THE BASIS OF INDUSTRIAL CONCORD.
[To THE EDITOR OF TUE " SPECTATOR."' Sin,—We have been learning with new insight and conviction that the true basis of peace and concord in the international sphere is justice—right, not might. I think it will be generally agreed, at least in theory, that the same holds good in the industrial sphere; but there can be little hope of real harmony between Capital and Labour until this truth is more fully recognized and acted up,,‘a by both sides. But I wish. to point out .that justice to have its due effect must be seen. to be justice. Economists tell us that through the operation of the laws of supply and demand Labour does on the whole- receive in the wages paid to it its due share of the wealth it assists inereating. But, unfortunately, the ordinary wage system affords the worker, ignorant of economics, no evidence of this—indeed, whatever evidence he•is able to obtain from other sources—e.g., the: annual reports of public. companies—is apt to appear to him as proving the contrary; with the result that he is particularly open to what the Socialists are diligently teeehing him—that the employer deliberately grinds him down, and pays him just enough for his maintenance, keeping, the whole of the surplus for himself, a pernicious travesty of the truth.
After forty years' experience as an employer, and much careful observation, I am convinced that this defect in our ordinary wages system. (and it exists in all forms of it) is one of the chief causes of the trouble that has been embittering industrial life, and that is now threatening it and society itself with grave disaster; and no remedy seems in the nature of things possible but such as will give the workman a definite share (capable of being recognized by him as such) of the wealth created—in short, some form of profit-sharing. It is a difficult and complex problem, but it is one which will have to be squarely faced by the em.- players if we are not to drift on into revolution and anarchy. And there is -the best ground for believing that such a leaven of the co-operative principle, which is sadly needed, will prove a real blessing, will have an ennobling influence on industry, and will do more than anything else to drive out the present spirit of suspi- cion, enmity, and hatred.; in short, will introduce true " industrial
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