Whether this increased saving on the part of the operatives
is due to Prohibition, which has made saving easier, or not, we cannot say ; but it is obvious that the movement is one of immense importance. We wish it could be imitated here, for, as our readers know, the Spectator has again and again expressed the hope that bodies of workers, Guilds, Companies, or Guild Companies, or whatever may be the chosen name, should borrow money and employ themselves. The people lending the money would be those best able to estimate the value of man-power. There is nothing wild, nor again anything economically unsound in the scheme. Human labour is a very valuable potential asset, or, if you like, the essential raw material, and can provide as good a base for credit as a potential product. It is quite as proper a thing to mortgage in advance, as a crop ready to be put in the ground, but not yet sown or harvested. If a skilled artisan is worth at least £2,000, as Sir William Joynson- Hicks in a recent speech said was the case, there is net any reason why a company of a hundred such men should not be able to borrow at least a quarter of their face value, say £50,000, and set themselves at work, giving, of course, proper pledges as to management. A Guild with managers in whom there was a general confidence would naturally be able to borrow money more easily than one whose managers had been less carefully chosen.
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