Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister then developed the subject of combination. He
would like, he said, to see selling agencies combining in such a way that they would ultimately become productive amalgamations. He in- vited the-Socialists to decide whether they would support such combinations or try to prevent them. Wherever combination had been employed it had succeeded. For example, the British coal fields were now covered by car- tels, and during the past month British coal had been able to compete successfully with German and Polish coal. Mr. William Graham, less timid than his friends, supported the plea for combination from the Socialist point of view. Surely this is common sense. It is absurd for Socialists to argue that they want Nationaliza- tion (which is monopoly) and to complain that industrial combination means monopoly. It is just as absurd as for them to maintain, as some do, that Labour is the sole source of wealth and that the land is the sole source of wealth. They cannot have it both ways. Fortunately some of the cool-headed evolutionary Socialists like Mr. Graham see that a Labour Government bent on Socialism would be able to take over large combined industries with comparative ease, but would not be able to make anything of a welter of small scattered and conflicting groups For the immediate future, therefore, the Monds and the Grahams may work together in amity, and we hope that with the help of the Industrial Conference this is what will happen.
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