments; and the result has been the institution of a Wel-
fare Committee, which has eased the situation by removing, or pre-
venting the rise of, a number of grievances. The workmen have

mittee to supervise such schemes, but that a "Particulars Clause" should
be made obligatory on the employer. Arbitration awards have in indi-
vidual cases made one or both of these methods of control part of their
findings.

APPENDIX G

thus been allowed a voice in regard to the conditions under which
they labor, and these Welfare Committees, though they can hardly
be called Works Committees, may be said to prepare the ground.
They serve to engender something of a spirit of community in the
works, and to help the workmen to feel that they have a common
interest as workers in the same establishment.

War Charity.

In several ".ases (for instance in the Glasgow district) commit-
tees have been formed to administer funds raised in the works for
the purpose of Helping dependents of workmen who have joined the
Colors. These committees form a germ which may develop, and
here and there has developed, into Works Committees capable of
entertaining grievances or raising general questions and bringing
them to the notice of the management. Where the firm has sub-
scribed to the works' fund, and has been represented on the Com-
mittee of Management, the nucleus of a Joint Committee is ob-
viously present.

Other Causes.

In much the same way committees formed in an establishment
for social purposes prepare the ground, if they do nothing more,
for the institution of Works Committees. They help to create the
habit of common action through representatives; and accustoming
the men of different crafts and different Unions to act together
for purposes of a social nature, they gradually lead to the adoption
of the idea that a certain range of industrial questions may be
treated in the same way. In some of the best establishments which
have recently instituted Works Committees the success of these
committees is largely attributed to the work which committees of a
social character have done in preparing the ground.

It is believed that the ways indicated are those in which Works
Committees have mainly tended to arise. In a subject of such
variety, however, it is impossible to make any exhaustive enumera-
tion. Often the institution of a Works Committee is due to the
initiative of an employer or manager who desires to give the work-
people a larger control over working conditions or who finds that
his task is greatly eased if he can deal with an accredited repre-
sentative of the workmen. Sometimes a committee may have arisen
in connection with a particular dispute and for negotiating a set-
tlement, and may then, in the issue, be adopted as a permanent
mode of working. In certain cases during the war, as before it,

324 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the creation of a Works Committee has been one of the terms of
settlement of a dispute.

III. — CONSTITUTION

The constitution of a Works Committee naturally varies with its
functions. A Welfare Committee, handling questions in which the
difference between unionist and non-unionist workmen, or again the
difference between different Unions of workmen, hardly arises, will
tend to be composed of representatives of all the workers, elected
without regard to differences of craft or grade or occupation. An
Industrial Committee, handling as it does questions in which differ-
ences of skill or of craft are concerned, will involve a new range of
considerations. It may be necessary to consider the relation of
such a committee, if one is instituted, to the existing industrial
organization of the workmen in the works in the shape of shop stew-
ards or delegates; and, again, it may be necessary to consider
whether management and labor should sit together as a Joint Com-
mittee (and, if so, in what proportions), or whether the Works Com-
mittee should be one of workers only, with opportunities of ready
access to the management — and ultimately, it may be, to the di-
rectors— when such access is desired.

The last point may be taken first. Joint Committees are rare.1
There are some committees of this nature, containing two or three
representatives of the management and about a dozen representa-
tives of the workmen, which meet at regular intervals — in one case
from week to week, but more often at longer intervals. Even when
the Committee is a Joint Committee, however, some provision has
generally to be made for separate meetings of the representatives
of the workers; and, as a rule, Works Committees appear to be
committees of the workers only, with regular facilities for consulta-
tion with the management, either at fixed intervals or whenever oc-
casion arises. Joint Committees may ultimately come to be the
normal form, but in the preliminary stage of development it seems
likely that committees of workers only, with regular facilities for
access to the management, will generally be the form adopted.

Where the committee is a Joint Committee, the idea of the joint
meeting is probably first mooted by the management; and unless
the workers' side is already in existence the management may sug-

i This statement applies to committees whose work is not strictly lim-
ited to one or two functions. The actual number of Joint Committees
is large if we include the "Absentee" Committees at coal mines and the
Timekeeping Committees at ironworks.

APPENDIX G 325

gest the basis of composition and the methods of election of the
committee. Where, however, the committee is a committee of work-
men only, it is advisable (whether the idea of such a committee
is suggested by the management or develops spontaneously among
the workmen), that the workmen should be left to determine the
basis of its composition and the method of its election for them-
selves.

Two main methods appear to prevail in regard to the composition
of a Works Committee of the second type mentioned above.

(a) The committee may be elected by all the workmen employed,
each department or shop being treated as a constituency, and re-
turning a number of members, perhaps in proportion to its size.
This appears to be the simplest method and is found even in works
in which the workers have already an industrial organization in the
shape of shop stewards or delegates.1 This is the case in most
works, and in such cases it may be advisable to build on the existing
organization. This brings us to the second main possibility.

(b) The committee may be a committee of the shop stewards
of the different Unions represented in the works, or, in a large
works where shop stewards are numerous, a committee elected by
the shop stewards. In one works, for instance, which employs about
3,000 workmen, the Works Committee (in this case a Joint Com-
mittee) contains 12 representatives of the workmen elected by the
shop stewards (some 40 in number) of the various Unions repre-
sented in the works. In another works a committee of seven
shop stewards meets the management monthly and discusses ques-
tions which its members and the management have asked to have
placed on the agenda.

The two methods which have just been described represent the
two possibilities at either end of the scale; but various methods
may be employed \\hich combine, or come as it were between, these
two possibilities. Even where the committee is elected by all the
workmen, unionist or non-unionist, voting by departments, the ten-
dency, if the works is strongly unionist, is towards the election of
representatives who are all unionists and are also, either altogether
or in part, shop stewards of their Unions. In one works with
4,000 workmen the Works Committee of 21 members, elected by a
general vote of the men workers, is entirely composed of shop stew-

i This method of departmental election commonly results in a commit-
tee, all the members of which are shop stewards. But even when this
is so, a majority of the shop stewards may not be on the committee;
and the members may be drawn from a minority of the Unions.

326 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ards. In another works, with 3,500 workmen, in which a Works
Committee has existed for about 10 years, all the workmen in any
department may vote, but only unionist workmen can be elected,
and half of the members of the Works Committee are shop stewards.

Another method which deserves special notice is that of election
on the basis of Unions, all the members of a Union in the works
electing a certain number of representatives. The number of mem-
bers to which a Union is entitled may vary in direct proportion (or
in some other way) with its membership in the works. Thus, in a
scheme under consideration for an engineering works, representation
on this basis gives seven members to three General Labor Unions,
eight members to the largest Union of skilled men, two members
o each of two other Unions of skilled men, and one member to each
of seven other skilled Unions. This method — since in an engineer-
ing establishment the members of a Union may be distributed
through several departments, in each of which there may be a shop
steward or stewards of the Union — is not necessarily identical with
that in which the shop stewards of the different Unions in each
department form the committee. In several iron and steel works
the method of election appears to be by the members of each branch
of a Union who are working in the establishment.

In one such case the right to representation is stated to belong
to the branch because it has members in the works. The statement,
however, is qualified in order to cover the case of a Trade Union
branch — e. g., of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers or the
Bricklayers' Union — only some of whose members may be employed
in the particular works. In their case only the members of the
branch employed in the works make the appointment; and from the
nature of the case the representative so appointed is almost bound
to be the person acting as shop steward for the Union in the
works. This, combined with the fact that the branches of the iron
and steel Trade Unions correspond to sections or departments of
workers in a single works, makes such branch representation sim-
ilar to departmental representation. Another feature of this sys-
tem is that the secretary of any branch who is working in the
establishment — this is almost bound to be the case with branches
the membership of which is confined to the works — is, ex o/ficio, a
member of the committee. The draft proposals for representation
now being discussed by the shipbuilding trades in one district are
to the effect that each Works Committee should be composed of a
certain number of representatives from the men of each trade or
Union employed in the yard, and that among the representatives

APPENDIX G

327

of each trade or Union one at least should be an official shop
steward. Some of the Unions in the shipbuilding industry include,
it may be noted, several trades, and the official yard delegates (or
shop stewards) of the several trades in one Union often form a
Yard Committee for such functions as the inspection of Union cards.

Other methods found in practice are election of all the members
by the whole of the employees in an establishment voting as one
constituency, and election by occupations or trades.

In some works there is one committee for skilled men and another
for unskilled or semi-skilled. In several large engineering es-
tablishments, for instance, there are two Committees of Shop Stew-
ards, one for craftsmen, and another for semi-skilled men and la-
borers. Generally, however, there is only one committee for both
sets of workmen.1 The persons elected to such a committee are in
certain cases drawn solely from the ranks of the skilled craftsmen,
though there may be unskilled men (and stewards of unskilled
Unions) in the works. The exclusion of any direct representation
of the unskilled men in such circumstances is generally due to the
same cause as the absence of any direct representation of the
smaller craft Unions, viz., the fact that a department's repre-
sentative tends to belong to the Union which has most members in
the department. There are certainly cases in which this apparent
exclusion of representation of the interests of the unskilled is a
source of friction between the different classes of workers; and the
presence in some works of separate committees is the extreme ex-
pression of such difference in interest. It is argued that the un-
skilled men — though they may be excluded by exactly similar cir-
cumstances— are in a different position from a minority of skilled
men who may be excluded from direct representation, in that the
interests of the latter, being akin to their own, are better under-
stood by, and receive more sympathetic consideration from, the

1 A Works Committee in a Midlands munitions factory has just been
reconstituted. Previously departmental election had produced a com-
mittee all the members of which were skilled trade unionists. The new
method gives separate representation to (i) skilled men, (ii) semi-
skilled and unskilled men, and (iii) women employees. This scheme,
advocated and carried through by the secretary, who is an official of his
own Union, is designed to give all grades in the works an active interest
in the committee. It is hoped that later the separate representation of
the different grades in each department may not be necessary; previ-
ously the grades not directly represented have not opposed the commit-
tee, which has been very successful, but they have not shown as much
interest in it as is desired.

328 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

skilled men on the committee. It would nevertheless appear that
most committees appointed on a departmental basis do succeed in
representing fairly the interests of all their constituents; and it is
claimed that the committee member tends to look upon himself not
as the representative of a particular craft or section in the depart-
ment, but as the representative of the department as a whole.

The position of women workers is in some respects analogous to
that of unskilled workmen. In some cases they have a vote for
the Works Committee elected by the various departments, and they
may have a representative of their own on that committee; in
other cases representation is secured to women's departments as
such. Sometimes, even where women are excluded from voting, the
Works Committee may represent their interests; and it may en-
tertain and bring before the notice of the management grievances
of women workers and questions affecting their interests and the
conditions of their labor. Occasionally, though this is rare, there
is a separate committee to represent the interests of women workers.

From what has been said it is obvious that the constitution of a
Works Committee raises a number of questions. (1) In the first
place, there is the question whether the committee should be based
on the industrial organization of shop stewards, where such or-
ganization is in existence, or should be based on a general vote.
(2) In the next place, assuming the latter alternative to be adopted,
there is the question whether all the workers should vote, and, if so,
how the constituencies should be arranged, or whether only unionist
workers should vote, and, if so, how and in what proportions the
different Unions should be represented. (3) Further, there is the
question whether there should be a single committee, or one com-
mittee for skilled and another for unskilled workers; and (4) finally,
there is the question whether women workers should have a sepa-
rate committee or be represented through the general committee
of the works.

No general answer can be given to any or all of these questions.
The circumstances of different works vary, and each type has
to find its own solution.

Wherever it is possible, a committee of shop stewards or Trade
Union representatives would appear to be the best solution.1 At
the same time, it is important to secure that the size of the commit-
tee, while large enough to be representative, should not be so large

i As will be seen from the appendices, individual committees formed
on very different lines have been in every way successful. Since, how-
ever, the problem from the point of view of the well organized indus-

APPENDIX G 329

as to make it unwieldy, and that, as far as possible, there should
be direct representation of each department. The size of the com-
mittees actually in existence varies; some committees have 12 mem-
bers, some have upwards of 30. The smaller number seems more
likely to be effective. It may be necessary, therefore, that a Works
Committee, if it contains a large number of members, should ap-
point a smaller committee of itself; and that, while the manage-
ment should be in regular contact with the smaller committee, ques-
tions of difficulty should be referred by the smaller committee to
the larger, the management meeting the larger committee in case of
need. In its choice of the smaller committee the Works Commit-
tee could allocate a place, or a number of places, to each depart-
ment or group of departments. Another method of electing a
committee of manageable size would be that from the stewards in
each department (or, in certain cases, groups of departments) one
should be appointed by a general election held in the department
or by the departmental stewards themselves. In certain cases, in
large works, it may be desirable that the stewards in each depart-
ment should form Shop Committees, with which the general com-
mittee could keep in touch and from which its members could
learn the needs and the complaints of each department. Another
variant is that sub-committees instead of being departmental should
be functional, i.e.} should each deal with a particular matter or
set of matters such as dilution, piecework, suggestions of improve-
ments, etc.

The existing Works Committees have generally two officers, a
chairman and a secretary. The tenure of office .of the committee
is often unfixed. Where it is fixed, it may be for six months or

tries is complicated by the existence of poorly organized areas, a
pioposal under consideration by a firm in which considerably less than
half of the employees are trade unionists may be noted. The proposal
is that the Works Committee should be composed of departmental rep-
resentatives, who will include the shop stewards, and that from this
committee as a whole, or from the shop steward and the non-shop stew-
ard sections of it separately, there should be elected a small number of
representatives of the workers to sit on a Joint Committee. The pro-
posal was made as a means of combining (a-) the recognition of shop
stewards and (6) the representation of all the workpeople on the Joint
Committee, without duplication of committees for different functions.
The firm, which recognizes the Unions and whose conditions are above
the district standards, intends that the Joint Committee should deal
with a very wide range of subjects, only some of which are shop steward
questions.

330 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

for a year.1 A fixed tenure, provided that it is not too short,
seems desirable; a new election will reinvigorate the committee
and if the workmen in general have any feeling which the com-
mittee has failed to express, it will give a chance for its expres-
sion.

The desirability of election by secret ballot has been emphasized
by many employers and by some Trade Unionists.

IV. — PROCEDURE

Some Works Committees have regular meetings with the man-
agement, at intervals of a week, a fortnight or a month. A list
of agenda is circulated and regular minutes are kept. In one es-
tablishment where this is done the men's chairman presides at one
fortnightly meeting and a representative of the management at the
next. In other cases the meetings are not regular, but are held
whenever occasion arises. Arguments may be used both for and
against a system of regular meetings. It may be urged in their
favor that they provide a known and regular time for raising a
question; that they enable questions to be raised in their initial
stages, whereas, if meetings are not held until occasion arises, a
question may have grown acute before a meeting is held; and,
finally, that by bringing representatives of the management and
the men into constant contact, they accustom either side to seeing
and understanding the point of view of the other. It may be urged,
on the other hand, that if meetings are regular, and at frequent
intervals, there may often be no business to be done, and that
the effect may be either to make the committee slack, or to induce
the more restless members to manufacture business by finding
grievances and discovering difficulties. In any case it may be sug-
gested that the main thing is not so much regularity of meetings, as
what may be called the principle of the open door. If the men
know that their representatives have access to the management,
and if they know that the management, on its side, is ready to
consult their representatives, the success of the main function of
the committee is secured. The number of times at which a gen-
eral Works Committee needs to meet the management will vary
with the type of works and with the degree to which sectional
questions can be handled by such a committee. One committee, in
an establishment in which relations have always been good, has

i In certain exceptional cases committee members are elected monthly
and the secretary quarterly.

APPENDIX G 331

met the management on an average three times a year in the last
twenty-four years, though in the last three years, owing to the
number of questions raised by the war, the average number of
meetings in each year has been seven. During the whole existence
of the committee, however, the right of the separate trade delegates
to meet the management has been freely used. Employers com-
plain that workpeople tend to want all questions settled offhand,
and fail to realize that investigation may be necessary; and one
argument in favor of regular meetings is that they form a perma-
nent and businesslike substitute for frequent sectional deputa-
tions. There would appear to be many questions which can be set-
tled in a more satisfactory way if they are discussed and investi-
gated at regular joint meetings. This method, however, cannot be
applied indiscriminately; there will always be matters of urgency
which must be taken up as they arise; and sectional questions may,
in certain cases, be better treated apart from the regular meetings
of a general Works Committee.

One other caution may be suggested in this connection. Works
Committees instituted in engineering establishments during the
course of the war have naturally found abundant work. The same
will probably be true of the period of reconstruction after the end
of the war. It is possible, however, that under normal conditions
a system of weekly or fortnightly meetings might prove unneces-
sary. It may be suggested, therefore, that a distinction may be
drawn, on the point of frequency of meetings, between what may
be called "the emergency period" and the period of normal condi-
tions.

Another question of procedure, which also bears on the matter
of frequency of meetings, is connected with the position of the sec-
retary of a Works Committee. In many establishments which have
Works Committees a large part of the active work which they entail
is done by the secretary. Difficulties are reported to him by the
workmen concerned either directly or through a member of the
committee, and he, after consultation with the committee (or, it
may be, in lesser matters, immediately), brings the difficulties be-
fore the management. Such difficulties may often be settled at
once, and their settlement simply reported to the Works Committee.
A great deal of work may thus be thrown upon the secretary in
consulting the workmen concerned and in interviewing the manage-
ment, and the position is thus one which offers a great deal of scope
to a man of capacity. Such a man may largely carry on his shoul-
ders the current work, and the committee may only need to deal
with larger questions. But the position has its difficulties, and

332 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

there are two matters which deserve particular notice. One of
these is the question of the secretary or chairman's moving about
the works during working hours, and entering departments other
than his own, for the purpose of interviewing any workman who
has preferred a complaint. If the secretary is bound to ask the
consent of a foreman or overlooker before he enters a department,
and if that consent may be refused, the work which the secretary
can do in investigating and removing grievances is liable to be
hindered. If, on the other hand, he can enter any department
(without any formality, or on simple notification of his wish)
and engage in discussion with a workman, the work of the depart-
ment may be held to be likely to suffer. From the experience of
several works, however, it would appear that this freedom of move-
ment is found to be an essential condition of the success of a com-
mittee. The extent of freedom necessary, and the members of the
committee to whom it should be allowed, will vary with the size and
the other circumstances of a works.

The other matter which arises in connection with the position
of the secretary is concerned with his remuneration. His secre-
tarial duties may interfere with his own work. He is bound to
lose time, and, consequently, unless some arrangement is made to
indemnify him, he is bound to lose wages. In one case, in which,
it is true, the work is specially complicated and onerous, the amount
of time spent on secretarial work is said to amount to a total of
30 hours in the week; in another case the loss of wages involved
has, over a period of several weeks, amounted to £2 a week. In
one large works, where the committee is engaged to a great extent
with questions arising from charitable work, the secretary now gives
his whole time to the duties of his position, and is paid by the
firm. In some cases it would appear that the secretary is paid
ordinary time-wages for the time he spends on secretarial business
in working hours; in other cases, where the work is premium bonus
or piece-work, he may receive the average earnings, or, again, his
companions may keep his machine running in his absence. It
seems, however, that some arrangement is necessary to meet what
is often a real difficulty. It may be argued that the management
should pay the secretary l the full wages which he would otherwise

i In certain cases the secretary's (or chief shop steward's) guarantee
of average earnings appears to depend upon the will of a foreman or
ratefixer. Thus in one large establishment, where the premium bonus
system is in operation, a chief shop steward is paid his time for periods
during which he is engaged on negotiations with the management; it is
usual, however, for the ratefixer to see that sufficient "extras" are added

APPENDIX G 333

have made, since the work he does conduces to the better running
of the establishment. On the other hand, the men might object to
such a course, on the ground that it tended to make the secretary
more dependent on the management and less of a fellow-workman.
Another method, which is employed in some cases, is that the secre-
tary should be reimbursed for lost time by the workmen. In cer-
tain cases it may be noted that weekly contributions are paid by
the workpeople to meet the expenses of meetings, etc.

Another question, which is somewhat analogous, concerns the
time of the meetings of the Works Committee. Under one plan the
meetings may be held in the employer's time, and the members may
be paid full rates during the time they spend in attendance.
This is a plan which is often adopted when there are regular meet-
ings with the management. Many committees which have no regu-
lar meetings with the management meet after working hours.
Another plan, which has been suggested, is that the meetings should
be held partly in the employer's time (the members being paid full
rates during that time) and partly in the time of the men, or, in
other words, after working hours. This may present some diffi-
culties, as some of the members may find it inconvenient to stay
after working hours. On the other hand, it is argued that this
course best corresponds to the logic of the situation; management
and men both gain from the work of a committee, and it seems
logical that either side should surrender a part of its time. The
solution of the problem depends to some extent on the length of
the working day. Members of committees have complained that
to meet at 8 or 8.30 p.m., after 3 hours of overtime, was "a bit
hard." Under normal hours the attitude would have been different.

In the matter of procedure in the stricter sense of the term
there is at present a good deal of variety. Generally the pro-
cedure is somewhat informal, and this, in the earlier stages of a
Works Committee, is perhaps to the good. The normal procedure,
so far as one can speak of a normal procedure, is somewhat as
follows : —

(1) A workman who has a grievance will report it, directly
or through the committeeman in his department, to the
secretary. Lesser grievances, which do not affect a
number of men or raise a general question, may be set-
to the man's bonus earnings to neutralize the difference between the time
wages and what might have been earned on bonus for the periods in
question. This more or less casual arrangement does not appear to be
a very satisfactory solution of the difficulty.

334 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tied at once by the secretary with the foreman or de-
partmental manager concerned.

(2) Grievances which are not thus settled are taken up by the

committee, and brought by the committee before the
management.

(3) If grievances or disputes are not settled with the man-

agement, they are carried to the branch or the district
organization of the Trade Union or Trade Unions con-
cerned, and they go henceforth along the ordinary chan-
nels of Trade Union organization.

The effect of this procedure can best be seen by comparing it
with the procedure which is followed in the absence of a Works
Committee or of recognized shop stewards for the separate trades.
Where there is no Works Committee, the individual workmen, or a
delegation of workmen, will bring their case to the management, if
they can get admission; and failing any agreement, the matter
will go straight to the Trade Union. Where there is a Works
Committee the difference is this: first that there is a certainty of
admission to the management; secondly, that instead of the onus of
stating their case being thrown on the individuals concerned, there
is a regular machinery (the officers and the committee) to sift the
case and to state it formally; thirdly, that, instead of the action
taken being individual or sectional, it is the general action of a
body representative of all the works; and, finally, that there are
two chances of a settlement being attained in the works (first be-
tween the secretary and the foreman or departmental manager,
and, failing that, between the committee and the management) be-
fore the question goes outside for settlement. The main difference
between this procedure and that adopted when trade shop stewards
are recognized is much less, and only arises on the third of the
points just mentioned. This difference, however, is important, be-
cause it involves the problem of the delimitation of a Works Com-
mittee's functions. It may also be noted that, in certain cases at
least, the machinery of the Works Committee is brought into opera-
tion not as a preliminary to the question going before a Trade
Union branch, but in support of a decision previously come to by
a branch. This is so in certain iron and steel works. The differ-
ence, it may be said, is more apparent than real, because many
of the branches (and these the strongest in numbers) are in such
cases works branches — that is to say, the membership of the branch
is confined to men employed in the works. On the other hand,
certain branches extend their membership beyond the works; and,
in so far as the Works Committee takes up a case already enter-

APPENDIX G 335

tained by such a branch as union business, there is another form
of procedure. This procedure appears to have been adopted in
certain cases with the acquiescence of the Trade Union branch con-
cerned. It seems important that the place of the Works Commit-
tee in relation to trade questions should be properly defined; other-
wise there may be dangers of overlapping and confusion through
(a) the diversion of a purely trade question to the Works Com-
mittee, when it ought to go through the ordinary Trade Union
channels, or (b) the use by a Trade Union branch of the Works
Committee in support of a case which it should properly call upon
the officials of its Union to handle.

Three other matters of procedure call for notice. One of these
is the use of what may be called "the referendum." A Works Com-
mittee, when its members feel that a matter is important, and that
it is necessary that they should ascertain and carry with them
the opinion of the workers either in a department or in all the
works, may summon a general meeting and bring the matter for-
ward for discussion in that meeting. There may be no rules to
decide when this should be done, and it may be done at different
stages, either before a matter has been discussed with the man-
agement or subsequently to such discussion; but the possibility of
such a general meeting enables the committee to make sure that its
policy will be adopted by the workmen concerned, and it puts it in
a position to assure the management that a policy thus confirmed
can really be carried into effect. In certain industries the regular
shop meeting is a feature of shop organization. This is so, for
example, in furnishing and in the woodworking side of the air-
craft industry in London. The shop meeting is really a factory
meeting, and is held once a month.

Another matter of procedure is one which touches the manage-
ment and directors of a firm. It is important that the representa-
tives of the firm, who meet the committee, or (if it is a joint body)
sit on the committee, should belong to the highest rank, and should
include the general works manager (or, if there is one, the labor
superintendent)1 and one or more of the directors. A great part
of the value of the Works Committee, from the point of view of
the men, is that it brings them into contact, and gives them an
opportunity of discussion, with the authorities with whom, in its

1 A particularly interesting development during the war has been the
appointment to the management staffs of several establishments of per-
sons whose chief function is to deal with labor questions. The success
of a Works Committee may to a considerable extent depend upon the
status and qualifications of such an official.

336 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

absence, they seldom get into close touch, and then only on points
of difference. Nor is it only the workmen who stand to gain if the
highest rank of management is represented. Members of the firm
who are primarily occupied with finance or technique will be
brought into contact with those questions of labor which are the
fundamental problems of industry, and in discussing these ques-
tions with the representatives of the workmen they are likely to
gain a deeper insight into the best methods of conducting the in-
dustry.

Lastly, there are questions connected with the keeping of min-
utes, the drawing up of agenda, the presentation of complaints,
and the like. Where regular joint meetings are held it is com-
mon for a complete record of each meeting to be made in short-
hand by a member of the staff and for the workpeople's secretary
to make notes of the proceedings; minutes based on the complete
record may be circulated among the members of the committee after
the meeting. Even where the committee of workpeople as a whole
does not meet the management, it may supply the latter with copies
of the minutes which concern the management. It is common for
the management to supply typing facilities for the duplication of
minutes and of agenda. In some works complaints made to the
committee must be in writing. This rule has sometimes been in-
troduced in order to check the making of frivolous complaints or
inaccurate statements; it may be compared with a method of the
"chapel," where a member may call a special meeting by placing
a shilling (or other sum) "on the stone" on pain of forfeiting his
shilling if the chapel decides that his complaint is groundless.

V. — FUNCTIONS

Since Works Committees are of different types, it is obvious
that their functions vary considerably. In the first place there is
the distinction already mentioned under the head of nomenclature.
A Welfare Committee is concerned with all questions that affect
the comfort and physical well being of the workman while he is
engaged on his occupation; an Industrial Committee is concerned
with industrial conditions in general. Often a Works Committee
will undertake both sets of functions, but some committees may be
confined, primarily at any rate, to the working of a system of bonus
on output or premium bonus or piece-rates; others may be confined
to questions of dilution; others may have a general and undefined
scope which depends on an unwritten understanding between man-
agement and men.

APPENDIX G 337

There axe several questions of a general character which deserve
some attention, before we turn to the detailed functions actually
discharged by various Works Committees. Are these functions
always consultative, or are they sometimes executive? This raises
another question — is it possible, in the strict sense of the word, to
speak of a Joint Works Committee? What, again, are the func-
tions of the management, and how far may a Works Committee
trench on these functions? Finally, what is meant by "recognition,"
and what is the effect of recognition on the functions and powers of
a Works Committee?

As far as the first question is concerned, it would appear that
the functions of a Works Committee are practically always con-
sultative. Usually a Works Committee can bring matters before
the management and discuss them with the management; it can
press its views about these matters on the management; in the last
resort, it can induce the Trade Union organization to call a strike.
But the Works Committee cannot usually, as such, carry its views
into action, or ensure that they shall be carried into action, by any
direct machinery. The management has the executive power, and
unless the management is impressed by the representations of the
members of the committee, or by the sanction which lies behind
them, those representations will not lead to executive action.1 This
would appear to be usual even where the Works Committee is a
Joint Committee. There are, indeed, certain cases in which the
decision of a majority of the members of such a Joint Committee
is carried into effect. This is so in the Pit-head and certain other
committees which have the power to fine bad timekeepers; and
in certain engineering establishments the question of prosecuting
bad timekeepers before the Munitions Tribunal is decided by Joint
Works Committees. But, so far as can be discovered, the general
custom is to the contrary. Unanimity must be attained; the man-
agement must be convinced, and both sides must freely agree to-
gether, before executive action is taken. The operation of a Joint
Committee is really in the nature of consultation between two
parties — consultation which, if it results in unanimity, results in

i In one establishment, however, decisions upon disciplinary and time-
keeping cases made by a committee wholly composed of workpeople are
accepted by the firm. In some cases such functions as the day to day
administration of a mess-room are discharged by committees wholly
composed of workpeople. Even in such cases, however, an important
decision — for example, one involving capital expenditure — would usu-
ally have to meet with the approval of the management before it could
be put into force.

338 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

action, but not otherwise. It would be a mistake to think in terms
of voting, or to think that even if there is voting, its result is a
formal decision by a majority vote. What happens is rather dis-
cussion by which misunderstanding is often removed, and upon
which, if unanimity is attained between the two sides, action will
ensue. It follows, therefore, that generally we cannot speak of
Joint Committees, if by Joint Committees we understand joint
executive councils acting by the vote of the majority. On the other
hand, there are Joint Committees, if by Joint Committees we un-
derstand deliberative meetings of both sides, always attended by
both sides, though often accompanied by separate meetings of the
two sides.1

A question of importance, when we are considering the functions
of a Works Committee, is the definition of the term "manage-
ment." It may be urged, on the one side, that the functions of a
Works Committee should not be such as to interfere with man-
agement; it may be urged, on the other, that if a Works Com-
mittee is to be debarred from questions of management it loses
reality and becomes a mere form. Much, therefore, depends on
the sense in which the term management is used. Is the work of
the foremen part of management? Or does the word denote the
higher organization of industry? It would appear that a Works

i The division between executive and advisory powers in a scheme now
under consideration for an engineering works may be noted. It is pro-
posed that the former should include ( 1 ) those powers conferred by the
Trade Unions and in accordance with the constitution or resolutions of
the local Allied Engineering Trades and (2) those conferred by the firm.
The suggested first list of executive powers contains the following: —
determination of hours of work (with minimum of 50 per week) ; mess-
room; heating, lighting, sanitary matters, etc.; ambulance; collections,
supervision of notice boards, entertainments, etc.; proposed technical
lending library and works magazine; and organization of the Sports
Association. The advisory functions include the regulation of piece-
work; the engagement, discharge, dilution and transfer of labor (ex-
cluding disciplinary discharges) ; training and education of apprentices;
suggestion of improvements in methods; timekeeping, etc. It is pro-
posed that seven sub-committees be formed, each sub-committee to deal
with one or more of the above-mentioned functions, e.g. a sub-committee
for hours of work, engagements and discharges, and timekeeping; a sub-
committee for messroom; and a sub-committee, advisory and negotia-
tory, for piecework. There is this reservation in regard to executive
functions that if capital expenditure is involved authority should be
obtained from the firm before such expenditure is incurred.

APPENDIX G 339

Committee, if it is to be of any value in ventilating and removing
grievances, must be in a position to ventilate grievances arising
from the conduct of foremen or overlookers. Such grievances touch
the worker most closely in his daily work, and if they cannot be
discussed the committee loses a sphere of action in which it might
be of the greatest service. It is true that if a committee has the
right of criticizing the action of foremen, difficulties may arise.
Foremen may feel that their authority is undermined; they may
feel that they are being made responsible not only, as heretofore,
to the management (a responsibility they know and understand),
but also to the committee; they may feel that, with a dual re-
sponsibility, their position becomes exceedingly difficult. These are
real problems. In many instances, however, they seem to have
been surmounted; and if they prove serious, they may perhaps be
met, to some extent, if the general manager arranges to meet the
foremen in advance, and to discuss with them criticisms and griev-
ances which have come from the Works Committee.

The last of the general questions raised by a consideration of
the functions and position of a Works Committee is that of
"recognition." This, again, is a term which seems to be under-
stood in different senses, and which it is difficult to define. A
committee may be held, from the point of view of the manage-
ment, not to be recognized, even when the management is in
constant touch with its secretary, and even when it consents
to meet those members of the committee who represent a depart-
ment which has a grievance. Here the point would appear to be
that the management does not, as such,- formally meet the whole
committee. In another case a system almost exactly parallel — a
system under which the management interviews four or five mem-
bers of the committee — is described as one of "recognition." The
term "recognition" thus appears to have no fixed meaning; and it
may be concluded that what matters is the fact of consultation be-
tween a committee and the management rather than any formal
pronouncement about the fact.

In the preceding paragraphs the functions of a Works Com-
mittee have been discussed with reference to the management. It
is obvious that they must also be discussed with reference to Trade
Union organization. A Works Committee must stand in some sort
of relation to the district committees of the Unions to which the
workmen in the works belong, and some demarcation of functions,
whether explicit or implicit, has to be made. The relations vary,
and the demarcation is not always easy to make. Generally the
division is said to be that questions of general application — district

340 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

rates of wages, hours of work, and other district or national con-
ditions of work — are regarded by Works Committees as outside
their sphere, and such questions are left to be settled by the em-
ployers or associations of employers with the Trade Unions.1 On
the other hand, questions of a particular application relating to a
works — for example, a piece-rate for a particular job for which
it is impossible to lay down any general piece-rate for the district —
are regarded as belonging to the functions of a Works Commit-
tee. Such a committee may thus deal (1) with the particular
application in the works of a principle general to the district, and
(2) with questions which are entirely peculiar to the works. But
the general problem of the relations of Works Committees and
Trade Union organization is one that demands separate treatment,
and it will accordingly be treated in a subsequent section.

The powers of the management and the powers of the local
Trade Union organization may be said to constitute two points
more or less fixed, and the powers of a Works Committee are
naturally determined with reference to these two points in ways
that vary according as those points vary. Turning to the Works
Committee in itself, we may distinguish two main types of func-
tion. In the first type a committee is primarily concerned with
some one particular thing — a scheme of dilution, a system of bonus,
or a method of profit-sharing. This does not prevent such a com-
mittee from dealing incidentally with other things. On the con-
trary, a committee on dilution will be led to discuss the wages of
dilutees and other questions; a committee on a bonus system will
be led to deal with time-keeping and other matters which affect the
bonus. A committee, therefore, which is primarily and formally
concerned with a particular thing may actually be something of
the nature of a general Works Committee. When once an or-
ganization is created, if only for a single activity, it will naturally
become a center for other activities; the management, finding a rep-
resentative organization which it can consult, may consult it on
broader issues; and vice versa the representative organization, meet-
ing the management to discuss one issue, may readily tend to bring
forward other issues. The tendency for this to come about is
greater if the committee is one of shop stewards who are charged
by their Unions with a general supervision of conditions.

In the second type a committee is from the first general in its

i This does not mean that the Works Committee may not consider
an alleged infringement of such conditions. This, as we saw previously,
is one of the usual duties of shop stewards.

APPENDIX G 841

range, and is formed to deal with the general industrial conditions
of a works. One such committee has for its province (1) to inquire
into grievances reported by workmen; (2) to bring before and dis-
cuss with the management grievances that it considers genuine; (3)
to consider complaints about wages and piece-rates which concern
individuals; (4) to consider questions relating to the health and
safety of the workmen; (5) to consult with the management on the
interpretation of awards, orders and circulars; and (6) to consider
generally the conditions of work in the establisment. This may
be considered to be fairly typical. Another committee, primarily
concerned with piece-rates, has also dealt with questions of ventila-
tion and sanitation, complaints about the decisions of foremen, ar-
rangement of shifts and of hours of admission to the works, the
allocation of piece-work and time-work, and the interpretation of
official orders and circulars. Other matters, handled by Works Com-
mittees include works discipline, especially timekeeping, methods of
paying wages, hours of overtime, and the like.

Instances may be cited of committees which are tending to exer-
cise, or actually exercise, peculiar and interesting functions. In
several cases Works Committees have made suggestions for
economies in the running of machinery, and it is agreed on both
sides that the committees have brought to light weak spots in or-
ganization.1 A striking feature is the keenness of certain commit-
tees, or of the more active members of these committees, to discuss
the after-war situation, and this in relation not only to working
conditions, but also to such problems as the proper employment of
plant. Another case is equally interesting. This is the case of
a works in which a Works Tribunal has been instituted in lieu of the
Local Munitions Tribunal. The men elect a jury of twelve and a
chairman; and this tribunal has been successful in bringing about
a great improvement in discipline and time-keeping.1 An incident
in this works, though it does not bear directly on the matter of
Works Committees, is indirectly of value as showing that consulta-
tion with the workmen may be of great service to the management.
A question arose of the introduction of dilution into the works, and
the men in the pattern-making shops objected to its introduction.
They were interviewed by the managing director, who asked what
alternative suggestion they could make for increasing output. They
answered that they believed they could easily increase their output

i The same is said of Pit-head Committees — a form of colliery com-
mittee to ensure increased out-put.

1 This is a very interesting matter, especially in view of the argument
in the report of the N.W. Commission on Industrial Unrest, that joint

342 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

if they had additional equipment. A tool catalogue was put before
them: they suggested the purchase of a number of tools costing in
all nearly £2,000. The tools were bought, and the output was in-
creased by 50 per cent, without dilution.

The range of functions which a Works Committee can efficiently
undertake is necessarily indefinite, and a subject of contention not
only between employers and workpeople but also between different
groups both of employers and of workpeople. Some of the ques-
tions on which there is considerable difference of opinion may be
noted; they include questions affecting promotion, dismissal, the
suggestion of improved processes, lectures and education in trade
technique, and works discipline.

The question of alleged wrongful dismissal is already handled by
the Trade Unions, and there is a considerable body of opinion
among both workpeople and employers that, at least in the first
instance, it is a suitable function for a Works Committee. Dismissal
for such a reason as alleged disobedience, it is argued, may be only
a cloak for victimization; reasons may be invented by a foreman
in order to get rid of particular men. The claim is made that the
other workpeople are likely to understand the psychological in-
fluences underlying such action, and that no such dismissal should
be made until the circumstances have been discussed with the Works
Committee. The situation in which slackness of work compels a
considerable reduction in the number of employees is more com-
plicated; on the one hand, workpeople complain that the oppor-
tunity is used by certain employers to get rid not only of the less
efficient employees but also of those who have shown themselves
active in support of their fellows — that is, to cover up victimiza-
tion; on the other hand, employers complain that workpeople are
exclusively biased in favor of the claims of seniority, and make little,
if any, allowance for differences in efficiency. There would ap-
pear to be some truth in both contentions. A frank discussion
would probably tend to remove the causes of the workpeople's com-
plaints and, at the same time, to produce a balance between the

committees of employers and employed would administer "industrial
law" better than legal tribunals. The existence of a number of Joint
Committees which exercise such functions has been mentioned. The
particular interest of the above mentioned Works' Tribunal is that
it is not a Joint Committee but is wholly composed of workpeople.
The firm has no status in the court, merely appearing by its repre-
sentative as it would in the Local Munitions Tribunal. Procedure
is quite formal, and the firm's representative is expected to address the
chairman as "Sir."

APPENDIX G 343

claims of seniority and of efficiency satisfactory to both employers
and employees. What is perhaps even more important is a further
argument; such frank discussion would lead to plans for the allevia-
tion in the particular works of the effects of a general slackness.
It is not contended that any general remedy for unemployment can
be found on these lines; all that is suggested is that local and in-
dividual effort may help to solve the problem. Dismissals due to
the introduction of new machinery or new methods are perhaps of
a kind with which a Works Committee might properly deal. Work-
people are ready to acknowledge the benefits due to improvements
and yet naturally resent such improvements where they involve the
destruction of their craft or sudden loss of employment. It may
be suggested that what individual employers have done in the past —
namely, to make arrangements by which the dislocation of liveli-
hood is reduced — can be carried out more generally; and that in
individual establishments adjustments for such a purpose are a suit-
able subject for discussion by a Works Committee. It is, of course,
a subject of vital importance to the Trade Unions; it is indeed an
aspect of the process of dilution as seen at work in the normal in-
dustrial conditions of peace time. Though the Trade Unions could
not be expected to hand the matter over to a Works Committee,
there appears to be room for the latter to deal with the question
within certain limits.

The appointment of foremen is a question on which there may
be said to be three groups of opinions. Many employers hold that
it is purely a management question. The opposite extreme to this
is the claim made by a considerable section of Trade Unionists that
the workmen should choose their own foremen. A position inter-
mediate to these two extremes is taken up by a certain number of
employers and by a section of workpeople; the appointment (they
feel) should be made by the management, but it should be submitted
to the Works Committee before it becomes effective. Even this in-
termediate position, however, is not really a common position;
there are differences of opinion as to the conditions under which
the appointment should come before the Works Committee — that is
to say, whether or no the Works Committee should have power to
veto the appointment. Those employers who are prepared to sub-
mit such appointments to a Works Committee are for the most part
of the opinion that this should only be done in order to explain the
reasons for their choice. This, they hold, will tend to remove ob-
stacles which might otherwise be put in the way of the appointment.
A considerable body of workpeople, on the other hand, hold an
intermediate position which comes nearer to election of foremen

344. MANAGEMENT AND MEN

by the workpeople; they think that the Works Committee should
have the right to veto the choice made by the management. A few
employers consider that this — or even direct election — may be pos-
sible when a Works Committee, through the experience gained in
consultations about such appointments, has learned to estimate all
the qualities necessary in a foreman. It has already been mentioned
that Works Committees very often discuss the conduct of foremen.
The conclusion then reached, that such discussion was a desirable
function for a committee, would appear to involve as a corollary
that of consultation about appointments. This latter function
would tend to remove the necessity for the former.1

Among the results expected from the giving of a larger measure
of responsibility for industrial conditions to the workpeople is a
considerable increase in efficiency. This is said to be possible if
the ability of the workpeople to suggest improved processes and
methods is properly used. The experience of individual firms would
appear to confirm this contention. Many firms have for years past
had awards schemes in operation, and in certain cases these have
stimulated important suggestions for improvements. The fact that
the "suggestion box" is often stated to have proved a failure is not
necessarily a condemnation of the idea; it may only mean that the
somewhat mechanical and uninspiring device is in itself an inade-
quate stimulus. A comparison of the results secured in establish-
ments more or less similar (so far as work is concerned) would
suggest that the success of an awards scheme depends to a great
extent upon the action of the management. Where the manage-

i This question of promotion has been discussed in one aspect only,
viz., in relation to the appointment of foremen. It is, of course, much
more general, and is in many of its aspects a matter of agreement be-
tween Employers' Associations and Trade Unions. Such agreements
may regulate progress within a trade or a group of connected trades,
and necessarily involve, among other questions, that of standard rates
of wages. The discussion of promotion in this wider sense of the term
could come within a Works Committee's functions only where the Trade
Unions make no conditions except the payment of standard rates — and
then only within the limits of this condition. The promotion to fore-
manship may be said to be distinct, in that a foreman is a member of
the management staff, and directly concerned with such employer's in-
terests as the maintenance of discipline. The dividing line, however, is
not well defined in certain cases, and the fact that certain Unions which
largely control promotions among the men paid by wages have also or-
ganized the lower grades of the staff, paid by salary or standing wage,
complicates the issue. In some of these cases certain Unions claim the
right to intervene.

APPENDIX G 345

ment gains the confidence of the workpeople, and has devised meth-
ods of considering suggestions which appeal to the workpeople,
there is a much more powerful response than in works where, though
there may be a suggestion box, these conditions are absent. Many
employers and workpeople agree that a Works Committee may not
only produce the atmosphere necessary to the stimulation of sug-
gestions, but may also help to arrange for the proper investigation
of proposals made by workpeople. In this connection, as in the
quite different field of grievances, it would appear to be important
that suggestions which look to be worthless should, nevertheless,
be considered. To put the matter on the lowest ground, this will
probably pay in the long run. The fundamental matter is that
every one should be encouraged to think about the processes and the
organization of the works. It should be noted that workpeople
very commonly complain of the staff's attitude on such matters;
any suggestion, they say, is apt to be brushed aside with the re-
mark that they are not paid to think but to work. The obstruction
in such cases may be a foreman or manager, and even though the
higher management may be sympathetic, it may never hear of a
suggestion. His mates also are sometimes not very encouraging to
a workman with ideas. For lack, therefore, of encouragement, or
because of actual discouragement, ideas of value are held back and
the capacity for ideas destroyed. How best to arrange that sug-
gestions will be guaranteed an adequate consideration is not a direct
concern of this report, except in so far as a Works Committee may
be employed for the purpose. It is doubtful whether a general
Works Committee is a suitable body with which to discuss the value
of a change in a particular process or machine, and the use of a
small sub-committee for this purpose may be suggested. The argu-
ment has been used that a man will place his ideas before two or
three responsible work-mates for their criticism, but not before a
big committee. If the small committee thought the proposal sound,
it would then go straight to the higher management. For more
general questions of organization, as distinct from questions of in-
dividual methods or machines, the general Works Committee, or in
large works a Departmental Committee, would probably be a suit-
able body. Testimony to the value of suggestions made by both of
these has been received from employers. A further suggestion with
a direct bearing on this subject has been made; that the education
which certain firms provide for sections of their staff, such as fore-
men and underforemen, might be extended to representative work-
people. This may take the form of educational lectures, which will
widen the outlook of the specialized worker by showing him how

346 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

his own activities fit into those of others and into the general plan
of the establishment's activities.1

The attitude to a Works Committee's assumption of responsibility
for discipline varies very considerably, both among employers and
among workpeople. There is a considerable body of experience,
and it would appear that, though there are examples to the con-
trary, Works Committees which undertake disciplinary functions
usually do so with success. There is, at the same time, a very gen-
eral demand among workpeople that, if Joint Committees are to
discuss the bad timekeeping and other mistakes of the employees,
they should have similar powers of dealing with faults on the side
of the management. In a number of establishments committees regu-
late fines or deductions made from bonus because of lost-time, negli-
gence, damage or other cause.

A note of caution may be added. There is some evidence that
a small minority of employers may endeavor to use a Works Com-
mittee in order more easily to impose penal conditions which are
objected to by the main body of workpeople. This is opposed to the
whole spirit which makes a Works Committee a success, and is
bound to produce friction. A somewhat similar attitude is taken
up by a small minority of workpeople who appear to desire that
no joint meetings should be held in an orderly or businesslike man-
ner.

It may be added in conclusion of this section, that the opinion,
and indeed the practice, of a number of firms inclines in the direc-
tion of ad hoc committees. It is held that this enables the firm to
consult the men who are directly concerned, and that it has the ad-
ditional advantage of giving greater reality to the consultation.
When consultation takes place on an immediate and definite issue,
it is said to result in practical and useful discussion ; and the fear is
expressed that consultation, in the absence of such an issue, may
only be an empty form. The inclusion in such committees of the
shop stewards who represent the classes of men concerned — as is
often the case — gives a direct connection with the Trade Union or
Unions whose standard may be affected.

VI. — RELATIONS WITH TRADE UNIONS

Something has already been said in the sections dealing with the
constitution, procedure and functions of Works Committees, con-
cerning the relations between such committees and Trade Union

i Another interesting feature in this connection is the development of
Works Magazines.

APPENDIX G

347

organization. The position is in certain respects somewhat para-
doxical; the problem as seen by most Trade Unionists is that of
strengthening the Trade Union organization in the workshop, but,
on the one hand, many employers prefer not to deal with the shop
stewards in the works but with the outside Trade Union organiza-
tion, and, on the other hand, some elements in Trade Unionism pre-
fer that it should stand outside the workshop and handle questions
in each works from the outside, while some unionist shop stewards
consider that their Works Committees should not be subject to any
control of the Trade Unions. The general question of the relation
and the relative weight and power of Works Committees and district
organization is one which is likely to be settled gradually in ex-
perience and actual working. Here it may be convenient to draw
attention to some considerations which appear to affect this general
question, particularly as seen in the engineering industry.

The first consideration is that the change in the conditions of
working have made necessary the development of new machinery
for collective bargaining. Since the questions for which this ma-
chinery is required are, to a great extent, peculiar to individual
establishments, the collective bargaining, if it is to be done at all,
must be carried through in each establishment. At the same time,
unless the results are to impair the standard conditions which it is
the business of the Unions to uphold, the work must be entrusted
to representatives of the Unions. Thus there has come about a
natural development in the functions of the shop stewards. Previ-
ously they had to see that no encroachments were made on standard
conditions; now they may have the more positive duty of partici-
pating in the settlement of piece-work prices in terms of these
standard conditions.1

In regard to the changes just mentioned, and in regard also to
dilution, the interests of the work people belonging to different
skilled Unions are more or less the same. This, combined with the
natural community in the works, probably accounts for the fact
that certain apparent difficulties of representation are, as a rule,
easily overcome. The impossibility of so representing different
Unions on a Works Committee that satisfaction is secured to all is
alleged to be such a difficulty. So far as the skilled trades are con-
cerned— at least in engineering — the difficulty would not appear

i The appointment by the men of a separate rate fixer, whose business
it would be to arrange piece prices with the firm's rate fixer, is a sug-
gested development towards which a movement is being made in one or
two firms. In one large establishment, such a duplication is suggested
by one of the firm's rate fixers as a very desirable arrangement.

348 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to be serious. In many cases where even a small minority only of
the skilled Unions have direct representation there would appear to be
no dissatisfaction.

As between the members of skilled and unskilled Unions the posi-
tion is more difficult. There are several cases of two separate
Committees of Shop Stewards — one representing the skilled and the
other unskilled and semi-skilled men — in the same works. In other
establishments, however, skilled and unskilled men vote for the
same committee and act together as members. This would appear
to be the most desirable arrangement. The case, however, in which
a minority of unskilled men in each department is represented on
a Works Committeee by a skilled unionist is not exactly on a par
with that in which a minority belonging to an unskilled Union is
so represented. Apart from the fact that unskilled men are more
likely to be distributed through all the departments, so that though
in a minority they form a considerable proportion of the total num-
ber of employees, there is the further consideration that the similar-
ity of interest and the community of feeling are not so pronounced.
In many establishments the difficulty has apparently been sur-
mounted; but in a number of others it is still a serious problem.
The problem would appear to be one which cannot be settled by the
men in each establishment — though they may provide valuable sug-
gestions— and it must probably be left for the Trade Unions con-
cerned to come to some agreement on the matter. For this reason
a certain number of workpeople, both skilled and unskilled, con-
sider that in cases where the difficulty is acute the policy of two
committees is the best present working arrangement. The defects
of such a system are perhaps too obvious to require particular men-
tion. It may, however, be noted that the system obstructs very
considerably that joint consideration of common interests and de-
sires, to find expression for which is one of the main purposes of a
Works Committee. It tends instead to concentrate the attention of
each committee upon points of divergence of interest.

The coming together into one committee of shop stewards re-
sponsible to different Trade Unions raises a number of questions.
It is true that the rules by which Unions define the functions of
their shop stewards are fairly uniform, and so long as a Works
Committee respects the rules of the different Unions there is little
fear of overlapping or confusion in functions. The general rule
which determines the functions of a Works Committee in relation
to Trade Union organization has already been mentioned. As is
said in the case of one Committee, "The Committee regard questions
of general application, relating to rates of wages, hours of work or

APPENDIX G

349

otherwise, which affect 'district conditions/ as beyond their juris-
diction. There is no formal rule to this effect; but this limitation
of the Committee's power is well understood, and no difficulties have
arisen."

It is thus the rule that general questions of district or national
conditions are left to the Trade Unions, while the Works Committee
deals with either the detailed application of these general rules
within the works or with questions entirely peculiar to the works.
On the whole, the information which is available would suggest
that the division of jurisdiction is well understood and closely fol-
lowed. There are, however, certain difficulties.

In the first place there is evidence of uncertainty as to whether or
not a Works Committee should undertake certain functions; mat-
ters may sometimes seem from one point of view to be "branch" or
"district" business, and from another to be "works" busi-
ness. A tool-room bonus, for instance, may be arranged in a
works between a committee and the works manager, and they
may agree in regarding it as a works affair, while the local
branch (or district committee) of the Union concerned may consider
that it is a question of wages which demands their sanction. In
view of the variety and complexity of bonus schemes which have
been instituted in munitions factories, and of the possible reactions
of these upon standard rates, there would appear to be some need
for careful definition of a Works Committee's functions in this field.

There is some evidence also of actual conflict of authority. Such
cases, however, would appear to have been given an altogether dis-
proportionate prominence in public discussion, to the detriment of
those whose main desire is to create a constitutional machinery
suited to new and rapidly changing conditions. In a few instances,
however, a Works Committee would appear to have been in doubt
as to whether it was an independent organization or one subject to
Trade Union control. Thus, a Works Committee wholly composed
of Trade Union stewards has made a demand for an advance in
wages to which, under an alternative agreement made by the Trade
Unions, the workmen represented by it had no claim. In one or
two cases representations have been made to Government Depart-
ments for advances in wages and improvements in other working
conditions in individual works, independently of district or national
machinery, though the works in question were known to recognize
district standards.

It would appear that the uncertainty as to the real position and
powers of a Works Committee in relation to the Trade Unions is,
at least in the engineering industry, to some extent due to the fact

350 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

that the various members of a committee may be responsible to many
different Unions. Though, therefore, the Works Committee may
aspire to be a unit of government, this is rendered difficult in view
of the different and possibly conflicting authorities from which the
members obtain their status. One suggested scheme proposes to
overcome this particular difficulty so far at least as the Unions of
skilled men are concerned. It would bring the committees in the
various establishments under the district Engineering Trades Joint
Committee, and confine membership of any committee to those or-
ganized in the Trade Unions affiliated to the district committee.
This question of the relationship of works to district committees is
interesting also in view of the proposals contained in the Whitley
Report. That Report advocates Joint National and District Coun-
cils and Works Committees ; and the problem of the relations of the
District Council and the Works Committee and their relative func-
tions is one which will need to be investigated when measures are
being adopted to institute such Councils.

The need for this consideration of relationships between Works
Committees and the district Trade Union organization would ap-
pear to be more necessary in certain industries than in others. It
would appear, for instance, that in the iron and steel industry the
fact that members in one works commonly form a branch of their
Union, and that the secretaries of branches are usually — it may be in
virtue of the office they hold — members of the Works Committee,
makes the problem of inter-relations less difficult, at least for those
Unions which are organized on the basis of works.

A point of procedure may be noticed. It is sometimes the case
that a Trade Union official accompanies the representatives of the
Works Committee in an interview with the management; or, again,
a Trade Union official may attend the deliberations of a Joint Com-
mittee if the men so desire.1 But this apparently is exceptional;
and, as a rule, a Works Committee acts by itself, and refers to
Trade Union officials questions which are too large or too difficult
to be settled in the works. It should, however, be noted that many
trade unionists are of the opinion that the right of the Trade Union
officials to attend committee meetings (or to inspect the minutes of
a committee) is a necessary condition of the satisfactory solution
of the question of inter-relations.

Two other questions which are involved in this problem of the

i It may also be noted that officials of the various Unions were mem-
bers of the workmen's side of the Joint Committee formed in connection
with a profit-sharing scheme instituted before the war by a well-known
shipbuilding firm in a northern town.

APPENDIX G 351

inter-relations of Works Committees and Trade Unions call for
notice.

The first relates to the victimization of men who show them-
selves active as shop stewards or as members of a Works Commit-
tee. It is impossible to estimate to what extent such victimization
actually occurs, and this is partly due to the difficulty of defining
what victimization is. Workmen complain not only of victimization,
but also of the difficulty of bringing the charge home even when
(they state) they have no doubt about the facts. For this reason
many of them hold the view that, unless the Works Committee is
properly related to and protected by Trade Unions, it cannot hope —
in certain establishments at least — to discuss questions before the
management with that sense of freedom which is essential to the
success of joint deliberations. In this connection it may be noted
that one of two reasons given for the short terms of office of the
shop stewards and secretaries of committees in one industry (one
and three months respectively) was the fear of victimization. The
other reason — in this the Works Committee appears to revert to
the early forms of conducting the business of Trade Union branches
— was stated to be the desire that every one should take his share
of office.

The other question relates to the allegations made by certain
Trade Unionists that certain employers — more particularly in one
or two industries — are fostering the growth of Works Committees
in order to destroy Trade Union influence in their works. The
danger, it is said, from the point of view of Trade Unionism is
exactly the same as that which is believed to result from profit-
sharing, viz., that the workman is detached from his fellows and
his power to obtain certain standard conditions is consequently
weakened. The further charge has been made, in regard to one or
two industries, that the employers were proposing, in the name of
the Whitley Report, to form Works Committees without connection
with the Unions, and from these committees to build up District
and National Councils representative of employers and employed.
It must, however, be emphasized that any such action is directly
opposed to the proposals of the Whitley Report. These proposals
look to the control of Works Committees by National or District
Councils which, on the workpeople's side, would be representative
of Trade Unions only; and, in order that Works Committees should
be formed on lines satisfactory to the national organizations, the
Report proposes that the formation of Works Committees should,
as far as possible, follow, and not precede, that of the National and
District Councils. A logical application of this order of procedure

S52 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

may be impossible, but wherever individual employers find it de-
sirable to form Works Committees before National or District Coun-
cils are instituted, the idea of the Whitley Report may be so far
followed that such proposals should be brought before the Trade
Unions concerned, and they should be asked to share in the forma-
tion of the Works Committee.

VII. — GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

The applicability of Works Committees to different industries
is a matter of importance. During the war the discussion of them
has been associated most generally with the engineering industry,
and it is probably in that industry that, for reasons already stated,
their development during the war has been most rapid. This de-
velopment, however, has by no means been confined to engineering;
and in certain other industries, for example, iron and steel works,
there has been a marked increase. If we consider pre-war experi-
ences, and include not only general committees formed for special
purposes, but also section committees, it would appear that an in-
dustry in which committees had not been in existence at some time or
other would prove the exception rather than the rule. In this con-
nection one may note that in establishments in the distributive trades
several committees have been formed to help in the running of profit-
sharing schemes. It may also be noted that during the war one
very large establishment has seen the development not only of
separate Committees of Shop Stewards, representing the skilled and
unskilled sections of engineering respectively, but of at least two
other committees constituted on more or less similar lines. One of
these is composed of shop stewards from the building trades, and
the other of delegates from the clerks engaged in the various de-
partments. The works in question is exceptional, not only in size
but in certain other respects, so that it cannot very well be taken as
an example. The specific representation of the building trades may,
however, be put alongside the previously mentioned examples of
informal committees constituted on big works of building construc-
tion. It may also be argued that if a committee is desirable in a
distributive trading establishment for the administration of a bonus
scheme, the same form of organization may be useful for other
general purposes. It may further be argued — and it is so argued
by some — that a Works Committee is desirable in any establish-
ment in which more than a certain number of people are employed.
Whether the organization is either necessary or desirable in every
or nearly every kind of establishment is a question which the future
must solve. Here it may be noted that at present considerations

APPENDIX G 353

almost diametrically opposite to one another appear to determine
the general absence of committees from different groups of indus-
tries; in some this would appear to be due to the absence or the
weakness of Trade Union organization, while in others the strength
of Trade Union organization makes Works Committees unnecessary
for the purposes which call them into existence in a number of
industries.

The cotton industry is a case in point. Here the contiguity of
the mills, and the fact that conditions are so uniform that district
piece-lists are practicable, ensure that the strong district organiza-
tion (with its permanent secretary on both sides and its district
committee on both sides) is adequate to those needs which in en-
gineering, for instance, have produced the demand for a works
organization. The same problem of wages has necessitated in other
industries, e.g., certain of those coming under the Trade Boards
Acts, direct State-enforcement of piece-rates. Though for this
purpose a Works Committee may be unnecessary or undesirable in
both groups of industries, it may be that other purposes will pro-
duce a similar form of organization. It would appear that most
of the needs to which reference has been made in this report are
not quite peculiar to any one type of industrial establishment, but
more or less common to all. Questions of foremanship may be given
as one instance. Welfare is another; very many matters can be
brought under its scope, and it seems likely that in future Works
Committees will come to play a greater part in their administration.1

It may be suggested that the size of the works concerned is a fac-
tor of importance in any discussion of the range of application of
a system of Works Committees. It is sometimes urged that Works
Committees are only valuable in large works, in which the work-
men number 3,000 or upwards. It is certainly true that the larger
the works, the greater the help which a Works Committee can give
in putting the higher ranks of the management in touch with the
feelings and needs of the men. In a small works the manager will
probably be able to familiarize himself with every detail of the
work, and he will be brought into contact with nearly every work-
man. He may feel that he is already in close touch with the men,
and that a Works Committee cannot make the touch closer. Even
here, however, a Works Committee is likely to help. It will enable

i Since the above paragraph was written a movement to bring the
union organization more closely into relationship with the conditions
iii individual cotton mills has produced a scheme in the Oldham district.
The proposal is to njake shop (or mill) clubs an integral part of the
district union, to deal with shop grievances, etc.

354* MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the management to discuss matters not with isolated individuals,
but with the accredited representatives of the whole body of the
men, and it may help to bring to light difficulties, needs, feelings
and defects which might otherwise have remained concealed. A
Works Committee may thus serve not to supplant, but to supple-
ment, the advantages of personal touch, even in small establish-
ments; while in large establishments, where personal contact is not
so easy, the help which it may give is obvious. In any case it should
be remarked that committees are to be found in works of very dif-
ferent sizes. One committee is concerned with workers in a single
establishment to the number of 10,000 men; many are to be found
in works in which the workmen number about 3,000; a number exist
in works employing about 100 workmen.

To this may be added the expression of opinion of the owner
and manager of a small printing office where the compositors' chapel
(there is only the one chapel in the office) has at present only ten
members. He is in direct contact with each of the men; but he
has found it advantageous in the past to have the father of the
chapel and one or two of the other compositors together "for a talk
over tea." This, it may be said, is done in many small businesses.
It may, however, be worth while to consider the advisability of
putting such discussion on a regular footing even in small busi-
nesses. In the instance mentioned the employer proposes to make
a trial of regular discussions. Probably the only generalization one
can safely make about the need for Works Committees in relation
to the size of the establishments is that the need increases with the
size.

There remain two points of importance. One is the question of
the practical success of Works Committees; the other the impor-
tance from that point of view of the human factor.

As regards the first question, evidence is forthcoming from all
parts of the country — the Clyde, the Tyne, the Midlands, the Bris-
tol, Manchester, Yorkshire, and London districts. As regards the
second, this much is clear: success depends to a great extent on the
existence of a spirit of counsel and understanding on both sides. If
"the management door stands open" to all legitimate grievances,
and if the men are ready to present their grievances and to take
into consideration the difficulties of the management, the fundamental
conditions are present. Much will always depend on the person-
alities concerned. Every human institution requires for its suc-
cess the guidance of personalities. A Works Committee requires
for its chairman or secretary — or, at any rate, one may say, ideally
requires for its chairman or secretary — a man of personality, trusted

APPENDIX G 355

by his fellow-workmen, respected by the management, with the
spirit of service, and ready, in that spirit, to give his services freely
in the cause of his committee. It requires no less a sympathetic
and capable management, ready to listen, ready to weigh carefully,
ready to take pains in discussion, and prepared to persuade and
to be persuaded. It is one of the most encouraging signs of the
times that on both sides such men have been found, and that, both
among the management and the men, personalities have emerged
to meet the needs of the institution.

Works Committees mean discussion; discussion takes time; and
from this point of view it is sometimes argued that a Works Com-
mittee may tend to slow down the pace of industry; and, again,
that it may be difficult to convince a committee of the value and
the feasibility of a new idea or process, so that the way of innova-
tion may be somewhat impeded. These, however, are theoretical
objections. In practice Works Committees — the evidence would
suggest — have improved timekeeping and increased output, and in
that way they have accelerated rather than impeded the pace of
industry. In practice, again, they have been the opposite of con-
servative, and instead of checking change they have themselves sug-
gested change. And even if they made the pace slower, or change
more difficult, they have advantages that would compensate, and
more than compensate, for these defects. They make for better
relations and greater harmony, and these are the things that matter
most to industry. More time is gained by the absence of disputes
than is lost by the presence of discussion; more improvements can
be introduced in an atmosphere of harmony that can possibly be
introduced in an atmosphere of suspicion.

That Works Committees have, in the great majority of cases,
tended to introduce greater harmony, and, through it, greater effi-
ciency, is proved by the evidence of those concerned in their work-
ing. It is not denied that in some cases (though these are very few)
Works Committees have failed. A few cases of such failure have
been noted in committees instituted during the war for general pur-
poses. In one of these the failure was perhaps due mainly to
defects of machinery, and it is stated that the Works Committee
may be resuscitated; in another the failure was due to deep-seated
causes, which made success impossible, and the failure reflects no
discredit on the institution. In almost every case, however, the
testimony is to the opposite effect. Sometimes introduced with
difficulty and amid suspicion, committees have established them-
selves and done service which is acknowledged even by their orig-
inal opponents. By providing a channel for the ventilation of

356 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

grievances at an early stage, and before they become acute, they
have prevented disputes and strikes, and they have improved time-
keeping and increased output. Nor is this all. The functions of
Works Committees are not merely concerned with bringing griev-
ances before the management, but also with a preliminary enquiry
into grievances, in order to decide whether they are well-grounded
and serious enough to be brought before the management. The
work which they do in this preliminary stage is not the least valu-
able part of their work, and, far from hampering the management,
it obviously does the reverse and relieves the management of diffi-
culties and grievances it would otherwise have to face. Grievances
are either nipped in the bud by being shown, upon discussion in
committee, to be unfounded, or they are settled in discussion be-
tween the secretary of the committee and the foreman or head of
the department, and in either case they never come to the main man-
agement. When grievances cannot be settled in this way — since,
for example, they may involve the head of a department directly —
there remains the possibility of access to the main management.
The necessity for this has been emphasized by both representative
employers and representative workmen; and upon it, so far as can
be judged, depends not only the removal of grievances, but (what
is still more important) that really suggestive and constructive
work which the signatories to the Whitley Report had in mind in
recommending that workpeople should be given a larger voice in
determining industrial conditions.

In more than one works the summary of opinion on a Works
Committee — and that not on one side only, but on both — has been
expressed in the phrase, "This is the best thing that has ever hap-
pened in the shop." Such a summary could not be given if ex-
perience had not proved that a Works Committee was more than
a piece of machinery and something different from the old methods
of industrial conciliation. It means that a Works Committee is felt
to be something vital and something new — something that enlists the
workers in real participation, and something that offers fresh prom-
ise for the future.

APPENDIX I

for
WORKS COMMITTEES REPORT

QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Origin.

When did the Committee come into existence?
(b) Under what circumstances did it arise?

APPENDIX G 357

(c) What procedure was adopted to put the proposal of a Com-
mittee before the employees (or management where the
initiative came from the employees), and draft a con-
stitution ?

2. Constitution.

(a) Is there one Committee only, or more than one?
If more than one what are their relations, if any?
In the case of each : —

(b) Is it a joint committee, representative of management and

employees, or a committee of employees alone?

(c) In the latter case what arrangements exist for meeting the

management ?

(d) In the former case does the workers' side constitute a

separate committee, meeting apart from the joint com-
mittee ?

(e) How are the workers' representatives chosen? What

classes, grades of workers, or departments are repre-
sented and in what proportion? Are any classes of
workers not represented?

(/) What representation, if any, have Trade Unions, as such,
on the Committee?

i. Is the whole or any part of the membership of the

Committee confined to Trade Unionists?
ii. Has any Union any part in the appointment of

members ?

iii. Is any full-time Trade Union official admitted to
sit with the Committee, and if so, in what ca-
pacity ?

iv. What is the relation (if any) of the Committee
to the Trade Union stewards or delegates in the
works ?

(g) How are the representatives of the management appointed?
(h) What officers has the Committee, and how are they ap-
pointed?

(i) What changes in the constitution of the Committee have
been made since the establishment of the Committee, and
for what reasons?

(j) What changes in the constitution are desired by either side,
and for what reasons?

3. What are the Functions of the Committee?

(a) i. Wages questions —

Piece prices. Bonus times.

358 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Allocation of collective bonus.

Application of wage orders, &c.
ii. Working hours —

"Clocking."

Breaks. Shifts.
iii. Allocation of work —

Piece and time. Demarcation.

Dilution.

Overtime. Short time.
iv. Works organization —

Suggestion of improvements.

Discussion of proposed innovations.

Place of apprentices.
v. Discipline —

Timekeeping. Language.

Methods of foremen,
vi. Disputes —

Discussion of complaints.

Settlement of differences,
vii. Welfare —

Canteen management. Rest periods.

Sanitation.

Works amenities,
viii. Any other functions —

(It is desirable to make the list of functions

as comprehensive as possible for the purpose of

comparison.)

(5) Are the powers of the Committee specified in the con-
stitution ? or determined by the chairman ? or unspecified ?
(c) Have there been any changes in the functions of the Com-
mittee since it was established? If so, what were the
reasons ?

4. Procedure.

(a) i. How, and by whom, are matters brought before the
Committee ?

ii. Does the Committee meet at stated periods, or only
when specially summoned? How is a meeting sum-
moned ?

iii. If the firm is represented on the Committee, do the
worker members meet separately before the joint
meeting?

iv. If the times of meeting are irregular, please state the

APPENDIX G

359

number of meetings held during each of the last
three months.
v. Do the meetings take place in employers' or in workers'

time?

vi. How long does a meeting usually last?
vii. Is there any payment for attendance? If so, by

whom?

(6) In case of failure on the part of the Committee to settle
any question, to what authority is the question taken?
Give an example of the stages through which a complaint
could go.

5. Relations with Trade Unions.

(a) What proportion of the employees of the firm are mem-
bers of Unions? Of what Unions are they members?
(6) Does the firm recognize all, or any, of these Unions?

(c) Have the Union officials assisted or obstructed the estab-

lishment and working of the Committee?

(d) Is any provision made for the safeguarding of small sec-

tional interests (such as the Scientific Instrument Mak-
ers in an engineering works) ?

6. General.

(a) The attitude of the management to Committees. On what

occasions, if any, has the management refused to carry
out a Committee's decisions?

(b) Have the men in the works accepted or rejected a Com-

mittee's decisions?

(c) The possibility and difficulties of dove-tailing Works Com-

mittees into the existing Trade Union organizations.

(d) Effectiveness and results of the establishment of Works

Committees on the relations between employers and em-
ployed.

(e) The desirability of separate Committees to deal with dif-

ferent types of functions (e.g., wages questions, wel-
fare, &c.).
(/) Possible directions in which the functions of Committees

could be extended.
(g) The relation of Works Committees to unofficial Shop

Stewards.

(N.B. — It is the suggestions and feelings of employers, managers,
trade union officials and workpeople it is particularly important
to collect. The investigator's own criticisms and suggestions should
be embodied in a separate report.)

360 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

APPENDIX II

REPORTS ON INDIVIDUAL WORKS COMMITTEES, &C.1

(A) to (P) — Engineering, Shipbuilding, and Iron and Steel In-
dustries.
(Q) to (W) — Boot and Shoe, Woolen, and other industries.

PAGE

(A) Messrs. Hans Renold, Ltd., Manchester ...

(B) Messrs. Rolls-Royce, Ltd., Derby

(C) Messrs. The Phoenix Dynamo Co., Ltd., Bradford-

Wages Committees ...

(D) Messrs. Barr & Stroud, Ltd., Glasgow ... ...

(E) A Large Engineering Establishment — Dilution Commit-

tee ... ... ... ... ...

(F) An Establishment making Motor Cars and Aeroplanes

(G) Messrs. The Horstmann Gear Co., Ltd., Bath

(H) Messrs. H. 0. Strong & Sons, Ltd., Bristol

(I) Messrs. Guest, Keen & Nettlefold, Ltd., Birmingham
( J) A Firm of Electrical Engineers

(K) Messrs. Hotchkiss et Cie, Coventry ... ... ...

(L) A Large Engineering Establishment

(M) A Munitions Factory ... ... ... ...

(N) Messrs. Whitehead Torpedo Works (Weymouth), Ltd.
— Memorandum on Proposals ... ... ...

(0) A Shipbuilding Yard

(P) Parkgate Works Joint Trades Committee

(Q) A Firm of Boot Manufacturers ... ...

(R) Messrs. Reuben Gaunt & Sons, Ltd., Farsley ...
(S) Messrs. Fox Brothers & Co., Ltd., Wellington

(T) Messrs. Rowntree & Co., Ltd., York

(U) A Printing Office

(V) A Soap Works— Welfare Committee

(W) A Coal Miner's Statement on Output Committees . . .

i The statements given below are in some cases supplied by the firms,
but in most cases have been compiled by the investigator on statements
made to him by the management and representatives of the workers on
the Committee. Wherever possible, pains have been taken to ensure that
the statement accords with the views of all parties concerned with the
Committee.

APPENDIX G 361

(A) Messrs. HANS RENOLD, LTD., Burnage Works,
Didsbury, Manchester

Industry: Engineering. Number of Employees, 2,600. Num-
ber of Departments and (in round numbers) average of workers
in each— 17 departments, 160 in each. Males 1,000. Women 1,600.

At this establishment there are three different committees: —

(1) The first of these is the "Council" of the Social Union of
the Works, which includes about two-thirds of the whole body of
the workers. The Social Union is managed entirely by its mem-
bers, and has been in existence for the last eight years; it is con-
cerned with games, recreations, and educational activities, such as
the formation of study-circles; it is said to have done a valuable
work in helping to create a feeling of community and to have pre-
pared the ground for later developments.

(2) The second is a Welfare Committee, concerned with shop
amenities, which came into existence about a year ago. This com-
mittee is a joint committee. On the workers' side there are 17
representatives for as many constituencies; each constituency is,
roughly speaking, comprised of workers employed on the same sort
of operation and in the same building, but men and women vote
and are represented separately; the election is by ballot, and every
worker (Unionist or non-Unionist) is entitled to vote. Trade
Unionism is officially represented by a delegate from the Shop
Stewards' Committee. The Secretary of the Social Union is also a
member of the Welfare Committee. On the side of the manage-
ment the Committee is composed of one of the partners in the
business, the employment manager, the women's employment man-
ager, and such of the assistant works managers as wish to attend;
generally the number is about 6. The chair is taken by the chief
representative of the management, and he provides the secretary;
the meetings are monthly. The functions of the Welfare Commit-
tee are to advise the management on matters which it wishes to hear
discussed, to bring to the notice of the management questions (other
than those of wages and Trade Union matters) which the workers
wish to have discussed, and to consider suggestions for improve-
ments. The questions that have actually been discussed include the
treatment of eye-cases, the provision of first-aid and the prevention
of accidents, the provision of overalls, and the arrangement of the
seats and the maintenance of order and comfort in the men's and
women's dining-rooms. The members attend well; they meet in
overtime hours at present, and are paid overtime wages for the
time they spend at meetings, but it is hoped that in normal times

362 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the meetings will be held outside working hours and that attendance
will be regarded as a form of voluntary service. It is possible that
in the future a separate preliminary meeting may be arranged for
the women representatives from time to time; it is possible, too,
that in the future the management will absent themselves at every
alternate meeting, in order that the representatives of the workers
may discuss matters by tnemseives.

(3) The third committee is that of the Shop Stewards. This was
formed by a spontaneous movement among the Trade Unionists in
the establishment, at the time when the Welfare Committee was
under consideration. Room has been found in practice for both,
and the firm has from the first recognized the Shop Stewards' Com-
mittee. The Shop Stewards are elected by the Trade Unionists
in the establishment; they are seven in number, but the number is
likely to grow. At the invitation of the firm, they send one of their
members to sit on the Welfare Committee, but it is worth noticing
that otherwise the composition of the two bodies is distinct, and
the same person has not been elected a member of both. The
Shop Stewards elect their own chairman and secretary. While the
Welfare Committee is concerned with shop amenities, the Shop
Stewards' Committee deals with questions of wages and Trade
Union matters in general. As soon as it was formed, the Shop
Stewards' Committee asked and obtained the approval of the Dis-
trict Committee of the particular Union to which its members al-
most entirely belong. The Secretary of the Committee sends the
names of its members to the District Committee, which issues a
card to each entitling him to act as an official Shop Steward. The
Committee meets (in the firm's time) at the beginning of each
month, and after discussion sends to the management a list of the
questions it wishes to have discussed; the management adds ques-
tions which it wishes to bring forward, and the head of the man-
agement and various managers then meet the Committee for dis-
cussion; but a meeting is held between the management and the
Committee monthly, whether there is definite business or no. Some-
times foremen are present when a subject vitally concerning them
is under discussion. From the point of view of the men the ad-
vantage of the committee is that they can go direct to the manage-
ment, while before they could only go direct to the foremen. From
the point of view of the management the Committee has, on the
whole, conduced to smoother working of the establishment; and
questions of the method of paying wages, of increased bonus, and
of alleged victimization of workers by foremen have been threshed
out freely between the two sides. In connection with the position

APPENDIX G

363

of the foremen, it is thought that it may be necessary to devise some
scheme, such as regular meetings between the foremen and the man-
agement on any questions raised in the Committee which affect their
position, in order to avoid any clashing between the foremen and
the Committee. It is also thought that it may be necessary to draw
ip rules to determine the right of the Secretary of the Committee
enter departments of the works to consult with individual work-
icn about complaints. (These rules have since been drawn up and

contained in the following Note.)

Both the Welfare Committee and the Shop Stewards' Committee
used in this establishment as means for the announcement and
:planation of intended action by the management. Announce-
lents have been made, for instance, of new methods of grouping
work, and again of the appointments of foremen and the gen-
grounds on which they are based.

NOTE
REGULATIONS GOVERNING ACTIVITIES OP SHOP STEWARDS

reetings.

1. The Directors will give the Shop Stewards' Committee facili-
ties for holding committee meetings, including the use of a room,
twice per month, one such meeting to take place, unless otherwise

ranged, on the first Wednesday of each month at 6.15 p.m.

2. The Management will meet the Committee, in general, once
month, such meeting to take place on the second Wednesday at

.15 p.m. unless otherwise arranged.

3. The Directors will allow the Shop Stewards' Committee the
of one of the Works Dining Rooms twice a year, for general

rorks meetings.

4. If extra meetings are desired, either with the Management,
>r Committee meetings, or for general shop meetings, application

mid be made to the Employment Manager.

5. In the case of the regular meetings of the Committee or the
mthly joint meetings with the Management, if overtime is being

worked, and a steward would have been working during a meeting,
time spent at such a meeting will be paid for as though spent at
rork.

^rocedure.

6. The Superintendent is the executive authority in each de-
lent, and his instructions must be obeyed, even though a Shop

Steward considers an order unreasonable. In such a case the con-

364 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

stitutional procedure is to obey the order, and to lay a complaint
or call for investigation afterwards.

7. Stewards have the right to make any complaint or suggestion
to a Superintendent with regard to the rules he makes, his treat-
ment of any individual or individuals, his application of general
shop rules or policy, &c.

8. In no case will a Superintendent refuse to listen to and in-
vestigate any bona fide case brought forward by a Shop Steward,
and to give him an answer.

9. If a steward is not satisfied with a Superintendent's handling
of a question, he may refer the matter to the Shop Stewards' Com-
mittee for discussion, if the Committee so desires, with the Man-
agement at the next monthly joint meeting.

10. It is considered highly desirable that the Stewards should get
as many questions as possible settled direct with their own Super-
intendents. This does not mean that matters under discussion can
be allowed to drag out unnecessarily, and when feeling is running
high the Shop Stewards should take up a question immediately with
the Employment Manager or the Works Director, but always with
the cognizance of the Superintendent.

11. When a complaint is made by a Steward to a Superintendent
on behalf of another individual, it must be understood that the
Superintendent has every right to discuss the matter direct with the
individual concerned. This is not intended as a means of putting
off the Steward, but is a statement of the Superintendent's right and
duty to maintain the most intimate and friendly relations possible
with each and all of his men. In such a case no decision will be
come to between the Superintendent and the individual except
jointly with the Steward.

Similarly, every man has a right to approach his Superintendent
direct, without asking the help of the Steward of his department,
if he so desires.

General Arrangements and Discipline.

12. The Management desires that Shop Stewards shall have such
reasonable facilities as are necessary for carrying out their func-
tions, and expects that in return these will be exercised in such a
way as to involve a minimum of interference with their work.

13. Meetings, formal or informal, cannot be held in working
hours, except by special permission, and men should not bring
grievances or questions to their Shop Stewards during working
hours, but should wait for the next break.

14. Shop Stewards may visit the Secretary of the Shop Stewards'

APPENDIX G 365

Committee during working hours on notifying their Superin-
tendent. Similarly, the Secretary may visit any of the Stewards
on notifying his Superintendent. Each Steward is expected to
make arrangements mutually satisfactory to his Superintendent and
himself for the notification of visits when the Superintendent is
temporarily absent from the department. The time spent in visit-
ing should be restricted as much as possible, and must not be made
an excuse for inefficiency of work.

This arrangement is subject to reconsideration, should the number
of Stewards in the works exceed 10.

15. When the decisions are taken at a joint meeting with the
Management, Shop Stewards shall not announce same to their men
until the dinner time of the following day, so as to give time for
the Superintendents to be made cognizant of what transpired.

These regulations are subject to revision at any time by arrange-
ment between the Management and the Shop Stewards' Committee.

HANS RENOLD, LTD.,

Manchester.

20th October, 1917.

(B) MESSRS. ROLLS-ROYCE, LTD., DERBY

Works: Engineering; Motor-cars. Employees: 6,000. Depart-
ments: 35 to 40 have shop stewards of their own, but from the
point of view of the management the departments may be enumer-
ated as about 80, with about 300 men in the largest (the test de-
partment) down to about 20 in the smallest. General laborers (in-
cluding women) about 500. Women: About 1,500 (of whom about
100 are general laborers).

1. This establishment is very strongly unionist, and before the
war 98 per cent, of the employees were unionist — a figure which
has sunk a little during the War owing to dilution. The relations
between the management and the men are described by both sides
as uof the best." The works would appear to be regarded by the
labor opinion of the district generally with distinct favor.

The Committee at the works is one of Shop Stewards (just as
the Committees at two other establishments here described — those
of Messrs. Hans Renold and Messrs. Barr and Stroud — are also
Committees of Shop Stewards). The interesting feature of this
Committee of Shop Stewards is that it goes back to a period pre-
vious to the war. It originated as follows: — Originally individual
workmen laid their grievances before the management, bringing
(according to the general habit) a companion to help them to state

366 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

their case. As time went on, men who were recognized as good
companions to bring were sorted out, and they became semi-official
advocates. About 1912 or 1913 this informal system developed into
a recognized Committee of Shop Stewards. This Committee is what
exists to-day. There is little difference in the present system from
what was usual before the war.

2. Each department elects its own Shop Steward, the total num-
ber of whom is nearly 40. There are about nine different unions
with Shop Stewards; but more than half of the Shop Stewards
belong to the A.S.E. The fact that there is a majority of A.S.E.
Stewards has apparently produced no difficulty. The various Shop
Stewards form a Committee, with a Chairman who bears the name
of convenor. On questions affecting a particular department or
departments, the convenor interviews the management, by appoint-
ment, along with the Shop Steward or Shop Stewards concerned;
while on questions affecting all the works, he interviews the man-
agement, by appointment, along with all the rest of the Shop Stew-
ards. There are no fixed or regular meetings with the management,
but there are frequent meetings none the less.1 The motto of the
management is, "the door of the management is always open," and
this motto is acted upon. There are no women among the Shop
Stewards (though it should be noticed that the Shop Stewards bring
a woman representative with them to see the management when
they are discussing a question that affects women ) ; but the women
employees have direct access of their own to the management.
They can come one by one, or in twos and threes (to raise questions
of ventilation and heating, for instance) ; and they always receive a
hearing.

3. The functions of the Committee are large and undefined.
They bring forward anything which they think a fit matter to be
brought before the management. A question may sometimes arise
with the management whether such-and-such a question really is a fit
question ; there is then a discussion, and it is generally settled by the
application of common sense whether the question shall or shall not
be entertained, but there seems to be no rule regulating the matter.
The management discusses with the Committee, or those of it con-
cerned, changes of process; while the men, according to the view
of the management, "have helped the management in many cases
on knotty problems of output, and have made suggestions which

i There was a system of fixed and regular meetings at one time; but
this fell through, partly because there was not always business, but
largely because the convenor of the shop stewards and the works man-
ager were both busy men, and were often unable to attend.

APPENDIX G 367

were acted upon," besides bringing up complaints of the men and
cases of hardship. Among specific matters handled may be men-
tioned the following: —

(a) The base times for premium bonus work. — This system pre-
vails throughout the works; and if the base time cannot be settled
between the foreman of the department and the workmen, the mat-
ter is brought by the Convenor and Shop Steward of the department
before the management.

(b) Dilution. — The Shop Stewards have protested against the
principle but they have made an amicable arrangement with the
management in every case, it being understood that a record of
changes was duly kept. The wages of dilutees have also been dis-
cussed in conferences of the management and Committee.

Much is settled with the foremen in the department concerned, and
never comes before the management. Relations with the foremen
have not been particularly difficult. Some of the foremen resented
the action of the Committee of Shop Stewards until it was pointed
out to them that the Shop Stewards "did not wish to press too far."
There have only been one or two isolated instances of conflict; and
in one case (which appeared to be the main one) the foreman left
the works. The Convenor of Shop Stewards has the right to go
anywhere in the establishment without notifying the foremen.

4. The procedure of the system has already been incidentally de-
scribed in large measure. When any point arises in a department,
it is reported to the Convenor (who is elected by the Shop Stewards
from their number), and if it cannot be settled in the department,
it is brought before the management in the way described above.
Complaints or requests from the management go to the Convenor,
and are discussed by the Shop Stewards when he brings them be-
fore a meeting. Meetings with the management are in the em-
ployer's time, generally in the afternoon, and may last from half-
an-hour to 21/£ hours. The management has always carried out the
decisions arrived at in a meeting with the Committee; and the gen-
eral body of men in the works have accepted these decisions.

5. The relations of the Committee with local trade unionism seem
to present no difficulties. The various societies represented in the
works — A.S.E., Patternmakers, Coppersmiths and the rest — have
worked together; and the Shop Steward system is part and parcel
of the official Trade Union organization of the district. The Dis-
trict Committee of the A.S.E. does not issue cards to the Shop
Stewards, as it does in other areas. Extremists are sometimes
elected as Shop Stewards, but they generally mix with the rest;
they are a live element, and responsibility steadies them. A man

368 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

who proves a poor Shop Steward does not carry weight, and will
generally be dropped by his constituents. There is thus no need
for the issue of a card by the District Committee concerned or
for the threat of withdrawal of such a card. The relations of the
Shop Stewards at the establishment with the Trade Union authori-
ties are generally good, and every question unsettled in the
establishment goes to the local District Committee or Joint Com-
mittee of Allied Engineering Trades.

It may be added that there is a Mess-room Committee at the
works, some four or five years old, appointed by the vote of all
who use the mess-room; but it has no particular importance.

(C) THE PHCENIX DYNAMO Co., LTD., THORNBURY, BRADFORD

The Phoenix Dynamo Company is a firm employing about 4jOOO
employees. In addition to its ordinary product, the firm is now
producing miscellaneous munitions supplies. The following state-
ment, which the firm has sent to a number of employers, has been
supplied to the Ministry for publication: —

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PHCENIX SYSTEM FOR FIXING PIECE
WORK PRICES BY CONTINUOUS ARBITRATION

Preamble.

There is surely no question so vital to engineering and kindred
industries as that of the fixing of piece work prices. It would prob-
ably be accurate to say that in the period immediately preceding
the war most of the prejudices, both on the employer's part and
that of the men, to some system of payment by results were in a
fair way to be removed. The increasing competition in business,
with the resultant necessity for selling on fine margins, together
with the fact that experience was proving that because a man was
working piece work the quality of his work was not necessarily
suffering, had already converted most of the employers.

The chief outstanding difficulties were those of organization, and
much of the remaining prejudice on the part of labor towards
schemes of payment by result was the result of unscientific and
amateurish systems of estimation of the time necessary to carry out
any particular job by the employer. Consequently one got side by
side in the same shop astounding inequalities of earnings which
caused great discontent. It was the double-time man who caused
the time-and-a-quarter man to throw down tools, and the employ-

APPENDIX G

369

ers, prevented by agreements from reducing prices, are obviously
unable to increase all the prices to double time in order to remove
the discontent. The employer, therefore, urged often more by
despair than a desire to break his agreements about price reduc-
tion, adopted subterfuges to reduce the times which were too high.
This often took the form of splitting the job into sections and al-
tering methods of production in a minor way in order to reduce the
time allowed, and thus the confidence of the workers was lost by
this evasion of the real spirit of the agreement.

Even to-day the predicament still exists, and the problem of the
price, which is unreasonably high, and the discontent caused amongst
the remainder of the men, is extraordinarily difficult for the em-
ployer who wishes to observe not only the letter, but the spirit of
his undertakings not to reduce prices.

On the other hand, labor, with its greater facilities for dis-
cussion between individuals and the absence of any motive to pre-
vent complete interchange of information, such as unfortunately
exists amongst employers, has been enabled to bring great pressure
to bear upon the employer for the rectification of a price which can
he proved to be unremunerative. The same cohesion amongst la-
bor, coupled with the fear amongst employers that workmen are
only accepting payment by results under sufferance, and might some
day refuse to continue such a system, has made the employer very
fearful of pushing forward with any system to deal with the
straight problem of the reduction of an excessive time.

Since the war, and without, possibly, a full appreciation of the
precedents which are being created, employers, weary of the re-
sponsibility for so much price fixing and the dangers of labor un-
rest in their works, have compromised the most difficult jobs either
by a group bonus on the whole of the wages paid, or by saying to
individuals or group of individuals, "We will pay you time and
so-and-so whilst you are on with this work." Some aeroplane fac-
tories working on a group bonus on total output are paying their
men as much as time and three-quarters, whilst their output per
man is well below that of other aeroplane factories on ordinary day
rates.

It is fatally easy to act in this amateurish way whilst prices are
high and excess profits can be used, but any experienced organizer
or worker, either employer or employed, knows that this condition
cannot last after the war. It is this prodigal use of "time and a
something," without any definite guarantee that that amount of
work had been carried out, which has destroyed the whole of the
principle of the minimum wage. Competition on day rates being

370 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

eliminated, a competition between employers as to who can give the
most foolish piece-work price or the highest bonus per hour on
some theoretically imperfect group bonus scheme has taken its place.
The best type of labor realizes that the badly organized piece work
or bonus system is, in the end, as inimical to his interests as it is
to those of the employer. So much for the money side of the ques-
tion.

There is, however, another point which should be given its true
value. One of the greatest objections to present piece-work sys-
tems is that the employer works out the price in secret, writes down
the time on a card, and this settles the price. Now, the men feel
that payment by results is a bargain and that it is not within the
province of the employer or the employed to state arbitrarily what
the price is to be. The fact that most employers are quite pre-
pared to explain politely and sensibly to any workman how the
price is made up does not meet the theoretical objection to the
system, and the end of what should be a perfectly logical and simple
business transaction is often an altercation with a "take it or leave
it" as the employer's last word.

Another position which is often created as a result of a failure
to agree about price is a steady opposition more or less furtive
to the whole system. Assuming, however, that the system of piece-
work fixing is so accurate that every workman secures a fair return
for his labor, the theoretical objection of organized Trades Union-
ism to any arbitrary settlement of the price by the employer still
remains.

A TABULATION OF THE MAIN DIFFICULTIES

(1) Unscientific price fixing.

(2) The absence of proper machinery for appeal which is quick
in action and not cumbersome in operation for the rectification of —

(a) a price which is too low;

(b) a price which is too high.

Of these (b) is essential if the employer is to be able to preserve
towards the men absolute straightforward dealing. The employer
must have means which will enable him, without even a suspicion
of stealth, to reduce a price without necessarily changing the method
of manufacture.

The following is a system which has been working for some time,
the terms of which were drawn up by the aid and cooperation of
the principal Union of metal workers and the firm concerned. It
is capable of considerable extension and improvement, and is a
sincere attempt to solve an exceedingly complicated but absolutely
vital problem.

APPENDIX G

371

Financial Basis of Prices.

The men had pressed for a guaranteed time and a half. To this
we could not agree. Eventually it was agreed that times should
be fixed so that an average man could earn time and a quarter, and
a really good man should have no difficulty in making time and a
half. The following is the agreement reached between the prin-
cipal Union of metal workers and ourselves concerning the scheme : —

On getting out a new job we would calculate the feeds and speeds
which were suitable for the tool on which the job was to be per-
formed, and then put forward the time to the man who had to do
the job, saying: "This is the time we offer; you are not bound to
accept it and can appeal if you like. In this event you go to the
Time Study Office, where the man who has dealt with the job will
go through the detail of his calculations, and if he has made a slip
will at once put it right."

Our time fixing is not infallible, and the men can help us by
pointing out errors. If, however, we are unconvinced that the
price is unreasonable, and the man is equally unconvinced that it is
reasonable, he can then say, "I want this job to go to Committee."
The time offered by us would then be put on the card as a tem-
porary time, and the decision of the Committee would be added
on or taken off the time agreed by the Committee when their de-
cision has been given. In any case, however, the man has no object
in hanging back, because no evidence as to the time taken on the job
between the price being fixed and the Committee being held is
available for the Committee.

The Committee consists of 3 of the firm's representatives and 3
workmen's representatives consisting of the man concerned and 2
workmen selected by him who are operating the same type of ma-
chine or whose work is closely allied to the work in question. In
a dispute of a Milling Machine price, the man and 2 other millers
would attend.

The Committee is to be held within 2 days of the complaint. In
the event of the Committee failing to agree it is then up to the firm
to demonstrate in their own works that the time is fair and that
time and a quarter can be made on it. The question of outside
demonstrators being employed was raised, and it was agreed that
only in the case of new tools bought from the makers on guaran-
teed times should outside experts be brought in. The firm have the
option to decide whether, in the event of the Committee failing to
agree, the demonstration of the time shall be done in the shop
itself or alternatively in a demonstration department. It is further

872 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

agreed that, in addition to the Committee being a means by which
workmen can secure awards as to prices which are too low, the firm
have the same privilege with regard to prices which are too high. In
the event, however, of the firm petitioning for the reduction of a
price and bringing the matter to a Committee, it is understood that
any reduction which is made in the time shall be put on to another
job on which the workers cannot do as well. This is accepted with-
out demur, as it shows a desire, at any rate, to try to equalize the
position as between man and man and also from the firm's point of
view.

The above are the terms of the understanding arrived at and the
following observations may be interesting.

The whole point about this system is that the rate fixers shall
get into their heads the fact that they are not telling the men how
much they, as representatives of the Almighty, agree to allow for
each job, but are in the position of buyers who, having worked out
what they think is a fair price for a commodity, make the man
an offer for it on those terms.

A great deal can be done in making a Time Study Department
a really nice office and insisting that the man is treated really
courteously. One of the great difficulties is to get personalities
definitely removed from the transaction. A discussion that starts
about the price of a job often finishes by two men staking their
reputation as craftsmen and their experience as workmen that they
are absolutely right.

The rate fixer must be made to feel that it is not a disgraceful
thing to alter his price. The friendly spirit is extremely important,
and unduly conceited rate fixers with the manner of a general man-
ager have not proved invariably successful. The surprising part of
the scheme over the period in which it has now been operating is
the very small number of Committees which are held. It would
appear that a very stupid workman who goes to the Time Study
Office to argue with the rate-fixer, or a very thick-headed rate-fixer,
are either of them rather afraid of what a Committee would decide
about their particular case, and so whichever party feels himself to
be technically weakest in the argument appears to give way. At
any rate, the number of Committees is incredibly small. It may be
argued that this is because the prices are fixed on so generous a
basis.

The average in the whole of the shops concerned ranges from
27l/2 per cent, in the worst case to 521/4 per cent, in the highest
average case.

The provision by which an employer is allowed to reduce a price

APPENDIX G 373

(provided that he adds the time so reduced on to some job which
is a lean one) has the advantage that after a time you get a certain
number of hours on the men's side of the ledger, and this is a sort
of accumulation of time in the bank. By this means cases of
special hardship can be dealt with by adding some of the time on
to the lean jobs.

The composition of the Committee from the employers' point of
view should vary from time to time, and the superintendents of the
shop will be well advised to keep their eye on the cases coming up
for Committee. It sometimes happens that a very good workman
indeed has become pig-headed about his particular job, and whilst
the rate fixer may be exactly right, it may be advisable to humor
the man in question. The very fact of the man's all-round excel-
lence and his status of a workman makes it advisable to keep him
friendly to the scheme. In cases of this sort, where a certain
amount of feeling is present, it is advisable for some fairly high
official to sit as one of the employer's representatives and tactfully
(whilst saving the rate-fixer's face as much as possible) leave the
Committee to humor the man somewhat. These cases have proved
to be very rare, but the employer has so much to gain from the
system generally that he must be prepared to stretch a point, with-
out saying he is doing so, to meet very difficult cases which come up
to Committee. One case in point: —

An extraordinary skilled aeroplane metal worker brought a case
up to Committee, where the rate-fixer was an equally skilled metal
worker and a member of the same Union. The matter had ob-
viously become more a question of which of the two men was a fool
than the question of the price, and it is in cases of this sort that a
tactful official can be so valuable on the Committee.

If any employer will put himself in the position of a workman
who, on being offered a price, thinks it unfair, and who has either
to take it or else put himself in opposition to his foreman and
others, he will appreciate the value of some such scheme as the above
to the workmen. Under the present scheme a man so placed is
either satisfied by the Time Study Office or not, and if he is still
dissatisfied he can ask for a Committee and go back working on
the job without quarreling either with his foreman or anybody else.

(D) Messrs. BARE AND STROUD, LIMITED, Anniesland, Glasgow

Industry: Engineering. Number of Employees, 2,350, of whom
275 are women.

This firm has, and has long had, an admirable system for the

374 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

education of its apprentices, and it is noteworthy that several of
them, during their apprenticeship, have taken the Bachelor of Sci-
ence Degree in the University of Glasgow.

The firm has also, like the shipbuilding firm of whose organiza-
tion an account is given under (0) below, a system of awards for
suggestions made by their workmen, which has been at work for
many years.

There are two workers' Committees in the establishment: —

(1) The first, which is called the Shop Committee, might also be
designated a Welfare Committee, and has been in existence since
about 1900.

Its constitution and rules are set forth in the published Book of
Rules of the firm. Briefly, it may be said to deal with shop ameni-
ties. It controls the Sick Benefit Society, the fund for distress,
and all other funds of a like nature. It controls the management
of the canteen and the rifle club and handles all social arrange-
ments for entertainments, picnics, and the like. The Chairman is
one of the Directors. He can veto the discussion of any matter;
but he has never once had to exercise this veto. No Trade Union
questions — no questions of wages or application of Trade Union
Rules — come before this Committee. The Committee meets regu-
larly once a month and oftener if necessary. There are various
sub-committees appointed by the Shop Committee to deal with the
various activities.

(2) In March, 1916, when dilution was started, a second Com-
mittee was formed, called the Industrial Committee. As it is pro-
fessedly in existence for the war period only, nothing is said about
this Committee in the Book of Rules of the firm, but the following
description may illustrate its chief features.

The formation of the Industrial Committee was helped by the
good relations and the community of feeling engendered by the
working of the existing Shop Committee. The Industrial Commit-
tee is based essentially on Trade Unionism and the Shop Steward
System. The twelve representatives of the men are elected entirely
by the Shop Stewards, some forty in number, of the different Unions.
There is thus no system of election by all the workers and the Com-
mittee is not representative of all the workers, but on the other hand
there is a definite nexus established with Trade Union sentiment
and organization. Two Directors of the firm and the head foreman
sit with the twelve representatives of the men. When there is busi-
ness to transact, meetings of the Industrial Committee are held
on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. and the men's representatives are paid as
usual during the time occupied at the meetings. The members of

APPENDIX G 375

the Committee hold office for one year. There are two Chairmen,
one from the men's representatives and one from the firm's, and
they preside at alternate meetings. The only other officer is a
Secretary elected by the Committee.

The following list contains some of the questions treated by the
Industrial Committee during the past eighteen months: —

(1) The question of the Convenor of Shop Stewards going into

other departments for discussion of grievances. This
was discussed and the result was the formulation of
regulations (see Note (i); similar rules are also con-
tained in Note (ii) in respect of the "Shop" Committee).

(2) Wages of women and girl employees.

(3) The record of changes in practice.

(4) Questions arising from the premium bonus system.

(5) Appeals against dismissal.1

(6) The question of men forgetting to clock on and of whether

they should receive wages for the period for which they
had forgotten to clock on.

(7) The question of working overtime on Saturdays. The

Committee agreed to refer this to a general plebiscite.

(8) The question of wages of apprentices.

(9) The question of rules for night-shift work; e.g., whether

men could leave a little before the closing time to catch
a train.

It is obvious that the functions of the Industrial Committee are
important; it is one of the most advanced Works Committees in
existence. Questions of wages come within its scope (under 2, 4,
6 and 8 above) ; and a question recently under discussion was a
proposal that there should be a guaranteed premium bonus.

A question which has recently arisen is that of the relation of
the Industrial Committee to the local Trade Union organization.

This Industrial Committee is deserving of attention; first in its
constitution — based as it is on the Shop Steward system — and sec-
ondly, in its influence on the works, which has been large and far-
reaching.

It is interesting to notice that the system of Messrs. Barr and
Stroud, Limited, is very like that of Messrs. Hans Renold, Ltd.
Both have two Committees; both assign to one Committee the con-
sideration of shop amenities, and to the other questions of work

i Only one case has arisen. Here the firm refused to go back on its
decision, but was ready to explain its action. This was done. The
men's representatives then asked if the man in question might receive a
clear character: this was given.

376 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and wages; both base the second Committee on the Shop Steward
system.

An immediate and important result of having such an Industrial
Committee is that grievances that might otherwise generate bad
feeling are brought at once to the attention of the Directors. The
trivial surroundings of grievances are brushed off, and the real prin-
ciples underlying the questions under discussion are arrived at.

So far, the Industrial Committee and the Shop Stewards have
quite naturally declined to deal themselves with matters of disci-
pline; but in cases where they have declined, they have actively up-
held, or at all events not hindered the regulations imposed by the
firm.

NOTE (i)

REGULATIONS FOR LEAVE GRANTED TO SHOP STEWARDS TO DEAL
WITH COMPLAINTS

(1) If any employee has a relevant complaint to make about his
work, sufficiently important to bring before a Shop Steward, he
must communicate only with the Shop Steward of his own De-
partment.

(2) If the Department Shop Steward thinks the complaint re-
quires attention, he will send for, or fetch, the Convenor of Shop
Stewards, who, when possible, will tell the foreman of the De-
partment to which he is called that he has been summoned on Shop
Steward business.

(3) If the Convenor of Shop Stewards, after consultation with
the Department Shop Steward and the complainer, thinks the com-
plaint requires further attention, he will call a meeting of Shop
Stewards to consider the matter.

(4) If the meeting of Shop Stewards thinks the complaint re-
quires still further consideration, the Convenor will bring it before
a meeting of the Industrial Committee or convene an emergency
meeting of the Industrial Committee in order to lay the complaint
before the Firm.

(5) The foremen are instructed by the Firm that they are to
grant the facilities referred to above; but if they think that these
facilities are being taken advantage of, they are instructed to
inform the Firm so that the representatives of the Firm may draw
the attention of the Industrial Committee to it.

BARR AND STROUD, LIMITED,

(Signed) HAROLD D. JACKSON,

Director.

APPENDIX G 377

NOTE (ii)
NOTICE

To MEMBERS OF THE STAFF AND TO FOREMEN AND MEMBERS OF THE
SHOP COMMITTEE

In connection with their duties as Members of the Shop Com-
mittee, it is sometimes necessary for the Members of the Shop Com-
mittee to go into different departments of the shop to enquire into
matters connected with the well-being of the employees.

In such circumstances the Members of the Shop Committee should
always inform the Chief of the Department or the Foreman into
whose Department they go, that they are on Shop Committee duty,
and in such circumstances the Foreman will not unreasonably with-
hold permission.

The Firm rely that Members of the Shop Committee will be care-
ful never to abuse this privilege.

Each Member of the Shop Committee is provided with a ticket
of identification.

BARR AND STROUD, LIMITED,
(Signed) HAROLD D. JACKSON,

Director.

(E) — A LARGE ENGINEERING ESTABLISHMENT — DILUTION
COMMITTEE

Seven Departments, employing over 10,000 workpeople.

1. The Committee at this establishment should properly be de-
scribed as a Dilution Committee. It came into existence in Feb-
ruary, 1916, and though matters other than dilution are occasionally
brought before it, its primary function is the regulation of dilution.

2. The election of the Dilution Committee consists of two stages : —

(1) In the first place, Dilution Delegates were elected on the

basis of two delegates for each shop by all workers,
unionist or non-unionist (including women1), in every
department or shop.

(2) In the second place, the delegates select five representa-

tives to represent them on a Joint Dilution Committee,

i The women in one department did not vote, but that is due to diffi-
culties of time and place. If their hours had been different and the
department had not been at a distance from the rest they would have
voted.

378 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

on which also sit an equal number of the management.
At first there was an agreed external Chairman but,
subsequently, the senior manager present acted in this
capacity. There was found to be the objection that if
an external Chairman is appointed whose decisions are
accepted, arbitration within the works is set up for deal-
ing with matters which should be entirely within the
jurisdiction of the management. A member of the man-
agement presides and another member of the manage-
ment is Official Secretary, and is responsible for the of-
ficial minutes and the notification of all dilution ques-
tions. He is also responsible for all communication with
the men's Secretary. On the men's side there is a Chair-
man and an additional representative who acts as the
men's Secretary, but has no vote.

3. There are no regular meetings of the Joint Dilution Commit-
tee; it meets when either side asks for a meeting. (Some questions
raised by the men's secretary may be settled at once by executive
action and without a meeting, if the case is a clear one, and the
action will be simply reported at the next meeting.) The minutes
are kept by the Official Secretary appointed by the management.
The men's Secretary takes informal notes. The minutes are gen-
erally circulated a week before a meeting to enable the men to
consider them prior to the meeting and raise at the meeting any
points arising therefrom or to which they do not agree. Sometimes
there are meetings once a week, sometimes once a month or even
at longer intervals.

4. The functions of the Dilution Delegates are to supervise the in-
troduction of dilution and the wages .paid to dilute. The dele-
gates may complain, for instance, about a foreman introducing
dilution without proper notice, or as to the rates paid to a dilutee
or to the manning of a lathe by a dilutee. If any question arises
about the rates paid to a dilutee, they refer to the Dilution Cer-
tificate sent to them, on which this rate is stated. In no instance
are they allowed to ascertain the rates paid to men or women other
than dilutees. On the whole no insuperable difficulty has arisen
between the Dilution Delegates and the foremen. This is chiefly
due to the tact displayed by the management and the men's Chair-
man, but many times there have been grave difficulties owing to
the action of certain of the younger delegates and foremen.

The Joint Dilution Committee deals with all important matters
arising out of dilution which come up to it (as a rule through the
men's Secretary) from the delegates.

APPENDIX G 379

5. To what has been said above, it should be added that the
whole procedure of the Committee is necessarily elastic, and de-
pendent on personal tact and contact rather than on a formal con-
stitution. There is, for instance, no fixed tenure of office for the
men's representatives; if their action or constitution were chal-
lenged, as it was in a case when the members of the United Machine
Workers' Association claimed representation, they could, and did,
resign, and a new election was held. The same Committee as be-
fore was elected. The men's representatives on the Joint Com-
mittee, if they consider any proposal involves an important ques-
tion of principle, ask to have a matter referred back to the Dilu-
tion Delegates for instructions, or, if the question is comparatively
unimportant, may agree to settle it off-hand.

The Dilution Committee here described is obviously of a special
character, and under the peculiar conditions the Joint Dilution
Committee has been fairly successful. It works easily and in-
formally. Confined in form to questions of dilution, it finds it easy
to discuss other questions and to deal with works conditions in
general on occasion; for instance, in a case where the firm had sub-
mitted a proposal for a bonus on output to a large number of set-
ters-up, the men asked their Dilution Committee representatives to
take the question up and discuss the matter with the management.

The men's representatives on the Dilution Committee have pre-
vented many threatened strikes developing in various parts of the
works, either by their direct intervention or by calling the attention
of the management to trouble that was brewing.

In the firm's opinion, the value of the work to be done by such
a Committee depends on the men's representatives being educated
and fair-minded men.

It must be remembered that this Committee is essentially a Di-
lution Committee and not a Works Committee. The representatives
may, de facto, be Shop Stewards, but they are chosen by all the em-
ployees, including skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workpeople.

The Dilution Committee does not represent the steel smelters,
steel, iron and brass founders, smiths and strikers, and one or two
other trades. If it were to become a Shop Committee it would prob-
ably have to be increased and represent all trades and the foremen.
In the firm's opinion the constitution of such a Committee, so as
to secure the best results, would require very careful consideration.

(F) AN ESTABLISHMENT MAKING MOTOR-CARS AND AEROPLANES

The firm make motor-cars, aeroplanes and aeroplane engines.
The present number of employees is about 3,500, of whom some 600

380 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

are women and some 150 general laborers. The others are skilled or
semi-skilled.

The Committee dates back to 1908. It arose from a dispute which
resulted in a strike. The directors had had no idea of the trouble,
and in order that in the future such a position should be made im-
possible the Works Committee was formed. District Trade Union
officials took an active part in the formation of the Committee.

The Committee consists of 22 members, one from each depart-
ment. Each member must be a Trade Unionist, but voting is open
to all men, whether or not Trade Unionists. The women do not
have votes. There are members of 26 Trade Unions in the works.
Only 10 of these have members on the Committee. The 10 are the
A.S.E., the Toolmakers, the United Kingdom Society of Smiths, the
United Kingdom Society of Coachmakers, the Amalgamated Society
of Carpenters and Joiners, the United Machine Workers, the Wood
Cutting Machinists, the Patternmakers, the Steam Engine Makers,
and the Sheet Metal Workers.1 The members are elected annually,
each department electing its representatives. The Committee choose
their own Chairman and Secretary. The same people tend to be
reflected from term to term; the present Chairman has been in
that position from the first, and the Secretary in his for 41/2
years.

The only formal rules are contained in a poster, a copy of which
is posted up in each department. This gives a short statement of
why the Committee was formed and outlines the procedure to be
adopted with complaints. This procedure consists of three courts
of appeal — the Works Manager, the Managing Director, and the
Board of Directors. Thus, a man not satisfied with the response
of a foreman goes to his departmental representative on the Com-
mittee (or direct to the Secretary or Chairman, who have freedom
of movement from department to department). The Chairman and
Secretary of the Committee and the representative of the complain-
ant's department then approach the Works Manager, and there-
after, if necessary, first the Managing Director, and then the Board
of Directors. In fact, nothing needs to go beyond the Works Man-
ager; nothing has gone so far as the Managing Director since there
was some trouble connected with the introduction of the Insurance
Act; and during the present Director's tenure of the position no
case at all has reached the Board of Directors.

i At one time there was a member of the Workers' Union on the Com-
mittee, but when he left the works the next appointed belonged to a
skilled union. The departments represented and the unions to which
the members belong are given at the end of this report.

APPENDIX G 381

The Committee acts for almost all purposes by the methods de-
scribed in the preceding paragraph. The Works Manager has met
the whole 22 as a body on one occasion only. The occasion was a
visit from an officer of the Ministry of Munitions on the question of
timekeeping. The Works Manager meets the small number who
act for the Committee (perhaps with the employee or employees
concerned) whenever there is occasion. The number of interviews
rises and falls. Sometimes he will have an interview every day for
a week, and then a fortnight without one will pass. These inter-
views are in employers' time. The 22 members meet by themselves
about once a month for general business; these meetings are partly
in their own time and partly in the employers' time.

The Committee has been largely responsible for making the appeal
for better timekeeping effective, and this is the more remarkable
because even before the appeal was made the timekeeping record
was considered very good. As an illustration the following figures
were given : for the week ending 10/3/17 the total number of hours
lost by 3,300 employees was 8,050; the corresponding numbers for
3,500 employees in the week ending 22/9/17 was 5,700; that is a
reduction from 2:4 to 1:6 per head. The other questions discussed
with the officials of the Committee and the representatives on it of
particular departments have included dilution, which was carried
through without trouble, and grievances in regard to premium bonus
times, including the fixing of new times when methods of production
are altered. Usually the arrangement of times is discussed when
the question affects a number of men. A toolroom bonus, payment
of time and an eighth, was arranged between the Committee's repre-
sentatives and the Works Manager. This bonus, which was con-
ditional on good timekeeping and increased activity, has since been
given up in favor of individual premium bonus.

The Chairman of the Committee, who is an official in his own
Union, emphasized three points: —

(1) the division of functions between Union and Works Com-

mittee, wage questions in particular being Union matters.

(2) the established procedure as posted up in the departments.

(3) the officials' right of movement from shop to shop.

He had no doubts about the benefits produced by the Committee.
The representatives of the management agree as to the success of the
present arrangements.

382

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

NOTE
Division into Departments

Name of Department.

No. of Em-
ployees in
Department
(in round
figures) .

No. of Repre-
sentatives
on
Committee. 1

Trade Union of
which representa-
tives are members.

Seaplane Department -|

Seaplane Erecting
Paint Shop

31oJ
160

2
1

Amalgamated Car-
penters and Join-
ers ; U.K. Society
of Smiths.
Tool Makers.
U K. Society of

New Machine Shop

Old Machine Shop
Body Shop

770

340
60

2

2
1

Coachmakers.
A.S.E. ; United
Machine Workers,
A.S.E.
Wood Cutting Ma-

Stripping and Examining
Repair Shop

70
240

1
1

chinists.
A.S.E.
A.S.E.

Smiths Shop

30

1

A.S.E.

Detail Shop

180

2

A.S.E. • Sheet

Finishing Shop

110

1

Metal Workers.
A.S.E.

Trimming Shop

60

1

U.K. Society of

Aviation Engine Depart-
ment,
fitting Shop

200
180

1
1

Smiths.
A.S.E.

S t e a m Engine

Erecting Shop
Experimental Department
View Room
Molders and Pattern Mak-
ers.

110
30
120
50

1
1
1
1

Makers.
A.S.E.
A.S.E.
A.S.E.
Pattern Makers.

i The rule is one representative for each department whatever its size.
The exceptions are due to such causes as: — (a) In the New Machine
Shop — one is allowed for each turn, day and night; (6) In the Detail
Shop — a body of workpeople who have recently been removed from an-
other department into this shop have been allowed to retain their rep-
resentation.

APPENDIX G 383

(G) THE HORSTMANN GEAR COMPANY, LIMITED,
93, Newbridge Road, Lower Weston, Bath.

These works are a small engineering establishment employing
70-80 men and apprentices and 14 women. There are no laborers.
The men are all skilled mechanics. There are 16 apprentices.

The Works Committee was formed in the autumn of 1916. It
was set up at the suggestion of the management in order to ad-
minister the bonus scheme proposed by the management, in re-
sponse to a demand by the employees for a 10 per cent, advance
in wages in the autumn of 1916.

The essentials of the scheme are as follows: —

Each month a sum equal to 5 per cent, on the wholesale value ap-
pearing in the stock book of the viewed and passed manufacturing
output for the previous month, and the works' value of other work
done during the previous month, is set aside as a bonus fund.

Five per cent, was adopted, as that was the percentage on the
output of the previous month represented by a ten per cent, ad-
vance on the existing current wages at the date when the first bonus
was paid.

Every employee in the works, except the two Managers and the
Secretary, participate in the bonus according to the number of
"profit-sharing units" to which he or she is entitled under the scheme.
Each employee, except apprentices for whom special provision is
made, is entitled to one "profit-sharing unit" for each halfpenny
per hour of the employees' time-rate, up to, but not exceeding, 9d.
per hour, and two units for each completed year of service up to
five years. Examples: — An employee receiving 9d. per hour and
having been three years with the firm would be entitled to 24 units;
another, receiving Is, 3d. per hour and with three years' service, would
also receive 24 units; and another, with two years' service and re-
ceiving 3d. per hour, would be entitled to 20 units.

The Committee meets regularly each month: —

(i) To settle the amount to be set aside for payment of bonus.

For this purpose the books of the Company are opened to the
Committee.

(ii) To assess the value of the profit-sharing unit,
(iii) To assess the fines incurred by employees under the
scheme.1

1 A fine of a certain percentage of the units for any one month, with a
maximum of 25 per cent., may be inflicted for each of the following

384- MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(iv) To determine the amount of bonus to which each employee
is entitled.

2. Constitution. — The Committee is a Joint Committee, repre-
senting : —

(i) The management,
(ii) The employees.

The two Works Managers and the Secretary are ex-officio mem-
bers. These gentlemen are also the Managing Directors of the
Company.

The rest of the Committee consist of six representatives of the
employees, elected by ballot by all the employees. The six mem-
bers represent the works as a whole. Representation is not based
on departments or on grades of workers. All employees, appren-
tices, and women as well as men, are voters.

The officers consist of a Chairman and a Secretary. The of-
ficers are elected by the Committee. The present Chairman is the
Chairman of the Directors. The Chief Clerk has been elected Sec-
retary.

The Committee meets as a whole. There are no separate meetings
of the management members and employee members.

The present elected members have been elected for an indefinite
term. The period of office will probably, in future, be six
months.

The constitution has not been reduced to writing, and must be
regarded as tentative. More women will shortly be employed, and
it is intended then to consider the separate representation of women
on the Committee.

Only one of the employees is a Union member. The question of
relationship to the Trade Unions has, therefore, not arisen.

The Committee has recently formed a Works Musical Society,
which is progressing excellently. A canteen will shortly be estab-
lished, and it is intended to associate the Committee with its manage-
ment.

3. Functions of the Committee. — The Committee, in addition to
the above-mentioned special duties, is charged with the considera-

offenses, and these units will then be temporarily forfeited for the month
in question: —

(a) Insubordination, or use of improper language.

(&) Undue carelessness and wilful damage.

(c) Neglect to enter goods, advices, time cards, dockets or time sheets.

(d) Waste of tools and materials.

(e) Waste of time by failing to work full weeks, or by slackness.
(/) Refusal to work a reasonable amount of overtime when requested

without sufficient reason.

APPENDIX G 385

tion generally of any grievances arising in the shop. Its functions
in this respect are not specified or limited. The Committee has
dealt with shop conditions, wages, holidays and bad timekeeping.
It discusses any questions arising in the works which are considered
suitable for discussion.

4. Procedure. — The Committee meets regularly each month. It
meets some 15 minutes, or so, before the end of the working day,
and the employee members are paid for the time so spent up to
the end of the working day. Any time occupied after the end of
the working day is not paid for.

A special meeting can be called at any time on application to
the management. Time spent at special meetings is not paid for.

Meetings take place in the works.

Meetings are summoned informally by verbal notice to the mem-
bers.

The length of meeting varies according to the amount of business
to be transacted.

Minutes are regularly kept of the proceedings.

5. General. — No arrangements have as yet been worked out for
keeping the Committee in touch with the general body of employees.
The necessity for such arrangements has not been felt. The de-
cisions of the Committee appear to have given complete satisfaction.
Employees are not bound to report grievances to the Committee;
if they wish they can approach the management direct. Every
facility for this is afforded to all employees.

The value of the unit has already advanced some 30 per cent.,
and is expected to rise rapidly in the near future owing to improved
methods and efficiency. The Committee is regarded as a great suc-
cess, and has acted as a great incentive to efficiency in the works and
in furthering increased production.

(H) H. 0. STRONG AND SONS, LTD., Norfolk Works,
St. Paul's, Bristol

This establishment is a small engineering works employing about
120 men, women and boys.

The Managing Director personally supervises the whole of the
works, and very close personal contact is maintained between the
management and the employees.

1. Origin. — For several years prior to the latter part of 1915
the Company adopted the practice of meeting the whole of the men
employed in the works, once a month, to discuss any matters con-
nected with the establishment that seemed to require examination.

386 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

At the end of 1915 this practice was abandoned because it was felt
by the management —

(i) That much time was wasted discussing irrelevant and un-
important matters.

(ii) That real grievances did not freely come out in the pres-
ence of the whole body of employees.

The last meeting of this character took place towards the end of
1915, and at this meeting the Managing Director pointed out these
objections to the existing practice, and suggested that a Works Com-
mittee should be constituted. The management then retired, and
the proposal was discussed by the employees alone.

The employees agreed to the proposal, and proceeded to elect
seven representatives to form an Employees' Committee, which
would meet as a Joint Works Committee with the management.
2. Constitution. — The Committee is composed of: —

(a) Three representatives of the management nominated by

the Managing Director, namely —
The Managing Director,
Manager of the Repair Department,
Works Manager of the Manufacturing Depart-
ments.

(b) Seven representatives of the employees.
Representation is based on occupation, not on the department in

which the men work.

The representatives are divided as follows: —

1. Laborers (1).

2. Machinists (1).

3. Turners (1).

4. Millwrights (1)

5. Patternmakers (1)

6. Fitters (1).

7. Apprentices (1).

Some 20 women are employed, but are not represented.

Of the seven representatives, four are members of the Amalga-
mated Society of Engineers, three are non-Unionists.

The employees' representatives are appointed at an annual meet-
ing of all the employees (other than women) held in September.
They are appointed for twelve months.

The Managing Director has been elected Chairman of the Joint
Committee.

The men's representatives meet separately as an Employees'
Committee for the purposes mentioned below in paragraph 4. The

APPENDIX G 387

Employees' Committee elects one of its members as Chairman. The
Chairman acts as convenor.

There is no relation between the Committee and the Trade Unions
concerned. A Trade Union official, as such, does not, therefore, at-
tend the meetings, but one of the Committee is the shop steward
appointed by the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

No constitution of the Committee has been definitely formulated.
It is at present experimental, and is developing in accordance with
experience.

3. Functions of the Committee. — Since the appointment of the
Committee, no complaints or suggestions come direct to the man-
agement; they are first taken to the Employees' Committee as ex-
plained hereafter.

The Committee has dealt with the following classes of business : —

Stoppage of bonus.

General discipline.

Interpretation of official Orders and Circulars.

Interpretation of Trade Union rules and regulations.

Shop conditions, lavatories, ventilation, etc.

Decisions of foremen.

Timekeeping.

Output and costs.

Overtime.

Grant and withholding of Leaving Certificates.
The Committee has proved specially useful as a means of arriving
at the proper interpretation of official Orders and Circulars. The
operation of the recent Order granting a bonus of 12V2 per cent,
to certain skilled timeworkers (the Skilled Time Workers (Engi-
neers and Holders) Wages Order, 1917) was discussed at the last
meeting, and its operation in these works determined.

4. Procedure. — Complaints or suggestions are brought, in the
first instance, to the attention of one of the men's representatives.
Normally, the complaint or suggestion is made to the representa-
tive of the grade to which the person making the complaint or sug-
gestion belongs. This representative then notifies the Chairman of
the Employees' Committee, who asks the foreman's consent to a
meeting of the Employees' Committee being held, and arranges with
him a convenient time. The members are then notified verbally of
the time and place of meeting.

A meeting is held as soon as possible after receipt of the com-
plaint or suggestion.

The meeting takes place in the employers' time.

388 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

All work in the establishment is paid on a day work basis. The
men are paid for time occupied on Committee business.

The men's meetings are of short duration, and are held in the
works.

If the Employees' Committee can deal finally with the question
raised, they do so. If not, the Chairman of the Employees' Com-
mittee aprroaches the Managing Director as Chairman of the Joint
Committee and asks for a meeting of the Joint Committee. These
meetings are held in the firm's time, and the Committee meets in
the office of the Managing Director.

Joint meetings occupy from half-an-hour to two hours, according
to the amount of business to be transacted.

A shorthand typewriter is present to take notes, from which
regular minutes are entered up in a minute book.

No voting takes place.

All decisions are arrived at by agreement.

There is no regular time for holding meetings of the Joint Com-
mittee. Meetings are held as and when required, and are held as
soon as possible after a request for a meeting is preferred by either
the management or the Employees' Committee.

5. Relations with Trade Unions. — There is no direct relation be-
tween the Committee and the Trade Unions.

The Unions are recognized by the company, and all Union matters
are arranged direct between the management and the Union officials.

The Joint Committee is only concerned with Union Rules so far
as affects their interpretation in relation to the circumstances of
the works.

The Amalgamated Society of Engineers have a shop steward in
the shop. The latter is a member of the Committee, but not in his
official capacity as shop steward.

No difficulties have arisen with the Unions.

6. General — The management have found the Committee of the
greatest service in conducting the business of the works. It has
obviated the necessity of posting notices, always liable to be mis-
understood, in many instances. A good output has been maintained,
and no trouble has arisen in the works. The management believe
that the essential point in preserving good relations with their em-
ployees is to ensure an open and full understanding, and that this
can only be secured by frequent contact with every section of opinion
in the works.

The employees find the Committee of advantage to them because,
instead of any complaints being subject to the whim of a foreman
or the ipse dixit of a manager, the matter is finally decided by a

APPENDIX G 389

Committee of their own mates, or, if this is not found possible, by
a joint meeting of their own representatives with the management.
Moreover, there is no delay. Rapidity of action is regarded as
essential if a scheme of control of this sort is to work satisfactorily.
There is general agreement that, in a small meeting of nine or
ten persons meeting informally, men have no hesitation in saying
what they think, and it is thus possible to gage the "temperature" of
the shop with some accuracy.

(I) Messrs. GUEST, KEEN AND NETTLEFOLD, LTD.,
Birmingham.

Works — Engineering: Screw, nut, bolt and rivet. Employees
(affected by the scheme, in 3 works), 2,500. Departments, some 50.
General labor, about Vs of the whole. Women employees, 1,850.

1. There are five separate works of the firm, all engaged in the
same business, in the Birmingham district. Three of these contigu-
ous to one another (Heath Street, Imperial Mills, and St. George's),
are fully included in the scheme here described. The two others
follow the same lines, but, being more distant, are not included in
the actual operation of the scheme. The origin of the scheme was
as follows: — Early in 1914 there was a series of strikes of the
women employees, and these strikes affected the men employees, as
machines stood idle, work was not ready, and wages were lost.
The result was that the men also struck. When matters had thus
reached a deadlock, a mass meeting of the men was held on May
9th, 1914, which was attended by the management, and at this meet-
ing the outlines of the scheme now in force were suggested. Subse-
quently a mass meeting of the women was also held, and the manage-
ment and representatives of the men attended. The scheme was
again propounded, and was accepted by the meeting. Finally a
mass meeting of men and women, with the management attending,
was held, and here the scheme (that there should be no strike without
consultation of the firm, and meanwhile the machines should be kept
running, and there should be an Appeals Committee in each of the
three contiguous works) was accepted.

2. The works were conducted on this basis for over two years,
down to August, 1916, without any difficulty. At that time the
question arose of an advance in wages to meet the rise of prices.
The matter went to arbitration. Negotiations with the directors took
place, and in December they accepted the scheme, and a formal agree-
ment was concluded by which the men, as a society, agreed to a
signed contract that they would not strike without consultation of the
firm, and received in return a system of Appeals Committee in each

390 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of the three works and a central control board for all the three.

3. The scheme, which came in to full working in December, 1916,
embraces, as has been said, three works,1 including the greater part
of the manufacturing section; but the engineering section (which
contains about 300 employees) is not at all under or connected with
the scheme, its members belonging to various other societies. The
2,500 employees of the manufacturing section of the three works
form a definite Trade Society or Union. Few of them before the
scheme came into operation were members of a Union; all of them
are now members of the new Union. This new Union does not be-
long to any Trades Council or Allied Trades Committee; its strike
rules forbid such membership. The Union is thus peculiar; it is
a small Union consisting of the employees of a single firm.

4. The Union, as has been said, has entered into a definite con-
tract with the firm, by which it covenants not to strike without con-
sultation, and to keep the machines running meanwhile, in return for
certain concessions. The first of these is: —

(a) The Appeals Committee. — There is an Appeals Committee
in each of the three works. Each Committee contains men and
women representatives, elected, one for each section, by a ballot
among the employees of the section; and each has its Chairman, but
the Chairman of the Central Control Board often presides at meet-
ings of the different Appeals Committees. The Appeals Commit-
tees deal with questions other than those of wages. Their province
includes lavatories, canteen, general health and welfare; but they
deal mostly with shop conditions and grievances. Any employee
with a grievance states it to the Chairman of the Committee or to
one of its members who reports it to the Chairman. The Chair-
man then sends a note on a regular form to invite the foreman to
meet him in order to discuss the matter. The matter may be settled
at such a meeting; if it is not, it goes to the Appeals Committee;
and if, in the opinion of that committee, it raises questions outside
their province, it is referred to —

(b) the Central Control Board. — This contains, at the present
time, from 25 to 30 members, including men and women. The
members are nominated by the different Appeals Committees, sub-

i Two other works of the firm in the district ( Broad Street and King's
Norton) are not included in the scheme, and have no Appeal Committee;
but the wages and conditions at these works are affected and largely
controlled by the system in force at three contiguous works. One
of these works is likely to come fully into the scheme, as its site is to
be in the future nearer to those of the others; the other is out in the
country, and so outside the scheme.

APPENDIX G 391

ject to ratification by a general meeting of the works concerned.
(Meetings of 800 are not at all uncommon; the employees attend
well, as there is a rule that unless two-thirds are present there is
no quorum and nothing can be done.) The President of the Cen-
tral Control Board is elected by the whole Society. The present
President has been in industry for the last 37 years, and has had a
long practical experience in the works of all the wage-questions
which form the staple of the functions of the Control Board. In the
handling of these questions the usual method is as follows: A
wage-question is reported to the President, and he then communi-
cates with the management in writing. If it is a question of local
detail, he writes to the works manager of the particular works; if
it is a question of a general kind, he writes to the general works
manager. The manager addressed replies to the President in writ-
ing (but, as a rule, there has been a personal interview between the
two before the reply comes) and the reply is reported by the
President to the Central Control Board. If the reply of the man-
agement is satisfactory to the Central Control Board, the matter,
of course, ends ; if it is not, the Central Control Board makes further
representations to the management. The Control Board does not
meet the management; the relations are entirely by correspondence,
supplemented by personal interviews between the President and
management.

(c) The last resort, if a question is not settled between the Con-
trol Board and the management, is the Conciliation Board, consist-
ing of two representatives of the management and two of the Con-
trol Board. This Board has never acted hitherto, since, under the
working of the Munitions Act, questions which would have gone to
the Conciliation Board under normal conditions now go to London
for settlement. In this event the President writes to the Ministry
of Munitions to state the men's case, giving a copy of his letter to
the firm; and a general meeting of all the employers affected may
be held before the letter is sent, just as would be the case if the
normal procedure contemplated in the rules were being followed.

5. In regard to the general working of the system the following
points may be made: —

The firm permits anybody to see the President in the works
(another workman sees to his machine while he is absent) ; it allows
his letters to go by the works mail; it has supplied him with a desk
beside the bench at which he works and facilities for keeping his
books and papers. A room is set aside in which he can have inter-
views, and the firm provides a room for meetings of the Appeals
Committee and Control Board. The management is always ready

392 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to see the President when he asks for an interview, and he has full
liberty to go anywhere in the three works, without asking for per-
mission, in order to interview employees or committeemen and to
discuss grievances.

As has been mentioned, any grievance between an employee and
an overlooker is discussed between the Chairman of one of the
Appeals Committee and the overlooker concerned ; but if it is not set-
tled the complainant and the overlooker appear before the Appeals
Committee and both state their case. The Committee decides which
of the parties is, in their view, in the right, and they send the matter
for adjustment to the management.

The work of the President under the scheme is unpaid.

(J) A FIRM OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS

This establishment is an engineering works employing 400 women,
150 men and 150 boys.

About 40 of the men are skilled. These are all members of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

The establishment is almost entirely engaged in making 18-
pounder shells. A small amount of private work is done, princi-
pally heads of trolley arms for electrically propelled tramcars.

1. Origin. — The Works Committee was established in the autumn
of 1915.

It was brought into existence to assist in fixing and adjusting
piece-work prices.

The Committee was suggested by the men employed at the works,
and the local delegate of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers also
recommended the establishment of the Committee to the Managing
Director.

2. Constitution. — The Committee is a men's committee only. It
consists of 5 men. The women and boys are not represented. The
5 members are elected by the shop as a whole, and do not represent
separate departments or grades.

The constitution of the Committee has not been reduced to writ-
ing. It is at present experimental, and is developing in accordance
with experience.

3. Functions of the Committee. — The principal business of the
Committee is to assist in fixing and adjusting piece-work prices.
The questions which arise on this score are, however, not compli-
cated or difficult, as the establishment has, since the Committee was
formed, been engaged almost entirely on repetition work. The man-
agement, in the first instance, settle what they consider fair prices,

APPENDIX G 393

and submit them to the Committee with the data on which they have
been fixed. The men's committee then meets separately to consider
the suggested prices. Ample time is allowed them to consider and
discuss the matter, both among themselves and with the workers
affected. A joint meeting is then held between the Committee and
the management, at which the several prices under consideration
are reviewed, and any suggestions as to amendment are considered.
If a good case is made out to the satisfaction of the management the
price is raised or reduced. If it becomes necessary to reconsider
the price already fixed, any suggestions on this score are brought
by the Committee to the attention of the management, and are jointly
considered. No friction of any sort has so far arisen. Prices have
been frequently reduced or increased by mutual agreement. Under
ordinary conditions of work, problems arising as to fixing and ad-
justing piece-work rates will be more difficult, but the Managing
Director considers that they can be best dealt with on the lines
above indicated.

No limits have been put to the matters with which the Committee
may deal, and it is open to the Committee to bring forward any sug-
gestions or complaints relating to the management of the shop.

The Committee has dealt with the following matters: —
Ventilating and sanitary questions.
Complaints as to the decisions of foremen.
Arrangement of shifts.
Allocation of piece-work and day-work.
Holidays.

Alteration of hours of admission to the works.
Interpretation of official orders and circulars.

At the last meeting the application to this establishment of the
Skilled Time Workers (Engineers and Molders) Wages Order,
1917, was discussed.

The Managing Director is of opinion that the Committee should
also be charged with the supervision of dismissals and reduction
of staff, and it is likely that steps will be taken to utilize the services
of the Committee in this respect.

The Committee deals solely with domestic questions arising in the
shop.

4. Procedure. — The men's committee meets separately on the em-
ployers' premises and in the employers' time. Time spent on Com-
mittee work is paid by the employers. On request, the Committee
meets the Managing Director and the Works Manager.

Requests for meetings are made by the Committee to the Works
Manager.

394 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Meetings with the management take place in the firm's time, and
time is paid.

There are no fixed times for meetings. Meetings either of the
employees' committee or joint meetings with the management are
held at such times as may be found necessary.

On any business arising, a convenient time for a men's committee
or a meeting with the management is arranged as soon as possible,
and generally upon the same day.

Meetings are called informally by verbal notice.

Meetings with the management are of an informal character, and
the men's representatives are, if necessary, accompanied by the local
delegate of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

5. Relations with the Trade Unions. — There is no official relation
between the Committee and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.
The Union is recognized by the company, and very cordial relations
exist between the management and the Amalgamated Society of
Engineers' officials in the district. All Trade Union matters are
dealt with direct by the management and the Union officials. No
difficulties of any sort have arisen with the Union.

6. General. — The Committee is regarded by the management, the
men and the Union officials of the Amalgamated Society of En-
gineers as a great success. The management have found the Com-
mittee of the greatest service in conducting the business of the
works. The Managing Director considers the existence of such a
Committee as essential, and strongly supports any scheme by which
the workers may be given a great share in the control of industry.
In his opinion, the success of any such scheme pivots on the estab-
lishment of satisfactory joint works committees.

(K) HOTCHKISS ET ClE., ARTILLERY WORKS, COVENTRY

From Official Constitution of Works Committee as Approved
by the Ministry of Munitions.

The recognition of a Shop Committee, such Committee to be com-
posed of Stewards elected by their representative Departments by
secret ballot and endorsed by their respective Union District Com-
mittees.

In deciding on representation the principle will be one repre-
sentative for each Department having not less than approximately
100 employees. In cases of smaller Departments, these may be
grouped together and representation of the Departments so grouped
will be on the same basis. No employee of less than 18 years may
vote.

APPENDIX G 395

Functions of the Committee: —

(a) To provide a recognized channel of communication be-
tween the employees and the management;

(5) To present to the management, through the Chairman of
the Committee, any grievance or suggestion which,
after full consideration, they think worthy of the firm's
attention.

Procedure.

If the management and the Committee fail to agree, and on all
questions of principle, negotiations will proceed between the man-
agement and the Union as hitherto. The Chairman of the Com-
mittee \vill have facilities to consult the Union local officials.

Failing settlement with the Union, Part 1 of the Munitions of
War Act, 1915, will apply.

No stoppage of work will occur during negotiations.

Meetings of the Committee will be held after working hours un-
less called in case of emergency at the request of the management.

Note from Firm. — "The Committee came into existence at Easter,
1917. It was instituted in the first place on a two months' trial
and, as it momentarily achieved its object, was continued until
about the end of the year. The constitution of the Committee then
became unacceptable to the Shop Stewards and the Committee
lapsed."

(L) A LARGE ENGINEERING ESTABLISHMENT

1. From the point of view of the management. — A Dilution Com-
mittee arose in 1916 when dilution was introduced. There were no
particular rules about its constitution. At the end of 1916, after
the question of dilution had been worked out, and as the Committee
commenced to take up other questions, the firm began to consider
the formal institution of a Works Committee in place of this in-
formal Dilution Committee. The Note printed below gives par-
ticulars.

A Joint Shop Committee was set up, but only lasted a few
months. It would appear that the really crucial question, which
led to the dissolution of the Joint Committee, was the position of
the Shop Stewards, which was perhaps not properly coordinated
with the institution of the Joint Committee. The men stood out
against the Committee because, in their view, its effect would be to
weaken the authority of the Shop Stewards. As a matter of fact,
the firm has always in practice recognized the Shop Stewards,
though in the institution of the Shop Committee it did not take

396 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

their position specifically into account. The management sees them
whenever they wish it. Generally, they come in twos — a Convenor
attending with the Shop Steward of the department from which
the complaint is brought. This still goes on; and, therefore, though
the Committee is dead, the principle of such a Committee still lives.
Generally, it is true, the Shop Steward goes to the foreman first
with a complaint; but he can come straight to the management
if he is dissatisfied with the foreman's answer.

2. From the point of view of the men. — The same people were
Shop Stewards and members of the Shop Committee, but they pre-
ferred to act in the former capacity. One reason for this prefer-
ence was curious but natural. There were 24 Shop Stewards in the
establishment; there were only nine representatives of the men on
the Joint Committee, as the management held the view that the
Committee must not be so large as to be unwieldy. The 15 Shop
Stewards who were excluded from the Committee were discon-
tented.

3. The last straw which broke down the Joint Committee was a
curious thing. It was a question of the washing of women's over-
alls. The women had agitated (or been agitated) about the mat-
ter; it was brought before the Committee; the men took umbrage
at a long discussion of such a matter, and the end came.

In spite of this failure, both management and men appear to be
in favor of the idea of a Joint Committee.

NOTE.
JOINT SHOP COMMITTEE

It is proposed to form a Joint Shop Committee for the purpose
of mutual discussion of shop questions, with a view to securing
harmonious relations and efficiency in the working conditions of the
establishment.

The Committee will consist of representatives elected by ballot
by the workmen and women of the various departments, arranged
in nine divisions as shown below, one representative to each division.
The firm will be represented by the Directors and Departmental
Managers. The Committee will have power to coopt any employee
or works official for attendance at any meeting where such attendance
may be necessary.

A first ballot will be taken in each department, each employee
being at liberty to nominate a candidate for his department. The
two candidates receiving the largest number of nomination papers
will be selected for the final ballot, and the nominee receiving the

APPENDIX G

397

larger number of votes in the final ballot will be the elected repre-
sentative of the department.

It is suggested that the representatives should hold office for six
months. A payment of 2s. 6d. per meeting attended will be paid
to each representative by the firm.

The Committee will meet on the first Thursday of each month
at 5 p. m., or as may be required.

The scheme is a purely domestic one, and is an attempt by the
firm to provide a more direct means of communication with their
employees in all matters affecting their conditions and the develop-
ment of the establishment generally. The Directors invite the co-
operation and interest of the employees in the scheme, and trust
that each individual will register his vote according to his judg-
ment, in order to make the Joint Committee thoroughly representa-
tive.

The ballot will be secret, so that no parties will be in a position
to ascertain how any worker has voted. Intimation will be made
to each department when the first ballot will take place. The ar-
rangements in connection with the election and voting will be car-
ried out by the existing Joint Shop Committee.

(M) A MUNITIONS FACTORY

The company owns two factories and manages two others, and
altogether employs about ten thousand workers. Its products are
ammunition of various kinds for Naval and Military purposes.

This note only refers to one of their factories, in which there are
four thousand employees, of whom one thousand five hundred are
women. One hundred of the males are general laborers, the rest
being skilled or semi-skilled.

The Works Committee was formed in May, 1917, and consists of
twenty-one members. It is composed of and is elected by the men,
the election taking place at shop meetings. At present the women
have no representative and no vote in the elections. Nevertheless,
the women have laid certain matters affecting them before the Com-
mittee for consideration, and the Secretary of the Committee is in
touch with the Organizer of the National Federation of Women
Workers, and should need arise would deal with the Women's Sec-
tion of the Workers' Union, or, indeed, any organization of female
labor.

There is no rule excluding non-Unionists, but, in fact, all the mem-
bers of the Committee are Trade Unionists.

The Committee meets weekly on Tuesdays at supper-time (i.e.,

398 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

in the men's own time). In cases of real urgency the general man-
ager gives permission for meetings in the company's time.

The Committee has a Secretary, who is largely responsible for
the work transacted. He communicates the recommendations of the
Committee to the general manager through the company's labor
officer.

The Committee, though perhaps not formally recognized by the
company, is, in practice, treated as a body with which negotiations
can be concluded.

The general procedure is as follows: —

Matters for the consideration of the Committee are reduced to
writing and brought up at a meeting. They are then discussed.
In many cases the Committee are able to give advice or instructions
on the matter without any reference to the management. Should
it be decided that in the opinion of the Committee some alteration
should be made, the labor officer is requested to lay the matter be-
fore the general manager, who frequently discusses the subject with
the Secretary before coming to a decision.

Should the matter be deemed to be very important or of a funda-
mental character the Committee request the general manager to re-
ceive a deputation.

Up to the time of writing the working of this Committee, as
guided by its present Secretary, is considered by the company as
most helpful. It has settled many alleged grievances without any
trouble, has prevented several threatened strikes, and generally
tended to smooth and harmonious working in the factory.

The success of the whole scheme is largely due to the tact and
good sense of both the company's labor officer and the Works Com-
mittee's Secretary.

In conclusion it should be stated that before the formation of
the Works Committee many consultations had to take place between
employees and their respective Unions to settle minor points. This
procedure has now been found unnecessary, as the operation of the
Committee so far has made it easy for both small and great mat-
ters to be ventilated and promptly dealt with with the least possible
friction and delay.

(N) WHITEHEAD TORPEDO WORKS (WEYMOUTH), LTD., Weymouth

The following summary contains part of a memorandum sent to
the representatives of 13 trade unions. A letter, which accompanied
the memorandum, suggested that a general meeting of delegates of
each organized society in the works should be called to discuss with
the firm the formation and constitution of the proposed Council.

APPENDIX G 399

The proposals are now under discussion by the trade unionists.

In the memorandum the firm suggest: —

"That the existing trade union organizations may be made the
basis of a general Council, of reasonable size, representing every
union in the works, and given the fullest possible powers to take
decisions, subject, of course, to reference to the constituent branches
on any issue of sufficient importance."

They then state that :—

"The firm's aim is to associate (through a Council appointed in
such a way as to recognize and strengthen the position of the exist-
ing trade organizations) the whole body of workers in everything
that concerns their well-being, discipline, and control, and, by stir-
ring in each individual the sense of his responsibility towards the
State, the industry and the works, to enable such a Council to secure
loyal compliance with any decision arrived at conjointly with the

A program of subjects is thereafter given as a basis for dis-
cussion.

(1) Hours of Work. — The proposal of a 50-hour week on the
one-break day system was defeated when voted upon in May. Some
men appear to have thought the adoption of a 50-hour week would
prejudice the introduction of a 48-hour week after the war. The
firm is strongly in favor of a 48-hour week, but in regard to that
cannot act without reference to the agreements between the Engi-

ig Employers' Federation and the Trade Unions.
A full explanation of the one-break day is given and arguments
its favor added. This section ends: "The firm has not had any
ther or better proposal put before it for this purpose, and there-
fore raises the question again for reconsideration. It is further
proposed that, six months after the adoption of the one-break, a
referendum by ballot should be taken as to whether the old system
of hours should be gone back to or not."

(2) Time-keeping. — "The question of time-keeping is the one
that has gone nearest to impairing the excellent relations with its
employees that the firm values so highly; but it is felt that here
again the facts have not been rightly understood by every one."

There follows a discussion of causes. The management have now
come to the conclusion that the greatest effect has been produced
by the institution of an "open gate" and the relaxation of the official
Works' Rules.

"The exact form that the gate rules will finally take is subject to
consideration, and is much influenced by the concurrent question
of the one-break day; but, in its old form, the "open gate" has been

400 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tried and found wanting, and, one way or another, something else
must take its place."

(3) Eelease of Diluted Labor. — "The firm is prepared to invite
collaboration from the proposed Council, or sectional Committees
representing the individual trades concerned, both as regards the
selection of suitable operations on to which to put unskilled labor,
;md as regards the individuals to be released for skilled work else-
where."

(4) Fixing of Piece-work Prices. — In order to facilitate the fix-
ing of prices satisfactorily to employer and employee it is pro-
posed : —

"It would be one of the functions of such a Council, as is suggested
in this memorandum, to set up an organization whereby reliable
times for piece-work operations would be ascertained, checked, and
counter-checked by both parties. This organization would prevent
such occurrences as a recent suggestion of 50 minutes for a particu-
lar new operation. A trial made by the management showed that
six minutes was an ample allowance. If such trials were made by
a Joint Committee (or in their presence) prices could be settled
more rapidly, and with less danger of unfairness, or discontent on
either side, afterwards."

"The same organization could be used for the purpose of making
clear to what extent a job becomes a new one by some alteration in
design, material, or method of manufacture."

(5) General Rules and Regulations. — "There is a class of rules,
offenses against which are punishable by a fine of 2s. 6d., dismissal,
or a prosecution under the Munitions Acts.

None of these penalties is a convenient one. Fines are as much
disliked by the firm as by the men; dismissal entails the loss of
services which may be badly needed; and prosecutions entail great
waste of time and may produce more evils than the original ones
they are meant to cure.

Many of these offenses and some others could probably be dealt
with more satisfactorily by such a Council as outlined above. In-
stances of them are: —

Clocking in too soon, fraudulent clocking, and registering an-
other man's time.

Not keeping at work till knocking-off time.
Leaving work without permission of foreman.
Idling in the works.

Entering or leaving the works otherwise than by the main en-
trance.
Bringing in liquor.

APPENDIX G 401

Gambling in the works.

Taking part in disturbances, using abusive language, and re-
fusing to obey lawful orders.

All the above are offenses under the Works' Rules, permission to
post which has been given by the Ministry to the firm as a Con-
trolled Establishment. They have hung in the main entrance since
1915, and are still in force, but every one of them is broken from
time to time."

(0) A SHIPBUILDING YARD

The present number of employees is about 2,400, of whom some
200 are women.

The system in operation at this yard (and the same methods
apply at the firm's engine works) is particularly interesting in view
of the comparatively long time during which it has been working,
and in view also of its success in fostering good relations between
the firm and the men. More than 30 years ago an elaborate system
of rules for the yard were drawn up by the firm in consultation
with delegates from the trades, conferences between members of
the firm, officials of the firm and delegates from the various trades
in the yard, being held for this purpose on five dates in 1885 and
on two in 1886. These "Rules" form a printed booklet of 36 pages,
and each employee on joining the yard for the first time can be fur-
nished with a copy. In an address, delivered by one of the late
senior members of the firm, at the close of one of the conferences
(on 21st January, 1885), there is contained the following statement:
"I think I am right in saying that the step taken by this firm in
asking their workmen to join with them in the preparation of the
rules of this yard is a new step in the history of labor. I cannot
find, from anything I have heard or read, that any firm previous
my own firm has asked the men in their employ to join with
in the preparation of the rules by which these men were to
governed." The revision of these Yard Rules has been a subject
of conference at various dates since 1886. The present edition of
the rules is divided into five sections: — Section 1 is sub-divided into
(i) General, (ii) Decauville Railway, (iii) Timekeeping and Piece-
work, (iv) Regarding Apprentices, (v) Against Accidents, (vi)
Against Dishonesty, and (vii) Final. Section II deals with the ad-
mission of (i) Apprentices to Drawing Office, (ii) Boys as Appren-
tice Clerks, (iii) Girls as Apprentices in Tracing Departments, (iv)
Girls as Apprentices in the Decorative Department, and (v) Girls
as Apprentices in Upholstery and Polishing Departments. Section
III gives the rules for the guidance of the Committee of Awards.

402 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Section IV gives the rules referring to Subscriptions. Section V
gives the Fire Brigade Rules. There is a separate book of rules for
the Accident Fund.

Conferences similar to those of 1885-6 have been held from time
to time since, and have developed into a Workers' Committee. The
members of the conference at first represented trades, and may still
do so, but not necessarily. Each department chooses one or two
representatives, and these representatives may or may not be Trade
Unionists or Shop Stewards.1

The composition of the Committee to-day is as follows: —

No. of
Trade. Delegates.

Painters 1

Engineers, Cranemen, etc 2

Blacksmiths 2

Joiners (Upholsterers) 2

Plumbers 1

Tinsmiths 2

Riveters 1

Laborers 1

Electricians 1

Iron Carpenters 1

Wood Carpenters

Caulkers

Drillers

Fitters

Foremen

Drawing Office

Counting House

23

The above is the composition of the Committee when it meets
the management in what may be called formal meetings. There
are, however, no set meetings, and in addition to the formal meet-
ings much business is done between the firm and the Chairman of
the delegates; and, in matters affecting a particular trade, between
the firm and the delegates from that trade. In the last 24 years
the formal meetings have averaged three a year, but in the last three
years there have been 20 meetings, or an average of seven a year.

The delegates hold shop meetings to report results of meetings

i The majority of the delegates are trade unionists and official yard
delegates for their unions, though not elected to the Committee as such.

APPENDIX G 403

with the management, and meet the management again, and so on
until agreement is reached.

One of the delegates acts as Convenor or Chairman, and as the
link between the delegates and the management. For the formal
meetings with the firm, one of the firm's shorthand clerks, at the re-
quest of the delegates, acts as Secretary.

The subjects dealt with, in what have been called "formal meet-
ings," cover a wide range: — they have included the revision of
Yard Rules originally made in conference; unemployment questions
— e.g., the purchase by the firm of an old vessel so as to employ
idle men, and subscriptions to an unemployed fund; timekeeping —
men leaving their work before the horn blows; arrangements for
paying the men — e.g., earlier payment for big squads where di-
vision has afterwards to be made among the members of the squad;
arrangement of holidays; subscriptions to various funds and chari-
ties, including joint funds for augmenting Government allowances
to soldiers' dependents; provision of canteens and of supply of
carried food warming appliances, and of ambulance transport for
injured men; distribution of coal supplied from firm's yard during
1912 coal strike to inhabitants of town (this was worked by dele-
gates themselves under chairmanship of one of the partners) ; sub-
scriptions to War Loan; and dilution of labor.

When the firm joined the Employers' Association, about 1906,
the fact was formally put before the men's delegates.

It will be seen that the list covers not only general industrial ques-
tions, shop grievances, &c., but also questions of welfare. (There
is a Welfare Supervisor for the some 200 women employers, and a
boy's Welfare Supervisor for all the apprentices and young lads.
He has formed a Cadet Corps mostly from amongst them.)

All the questions discussed are general questions, since, as has
already been remarked, the questions of a particular trade are ar-
ranged between the firm and the representatives of that trade. In
these latter questions the failure to agree would mean that the mat-
ter became one between the firm and the particular Trade Union
concerned.

The Awards Scheme. — The firm have had in operation since 1880
an Awards Scheme, under which any worker (exclusive of head
foremen, officials of the Committee of Awards, and heads of de-
partment) may claim an award for improvements and inventions.
The scheme was introduced by one of the late senior members of
the firm. The rules for the guidance of the Committee of Awards
form Section III of the Yard Rules. The Committee consists of
an outside and independent person as President, the Manager of

404 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the Yard, and the Manager or Chief Draughtsman of the Engine
Works, with a clerk from the counting house as secretary. The
rules are elaborate, and designed, among other things, to do justice
as between different claimants. The average number of claims is
stated to fluctuate very much from year to year. In certain cases
where patents have been secured, the amounts received by individuals
have run into hundreds of pounds. In the case of patents, the in-
ventors usually ask that one of the firm should be joined with
them, and share partly in the gains. The reply of one inventor,
when he was asked why this was so, is compounded of Scotch cau-
tion and good feeling and trust. It was : "Naebody kens my name,
but a'body kens yours."

The Accident Fund Society. — This Society, established 43 years
ago by mutual agreement between the firm and their workmen, was,
in 1897, used as a basis for contracting out of the Employers' Li-
ability Act of 1880, and the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897,
and has since been amended to conform to the Act of 1906. It is
governed by a Joint Committee of 22 managers, with an inde-
pendent Chairman. Eleven are chosen by the workmen and eleven
chosen by the firm; the latter comprise four partners, one manager,
and six foremen or members of office staff. Four of the works
delegates are also managers of the Accident Fund — two of these
being trade delegates and the other two being the foremen dele-
gates. The funds are provided in two ways. Fund No. 1, to meet
the legal provisions of compensation imposed by the Acts, is pro-
vided entirely by the firm. Fund No. 2, which provides extra
benefits, such as solatium for loss of minor portions of the body,
for which no lump sum compensation could be demanded under the
Acts, is provided from the contributions of the members and the
payments of the firm, and, in addition, from the fines imposed in
accordance with the Yard Rules. The particular interest of these
fines, which like the other features of the rules are carefully de-
tailed, is, that not only are they paid into the Accident Fund, and
so, though taken from the individual, returned to the workpeople
as a whole, but, in addition, in each case of a fine the firm pays an
equivalent amount into the fund. The firm in fining an individual
fines itself to the same extent, and the double fine goes to the Acci-
dent Fund.

The firm lay great stress upon the fact that this system of yard
delegates has gradually developed on voluntary lines as the need
for it was felt. In all cases the delegates simply ask to see the
management when they so desire, and may meet several or only
one of the managers, as the case may be. (There is no question

APPENDIX G 4*05

of equality of numbers of firm's representatives and men's, except
in the Accident Fund.)

(P) PARKOATE WORKS JOINT TRADES COMMITTEE
I

RULES FOR WORKS COMMITTEE

1. That this organization be called "The Parkgate Works Joint
les Committee."

2. That the objects of the Committee are: —

(a) To strengthen Trade Union organization in the works.

(b) To deal with general questions affecting the welfare of all

sections in the works.

(c) To give assistance to branches in sectional disputes where

the branches fail to arrive at a settlement with the firm.

(d) To keep a watchful eye on representation on local bodies,

and to see that the workmen employed by the firm are
not overlooked.

(e) To do whatsoever it can to promote a closer union of the

different trades represented in the works.

3. That branches be allowed representation as follows: — *
Membership of 50 — one delegate,

Membership over 50 — two delegates.

4. That the branches be asked to appoint alternative delegates,
and forward their names to the Secretary together with the names
of the delegates appointed.

5. Any body of trade unionists working in any department, but
-whose branch is out of the works, may have representation on the
same basis as branches.

6. The President and Secretary shall be empowered to call a
meeting of the Committee to deal with any matter which arises,
or may arise, affecting the welfare of the branches.

7. Any delegate or branch may have a meeting called by giving
notice to the Secretary, stating the business they wish to bring be-
fore the Committee.

8. That a delegation fee of one shilling per delegate per year be
paid to the Committee.

9. That where sectional disputes are dealt with by Committee,

i With, in addition, the Secretary of each branch, if employed in the
works, ex officio.

406 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

deputations to the Management shall consist of two representatives
of the Committee and one from the section affected.

10. That the Secretary be ex officio member of the Committee.

11. No person allowed to sit on the Committee unless authorized
to do so by his branch and certified by the branch secretary.

12.1 That in the event of any claim being made or dispute which
affects the interests of more than one section of the works, such
cases shall be dealt with by the Trade Unions concerned and the
Joint Trades Committee.

II

Fourteen trade union branches are represented on the Committee.
Seven of the fourteen have no members employed outside the Park-
gate Works. The seven are: — Four branches of the Iron and Steel
Trades Confederation, and a branch each of the Blastfurnacemen,
the Enginemen and Cranemen, and the General Laborers. Together
these seven branches represent about 1,600 persons in the works.
Six of them have three representatives on the Committee; in each
case the secretary of the branch is one of the representatives. The
seven trade union branches having only part of their membership
within the works are: — The Bricklayers, the Amalgamated Society
of Engineers, the Blacksmiths, the Holders, the Boilermakers, the
Roll Turners and the Carpenters and Joiners; together these seven
branches represent about 200 persons in the works. Four of them
have two representatives, including the secretary in each case, and
three one representative on the Committee. Altogether, therefore,
the Committee consists of 31 persons including the secretaries of 11
of the 24 branches.

Rule 4, relating to alternative delegates, is stated to be necessary
because some men, for example the first hand at a smelting furnace,
cannot leave their work at certain times.

The Committee was formed in January, 1916. An attempt to
form a Committee had been made in 1913, but, owing to the slight
support given to it, this Committee lasted for a few months only.
The influences which produced the present Committee were the
recognition of common needs and the desire for harmony (see Rule
2). The particular incident from which its inception took place
was a meeting called to nominate a representative from the work-
people to the local military tribunal.

Among the subjects which the Committee has discussed are in-
cluded the following: — Dilution, gambling in the works, the recent

i Included recently.

APPENDIX G 407

l2l/2 per cent, increase to time workers, extension of this to part-
time and part-bonus workers, the provision of canteens, works
discipline, participation in local affairs such as elections, promotion
of workpeople, &c. In regard to gambling, the Committee decided
that the practice should be abob'shed absolutely; this meant that a
"raffle" which had been held for the past seven years was abolished
along with the other forms of gambling.

Dilution Committee. — This is a sub-committee of the Works
Committee chosen so as to give representation to all the departments
most vitally affected by dilution. Its membership is made up of —
3 from the Confederation (1 each from the smelters, the millmen
and the stocktakers and chemists), 1 from the engineers, 1 from the
bricklayers and 1 from the general laborers, with a blastfurnace-
man as president and the secretary of the Works Committee as
secretary. The secretary has no vote and the president a casting
vote only.

(Q) BOOT MANUFACTURERS

The Company employs about 1,000 workpeople, of whom two-
lirds are men and boys, and one-third women and girls.

1. Origin. — The Works Committee was established about fifteen
lonths ago, on the initiative of the management. The object in
dew was to afford more convenient machinery by which the em-
>loyees could confer with the management, and vice versa.

2. Constitution. — The Committee is an Employees' Committee,
and consists of 10 representatives, based on several departments
into which the establishment is divided. The representatives are
distributed as follows: —

1. Clicking Department 2

2. Machine Room Department 2

3. Rough Stuff Department 1

4. Making Department 2

5. Finishing Department 2

6. Boxing Department 1

The two representatives from the machine room department are
women. The representative from the boxing department is a woman.
The other representatives are men.

The members of the Committee are elected for twelve months.
They are elected by the employees at a meeting of the employees
convened by the Union for the transaction of Union business.

The constitution of the Committee has not been reduced to writing.

3. Functions of the Committee. — No limits have been set to the

408 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

matters with which the Committee may deal. It is competent for
the Committee to make representation to the management on any
question relating to the internal organization of the establishment.
A special function performed by the Committee is the preliminary
discussion of piecework rates with the management, prior to such
rates being presented to the Conciliation Board for the Board's
sanction. The Committee has been found especially useful for the
transaction of this business. In many cases it has resulted in
agreed rates being submitted for the formal sanction of the Board.
This has been particularly the ease in reference to fixing rates for
new machines.

4. Procedure. — No regular times are fixed for the Committee to
meet. Meetings with the management are arranged on request by
either the Committee to the management or the management to the
Committee. The management usually give one day's notice to the
Committee when they desire a meeting. Meetings are held in the
firm's time, and any loss of wages is made up. Meetings do not
usually last beyond an hour.

5. Relations with Trade Unions. — It is the policy of the Union
that all disputes or complaints shall be settled, as far as possible,
in the shop, without reference to the Union officials.

The Union cordially approves of the Committee, and the repre-
sentatives on the Committee are appointed at a meeting for the
transaction of Union business, as already stated.

Several of the Shop Stewards are members of the Committee, but
are elected as ordinary representatives, and do not sit by virtue of
their office as stewards.

When matters of importance are under discussion a representa-
tive of the Union attends the meetings of the management and the
Committee.

6. General. — In view of the high degree of organization both
among the employers and operatives in the boot and shoe industry,
and the efficient working of the Conciliation Board machinery, it is
considered essential for the successful working of a Committee such
as that above described that great care should be taken to see that
the Committee does not usurp functions proper to the Conciliation
Board. Special stress is laid upon the useful work done by the
Committee in arriving informally at agreed piecework rates prior
to their being submitted to the Conciliation Board for formal ap-
proval.

APPENDIX G 409

(R) Messrs. REUBEN GAUNT AND SONS, LIMITED, Spinners and
Manufacturers, Farsley, Yorkshire

The firm has adopted Works Committees at their Worsted Spin-
ning Mill.

The firm are pioneers in the application of Welfare Schemes in
their industry.

The following details, which the firm has kindly supplied, refer
to the Spinning Section at Springfield, where combing as well as
spinning is carried on.

The number of workers engaged is 400, in the proportion of two-
thirds women and girls and one-third men and boys.

The first Committee to be formed was the Factory Council.

This Council was appointed by the Board of Directors, and is
composed of two directors and the heads of the respective depart-
ments in the works. All the nine members are specialists in their
various spheres. The Factory Council acts in an advisory ca-
pacity in regard to general questions of finance, ways and means,
and expenditure, but in regard to inter-departmental questions it is
competent to act both in an advisory and in an executive capacity.

The function of the Factory Council is to consider, unify and
consolidate the rules and principles of management.

The Factory Council makes use of the collective experience of
its members and, in consequence, the business is more efficiently
managed.

Meetings are held weekly, on the same day and at the same hour.

The Chairman is one of the Managing Directors, and is re-
sponsible for explaining the business policy to the Council; he is
also the medium through which the recommendations of the Council
reach the Board of Directors.

When Factory Council meetings were first inaugurated, it was
not easy for either directors or heads of departments to table their
information freely, neither did either party always appreciate a
frank review on matters relating to their department, but in course
of time (the Factory Council has been established eight years) con-
fidence and a broader outlook have obtained, and members now pool
their experiences quite freely. In this way members are kept in
touch with all activities and, instead of having a knowledge limited
to their own department, they gain an insight into the whole con-
cern. This reticence on the part of both Directors and Representa-
tives may be a real stumbling block — it should be frankly recog-
nized as a difficulty and means should be found by the management
of overcoming it. The Manager or Director, who is used to ban-

410 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

dling big propositions and acting independently, may be fretted by
the narrower view of the man who can see no farther than his own
department, but restraint must be exercised.

If the Conferences are to be of any use, those attending them
must be able to speak freely and be assured of a sympathetic hear-
ing. Experience proves that time and patience will overcome this
difficulty. The time, both of the Manager and the Representative, is
well spent, they are coming into closer contact with each other than
heretofore, and both are gaining knowledge which will eventually
lead to increased confidence and efficiency.

The establishing of such a committee as the Factory Council does
not fundamentally alter the general scheme and management of
industry. The function of the management is still controlled by
the managing staff, but experience has proved that a Council with
consultative and advisory powers makes for efficiency and has a
distinct value in the business organization.

The concept of leadership is "Support by the Staff rather than
Control of the Staff."

CONFERENCE OF WORKS' REPRESENTATIVES

General Remarks. — In January, 1917, arrangements were made
to hold a series of meetings with the various departments for the
purpose of showing the value of cooperation and of suggesting that
all matters relating to wages and working conditions should in
future be dealt with by Conference.

At these little meetings it was pointed out that the old way had
been for changes to be made by the management without any active
cooperation from the workers.

Changes were made and had to be accepted, but under the new
arrangement the cooperation of the workers would be asked for in
the belief that they would respond, and the result would be in-
creased confidence.

As a result of these meetings it was unanimously decided to es-
tablish Works Committees.

The election of representatives was left entirely in the hands of
the workers. The importance, however, of electing representatives
who had their confidence was pointed out. It was suggested that
workers who had been at the mill some time and believed in our
ideals would be valuable, but the greatest stress was laid upon con-
fidence.

Representatives must have the confidence and loyalty of their
fellow-workers.

APPENDIX G

Machinery of Conference. — Each department elects three repre-
sentatives by ballot. The firm nominates the Managing Director,
the Departmental Manager and the foreman to represent the Man-
agement. Whenever Conferences are called to adjust differences,
two persons from outside the Department are coopted to act as
neutral representatives. The duties of the Departmental Commit-
tees are clearly defined and meetings are only called when ques-
tions with which they have to deal are involved.

The coopted members are appointed for one piece of business
only.

Committee members are elected for 18 months, one retiring every
six months. The retiring member is eligible for reelection.

Whilst the constitution has been kept as simple as possible it was
felt that the adoption of certain principles by all the Works Com-
mittees would secure uniformity and be a guide to Conference mem-
bers, and with this in view the following rules were drawn up and
accepted in turn by the different Committees: —

1. There shall be a list of minimum wages established by Con-
ference for all machine-minders.

2. Promotion and pay shall be as nearly as possible in proportion
to merit.

3. A worker shall receive extra pay for extra work.

4. No important change in methods, rates, or service, shall be
made by either party without a full explanation of its reason and
purpose.

5. The Springfield Mills Ideals were adopted as follows: —

THE MAJOR IDEAL BEING —

To produce better yarns than have ever been produced in the
past by any one.

THE MINOR IDEALS ARE —

To produce "Emperor" yarns under healthy and happy con-
ditions, honestly, efficiently and profitably.

To educate our workers and ourselves to become highly skilled
in order that we may earn a reputation for the highest grade
of work, and as a result be able to pay the highest rate of
wages.

To secure continuity of employment by supplying high-grade
yarns and by giving good service.

To treat customers with absolute fairness in order that we
may gain and keep their confidence.

6. So far as possible Conferences shall be held during ordinary

412 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

working hours, and attendance at such Conferences shall be paid
for at the appropriate rates.

7. Applications for Conferences shall be made to the Board of
Directors by the representatives of the workers through the Fore-
man and through the Manager of the department.

8. Differences shall be adjusted by a Committee of eight — three
from the workers, three from the Company and two chosen by
these two parties, one of the latter to be appointed Chairman of
the meeting.

9. The Conference shall decide the date from which any altera-
tion in pay shall become operative. It shall also decide the mini-
mum length of time any agreement arrived at shall be binding upon
the parties thereto, subject to the proviso that whenever working
conditions are changed either the employees or the Company shall
have the right to obtain a revision of the rates of pay.

10. It was resolved that the present representatives should all
three serve for the whole of the present year; at the end of the
present year the one having received the least number of votes
should retire, but should be eligible for reelection; at the end of
18 months the representative having received the second lowest num-
ber of votes should retire and be eligible for reelection; at the end
of two years the representative having received the greatest number
of votes should retire but be eligible for reelection.

11. It is understood and agreed that it is the business of the
management, and is not the business of the Conference, to deal
with —

(a) The allocation of work to particular sets of drawing.

(b) The allocation of minders to particular machines.

Our Works Committees have only been in existence a year, but
so far they have worked quite satisfactorily. We realize that time
will be needed for representatives, who are unaccustomed to busi-
ness meetings, to express their opinions and to voice the wishes of
their co-workers, but we look upon the scheme as an educational
venture and we are prepared to wait patiently and overcome the
difficulties that beset us.

Democratic control of industry can only come when democracy
has knowledge and wisdom to assume control. Rightly used, Con-
ferences will provide the necessary experience and education for
greater responsibility, which will be equally beneficial to all con-
cerned.

In conclusion, it should be remembered that the two principal
factors in the organization of human beings are THE SPIRIT and
THE MACHINERY. In successful cooperation the Spirit is more

APPENDIX G 413

potent than the Machinery. MENTAL ATTITUDE is OF GREATER
CONSEQUENCE THAN MENTAL, CAPACITY. Notwithstanding this the
machinery is usually the only factor which is accepted consciously
and considered in a scientific way. This is unfortunate, for the
thing that really counts is atmosphere; the right spirit must prevail
before the machinery of organization can work properly. The most
valuable asset of an employee is — his Spirit — that intangible part
of his personality which cannot be bought with so cheap a thing as
money. It must be won.

The royal road and the only road to capture a man's spirit is to
win his Confidence and nothing but integrity of purpose and sin-
cerity of heart can do this. There is no field of action in which
insincerity is so futile as in the handling of workmen. The em-
ployer who believes in the principle that

"CONFIDENCE is THE BASIS OF ALL PERMANENT RELATIONSHIPS"

and works accordingly, is the man who will make his Works Com-
mittees a helpful force in his organization.

GERALD R. GAUNT.
2nd February, 1918.

(S) Fox BROTHERS & Co., LTD., Wellington, Somerset
(and Chipping Norton)

The Wellington establishment is one of the oldest woolen and
worsted manufacturing businesses in the country, going back to
the 17th century. For nearly 150 years it has been controlled by
members of the one family, up to 1896 as partners and since then
as directors. Several generations of the families of many of the
present employees have worked in the mills. The conditions there-
fore are somewhat exceptional.1 The present number of employees
is about 1,400.

The Works Committee was instituted in February, 1917, on the
suggestion of the Directors, as a means to more harmonious work-
ing of the business. Each department elects its representatives,
roughly in proportion to the numbers of men and women employed;
no one is eligible for membership of the Committee unless he (or
she) has been at least five years in the employment of the firm;
the right to vote is confined to employees of 18 years of age and
over. The composition of the Committee is as follows : —

i A profit-sharing scheme has been in existence since 1886. Under it
some 690 employees have £50,000 invested in the company.

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Number of Number of

Department. Employees. Representatives.

Wool Sorters, etc 60 2

Worsted Spinning 212 4

Woolen Spinning 145 3

Weaving 591 10

Finishing 119 2

Dyeing 39 2

Washhouse 131 3

Mechanics 64 2

28

The Committee meets the Directors and the General Manager
once a month. Loss of time is paid for. Any question affecting
the general welfare of the workers or the business can be discussed.
Questions of discipline or wage questions affecting individuals or
departments must in the first place come before the foreman of
the department concerned and then, if unsettled, before the Man-
ager or Managing Director; if the question is still not satisfactorily
settled it can be referred to the Committee and the Directors as the
final court of appeal. The object of this procedure is to prevent
the undermining of the authority of the management and waste of
time upon the discussion of details.

Much of the discussion between the Committee and the Directors
has been of an educational character. The Directors have explained
some of the principles underlying the administration of a large
business — the effect of output upon standing charges and wages,
and the like; suggestions for the more economical running of the
business are encouraged. In the firm's opinion it is essential to
the success of a Works Committee that the Directors take the work-
people into their confidence; the workpeople must be made to re-
alize that they can help the administration and must be asked and
given the opportunity to help.

The great advantage secured by the existence of the Committee
is claimed to be this: that by a thorough explanation to the mem-
bers of any new departure in the internal administration of the
business misunderstandings are avoided and the workpeople realize
the real object of such departures. Another advantage is that the
Committee provides a safety-valve; machinery is set up by which
any grievance may reach the Directors, and this removes the sus-
picion that complaints are suppressed by the management.

The Committee also are encouraged to make suggestions as to.
works amenities such as improvement in ventilation. Questions of

APPENDIX G 415

holidays and war savings schemes have been discussed and sub-com-
mittees have been appointed to deal with such matters as allotments
and war charities.

The Committee express their appreciation of the spirit in which
the Directors have met them. Both sides are pleased with the
working of the system in its experimental stage and expect it to
develop its activities.

The great majority of the workpeople are not members of any
union; a small minority are organized in a general laborers' union.
The difficulties of connecting the Works Committee with trade
unionism as seen by the management are two — the small minority in
any union, and the fact that the particular union has nothing in
common with the industry; if Works Committees are to be linked
up with industrial councils, which on the workpeople's side are
formed from the trade unions, some way must be found for isolated
establishments to be joined up to the proper unions. Here it may
be noted that at the end of November a Works Committee was
formed, on the same lines as that at Wellington, at another woolen
mill belonging to the same firm, at Chipping Norton. In this case
the workpeople are organized and the official of the union took part
in the formation of the Committee. There are some 250 work-
people in the establishment and 12 members on the Committee.

In addition to the Works Committee at the Wellington establish-
ment there is also a Management Committee. The two are kept
separate for the reason that the workpeople speak with greater
freedom in the absence of their foremen.

(T) ROWNTREE AND Co., LTD., THE COCOA WORKS, YORK MEMO-
RANDUM TO THE EMPLOYEES IN THE ALMOND
PASTE DEPARTMENT

The Cocoa Works,

York,

1st September, 1916.
(Revised 1st February, 1917.)

WORKS' COUNCILS

For some time past the Directors have felt that it might be of
great service to the Manager and Overlookers of a Department, as
well as to the Employees, if a Council representing the Management
and the Workers were formed, in each Department, for the full and
free discussion of all matters affecting the work of the Depart-
ment, such as: —

416 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(a) The comfort and well-being of the employees, so far as
these depend upon wages, hours and conditions of work,
&c., and

(&) The general efficiency of the Department which depends
upon such things as time-keeping, discipline, cleanliness,
economy in the use of materials, and upon method and
output.

The Directors believe that through a Departmental Council,
worked in the right spirit, the employees would feel themselves to
have a real share in the administration of the Department, whilst
their cooperation would be .heartily welcomed by the Management.
As showing what is in the minds of the Directors, the following
matters are set down as amongst those which might, very properly,
be discussed at Departmental Council Meetings: —

(1) The criticism of any Piece Wages not thought to be fair

or adequate, and the consideration of suggestions for
adjustment.

(2) The consideration of conditions and hours of work in the

Department.

(3) The consideration of departmental organization and pro-

duction.

(4) Rules and discipline.

Owing to the special difficulties of the time, with so many regu-
lar workers away, it is not thought advisable just now to institute
these Departmental Councils over the Works generally, but, as an
experiment, it has been decided by the Directors, with the full con-
currence of Mr. G. T. Lee, to form a Council in the Almond Paste
Department. It is hoped, however, that although started as an ex-
periment, it may prove to be of permanent value to Workers and
Management alike, and that when its value has been shown, and
the time is opportune, it may be possible to extend the scheme to
other Departments. If this should come about, the institution of a
General Works' Council, linking all Departments, would naturally
follow.

The work both of the men and women in most of the Depart-
ments of the Factory is divisible into certain well defined Sections.
In order that each Section may have the fullest opportunity of freely
discussing with the Management matters affecting its particular
work, it is thought that in addition to a Departmental Council, Sub
— or Sectional — Councils will be necessary.

The constitution of such Sectional Councils, as well as of the
Departmental Council, is given below.

APPENDIX G 417

Sectional Councils

The number of delegates for each Sectional Council will be fixed
on the basis of one delegate for every twelve workers (of whatever
age) or part of twelve exceeding six, employed in the Section.
Sitting with these at the meetings of each Sectional Council, and
having equal powers with them, will be the Manager of the De-
partment with the Head and Sub-Overlookers, Monitors or Charge-
men of the particular Section. Should these, however (including
the Manager), exceed in number the workers' delegates, the Mem-
bers of the Council representing the Administration, will consist
of the Manager, the Head Overlookers, together with as many of
the Sub-Overlookers, Chargemen and Monitors (elected by ballot
amongst themselves) as are required to make up a number equal
to that of the workers' delegates. The Manager of the Depart-
ment will be ex-officio Chairman of the Sectional Councils. He
will not have a casting vote. In the case of a drawn vote the mat-
ter would be submitted to me as Director controlling the Depart-
ment. But a decision adverse to the employees' delegates will not
prevent the Trade Union concerned from raising the matter subse-
quently with the Company. (See 2nd par., p. 111.)

In addition, there will be one delegate appointed by each Union
concerned (for the Men's Sectional Councils from the Men's Union,
and for the Women's Sectional Councils from the Women's Union),
who shall be allowed to speak, but shall have no vote. Such dele-
gates shall be deemed to hold a watching brief for the Union, but
shall be in the employment of the Firm and working in the De-
partment, and preferably, though not necessarily, in the Section.

It is intended that the meeting of the Sectional Councils shall be
held on a fixed day once a week, or once a fortnight, as may, in
practice, be found necessary. Full Minutes of the proceedings will
be kept by the Secretary (who will be Miss Ruth Slate for the
Women's Sections and Mr. T. W. Brownless for the Men's). Mat-
ters arising in the meetings, affecting the Department as a whole,
and not merely the separate Sections, will be referable to the De-
partmental Council.

Departmental Council

The Departmental Council will be a distinct body from the Sec-
tional Councils and will consist of one member for every 50 work-
ers (or part of 50 exceeding 25), with an equal number of the Ad-
ministrative Staff, namely, Manager, Head Overlookers, Sub-Over-
lookers, Monitors and Chargemen. Where these exceed the work-

418 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ers, the members representing the Administration will consist of
the Manager and Head Overlookers, together with as many of the
Sub-Overlookers, Chargemen, and Monitors (elected by ballot
amongst themselves), as are required to make up a number equal
to that of the workers' delegates.

At the meetings of the Departmental Councils there will also be
one delegate appointed by the Union representing- the Men and one
by the Union representing the Women, who shall be allowed to
speak, but shall have no votes. Such delegates shall be deemed to
hold a watching brief for the Union, but shall be in the employment
of the Firm and working in the Department.

Further, the Workers will be entitled to have the attendance of
a Permanent Official of their Union, not necessarily in the employ-
ment of the Firm, during the discussion of any matter on which
they consider it essential that they should have skilled assistance
and advice. Any such Official attending a Departmental Council
Meeting shall withdraw as soon as the matter is disposed of upon
which his or her advice has been required.

Nothing that takes place at a Sectional or Departmental Council
shall prejudice the Trade Union in raising any question in the or-
dinary way. Questions of general principle such as the working
week, wage standards and general wage rules, shall not be within
the jurisdiction of the Councils.

The meetings of the Departmental Council will be held once a
month during working hours, with myself as Chairman and Mr.
Linney as Secretary.

No decisions of the Councils, either Sectional or Departmental,
will take effect until confirmed by myself or another Director.

Qualifications for Voting for both Sectional and

Departmental Councils

All male employees over 21 years of age and all female em-
ployees over 16, who have been employed by the Firm for six
months (whether on the Regular Staff or not), will be eligible to
vote for delegates to both the Sectional or Departmental Councils,
and to become Members of such Councils. Delegates will be elected
to serve for one year. They will be eligible for reelection so long
as they remain in the employment of the Company. No deduction
will be made from the wages of Day-workers for the time occupied
as delegates in attending the Council Meetings, and Pieceworkers
will receive an average wage for the time so occupied.

APPENDIX G 419

Application to the Almond Paste Department

Based upon the aforementioned constitution, the Sectional and
Departmental Councils in the Almond Paste Department will work
out as follows: —
Sectional.

There will be 6 Sectional Councils as under: —
Women. (1) Bottoms and Centers.

(2) Pipers and Coverers.

(3) Makers.

(4) Packers and Labelers.

Men. (5) Slab, Machine and Boiling (4th Floor).

(6) Crystallizing and Piping (5th Floor), Cage and

Carting (3rd Floor).

The number of delegates for each of these Councils will work
out thus : —

(1) Bottoms and Centers. No. of Delegates.

Bottoms — Room 1 2

Bottoms — Room 2 2

Centers — Room 1 3

Centers — Room 2 1

TOTAL 8

(2) Pipers and Covers.

Room 1 11

Room 2 5

TOTAL 16

(3) Makers 6

(4) Packers and Labelers.

Packers 9

Labelers 1

TOTAL 10

(5) Slab, Machine and Boiling (4th Floor) 5

(6) Crystallizing and Piping (5th Floor) 6

Cage and Carting ( 3rd Floor) 1

TOTAL . 7

420 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Method and Dates of Elections.

In order to facilitate the election of delegates, a list of employees
eligible to vote and to become delegates (men of 21 years of age
and over, and girls of 16 years and over, who have been employed
by the Company for six months) is now hung up in each Section,
and these are asked to nominate sufficient delegates for their par-
ticular Section.

Nomination papers will be hung up in the Department and em-
ployees eligible to vote and wishing to nominate delegates for their
Section, should make out and sign one of these papers, and place
it in the locked box fixed in the Department for this purpose. A
voter is at liberty to nominate as delegate any other voter in his or
her Section, provided the person nominated is willing to stand as a
Delegate. The nomination papers will be collected on Thursday,
March 1st, at 5.30, and the names of those nominated will then
be printed upon the voting papers which will be given out on
Wednesday, March 7th. The election of delegates will take place
on Thursday, March 8th.

Departmental.

The same method will be followed in the Election to the De-
partmental Council, which, however, to avoid confusion, will not
take place until after the completion of the Sectional Council Elec-
tion. Nomination papers will be issued on Wednesday, March
14th, and collected March 15th. The Election will take place on
Thursday, March 22nd.

The number of delegates to the Departmental Council is shown
below : —

Bottoms and Centers. No. of Delegates.

Bottoms — Rooms 1 and 2 1

Centers — Rooms 1 and 2 1

Pipers and Coverers.

Room 1

Room 2 1

Makers

Packers and Labelers

Slab, Machine and Boiling ( 4th Floor ) 1

Crystallizing and Piping (5th Floor) and Cage

and Carting ( 3rd Floor) 2

TOTAL . 14

APPENDIX G 421

It is intended to hold the first Meetings of the Sectional Councils
within fourteen days and the Departmental Council within one
month of the Elections.

T. H. APPLETON,

(Director, R. & Co., Ltd.).

(U) A PRINTING OFFICE

In this office there is only the one Chapel, composed at present
of about a dozen compositors. In larger offices there are usually
several Chapels.1 The Chapel meets quarterly. Any member may
call a special meeting by "placing a shilling on the stone"; such
member will say to the Father "I call Special Chapel at 6 o'clock
to-night." If his complaint is found by the Chapel to be a frivo-
lous one the shilling is forfeited. The meetings are held in the
office at closing tune. In the case of large offices there may not be
a room big enough for a chapel meeting, and in such cases meetings
are held outside. It is the duty of the Father to interview the
head of the firm when anything is wrong; to report to the General
Committee of the Union from the Chapel and to the Chapel from
the General Committee; to see that subscriptions are paid; to inter-
view newcomers regarding membership of the Union, &c.

Piecework is not now in operation in this shop, so that the
Chapel is not called upon in this connection as it may be in other
offices.

The employer is strongly inclined towards regular joint meetings
between management and representatives of the Chapel. This is
rather striking because, as is easy in so small an establishment, he
is in direct touch with each of his men. The present Father (he
has been in the office for only a few months) did not seem to have
entertained the idea of the need for such meetings in this office;
he referred to the good conditions and relations prevailing in the
office. He said, however, that in bigger offices there was a need
for such meetings, and he was prepared to consider the applicability
of them to this office. The employer has, in an informal way, for

1 For example, in one office, there are chapels of compositors, stereo-
typers, machine minders, machine assistants, warehousemen and certain
women employees. The compositors in this office are divided among
several departments each of which has its local father while the father
of the compositors' chapel is colloquially known as "imperial" father.
The compositors' chapel, as is usual, appoints also a clerk of the chapel.
The father of the chapel among the women employees is, appropriately,
known as the mother of the chapel.

422 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

a long time held meetings with the present Father's predecessor
and one or two others of the Chapel. He would have them to tea,
during which they would have a discussion on shop questions. As
examples of the kind of things which joint meetings could discuss,
the employer mentioned the following points: —

(1) The adjustment of work, when new circumstances arise;

there had been such joint discussions when recently the
previous Father, who had been a long time in the firm,
was forced to leave.

(2) A break for lunch in the morning; this he means to bring

forward, as the five hours' stretch, though in accordance
with the Union agreements and the general practice, is
too long.

(3) As an example of how, even in a small establishment

(where the relations obviously are friendly), there may
be unnecessary distance between employer and work-
men, he mentioned that some time ago he gave facilities
to the men to acquire review copies of books. This was
greatly appreciated and one man happened to remark
that he had often hoped some such arrangement could
be made. When challenged by the employer for not
suggesting the arrangement, the man could only plead
that it was n't his place. The incident was quoted as
probably typical of many situations in which, for want
of proper arrangements, the atmosphere common to the
worse industrial establishments clings even to the very
best firms much more closely than might otherwise be
the case.

(4) The employer further said that he had known of a very

serious grievance existing in a large office of which
the head of the firm was kept ignorant. He had in-
formed the head of the firm and the grievance, which had
been causing great irritation right through the shop,
was instantly remedied; it should not have been left
to an outsider — obtaining the information only by chance
and, again, only by chance knowing the head of the
firm concerned — to be the avenue of information.
In regard to the last point (4), the employer was emphatic as
to the necessity for the heads of establishments meeting the men's
representatives. The need was greater the larger the office.1

i The same need for regular meetings between the management and
representatives of the employees was emphasized by the manager of a
large printing establishment. He has from time to time held meetings

APPENDIX G 423

(V) WELFARE COMMITTEE (OR SOCIAL UNION)

1. The Works Council as it is called (perhaps it may rather
be termed a Welfare Committee), has for its purpose the collection,
direct from the workers, of any suggestions for the improvement
of their surroundings, and the putting of such suggestions, in the
form of mature proposals, before the directors for their approval.
It is not intended that these suggestions should in any way be con-
nected with labor conditions. It is the function of the Council to
deal solely with suggestions relating to the amelioration of the sur-
roundings of the men's work.

2. The Council is a Joint Council, and its composition is as
follows: — There are two representatives of the management and
from 19 to 21 of the workmen. The two former are the technical
director of the works, who acts as Chairman, and a representative
manager l nominated by the firm from the sectional managers. The
honorary secretary and the honorary treasurer of the Council may
be either persons coopted by the Council, or representatives of the
workers on the Council who have been elected by the Council to
these offices. The representatives of the men are elected (by ballot,
and for a period of 3 years) by the different wards into which the
works is divided for electoral purposes (19 in number), and all the
workers in the establishment have a vote. Some of the wards
represent working departments (e.g., the offices, or again the boiler-
makers and their laborers) ; others are artificial creations. These
artificial creations are necessary in order that representation may
be divided equally among all the departments, without any neglect
of small sections and oddments of work. Some of the wards in
which women are in a majority are represented by a woman; on
the whole Council there are 16 men representatives and 3 women.

3. The Committee has been in existence for some 15 years. As
has been said, its function is to deal with shop amenities or works
betterment. This includes (a) conditions of work during working
hours, and (6) social activities outside working hours. Of these
two the latter is apparently the more considerable, and thus — if one
distinguishes between Works Committee, Welfare Committee and
Social Union — the Works Council really belongs to the third cate-

with the foremen and the fathers of the different chapels in the office to
discuss questions of common interest; lately, the question of the appli-
cation of the Whitley Report and, at other times, shop regulations,
sanitation, etc.

i The representative manager is said to act as a very useful link be-
tween the firm and the workmen, particularly when he is a young man
interested in the social side of the works.

424 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

gory rather than the second. The Council, under this head, main-
tains a recreation ground, for the purchase and equipment of which
money was advanced by the firm. The weekly subscriptions paid
by the men form at once a sinking fund to extinguish this loan,
and a working fund to meet current expenses. The origin of the
Works Council, some 15 years ago, was connected with these facts.
A number of requests had come from the men to the management,
asking for assistance in the promotion of sports, and the advance
made by the firm, and the institution of the Works Council, both
sprang from these requests.

4. The Works Council thus deals in large measure with ques-
tions that lie outside the works. Inside the works its scope is less
considerable. The canteen, for instance, is under the control of the
firm, which provides meals at less than cost price; the Works Coun-
cil only deals with the amenities of the canteen. The main concern
of the Works Council within the works is with matters such as ven-
tilation, sanitation, and the general comfort of the workers. About
half-a-dozen times, but not more, questions have been brought up
at the Works Council which have had to be ruled out. Generally,
the men's representatives draw a careful distinction between matter
belonging to the Works Council and matters belonging to the sphere
of Trade Unionism. There has been no difficulty with Trade Unions ;
on the contrary, the good feeling engendered by the Works Coun-
cil has led to easy relations between the firm and Trade Unions.
The firm, it should be said, recognizes Trade Unions, and deals with
them regularly.

5. It may be added that while the Works Council has nothing to
do with suggestions for improvements in the works, there is a de-
partmental arrangement under which employees can make sugges-
tions. In each department there is a suggestion box, into which
any workman can drop a memorandum of his suggestion; the
memoranda of suggestions are regularly collected, and awards of
prizes are made for good suggestions.

6. In the matter of meetings and procedure, the Works Council
meets once a month, sometimes in the employer's time (in which
case the men are paid during the time of their attendance) but
generally in the evening, when work is over for the day. There is
a regular agenda, prepared by the secretary, containing matters
brought up on the reports of sub-committees or raised by individual
representatives.

APPENDIX G

(W) A MINER'S STATEMENT ON OUTPUT COMMITTEES

The following statements form part of the answer by a miner
working in the area of the Midland Federation to the Questionnaire
printed in Appendix I. The references are to the Output (or
Absentee) Committees in his district. The functions of these Com-
mittees, as in other districts, are concerned with two matters — cases
of absence from work and facilities for increasing output (im-
provements, negligence on the part of officials, &c.) : —

1. Origin. — (b) The Joint Committee1 found out that output
was not only affected by absenteeism, but by faulty management,
and they began to frame rules which would embrace the faults of
the management, as well as the workers' negligence in absenteeism,
and would call the Committees, instead of Absentee Committees,
Output Committees, which gives wider facilities and administration
in working.

(c) The meeting of representatives of employers and employed
soon became lively and it showed the intense interest that was taken
in the Government suggestions, and the men soon pointed out to
the Coal Owners that there were other causes which caused a re-
duced output of coal besides absenteeism — the faults of the man-
agement in allowing the miners to wait for timber, no facilities in
taking men to their work and bringing them back, the waiting for
tubs through scarcity and uneven distribution of the same. If
they were going to work this scheme and draw up rules, they must
bring the management in as well as the men.

The Coal Owners, after consultation, decided to accede to the
request of the men and asked them to withdraw from this meeting,
take it back to their delegate board and appoint a small committee
to draw up rules which would give them a voice in the management
of the collieries concerned.

2. Constitution. — (d) The worker's side constitutes a separate
Committee only so far. Just to illustrate what I mean; if there is
a serious case which has to be brought to the Joint Committee the
worker's side will meet together separately before going to meet the
management's side, so that they can as far as they are concerned get
agreement.

(e) They are duly elected, not for 12 months but for any time.
This seems to me a great mistake. They ought to be elected every
12 months, as some of them have lost the confidence of the men,
and it causes discontent and friction; annual elections would make
for confidence and efficiency. The classes represented by these Com-

i Sectional joint committees of the miners.

426 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

mittees are miners, datal, haulage, surface workers, who are manipu-
lators of coal. I might say it would have been better when the
rules were drawn up if it had been stated that all classes must be
represented. You have on most of the Committees datal, haulage,
and surface workers without representation. These Committees are
only set up as far as the Miners' Federation of Great Britain are
concerned. Shop men, shunters, laborers, and locomen are outside,
as the idea amongst the Coal Owners is that these classes of workers
do not affect the output of coal.

(/) (i) The trade unions have all the representation as far as
the workers are concerned. Of course, it is possible for the men
at the colliery to appoint a non-unionist, but he would be a rare
species.

(ii) No, it has none; it can suggest, but not appoint; this is left
entirely to the men. In one colliery they refused to set up a Pit
Committee though the Miners' Union wanted to set one up and the
leaders held meetings; but they failed to persuade the men. The
Coal Controller was pressing the Directors, and the Directors the
management, but they could not persuade the men; the men were
afraid of victimization and I think they had a good case. Where
men stood by their comrades, they were soon out of work not know-
ing what for, only the management saying "inefficient."

(iii) The trade union official can pay a visit to any of the Com-
mittees when sitting and listen to all the business and see whether
it is being conducted in the interests of the men, or to see fair play
all round, or to see that the management are not abusing the powers
set by rule.

(iv) The relationship is good in many of them, but there are
doubts in the men; if some of the stewards are put in contracting
places and coal is pretty easy to get, the representatives are open
to attack by the men as they say "you would not have such a soft
job only you have been acting in the master's interests"; and some
of them play more than the usual time allowed, and nothing is
said. I am sorry to say that if a strong man is on the Committee
and he goes in for pulling the management up the harmony is broken
a good deal; you can fine the men and forgive them, but when you
come to the management it is another thing.

(g) They are chosen by the Managing Director; he asks the
Underground Manager, and the under-lookers, or deputies, as they
call them who are responsible for different coal seams. By this
method you get an all round representation as far as the under-
ground workers are concerned, but datal and surface management
is left out.

APPENDIX G 427

(j) I will be most frank in what I have got to say in this im-
portant question. The employing side want no change, as it only
applies to absenteeism as far as they are concerned. The rules give
the men a voice in the management, but I am sorry to say there is
no Committee strong enough to administer the rules as it relates to
management: they go so far but stop as they see an invisible pres-
sure being brought upon them which is going to affect the security
of their living, a kind of victimization which you cannot prove.
Your contracting place is finished and you want another place but
the management sends you "odding" — you are middle-aged and
you cannot keep pace with the younger element; and you look after
a fresh place, but every where is full up; and when you come out
of the office you can see other men set on. This is what is going
on all round the district, and you want to strengthen these men
by having the rules enacted by Act of Parliament to make them
binding; and if cases like this happen, there wants to be a Tri-
bunal appointed by Government, representative of all classes so that
a man shall have a fair hearing and equality of justice; this will
give him a security and it will reduce this insecurity of work.

3. Functions. — (a) iv. The suggestion of improvements is within
the scope of Committee and some good work has been done, which
has affected the output of coal and increased the wages of the men.

v. None of these points are dealt with by our Committee or only
indirectly; it would be a splendid thing if these points were dealt
with. There is more friction caused under these heads between the
management and the men than under any other points.

Timekeeping. — The management promises the men they will put
so many turns to their credit for doing certain dead work in the
mine, and when the time arrives for them to receive the wage at the
week end, the money has not been put in to their credit; so the
men often have to go to the office to make complaints, with a prom-
ise from the management it will be in for next week. If this
was brought before a committee of this standing, a more harmonious
spirit would be brought to bear on the industry.

Language. — The language by some of the management to the
workers is disgraceful and is not fit for any child in the pit to hear.
This point can come before the Committee but I have not known
of any case yet, though reports have been made to the leaders of the
men and they have taken up the cases. In one case I know the
men refused to go to work until the management were removed,
but wise counsels prevailed and the bitterness was removed.

Methods of Foremen. — The mining industry requires great changes
as the methods of the foremen are at fault in not paying for dead

428 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

work, such as emptying dirt or packing it; they should pay for so
many tubs, but if 1 or 2 tubs are over the stated number that they
pay for, they reckon them nothing; in measuring ripping, instead
of going to the widest part of the level they go to the narrowest,
which may mean to the man a difference of 5s. on that piece of
work; in not seeing to a good distribution of wagons going in and
about the mine, &c. There is a splendid scope for a Committee,
but ours have only limited powers as far as the methods of the
foremen are concerned.

vii. Canteen. — This question does not come within scope of our
Committee, but one large colliery has a canteen, and suggestions
have been made from the Committee there in the management of the
canteen. It would be a good thing for a colliery to have a canteen,
as many men are called upon to work overtime and cannot get
food, and they work on many hours without, which only means in-
efficiency. In the colliery which has a canteen, the men can get a
good meal and hot drinks at cost price. I know when winter time
comes on and the output of coal depends on the surface workers
sticking to their work, the management have rest periods for in-
dividuals and the management gives them hot drinks to keep them
at it. But at collieries where there are no canteens they have to
knock off on account of the weather.

Sanitation. — Not within the scope of our Committee, but condi-
tions are awfully bad.

Works Amenities. — Manners: There are hardly any about the
collieries; the management have an idea that nothing can be done
without swearing and shouting, and it is a disgrace to hear it.
Some managers are extremely nice, but they are very rare.

4. Procedure. — (a) ii. The Committee meets once a week where
a large colliery is concerned (say 1,000 to 2,000 employees), but
where there are less employees, they are specially summoned by no-
tice from the Secretary of the Committee.

iii. Yes, the worker members meet separately, but only when
the questions are vital and contentious.

v. They take place in the workers' time and the employers' time. I
The meeting is called for 1 o'clock. The management allow the j
worker members to come out of the pit before the time but at their [
own (the workers') expense, and the Committee sits till it comes into /
the workers' time after 2 o'clock.

vi. It generally lasts 2 or 3 hours. It all depends on how many
defendants and who are the defendants.

vii. The worker members are paid out of the Trade Union funds :
at the rate of 2s. 6d. per meeting. This causes friction as it is cost-

APPENDIX G 429

ing the Union a great amount of money and they feel that the Gov-
ernment ought to pay or part pay for this work, as it is being car-
ried on in the national interests to secure a greater output of coal.
Some suggest that the management ought to pay half.

5. Relations with Trade Unions. — (6) They only recognize the
Miners' Union as far as the jurisdiction of this committee is con-
cerned. They (the owners) did try to bring offenders in from other
unions, but the miners would have nothing to do with them.1

6. General. — (a) The attitude of the management to Committees
is fairly good; just according to what the business is. If it applies
to men they are good, but when it applies to the management the
feeling changes a little ; but on the whole it is good. I don't know
of any decisions they have not carried out, but it takes them a long
time to do it; when they promise, your tenacity has to be great.

(e) As far as colliery workers are concerned separate Commit-
tees are not needed as they would deal with all questions that could
arise; what would be essential would be to see that all grades are
represented on the committee.

APPENDIX III

SUMMARY OF A DISTRICT INVESTIGATION IN THE ENGINEERING
AND SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRIES

Of 32 firms in the engineering and shipbuilding industries in one
district in which another enquiry was made as to the existence of
Works Committees, eight were found to have Works Committees.
In addition, one had a Dilution Committee, one a Welfare Com-
mittee, one a Women's Committee and in one there was a Shop Com-
mittee. In one other there was a Works Committee until recently.
Expressions of opinion as to the value of Works Committees were
obtained from 18 of the 32 employers. Ten expressed themselves
in favor and eight as opposed to Works Committees. Of the ten
in favor, seven now have a Works Committee; of the eight op-
posed, one has a Dilution Committee and one a Gunshop Committee,
while six have no form of Committee.

The following are notes of opinions of these employers: —
Favorable: —

(1) "Useful work is the outcome."

1 In this respect the practice differs from that of the timekeeping
committees at the Cleveland and Durham blastfurnaces.

430 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(2) "Committee should be encouraged . . . much depended

on class of men chosen from both sides."

(3) "Applied to large establishments very commendable."

(4) "If established generally would do an infinite amount of

good."

(5) "Nothing but good would accrue if such Committees were

general."

(6) "In entire sympathy."

(7) "Experience is a very happy one and not by any means

one-sided as the members of the Committee do every-
thing possible to render assistance to the firm."

(8) "Very harmonious relations although . . . grievances

much too one-sided."

(9) "Perfectly satisfied."

Unfavorable: —

(1) "Encourages men to leave work to engage in business

which management should attend to."

(2) "Power is taken from management and exercised by the

men."

(3) "Simply looking for trouble."

(4) "Advantage would be taken to look for trouble."

(5) "Any amount of friction would ensue."

(6) "Afraid grievances would only come from one side and

little endeavor would be made to assist the manage-
ment in conduct of works."

(7) "Dealing with accredited shop stewards entirely satis-

factory."

Of the opinions coming under "Favorable" all except (3) and
(4) are from establishments which have Works Committees; of
those coming under "Unfavorable" (1) is from an establishment in
which one shop has a Committee, (2) to (7) from establishments
without Committees.

The opinions of sixteen active trade unionists employed in the
same industries in this district also show differences. Of the six-
teen seven are employed in establishments which have, or in one
have had, a Works Committee, and nine in establishments which
have no experience of a Works Committee. Of the seven, five are
favorable and two unfavorable; of the nine, four favorable and five
opposed.

This investigation would appear to support the results arrived at
in the report that the majority both of employers and of workpeople
with experience are persuaded of the benefits of Works Committees.

APPENDIX G

APPENDIX IV

JOINT TIMEKEEPING COMMITTEES

(A.) (i) Joint Committees at Collieries in Northumberland —

Rules.

(ii) Note on Committees at Collieries in other districts.
(B.) (i) Joint Committees at Ironworks in Cleveland and Durham

— Agreement,
(ii) Note on Working of these Committees.

(A.) (i) JOINT COMMITTEES AT COLLIERIES IN NORTHUMBERLAND

— RULES

NORTHUMBERLAND COAL OWNERS' ASSOCIATION

AND
NORTHUMBERLAND MINERS' MUTUAL CONFIDENT ASSOCIATION

Rules respecting the Formation and Procedure of Joint Committees
for the purpose of securing greater Regularity of Work at the
Collieries.

In order to increase the output of coal the following rules are
adopted by the above-named Associations: —

1. Where workmen are unable to work in their own working
places such persons shall work in other places where there are va-
cancies in accordance with the custom of the colliery. If no such
places are available and the man in consequence has to go home, he
shall not be returned to the Authorities as an Absentee on that
day.

2. Men prevented from getting to their work at the proper time,
due to the workmen's train or car being late, shall on its arrival
be allowed to go to work.

3. All deputations shall be held at such hours, whenever possible,
as will cause no loss of time to the members of such deputations or
the men who appear with them.

4. All persons shall attend every day on which the pit is working
unless prevented by illness or other reasonable cause.

5. That a District Committee be set up consisting of an equal
number of coal owners' and workmen's representatives.

If all members are not present, only an equal number shall vote
on each side.

6. That the District Committee shall meet as agreed upon for
the purpose of dealing with disputes which have arisen under any

432 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of the Local Committees and any other business, except in the event
of urgent business, in which case a meeting may be called on the
representation of either side to specially deal with the matter.

7. That a Local Committee shall be established at each colliery,
consisting of an equal number (not exceeding three each) of coal
owners' and workmen's representatives to carry out these rules. If
all members were not present, only an equal number shall vote on
each side.

8. The Local Committee shall meet at least once a fortnight, and
the management shall supply a "Time Lost Sheet," showing the
names of the men against whom there is a complaint, and the Local
Committee shall decide upon whom they shall summon to the next
meeting.

9. The men who are called upon to appear before the Committee
shall have at least two days' notice given to appear. Failing to
attend they will be dealt with in their absence, and the method of
giving notice to attend shall be left to the Committee at each col-
liery.

Meetings are to take place so that men may attend without losing
time.

10. The Local Committee shall be empowered to impose fines, and
the persons so fined shall have the option of signing a book for
such fines to be deducted or to be dealt with by the management.

(a.) If the first method is selected by the workman and he at-
tends and works full time, as defined by Rule 4, for one
month after the fine is inflicted, the fine to be returned
to him.

(b) All fines not so redeemed to be paid over to some charitable

institution to be selected by the Local Committee.

(c) The amount of fines shall be: —

For a first offense for which a fine is inflicted, 2s. 6d.
per day of avoidable absence; a second offense, 5s.
per day. In the event of a third offense the case to be
dealt with at the discretion of the management.

11. The Local Committee shall report to the District Committee
all cases in which they fail to agree.

12. Excuses for absence must be bond fide, and where an ab-
sentee claims he was away owing to illness, a doctor's note must be
produced if demanded.

13. Any official responsible for the workmen losing work or fail-
ing to do his best to get work for them shall be reported to the
Local Committee, who shall investigate the circumstances, and if

APPENDIX G 433

the charge appears to be justified the case shall be reported to the
Central Committee to deal with.
14. These rules to continue for the duration of the war.

REGINALD GUTHRIE.J Secretaries.
WILLIAM STRAKER, )
12th February, 1917.

(A.) (ii) NOTE ON COMMITTEES AT COLLIERIES IN OTHER DISTRICTS

Committees formed on very similar lines have been set up in
other, but not in all, mining districts. The statements as to func-
tions and procedure may differ in certain particulars. (1) Pro-
vision is sometimes made for the attendance of officials in the miners'
and owners' associations at Pit Committee meetings. (2) The scope
of a Pit Committee's functions is sometimes stated so as to include
more than appears to be covered by Rule 13 above, which deals
with officials "responsible for the workmen losing work, or failing
to do his best to get work for them." The functions may include
the consideration of facilities for output and the suggestion of im-
provements, apart from cases arising under the circumstances re-
ferred to in Rule 13 above. This is commented upon in the report
printed in Appendix II (W). (3) The rules vary also in such
details as number of representatives, time of meetings and amount
of fines.

The results achieved differ greatly from district to district. In

>me districts no Committees have been set up, while in some others,
ifter being set up, the Committees have either failed to work at all

r, after a period of successful operation, have weakened and been
ibandoned. In other districts, however, the Committees have con-
tinued to work satisfactorily, improving timekeeping and organiza-
tion and increasing output. The application of short time has in
certain districts made the need for the Committees less urgent and
estimate of their value difficult. Among the reasons given for

dlure to institute the Committees are (1) failure of employers to
the matter up, and (2) the younger men's dislike for the

jheme; and for failure to work satisfactorily (1) the failure of
iployers to carry out agreements about Sunday work, etc., and
(2) simple inability of the two sides to agree.

434 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(B.) (i) JOINT COMMITTEES AT IRONWORKS IN CLEVELAND AND

DURHAM

AGREEMENT SETTING UP WORKS COMMITTEES TO DEAL WITH CASES
OF TIME-LOSERS

This scheme has been suggested by the Ministry of Munitions and
accepted by the Cleveland Ironmasters' Association and the
Cleveland Blast furnacemen's Association, in order to avoid the
necessity of taking men before the Munitions' Tribunals. The
Agreement will come into operation on Sunday the 12th day
of August, 1917, at Ironworks.

1. At each works in the Ironmasters' Association there shall be
set up a Committee consisting in the first instance of three work-
men employed at the works.

2. The appointment of the three workmen (one of whom must
be the delegate) shall rest with the Cleveland and Durham Blast-
furnacemen's and Cokemen's Association.

3. The Cleveland Ironmasters' Association, or any individual
member thereof, may, at any future time, and at the request of the
Cleveland Blastfurnacemen's Association must, also appoint to the
Committee three employer representatives for each works or for
such of the works as are affected, and such representatives shall
have equal powers and duties with the workmen's representatives.

4. So long as the Committee consists of three representatives, two
shall form a quorum ; if the Committee consists of six representatives,
four shall form a quorum.

5. There shall also be created a Central Committee consisting of
six persons, three of whom shall be appointed by the Cleveland Iron-
masters' Association, and three by the Cleveland Blastfurnacemen's
Association: four to form a quorum.

6. The duties and the powers of the Works Committee shall be :—
(a.) To inquire fully into every case brought by the Manager

of the Works of alleged bad timekeeping on the part
of any workman employed at the works under his
charge.

(b) To give warning and advice to any workman who may

appear to need it.

(c) To inflict, subject to the provisions of the Truck Acts, such

penalty or fine as in the judgment of the Committee the
case shall merit, such fine not to exceed 20s. in any one
instance.

APPENDIX G 435

(d) In the case of repeated offenses, to transmit the facts and

evidence to the judgment of the Central Committee.

(e) In the event of the Works Committee being equally divided

in their judgment on any case, the same shall be sub-
mitted to the Central Committee for decision.
(/) Each Works Committee shall have power to reduce or re-
mit altogether any fine imposed by the Committee, if
the offender's conduct during the four weeks succeeding
the hearing of his case justifies any variation in the
original penalty.

7. The duties and the powers of the Central Committee shall be : —
(a) To review all the facts and evidence in connection with any

case which may be submitted to it by Works Com-
mittees, and, if it so decides, to impose upon the offender,
subject to the provisions of the Truck Acts, a fine not
exceeding 40s., or to submit the case to the judgment of
the Ministry of Munitions.

(6) To make regulations for the guidance of the Works Com-
mittees.

8. Fines shall be deducted, subject to the provisions of the Truck
Acts, from the wages due to the workmen penalized, and unless
remitted by the end of four weeks from date of deduction, shall be
handed over to some fund at the works where the offender is em-
ployed to be used for the benefit of the workmen or their depend-
ants, or be handed over to some agreed upon local charity.

9. The regulations herein shall apply by agreement to all work-
men members of the Cleveland Blastfurnacemen's Association. Any
workman outside the Cleveland Blastfurnacemen's Association, and
employed at the Ironmasters' works, may submit his case for judg-
ment to the Committees if he so desires and be bound by the de-
cision given.

10. Each Employer party to this arrangement shall authorize
one of his clerical staff to act as Secretary to the Works Committee,
and such person shall keep a record of the decisions given by the
Committee for the particular works and shall transmit at the end
of each calendar month a record of such decisions to the Secretary
of the Central Committee and to the Secretary of the Cleveland
Blastfurnacemen's Association.

11. The Committees under this scheme shall exist so long as
Munition Tribunals under the Munitions of War Act continue to
operate, but the regulations may be varied at the end of six months
on the application of either party hereto.

12. The requisite agreements to be made immediately by the two

436 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Associations concerned for enabling the Committees to exercise
the powers and perform the duties specified above.

13. The Arbitration Act, 1889, shall not apply to any proceed-
ings under this agreement.

Signed on behalf of the Cleveland Ironmasters' Association.

J. T. ATKINSON,

Secretary.

Signed on behalf of the Cleveland and Durham Blastfurnace-
men and Cokemen's Association.

THOS. MCKENNA,

Secretary.
Middlesbrough,

July 24th, 1917.

(B) ii. NOTE ON WORKING OF THESE COMMITTEES

It is agreed on both sides that these Committees have worked very
satisfactorily; both employers and employees regard the Works
Committees as a far better means of investigating and settling ques-
tions of this character than that of taking the men before the Muni-
tions Tribunals. Some twenty-eight Committees, all of them joint
in membership, have been set up, but it has not been necessary for
all of them to meet. The Central Committee had not met up to the
end of January, 1918, though two or three cases had been recently
filed for that Committee. A Works Committee is generally unani-
mous about its decision — whether or not a fine should be imposed,
or the amount of the fine. In a large proportion of cases, more than
half, a reduction or remission of fines has been allowed in accordance
with section 6 (/). Those workmen who are not members of the
union usually avail themselves of section 9 of the Agreement to sub-
mit their cases to the Works Committee.

APPENDIX V

NATIONAL AND DISTRICT SCHEMES — SHOP STEWARDS

(A) Memorandum of Conference between the Engineering Em-

ployers' Federation and thirteen Trade Unions.

(B) Clyde Shipyards Joint Trades' Vigilant Committee.

(C) Coventry Engineering Joint Committee — Shop Rules.

The following schemes are printed as further illustrations of the
problem discussed in Section VI. of the Report — "Relations with

APPENDIX G 437

Trade Unions." (A) is the agreement come to in December, 1917,
between representatives of the Engineering Employers' Federation
and of thirteen Trade Unions. (D) is a Trade Union district scheme
of organization of Shop Stewards and Works Committees instituted
before the war. (C) gives the proposals put forward by the Cov-
entry Engineering Trades' Joint Committee for their district be-
fore the negotiations which resulted in (A) were initiated.

(A) MEMORANDUM OF CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE ENGINEERING
EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION AND THIRTEEN TRADE UNIONS *

It is mutually agreed to recommend as follows: —

REGULATIONS REGARDING THE APPOINTMENT AND FUNCTIONS OF
SHOP STEWARDS

With a view to amplifying the provisions for avoiding disputes
it is agreed: —

1. The workmen who are members of the above Trade Unions,
employed in a Federated establishment, may appoint representa-
tives from their own number to act on their behalf in accordance
with the terms of this Agreement.

2. The representatives shall be known as Shop Stewards.

3. The method of election of Shop Stewards shall be determined
by the Trade Unions concerned, and each Trade Union, parties to
this Agreement, may appoint Shop Stewards.

4. The names of the Shop Stewards, and the shop or portion of a
shop in which they are employed, and the Trade Union to which they
belong, shall be intimated officially by the Trade Union concerned
in the management on election.

5. Shop Stewards shall be subject to the control of the Trade
Unions, and shall act in accordance with the rules and regulations
of the Trade Unions and agreements with employers so far as these
affect the relation between employers and workpeople.

6. In connection with this Agreement, Shop Stewards shall be
afforded facilities to deal with questions raised in the shop or por-
tion of a shop in which they are employed. In the course of dealing

i Steam Engine Makers' Society, Society of Amalgamated Toolmakers,
etc., U.K. Society of Amalgamated Smiths and Strikers, National So-
ciety of Amalgamated Brassfounders and Metal Mechanics, Associated
Blacksmiths and Iron Workers' Society, Workers' Union, National
Amalgamated Union of Labor, United Machine Workers' Association,
Electrical Trades Union, United Journeymen Brassfounders, etc., Amal-
gamated Society of Coremakers, National Union of General Workers,
and National Amalgamated Union of Enginemen, etc.

438 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

with these questions they may, with the previous consent of the
management (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld), visit
any other shop or portion of a shop in the establishment. In all
other respects they shall conform to the same working conditions
as their fellow -workmen.

7. Employers and Shop Stewards shall not be entitled to enter
into any agreement inconsistent with agreements between the En-
gineering Employers' Federation or Local Association and the Trade
Unions.

8. The functions of Shop Stewards, so far as they are concerned
with the avoidance of disputes, shall be exercised in accordance with
the following procedure : —

(a) A workman or workmen desiring to raise any question in

which he or they are directly concerned, shall in the
first instance discuss the same with his or their foreman.

(b) Failing settlement, the question shall, if desired, be taken

up with the management by the appropriate Shop Stew-
ard and one of the workmen directly concerned.

(c) If no settlement is arrived at, the question may, at the re-

quest of either party, be further considered at a meeting
to be arranged between the management and the appro-
priate Shop Steward, together with a deputation of the
workmen directly concerned. At this meeting the Or-
ganizing District Delegate may be present, in which
event a representative of the Employers' Association
shall also be present.

(d) The question may thereafter be referred for further con-

sideration in terms of the Provisions for Avoiding Dis-
putes.

(e) No stoppage of work shall take place until the question

has been fully dealt with in accordance with this Agree-
ment and with the Provisions for Avoiding Disputes.

9. In the event of a question arising which affects more than one
branch of trade, or more than one department of the works, the
negotiations thereon shall be conducted by the management with
the Shop Stewards concerned. Should the number of Shop Stew-
ards concerned exceed seven, a deputation shall be appointed by
them, not exceeding seven, for the purpose of the particular nego-
tiation.

10. Negotiations under this agreement may be instituted either
by the management or by the workmen concerned.

11. The recognition of Shop Stewards is accorded in order that a

APPENDIX G 439

further safeguard may be provided against disputes arising be-
tween employers and their workpeople.

12. Any questions which may arise out of the operation of this
Agreement shall be brought before the Executive of the Trade
Union concerned, or the Federation, as the case may be.

(B) CLYDE SHIPYARDS JOINT TRADES' VIGILANT COMMITTEE *

RULES

1. This Committee shall consist of Trade Unions representative of
the workmen employed in the Clyde Shipyards.

2. Its object shall be to endeavor to adjust all complaints of a
general character, endeavor to secure uniformity in the conditions
of employment of the members and strengthen and perfect the
organizations of the affiliated Unions.

(a) By representatives of the Society affected at once reporting

the matter to the Secretary of the Yard Vigilant Commit-
tee.

(b) By insisting that all non-union members of the respective

trades shall become members of their Trade Union.

(c) By dealing with any member of an affiliated Union who

fails to keep himself in compliance with the Rules of his
Union.

YARD VIGILANCE COMMITTEES

3. A Vigilance Committee shall be appointed in each yard or
dock, composed of one representative from each Society affiliated.
Societies having more than one section of workmen shall be en-
titled to one representative from each section.

4. The Committee shall appoint a Secretary to whom all com-
plaints shall be lodged by members of the Committee.

5. Each Shop Steward must examine the contribution cards of
the members of their own societies on the first Wednesday of each
month, and interview new starts immediately after starting.

6. The Committee will meet at least monthly.

7. Representatives of each society must attend and report to the
Committee as to the condition of the members under his supervision.

8. On receipt of a complaint, the Committee shall endeavor to

iThe first meeting was held on the 14th February, 1911. A similar
organization in Engineering — The West of Scotland Locomotive and
General Engineering Joint Trades' Vigilant Committee — was instituted
in September, 1914. It had then been under consideration for some
months.

440 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

effect a settlement by interviewing the foreman or management.
Failing adjustment the matter must then be reported to the Secre-
tary of the Central Board.

9. The machinery of each society for dealing with such questions
must first be exhausted before reporting to the Yard Vigilant Com-
mittee.

10. The Secretary must send in his official report to the Secretary
of the Central Board on the second last Thursday of March, June,
September, and December.

11. Should any member of the Yard Vigilant Committee be penal-
ized for taking part in the work of the Committee, such cases must
be immediately reported to the Secretary and taken up jointly.

12. Where the Secretary of the Committee has been changed, the
name and address of his successor must be forwarded to the Secre-
tary of the Central Board.

13. Expenses incurred by the Committee for room rent, station-
ery and postages, will be met by the Central Board. All such ac-
counts must be sent quarterly to the Secretary and submitted to the
Central Board for approval.

14. Under no circumstances can the Yard Vigilant Committee
authorize a stoppage of work, either of a partial or general nature.

Arrears. — Members over 10s. in arrears must reduce same at the
rate of 2s. §d. per week; 15sv 5s. per week; and 20s., 10s. for the first
week and 5s. per week thereafter.

CENTRAL BOARD

15. A Central Board shall be appointed and shall consist of a re-
sponsible representative of each Union affiliated. Societies having
separate sections administered separately shall be entitled to one
representative from each section.

16. Their duties shall be to see that a Vigilant Committee is ap-
pointed in each yard or dock, and deal with all complaints re-
mitted to them by the Yard Committees.

17. They shall annually elect a Chairman and Secretary froi
amongst their number, the latter to act as Treasurer.

18. The Secretary on receiving a complaint from a Yard Coi
mittee, may, after consultation with the Chairman of the Cenl
Board and the representative of the Trade directly concerned, en-
deavor to get the matter adjusted, failing which the Central

will be convened.

19. Before any stoppage of work takes place, the consent oi
the Central Board of this Committee must be obtained.

20. To meet expenses the Central Board shall make a call uj

APPENDIX G 441

each society affiliated for such sum as may from time to time be
agreed upon.

21. Meetings of the Central Board will be held on the last Friday
of each quarter, or oftener if, in the opinion of the Chairman and
Secretary, such is necessary.

(C) COVENTRY ENGINEERING JOINT COMMITTEE1
Shop Eules and Instructions for Stewards.

1. That the Coventry Engineering Joint Committee shall be the
Executive Committee over all Shop Stewards and Works Commit-
tees affiliated. Any change of practice in any shop or works must
receive the consent of the Joint Engineering Committee before be-
ing accepted by the men concerned.

2. That all nominees for Shop Stewards must be members of So-
cieties affiliated to the Coventry Engineering Joint Committee.

3. Stewards shall be elected by ballot for a term not exceeding
six months; all retiring Stewards to be eligible for reelection.

4. Each section shall be able to elect a Steward irrespective of
Society.

5. The Stewards of each department shall elect a Chief Steward.

6. The Chief Stewards of departments shall constitute the Works
Committee, who, if exceeding 12 in number, can appoint an Execu-
tive Committee of seven, including Chairman and Secretary.

7. All Stewards shall have an official Steward's Card issued by
Joint Committee.

8. Each Steward on being elected, and the same endorsed by his
Society, the Joint Committee Secretary shall send him an official
card.

9. The Steward must examine any man's membership card who
starts in the shop in his section. He should then advise the man
to report to his respective Secretary, and give him any information
required on rates and conditions, etc. There shall be a show of
cards every month to ascertain if every member is a sound member.

i The twenty-one societies affiliated are: — Friendly Society of Iron-
founders, Steam Engine Makers, United Machine Workers, Amalgamated
Society of Engineers, Amalgamated Toolmakers, Smiths and Strikers,
Brassworkers and Metal Mechanics, Coppersmiths, United Brass Finish-
ers, Electrical Trades Union, Boilermakers, Coremakers, Patternmakers,
United Coach Makers, Progressive Tin Plate Workers, National Federa-
tion of Women Workers, National Union of Clerks, Amalgamated Car-
penters and Joiners, General Union of Carpenters and Joiners, London
and Provincial Coach Makers, and Amalgamated Wood Cutting Ma-
chinists.

442 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and if any member is in arrears (eight weeks) he must report same
to the Chief Steward.

10. If there is any doubt of any man not receiving the district
rate of wages, the Steward can demand to examine pay ticket.

11. Any member accepting a price or time basis for a job must
hand record of same to his Section Steward, who shall keep a record
of times and prices on his section of any work, and hand the same to
Chief Shop Steward.

12. The Chief Steward shall keep a record of all times and prices
recorded to him by sections of his department. On a section being
not represented he shall see to the election of Steward for such sec-
tion.

13. Any grievance arising on any section must be reported to Chief
Shop Steward, who shall, with Steward on section and man con-
cerned, interview foreman or manager. Failing redress, the Chief
Steward then to report to the Works Committee.

14. The Works Committee shall be empowered to take any case
of dispute before the management, not less than three to act as
deputation.

15. On the Works Committee failing to come to any agreement
with the management, they must immediately report to the En-
gineering Joint Committee, who shall take up the matter with the
firm concerned, a representative of the Works Committee to be one
of the deputation. It is essential, pending negotiations, that no
stoppage of work shall take place without the sanction of the Engi-
neering Joint Committee.

16. A full list of all Shop Stewards must be kept by the Joint
Committee. Any change of Stewards must be reported to the
Joint Committee's Secretary.

17. The Joint Committee shall be empowered to call meetings of
Stewards at any works, also meetings of all Chief Stewards in the
district when the Joint Committee so decides, if necessary.

18. If at any time of dispute the Engineering Joint Committee de-
cides upon the withdrawal of its members from any firm or firms,
the Stewards shall be issued a special official badge from this Com-
mittee with the idea of assisting to keep order, if necessary, in the
interests of the members concerned.

APPENDIX G

APPENDIX VI

MINISTRY OF RECONSTRUCTION

COMMITTEE ON RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON WORKS COMMITTEES

To the Right Honorable D. Lloyd George, M.P.,

Prime Minister.
SIR,

In our first and second Reports we have referred to the establish-
ment of Works Committees,1 representative of the management and
of the workpeople, and appointed from within the works, as an
essential part of the scheme of organization suggested to secure
improved relations between employers and employed. The purpose
of the present Report is to deal more fully with the proposal to
institute such Committees.

2. Better relations between employers and their workpeople can
best be arrived at by granting to the latter a greater share in the
consideration of matters with which they are concerned. In every
industry there are certain questions, such as rates of wages and
hours of work, which should be settled by District or National agree-
ment, and with any matter so settled no Works Committee should
be allowed to interfere; but there are also many questions closely
affecting daily life and comfort in, and the success of, the business,
and affecting in no small degree efficiency of working, which are
peculiar to the individual workshop or factory. The purpose of
a Works Committee is to establish and maintain a system of co-
operation in all these workshop matters.

3. We have throughout our recommendations proceeded upon the
assumption that the greatest success is likely to be achieved by leav-
ing to the representative bodies of employers and employed in each
industry the maximum degree of freedom to settle for themselves
precise form of Council or Committee which should be adopted,
having regard in each case to the particular circumstances of the
trade; and, in accordance with this principle, we refrain from indi-
cating any definite form of constitution for the Works Commit-
tees. Our proposals as a whole assume the existence of organiza-

i In the use of the term "Works Committees" in this Report it is not
intended to use the word "works" in a technical sense; in such an in-
dustry as the Coal Trade, for example, the term "Pit Committees" would
probably be the term used in adopting the scheme.

444 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tions of both employers and employed and a frank and full recog-
nition of such organizations. Works Committees established other-
wise than in accordance with these principles could not be regarded
as a part of the scheme we have recommended, and might indeed be
a hindrance to the development of the new relations in industry
to which we look forward. We think the aim should be the com-
plete and coherent organization of the trade on both sides, and
Works Committees will be of value in so far as they contribute to
such a result.

4. We are of opinion that the complete success of Works Com-
mittees necessarily depends largely upon the degree and efficiency
of organization in the trade, and upon the extent to which the
Committees can be linked up, through organizations that we have
in mind, with the remainder of the scheme which we are proposing,
viz., the District and National Councils. We think it important
to state that the success of the Works Committees would be very
seriously interfered with if the idea existed that such Committees
were used, or likely to be used, by employers in opposition to Trade
Unionism. It is strongly felt that the setting up of Works Com-
mittees without the cooperation of the Trade Unions and the Em-
ployers' Associations in the trade or branch of trade concerned
would stand in the way of the improved industrial relationships
which in these Reports we are endeavoring to further.

5. In an industry where the workpeople are unorganized, or only
very partially organized, there is a danger that Works Committees
may be used, or thought to be used, in opposition to Trade Union-
ism. It is important that such fears should be guarded against in
the initiation of any scheme. We look upon successful Works Com-
mittees as the broad base of the Industrial Structure which we
have recommended, and as the means of enlisting the interest of the
workers in the success both of the industry to which they are at-
tached and of the workshop or factory where so much of their life
is spent. These Committees should not, in constitution or methods
of working, discourage Trade organizations.

6. Works Committees, in our opinion, should have regular meet-
ings at fixed times, and, as a general rule, not less frequently than
once a fortnight. They should always keep in the forefront the
idea of constructive cooperation in the improvement of the industry
to which they belong. Suggestions of all kinds tending to improve-
ment should be frankly welcomed and freely discussed. Practical
proposals should be examined from all points of view. There is
an undeveloped asset of constructive ability — valuable alike to the
industry and to the State — awaiting the means of realization ; prob-

APPENDIX G 445

lems, old and new, will find their solution in a frank partnership
of knowledge, experieuce and goodwill. Works Committees would
fail in their main purpose if they existed only to smooth over griev-
ances.

7. We recognize that, from time to time, matters will arise which
the management or the workmen consider to be questions they can-
not discuss in these joint meetings. When this occurs, we antici-
pate that nothing but good will come from the friendly statement
of the reasons why the reservation is made.

8. We regard the successful development and utilization of Works
Committees in any business on the basis recommended in this Re-
port as of equal importance with its commercial and scientific ef-
ficiency; and we think that in every case one of the partners or
directors, or some other responsible representative of the manage-
ment, would be well advised to devote a substantial part of his time
and thought to the good working and development of such a com-
mittee.

9. There has been some experience, both before the war and
during the war, of the benefits of Works Committees, and we think
it should be recommended most strongly to employers and employed
that, in connection with the scheme for the establishment of Na-
tional and District Industrial Councils, they should examine this
experience with a view to the institution of Works Committees on
proper lines, in works where the conditions render their formation
practicable. We have recommended that the Ministry of Labor
should prepare a summary of the experience available with refer-
ence to Works Committees, both before and during the war, includ-
ing information as to any rules or reports relating to such Commit-
tees, and should issue a memorandum thereon for the guidance of
employers and workpeople generally, and we understand that such
a memorandum is now in course of preparation.1

10. In order to ensure uniform and common principles of action,
it is essential that where National and District Industrial Councils
exist the Works Committees should be in close touch with them, and
the scheme for linking up Works Committees with the Councils
should be considered and determined by the National Councils.

11. We have considered it better not to attempt to indicate any
specific form of Works Committees. Industrial establishments
show such infinite variation in size, number of persons employed,
multiplicity of departments, and other conditions, that the par-
ticular form of Works Committees must necessarily be adapted to
the circumstances of each case. It would, therefore, be impossible

i The reference is to the present Report.

446

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to formulate any satisfactory scheme which does not provided a
large measure of elasticity.

We are confident that the nature of the particular organization
necessary for the various cases will be settled without difficulty by
the exercise of goodwill on both sides.
We have the honor to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servants,1

J. H. WHITLEY, Chairman.

F. S. BUTTON.
S. J. CHAPMAN.

G. H. CLAUGHTON.
J. R. CLYNES.

F. N. HEPWOBTH.

WILFRID HILL.

J. A. HOBSON.

A. SUSAN LAWRENCE.

MAURICE LEVY.

J. J. MALLON.

THOS. R. RATCLIFFE-ELLIS.

ALLAN M. SMITH.

D. R. H. WILLIAMS.
MONA WILSON.

Secretaries.

H. J. WILSON,
A. GREENWOOD.

18th October, 1917.

APPENDIX VII
SCHEME OF LOCAL JOINT PITS COMMITTEES

The following scheme has recently been introduced. It is par-
ticularly interesting as an attempt to apply the ideas of the Whitley
Report to part of the coal-mining industry.

i Sir G. J. Carter and Mr. Smillie were unable to attend any of the
meetings at which this Report was considered and they therefore do not
sign it. Sir G. J. Carter has intimated that in his view, in accordance
with the principles indicated in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of the Report,
it is important that Works Committees should not deal with matters
which ought to be directly dealt with by the firms concerned or their
respective Associations in conjunction with the recognized representa-
tives of the Trade Unions whose members are affected.

APPENDIX G 447

JOINT COMMITTEE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LANCASHIRE AND
CHESHIRE COAL ASSOCIATION, AND THE LANCASHIRE AND CHE-
SHIRE MINERS' FEDERATION.

Resolved: That the Joint Committee recommend the establish-
ment, with the least possible delay, of Local Joint Pit Committees
at the various Collieries in the two Counties, and that the functions
of the Committees shall be those set out below, and that the Rules
of Procedure also set out below should be adopted.

The functions exercisable by the Local Joint Pits Committees and
the Rules of Procedure for the conduct of the business.

1. The title of the Committee shall be "The Local Joint Pits Com-
mittee."

2. The Committee shall exercise the following functions: —

(a) To investigate and report to Manager cases of shortage of

tubs.
(6) To investigate and report anything interfering with the

possibilities of output, such as poor haulage, blocked

or congested roadways.

(c) To investigate and report to Manager complaints of min-

imum wage and abnormal places allowances.

(d) To stimulate regular attendance and report to Manager

persistent absentees.

(e) Generally to investigate and report to the Manager any-

thing else which in their opinion is interfering with the
satisfactory working of the mine.

(/) Any other functions which may from time to time be dele-
gated to them by the Joint Committee.

3. The Committee shall consist of not less than three, nor more
than five representatives of the employers, and an equal number of
representatives of the workmen employed at the mine. The Manager
of the mine shall be the Chairman.

4. Two members of each class of representative present shall
form a quorum.

5. The respective representatives on the Committee shall each
appoint one of their number to act as Secretary.

6. Meetings of the Committee shall be held once a month. Pro-
vided that a Special Meeting may be held at any time at the re-
quest of the whole of the members of either side given to the Sec-
retary of the other side. Five days' notice to be given of any meet-
ing, ordinary or special; and the Agenda of the business to be con-
sidered at the meeting to be submitted by the Secretaries to each
member of the Board with the notice calling the meeting. No busi-

448 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ness to be transacted at any meeting other than that on the Agenda.
No matter shall be placed on the Agenda without an opportunity
having been previously given to the officials of the mine of dealing
with it.

7. The proceedings of each Committee shall be taken and tran-
scribed in duplicate books, and each book shall be signed by the two
Secretaries at the meeting at which such minutes are read and con-
firmed. One copy of such minutes shall be kept by each of the
Secretaries. The Secretaries shall also conduct the correspondence
for the respective parties, and conjointly for the Committee.

8. In the event of any matter arising which the Committee can-
not agree upon, and failing agreement between the Manager and
the local Federation Agent, the difference shall be submitted to
the Joint District Committee, whose decision shall be final.

9. Each party shall pay and defray the expenses of its own repre-
sentatives and Secretary.

Dated this Eleventh day of February, 1918.
LIONEL E. PILKINGTON,

President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Association

and of the Joint Committee.
THOMAS GREENALL,

President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Minersf Federa-
tion, and Vice-P resident of the Joint Committee.
THOS. R. RATCMFFE-ELLIS,

Secretary of the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Association,

and of the Joint Committee.
THOMAS ASHTON,

Secretary of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federa-
tion, and of the Joint Committee.

INDUSTRIAL REPORTS. NUMBER 3
INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS AND TRADE BOARDS

Joint Memorandum of the Minister of Reconstruction and the
Minister of Labor, explaining the Government's view of the pro-
posals of the Second Whitley Report, together with the Text of the
Report.

APPENDIX G 449

INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS AND TRADE BOARDS

Joint Memorandum by the Minister of Reconstruction and the
Minister of Labor.

1. The proposals contained in the First Report on Joint Standing
Industrial Councils of the Committee on Relations between Em-
ployers and Employed have been adopted by the Government. The
steps which have been taken to establish Industrial Councils have
enabled the Government to consider the proposals of the Second
Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils in the light of ex-
perience. This Report, which deals with industries other than
those which are highly organized, follows naturally upon the First
Report of the Committee, and develops the line of policy therein
proposed. It has not been found possible from the administra-
tive point of" view to adopt the whole of the recommendations con-
tained in the Second Report, but such modifications as it seems
desirable to make do not affect the principles underlying the Com-
mittee's proposal for the establishment of Joint Industrial Councils.
They are designed to take advantage of the administrative experi-
ence of the Ministry of Labor with regard to both Industrial Coun-
cils and Trade Boards. In view of the growing interest which is
being taken in the establishment of Industrial Councils and of the
proposed extension of Trade Boards, it appears desirable to set
forth the modifications which the Government regard as necessary
in putting into operation the recommendations of the Second Report,
and also to make clear the relations between Trade Boards and
Industrial Councils.

2. The First Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils re-
ferred only to the well-organized industries. The Second Report
deals with the less organized and unorganized trades, and suggests
the classification of the industries of the country into three groups : —

"Group A. — Consisting of industries in which organization on the
part of the employers and employed is sufficiently developed
to render their respective associations representative of the
great majority of those engaged in the industry. These are
the industries which we had in mind in our first Interim
Report.

"Group B. — Comprising those industries in which, either as re-
gards employers and employed, or both, the degree of organ-
ization, though considerable, is less marked than in Group
A.

"Group C. — Consisting of industries in which organization is so

450 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

imperfect, either as regards employers or employed, or both,
that no associations can be said adequately to represent those
engaged in the industry."

The proposals of the Committee on Relations between Employers
and Employed are summarized in paragraph 20 of their Second
Report as follows:—

"(a) In the more highly organized industries (Group A.) we
propose a triple organization of national, district, and
workshop bodies, as outlined in our First Report.

"(6) In industries where there are representative associations of
employers and employed, which, however, do not possess
the authority of those in Group A. industries, we pro-
pose that the triple organization should be modified, by
attaching to each National Industrial Council one, or at
most two representatives of the Ministry of Labor to act
in an advisory capacity.

"(c) In industries in both Groups A. and B., we propose that un-
organized areas or branches of an industry should be pro-
vided, on the application of the National Industrial Coun-
cil, and with the approval of the Ministry of Labor, with
Trade Boards for such areas or branches, the Trade Boards
being linked with the Industrial Council.

"(d) In industries having no adequate organization of employers
or employed, we recommend that Trade Boards should be
continued or established, and that these should, with the
approval of the Ministry of Labor, be enabled to formu-
late a scheme for an Industrial Council, which might in-
clude, in an advisory capacity, the 'appointed members' of
the Trade Board."

It may be convenient to set out briefly the modifications of the
above proposals, which it has been found necessary to make.

(1) As regards (b) it has been decided to recognize one type of

Industrial Council only, and not to attach official repre-
sentatives to the Council, except on the application of the
Industrial Council itself.

(2) As regards (c) and (d) the relations between Trade Boards

and Industrial Councils raise a number of serious adminis-
trative difficulties due to the wide differences in the pur-
pose and structure of the two types of bodies. It is not
regarded as advisable that a Trade Board should formulate
a scheme for an Industrial Council, nor is it probable that
Trade Boards for unorganized areas will be set up in con-
junction with a Joint Industrial Council.

APPENDIX G 451

3. It is necessary at the outset to emphasize the fundamental dif-
ferences between Industrial Councils and Trade Boards. A Joint
Industrial Council is voluntary in its character and can only be
brought into existence with the agreement of the organizations of
employers and workpeople in the particular industry, and the Coun-
cil itself is composed exclusively of persons nominated by the Em-
ployers' Associations and Trade Unions concerned. The Industrial
Council is, moreover, within very wide limits, able to determine its
own functions, machinery and methods of working. Its functions
in almost all cases will probably cover a wide range and will be
concerned with many matters other than wages. Its machinery and
methods will be based upon past experience of the industry and the
existing organization of both employers and employed. Industrial
Councils will, therefore, vary in structure and functions as can be
seen from the provisional constitutions already submitted to the
Ministry of Labor. Financially they will be self-supporting, and
will receive no monetary aid from the Government. The Govern-
ment proposes to recognize the Industrial Council in an industry
as the representative organization to which it can refer. This was
made clear in the Minister of Labor's circular letter of October 20th,
1917, in which it is said that "the Government desire it to be under-
"stood that the Councils will be recognized as the official standing
"consultative committees to the Government on all future questions
"affecting the industries which they represent, and that they will be
"the normal channel through which the opinion and experience of
"an industry will be sought on all questions in which the industry
"is concerned."

A Trade Board, on the other hand, is a statutory body established
by the Minister of Labor and constituted in accordance with Regu-
lations made by him in pursuance of the Trade Boards Act; and its
expenses, in so far as authorized by the Minister of Labor and sanc-
tioned by the Treasury, are defrayed out of public money. The
Regulations may provide for the election of the representatives of
employers and workers or for their nomination by the Minister of
Labor, but in either case provision must be made for the due repre-
sentation of homeworkers in trades in which a considerable propor-
tion of homeworkers are engaged. On account of the comparative
lack of organization in the trades to which the Act at present applies,
the method of nomination by the Minister has proved in practice to
be preferable to that of election, and in nearly all cases the repre-
sentative members of Trade Boards are now nominated by the
Minister. The Employers' Associations and Trade Unions in the
several trades are invited to submit the names of candidates for the

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Minister's consideration, and full weight is attached to their recom-
mendation, but where the trade organizations do not fully represent
all sections of the trade, it is necessary to look outside them to find
representatives of the different processes and districts affected.

A further distinction between Trade Boards and Industrial Coun-
cils is, that while Industrial Councils are composed entirely of repre-
sentatives of the Employers' Associations and Trade Unions in the
industry, every Trade Board includes, in addition to the repre-
sentative members, a small number (usually three) of "appointed
members," one of whom is appointed by the Minister to act as Chair-
man and one as Deputy Chairman of the Board. The appointed
members are unconnected with the trade and are appointed by the
Minister as impartial persons. The primary function of a Trade
Board is the determination of minimum rates of wages, and when
the minimum rates of wages fixed by a Trade Board have been con-
firmed by the Minister of Labor, they are enforceable by criminal
proceedings, and officers are appointed to secure their observance.
The minimum rates thus become part of the law of the land, and are
enforced in the same manner as, for example, the provisions of the
Factory Acts. The purpose, structure, and functions of Industrial
Councils and Trade Boards are therefore fundamentally different.
Their respective areas of operation are also determined by different
considerations. An Industrial Council will exercise direct influence
only over the organizations represented upon it. It will comprise
those employers' associations with common interests and common
problems; similarly its trade union side will be composed of repre-
sentatives of organizations whose interests are directly interde-
pendent. An Industrial Council therefore is representative of or-
ganizations whose objects and interests, whilst not identical, are
sufficiently interlocked to render common action desirable. Tl
various organizations represent the interests of employers and work-
ers engaged in the production of a particular commodity or servic
(or an allied group of commodities or services).

A Trade Board, on the other hand, is not based on existing or-
ganizations of employers and employed, but covers the whole of tl
trade for which it is established. As the minimum rates are en-
forceable by law, it is necessary that the boundaries of the ti
should be precisely defined; this is done, within the limits prescril
by statute, by the Regulations made by the Minister of Labor.
Natural divisions of industry are, of course, followed as far
possible, but in many cases the line of demarcation must necessaril
be somewhat arbitrary. In the case of Industrial Councils difficul
demarcation problems also arise, but the considerations involved

APPENDIX G 453

somewhat different, as the object is to determine whether the in-
terests represented by given organizations are sufficiently allied to
justify the cooperation of these organizations in one Industrial
Council.

4. The reports received from those who are engaged in assisting
the formation of Joint Industrial Councils show that certain para-
graphs in the Second Report of the Committee on Relations between
Employers and Employed have caused some confusion as to the
character and scope of Joint Industrial Councils and Trade Boards
respectively. It is essential to the future development of Joint In-
dustrial Councils that their distinctive aim and character should be
maintained. It is necessary therefore to keep clearly in mind the
respective functions of the Joint Industrial Council and the Trade
Board, in considering the recommendations contained in the follow-
ing paragraphs of the Second Report : —

(a) Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, dealing with the division of Joint
Industrial Councils into those that cover Group A. indus-
tries, and those that cover Group B. industries.

(6) Paragraph 7, dealing with district Industrial Councils in
industries where no National Council exists.

(c) Paragraphs 10, 13, 15 and 16, dealing with Trade Boards in

relation to Joint Industrial Councils.

(d) Paragraphs 11 and 12, dealing with Trade Boards in indus-

tries which are not suitably organized for the establishment
of a Joint Industrial Council.

5. Distinction drawn between Joint Industrial Councils in Group
A. Industries and Group B. Industries. — In paragraph 9 of the
Second Report it is implied that the Ministry of Labor would de-
termine whether the standard of organization in any given industry
has reached such a stage as to justify the official recognition of a
Joint Industrial Council in that industry. It is clear, however, that
it would be impossible for the Ministry to discover any satisfactory
basis for distinguishing between an industry which falls into Group
A., and one which falls into Group B. It is admitted in paragraph
9 of the Second Report, that no arbitrary standard of organization
could be adopted, and it would be both invidious and impracticable
for the Ministry of Labor, upon whom the responsibility would fall,
to draw a distinction between A. and B. Industries. The only clear
distinction is between industries which are sufficiently organized to
justify the formation of a Joint Industrial Council and those which
are not sufficiently organized. Individual, cases must be judged
on their merits after a consideration of the scope and effectiveness

454* MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of the organization, the complexity of the industry and the wishes
of those concerned.

The experience already gained in connection with 'Joint Industrial
Councils indicates that it would be inadvisable in the case of in-
dustries in Group B. to adopt the proposal that "there should be
"appointed one or at most two official representatives to assist in
"the initiation of the Council and continue after its establishment
"to act in an advisory capacity and serve as a link with the Gov-
"ernment." It is fundamental to the idea of a Joint Industrial
Council that it is a voluntary body set up by the industry itself,
acting as an independent body and entirely free from all State
control. Whilst the Minister of Labor would be willing to give
every assistance to Industrial Councils, he would prefer that any
suggestion of this kind should come from the industry, rather than
from the Ministry.

The main idea of the Joint Industrial Council as a Joint Body
representative of an industry and independent of State control has
now become familiar, and the introduction of a second type of Joint
Industrial Council for B. industries would be likely to cause con-
fusion and possibly to prejudice the future growth of Joint Indus-
trial Councils.

In view of these circumstances, therefore, it has been decided to
adopt a single type of Industrial Council.

6. District Industrial Councils. — Paragraph 7 of the Second Re-
port suggests that in certain industries in which a National Indus-
trial Council is not likely to be formed, in the immediate future, it
might none the less be possible to form one or more "District" In-
dustrial Councils.

In certain cases the formation of joint bodies covering a limited
area is probable. It would, however, avoid confusion if the term
"District" were not part of the title of such Councils, and if the
use of it were confined to District Councils in an industry where a
National Council exists. Independent local Councils might well have
a territorial designation instead.

7. Trade Boards in Relation to Joint Industrial Councils. — The
distinction between Trade Boards and Joint Industrial Councils has
been set forth in paragraph 3 above. The question whether an In-
dustrial Council should be formed for a given industry depends on
the degree of organization achieved by the employers and workers
in the industry, whereas the question whether a Trade Board should
be established depends primarily on the rates of wages prevailing
in the industry or in any part of the industry. This distinction
makes it clear that the question whether a Trade Board should or

APPENDIX G 455

should not be set up by the Minister of Labor for a given industry
must be decided apart from the question whether a Joint Industrial
Council should or should not be recognized in that industry by
the Minister of Labor.

It follows from this that it is possible that both a Joint Indus-
trial Council and a Trade Board may be necessary within the same
industry.

In highly organized industries the rates of wages prevailing will
not, as a rule, be so low as to necessitate the establishment of a
Trade Board. In some cases, however, a well-defined section of an
otherwise well-organized industry or group of industries may be
unorganized and ill-paid ; in such a case it would clearly be desirable
for a Trade Board to be established for the ill-paid section, while
there should at the same time be an Industrial Council for the re-
maining sections, or even for the whole, of the industry or industrial
group.

In the case of other industries sufficiently organized to justify the
establishment of an Industrial Council, the organizations repre-
sented on the Council may nevertheless not be comprehensive enough
to regulate wages effectively throughout the industry. In such
cases a Trade Board for the whole industry may possibly be needed.

Where a Trade Board covers either the whole or part of an in-
dustry covered by a Joint Industrial Council, the relations between
them may, in order to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, be
defined as follows: —

(1) Where Government Departments wish to consult the industry,

the Joint Industrial Council, and not the Trade Board, will
be recognized as the body to be consulted.

(2) In order to make use of the experience of the Trade Board,

the constitution of the Industrial Council should be so
drawn as to make full provision for consultation between
the Council and the Trade Board on matters referred to the
former by a Government Department, and to allow of the
representation of the Trade Board on any Sub-Committee
of the Council dealing with questions with which the Trade
Board is concerned.

(3) The Joint Industrial Council clearly cannot under any cir-

cumstances over-ride the statutory powers conferred upon
the Trade Board, and if the Government at any future
time adopted the suggestion contained in Section 21 of the
First Report that the sanction of law should be given on
the application of an Industrial Council to agreements made
by the Council, such agreements could not be made binding

466 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

on any part of a trade governed by a Trade Board, so far
as the statutory powers of the Trade Board are concerned.

The Minister of Labor will not ordinarily set up a Trade Board
to deal with an industry or branch of an industry, in which the
majority of employers and workpeople are covered by wage agree-
ments, but in which a minority, possibly in certain areas, are out-
side the agreement. It would appear that the proposal in Section
21 of the First Report was specially designed to meet such cases.
Experience has shown that there are great difficulties in the way of
establishing a Trade Board for one area only in which an industry
is carried on, without covering the whole of a Trade, though the
Trade Boards Act allows of this procedure.

8. Trade Boards in industries which are not sufficiently organized
for the establishment of a Joint Industrial Council. — Section 3 of
the Trade Boards Act, 1909, provides that "a Trade Board for any
"trade shall consider, as occasion requires, any matter referred to
"them by a Secretary of State, the Board of Trade, or any other
"Government Department, with reference to the industrial condi-
"tions of the trade, and shall make a report upon the matter to the
"department by whom the question has been referred."

In the case of an industry in which a Trade Board has been
established, but an Industrial Council has not been formed, the
Trade Board is the only body that can claim to be representative
of the industry as a whole.

It is already under a statutory obligation to consider questions
referred to it by a Government Department; and where there is a
Trade Board but no Industrial Council in an industry it will be
suggested to Government Departments that they should consult the
Trade Board as occasion requires in the same manner as they would
consult Industrial Councils.

On the other hand, for the reasons which have been fully set out
above, Industrial Councils must be kept distinct from Trade Boards,
and the latter, owing to their constitution, cannot be converted into
the former. If an industry in which a Trade Board is established
becomes sufficiently organized for the formation of an Industrial
Council, the Council would have to be formed on quite different lines
from the Trade Board, and the initiative should come, not from the
Trade Board, which is a body mainly nominated by the Minister of
Labor, but from the organizations in the industry. Hence it would
not be desirable that Trade Boards should undertake the formation
of schemes for Industrial Councils.

7th June, 1918.

APPENDIX G 457

Second Report of the Committee on Relations between Employers
and Employed on Joint Standing Industrial Councils:

The Committee consisted of the following members: —

The Right Hon. J. H. WHITLEY, M.P., Chairman
(Chairman of Committee, House of Commons).

Mr. F. S. Button. Miss Susan Lawrence.

Sir George J. Carter, K.B.E. 1 Sir Maurice Levy, Bart, M.P.

Prof. S. J. Chapman, C.B.E. Mr. J. J. Mallon.

Sir Gilbert Claughton, Bart. Sir Thos. R. Ratcliffe-Ellis.

Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P. Mr. Robert M. Smillie.

i Mr. F. N. ^Hepworth. Mr. Allan M. Smith.

i Mr. W. Hill. i Mr. D. R. H. Williams.

Mr. J. A. Hobson. Miss Mona Wilson.

Secretaries :

Mr. H. J. Wilson, C.B.E., Ministry of Labor.

Mr. Arthur Greenwood, Ministry of Reconstruction.

To the Right Honorable D. LLOYD GEORGE, M.P., Prime Minister.

SIB, — Following the proposals made in our first Report, we have
now the honor to present further recommendations dealing with in-
dustries in which organization on the part of employers and em-
ployed is less completely established than in the industries covered
by the previous Report, and with industries in which such organiza-
tion is weak or non-existent.

2. Before commencing the examination of these industries the
Committee came to the conclusion that it would materially assist their
enquiries if they could have the direct advantage of the knowledge
and experience of some representative employers who were con-
lected with industries of the kind with which the Committee were
about to deal; and it was arranged, with your approval, that Sir
[aurice Levy, Mr. F. N. Hepworth, Mr. W. Hill, and Mr. D. R. H.
Williams should be appointed to act with the Committee while these
idustries were under consideration. This arrangement made it
sible to release from attendance at the earlier meetings of the

)mmittee Sir Gilbert Claughton, Sir T. Ratcliffe-Ellis, Sir George
J. Carter, and Mr. Allan Smith, whose time is greatly occupied in

Additional members of the Committee, appointed in connection with
present Report.

458 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

other public work and whose experience is more particularly related
to the organized trades covered by our former Report.

3. It is difficult to classify industries according to the degree of
organization among employers and employed, but for convenience
of consideration the industries of the country may be divided into
three groups: —

Group A. — Consisting of industries in which organization on the
part of employers and employed is sufficiently developed
to render their respective associations representative of the
great majority of those engaged in the industry. These
are the industries which we had in mind in our first In-
terim Report.

Group B. — Comprising those industries in which, either as regards
employers and employed, or both, the degree of organiza-
tion, though considerable, is less marked than in Group A.

Group C. — Consisting of industries in which organization is so
imperfect, either as regards employers or employed, or
both, that no associations can be said adequately to repre-
sent those engaged in the industry.

The present Report is concerned with Groups B. and C.

4. So far as Groups A. and C. are concerned, a number of in-
dustries can be definitely assigned to them. Group B., however,
is necessarily more indeterminate. Some of the industries in this
group approach closely to industries in Group A., while others
verge upon Group C. Further, most industries, in whatever class
they may fall, possess a "tail," consisting of badly organized areas,
or sections of the industry. These facts we have borne in mind in
formulating our further proposals.

5. So far as industries in Group B. are concerned, we are of
opinion that the proposals of our First Report should, in their main
lines, be applied to those which, on examination by the Ministry of
Labor in consultation with the Associations concerned, are found to
be relatively well organized. We suggest, however, that where in
these industries a National Industrial Council is formed there should
be appointed one or at most two official representatives to assist in
the initiation of the Council, and continue after its establishment
to act in an advisory capacity and serve as a link with the Gov-
ernment. We do not contemplate that a representative so appointed
should be a member of the National Industrial Council, in the sense
that he should have power, by a vote, to influence the decisions of
the Council, but that he should attend its meetings and assist in any
way which may be found acceptable to it. By so doing he would
acquire a continuous knowledge of the conditions of the industry

APPENDIX G 459

of which the Government could avail itself, and so avoid many
mistakes that under present conditions are inevitable.

The question of the retention of the official representatives should
be considered by the Councils in the light of experience gained when
an adequate time has elapsed. We anticipate that in many cases
their continued assistance will be found of value even after an in-
dustry has attained a high degree of organization, but in no case
should they remain except at the express wish of the Councils con-
cerned.

6. It may be that in some Group B. industries in which a Na-
tional Industrial Council is formed certain areas are well suited to
the establishment of District Councils, while in other areas the
organization of employers or employed, or both, is too weak to be
deemed representative. There appears to be no good reason why
in the former areas there should not be District Industrial Councils,
acting in conjunction with the National Industrial Councils, in ac-
cordance with the principles formulated in the Committee's earlier
report on the well-organized trades.

7. An examination of some of the industries coming within
Group B. may show that there are some which, owing to the pe-
culiarities of the trades and their geographical distribution, cannot
at present be brought readily within the scope of the proposals for
a National Industrial Council, though they may be quite well or-
ganized in two or more separate districts. In such a case we think
there might well be formed one or more District Industrial Coun-
cils. We anticipate that in course of time the influence of the Dis-
trict Councils would be such that the industry would become suitable
for the establishment of a National Industrial Council.

8. In the case of industries in Group B. (as in the industries
covered by our first Report), we consider that the members of the
National Councils and of the District Councils should be representa-
tive of the Employers' Associations and Trade Unions concerned.
In the formation of the Councils, regard should be paid to the
various sections of the industry and the various classes of labor
engaged, and the representatives should include representatives
of women's organizations. In view of the extent to which women
are employed in these industries, we think the Trade Unions, when
selecting their representatives for the Councils, should include a
number of women among those who are appointed to be members.

9. It does not appear to us necessary or desirable to suggest any
fixed standard of organization which should exist in any industry
before a National Industrial Council should be established. The
case of each industry will need to be considered separately, regard

460 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

being paid to its particular circumstances and characteristics.

In the discussion of this matter, we have considered whether it
would be feasible to indicate a percentage of organization which
should be reached before a Council is formed, but, in view of the
great diversity of circumstances in these industries and of the dif-
fering degrees to which the several sections of some of them are
organized, we have come to the conclusion that it is more desirable
to leave the matter to the decision of the Ministry of Labor and the
organizations concerned. Whatever theoretical standard may be
contemplated, we think its application should not be restrictive in
either direction.

10. The level of organization in industries in Group C. is such as
to make the scheme we have proposed for National or District In-
dustrial Councils inapplicable. To these industries the machinery of
the Trade Boards Act might well be applied, pending the develop-
ment of such degree of organization as would render feasible the
establishment of a National Council or District Councils.

11. The Trade Boards Act was originally intended to secure the
establishment of a minimum standard of wages in certain unor-
ganized industries, but we consider that the Trade Boards should
be regarded also as a means of supplying a regular machinery for ne-
gotiation and decision on certain groups of questions dealt with
in other circumstances by collective bargaining between employers'
organizations and trade unions.

In order that the Trade Boards Act may be of greater utility in
connection with unorganized and badly organized industries or sec-
tions of industries, we consider that certain modifications are needed
to enlarge the functions of the Trade Boards. We suggest that they
should be empowered to deal not only with minimum rates of wages
but with hours of labor and questions cognate to wages and hours.
We are of opinion also that the functions of the Trade Boards
should be extended so as to enable them to initiate and conduct
enquiries on all matters affecting the industry or the section of the
industry concerned.

12. If these proposals were adopted, there would be set up, in
a number of industries or sections of industries, Trade Boards (con-
sisting of representatives of employers and employed, together with
"appointed members") who would, within the scope of their func-
tions, establish minimum standard rates and conditions applicable
to the industry or section of the industry which they represented,
and consider systematically matters affecting the well-being of the
industry.

13. Where an industry in Group C. becomes sufficiently organ-

APPENDIX G 461

ized to admit of the institution of National and District Councils,
we consider that these bodies should be set up on the lines already
indicated. Where it appears to a Trade Board that an Industrial
Council should be appointed in the industry concerned, they should
have power (a) to make application to the Minister of Labor asking
him to approach the organizations of employers and employed, and
(b) to suggest a scheme by which the representation of the workers'
and employers' sides of the Trade Board could be secured.

14. Whether in industries in Group C. the establishment of Works
Committees is to be recommended is a question which calls for very
careful examination, and we have made the general question of
Works Committees the subject of a separate Report.

15. We have already pointed out that most of the industries in
Groups A. and B. have sections or areas in which the degree of or-
ganization among the employers and employed falls much below
what is normal in the rest of the industry; and it appears to us
desirable that the general body of employers and employed in any
industry should have some means whereby they may bring the whole
of the trade up to the standard of minimum conditions which have
been agreed upon by a substantial majority of the industry. We
therefore recommend that, on the application of a National Industrial
Council sufficiently representative of an industry, the Minister of
Labor should be empowered, if satisfied that the case is a suitable
one, to make an Order either instituting for a section of the industry
a Trade Board on which the National Industrial Council should be
represented, or constituting the Industrial Council a Trade Board
under the provisions of the Trade Boards Act. These proposals are
not intended to limit, but to be in addition to, the powers at present
held by the Ministry of Labor with regard to the establishment of
Trade Boards in trades and industries where they are considered by
the Ministry to be necessary.

16. We have already indicated (paragraph 9) that the circum-
stances and characteristics of each of the several industries will
need to be considered before it can be decided definitely how far any
of our proposals can be applied in particular instances, and we have
refrained from attempting to suggest any exact degree of organiza-
tion which would be requisite before a particular proposal could be
applied. We think, however, that the suggestion we have made in
the preceding paragraph to confer upon a National Industrial Coun-
cil the powers of a Trade Board should be adopted only in those
cases in which the Minister of Labor is satisfied that the Council
represents a substantial majority of the industry concerned.

17. We are of opinion that most of the chief industries of the

462 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

country could be brought under one or other of the schemes con-
tained in this and the preceding Report. There would then be
broadly two classes of industries in the country — industries with In-
dustrial Councils and industries with Trade Boards.

18. In the former group the National Industrial Councils would
be constituted either in the manner we have indicated in our first
Report, carrying with them District Councils and Works Committees,
or on the lines suggested in the present Report, i.e., each Council
coming within the scope of this Report having associated with it
one, or two, official representatives to act in an advisory capacity
and as a link with the Government, in addition to the representatives
of the employers and employed.

19. It should be noted that in the case of industries in which there
is a National Industrial Council, Trade Boards might, in some
instances, be associated with the Council in order to determine
wages and hours, &c., in certain sections or areas. It is possible
that in some allied trades, really forming part of the same indus-
try, both sets of proposals might, in the first instance, be in opera-
tion side by side, one trade having its Industrial Council and the
other its Trade Board. Where these circumstances obtain, we an-
ticipate that the Trade Board would be a stepping stone to the full
Industrial Council status.

20. It may be useful to present a brief outline of the proposals
which we have so far put forward: —

(a) In the more highly organized industries (Group A.) we pro-

pose a triple organization of national, district, and work-
shop bodies, as outlined in our first Report.

(b) In industries where there are representative associations of

employers and employed, which, however, do not possess
the authority of those in Group A. industries, we propose
that the triple organization should be modified by attaching
to each National Industrial Council one or at most two repre-
sentatives of the Ministry of Labor to act in an advisory
capacity.

(c) In industries in both Groups A. and B., we propose that un-

organized areas or branches of an industry should be pro-
vided, on the application of the National Industrial Council
and with the approval of the Ministry of Labor, with Trade
Boards for such areas or branches, the Trade Boards being
linked with the Industrial Council.

(d) In industries having no adequate organization of employers or

employed, we recommend that Trade Boards should be con-
tinued or established, and that these should, with the ap-

APPENDIX G 463

proval of the Ministry of Labor, be enabled to formulate a
scheme for an Industrial Council, which might include in an
advisory capacity the "appointed members" of the Trade
Board.

21. It will be observed that the policy we recommend is based
upon organization on the part of both employers and employed.
Where this is adequate, as in Group A. industries, there is no need
of external assistance. In Group B. industries, we think that the
organizations concerned would be glad to have the services of an
official representative who would act as adviser and as a link with the
Government. In unorganized sections of both groups of industries
we believe that a larger measure of Government assistance will be
both desirable and acceptable, and we have therefore suggested the
adoption of the machinery of the Trade Boards Act in this connec-
tion. In Group C. industries we think that organization will be
encouraged by the use of the powers under the Trade Boards Act,
and where National Industrial Councils are set up we recommend
that the "appointed members" of the Trade Board should act
on the Councils in an advisory capacity. Briefly, our proposals are
that the extent of State assistance should vary inversely with the
degree of organization in industries.

22. We do not, however, regard Government assistance as an al-
ternative to the organization of employers and employed. On the
contrary, we regard it as a means of furthering the growth and
development of such organization.

23. We think it advisable in this connection to repeat the follow-
ing paragraph from our former Report: —

"It may be desirable to state here our considered opinion that
an essential condition of securing a permanent improvement in
the relations between employers and employed is that there should
be adequate organization on the part of both employers and
workpeople. The proposals outlined for joint cooperation
throughout the several industries depend for their ultimate suc-
cess upon there being such organization on both sides; and such
organization is necessary also to provide means whereby the ar-
rangements and agreements made for the industry may be ef-
fectively carried out."

24. In considering the scope of the matters referred to us we
have formed the opinion that the expression "employers and work-
men" in our reference covers State and Municipal authorities and
persons employed by them. Accordingly we recommend that such
authorities and their workpeople should take into consideration the
proposals made in this and in our first Report, with a view to de-

464 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

termining how far such proposals can suitably be adopted in their
case.

We understand that the Ministry of Labor has up to the present
circulated our first Report only to employers' and workpeople's as-
sociations in the ordinary private industries. We think, however,
that both it and the present Report should also be brought to the
notice of State Departments and Municipal Authorities employing
labor.

25. The proposals we have set forth above do not require legisla-
tion except on three points, namely, to provide —

(1) That the Trade Boards shall have power, in addition to de-

termining minimum rates of wages, to deal with hours of
labor and questions cognate to wages and hours.

(2) That the Trade Boards shall have power to initiate enquiries,

and make proposals to the Government Departments con-
cerned, on matters affecting the industrial conditions of the
trade, as well as on questions of general interest to the in-
dustries concerned respectively.

(3) That when an Industrial Council sufficiently representative of

an industry makes application, the Minister of Labor shall
have power, if satisfied that the case is a suitable one, to
make an Order instituting for a section of the industry a
Trade Board on which the Industrial Council shall be repre-
sented, or constituting the Council a Trade Board under the
Trade Boards Act.

26. The proposals which we have made must necessarily be
adapted to meet the varying needs and circumstances of different
industries, and it is not anticipated that there will be uniformity in
practice. Our recommendations are intended merely to set forth
the main lines of development which we believe to be essential to
ensure better relations between employers and employed. Their
application to the several industries we can safely leave to those
intimately concerned, with the conviction that the flexibility and
adaptability of industrial organization which have been so large a
factor in enabling industry to stand the enormous strain of the war
will not fail the country when peace returns.

27. Other problems affecting the relations between employers and
employed are engaging our attention, but we believe that, whatever
further steps may be necessary to accomplish the object we have in
view, the lines of development suggested in the present Report and
the one which preceded it are fundamental. We believe that in each
industry there is a sufficiently large body of opinion willing to adopt

APPENDIX G 465

the proposals we have made as a means of establishing a new rela-
tion in industry.

We have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient Servants,1

J. H. WHITLEY, Chairman.

F. S. BUTTON.
S. J. CHAPMAN.

G. H. CLAUGHTON.
J. R. CLYNES.

F. N. HEPWORTH.

WILFRID HILL.

J. A. HOBSON.

H. J. Wilson,

A. GREENWOOD,

A. SUSAN LAWRENCE.

MAURICE LEVY.

J. J. MALLON.

THOS. R. RATCLIFFE-ELLIS.

ALLAN M. SMITH.

D. R. H. WILLIAMS.

MONA WILSON.

18th October, 1917.

i Sir G. J. Carter and Mr. Smillie were unable to attend any of the
meetings at which this Report was considered, and they therefore do
not sign it.

f
J

APPENDIX H

THE PREDECESSOR OF THE WHITLEY SCHEME

A MEMORANDUM ON INDUSTRIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
TOGETHER WITH A DRAFT SCHEME FOR A BUILDERS'

NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL PARLIAMENT

Prepared by request of J. H. Whitley, M.P.

BY MALCOLM SPARKES

INDUSTRIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

This memorandum is an attempt to set out in detail the considera-
tions that have led me to advocate the setting up of National In-
dustrial Parliaments in our staple industries, as a contribution to-
wards the solution of some of the most urgent problems that con-
front the country at this time.

The examination falls naturally into two sections: —

(a) The needs of the industrial situation.

(b) The congestion of the parliamentary machine.

The scheme was originally drawn up for the Building Industry,
in a branch of which I have been engaged for many years, as an
employer. But it has always been clear to me that if the principles
are sound they must be equally applicable to most of our staple
industries.

A. — THE NEEDS OF THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION
It was the amazing futility of that struggle, involving, as it did,
many employers who, like ourselves, had no quarrel whatever with
their opponents, that finally riveted my attention firmly upon the
extreme urgency of the problem and the necessity of trying to find
a solution that would be big enough to break through the old barriers
of hostility and suspicion and carry all before it.

Whilst the complete elimination of conflict may as yet be quite
impossible, the hope of the future undoubtedly lies in the intimate
and continuous association of both Management and Labor, not for

466

APPENDIX H 467

the negative purpose of adjusting differences, but for the positive
purpose of promoting the progressive and continuous improvement
of their industrial service, from which alone the national prosperity
can be derived.

Industrial Peace must come, not as the result of the balance of
power with a supreme Court of Appeal in the background. It
must emerge as the inevitable by-product of mutual confidence, real
justice, constructive goodwill. Industry needs no truce, no com-
pulsory arbitration, no provision for the postponement of disputes.

What it needs is confidence and a courageous forward movement
supported by the constructive genius of both sides in common council.

The task of Industrial Reconstruction is one of the most stupen-
dous that our country has ever had to face. It was just that fact
with its tremendous challenge to the best in every one of us, that
led me to the conviction that proposals, at first sight Utopian,
could after all be successfully applied in the reorganization of our
industrial life to-day.

We built the old order upon the basis of opposed interests. I
believed that the common interests of industry would prove to be
wider and more fundamental than those which were still admittedly
opposed; and that upon these common interests the fabric of the
new industrial order might be confidently raised.

THE SCHEME

The National Executives of the Trade Unions in the industry
should invite the National Employers' Federation to cooperate with
them in setting up a National Industrial Parliament, representing
Management and Labor in equal numbers.

The object of this body would be "to promote the continuous and
progressive improvement of the industry, to realize its organic unity
as a great national service, and to advance the well-being and status
of its personnel."

It will be seen that this is a definite attempt to break down the
long established barriers, to mobilize for immediate active service
all the goodwill that we know exists on both sides, and to focus it
upon a field of wise development hitherto almost entirely unexplored.

The new assembly would be constructive and nothing but con-
structive, and disputes would be completely excluded from its pro-
gram. It would in no way supersede the existing Employers' Asso-
ciations or Trade Unions, nor would it do away with the Concilia-
tion Boards, which would still perform their proper function in the
settling of differences and disputes.

468

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

The field of action which would be opened up by the proposed
Industrial Parliament would, however, be very great. One of its
first steps would be to set up a number of committees, with power
to coopt experts, to investigate and submit recommendations upon
each of the following important matters, for example: —

1. The Regularization of Wages

To supersede the present chaotic confusion by the provision
of a graduated scale of minimum rates designed to keep REAL
wages in the industry as nearly as possible on a level throughout
the country.

A brief explanation is necessary to make this proposition clearer.
The present rates of wages in the building industry are extraor-
dinarily erratic, as the following table, taken from "The Builder,"
will show: —

WAGE EATES IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY, SEPTEMBER, 1916.

co

GO

*co

I

|1

1

co

00

ce

*ID *-!

|l

GO

jj

£ (5

b

GO

;o

«

s £

^ o>

o

GO

|

P<

co

1

s

-M
c

O o

•g 0

"« 0

1

m

5l

4n

cS
S

s

2

13

S3

^3

s. d.

s. d.

s. d.

S. d.

S. d.

8. d.

s. d.

s. d.

s. d.

s. d.

London . . .

1 Oi

1 Oi

1 Oi

1 Oi

1 1

10

9

9

9

Crewe ....

7i

8

7i

9

8i

8i

8

5i

6i

6

Manchester

11

11

11

11

10

11

ioi

7i

7i

7i

Bedford . . .

8

8

9

8i

8

9

6i

5i

5i

6

Liverpool . .

1 0

1 0

1 0

11

Hi

1 0

10i

8

8

8

Taunton . . .

7

7

7

7

6

6i

4i

4i

4i

Nottingham

11

11

11

10i

10i

11

10

8i

8i

9

These seven examples are selected almost at random from a list of
over a hundred towns in England and Wales alone. They are prob-
ably sufficient to show my meaning.

If London is taken as the standard, then Manchester and Not-
tingham are probably in their proper ratio; but Crewe is certainly
far too low, and probably Bedford and Taunton also. Liverpool,
on the other hand, seems high as compared with Manchester. The
effect of this lack of standardization is apparent every time that
a proposal for advance is made by the Trade Unions in any given
district. The employers invariably reply that, although sympa-

APPENDIX H 469

thetic, they are compelled to oppose the demand in view of the com-
petition of districts not subject to proportionate advance.

In this way we invariably get the minimum of result accompanied
by the maximum of friction. And there is a further important
point. The advantage of the migration of manufacturing industries
from town to country is now generally recognized. But this benef-
icent movement is being literally hampered by the facf that workmen
will not transfer themselves from a highly paid district to one where
the wages are low.

The standardizing of real wages throughout the country would,
therefore, greatly increase the mobility of labor and would be of
vital importance in the solving of the problem of decasualization.
And there would appear to be no valid objection to the principle of
the scheme, although, hitherto, it has been impossible of achievement
owing to the unwillingness of local associations to surrender a part
of their autonomy.

Standardization being once accomplished, all subsequent advances
in real wages would be arranged on a national basis, and an im-
mense amount of friction would totally disappear.

2. Prevention of Unemployment
To devise measures for (a) the prevention of unemployment,

with a view to its ultimate abolition, and (b) the decasualization

of Labor, a very important problem, which is undoubtedly soluble

by scientific organization.

In regard to the former, there is no doubt that some form of
State assistance is essential if really effective progress is to be made.
The proposals of the National Housing and Town Planning Council
afford a model of the kind of thing that might be developed. Prob-
ably some of the recommendations of the Minority Report of the
Poor Law Commission (Unemployment section) would also be
adaptable.

Effective cooperation between the industry and the Labor Ex-
changes would be another very important factor, and would also be
of invaluable assistance during the period of demobilization.

3. Disabled Soldiers

To regulate the employment of partially disabled soldiers and
to ensure that the pensions granted by the Nation shall not become
the means of reducing the standard rates of wages.

I believe that unless this problem is taken in hand scientifically
it will produce a vast amount of preventable ill-feeling and conflict,

470 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

and this view has been invariably confirmed by the numerous Trade
Union leaders with whom I have come into contact. It is the kind
of problem that can easily be settled by the goodwill of the parties
concerned, but it is quite insoluble by tug of war.

The question of training, although only a temporary problem,
presents possibilities of useful service in cooperation with the War
Pensions, etc., Committees.

4. Technical Training and Research

To arrange for adequate technical training for the members of
the industry; the reform of "blind alley" Occupations; the im-
provement of processes, design, and standards of workmanship;
research, apprenticeship } and the regulation of the conditions of
entry into the trade.

This is certainly one of the most promising and necessary depart-
ments of the service, and one which is at present almost untouched,
so far as many industrial organizations are concerned.

In this connection it is interesting to note that the recommenda-
tions of the Workers' Educational Association, on Technical Educa-
tion, include a precisely similar proposal, namely: —

"(d) That technical schools should be administered by a body
on which employers and workpeople chosen by their respective
trade organizations should be equally represented, together with
members of the Education Authority, and that there should be
special advisory committees of employers and workpeople for
special trades."

The "regulation of conditions of entry" will naturally raise very
large questions of Industrial organization, both for Employers and
for Operatives, and amongst these questions the problem of non-
union labor will certainly take a prominent place.

5. Continuous and Progressive Improvement

To provide a clearing house for ideas, and to investigate, in
conjunction with experts, all suggested lines of improvement, in-
cluding, for example, such questions as: —

Industrial control and status of Labor.
Scientific management and increase of output.
Welfare methods and schemes of education.
Closer association between industry and art.
The problems of women in industry.
Industrial health and physical training.
Prevention of accidents, etc.

APPENDIX H 471

Here is another department full of wonderful possibilities of serv-
ice. Hitherto our leaders of progressive thought have had to be
content to launch their ideas through such media as the Fabian
Society, the periodical reviews, the publishers and the general press.
In this way public opinion is undoubtedly developed, but the notice-
able effect upon the general conduct of industry is comparatively
small. But now, for the first time in industrial history, we should
have our great staple industries setting up "Improvements Com-
mittees" and inviting these experts to communicate their ideas direct
to them — for full discussion and investigation. It would be diffi-
cult to overrate the educational advantages of such a method, both
to industry and to experts, and it would certainly do much to foster
the conception of industry as public service, upon the full recognition
of which fact so much depends.

6. Publicity

To issue authoritative information upon all matters connected
with the work of the Industrial Parliament and the progress of
the industry generally.

The reports of the various committees would naturally be pub-
lished in all the trade journals and the general press, and the In-
dustrial Parliament would thus be enabled to estimate the trend
of public opinion thereon before taking its final decisions.

In this way the public status of trade journals would speedily
be raised to a very high level — as the recognized organs of the new
industrial politics. But the publicity of the Press alone would not
be sufficient to enable the Industrial Parliament to render the fullest
service of which it might be capable. It would certainly be ad-
visable to establish Joint District Boards, similar in constitution to
the Industrial Parliament itself, in the various centers of the In-
dustry, for discussion, criticism and suggestion. In this way we
should secure full consideration for the special circumstances and
conditions of localities, and bring to bear upon the various prob-
lems the valuable experience and advice of the different districts.
I A further very useful function would be discharged by the Works
Committees, already suggested in many quarters, to secure the co-
operation of Management and Labor in the discussion and improve-
ment of working methods and conditions. They would very natu-
rally include on their agenda the careful consideration of the va-
rious proposals as they came before the Industrial Parliament and
the District Boards, and would be able to furnish useful information,
criticisms, and even to originate suggestions of great value.

472 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Upon the general structure of the Industrial Parliament little need
be said here. The details would naturally vary with different in-
dustries. But a word is necessary on the subject of the Chairman,
as his position presents unique possibilities of invaluable service.
His would be the duty of keeping the discussions constantly focussed
upon their objective, the continuous improvement of the industrial
service. His capacity would, however, be purely advisory and he
would have no casting vote.

This provision would effectively prevent the assembly from be-
coming merely an enlarged court of arbitration or conciliation, and
would do much to produce that atmosphere of mutual confidence
without which the scheme cannot succeed. This matter of real con-
fidence is so important that it might be advisable to safeguard it
even further, at any rate in the early stages, by stipulating that
the number of representatives of Management and Labor voting
upon any measure should always be equal. This arrangement would
not produce deadlock — except perhaps on very jare occasions. It
already exists in the rules of the Builders' Conciliation Boards,
and is one of the most valuable features of the conciliation scheme.
I believe that the Industrial Parliament would divide into two main
groups — those who wished to go forward very rapidly, and those
who preferred more cautious progress — but I am convinced that
the line of cleavage would be new and that we should find em-
ployers and operatives cooperating on both sides of the House in-
stead of in two hostile camps as heretofore.

The tangible results of the work of the Industrial Parliament
might take shape in the establishment and progressive development
of two codes of regulations or working arrangements, one com-
pulsory, the other voluntary.

THE COMPULSORY CODE

In the first instance, at any rate, this compulsory code would
not be a very extensive one. It would merely regulate, for ex-
ample : —

The minimum wage,

The normal day,

Overtime conditions,

Traveling and lodging allowances,

Terms of notice on discharge,

and any other matters that tend to standardize industrial practice
and upon which it would be possible to obtain an overwhelming
measure of agreement.

But, in order to make it compulsory, I suggested that the In-

APPENDIX H 473

dustrial Parliament should be empowered to submit these agreed
measures for approval by the Board of Trade or a Ministry of
Industry, and that when sanctioned in this way they should be en-
forced by law throughout the whole of the industry. This principle,
of course, is not new. It came to the front for the first time in this
country on the occasion of the Transport Strike of 1912, when Mr.
Ramsay Macdonald embodied it in "a Bill to make agreements come
to voluntarily between employers and workmen in the Port of
London legally enforceable on the whole trade."

The same proposal appears in the report of the Industrial Coun-
cil under Sir George Askwith, but with anti-strike conditions at-
tached, which, if applied to the Industrial Parliament scheme, would
tend to reduce confidence and are therefore inadvisable. A very
similar suggestion is also made in the report to the British Asso-
ciation, of Professor Kirkaldy's Committee on Industrial Unrest
(Labor Finance and the War, p. 43). I believe it would be a most
valuable innovation, for, by fixing a definite datum line of mini-
mum standards throughout the whole of an industry, it would clear
the road for the progressive employers in a way that has never yet
been even approached.

The proposal is, however, not without its dangers, and the grant-
ing of Government sanction would have to be subject to adequate
safeguards for the interests of the consumers.

The proper Government Department upon which this important
duty would devolve might very well be found in the newly con-
stituted Ministry of Labor. But as the great aim of the Industrial
Parliament scheme is the realization of the organic unity of industry
as a public service, I would suggest that the title Ministry of Labor
might with great advantage be expanded to Ministry of Industry
as conveying the broader and newer conception. The old title pre-
serves the two hostile camps — the new one implies their cooperation
for a common purpose.

THE VOLUNTARY CODE

The suggestion is that it should always be open to the Industrial
Parliament to accept for the voluntary code proposals that might
be quite impossible or Utopian for the compulsory code. And it is
in this principle of organized voluntaryism that I believe we may
find the germ of true industrial advance. It will be remembered
that the Improvements Committee forms a clearing house for the
investigation and presentation of ideas and suggestions formulated
by the best thinkers of the world. Some of these schemes would be

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

rejected by the Industrial Parliament and some might be accepted
for the voluntary code. But the fact that they were proposed for
voluntary adoption only would transform the whole tone of the dis-
cussions.

It would enable the Parliament, the press and public opinion
at large, to discuss important lines of advance, entirely on their
merits and without ulterior motives, and would tend gradually
to create a general readiness to think out problems in terms of
humanity as well as in terms of materialism.

The educational advantages of such a system are so obvious
that I need not enlarge upon them, except to point out that they
would undoubtedly stimulate progressive thought upon all ques-
tions of social development, and this would still further accelerate
the rate of progress.

If the Improvements Committee and the Voluntary Code form
the first two stages on the road of industrial advance, the third
stage is the Experimental Year of the progressive employer —
undertaken voluntarily with full publicity and published results.
The progressive employer is the backbone of the scheme. If
he is a mere figment of the imagination, then the scheme is largely
valueless, but if he does exist (and we know he does), then there
seems literally no limit to its possibilities. Conceptions of the
team spirit in industry and of its organic unity in the public
service would gradually cease to be Utopian dreams, and would
assume a definite and concrete shape.

It is sometimes held that industrial progress must in the long
run be limited by the standards of the public or social conscience
of the nation at large — but it seems reasonable to hope that the
operation of the voluntary code might promote the development
of an active industrial conscience which would recognize no such
restrictions, but would actually lead the way.

At any rate, I think we might claim with confidence, that many
employers endowed with public spirit and enthusiasm, would adopt
voluntarily, for experiment, proposals that they would certainly
have felt bound to reject, when accompanied by the menace of
coercion. That is the theory that underlies the whole conception,
and I could support it by actual instances from my own experience.

B. — THE CONGESTION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MACHINE

Investigation into the needs of the industrial situation has con-
vinced me of the enormous advantages, both moral and material,
of Industrial Self-Government ; but I believe my argument will be

APPENDIX H 475

still further strengthened by a short review of the Parliamentary
situation itself.

Even before the war the difficulties arising from the congestion
of Parliament were attracting very widespread attention, and there-
fore need no elaboration by me.

But as the end of the war approaches these difficulties will be
increased a hundredfold by the stupendous problems of The Recon-
struction— International, Imperial, National, Industrial and Social.

"Every one of these matters will be urgent, yet every one of
them will have to be dealt with by one Cabinet and one Parliament.
Is it not inevitable that there will be serious delays and inefficiency
and hurry in the effort to avoid delay? ... It requires, indeed,
no elaboration to show that we may be far nearer a real breakdown
in our Governmental machinery than any one supposes." (Round
Table, December, 1916.)

There is probably no department of our national life in which
wise progressive legislation is more urgently needed than it is in
the industrial sphere to-day.

Yet there seem to be peculiarities about industrial legislation
that render it particularly difficult of accomplishment, and, when
accomplished, deprive it of many of its intended advantages. It
is, of course, controversial to an astonishing degree. The some-
what automatic opposition of the party system is augmented by the
watchfulness of the collectivists, the syndicalists, the individualists
and others, all anxious to defend or advance their own particular
points of view. And in addition to this there is always the strenu-
ous opposition of the industrial interests affected. A well-known
association of employers definitely includes this as one of its ob-
jects, as the following quotation will show : ''Oppressive legisla-
tion, . . . and other menaces to the welfare of our industry, can
only be effectually dealt with by organized and concerted effort."
This leads me to suggest that industrial legislation, imposed from
without, may create, like coercion, a kind of resistance that otherwise
might never have arisen. It would seem possible, therefore, that
it, too, is a wrong principle and can only produce the minimum
of result with the maximum of friction.

If this be true, then the plan of industrial self-government stands
out very clearly as a promising solution.

Applied separately to each of our staple industries, it would
seem to offer the following administrative advantages: —

(1) It would ensure that every industrial problem would be
considered in the first place from the particular point of
view of the industry itself, and this would certainly help

476 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

to develop progressive traditions of public service.

(2) It would mean that the regulations would be drawn up

by the parties who would have to apply them, and in
this way the particular form of resistance mentioned
above would never arise.

(3) It would withdraw from the House of Commons altogether

an enormous mass of intricate and highly controversial
industrial legislation and would set it free for the larger
problems, national, imperial and international.

It would hardly be wise to allow the Industrial Parliaments to
take over the administration of any existing industrial legislation
(e.g., factory acts, etc.) until they had shown themselves to be
fitted for such duties. Their capacity would have to be judged by
the results of the new legislation they produced.

But it is worthy of notice that this particular type of adminis-
trative devolution is already in accord with advanced Labor views.
Mr. G. D. H. Cole says:—

"The State is in the dilemma of fearing to nationalize, because
it mistrusts its own capacity, and yet of being wholly unable to
interfere successfully without nationalizing, as well as utterly im-
potent to refrain from interference. ... It must be set free from
the impossible task of regulating all the details of industry ; it must
be liberated for the work that is worthy of the national dignity,
and it must leave to those who alone are competent to deal with
them the particular tasks of industrial organization and manage-
ment. Devolution is the order of the day, and we must have devolu-
tion not merely by localities, but also by purposes. Even if the
State cannot be wholly detached from industry, the problem is to
free it as far as possible, and not, as some people seem to think,
to concentrate all possible tasks in its hands. ... "Responsibility
is the best teacher of self-reliance."

I would add, also, that it is the best safeguard against the im-
proper use of power.

Having now stated the case for industrial self-government, as it
has appeared to me, let me conclude with a brief account of the re-
ception of the scheme by the organized Labor of the building in-
dustry.

THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME

The reply of the London Committee of the Carpenters and
Joiners was immediate and favorable. They strongly supported
the proposal and sent it forward to their National Executive in
Manchester. On the invitation of the National Executive I at-
tended a special conference held in London in April, 1916, at which

APPENDIX H 477

the General Council of the Carpenters and Joiners were also repre-
sented.

The discussion was frankly favorable, and there was no trace
whatever of the old hostility and suspicion. By unanimous vote
they decided to support the proposal and to send it forward to the
National Associated Building Trades Council — a body set up in
1914 for the purpose of coordinating, and eventually of federating
into one great Industrial Union, the principal Trade Unions in the
building industry.

It came before this Council in June, but full discussion was pre-
vented by lack of time. It was, however, printed and circulated
to the twelve affiliated unions, and was also published in the Trade
Union journals. The Council then decided to hold a full day's
conference on the proposal at Liverpool in October, and as a pre-
liminary to this, a small committee, of which I was a member, met
in Manchester in September to prepare the scheme in more detailed
form for discussion point by point.

After a full day's discussion at Liverpool, the Council, of twenty-
two delegates, representing the national executives of the principal
Trade Unions in the industry, decided, without a single dissentient,
to approve the scheme in principle.

It was then referred to the national executives for consideration
before being forwarded to the Employers' Federation, and was
again printed in full in the Trade Union journals.

The Council reassembled in Manchester at the end of November,
and the replies of the executives being favorable, they resolved,
again by unanimous vote, to lay the scheme before the National
Federation of Building Trades Employers of Great Britain and
Ireland, and to ask for a preliminary conference upon it.

Four delegates were appointed to collaborate with me in drawing
up a special explanatory statement to accompany the scheme. We
met in Manchester in December and drew up the document which
forms an appendix to this memorandum.

TWO PROBLEMS

1. The Electoral System

If the Industrial Parliaments are to render their full service,
it is essential that the electoral system upon which they are set up
shall be such as will command general respect and confidence, but
at the same time it must be simple and inexpensive in its working.

In its simplest form, the national organizations both of employers
and employed would each furnish a given number of representatives,

478 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

choosing the best that could be found, and drawing them from
the Office and the Bench, as well as from the Board Room and the
Trade Union headquarters. If this method proved to be too ex-
clusive, the country might be divided into districts, each having a
Joint District Board to which members would be elected by ballot
by the local Trade Unions and Employers' Associations respec-
tively.

Each District Board might then send two of its members (one
for Management and one for Labor) to the National Industrial
Parliament, and thus create a very useful link between the central
and the local bodies.

2. The Safeguarding of the Consumers

It is probable that the establishment of Industrial Parliaments
on the lines suggested would greatly stimulate the existing tendency
towards the amalgamation of businesses into larger and larger
concerns, in order to eliminate unnecessary duplication and waste-
ful competition.

This might sometimes lead to "joint profiteering" at the expense
of the consumers. The danger is, of course, not new, but exists
already, and may easily spread. It can, however, be controlled in
various ways; for instance: —

(a) By the powers of veto vested in the Ministry of Industry.

(b) By special taxation.

(c) By the rapid development of a real conception of industry

as a great public service.

The true road of advance would seem to lie mainly along the line
of the last suggestion — the frank acceptance of an existing tendency
and its encouragement in the right direction.

Possibly the State could grant facilities for the rapid trustifica-
tion of industries, but make these facilities conditional upon the
adoption of some definite rules of public service. In the building
industry I believe there will be found to be great possibilities of
wise development on these lines.

Both this and other dangers might ultimately be removed by the
establishment of a Central Congress of Industry, containing repre-
sentatives of each of the separate Industrial Parliaments, together
with representatives of the State, the municipalities and others, and
acting as a Second Chamber for the consideration and sanction of all
industrial legislation.

The relation of such a body to the Ministry of Industry and to
the Government would, however, require very careful definition.

APPENDIX H 479

CONCLUSION

There is one very important service that the State, through its
appropriate Department, could undoubtedly perform. It could
set up a central Clearing House for the reception and dissemina-
tion of information upon Industrial progress.

In this way it would enable each of our Industries to draw upon
the experience of the others, to profit by their successes, and to
avoid, if possible, the repetition of mistakes.

To secure harmony of interest between Management and Labor
has been described as "the master problem of the modern industrial
state," and the favorable reception of the Industrial Parliament
scheme by a group of Trade Union leaders in one of our greatest
industries must not be allowed to blind us to the immense difficulties
that still remain. These difficulties demand from both sides a new
conception of Industry as a public service, a clear understanding
of their respective functions in the process of production, a certain
daring in experiment and a willingness to make concessions, if
need be, for the common good. These are great demands, but the
emergency and the opportunity are also great. I believe there is
no problem that is insoluble by scientific organization backed up by
goodwill, and that the great need of the moment is a clear lead on
the part of one or more of our staple industries. If we can rise
to this we shall lay the foundation of another Industrial Revolution
full of great possibilities of service.

APPENDIX

PROPOSAL FOR A BUILDER'S NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL PARLIAMENT

A Memorandum addressed to The National Federation of Build-
ing Trades Employers of Great Britain and Ireland, by The Na-
tional Associated Building Trades Council, representing: —

The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.

The General Union of Carpenters and Joiners.

The Society of Operative Stone Masons.

The Amalgamated Society of Woodcutting Machinists.

The Operative Bricklayers' Society.

The Manchester Order of Bricklayers.

The National Operative Painters' Society.

The Amalgamated Slaters and Tilers' Society.

The Electrical Trades Union.

The National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association.

480 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

The National Association of Builders' Laborers.

The United Builders' Laborers' Society.

By direction of a Special Meeting of the Council held at Man-
chester, on Tuesday, November 28th, 1916, and in accordance with
the instructions of the National Executives affiliated.

INTRODUCTION

This Memorandum is the outcome and expression of a desire on
the part of the leaders of organized Labor in the Building Industry
to render their full share of service towards the creation of a new
and better industrial order.

By general consent, the old system has proved itself unworthy, and
the reasons for its failure are not far to seek. From the days of the
industrial revolution the relations between employers and employed
have been based upon antagonism, coercion, and resistance.

Throughout the whole of the civilized world the story is the same.
The parallel rise of Trade Unions and Employers' Associations in
mutual opposition has reached a point where it is generally recog-
nized that the "normal condition of the world of industry is one of
suppressed war."

Under such a system many a forward move on the part of Labor
towards improved conditions is opposed almost as a matter of duty
by the Employers' Associations, and, conversely, many improvements
in the direction of increased production and efficiency are countered
by the restrictive regulations of the Trade Unions; both sides act-
ing, as they believe, in the interests of their members.

The two sides rarely meet except to make demands of one another
or to compromise conflicting claims, and negotiations are inevitably
carried on as between two hostile bodies. In this way great powers
of leadership and willing service are diverted from constructive work
into the sterile fields of largely useless controversy.

Both employers and employed have been the unwilling victims of
a system of antagonism that has organized industry on the lines
of a tug-of-war and permeated the whole national life with sectional
habits of thought and outlook. Wherever coercion has been applied,
by one side against the other, it has called forth a resistance that
otherwise might never have arisen, and has led to much sterility and
waste.

Whilst the total elimination of such conflicts may be quite im-
possible, the hope of the future undoubtedly lies in the intimate
and continuous association of both Management and Labor, not for
the negative purpose of adjusting differences, but for the positive
purpose of promoting the progressive improvement of their in-

APPEN?DIX H 481

dustrial service, from which alone the national prosperity can be
derived.

Industrial peace must come, not as a result of the balance of
power, with a supreme Court of Appeal in the background; it must
arise as the inevitable by-product of mutual confidence, real justice,
constructive good-will. Industry needs no truce, no compulsory
arbitration, no provisions for postponement of disputes.

What it needs is confidence and a courageous forward movement,
supported by the constructive genius of both sides in common coun-
cil. No one engaged in constructive work can fail to respond to the
tremendous call of the big job, and the task to be faced to-day is the
greatest problem in social engineering that the world has ever seen.

It is believed that the common interests of industry will be found
to be wider and more fundamental than those which are still, ad-
mittedly, opposed; and it is upon the broad basis of these common
interests that the fabric of the new industrial order may be confi-
dently raised.

It is willingly acknowledged that this community of interest is
already being recognized by the Employers' Federation. The com-
position of the National Housing and Town Planning Council, the
new apprenticeship proposals, the various joint deputations to the
Government departments are all evidence of this.

It appears, therefore, to be eminently desirable that a proposal
involving a great development of this principle should receive full
consideration; and, believing that the appropriate time has now
arrived, the National Associated Building Trades Council submits
the following scheme to the National Federation of Building Trades
Employers of Great Britain and Ireland as a basis for preliminary
discussion : —

A NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL. PARLIAMENT FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

ARGUMENT

The interest of employers and employed are in many respects
opposed; but they have a common interest in promoting the effi-
ciency and status of the service in which they are engaged and in
advancing the well-being of its personnel.

PROPOSAL

It is proposed that there should be set up, for the Building In-
dustry, a National Industrial Parliament, representative of the Trade
Unions and the Employers' Associations, which would focus their
combined energies upon the continuous and progressive improve-
ment of the industry.

482 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

NAME

The proposed body would be called the Builders' National In-
dustrial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland.

OBJECTS

The objects of the Parliament would be to promote the continu-
ous and progressive improvement of the industry, to realize its
organic unity as a great national service, and to advance the well-
being and status of all connected with it.

PROGRAM

The Parliament would not concern itself with the adjustment of
differences or the settlement of disputes. Means already exist for
conducting such negotiations and settling such issues. The func-
tion of the Parliament would be constructive, and nothing but con-
structive.

The agenda would be determined from time to time according to
circumstances as they arose, and would naturally include such mat-
ters as the following: —

1. Regularization of Wages. — The provision of a graduated scale
of minimum rates designed to maintain real wages as nearly as pos-
sible on a level throughout the country. Subsequent advances to be
on a national basis.

2. Prevention of Unemployment. — (a) To acquire a fuller par-
ticipation in the control of the Board of Trade Labor Exchanges,
and to supplement their work by improved organization special to
the building trade for the decasualization of labor, and (b) to
minimize the fluctuation of trade by intelligent anticipation and the
augmentation of demand in slack periods, in cooperation with the
National Housing and Town Planning Council and the Local Gov-
ernment Board.

3. Employment of Partially Disabled Soldiers. — To regulate the
employment of partially disabled soldiers and to ensure that the
pensions granted by the nation shall not become the means of reduc-
ing the standard rate of wages.

4. Technical Training and Research. — To arrange for adequate
technical training for the members of the industry, the improvement
of processes, design and standards of workmanship, apprenticeship,
research, and the regulation of the conditions of entry into the trade.

5. Publicity. — To issue authoritative information upon all matters
whereon it is deemed desirable that leaders of public opinion, the
Press, and the general public should have exact information.

APPENDIX H 483

6. Continuous and Progressive Improvement. — To provide a
Clearing House for ideas, and to investigate, in conjunction with
experts, every suggested line of improvement, including, for ex-
ample, such questions as: —

Industrial Control and Status of Labor.
Scientific Management and Increase of Output.
Welfare Methods.

Closer association between commercial and aesthetic require-
ments.

METHOD

The Parliament would set up Committees of Inquiry (with power
to coopt experts) to investigate and report on each of the foregoing
matters, and would deal with their recommendations as and when
presented. All proposals before the Parliament would be fully
ventilated and discussed through the medium of Joint District
Boards, Works Committees, the Trade Papers and the general Press,
in order that the opinion of the members of the building trade and
of the general public thereon might be accurately gaged before final
decisions were taken.

RESULT

The result would be the progressive development of two codes: —

(a) A compulsory code, probably involving legal sanction of

agreed minimum standards; and

(b) A voluntary code, built up from the recommendations of the

improvements Committee for the voluntary, and perhaps
experimental, adoption of progressive employers.
It would thus embody all proposals of which the principle was gen-
erally approved, but for which it was not yet possible or advisable
to ask for compulsory powers. It would greatly stimulate the ad-
vance of public opinion on matters of industrial and social improve-
ment.

LEGAL SANCTION FOR COMPULSORY CODE

This might be accomplished by a special Act of Parliament, giv-
ing power to the Board of Trade, or a Ministry of Industry, to ratify
the decisions of the Industrial Parliament, and apply them to the
whole of the industry, subject to adequate safeguards for the in-
terests of consumers.

STATUS OF INDUSTRIAL PARLIAMENT

There is at present no recognized body with which the Govern-
ment can communicate in regard to matters concerning the building

484 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

industry as a whole — employers and employed. The Parliament
would exactly meet this need, and would become the mouthpiece and
executive of the industry as a whole.

SUGGESTED CONSTITUTION
MEMBERSHIP

Pending the establishment of more elaborate electoral machinery, it
is suggested that twenty members should be appointed by the Na-
tional Federation of Building Trades Employers of Great Britain
and Ireland, and twenty members by the National Associated Build-
ing Trades Council.

It might be advisable that the representatives of the above or-
ganizations should be appointed in a manner to ensure, on the one
hand, the inclusion of actual operatives in addition to trade-union
officials, and, on the other hand, of representatives of the managing
staffs as well as the actual employers. Either side would be at lib-
erty to change its representatives to suit its convenience.

CHAIRMAN

To be chosen by ballot by the whole assembly. To be independent
and advisory only, and to have no casting vote.

SECRETARY

The routine work of the Parliament would largely devolve upon
the secretary, who should be an impartial salaried administrator of
proved experience and capacity.

MEETINGS

The Parliament should meet at such times and intervals as would
allow of members still devoting part of their time to their ordinary
occupations.

REMUNERATION OF MEMBERS

This would be restricted to the refund of expenses and compensa-
tion for loss of earnings. Financial provision for this would be
arranged by each of the two organizations independently.

VOTING

In order to secure a basis of absolute confidence, it is suggested
that rules be drawn up to ensure that the number of employers'
representatives and operatives' representatives voting upon a meas-
ure shall always be equal.

APPENDIX H 485

SUGGESTED AUXILIARY ASSEMBLIES

JOINT DISTRICT BOARDS

These would be set up by local units of the two organizations for
the discussion of the proposals of the Industrial Parliament and the
furnishing of local facts and statistics as required. They would also
perform a valuable service by preparing and forwarding sugges-
tions for consideration.

WORKS COMMITTEES

These would be small groups representing Management and Labor,
set up for the same purpose in particular shops.

CONCLUSION

The scheme, briefly outlined above, strikes out a new line of ad-
ministrative devolution, namely, devolution by occupation as com-
pared with devolution by geographical area, as in the case of the
County Councils.

It represents, in fact, the distinctively British Imperial tradition
of justice and self-government as applied to industry, and stands
out clearly against the rival industrial systems of which so much is
heard.

And it will have this important result. Hitherto industrial legis-
lation has always been imposed from without, and has encountered
strenuous opposition on the part of organizations concerned to de-
fend what they held to be their interests.

Now the process would be reversed. The industry itself would
first agree on its conditions and would then submit them to the
Board of Trade for approval and sanction. In this way the
House of Commons would be relieved of an immense mass of highly
controversial work and set free for the larger National, Imperial
and International problems.

Nor is this the only advantage that would arise. The spectacle of
organized Management and Labor, uniting their constructive ener-
gies upon a great program of reorganization and advance, might
transform the whole atmosphere of our industrial life.

The increase in efficiency and output consequent upon the substi-
tution of constructive cooperation for the old antagonism and sus-
picion would be very great. But the change would bring even
greater benefits than this. It would raise the whole status of the
industry and give to its members a new pride in their work as a
splendid public service. It would tend to break down the barriers

486 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

that have so long confined and impoverished the national life and
would promote the development of a real team spirit.

The Building Industry is one of the largest and most important
of the staple trades. If it will give a united lead with a construc-
tive proposal on the general lines suggested, we believe that its ex-
ample will be of great service to our country as she faces the im-
mense problems that confront her at this time.

Signed on behalf of the National Associated Building
Trades Council,

S. HUNTER, Chairman.
J. PARSONAGE, Secretary.

THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL FOR THE BUILDING
INDUSTRY

(Building Trades Parliament.)
Established 29th May, 1918

CONSTITUTION AND RULES ADOPTED 1st AUGUST, 1918
MINISTRY OF LABOR,

MONTAGU HOUSE, WHITEHALL,
LONDON, S. W. I.

12th August, 1918.
Sir,

I am directed by the Minister of Labor to refer to your letter of
14th June, making application for official recognition for the In-
dustrial Council for the Building Industry, and to state that the
Minister is prepared to give such recognition, and agrees to the in-
sertion of clause 23 of the Constitution of the Joint Industrial
Council dealing with such recognition.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

D. J. SHACKLETON.
A. G. WHITE, ESQ.,
Joint Secretary,

Industrial Council for the Building Industry,
48 Bedford Square, W. C. 1.

APPENDIX H 487

PREFACE

This Council is the outcome and expression of a desire on the
part of organized Employers and Operatives in the Building In-
dustry to render their full share of service towards the creation of a
new and better industrial order.

By general consent, the old system has proved itself unworthy,
and the reasons for its failure are not far to seek. From the days
of the industrial revolution the relations between employers and
employed have been based upon antagonism, coercion, and resistance.

Throughout the whole of the civilized world the story is the same.
The parallel rise of Trade Unions and Employers' Associations in
mutual opposition has reached a point where it is generally recog-
nized that the "normal condition of the world of industry is one of
suppressed war."

Under such a system many a forward move on the part of Labor
towards improved conditions is opposed almost as a matter of duty
by the Employers' Associations, and, conversely, many improvements
in the direction of increased production and efficiency are countered
by the restrictive regulations of the Trade Unions; both sides acting,
as they believe, in the interests of their members.

The two sides rarely meet except to make demands of one another
or to compromise conflicting claims, and negotiations are inevitably
carried on as between two hostile bodies. In this way great powers
of leadership and willing service are diverted from constructive work
into the sterile fields of largely useless controversy.

Both employers and employed have been the unwilling victims of
a system of antagonism that has organized industry on the lines of
a tug-of-war, and permeated the whole national life with sectional
habits of thought and outlook. Wherever coercion has been applied,
by one side against the other, it has called forth a resistance that
otherwise might never have arisen, and has led to much sterility and
waste.

Whilst the total elimination of such conflict may be quite im-
possible, the hope of the future undoubtedly lies in the intimate and
continuous association of both Management and Labor, not for the
negative purpose of adjusting differences, but for the positive pur-
pose of promoting the progressive improvement of their indus-
trial service, from which alone the national prosperity can be
derived.

Industrial peace must come, not as a result of the balance of
power, with a supreme Court of Appeal in the background; it must
arise as the inevitable by-product of mutual confidence, real jus-

488

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

tiee, constructive goodwill. Industry needs no truce, no compulsory
arbitration, no provisions for postponement of disputes.

What it needs is confidence and a courageous forward movement,
supported by the construe live genius of both sides in common coun-
cil. No one engaged in constructive work can fail to respond to the
tremendous call of the big job, and the task to be faced to-day is
the greatest problem in social engineering that the world has ever
seen.

It is believed that the common interests of industry will be found
to be wider and more fundamental than those which are still, admit-
tedly, opposed; and it is upon the broad basis of these common
interests that the fabric of the new industrial order may be confi-
dently raised.

COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL

EMPLOYERS.

THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF
BUILDING TRADES EMPLOYERS

COMPRISING :

Aro.we. Representation.

Northern Counties Federation 2

Yorkshire Federation 3

North- Western Federation ... 7

Midland Federation 4

London Federation 8

Eastern Counties Federation. 2
Southern Counties Federation 2
South-Western Counties Fed-
eration 2

South Wales Federation 2

—32

THE CONFEDERATION OF NATIONAL

ASSOCIATIONS OF BUILDING

TRADES SUB-CONTRACTORS

COMPRISING:

National Association of Mas-
ter House Painters and Dec-
orators in England and

Wales 4

National Association of Mas-
ter Plasterers 3

National Federation of Slate
Merchants, Slaters, and Ti-
lers . . 3

OPERATIVES

THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF
BUILDING TRADES OPERATIVES

COMPRISING :
Xame. Representation.

Amalgamated Society of Car-
penters, Cabinetmakers, and
Joiners 8

General Union of Carpenters
and Joiners 4

National Amalgamated Soci-
ety of Operative House and
Ship Painters and Decora-
tors 4

Operative Stonemasons' Soci-
ety 4

Amalgamated Society of
Woodcutting Machinists . . 4

United Operative Plumbers'
and Domestic Engineers' As-
sociation of Great Britain
and Ireland 4

National Association of Oper-
ative Plasterers 4

National Association of Build-
ers' Laborers 4

Operative Bricklayers' Society 3

United Builders' Laborers'
Union 3

Manchester Unity of Opera-

APPENDIX H

489

Institute of Plumbers, Ltd. . . 4
National Association of Mas-
ter Heating and Domestic

Engineers 2

Electrical Contractors' Associ-
ation 2

London Constructional Engi-
neers' Association 2

—20

Institute of Builders 4

Scottish Xational Building

Trades Federation . 10

66

tive Bricklayers 2

Amalgamated 'Slaters and Ti-
lers' Provident Society .... 2

Electrical Trades Union 2

Xational Association of Oper-
ative Heating and Domestic
Engineers 2

Xational Union of General
Workers (Building Trade
Section ) 2

United Order of General La-
borers of London 2

United Builders' Laborers'
and General Laborers' Union 2

—56

Scottish Operative Unions... 10

66

THE
INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

(Building Trades Parliament)

CONSTITUTION AND RULES

Adopted at a Meeting of the Council held in
Birmingham, list August, 1918

NAME

1. The name shall be The Industrial Council for the Building In-
dustry (Building Trades Parliament), hereinafter referred to as the
Council.

OBJECTS

2. The Council is established to secure the largest possible meas-
ure of joint action between employers and workpeople for the
development of the industry as a part of national life, and for the
improvement of the conditions of all engaged in that industry.

490 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

It will be open to the Council to take any action that falls within
the scope of this general definition. More specific objects will be the
following : —

(a) To recommend means for securing that industrial conditions
affecting employers and operatives, or the relations between them,
shall be systematically reviewed by those concerned, with a view to
their improvement.

(b) To consider, discuss, and formulate opinion upon any pro-
posals which proffer to those engaged in the industry the means of
attaining improved conditions and a higher standard of life, and
involve the enlistment of their active and continuous cooperation in
the development of the industry, and to make recommendations
thereon, including such questions as measures for —

(1) Regularizing production and employment.

(2) The provision of a graduated scale of minimum rates de-
signed to maintain real wages as nearly as possible on a
level throughout the country.

(3) Minimizing the fluctuations of trade by intelligent anticipa-
tion and the augmentation of demand in slack periods.

(4) Scientific management and reduction of costs.

(5) Welfare methods.

(6) Closer association between commercial and assthetic require-
ments.

(7) The inclusion of all employers and workpeople in their re-
spective associations.

(8) The revision and improvement of existing machinery for
the settlement of differences between different sections of
the industry, or for the provision of such machinery where
non-existent, with the object of securing the speedy settle-
ment of difficulties.

(9) The better utilization of the practical knowledge and ex-
perience of those engaged in the industry.

(10) Securing to the workpeople a greater share in and re-
sponsibility for the determination and observance of the
conditions under which their work is carried on.

(11) The settlement of the general principles governing the con-
ditions of employment, including the methods of fixing, pay-
ing, and readjusting wages, having regard to the need for
securing to all engaged in the industry a share in the in-
creased prosperity of the industry.

(12) Ensuring to the workpeople the greatest possible security of
earnings and employment.

APPENDIX H 491

(13) Dealing with the many difficulties which arise with regard
to the method and amount of payment apart from the fixing
of general standard rates.

(c) To collect and circulate statistics and information on mat-
ters appertaining to the industry.

(d) To promote research and the study and improvement of
processes, design, and standards and methods of workmanship, with
a view of perfecting the products of the industry.

(e) To provide facilities for the full consideration and utilization
of inventions and improvements in machinery or methods, and for
adequately safeguarding the rights of the designers or inventors
thereof ; and to secure that the benefits, financial or otherwise, arising
therefrom shall be equitably apportioned among the designers or
inventors, the proprietors or lessees, and the operators thereof.

(/) The supervision of entry into, and training for, the industry,
and cooperation with the educational authorities in arranging educa-
tion in all its branches for the industry.

(g) The issue to the Press of authoritative statements upon mat-
ters affecting the industry of general interest to the community.

(h) Representation of the needs and opinions of the industry
to Government Departments and Local Authorities.

(i) The consideration of any other matters that may be referred
to it by the Government or any Government Department.

(j) Cooperation with the Joint Industrial Councils of other in-
dustries to deal with problems of common interest.

(k) To provide, as far as practicable, that important proposals
affecting the industry shall be fully ventilated and discussed through
the medium of Committees of Enquiry (with power to coopt ex-
perts), Joint District Boards, Works Committees, the Trade Papers,
and the general Press: in order that the opinion of members of the
industry and of the general public thereon may be accurately gaged
before definite decisions are taken.

CONSTITUTION

3. The Council shall consist of 132 members, appointed as to one-
half by Associations or Federations of Employers and as to the other
half by Trade Unions or Federations of Operatives.

Until otherwise determined in the manner hereinafter provided,
the composition of the Council shall be as set out.

4. Each representative of the said Associations, Unions, or Federa-
tions shall remain the representative for a minimum period of
twelve months and thereafter until his successor is appointed by the
body responsible for his election.

492 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Casual vacancies shall be filled by the Union, Association, or
Federation concerned, which shall appoint a member to sit until the
end of the current year.

5. The appointments for the ensuing year shall be made prior to
the 30th June each year, and the names and addresses of those ap-
pointed shall be sent to the Secretaries of the Council on or before
that date.

6. Any Trades Union, Association, or Federation directly affili-
ated, wishing to retire from -this Council, shall give six calendar
months' notice in writing to the Secretaries, such notice to expire on
the 30th June in any year, pay up all arrears (if any), and on
retiring shall cease to have any interest in or claim on the funds of
the Council.

7. The Council shall meet quarterly or oftener if required. The
meetings of the Council may be held in different industrial centers,
as may be from time to time determined or in response to invita-
tions it may receive. The meeting next ensuing after the 30th June
shall be the Annual Meeting, and the first Annual Meeting shall take
place in 1918. Fourteen days' notice to be given.

8. At the Annual Meeting there shall be elected for the ensuing
twelve months from among the members of Council the following
officers, viz. : —

A Chairman, a Vice- Chairman, a Treasurer, together with an
Administrative Committee consisting of ten Employer and ten Oper-
ative representatives.

9. The Council shall be empowered to maintain a Secretary, or
Secretaries, and such clerical staff as it may think fit. Provided that
the Secretaries appointed at the inaugural meeting held in May,
1918, remain in office until the Annual Meeting in 1919, that prior
thereto the Administrative Committee prepare a report for presenta-
tion at the Annual Meeting dealing with the appointment and re-
muneration of Secretaries, with such recommendations in regard
thereto as it may think fit, so that the Council may deliberate and
decide upon any remuneration for services rendered, and upon the
further arrangements to be adopted in regard to the appointment
and remuneration of Secretaries. Provided also that the appoint-
ment of the Administrative Committee made at the said inaugural
meeting be subject to confirmation at the first Annual Meeting.

10. The quorum for the Council shall be thirty representatives
present.

The quorum for the Administrative Committee shall be nine repre-
sentatives present.

Other Committees shall fix their own quorum.

APPENDIX H 493

11. A Special Meeting of the Council shall be called within four-
teen days of the receipt of a requisition, duly signed, from not less
than twenty members of the Council or from the Administrative
Committee.

The matters to be discussed at such meeting shall be stated upon
the notice summoning it.

12. The voting both in Council and in Committees shall be by
show of hands or otherwise, as the Council or Committees may
determine.

13. The Council may delegate special powers to any Committee it
appoints.

The Council may appoint such standing or sectional Committees
as may be necessary, provided that questions affecting only a par-
ticular Trade shall be relegated to a Committee composed of mem-
bers of the Council who are also representatives of such Trade. It
shall also have the power to appoint other Committees for special
purposes. The reports of all Committees shall be submitted to the
Council for confirmation, except where special powers have been
delegated to a Committee.

14. The Council shall have the power of appointing on Commit-
tees, or of allowing Committees to coopt, such persons of special
knowledge, not being members of the Council, as may serve the
special purposes of the Council, provided that, so far as the Ad-
ministrative Committee is concerned, —

A. Employers and Operatives shall be equally represented;

B. Any appointed or coopted members shall serve only in a con-

sultative capacity.

15. The Administrative Committee shall meet as often as required,
at the discretion of the Chairman, and shall deal with all business
arising between the meetings of the Council.

16. To avoid unnecessary traveling, Committee meetings may be
held at the most convenient offices of any of the organizations which
are represented on the Council, subject to their rooms not being en-
gaged otherwise when desired by the Committee for a meeting, and
provided that the said organizations afford the requisite facilities
free of charge.

17. The Administrative Committee shall control the work of the
Secretary or Secretaries, and shall have power to appoint Sub-
Committees to deal with special subjects, also to authorize payment
of current expenses subject to such direction as the Council may
give from time to time.

18. The Hon. Treasurer shall render to the Council, whenever

494 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

called upon to do so, an account of all sums received and paid, and
shall present accounts at each Annual Meeting.

All cheques for withdrawal of money from the Bank shall be
signed by the Chairman and the Hon. Treasurer.

19. The accounts shall be audited by a duly appointed Chartered
or Incorporated Accountant.

FINANCE

20. The traveling and other expenses of representatives attending
Meetings of the Council are to be borne by the Trade Unions, Asso-
ciations, or Federations which appoint them, according to such
regulations as the appointing bodies shall determine.

21. Any other expenses of the Council are to be borne as to
one-half by the Employer Organizations and as to one-half by the
Operative Organizations directly affiliated to the Council.

The allocation of each half share among the respective Employer
or Operative Organizations to be in proportion to their respective
representation, or in such other proportion as they may by mutual
agreement determine.

Provided that upon the election of the first Council, the sum of
£1000 be placed at the disposal of the Council, made up of con-
tributions from the respective organizations, calculated as aforesaid,
to cover its expenses for the first year ending 30th June, 1919, and
that at the end of the year the Council make up its accounts and
ascertain the amount required to make up the difference spent during
•the year, and that it make a presentment to the respective organiza-
tions, showing the share due from them, which shall then become
due and payable.

The Council is hereby empowered to make such payments as it
thinks fit, but within the means thus placed at its disposal, for the
purpose of defraying the cost of carrying on its work.

The expenses of the Members of Committees appointed by the
Council to be defrayed by the Council according to such scale as it
may from time to time determine.

PUBLICITY

22. The Council shall keep minutes of its proceedings and shall
give such publicity to its proceedings as many be practicable and
desirable. It may avail itself of such facilities as may be afforded
to it, either by the Press or by any publications issued by any of the
organizations represented on the Council.

APPENDIX H 495

RELATIONS WITH THE GOVERNMENT

23. The Council is the recognized official standing Consultative
Committee to the Government on all questions affecting the industry
it represents, and is the normal channel through which the opinion
and experience of the Building Industry will be sought on all ques-
tions with which the industry is concerned.

REGIONAL COUNCILS

24. The Council shall, as soon as practicable, formulate a scheme
for the formation of Regional Councils to be linked up with the
Council.

ALTERATIONS OF CONSTITUTION AND RULES

25. Alterations of the foregoing Constitution and Rules may be
made at any Special Meeting called for the purpose, or at any Quar-
terly Meeting, provided three months' notice of the proposed al-
terations has been duly given prior thereto to the Secretary or Sec-
retaries in writing. On receipt of such notice the proposed amend-
ments shall be at once communicated to the Trade Unions, Associa-
tions, and Federations directly affiliated to the Council for their
consideration.

STANDING ORDERS GOVERNING PROCEDURE IN DEBATE
AT MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL

CHAIRMANSHIP

1. At every Council Meeting the Chairman for the time being shall
occupy the chair. In his absence a Vice-Chairman shall occupy the
chair, and failing a Vice-Chairman the members present shall elect
some other of their number to act as Chairman for such meeting.
The ruling of the Chairman shall be accepted on all questions of
order arising at any of the meetings. Any member rising to a point
of order, must define what the point of order is, and submit it to the
Chairman without discussion. All members addressing the Chair
shall do so standing.

LIMITATION OF LENGTH OF SPEECHES

2. Except at the discretion of the Chairman, no member shall
speak for more than ten minutes except the member moving a reso-

496 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

lution which appears upon the agenda, who shall be allowed twenty
minutes. A bell shall be rung by the Chairman two minutes before
the time expires. When the time has expired the bell shall be rung
a second time, and thereupon the member addressing the Council
shall at once resume his seat.

MODE OF VOTING

3. The votes upon all questions shall be taken by a show of hands,
except in cases where the Rules of the Council or these orders other-
wise direct.

PROPOSITIONS TO BE MOVED AND SECONDED

4. No proposition or amendment shall be voted upon or enter-
tained by the meeting but such as have been moved and seconded
and delivered to the Chairman in writing, signed by the mover, and
no proposition so received shall be withdrawn unless by leave of the
meeting.

RIGHT OF REPLY

5. The mover of a proposition, but not the mover of an amend-
ment, shall have a right of reply, provided always that a member
may speak to a point of order, or point of explanation. The proper
time for an explanation is at the conclusion of the speech which
renders it necessary. By the courtesy of the member in possession
of the House such explanation may be given earlier, but no explana-
tion can be given unless the member in possession of the House
resumes his seat.

AMENDMENTS
ONLY ONE AMENDMENT AT ONCE

6. When an amendment is moved upon a proposition, no second
amendment shall be moved or taken into consideration until the first
amendment has been disposed of.

IF AMENDMENT CARRIED, TO BECOME THE QUESTION

7. If a first amendment be carried, it shall displace the original
proposition and become itself the question; whereupon any further
amendments may be moved in succession as above mentioned.

IF AMENDMENT NEGATIVED, OTHERS MAY BE MOVED

8. If the first amendment be negatived, then others may be moved
in succession upon the original question under consideration, but so
that only one amendment shall be submitted to the meeting for dis-

APPENDIX H 497

cussion at one time; and after the disposal of all amendments, the
question shall ultimately be put upon the original or amended propo-
sition, as the case may be, in order that it be passed or negatived as
a resolution.

PRECEDENCE FOR A MOTION

9. Any member who has given notice of motion may rise and
propose without comment that precedence be given to such motion.
Such proposition shall be put without debate, and if carried such
motion shall have precedence.

MEMBERS NOT TO SPEAK MORE THAN ONCE TO THE SAME MOTION

10. Members shall not speak more than once to the same motion,
except the mover of the proposition in reply, which reply shall con-
clude the discussion, and in such reply he shall not be allowed to
introduce any new matter.

REGULATIONS AS TO SPEAKING ON AMENDMENTS

11. On an amendment being moved, no member of the meeting
who has spoken on the original question shall speak again thereon
until the amendment has been put and has become the amended
proposition before the meeting.

DISCUSSION UPON AMENDED PROPOSITIONS

12. When discussion shall arise upon amended propositions, the
mover of the amendment which has displaced the original proposi-
tion may speak in reply, and so in like manner with respect to any
further and displacing amendments.

MOTION THAT THE QUESTION BE NOW PUT

13. During debate any member, who has not spoken in the debate,
may propose, without preface, that the question be now put, which
the Chairman may accept at his discretion; and if put from the
Chair it shall not be considered carried unless supported by two-
thirds of the members voting on the occasion.

ADJOURNMENTS

14. A member who has not spoken in the debate may move at
any time without a speech either

(a) The adjournment of the meeting

or
(ft) The adjournment of the debate,

498 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

which may be accepted by the Chairman at his discretion and then
put without debate.

A member may move the suspension of the Standing Orders in
order to call attention to a definite matter of urgent importance.
It must be supported by not less than two-thirds of the members
present. Such debate shall be taken at once. The opener shall be
allowed ten minutes, and subsequent speakers five minutes. The
opener shall be permitted to reply.

QUESTIONS

15. Questions may be addressed to an officer of the Council, to a
member in charge of a motion, or to the Chairman of any Com-
mittee.

The Chairman of any meeting may disallow any question.

The member must confine himself merely to asking his question,
and the officer, member in charge of a motion, or Chairman of a
Committee to simply answering it.

RECORD OP ATTENDANCES

16. A record shall be kept of the summonses for and attendance
of members at meetings of the Council and of Committees, and such
record shall be presented annually to the Council at its next meeting
after 30th June in each year.

STRANGERS

17. Strangers may be admitted to the portion of the hall set
apart for their accommodation, on the introduction of a member.

All strangers so admitted must conform to the following rules: —

1. They shall not express any assent or dissent.

2. They shall not indulge in any audible conversation.

3. They shall at all times be seated except while entering or
leaving the hall.

4. Any person infringing any of these rules shall be called upon
to withdraw, and, if necessary, shall be removed.

APPENDIX I

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE POTTERY INDUSTRY
("THE FIRST.WHITLEY COUNCIL")

MAJOR F. H. WEDGWOOD, Chairman
MB. S. CLOWES, J.P., Vice-Chairman

MB. A. P. LLEWELLYN, Piccadilly, Tunstall,

Secretary to the Manufacturers

MB. A. HOLLINS, 5a, Hill Street, Hanley

Secretary to the Operatives

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE POTTERY INDUSTRY

OBJECTS AND CONSTITUTION

OBJECTS

The advancement of the pottery industry and of all connected
with it by the association in its government of all engaged in the
industry.

It will be open to the Council to take any action that falls within
the scope of its general object. Its chief work will, however, fall
under the following heads: —

(a) The consideration of means whereby all manufacturers and
operatives shall be brought within their respective associa-
tions.

(b) Regular consideration of wages, piecework prices, and con-
ditions with a view to establishing and maintaining equitable
conditions throughout the industry.

(c) To assist the respective associations in the maintenance of
such selling prices as will afford a reasonable remuneration
to both employers and employed.

(d) The consideration and settlement of all disputes between dif-
ferent parties in the industry which it may not have been pos-
sible to settle by the existing machinery, and the establish-
ment of machinery for dealing with disputes where adequate
machinery does not exist.

(e) The regularization of production and employment as a means

499

500 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of insuring to the workpeople the greatest possible security of
earnings.

(f ) Improvement in conditions with a view to removing all danger
to health in the industry.

(g) The study of processes, the encouragement of research, and
the full utilization of their results.

(h) The provision of facilities for the full consideration and
utilization of inventions and improvements designed by work-
people and for the adequate safeguarding of the rights of the
designers of such improvements.

(i) Education in all its branches for the industry.

(j) The collection of full statistics on wages, making and selling
prices and average percentages of profits on turnover, and
on materials, markets, costs, etc., and the study and promo-
tion of scientific and practical systems of costing to this end.
All statistics shall where necessary be verified by chartered
accountants, who shall make a statutory declaration as to
secrecy prior to any investigation, and no particulars of in-
dividual firms or operatives shall be disclosed to any one.

(k) Inquiries into problems of the industry, and where desirable,
the publication of reports.

(1) Representation of the needs and opinions of the industry to
Government authorities, central and local, and to the com-
munity generally.

CONSTITUTION

(1) Membership. — The Council shall consist of an equal number
of representatives of the manufacturers and the operatives; the
manufacturers' representatives to be appointed by the Manufac-
turers' Associations in proportions to be agreed on between them;
the operatives' representatives by the trade unions in proportions
to be agreed on between them. The number of representatives on
each side shall not exceed 30. Among the manufacturers' repre-
sentatives may be included salaried managers, and among the oper-
atives' representatives some women operatives.

(2) Honorary Members. — The Council to have the power to co-
opt honorary members with the right to attend meetings or serve on
committees of the Council, and to speak but not to vote.

(3) Reappointment. — One-third of the representatives of the said
associations and unions shall retire annually, and shall be eligible
for reappointment.

(4) Officers— -The officers of the Council shall be:

(a) A chairman and vice-chairman. When the chairman is a

APPENDIX I 501

member of the operatives, the vice-chairman shall be a mem-
ber of the manufacturers, and vice-versa. The chairman (or
in his absence, the vice-chairman) shall preside at all meet-
ings, and shall have a vote, but not a casting vote. It shall
always be open to the Council to appoint an independent
chairman, temporary or otherwise.

(J>) Such secretaries and treasurers as the Council may require.
All honorary officers shall be elected by the Council at its annual
meeting for a term of one year, and, subject to the condition that a
chairman or vice-chairman from the said associations shall be suc-
ceeded by a member of the said unions, shall be eligible for re-
election. The Council may from time to time fix the remuneration
to be paid to its officers.

(5) Committees. — The Council shall appoint an Executive Com-
mittee, and Standing Committees, representative of the different
needs of the industry. It shall have power to appoint other com-
mittees for special purposes, and to coopt such persons of special
knowledge, not being members of the Council, as may serve the spe-
cial purposes of these committees. On all committees both manu-
facturers and operatives shall be equally represented.

The minutes of all committees shall be submitted to the National
Council for their confirmation.

Each committee shall appoint its own chairman and vice-chair-
man, except in the case of the Finance Committee, over which com-
mittee the chairman of the National Council shall preside.

(6) Finance. — The ordinary expenses of the Council shall be met
by a levy upon the Manufacturers' Associations and the trade unions
represented. Special expenditure shall be provided for by the Fi-
nance Committee.

(7) Meetings. — The ordinary meetings of the Council shall be
held quarterly. The annual meeting shall be held in January. A
special meeting of the Council shall be held on the requisition of ten
members of the Council. Seven days' notice of any meeting shall
be given. Twenty members shall form a quorum. Committees shall
meet as often as may be required.

(8) Voting. — The voting upon all questions shall be by show of
hands, and two-thirds majority of those present and voting shall be
required to carry a resolution. Provided that, when at any meet-
ing the representatives of the unions and the associations re-
spectively, are unequal in numbers, all members present shall have
the right to enter fully into discussion of any matters, but only an
equal number of each of such representatives (to be decided amongst
them) shall vote.

502 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE POTTERY INDUSTRY
["Sentinel" Leading Article, Jan. 15th, 1918.]

The National Council of the Pottery Industry is now an estab-
lished institution, and the reports of the inaugural proceedings
which have appeared in the "Sentinel" during the past few days
have doubtless been read with cordial appreciation and high hopes
not only by everybody connected with the potting trade but by the
general public. Major Frank Wedgwood, who was elected Chair-
man on Friday, and Mr. S. Clowes, J.P., of the Potters' Union, the
Vice-Chairman, both enjoy the esteem and confidence of employers
and employed alike, and the Council is so composed as to be really
representative of the potting trade of the whole country.

There is all the more expectation of success because the sug-
gestion of the Council first came from the operatives. Bristol has
for a long time been a center of vigorous discussion on industrial
and social reform and advancement, in which Mr. Arnold Rowntree,
M.P., Mr. E. H. C. Wethered, and Mr. H. Clay, M.A., took part.
About the time that the Government appointed the Whitley Com-
mittee on Reconstruction after the War, our Bristol friends looked
round to see if they could make an approach to any special in-
dustry. Mr. Clay, who has constantly lectured for the Tunstall
Tutorial Class, suggested the potting trade, and representatives of
the operatives who were invited to a conference at Lawton Hall liked
the idea and formulated suggestions which were placed before the
manufacturers, with the result that a joint meeting at Lawton Hall
before laid the foundations of the Council which has now been
formed. The Whitley Committee was meanwhile proceeding on
similar lines, and National Councils are being formed for other in-
dustries under the auspices of the Whitley Committee; but the pot-
ting trade is entitled to be proud of the fact that it preceded the
Whitley Committee not only in its Interim Report but in forming
the first of the National Councils.

The National Council of the Pottery Industry, as already fully
explained, is designed to regulate wages and selling prices, pro-
mote education in the industry, secure improved health and other
conditions, encourage better methods, and assist Imperial and Muni-
cipal authorities in arriving at sound conclusions on trade matters.
In brief, the National Council is calculated to promote peace and
plenty, prosperity and happiness in the potting trade. But Dr.
Addison, M.P., Minister of Reconstruction, and Mr. Roberts, M.P.,
Minister of Labor, kindly accepted an invitation to attend the first
meeting of the Council and to address a public meeting, and in the

APPENDIX I 503

official blessing they gave to the inaugural gatherings, they tre-
mendously widened the outlook, as anybody who heard or has read
the speeches could not fail to perceive. It is not merely a matter
of advancing the conditions of the industry itself, important and
vital as that is. Dr. Addison showed that the reconstruction of
industry and the nation after the War is a tremendous and essential
problem, involving the restoration and development of old indus-
tries and the creation of new industries; a system of demobilization
at the peace which shall be satisfactory to all concerned, changing
over from war conditions to peace conditions with the least pos-
sible friction and dislocation; the promotion of education in its
widest sense; improved housing; the regulation of imports, so that
raw material may be given precedence over imports of secondary
importance — a matter of delicate and far-reaching concern, upon
which much will depend; and so on. On all these questions, the
Reconstruction Department of the Government wishes to seek ad-
vice and guidance from the industries, and indeed desires that the
industries should act for themselves as far as possible under Gov-
ernment supervision. This admirable plan can only be carried out
if the industries are completely organized — if all employers are in
their associations and all workers are in their unions, and if both
are able to act together and speak for the whole industry by means
of a National Council of the industry. Fitting into a scheme of
this sort, the National Council of the Pottery Industry becomes not
only a Council for the internal management of the potting trade,
but an organism in the advancement of the national welfare.

Mr. Roberts, the Minister of Labor, in his speeches at the Council
meeting and the Victoria Hall, eloquently dwelt upon the need for
a greater humanizing of employment conditions, in the interests not
only of employers and employed, but of healthy trade activity.
Good profits and good wages are a just expectation (though Dr.
Addison warned his hearers that the public must also be considered,
and that an industry would not be safe if its customers were made
poor) ; but Mr. Roberts and Dr. Addison both supported the asser-
tion made by the Bishop of Lichfield in the Victoria Hall some time
ago that half the labor troubles were not due to wages disputes at
all, but to the resentment of the workers if they were regarded by
employers as "hands" instead of human beings and fellow-laborers
in a common cause. The National Councils will do much to effect
a remedy in that respect. And some of the sincerest applause at
the Victoria Hall on Friday evening was elicited from the audi-
ence of workers by Mr. Roberts' declaration that if employees were
fairly treated the obligation rested upon them to treat their em-

504 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

ployers fairly in return. It was a frank and thoroughly English
moment.

Incidentally, Mr. Roberts remarked that a Government Depart-
ment could scarcely resist the united voice of an industry on fiscal
or other similar issues; and later on, he was emphatic that the British
Empire and our Allies have the first claim upon the raw materials
of the Empire. Both Dr. Addison and Mr. Roberts pointed out
that winning the War is the essential preliminary of all reform and
progress. The peroration of the inauguration of the National Coun-
cil was found in the speeches at Tunstall under the auspices of the
Tunstall Tutorial Class during the week-end, when Mr. Arnold
Rowntree, M.P., Mr. Wethered, and Mr. Clay, who had been co-
opted honorary members of the Council, eloquently urged the hu-
mane and religious aspects of the movement, and sought to rekindle
into a living flame those social and fraternal relations and re-
sponsibilities without which life becomes selfish and sordid, while
on the other hand there is the certainty that in working for others
we also save ourselves. The "still, sad music of humanity" has in
these Pottery Council meetings swollen into a grander tone, and
mystic voices chant the coming of a nobler and a happier day.

[Reprinted from the "Staffordshire Sentinel" of January 12th, 1918.]
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE POTTERY INDUSTRY

INAUGURAL MEETING

RECONSTRUCTION AFTER THE WAR

IMPORTANT SPEECHES BY MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNMENT

FUTURE OF THE POTTING TRADE

The inaugural meeting of the National Council of the Pottery
Industry was held at the North Stafford Hotel, Stoke-on-Trent, on
Friday, January llth, 1918.

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

The members of the Council (thirty on each side) are as follows:
MANUFACTURERS' REPRESENTATIVES

General Earthenware (11)

Mr. J. C. Bailey — Messrs. Doulton and Co., Ltd., Burslem.
Mr. K. H. Bailey — Messrs. Furnivals, Ltd., Cobridge.

APPENDIX I 505

Mr. C. E. Bullock — Bourner, Bullock and Co., King's Chambers,
Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr. A. Fielding— Fielding and Co., Ltd., Stoke.
Mr. R. Lewis Johnson — Messrs. Johnson Bros. (Hanley), Ltd.
Mr. E. J. Johnson — Johnson Bros. (Hanley), Ltd., Stoke.
Mr. T. B. Johnston — Pountney and Co., Ltd., Bristol.
Mr. E. Leigh — Burgess and Leigh, Burslem.
Mr. A. H. Maddock — Messrs. Maddock and Sons, Burslem.
Mr. R. Shenton— Wedgwood and Co., Ltd., Tunstall.
Major F. H. Wedgwood — Wedgwood and Sons, Ltd., Etruria.

China (5)

Mr. W. Hall — Cartwright and Edwards, Ltd., Longton.
Mr. A. B. Jones, Jun. — A. B. Jones and Sons, Longton.
Mr. Thos. Poole — Cobden Works, Longton.
Mr. P. Shelley — Wileman and Co., Longton.
Mr. H. J. Plant— R. H. and S. L. Plant, Longton.

Jet and Eockingham (2)

Mr. S. Johnson — S. Johnson, Ltd., Britannia Pottery, Cobridge.
Mr. A. J. Wade — Messrs. J. and W. Wade and Co., Burslem.

Glazed and Floor Tiles (3)

Mr. J. Burton— Messrs. Pilkington Tile and Pottery Co., Ltd.,
Clifton Junction, near Manchester.

Mr. S. Malkin— Messrs, the Malkin Tile Works Co., Ltd., Burslem.
Mr. S. R. Maw — Messsrs. Maw and Co., Ltd., Jackfield.

Yorkshire (1)
Mr. T. Brown — Messrs. Sefton and Brown, Ferrybridge.

Scottish Earthenware Manufacturers' Association (1)
Mr. J. Arnold Fleming — Cochran and Fleming, Glasgow.

Stoneware (1)
One to be appointed.

Sanitary (3)

Mr. E. R. Corn— Henry Richards Tile Co., Tunstall.
Mr. W. Hassall— Messrs. Outram and Co., Woodville.
Mr. J. T. Webster— Twyfords, Ltd., Cliffe Vale, Hanley.

Fireclay (2)

Mr. J. Taylor Howson — Messrs. G. Howson and Sons, Ltd.,
Hanley.

Mr. A. Barrett, Sanitary Fireclay Manufacturers' Association,
Leeds.

506 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Electrical Fittings (1)

Mr. J. W. Harris — Messrs. Bullers, Ltd., Hanley.
OPERATIVES' REPRESENTATIVES

Pottery Workers' Society — Messrs. W. Tunnicliffe, W. Aucock,
W. Shaw, G. Pedley, W. Machin, W. Goodwin, T. Coxon, R. Col-
clough, W. Milner, W. Harvey, R. Stirratt, W. McGurk, H. Forman,
J. Wilcox, J. Booth, S. Clowes, A. Hollins.

Ovenmen's Society — Messrs. J. Pickin, R. Bennett, J. Bennett, W.
Owen, W. Callear, F. Colclough.

Packers' Society — Mr. C. Martin.

Cratemakers' Society — Messrs. J. Owen and L. Jackson.

Commercial Travelers — Messrs. S. Oulsnam and J. Derry.

Clerks' Union — Messrs. J. Berresford and Beech.

Lithographic Printers — Messrs. F. Smyles and H. Rudge.

It will be seen that there are 32 names, but two of these will be
dropped from the Pottery Workers' Society when they make the
final selection.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRST MEETING

At the first meeting of the Council on Friday afternoon, Major
Frank Wedgwood was elected Chairman and Mr. S. Clowes Vice-
chairman. Mr. Arnold S. Rowntree, M.P., York; Mr. E. H. C.
Wethered, Bristol; and Mr. H. Clay, M.A. (Ministry of Labor),
who held conferences with pottery manufacturers and labor repre-
sentatives even before the Whitley Committee had got to work, and
thus helped to lay the foundations of the Council, were coopted as
honorary members. A Committee was appointed to formulate com-
mittees. The Committee will meet on February 1st, and the first
general meeting of the Council will be held on February 13th, at
10.30, at the North Stafford Hotel.

Two members of the Government, Dr. Addison, M.P., Minister
of Reconstruction, and Mr. Roberts, Minister of Labor, attended to
give an official blessing to the Council. Their speeches dealt not
only with the possibility of the Council promoting peace and pros-
perity in the pottery trade, but with the great help such Councils
could afford the Government in dealing with the problems of de-
mobilization and reconstructing and developing the industries of
the country after the War.

Those present, in addition to those mentioned above included Mr.
H. B. Butler, Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Labor; Mr. A. P.
Llewellyn, Secretary to the Manufacturers; Mr. S. H. Dodd, Deputy
Secretary to the Manufacturers; and Mr. A. Hollins, Secretary to
the Operatives.

APPENDIX I 507

MAJOR WEDGWOOD

The newly-elected Chairman (Major F. H. Wedgwood) said it
was a very great pleasure to all of them to feel that they had the
honor of having the Minister of Reconstruction and the Minister of
Labor down to address them that afternoon. (Hear, hear.) He
thought they would find that they were an appreciative audience,
and he felt sure that what they told them would help them ma-
terially in carrying on the very difficult work that lay ahead of
them. (Hear, hear.) He thought that before he asked Dr. Ad-
dison and Mr. Roberts to address them, he ought to try and bring
home one or two points which occurred to him as worthy of their
notice, points which were particularly applicable to the district
in which they lived.

The first thing that occurred to him as being peculiar to the dis-
trict, was that it was a concentrated industry in this district. There
was no other industry so far as he knew which had two-thirds of
the total products of the United Kingdom being manufactured
within a radius of five miles from the room in which they were as-
sembled. (Hear, hear.) The next peculiarity was that the district
was a district of relatively small factories, and there was in con-
sequence a surprising number of manufacturers. And the third
point, which was a very sad point and one which they all felt, was
that, speaking broadly, the whole district was a poorish district.
He knew he must not say that this week when the Tank was on a
visit in the district, but there was no doubt about it, the potting
industry had not been remunerative to the manufacturers for the
last 25 years. He was speaking broadly, but figures would bear
him out. And undoubtedly inadequate wages had been paid in cer-
tain departments, the especial sufferers being the women.

RATEABLE VALUE

And last of all it was a district which had probably the lowest
rateable value to the population, of any other district in England.
Those points were all points which had a material bearing on the
work of that National Council. In the first place, the concentra-
tion of the industry was an enormous help to them in carrying it
on. They were all very proud that they were the first industry to
form a National Council — (hear, hear) — and they ought not to
blink at the fact that they were in a favorable position because of
the concentration of the industry.

The next point, the question of small factories, had also a very
important bearing on the work of the Council, because it meant that

508 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

manufacturers and their workpeople were able to get into close
touch one with the other. Then, on the third question of the rela-
tive poverty of the district, there was an enormous field for im-
provement possible, if they could organize themselves properly.
They might hope to benefit the trade to a very great extent indeed,
because after all that Council was not out for one section of the
members only. It was out to make the trade more prosperous, and
thereby improve the status of the people who worked in the trade.
(Hear, hear.)

THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR

There were only two other small points, and he thought he was
saying what they were all agreed, that one result of this terrible
and horrible war we had been engaged in for three and a half years
had been undoubtedly the means of drawing everybody together
in a way we never thought was possible four years ago. He re-
membered two years or more ago, when he was well out of the
"pots" for the time being, his association with Mr. Clowes in the
work of recruiting, and of the kind fellowship that sprung up be-
tween them. Good fellowship was a great asset to the side of a
Council of that kind. (Hear, hear.)

Then the last thought which was in his mind was the fact that we
had had during the last three or four years, our eyes astonishingly
opened to the foul machinations of our enemy the Germans. He
was not speaking of the atrocities, but only for the moment of the
sustained and nefarious efforts they were undoubtedly making all
over the world, to filch our trade from us and steal from us market
after market. We could see it all now. That had brought home
to himself, at any rate, and, he thought, to the district at large, the
great necessity of cooperating and making themselves of service one
to the other. He thought they realized, certainly the manufactur-
ers realized much more than they did, and the men's leaders would
say the same, that there Was an absolute need for education in its
widest branches, carried on, not only for those of 14 to 18, but that
they should continue educating themselves up to the time of their
death. (Hear, hear.) He hoped they were going to have an edu-
cative afternoon and evening, and he had pleasure in asking Dr.
Addison to address the members of the Council. (Loud applause.)

APPENDIX I 509

DR. ADDISON, M.P.

MINISTER OF RECONSTRUCTION

Dr. Addison said he thanked them very much for giving him an
opportunity, and he knew his colleague would do the same, of at-
tending at last the first meeting of the first Joint Industrial Coun-
cil. There was an urgent need that this movement should make in
this country much speedier progress, and he was delighted, al-
though by the kindness of his colleague and his assistants he had
been kept in touch with the progress of affairs, that at last they
could say that they had been invited to the first fully formed, fully
representative, and fully recognized Joint Industrial Council.
(Hear, hear.)

He believed that there were few things in this country at the pres-
ent moment which were of more critical importance than the forma-
tion, according to the particular needs of the individual trades, of
representative trade organizations, of complete associations of mas-
ters on the one side, and of men on the other, and of the formation
of Joint Industrial Councils for such affairs as the Joint
Industrial Councils might agree to deal with. (Hear, hear.)
But particularly in relation, in the first place, to some of those mat-
ters which would immediately become urgent on the cessation of
hostilities. And he told them that as the time dragged on, and those
movements made what, to him, at all events, was a very disappoint-
ingly slow progress; although he knew how very very difficult it
was, and when one had a knowledge of the enormous dislocation of
industry that would immediately arise on the cessation of hostilities,
he said it was of the first importance that Joint Councils of em-
ployers and employed should get together in this country to regard
their industry as a whole, to take into account the great movements
which must necessarily arise in labor immediately hostilities cease,
and to some extent even on the declaration of armistice; all the
many questions which needed arranging beforehand affecting the
introduction of outside labor, the making room for the men who
had joined the forces whose places were kept for them, the ar-
ranging between themselves, if possible, the way in which the sub-
jects were to be dealt with between employers and employed, or in
some trades those very technical questions affecting dilution, and
the numberless arguments which were being made in shops, and
sometimes between trades and Government with regard to the con-
ditions of war work. Unless these things were dealt with, and
thought out carefully by those who were immediately concerned in
the different trades beforehand, they would be, he was certain, pre-

510 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

cipitated into serious social and industrial disturbances. And it
was not possible to exaggerate the importance of these matters be-
ing taken in hand and considered in detail by those who were im-
mediately in contact with them as soon as possible, and for that
reason, more than any other, he congratulated them with his whole
heart in forming that Council, and he sincerely wished them good
success in its deliberations.

THE GOVERNMENT BLAMED

It was a very easy thing to blame the Government when things
went wrong, and some of them who were accustomed to being mem-
bers of it, were quite accustomed to being the objects of that kind
of criticism, and far be it from him to pretend that a good deal of
it was not thoroughly justified. He did not know any way to sug-
gest that those responsible for the conduct of affairs were not fully
prepared to accept their share of the responsibility, but there was
a great share of responsibility also belonging to the employers and
to the workpeople of this country as well. And the first duty, he
believed, of employers was to form in the different trades classified,
as its needs might determine, comprehensive employers' associa-
tions.

He believed it was necessary for the future well-being and rapid
restoration of the productive power of this country that every em-
ployer should be in his association and every workman in his trade
union. (Hear, hear, and applause.) And he would tell them some
very good reasons why, in the course of the few minutes that he
should address them. They were anxious, in fact it was necessary
very soon to ask some representative body in the different trades
to advise them and to guide them — and if possible to act as their
agents — in respect of important matters concerning their industry
which arose in connection with reconstruction.

REPRESENTATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

But the fact was that except in a few cases there were not in this
country properly appointed fully representative trade organizations.
He could tell of many trades in which there were four or five asso-
ciations, all claiming to be fully representative ; and the Government
Minister who happened to call a meeting and missed one out soon
heard about it. That was a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.
They had overcome it in the pottery trade. Whether that was due
to them being so much collected in one district or not, he did not
know. That must have contributed a good deal, but still it had

APPENDIX I 511

not been done, he was quite sure, without a good deal of good-will
and hard work on both sides, because the mere fact that the Chair-
man referred to — that the trade consisted to a great extent of a
large number of relatively small undertakings — presented, he should
think, the first great difficulty. (Hear, hear.)

We were all strongly individualistic — most of us were in the
British race — and whether a man was a workman or an employer,
or a politician, he had got that kind of thing in his blood. And
we were all, sometimes, very jealous of one another, so that it was
exceedingly difficult to bring about comprehensive associations. He
might say that in connection with the work of reconstruction the
Government would definitely call upon this National Council to give
them certain information and to undertake certain duties. And
with regard to paragraph L. contained in the articles of associa-
tion, the Government would take them at their word as being com-
petent to represent the needs and opinions of their industry to
Government authorities. (Hear, hear.)

ONE RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY

"And let me say we shall not only take you at your word, but
we shall take only you (applause) ; when you say you represent
those needs and opinions, we shall take it that you do represent
them." (Hear, hear.) Dr. Addison went on to say that when he
was Minister of Munitions, he often caught it hot — (laughter) —
because he had not consulted somebody or other. Well, one ex-
pected that kind of thing when one was Minister of Munitions. He
did not mind; he did the best he could. He remembered once, in
one particularly large industry, there was a very important Labor
issue. There were five organizations among the employers in that
industry, and it took six weeks to get a meeting of employers to
negotiate on that issue which, though a big issue, was a simple one.
It was a very depressing experience, and it was not alone.

Apart from these details in their articles of association, to which
possibly his colleague might refer more fully, he would deal with
one or two matters in connection with reconstruction which necessi-
tated the formation of comprehensive trade associations. He ex-
pected Mr. Roberts would deal with the more particular labor is-
sues. He himself would only refer to one. He believed that it
was of the first importance that as soon as possible there should be
agreement reached in the different trades, whereby they could sweep
away any objections on the part of labor to the introduction of im-
proved methods of manufacture. (Hear, hear.)

512 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

LABOR'S REWARD

And there were two things underlying that which he believed had
got to be fairly and frankly met, and the first one was that Labor
was to be assured of a definite arrangement, binding on the whole
industry, whereby it would be guaranteed a fair proportion of the
reward received out of the improvement. (Hear, hear.) That
was essential. (Hear, hear.) Anything which left that question to
be dealt with could not possibly remove the objection which men
must entertain if they felt there was a chance of some piece rate
being cut or some arrangement being arrived at whereby, though
they were asked to produce a lot more goods they were not to get
any more money.

Then they must look as far as possible, and he could not see how
they could do it without regarding the trade as a whole, and try to
secure some greater surety of employment. He did not think they
could do that in individual shops. The previous day he received a
deputation from another industry, and he was referred to a state-
ment which had been made on behalf of that industry, that it was
for the benefit of the industry that there should be a certain per-
centage of unemployment. He did not think the men who had
fought for us in this war were going to tolerate a barbaric system
of that kind. (Hear, hear.) They were getting over it in the cot-
ton industry, and they were making very elaborate arrangements to
meet it during the war; and he did not think for a moment they
would despair afterwards.

RAW MATERIAL SUPPLIES

The first thing he did when he was appointed Minister of Recon-
struction was to get a number of experts to go into the question of
raw material supplies for the industries of the country. That was
one of the subjects in which the Government needed representative
associations to help them in regard to their particular industries.
They wanted to know, not in general terms, but, as far as possible,
en bloc, as affecting an industry, what their requirements were
with respect to raw materials. And he could tell them that they
were in fact asking the different industries what their requirements
were with respect to raw materials, because, either from shipping
difficulties or from the cause of a real shortage of the world's sup-
plies of certain commodities, there would be a shortage of raw ma-
terials.

It was quite evident that there would be some industries in which
so far as affected the total needs of the industry, we might be con-

APPENDIX I 513

fronted for some time with a real shortage. The trades ought to
have an organization to deal with this for themselves. (Hear,
hear.) If there was to be any rationing done in an industry, it
should be done by somebody appointed by the industry to do it —
(hear, hear) — somebody who knew about its technicalities and about
the various issues involved. This could be done much better by
the trades for themselves than it could be done by any central de-
partment, and it had this incidental advantage; that if they did
not do it properly, they would have themselves to blame, and not
the Government. (Laughter.)

A QUESTION OF COST

He noticed, by the way, in looking through a very excellent volume
issued in the United States, on pottery, that the proportion of ma-
terial utilized out of 100 units of production in the British pottery
trade was put down as 28, and that in America 20, and in Ger-
many 15. It struck him, as the Chairman was speaking, that he
should think this would be one of the first questions to which their
Council would address their minds. There was nothing in which
comprehensive trade organization dealing with the thing as a whole,
both from the standpoint of purchase, and, above all, of transport
— and he understood that this was one of their weaknesses in that
district — (laughter and applause) — could effect greater economies
than in the case of raw materials. He knew of a particular case in
which the Ministry of Munitions analyzed the cost of production
as compared with the same date two years in succession — the same
apparatus and the same raw materials — and notwithstanding that the
wages had gone up 15 per cent, for the men employed in the works,
the cost of production had dropped 22 per cent. That had been
solely due to a careful analysis of the cost of production and the
discernment of waste, particularly, in this case, of raw material.
Hence, the reduction in the cost of production had allowed an in-
crease in the wages rate.

There was another even more urgent reason why the Government
wanted representative trade associations to help them in connec-
tion with reconstruction. In the ordinary way, the employers might
be looked to for the discharge of this duty, but the Government's
principle would be that they should look to the joint industrial
councils to discharge any functions which the two parties to a
council agreed that it should discharge. Otherwise, they looked to
the trade unions to advise them on their questions and the employ-
ers on theirs. But one of the most urgent reasons for requiring
representative trade associations was in connection with the class

514 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

of questions which might generally be described as prior in connec-
tion with reconstruction. There would be, as they would know, a
great cessation of work in certain fields of activity, and the rapidity
with which they could turn over to the new kind of industry de-
pended upon the equipment for turning over, the preparation of
the necessary plans beforehand, and a number of other technical
details.

AN ILLUSTRATION

Let him give them an illustration. The group of trades with
which they had been dealing had shown to them quite clearly that
unless certain essentials, which appeared to the outsider to be minor
essentials, were attended to during the war, the time of turning over
from war to peace, after the cessation of hostilities, in a particular
trade, would be three months longer than it otherwise would be, and
there were hundreds of thousands of people employed in that in-
dustry in one town alone. So that it was necessary for those con-
cerned to get to work, and think out what were the things that were
required to be done first.

And let him there lead to something which was very much mis-
understood. There was a Bill before Parliament known as The
Imports and Exports Limitation of Movements Bill. He would
give them an illustration as to why that Bill had been brought for-
ward. There would be, as he said, a shortage of materials in some
trades. The cotton trade was short of material, and it was very im-
portant to be able to determine as to whether or not they would
have cargoes of bales of cotton giving precedence to a grand piano.
Let them put it grossly like that, because it meant giving employ-
ment to the people in the Lancashire trade. They must, in the early
days of reconstruction, be able to get the first thing first; otherwise
it would mean masses of unemployed, and they wanted the trades,
with respect to their particular requirements, to advise them what
were the things they needed first. If they needed no assistance,
then they would be delighted. In case they did need assistance, it
was well the matter should be thought out and the needs formulated.

THE PRIORITY QUESTION

Now he would give them a specific case in the kind of question
which they wanted the trades to advise them on. There were many
industries in this country which were full of orders, and they would
have plenty of raw material. But they would lack ma-
chinery. They had turned over their works to something quite
different from their ordinary business. And the first require-

APPENDIX I 515

merits of that industry, before it could start to employ its people
again, was the replenishing of its machinery. Well now, it so hap-
pened that for that particular class of machinery, most of the
manufacturers of this country were already full of orders from two
foreign countries alone. The total manufacturing capacity of this
country of that particular class of machinery was already booked.
Well now, did they not see where the necessity came in for the in-
formation on the priority question? (Hear, hear.) They could
not let the great industry stand still waiting for machinery. The
matter must be gone into beforehand, and they must take powers
to arrange that it got a fair share of early attention in order tp
get the people returned to employment. He only gave them one
illustration ; he could go on too long giving them illustrations of the
kind of question which they wanted the trades to advise them upon
on what he called the general priority issue. There was a large
group of them, and no doubt in time they would send to that Coun-
cil a questioner. And he had no doubt they would fill it up to their
own satisfaction and, he also hoped, to theirs.

ARTICLES OF THE ASSOCIATION •

But when they sought to provide great trade associations — and
he was certain, quite apart from the immediate issues of reconstruc-
tion, they were wanted if they were to improve the industrial
capacity of this country — they had got to think over some of the
purposes laid down in their articles of association. And might
he refer to one or two of them before he passed to the danger to
which he was going to allude ? He noticed that one of their articles
of association referred to the study of processes, the encourage-
ment of research, accounting methods and so on. He had already
said something as to the value of cost accounting to the various in-
dustries. He remembered one of their national factories in York-
shire was producing 18 inch shells which cost 15s. 3d. each, while
another factory in the same county supplied the same shells at 9s.
lid. each. Both factories were supplied with the same material
at the same cost, and the same rates for labor was paid. They
eventually got the price in the first case reduced, but it was all a
matter of management, accurateness, and a hundred little things
which went to make the difference. But if the two factories had
been competing one against the other, the one could not have lived
beside the other. That was what came of good accounting. He
could multiply those illustrations for a long time.

He was sure it was a very wise provision.

And another thing was invention and research. He believed it

516 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

was one of the chief blots in British industrial progress, that we
never made sufficient use of the great mine of wealth and brain
that there was in the craftsmen of this country. And it was largely
due to some of our pattern laws, and often due to the fact that the
men who made a good suggestion somehow or other never got any-
thing out of it. That had got to be guarded against, and it was to
the advantage of the trade as a whole that it should be done. (Hear,
hear.) He was glad to see they took into account the conditions of
health in their industry. He remembered in the early days of the
Ministry of Munitions starting a Good Health of Munition Workers
Committee, and he would like them to see the little pamphlet that
was issued giving the results of some of the examinations. But
there was no doubt about it that it was best to have women work-
ing under good conditions. He remembered one of the big em-
ployers in Glasgow laughing with him over a certain incident. He
said he was giving his boys an extra shilling every Monday for bring-
ing a clean overall to wear. Asked the reason, the employer re-
plied, "Well, because it pays; I get more work out of them." He
did not profess there was anything philanthropic about it; he said
it #vas good business. He had found out that it paid to have his
workers working under good conditions. It paid him as an em-
ployer, and he had no doubt it would pay them in the Potteries.
And the only way in which this thing could be gone into was by the
industry going into it collectively.

TRANSPORT FACILITIES

He hoped they would make representation to the Ministry of
Reconstruction affecting the transport facilities as they related to
their industry. He had a sort of notion at the back of his head
that might be improved in this district. (Hear, hear.) There was
one danger which those trade associations presented, and let them
speak quite frankly about it. He noticed that according to the
objects of the Council they were : "To assist the respective associa-
tions in the maintenance of such selling prices as will afford a rea-
sonable remuneration to both employers and employed." That was
quite right; they both ought to have a proper remuneration. No
healthy condition of industry could prevail if they did not. But
he noticed also that was linked up with another object, which was:
"The collection of full statistics on wages, making and selling prices,
and average percentages of profits on turnover, and on materials,
markets, costs, etc., and the study of promotion of scientific and
practical systems of costing to this end." And he would draw their
attention to another part of that transaction, and that was the con-

APPENDIX I 517

sumer. (Hear, hear.) They did not want to be parties to the
formation of some unholy alliance, if he could so describe it, be-
tween capital and labor at the expense of the consumer, because that
would not last. It did not pay any industry to have its customers
poor, and it would not pay the pottery industry any better than
any other, and it was quite impossible, of course for him as Minister
of Reconstruction to look with any kind feeling upon arrangements
of that kind. They wanted to construct an association, as they said
in their articles, on lines which would develop and foster the in-
dustry in all its branches and which would he had no doubt deal
with and take cognizance of its affairs from start to finish. He
meant from the raw material, where it came from, how to deal with
the marketing, transport, etc., until the finished product was dis-
posed of in the best and most economical manner. One of the things
they intended to take up in their industries was improved trans-
port, and he hoped some time or other they would see better things
than a dozen horses and carts going from one village to the railway
station, each conveying a stone or two of goods. It was a waste of
time, of labor and of money. They wanted some organization in
transport, and he would imagine it was just as necessary in the
potting industry, although he knew nothing about its technicalities,
as it was in every other industry he had come across in the country.

FOB THE BENEFIT OF TRADE

Now, he only had to say this. While they intended — Mr. Roberts'
recent circular set out the position of the Government — to recog-
nize, and having recognized to work through and to give the utmost
possible authority and support to any thoroughly representative and
properly constructed trade organization, they wanted to help them,
and they wanted them to help them and also to help the trade.

And let it be quite clear that when they spoke of trade organiza-
tions, they meant something which was for the interest and the bene-
fit of the trade as a whole, including purchases of its goods. They
did not want the country to be saddled with organizations, trusts, or
price rings, as they were variously called, as they had been a great
handicap to industry in many countries, including this one. He
had asked a number of experts on both sides to explore the whole
of this question, with a view to safeguarding the public interests in
connection with this movement. And when he said this — it was
much better to be quite frank about it — he said it because he wanted
to see in this country comprehensive trade associations; and they
would not get them established and permanent unless they had
public confidence and unless they were found to be for the good of

518 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the trade as a whole, as he belived theirs was. He welcomed these
organizations. He congratulated them upon the establishment of
their Council, and he wished to thank them for giving him the op-
portunity of being present at its first meeting. (Applause.)

MR. ROBERTS, M.P.

MINISTER OF LABOR

Mr. Roberts, who was very cordially received, observed at the
outset of his remarks that, like his colleague, he should like to ex-
press his profound pleasure at being invited to attend the first meet-
ing of the first Whitley Council formed in the country. He con-
gratulated them upon the formation of the Council, but his presence
there was tinged with one slight regret. When he worked, he was
connected with the printing trade, and he had had an ambition that
the first Whitley Council should be established in the trade in which
he used to earn his livelihood, and if it be that he had to acknowl-
edge that the pottery trade moved much more swiftly and had ex-
hibited a greater progressive idea than the printing trade, well,
probably it was the highest tribute he could pay to their assembly.
Personally, he esteemed it something more than a privilege to be
present in order to participate in a very interesting ceremony, be-
cause the establishment of that Council marked the consummation
of a principle he had desired to see established in the country.

Most of them who were acquainted with industrial affairs viewed
with grave apprehension the relationship of industrial classes before
the war. It almost appeared as if we had erected a Chinese wall
between the employers and the employed. They were being more
and more divorced from each other. That was a state of affairs
that could only lead to national disaster. And whilst everybody
regretted the outbreak of this horrible war, nevertheless the war
had not been altogether a matter of loss, because, as the Chairman
had said, at least one great thing had been accomplished. At the
outbreak of war, it seemed almost as if a miracle was wrought in the
land for those who had been glaring at each other were preparing
to make war on each other, but in a trice all sank their differem
to display to the whole world one of the most remarkable evidence
of unity for the nation. Everybody recognized that in the face oi
great danger, disunity in our midst meant national defeat.

A CLOSE ANALYSIS

He was of the opinion that what was essential for the purpose
prosecuting and winning the war would prove to be equally essentii

APPENDIX I 519

in the troublous days that would follow the war. For, however
optimistically we might view things, the close student of industrial
affairs would have noted that Great Britain was gradually lagging
behind her great competitors of the world. The war had compelled
us to subject our industrial conditions to very close analysis. The
result of some of these investigations had been cited to them by his
friend, Dr. Addison, and now they were going to ask themselves
whether the lessons which had emerged through the war were to re-
main with them in the years that were ahead. And certain as it
was that our country, subjected to perhaps the supremest test to
which people had ever been put, bad risen superior to this test in
the matter of warfare, he was confident that the same quality would
carry us through the industrial test after the war, and our country
would retain its proper position of eminence amongst the nations of
the world.

But if we were to do that, we must recognize that just as the
world could never progress unless peace was established on a firm
and enduring basis, so industry in the land would never flourish un-
less harmony prevailed amongst the various elements working in
that industry. Therefore, they recognized that some change had
to take place in order to remove that strained relationship which
characterized industry prior to the war. They Had sought to find
methods whereby the various parties in industry might be persuaded
to come together in order to thrash out matters affecting not the in-
dividual welfare of any one, but that broad view outlined by Dr.
Addison, to apprehend the industry as a whole. Some of them
had been engaged in canvassing this question in various forms, and
they were delighted when the Government set up a committee which
produced what was known as the Whitley Report.

AN ENCOURAGING RECEPTION

This report was submitted to the various organizations of work-
people and employers throughout the country, and its reception
was most encouraging. He, himself, was most agreeably surprised
to find how receptive both classes were in respect of this matter.
The Cabinet felt they were warranted in giving their blessing to
this movement, and that day they in that room were publicly asso-
ciated with a movement which marked the industrial salvation of
the land.

Why was it that the relationship had been so unsatisfactory? He
sometimes had told employers that it was not altogether the fault
of the workpeople, because they had left them to be talked at mainly
by parsons and politicians — not altogether very desirable types when

520 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

dealing with industrial affairs. (Laughter.) But there it was.
The workman had very often got it into his mind that the em-
ployer simply regarded him as a means of profit-making; and cer-
tainly, owing to a new form of industrial organization which had
grown up, some workmen had very good reasons for thinking so.
The spread of great combines and the impersonal relationships
which thereby prevailed, led great masses of workpeople simply to
regard themselves as cogs in a great wheel, unheeded by those on
whose behalf they were toiling. That sort of thing was bound to
create unrest.

How widespread that unrest was most of them were familiar with
in a more or less degree. We had got to uproot that disturbance
if reconstruction was to be hastened, if we were speedily to repair
the ravages of war and if Great Britain was not to be handicapped
for all time in the great race of world trade and commerce.

EMPLOYERS' FRANK ACCEPTANCE

They knew what their Whitley Council was. It was representa-
tive of the trade unions on the one hand and employers' organiza-
tions on the other, and personally, as a trade union and Labor
agitator of now more years than he cared to recall, he was delighted
to have evidence of the frank acceptance on behalf of the employers
of the pottery trade of the principle of organization, and, as exem-
plified on behalf of the workpeople, a full recognition of their trade
union. The trade union in the pottery trade had, he believed, made
very rapid growth during the past few years. Nevertheless, it was
a most unsatisfactory state of affairs that not above one-third of
the people employed in the industry were within the ranks of the
trade union. Certainly the employers' displeasure should no longer
be a deterrent. He knew that many people were kept outside their
trade union fearful lest their employer might not like it, and yet at
the same time they were the most vociferous in singing "Britons
never shall be slaves." (Laughter.) The potting trade had now
avowed to the whole world that both sides recognized that the prin-
ciples of organization were absolutely essential to the progress of
the industry. The Whitley Councils were based upon organization
on both sides, and if people wanted to get such advantages as would
ensue from this movement, they could get them very freely; the
workpeople had only to join their organization and if an employer
was standing outside his organization he (the speaker) felt sure
that he would be just as readily admitted.

APPENDIX I 521

THE WHITLEY COUNCIL

Well, now they were hopeful and the Government desirous that
the Whitley Council should not be regarded merely as an expedient
for relieving labor troubles and that they would not exhaust their
endeavors in dealing with wages, hours of labor, or conditions of
employment. They were essential things, and he recognized that
unless those questions were satisfactorily settled, the future of the
Council was not very hopeful. He wanted to see for every willing
worker in the land a wage of ample dimensions. Not merely what
was talked of in the phrase, a living wage. Personally, he was not
prepared to state what was a living wage. He could tell them what
was not very easily, and he had to confess that large groups of
workers before the war were in receipt of remuneration which did
not agree to his standard of a living wage. A wage which simply
supplied the needs of the week, was not a living wage. A man
must be given a wage with a sufficient margin to enable him to make
provision for all the vicissitudes of life, and he felt by the institu-
tion of a Council of that character, that by friendly negotiations,
that by being able to put wages in its proper perspective and rela-
tion in the whole interest of the industry, they would gradually,
it might be, grope their way, but nevertheless they would ultimately
arrive at a standard which more correctly reached the standard which
he had in mind.

There were, of course, many considerations affecting their daily
life. Dr. Addison, of course, quite naturally made reference to the
consideration of health and sanitation. He was not competent to
speak of those matters in relation to the potting industry, but the
approbation with which his observations were received, encouraged
him to believe the employers in that district recognized, with him,
that the conditions, that the environment in which they worked,
would very largely determine the spirit of their work and the ef-
ficiency that was evolved from it. But they were asking them to
recognize that the peoples of that Council represented an ever ex-
panding vista; they wanted them to take cognizance of trade as a
whole.

GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP

There were friends of his who were urging that the Government
should immediately assume ownership of control of all forms of
industry. On hearing them speak, he presumed they regarded them-
selves perfectly qualified to manage on behalf of the State the most
complex forms of industry. "Well, at any rate, he had had this ad-
vantage. He had had some slight business training. He managed

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

two businesses before he sought the easy and luxurious form of
getting a livelihood of a professional politician, and therefore he
could appreciate the employers' point of view. And he wanted
to tell his fellow workmen that the employers had their difficulties
as well as they. Trade did not fall to them just as rain fell from
the heavens. It had to be sought for and competed for, and unless
they could get it they did not win profits, nor did the workers
secure employment and the wages that accrued from their labor.
They would see, therefore, that whilst it was very easy to talk about
ownership and control of industries it was perhaps not quite so
simple as the orator might imagine. (Hear, hear.) But even if
they had those aspirations, he respectfully submitted that the Whit-
ley Council might be regarded as a university through which they
would graduate. And he was certain that as they learned more of
the conditions of their industry, certainly it would be that they
would be endowed with a keener sense of responsibility, and he
rather apprehended that the great enthusiasm which inspired them
to make the broader demand might simmer as the experience came
to them.

In this new departure the workmen would have an advantage they
never previously possessed. They would come into close touch with
employers, and the latter would get to know the workmen's point
of view first hand, and they would see and learn from the work-
men's representatives that the workmen were just like the employers
— human beings, with a desire for a brighter and fuller life, and
who were filled with just as intense a love for their wives and chil-
dren. And when the employers understood the workmen and knew
their aims and aspirations — well, perhaps they would even sympa-
thize with those who complained, because in their ignorance they
felt the employer might be the enemy standing between them and
the fuller life. Employers on the one hand would get to understand
the workmen better, and the employer would recognize the fact that
he was charged with a duty to do the best possible for those he
took into his service. For his own part, if he were an autocrat, if
they gave him as much power in this country as the Kaiser had in
Germany one of the things he would do as soon as he had won this
war would be to lay down this very simple formula, "No man shall
take into his service a fellow-man unless he is able and willing to re-
ward him with a full living wage." Of course, that was directed
against the employer. Now against the workman he would say,
"No workman shall be allowed to take up employment at wages less
than those agreed by the test of a living wage." And, he believed,
if he were able to apply that single formula, he would have done

APPENDIX I 523

something to add great glory to the traditions of the race to which
we were proud to belong. Those were the standards he believed
that they would still be able to evolve out of their deliberations.

THE SHORT CUT TO UTOPIA

Of course, they must not come into the Whitley Council thinking
it would establish an automatic Utopia. Such things could not be.
And those who sought to delude their fellowmen into believing that
there was one single panacea which could be applied, which could
take them out of this imperfect order of things immediately into
a perfect paradise — well it reminded him of the story of the young
man who got lost while cycling along a dark country road. Ulti-
mately he got to what appeared to be a sign post silhouetted in the
darkness. The young man took his lamp off his bicycle and climbed
up the post only to find the words "Wet paint." (Laughter.) And
thus it would happen that if the masses of the people listened to
those who promised them a short cut to Utopia — well then they
would find they had been led into the portals of a forlorn hope, and
would have to retrace their steps and return to the more matter of
fact methods of the Whitley Council.

Those Councils had almost unlimited possibilities. Dr. Addison
had lifted the veil and shown them some of them. He had told
them of the great work they might be called upon to undertake in
the process of demobilization, and what greater work could men
apply themselves to? According to the manner in which we were
able to settle those splendid soldiers of ours, so would the future
spirit of industry be determined. If we were unable to return them
to regular employment, well then they would experience a sense of
regret, and ask us what they had been fighting for. We wanted to
show them we were going to spend as much concern about returning
them to civil life as we spent in persuading them to enlist into those
wonderful armies which had constituted one of the world's wonders.
(Applause.) He believed that in this district, as well as in many
other districts, employers had solemnly undertaken to reinstate many
of our soldiers. Dr. Addison and himself rejoiced to know that
approximately 60 per cent, of our soldiers had such promises.
(Hear, hear.) Many men were being discharged day by day, and
he had pleasure in acknowledging this fact that up to the present
the employers had fulfilled their undertakings in complete and most
honorable fashion. (Applause.) And they believed that would
be so throughout the whole of demobilization, but there would be
many other questions to consider arising out of this war.

524 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

THE TRAINING OF MEN

There was the training of men. They were concerned, of course,
in educational matters. (Hear, hear.) They were going to give
special consideration to invention and research questions. (Hear,
hear.) Why? Because they understood that in future the efficiency
of the individual workman would be a world-wide test, and after all
he thought they were able to say that we had suffered a good deal
in past years because of our neglect of the educational side of in-
dustry. (Hear, hear.) He had no desire simply to see a man made
a perfect workman. He wanted him to be a good workman and a
good citizen. But he recognized, whilst he was anxious for the
highest possible form of educational development, he also wanted
to see workmen having the greatest possible amount of technical
skill, in order that they might prove to be what the British workmen
had hitherto shown, the best and most efficient workmen by the
test of either quality or quantity in production. And after the
war they would find that the necessity for increased production
would be keener perhaps than any of them appreciated. There
were some in their midst who felt that those of them who talked
about large output were simply concerned to gull the workman into
producing a great deal of wealth for the benefit of others than
themselves. He told his friends that much more wealth must be
produced after the war if this country had to liquidate its war in-
debtedness, and to embark on that great policy of expansion which
was necessary if we were to provide security for every family in
the land, and whilst he, as a trade unionist, recognized that some of
the restrictions we had imposed were to be justified in all times,
there were other restrictions which were not so defendable in the
national interest.

MINIMUM STANDARD

And it was in a Council like that that they would be able dispas-
sionately to reveal these matters and if there were restrictions which
could not be defended, then the workman would be prepared to re-
move them providing he got some compensation for the things he
would be called upon to remove. He wanted to see a minimum
living standard for every worker in the land, and over and beyond
that perfect latitude whereby through the exercise of additional
skill or acquired experience the workman might be fully rewarded
and thus be a source of profit to the community. Let them banish
from their minds the idea that wages ought to be depressed to the
lowest limit. (Hear, hear.)

APPENDIX I 525

Let every workman be encouraged to earn as much as possible,
for by that means something would be done to increase the efficiency
of all classes, and it would contribute in a substantial degree to the
stability of the country. Dr. Addison had pointed out to them
many other things they ought to undertake, and it ought to be very
encouraging to them to know — having Dr. Addison's assurance rein-
forced by his own — that in the future the Government intended to
recognize these Councils as a medium to which they would turn for
the purpose of getting guidance in all matters affecting these in-
dustries. Whether it be legislatively or administratively, these
bodies would take an important part in the affairs of the nation
in time to come.

AN AUTHORITATIVE VOICE

He was sure that if they could get a powerful authoritative voice
coming from a particular industry, even if the things they asked
for happened to be heterodox or happened not to compare with the
fiscal policy of the party in power, well, no Government could ignore
the voice of a trade like the pottery trade. The united voice of in-
dustry could ask for anything. He hailed the establishment of that
Council, not merely because it represented an idea he had long held,
but because it would remove from the cockpit of party politics many
questions of industry and we should be able to look at them not from
the point of view of party but from the standpoint of each par-
ticular industry.

And so he said that if bodies like that made a representation to
any Government with which he was associated, whatever the con-
templated changes were, he would recognize they were right and
desirable, because those in the industries were most competent to
judge of the interests of those industries. (Hear, hear.) He
viewed with very great pleasure the establishment of bodies of that
character, because they would help to remove from the enervating
atmosphere of party politics many things which needed to be placed
in their proper perspective and viewed from the standpoint of the
best interests of industry, so long as they could be squared with the
interest of the community as a whole.

AFTER- WAR SHORTAGE

Dr. Addison had made reference to certain important inquiries,
on which he would desire to consult them after the war. He had
pointed out that owing to the war and the withdrawal from industry
in all the belligerent countries of all classes of people, there must
be a considerable shortage of materials requisite for industrial af-

526 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

fairs, and that that would require that Dr. Addison, through his
Department would appeal for industry to continue under some form
of State control for a limited period. Some of them were hoping
that it would be a very limited period, but they were all reconciled
to the fact that there must be some control for a period after the
war. Dr. Addison had also shown to them that this shortage of
material would require a measure of rationing in most industries,
and he agreed with him that those engaged in the industry were the
people best qualified to undertake this very delicate task. Certainly
they could do it better than any Government Department.

If it was that an industry was unwilling to establish a Council
of that character, then the task of rationing would have to be un-
dertaken, and the Government would have to do it, whereas the
Government had expressed a willingness and a desire that the peo-
ple in the industries should do it for themselves. He thought they
would find that these Councils were endowed with great responsi-
bilities, and that they were fraught with great possibilities. In
fact he would be a bold man and require prophetic vision to
place any limitation to the possibilities of Councils of that char-
acter. He thought these bodies would become more and more woven
into the fabric of the future State.

THE EIGHT END

He was certain they were beginning at the right end, that right
end being the promotion of a better understanding, the establish-
ment of a more perfect relationship between employers and em-
ployed. He made the prediction that those who had come together
in the pottery trade into this movement would never regret that
venture, and would look back to that day as a red letter day in the
history of the industry. (Hear, hear.) He wanted to add one
further word. Let not the employers on the one hand nor the work-
people on the other think that the mere establishment of that Council
ended all their difficulties. They had simply fashioned the ma-
chine that might lighten their difficulties.

They might clear many obstacles from their path, but it was only
proportionately as they were able to knit themselves together and
to prove that their respective interests overlapped one another,
and that there was no sharp line dividing employers and employed,
and that the recognition of each was necessary to the other, and that
the interests of each had properly to be safeguarded — then, if they
did that, though Dr. Addison and himself might not live to see the
fruition of the whole of their labors, he honestly believed that when
Dr. Addison and himself cleared the political stage, they would

APPENDIX I 527

recognize that, having been privileged to be associated with the first
meeting of that Council, they were in at the beginning of a great
movement, which would ultimately effect a better industrial relation-
ship throughout the land. In that way they would also be asso-
ciated in placing the country on a firmer, fairer, juster basis for all
time. (Loud applause.)

MB. TUNNICLIFFE

Mr. W. Tunnicliffe (President of the National Pottery Workers'
Society) proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Addison and Mr. Roberts,
and referred to their speeches as instructive and inspiring. He said
that Dr. Addison need not have any concern about them crushing
the consumer, because the potting industry could even now com-
mence to pay a decent living wage and a fair profit to those engaged
in the industry, without the consumers greatly feeling the %pinch.
He wanted to suggest that seeing that that was the birth of the Na-
tional Council, Dr. Addison and Mr. Roberts should be recognized
as its godfathers, and whenever they had any important things to
place before the Government, it would be possible for them to make
their presence felt on the Council's behalf. (Hear, hear.) He
hoped that the interest in evidence that day was only an earnest of
the spirit that was going to pervade the industrial Council in con-
nection with the potting industry in the years to come.

MR. J. C. BAILEY

Mr. J. C. Bailey said that in this district they had an Arbi-
tration and Conciliation Board in existence for some 40 years. It
was true there had been short breaks, but even in those times the
rules that had governed that board had been largely operative. They
had had many disputes and many difficulties to settle, but they had
generally been settled not by strikes and lock-outs, but by a cross
table conference between employers and men. What had brought
the National Council into existence was, in a large measure, the fact
that the bulk of the principal firms in the district had been members
of the Manufacturers' Association, and they had invariably attended
the meetings themselves. On the other hand, the whole of the
leaders of the employees had been men who thoroughly understood
what they were talking about, and at some time or other earned their
livelihood in the industry itself. When he told Dr. Addison and
Mr. Roberts that a dozen in the potting trade sometimes comprised
72 articles, and that one article might count as two dozens —
(laughter) — they would understand that the men who discussed the
various differences had to know what they were talking about.

528 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

(Hear, hear.) That had all created the atmosphere which en-
abled their good friends Mr. Rowntree, Mr. Wethered, Mr. Clay, and
the Master of Balliol to advise them with regard to that Council,
and they owed it to them that North Staffordshire had been the first
to form a National Council. (Hear, hear.) He was proud the
Council had been formed, and they intended to pull all together in
the future. (Hear, hear.) There was one word of warning, and
that was to ask for the virtue of patience. They had launched that
day a vessel, they had appointed a crew, and they had certain ports
at which to call. Now, they might not make those ports as quickly
as some would think they ought to do, but let them have patience,
and so long as they were making progress, let them go on with the
scheme and he believed eventually they would get there. (Hear,
hear.) In offering to those gentlemen who took up that scheme their
thanks, he hoped that they would be able to look back in years to
come and not be sorry for their presence that day and in giving to
them the benefit of their addresses. (Applause.)

The resolution was carried with loud acclamation.

Dr. Addison said both Mr. Roberts and himself thanked them very
much indeed. He need not say more. (Applause.)

INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS

The Chairman said that concluded the meeting, and they now pro-
ceeded to an interesting little function. It was felt that the mem-
bers of the Council would like to make a presentation to Mr. Rown-
tree, Mr. Wethered, and Mr. Clay for the valuable work they had
done in connection with the formation of that Council. He asked
Mr. Rowntree's acceptance of a basalt bowl and two jasper vases,
Mr. Wethered's acceptance of two jasper cases of the "Dancing
Hours," and Mr. Clay's acceptance of a china tea set and a bust of
Scott in basalt ware.

Loud applause followed each presentation.

MR. ROWNTREE

Mr. Arnold Rowntree, M.P., responding in acceptance of the gift
presented to him, said that the suggestion of the joint Council di(
not come from Mr. Wethered, Mr. Clay and himself, as had beei
stated. It came first of all from that gathering of the operative
at Lawton Hall, and he and his friends were simply the vehicle
by which the suggestion came before the manufacturers, who c<
dially accepted it. Then they all came together at Lawton
and made the actual arrangements for carrying the matter to it
present stage. He thought the two right honorable gentlemen,

APPENDIX I 529

whom they had listened with so much interest, would agree that
that was exactly the way they liked things to happen; that it was
better for such a movement to be the spontaneous wish of the
trade, rather than there should be any undue pressure exerted from
the center.

It was important to remember that it was spontaneous because
to him, at any rate, that was such a justification of the greatness
of the general principles of the Whitley report. When he had
listened to them for four and a half days discussing this question,
he was certain when he saw the Whitley report, afterwards, that it
was founded on true and correct principles, because he had seen it
evolved by them. He did hope that the spirit in which the Council
had been formed would pervade its future deliberations. (Hear,
hear.) It was essential that whilst they must look to increased pro-
duction, and all that kind of thing, still it was essential that we
should not let the material side of commerce submerge us, but that
all along we should remember that we were dealing with human perv
sons, and that what we wanted was not merely the large amount,
but the production of real human citizens.

TRIBUTE TO CHAIRMAN

He believed that the result of the Council would be that they
would have a far greater pride in their industry, and that they
would have a far greater pride in the Potteries as a whole. He did
not forget that their Chairman was sitting in the right place. He
bore an honored name, which had made the Staffordshire pottery
industry famous all over the world. (Hear, hear.) Nor did he
forget that it was Major Wedgwood's happy chairmanship at the
employers' meeting that got them over many difficulties, and he
was delighted to think that Major Wedgwood was now in the
chair, presiding at that first Council meeting, and to think that the
Council was going to have the benefit of his personality and his
wise guiding spirit. He thanked them for their most generous
present, and he could tell them that all through his life he should
treasure it as one of the pleasantest and happiest gifts he had ever
received. He hoped his uproarious children would not break the
"jars" but that they would go down to further generations. (Laugh-
ter and applause.)

Mr. Wethered said he should value the vases very deeply. The
three days he spent at Lawton Hall marked an historic occasion, and
he took it as a great honor that they should have appointed him
an honorary member of that Council. He believed they had taken
the first definite step forward in a great policy. They were to be

530 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

congratulated not only in forming the first National Council but in
anticipating the Whitley report by two months. (Applause.)

Mr. Clay said it had been a privilege to be associated with the
members of the Council. The idea of the Council was sound, but
it was to be regretted that it had taken the war to teach them that
they must consolidate their forces to meet with success in the future
and to deal properly with the industrial problems that arose. It
was essentially the first step of reconstruction. He heartily thanked
them for the presents they had so kindly given him. (Applause).

The members of the Council then adjourned for dinner prior to
the evening meeting at the Victoria Hall, Hanley.

APPENDIX J

TRADE PARLIAMENTS

WHY THEY SHOULD BE FORMED

AND
How TO FORM ONE IN YOUR TRADE

An Explanation of the Whitley Report
TRADE PARLIAMENTS

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF INDUSTRY BY INDUSTRY ITSELF

The writer who desires to think accurately on trade questions
must start with three simple propositions. In the first place, almost
the whole duty of the British nation after the war — Government and
people alike — may be summed up in the phrase "Political and In-
dustrial Reconstruction." With the vast issues involved in political
reconstruction this pamphlet has nothing directly to do. It is worth
while to remember, however, that the task of rebuilding the political
fabric of the British Empire will be greatly simplified if merchants
and manufacturers, business men and working men, can reach some
broad basis of agreement about social and economic reconstruction.
The purely political work of our statesmen will be much easier if
the industrial and trading classes shoulder the main burden of in-
dustrial reconstruction themselves. It is the work of these classes
to prepare schemes, suggest policies and discuss possible lines of
development, leaving to the Government and Parliament in the main
the simpler task of putting their plans and ideas into final legisla-
tive form.

THE PROBLEM IS URGENT

Secondly, the business of industrial reconstruction is urgent. It
cannot wait. So essential is it to come to an early understanding
about the main principles of industrial policy that even while the
book of the war is still unfinished it is necessary to write the first
few chapters in the book of peace. To be ready for peace, we

531

532 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

must prepare during war. Unless our schemes for industrial re-
construction are well under way when peace is declared, our in-
dustrial competitors may easily steal a march on us, and a golden
opportunity be lost forever.

INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS OWN DEVELOPMENT

In the third place, while industrial reconstruction will be the work
of many minds, the direct contribution it is in the power of manu-
facturers and workpeople to make towards this great undertaking
cannot be over-rated. The statesman can help the matter forward
by his administrative ability, his power to see all sides of national
life and to blend the valuable parts of historical tradition with the
economic requirement of the new national environment. The ideal-
ist can help it forward by his dreams of a perfected industrial State.
But the principal task must lie in the hands of the practical men of
affairs, who have built up our great national trades, who are familiar
alike with the present industrial situation and with the needs of the
new industrial era on which we are entering. Each trade — that is
to say the brain and manual workers in each trade — has got a
sphere of almost incalculable importance in creating the new in-
dustry of the future.

THE WHITLEY REPORT

It is because these facts have been growing on the consciousness
of the country that the Whitley Report has aroused such intense in-
terest. In the United Kingdom it has been hailed with enthusiasm
in every quarter. It has many ardent supporters. It has few open
or avowed enemies. In Germany the prospect of British manufac-
turers adopting the principles of the Whitley Report is apparently
viewed with considerable disquietude. A leading newspaper in
South Germany, the "Miinchner Neueste Nachrichten," recently
said, in an article on the Report: "The attempts made by the Eng-
lish to reform industry deserve consideration by us also, since in
the great struggle after the war that nation will certainly come off
best which carries over unimpaired from the war period into peace
the ideal of work for the common good, and which takes due ac-
count not only in politics but in the organization of industry, of the
self-consciousness of the people which has grown so immensely
during the war. Without losing sight of our own special circum-
stances, we have every reason to follow with the greatest attentioi
the development of the situation in England." If this is the typical
attitude of our national enemies it is worth while pressing home the
moral of the Whitley Report. Although, as has been said, it has

APPENDIX J 533

its enthusiastic supporters, every new departure must make good
its case before a vast army of lukewarm Laodiceans. Mr. Bonar
Law has said that we must not spread the redemption of the national
debt over a long period of years, but that we must aim at its early
reduction to manageable proportions. Similarly it will be of little
avail for purposes of reconstruction if we take ten years or a gen-
eration to put into practical shape the ideas underlying the Whitley
Report. It must be now or never. What, then, is the great idea
underlying this historic document?

ITS ROOT IDEA

The great conception is that each industry is a unit. An in-
dustry is not a collection of individual firms, each of which has
no connection, except as a competitor, with all the others. Indus-
trial concerns, manufacturing or trading in the same commodity
or group of commodities, are not to be regarded as simply or even
mainly competing for the supply of the same or adjoining markets.
A trade is something bigger and finer than the mere sum of units
that compose it. It has its own problems, its own internal questions
of organization and methods of production, its own special sources
of raw material, its own peculiar difficulties regarding access to mar-
kets, home and foreign, its own particular attitude on the one hand
to capital and on the other hand to labor. Further, each trade
stands in a well-defined relation to the State, to the consuming pub-
lic, and to the transport and financial system, on which, in the
modern industrial world, all trades and businesses depend in the
last resort. Hitherto no trade has had a corporate organization.
When, as has happened during the war, the Government has de-
sired to deal with a trade as a whole, machinery for the purpose has
had often to be very hastily improvised. We have seen the ad-
vantage of industrial organization during war. It is plain that
such organization must have equal, or greater importance in the
subsequent time of peace.

THE ORGANIZATION OP AN INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL

• The form the organization of an industry should take has been
called the Industrial Council. Before analyzing its functions, it is
necessary to describe how such a Council should be constituted. In
the first place it is intended that each Council shall deal with the
whole trade or industry and not with any special branch. There
cannot be in one trade one Council representing Capital, another
representing Management, and a third representing Labor. The
whole object in having a Council is to bring together all the factors

534 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

in the trade. A trade does not belong to the Capitalist as such, nor
to Management as such, nor to Labor as such. But all these ele-
ments ought to be represented on the Council. Again, a Council
should not be composed of representatives of individual capitalists,
employers or workpeople. It ought to be an Association of Associ-
ations. In other words, it ought to consist of representatives of all
the employers' groups and of all the trade unions covered by the
particular industry.

AM ASSOCIATION OF EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS AND TRADE UNIONS

The formation of an Industrial Council does not make the pro-
vision of other forms of industrial union less essential. It rather
pre-supposes them. Without effective employers' associations, and
trade unions it is impossible to form a Council. The wider and the
more representative the collection of associations that appoint dele-
gates to the Council, the more effective it is likely to be.

NO INTERFERENCE WITH THE INDIVIDUAL MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIES

Again, the formation of an Industrial Council will not interfere
in the slightest degree with the existing system of business manage-
ment by individuals, firms and companies. The State has imposed
a large measure of control during war, to which all manufacturers,
large or small, have been compelled to conform. After the war
there is likely to be an instant and even a peremptory demand that
the State should release its grip and allow business to go back into
the old channels. Suppose, then, that in a given trade a Council
is set up during the war. What will be the position at the end of
the war? The Orders and Regulations of Government Departments
will gradually be abrogated and disappear. But the individual
manufacturer will find the situation very different from what it was
before the war. There may very well be a shortage of this or that
essential material, old markets may be closed and new markets
opened under novel conditions. This or that unexpected emergency
may arise. Here the utility of the Industrial Council will appear.
In that Council all questions affecting the welfare of the trade will
be discussed weekly or fortnightly or monthly as the case may be.
The whole experience of the trade, the knowledge of its leading
members about general conditions will be open and available to the
humblest member of the trade. He will still manage his business
himself, but he will have more than his own business ability and
knowledge to rely on. He will be able to draw on the whole experi-
ence and ability of the trade in order to reduce untoward risks and
to eliminate many causes of failure. Or if, in the interests of the

APPENDIX J 535

whole trade, some forms of regulation must be temporarily main-
tained after the war, it is better surely that these regulations should
be imposed by the trade itself than by the State. An Industrial
Council, properly manned, and with functions corresponding to its
own dignity and importance, is a better legislative body in all mat-
ters relating to the trade than a Government Department, however
well qualified, which has to rely on the opinions and judgment of
outsiders. An Industrial Council can speak for the trade. A Gov-
ernment Department, at the best, can only accept and act upon the
opinions of its own appointed experts whose knowledge may be
limited.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE STATE AND THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS

(1.) An Industrial Council would, then, in a particular industry
be composed of representatives of associations of employers and
working people, and would constitute an effective parliament or
representative body for the discussion of all matters referred to it
by agreement or legislative enactment or, in course of time, by the
custom of the trade. No Council can be formed without the assent
and cooperation of both employers and employed. The larger in-
terests of the industry as a whole, as contrasted with the interests
of an individual business, are the affair of all who derive their in-
come or livelihood from the industry, whether they are paid weekly,
monthly, or twice a year.

(2.) In order to safeguard the interests of the trade, and to deal
with special emergencies as they occur, the Council ought to meet
frequently. Its discussions must be open to the trade, reports of
its proceedings must be widely circulated, and every attempt must
be made to inform the whole trade of the results of its deliberations.

VARIETY OP CONSTITUTION ESSENTIAL

Within these limits there will be room for a great variety of con-
stitution and of methods of conducting the Councils. What is suit-
able for one industry will not necessarily be suitable for another in-
dustry. The important point is that every industry should have a
Council or representative body, and that this body should include
both workpeople and employers, and that its proceedings and de-
cisions should be fully reported to the trade.

THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL AS A FORUM FOR THE DISCUSSION OF ALIJ
INDUSTRIAL QUESTIONS

Mere machinery, it may be said, is quite unimportant. What

536 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

are the Councils to do once they are created? This is a point that
is often made, but, in the opinion of the writer, it overlooks one
vital fact. The mere creation of a representative body for each
industry would be in itself a highly important event. All the
authorities on the British Constitution are agreed that it is only one
of the functions of Parliament to act as a legislative body. Its
main function is to be the forum to which all matters affecting the
welfare of the people of the country can be brought for discussion.
Similarly an Industrial Council, by acting as a forum for the dis-
cussion of all trade questions, will enable all grievances to be ven-
tilated and all probable future perils to the industry to be antici-
pated, and, if possible, averted. The mere existence of Industrial
Councils will give a new status and power to British industry.

PROBLEMS OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD

But the question of function, although perhaps subsidiary, is
also important. Here the post-war period may be considered as
falling into two divisions: (1) the period immediately following the
peace — the transition period — and (2) the subsequent period, i.e.,
the period that will begin when industry shall have again settled
down into something like routine. The problems that an Industrial
Council will have to meet during the first period are obvious enough.

(a) DEMOBILIZATION

There are questions like demobilization. The Government will
want to know how many men will be required immediately after peace
in a given industry to meet the prospective demand of the consuming
public. Some industries are now essential for war purposes, other
industries will then be essential for peace purposes. Only a Council
representing the whole trade can give the Government the informa-
tion it requires or deal with the matter as a whole.

(b) APPRENTICESHIP

There is also the question of apprenticeship. Much former cus-
tom and usage have been shattered by the war. The temporary
adoption of conscription has naturally led to the inadequate train-
ing of the younger men and women. How this defective training
can be quickly made good, and what conditions of apprenticeship
shall be required in the future in view of the changed character of
many industries, these are problems on which the Government will
require advice that no authority but a representative Council is in a
position to offer. The war has taught us much about intensive
training and workshop organization. How far are we to profit
permanently by these lessons?

APPENDIX J 537

(c) RAW MATERIALS AND ALLIED QUESTIONS

Further, there are problems connected with the supply of raw
materials and their distribution which can only be dealt with in a
similar way. Many others may be suggested. But the desirability,
indeed, the absolute necessity, for such Councils will be apparent
when it is borne in mind that after the war the whole system of
international commerce and finance will be in the melting pot.

(d) THE CONFUSION OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD

It will be a time of extraordinary confusion. Even the largest
and best established industries will have to face tremendous prob-
lems. For smaller industries the situation may present irretrievable
dangers, unless they organize themselves betimes to ensure that their
needs are seriously considered and their place in the industrial sys-
tem made thoroughly secure.

THE PERMANENT PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRY

In the larger world, however, on which industry will enter after
the period of transition is over, these Councils will have an even
greater sphere of usefulness. The student of this side of the subject
would do well to read Mr. Benn's "Trade of To-morrow." The
Whitley Report enumerates a number of matters that may be handed
over to the Councils for special consideration and treatment. But
the eleven questions suggested as appropriate are merely illustrations
of the kind of work such bodies ought to undertake.

(a) RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

The provision of new sources of raw materials, the endowment
of special research work for making new raw materials available
and for reducing the number of processes and of cost in manu-
facture, the elaboration of schemes for technical and commercial
education, are important objects for which no single manufacturer
can provide, but on which the Council might throw much light.

(b) THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPORT TRADE

Further, the development of the export trade, as for instance by
the adoption of a better Consular Service or the cooperative employ-
ment of commission agents or travelers in foreign countries, these
are also matters which would naturaly devolve on the Council.

(c) HARMONY BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL

Thirdly, there is the great arroup of labor questions, on the proper
solution of which the whole social structure depends. In this con-

538 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

nection it is necessary to remember two points of surpassing im-
portance. The Labor Problem, as it is commonly called, is not
simply or even mainly a matter of wages or wage adjustments. It
is much rather a question of a consciously felt want of knowledge.
The community recognizes the worth and ability of Labor. But
Labor feels that many sides of modern industry are a closed book
to it. Questions of finance and bookkeeping, the whole commercial
and technical side of industry, are beyond its ken. Hence the in-
dignant protests of the whole modern Labor movement. It feels
itself in the grip of impersonal forces which act blindly, but which
it cannot control. Now the individual manufacturer may have a
difficulty in acting with labor in such matters in his own individual
business. But by giving representatives of Labor seats on the
Council Board of an industry the situation will be radically changed.
Knowledge of the general conditions of trade, the varying costs of
raw materials, the constantly recurring difficulties about finance and
transport in backward foreign markets — these are just a few illus-
trations of the thousand and one difficulties of the modern manu-
facturer which Labor will begin to know and appreciate.

INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS NOT WAGES BOARDS UNDER A NEW NAME

But again, if the individualistic manufacturer must widen his
range of vision to the conception of a trade as a whole, in which
Labor is interested jointly with Capital, the idea that an Industrial
Council is a new name for a kind of glorified Conciliation Board or
Wages Board must also completely disappear. Its objects are not
limited to the settlement of wage differences. Nothing need be
said against Conciliation Boards or similar bodies. They have done
useful service in the past, and they are capable of doing valuable
work in the future in a selected number of industries. But to-day,
to use a famous phrase of Burke, men's minds are being irresistibly
drawn to a higher conception of the part which Labor and Capital
can jointly play in shaping and controlling the industry of the fu-
ture. In this connection it is very important to remember the sub-
heading in Section 16 of the Whitley Report, which suggests for
special mention as falling to Industrial Councils such subjects as the
better utilization of the practical knowledge and experience of the
workpeople, and of inventions and improvements designed by work-
people, and the cooperation of the workpeople in carrying into effect
new ideas about the organization of industry and the improvement
of processes.

APPENDIX J 539

AN INDUSTRY NOT A COLLECTION OF SEPARATE FIRMS

All this is important because an industry must be considered,
as has already been said, as something more than a collection of in-
dividual firms. Each industry has a common viewpoint, common
problems, common interests. The manufacturer A.B. may have his
special interests, which differ from those of C.D., E.F., or G.H.
But besides these special interests of individual concerns there are
involved in every industry common objects or interests, and in the
discussion of these general problems in a large and statesmanlike
way, Labor is as much concerned as Capital. Indeed, it will prob-
ably surprise many employers when they first sit round a Council
Board to discuss with representatives of Labor the fundamental
problems of the industry, to discover how many ideas of substantial
worth Labor has to contribute towards their solution.

THE CORPORATE INTERESTS OF INDUSTRY IN ITS SPECIAL PROBLEMS

The modern industrial problem is too big for the small employers ;
it is too big for the larger employers, or even for all employers to-
gether. It demands a cooperative effort on the part of the best
brains of Labor as well as of Capital and Management. Such ability
will best be put at the service of industry through the establishment
of Industrial Councils in every industry.

It only remains, in conclusion, to point out the supreme advantages
to be gained by creating these Councils.

IMPROVED SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES

(1) They will eliminate the false distinction so often drawn be-
tween trade and the professions. Lawyers, doctors, and clergymen,
through their own organizations or guilds, have a definite profes-
sional status conferred on them by the State and recognized by the
general community, in virtue of which they all feel that in doing
their ordinary work they are rendering an important national service.
Trade is also a national service. By organizing industries in great
National Councils, not only manufacturers and traders, but the
artizans, and all ranks in industry would feel that they, too, were
professional men, performing work of national moment. To arouse
a real esprit de corps in industry will be a substantial national gain.

THE PLACE OF INDUSTRY IN THE COMMUNITY

(2) An industry knows its own needs better than any Government
or outside body. By setting up Industrial Councils we shall make
each industry, as it were, a self-conscious body, without in the least

540 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

detracting from the overriding authority of the State. Every in-
dustry will then for the first time have a recognized place in the body
politic. In this way also a new spirit will be created in each trade.
It will have a new sense of its own value and importance to the
community.

THE ADVANTAGE OF INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS TO THE STATE

(3) The State will also have a definite advantage, inasmuch as
for the first time it will have a single organization to approach in
all matters relating to a particular industry. Hitherto no one body
has been in a position to voice the needs or desires of a given trade.
The new arrangement will tend to greater simplification and ease of
working. The old multiplication of authorities will disappear, and
the adjustment of questions between an industry and the Government
of the day will be more smoothly and rapidly effected.

THE SELF-DEVELOPMENT OF EACH INDUSTRY

(4) An Industrial Council will prepare the way for the self-
development of each industry. Any persons with new ideas regard-
ing the better working of trade, better methods of production, new
processes, will have a responsible body to whom they can go. The
industry as a whole will have an organ for its own improvement.
And the control of that organ will rest not in the hands of a Gov-
ernment Department, but with the members of the trade itself.
Each industry will in a sense run itself and be responsible for its
adaptation to the requirements of each new situation that arises.

A STEPPING STONE TOWARDS INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION

(5) Last, but by no means least, the establishment of Industrial
Councils will go a long way to reconcile the divergent interests of
Labor and Capital. It will be the death blow of the persistent
fallacy that Labor is only interested in wages and Capital in profits.
The employer and the wage-earner will meet at the Council Board
not merely to discuss an increase or reduction of a halfpenny an
hour in the remuneration of Labor, but to consider the development
and the needs of the whole industry. Both sides in the age-long
economic conflict have an equal interest in the growth of their in-
dustry and in the discussion of its varied problems. What the fu-
ture relationships between Capital and Labor may be, time alone
can decide. Meantime the opportunity is open for an immense
stride forward. Let us seize it at once and work with both hands
earnestly to lay the foundations of a new era in the wonderful his-
tory of British trade and industry.

APPENDIX J 541

REPORT OF THE
INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION COUNCIL

REPORT FOB THE YEAR DECEMBER, 1917-1918

The close of this eventful and wonderful year brings also to an
end the first year's work of the Industrial Reconstruction Council.
The Council was founded in December, 1917, as a propagandist
body for the encouragement of the Trade Parliament movement,
and for the education of the business and general community to a
new conception of industry and to a true appreciation of the indus-
trial situation. The success which has attended all our efforts, the
crowded audiences at our meetings, the eager requests for our speak-
ers, the almost embarrassing demand upon our literature, are a
measure of the universal interest now taken in Industrial Recon-
struction and an indication of the real progress which the move-
ment for Industrial Self-Govermnent has made.

In our last Report, published at the half-year, it was stated that
there was hardly any trade that had not accepted the underlying
principles of the Whitley Report. Before reviewing in detail the
activities of the I.R.C., to which we venture to attribute a leading
share in this result, it may be useful to give a list of the joint bodies
now actually in existence and already at work on the problems of
reconstruction and industrial development. It will be remembered
that these are of three types : —

(a) Industrial Councils, established under the aegis of the Min-
istry of Labor in trades already well-organized on both
sides.

(b) Interim Industrial Reconstruction Committees, formed with
the help of the Ministry of Reconstruction in trades where
the degree of organization is not sufficient for the adoption
of the Constitution of an Industrial Council. These Com-
mittees are in all cases encouraging organization in their
respective trades, and will eventually transform themselves
into Industrial Councils.

(c) Trade Boards, set up by the Ministry of Labor in trades
where the organization on the workers' side is poor and the
wages are low. These bodies have done and are doing
good work, but in so far as they are imposed by the
Government upon a trade, with the primary function of
settling rates of pay, they cannot be placed in the same
category with the other two classes of bodies which are
created by the initiative of the trades themselves, and are

542

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

concerned not so much with the questions of wages and
profits as with the welfare and development of the indus-
try as a whole. It is hoped that as the status and organi-
zation of an industry improve, the Trade Board may be
superseded by an Interim Committee or an Industrial
Council,
(d) Provisional Committees which have been formed to draft

constitutions for Joint Industrial Councils.
Joint bodies in one or other of these categories now exist in the

following trades. Whatever the official title, most of them look

upon themselves as Trade Parliaments: —

Artificial Stone.

Baking.

Basket-making.

Blacksmiths and Farriers.

Bobbin and Shuttlemaking.

Boot and Shoe Trades.

Brass and Copper Trades.

Brush-making.

Building.

Cable-making.

Catering.

Cement.

Chain-making.

Chemicals (Heavy).

China Clay.

Clay.

Cocoa, Chocolate, Sugar

Confectionery and Jam.
Commercial Road Transport.
Coopering.
Cotton.
Cutlery.

Electrical Contracting.
Electricity, Power and Supply.
Envelopes and Manufactured

Stationery.
Fertilizers.
Furniture.
Furniture, Warehousing and

Removing.
Glass.
Gloves.

Gold, Silver, Horological and Al-
lied Trades.

Hollo w- ware ( Wrought ) .

Hosiery.

Hosiery (Scottish Section).

Iron and Steel Trades.

Lace Finishing.

Leather Goods and Belting.

Leather Production.

Linen and Cotton Embroidery.

Lock, Safe and Latch.

Matches.

Metallic Bedsteads.

Musical Trades.

Newspapers.

Packing Case Making.

Paint and Varnish.

Papermaking.

Paper and Cardboard Box-mak-
ing.

Patent Fuel.

Pottery.

Printing.

Quarrying.

Railway Carriage and Wagon
Building.

Roller Engraving.

Rubber.

Sawmilling.

Shipbuilding.

Shirt-making.

Silk.

APPENDIX J

543

Sugar Refining.

Surgical Instruments.

Tailoring.

Tin Box and Canister Making.

Tin Mining.

Tramways.

Vehicle Building.

Waterworks.
Wire Manufacturing.
Woolen and Worsted.
Woolen and Worsted
(Scottish Section).
Zinc and Spelter.

With negotiations now being carried on in every industry in the
country, frequent additions to this list may be expected, and we
may look forward with every hope to the establishment of a com-
plete system of Industrial Self-Government which will enable British
Industry to compete fairly and successfully with that of any other
nation in the world.

APPENDIX K

RULES FOR WORKING THE HANS RENOLD SHOP
STEWARDS COMMITTEE

1. — A representative may be appointed by and from each de-
partment to act as Shop Stewards, who shall retire at the end of
twelve months, but shall be eligible for reelection. Small Depart-
ments to be grouped and 2nd Ballot to be taken if no candidate
receives clear majority. Any department may appoint a provisional
to act in the absence of their elected representative.

2. — In addition to the above, a Chairman and Secretary, inde-
pendent of any one department, shall be elected at the Annual Meet-
ing, which shall be held in January. They shall act for twelve
months, and shall not be eligible for reelection to either of these
offices for a period of twelve months, but shall be eligible for elec-
tion as Shop Steward.

3. — The Shop Stewards shall be members of a recognized Trade
Union or a similar organization, and shall as near as possible repre-
sent all grades of labor.

4. — They shall meet regularly once a month, and on other neces-
sary occasions when summoned by the Secretary.

5. — At the first meeting after election they shall elect from their
own number an executive of seven including Chairman and Secre-
tary, whose duties shall include attendance at joint meetings held
regularly with the Management, to discuss business brought before
the full Committee.

6. — The Chairman and Secretary shall perform all such duties as
come within the scope of their respective offices, and together shall
be the recognized means of discussion with the Management upon
a request from either side for an interview.

7. — The representative of any department whose case is to be dis-
cussed with the Management must accompany the deputation to the
Management, whether he be a member of the Executive or not.

8. — The Shop Stewards shall require all in their department to
produce their contribution card once every three months, and no
business shall be brought before the Committee on behalf of a non-
unionist.

544

APPENDIX K 545

9. — No drastic action shall be taken in any part of the works, un-
less so decided by a two-thirds majority of a general meeting called
for that purpose, unless such action has been ordered by the Trades'
Union concerned.

10. — A copy of these rules shall be supplied at cost price to each
one working in a department represented on the Shop Stewards
Committee.

APPENDIX L

WORKSHOP COMMITTEES

SUGGESTED LINES OF DEVELOPMENT
BY C. G. RENOLD

PREFACE

Some time ago I was asked to prepare a memorandum on the
subject of Workshop Committees, for presentation to the British
Association, as a part of the report of a special Sub-committee study-
ing Industrial Unrest. The following pages contain the gist of that
memorandum, and are now issued in this form for the benefit of
some of those interested in the problem who may not see the orig-
inal report.

I have approached the subject with the conviction that the work-
er's desire for more scope in his working life can best be satisfied
by giving him some share in the directing of it; if not of the work
itself, at least of the conditions under which it is carried out. I
have tried, therefore, to work out in some detail the part which or-
ganizations of workers might play in works administration. And
believing as I do, that the existing industrial system, with all its
faults and injustices, must still form the basis of any future system,
I am concerned to show that a considerable development of joint
action between management and workers is possible, even under
present conditions.

Many of the ideas put forward are already incorporated to a
greater or lesser degree in the institutions of these works, but these
notes are not intended, primarily, as an account of our experiments,
still less as a forecast of the future plans of this firm. Our own
experience and hopes do however, form the basis of much here
written, and have inevitably influenced the general line of thought
followed.

C. G. RENOLD,
Hans Renold, Limited,
Manchester
546

APPENDIX L 547

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

SECTION I

Scope of Workers' Shop Organizations; Management questions which
could be devolved, wholly or in part.

1. Questions in connection with which Shop Organizations would pri-
marily benefit the Workers.

(a) Collective Bargaining.

( b ) Grievances.

(c) General Shop Conditions and Amenities.

(d) General Social Amenities.

2. Questions on which joint discussion would primarily be of advan-
tage to the Management.

(a) Interpretation of Management to Workers.

(b) Education in Shop Processes and Trade Technique.

(c) Promotion.

(d) Education in General Business Questions.

SECTION II

Types of Organization.

1. Requirements to be satisfied.

(a.) Keeping in Touch with the Trade Union.

(b) Representation of all Grades.

(c) Touch with Management.

(d) Rapidity of Action.

2. Influence of various industrial conditions on the type of organiza-
tion of Shop Committees.

(a) Type of Labor.

(b) Stability and Regularity of Employment.

(c) Elaboration of Management Organization.

3. Some Schemes suggested.

(a) Shop Stewards1 Committee.

(b) Social Union.

(c) Welfare Committee.

SECTION ITT

Summary and Conclusions of Sections I and II

SECTION IV

Comments on Working.

1. Relation with Shop Foremen.

2. Provision of facilities for committee work.

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the following notes it is assumed that the need is
realized for a new orientation of ideas with regard to industrial

548 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

management. It is further assumed that the trend of such ideas
must be in the direction of a devolution of some of the functions and
responsibilities of management on to the workers themselves. These
notes, therefore, are concerned mainly with considering how far this
devolution can be carried under present conditions, and the neces-
sary machinery for enabling it to operate.

Before passing, however, to detailed schemes, it is worth con-
sidering briefly what the aims of this devolution are.

It must be admitted that the conditions of industrial life fail to
satisfy the deeper needs of the workers, and that it is this failure,
even more than low wages, which is responsible for much of their
general unrest. Now the satisfaction to be derived from work de-
pends upon its being a means of self-expression. This again de-
pends on the power of control exercised by the individual over the
materials and processes used, and the conditions under which the
work is carried out, or in the case of complicated operations, where
the individual can hardly be other than a "cog in the machine," —
on the willingness, understanding, and imagination with which he
undertakes such a role. In the past the movement in industry, in
this respect, has been all in the wrong direction, namely, a continual
reduction of freedom, initiative, and interest, involving an accentua-
tion of the "cog-in-the-machine" status. Moreover, it has too often
produced a "cog" blind and unwilling, with no perspective or under-
standing of the part it plays in the general mechanism of produc-
tion, or even in any one particular series of operations.

Each successive step in the splitting up and specializing of opera-
tions has been taken with a view to promoting efficiency of pro-
duction, and there can be no doubt that efficiency, in a material sense,
has been achieved thereby, and the productivity of industry greatly
increased. This has been done, however, at the cost of pleasure and
interest in work, and the problem now is how far these could be
restored, as, for instance, by some devolution of management re-
sponsibility on to the workers, and how far such devolution is pos-
sible under the competitive capitalist system, which is likely to dom-
inate industry for many long years to come.

Under the conditions of capitalist industry any scheme of devolu-
tion of management can only stand provided it involves no net loss
of productive efficiency. It is believed, however, that even within
these limits, considerable progress in this direction is possible, doubt-
less involving some detail loss, but with more than compensating
gains in general efficiency. In this connection it must be remem-
bered that the work of very many men, probably of most, is given
more or less unwillingly, and even should the introduction of more

APPENDIX L 549

democratic methods of business management entail a certain amount
of loss of mechanical efficiency, due to the greater cumbersomeness
of democratic proceedings, if it can succeed in obtaining more will-
ing work and cooperation, the net gain in productivity would be
enormous.

Important and urgent as is this problem of re-arranging the ma-
chinery of management, to enable responsibility and power to be
shared with the workers, another and preliminary step is even more
pressing. This is the establishing of touch and understanding be-
tween employer and employed, between management and worker.
Quite apart from the many real grievances under which workers in
various trades are suffering at the present time, there is a vast
amount of bad feeling, due to misunderstanding, on the part of
each side, of the aims and motives of the other. Each party, be-
lieving the other to be always ready to play foul, finds in every move
easy evidence to support its bitterest suspicions. The workers are
irritated beyond measure by the inefficiency and blundering in or-
ganization and management which they detect on every side, and
knowing nothing of business management cannot understand or
make allowance for the enormous difficulties under which employers
labor at the present time. Similarly, employers are too ignorant
of trade union affairs to appreciate the problems which the present
"lightning transformation" of industry present to those responsible
for shaping trade union policy; nor is the employer generally in
close enough human touch to realize the effect of the long strain of
war work, and of the harassing restrictions of personal liberty.

More important therefore than any reconstruction of management
machinery, more important even than the remedying of specific
grievances, is the establishing of some degree of ordinary human
touch and sympathy between management and men.

This also has an important bearing on any discussion with re-
gard to developing machinery for joint action. It cannot be em-
phasized too strongly that the hopefulness of any such attempt lies,
not in the perfection of the machinery, nor even in the wideness of
the powers of self-government granted to the workers, but in the
degree to which touch and, if possible, friendliness can be estab-
lished. It should be realized, for instance, by employers, that time
spent on discussing and ventilating alleged grievances which turn
out to be no grievances, may be quite as productive of understanding
and good feeling as the removal of real grievances.

Passing now to constructive proposals for devolution of man-
agement, the subject is here dealt with mainly in two stages.

Under Section I, some of the functions of management which

550 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

most concern the workers are considered, with a view to seeing how
far the autocratic (or bureaucratic) secrecy and exclusiveness which
usually surround business management, as far as workers are con'
cerned, is really unavoidable, or how far it could be replaced by
democratic discussion and joint action. The conclusion is that there
is no reason inherent in the nature of the questions themselves why
this cannot be done to a very considerable extent.

Section II deals with the second stage referred to, and considers
the machinery needed to make such joint action, as is suggested in
Section I, workable — a very different matter from admitting that
in itself it is not impossible! The apparent complication of such
machinery is doubtless a difficulty, but it is not insuperable, and is
in practice less formidable than it seems at first sight. It must be
realized, however, that the degree of elaboration of the machinery
for joint working, adopted by any particular industry or firm,
must be in relation to the elaboration of the existing management
system. It would be quite impossible for many of the refinements
of discussion and joint action suggested to be adopted by a firm
whose ordinary business organization was crude, undeveloped, and
unsystematic. This point is more fully dealt with in this section.

Section III contains a summary of the scheme of Committees
contained in Section II, showing the distribution to each committee
of the various questions discussed in Section I.

In Section IV some comments are made, based on actual experi-
ence of an attempt to institute machinery of the kind discussed,
and some practical hints are given which may be of assistance to
others.

SECTION I

SCOPE OF WORKERS' SHOP ORGANIZATIONS; MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS
WHICH COULD BE DEVOLVED, WHOLLY OR IN PART

It is proposed in this section to consider the activities which or-
ganizations of workers within the workshop might undertake with-
out any radical reorganization of industry. What functions and
powers, usually exercised by the management, could be devolved on
to the workers, and what questions, usually considered private by
the management, could be made the subject of explanation and con-
sultation? The number of such questions as set out in this sec-
tion may appear very formidable, and is possibly too great to be
dealt with, except by a very gradual process. No thought is given
at this stage, however, to the machinery which would be necessary
for achieving so much joint working, the subject being considered

APPENDIX L 551

rather with a view to seeing how far, and in what directions, the
inherent nature of the questions themselves would make it possible
or advisable to break down the censorship and secrecy which sur-
round business management.

In the list which follows, obviously not all questions are of equal
urgency, those being most important which provide means of con-
sultation and conciliation in regard to such matters as most fre-
quently give rise to disputes, namely, wage and piece-rate questions,
and to a lesser degree, workshop practices and customs. Any
scheme of joint working should begin with these matters, the others
being taken over as the machinery settles down and it is found
practicable to do so. How far any particular business can go will
depend on the circumstances of the trade, and on the type of or-
ganization in operation.

Though machinery for conciliation in connection with existing
troubles, such as those mentioned, must be the first care, some of the
other matters suggested in this section — e.g., safety and hygiene,
shop amenities, etc. — should be dealt with at the earliest possible
moment. Such subjects, being less controversial, offer an easier
means of approach for establishing touch and understanding be-
tween managers and men.

The suggestions in this section are divided into two main groups,
but this division is rather a matter of convenience than an indica-
tion of any vital difference in nature. The suggestions are ar-
ranged in order of urgency, those coming first where the case for
establishing a workers' shop organization is so clear as to amount to
a right, and passing gradually to those where the case is more and
more questionable. The first group, therefore, contains all those
items where the case is clearest and in connection with which the
immediate benefits would fall to the workers. The second group
contains the more questionable items, which lie beyond the region
where the shoe actually pinches the worker. These questions are
largely educational, and the immediate benefil of action, considered
as a business proposition, would accrue to the management through
the greater understanding of management and business difficulties
on the part of the workers.

1. Questions in connection with which Shop Organizations would

primarily benefit the Workers.

This group deals with those matters where the case for establish-
ing shop organizations, to meet the need of the workers, is clearest,
(a) Collective Bargaining.

There is a need for machinery for carrying this function of the

552 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

trade union into greater and more intimate workshop detail than
is possible by any outside body. A workshop organization might
supplement the ordinary trade union activities in the following
directions : —

1. Wages.

(NOTE. — General standard rates would be fixed by negotiation
with the trade union for an entire district, not by committees of
workers in individual works.)

To ensure the application of standard rates to individuals, to
see that they get the benefit of the trade union agreements.

Where a scale of wages, instead of a single rate, applies to a
class of work (the exact figure varying according to the experi-
ence, length of service, etc., of the worker) to see that such scales
are applied fairly.

To see that promises of advances (such as those made, for in-
stance, at the time of engagement) are fulfilled.

To see that apprentices, on completing their time, are raised to
the standard rate by the customary or agreed steps.

2. Piece-Work Bates.

(It is assumed that the general method of rate fixing — e.g., the
adoption of time study or other method — would be settled with the
local trade unions.)

To discuss with the management the detailed methods of rate
fixing, as applied either to individual jobs or to particular classes
of work.

Where there is an agreed relation between time rates and piece
rates as, for instance, in engineering, to see that individual piece
rates are so set as to yield the standard rate of earning.

To discuss with the management reduction of piece rates where
these can be shown to yield higher earnings than the standard.

To investigate on behalf of the workers complaints as to in-
ability to earn the standard rate. For this purpose all the data
and calculations, both with regard to the original setting of the
rate and with regard to time booking on a particular job, would
have to be open for examination.
NOTE. — It is doubtful whether a shop committee, on account of
its cumbersomeness, could ever handle detail, individual rates, except
where the jobs dealt with are so large or so standardized as to make
the number of rates to be set per week quite small. A better plan
would be for a representative of the workers, preferably paid by
them, to be attached to the rate-fixing department of a works, to
check all calculations, and to look after the workers' interests gen-

APPENDIX L 553

erally. He would report to a shop committee, whose discussions
with the management would then be limited to questions of principle.

3. Watching the Application of Special Legislation, Awards, or
Agreements — e.g.,

Munitions of War Act, Dilution, Leaving Certificates, etc.
Recruiting, Exemptions.

After- War-Arrangements, Demobilization of War Industries,
Restoration of Trade Union Conditions, etc.

4. Total Hours of Work.

To discuss any proposed change in the length of the standard
week. This could only be done by the workers' committee of an
individual firm, provided the change were within the standards
fixed by agreement with the local union or those customary in the
trade.

5. New Processes or Change of Process.

Where the management desire to introduce some process which
will throw men out of employment, the whole position should be
placed before a shop committee to let the necessity be understood,
and to allow it to discuss how the change may be brought about
with the least hardship to individuals.

6. Grades of Worker for Types of Machine.

Due to the introduction of new types of machines, and to the
splitting up of processes, with the simplification of manipulation
sometimes entailed thereby, the question of the grade of worker to
be employed on a given type of machine continually arises. Many
such questions are so general as to be the subject of trade union
negotiation, but many more are quite local to particular firms.
For either kind there should be a works committee within the
works to deal with their application there.

(&) Grievances.

The quick ventilating of grievances and injustices to individuals
or to classes of men, is of the greatest importance in securing good
feeling. The provision of means for voicing such complaints acts
also as a check to petty tyranny, and is a valuable help to the higher
management in giving an insight into what is going on.

A shop committee provides a suitable channel in such cases as
the following: —

Alleged petty tyranny by foremen.

Hard cases arising out of too rigid application of rules, etc.

Alleged mistakes in wages or piece work payments.

Wrongful dismissal, e.g., for alleged disobedience, etc., etc.

554 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

In all cases of grievances or complaints it is most important that
the body bringing them should be of sufficient weight and standing
to speak its mind freely.
(c) General Shop Conditions and Amenities.

On all those questions which affect the community life of the fac-
tory, the fullest consultation is necessary, and considerable self-
government is possible.

The following indicate the kind of question: —

1. Shop Rules.

Restriction of smoking.
Tidiness, cleaning of machines, etc.
Use of lavatories and cloakrooms.
Provision, care, and type of overalls.
Time-booking arrangements.
Wage-paying arrangements, etc., etc.

2. Maintenance of Discipline.

It should be possible to promote such a spirit in a works that,
not only could the workers have a say in the drawing up of Shop
Rules, but the enforcing of them could also be largely in their
hands. This would be particularly desirable with regard to :—

Enforcing good time-keeping.

Maintaining tidiness.

Use of lavatories and cloakrooms.

Promoting a high standard of general behavior.

Etc., etc.

3. Working Conditions.

Meal hours, starting and stopping times.
Arrangements for holidays, etc.
Arrangement of shifts, night work, etc.

4. Accidents and Sickness.

Safety appliances and practices.
Machine guards, etc.
Administration of First Aid.
Rest room arrangements.
Medical examination and advice.

5. Dining Service.

Consultation re requirements.
Criticisms of and suggestions re service.
Control of discipline and behavior.
Seating arrangements, etc.

APPENDIX L 555

6. Shop Comfort and Hygiene.

Suggestions re temperature, ventilation, washing accommo-
dation, drying clothes, etc.
Provision of seats at work, where possible.
Drinking water supply.

7. Benevolent Work.

Shop collections for charities or hard cases among fellow
workers.

Sick Club, Convalescent Home, etc.
Saving Societies.
(d) General Social Amenities.

A works tends to become a center of social activities having no
direct connection with its work, for example: —
Works Picnics.

Games, e.g., Cricket, Football, etc.
Musical Societies.
Etc., etc.

These should all be organized by committees of the workers and
not by the management.

2. Questions on which joint discussion would primarily be of ad-
vantage to the Management.

In this group are those questions with regard to which there is
no demand put forward by the workers, but where discussion and
explanation on the part of the management would be desirable,
and would tend to ease some of the difficulties of management.
The institution of works committees would facilitate discussion and
explanation in the following instances: —

(a) Interpretation of Management to Workers.

In any case of new rules or new developments, or new workshop
policy, there is always the greatest difficulty in getting the rank and
file to understand what the management is "getting at." However
well-meaning the change may be as regards the workers, the mere
fact that it is new and not understood is likely to lead to opposi-
tion. If the best use is made of committees of workers, such
changes, new developments, etc., would have been discussed, and
explained to them, and it is not too much to expect that the mem-
bers of such committees would eventually spread a more correct
and sympathetic version of the management's intentions among
their fellow-workers than these could get in any other way.

(b) Education in Shop Processes and Trade Technique.

The knowledge of most workers is limited to the process with
which they are concerned, and they would have a truer sense of

556 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

industrial problems if they understood better the general technique
of the industry in which they are concerned, and the relation of their
particular process to others in the chain of manufacture from raw
material to finished article.

It is possible that some of this education should be undertaken
by technical schools, but their work in this respect can only be of
a general nature, leaving still a field for detailed teaching which
could only be undertaken in connection with an individual firm, or
a small group of similar firms. Such education might well begin
with the members of the committee of workers, though if found
feasible it should not stop there, but should be made general for the
whole works. Any such scheme should be discussed and worked
out in conjunction with a committee of workers, in order to obtain
the best from it.
(c) Promotion.

It is open to question whether the filling of any given vacancy
could profitably be discussed between the management and the
workers.

In connection with such appointments as shop foremen, where
the position is filled by promoting a workman or "leading hand/'
it would at least be advisable to announce the appointment to the
workers' committee before making it generally known. It might
perhaps be possible to explain why a particular choice had been
made. This would be indicated fairly well by a statement of the
qualities which the management deemed necessary for such a post,
thereby tending to head off some of the jealous disappointment
always involved in such promotions, especially where the next in
seniority is not taken.

It has of course been urged, generally by extremists, that work-
men should choose their own foremen by election, but this is not
considered practical politics at present, though it may become pos-
sible and desirable when workers have had more practice in tl
exercise of self-management to the limited degree here proposed.

One of the difficulties involved in any general discussion of pro-
motions, is the fact that there are so many parties concerned, am
all from a different point of view. For example, in the appoint-
ment of a foreman, the workers are concerned as to how far th(
new man is sympathetic and helpful, and inspiring to work for.
The other foremen are concerned with how far he is their equal in
education and technical attainments, social standing, length oi
service, i.e., as to whether he would make a good colleague. The
manager is concerned, among other qualities, with his energy, loy-
alty to the firm, and ability to maintain discipline. Each of these

APPENDIX L 557

three parties is looking for three different sets of qualities, and it
is not often that a candidate can be found to satisfy all. Whose
views then should carry most weight — the men's, the other fore-
men's, or the manager's?

It is quite certain, however, that it is well worth while making
some attempt to secure popular understanding and approval of
appointments made, and a worker's committee offers the best op-
portunity for this.

It would be possible to discuss a vacancy occurring in any grade
with all the others in that grade. For example, to discuss with all
shop foremen the possible candidates to fill a vacancy among the
foremen. This is probably better than no discussion at all, and
the foremen might be expected, to some extent, to reflect the feeling
among their men. Here again, the establishing of any such scheme
might well be discussed with the committee of workers.
(d) Education in General Business Questions.

This point is still more doubtful than the preceding. Employers
continually complain that the workers do not understand the re-
sponsibilities and the risks which they, as employers, have to carry,
and it would seem desirable therefore to take some steps to enable
them to do so. In some directions this would be quite feasible, e.g.:

1. The reasons should be explained and discussed for the establish-
ment of new works departments, or the re-organization of ex-
isting ones, the relation of the new arrangement to the general
manufacturing policy being demonstrated.

2. Some kind of simplified works statistics might be laid before a
committee of workers. For example:

Output.

Cost of new equipment installed.

Cost of tools used in given period.

Cost of raw material consumed.

Numbers employed.

Amount of bad work produced.

3. Reports of activities of other parts of the business might be
laid before them :

1. From the commercial side, showing the difficulties to be
met, the general attitude of customers to the firm, etc.

2. By the chief technical departments, design office, labora-
tory, etc., as to the general technical developments or diffi-
culties that were being dealt with. Much of such work need
not be kept secret, and would tend to show the workers that
other factors enter into the production of economic wealth
besides manual labor.

558 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

4. Simple business reports, showing general trade prospects,
might be presented. These are perhaps most difficult to give,
in any intelligible form, without publishing matter which every
management would object to showing. Still, the attempt would
be well worth making, and would show the workers how nar-
row is the margin between financial success and failure on
which most manufacturing businesses work. Such statistics
might, perhaps, be expressed not in actual amounts but as
proportions of the wages bill for the same period.

SECTION II

TYPES OF ORGANIZATION

Having dealt in the previous section with the kinds of questions,
which, judged simply by their nature, would admit of joint discus-
sion or handling, it is now necessary to consider what changes are
needed in the structure of business management to carry out such
proposals. The development of the necessary machinery presents
very considerable difficulties on account of the slowness of action
and lack of executive precision which almost necessarily accom-
pany democratic organization, and which it is the express object of
most business organizations to avoid.

The question of machinery for joint discussion and action is con-
sidered in this section in three aspects: —

1. The requirements which such machinery must satisfy.

2. The influence of various industrial conditions on the type of
machinery likely to be adopted in particular trades or works.

3. Some detailed suggestions of shop committees of varying scope.

1. Requirements to be satisfied
(a) Keeping in Touch with the Trade Union.

It is obvious that no works committee can be a substitute for the
trade union, and no attempt must be made by the employer to use
it in this way. To allay any trade union suspicion that this is the
intention, and to ensure that the shop committee links up with the
trade union organization, it would be advisable to see that the trade
union is represented in some fairly direct manner. This is spe-
cially important for any committee dealing with wages, piece work
and such other working conditions as are the usual subject of trade
union action.

In the other direction, it will be necessary for the trade unionists
to develop some means of working shop committees into their scheme
of organization, otherwise there will be the danger of a works com-

APPENDIX L 559

mittee, able to act more quickly through being on the spot, usurping
the place of the local district committee of the trade unions.

(b) Representation of all Grades.

The desirability of having all grades of workers represented on
works committees is obvious, but it is not always easy to carry out
owing to the complexity of the distribution of labor in most works.
Thus, it is quite common for a single department, say in an engi-
neering works, to contain several grades of workers, from skilled
tradesmen to laborers, and possibly women. These grades will be-
long to different unions, and there may even be different, and per-
haps competing, unions represented in the same grade. Many of
the workers also will not be in any union at all.

(c) Touch with Management.

As a large part of the aim of the whole development is to give
the workers some sense of management problems and point of view,
it is most desirable that meetings between works committees and
management should be frequent and regular, and not looked on
merely as means of investing grievances or deadlocks when they
arise. The works committee must not be an accidental excrescence
on the management structure, but must be worked into it so as to
become an integral part, with real and necessary functions.

(d) Rapidity of Action.

Delays in negotiations between employers and labor are a constant
source of irritation to the latter. Every effort should be made to
reduce them. Where this is impossible, due to the complication of
the questions involved, the works committee should be given enough
information to convince it of this, and that the delay is not a de-
liberate attempt to shirk the issue.

On the other hand, the desire to attain rapidity of action should
not lead to haphazard and "scratch" discussions or negotiations.
These will only result in confusion, owing to the likelihood that
some of those who ought to take part or be consulted over each
question will be left out, or have insufficient opportunity for weigh-
ing up the matter. The procedure for working with or through
works committees must, therefore, be definite and constitutional, so
that every one knows how to get a grievance or suggestion put for-
ward for consideration, and every one concerned will be sure of re-
ceiving due notice of the matter.

The procedure must not be so rigid, however, as to preclude
emergency negotiations to deal with sudden crises.

560 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

2. Influence of various industrial conditions on the type of organi-
zation of Shop Committees.

There is no one type of shop committee that will suit all condi-
tions. Some industries can develop more easily in one direction
and some in another, and in this subsection are pointed out some
of the conditions which are likely to influence this.
(a) Type of Labor.

The constitution of works committees, or the scheme of commit-
tees, which will suitably represent the workers of any particular
factory, will depend very largely on the extent to which different
trades and different grades of workers are involved.

In the simplest kind of works, where only one trade or craft is
carried out, the workers, even though of different degrees of skill,
would probably all be eligible for the same trade union. In such
a case a purely trade union organization, but based of course on
works departments, would meet most of the requirements, and would
probably, in fact, be already in existence.

In many works, however, at least in the engineering industry, a
number of different "trades" are carried on. For instance, turn-
ing, automatic machine operating, blacksmithing, pattern-making,
foundry work, etc. Many of these trades are represented by the
same trade union, though the interests of the various sections are
often antagonistic, e.g., in the case of turners and automatic ma-
chine operators. Some of the other trades mentioned belong to
different unions altogether. In addition to these "tradesmen," will
be found semi-skilled and unskilled laborers. For the most part
these will belong to no union, though a few may belong to laboring
unions which, however, have no special connection with the engi-
neering unions. In addition to all these, there may be women, whose
position in relation to men's unions is still uncertain, and some of
whose interests will certainly be opposed to those of some of the
men.

The best way of representing all these different groups will de-
pend on their relative proportion and distribution in any given
works. Where women are employed in any considerable numbers,
it will probably be advisable for them to be represented inde-
pendently of the men. For the rest it will probably be necessary
to have at least two kinds of works committees: one representing
trade unionists as such, chosen for convenience by departments, the
other representing simply works departments. The first would deal
with wages and the type of question usually forming the subject of
discussion between employers and trade unions. The other would
deal with all other workshop conditions. The first, being based on

APPENDIX L 561

trade unions, would automatically take account of distinctions be-
tween different trades and different grades, whereas the second
would be dealing with those questions in which such distinctions do
not matter very much.

(b) Stability and Regularity of Employment.

Where work is of an irregular or seasonal nature and workers
are constantly being taken on and turned off, only the very simplest
kind of committee of workers would be possible. In such industries
probably nothing but a trade union organization within the works
would be possible. This would draw its strength from the existence
of the trade union outside, which would, of course, be largely inde-
pendent of trade fluctuations, and would be able to reconstitute the
works committee as often as necessary, thus keeping it in existence,
even should most of the previous members had been discharged
through slackness.

(c) Elaboration of Management Organization.

The extent to which management functions can be delegated, or
management questions and policy be discussed with the workers, de-
pends very largely on the degree of completeness with which the
management itself is organized. Where this is haphazard and man-
agement consists of a succession of emergencies, only autocratic
control is possible, being the only method which is quick-acting and
mobile enough. Therefore, the better organized and more con-
stitutional (in the sense of having known rules and procedures) the
management is, the more possible is it for policy to be discussed with
the workers.

3. Some schemes suggested.

The following suggestions for shop organizations of workers are
intended to form one scheme. Their individual value, however,
does not depend on the adoption of the scheme as a whole, each be-
ing good as far as it goes.

(a) Shop Stewards Committee.

As pointed out in the last sub-section, in a factory where the
trade union is strong, there will probably be a shop stewards or
trade union committee already in existence. This is, of course, a
committee of workers only, elected generally by the trade union
members in the works, to look after their interests and to conduct
negotiations for them with the management. Sometimes the stew-
ards carry out other purely trade union work, such as collecting
subscriptions, obtaining new members, explaining union rules, etc.

562 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Such a committee is the most obvious and simplest type of works
committee, and where the composition of the shop is simple, i.e.,
mainly one trade, with no very great differences in grade, a shop
stewards committee could deal with many of the questions laid down
as suitable for joint handling.

It is doubtful, however, whether a shop stewards committee can,
or should, cover the full range of workers' activities, except in the
very simplest type of works. The mere fact that, as a purely trade
union organization, it will deal primarily with wages and piece-
work questions, will tend to introduce an atmosphere of bargaining,
which would make the discussion of more general questions very dif-
ficult. Further, such a committee would be likely to consider very
little else than the interests of the trade union, or of themselves as
trade unionists. While this is no doubt quite legitimate as regards
such questions as wages, the more general questions of workshop
amenities should be considered from the point of view of the works
as a community in which the workers have common interests with
the management in finding and maintaining the best conditions pos-
sible. Moreover, in many shops, where workers of widely differing
grades and trades are employed, a shop stewards committee is not
likely to represent truly the whole of the workers, but only the
better organized sections.

The shop stewards committee, in the engineering trade at least,
is fairly certain to constitute itself without any help from the man-
agement. The management should hasten to recognize it, and give
it every facility for carrying on its business, and should endeavor
to give it a recognized status and to impress it with a sense of re-
sponsibility.

It would probably be desirable that shop stewards should be
elected by secret ballot rather than by show of hands in open meet-
ing, in order that the most responsible men may be chosen, and not
merely the loudest talkers or the most popular. It seems better,
also, that stewards should be elected for a certain definite term,
instead of holding office, as is sometimes the case now, until they
resign, leave the firm, or are actually deposed. The shop stewards
committee, being primarily a workers' and trade union affair, both
these points are outside the legitimate field of action of the manage-
ment. The latter's willingness to recognize and work through the
committee should, however, confer some right to make suggestions
even in such matters as these.

The facilities granted by the management might very well include
a room on the works premises in which to hold meetings., and a place
to keep papers, etc. If works conditions make it difficult for the

APPENDIX L 563

stewards to meet out of work hours, it would be well to allow them
to hold committee meetings in working hours at recognized times.
The management should also arrange periodic joint meetings with
the committee, to enable both sides to bring forward matters for
discussion.

The composition of the joint meeting between the committee of
shop stewards and the management is worth considering shortly.
In the conception here set forth, the shop stewards committee is a
complete entity by itself; it is not merely the workers' section of
some larger composite committee of management and workers.
The joint meetings are rather in the nature of a standing arrange-
ment on the part of the management for receiving deputations from
the workers. For this purpose, the personnel of the management
section need not be fixed, but could well be varied according to the
subjects to be discussed. It should always include, however, the
highest executive authority concerned with the works. For the rest,
there might be the various departmental managers, and, sometimes,
some of the foremen. As the joint meeting is not an instrument
of management, taking decisions by vote, the number of the man-
agement contingent does not really matter, beyond assuring that all
useful points of view are represented.

Too much importance can hardly be laid on the desirability of
regular joint meetings, as against ad hoc meetings called to discuss
special grievances. According to the first plan, each side becomes
used to meeting the other in the ordinary way of business, say, once
a month, when no special issue is at stake, and no special tension
is in the air. Each can hardly fail to absorb something of the
other's point of view. At a special ad hoc meeting on the other
hand, each side is apt to regard as its business, not the discussion
of a question on its merits, but simply the making out of a case.
And the fact that a meeting is called specially means that expecta-
tions of results are raised among the other workers, which make it
difficult to allow the necessary time or number of meetings for the
proper discussion of a complicated question.

Where women are employed in considerable numbers along with
men, the question of their representation by stewards becomes im-
portant. It is as yet too early to say how this situation can best be
met. If they are eligible for membership of the same trades unions
as the men, the shop stewards committee might consist of repre-
sentatives of both. But, considering the situation which will arise
after the war, when the interests of the men and of the women will
often be opposed, this solution does not seem very promising at
present.

564 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Another plan would be for a separate women's shop stewards
committee to be formed, which would also meet the management
periodically and be, in fact, a duplicate of the men's organization.
It would probably also hold periodic joint meetings with the men's
committee, to unify their policies as far as possible. This plan is
somewhat cumbersome, but it seems to be the only one feasible at
present on account of the divergence of interest and the very dif-
ferent stage of development in organization of men and women.

(b) Social Union.

Some organization for looking after recreation is in existence in
many works, and if not, there is much to be said for the institution
of such a body as the social union here described.

Although the purpose which calls together the members of a works
community is, of course, not the fostering of social life and ameni-
ties, there is no doubt that members of such communities do attain a
fuller life and more satisfaction from their association together,
when common recreation is added to common work. It may, of
course, be urged, against such a development of community life in
industry, that it is better for people to get away from their work
and to meet quite another set in their leisure times. This is no
doubt true enough, but the number of people who take advantage
of it is probably very much less than would be affected by social
activities connected with the works. The development of such ac-
tivities will, in consequence, almost certainly have more effect in
spreading opportunities for fuller life than it will have in restrict-
ing them. Moreover, if the works is a large one, the diffrences in
outlook between the various sections are perhaps quite as great as
can be met with outside. For this reason, the cardinal principle for
such organizations is to mix up the different sections and grades,
especially the works and the office departments.

The sphere of the social union includes all activities other than
those affecting the work for which the firm is organized. This
sphere being outside the work of the firm, the organization should
be entirely voluntary and in the hands of the workers, though the
management may well provide facilities such as rooms and playing
fields.

Two main schemes of organization are usual. In the first a
general council is elected by the members, or, if possible, by all the
employees, irrespective of department or grade. This council is
responsible for the general policy of the social union, holds the
funds, and undertakes the starting and supervising of smaller or-
ganizations for specific purposes. Thus, for each activity a club

APPENDIX L 565

or society would be formed under the auspices of the council. The
clubs would manage their own affairs and make their own detail
arrangements.

It is most desirable that the social union should be self-supporting
as far as running expenses go, and should not be subsidized by the
management, as is sometimes done. A small subscription should be
paid weekly by every member, such subscription admitting them
to any or all clubs. The funds should be held by the council, and
spent according to the needs of the various clubs, not according to
the subscriptions traceable to the membership of each. This is
very much better than making the finances of each club self-support-
ing, since it emphasizes the "community" feeling, is very simple,
and enables some forms of recreation to be carried on which could
not possibly be made to pay for themselves.

The second general type of social union organization involves
making the clubs themselves the basis. Each levies its own sub-
scriptions and pays its own expenses, and the secretaries of the clubs
form a council for general management. This is a less desirable
arrangement because each member of the council is apt to regard
himself as there only to look after the interests of his club, rather
than the whole. The starting of new activities is also less easy
than under the first scheme.

(c) Welfare Committee.

The two organizations suggested so far, viz., shop stewards com-
mittee and social union, do not cover the whole range of functions
outlined in Section I. In considering how much of that field still
remains to be covered, it is simplest first to mark off, mentally, the
sphere of the social union, viz., social activities outside working
hours. This leaves clear the real problem, viz., all the questions
affecting the work and the conditions of work of the firm. These
are then conceived as falling into two groups. First there are
those questions in which the interests of the workers may be op-
posed to those of the employer. These are concerned with such
matters as wage and piece rates, penalties for spoiled work, etc.
With regard to these, discussion is bound to be of the nature of
bargaining, and these are the field for the shop stewards committee,
negotiating by means of the periodical joint meetings with the man-
agement.

There remains, however, a second class of question, in which
there is no clash of interest between employer and employed. These
are concerned mainly with regulating the "community life" of the
works, and include all questions of general shop conditions and

566 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

amenities, and the more purely educational matters. For dealing
with this group a composite committee of management and work-
ers, here called the Welfare Committee, is suggested.
This would consist of two parts: —

1. Representatives elected by workers.

2. Nominees of the management.

The elected side might well represent the offices, both technical
and clerical, as well as the works, and members would be elected by
departments, no account being taken of the various grades. Where
women are employed, it would probably be desirable for them to
elect separate representatives. If they are in departments by them-
selves, this would naturally happen. If the departments are mixed,
the men and women of such departments would each send repre-
sentatives.

The trade union or unions most concerned with the work of the
firm should be represented in some fairly direct way. This might
be done in either of two ways:

1. If a shop stewards committee exists, it might be asked to send
one or more representatives.

2. Or each of the main trade unions represented in the works
might elect one or more representatives to represent their
members as trade unionists.

The management section should contain, in general, the highest
members of the management who concern themselves with the run-
ning of the works; it would be no use to have here men in subor-
dinate positions, as much of the discussion would deal with matters
beyond their jurisdiction. Moreover, the opportunity for the higher
management to get into touch with the workers would be too im-
portant to miss. It is doubtful whether there is any need for the
workers' section of the welfare committee to meet separately, though
there is no objection to this if thought desirable. In any case a
good many questions can be handed over by the joint meeting to sub-
committees for working out, and such sub-committees can, where
desirable, consist entirely of workers.

It may be urged that the welfare committee is an unnecessary
complication, and, either that its work could be carried out by the
shop stewards committee or that the work of both could be handled
by a single composite shop committee of management and workers.
In practice, however, a committee of the workers sitting separately
to consider those interests that are, or appear to be, opposed, with
regular deputations to the management, and a composite committee
of workers and management sitting together to discuss identical
interests would seem the best solution of a difficult problem.

APPENDIX L 567

Everything considered, therefore, there seems, in many works at
least, to be a good case for the institution of both organizations,
that of the shop stewards and that of the welfare committee. The
conditions making the latter desirable and possible would seem to
be:—

1. A management sufficiently methodical and constitutional to
make previous discussion of developments feasible.

2. The conditions of employment fairly stable.

3. The trades and grades included in the shop so varied and inter-
mixed as to make representation by a committee of trade union
shop stewards incomplete.

SECTION III

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF SECTIONS I AND II

Gathering together the views and suggestions made in the forego-
ing pages; it is felt that three separate organizations within the
works are necessary to represent the workers in the highly developed
and elaborate organisms which modern factories tend to become.

It is not sufficient criticism of such a proposal to say that it is
too complicated. Modern industry is complicated and the attempt
to introduce democratic ideas into its governance will necessarily
make it more so. As already pointed out, the scheme need not be
accepted in its entirety. For any trade or firm fortunate enough to
operate under simpler conditions than those here assumed, only
such of the suggestions need be accepted as suit its case.

The scope of the three committees is shown by the following sum-
mary:—

(a) Shop Stewards Committee.
Sphere. Controversial questions where interests of employer and

worker are apparently opposed.

Constitution. Consists of trade unionist workers elected by works
departments.

Sits by itself, but has regular meetings with the management.
Examples of questions dealt with :
Wage and piece rates.

The carrying out of trade union agreements.
Negotiations re application of legislation to the workers repre-
sented, e.g., dilution, exemption from recruiting.

The carrying out of national agreements re restoration of
trade union conditions, demobilization of war industries, etc.
Introduction of new processes.

568 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

Ventilation of grievances re any of above.
Etc., etc.

(b) Welfare Committee.

Sphere. "Community" questions where there is no clash between

interests of employer and worker.

Constitution. Composite committee of management and workers,
with some direct representation of trade unions.

Sits as one body, with some questions relegated to sub-com-
mittees, consisting either wholly of workers or of workers and
management, according to the nature of the case.
Examples of Questions dealt with:
Shop rules.

Such working conditions as starting and stopping times, meal
hours, night shift arrangements, etc.
Accident and sickness arrangements.
Shop comfort and hygiene.

Benevolent work such as collections for charities, hard cases
of illness or accident among the workers.
Education schemes:
Trade technique.
New works developments.
Statistics of works activity.
Business outlook.

Promotions — explanation and, if possible, consultation.
Ventilation of grievances re any of above.

(c) Social Union.

Sphere. Social amenities, mainly outside working hours.
Constitution. Includes any or all grades of management and

workers.

Governing body elected by members irrespective of trade,

grade, or sex.

Examples of Activities.

Institution of clubs for sports — cricket, football, swimming,
etc.

Recreative societies — orchestral, choral, debating, etc.
Arranging social events — picnics, dances, etc.
Provision of games, library, etc., for use in meal hours.
Administration of club rooms.

APPENDIX L 569

SECTION IV

COMMENTS ON WORKING

An attempt to institute a scheme of shop committees on the gen-
eral lines of those here described, revealed certain difficulties, of
which the following are instances.

1. Relations with Shop Foremen

If a works committee is to deal with the actual conditions under
which work is carried on, and if its work is to be real, there is every
possibility of friction arising, due to the committee infringing the
sphere of authority of the shop foremen. Not only will specific
complaints and objections regarding actions or decisions of fore-
men be brought up, but more general questions of shop manage-
ment will be discussed, on which the foremen would naturally ex-
pect to be consulted, previously to their men. Some of these diffi-
culties would be lessened if the foremen were members of the works
committees, but this seems hardly possible, except in very small
works.

It must never be forgotten that the foremen have definite manage-
ment functions to perform which cannot be discharged if their au-
thority is continually called in question, or if they are continually
harassed by complaints behind their backs. Nor can they have any
prestige if arrangements or rules affecting their control or method
of management are made without them having their full share in the
discussion of them. The difficulty arises, therefore, how on the
one hand, to maintain the foremen's position as a real link in the
chain of executive authority, and on the other hand to promote direct
discussion between the workers and the higher management. The
solving of this difficulty depends to some extent at least on the
devising of suitable procedure and machinery for keeping all grades
of management in touch with each other, and for confining the
activities of the works committees to fairly definite and known
spheres.

The exact nature of this machinery would depend on the organ-
ization of each particular firm. It will, in general, be advisable to
lay down that previous notice shall be given of all subjects to be
brought up at a works committee meeting, so that a full agenda may
be prepared. This agenda should then be circulated freely among
the shop foremen, and other grades of management, so that they
may know what is going forward. Full minutes of the proceedings
of all meetings should be kept, and these again should be circu-
lated to all grades of management.

To facilitate such arrangements it may be advisable for the

570

MANAGEMENT AND MEN

management to provide a secretary whose duties would be twofold;
the preparation of the agenda, and the writing out and following
up of the minutes. In making out the agenda the secretary should
make full inquiries with regard to all subjects brought forward by
workers, and should prepare a short statement of each case to issue
with the agenda. The secretary in circulating the agenda would
then be able to learn, from the foremen and others, to what extent
each was interested or concerned in any particular item. Those
specially concerned might then be invited to attend the meeting to
take part in the discussion. If a foreman intimated that he had
decided views on some subject and wished them to be taken into
account, discussion at the meeting should be of preliminary nature
only and limited to eliciting the full case as seen by the workers.
Further discussion with the committee would be reserved until the
management had had time to consult the foremen or others con-
cerned.

The certainty, on the part of all grades of management, that no
subject would be discussed of which they had not had notice; the
privilege of having final discussion of any subject postponed, pend-
ing the statement of their views; and finally the circulation of all
minutes, showing what took place at the meetings, should go a long
way to making the works committees run smoothly.

2. Provision of facilities for committee work

For any recognized works committees, the management should see
that they have such facilities put at their disposal as will enable
them to carry out their work, and will give them standing and au-
thority in the works community. In the case of committees dealing
with social work outside the direct work of the shop, all meetings
and work can be expected to take place outside working hours.
This should also apply in a general way to meetings of shop stew-
ards or of the welfare committee, but it may happen, as for instance
where a night-shift is being worked, that it is almost impossible for
the members to get together except at some time during working
hours. In such cases permission should be given for meetings at
regular stated times, say once a fortnight, or once a month, and the
attendance at these meetings would be considered part of the or-
dinary work of the members, and they would be paid accordingly.
Where possible, however, it is very much better for meetings to be
arranged entirely outside working hours, in which case no payment
should be offered, the work being looked on as in the nature of
voluntary public work.

A committee room should be provided, and in the case of the

APPENDIX L 571

welfare committee, the secretary might also be provided by the
management. For firms suitably placed it is most desirable that
a playing field should be provided, suitably laid out for various
games. Rent can be asked for it by the management if thought
desirable and can be paid by a social union such as that described
here. In the case of all kinds of recognized works committees the
thing to aim at is to make their work an integral part of the organi-
zation of the works community, providing whatever facilities are
needed to make it effective. On the other hand anything like sub-
sidizing of works committees by the management must be avoided.

THE LABOR PARTY

CONSTITUTION
(Adopted at the London Conference, February, 26th, 1918)

APPENDIX M
LABOR PARTY CONSTITUTION

1.— NAME
The Labor Party.

2. — MEMBERSHIP

The Labor Party shall consist of all its affiliated organizations,1
together with those men and women who are individual members of
a Local Labor Party and who subscribe to the Constitution and
Program of the Party.

3.— PARTY OBJECTS

NATIONAL

(a) To organize and maintain in Parliament and in the country
a Political Labor Party, and to ensure the establishment of a Local
Labor Party in every County Constituency and every Parliamentary
Borough, with suitable divisional organization in the separate con-
stituencies of Divided Boroughs;

(b) To cooperate with the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades
Union Congress, or other Kindred Organizations, in joint political
or other action in harmony with the Party Constitution and Stand-
ing Orders;

(c) To give effect as far as may be practicable to the principles
from time to time approved by the Party Conference;

(d) To secure for the producers by hand or by brain the full
fruits of their industry, and the most equitable distribution thereof
that may be possible, upon the basis of the common ownership of
the means of production and the best obtainable system of popular
administration and control of each industry or service;

(e) Generally to promote the Political, Social, and Economic
Emancipation of the People, and more particularly of those who
depend directly upon their own exertions by hand or by brain for
the means of life.

INTER-DOMINION

(/) To cooperate with the Labor and Socialist organizations in
the Dominions and Dependencies with a view to promoting the pur-

i Trade Unions, Socialist Societies, Cooperative Societies, Trades
Councils, and Local Labor Parties.

572

APPENDIX M 573

poses of the Party and to take common action for the promotion of
a higher standard of social and economic life for the working popu-
lation of the respective countries.

INTERNATIONAL

(g) To cooperate with the Labor and Socialist organizations in
other countries, and to assist in organizing a Federation of Nations
for the maintenance of Freedom and Peace, for the establishment
of suitable machinery for the adjustment and settlement of Interna-
tional Disputes by Conciliation or Judicial Arbitration, and for such
International Legislation as may be practicable.

4. — PARTY PROGRAM

(a) It shall be the duty of the Party Conference to decide, from
time to time, what specific proposals of legislative, financial, or ad-
ministrative reform shall receive the general support of the Party,
and be promoted, as occasion may present itself, by the National
Executive and the Parliamentary Labor Party : provided that no such
proposal shall be made definitely part of the General Program of
the Party unless it has been adopted by the Conference by a majority
of not less than two-thirds of the votes recorded on a card vote.

(6) It shall be the duty of the National Executive and the Parlia-
mentary Labor Party, prior to every General Election, to define
the principal issues for that Election which in their judgment should
be made the Special Party Program for that particular Election
Campaign, which shall be issued as a manifesto by the Executive to
all constituencies where a Labor candidate is standing.

(c) It shall be the duty of every Parliamentary representative of
the Party to be guided by the decision of the meetings of such
Parliamentary representatives, with a view to giving effect to the
decisions of the Party Conference as to the General Program of the
Party.

5. — THE PARTY CONFERENCE

1. The work of the Party shall be under the direction and control
of the Party Conference, which shall itself be subject to the Con-
stitution and Standing Orders of the Party. The Party Conference
shall meet regularly once in each year, and also at such other times
as it may be convened by the National Executive.

2. The Party Conference shall be constituted as follows: —

(a) Trade Unions and other societies affiliated to the Party may
send one delegate for each thousand members on which fees are paid.

(b) Local Labor Party delegates may be either men or women

574 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

resident or having a place of business in the constituency they rep-
resent, and shall be appointed as follows : —

In Borough and County Constituencies returning one Member to
Parliament, the Local Labor Party may appoint one delegate.

In undivided Boroughs returning two Members, two delegates
may be appointed.

In divided Boroughs one delegate may be appointed for each
separate constituency within the area. The Local Labor Party
within the constituency shall nominate and the Central Labor Party
of the Divided Borough shall appoint the delegates. In addition
to such delegates, the Central Labor Party in each Divided Borough
may appoint one delegate.

An additional woman delegate may be appointed for each con-
stituency in which the number of affiliated and individual women
members exceeds 500.

(c) Trades Councils under Section 8, clause c, shall be entitled
to one delegate.

(d) The members of the National Executive, including the Treas-
urer, the members of the Parliamentary Labor Party, and the duly-
sanctioned Parliamentary Candidates shall be ex-officio members of
the Party Conference, but shall, unless delegates, have no right to
vote.

6. — THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

(a) There shall be a National Executive of the Party consisting
of twenty-three members (including the Treasurer) elected by the
Party Conference at its regular Annual Meeting, in such proportion
and under such conditions as may be set out in the Standing Orders
for the time being in force, and this National Executive shall, sub-
ject to the control and directions of the Party Conference, be the
Administrative Authority of the Party.

(b) The National Executive shall be responsible for the conduct
of the general work of the Party. The National Executive shall
take steps to ensure that the Party is represented by a properly
constituted organization in each constituency in which this is found
practicable; it shall give effect to the decisions of the Party Confer-
ence; and it shall interpret the Constitution and Standing Orders
and Rules of the Party in all cases of dispute subject to an appeal
to the next regular Annual Meeting of the Party Conference by the
organization or person concerned.

(c) The National Executive shall confer with the Parliamentary
Labor Party at the opening of each Parliamentary Session, and also
at any other time when the National Executive or the Parliamentary
Party may desire such conference, on any matters relating to the

APPENDIX M 575

work and progress of the Party, or to the efforts necessary to give
effect to the General Program of the Party.

7. — PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURES

(a) The National Executive shall cooperate with the Local Labor
Party in any constituency with a view to nominating a Labor Can-
didate at any Parliamentary General or Bye-Election. Before any
Parliamentary Candidate can be regarded as finally adopted for
a constituency as a Candidate of the Labor Party, his candidature
must be sanctioned by the National Executive.

(6) Candidates approved by the National Executive shall appear
before their constituencies under the designation of "Labor Candi-
date" only. At any General Election they shall include in their
Election Addresses and give prominence in their campaigns to the
issues for that Election as defined by the National Executive from
the General Party Program. If they are elected they shall act in
harmony with the Constitution and Standing Orders of the Party
in seeking to discharge the responsibilities established by Parlia-
mentary practice.

(c) Party Candidates shall receive financial assistance for election
expenditure from the Party funds on the following basis: —

Borough Constituencies, £1 per 1,000 electors.

County Divisions, £1 15s. per 1,000 electors.

8. — AFFILIATION FEES

1. Trade Unions, Socialist Societies, Cooperative Societies, and
other organizations directly affiliated to the Party (but not being
affiliated Local Labor Parties or Trades Councils) shall pay 2d.
per member per annum to the Central Party Funds with a minimum
of 30s.

The membership of a Trade Union for the purpose of this clause
shall be those members contributing to the political fund of the
Union established under the Trade Union Act, 1913.

2. The affiliation of Trades Councils will be subject to the follow-
ing conditions: —

(a) Where Local Labor Parties and Trades Councils at present
exist in the same area every effort must be made to amalgamate these
bodies, retaining in one organization the industrial and political
functions, and incorporating the constitution and rules for Local
Labor Parties in the rules of the amalgamated body.

(b) Where no Local Labor Party is in existence and the Trades
Council is discharging the political functions, such Trades Council
shall be eligible for affiliation as a Local Labor Party, providing

576 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

that its rules and title be extended so as to include Local Labor
Party functions.

(c) Where a Local Labor Party and a Trades Council exist in the
same area, the Trades Council shall be eligible to be affiliated to the
Local Labor Party, but not to the National Party, except in such
cases where the Trades Council was affiliated to the National Party
prior to November 1st, 1917. In these cases the Executive Commit-
tee shall have power to continue national affiliation on such condi-
tions as may be deemed necessary.

(d) Trades Councils included under Section (c) shall pay an an-
nual affiliation fee of 30s.

Local Labor Parties must charge individually enrolled members,
male a minimum of Is. per annum, female 6d. per annum ; and 2d.
per member so collected must be remitted to the Central Office with
a minimum of 30s., as the affiliation fee of such Local Labor Party.

In addition to these payments, a delegation fee of 5s. to the
Party Conference or any Special Conference may be charged.

STANDING ORDERS
1. — ANNUAL CONFERENCE

1. The National Executive shall convene the Annual Party Con-
ference for the month of June (but not at Whitsuntide) in each
year, subject to the Constitution and the Standing Orders, and shall
convene other Sessions of the Party Conference from time to time
as may be required.

2. In the event of it being necessary to convene the Party Con-
ference upon short notice, in order to deal with some sudden emer-
gency, the Secretaries of the affiliated organizations and Local Labor
Parties shall, on receiving the summons, instantly take such action
as may be necessary to enable the Society or Constituency to be
represented, in accordance with the rules.

3. Any Session of the Party Conference summoned with less than
ten days' notice shall confine its business strictly to that relating to
the emergency, which cannot without detriment to the Party be
postponed.

4. Persons eligible as delegates must be paying bona fide members,
or paid permanent officials of the organization sending them.

5. No delegate to the Conference shall represent more than one
Society.

6. Members of affiliated organizations claiming exemption from
political contributions under the Trade Union Act, 1913, shall not
be entitled to act as delegates.

APPENDIX M 577

2. — AGENDA

1. Notice of Resolutions for the Annual Conference shall be sent
to the Secretary at the Office of the Party not later than April 1st,
for inclusion in the first Agenda, which shall be forthwith issued
to the affiliated organizations.

2. Notice of Amendments to the Resolutions in the first Agenda,
and Nominations for the Executive, Treasurer, Auditors (2), Annual
Conference Arrangements Committee (5), shall be forwarded to the
Secretary not later than May 16th, for inclusion in the final Agenda
of the Annual Conference.

3. No business which does not arise out of the Resolutions on the
Agenda shall be considered by the Party Conference, unless recom-
mended by the Executive or the Conference Arrangements Commit-
tee.

4. When the Annual Conference has, by resolution, made a declara-
tion of a general policy or principle, no motion having for its ob-
ject the reamrmation of such policy or principle shall appear on
the Agenda for a period of three years from the time such declaration
was made, except such resolutions as are, in the opinion of the
Executive, of immediate importance.

3. — VOTING

Voting at the Party Conference shall be by Cards issued as fol-
lows : —

Trade Unions and other affiliated Societies shall receive one Voting
Card for each 1,000 members or fraction thereof paid for.

Trades Councils affiliated under Section 8, clause c, shall receive
one voting card.

Every Local Labor Party shall receive one Voting Card for each
delegate sent in respect of each Parliamentary Constituency within
its area.

Central Labor Parties in Divided Boroughs shall receive one vot-
ing card.

4. — NATIONS EXECUTIVE

1. The National Executive shall be elected by the Annual Con-
ference as a whole, and shall consist, apart from the Treasurer, of
(a) 13 representatives of the affiliated organizations; (b) five rep-
resentatives of the Local Labor Parties; and (c) four women. The
Executive shall be elected by ballot vote on the card basis from three
lists of nominations.

2. Each affiliated national organization shall be entitled to nom-

578 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

inate one candidate for List A; and two candidates if the member-
ship exceeds 500,000. Each candidate must be a bona-fide member
of the organization by which he or she is nominated.

3. Each Parliamentary Constituency organization, through its
Local Labor Party or Trades Council, may nominate one candidate
for List B, and the candidate so nominated must be resident or have
his or her place of business within the area of the nominating Local
Labor Party.

4. Each affiliated organization shall be entitled to nominate one
woman candidate for List C, and two candidates if the membership
exceeds 500,000; whether such nominees are or are not members of
the nominating organization.

5. The National Executive shall elect its own Chairman and
Vice-Chairman at its first meeting each year, and shall see that all
its officers and members conform to the Constitution and Standing
Orders of the Party. The National Executive shall present to the
Annual Conference a Report covering the work and progress of the
Party during its year of office, together with the Financial State-
ment and Accounts duly audited.

6. No member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades
Union Congress is eligible for nomination to the National Execu-
tive.

5. — TREASURER

The Treasurer shall be elected separately by the Annual Confer-
ence. Each affiliated organization may nominate a candidate for
the Treasurership independent of any other nomination it makes for
the National Executive.

6. — SECRETARY

The Secretary shall be elected by the Annual Party Conference,
and be ex officio a member of the Conference; he shall devote his
whole time to the work of the Party, but this shall not prevent him
being a Candidate for or a Member of Parliament. He shall remain
in office so long as his work gives satisfaction to the National Execu-
tive and Party Conference. Should a vacancy in the office occur
between two Annual Conferences, the Executive shall have full power
to fill the vacancy, subject to the approval of the Annual Confer-
ence next following.

Nominations for the office shall be on the same conditions as for
the Treasurership.

APPENDIX M 579

7. — ANNUAL CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE

1. The duties of the Conference Arrangements Committee shall
be:—

(a) To attend at the place of Conference two days before its
opening, for the purpose of arranging the Conference Agenda;

(b) To appoint Scrutineers and Tellers for the Conference from
among the delegates whose names have been received at the Head
Office prior to May 31st, such appointments to be subject to the
approval of the Conference;

(c) To act as Standing Orders Committee during the Conference.

2. Should any of the five members of the Conference Arrange-
ments Committee be unable to fulfil his or her duties, the person who
received the highest number of votes amongst those not elected shall
be called upon, but should the voting list be exhausted, it shall lie
with the Society the member represents to nominate a substitute.

3. Remuneration of the Conference Arrangements Committee,
Scrutineers, and Tellers shall be at the rate of 15s. per day.

THE LABOR PARTY

CONSTITUTION AND RULES

FOR

LOCAL LABOR PARTIES

IN
SINGLE AND UNDIVIDED BOROUGHS

MEMORANDA

The attention of Local Labor Parties and Trades Councils is spe-
cially called to sub-sections 2 and 3 of Section 8 (Affiliation Fees)
of the Constitution of the Labor Party. As a condition of affiliation
(unless local conditions necessitate a departure from such consti-
tution and rules, in which case the constitution and rules adopted
shall be decided upon after consultation with the National Executive
Committee) the following provisions must be observed by Local La-
bor Parties and Trades Councils.

1. Subject to alterations approved by the National Executive
Committee, Local Labor Parties must adopt the constitution and
rules applicable to their area as a condition of affiliation. Local
Labor Parties in single and undivided Borough Constituencies, in
single-Member County Divisions, and in Divided Boroughs, affiliate
to the National Party. Local Labor Parties in municipal boroughs
and urban district areas within County Divisions affiliate to the
Divisional Labor Party.

580 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

2. Trades Councils, affiliated under Section 8, clause b, of the
Party Constitution, must incorporate the rules applicable to their
area in the local Constitution.

3. Complete copies of the rules of Trades Councils and Local
Labor Parties must accompany the application for affiliation, and all
alterations of rules must be notified to the Head Office with the next
payment of affiliation fees.

4. In the London area, Local Labor Parties shall be formed for
Parliamentary constituencies with the Metropolitan Borough as the
basis for each Local Labor Party. Such Local Labor Parties may
adopt the rules for Divided Boroughs or single-member constituen-
cies as local conditions may render necessary, and subject to the
approval of the National Executive Committee. A Central Labor
Party for the whole London area shall be established upon such basis
as may be agreed upon with the approval of National Executive
Committee.

5. Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties may adopt additional
rules to cover special local purposes, peculiar local conditions, and
industrial objects not included in the scope of these rules, provided
always that such local rules shall not be inconsistent with the con-
stitution of the Labor Party nor be contrary to the provisions con-
tained in these rules.

6. Where Local Labor Parties and Trades Councils are amalga-
mated, or where no Trades Council exists, and the Local Labor
Party decides to include industrial objects, the following additional
rules are recommended, but the adoption of such rules is optional.

OBJECTS

Industrial. — To provide the workers with a means of education
upon Labor questions, and to keep an oversight on all matters affect-
ing the interests of Labor, and to discharge the functions of a Trades
Council.

MANAGEMENT

The Industrial objects shall be carried out by an Industrial Com-
mittee acting as the Trades Council. The Industrial Committee
shall consist of the delegates from the affiliated Trades Union
branches, and shall meet monthly or as required. Only Trade Union
branches shall be entitled to representation on the Industrial Com-
mittee, and all purely industrial and Trade Union matters shall be
dealt with by this Committee. Where political action is necessary
in connection with such industrial matters, the Industrial Committee
shall make, through the representatives of the Trades Union Section

APPENDIX M 581

to the Executive Committee and the delegates to the General Com-
mittee, recommendations with regard to the political action neces-
sary.

THE.. ..LABOR PARTY

RULES AND CONSTITUTION

(For single and undivided Borough Constituencies. Trades Coun-
cils in such Boroughs affiliated under Section 8, clause b, of the
Constitution must incorporate these rules in the local Constitu-
tion.)

MEMBERSHIP

1. The Party shall consist of affiliated Trade Union branches, the
Trade Council, Socialist Societies, Cooperative Societies having mem-
bers within its area; also individuals (men and women) willing to
work for the objects and subscribe to the Constitution and Program
of the Labor Party.

OBJECTS

2. To unite the forces of Labor within the constituency, and to
secure the return of Labor representatives to Parliament and upon
Local Government bodies.

MANAGEMENT

3. The management of the Party shall be in the hands of a Gen-
eral Committee which shall consist of six sections, viz. : —

(a) Representatives of branches of Trade Unions.

(b) Representatives of Cooperative Societies.

(c) Representatives of branches of other societies eligible for
affiliation.

(d) Representatives of the Trades Council.

(e) Individual men, and

(/) Individual women, all of whom must be willing to abide by
the Rules of the Labor Party.

4. The basis of representation to the General Committee shall
be:—

(a) Branches of Trade Unions, one representative for every 100
members, or part thereof, with a maximum of five representatives
from any one branch.

(b) Cooperative Societies shall be entitled to representation on
the same basis as Trade Unions, i.e., one for each 100 members, or
part thereof, with a maximum of five representatives from any one
Society. Where such membership exceeds 5,000 the basis of repre-

582 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

sentation shall be arranged subject to the approval of the National
Executive.

(c) Branches of other societies on the same basis as clause a.

(d) Trades Council, not exceeding five in number.

(e) Individual men, such number not exceeding ten, as may be
elected by the Section. If the Section comprises more than 1,000
members, then not exceeding one per 100 such members.

(/) Individual women, ditto.

The Ward Secretaries shall be ex officio members of Sections (e)
or (/).

For the purpose of electing the representatives for (e) and (/)
the Executive Committee shall each year convene a meeting of the
members of these sections seven days prior to the Annual Meeting
of the Labor Party. The sections shall also be empowered to hold
separate meetings as occasion may require.

CONTRIBUTIONS

5. Contributions, to be payable on the last day in June and De-
cember, shall be: —

(a) Trade Union branches and Cooperative Societies shall con-
tribute at the minimum rate of 2d. per member per annum, by yearly
or half-yearly payments.

(b) Socialist societies and Trades Council an annual sum of not
less than 10s.

(c) Individual male members shall contribute a minimum sum of
Is. per annum, and female members a minimum sum of 6d. per an-
num.

OFFICERS

6. The Officers, the Executive Committee, and two Auditors shall
be elected at the Annual Meeting of the General Committee.

(a) The Officers shall be the President, two Vice-Presidents,
Treasurer, Financial Secretary, and Secretary.

(b) The Executive Committee shall consist of the officers and
sixteen members who shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the
General Committee upon such proportionate basis of the sections
a, b, c, d, e, and /, as the Local Party may decide, subject to the ap-
proval of the National Executive Committee.

(c) The Chairman shall preside at all general and E.G. meetings,
and sign all minutes after confirmation. In his absence his place
shall be taken by one of the Vice-Presidents in order of seniority.

(d) The Secretary shall be present at and record minutes of all
general and E.G. meetings. He shall conduct all correspondence and

APPENDIX M 583

prepare an Annual Report. He shall receive such remuneration that
may be decided upon by the E.G.

(e) The Treasurer shall keep an account of all moneys received
from the Financial Secretary and prepare an Annual Balance Sheet.
All money shall be deposited in the bank. Cheques to be signed
by the Chairman and the Treasurer.

(/) The Financial Secretary shall collect and keep a correct
record of all contributions of affiliated societies and individual mem-
bers, and shall pay over to the Treasurer, at least monthly, all moneys
received by him. He shall endeavor to obtain a complete record of
the members of all affiliated branches (together with full addresses)
in addition to those of the Individual Members. The list should be
compiled for ward purposes, and each Ward Secretary should be
supplied with a complete list of Members resident in his Ward.

WARD COMMITTEES

7. Ward Committees shall be established in each Ward of the
Borough, and include all members of the affiliated branches and in-
dividual members resident, or having a place of business, within
the Ward. Each Ward Committee shall appoint its own Ward
Secretary and any other officials. Ward Committees shall under-
take the work of maintaining the necessary machinery for carrying
on any election within the area of the Ward, and, with the approval
of the Executive Committee of the Party, shall arrange for propa-
ganda work.

ANNUAL MEETING

8. The Annual Meeting of the General Committee shall be held in
April, of which 28 days* notice shall be given, stating as far as
possible the nature of the business to be transacted. Special Meet-
ings may be called at the discretion of the E.G., or by the written
request to the Secretary of at least three affiliated branches or so-
cieties, or ten individual members. Seven days' notice of special
meetings to be given to the delegates.

CANDIDATURES

9. Candidates of the Party for local elections are to be nominated
to the Executive Committee by affiliated societies, or by the indi-
vidual sections, and shall before standing receive the endorsement
of the General Committee. The Committee shall have the power to
refuse endorsement if it thinks fit, and may itself nominate a candi-
date "when no other nomination has been made. A list of the candi-
dates so nominated shall be submitted to the Ward Committee where

584 MANAGEMENT AND MEN

the General Committee have approved a contest, and the candidate
or candidates shall be selected at a joint conference of the Ward
Committee and the General Committee.

The Executive Committee of the Party shall have the final de-
cision in case of dispute.

10. The normal procedure with regard to a Parliamentary Can-
didature will, when there is no special urgency, be as under: —

(a) The desirability of contesting the constituency should first
be considered by the Executive Committee, in consultation with the
National Executive and the Party Officers.

(b) If it is thought expedient to contest the constituency, the
matter should be, unless time does not permit, brought before the
General Committee, with a view to nominations being invited.

(c) The representative of any affiliated organization, or the in-
dividual Sections, and also the Executive Committee itself, may
nominate any person for consideration as Parliamentary Candidate
subject (i.) to having obtained such person's consent; (ii.) in the
case of nomination on behalf of any organization, to having ob-
tained the sanction of the Executive Committee thereof.

(d) The nominations so made shall be laid before a specially sum-
moned meeting of the General Committee to determine which person,
if any, shall be recommended to the National Executive for approval
as the Labor Candidate.

(e) Where no nominations are made, or where time does not per-
mit of formal procedure, the National Executive may take steps,
in consultation with, and with the approval of, the Local Executive,
to secure the nomination of a Parliamentary Candidate where this is
deemed advisable.

11. Every Parliamentary Candidate must undertake to stand as
"Labor Candidate" independent of all other political parties, and, if
elected, join the Parliamentary Labor Party.

MISCELLANEOUS

12. The general provisions of the National Labor Party as stated
in the Constitution and the Standing Orders shall apply to this
organization. This shall include the payment of affiliation fees,
election of delegates to the Party Conferences, nominations for the
Executive Committee, etc., and resolutions or amendments for the
Conference Agenda.

13. Members of affiliated organizations claiming exemption from
political contributions under the Trade Union Act, 1913, shall not
be entitled to act as delegates.

THE END

INDEX

INDEX

Admiralty, 59

Ad visory" committee, 19, 22

Agitators, 8

Agricultural development, 49

Agricultural Wholesale Society, 93

Agriculture, 21

Albert Hall, 4, 188, 190

Alcohol content, 28

Alcoholism, 29

Alcohol, problem of, 27

Alcohol traffic, 27

Allies, 34, 149

Amalgamated Society of Engi-
neers, 40, 194

American Federation of Labor,
192, 193

Armistice, 18, 150, 157

Army, 16, 28

tAsquith ministry, 181

Asquith, Mr., 103

Australia, 23

Australian concentrates, 34

Austria, 35

Balfour, Mr., 146

Balkans, 16

Barnes, 181

Belgian farmer, 49

Belgium, 18, 34, 53, 67, 149, 151

Bolshevism, 4, 186, 189, 204

Bolshevist, 4

Brace, 181

Bradford, 96

Branting, 202

British industry, 15

British labor, 8

British Socialist Party, 199

British General Federation of

Trade Union, 192, 194, 198
British Trade Union Congress, 192

Builders National Industrial Par-
liament, 111, 116, 119
Building material, 10, 18
Building operations, 9
Building trade employers, 104

Cambrai, 67, 68

Canada, 23, 34

Canteens, 60, 61

Cecil, Robert, Lord, 191

Cement, 149, 150

Central Agricultural Organization

Society, 93

Central Labor College, 79
Central power, 84
Central Powers, 16
Chamber of Deputies, 201
Chambre de Commerce
Chapman, S. J., Prof., 103
Chaucer, 145

Chinese labor battalions, 67
Class suspicion, 8
Claughton, Sir Gilbert,, 103
Cleveland and Durham District,

127

Clyde, 6, 189
Clyde Valley, 104
Clynes, 181, 184, 188, 200
Clynes, T. R., 103
Coal, 54

Coal deficiency. 18
Coal controller, 128
Coalition ticket, 182, 184
Commission on industrial Unrest,

8, 79

Compulsory arbitration, 56
Confederation Ge"ne"rale du Travail,

192, 201
Congestion, 9
Conservatives, 184, 187

587

588

INDEX

Constitutional methods, 9

Controller of shipping, 124

Cooperation, 24

Cooperative movement, 29, 80

Cooperative store, 85

Cooperative trade, 83

Cooperative Wholesale Society, 90

Cost of living, 19

Cotton industry, 196

Covent Garden, 50

Defense of the Realm Act, 61
Demarkation, 41, 43
Demobilization, 15, 16, 20, 124,

146, 154, 170, 189
Democracy, 30, 66, 74
Denmark,' 202
Direct action, 186, 188
Discontent, 8, 9
Domestic employment, 21
Domestic servants, 21
Domestic service, 25
Dominion Government offices, 23
Drink question, 27
Drunkenness, 29

Economics, 36

Efficiency, 13, 14, 38, 66, 165
Election, December, 182
Emigration, 23
Employers, 7, 11, 14, 18
Employment, field of, 16
Employment project, 11
Engineers, Amalgamated Society

of, 40

Engineering trade, 41
England, 9, 49

Exchange, Employment, 19, 20, 22
Exemption, 16
Extremists, 8

Fabian Society, 199

Factory conditions, 29

Ferrochrome, 34

Foreman, 73, 74, 76, 94, 96, 98,

108, 127, 162
Foremanship, 74, 99

France, 16, 18, 53, 67, 84, 149, 151,
169, 201

Front, 6, 16, 41, 84, 149

Furniture Joint Industrial Coun-
cil, 122

Garden City Press, 92

Gaston Foundation, 146

German East Africa, 34

German farmer, 49

German prisoners, 67

Germans, 64

German Socialists, 181

German submarines, 49

Germany, 31, 33, 34, 35, 49, 149,

168, 204
Gompers, Mr., 14, 205

Hamburg, 34

Hatfield, Sir Robert, 38

Health Bill, 28

Henderson, Arthur, 13, 41, 181,

183, 188, 192, 201
Hickens, W. L., 62
Hobson, J. A.,
Hodge, 181
Holland, 34, 202
Hours of labor, 14
House building project, 11
House of Commons, 177, 178, 180,

181, 184, 185
House famine, 9
Household servants, 26
Houses, 18, 29
Houses, shortage of, 9, 9
Housing, national aid for, 11
Housing program, 9
Housing venture, 10

Independent Labor Party, 199
India, 34, 149
Indian mica trade, 34
Industrial boards, 29
Industrial Cooperative Society, 87
Industrial Council, 101
Industrial efficiency, 44
Industrial Parliament, 117
Industrial peace, 6

INDEX

589

Industrial relations, 165
Industrial training, 30
Industrial unions, 196
Insanity, 29

International Cooperative Alli-
ance, 81
International Federation of Trade

Unions, 198, 200
Internationalism, 191
International labor legislation, 29,

102
International Miners' Federation,

198
International Socialist Bureau,

192, 199
International Textile Workers'

Federation, 198
Ireland, 9, 93, 122, 187
Irish Agricultural Organization

Society, 93
Italy, 151/169
Italian labor movement, 202

Jackson, Frederick Huth, 158

Joint councils, 46

Joint district councils, 107, 111,

113
Joint standing industrial councils,

107, 111, 113

Keid, Sir Stephenson, 170
Kettering, 92

Labor demands, 29

Labor, departments of, 175

Labor forces, 30

Labor, ministry of, 16, 19

Labor movement, 176

Labor movement in Europe, 201

Labor Party, 23, 147, 177, 178,

180, 183, 186, 199, 200, 207
Labor problem, 5
Labor-saving machinery, 27
Lanarkshire, 196
Lancashire, 22, 80
Land, 21

Lan 1 Army, Women's, 50
Lands, 29

League of Nations, 191, 192, 193,

199, 203

Leaving certificates, 43
Leeds, 188
Letch worth, 92
Lenine, 207
Liberal, 182, 184
Liquor, 27
Liquor business, 28
Liquor problem, 58
Lloyd George, 13, 28, 41, 58, 179,

181, 182, 183, 186
London, 19, 22, 34, 83, 104

MacDonald. Ramsay, 188
Management, 66, 67, 70, 73, 74, 75,

94, 95

Manager, 30, 71
Managers, 5, 45
Manchester, 159
Marx, Karl 199, 204
May, J. S., 81
McLood, Alexander, 83
Mechanical conveyors, 35
Memorandum of war aims, 207
Mesopotamia, 16
Mexican plan, 27
Mica, 34
Midland City. 33
Midlands, 189
Middle-class household, 21
Mines, 18, 55
Miners' Federation, 194
Minimum wage, national, 29
Mining districts, 9
Minister of Reconstruction, 124
Minister of Labor, 101, 107
Ministry of Food, 85
Ministry of Labor, 108, 109, 111
Mosses, Mr.. 41
Mosses, Wm., 13
Munition girls, 15, 21
Munitions, 16, 18, 19, 33, 38, 40,

43

Munitions' courts, 42
Munitions, Ministry of, 16
Munitions' tribunal, 98

590

INDEX

Munitions of War Act, 42, 46, 56,

98

Munition Workers, 21
Murray, Prof. Gilbert, 78

National Alliance of Employer and

Employed, 158

Nationalization, 29, 186, 187
National Union of Railwaymen,

70, 194

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 34
New Lanark, 82
Newman, Sir George, 44
New Zealand, 23
Normal working day, 39
Norway, 202

Optical glass, 35
Overcrowding, 9
Overfatigue, 15
Overstrain, 39
Owen, Robert, 80, 82
Oxford University, 78

Painting and decorating trade, 114
Palestine, 16

Paris Peace Conference, 183
Parliament, 45, 100, 140, 177, 178,

180, 181, 183, 185, 188
Parliamentary action, 30
Parti Socialiste, 201
Pauper relief, 31
Peace, 16

Peace Congress, 191, 193
Pit committees, 128
Plebs League, 79
Plunkett, Sir Horace, 93
Plymouth, 87, 88, 89
Poland, 53
Potash, 34, 35
Poverty, 31

Pottery industry, 122, 123
Production, 11, 13, 14, 15, 30, 36,

41, 43, 51, 63-65, 66, 148, 152
Production, committee on, 56
Profiteering, 7, 9, 158
Prussians, 5
Public health acts, 29

Railways, 18

Raw material, 15, 18

Reconstruction, 3, 4, 23, 31, 100,

101, 142, 157
Renold, Chas., 159
Renold, Hans, 159
Renold, 160, 161, 163, 164
Rent Act, Restriction of, 10
Replacement by women, 26
Restoration, 13, 14, 23, 36
Restoration pledge, 12
Restrictions on output, 36
Returned soldier, 21, 23
Roberts, 181
Rochdale Pioneers, 80
Royal Arsenal, 83
Royal Commission, 158
Royal proclamation, 56
Rubber works, 152
Runciman, Walter, 13
Runciman, Mr., 41
Ruskin College, 79
Russia, 4, 5, 84, 101, 140, 189, 201,

203, 204, 205, 207
Russian Bolsheviki, 200
Russian Bolshevism, 4
Russian Revolution, 200

Saloniki, 151

Science, 30, 50

Scientific management, 50, 51

Scotland, 9

Self-management movement, 92

Selfridge, Gordon, 165, 166

Serbia, 151

Sheffield, 143, 145

Shipyard, 46

Shop stewards, 125, 126, 127

Socialists, 181

Soldiers, 20, 21

South Africa, 23

South America, 149, 150, 151

South Wales, 79, 189, 196

South Wales Mining Federation T8

Soviets, 188

Spelter, 34

Stassfurt Mines, 34

INDEX

591

Statesmanship, 7

Status, 77

Strand, 23

Substitution by women, 26

Sweden, 202

Technical schools, 35

Textiles, 33

Theosophical Society, 134

Thomas, J. H., 188, 200

Time keeping, 7, 29

Times, 105

Tin plate, 150, 151

Trade boards, 57

Trade customs, 39

Trade practices, 11

Trades councils, 116

Trade Union Congress, 177, 178,

195, 207

Trade unionism, 29
Trade unionists, 22
Trade union privileges, 41
Trade union restrictions, 39
Transport Workers' Federation, 59
Treasury agreement, 11
Trenches, 16

Triple Alliance, 190, 195
Troelstra, 202
Trotsky, 4
Trunk acts, 82
Tungsten, 34

Unemployment, 5, 6, 10, 20, 29, 39,

47

Unemployment pay, 19
Unions, 39
Unions, Trade, 11
Unrest, 6, 8
United States, 27, 31, 64, 85, 149,

176, 180

Wage Adjustment, 57

Wage minimum, 21

Wage Standards, 47

Wages, 26, 55, 56

Wage tribunal, 56

Wales, 9, 49

War, 6

War Cabinet, 107

War machine, 15

War Office, 59, 149

War workers, 16

Webb, Sidney, 94

Wellingborough, 92

Whitley Committee, 105, 106, 112,

113

Whitley Council, 114, 116
Whitley Report, 102, 103, 107, 111,

158

Whitley scheme, 153, 173
Withdrawal of labor committee,

104

Woman, 26
Woman worker, 27
Women, 5, 19, 25, 26, 36, 46, 47,

163, 184

Women workers, 25
Woolwich Society, 83
Workers' Educational Association,

77

Working day, normal, 15
W'orkingman, Educational Associ-
ation, 54

Works Committee, 96
Works committees, 107, 108, 111,

113, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130,

131

Zeppelin raids, 163
Zinc smelting, 34

HD
8390
B55
1920

Bloomfield, Meyer

The new labour movement
in Great Britain

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