29 OCTOBER 1927, Page 39

The Road to Prosperity

Industry and Politics. By Sir Alfred Mond. (Macmillan. 12s. 6d.)

SIR ALFRED Moan, fortified by long experience in the direction of great industries, is striving to promote industrial peace. His efforts deserve the heartiest encouragement from all parties, for, as he shows in his new book, workmen no less than employers and capitalists stand to gain by peace and co-operation. Sir Alfred refers to the success which works committees and forms of co-partnership have had in the great concerns which he controls ; he laments the bad feeling on both sides that makes the South Wales coal industry notorious for ruinous quarrels. Next to industrial peace, Sir Alfred insists on the vital importance of scientific and practical research, such as his own father, the late Dr. Ludwig Mond, undertook with remarkable results, as in the Mond nickel process and in. the - Mond gas manufacturer -The author, from his wide, industrial and technical experience, is able to illustrate the valud of research in various industries. He looks forward to far greater triumphs for chemist and . engineer in the near future. He explains his much-debated scheme for reducing.: - the army of the unemployed, and justly points out that the abuses of the Old Poor Law before 1834, in respect of out-relief, were local and were exaggerated for political purposes by the advocates of the New Poor Law. Sir Alfred turns aside to denounce the Socialists and to blame : the Government's_ financial policy. But his opinions on industrial problems are the feature of the book, for he speaks with authority and moderation.