Peace in Industry.
There is very good news from what used to be the seat of industrial war. Although the employers' bodies—the Federation of British Industries and the National Con- federation of Employers' Organizations—refused to act on the advice of the Melchett-Turner Conference and set up a National Industrial Council, they have now accepted a plan for regular discussions with the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. Mr. A. J. Cook moved the resolution which was passed unanimously. The two employers' bodies insist upon preserving their inde- pendence of each other, but they agree to the appointment of an Allocation Committee to determine which of them shall undertake the discussion with the General Council of any given subject. The range of topics is wide —unemployment, finance, taxation, social services, educa- tion, Imperial trade, international trade, trade facilities, and so on. Such discussions will bring the manual workers into close acquaintance with all the details of business. The scheme is an important advance. Masters and men, to use the old-fashioned phrase, are doing much better than our politicians, and we can only hope that the contrast will not be unduly insisted upon to the discredit of Parliament.
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