LLC* 
 
 1940 
 
 
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 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 HD8390 .L66 1920 
 
 The six-hour shift and industrial effici 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 032 468 807 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT AND 
 INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT AND 
 INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 BY 
 
 LORD LEVERHULME 
 
 BEING AN ABRIDGED AND REARRANGED 
 EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S SIX-HOUR DAY 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 HENRY R. SEAGER 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 1920 
 
Copyright, ig2o 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 -?/■)■ — 7 1/' ''' 
 
 Y 
 
 Clie gulnn & ffloHtn Company 
 
 BOOK MANUFACTURERS 
 RAM WAY NEW J CRSEY 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Progressive American employers are little troubled to-day 
 by lack of capital. Also they very generally understand how 
 to embody capital in plants and equipment that are techni- 
 cally up-to-date and efficient. It is not these factors that 
 limit production but rather the failure of employees to put 
 forth their best efforts. 
 
 There are various explanations of this failure. Some 
 employers say that the workers have deteriorated. Others 
 place the blame on restrictions on output deliberately de- 
 cided upon in the belief that the less work each does the 
 more employment there will be for all. Whatever degree of 
 truth there may be in these or other explanations, it is 
 obvious that the root cause lies in the workers' indifference. 
 
 Outside of the factory, American wage-earners are alert 
 and intelligent enough. The trouble is that as factory em- 
 ployments have become more and more minutely subdivided, 
 the tasks to be performed by each worker are no longer 
 very interesting in themselves, and the consciousness of 
 partnership with the employer in the common enterprise 
 which might save the worker from degenerating into a 
 human automaton is too often lacking. 
 
 This unfortunate situation is not peculiar to American 
 industry. British employers deplore the unresponsiveness 
 of the British wage-earner as bitterly, and apparently with 
 as good reason, as do American employers that of the 
 American wage-earner. 
 
 Happily all British employers are not mere fault-finders. 
 The great merit of the chapters that follow is that they deal 
 with this central problem of modern industry, the indiffer- 
 ence of the worker, not negatively but constructively. They 
 
vi FOREWORD 
 
 describe practical measures by means of which this indif- 
 ference may be overcome. These measures are not the 
 vague proposals of an academic student of the labour prob- 
 lem. Most of them have been actually tried out by Lord 
 Leverhulme in his great factories, and their success is regis- 
 tered in the well-being of his employees in the famous 
 model city, Port Sunlight, and in the recurring dividends 
 of Lever Brothers, Limited. 
 
 Lord Leverhulme's remedy for the defects of modern 
 industry may be summed up in one word, co-partnership. 
 By this he means an attitude on the part of the employer 
 that is truly and consistently that of an elder partner towards 
 junior partners. He has no illusions about the prepared- 
 ness of employees to assume at once a large share in the 
 responsibilities of business management. There must con- 
 tinue to be a business head. Discipline must still be main- 
 tained. But the point of view must be that of leadership, 
 not of mastership. 
 
 To the extent that the employer will regard and treat his 
 employees as partners in the business, Lord Leverhulme 
 feels confident, from his own practical experience, that the 
 employees will respond by developing on their side the 
 partnership attitude. And he believes that this relationship 
 of partners, if honestly adhered to, may be expanded by 
 gradual stages into outright co-operation, in which the 
 capital of the common enterprise is owned jointly by the 
 employees, including the original employer, and in which 
 all share in the management. 
 
 Up to this point Lord Leverhulme's proposals differ little 
 from those of other progressive and democratically minded 
 employers. His striking departure is in his serious advocacy 
 of the Six Hour Shift as the productive period of maximum 
 efficiency. To attempt to summarize his reasons for advo- 
 cating the Six Hour Shift would be to weaken the force of 
 his argument. He urges it in part because of his sympa- 
 
FOREWORD vii 
 
 thetic appreciation of the viewpoint of the junior partners, 
 the employees. Even more he sees in it the indispensable 
 condition to that leisure for continued education in adult 
 years which he deems essential to the development of the 
 latent capacities of the workers and the realization of their 
 fullest efficiency. For he makes it very clear that his ad- 
 vocacy of the Six Hour Shift is not due to any exaggerated 
 notion of the value of increased leisure for its own sake. 
 It is based rather upon his conviction that in the long run 
 it will be found to be the work period leading to maximum 
 per capita production. 
 
 Should any reader conclude that advocacy of such ex- 
 treme curtailment of the average work day must betoken 
 some visionary twist in a mind otherwise sane and practical, 
 it may be well for him to begin with the final chapter of this 
 book. In it Lord Leverhulme pays his respects to Socialists 
 and other extremists and shows his firm grasp of the reasons 
 in human nature and in human history for the superiority 
 of an industrial system based on freedom of individual 
 enterprise. Having convinced himself that the author is 
 both clear-headed and hard-headed, the reader may turn 
 to the earlier chapters with confidence that the same quali- 
 ties are dominant there also. Only in these earlier chapters 
 he will find them re-enforced by an insight into human 
 nature and a vision of human potentialities which make Lord 
 Leverhulme something more than a great industrial leader. 
 He is a veritable prophet of a new and better industrial 
 age. 
 
 Because these chapters are based on the actual experience 
 of a successful employer; because they are inspired by a 
 sympathetic understanding of the desires and aspirations 
 of Anglo-American wage-earners ; and because they propose 
 remedies equally adapted to the American as to the British 
 situation, they are commended to the attention of all who 
 feel dissatisfaction with present industrial conditions. 
 
vm 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 The preparation of this new and abridged American 
 edition has been entrusted to Mr. Frank Tannenbaum. He 
 has been careful to make no alterations in the text of the 
 original essays and addresses but has limited himself to the 
 rearrangement of the material and the renaming of some 
 of the chapters so as to make clearer their contribution to 
 the development of the author's argument. The materials 
 used are the addresses and articles which appeared orig- 
 inally under the title of The Six-Hour Day. 
 
 Henry R. Seager. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Problem of Industrial Efficiency . 3 
 
 II. The Six-Hour Shift 
 
 III. The Six-Hour Shift (Continued) . 
 
 IV. Harmonizing Capital and Labor . 
 V. Co-partnership 
 
 17 
 38 
 56 
 69 
 
 VI. Co-partnership and Business Management 85 
 
 VII. Co-partnership and Efficiency . . .113 
 
 VIII. Co-operative Aspect of Business . . .131 
 
 IX. Health and Housing 145 
 
 X. Shop Committees and Shop Efficiency . 164 
 
 XI. Industrial Administration .... 181 
 
 XII. The Workers' Interest in Productivity . 197 
 
 XIII. Principles of Reconstruction . . . 217 
 
 XIV. Socialism, or Equality vs. Equity . . 241 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT AND 
 INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 
 
I 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 When this world-war is over we shall be confronted 
 with problems which, whilst in no way new, will be pre- 
 sented in new and acute forms. How shall we, as an 
 empire, emerge from this ordeal ? Are we to continue a 
 progressive democracy or sink into the slough of So- 
 cialism and Anarchy? The decision will rest not with 
 the Socialists or Anarchists; not with politicians or 
 Governments, but with the business men and working 
 men of the Empire. Hitherto on both sides there has 
 been a disastrous exhibition of short-sightedness and 
 of greed, or lack of knowledge of those economic laws 
 on which all solid well-being must and can only rest. 
 Every increase in wages and shortening of hours has 
 been resisted by business men as a raid on their ability 
 to meet competition and make reasonable profits. And 
 every attempt by business men to increase output and 
 reduce costs has been met by the workers with sullen 
 indifference or the active opposition of " ca' canny " 
 methods. 
 
 Now we shall, after the war, be entering upon the most 
 fateful and critical stage of our Empire's career. This 
 war has thrown all previous rules and practices into the 
 melting-pot. How will the Empire emerge? Are we 
 to attempt after the war to restore old decayed, wrong, 
 and ruinous practices, or is there to be a radical recast- 
 ing of all our business and labour methods? It has been 
 truly said that " to govern and in turn to be governed is 
 the only form of true liberty." In a true democracy and 
 
 3 
 
4 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 in this sense there is no governing class and no class 
 that is governed: all classes govern, and all classes in 
 turn serve alike and together. All classes serve one 
 master — the only master whose service all liberty-loving 
 citizens can be proud to serve — and that is their coun- 
 try's welfare. 
 
 Amidst all this confusion and clash of arms, this re- 
 turn to conditions of savage barbarism, our great en- 
 couragement and confidence are that the British Empire 
 stands solid and united to face her foes, and loyal to our 
 King as Sovereign of the British race at home and in 
 our Colonies as never before in her history. Some 
 timid people, suffering from an attack of cold feet, nerv- 
 ously ask, "What about Labour?" The answer we 
 can find most clearly written in our history is, " Trust 
 labour wholeheartedly and wisely, and all will be well." 
 A good and wise lover of the cause of Labour can never 
 be a bad or undesirable citizen of the British Empire. 
 And it will be our own fault if, by distrust and suspi- 
 cions, we make him so. Let us never forget that the 
 British spirit responds best when trusted, and can only 
 become stupid, morose, and bad when distrusted and 
 viewed with suspicion. This nation as a whole has never 
 yet really trusted Labour. We have always borne a 
 mental attitude of suspicion and distrust towards La- 
 bour. Well, this attitude won't help us, and is doomed 
 to most serious failure and may bring possible disaster 
 to the Empire. We have, with unbounded success, 
 trusted our Colonies and other sections of the community 
 that make up the British Empire, and, when we have 
 done so, all has been well. We have even trusted the 
 Boers in South Africa, who were so recently at war 
 against us; and now who amongst us dare to-day to 
 come forward and say that our trust has not been amply 
 and fully repaid by the loyalty and devotion to the British 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 5 
 
 Empire of our South African brothers, Boer or Briton? 
 Distrust and suspicion can only breed distrust and sus- 
 picion, whilst confidence and trust inspire confidence and 
 trust. The sympathy of every right-thinking man or 
 woman is with those who toil; with those who produce 
 the necessities and comforts of life; with those who bear 
 the burden and heat of the day in whatever position they 
 may be working: employer-capitalists or employee- 
 workers. 
 
 Our national future stability has its sure foundation in 
 the fact that both employer-capitalist and employee- 
 worker are each becoming more and more intelligent 
 every year that passes. The day is fast coming when 
 both will be intelligent enough to recognize that their 
 interests are identical and that the prosperity of either 
 depends on the prosperity of both. 
 
 Life is not merely a respite between the sentence of 
 death which is passed on all life at birth and the execu- 
 tion of that sentence. Every healthy human being seeks 
 for happiness, and has to find happiness in supplying the 
 wants of the body with food, clothing, and shelter. And 
 equally happiness can only be found in feeding mind and 
 soul with ideals of beauty, art, and learning. Happi- 
 ness of the lasting, permanent type, without after shad- 
 ows of regrets or ghosts of repentances, is the only good, 
 and everything that tends to produce such happiness in 
 men and women is good, and to do whatever produces 
 this state and condition is to achieve the highest possible 
 gain for the Empire and the whole of mankind. 
 
 Our industries progress, science progresses, but we 
 have little or no corresponding progress in conditions of 
 comfort of the workers. The employee-worker lags be- 
 hind in that culture, education, social and economic well- 
 being which he ought to enjoy under modern conditions 
 of civilization. Our manufacturing towns are squalid 
 
6 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 and overcrowded, with ugly dwellings, without gardens. 
 They are unlovely congestions, without beauty or possi- 
 bility of refinement, and the great bulk of the workers 
 remain at a relatively low state of betterment. The in- 
 dividual Home is the solid rock and basis of every strong, 
 intelligent race. The more homes there are and the 
 better these homes are, the more stable and strong the 
 nation becomes. Men and women who get up to go to 
 work before daylight and return from that work after 
 dark, cannot find life worth living. They are simply 
 working to earn enough one day to prepare themselves 
 to go to work again the next day. Their whole life is 
 one grey, dull, monotonous grind, and soon their lives 
 become of no more value to themselves or the nation 
 than that of mere machines. 
 
 Every year the workers become more intelligent and 
 more acute reasoners. Think of the intelligence re- 
 quired in the workers to produce a modern locomotive 
 or a greyhound of the Atlantic, or to work and operate 
 the same, and to make and operate all the thousands of 
 different types of machines now producing and working 
 for the good of man. And each succeeding year de- 
 mands still higher intelligence to produce still higher, 
 better, and more complex mechanical utilities. 
 
 The requirements of our ancestors were few, but as 
 civilization advances, not only do the wants of the body 
 for variety in food, raiment, and shelter increase, but 
 as the mind and soul expand, the intellectual horizon wid- 
 ens and the higher plane of living demands more and 
 more leisure to feed its hunger for better conditions of 
 life. 
 
 In the dark ages that are past, man believed in the 
 supernatural as the direction in which he should search 
 to satisfy his super-wants. To meet disease and death, 
 primitive man believed in charms, magics, fetishes, and 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 7 
 
 incantations. In chemistry he sought for the transmuta- 
 tion of base metals into gold, and his idea of mechanics 
 was a search for perpetual motion; and as to Govern- 
 ments, he relied on the Divine Right of Kings and In- 
 fallibility of Popes. 
 
 Are we not equally ignorant and equally doomed to 
 disappointment if to-day the employer-capitalist relies on 
 the magic of the " perpetual motion " fetish of long 
 hours of toil, with low wages for employee-workers ; and 
 are we not also doomed to disappointment if to-day 
 the employee-workers rely on the " Philosopher's Stone " 
 of " ca' canny " and the " transmutation " of restriction 
 of output into the "Elixir of Life"? 
 
 The struggle of science and right thinking against 
 ignorance and prejudice during the dark ages was long 
 and bitter, but to-day no chemist is seeking for the 
 " Elixir of Life " or trying to discover the " Philos- 
 opher's Stone." And equally our present-day ignorance 
 of those economic laws that govern costs of production 
 will disappear, and we shall learn that by development 
 and encouragement of individual effort for increased 
 output in fewer hours with higher wages we can best 
 serve all mankind and best overcome all obstacles to 
 progress, and so, by taking advantage of discoveries of 
 science in invention and industrial development, supply 
 all our wants with less exertion and secure a greater re- 
 serve of leisure to satisfy the hunger of mind and soul. 
 
 We are all agreed that the industrial situation has be- 
 come the most pressing after-war problem to be solved, 
 and that the solution will not be easy, not because there 
 is more poverty in the United Kingdom to-day than ever 
 — as a matter of fact there is less poverty than ever 
 before in our history — but because there is a wholesome 
 Labour unrest and national craving for vastly better 
 conditions of life. The poor are not growing poorer, and 
 
8 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 the workman of to-day is better off than his employer 
 was two centuries ago. But because — and I rejoice that 
 it is so — the workman is each day becoming more ambi- 
 tious, his mind and soul are expanding at a greater rate 
 than, under existing conditions — even with higher wages 
 — his leisure time permits him to keep pace with. Each 
 year the workman is becoming a better educated man, 
 with better social outlook. Whilst his social outlook is 
 expanding, the workman in the twentieth century finds 
 himself simply a seller of service, and that he has gradu- 
 ally become a cipher in a most complex industrial sys- 
 tem, and has his life absorbed and controlled as a mere 
 unit in a great factory or workshop that leaves him no 
 scope for the exercise of the higher intellectual develop- 
 ments of modern life. 
 
 While science is making life more livable and lovable 
 by means of rapid transit and greater range of interests 
 and wider scope, the time of the worker is occupied al- 
 most entirely in the provision of food, shelter, and 
 clothing, with little or no leisure time remaining, even 
 if he had the means, to provide for a higher level of 
 living. He sees other sections of the community dash- 
 ing about in motor-cars and generally living what appear 
 to be, in contrast with his own life, lives of leisure and 
 comfort. So long as the workman's life is passed in 
 monotonous toil in factory and workshop from daybreak 
 to sunset, no wages, however high, can make up for this 
 separation from all that is highest and best in life: the 
 workman is not content to be exhausted in the task of 
 providing food, shelter, and clothing for himself, wife, 
 and children, with practically no leisure for other pur- 
 suits. 
 
 This is perhaps a subconscious state, and is a condition 
 that the workman himself would probably be unable to 
 put into clear language, but that it exists is plainly shown 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 9 
 
 by the so-called " Labour Unrest," and by the readiness 
 with which a section of the Labour Party is prepared, 
 Samson like, to break the pillars and throw down the 
 whole structure of Society, rather than continue under 
 the present conditions of the workman's life (which 
 hateful conditions are far from being merely and solely 
 a question of wages) — he disregards social usages, 
 awards of umpires, his own Trade Union leaders, and 
 the legal rights of Society, and would seek industrial 
 revolution in order to obtain redress from his present 
 industrial position, and often merely imaginary griev- 
 ances. 
 
 All this " Labour Unrest " arises from the fact that 
 his life in factory and workshop has become one dull, 
 monotonous grind, from schoolage to dotage, and this 
 state of mind is as dangerous to the workman himself 
 as it is to the nation — dangerous to himself, because, 
 while he smarts under the oppression of his lot in life, 
 he does not quite know how to obtain that fullness of 
 life and happiness, comfort and well-being, leisure and 
 advancement for which he hungers. 
 
 It is a basic law of all healthy, permanent growth that 
 no one part of a whole can increase and develop without 
 all other parts being symmetrically and proportionately 
 increased and developed. This is equally true of Society 
 as a whole or viewed in sections. No section of Society 
 can enjoy improved conditions without all other sections 
 enjoying improved conditions — otherwise there would 
 be a lack of symmetry in the whole and danger of the 
 social tree toppling over at the first gale that tested 
 the strength of the hold of its roots on the solid ground. 
 The future security, or the present danger that menaces 
 the industrial world, will be exactly in proportion to the 
 symmetrical growth or lack thereof in all its parts. We 
 can have no so-called leisured class or moneyed class un- 
 
10 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 less all classes can enjoy the opportunity in their lives 
 of leisure and money in symmetrical proportion. Not 
 in equal proportions, because there is no such thing as 
 equality or uniformity in God's scheme of man or of 
 nature. But nature's and man's Creator never planned 
 that one section should be starved whilst another section 
 be overfed without decay and death resulting. There- 
 fore our problem can only be solved by increasing 
 wealth and increasing leisure. Then equal distribution 
 would have no meaning, because the mere fact of equal 
 distribution would increase neither the total wealth nor 
 the total leisure — in fact, equal distribution would de- 
 crease both, by withdrawing the stimulus of reward from 
 those possessed of the power to create wealth and leisure, 
 and would encourage the " leaners " and " apathetics " to 
 cease from all efforts and to make no use of oppor- 
 tunity as a means for development in skill and knowl- 
 edge for production of wealth. 
 
 The power to create wealth is not a power against the 
 public interest and well-being, any more than is bodily 
 health and strength or great intellectual power. A man 
 is not an enemy of the human race because, by exercise 
 of foresight, thrift, and intelligence, he has accumulated 
 great wealth, any more than is the man who, by temper- 
 ate living and good habits, accumulates a store of good 
 health, and consequently is fitted to live a long life. It 
 would be as logical, as right, and as reasonable for the 
 consumptives, the weak, the feeble, and the diseased to 
 denounce the healthy and strong as it is for those pos- 
 sessing little or no wealth to denounce the rich and 
 wealthy. And it would be just as effective a cure for 
 consumption, weakness, feebleness, and disease to take 
 steps to reduce the healthy and strong to a state of weak- 
 ness, feebleness, and disease as it would be a cure for 
 poverty to attempt to conscript the riches of the wealthy. 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 11 
 
 Take, for instance, the crude Henry George theories 
 that to abolish all property in land by confiscating the 
 rents received from land, and the more recent sugges- 
 tions of others, that to abolish all ownership in capital 
 by confiscating all interest and profits on capital would 
 abolish poverty, and this wealth, when shared in by all 
 equally, would bring about the millennium. These pro- 
 posals are shown up in all their grotesque absurdity when 
 we examine the figures, for we then find that their prod- 
 uct, on pre-war basis, would, if divided equally, be under 
 i id. per head per day for each man, woman, and child 
 in the United Kingdom. In this calculation we take, of 
 course, no count of salaries or wages, or of foreign in- 
 vestments, but merely of profits, rents, and interest on 
 capital invested in the United Kingdom. 
 
 So that equality or uniformity of wealth is clearly no 
 way to abolish poverty. 
 
 A man is not a criminal merely because he is wealthy 
 nor is a man a criminal merely because he is weak, feeble, 
 or diseased. A man is not judged merely by his state of 
 health or disease, or his state of wealth or poverty, but 
 by his acts and how he lives, be he healthy or diseased, 
 be he wealthy or poor, and he is also rightly judged by 
 how he came by his health or disease and how he came 
 by his wealth or poverty. 
 
 Some men acquired their health and strength, their 
 feebleness, ill-health, or disease from their parents; 
 others gained their strength and health, or acquired 
 their ill-health, feebleness, or disease, by their own acts. 
 Equally, some men inherit their wealth or poverty from 
 their parents, whilst others have gained their wealth or 
 become poor by their own acts. A strong, healthy man 
 can use his health and strength not only for his own 
 benefit and happiness, but also for the good and happi- 
 ness of others; and so become a gain to the whole human 
 
12 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 race. Equally, a wealthy man can use his wealth and 
 riches not only for his own benefit and happiness, but also 
 for the good and happiness of others, and so become a 
 gain to the whole human race. The well-being and hap- 
 piness of the whole human race depend not on equality 
 of health or of wealth, but on each man and woman 
 making the best use of their health or wealth, be either 
 or both little or great, for the production of more health 
 and more wealth. It is only so that gradually all can be- 
 come healthy and all wealthy. Every advantage must be 
 taken of every opportunity for creation of conditions 
 that make it easier for each man and woman — if they 
 so will — to become more and more healthy and strong, 
 more and more wealthy and happy. 
 
 The great end and aim of life is happiness. The happy 
 man or woman is the highest product the world can pro- 
 duce, whatever their state of health or wealth, but health 
 and wealth are great removers of limitations. And that 
 is all that either health or wealth can do for any of us 
 — just remove our limitations and give us a wider scope 
 for usefulness to our fellow-men. 
 
 We are forced, therefore, to direct our whole energies 
 to the production of more wealth, and in doing so we 
 must concentrate on machine power and not on human 
 energy. This will enable us to increase wages by creat- 
 ing a larger fund out of which to pay Labour — to in- 
 crease leisure by reducing costs, so that fewer hours of 
 toil are required to produce more goods, better goods, 
 and cheaper goods by an ever-increasing use of machine 
 power, so that the worker becomes, as he was intended to 
 be, a director of machinery and not himself a machine 
 or part of a machine. The man must be master and 
 controller of the machine, and not the machine be mas- 
 ter and so swallow up the mind and personality of the 
 man. 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 13 
 
 We find all over the world, in the semi-civilized coun- 
 tries as well as in the most highly civilized, that wealth 
 is the greatest, wages are the highest, and hours of la- 
 bour are the shortest where capital invested in machine 
 power is the greatest per head of the people. This out- 
 standing fact has yet to be learned by both employer- 
 capitalist and employee-worker. The employer-capitalist 
 must get rid of his infatuation for the error that low 
 wages and long hours of toil for the employee-worker 
 mean cheaper production and consequently higher prof- 
 its. It is only by the extended use of machine power 
 and the prompt adoption of every labour-saving device 
 that cheaper production can be achieved by obtaining a 
 greater volume of products. And it is only by the pay- 
 ing of the highest possible rate of wages to the employee- 
 worker for the fewest possible number of hours that an 
 adequate demand for this increased volume of products 
 can be found. Leisure increases wants, whilst over- 
 fatigue and long hours decrease wants. The British 
 employee-worker will then recognize the fallacy of re- 
 striction of output as a means to social betterment for 
 the workers, and will for ever discard this folly. 
 
 Mr. Gompers, the American Labour Leader, has told 
 us that the workman in the United States abandoned the 
 fallacy of restriction of output thirty years ago, which 
 was, by a strange coincidence, about the very period the 
 British workman first began to adopt extensively " ca' 
 canny" and restriction of output; and since 1886 there 
 has been a steady rise in the production per head of the 
 workers in the United States and an equally steady re- 
 duction in the production per head of the workers in 
 the United Kingdom, with the result, as shown by the 
 census of production issued recently, that of the seven 
 million workers in Great Britain, four million were en- 
 gaged in trades yielding a net annual increased value of 
 
14 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 only £75 to £100 per head over the value of the ma- 
 terial used. In most of the principal industries in the 
 United States the output per worker averages from three 
 to five times that amount. 
 
 We have to reconsider our methods and change all 
 this. The power and ability to produce by means of 
 machinery is from a hundred to a thousand times greater 
 than the power to produce by hand labour, and demands 
 from *he man less fatigue. Notwithstanding the enor- 
 mous increase in machinery, and simultaneously in com- 
 plexity and intricacy of parts of machines, the workman 
 always finds himself master of his machine — the machine 
 cannot master the workman. And further, the better our 
 equipment of machinery, the better and more intelligent 
 our workman becomes. This is shown by the fact that, 
 however high the type of machine may be, man can al- 
 ways improve on the same, so that each year the new ma- 
 chine shows improvements on the old machine. The man 
 who can best effect this improvement is the man who 
 works at the machine. He knows the machine he works 
 with as a rider knows his horse. He understands its pecu- 
 liarities and its weaknesses, and gradually comes to view 
 it almost as a living creature. Then why do we not get 
 more inventions and suggested improvements from the 
 man working the machine? The reason is that sugges- 
 tions for improvement require thought, and thought re- 
 quires leisure, and the present industrial system gives no 
 leisure. To provide more leisure, it can be proved that 
 men properly trained to their task and to working to- 
 gether can accomplish from 50 per cent, to 100 per cent, 
 more work than the same number of ill-selected, badly 
 organized men. Similarly the man working with ma- 
 chinery; the trained, skilled, unfatigued worker can pro- 
 duce a larger volume of product than the fatigued work- 
 man. The mastery of the machine can only be accom- 
 
PROBLEM OF INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 15 
 
 plished by development of high character as well as high 
 skill in the employee-worker. The obtaining of the most 
 from machines requires the highest intelligence along 
 with highest character, and so we tend to get further 
 from the brutes and nearer to the angels. Without ma- 
 chines, man required mere brute force and strength, with 
 relatively little skill and no special high character or 
 moral laws to guide him. The drunken or debauched 
 workman is incapable of running a modern complicated 
 machine in the factory or a modern high-speed locomo- 
 tive. He is unable to keep up with the strain that ma- 
 chine or locomotive makes upon him, whilst the steady 
 workman of character is complete master of his job and 
 his machine. The whole tendency of modern machinery 
 is to improve the workman whilst increasing his wages 
 and reducing his hours of labour. A handloom weaver 
 might be semi-drunk and take no harm at his work be- 
 yond loss of output. A man driving a horse and cart or 
 carriage may be half drunk, and yet his horse will find 
 home in safety whilst the driver nods a drunken half- 
 sleep. But not so the modern workman, with many and 
 delicate intricate looms to watch and keep running, nor 
 the man on the footplate of the express mail-train loco- 
 motive. The drunkard would be an impossibility for 
 these modern machines, and would lack that nerve and 
 steadiness of eye and hand essential to their operation. 
 
 The modern machine knows nothing of religion or 
 moral laws, yet it is one of the greatest religious and 
 moral teachers the world has produced in modern times. 
 However far and wide we extend mechanical utilities 
 and machine power, we come finally to the necessity of 
 providing intelligent and careful men for their control 
 and running. Machines cannot run alone, and workmen 
 of skill, high character, and moral conduct are essential 
 to successful control. Man remains man and machine 
 
16 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 remains machine. Therefore we may look to the future 
 with confidence. All the tendencies of the greater use 
 of machinery are in the direction of improving man. 
 Machinery properly used need not degrade man, but is 
 capable of raising him indefinitely. 
 
 Equally, modern industrial conditions improve the 
 employer-capitalist. Modern industrial conditions de- 
 mand and necessitate an employer of not only high abil- 
 ity, but also of high character. 
 
 Can employer-capitalists and employee-workers so 
 conduct productive and distributive industries, so work 
 together, so adjust themselves to new ideals, so govern 
 and serve the Empire, so, in brief, review their own pri- 
 vate, selfish ideas on the lines of most enlightened self- 
 interest that they may both realize the truth that in best 
 serving the Empire and the public they will best serve 
 themselves? There never was a greater need for em- 
 ployer-capitalist and employee-worker to exercise the 
 wisest and most enlightened self-interest. There never 
 was such an opportunity for the immediate and prompt 
 exercise of a far-sighted, wise, and enlightened policy. 
 Narrow, selfish greed and cunning on either side would 
 bring this Empire and its peoples to ruin and disaster. 
 The future of civilization and of our Empire, and the 
 future of our race, the happiness and prosperity of our 
 children and our children's children, will depend in no 
 small degree on the wisdom of our employer-capitalists 
 and employee-workers, in whose hands now and after the 
 war lie the guidance and control of our policy. 
 
II 
 
 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 There exists to-day profound and widespread anti-capi- 
 talist and anti-Trade Union labour prejudice and dis- 
 trust. " A plague on both your houses " says the con- 
 sumer, who feels uneasy and vaguely suspicious that he 
 is not well and truly served by either. And with this 
 widespread unrest there is the most profound ignorance 
 of the very rudiments of the economics of production, of 
 profits, and of wages. 
 
 We may search, with painstaking care and attention, 
 through the present-day writings of those who attempt to 
 deal with industrial conditions and wages and hours of 
 work, whether the writers be Socialists or Trades Union- 
 ists, but we shall search in vain for any recognition of the 
 fact that the economical cost of production and volume 
 of product are the all-important factors, or any reference 
 to the fact that over 90 per cent., and possibly even over 
 95 per cent, of the products of labour are consumed by 
 the employee-workers themselves, and not by the 
 employer-capitalists. So that restriction of output, 
 or the " ca' canny " policy, can only, whatever might be 
 the rate of wages, make wages nominal by reducing their 
 exchange value when measured in terms of clothing, 
 food, and shelter. 
 
 At this present moment there is in the mind of many 
 writers and speakers the most shallow and dangerously 
 wrong views as to the patriotism, during war-time, of so- 
 called profits of capital and the patriotism of demands 
 for higher wages of labour. It is not easy to get the 
 
 17 
 
18 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 public or the employee-worker to recognize that it would 
 be the reverse of patriotic — in fact, absolutely ruinous 
 to the national well-being — for the employer-capitalist 
 to forgo profits during war-time. And it is not easy to 
 get the public or the employer-capitalist to see that it 
 would equally be the reverse of patriotic for the em- 
 ployee-worker to waive demands for higher wages dur- 
 ing war-time. The economic truth is that unless the 
 employer-capitalist be able to make reasonably higher 
 profits during war-time than during peace-time, and the 
 employee-worker to earn reasonably higher wages during 
 war-time than during peace-time — the profits to enable 
 the employer-capitalist to expand production to the ut- 
 most and to meet post-war contractions and losses, and 
 the wages to enable the employee-worker to meet the 
 higher cost of living, and also the increased cost of 
 higher living — it would be impossible to maintain the in- 
 dustries of the country at concert pitch during the war. 
 
 In short, reasonable and fair, full profits to the em- 
 ployer-capitalist, and reasonable, generous, and full 
 wages to the employee-worker during war-time are es- 
 sential to the maintenance of our Empire's stability and 
 to prevent widespread national and business prostration. 
 How to conduct our industries, how to handle capital 
 and labour, how to run what we may call in brief the 
 business of the Empire during the war, is one of the 
 problems of the war, as it will be our problem after the 
 war is over. 
 
 Can we bear our post-war loads and carry the Empire 
 after the war with its trade and commerce back into the 
 calm safety of prosperity? We can only do so pro- 
 vided all classes and both sexes, following the example 
 set us by our King and Queen, continue to make, 
 after the war, the same sacrifices of ease or comfort, 
 and continue to work as hard and with the same spirit 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 19 
 
 of brotherhood as has been displayed by all classes, with- 
 out exception, during the war. This will be no easy 
 task; but we can and must face it, and, facing it 
 promptly, it will be easier to accomplish than if we hesi- 
 tate and procrastinate. Sound principles of finance and 
 our national credit will necessitate our not only paying 
 promptly the interest on our War Loans, but also pro- 
 viding for the repayment of the loans with all possible 
 speed. 
 
 Our National Debt at the end of the present financial 
 year, 1918-19, we are told by the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, will be about eight thousand millions sterling. 
 Our crushing burden of taxation during the current 
 financial year is estimated to yield about nine hundred 
 millions sterling. Hundreds of thousands of the flower 
 of our manhood will have been killed in battle or will 
 have died of war diseases, or have been permanently 
 maimed or crippled. We have a house famine actually 
 with us, and are exerting every nerve and muscle to 
 prevent a food famine and to provide munitions of war, 
 ships for commerce, and ships for war, submarines, air- 
 craft, and all known weapons of war for the destruction 
 of life and property. Our programme of social reforms 
 and betterment and of extended education is a long and 
 an overdue one. 
 
 And first of all we must learn the most serious impor- 
 tance of the avoidance of waste — waste of child life, 
 waste of adult life, waste of energy, waste of time, 
 waste of opportunity, and, greatest waste of all, the 
 appalling waste caused by over-fatigue of the workers, 
 resulting in inefficiency, bad health, lost time, and prema- 
 ture decay and death. 
 
 But we have learned much during the last three years 
 on the subject of fatigue, overwork, and excessively 
 long working hours. We have proved conclusively that 
 
20 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 prolonged hours of toil, with resulting excessive fatigue, 
 produce, after a certain point, actually smaller results in 
 quantity, quality, and value than can be produced in 
 fewer hours when there is an entire absence of over- 
 strain or fatigue. Fortunately, however, this logical 
 effect of over-long hours of continuous work does not 
 apply, except to a very limited extent, to the case of 
 machinery and mechanical utilities. True, even machin- 
 ery must have times of rest for cleaning, overhauling, 
 repairs, and lubrication; but these stoppages are not 
 serious, and require only slight intervals that are easily 
 arranged for. Therefore, as we shall require an enor- 
 mously increased output of goods to replenish stocks 
 that have been allowed to run down, both for our home 
 and export trade, and as we have the machinery avail- 
 able, and which hitherto in most industries has been run 
 for only 48 hours per week, a solution of this one of 
 our difficulties can be best and most readily found by 
 working our machinery for more hours and our men 
 and women for fewer hours. 
 
 We must have a six-hour working day for men and 
 women, and by means of six-hour shifts for men and 
 women we must work our machinery twelve, eighteen, or 
 twenty-four hours per day. 
 
 We have in the United Kingdom the finest type of 
 work people in the human race — second to none in the 
 whole world. If we are to make the most of this rare 
 humanity, and have more of the inventions to which I 
 have alluded, there must be some change in our indus- 
 trial system of hours of working. We must remember 
 the deadening effect of general factory life. From four- 
 teen years of age to seventy years of age is a long life- 
 span, and if you consider the conditions of attending, 
 for eight hours a day, the same automatic machinery and 
 following the same routine, with its continual deadly, 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 21 
 
 monotonous round of toil, those of us whose employment 
 is varied will realize how this bites into the soul of a 
 man or woman and tends to corrode it. There is not 
 that variety which human life thrives on. The horses 
 of the coaches which went out of London along the level 
 Slough and Windsor road were done up and had to be 
 sold long before the horses that went a similar distance 
 through Highgate, where they climbed the hill to the 
 summit and then trotted down into the valleys with 
 collars loose. And so also those who work in factories 
 with unbroken monotony till tired and weary, only pre- 
 paring by rest and sleep for the beginning of another 
 similar dull day, must inevitably wear out at a premature 
 age and become enfeebled under such conditions. 
 
 Of all welfare work in factories, a proper apportion- 
 ment of the time is the one that will yield the best re- 
 sults, and is the problem most pressing for solution. Let 
 us take as an illustration of our meaning the position 
 with regard to London and overcrowding. We know the 
 slums of London and the overcrowding of London; but 
 do we realize that the Metropolitan area, with its 7% 
 millions of people, covers the extensive area of 450,000 
 acres of ground? If, therefore, we had planned for build- 
 ing under ideal conditions of some ten houses to the 
 acre over the whole of this Metropolitan area, instead of 
 having, as we have at present, badly packed slum districts 
 in some quarters and so on, and of badly housing only 
 y% millions of people, we could in that area have pro- 
 vided for housing 22^2 millions of people, three times the 
 number, with ideal surroundings for comfort and happi- 
 ness. It is merely a case of bad packing. Now, I believe 
 this is not an unfair parallel for me to take with regard 
 to working hours. We can get into a working day of 
 six hours all the work we are capable of when that work 
 is monotonous — attending machinery and general work 
 
22 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 in a factory. To get the work condensed into six hours 
 would enable us to produce not only everything that we 
 require, but to produce it without fatigue. 
 
 Not only can we produce, when all ranks and all classes 
 of both sexes are workers for six hours each day for 
 six days each week, all the ships, machinery, factories, 
 houses, and goods we require both for home require- 
 ments and for exchange for raw materials through our 
 export markets, but the houses can be built in beautiful 
 garden suburbs; we can provide adequately for educa- 
 tion, mental and physical, and military training for na- 
 tional defence. In addition, all being workers, our bur- 
 den of taxation will — being then wisely laid on the 
 wealth produced — be borne by all without impoverish- 
 ment or oppression of any. The only wise, sane basis of 
 taxation is to avoid all tariffs on goods except luxuries, 
 and then solely for revenue purposes, and to raise further 
 revenue mainly by graduated income tax and death 
 duties. The only possible way to produce wealth is by 
 the labour of all classes working shoulder to shoulder 
 together in co-partnership during reasonable hours and 
 without individual over-fatigue or overwork. There 
 must be neither idle overfed and underworked men or 
 women nor overworked, underfed men or women. It 
 has been estimated that less than half of our total popu- 
 lation are actual producers of wealth, but if we are, as a 
 nation, to make good the wastage of this war and to 
 maintain our position amongst the nations of the world 
 after we have won complete victory and the uncondi- 
 tional surrender of our enemies, then it will require that 
 all able-bodied men and women from schoolage to 
 dotage, of all ranks and stations, shall be workers for six 
 hours each day for six days each week. There will be 
 no place in the whole British Empire for the idle rich or 
 the idle or " ca' canny " poor. We cannot consent as a 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 23 
 
 nation to there being any loafers, nor can the British 
 Empire, if it is to continue to exist, become a loafer's 
 paradise. 
 
 But the adoption simultaneously, in all industries of 
 the United Kingdom, of a six-hour working day is abso- 
 lutely impossible and impracticable. As with the acorn 
 that produces the British oak, the growth of the six-hour 
 day movement will be slow, but none the less sure. It 
 can only be adopted in such industries as those in which 
 it will, by its application, give lower costs of production 
 by working machinery for longer hours and humanity, in 
 two or more shifts, for fewer hours. The six-hour day, 
 for instance, is not immediately applicable to agricul- 
 ture, because at present there is little labour-saving ma- 
 chinery used in agriculture. But already steam and 
 petrol tractors for ploughing, cultivation, seed-sowing, 
 harvesting, and haulage are each succeeding year being 
 more and more used, and it is quite evident that the time 
 will come when a six-hour day and two shifts of work- 
 men will be the most profitable and most economical 
 employment for humanity in agriculture. 
 
 It is already applicable without loss to all those indus- 
 tries in which the cost of production in overhead charges 
 is equal in amount to the cost of wages. But in most 
 workshops and factories the cost of production in the 
 form of overhead charges is double or more the cost of 
 wages. In all these latter the six-hour day can be ap- 
 plied forthwith with enormous gains in cost of pro- 
 duction, provided the supply of raw material and of 
 labour is available and the demand for products 
 exists. 
 
 The six-hour day is already a most urgent and much- 
 needed condition of working hours in all industries 
 where women and girls are employed. It must be re- 
 membered that a large proportion of women engaged in 
 
24 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 industries, whether married or single, have, unlike their 
 fathers and brothers, some housework to do as well as 
 their work in industrial employment. And these hours 
 of housework and the resulting fatigue must be remem- 
 bered when considering their hours of work in the fac- 
 tory, workshop, or office. 
 
 In the textile industries and all others where the cost 
 of overhead charges, such as interest on capital, salaries 
 of partners and managers, repairs and renewals, depre- 
 ciation, rates and taxes (omitting all taxes on income or 
 profits) is about equal to the cost for weekly wages, the 
 change from a 48-hour week to a 72-hour week of two 
 shifts of 36 hours each would affect the cost of produc- 
 tion somewhat as follows: 
 
 Working a 48-hour week and assuming that the prod- 
 uct was 1,000 items per week at a cost of £ 1,000 per 
 week for overhead charges and of £ 1,000 per week for 
 wages, the resulting total cost of production per item, 
 exclusive of raw material and such other proportionate 
 costs as would always be in exact relation to volume pro- 
 duced, would be 40s. per item. 
 
 If such textile or other factories adopted the six-hour 
 working day system they would work 72 hours per week 
 in two shifts of 36 hours each shift per week, and as- 
 suming that no increase of production per hour worked 
 was achieved, which need not necessarily be the case, and 
 that the wages paid for a 36-hour week were the same 
 as for a 48-hour week, which must always necessarily 
 be the case, then the resulting product would be 1,500 
 items. The cost of production for overhead charges 
 would not be seriously affected, as machinery almost 
 invariably becomes obsolete before it is worn out, and 
 fixed capital in plant, buildings, and machinery would be 
 the same, the cost of overhead charges would again be 
 £1,000, but the cost for wages would now be £2,000, 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 25 
 
 or a total of £3,000 for 1,500 items, or again a cost, ex- 
 clusive of raw materials, of 40s. per item. 
 
 But supposing, as one is justified in doing by past and 
 present experience, that the unfatigued worker could 
 produce as much in six hours as formerly was produced 
 in eight hours — and we will examine into this later on — 
 then the figures as to cost of production would be some- 
 what the following, and show a great gain in economical 
 production : 2,000 items would then be produced in a 
 72-hour week of two shifts of 36 hours each shift at a 
 cost of £1,000 for overhead charges and of £2,006 
 for wages, a total of £3,000, or of 30s. per item, which 
 would be a reduction of 25 per cent, on cost of produc- 
 tion compared with cost when working a 48-hour week. 
 This economy might wisely be used, partly in increased 
 payment to the workers by means of a bonus on produc- 
 tion in addition to wages, which wages would be the 
 same for 36 hours as formerly for 48 hours, and the 
 balance to the consumer in reduced selling price of the 
 product — so that practically the whole of the benefits 
 of economy of production would go to the workers first 
 directly in shorter hours of labour with higher total 
 earnings as wages and bonus, and afterwards as con- 
 sumers in lower cost of living. 
 
 The employer-capitalist would not need to share in this 
 economy of production, because his share would come 
 to him on his increased production and quicker turnover 
 of capital, with resulting increase in dividend-earning 
 capacity. 
 
 It is clear from this rough and ready calculation that 
 in all industries where overhead charges exceed the por- 
 tion of cost of production paid as wages to the worker, 
 the advantages would be greater in proportion to the 
 ratio of increase in cost of overhead charges. And 
 equally it is clear that where the cost of overhead charges 
 
26 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT' 
 
 is less than the portion of the cost of production paid as 
 wages, there would be a resulting increase in cost of 
 production in proportion to the ratio that the lesser cost 
 of overhead charges bore to the cost paid as wages, and 
 that a point would be reached at which the immedi- 
 ate adoption of a 72-hour working week in two 
 shifts of 36 hours each would be impossible and im- 
 practicable. 
 
 And now as to the possibility of the unfatigued worker 
 producing as much in a 36-hour week as in a 48-hour 
 week, let us refer to the experience of our forefathers 
 as recorded in the debates in Parliament during the pass- 
 ing of the Ten Hours and other Bills, and let us remem- 
 ber also that nowadays, with more or less automatic 
 machinery, increased production per hour by the work- 
 ers can be effected in two ways : firstly, by the unfatigued 
 workers' increased efficiency, and secondly, by the un- 
 fatigued and alert workers being able to attend to a 
 greater number of machines. 
 
 At this stage some may be asking themselves, Why 
 not work a 96-hour week in two shifts of 48 hours each? 
 and in answer to this we can apply the experience of 
 Russia cited by Mr. Romaine Callender in a debate in 
 the House of Commons on the Factory Acts Amendment 
 Bill in 1874. He said: — 
 
 The hours worked in Russia were of extraordinary dura- 
 tion — one case being cited when, by a double shift of 
 workers, 132 hours were made per week, yet in this case 
 the production per spindle was barely more than that of 
 an English mill working 60 hours. 
 
 Mr. Baxter, in an adjourned debate on the same Bill, 
 also referring to the practice in Scotland at that time of 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 27 
 
 working twelve hours, and when the trade was good 
 some fourteen or fifteen hours a day for a part of the 
 week, said : — 
 
 Now, I was so convinced that this could not be a good 
 system, that twelve years ago I issued a peremptory order 
 that no man in my employ should under any pretext what- 
 ever be permitted to work in those premises for more than 
 ten hours a day. And what was the consequence? The 
 very first year — and it has continued ever since — we turned 
 out more bales in the ten hours than ever we had done in 
 twelve or fifteen hours. 
 
 In the same debate Mr. Hermon, who was, I believe, 
 Member for Preston, stated: — 
 
 There was a very strong opposition to the Sixty Hours 
 Bill, but it might now be safely said that there was no 
 manufacturer who wished to repeal it. He entirely dis- 
 agreed with the Commissioners when they said that by 
 giving more time in the evening to the operatives there 
 would be an increase in debauchery. No such effect had 
 followed from the Ten Hours Bill, but, on the contrary, 
 as soon as it passed, the operatives had improved their 
 position socially, mentally, and educationally, while it 
 had advanced a most important branch of national in- 
 dustry. 
 
 It is well known in the trade that more bad work accumu- 
 lated during the last half-hour or hour than during the 
 whole of the day. During this time a drowsiness crept over 
 the factory hands, so that they became themselves like 
 machines, and almost all the disputes and unpleasantness 
 that occurred during the day had their source in the present 
 prolonged hours of labour. 
 
28 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Mr. Mundella, speaking towards the end of the debate, 
 said : — 
 
 The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Fawcett) contended that if the 
 working hours were reduced 6 per cent, the outcome would 
 be reduced in the same proportion unless the machinery 
 or its rate of speed were increased. That was, however, 
 an argument which was answered by Mr. Hugh Mason, 
 who, after he had reduced the hours of labour without 
 adding a single revolution to the speed of his motive power, 
 declared that he had not turned out a breadth less in the 
 year after he had made the change as compared with that 
 which preceded it. 
 
 Miss Victorine Jeans, in her Cobden Club Prize 
 Essay entitled Factory Act Legislation: Its Indus- 
 trial and Commercial Effects, Actual and Prospective, 
 states : — 
 
 If we had to sum up in a single sentence the general effect 
 of the Factory Acts on the textile manufactures, we should 
 say that the legislation tended to enforce everywhere the 
 principles of the selection of the fittest; in other words, it 
 helped to bring about the fittest use of capital, of invention, 
 and of human skill and energy, and therefore it did not 
 diminish production or lower wages, neither probably did 
 it lead to a fall in profits nor a permanent loss of foreign 
 trade. . . . 
 
 No nation can long maintain a commercial supremacy 
 unless its labouring class is strong and intelligent. 
 
 There are those who will assert to-day, as Mr. Webb does, 
 that the English cotton-spinner finds competition keenest, 
 not where the hours of work are longest, as in Russia and 
 India, but where they are shortest, as in Massachusetts. 
 Certain it is that the most perfect machinery, the largest 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 29 
 
 system of production, the lowest amount of waste time, are 
 all features characteristic of those industries and those 
 countries where the shortest working day obtains. 
 
 But our greatest encouragement and inspiration come 
 from reading the various speeches of the late Lord 
 Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley), when speaking in Par- 
 liament on the Ten Hours Bill. The Government of the 
 day resisted the evidence he brought forward to show 
 that the hours of labour could be reduced without eco- 
 nomic loss. On May 10, 1844, he spoke to the House 
 as follows: — 
 
 Here then springs up a curious and important problem 
 for solution by this House — no, not by this House, for 
 they have already resolved it — but for Her Majesty's Gov- 
 ernment, who deny our conclusions and oppose themselves 
 to the thrice-recorded wishes of the British Empire. Which 
 is the preferable condition for the people — high wages with 
 privation of social and domestic enjoyment, without the 
 means of knowledge or the opportunities of virtue, acquir- 
 ing ways which they waste through ignorance of household 
 economy, and placed in a state of moral and physical 
 deterioration ; or lower earnings with increased advantages 
 for mental improvement and bodily health — for the under- 
 standing and performance of those duties which now they 
 either know not or neglect ; for obtaining the humble but 
 necessary accomplishments of domestic life and cultivating 
 its best affections? Clouds of witnesses attest these things 
 — clergy, ministers of every persuasion, doctors, master- 
 manufacturers, and operatives have given, and are ready 
 to give again, the most conclusive evidence, but Her 
 Majesty's Ministers refuse to listen, and will neither adopt 
 the remedy we are proposing nor assist us with one of 
 their own. 
 
30 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Speaking sixteen years afterwards as Lord Shaftes- 
 bury in the Town Hall, Manchester, on October 6, 1866, 
 he referred to the agitation for the Ten Hours Bill and 
 to the success of the workers in carrying their point, and 
 the effects on the workers themselves as well as on the 
 nation resulting therefrom. He recalled the attitude the 
 workers had taken up during the agitation. They had 
 said : — 
 
 " We are standing for the limitation of the hours of 
 labour as our great right, as the charter of our liberties; 
 give us but that and you will neve? hear of sedition in 
 Lancashire; you will never hear of discontent; you will see 
 that we are among the most loyal of Her Majesty's sub- 
 jects, and we shall be both able and willing to discharge 
 every duty that can become a citizen. No more (they had 
 said) shall you hear of disturbances in Lancashire if once 
 that right is conceded, if once our just demands are acknowl- 
 edged." 
 
 Speaking of the better times, Lord Shaftesbury con- 
 tinued : — 
 
 I cannot but congratulate you from the very bottom of 
 my heart, and I know you will congratulate me that we are 
 met under such favourable auspices. We are collected to- 
 gether in this room, not to talk of grievances, nor to devise 
 methods for the purpose of removing them — not to talk of 
 what we shall do, nor of what we fear ; but simply and solely 
 to exchange congratulations that we have, by the blessing 
 of God, attained to the present condition of things, and 
 that the whole of this great country is working in perfect 
 harmony, men with masters and masters with men. 
 
 There is no sour feeling, no angry heart, no difficulty 
 existing among them. 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 31 
 
 And how was this achieved? Recollect this was 
 achieved without violence, without menace, without 
 strikes, without resort to any extraordinary or illicit 
 means. 
 
 God's blessing rested upon so peaceful a course; and 
 when you obtained your triumph, when you gained your 
 end, I tell you I think in no one part of your career, in all 
 the long agitation we had, did you exhibit a more generous 
 spirit, a truer policy, a more thorough development of that 
 which is the greatest blessing man can have — common sense, 
 than the way in which you took your victory, and the way in 
 which you acknowledged your triumph. There was no 
 boasting, there was no paean, no crowing of cocks, no cry of 
 victory, no desire to exult, and no saying to the masters: 
 " We have carried the victory and will make you feel you 
 are under our feet." On the contrary, you said : " We 
 have been enemies, but let us now be friends. We have 
 come now to the grand point ; you may fancy you may lose, 
 but only give us a fair chance, only meet us with an open 
 heart and generous treatment, and you will find that when 
 worked out the issue will be quite as beneficial to yourselves 
 as it is to the operatives." 
 
 You have that statement from the Chairman, who from 
 his own experience says that the measure has been beneficial 
 alike to master and man, to employers and employed; and 
 so it is, and in all great works of this kind, in which the 
 real rights of mankind are concerned, in which the physical 
 and moral interests of the human race are in jeopardy, 
 in all matters of the kind, depend upon it, the truer economy 
 is justice and humanity, and when you have achieved the 
 triumph the truer wisdom is to say, " We forget the past ; 
 we have been enemies, but for God's sake let us be friends ; 
 we have in time to prepare ourselves for eternity: let us 
 have no feuds, no differences, but let us join hands and go 
 forward, and God will bless the issue." 
 
32 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 And coming down to modern times, experience still 
 demonstrates that working shorter hours with lessened 
 fatigue does not reduce output, but generally, and with 
 very few exceptions, tends to increase output. 
 
 The Report of Dr. Vernon on the Health of Munition 
 Workers gives facts which will remove any doubt exist- 
 ing in the mind of any one as to the six-hour working 
 day. In that Report he states that from experiments 
 spread over thirteen and a half months upon the output 
 of workers making fuses, a reduction of working hours 
 was associated with an increase of production, both 
 relative and absolute. Hours of work were changed first 
 from a twelve-hour day to a ten-hour day, and Sunday 
 work abolished. A group of women making aluminium 
 fuse bodies provided the following results: A twelve- 
 hour nominal day, after deducting lost time, making 
 eleven hours net, yielded ioo articles, say, per hour, and 
 ioo totals, say, per week. A ten-hour nominal day, after 
 deducting lost time, making nine hours net, yielded 134 
 articles per hour and 1 1 1 totals per week. A nominal 
 eight and a half-hour day, after deducting lost time, 
 making a seven and a half-hour day net, yielded 158 
 articles per hour and 109 totals per week, thus proving 
 that an eight and a half-hour working day, or 52-hour 
 week, yielded more in products, both per hour and per 
 week, than a twelve-hour day or 72-hour week, calcu- 
 lated either per hour or per week. 
 
 From other reports also that have been issued since 
 the war began on fatigue of munition workers, we find 
 this astonishing fact — that a larger output, not only per 
 hour but per week, has been made when fewer hours 
 have been worked. Recently an employer stated that in 
 the early days of the war the nominal hours in his fac- 
 tory were 53 for the women; and he was staggered to 
 find that the women were losing an average of 14 hours 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 33 
 
 each per week. Fourteen hours a week was the average 
 lost time for each woman, bringing the actual average 
 time worked by each down to 39 hours, and he said: 
 " Oh, this won't do ; we will let the women come an hour 
 later in the mornings, and we will let them go an hour 
 earlier in the evenings," making twelve hours a week 
 reduction. So he made the hours 41 ^ week, and then he 
 found that the lost time averaged one hour per woman 
 per week; therefore, they were making 40 hours instead 
 of 39 as previously. But he found, in addition, that in 
 the 40 hours that they now worked — this was after de- 
 ducting lost time — he had an increase in the output in 
 the week of 44 per cent. 
 
 Government reports repeat over and over again, from 
 definite experiments, that in a reasonable number of 
 hours the human being turns out its maximum output. 
 Fatigue the human being one day, let the man or woman 
 come fatigued to work the following day, and so on, 
 and after two or three days the output goes down, down, 
 down, and is continually falling. Let the human being 
 work no harder each day than the body can accomplish 
 without fatigue, and he or she will come again fresh 
 the next day; and the output will increase and increase. 
 And it has been found that the increased output by work- 
 ing a reasonable number of hours varied, according to 
 the industry, from 50 per cent, to 120 per cent., and 
 the 50 per cent., it will be seen, agrees very nearly with 
 the figures given in the above record. Therefore, it is 
 not difficult to imagine that with two shifts working 
 six hours each shift, the output might go up 
 
 33 I_ 3 P er cent - P er nour » an( ^ so §™ e ^ e same out " 
 put in a 36-hour week as previously in a 48-hour 
 
 week. 
 
 Sir Robert Hadfield, of Sheffield, stated (1917), in 
 the course of an interview : — 
 
34 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 At our plants we have reduced working hours with that 
 largely beneficial result which seems to be inevitable. It has 
 become clear that this procedure is even better business than 
 it is humanity. Shorter hours make good men better, and 
 bring the medium workman up to something higher than the 
 old-time average. The hostility of the men to various pro- 
 gressive things was as unfailing as, for instance, their 
 opposition to labour-saving machinery. Now they have 
 learned that the better the tools the better the workman, and 
 that the better the workman the better his pay. 
 
 The fact that workmen are not themselves machines is 
 not yet appreciated in its full value. 
 
 Mr. Cecil Walton, of Glasgow, than whom there is no 
 one who has a wider experience or speaks with greater 
 authority on the subject of hours, fatigue, and output, 
 has stated in an address given in Glasgow as follows : — 
 
 There is only one way of reducing hours of a working 
 day, and that is by increased production. Any attempt to 
 shorten the working day without this must end in national 
 failure. 
 
 He cites the following amongst many other proofs of 
 the possibility of greatly increasing output and greatly 
 reducing hours : — 
 
 A factory producing 15,000 items a week was divided 
 into six units of machinery, each unit producing 2,500 
 items per week. It was decided during 1917 to transfer 
 some of these units of machinery to another factory in 
 another part of the country, and to do this in one complete 
 unit of machinery at one time, and to introduce a bonus 
 on output arrangement with the operators. After removal 
 of the first unit it was found that the remaining five units 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 35 
 
 still produced 15,000 items a week. The second, third, and 
 fourth unit were similarly removed, leaving only two units 
 of machinery, and these again and alone produced 15,000 
 items per week. 
 
 And again Mr. Walton has stated : — 
 
 If we turn to the authorities on the subject and study the 
 figures as given us with regard to output per head of our 
 industrial armies, we are staggered to find that Germany 
 and America produce per worker in the twenty-six princi- 
 pal industries something like five times as much as we 
 do. This sounds a terrible indictment, and it is. But if 
 we study the question closer still, we find it is not a disaster 
 we cannot overcome. Their industrial efficiency is below 
 what it ought to be, and although our own industrial effi- 
 ciency is lower, still we can so improve our efficiency as to 
 bring ourselves easily in advance of either the German or 
 American scale of industrial efficiency. 
 
 He then proceeds to refer to the economy and in- 
 creased efficiency to be achieved by one only of the many 
 changes possible in our industrial operation — that con- 
 templated in the " All Electric " Scheme, 1 by which it is 
 shown that we are at present paying wages to at least 
 one-half our industrial population for producing waste. 
 It is claimed that by the introduction of such a scheme 
 and the transfer of these producers of waste into the 
 ranks of producers of essentials, we can reduce the 
 working hours of all workers by 50 per cent, without 
 
 iBy the so-called "All Electric" Scheme it is proposed to burn 
 the coal at the pit mouth, thus saving transport on rails to house 
 or factory or locomotive, recovering the by-products for fertilizers, 
 aniline dyes, and coke, and using the gas in internal combustion 
 engines for generation of electricity, to be conveyed by truck, 
 cables, and wires to wherever required. 
 
36 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 reducing wages or increasing costs. So that the 25 per 
 cent, reduction of hours involved in the scheme of a 
 six-hour day can then become universal with increased 
 wages to the workers and reduced selling prices to the 
 consumer. He concludes with the deduction that this is 
 a clean-cut proposition for which the nation should strive, 
 and that he is quite convinced that by intensive produc- 
 tion without fatigue in fewer hours we can greatly in- 
 crease our production. 
 
 But whilst under the scheme for a six-hour day the 
 employee-workers would be working only for six hours 
 each day, the machinery would be working for twelve, 
 eighteen, or twenty-four hours each day, with resulting 
 enormous increase in production at reduced cost. 
 
 We need not fear too slow an adoption of the prin- 
 ciples of economy of production — our fears are of too 
 hasty adoption before supplies of raw materials, supplies 
 of workers required for increased production are avail- 
 able, as well as increased demand sufficient to absorb all 
 increased production. We are not likely in any case to 
 move as slowly towards adoption as was the movement 
 towards the Ten Hours Bill, which was first proposed 
 in Parliament in 1802, and only finally carried by Lord 
 Ashley through Parliament in 1850. 
 
 It would be useless to increase the output of all the 
 factories in the United Kingdom if we had no purchas- 
 ers who could absorb the increased output. There are 
 two great factors in increasing demand — one is increased 
 wages and the other is reduced cost. Both these increase 
 the purchasing power of the home-market consumer and 
 equip us the better to compete with the foreigner abroad, 
 by enabling us to supply cheaper articles for export, so 
 that, as a commercial proposition, the six-hour day based 
 on increased production would be absolutely sound, and 
 could be depended upon to result in the increased demand 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 37 
 
 for our products essential to its success. It is stated that 
 a Scotchman once wrongly attributed a quotation from 
 Shakespeare to Robert Burns. On being corrected he 
 replied : " Ah, weel, it was guid enough for Rob tae ha'e 
 written it." It is not known who first said that if one 
 makes but a mousetrap better and cheaper than any one 
 else the whole world will soon beat a path to one's door, 
 but these words are good enough to have been said by the 
 wisest business sage the world ever produced, and to 
 date back to the very first dawn of civilized dealings 
 between man and fellow-man. 
 
 In addition to the effect of a six-hour working day in 
 giving all that we require in production from our work- 
 ers, so that we can pay to the workers the same wages 
 for the reduced hours that they receive for the longer 
 hours, it would give us this great additional national ad- 
 vantage : it would enable us the better to solve our after- 
 war problem of employment for the men and women who 
 will then be released from actual war and war supply 
 work. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 (Continued) 
 
 After the war we shall have a demand, which must be 
 met, for increased supplies of all kinds of products to 
 replenish exhausted stocks both at home and for export 
 markets. This will necessitate, for many years after 
 the war, an increased production, if Great Britain is to 
 retain her home and export trade, amounting to at least 
 50 per cent, over and above the normal production re- 
 quired in pre-war times. In addition, we shall require 
 to build, it is estimated, at least one million homes to 
 house the workers under proper reasonable conditions. 
 We shall also require to replenish our mercantile marine 
 by many millions of tons of new ships. 
 
 All these will make a demand upon our labour to such 
 an extent that it will not be possible immediately to build 
 additional factories and workshops, or to erect plant and 
 machinery for the same, in order to provide for the 50 
 per cent, increased production demanded. We shall be 
 short of factories and workshops, but we shall not be 
 short of labour, for it is estimated that the termination 
 of the war will release at least 11^ millions of men and 
 women who are at present engaged either in active work 
 on the field of battle or in workshops and factories and 
 transport service necessitated to supply the army in the 
 field with material and supplies required for the prosecu- 
 tion of the war. 
 
 3fc 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 39 
 
 The raw material we shall require is mainly produced 
 within the British Empire: therefore, so far as raw 
 materials are concerned, and so far as labour is con- 
 cerned, we shall not be in any serious difficulty, but we 
 shall be in difficulties with regard to providing the fac- 
 tories and workshops and machinery required to work 
 up raw materials into the finished product. We shall 
 have an overwhelming demand for goods : we shall have 
 the necessary raw material and men and women required 
 to make the goods, but we shall not have the equipment 
 to manufacture the goods to meet the demand for the 
 finished product, owing to the lack of workshops, fac- 
 tories, plant, and machinery. 
 
 But even if we could immediately at the close of the 
 war erect new factories and workshops, we must re- 
 member that it is estimated the cost of building would 
 then be 75 per cent, more than pre-war rates; and the 
 cost of plant and machinery would be anything from 
 100 to 200 per cent, above pre-war rates. Therefore the 
 erecting of new factories and equipping with new plant 
 and machinery would seriously handicap our home manu- 
 facturers in their competition with manufacturers in 
 Neutral and Allied countries, such as Holland and the 
 United States in supplying economically the demand in 
 the Neutral markets of the world which demand we had 
 previously very largely ourselves supplied. But by the 
 adoption of the six-hour working day we could auto- 
 matically and immediately increase our production by at 
 least 50 per cent, just as effectively as if we had been able 
 to build 50 per cent, additional factories, workshops, 
 plant, and machinery. And we could do this without 
 making any call on capital or any call on labour for the 
 mere erection of these mechanical utilities. 
 
 After the war, therefore, the times will be ripe for 
 the six-hour working day of two shifts. There will be 
 
40 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 the demand and there will be the labour to meet the de- 
 mand, and by working double shift we shall have the 
 machinery sufficient to meet all our requirements. The 
 nj4 million men and women released when the war is 
 over cannot be found work on any permanent basis by 
 means of philanthropic effort or subscription lists or 
 good intentions. They can only be provided permanently 
 with employment on sound economic lines of greater 
 economy in production and of a greatly increased demand 
 for products resulting from that economy in production. 
 
 The six-hour day would also solve the question of the 
 education of the boy and girl on their first leaving school : 
 it would also solve the question of their physical train- 
 ing; it would solve the question of military training, so 
 that we could have a trained citizen army; and it would 
 solve the question of the outlook on life of our workers. 
 Can we fancy anything more sordid than the life of a 
 boy (or girl) who goes into the factory to-day under the 
 stress of modern conditions? His grandfather probably 
 went to work at eight years of age. The present-day 
 boy goes at fourteen years of age, and from then to 
 seventy years of age (if he survive) he sees nothing but 
 the factory, except for a few holidays, so few that he 
 scarcely knows how to systematize and make the most of 
 them, and his horizon, his whole outlook on life, is so 
 stunted that he cannot live the life he was intended to 
 live. It was never the Creator's intention to send us into 
 this world as so many " hands " — He sent us with 
 imagination, He sent us with the love of the country, He 
 sent us with ideals and outlook, and these are simply 
 stifled under our present industrial system. 
 
 How can we wonder at what is called " Labour Un- 
 rest " ? If men and women were satisfied to endure 
 quietly such conditions, then we might indeed despair of 
 their future and the future of the British race. 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 41 
 
 Let us make the most of our English-speaking race, 
 the finest race, in our opinion — of course, we may not 
 be impartial judges as to that — on the face of the globe. 
 Let us face the problem of the boy and girl of fourteen 
 — it is a pressing one. What to do with boys from four- 
 teen to sixteen is a most important problem. We know 
 how, at that age, boys delight in getting into all sorts 
 of scrapes and mischief. The training of boys in Boys' 
 Brigades and the Boy Scout movement, for which we 
 are indebted to General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, has 
 proved a great remedy for that state of affairs. But if 
 we could take the boy and girl at the age of fourteen and 
 give them, say, two hours' schooling in the morning or 
 afternoon, and continue this right on until the age of 
 thirty, what could we not make of them? Evening 
 classes, we know are a failure. The boy or girl attend- 
 ing these classes after a hard day's work is not in a 
 receptive state of mind for instruction — both mind and 
 body are weary, and therefore the evening classes are not 
 a means to an end — they are a substitute and not a 
 success. Education cannot be completed at fourteen for 
 the very simple reason that the necessary number of 
 hours have not been devoted to it, and the number of 
 subjects have not been covered that ought to be covered. 
 But under the six-hour day scheme these two hours of 
 instruction on alternate mornings and afternoons could 
 be continued from fourteen to eighteen, and from 
 eighteen to twenty-four years of age, during which period 
 the scholars would be receiving instruction of a still 
 higher character, with physical training, and would be 
 learning how to improve in their work. The very fact 
 that during their working hours they are working 
 with their hands would help their brain educa- 
 tion, and eventually make them infinitely superior 
 citizens. 
 
42 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 These two hours for education and training each day, 
 from fourteen to thirty years of age, must be made 
 absolutely compulsory, must be what we may call " con- 
 scripted " for the benefit of the whole nation. From 
 fourteen to eighteen years of age, let it be extended 
 education of what we may call the High School char- 
 acter, together with physical training; from eighteen to 
 twenty-four years of age, education of what we may 
 call the Technical and University character, with ex- 
 tended physical training; from twenty-four to thirty 
 years of age, training for military service for national 
 service, for the duties of citizenship, preparing for mem- 
 bership of Village and Town Councils, and so on, and 
 general study of all that goes to make for government, 
 of ourselves, for ourselves, by ourselves, which ideal is 
 very often merely a catch phrase. Then each of us after 
 reaching thirty years of age will be a unit in a nation 
 of educated, trained men and women and within the 
 limits of the law we can be trusted then to make the best 
 use, for whatever appears good to us, of the two hours 
 a day, for we do not think a conscription of time after 
 thirty years of age would serve any useful purpose. The 
 organizing of our time in this way would give us a fully 
 educated nation, a nation capable of assuming responsi- 
 bility, and with initiative. We should all be the better 
 for it — we should have better bodies and better minds; 
 not even University education could compare with the 
 education which would be obtained under the above con- 
 ditions simultaneously through hand and eye and brain. 
 
 The man in the University gets his brain developed, 
 but if he had simultaneously the training of hand which 
 manual industries impose upon those who work in fac- 
 tories, his brain would be better for that discipline and 
 for that training of hand and eye. We should produce 
 under these conditions a population in the United King- 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 43 
 
 dom more highly trained, more hard-headed, and more 
 practical than ever we can produce with a Public School 
 education followed by that of a University. We believe 
 most thoroughly in the combination of the training of 
 hand and brain and eye simultaneously and we bejieve 
 most sincerely that a six-hour working day would solve 
 that modern problem experienced in all our industries of 
 the scarcity of men and women to fill the positions of 
 foremen, managers, and directors. All through our in- 
 dustrial system this scarcity is so great, that unless the 
 nation takes in hand the proper and efficient education of 
 her people, with definite courses of study for definite 
 careers', agriculture will suffer, manufactures will suffer, 
 shipping will suffer, business will suffer, and the progress 
 of the whole Empire will be retarded in competition with 
 other nations. 
 
 There is a great desire and not an unreasonable desire, 
 and certainly a healthy desire, on the part of the work- 
 man to take some share in the control of the factory he 
 works in, and it is a desire that should be encouraged; 
 but we cannot take a rank-and-file worker out of the 
 factory to-day and put him on the Board of Directors 
 and expect that he will be able to give valuable help and 
 assistance. He must be trained; we have all had to be 
 trained. There must be healthy growth and develop- 
 ment towards this end, for there can be no sound business 
 without previous training. The desire to have a seat on 
 Boards of Directors and a share in the control of the 
 industries is a healthy sign; but it would be madness 
 and ruin to the industries of this country if our Boards 
 of Directors were not composed of trained men, and 
 only by better education shall we be able to satisfy that 
 reasonable ambition of the employee-workers. 
 
 It is a curious fact that this talk of the reorganization 
 of the control of industry should come forward at the 
 
44 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 time when the great nation, our kindred across the At- 
 lantic, is giving greater consideration to efficiency, and 
 a larger output and a cheaper cost of production with 
 higher wages and shorter hours. Now, any mistake on 
 our part in the peaceful lines of commerce when this 
 war is over would be only second as a disaster to a mis- 
 take on the field of battle. Either would be irredeemable. 
 If a nation once loses its position in commerce, it requires 
 a matter of centuries to recover it. We have seen com- 
 merce in the Mediterranean pass from the Venetians to 
 the Spaniards. Why? Because the Venetians got an 
 idea that they were strong and powerful and could dic- 
 tate terms to the world. They thought they could make 
 their own rules — selfish rules, entirely for the benefit 
 of the Venetians. The trade passed to Spain, and Spain 
 was in her glory at the time when she began to consider 
 that she had arrived at the point when she could ignore 
 the basis upon which her trade had been built up, and 
 became more narrow and selfish, less considerate of the 
 interests of others. Then the trade passed from Spain to 
 Holland, and Holland, in turn, got to the pinnacle that 
 we enjoy to-day, because although we are only 45 mil- 
 lions of people in this country, we can say with truth 
 that we stand in advance in manufactures, in trade and 
 commerce, of any other nation in the world, whatever its 
 population may be. 
 
 Holland, in her turn, lost the trade to England, and we 
 are now at the cross-roads, and have to consider carefully 
 what way we take, or the pre-eminent position of British 
 manufacturers, and the pre-eminent position of the 
 workers, and of interest in them, may pass from our 
 hands to those of other and more alert nations. You 
 remember we are told that above all things we are to 
 desire wisdom. And I do believe myself that what we 
 in Lancashire call " nous," wisdom, is one of those rare 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 45 
 
 faculties which, possessed in full, can take us through life 
 to a realization of our wildest dreams and ambitions. 
 But if we neglect wisdom, and rush to make changes 
 without due consideration — very much like the prover- 
 bial bull in the china shop — then we only court wreckage 
 and ruin and disaster. 
 
 Now, what are our ambitions? What are the ambi- 
 tions of any true democratic people? Surely our ambi- 
 tions are a better life for each of us, more equal dis- 
 tribution of wealth, higher wages in order to attain to a 
 better living, more plentiful supply of all that we require 
 in the way of boots, shoes, and clothing, better homes 
 — homes with gardens, homes that are really places in 
 which a soul can live and expand, and not caves in which 
 we can crouch out of the light. Well, these things will 
 not drop down from the skies for us. They are not very 
 much good until we can get them on the earth on which 
 we live our narrow span of life. There is no other way. 
 Some people see the curse of Adam in work. I believe 
 it was the greatest blessing that ever came to us. Of 
 all people, those without work are the most miserable. 
 That is no reason why " A " should be worn down and 
 fatigued, whilst " B," without much work, apparently 
 gets more than his fair share of the good things of this 
 world. 
 
 There is no logic in that, and I am bound to say I feel 
 it very intensely that it has to be recorded at the begin- 
 ning of the twentieth century that nine-tenths of the 
 wealth of the United Kingdom — and I believe the same 
 equally applies to most other countries — should be pos- 
 sessed by less than one-tenth of the people, and that 
 nine-tenths of the people should possess only one-tenth 
 of the wealth. That is a system that cannot be defended 
 for one single moment. But you must remember this, 
 that through all the centuries we have had such a system 
 
46 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 of taxation in this country that the taxes have not been 
 laid on the backs best able to bear them, but have 
 been laid on the worker. I remember very well years 
 ago, when I was a Liberal candidate, pointing out that, 
 including the rates on the house, and if the man hap- 
 pened to be a moderate drinker and a moderate smoker, 
 and his wife enjoyed her cup of tea and so on, the rates 
 and taxes collected from the workman were from 4s. to 
 5s. in the pound of his income; whilst the contributions 
 of the wealthy man at that time could not be totalled up 
 to any more than is. in the pound. The income tax 
 at that time was about 6d. or 8d. in the pound, there was 
 no super-tax, no graduated death duties, and no excess 
 profits tax. But now how do we stand? If a man is 
 wealthy, he has 5 s. in the pound to pay in income tax, 
 3s. 6d. in the pound super-tax; if he possesses a fortune 
 of a million, it will have to pay 20 per cent, in death 
 duties. Take the death duties as payable on an insurance 
 basis (that is the easiest way to reckon it), and you will 
 find that it will bring his total taxation to-day (1917-18) 
 up to 12s. 6d. in the pound. We have only had this 
 system a few years; but I venture to say — and this is 
 apart from excess profits tax — that under the present 
 system of taxation it can no 'longer be said that the 
 wealthy are not bearing their fair share of the burden of 
 the country. 
 
 I do not say they are bearing more than they ought to 
 bear; but I feel proud of the fact that the opportunity is 
 now given to each man in the country, whatever his 
 riches may be, whether he is a weekly wage-earner or a 
 wealthy man, to bear his fair share of the burden of the 
 country. The wealthy are bearing it in the form of taxa- 
 tion and in every other form — by their sons fighting in 
 the trenches, and in all other ways. We never were a 
 more united nation, a more equal nation on the basis of 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 47 
 
 taxation ; and we ought to be proud of it. But the echo 
 of the former complaint still reverberates around the 
 land, that the rich are not paying their share. That has 
 ceased to be the fact. And it is not really the fact that 
 land does not pay its fair proportion, that property does 
 not pay its fair share, that the incomes of the wealthy 
 do not pay their fair share. All this we have altered very 
 largely since 1896. The years 1909 and 1910 were the 
 crucial years, when a big advance was made; but the 
 biggest advance of all has been made since the war 
 began. I want us to bear that fact in mind, because, be- 
 lieve me, it has accomplished more to improve the con- 
 ditions of the people of this country, to raise their 
 spirits, and to give them an outlook on life than anything 
 in the century preceding it. I am confident and happy to 
 acknowledge that that is so; but our hearts, having 
 begun to show sympathy in one direction, must show it 
 in all. That is the rule of nature. You cannot be 
 warm-hearted and sympathetic in one direction only ; you 
 must be in all. You cannot be cold and brutal on one 
 question; you are cold and brutal on all. That is the 
 law of life. We have also seen the Health Insurance 
 Acts, and I had the honour of carrying two bills pre- 
 ceding the Government Acts — the Old Age Pensions Act 
 and the Payment of Members Act — which latter gives 
 the means to any constituency to select its member with- 
 out consideration as to whether he can afford to pay his 
 railway fares to London and his lodgings when he is in 
 London. Just think what it has meant to give old age 
 pensions, improved education, medical attendance on 
 school children, and health insurance. The total ex- 
 penditure on these — education, old age pensions, labour 
 bureaux, and health insurance — is 61 millions a year. 
 That amount is taken out of the taxes (mainly income 
 tax) and distributed throughout amongst the workers. 
 
48 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 It is thought by some that democracy means absolute 
 uniformity, and you will notice one of the questions put 
 by the Prime Minister yesterday, in reply to a ques- 
 tioner about the conscription of wealth and the acquisi- 
 tion of wealth, was not answered by the questioner. The 
 Prime Minister had asked whether equality of wealth 
 ideal was to apply all round, whether we were to be bound 
 by the ideal of the skilled engineer receiving the same 
 wages as the labourer. He was not answered; but if 
 equality all round would achieve anything to better the 
 conditions of life, I am sure the skilled engineer and 
 all of us would agree that a system that made for the 
 greatest good of the greatest number would be a right 
 system in a democratic country. But, believe me, human 
 nature is founded upon very distinct principles. First of 
 all, we are social. We love to live in communities, in 
 towns. Very few of us love to live in scattered districts. 
 The men in the backwoods of Australia are always long- 
 ing to go to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, or 
 wherever their big city may be. But whilst we are social 
 in our habits and love our fellow-men, we are individual- 
 istic in that we love our own homes. We do not want 
 to have our homes in a barracks, there to live a barracks 
 life with others. Each one of us feels that we have an 
 individuality. We are not only a body, but we have a 
 soul, and our individuality wants room for expression. I 
 always think the earning power of a man, whether in the 
 factory or in the office, whether he is or is not the 
 proprietor of the business, is in proportion to his mental 
 attributes. As the young tree sends its roots in every 
 direction, searching for nourishment and water, so does 
 human nature send out its roots to feed its soul. If you 
 were to say that the man in the factory must not do 
 some duty apart from the workshop, and that the em- 
 ployer must not undertake some task apart from his 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 49 
 
 business, you would cramp the aspirations and desires 
 of every human being. We have to attempt to satisfy 
 our souls as well as our bodies by our effort. Take 
 inspiration for that effort away, and we should just be- 
 come automata. 
 
 We have to-day, I believe, in the United Kingdom, by 
 means of steam-power and machinery, the productive 
 capacity of over 1,000 millions of human beings working 
 twenty-four hours a day, and by means of that power we 
 produce, by possibly 14 or 15 millions of human beings, 
 all that could be produced by the thousand million pro- 
 ducers without that power. But, as I say, there was in 
 the past a great power running to waste, and some of it is 
 running to waste yet (such as the ocean tides), in spite 
 of us. I venture to say there is not one of us in this 
 room who without fatigue, in terms of thought and 
 organized inspiration and aspiration, is not capable of 
 infinitely more for the common good than we are doing 
 to-day; but we have never been studied; the best has 
 not been brought out of us. We have been made into 
 automata to go to our work at six or seven in the morn- 
 ing and finish at five or six in the evening. And it has 
 become almost a fetish with some of us that the less 
 they can do in that period, not only the easier is it for 
 themselves but the better for their mates. And on the 
 employers' side it has been equally a fetish that the lower 
 the wages paid, the longer the hours worked, the cheaper 
 the product would be. They are both wrong, absolutely 
 wrong. But is it to be wondered at that under this 
 system the idea should have leaped into the minds of 
 some trade unionists as to the restriction of output ? I do 
 not know whether you have read recently what has been 
 said by a great Trade Union leader in America. I want 
 you to consider this very carefully, because we are in 
 competition with America. Don't think for a moment 
 
50 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 that our Allies in the trenches will be our allies in com- 
 merce. It is in noble devotion to the cause of democracy 
 that the Americans are throwing themselves into the war. 
 They have no territory in dispute, no object to pursue in 
 European politics. They are doing it from the highest 
 ideals of democracy and to free Europe from the hell of 
 militarism. They are not children who are doing this, 
 and when this war is over, and we come to consider the 
 trade of the world, whatever ideals we have in this 
 country, we shall have to reckon with the ideals the 
 Americans have. 
 
 I will read to you what Mr. Gompers, the President of 
 the American Federation of Labour, representing many 
 millions of working men, said in a recent speech : " We 
 are not going to have the trouble here that Britain had 
 through restriction of production." He is speaking for 
 Labour, not for the masters; but you might think he was 
 speaking for the masters. " There has not been any 
 restriction of output for over thirty years in America. 
 We, in the United States, have followed an entirely dif- 
 ferent policy." Well, I can say that I have been to 
 America, and found a man in charge of five lathes, auto- 
 matic machines. I remember asking, when I got back, 
 why a man should not look after five lathes here, and I 
 was told the Union rules were against it. That is a mis- 
 take. I do not want you to believe that I think the Unions 
 are not doing good work according to their lights. I have 
 never met a Trade Union official yet who has not im- 
 pressed me with his sincerity in desiring to do the best 
 for his members; but it is a mistaken policy, that is all. 
 It is exactly the same as many mistakes on the side of the 
 masters ; but they are both wrong. " We say to the em- 
 ployers " — there is no doubt about letting employers 
 know — " bring in all the improved machinery and new 
 tools you can find. We will help you to improve them 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 51 
 
 still more, and we will get the utmost product out of them ; 
 but what we insist on is the limitation of hours of labour 
 for the individual to eight." This might be my speech if 
 you take the eight and put it at six. It is exactly what I 
 am preaching. I believe in England we are ripe for a 
 six-hour day in many industries. I have had experience 
 of eight hours for twenty-five years. The same type of 
 people who say that six hours is impossible, said eight 
 hours was impossible, said that ten hours was impossible, 
 and that twelve hours was impossible, and so on at each 
 stage of reduction from a fourteen-hour to the eight-hour 
 day, so that I am not made despondent by the fact that I 
 am told it is impossible. 
 
 " Work two shifts if you please, or work your ma- 
 chinery all round the twenty-four hours if you like, with 
 three shifts, and we will agree, but we insist on the 
 normal working day, with full physical effort. We will 
 not agree to that over-work, producing the effect of over- 
 fatigue, which destroys the maximum of production, un- 
 dermines the health of the individual worker and de- 
 stroys his capacity for full industrial effort." That is 
 almost word for word what I have said, except for the 
 eight instead of six. We want higher wages, shorter 
 hours, a larger production of everything, so that we can 
 get a cheaper cost. Without that cheaper cost we have 
 no funds to pay higher wages. Higher wages are merely 
 a shadow unless you have lower costs giving increased 
 purchasing power with the higher wages; and I believe 
 with that and with shorter hours we can realize all that 
 we are striving for. I am told that at Ford's works 
 they employ 40,000 persons. A boy worker can get £ 1 
 per day, and all employees are paid double Trade Union 
 rates; and there I am told that it is the exception for the 
 workman not to have his own motor-car. Why should 
 not the workmen have their own motor-cars ? They will 
 
52 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 not get motor-cars under a system of restricted output; 
 there won't be enough to go round. Every time we in- 
 crease the output and reduce the cost we have a fund out 
 of which we can increase the wages. It ought to be 
 possible for men to have more leisure than they have 
 to-day, when they commence work at six, or seven, or 
 eight in the morning and work on until five or five-thirty 
 in the evening. More leisure than that is an absolute 
 essential if we are to live a complete, full life citizenship. 
 I say without hesitation, and I say it is within reach, now 
 that we have got the wages up, w'e can afford automatic 
 machinery, and so by means of automatic machinery we 
 can produce more goods. 
 
 Everybody should be given an interest in the results of 
 their work, and then they can have more satisfaction in it. 
 And there could be more relief for the employer, so that 
 employers also could devote themselves to a realization 
 of shorter hours, with harder work during the time 
 they are at work without fatigue, cheaper production and 
 more leisure. Well, now, that is what we want, but what 
 are we drifting to ? I will show you. Gompers said : " It 
 is thirty years since we had limitation of output," and so 
 I will go back thirty years, when they dropped it and we 
 began it. It is sometimes said that a dog returns to its 
 own vomit. It seems to me we were a dog that returned 
 to another dog's vomit. In 1886 the output of a certain 
 class of worker in the United Kingdom was 312 units; 
 in 1906 (twenty years after) this output had been reduced 
 to 275 and in 1912 (that is the last recorded year be- 
 fore the war) it had dropped to 244 — from 312 to 244 
 in twenty-six years in the United Kingdom. In the 
 United States, whilst in 1886 the output per worker was 
 at 400, it went up to 596 in 1906, and in 1912 to 600, 
 so that whilst we went down the United States have gone 
 up 50 per cent. But we have Englishmen in other parts 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 53 
 
 of the world — we have them in Australia. Do you mean 
 to tell me that the Australians are not as strong trade 
 unionists as any others? And the same applies to the 
 New Zealander and the Canadian. We all know they 
 are strong trade unionists. In Australia in 1886 the out- 
 put per head was 333, in 1906 462, in 1912 542, more 
 than double per man what the workers are producing in 
 the United Kingdom. Yes, but the wages are double. 
 I want to tell you as the output goes up the wages go up ; 
 as the output goes down, if the wages go up, the pur- 
 chasing power goes down. In New Zealand the output 
 per worker increased from 359 in 1886 to 470 in 1906, 
 and 503 in 1912, and in Canada from 341 to 472. Of 
 all the English-speaking races all over the world, we, in 
 the United Kingdom, are the only ones who have fallen 
 behind in our production per head of the workers. And 
 is our condition improved under this policy? Are we 
 satisfied and happy with it? 
 
 I think if any of you have gone, as I have, to Aus- 
 tralia, and seen the homes of the workers — seen them 
 having their summer holidays on their beaches with their 
 wives and families — you would see that their wages are 
 not improperly used. Well, but for it all, they would 
 tell us that increased output is the road to betterment 
 and prosperity. Australia settled with the I.W.W., put 
 a number of them in gaol, and this under a Labour Gov- 
 ernment. " Ca' canny " is a canker. I want to say how 
 sincerely and earnestly I am, and have been all my life, 
 with every master and worker in this room, although I 
 cannot say whether there are more masters or more 
 workers. I cannot say, but I do think this, that Lanca- 
 shire men and Yorkshire men have very similar views, 
 and very similar aspirations. 
 
 What I want is that we shall just inquire, if any change 
 is to be made, whether it is right, and the first step to 
 
54 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 lead in the right direction. I do not want to claim that 
 what I have said this afternoon represents the whole 
 Alpha and Omega of this great question. I have only 
 touched the fringe of it but, believe me, the truth I 
 started with is an absolute truth — that we shall not get 
 our clothes, and boots and shoes, and houses dropping 
 down from the sky, or jumping up from the ground like 
 mushrooms. We will have to work for them, and in 
 working for them, it is our business to consider how we 
 can produce them with the least fatigue, the utmost 
 leisure, the greatest cheapness, with the largest volume, 
 so that out of the things created in this way there shall 
 be an ever-increasing demand, so that however great this 
 output it shall all be absorbed; a demand for all the 
 necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life as much from 
 the workers as from those who are so-called masters, 
 with such a fair and right system of graduated taxation, 
 that those who have the ability to make money may utilize 
 their creative powers or their opportunities to bear a 
 strong man's burden of taxation, and so each in propor- 
 tion to his strength will bear the taxation of the country. 
 Working on these lines, I see an England where we can 
 work a reasonable number of hours, where our children 
 shall receive the fullest and most complete education — 
 the children of the workman just as good an education as 
 the children of the employer — so that there shall be every 
 opportunity for all of us; that there shall be a ladder for 
 every man, and he shall be left to climb it if he wishes. 
 
 We should gain vastly in all directions by the introduc- 
 tion of the six-hour day ; the worker would have oppor- 
 tunities for recreation, for education, and for the achieve- 
 ment of a higher social standing. The term " factory 
 hand " — that most hateful of terms, as if the " hand " 
 possessed no soul, no intellect and no ambition in life at 
 all — that term would go. The factory employee, no 
 
THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 55 
 
 longer a " hand," would go for six hours a day to the 
 factory in the true spirit of service. He or she would 
 receive for that six hours at least the same pay that he 
 or she now receives for eight hours. Those now receiv- 
 ing one shilling an hour and working eight hours a day 
 would, in future, receive is. 4d. per hour and work six 
 hours, and would be able to produce as much in the six 
 hours as is now produced in the eight, while the ma- 
 chinery, running in two six-hour shifts, would produce a 
 vastly increased output. 
 
 This is the very rough and crude outline of what we 
 suggest should be done in order to meet industrial con- 
 ditions after the war. With all modesty and sincerity, 
 the six-hour working day proposal is submitted to care- 
 ful consideration and vigorous criticism. Out of all this 
 wreckage of war must ultimately come better and more 
 ideal conditions of living for all classes, and under better 
 conditions we can raise from our British stock the 
 finest race the world has hitherto seen, and build up an 
 empire founded on principles of health, happiness, justice, 
 and equal rights for all — an empire that will be the friend 
 of all nations and the enemy of none. Then this war 
 will not have been fought in vain, and fathers, brothers, 
 and sons will not in vain have surrendered their lives; 
 mothers, wives, and sisters will not in vain have mourned 
 the sacrifice of their dear ones, and Peace, never again to 
 be broken, will smile once more, and kindly Nature will 
 reward our labour with enough and to spare, and with 
 lengthening life, deepening joy, and happiness for all. 
 
IV 
 
 HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 
 
 I find from old records that it was nearly forty years 
 ago — in the year 1877 — that I began to experiment on 
 lines which, eleven years later, namely in 1888, led me to 
 adopt a system of what, for want of a better name, I 
 called Prosperity-Sharing. But it was not until twenty- 
 one years after that, namely in 1909, that I adopted Co- 
 partnership completely and fully, as a practical business 
 relationship between so-called employer and employee — 
 so you will see I have not " rushed in where angels fear 
 to tread," but gone cautiously, and not too hurriedly for- 
 ward to full development, as becomes a Lancashire man 
 whose father was born in Bolton and whose mother was 
 born in Manchester — and not even north of the Tweed 
 can more prudent, cautious forbears be found. If you 
 asked me where I first met with the idea of Co-Partner- 
 ship, I should have to answer with the Lancashire man 
 who was asked where he first met his wife, and who 
 replied : " I did not meet her, she overtook me." 
 
 Before launching myself fully on the tempestuous 
 ocean of Capital and Labour, I would like, with your 
 permission, to change the title, which was " Mutuality 
 of Capital and Labour," to " Harmonizing Capital and 
 Labour." The dictionary meaning of "harmonizing" 
 is " adjusting in fit proportion," and, really, this meaning 
 seems to define my address much more accurately than 
 any other. 
 
 The very idea of an attempt at harmonizing may upset 
 many deep-rooted eighteenth- and nineteenth-century 
 
 56 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 57 
 
 false ideas, founded on " master and man " theories that 
 Labour is merely the paid tool of Capital. These false 
 ideas have got to go " bag and baggage," for the solu- 
 tion of our problem can only be found by frankly ad- 
 mitting that no individual, or body of individuals, repre- 
 senting either Capital or Labour, can disregard the rights 
 of others or their own duties. What these rights and 
 duties of each to the other are we must endeavour to 
 find out, but the solution can only be found on sound 
 economic lines. Mere desire for harmony will not suf- 
 fice, however earnest and sincere it may be. Business 
 is not only the science of the production and distribu- 
 tion of goods, it is also a social science. But the human 
 elements combined in Capital and Labour are neither 
 social scientists nor political economists nor philanthro- 
 pists ; yet to be able to meet the modern twentieth-century 
 outlook they ought to be acquainted with certain general 
 basic principles. 
 
 We must admit that in spite of better conditions of 
 employment and higher wages the present position oc- 
 cupied by Labour is not acceptable to the workers. 
 
 The so-called practical business man, ostrich-like, 
 buries his head in his ledger and ignores the writing on 
 the wall. We must not let this attitude influence our- 
 selves, for, after all, has it not been truly said that the 
 so-called practical business man is one who continues to 
 practise the mistakes of his predecessors? Our duty is 
 to search out certain basic principles that must serve 
 Capital and Labour somewhat in the same way as the 
 compass serves the mariner in navigating the trackless 
 sea, or as the calculations of the astronomer make clear 
 the mysteries of the starry heavens, or as the investiga- 
 tions of the chemist have laid bare the secrets of organic 
 and inorganic matter. For in this relation between Capi- 
 tal and Labour, which must be acknowledged to be the 
 
58 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 greatest and most intricate problem of all, no attempt 
 has yet been made to get down to first principles. As 
 regards Capital alone, and solely as Capital, this remark 
 does not apply; for in respect of the science of banking, 
 compilation of statistics on currency, bank reserves, rates 
 of exchange, and so on ad infinitum, business men repre- 
 sentative of Capital have taken care to be fully equipped 
 for every emergency. But no corresponding statistics 
 dealing with the human element in Labour have been 
 prepared. 
 
 Of course, I do not say that statistics of wages, hours 
 of employment, strikes, lock-outs, are not available, be- 
 cause these can be obtained to the finest detail; but 
 Labour as a human element in production and distribu- 
 tion has not been scientifically analysed as Capital has 
 been for the guidance of Capital. The workman called 
 " Labour " is no longer a " hand "; Labour to-day is an 
 educated man and his wants are growing and his outlook 
 is extending. He is to-day the hope of the optimist and 
 the despair of the pessimist. Labour to-day is ambitious, 
 and has created for himself and his wife and family new 
 and better standards of living than his father, and still 
 more than his grandfather, ever dreamt of. 
 
 In our first consideration of the new conditions, let 
 us remember that in dealing with them sound methods are 
 more important than the attainment of immediate results; 
 unfortunately, as between Capital and Labour, it is too 
 often only the immediate spot-view that prevails. Pres- 
 ent relationships and present conditions are causing pro- 
 found dissatisfaction to both Capital and Labour. This 
 great war has forced upon us a better and closer relation- 
 ship between all classes in the British Empire and has 
 aroused our industrial conscience. This war has revealed 
 to us that, bedded in each and every stratum of society, 
 we can find the highest ideals of truest patriotic service; 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 59 
 
 that for the cause of right, life itself is as freely given up 
 by the lord as by the labourer; and that the British Em- 
 pire possesses the finest material in men and women, bred 
 both in mansion and cottage, that the world can produce. 
 
 We only require to recognize the rights of others and 
 our own duties by adapting our industrial system to these 
 high ideals to do away for all time with the bogey of 
 clash of interests between Capital and Labour. Cannot 
 1 Capital and Labour, after having fought and died side by 
 side in the trenches of Flanders and France, regardless 
 of wealth or station, be won over to fight for the suc- 
 cess of our Empire industrially after the final war vic- 
 tory on the sanguinary field of battle? Too long has 
 there existed a wide gulf between Capital and Labour; 
 for too long have suspicion and distrust produced active 
 opposition between these twin brothers in productive 
 enterprise. Not until Capital and Labour have solved 
 their difficulties in working frankly and whole-heartedly 
 together can the Empire be as well equipped for the com- 
 ing war of commerce as she has been rapidly and effi- 
 ciently equipped for the war of armaments, or be able to 
 devote all her energies to expansion and betterment. 
 
 It is merely a question of harmonizing interests and 
 forces. It is not a question altogether of higher wages, 
 shorter hours, or better welfare conditions of employ- 
 ment. The profound dissatisfaction with present con- 
 ditions goes much deeper than this. This dissatisfaction 
 has its root and spring in the fact that no attempt has 
 been made by Capital to study the human element to be 
 dealt with and handled. The cause of disagreement be- 
 tween Capital and Labour is quite as much psychological 
 as it is material. Human nature called Labour has two 
 very strongly marked characteristics — it is at one and 
 the same time gregarious and individualistic. To the 
 Socialist, man is purely a gregarious being, and Socialists 
 
60 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 find that they preach in vain the doctrine that every man 
 ought to contribute to the Commonwealth according to 
 his abilities and to share out of the Commonwealth ac- 
 cording to his necessities. But apart from the impracti- 
 cability of this theory, in that it provides no solution 
 as to who shall be the fair just judge possessed of super- 
 human insight, to decide as to claims in contribution 
 according to abilities or to award benefits according to 
 necessities, it has failed hopelessly to interest Labour,' 
 because it has ignored the other equally marked char- 
 acteristic of our common humanity, namely, that in 
 addition to being gregarious, man is also strongly and 
 intensely individualistic. 
 
 These being two very strongly marked characteristics 
 of human nature, we are not surprised to find that, whilst 
 the greatly preponderating majority of mankind prefer 
 to live in communities, such as cities and towns, rather 
 than in villages or on the scattered country-side, man- 
 kind demands, and insists upon having, his own indi- 
 vidual house and home; and that when housed in barracks 
 or huge tenements piled floor upon floor, one on top of 
 another, with common staircases, he rapidly degenerates. 
 Give mankind homes free from overcrowding, where 
 each can enjoy his own individualistic garden in addition 
 to the public park, then, with such a combination of the 
 communal life with individualistic environment, they 
 improve in bodily health and in mental and moral 
 strength. Equally, mankind prefer to follow their daily 
 occupation in groups and masses, as in workshop and 
 factory. But the individual still insists on retaining his 
 individualism and looks for his own individualistc recog- 
 nition and reward for his labour. The joiner or mechanic 
 will not be willing, as the Socialist would wish, to con- 
 tribute according to his trained skill and ability and re- 
 ceive as reward exactly the equal, provided his necessi- 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 61 
 
 ties were the same, as the unskilled labourer. He would 
 not do so whether working at the State Dockyard, or 
 Woolwich Arsenal, or in Government Postal Service, any 
 more than for the capitalist. And he is right, because the 
 socialistic system would make parasites and paupers of 
 one-half the human race. 
 
 Now, this is the situation we have to face. Each of 
 us contains in his own mental outlook the elements of an 
 oligarchy and of a democracy; and as our present in- 
 dustrial system is founded on these attributes, it is 
 scarcely surprising that it has been described, and cor- 
 rectly so, as an oligarchy existing in a democratic country. 
 This position of our British industrial system is the result 
 of the haphazard way in which industries have grown up 
 from the small workshop of two or three centuries ago, 
 when the capitalist was also a workman, and master and 
 man met on terms of equality. But modern industrial 
 conditions, with thousands and tens of thousands of 
 workmen, and in at least one industry a quarter of a 
 million workmen, under one oligarchical rule, are in- 
 tensely anti-democratic, and as such violate the gregari- 
 ous instincts of humanity. And just as it is true that the 
 position of British industries to-day is the result of yes- 
 terday, so their position to-morrow will depend on our 
 actions of to-day. Capitalists have now the task set them 
 to democratize their system, and to create conditions that 
 will enable Labour to take some democratic share in 
 management, and some responsibility for the success of 
 the undertaking. Productive and distributive business 
 must in the future be carried on under less oligarchic 
 and under more democratic conditions. Labour will not 
 be brought to work side by side with and to harmonize 
 with Capital merely by ever higher and higher wages, 
 shorter and shorter hours, combined with better and bet- 
 ter welfare conditions. 
 
62 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 The wages system has broken down as a sole and only 
 solution. As huge businesses have sprung into existence, 
 the difficulties of the wages system as such have increased. 
 It is impossible under the wages system alone to make 
 Labour realize that the true interests of Labour and 
 Capital are identical. There is a story told of a Lanca- 
 shire farmer who, on his wedding-day, after the return 
 from church, took his wife into the orchard, where he 
 had arranged a long rope hanging over the fork of a big 
 tree. He asked his wife to get hold of one end of the 
 rope, and he himself took hold of the other. He then 
 gave the signal for them both to pull their strongest, and 
 he soon convinced his wife that, pulling against each 
 other, neither could pull the rope over to his or her side. 
 Having taught this lesson, he asked that they should both 
 pull together at one and the same end, when, of course, 
 the rope was pulled over almost without an effort. Let 
 us hope that pulling against each other during the cen- 
 turies past has taught this lesson to both Capital and 
 Labour; that no progress can be made in that way, as 
 compared with the progress to be made by both pulling 
 together. 
 
 Productive and distributive business must be so organ- 
 ized as to harmonize the relative positions of Capital and 
 Labour. The claim of Capital for as big an output as 
 possible at as low a cost as possible has hitherto had to 
 pull against the claims and aims of Labour for as high 
 wages as possible with as restricted an output as possible. 
 The capitalist has a deep-rooted belief in the fallacy that 
 the lower the wages and the longer the hours worked by 
 Labour are, the lower the cost of production must be — 
 the falsehood of which has been proved, over and over 
 again, by the low wages and long hours of Hindoos and 
 Chinamen, as compared with the lower cost obtained 
 by the extremely high wages and shorter hours of the 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 63 
 
 United States. Labour has a deep-rooted belief in the 
 fallacy that there is only a certain limited amount of 
 work to be divided amongst an ever-increasing number 
 of workmen, and that, consequently, restriction of output 
 is the most sure and certain way to provide work for all ; 
 the falsehood of which has been proved by the fact that 
 restriction of output has been shown always to act as a 
 deterrent to consumption and to demand for labour, 
 whilst the increased output per man in the United States 
 has stimulated and increased demand and resulting em- 
 ployment and wages. The lesson of this for the capital- 
 ist is that high wages, short hours, and good healthy con- 
 ditions, by increasing intelligence and efficiency, increase 
 output and actually reduce costs. And the lesson for 
 Labour is that increased output stimulates consumption, 
 and, consequently, demand for production and distribu- 
 tive labour, the fact being that consumers of all classes 
 supply themselves where they can be best and most eco- 
 nomically served. 
 
 These are such well-known and simple truths that it 
 is almost necessary to apologize for calling attention to 
 them. We thus see that Capital and Labour, by faith 
 in these fallacies, are merely pulling against each other. 
 How can we harmonize these conflicting elements ? Only 
 by Capital identifying itself with Labour, and creating for 
 Labour the same economic environment and conditions as 
 Capital itself enjoys. Only by entrance into Co-Partner- 
 ship together can Capital and Labour be brought to pull 
 together, and only by Co-Partnership can they be 
 harmonized. 
 
 We are agreed that the elements in production and dis- 
 tribution are Capital and Labour — I prefer myself to 
 make it a three-legged stool by including Management as 
 apart from both Capital and Labour. But sometimes 
 Management is part of the activities of Capital, and at 
 
64 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 other times must be included with Labour. We British 
 have always been well supplied with all three. We ac- 
 quired the capital because we had Management and 
 Labour, and good Management always accumulates capi- 
 tal. The accumulation of capital that we may look 
 forward to during the twentieth century is bound to be 
 greater than was the case during the nineteenth century, 
 and still more so than during preceding centuries. But 
 whilst we had no difficulty under the existing system in 
 the acquisition of capital, we have not been equally suc- 
 cessful in its distribution, and this is the root and cause 
 of all the antagonism between Capital and Labour. This 
 system, under which all the profits or losses go to Capi- 
 tal, ignores entirely the psychology of the workman. He 
 is not a mere machine to be kept well oiled with good 
 wages, well tended by not being worked for too long 
 hours, and kept in good going repair by welfare systems, 
 canteens, and good housing conditions. He is a complex 
 human being, with all the ambitions, ideals, and mental 
 outlook possessed by the capitalist in an equal and some- 
 times superior degree. 
 
 If high wages, short hours, good housing meant finality 
 to Labour Unrest, then Labour would not be a man but 
 a vegetable. Labour has economic interests that also 
 require satisfying, and that press on Capital for their 
 solution. We have heard it said of our educational sys- 
 tem, that to make it complete a ladder must be provided 
 by which a boy or girl can climb from Board School to 
 University; so that an apt pupil might have the oppor- 
 tunity of living its full life without limitations from the 
 environment in which it was born. To harmonize Capi- 
 tal and Labour similarly, a ladder must be provided from 
 the humblest position in industrial organization to a seat 
 on the Board of Directors. Capital must provide a 
 broader outlook for Labour. 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 65 
 
 Has not the political orator speechified, has not the elo- 
 quent preacher sermonized, and the profound philosopher 
 theorized, on the necessity for harmonizing Capital and 
 Labour ? And yet it is all so very easy and simple. The 
 only possible way of harmonizing Capital and Labour is 
 to provide both with the same outlook by dividing the 
 profits their joint labour has created fairly and squarely 
 between them. On this system, each will also automati- 
 cally share and suffer from losses when they have to be 
 faced. Step by step the lesson is being taught and learned 
 that the Co-Partnership system is the only possible sys- 
 tem for harmonizing Capital and Labour; and, fortu- 
 nately, it is capable of application in principle, by vary- 
 ing methods, to all but a very limited few occupations; 
 and when applied honestly and faithfully, it has invari- 
 ably produced improved relations, with better commer- 
 cial results. With Co-Partnership comes less anxiety and 
 reduced responsibility for Capital, for with division of 
 profits must also be included division of responsibility and 
 sharing of control. Co-Partners become more and more 
 interested in the policy of the business as a whole, and 
 associate themselves more and more with Management. 
 There is no conflict in these Co-Partnership results; and 
 they satisfy the gregarious and democratic instincts of 
 Labour and the equally strong individualistic instincts. 
 Whilst Co-Partnership satisfies the aspirations of the 
 civic and democratic spirit of Labour, the wages system 
 (varied as to rates to meet varying skill, strength, or 
 ability, or combined with piece-work rates or bonus or 
 premium scales) still continues as a necessary basis of 
 remuneration to satisfy the aspirations of our individual- 
 istic instincts. 
 
 If Co-Partnership resulted in exclusion of individual 
 reward for individual effort, then Co-Partnership would 
 be foredoomed to failure in harmonizing Capital and 
 
66 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Labour. Co-Partnership is required, and indeed is essen- 
 tial to success, as a means of equalization in the final 
 division of profits, and as the preventer of the intrusion 
 of a spirit of greed between Capital and Labour. But 
 there is no reason why Co-Partnership, to meet the civic 
 and democratic nature of humanity, should not be com- 
 bined with salaries or wages varied to fit abilities and 
 efficiency, and plus bonus, or premium, or piece-work, to 
 supply the need of the individualistic spirit. And there 
 is no reason why this combination, by meeting the civic 
 and democratic wants of humanity and satisfying indi- 
 vidualistic aspirations, should not prove as successful a 
 harmonizer as is possible in the present stage of advance- 
 ment and development of industrial relationships. 
 
 But Co-Partnership must be more than a mere division 
 of profits. It must have its base resting firmly on the 
 deep solid rock of human nature. It must be the means 
 of enabling men under modern conditions, wherein 
 thousands of workmen are operating together in fac- 
 tories, mines, and workshops, to do so as real Co- 
 Partners. Labour must be Co-Partner with Capital in 
 fact as well as in name. But this Co-Partnership must 
 not extinguish or crush the strong spirit of individualism 
 which is such a pronounced element in human nature. 
 It must give to each man the stimulus and security of the 
 man in business for himself. The British workman has 
 a profound distrust and dislike of paternalism. Co- 
 Partnership can only fail when Capital or Labour expect 
 too much as a result of it, and where Labour, after being 
 taken into Co-Partnership, is not treated as a partner. 
 Capital must not expect that Labour, after Co-Partner- 
 ship, will cease to make demands for higher wages, or 
 relinquish its right to combine in Trade Unions, or will 
 not show disaffection if other conditions irritate or create 
 a feeling of oppression; and, equally, Co-Partnership 
 
HARMONIZING CAPITAL AND LABOUR 67 
 
 must not be shipwrecked by Labour expecting that Capi- 
 tal shall cease to fill its function of control and to main- 
 tain discipline. 
 
 At the same time, Trade Unionism ought not to be a 
 barrier. Trade Unions are as essential under Co-Partner- 
 ship as under the present existing system. Trade Unions 
 are, for both Capital and Labour, indispensable as a 
 means of collective bargaining. There is no reason why 
 Trade Unions should be either apathetic, or, as is most 
 often the case, openly hostile to Co-Partnership. Such 
 hostility on the part of Trade Unions can only exist so long 
 as they ignore the obvious fact that to make Labour Co- 
 Partner with Capital is a democratic step tending in the 
 right direction, by putting Labour on the road to share 
 in Management and to enjoy increased welfare. For by 
 Co-Partnership the total earnings will be increased by 
 Profit-Sharing, and the total earnings must always in- 
 clude the payment of full wages on the Trade Union 
 scale and for the Trade Union working hours. And it is 
 obvious that if the total earnings are larger in Co- 
 Partnership workshops, then this improvement is bound 
 to react on all other workshops, and so Co-Partnership 
 must inevitably tend to the improvement of backward 
 industries. An intelligent Co-Partner, working under the 
 above conditions, receiving full Trade Union wages and 
 working Trade Union hours (including, when such is the 
 rule either bonus, premium, or piece-work additions), is 
 bound to realize the value of his efforts to the business 
 as a whole, as well as to himself as an individual. And 
 so the outlook of the Co-Partner becomes broader and 
 he becomes keen to adopt new methods calculated to pro- 
 duce a larger output with lessened cost of production, 
 with the result of adding to the profits in which he him- 
 self and all Co-Partners share. High wages, bonuses,' 
 premiums, or piece-work, apart from a system of Co- 
 
68 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Partnership, can alone bring no solution of Labour dif- 
 ficulties. Only the true spirit of Co-Partnership can tend 
 in this direction, and, by combining the democratic with 
 the individualistic attributes of human nature, will result 
 not only in higher total earnings but greater efficiency, 
 happier life, and improved mental condition. Therefore, 
 the opposition of Trade Unions can only be based on 
 some fundamental misconception which assumes that 
 the interests of Capital and Labour are diametrically op- 
 posed to each other. Time, and the steady growth of the 
 Co-Partnership movement, alone can correct this. 
 
 Co-Partnership can do no more than produce the right 
 environment and create conditions for Capital and Labour 
 that are mutually healthy and stimulating. Thanks to 
 our various Education Acts, from 1870 up to the present 
 time, Labour to-day is alert and intelligent, and has 
 imbibed ambitions and aspirations, and in addition 
 Labour is gaining experience every day by service on 
 locaL government bodies and on Trade Union commit- 
 tees, and is the better prepared and equipped to take 
 greater responsibilities, but Labour must move gradually 
 and somewhat slowly to the higher sphere of Director- 
 ships. 
 
 But throughout it all, in seeking to harmonize Capital 
 and Labour we must never lose sight of the fact that what 
 is called the present Labour Unrest is healthy and en- 
 couraging, for it discloses a psychological problem just 
 as large as one of wages and of hours of employment. 
 And in this aspect, Co-Partnership means much more than 
 sharing profits as an addition to wages. It means the 
 spirit of comradeship — the spirit that recognizes equality 
 and brotherhood; and it is working on these lines that 
 the harmonizing of Capital and Labour best promises to 
 dispel the present atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Of all subjects, the one of the greatest interest to myself, 
 and the one to which I have probably given the closest 
 study outside my own business, is that of Co-Partnership. 
 I believe that all manufacturers to-day are exposed to 
 more criticism than probably any other class of the com- 
 munity. We are expected to adopt every method of every 
 faddist in connection with our industry, while each one of 
 us knows that if a manufacturer adopts any method that 
 does not tend to produce more goods of a superior quality 
 in less time, and at the same time pay labour higher 
 wages, and give labour shorter hours, and simultaneously 
 give goods to the consumer at a reduced cost, that manu- 
 facturer is led away from the ordinary commercial chan- 
 nels into by-paths of dalliance that can lead nowhere, 
 and he is bound to come to ruin. 
 
 At present, Labour is in the position of Debenture 
 Holder on all industries. Placed in that position by the 
 law, if any firm becomes bankrupt, even before the De- 
 benture Holder receives his money, wages must be paid 
 in full, and, therefore, Labour stands in the position of 
 Debenture Holder. 
 
 The three forces that go for production are : Capital, 
 Labour, and Management. I know sometimes these are 
 separated and made into two forces, called Labour and 
 Capital, but this is not a true division. There are really 
 three forces, Capital, Labour, and Management, notwith- 
 standing the fact that very often Capital and Manage- 
 ment are comprised in the same person. 
 
 69 
 
70 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Now, the position is this, that Labour receives a fixed 
 rate of wages; Capital receives its fixed rate of interest; 
 and the product is a product of varying value, according 
 to market conditions, and affected by the harvests of raw 
 materials all over the world. Consequently, when you 
 have two fixed factors and a variable product, it is ob- 
 vious that the reward of Management, called profit, must 
 be a variable quantity — sometimes it may be great, some- 
 times it may be small, and very often it must disappear 
 entirely, only showing loss. Now, that is the position 
 to-day, and practically the position of Labour is this — 
 it comes to the employer and says, " I can't store my 
 labour; my labour has to be sold each day, and must be 
 turned to account each day. If I do not make use of 
 to-day's labour to-day, I cannot do so to-morrow. I 
 cannot store it until a favourable opportunity for selling 
 it occurs. I must sell each day's labour to-day — the day 
 in which I exist. Now, with Capital, and with com- 
 modities, you may be able to stand the fluctuating mar- 
 kets ; I cannot — my commodity won't keep. In addition 
 to that, I have a wife and family to keep, besides myself, 
 and I must be assured every week of my weekly wage. 
 Whether the product I produce for you realizes profit or 
 loss for you, I have nothing to do with that; I cannot 
 have anything to do with it. I must be assured of my 
 weekly wage, and if there is a profit, you are welcome 
 to it. If there is a loss, I cannot help you to share it." 
 Now, this is the attitude Labour takes up, and rightly 
 takes up. It practically becomes a Debenture Holder. 
 Remember that is also the position of the Debenture 
 Holder. The Debenture Holder says, " I do not want 
 big profits ; I want an assured rate of interest with abso- 
 lute security. I would rather have a sure 4 per cent, or 
 Ar X /2 per cent, on this business than I would have the 
 Ordinary Shares, with a possible 10 per cent, or a pos- 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 71 
 
 sible nothing; therefore give me Debentures." There- 
 fore Labour and the Debenture Holder stand side by- 
 side. Labour and the Debenture Holder, in asking for 
 no share in losses, are placed in that position, relinquish- 
 ing voluntarily, or of necessity, in order to maintain their 
 security, any prospective share of profits. Now if we, 
 therefore, approach this subject, we might find — if we 
 approach it in the wrong way, we should certainly find — 
 all we had done was to change the position. On any at- 
 tempt to restrict Management from the receipt of prof- 
 its, jointly created, Management becoming a fixed charge, 
 Capital remaining a fixed charge, but with the produce 
 still variable in value, then Labour would have to be 
 the one that had to take the variable remainder. So that 
 this is manifestly one of those propositions which one has 
 to handle with the utmost care in order to be perfectly 
 sure that in our intention to benefit Labour we have not 
 unintentionally made the position worse. 
 
 And I would remind you that Trade Unions have, 
 rightly, set no value upon Profit-Sharing schemes. They 
 have never been interested in them at any time. They 
 have never seen in Profit-Sharing schemes anything 
 worth exchanging for the right to bargain for Labour at 
 the highest market price that Labour can obtain; and I 
 say they are right in that, for through the influence of 
 Trade Unions Labour has been able to make better terms 
 and better arrangements financially, in the form of in- 
 creased wages without risks of loss, than could have been 
 made under any system of Profit-Sharing or Partner- 
 ship. 
 
 Now, I will tell you how this operates. Industries are 
 started in this country, and in the early days of these 
 industries there is practically very little competition 
 amongst the holders of these industries, and profits are 
 inflated, with the result that a rush takes place of money 
 
72 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 into such industries, and a rush of capital means that 
 more men are employed in them. The wages remain a 
 fixed charge, and in consequence of the inrush of capital 
 and the greatly increased output, the value of the prod- 
 uct, represented by the price it will fetch on the market, 
 has a serious fall ; but the result of that new industry has 
 been to employ more capital, and every additional work- 
 man put on in that new industry has relieved 
 the labour market, and enabled Trade Unions the better 
 to bargain for an advance in wages for all labour in that 
 industry and out of it. When you turn to the cotton 
 industry (I come from a cotton manufacturing county — 
 Lancashire), in my younger days a cotton-spinner was 
 called a " cotton-lord," and he was, relatively, getting a 
 very much higher return on his capital than could pos- 
 sibly be obtained to-day. I know of cases in those days 
 when a man could build a new mill out of the profits of 
 the old one in three years, and so on; but that has com- 
 pletely passed away with the organization of the indus- 
 try, and with its becoming more stable and more settled. 
 Such a state of affairs as that could not exist long. It 
 was sure to attract fresh capital, and it was sure to pro- 
 duce a cutting down of profits; but the very conditions 
 that operated adversely for the Management, reducing 
 the profits, operated in the direction of raising the wages 
 of the workmen. If you take the cotton mills of Oldham, 
 the balance-sheets of which are public property, you will 
 find this extraordinary result, that in the last thirty 
 years the payment of Management — because most of 
 these mills got the bulk of their capital in Preference 
 Shares and Debentures — the payment of Management 
 represented by the rate of dividends on Ordinary Shares 
 has decreased by 50 per cent, and wages to Labour, as 
 shown by the Trade Union rate of wages, has during the 
 same period increased by 40 per cent. Now, that is with- 
 
. CO-PARTNERSHIP 73 
 
 out any Profit-Sharing at all. That is the ordinary eco- 
 nomic working of supply and demand, what is called the 
 competitive forces that go on in all our industries; and 
 therefore we have got to be extremely careful in ap- 
 proaching this subject, because I am convinced of this, 
 that anything which tends to complicate the basis on 
 which Labour is paid makes it more difficult for Labour 
 to obtain the highest possible price; and if we introduce 
 a complication of any kind, we might, so far from pro- 
 ducing any benefits to those we desire to benefit, produce 
 exactly the opposite result. 
 
 Now, when we come to examine Profit-Sharing 
 schemes, I want to point out this ominous fact. They 
 have been commenced in the commercial world and have 
 been in active operation for over seventy years, yet the 
 Board of Trade Return issued on this very subject 
 shows that the average life of Profit-Sharing schemes 
 with firms is only five years; that whilst there may be 
 some that have existed for twenty years or longer, the 
 average duration is only five years; and the last return 
 of all, issued in February of this year, shows that at the 
 present moment only forty-nine firms in the United 
 Kingdom, employing some 64,000 workpeople — only 
 64,000 out of millions of workpeople represented by the 
 Trade Unions — only forty-nine firms were dividing 
 profits with their workmen. Now, that is a fact that 
 you have got to bear in mind. And another point I 
 want to mention (and it has been the cause of the break- 
 up of many Profit-Sharing arrangements) is, that Profit- 
 Sharing does not prevent strikes. I know it was hoped 
 that under a Profit-Sharing arrangement strikes would 
 cease, but how could it have that effect? If a workman 
 hears that in an adjoining colliery, as has often been the 
 case with a Profit-Sharing colliery, a rise in wages has 
 taken place, while he in the colliery where he shares the 
 
74 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 profits gets no such advantage in wages, surely he is 
 bound to resent what must appear to him nothing other 
 than some arrangement under which he is asked to take 
 less wages than he is entitled to, and must resort to 
 strikes, which he consequently does. It is absolutely 
 certain that no one will accept a Profit-Sharing arrange- 
 ment in exchange for some abatement from the highest 
 rate of wages he is entitled to receive. Well, now, there 
 is another advantage in having wages fixed by Trade 
 Unions. It is that in competition amongst masters it is 
 of great importance, in my opinion, that masters amongst 
 each other should not have the opportunity of competing 
 in the rate of wages ; that the wage fund should be fixed, 
 and that any man giving a tender in competition with 
 another tender should not have any advantage out of a 
 lower wage fund. The only effect that could have would 
 be gradually to bear down the wage fund. " A" takes 
 a contract to-day because he can get labour for less than 
 " B." " B," not content with that, makes a correspond- 
 ing arrangement and takes something next time out of 
 the wages fund. There would be no end to it. There- 
 fore, there is a great advantage in the wages being fixed. 
 Any Profit-Sharing arrangement, therefore, that was 
 based upon what you might call pooling the profits, La- 
 bour getting an uncertain share, would be sure to be 
 disastrous in every way. 
 
 Well, now, I want to point out that sometimes employ- 
 ers are treated in the Press to a very great deal of what 
 I may call " cheap morality." Hard employers are railed 
 against, employers that are working on uncertain condi- 
 tions are held up to public odium. Now, I say this with- 
 out hesitation, and I think I can afford to say it because 
 you know what I believe. There could be no worse 
 friend to Labour than the benevolent, philanthropic em- 
 ployer who carries his business on in a loose, lax manner, 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 75 
 
 showing " kindness " to his employees ; because, as cer- 
 tain as that man exists, because of his looseness and lax- 
 ness, and because of his so-called kindness, benevolence, 
 and lack of business principles, sooner or later he will be 
 compelled to close. On the other hand, although it 
 sounds hard, that man who adheres strictly to business 
 principles, who pays, of course, the highest rate of wages, 
 because to-day it is not possible to pay less, and carries 
 on his business on so-called " hard " lines, will not be the 
 worst friend of Labour at all. ' This man who is employ- 
 ing labour on strictly business principles is not the least 
 respected by Labour in any way, and ought not to be. 
 
 To take another point, the incapable employer does not 
 make profits, the capable employer does make profits ; so 
 therefore we find in different businesses not only the 
 profits vary, but in the same business you have varying 
 profits because of the varying capacity of the employer. 
 Now, the incapable employer making small profits may 
 not excite the envy, criticism, and remarks that are 
 hurled at the man of more capacity who earns larger 
 profits, but he is doing his workmen a great injury. 
 Supposing he has ioo workmen and fails to make profits. 
 He gradually ceases to be able to employ ioo; he cannot 
 keep up renewals of machinery and upkeep out of the 
 profits, so in time he has to discharge 50 of his men. 
 He is now employing 50. It is true that the loss falls 
 on him, but it equally falls on the 100. It is true it only 
 appears to fall on 50 out of the 100, because only 50 
 were discharged, but that 50 discharged have to the ex- 
 tent of 50 depressed the labour market, and lowered the 
 demand for labour by competing with men in occupation 
 for labour. On the other hand, the more capable em- 
 ployer, employing 100, makes profits, and because he is 
 making profits desires to increase his business. He 
 doubles his plant, puts more money into the business, 
 
76 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 and employs 200 men, and is still making money. That 
 man is not only benefiting himself and the 200 men he 
 employs, but the whole body of workmen, by his taking 
 100 workmen off the market and finding them occupa- 
 tion, so benefiting the whole of them. 
 
 Now, I do not want you to think that in any case la- 
 bour can be paid out of capital. It is not, and we find 
 this curious fact, which has to be explained by those 
 who rail against the position of Capital, that wages are 
 always highest in those countries where not only is 
 capital most plentiful and where capital earns the highest 
 rate of dividends, but wages are always lowest in those 
 countries where there is the least capital employed, and 
 where capital earns the lowest return. In England, wages 
 are high and the return on capital is high. If you go to 
 Spain, there is less capital employed than in England, 
 and the return on capital is lower and the wages to la- 
 bourers are lower. If you go across to India, you will 
 find there is less money again available in industries, and 
 there is less return on money in industries, and you find 
 labour pay at the lowest ebb of all, a fact which you 
 can prove for yourself. In all countries where capital is 
 plentiful and receives the highest return, there wages are 
 highest. Therefore, we come to see clearly that it is in- 
 telligence and wealth that raise profits and wages, and 
 ignorance and poverty that lower profits and wages. 
 Therefore there can be no antagonism between Capital 
 and Labour, and if we want to raise the position of the 
 workers we cannot do that by lessening the wealth of any 
 other class. Now, there are laws in the business world 
 just as rigid and just as inviolable as laws in the physical 
 world, and therefore we come to this axiom, that the 
 only way in which wages can be increased is to increase 
 the efficiency of Labour, and therefore the quality and 
 quantity of the product. Wages can only be paid out of 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 77 
 
 the fund that is created by Labour, and therefore, if we 
 adopted Profit-Sharing under the idea that we should get 
 a short-cut that would clear us of all our troubles — if 
 Profit-Sharing meant inducing a number of men to lean 
 on each other, and to lean on the man at the top, and to 
 think that he by his magic wand called Profit-Sharing 
 could distribute a share of profits every year to improve 
 their position — this would be an enormous mistake : it 
 could not last long. Therefore we find the average dur- 
 ation of life of Profit-Sharing schemes is only five years, 
 and we find that those men who try to mix philanthropy 
 and benevolence with business find it a mixture that is no 
 more possible than oil and water — that you cannot mix 
 them. The business has to be conducted on sound busi- 
 ness principles, just as mills and factories must be 
 equipped with the most modern machinery. 
 
 Yes, but then, when you have got all your business 
 methods and all your modern machinery and modern 
 science, there still does enter into the calculation the 
 human factor; and I say that the employer who merely 
 guards machinery so as to prevent accidents in his fac- 
 tory that he would have to pay for, has entirely mistaken 
 the true position. The true position is this, that if the 
 hazardous nature of any occupation is reduced, if busi- 
 nesses that are unhealthy are made healthy, they become 
 attractive to a greater body of workmen, a more intelli- 
 gent class of workmen, and that industry carried on by a 
 more intelligent class of workmen is much more likely to 
 succeed than if carried on by a class that is less intelligent 
 and less businesslike, so that the Compensation Act has 
 another side to it than the payment under the Act. Well, 
 now, I would say, referring to that illustration, that there 
 is the human factor in every works, and for the employer 
 to merely consider the driving of the hardest bargain with 
 his labour, and to get his labour at the lowest price, and 
 
78 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 to endeavour to force out of his labour the maximum 
 amount of work that he can, is not to proceed in a manner 
 which will favour his own ends. He will not do it, he 
 cannot do it; and I say this to the workmen; that the 
 workmen who think that by reducing the output — what 
 is called in the North the " ca' canny " policy — they will 
 increase wages to Labour, and do well to make a job for 
 two men spin out for three, are equally mistaken, and 
 that they will not improve Labour by that method. The 
 only way these two, Management and Labour, can 
 create a fund to increase profits — out of which wages 
 and profits are paid, out of which it is possible to pay the 
 highest rate of dividends and wages — is to increase the 
 quality of the product and increase the quantity of the 
 product; that can only be done by becoming more effi- 
 cient. It cannot be done by working a greater or less 
 number of hours; it can only be done by making men 
 in every way more efficient. 
 
 We find, then, that all the forces of production — Capi- 
 tal, Labour, and Management — must work together; 
 must work to one common end, must work on lines oi 
 enlightened self-interest, and not on the lines of narrow 
 personal selfishness, if any good is to be done. Now, 
 what feasible method have we of drawing those forces 
 together ? Well, let us carry our minds back to examine 
 the stages the industry of this country has passed 
 through, and see whether we have any greater step to 
 make to-day than our forefathers had at various periods. 
 In the first period of all, we were savages, we were 
 controlled by a chief, and if we met any other group of 
 men who did not belong to our section or tribe, we 
 promptly killed them if we could. And it was considered 
 a businesslike arrangement, I have no doubt, in those 
 days, for the very simple reason that if we did not suc- 
 ceed in killing them they would have killed us, and that 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 79 
 
 was the whole basis of the state of savagery. No work- 
 ing together was possible. The most you could say was 
 that the members of one tribe or little settlement would 
 work together, but the next tribe or settlement would be 
 their deadly enemies, and we have that, of course, exist- 
 ing in every uncivilized part of the world to this day. 
 After the state of savagery we developed into a state 
 of slavery; that was the next step forward; and there is 
 no doubt that under slavery life was protected, which 
 was one great gain, and consequently more effective work 
 was done for the community under a state of slavery 
 than was possible under a state of savagery. I have not 
 the slightest doubt that slave owners of those days con- 
 sidered it was perfectly businesslike to drive their slaves 
 to work with the lash and the whip, and they would have 
 thought kindness and consideration perfectly unbusiness- 
 like and impossible to carry on ; in fact, if in buying and 
 selling their slaves they had considered them any other 
 than cattle, if they had hesitated for a moment to drag 
 them to where they could get a good price, it would have 
 been considered unbusinesslike and maudlin sentiment. 
 In the present days of wages it is very nearly considered 
 unbusinesslike and bordering on philanthropy to do 
 anything more for workmen than is absolutely neces- 
 sary, and strict business to get out of the workmen 
 the largest amount of work by driving and by forcing 
 methods rather than reasonable and proper methods. 
 Well, I say this : we living to-day have not to make any- 
 thing like so great a stride to take the workman from the 
 wage-drawer — I use the word "drawer" because you 
 cannot say under the wage system that it is always 
 earned : a great section of men earn more than they draw; 
 and the other section earn less than they draw — I say 
 it is nothing like as big a jump from the position of 
 wage-drawer to that of co-partner as there was from 
 
80 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 savagery to slavery and from slavery to wage paymenl 
 But, whilst it may be difficult to do so, and whilst, ii 
 addition, I may make a great many mistakes — for, as . 
 said at the beginning, the margin of safety is extremel; 
 small — still, during the last twenty years I have triec 
 first one method and then another working in that direc 
 tion. I have always preferred to call my previous meth 
 ods Prosperity-Sharing, and not Profit-Sharing, becausi 
 I feel that Prosperity-Sharing best describes my ideals 
 I feel that when a business prospers it means that all th< 
 factors have entered into that success. It is perfecth 
 certain that no one man could be responsible for all thf 
 success, and therefore, if the business prospers, I like tc 
 take the illustration of the family. If a father prospers 
 in life he moves into a better house, his children get a 
 better education, get better clothes, more holidays in 
 summer, and so on; that is, without touching his profits 
 at all. If that father said to his children, " I have made 
 so much more this year, and will divide so much more 
 with you," in my opinion the effect of that on the chil- 
 dren would be that the next year, when the father had 
 reverses in business and had losses, the children would 
 begin to criticize him and say, " How is it that father 
 is so much more a fool this year than last — why did he 
 open that new office in London and lose his money?" 
 On the other hand, if he does not say anything about his 
 income, but gradually betters his family, he can tide over 
 those bad years and carry on without their knowing any- 
 thing about it. Therefore, I commenced building houses, 
 gradually improving the conditions without touching 
 profits, which I did not wish to do. I felt I might make 
 a very serious mistake, because steps taken in that way 
 could not be retraced. 
 
 Now, another point comes up for our consideration 
 when we go beyond Prosperity-Sharing, namely, the con- 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 81 
 
 trol of the business. Who is going to have control in a 
 universal partnership? Now, here we come, in my opin- 
 ion, to what may form a way out of the difficulty. Just 
 as taxation and representation must go together, so it 
 seems to me loss-bearing and control must go together. 
 The man or body of men who say they will bear all the 
 losses, have the right, because they say they are going to 
 bear the losses, to say they will have the control, and it is 
 for them to say to what extent they would like to have the 
 assistance in the control of those associated with them; 
 and just as Labour cannot say that it will take any losses, 
 so Labour, wanting to be in the position of Debenture 
 Holder, has no right to say, " I will fix the policy of this 
 business." If Labour claims it is right for Labour to fix 
 the policy, it is quite obvious that such policy might re- 
 sult in losses, and as Labour could not bear such losses, 
 it is clear that Management, forced to adopt a policy fixed 
 by Labour, would have to bear the losses alone, whereas 
 if there were profits they would have to share them. It 
 would be a perfectly unfair arrangement that would not 
 be right. To merely give out profits as sort of doles, in 
 my opinion, would be equally wrong. We must cultivate 
 the self-respect of everybody we work with. There is 
 not a man but must be able to look you in the face and 
 say he owes you nothing, that he does not want cheques 
 if he does not earn them; if he does not earn them as 
 much as you have earned them, he does not want them. 
 Therefore, we now come to consider on what possible 
 basis we can work in Profit-Sharing. 
 
 In my opinion, ordinary Profit-Sharing has been 
 proved and found wanting. Prosperity-Sharing is very 
 good, but does not go far enough. Now, then, we come 
 to a possible adoption of Co-Partnership. Now, in this 
 Co-Partnership arrangement it must be fixed, as I have 
 said, that those who alone bear the losses must take the 
 
82 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 control. For those who do not bear losses, whilst theii 
 help in Management would be welcomed, control is nol 
 a right that they can demand until they share in th« 
 losses. Not until Labour can share in losses as well as 
 in profits can Labour assume control. It is quite cleai 
 that in all well-organized industries some must work with 
 their heads and others with their hands. If food, cloth- 
 ing, and homes are to be won for the whole body of 
 workers, there must be a head prepared to control. I 
 firmly believe that the more we recognize each other as 
 brothers, within the proper limits of control, the more 
 we shall raise ourselves as well as those who work with 
 us. The whole body, employers and employees, will be 
 raised together. Now, the employer has, by force of 
 circumstances, learned his lesson already. He has been 
 taught that the best way for him to conduct his business 
 is to improve the quality and, as far as possible, reduce 
 the cost of his output, and that that is the only way in 
 which he can extend his business and increase his profits. 
 The workman has not learned that lesson because he has 
 never had a chance of learning it; he has never been able 
 to have such a connection with the business as would 
 bring that lesson home to him, and therefore it is by 
 admission to Co-Partnership that he will learn it, and be- 
 ing in Co-Partnership he will see that it is only out of 
 the fund created in the business itself that an improve- 
 ment or advancement is to be made in the position of 
 Labour. Certainly, Co-Partnership, if not viewed in 
 this light, if it has not the effect of increasing products 
 in value and quantity, cannot result in increasing the 
 wages, and cannot lead to any betterment to the work- 
 ers. Co-Partnership, therefore, must first ask — I am 
 not giving these points in order of priority and not in 
 order of importance, as they are practically all equal- 
 how can we increase the output, improve the quality, 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP 83 
 
 reduce cost, lead to greater care of tools and machinery, 
 greater economy of materials, and greatly reduce what is 
 at present an inseparable burden on all industries, the 
 cost of supervision? I know supervision is at present, 
 and always will be to a certain extent, an absolute neces- 
 sity, but I often think if we could be Co-Partners we 
 should greatly reduce that cost, and we should have gone 
 a long way in reducing the cost of production. Just as 
 a slave worked better than a man-eating savage, and a 
 wage-drawer worked better than a slave, I am convinced 
 that a Co-Partner will do better work and more of it, 
 with less personal fatigue, under better social conditions 
 for himself, wife, and family, because his efficiency will 
 be increased, than the wage-drawer ; and it is only in that 
 direction that we can uphold and maintain our system of 
 Co-Partnership as better infinitely than any system of 
 Profit-Sharing. 
 
 Now, what I want to say to the employer is : " Here is 
 our system. It means well, and we are going to give it 
 a fair trial. I believe it promises well because it gives 
 to the employee freer scope for the exercise of his abili- 
 ties, it raises him and makes him a better man. This it 
 is bound to do. The tendency is that the worry and cares 
 of Management ought to be relieved by it. Working 
 with a body of Partners must be infinitely better than 
 working with a body of wage-drawers, and assuredly I 
 believe, as certain as we are here, the wage fund and 
 profit fund will not be reduced if we all understand it 
 and work together; but even supposing the profit were 
 reduced, but that those at the head of the firm, the Man- 
 agers, have lost the worry and the anxious time, even 
 then I say that it is worth more than any amount of 
 money." 
 
 To the employee I would say : " You are now offered 
 an opportunity of sharing profits with Capital and Man- 
 
84 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 agement, and have now the opportunity to show the kind 
 of man you are; join hands with your Co-Partners in a 
 manly agreement to do your part in the Co-Partnership. 
 You will continue to receive the highest rate of wages 
 and will work the regulation hours, with all overtime 
 rates that are provided on the fullest scale that has ever 
 been paid or arranged. Join hands with me to make the 
 profits of this business sure and increasing. Let it not 
 be a one-sided Co-Partnership. There must be a fund 
 created out of which you can benefit. There cannot 
 be any one-sided arrangement that can be of benefit to 
 either of us. Live up to our motto, ' Waste not, want 
 not.' Fill your business hours with work for the busi- 
 ness, increasing the quantity of the product, increasing 
 the quality of the product. Take care of the machinery 
 and tools, help me to weed out the chronic idlers and 
 grumblers from this business. If we come on to years 
 when dividends cannot be paid you will suffer, but you 
 will not be the only sufferer. Your Co-Partners will 
 suffer, and I will suffer with you, and you will have 
 learned what business means and what the risks of busi- 
 ness are, a lesson that you ought to learn just as much 
 as myself. Here is the Co-Partnership. I find you a 
 ladder to raise yourself to the heights out of your pres- 
 ent troubles and difficulties. I place it against the wall 
 for you, but it is out of my power, or the power of any 
 man, to push another man up the ladder — man and lad- 
 der both fall. I offer you the Co-Partnership: it is for 
 you to make it a success." 
 
VI 
 
 CO-PARTNERSHIP AND BUSINESS MANAGE- 
 MENT 
 
 There is one great principle governing the world, 
 which is that of self-interest. We find nowhere this 
 principle more strongly developed nor finding more gen- 
 eral acceptance than in business. It is the basis of the 
 axiom, " To buy in the cheapest market and sell in the 
 dearest." It shows itself in competition, sometimes 
 healthy, sometimes unhealthy; but there are two kinds of 
 self-interest, one the narrow, selfish self-interest, which 
 is so short-sighted as to be blindly selfish to the exclu- 
 sion of all other considerations ; and there is that broad, 
 intelligent, enlightened self-interest, which says that it 
 can only find its own best interests of self in regarding 
 the welfaje and interests of others. By the practice of 
 this spirit of enlightened self-interest in the struggle 
 for supremacy, and the practice of emulation and com- 
 petition, mankind is made more and more intelligent, 
 and is better able to obtain an advanced position. When 
 the spirit of enlightened self-interest ceases to exist, 
 mankind must of necessity fade out of existence also. 
 This is just as certain as it is true that the practice of 
 the narrow, blind, selfish self-interest can only result in 
 the demoralization of society, and in constant struggle 
 and warfare and in the decline of civilization. 
 
 The truest and best form of enlightened self-interest is 
 when we pay the highest regard to those associated with 
 us in business, and whose improved efficiency we must 
 seek to obtain by binding them and making them, equally 
 
 85 
 
86 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 with ourselves, interested in, and dependent upon, th 
 success of the business. If Capital desires Managemer 
 and Labour to be efficient, then Capital must be fair i 
 its division of profits with Management and Labour. I 
 Capital wishes Management and Labour to make profit! 
 then Capital must share profits with Management an 
 Labour. If Capital thinks of nothing but its own nar 
 rowest and most selfish self-interest, without a singl 
 thought for Management and Labour, then Capital wil 
 never succeed in getting the highest possible amount o 
 efficiency from Management and Labour. In fact, i 
 Capital is justified in taking the most narrow and selfisl 
 view, then equally Management and Labour must bi 
 considered as entitled to consider how to obtain thi 
 highest possible salaries and wages for the least equiva 
 lent in skill, efficiency, and labour. And, equally, ii 
 Management and Labour consider nothing but their owr 
 narrowest and most selfish self-interest, if their though! 
 is solely how to render the smallest possible amount oi 
 work — inefficient and, therefore, profitless — in the short- 
 est possible number of hours and for the highest possible 
 salary or wages, then Management and Labour will of 
 necessity retrograde and suffer; but if Management and 
 Labour adopt a system of enlightened self-interest, and 
 Capital does the same, and each recognize the principle 
 that by looking after the interests of all they are taking 
 the surest way of achieving their own individual self-in- 
 terest, then the undertaking must be healthier, profits 
 are bound to be greater, the resulting happiness will be 
 more complete, and the prosperity and advancement of 
 civilization the world over will be assured. 
 
 It is claimed for Co-Partnership that by adopting Co- 
 partnership a recognition is made of this great fact, that 
 justice demands for each of us equal rights in the prod- 
 ucts of our labour. This is the very basis of Co-Partner- 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 87 
 
 ship, and it is claimed for it that it stimulates efficiency 
 and produces economy and avoidance of waste, and it is 
 only by so doing that Co-Partnership can increase well- 
 being and prosperity and justify its adoption. 
 
 Before we proceed further, it would probably be ad- 
 vantageous to give a definition of what is meant by 
 Profit-Sharing and Co-Partnership. There are so many 
 systems of Profit-Sharing, some amounting to little 
 other than gratuities or Christmas-boxes, that this defini- 
 tion becomes all the more important and necessary. In 
 the Board of Trade Report dealing with Profit-Sharing 
 and Co-Partnership, Profit-Sharing was defined as " An 
 agreement between an employer and his workpeople that 
 the latter shall receive in addition to their ordinary 
 wages a share fixed beforehand in the profits of the 
 undertaking." Under this definition all bonus schemes 
 are excluded. The Board of Trade Report stated that 
 there must be a previous agreement, that the share of the 
 profits must be fixed beforehand, and Co-Partnership 
 was defined as an extension of Profit-Sharing whereby 
 the employee gained, in some degree, the rights and re- 
 sponsibilities of the shareholder. 
 
 To enable us to judge the anticipated effects of the 
 adoption of Co-Partnership, it is not unreasonable that 
 we draw a parallel from what has been the effect of im- 
 proving the condition of the workers in those industries 
 that have been able to achieve this. It is a well-known 
 fact that every reduction in the hazardous nature of an 
 occupation has resulted in a wider selection and better 
 workmen being available in that occupation. Businesses 
 that were dangerous and hazardous, and that have been 
 made safe and free from risk, have become attractive to 
 a greater body of workmen, and, at the same time, at- 
 tractive to a more intelligent class of workmen. There 
 is the human element — the man behind the process and 
 
88 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 operation — to be considered in every undertaking. The 
 only way in which to maintain an increased success in 
 any industry is to maintain an increased efficiency, and 
 thus by increased efficiency to increase the quantity 
 and quality of the output, and so augment the fund out 
 of which the wages and profits have to come. 
 
 I venture to state that our modern industrial system 
 in this great United Kingdom stands self -condemned, 
 when the income tax returns show that it rests on a 
 basis whereby one-ninth of the population enjoy one-half 
 the total income, and more than nine-tenths of the ac- 
 cumulated wealth, whilst the remaining eight-ninths of 
 the population have only one-half of the total income, 
 and possess less than one-tenth of the accumulated 
 wealth. It is true that the one-ninth have full legal 
 claim to half the total income, and the nine-tenths of 
 the total wealth. Not one word can be raised against the 
 legal right upon which this rests, but notwithstanding 
 these circumstances let us ask ourselves, Is this great dis- 
 proportion expedient and in the interests of the commun- 
 ity as a whole, and the nation and Empire of which we all 
 profess to be so proud? 
 
 But hidden and buried amongst the above mass of 
 figures and income tax returns are also the unrecorded 
 losses and failures, the despair and madness of many a 
 so-called capitalist who has seen the ruin of his industry, 
 sometimes from his own errors and mistakes, but, it is 
 equally true, often from changed economic conditions 
 which render his industry obsolete, and have swept away 
 his capital and profits; so that before we join in the 
 general outcry of rights of Labour to share in the profits 
 we must consider the proposition of Loss-Sharing as 
 well as Profit-Sharing. Whole volumes have been writ- 
 ten, and eloquent speeches have been delivered, on the 
 subject of the rights of Labour to share in the profits. 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 89 
 
 Men wax eloquent on these rights, but not one single 
 line has been written, so far as I have been able to dis- 
 cover, to point out that if Management and Labour 
 would share in the profits, Management and Labour must 
 equally share in the losses. It has not even been claimed 
 that Labour should share in the losses in those quite nu- 
 merous undertakings where the ruin of the undertaking 
 has been the direct result of the action of Labour. 
 Therefore, there is one essential element of expediency 
 and justice, when we are considering the application of 
 Profit-Sharing to modern industrial conditions, and that 
 is, that Loss-Sharing must of necessity go with Profit- 
 Sharing, and cannot possibly be detached from it. 
 
 This Loss-Sharing must be so arranged that the em- 
 ployee is not under the necessity of sacrificing the secur- 
 ity of his position with regard to salary or wages. There- 
 fore, Profit-Sharing must be in addition to, and not in 
 substitution of, the salary and wages system. Profit- 
 Sharing must mean the giving to the employee the op- 
 portunity each year by increased efficiency of acquiring 
 an enlarging personal share in the profits of the business. 
 Therefore, Profit-Sharing and Co-Partnership must re- 
 sult in increasing the volume of profits. Salary and 
 wages must first be paid under the old system to Manage- 
 ment and Labour, and a reasonable rate of interest, say, 
 5 or 6 per cent., must be paid to Capital as the equiva- 
 lent of the salary and wages'of Management and Labour. 
 The employee is at present placed in a position of per- 
 sonal indifference, so far as his own financial responsi- 
 bility is concerned, in the success or failure of the busi- 
 ness. The employee sharing in the profits of the busi- 
 ness, in addition to receiving salary or wages, would 
 ever have in his mind that the failure of the business 
 would sweep away his annually increasing share in the 
 profits of the undertaking, which share, equally as is the 
 
90 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 case with the Capitalist, has taken him a lifetime of 
 unremitting application and patient effort to acquire. 
 Therefore, Co-Partnership, rightly constituted, must of 
 necessity bring the employee into close contact with 
 Capital in Loss-Sharing as well as in Profit-Sharing, 
 which would lift both Management and Labour into the 
 stimulating, developing, and elevating heights of profit- 
 earner and profit-sharer in addition to that of the salary 
 or wage-drawer. 
 
 Now, in former times the whole history of the world 
 has been a history of conflict. Conflict has been the rule 
 of life. It has been the question that has settled the sta- 
 bility of nations ; conquest by war, and one perpetual con- 
 flict. And we see the modern survival of this idea of 
 conflict in competition. The very antipathy of the public 
 to anything partaking of the nature of monopoly shows 
 that they believe that war, or competition, is for the 
 good of the public, and probably for the good of man- 
 kind. And we do know this — that competition does keep 
 us alert, and does keep us strenuous in our business. It 
 is more important, however, that we give good service to 
 the public than that we waste our energies in competing 
 strenuously with each other. Any method that we can 
 adopt in our business that will improve our efficiency and 
 the efficiency of those we employ, is a much more im- 
 portant matter for the public than that we should be en- 
 gaged in keen competition with each other. And I say 
 also that, however much the faddist may like to see a 
 manufacturer who is also called a philanthropist, it is 
 even more important for the workman that his employer 
 should be a strict business man than that he should be a 
 philanthropist. Capital is all-powerful to-day, and I 
 think that, carrying our minds back to the time of con- 
 flict, it behooves Capital to remember that any conflict 
 that may come between Capital and Labour is much 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 91 
 
 better settled by an adjustment of rights, and a recogni- 
 tion of the rights of each side, than by a continuance of 
 conflict. The recognition of rights does not mean that the 
 manufacturer can be a philanthropist, because he cannot ; 
 but each day Labour is demanding, and rightly and prop- 
 erly demanding, a greater share in the profits of indus- 
 try — and to-morrow, in all probability, the positions may 
 be reversed, and as the demand for labour increases 
 and money becomes more plentiful, Capital may become 
 the suppliant for employment, and Labour may be all- 
 powerful and able to dictate the terms on which it is to 
 be employed. That ,is, of course, an exact reversal of 
 the position which we have to-day. Supposing even that 
 that came about, the employer could not even then be a 
 philanthropist, and the hardest employer who could pos- 
 sibly be imagined, who succeeds in keeping his people in 
 full work at full wages, whatever that rate of wages may 
 be, would be better, even under those conditions, for the 
 workman himself than a so-called philanthropist. 
 
 Well, now, in Labour wars, of course, the weapon 
 which has been used, and effectively used — and I think 
 rightly used — has been that of strikes. But, like all 
 methods of war — like all weapons of war — it is costly 
 and extravagant, and I believe it is equally true in indus- 
 trial warfare as in warfare between nations — and this has 
 been proved by Mr. Norman Angell — that no practical 
 profit has ever come out of war unless it has been a fight 
 for liberty. And I believe that in this question of the 
 adjustment of wages there is no question of liberty 
 involved, and that all questions of this kind could be 
 infinitely better settled by mutual forbearance and con- 
 ciliation than by any question of strikes. In my opinion, 
 all these strikes, and all this unrest in the Labour world, 
 are a healthy sign. And it is still more healthy that no 
 advantage at the present moment has resulted, or can 
 
92 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 result, from this warfare that will give either element a 
 preponderance over the other. The tendency will be, as I 
 have said, as money becomes more plentiful, for money 
 to be the suppliant for employment, and for Labour to 
 be able to dictate more closely its own terms. But even 
 then, extravagant and costly production would ruin in- 
 dustries, would ruin the cause of Labour, and would 
 bring Labour back to a situation of unemployment. 
 
 For a number of years past we have seen various Acts 
 of Parliament passed to regulate the employment of la- 
 bour. Now, I am not one of those who think that this 
 has come about merely because the workman has the 
 vote; I rather think it is because the community recog- 
 nizes that the workman has certain rights, and because 
 the regulation of labour in a proper manner has been 
 recognized as being just and fair; and the very fact that 
 it has resulted in giving advantage to the employer as 
 well as to the workman proves that it is founded on 
 sound lines. We have to be regulated. I know there was 
 an idea in the middle of the last century that each of us 
 had liberties which we could exercise at our own sweet 
 will. But it is found that organized society cannot live 
 in that way, and that we have to recognize the fights of 
 others as well as our own rights. This is no new idea, I 
 know, but we are beginning to recognize more and more 
 that in this matter of the employment of labour it is 
 right that the State should make certain regulations, so 
 that one manufacturer, who is inclined to adopt proper 
 safeguards of machinery and proper regulations of la- 
 bour, shall not be handicapped in competition with an- 
 other manufacturer who would prefer to disregard such 
 safeguards and regulations. We are all of us the better 
 for regulation in this direction. 
 
 But this again does not take us very far. It still 
 leaves us very nearly where we were with regard to the 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 93 
 
 wage question, and the situation is pretty much in this 
 respect left as it was at the beginning of last century. 
 Well, now, the question of capital comes in, and may I 
 mention this, which I am sure is apparent to every one 
 of us — that the shareholder in the large aggregations of 
 capital that are known to-day, is no longer a partner ; he 
 is merely an investor — a money-lender. Capital has be- 
 come dependent on Management and Labour, and this re- 
 sult has produced a condition where, if you alienate the 
 interest of Management and alienate the interest of La- 
 bour, so that the whole of the benefits resulting from the 
 whole-hearted service of Management and Labour are 
 merely to go to the financiers, the money-lender, or the 
 investor, then you have produced circumstances in a very 
 large number of industries which did not exist a decade 
 ago — where you have divorced Management and Labour 
 from the fruits of the industry owned by these large 
 aggregations of capital. That is going on slowly and 
 gradually. It may be possible in certain industries, but 
 in other industries such a condition of affairs is entirely 
 opposed to their success. Now the conflict that has re- 
 sulted from this changed position is rather considerable. 
 The condition is now one in which Management, as 
 such, is on the side of, or is in the same position as, La- 
 bour; and in interesting both Management and Labour 
 in rendering efficient service, I claim that the best inter- 
 ests of shareholders, who want a solid investment with 
 security, and the best interests of the consumers, who 
 want articles of uniform good quality at the lowest pos- 
 sible cost of production, would alike be realized. It is 
 not easy at any time to evolve a scheme that will realize 
 the possibility of interesting Management (which is not 
 a shareholder) and Labour (which is also not a share- 
 holder) in the products that they, jointly with Capital, 
 create. The result is that very often complicated posi- 
 
94 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 tions occur, and systems are evolved which are more or 
 less temporary. The average life of such schemes, as I 
 say, is about five years. Now, there must be a reason 
 for this, and I cannot help thinking that the reason is 
 the one which I have already mentioned, namely, the 
 attempt to mix things that differ. As I stated before, the 
 employer who shares his profits with his workpeople is 
 not entitled on that account to receive his workmen's 
 labour for less than the current rate. Some of the Prof- 
 it-Sharing schemes have fallen to the ground because, 
 after sharing in the profits for a number of years, the 
 workmen have struck against a reduction of wages when 
 no profits were accruing, or have struck for an advance 
 of wages when an advance has been given in other indus- 
 tries, with the result that the Management has said, 
 " Well, of course, if you won't take bad times with good, 
 if you are only going to take your share of the profits 
 when these accrue, and leave us to bear all the losses, 
 we will withdraw the Profit-Sharing arrangement alto- 
 gether." Now, it seems to me that that is an unreason- 
 able position to place Labour in. Labour must have its 
 fixed rate of wages, which in turn must be the Trade 
 Union rate of wages, or the current rate of wages in 
 trades where there is no union. Labour must have that 
 rate of wages assured to it, and if the employer, in pros- 
 perous years, shares profits with his workpeople, he has 
 a right to expect that whilst he is not interfering with 
 the rate of wages, he is, by adopting that system, in- 
 creasing the personal interest of his staff in their work, 
 and that the staff themselves will make the surplus 
 profits which they themselves are going to share. And 
 on that basis, and only on that basis, does it seem to me 
 to be possible to introduce a system of sharing profits with 
 employees. Because, if it is going to be a system merely 
 of taking the profits made by the employer and dividing 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 95 
 
 a share of those among the employees, then it is philan- 
 thropy, which is not required, and for which there is no 
 place in business; and in a very small number of years 
 an employer adopting that course would inevitably find 
 himself handicapped by competitors who, instead of 
 dealing with surplus profits in that way, carried them to 
 a reserve fund and left them to fructify in the business. 
 And in that way the profit-sharing philanthropist would 
 find himself suffering a very serious handicap. If the 
 workman, on the other hand, felt that he was not as- 
 sured of his full rate of wages, the same as he would 
 receive in any other workshop, he would naturally feel 
 aggrieved, because it is a matter of life and death to him, 
 with his family to maintain, that he should have his full 
 rate of wages, and he cannot do without that full rate of 
 wages. 
 
 Now I will tell you, if you will allow me, something 
 of my own little personal experience. I have en- 
 deavoured to indicate to you the difficulties of the case, 
 which are very real, and now I would like to tell you of 
 the various means which I have adopted, during the last 
 five-and-twenty years, to produce this personal interest 
 of which I have been speaking, and of what has brought 
 me to my present system. 
 
 The first and obvious course for a man to take is to 
 allow those associated with him in his business to acquire 
 some of the ordinary capital. It has been done very 
 largely in a great many industries. Well, I tried that, 
 and I invariably found that as a result of that, the hold- 
 ing of these shares produced a state of mind which was 
 nervous, to say the least of it. So that if a new de- 
 velopment was contemplated — for instance, the opening 
 of works in Australia or in some other part of the world 
 — then the holders of a small number of the ordinary 
 shares were inclined to consider that the position of these 
 
96 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ordinary shares was going to be jeopardized, and that 
 the opening of those works was going to be risky, more 
 or less, and that the risk ought not to be taken. And in 
 many cases the argument was used, " We are doing well, 
 and why should not we be satisfied with going on as we 
 are?" Well, of course, the number of ordinary shares 
 held in this way, as compared with those held by myself, 
 was not of sufficient moment to be powerful enough to 
 alter the policy — if it had been, I think it would have 
 been fatal to our progress — and the result that generally 
 came about was that I had to buy back myself, at a 
 premium, shares which I had either given for no pay- 
 ment at all or had issued at par. I never got them back 
 at par in any single case ; I always had to buy them back 
 at a premium. Invariably, as I say, there was a state of 
 nervousness created in the minds of those who held 
 these shares. They might be worth £ 40,000, £ 50,000, 
 or £60,000 if realized at a particular time, and when 
 there was any question of a new departure, such as the 
 establishment of a new undertaking, the holders of these 
 shares felt that they did not know where they were go- 
 ing to be landed, or how their value was going to affected. 
 This is the natural attitude of the small shareholder, and 
 I respect it. I do not think I have any right to say that 
 he ought not to take that view. A man who finds that 
 if he goes out of the business at a certain moment he will 
 go out without the necessity of any worry as regards 
 the future will naturally hesitate to go into a new branch 
 of the enterprise and face unknown risks of which he 
 does not, and in the nature of things cannot, foresee the 
 finality. Therefore, as I say, the only result I got from 
 letting these ordinary shares go was that I had invariably 
 to buy them back at a premium, and generally before five 
 years had passed. So that, after having a strong desire 
 to get rid of my ordinary shares to those who worked 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 97 
 
 with me, I ultimately found myself, until two years ago, 
 the holder of all the ordinary shares. I should mention 
 that then I let my sen have some of them, but he, of 
 course, is on a somewhat different footing, and I sup- 
 pose that in all human probability he will have the lot at 
 some time or other. But leaving his shares out of the 
 question, all the others came back to me in the way I 
 have described. 
 
 Now, I had to give that idea up. It was leading me 
 nowhere. It was costing me a great many hundreds of 
 thousands of pounds, so I had to give it up. Next I 
 thought I would try my hand at the creation of some 
 preference shares, the dividend on which would be re- 
 stricted to 5 per cent. My idea was to allow these to 
 be applied for, and when the applicants obtained them, 
 they would receive the same rate of dividend as the ordi- 
 nary shares, the difference being ex gratia. Now, I 
 consulted our solicitor, and he pointed out to me that 
 that scheme had already been tried and had failed. So 
 I was saved from that particular pitfall. He said he 
 knew several firms who had tried the scheme, and that 
 the result had been that the employees had been able to 
 borrow money, say, at 5 per cent, on the security of the 
 shares themselves, and if they were paying, say, 15 per 
 cent., the borrower drew 10 per cent, and the lender took 
 the other 5 per cent. So that the employee could always 
 get money on these shares, which he looked upon as a 
 mere monetary transaction, quite apart from his own 
 occupation. Therefore I never adopted that plan. 
 
 Still I was not satisfied, because in a business such as 
 ours, with over fifty branches scattered all over the 
 world, you must have the personal interest of your staff. 
 You cannot ignore it. It is a thing which you must get. 
 And then I thought that perhaps by issuing what I call 
 certificates — certificates representing no money at all, and 
 
98 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 which could not be negotiated — I might solve the prob- 
 lem. I thought I would pay on these certificates the 
 same rate of dividend as on the ordinary shares, less, say, 
 5 per cent., which would represent interest on the money 
 if money had been paid for them in the same way as in 
 the ordinary course it would be paid for ordinary shares. 
 So I started the system of issuing these certificates, such 
 certificates receiving 5 per cent, less than the ordinary 
 shares. As you know, there are many profit-earning 
 schemes (I do not need to mention names) where the 
 endeavour is made to guarantee the workman 4^, or 4, 
 or 5 per cent, on whatever money he puts in, and then, 
 after that, sharing the profits with him. Well, I saved 
 all that guarantee by dispensing with his putting in any 
 money at all, and merely calling these things certificates, 
 representing, as I say, no money at all, though to the 
 holder they represent dividends of the same value as the 
 ordinary shares receive, minus 5 per cent. I created 
 this scheme, and finally, after a great many years' work, 
 got it into shape, I think, some four years ago. We 
 created at that time £500,000 nominal value of these 
 certificates, and this year we propose to create a further 
 £500,000, raising the amount of these certificates to 
 £1,000,000 nominal value. Then I began with the rank 
 and file. I gave these certificates to all what I may call 
 rank-and-file workers, to the extent of 10 per cent, of 
 their wages. If any report came in with regard to any 
 man having committed an act of insubordination, any 
 neglect of duty, or any of the minor offences, he forfeited 
 any allotment he would otherwise have received during 
 that year. If, on the other hand, an excellent report came 
 in concerning any man, he received more than 10 per 
 cent. ; and if any man rendered the Company exceptional 
 service, he received still more, perhaps many times 10 
 per cent. So that there was always elasticity, and the 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 99 
 
 whole scheme was founded perfectly legally by the share- 
 holders, the only shareholder who was required to vote 
 being the ordinary shareholder. The scheme is upon 
 the basis that the majority of the ordinary shareholders 
 shall have the right to decide how many of these certifi- 
 cates are to be issued. So that the matter is entirely in 
 the hands of the majority of the ordinary shareholders 
 for the time being. Well, we worked on this footing and 
 we created a savings bank, and the dividends, as they 
 accrued, were credited to each man's account. If he 
 chose, he could go to the savings bank the same day 
 that his account was credited and draw the money then 
 and there — the whole of it, if he pleased. If he left the 
 money in the bank for three months, he received interest 
 on it at the rate of, say, 3 per cent.; if he left it six 
 months, he received interest at the rate of, say, 4 per 
 cent. ; and if he left it twelve months, he received interest 
 at the rate of, say, 5 per cent. He could draw the money 
 out at any time, and the interest was made up in accord- 
 ance with the time the money had been deposited in the 
 bank. So that if he left his money in the savings bank 
 twelve months or longer, he got, say, 5 per cent. ; if less 
 than twelve months and over six months, say, 4 per cent. ; 
 between three months and six months, say, 3 per cent. ; 
 and if drawn out under three months there would be no 
 interest. 
 
 Well, I found that a great many of the workmen 
 drew their money out to buy our Preference shares. 
 That was reported to me, and I found that they had to 
 buy our Preference shares at a premium. Then I saw 
 what seemed to me a solution of one of the schemes 
 which I had discussed with our solicitor, namely, the 
 creation of 5 per cent. Preferred Ordinary shares, the 
 acquisition of which should not entail or permit of the 
 men borrowing any money at all ; and I created these 5 
 
100 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 per cent. Preferred Ordinary shares, which rank imme- 
 diately before the ordinary shares, and after all other 
 classes of shares. If the man chooses to retain these 
 shares, he does so. If he wishes to realize on them, he 
 can walk into the savings bank at any time, and there is 
 a market for them at par. So that although he draws 
 what he may be entitled to in the shape of shares, he can 
 change them into money just as readily as he could ob- 
 tain the money originally when it was credited in his 
 bank-book; while if he prefers to hold the shares, he 
 receives the same dividends as are paid on the ordinary 
 shares. Now, this has overcome the difficulty of the 
 man applying for shares out of all proportion to his 
 available money. Practically the money for these shares 
 is found out of the dividends he receives on his certifi- 
 cates, and the certificates, in turn, represent no cash 
 value at all. So that now I have a medium through 
 which the man can come into the ordinary shareholder 
 class by saving all his dividends on his certificates. I 
 have only had this in operation for twelve months, and it 
 is too early yet to say any more than that I have started 
 it. But you will see that my effort has been to interest a 
 large number of people, by a convenient method, in the 
 profits of the business, and to do it in such a way that a 
 man could have no fear about his capital. I have thus 
 overcome that original fear that a man had, that if we 
 took over some fresh undertaking his ordinary dividends 
 would be at stake, because these depend on the certifi- 
 cates, which certificates he has not paid for, and which 
 certificates, not having been paid for, he is very anxious 
 should receive as high a rate of dividend as possible, be- 
 cause this is their only value to him, and he not having put 
 any money in them, and the certificates representing, as 
 they do, a perfectly unsaleable commodity, he cannot 
 sell them at a premium at all. He therefore takes a 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 101 
 
 different view with regard to the progress and develop- 
 ment of the Company; he becomes anxious that the busi- 
 ness should progress and develop, because it is only by 
 such progress and development that he is able to obtain 
 dividends on his certificates, which dividends, in their 
 turn, he can invest, if he likes, in Preferred Ordinary 
 shares. If a man dies, or if he retires from the business, 
 the shares then revert to merely 5 per cent. Preferred Or- 
 dinary shares, which is the only right conferred on them 
 by the Articles of Association. The additional rights 
 are equally binding so long as the holder remains with 
 our firm — we have altered the Articles of Association ac- 
 cordingly — but what we have undertaken is merely to pay 
 him the same rate of dividend as is received by the ordi- 
 nary shares during the time he is actively engaged in 
 the business. And in this way we hope that we have 
 solved the problem of interesting our staff in the 
 profits of the business and in the losses of the 
 business. 
 
 But I want to impress upon every one present that no 
 Profit-Sharing scheme will be of any use if the man is 
 not made to feel that he is interested in the losses just as 
 much as in the profits of the business. A Profit-Sharing 
 scheme which merely mentions profits, and takes no ac- 
 count of possible losses, tells only half the commercial 
 tale. We all of us here know — it is unnecessary to men- 
 tion it in such a gathering as this — that any business may 
 have profits, and it may have losses and every one of us 
 who has put his money, time, and energy into any busi- 
 ness must necessarily be prepared to face either. And it 
 is the fact that we realize that there may be losses which 
 makes us, in all probability, so alert in guarding our in- 
 terests, and safeguarding them, and endeavouring to en- 
 sure, by the stability of the business, that the capital 
 embarked in it shall be perfectly safe. 
 
102 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Now, therefore, by means of these certificates,, a mar 
 may have accumulated, as several in fact have, some 
 thousands of pounds. If there is no dividend for the 
 ordinary shareholder, or if there is only 5 per cent, for 
 the ordinary shareholder, he knows that there is nothing 
 for him, and he knows, when he goes upstairs and looks 
 into the drawer where he keeps his certificates, that it is 
 only during his lifetime, and during the lifetime of the 
 profit-earning capacity of the business, that they are 
 worth any more than the paper they are printed on; and 
 he knows that directly the business ceases to be profit- 
 able, the value of these certificates will have disappeared, 
 since they are only entitled to receive dividends when 
 such dividends have been earned. Now, I have endeav- 
 oured in this way to give him an interest without mixing 
 things which differ. I have recognized the fact that 
 whether the man concerned be the highest manager I 
 have got, or whether he be the youngest worker in the 
 factory or office, his wages must be proportionate to his 
 services; that those wages must be at the fullest rate 
 which he could get in any other establishment for those 
 services; and that anything done by him beyond that 
 must be done in the spirit of Co-Partnership, in which 
 spirit he himself, with me and with all the others en- 
 gaged in the business, endeavours to earn the profits 
 which are to be shared by all of us; and if we cannot 
 enter into the spirit of Co-Partnership, if we feel that 
 these profits will either jump from the ground or fall 
 from the heavens without any exertion of ours, we know 
 perfectly well we are all on one platform — we are all in 
 the same boat, if I may use the expression — and that 
 none of us will receive any dividends. I have had to 
 link together similar conditions to what every investor 
 feels, and every capitalist feels, with regard to his in- 
 vestments — I have had to endeavour to link those condi- 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 103 
 
 tions together in giving these certificates to our work- 
 people ; and I want to tell you that as far as I know, the 
 workman does realize this. But there are critics of the 
 scheme, opponents of the scheme, who have the idea that 
 the profits of a business are made, in some way or other, 
 by the workmen, and by the workmen alone. I have had 
 to meet that attitude, and if I may digress for a few 
 moments I will tell you how I met it. The people who 
 take that view have urged as a criticism of my scheme 
 that the workmen themselves have to make all the profits 
 of which they only take a share. On the other hand, they 
 don't want philanthropy — in which I quite agree. I 
 would not do anything with regard to our workmen that 
 savoured of philanthropy in the slightest degree. But if 
 profits are to be made, I am not going to make surplus 
 profits for our staff to divide amongst themselves, and 
 equally, I am not going to ask them to make surplus 
 profits for me. I say, let us each in our own different 
 positions jointly make the profits, and after they have 
 received their wages, and after I have received 5 per 
 cent. — which is the equivalent — then for any services 
 beyond that, if there is any surplus, let us share it in a 
 perfectly reasonable way. 
 
 Now I will make a digression, as I said, and try and 
 tell you how I have met these criticisms of those who 
 have attacked me, namely, Socialists, some of whom 
 were my own workmen. I thought the best way would 
 be to give them a paper, so I gave a paper at Port Sun- 
 light, which I called Day-Work or Piece-Work — 
 Which ? Well, it attracted a great audience, because 
 some of the men thought there was going to be a system 
 of piece-work all through the works. But I have always 
 looked upon day-work as representing Socialism and 
 upon piece-work as representing Individualism, and I 
 have never seen any other interpretation of the two 
 
104 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 things. Now, this paper of mine created some little com- 
 motion, and my audience did not feel quite ready to 
 criticize it on the same evening that it was presented to 
 them. So I said, " All right ; let us meet again and dis- 
 cuss this paper." Well, first one man got up and said 
 he did not see but what the workmen made all the 
 profits ; and another man made the same claim, and said 
 that if there was to be any Profit-Sharing scheme which 
 pretended to give the workman what he earned, he ought 
 to have it all. When I came to reply, I said, " I sup- 
 pose I am talking to a number of sensible men, but ac- 
 cording to what you have said just now, you seem to me 
 very foolish indeed. Because you are saying that you 
 make the profits of this business. Now, you certainly 
 know a great many soap businesses which are not mak- 
 ing any profits at all. Why not go, as a body, to these men 
 who are making no profits on their soap, and say, ' Look 
 here; we work for that scallywag Lever; he pays us 
 the full rate of wages, it is true, and he gives us some 
 share of the profits; but he does not give us enough. 
 How much will you give us ? ' " And I told them, " If 
 you go in that way to these other people in the soap trade 
 who are not making dividends, the very first thing they 
 will say to you will be, ' What do you want ? ' Because 
 whatever they get out of you will be to the good, inas- 
 much as they are making nothing now, and however 
 little, or however much, you let them have will be to the 
 good. You may tell them you want it all. Well, per- 
 haps they will not listen to that. Well, then you can 
 say, ' We want nine-tenths, and you can have one-tenth " ; 
 and, seeing that they are getting nothing now, they will 
 no doubt take it. And then you can all leave me, giving 
 me the usual week's notice, and go to the other man in 
 the same trade, and put the case to him : ' This scallywag 
 Lever only gives us a share; you give us a bigger one.' 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 105 
 
 Now go and try it ! " Well, of course they were looking 
 at each other, and had no answer. They had never seen 
 at in that light before. I am perfectly certain these peo- 
 ple are sincere and I am perfectly certain their leaders 
 are sincere. I have never seen any reason to doubt their 
 sincerity, and I have come into very close and frequent 
 personal contact with them. But they have been so fed 
 up on the idea that when a man has done something with 
 his hands he has produced something that is of value, 
 that they cannot see the other side of the question. We, 
 who have to sell that article, know that although it may 
 have been of value yesterday, and may be of value to- 
 day, yet next week, or at any particular moment, the 
 market conditions may be different, and it may not have 
 any value at all ; in fact, there may be a loss on its very 
 production. Now, the, men I refer to cannot realize 
 that. You know the tale of the Socialist who came into 
 a village and began to talk about the land question. He 
 said the land ought to be divided up, and nobody ought 
 to pay for it. His views were very popular among the 
 villagers, and they all adjourned to the village " pub " 
 to talk the matter over; and they began dividing up the 
 land of the village among themselves. One man said he 
 would have this field, another that. And one man said 
 he would have a certain field of the squire's, "because 
 it was best for growin' 'taties in." When they had di- 
 vided it all up, they had time to notice a quiet old codger 
 who had been sitting in a corner all the time, smoking, 
 and taking no part in the talk. So one of the other men, 
 the one who had chosen the potato field, said to him, 
 " Tom, why don't you speak up, lad ? Didn't tha' goa 
 to t' lecture?" "Ay." "An' dostna believe in't?" 
 " Oh yes, A' b'lieve in't." " Then why dost tha' not 
 speak oop for thy share? " " Oh," said the old fellow, 
 " A'm not goin' t' work ma Socialism that road." " How 
 
106 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 then?" "Dick," said he, "didstna say tha'd ha' that 
 field o' t' squire's 'cos it growed t' best 'taties? " " Ah." 
 "And didn't tha say tha'd pay t' squire nowt fur it?" 
 " Ah." " Weel, I'll come and gather t' 'taties and pay 
 thee nowt for 'em." 
 
 There is a necessity upon each of us, in my opinion, to 
 recognize the changes of the times, the changes in the 
 aspirations of those who work for us. It is not only a 
 question to-day, believe me, gentlemen, of the increased 
 cost of living, although that is great, but it is the cost of 
 higher living. The workman wants to live better, and 
 in order to live better he wants to live in a better house, 
 he wants his wife and children to be better fed and 
 clothed. And these are things that he ought to have. So 
 that there are two factors in operation. The same living 
 that a man was content with ten years ago is dearer to- 
 day. But he is not content with having the same living 
 as he had ten years ago; he wants better living, and 
 rightly wants better living. And the increased cost of 
 the same living, coupled with the desire for better living, 
 is producing an unrest which in my view is the most 
 healthy sign we have got. Now, it is a question whether 
 we can, in ordinary competition, go beyond a certain 
 amount with safety. In a business in which there are 
 debentures, we are all agreed that you can have deben- 
 tures with perfect safety up to a certain point. Beyond 
 that point you must have ordinary shareholders who 
 have taken the risks of the business. And is it not so in 
 regard to labour — that we can advance wages up to a 
 certain point in competition with the whole world — 
 advance them to a point a little higher than the whole 
 world ? Because I believe that we have the best available 
 raw material of labour in this country. I do not believe 
 that there is any labour material anywhere in the world 
 superior to what we have in England, Scotland, Ireland, 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 107 
 
 and Wales — in the United Kingdom. But if we are to 
 make the enormous strides such as are demanded to-day, 
 in my opinion it can only be done by increasing the in- 
 terest of the workman in the article he is producing, and 
 so making him a more efficient instrument of production 
 by a personal element being introduced — that personal 
 element which is the great stimulus behind each of us in 
 this room to-day. We have got to share that stimulus 
 with our workpeople, and if we do this, I believe the 
 profits to be divided will be greater, and that everybody's 
 share, including the workman's, will be greater. And 
 side by side with the sharing of these greater profits, 
 these increasing profits, there will go on at the same time 
 a reduction of anxiety to us as managers. The anxiety 
 of Management is greater with a number of wage- 
 drawers than it is with partners. Many of us in busi- 
 ness are working with partners, whom we have selected 
 with care. Sometimes we have been unfortunate, but 
 you will recognize with me, I am sure, that ninety-nine 
 times out of every hundred the partners work together 
 in harmony for the good of the business in an entirely 
 different way from what they would if they were wage- 
 drawers merely. We want to produce that state of af- 
 fairs right throughout our industries in order to get the 
 greatest efficiency in our workmen, by giving them a 
 personal interest in the article which they are producing. 
 But in doing this — here I want to sound one warning 
 note — there is to be no delegation of supreme authority 
 from the Management; and in my opinion all attempts 
 that would mean the introduction of working men upon 
 Boards of Directors, unless coupled with giving them 
 a training in the higher branches of work, will be futile. 
 It is utterly impossible to take an ordinary rank-and-file 
 worker and make a Director out of him. It is not rea- 
 sonable to expect to be able to do so. He has to be 
 
108 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 trained, as all of us have had to be trained, for the po- 
 sition; and to expect that a man can be selected out of 
 the works by his mates to sit straightway on a Board of 
 Directors is, in my opinion, an utterly futile expectation. 
 It may be that one man can sit with six or seven other 
 men, and, not having the supreme power of voting, may 
 be of assistance to the Board of Directors (who have the 
 supreme management) from time to time. But the su- 
 preme management must always be in the hands of 
 trained men — men trained for their posts ; and the train- 
 ing which I am suggesting should go right through the 
 staff is a training by means of which we can gradually 
 develop their powers, through committees, to qualify 
 them ultimately for a seat on the Board of Directors. 
 
 Now, having said this, I want to tell you that all our 
 Directors have graduated as Directors through the works, 
 the office, or the salesmen's department; but in addition 
 to this I have always taken such a man through the 
 committees I have mentioned before finally making him 
 a Director. As I have already said, I consider that the 
 idea of a workman being appointed by his fellow-work- 
 men to sit on a Board of Directors is futile. I do not 
 think I need labour the idea, in such a company as the 
 present, that real Co-Partnership means not only shar- 
 ing in the profits, but also sharing in certain duties which 
 a mere workman could not possibly properly understand. 
 I might just as well say that I would go over to the pan 
 side, where I should no doubt only succeed in making 
 much worse soap than would be made by some of my 
 lowest-waged workmen. On the other hand, a workman 
 might come to the Board of Directors and might con- 
 ceivably make more mistakes than even I do. But be- 
 cause I say that, it does not mean that we cannot work 
 towards wider and wider improvements in our service, 
 with the goal always before us that the profits to be 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 109 
 
 divided will be divided equally in proportion to the 
 amount of interest we take in the business and in propor- 
 tion to the services we are capable of rendering. 
 
 THE CO-PARTNERSHIP SYSTEM TRUST IN 
 LEVER BROTHERS LIMITED 
 
 Founder — Lord Leverhulme 
 
 Lever Brothers Limited began in 1909 to give workers 
 a share in the profits. 
 
 Power was at first taken to issue Partnership Certificates 
 up to £500,000 nominal value, and this was afterwards in- 
 creased to £ 1, 000,000. 
 
 These Certificates are issued to employees in proportion 
 to wages or salary each year. The Management provision- 
 ally allot Certificates to the Staff, but Co-Partners have 
 the right of appeal to a Committee composed jointly of 
 Staff and Managers. The system of allotment is based on 
 value of service. The very slacker and ne'er-do-weel re- 
 ceives nil, the apathetic from 5 per cent, to 10 per cent., and 
 the enthusiastic, appreciative, and responsive above 10 per 
 cent., with special allotment for special services and helpful 
 suggestions. 
 
 The final appeal can be made to the Chairman of the 
 Company should any Co-Partner or Employee feel that he 
 has been over-looked or unfairly dealt with. 
 
 For the purpose of the Certificate distribution the Staff 
 is divided into four classes — Directors, Managers and Fore- 
 men, Salesmen, General Staff. 
 
 The Co-Partnership extends to both male and female. 
 
 The original minimum age-limit for Co-Partnership was 
 twenty-five years, but is now lowered to twenty-two years. 
 
110 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Originally the Co-Partnership Certificate was only given 
 after five years' service; now it is given after four years' 
 service. 
 
 The Staff sign an application form, containing a pledge 
 in the following terms : — 
 
 " To the Trustees of the Partnership Trust in Lever ■ 
 Brothers Limited. 
 " Gentlemen, — I, the undersigned, request that a 
 Partnership Certificate be issued to me under the above 
 Trust, and I undertake that if the issue is made I will 
 in all respects abide by, and conform to, the provisions 
 of the Trust Deed and the Scheme scheduled to it, and 
 will not waste time, labour, materials, or money in the 
 discharge of my duties, but will loyally and faithfully 
 further the interests of Lever Brothers Limited, its 
 Associated Companies, and my Co-Partners, to the best 
 of my skill and ability, and I hand you herewith a state- 
 ment in writing of the grounds upon which I base this 
 application." 
 
 Once admitted and so long as their record is clean<. Co- 
 Partners receive further Certificates each year on above 
 basis in proportion to wages or salary, until they have 
 reached their maximum holding, which ranges from £200 
 to £3,000, according to their annual earnings. 
 
 They receive dividends on the amounts of their accumu- 
 lated Certificates like ordinary Shareholders, but as the 
 Certificates contribute no Capital to the business, they 
 receive on that account 5 per cent, less than is paid on 
 Ordinary Shares. 
 
 The dividends are paid in 5 per cent. Cumulative "A" 
 Preferred Ordinary Shares, which the holder can sell at any 
 time for cash at par value if he so desires ; but so long as 
 the shares are held by the Co-Partner to whom they were 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 111 
 
 originally allotted they also participate further in profits to 
 the extent that they yield to him the same rate of interest 
 as that enjoyed by the Ordinary Shareholder. 
 
 These 5 per cent. Cumulative " A " Preferred Ordinary 
 Shares can only be allotted as dividends in lieu of cash. 
 
 Co-Partnership couples up Loss-Sharing with Profit- 
 Sharing. If a man has acquired Co-Partnership Certifi- 
 cates, and if profits were to cease to be earned, he would 
 suffer equally with Capital in loss of dividends. 
 
 When an employee retires from active work in the service 
 of the firm, his Partnership Certificates are cancelled, but 
 if his retirement is due to ill-health or old-age, or if his 
 services are dispensed with through no fault of his own, he 
 receives in exchange Preferential Certificates which bear 
 interest at 5 per cent, on their nominal par value and are 
 a charge on the profits ranking next after the first 5 per cent, 
 taken by the Ordinary Shareholders. 
 
 The nominal amount of a Preferential Certificate is either 
 ten times the average dividends paid in respect of the former 
 Director's or Employee's Partnership Certificates during the 
 three preceding years, or the same nominal amount as that 
 of the Partnership Certificate so exchanged, whichever shall 
 be the lesser. 
 
 The granting of these Certificates does not in any way 
 interfere with the old age pensions under Lever Brothers' 
 Employees Benefit Fund. 
 
 So long as an employee is in the active service of the 
 firm he cannot (except for flagrant inefficiency or miscon- 
 duct) be deprived of the Partnership Certificates already 
 issued to him, and the annual interest which may be pay- 
 able on those Certificates. The conditions can only be 
 varied by the consent of the holders of not less than three- 
 fourths of the total nominal amount of the Certificates 
 issued. 
 
 Both Partnership and Preferential Certificates are can- 
 
112 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 celled by the death of the owner unless a widow is left. But 
 a widow receives Preferential Certificates in exchange for 
 her late husband's Partnership Certificates, or if he had 
 retired and was holding Preferential Certificates, these are 
 transferred to her, and she is entitled to hold them, subject 
 to the conditions of the Trust, while she remains a widow. 
 
 On January i, 1918, the nominal value of the Partner- 
 ship Certificates, Ordinary and Preferential, issued and out- 
 standing, was £751,536. 
 
 At the same date the number of Employee Partners, in- 
 cluding employees of Associated Companies admitted to Co- 
 partnership, was 5,066. 
 
 In the nine completed years of the Co-Partnership there 
 has been distributed, for the benefit of the employees, in 
 Co-Partnership Dividends, and in Prosperity-Sharing 
 generally, £4.87,353- 
 
VTI 
 
 CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The question that we have to discuss to-night is " Co- 
 partnership and Efficiency," with a great accent on the 
 word " Efficiency." In approaching the subject, What 
 is the cause of Labour Unrest? there is a strong desire 
 on the part of every one to try to arrive at a basis which 
 will be something like finality. If there ever is, or ever 
 has been, an age that was or is worth living in, it is this 
 present one. There is no age where Progress has planted 
 so strongly and firmly a determination to advance to 
 higher ideals, and there is no country in the whole world 
 where the conditions are so favourable to attain the high- 
 est possible well-being of the mass of the country as Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The nineteenth century saw the triumphant entry of 
 steam, electricity, machinery, transportation with econ- 
 omy and efficiency in productive enterprise, and the crea- 
 tion of enormous wealth. More wealth was produced in 
 the nineteenth century, in consequence of the introduction 
 of the above forces, than in all the centuries that have 
 preceded it by man's unaided handiwork alone. Manu- 
 factures and shipping were almost in the same condition 
 in the eighteenth century as they were in the time of 
 the Romans, and if Napoleon the Great had attempted to 
 invade this country, he would have done so practically 
 under the same conditions as Julius Caesar, both being 
 dependent on wind and tide. 
 
 113 
 
114 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 If the nineteenth century was responsible for the 
 triumphant introduction of new methods for the crea- 
 tion of wealth, the twentieth century must see the triumph 
 of the introduction of new methods for the more equal 
 distribution of wealth. But in realizing, or attempting to 
 realize, the better distribution of wealth, we must not 
 fall behind in our power or efficiency to produce wealth. 
 Therefore, modern developments must progress along the 
 well-defined lines of efficiency. 
 
 Now in the production of wealth and the more equal 
 distribution of it, I do claim that, however great the 
 progress already made has been, we have now arrived at 
 a stage in the development of social well-being when, 
 owing to the changed conditions of modern industrial 
 activity — men and women being employed in large masses 
 in industrial concerns, resulting in the obliteration of the 
 individual and the (loss of individual self-interest in in- 
 dustrial activity — we may fairly inquire what has been 
 the foundation of our progress. Now, I claim that this 
 has been the persistent, consistent, and uninterrupted ef- 
 fort of every right-thinking man to better his condition. 
 This has laid the basis of all the progress we have made. 
 This principle is as unvarying as the law of gravitation, 
 and it is from the operation of this universal law of self- 
 interest of the individual that all progress has sprung and 
 is maintained. It is like the great principle of life, which 
 is ever operating to maintain healthy development; and 
 if Co-Partnership does not improve the conditions under 
 which we are living, it will not appeal to us as other than 
 a modern craze which will have its day and die out. 
 
 We have to consider what can be done by a change in 
 our relationship with each other in productive enter- 
 prises. No system can supply the place of individual 
 effort, yet in modern productive enterprise collective ac- 
 tion, as in a sound army, is the greatest force. We have 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 115 
 
 to consider whether the connection between each of us 
 shall be one of wages alone, or wages plus shares in the 
 profits of the products of our collective labour. The 
 wages system was a great advance on all other previous 
 systems. The first system was slavery, and that was 
 succeeded by serfdom, and then by the wages system, 
 the last-named having developed the principle of self- 
 interest, which is one of the greatest forces behind it. By 
 Co-Partnership, we recognize the great fact that the 
 Co-Partnership system is founded on justice and on 
 equal rights, for each of us, to the products of our 
 labour. Such is the very basis of Co-Partnership, as 
 distinguished from the wages system alone, and it is 
 bound to stimulate efficiency and economy of products, 
 for only by so doing can it increase our well-being and 
 prosperity. 
 
 If Co-Partnership fails to increase the quantity of the 
 products, or fails to improve the quality, or fails to en- 
 sure economy of material, tools, or implements, or fails 
 in the better organization of production, or fails to reduce 
 the waste consequent on strikes and lock-outs, then it is 
 perfectly obvious that Co-Partnership is an absolutely 
 useless implement of production. Any short-cuts to 
 progress will fail, and any false methods will only mis- 
 lead us. In the future, as in the past, the prizes in 
 commerce, as in all other human activities, will always 
 go to the strong, and we cannot alter that law, but it 
 is equally true that such prizes cannot be held by the 
 cunning. Only the strong can hold them, and the mere 
 conflict of private interests in producing wealth will not 
 enable us to hold the prize that has been won as a result 
 of indefatigable labour and struggle. Business produc- 
 tive enterprise, as in all other activities, must end where 
 it begins, namely, with the workers of all ranks and posi- 
 tions who are producing wealth. The way we work to- 
 
116 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 gether under the wages system is, in my opinion, always 
 against the modern spirit of the times — selfish Capital 
 and selfish Labour cannot live together as efficient and 
 economical producers of commodities. The Golden Rule, 
 brotherhood and confidence, so often despised, must be 
 introduced into business, as into all other affairs of life. 
 The business world is quivering with an impulse at the 
 present time, and with a strong desire, to get workers 
 into more intimate connection with each other and to 
 cease the continual warfare that exists. The elevation 
 of the workers to the front rank is an ideal worth living 
 for, and, in the end, there is very little else in busi- 
 ness after the mere productive enterprise has been 
 developed — there is very little else worth living 
 for. 
 
 There can be no successful development of business 
 that does not carry the employees along with it. Con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, we must aid aim at the com- 
 mon good of all engaged in any productive enterprise. 
 Well-being first of all, as I have already mentioned, con- 
 sists in the increase of the power of production and the 
 consequent increase of wages, and also a decrease in the 
 hours of labour, without which there can be no increase 
 in social well-being. Now, this increase can only be 
 secured by increasing the producing power of labour 
 with less expenditure of vital force, and this will be fol- 
 lowed by a reduction of the proportion of cost which 
 labour bears to the total cost of any product, and which, 
 in turn, will lead to a reduction in the cost of the prod- 
 uct, and, consequently, to its increased consumption, 
 and this, in turn, will allow an increased margin in the 
 wages to be paid to Labour, and a reduction in the hours 
 of labour. In fact, the whole progress of civilization in 
 the last century under the wages system has followed 
 along those lines — there may have been ebbs and flows in 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 117 
 
 the tide, but the tide of social betterment has flowed 
 along this channel. 
 
 Now, we have to consider, when we approach the sub- 
 ject of Co-Partner ship, to what extent, and by what 
 means, can the productiveness of labour be improved 
 and the expenditure of the vital force of labour be les- 
 sened, and this has to be our first step if we would make 
 any advancement. If we consider the question of farm- 
 ing, we find that, where the productiveness of labour on 
 the land results in the lowest return, wages are the 
 lowest. When, from eight bushels of wheat from the 
 acre, we have by better cultivation increased the yield to 
 over thirty bushels per acre — practically quadrupled the 
 production — we find that with the quadruplication of the 
 product the wages are two-and-a-half times what they 
 were, the hours of labour are shorter, and that the 
 product is consequently cheaper, all because the produc- 
 tion is four times greater. You will find to-day in our 
 own country, as in all other countries, that where the 
 quantity produced at any stage of manufacture is great- 
 est, with the lowest cost of labour in proportion to the 
 total cost of the product, then wages are the highest; 
 and that where the total cost of labour is the highest in 
 proportion to the total cost of the product, wages are 
 the lowest. Now, with the lessened proportion of labour 
 to the total cost, there will have developed, to a very 
 marked degree, the cheapening of the product, and only 
 on these well-defined and well-tested lines can there be an 
 increase in the earning power of labour. 
 
 There is one essential fact which is overlooked by most 
 working men when they approach this subject, namely, 
 that, simultaneously with the increase of average wages 
 there has been a correspondingly steady decrease in the 
 average earnings of capital invested in industrial enter- 
 prise. This is a solid fact that ought not to be over- 
 
118 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 looked. Interest on capital is highest in all countries 
 where the productive power of labour is the lowest, and 
 also wages are the lowest ; and in all countries where the 
 productive power of labour is the highest, there wages are 
 also the highest, and interest on capital the lowest. Of 
 course, there may have been periods when the demand 
 for Capital having exceeded the supply — for short 
 periods — Capital may have had an advantage; but we 
 can trace without possibility of error that, to increase the 
 productive power of labour and the wages to Labour, 
 has the tendency to decrease the interest earned by 
 Capital. 
 
 The reason for this is obvious. Capital invested in 
 industry has always to be engaged in seeking to meet its 
 liabilities for interest, and, therefore, must employ La- 
 bour, and when Capital invested in industry ceases to 
 employ Labour to meet its obligations for interest — this 
 great fact has to be borne in mind — Capital then has 
 ceased to exist. It is entirely apparent that the larger the 
 prospective return on Capital invested in industries, and 
 the more Capital competes to obtain Labour, this must 
 result ultimately in less interest being received by Capital 
 itself. Every period of extreme industrial activity must, 
 of course, see some slight modification in this. Now, 
 whilst at the same time that Capital has been receiving 
 less, Labour of all kinds, including salary to Management, 
 has received more, not only have the nominal wages in- 
 creased, but the actual wages, calculated in the purchasing 
 power, have increased also. 
 
 Now, we therefore see, in view of the progress we 
 have made in the nineteenth century, that the wages sys- 
 tem and the so-called capitalist system have no reason to 
 be apologetical for themselves and it behooves any one 
 who, like myself, believes in Co-Partnership, to have full 
 regard to this solid fact in considering new methods for 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 119 
 
 betterment and advancement of social well-being. The 
 present wages and so-called capitalist system is in opera- 
 tion all over the world, and it has given us more and 
 better food, more and better clothing, more and better 
 houses, more and better education, more and better 
 wages, shorter hours, lower cost of commodities, lower 
 cost of travelling, better health, more rapid transit, and 
 better means of recreation. But the so-called capital and 
 wages system has only succeeded to the extent that it 
 has moved along the lines of the principle of enlightened 
 self-interest. Now, I claim that still greater development 
 can be made in our system of employment of labour in 
 industrial activities by directly increasing the personal 
 interest of labour engaged in industries, and, if this 
 is so, then Co-Partnership, as I understand it, must de- 
 pend for its power to increase our rate of progress on 
 improving the social conditions and on increasing our 
 economical producing powers. Co-Partnership cannot 
 reverse the law that has operated during the last century 
 in giving us more and better food and clothing, higher 
 wages, etc., by means of our power to produce more of 
 those products at a cheaper cost, in fewer hours of labour. 
 If Co-Partnership does not operate on those lines that 
 have been so well tested, and are the proved basis of our 
 success in the past, then it is a useless and silly fad. 
 
 Co-Partnership must, as the very charter of its exist- 
 ence, so operate that it can produce more and better 
 food, clothing, houses, and social requirements in fewer 
 hour's and with less unhealthy strain and stress, and 
 with ability to meet the problem of increased demands in 
 wages by giving Labour, in addition to wages, a share 
 in the profits of the enterprise. How does Co-Partner- 
 ship propose to achieve success? Co-Partnership does 
 not propose to abolish the wages system. It does not 
 propose to abolish payment of interest on Capital; but it 
 
120 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 does propose a modification of the wages system, and a 
 modification in the relation of that portion of Capital 
 engaged in industrial products which is at risk, which is 
 taking the risk of the enterprise, but no change in the 
 relation of that portion of Capital which seeks a more 
 secure position at a fixed rate of interest. Co-Partner- 
 ship proposes to retain Management in its present posi- 
 tion, and it proposes to retain the wages system and also 
 interest on Capital, and to ask that portion of Capital 
 which is at risk to join in partnership with Labour. 
 
 Now, there is one distinct fact in connection with 
 modern productive activity under the co-operative system. 
 It has been a wonder to many people why co-operative 
 production has not progressed at a greater rate. In my 
 opinion, the cause of this partial failure of co-operative 
 production has been that the co-operative system ignores 
 Management, and lowers Management into the position 
 of a fixed wage-drawer; whereas, under the ordinary 
 system of production, Management, as owner, has had 
 a direct interest in the profits of the undertaking. The 
 Co-Partnership system we advocate would remove 
 Labour from its present position of wage-drawer or 
 salary-drawer to the higher position of a partner in the 
 success or failure of the business, and, to that extent, it 
 is an advance which moves the whole of those engaged 
 in industrial production on to a higher platform, whijst 
 the co-operative system lowers those engaged in direct 
 management to the ranks of the wage or salary worker. 
 
 In agriculture, Co-Partnership, as you all know, is the 
 oldest system of any. In the fishing industry, Co-Part- 
 nership is the practice, and always has been, from time 
 immemorial. The owner finds the ship and takes his 
 share of the catch; the captain finds the skill and ability 
 in navigation, and his labour, and he takes his share of 
 the catch; and the crew, in their turn, take their share 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 121 
 
 of the catch. Now this is, I think, the most concrete ex- 
 ample of Co-Partner ship we have, and we may depend 
 upon it that fishing on those lines will have the effect 
 on all in the fishing-boat that Co-Partnership will have, 
 namely, a direct interest in the profits of their joint 
 combined efforts, so that in alertness to discover the 
 whereabouts of the fish, and in lowering and hauling in 
 the nets, every faculty shall be exerted in order that the 
 catch be as large as possible. 
 
 We are all servants of the public engaged in industrial 
 occupations, and there is no distinction between us, and 
 that is why I do not agree with the terms " master " and 
 " servant," as we are all servants of the public — the so- 
 called master just as much as the merest office-boy. 
 Neither so-called master nor servant is satisfied with the 
 present system; the employer has to adopt many make- 
 shifts, such as piece-work, bonuses, and such-like, to in- 
 crease the interest of Labour in the product of Labour; 
 but in my opinion, the only sqlid means of realizing such 
 ideals is by giving the workman a direct interest in the 
 product of his own handiwork, and I claim that the only 
 effective way in which that can be done is by means of 
 Co-Partnership. No one considers that the wages system 
 is ideal; employers, by their actions, if not by their words, 
 admit that it is a wrong basis, and the best we can say 
 of it is, that it is an advance on all previous systems. 
 
 I claim that the next advance we have to make to a 
 higher level must be by means of Co-Partnership, and 
 I will tell you, apart from the points I have referred to, 
 one great gain this will be over the wages system, namely, 
 the reducing of the strain and responsibility thrown upon 
 the employer or proprietor of the business. The man 
 who draws wages cannot reasonably be expected to worry 
 about production and profits when he goes home at 
 nights, but the man whose capital and whose very liveli- 
 
122 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 hood is involved is bound to worry about these. When 
 we are all Co-Partners, this worry, now pressing with 
 crushing force on the heads and backs of a few men, will 
 rest on the backs, the brains, and the heart of the whole 
 body of those who are engaged in the industry. Co- 
 partnership will give equal interest, and is, therefore, 
 bound to give equail responsibility to each by substituting 
 a partner for a wage-drawer, whether the profits have 
 increased or not. I do not see any reason why profits 
 should not be increased, but whether profits are increased 
 or not, the enjoyments and the pleasures in business, and 
 the relief from worry and strain in working with Co- 
 Partners rather than with wage-drawers, will more than 
 compensate. 
 
 Modern industrialism has deprived us of the ability to 
 produce goods individually. One man, for instance, has 
 no power to produce one hundred pins as a commercial 
 proposition successfully, but one hundred men, taking 
 the various stages of the production of pins, going hand- 
 in-hand, can produce hundreds of millions of pins as a 
 successful commercial proposition. Now, there is only 
 one elevation possible for the worker, as for all others; 
 he must preserve his individualistic faculties, and must 
 cultivate their extension and his higher powers, and if 
 our system of Co-Partnership does not inspire a man 
 with the idea of raising himself, then it is futile. You 
 cannot push a man up a ladder — there is no other means 
 of elevating a man than by letting him climb up the ladder 
 by himself, and that is equally true of the master and of 
 the man. There are not two different ladders — and I 
 want to emphasize this — one for the master and one for 
 the workman; but they have both to climb the same 
 ladder, which ladder is — producing more goods with less 
 labour in fewer hours, so as to allow for larger wages 
 and a bigger margin for profit. The idea that the work- 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 123 
 
 man's interest is opposed to the master's is entirely 
 wrong, as they are both bound together, and it must not 
 be forgotten that the workman — the human machine — 
 if he is a " hand," is human. I always resent the phrase 
 that we have when we speak of so many " hands," as if 
 we were dealing with a mere hand without the brain or 
 heart of a man. I believe that, if we appeal to a man's 
 sense of justice and right, we may take him into our 
 confidence and elevate his character, and, in that way, we 
 shall have assistance in our business, which will not only 
 make our business run more smoothly, but will also assist 
 us from the point of view of cheaper methods of produc- 
 tion, by the high efficiency this will bring out. Just as 
 machinery, electricity, steam, and all other mechanical 
 appliances of productive power have enormously in- 
 creased wealth, so I believe that if we take the workman 
 more into our confidence, so as to develop his highest 
 powers by making him a Co-Partner, he will become a 
 better producer of the products he turns out, because 
 we shall have fostered a spirit of comradeship and 
 brotherhood. 
 
 I always resent the maudlin sentiment that is often 
 talked in reference to Co-Partnership. Sometimes it is 
 described as extremely " generous," and the man at the 
 back of it is spoken of as a " philanthropist " ; that is all 
 nonsense, and probably this is the reason why Co- 
 Partnership schemes in the past have not lasted for more 
 than five years on an average. If a man thinks Co- 
 Partnership is a system which is " generous " or " phil- 
 anthropic," he is approaching it on lines which will, 
 sooner or later, bring it to decay. We do not consider it 
 generous to buoy channels of rivers, nor do we consider 
 it philanthropic to put lighthouses round our coast to 
 mark sunken rocks, but we consider all that good, sound 
 business; and I say that, to enable the individual to avoid 
 
124 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 shipwreck on rocks of wrong methods, to enable us to 
 raise our fellow-workers to the height which inspires 
 ourselves, is bound to cheapen production. Then let us 
 dismiss all vague, maudlin, wrong ideas on the subject 
 of Co-Partnership. Co-Partner ship can only be a means 
 of better, fairer, and more just relationship of so-called 
 employer and employee, resulting in better productive 
 activities. 
 
 With regard to the question of management, I want 
 you to understand that the progress of Co-Partnership 
 must, essentially, be one of education; for instance, you 
 could not take a man from the ranks, as| a navvy or 
 labourer, and suddenly make him a Director of a Com- 
 pany with ideals and standards of high management; it 
 is not reasonable to expect it. 
 
 I believe that wages are going steadily to rise, and I 
 believe that the firms who are giving Co-Partnership can 
 always rise with them and always continue to pay the 
 highest rate of wages. Of course, as I have always ex- 
 plained, we have ourselves to make the profits, and I want 
 to point out what is the difference between an article 
 priced by the manufacturer on a high scale of wages, as 
 in some countries I have visited, and the benefit to the 
 man who produces articles and receives wages and also 
 a share in the profits. The complaint in all high-waged 
 countries is the high cost of living. It does not matter 
 what country you go to, where the wages are high the 
 cost of living is proportionately high, and when the 
 English Government made their Board of Trade Report, 
 they found that although the wages were lower in Eng- 
 land, the amount paid for house accommodation, the 
 quantity of clothing and food which could be purchased 
 by those wages was greater than the amount which could 
 be purchased with the higher wages in other countries. 
 In other words, the conditions of the workers in this 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 125 
 
 country, taking the cost of living, clothing, and food in 
 proportion to their wages, was better in the United King- 
 dom than in any other country in the world. But I want 
 this country to have the highest wages possible without 
 the cost of living being increased. If the cost of living 
 goes up here, as I have seen it go up in other countries, 
 a Board of Trade Report would come along and say we 
 are no better off in 1930 than in 1910. The wages in 
 1930, I am sure, are going to be very much higher than 
 now, but in my opinion real betterment can only be ob- 
 tained by Co-Partnership. Now, this is a business propo- 
 sition, and I notice Mr. Greenhalgh transfixing me with 
 his accountancy eye, and I hope he will tell me if I am 
 wrong in my next remark. If any statement of cost 
 is prepared for me with regard to any article we produce, 
 Mr. Greenhalgh will put down in that statement the 
 wages of the men who are working in that department. 
 Whatever wages they receive will go as a charge against 
 that article. In addition, there will be the interest and 
 depreciation on the machine they are working. Then 
 there will be the cost of power, interest and depreciation 
 on buildings, which in turn will be made up on the basis 
 of the amount paid to the men who made the bricks 
 and the mortar; the joiners who made the doors, win- 
 dows, and flooring, and so on. Mr. Greenhalgh never 
 inserts in that statement any provision for cost of Co- 
 Partnership share of profits or any dividends to Share- 
 holders at all. We see that there is a margin of profit 
 which, in our opinion, will be possible of achievement. 
 We might ask a profit which would result in our not being 
 able to sell our article at the price, or which would result 
 in the article being sold at a loss. But the prime cost, 
 whatever it is, is made up of wages, interest, and de- 
 preciation on buildings, plant, and machinery, and all 
 fixed charges. You all know that. If we work, there- 
 
126 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 fore, on a Co-Partnership basis, and divide the profits, 
 the profits come without increasing the prime cost of the 
 product. I want you to see that. The profits come with- 
 out increasing the cost of the article produced. The em- 
 ployer always takes into account the cost of materials, 
 wages, etc., but he never takes into his cost the profit 
 he desires to make on the contract. He allows for a 
 profit, and therefore if we divide the profits with the 
 workers, we are sharing in the reservoir of profits, which 
 have not been added to the cost of the article, but have 
 been produced by the business ability, by the foresight, 
 by the knowledge of the markets, etc., of the employer. 
 In hardly any industry can you see a profit on an article 
 if you eliminate foresight in buying your supplies, skill 
 in managing your business, and knowledge of trade con- 
 ditions in selling your article. There never is a profit 
 if you are not possessed of these, and the reason why 
 some firms collapse and why some men are never able 
 to carry on a business, is because they never see beyond 
 the end of their nose. They can only think of the im- 
 mediate job in hand, and can only buy to-day if they can 
 sell to-day. They cannot see into the long and distant 
 future. They cannot think what the effect of this or that 
 will be ten years hence and so on. In our business we 
 are to-day only getting profits, or at any rate only for the 
 last few years, practically to-day, from undertakings 
 which we started in 1901, 1902, and 1903, and to-day we 
 are spending money in many directions which cannot 
 bring us profits until five years hence. 
 
 That is the way profits are made. In the open market 
 of competition between two firms there never will be a 
 profit, never could be a profit. It is only this business 
 acumen and foresight that will ever produce profits. 
 Therefore profits are not added to the cost, they are the 
 reward of efficiency of the staff, and the reward of 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 127 
 
 efficiency of the employer, and if we enter into a system 
 of Co-Partnership we can produce profits by our ability, 
 " Waste not, want not," and by our efficiency, without in- 
 creasing the cost of the goods. Therefore, the better- 
 ment of the workers in this country will be increased in 
 the same way as the betterment of the masters has been 
 — not by salaries. I can tell you of private firms where 
 partners may be drawing £ 10,000 a year in profits and 
 only £500 a year as salary, the salary being put down 
 as all they would be worth as ordinary managers of the 
 business. What the profits are after they have charged 
 that salary they take as partners. That is the common 
 rule under all partnership arrangements. That profit has 
 been made by their business acumen and foresight, but is 
 not added to the cost of the article. If it had been added 
 to the cost, the article, perhaps, could not have been sold. 
 They have been able to make a profit by their application 
 to business, by their keenness and alertness, and by their 
 acquaintance with the markets, and so we can, and why 
 should not that spirit permeate through all the staff and 
 animate every one if we are going to share in the profits? 
 If this system is right we can increase the well-being 
 and betterment of the members of the staff without 
 increasing the cost of living. There is no other system in 
 the world by which this may be done. 
 
 Wages Boards may sit and decide that the cost of 
 living has gone up and that another 2s. a week, or what- 
 ever it may be, must be added to the wages of labour. 
 The cost of the article is then increased, and this goes 
 on all round till the effect produced is that the cost of 
 living has again gone up all round, and the labourer 
 says, " I am no better off for the 2s." How can he be? 
 It is an impossibility. If you are going to put 2s. more 
 on, say, to the price of soap, soap will be dearer — there 
 is no other way. But if we join in partnership and by 
 
128 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 business acumen and foresight can produce our goods 
 with skill and ability and market them with skill and 
 ability, we can produce our profits without adding to the 
 cost of the goods. We can divide these profits amongst 
 us, increasing the benefit to every one, actually, really, 
 and tangibly, not artificially and nominally. In one of 
 the countries I visited, I saw a house of the type in 
 which you would care to live, and the rent was 22s. 
 6d. a week, and for very poor houses the rent was 14s. 
 a week. But there is no mystery about it. The builder 
 has to consider the cost of wages for the bricklayers, 
 etc., and the cost of materials. The house costs a certain 
 sum, and that fixes the rent, and if he cannot get the 
 rent he does not build the house. So, therefore, the 
 supply of houses is just in proportion to what people will 
 pay, and what the house costs. It cannot be any other 
 way. The same applies to a tailor. He has to pay certain 
 wages, and the coat must cost so much. The point is, we 
 are all consumers as well as producers. 
 
 I want wages to go up. They will go up, but I want 
 better conditions to go up in advance of wages. I do not 
 want the rise to be an artificial one, but a real one, so that 
 as wages go up, better conditions may go up with them. 
 It is not a real increase when a man receives more wages 
 and has to pay all the advance away in higher cost of 
 living. 
 
 In one country a number of people called upon me and 
 asked me to help them with their passage home. I also 
 received a pathetic letter from one woman in which she 
 told me a tale of great hardship, of how her husband 
 and herself managed to live. It must be so in these 
 countries. It could be no other way, because we are all 
 workers and all consumers. It may be all right for 
 persons who draw their money from some other source, 
 but the workers of a country are the consumers of a 
 
CO-PARTNERSHIP AND EFFICIENCY 129 
 
 country. When they draw higher wages articles must 
 be dearer, but if you work together as Co-Partners with 
 fairness, and with determination to conduct our business 
 properly, the same will not occur. A man who becomes a 
 builder on his own account knows perfectly well that 
 his success or otherwise depends entirely on his skill. 
 It depends on that skill whether or not he makes a 
 profit on a contract. Are not we all Co-Partners and 
 therefore can all be profit earners? I have tried to show 
 you Co-Partnership is real. I have tried to show you 
 that those firms mentioned in the official report of the 
 French Government who have Co-Partnership are paying 
 the highest rate of wages, working the shortest hours, 
 have the best sick benefits and best holiday arrangements. 
 Therefore, those advantages are not at the expense of 
 the wages. Those benefits come out of the increased 
 efficiency of the employer and the increased efficiency 
 of the workers. 
 
 In conclusion, and with your permission, I would just 
 like to quote from Robert Browning a few lines which, 
 slightly adapted, seem appropriate to such an occasion 
 as this : — 
 
 The common problem, yours, mine, every one's 
 Is — not to fancy what were fair in life 
 Provided it could be — but, finding first 
 What may be, then find how to make it fair 
 Up to our means : a very different thing ! 
 
 Our business is not to remake ourselves, 
 
 But make the absolute best of what God made. 
 
 ESSENTIALS OF CO-PARTNERSHIP 
 
 (i) Co-Partnership must not degenerate into charity or philan- 
 thropy. It would be an insult to the workers if it did. 
 
130 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 (2) The object must be to increase efficiency, resulting in in- 
 
 creased prosperity for all — not for the man on the top 
 only, but for all. 
 
 (3) It must maintain the supremacy of Management. Just as in 
 
 the Army we must have corporals and sergeants and 
 so on up to generals, so in industrial organization there 
 must be various stages of management arranged to 
 ensure efficiency, and these must be maintained. 
 
 (4) Co-Partnership must not result in the weakening of Man- 
 
 agement, but, on the other hand, Labour must be free 
 to work out its own ideals — free from the tyrannies of 
 victimization if it expresses its views. 
 
 (5) There must be a greater stability in these arrangements 
 
 than a mere cash bonus. 
 
 (6) The benefits of Co-Partnership must extend to the wives 
 
 and children. I attach the utmost importance to that. 
 A man must know that his share in Co-Partnership, at 
 his death, will go to his widow during her widowhood. 
 
 (7) It must elevate Management and Labour equally in the 
 
 social scale. 
 
 (8) It must not be antagonistic to the legitimate rights of the 
 
 workers not of the managers, and 
 
 (9) The control must rest with those who find the capital. 
 
 When we have Co-Partnership founded on these lines there will 
 still have to continue the underlying wages system, and the wages 
 system must be maintained on the highest scale practicable in the 
 particular industry. In other words, those firms who adopt Co- 
 Partnership must lead the way in advances of wages as well as 
 in the benefits of Co-Partnership. I was pleased to note in the 
 recent Board of Trade Returns on Co-Partnership that it is there 
 stated that the firms which have adopted this system were firms 
 which had given the greatest betterment conditions and the highest 
 wages — that is essential. If it were not essential there would be 
 no benefit in Co-Partnership ; it would be the mere attachment of 
 workmen to works for an elusive advantage. The conditions must 
 not only be better, but the wage itself must be slightly higher than 
 that paid in other establishments. It cannot be greatly higher, 
 because the cost of production is a factor that has to be taken into 
 account. 
 
VIII 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 
 
 There are many ways besides sharing profits in which 
 you can make those associated with you in business into 
 partners. I know many businesses where Profit-Sharing 
 and Co-Partnership in profits are quite impossible. Take 
 the great business of domestic service. There are no 
 profits appearing in the balance-sheet of servants of a 
 household and the duties they perform, and yet we all 
 know that a kind and encouraging word will do far 
 more in making life comfortable to the servant and 
 happy for the mistress, and in making the home bright 
 and cheerful, than any mercenary bond there may be 
 between them. And so, also, the trader, however small 
 his staff may be, however impossible it may be to have a 
 Profit-Sharing scheme of an elaborate nature, can, by 
 consideration of his staff, make them just as enthusi- 
 astically his partners as by any sharing of profits what- 
 ever. Why, every trader must, if his business is to suc- 
 ceed, enthuse and put energy into his staff, and, believe 
 , me, enthusiasm and energy are synonymous terms. By 
 consideration of their hours of work, by cheerfulness 
 towards them, by courtesy to them, by the payment of the 
 highest wage the business will afford, the employer may 
 energize his staff, and stimulate them in a way that would 
 not be possible in a larger business, even with the most 
 complicated, elaborate, complete, and generous scheme of 
 Co-Partnership. There must be personal contact on these 
 lines. 
 
 131 
 
132 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 You know, business is business; and good business 
 demands enthusiastic workers; and you can't get ener- 
 getic, efficient work without some bond of sympathy 
 between employer and employee. Sympathy with the 
 staff — why, look how it would clear away the cobwebs! 
 It would not only increase a trader's business, but would 
 decrease the loss and expense, and it would not only 
 increase his own happiness, but his popularity with his 
 customers as well as his own staff; and, further, it would 
 enable a trader of mere mediocre ability to accomplish 
 more in his business than a trader of great brilliance and 
 genius could accomplish without it. It Will bring up a 
 mediocre man far in advance of the talent of a brilliant 
 man. But I would like continually to repeat, in what- 
 ever I have to say, that there is no philanthropy in busi- 
 ness, and a trader cannot allow sympathy with his staff 
 to fill his business with pensioners and inefficients. No 
 matter how much an employer may idealize as to running 
 his business for purposes other than mere money-making, 
 he will find he must run his business for money-making 
 if he wishes to make a perfect and ideal organization for 
 his employees as well as for the customers he serves. 
 He must work on ideal conditions for all his employees 
 and his customers if he wishes to safeguard the capital 
 he has in the business — to build up a solid, successful, 
 money-making business. 
 
 The trader must so balance his ideals with practical 
 business as to neglect neither. At an Agricultural CoU 
 lege a discussion was taking place as to what slopes of 
 land were best suited to give the biggest crops, and an 
 old farmer, who knew nothing probably about scientific 
 methods of farming and slopes of land, and so on, got 
 up at the end of the discussion and said that in his ex- 
 perience it did not matter so much about the slope of the 
 land as the slope of the man. And so I would say of 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 133 
 
 every one of us in business, whatever systems we adopt, 
 and Whether we are able or unable to adopt some plan 
 of Profit-Sharing or Co-Partnership, far more will de- 
 pend upon our own inclinations and leanings towards our 
 ideals than any particular method we may adopt. The 
 slope of a man can make success or failure, and it can 
 make a mediocre man into a superman. 
 
 Let us examine into the question of Co-Partnership on 
 ordinary lines of Profit-Sharing in any business. There 
 are three active partners, generally speaking, in every 
 business. Whether we acknowledge Co-Partnership or 
 not — whether we do anything to recognize it or not, there 
 are three partners joined together — the employee, the 
 public, and the proprietor. Each of these three partners 
 has within himself three sleeping partners. I will call the 
 Employees, the Public, and the Proprietors the active 
 partners. The three sleeping partners are Habit, Inertia, 
 and Imitation. 
 
 One of the hard business facts of life that has an im- 
 mense power on success is Habit. It is by habit that we 
 think and act most efficiently. We do very little efficient 
 thinking until we do it by habit. If you watch the child 
 first beginning to toddle, its footsteps falter; but when 
 it has learned to walk, and walks by habit, then it becomes 
 a perfect walker. Habit means that condition of body 
 and mind, or both, which has become established by 
 constant repetition. The successful trader is the man 
 who has acquired the best habits for his own particular 
 business, and that is all that success means. Mediocrity, 
 by constant repetition, can surpass brilliancy that has not 
 acquired habits by constant repetition. We have had that 
 experience, each of us, in our schooldays. We saw the 
 less brilliant scholar, by constantly repeating and learning 
 his lesson, able to pass examinations and take prizes that 
 a more brilliant scholar, who would not go through the 
 
134 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 drudgery of repetition, failed to secure. The best way 
 to acquire good habits is to make the mind lead off in the 
 right direction, and the best business habit to be acquired 
 first is system, a good system which leads to success. 
 Success does not depend on the head of the business, the 
 captain of the ship, being on the bridge all the time. With 
 system, a man could multiply his powers a hundred- fold. 
 A man with the aid of system can enable his shop as- 
 sistants to get through ten times the work that they are 
 capable of without system. Compare the shop or any 
 business where no system prevails, where the master has 
 no daily or hourly programme and where all is confusion, 
 with the shop where system and order prevail, and you 
 will at once see the difference. So that habit in business 
 means, first of all, acquiring system. 
 
 The second of these sleeping partners is Inertia. In 
 acquiring habits we have to overcome Inertia. You see 
 it when a horse is drawing a load. It takes many times 
 the strain to start the movement, to overcome Inertia, 
 that it does to maintain the movement ; and that is equally 
 true of the effort to stop the movement. You can't stop 
 an express train in a moment any more than you can 
 start it off at full speed. This principle applies equally, 
 or more, to the beginning of new habits and to the stop- 
 ping of old habits. The strong, progressive habit cannot 
 at once overcome the Inertia of old habits. It is actually 
 easier for some to do their work in the hardest and most 
 difficult way possible, when that way is an acquired habit, 
 than it is to change to new and easier methods. Now, this 
 Inertia of old habits is the sole reason why young men 
 get ahead of the older ones in every and any business. 
 This fact about Inertia teaches us, as business men, that 
 improvement in our business involving radical changes 
 should not be made too suddenly, just as you would not 
 turn a corner at top speed in a motor-car. Were we 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 135 
 
 considering the introduction of Co-Partnership, the 
 greatest radical change we can make in our business, it 
 behooves us to bear in mind this principle of Inertia. It 
 is an element in the minds of our staff and in our own 
 minds. 
 
 In overcoming Inertia we have the help of our third 
 sleeping partner, Imitation. We all love to imitate what 
 we see. If we wish to adopt Co-Partnership, our inclina- 
 tion is guided by our love of imitation, which helps us to 
 overcome Inertia. A going concern has a goodwill. 
 This goodwill is due to the effect of the increase in the 
 volume of profits, proving that business is founded on 
 right habits and on the firm basis of repetition and on 
 the overthrow of Inertia. Before I pass to the active 
 partners, let me just recapitulate these three sleeping 
 partners. Habits, rightly founded, make for progress. 
 Inertia has to be overcome, but, at the same time, it does 
 lend itself to stability. Imitation helps us to overcome 
 Inertia, and Inertia is a natural tendency to continue 
 without change. The only way to build a business and 
 train a staff is to bear in mind these three principles. 
 If we overlooked them we should get discouraged and 
 give up our task, whatever we had set ourselves to do. 
 
 May I give you an instance of widespread Inertia we 
 had through the country a few years ago? You re- 
 member when Willett introduced his Daylight Saving 
 Bill he was ridiculed in the House of Commons, and at 
 once came against that huge mass of Inertia which could 
 not be moved. But, in a little while, we began to think 
 about it, and, although Willett did not live to see his 
 plan adopted, the Inertia was overcome, and who, to- 
 day, would go back to the old-time calendar in the 
 summer months? I mention that because it is such a 
 recent and such a good illustration of the point I wish 
 to bring out — that, in this huge problem of Co-Partner- 
 
136 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ship, we have the same difficulty to face, and we must 
 bear it in mind both for our own guidance and in the 
 guidance of our staff, and in regard to the public we 
 serve. 
 
 Now, let us consider the three active partners : the Em- 
 ployee, the Public, and the Proprietor. No proprietor, 
 at any time, was independent of those about him, and he 
 is more dependent upon them to-day than ever. He can- 
 not succeed alone. Employers and employees must work 
 together as partners with the public. Employers must 
 recognize that their employees are an asset to the busi- 
 ness. Hitherto, employers have simply looked upon the 
 assistant as a liability that had to be cleared every week 
 at pay-day. An enthusiastic Co-Partnership employer, in 
 a distributive business, has stated that his employees, since 
 they had been made Co-Partners, have reduced his 
 changes in his staff, increased the permanency of his staff 
 by 35 per cent., and their efficiency by over 50 per cent. 
 Every employer in a retail business knows that his point 
 of contact with his customers depends on his staff. The 
 nearer he can bring his staff to himself in their interest 
 in and enthusiasm for the business, the more successful 
 is his business likely to be. In fact, employers and era- 
 ployed are like the strands in a rope. Spun into a cable, 
 they can bear great strain, but unwound and unravelled 
 they can bear none. 
 
 Now, we are told that a house divided against itself 
 cannot stand, but modern business goes further than that. 
 The position to-day in business is that a house must have 
 unity of aim and purpose, and enthusiasm and loyalty; 
 otherwise it cannot stand. As an illustration of enormous 
 power running to waste, take the Falls of Niagara. 
 There is a similar enormous waste of energy when em- 
 ployees are outside the reach of a Co-Partnership, either 
 in profit-sharing or in sympathy, in kind acts and con- 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 137 
 
 sideration. Hundreds of millions of horse-power are 
 running to waste at Niagara. A' few of them have been 
 chained up, and light up Buffalo and other cities, and 
 drive many industries. But only the mere fringe of the 
 power has been utilized, and I venture to say that, in most 
 businesses, from 50 per cent, upwards of the ability of 
 the staff is never developed at all. The employer must 
 make the employee feel that he is his best friend, and 
 that he is an inspiration to him ; that he is the employees' 
 instructor, adviser, and helper. All this means confi- 
 dence, trust, and leads up to Co-Partnership. 
 
 There is a subtle influence, an atmosphere that ema- 
 nates from the employer, and many a man in business has 
 strangled the spirit of his employees by his cold, fault- 
 finding methods. It is easy to judge the character and 
 type of the employer by studying the character and 
 type of employee working under him. If the employer is 
 morose and gloomy, how can you expect his employees to 
 be bright and cheerful with the customers in the shop? 
 Employers are learning more and more the value of 
 creating a cheerful atmosphere in their business, equally 
 with a cheerful, bright, newly decorated interior of their 
 business premises. The two go together. None of us, 
 I venture to say, would to-day consider it businesslike to 
 have the interior of our business premises slovenly, neg- 
 lected, dirty, and requiring beautifying. We must be 
 determined that the minds of our employees are just as 
 free from cobwebs, and as bright, cheerful, and happy, if 
 they are to be attractive to the customers who come into 
 our shop. If one were to sow nettles and thistles, one 
 would never expect to find a harvest of perfumed roses, 
 sweet and fragrant; and if we sow morose words amongst 
 our staff, they will reach, through our staff, to our cus- 
 tomers, and drive them away. We none of us can do 
 our best work under any other conditions than when we 
 
138 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 are at our happiest. It is, remember, the warm sun that 
 causes the buds to open and give forth their perfume. 
 You know what George Macdonald said : " If I can put 
 gladness into the heart of any man or woman, I shall 
 feel I have worked with God." 
 
 If Co-Partnership were merely a matter of money- 
 motive — a money stimulus — without the putting of glad- 
 ness and happiness into the hearts of the staff, then, I say, 
 Co-Partnership would be a gloomy failure. The em- 
 ployee has a right to happiness and freedom from 
 anxiety. Remember, that whatever attitude is adopted 
 towards the staff will react upon the employer himself, 
 as well as on his business. We must begin to realize 
 the fact that a large part of the employee's ability is never 
 awakened because it has never been energized or utilized. 
 We all of us know those who have been in business with 
 us at various times and whom we considered of no special 
 merit as long as they were our assistants, but who have 
 developed by leaps and bounds when they have got into 
 business for themselves. Why could not we develop these 
 latent powers? 
 
 Now, let us consider the second partner in business — 
 the Public. Many think the only use of the public is to 
 make profits out of them. You know the man who was 
 boasting of his profits during the war in the smoke-room 
 of his club. He said, " You know, I have made it all by 
 sheer, downright pluck — every penny of it." The wor- 
 ried listener : " And whom did you pluck ? " Many a man 
 of business thinks price is the only element of success. 
 There are dozens of reasons for success besides prices. 
 Customers will go past one shop to another, because gra- 
 cious courtesy, civility, efforts to please, reliability on 
 recommendations of quality, all count for far more than 
 price cutting. Many customers would rather trust the 
 trader's recommendation than their own power of selec- 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 139 
 
 tion. Remember, the satisfied customer not only comes 
 himself but sends others. The assistant must be trained 
 in habits of courtesy to the public. A multiple shopman 
 spent a great deal of money in sending telegrams to every 
 branch manager at each of his shops throughout the 
 United Kingdom : " Did you say ' Thank you,' to every 
 customer you served to-day? " He sent those telegrams 
 from time to time until he had burnt the importance of 
 this fact into their minds. He spent over £ 1,000 on 
 those telegrams, merely asking that question. He says it 
 was the best £ 1,000 investment he ever made in his life. 
 
 There are hundreds of men who would scorn to tell 
 a lie who would let their goods lie for them. They do 
 not hesitate to sell shoddy, second-rate goods. None of 
 them would dream of cheating or lying. They are con- 
 scientiously, and not hypocritically, above it. There is 
 no hypocrisy; but in building up a business, if we are 
 dealing in anything other than the quality that customers 
 have a right to expect from the class of trade we do, 
 then we are, in our business, living a lie. The grandest 
 advertisement ever written is poor compared with the 
 reputation for keeping high-class goods and giving a 
 true description of them. 
 
 You know the story of the young man who started a 
 fish shop, and fitted it up with marble slabs, and tiles 
 was his name on the sign, and then, " Fresh Fish Sold 
 on the wall ; then he wrote a sign and put it up. There 
 Here." A friend came along and admired the shop, and, 
 after looking all round said, " Look at your sign." 
 " What's the matter ? " he asked. " Why do you say 
 'Fresh Fish Sold Here?' You do not need to say 
 ' here.' You are not selling them across the way." So 
 the young man painted the word " Here " out, and the 
 sign read " Fresh Fish Sold." Another friend came 
 and admired the marble slabs and the tiles. When he 
 
140 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 had admired everything he said, " But look at your 
 sign. Everybody will know your fish is fresh." He 
 got his paint pot and painted out the word " Fresh." So 
 now the sign read, " Fish Sold." Another friend came, 
 and when he had admired the shop and the slabs and 
 tiles, he, too, said, " Look at your sign. Why say ' Sold ' ? 
 Nobody will think you are giving the fish away." So he 
 took out that word also, and now the sign simply read, 
 " So-and-so, Fish." Still another friend came, and when 
 he had looked all around he said, " Look at your sign." 
 " What's the matter with the sign yet ? " asked the young 
 man. "Why say 'Fish'?" was the reply; "I could 
 smell fish as soon as I turned the corner." 
 
 There is a motto that runs, " The deceiver only de- 
 ceives himself." If any of us think that we can make a 
 second-rate quality of goods appear equal to the first- 
 rate quality, we are only deceiving ourselves. Deceit is 
 a boomerang, and if we put ourselves in our customers' 
 place, we shall realize the whole position. Nothing will 
 so quickly forfeit confidence as disappointment over qual- 
 ity. People do not like to deal with traders they have 
 always to be watching. Millions upon millions of pounds 
 sterling of turnover are done entirely and solely on the 
 character and reputation of traders for straightforward- 
 ness. 
 
 Well, now, what about the third partner, the Trader 
 himself? Many men in business are unable to trust 
 those associated with them with any power or authority 
 whatever. These men can only think in inches, and. have 
 only an eye to petty cash items, and as long as they them- 
 selves can oversee everything and attend to all the de- 
 tails themselves, they get along all right, but the mo- 
 ment they have to delegate to others, they go all to pieces. 
 That is because they do not know how to select their staff, 
 and consequently can never trust them. With these men, 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 141 
 
 every employee who does not exactly please them at the 
 moment is cleared out. If the employee were to express 
 an opinion upon the business, or make suggestions, he 
 would be dismissed. With such an employer, the em- 
 ployee must not move hand or foot without the em- 
 ployer's approval. Such traders will not recognize the 
 fact that no man can attend to all the details of his own 
 business, and know every point about even his own one 
 business. 
 
 Now, the trader, to be successful, must begin right 
 away by trusting his staff, and until he can trust them — 
 until he has trained and educated them so that he knows, 
 whether he is there or not, that his business is going 
 on as he would wish it, and that his customers are being 
 courteously attended to, he is not ripe for the considera- 
 tion of Co-Partnership, the spirit of which comes a long 
 way after that stage. If we are suspicious and distrustful 
 of our staff, then our staff become suspicious and distrust- 
 ful of us, for distrust and suspicion breed distrust and 
 suspicion. We have to encourage our staff. No employee 
 can be at his or her best if always conscious that some one 
 is watching in a fault-finding attitude of mind. The 
 interest of the employee must be awakened; it cannot be 
 forced. 
 
 There is no doubt we all make errors in business : buy 
 at the wrong time, and fail to sell at the right time ; and I 
 always consider that the business man is more than a 
 hero, braver than any man in the trenches, who dare 
 freely acknowledge openly before his staff that he has 
 made a mistake, and applies the ink eraser to his own 
 mistakes rather than continue them. This is the state 
 of mind we have got to cultivate, and once it has been 
 cultivated and become a habit, there is nothing that will 
 place an employer on a higher pedestal with his employee. 
 It sounds a paradox to say our very mistakes and fail- 
 
142 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ings would raise us with our employees and, literally, it 
 would not be so. The man who made three mistakes in 
 five actions would never win the esteem and respect of 
 his employee; but, equally, the employer who claimed to 
 be able to do right all five times, and never acknowledged 
 that now and then even he might make a mistake, as well 
 as his staff, would fail to win the esteem and real support 
 of his staff. 
 
 Now, the most dangerous period in the business career 
 of any tradesman is the time when he begins to feel sure 
 of his position. Over-confidence in any one of us is the 
 first sign of decay, and we all of us do our best work 
 when we are struggling for position. When a man says 
 to himself, "Now, I can take things easier; I hold the 
 field; I am head and shoulders over all my competitors, 
 and I can afford to breathe more freely " — then he is in 
 the greatest danger of his life. It is dangerous to run 
 a business on its past reputation, for there are too many 
 others pushing forward for supremacy all the time. It is 
 astonishing how soon the best business goes to pieces 
 when the proprietor begins to take it easy. Managing 
 a business is like rolling a stone up a hill ; take one's hands 
 off, and down the stone rolls to the bottom again. 
 
 Now, I want just to come to the point that this fact 
 brings us up to. I am sure you will agree with what I 
 have said about the necessity of constant vigilance in 
 business. If this were the final word in business, the 
 prospect for our old age would be gloomy indeed. Busi- 
 ness would mean hard labour for life and the agony of 
 seeing our business fade away in our old age. But if we 
 take time by the forelock, if those bright young fellows 
 who pass through our hands at various stages of our 
 career are attracted to us by sympathy, are trained and 
 developed in our business by our watchful care, are made 
 partners in our business at the particular moment when 
 
CO-OPERATIVE ASPECT OF BUSINESS 143 
 
 they have proved themselves worthy of it and of our 
 confidence, then, as our own physical powers grow less 
 their physical strength is growing greater, and the fair 
 and just treatment we have dealt out to them wins their 
 loyalty and support; for all through their life they are 
 able to say they could never have done better under any 
 circumstances whatever, for even if they went away from 
 the business in which they were trained and developed 
 to start a business of their own, the increased competi- 
 tion, the heavy responsibilities, the difficulties for capi- 
 tal, would not make life so well worth living for them as 
 a partnership in the firm they were with, a share in the 
 profits that were made, and the opportunity to invest their 
 money in the business each succeeding year. On this 
 system the employer, as I have mentioned, need not be 
 always at the helm. He can take his reasonable relief 
 as years get on, and when, finally, it comes to the Indian 
 summer of his life, as the sun is declining, it will leave a 
 golden glow through the skies ; he will be surrounded by 
 those whom he has trained and developed to look upon 
 him more as a father than an employer. Whether they 
 are single units, or tens, or hundreds, or thousands, how- 
 ever many they may be, their willing hands will go forth 
 to build up the business. The business will become more 
 than a mere machine to them. It will become a living 
 being to be cared for and tended and cultivated as lovingly 
 by them as ever by their master in his own young days. 
 And so we can see our business extend and grow, and if 
 there were nothing else in Co-Partnership than the relief 
 it will give to a man when his physical strength declines, 
 I say that argument alone — apart from the increased 
 prosperity which Co-Partnership, in the experience of 
 those who have adopted it, brings; apart from the fact 
 that when you have interested your staff with you in the 
 profits you have applied the most just, fair, and power- 
 
144 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ful stimulus you can to their efforts — apart altogether 
 from all that, this one factor alone ought to win it ad- 
 herence. 
 
 Now, as to the particular form of Co-Partnership to 
 be adopted. It is utterly impossible for any man to 
 decide this question other than the man who is going to 
 apply it. As I have said, it may not be possible to share 
 profits at ali, or to have a partner. There are many occu- 
 pations, such as domestic service, in which it is quite im- 
 possible; but in one form or another, either by kind ac- 
 tions and sympathy, consideration in sickness, and the 
 joy of happiness in health, the payment of high wages, 
 or the sharing of profits, a human bond of sympathy must 
 go out from the head of the business, from the proprietor, 
 right down to the youngest office boy, and, that secured, 
 I do not care whether you call it Co-Partnership, Profit- 
 Sharing, or what you call it, you have introduced into 
 business the human element, which will not only make the 
 staff working for you happy, but will make yourself 
 happy. It is true that a business carried on for mere 
 money-grabbing objects, as I ventured to say at the begin- 
 ning, will, in my opinion, fail to realize even the narrow 
 ideal of making money; but carried on upon the broad 
 lines of recognition of equal rights to a share of the fruits 
 of the industry of every one connected with the business, 
 whoever they may be, then the harvest is greater as it is 
 shared with others. Then, as the sunset comes along in the 
 skies, the owner, instead of shutting down in dark weari- 
 ness with the knowledge that the business must pass into 
 the hands of strangers or be closed entirely, and that the 
 physical strength of the proprietor is unable to keep up 
 with the energetic action of younger men, will see it 
 stronger than ever, and have in it an ever-increasing 
 pride. 
 
IX 
 
 HEALTH AND HOUSING 
 
 The subject " Land for Houses " is one the importance 
 of which requires no words of mine to commend itself 
 to your earnest consideration. The few thoughts I ven- 
 ture to place before you on this great subject are very 
 crude and incomplete, and, consequently, are no doubt 
 open to much adverse criticism. But, happily, honest 
 criticism can only lead in one direction, that of further 
 calling attention to the question of housing the people, 
 with a view to whatever may be the best means of 
 remedying the defects of our present system; a system 
 under which the housing of the people has become a 
 scandal and disgrace, as well as a danger to the physical 
 and moral well-being of the nation. It is impossible for 
 us to visit any of our thickly populated centres without 
 feeling that, however great strides we have made in po- 
 litical economy during the present century, as far as 
 housing of the people is concerned we are probably in 
 as bad a condition to-day as at any period of our history; 
 and this notwithstanding the fact that as far back as 
 1 85 1 two Acts for dealing with this question were passed 
 by Parliament, and also that since then, at constantly 
 recurring intervals, right down to the Act of 1890, suc- 
 ceeding Parliaments have repeatedly attempted to deal 
 with this subject. Except in the way of police control, 
 we are bound to admit that none of these Acts have 
 really been effective in dealing with the evils they were 
 intended to remedy. 
 
 145 
 
146 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Before I proceed further, allow me to acknowledge the 
 assistance I have had in preparing this paper from read- 
 ing the book of Mr. Bowmaker on Housing of the Work- 
 ing Classes, also the works by Mr. Charles Booth on the 
 Labour and Life of the People, and various other writ- 
 ers. All who have carefully read the works of the lead- 
 ing writers on this subject must be impressed with the 
 extreme gravity of the present situation, and the more 
 one inquires into the question of the housing of the peo- 
 ple, the more one is impressed with two things — the 
 enormous amount of work required to be done, and the 
 great importance that it should be done with as little 
 delay as possible. As to the amount of work to be done, 
 it is not only the grosser forms of overcrowding — the 
 slums and alleys — that require to be dealt with, but al- 
 most of equal importance is the question of the crowding 
 of houses side by side with only 12 feet or 15 feet front- 
 age, small yards, and 6 or 8 feet back roads. It is said 
 that " God made the country, and man made the towns." 
 But there can be no reason why man should not make 
 towns livable and healthy, and if towns are made livable 
 and healthy they will be just as much subject to the 
 beneficent influence of bright sunshine, fresh air, flowers, 
 and plants, as the country. But just as surely as the 
 country is made by God, so surely is it that man is made 
 also by the same Creator — who constituted him a social 
 being, loving the fellowship of his fellow-man, and there- 
 fore loving to live in towns and cities, where he finds the 
 greatest scope for his social instincts, and where his 
 genius and abilities have the fullest opportunities for 
 development. Therefore, it is an established fact, and 
 one that all past history of the human race confirms, 
 that men prefer city life to country life; hence the great 
 importance to the well-being of the race that city life be 
 carried on under proper conditions as to housing, with 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 147 
 
 a view to securing surroundings the most favourable to 
 health. It is for the citizens themselves as a body to 
 control this matter through their municipal organizations. 
 It must not be left to individuals, as in the past. 
 
 We are too apt in this country to leave good work for 
 the benefit of one's fellow-men to the care of philan- 
 thropists, but in this instance, owing to the very stu- 
 pendous character of the question of housing of the peo- 
 ple, philanthropists have practically been unable to effect 
 anything, notwithstanding the large sum of money de- 
 voted by men of the stamp of Mr. Peabody, and others 
 too numerous to mention. I venture to submit that it is 
 not a matter to be dealt with by philanthropists at all. 
 Philanthropy is only another name for charity, and char- 
 ity can only mean pauperism. The housing of the people 
 is not in any way connected with pauperism nor charity, 
 and does not come within the scope of philanthropists. 
 
 We have experienced during the last forty or fifty years 
 that mere Acts of Parliament can effect very little. In 
 what direction, then, must we look for help to come? 
 Before we can answer this question, it would be, perhaps, 
 of advantage for us to inquire into the extent to which 
 the grosser forms of overcrowding exist, and what are 
 the effects on health and character of overcrowding. 
 As to the extent of overcrowding, many who have not 
 thought deeply on the subject would be surprised to hear 
 that it exists to just as great an extent in villages as in 
 large towns, and in the very smallest hamlets, propor- 
 tionately, to as large an extent as in London; that it 
 exists in new towns and cities like Birkenhead, as well 
 as in the oldest city in the United Kingdom. We find 
 by the last census returns that throughout the whole of 
 England and Wales, of the number of rooms composing 
 tenement houses, 52 per cent, of the separate tenements 
 included four rooms or less, of which about 5 per cent. 
 
148 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 were of one room only, n per cent, of two rooms, is 
 per cent, of three rooms, and 24 per cent, of four rooms 
 Taking London separately, we find that, instead of 52 
 per cent, as in the case of England and Wales, tenements 
 of four rooms and under are 67 per cent., and that the 
 single-room tenements in London amount to 18 per cent., 
 as compared with the 5 per cent, for the whole country. 
 Now, if we consider for one moment the life a family 
 must lead who have only one room in which to eat, to 
 sleep, and to live, we cannot wonder at the social degra- 
 dation produced in those who live under these conditions; 
 and yet, the rents paid for these single rooms are suffi- 
 cient to pay a reasonable return on the capital required, 
 if properly expended, to provide suitable accommodation. 
 In the worst parts of Liverpool at the present day 1,000 
 people are huddled on the space of one acre. At an in- 
 quest in Spitalfields, London, concerning the death of a 
 child four months old, the evidence showed that the child, 
 with six other children and its parents, had lived in a 
 room 12 feet by 12 feet, for which 4s. 6d. a week rent 
 was paid. Just fancy nine human beings living under 
 such conditions as these! All such places must prove 
 very hotbeds of vice and misery. I could give thousands 
 of other examples taken from both town, city, and coun- 
 try, but I will give one instance more only to prove that 
 overcrowding is just as prevalent in country districts as 
 in towns. In a village, not many miles from here, I was 
 asked by a widow, shortly after the property came into 
 my possession, to provide another bedroom to her cot- 
 tage. On my asking why, she replied because her son 
 was growing up, and there was only one room for her- 
 self and him to sleep in. I imagined, of course, that he 
 would be a little boy, say eight or nine years of age. I 
 asked his age, and found it was nearly twenty. This 
 caused me to make further inquiries, which revealed the 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 149 
 
 fact that this was only a specimen of the conditions un- 
 der which many of the inhabitants of that village were 
 living. We drive or walk past ivy-clad cottages in the 
 country, admire their beauty, and the thought that there 
 can be fully-grown men and women, not always even 
 brothers and sisters, forced to occupy the same bedroom 
 from the lack of proper housing accommodation never 
 presents itself to us. The words used by the late Lord 
 Shaftesbury before the Royal Commission appointed to 
 inquire into the subject of overcrowding are just as true 
 to-day as they were at the time they were uttered. Lord 
 Shaftesbury then declared that, however great had been 
 the improvement in the condition of the poor in other re- 
 spects, overcrowding had become more serious than ever 
 it was before. Evidence produced before various Royal 
 Commissions who have examined witnesses on the sub- 
 ject all proves that an enormous proportion of our vil- 
 lage populations know no other home than such as pro- 
 vide one room for the whole family to live in, and an- 
 other room for the whole family to sleep in. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to occupy your time in 
 proving further that overcrowding does exist. You 
 know it exists. I know it exists, we all know it exists, 
 apart from Government returns and population statistics 
 or Blue-books. We know it because we see it, and read 
 about it in the police reports every day of our lives. 
 Such, then, being admitted to be the state of affairs, 
 let us next inquire what are the results which overcrowd- 
 ing produces. There is one result which it certainly 
 ought not to produce in ourselves, and that is indiffer- 
 ence on our part to the nameless misery and brutaliza- 
 tion which overcrowding generates in the poor. And 
 sometimes one is inclined to think that, whilst on all 
 hands we have evident signs that the condition of the 
 poor calls forth greater sympathy to-day than ever, and 
 
150 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 whilst we know that in the providing of hospitals an 
 infirmaries, in temperance work, religious and socia 
 work, we have not been unmindful of our duty, yet in th 
 very question which lies at the root of the uplifting o 
 the people, and the elevation of them to a full enjoymen 
 of all the possibilities of life, we have grossly neglectet 
 our duty. In dealing with the moral effect of over 
 crowding, it is not an easy task to collect statistics. W< 
 know that overcrowding and degradation go together 
 but we do not clearly see whether it is the degraded whc 
 prefer to herd together, or it is the overcrowding thai 
 produces the degradation; but whatever our individual 
 views may be on this point, we shall all agree on one 
 point, namely, that as to the degradation of the children 
 there cannot be the slightest difference of opinion. Lord 
 Shaftesbury, speaking of the effect of overcrowding 
 on children, describes it as " totally destructive of all 
 benefits from education " ; and who can wonder that this 
 is the effect produced? A child that knows nothing of 
 God's earth, of green fields, or sparkling brooks, of 
 breezy hill and springy heather, and whose mind is stored 
 with none of the beauties of nature, but knows only the 
 drunkenness prevalent in the hideous slum it is forced to 
 live in, and whose walks abroad have never extended be- 
 yond the corner public-house and the pawnshop, cannot 
 be benefited by education. Such children grow up de- 
 praved, and become a danger and terror to the State; 
 wealth-destroyers instead of wealth-producers, compared 
 to whom the South Sea Islander, the Maori, or Zulu 
 is an educated, intelligent citizen. 
 
 That overcrowding produces drunkenness, vice, mis- 
 ery, and wretchedness, we know, notwithstanding we 
 cannot easily collect statistics showing the exact extent 
 to which the moral nature is affected by overcrowding. 
 But if we cannot get statistics with regard to the effect 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 151 
 
 of overcrowding on the moral nature, we can with regard 
 to the effect of overcrowding on health; and in consider- 
 ing this side of the question, let us not lose sight of the 
 truth that a nation's health is a nation's wealth. The popu- 
 lation of England and Wales at the last census was — for 
 the towns, about twenty-one millions; for the rural dis- 
 tricts, about eight millions. Calculating the death-rates 
 in the towns for corresponding age and sex, and compar- 
 ing them with the same for the rural districts, we find 
 that whereas the death-rate for the town is 23.32 per 
 thousand, the death-rate in the country is only 17.62 
 per thousand. In other words, that whereas in the towns 
 death on an average would occur at the age of about 
 forty-five, in the country it would occur at the age of 
 about sixty. But if we look further into these figures, 
 and subdivide the towns, we find that in the congested 
 parts of cities the death-rates are double those of the 
 suburbs. In London the death-rate of the outer, or 
 suburban, districts is only 15.4 per thousand, as com- 
 pared with between 30 and 40 per thousand in the most 
 crowded parts. That is to say, that whilst a man in the 
 crowded districts would, on an average, only live to be, 
 say, about thirty, in the suburbs he would live to be about 
 seventy. In Liverpool, also, the death-rate is double 
 that of the rural districts surrounding. 
 
 But this bare statement of figures gives us but a very 
 poor idea of the loss to the nation from overcrowding. 
 We have to consider, in addition to the early death of the 
 victims, the years of sickness, poverty, misery, and suf- 
 fering that ill-health entails on them and their families, 
 and the consequent loss of their ability to earn sufficient 
 money to keep themselves, thus laying a heavy burden on 
 the rates, and upon those relations who, whilst assisting 
 them, are already heavily overburdened to maintain 
 themselves. It is estimated that in overcrowded districts 
 
152 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 every workman loses, on an average, twenty days each 
 year through ill-health, say, on an average of 4s. per 
 day, equal to £4. This is not only a loss to the work- 
 man and his family, but to the whole nation. This loss 
 to the workman is not represented by the £4 he has 
 failed to earn; he has lost something that he can never 
 recover. For a rich man to be a few days away from 
 business from ill-health may, perhaps, not be a serious 
 consideration. His business in all probability will not 
 suffer. It would be conducted by his staff, or by his 
 partners, without interruption ; but not so the work of a 
 poor man. Therefore, the question of good health, or 
 ill-health, is of all questions the most important one to 
 the workers of this country. Why overcrowding should 
 have such serious effects on health, and increase so enor- 
 mously the mortality returns, is a matter more for a 
 doctor to deal with than myself, but when one considers 
 the all-importance of ventilation and free circulation of 
 air — which conditions can never be obtained where there 
 is overcrowding — one sees one possible explanation, and 
 that probably not the least. The importance of fresh 
 air and ventilation upon health is shown when we ex- 
 amine the effect of overcrowding in large cities as com- 
 pared with overcrowding in villages, and the statistics 
 I have just given you, showing the death-rates of the 
 two, prove that, as far as the effects on health are con- 
 cerned, overcrowding in rural districts is nothing like 
 so pernicious as overcrowding in cities. 
 
 We have now inquired into the extent of overcrowding 
 and its effects. Let us now see if we can obtain any in- 
 formation as to the cause and remedy. I venture to sub- 
 mit to you that it is not sufficient to say that the cause 
 lies with the growth of population. It may be claimed 
 that the rapid growth of the population of this country 
 has produced overcrowding; but when we see that over- 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 153 
 
 crowding exists just as much in the rural districts of 
 England, where the population is decreasing, as in towns 
 and cities where population is increasing, we are bound 
 to look deeper for the real cause, and this we find in the 
 difficulty — either from one reason or another — in obtain- 
 ing land upon which to erect houses for accommodating 
 the people. We find that as land becomes more valuable, 
 houses formerly occupied by one family have been ar- 
 ranged so that each room in that house should accommo- 
 date a family, and in many cases even more than one 
 family in each room. As land becomes still more valu- 
 able, what were formerly the gardens of these houses 
 have been built upon, thus producing slums, courts, and 
 rookeries. Every public improvement, such as the dem- 
 olition of old property, widening of streets, etc., has 
 increased the overcrowding. I venture, therefore, to sub- 
 mit to you that one of the principal causes, if not the 
 sole cause, of overcrowding is the difficulty in obtaining 
 land at such a price that houses for the accommodation 
 of the working classes can be erected thereon, and the 
 remedy must, therefore, be to provide land on such a 
 basis that houses for the accommodation of the people 
 can be built thereon, to let at rentals within the means 
 of those they are intended for. 
 
 This point of view opens up a very grave subject for 
 our consideration. It is not my province to-night, how- 
 ever, to go into any consideration of land reform. The 
 question I wish to go into is solely that of the providing 
 of land for the erection of houses; and, in doing so, I 
 venture to submit to you that our municipalities have 
 ample powers in the existing law to enable them — if they 
 are so minded — to efficiently deal with this question. 
 The overcrowding, as we have seen, is at the centre. The 
 remedy for this must be in relieving the pressure that 
 exists and which forces the people to live near the centre. 
 
154 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Dispersion must be the remedy, but not forcible disper- 
 sion. Our past experience has proved that we have only 
 aggravated the evil, when our ideas of dispersion have 
 proceeded no further than the destruction of slums and 
 rookeries. We must make it possible for the working 
 classes to live at a distance from the centre, otherwise 
 all our efforts will be in vain. Our efforts, therefore, 
 must be directed to gradual dispersion from the centre 
 to the suburban districts, so that, by relieving the pres- 
 sure at the centre, we may lead not only to the result of 
 the total abolition of overcrowding, but to the lowering 
 of the rents to such an extent at the centre that those 
 who are forced to remain there, near their occupation, 
 will at least have the benefit of proper accommodation 
 for themselves and families. 
 
 In making it possible for the working classes to live 
 away from the centre, we must consider two matters — 
 that of rent and that of transport. Already, over- 
 crowded as they are, we find that 88 per cent, of the 
 working classes pay more than one-fifth of their income 
 in rent; of these, 42 per cent, pay about one-quarter of 
 their income, and 46 per cent, about one-third of their in- 
 come. We shall all agree that rents should not bear a 
 greater proportion to income than one-sixth to one- 
 eighth. Therefore, it is manifest that present rents 
 cannot be increased, they must be reduced. And, also, 
 that if the working classes are to be drawn from the 
 centre to the suburbs, the total cost of rent and transport 
 at the suburbs must not exceed the cost of rent alone at 
 the centre. I will go further than this, and say that 
 the cost of rent and transport must be less at the suburbs 
 than the cost of rent alone at the centre, if a tangible in- 
 ducement is to be offered for removal. To produce these 
 conditions, we must look to our municipalities' to provide 
 the land. It is impossible for working men to become 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 155 
 
 owners — to any great extent — of their own houses, and, 
 in my opinion, it would not be a good investment of 
 their earnings for them to own their own houses. The 
 shifting nature of their employment, and the uncertainty 
 of the exact locality where it may be necessary for them 
 to live from year to year, both render it practically im- 
 possible for them to become their own landlords. If it 
 were not for this, then it is manifest that the working 
 man could make no better investment of his savings than 
 in purchasing his own house, and so becoming his own 
 landlord; for apart from the honourable ambition of 
 every man to dwell under his own roof, there is the free- 
 dom this would secure him from arbitrary interference. 
 It being doubtful whether schemes for enabling work- 
 ing men to acquire their own houses are a remedy for 
 the evils attending the present system of the housing of 
 the people, municipalities must face the task of offering 
 facilities for the erection of better houses in the suburban 
 districts, the rents of which, together with the cost of 
 transport of the occupiers to and from their daily work, 
 should be less than the rental demanded for inferior 
 houses in the congested districts. I know of no better 
 way in which this can be done than by the municipality ac- 
 quiring suburban land in large quantities, at reasonable 
 prices, and offering this land absolutely free for the im- 
 mediate erection thereon of cottages, in conformity with 
 building by-laws specially drawn up for dealing with 
 the same. I am aware that this will sound at first a very 
 revolutionary proposal, and further, that it will appear to 
 many as absolutely unfair to the remaining portion of 
 the population. In reality it is neither. It is not revolu- 
 tionary because we have ample precedent for the course 
 proposed. Have we not fully admitted the nation's 
 responsibility for the education of the nation's children, 
 and have we not recognized that the only way in which 
 
156 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 we can ensure that all children shall be educated is to 
 make education free? We have seen that the millions 
 we spend annually on education are to a certain extent 
 wasted, owing to the improper housing of the poor. 
 Therefore, to give free land to ensure the proper hous- 
 ing of the people is only an extension of a principle we 
 have already accepted. As to the objection that it may 
 be unjust to the remaining portion of the population, 
 my endeavour must be to prove that the property built 
 on this free land will not only pay for the land which is 
 being given, but, in addition, result in a profit to the 
 municipality adopting this policy. Therefore, the pro- 
 posal is neither revolutionary nor unjust. 
 
 But, it may be asked, Is it absolutely necessary to pro- 
 vide free land? Cannot we leave this question of free 
 land alone, and proceed in some other way ? There is no 
 other way than first dealing with the question of land 
 for houses. All other methods are simply tinkering with 
 the evil we would remedy. Corporations, and notably 
 Liverpool, have built blocks of workmen's dwellings — 
 so-called — and anything more hideous, more undesirable 
 for the rearing of a family, or more wasteful of the pub- 
 lic money it would be impossible to find. The most you 
 can say of them is that they are better than the slums 
 and rookeries they have replaced. Whenever I see these 
 blocks of buildings in London, and elsewhere, I ask 
 myself what our nation will become after a few genera- 
 tions have been reared under such conditions, and the 
 children's children of those bred and reared in these 
 barracks have to take their place as the backbone of this 
 country. No! this system will never do, apart altogether 
 from consideration of its costliness and extravagance. 
 But I can imagine some one asking, How will free land 
 assist us in dealing with this question? I answer — in 
 many ways ; and, amongst others, by preventing specula- 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 157 
 
 tion in land for houses. Now, I do not for one moment 
 wish it to be thought that this in itself is an evil, al- 
 though in many cases it is a very serious evil. To-day, 
 land can be bought within reasonable reach of the centre 
 of Birkenhead, and other towns, at from £100 to £200 
 per acre. Within the last three years, a plot of 300 acres 
 on the Edgware Road, London, within seven miles of 
 the Marble Arch, sold at £50 per acre. But, by the 
 time the spread of population reaches such land, and it 
 is coming into demand for cottages, the price will prob- 
 ably be 4s. to 5s. per yard, with the result that it can 
 only be used for the erection of cottages by scheming 
 and planning how many cottages can be squeezed on to 
 as few yards of land as possible. Instead of which, if 
 the municipality steps to our aid, and selects land with 
 reasonable business forethought and acumen, they can 
 secure the land at a less price than any private individual, 
 and can afford to restrict the number of cottages to not 
 exceeding twelve per acre. 
 
 With regard to the price of land, there should be no 
 difficulty in buying such land as I have indicated at 
 from £100 to £200 per acre, freehold. This is the 
 price that land can be bought for in most districts before 
 speculation in land has set in. It is many times above 
 the agricultural value of the land, and on this basis, the 
 proceeds of the sale, when invested, would produce 
 many times the income previously being derived from 
 the land. It is a fair price, and one that most land- 
 owners would be very glad to receive. At the same time, 
 I do not suggest for one moment that an arbitrary fixed 
 value should be put on the land to be acquired. The 
 value in all cases would be in relation to the market value 
 of the land in the district, and could, of course, be easily 
 settled by arbitration. I merely take the figure of £ 100 
 to £ 200 per acre as the price at which in many localities 
 
158 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 such land could be bought, when purchased in large 
 quantities and free from speculation. I have already 
 stated that on this land not more than twelve houses per 
 acre should be built. This would give each house about 
 400 square yards, including roads and streets. This will 
 be found to allow ample space for the free circulation 
 of air, and for a small garden both at the front and back 
 of the house. 
 
 I will now endeavour to prove that the giving of free 
 land for houses is no injustice to existing ratepayers, 
 but that in fact the scheme is self-supporting. Taking 
 the acre of ground at the cost of £200, the interest on 
 this, at say 2^4 to 3 per cent., would be £6 per annum. 
 The rateable value of the twelve houses we will take at 
 only £ 10 per house, total £ 120. In most towns the 
 total amount of the rates is rather over than under 5s. 
 in the pound; thus the rates on this property would 
 amount to £30 per annum, showing a surplus of £24 
 on the rates, after allowing for interest. Of course, I 
 do not mean to say that the whole of the £24 would 
 be profit. A very large sum out of it would necessarily 
 represent the increased expenditure of the municipality 
 incurred in consequence of the erection of this property. 
 It is clear, however, that there is considerable income at 
 once derived from the property, and I claim that out 
 of this income the loss of interest, together with sinking 
 fund for extinction of principal, could be met. No city 
 could possibly be ruined by the adoption of this policy. 
 The municipality, that is the ratepayers, or citizens as a 
 body, are the real owners of all property within the city 
 boundaries. The so-called owner has in reality only a 
 life interest in the property. The demand for payment 
 of rates comes first of all, and must be satisfied before 
 mortgagors or owners receive their interest or rents. 
 This being so, it is clear that the adoption of this policy 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 159 
 
 is nothing more than applying the ordinary rules of 
 business to the management of municipalities. What 
 business man is there in Birkenhead who would not will- 
 ingly expend £200 on his property in order to enable 
 some one else to expend £2,400 in further improving 
 it? Or, who would not willingly face an increase in his 
 working expenses of £6 in order to increase his gross 
 profits by £ 30 ? 
 
 But some may argue that they fail to see how the value 
 of the city is to be affected, or the city itself be made 
 more prosperous, merely by attracting people from the 
 centre to the outskirts. To this I would reply, that 
 drawing the people from the centre to the suburbs would 
 not be the only effect of the adoption of the policy I 
 have outlined. Such an enlightened policy, offering such 
 facilities, would attract newcomers to reside in our 
 midst. But even if it were true that the only effect were 
 to draw from the centre to the suburbs, I say that this 
 would not in any way affect the truth of the claim I 
 have made as to the advantages this system offers. It is 
 a well-known fact that overcrowded and wretched prop- 
 erty, from which it is desirable to withdraw occupiers, 
 does not yield anything like its fair share to the rates, 
 and that such property is not rated on anything like the 
 basis of the rents being paid by the occupiers. A family 
 may pay 4s. 6d. a week for the occupation of a single 
 room in a tenement house, but it would be extremely 
 difficult to assess such a house on that basis, owing to the 
 fluctuations of the occupancy. The house in most cases 
 is rented as a whole to one man, who farms it out to the 
 various sub-tenants. The rates are fixed upon the rental 
 as a whole. 
 
 But there are other considerations than the mere bal- 
 ance of revenue actually in sight. The whole trade of 
 the borough would be improved by the erection of these 
 
160 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 houses. Bricklayers, stone-masons, joiners, plumbers, 
 plasterers, painters, etc., would find employment. And 
 when the houses were completed the whole of the shop- 
 keepers of the city would be benefited by the necessary 
 expenditure for the maintenance of the occupiers. The 
 amount of money required to be invested in land would 
 relatively be small, compared to the benefits to be de- 
 rived by the whole district. The cost of the land should 
 not exceed one-tenth of the cost of the property erected 
 upon it; thus there would be ample margin for security. 
 The cost of making the roads on the land would, as at 
 present, be chargeable on the property they served. But 
 it may be urged that the mere giving of the land would 
 effect no reduction in rents, and that the cottages built 
 on free land would not necessarily be let at such rentals 
 as would be any inducement in attracting from the centre 
 to the suburbs. This is not so. Dear land js the chief 
 cause of high rents for cottage houses. The cheapening 
 of the land will be the most powerful factor in reducing 
 cottage rentals. Let municipalities use reasonable care 
 and judgment in securing suitable positions for the erec- 
 tion of working men's houses, and builders will not be 
 slow to avail themselves of the advantages offered. 
 Competition will prevent any excess in rents being de- 
 manded. The law of supply and demand will govern the 
 number of houses, and the whole tendency will be in 
 the right direction. Therefore, seeing that although the 
 land were given free, those who received the land would 
 have sunk on twelve houses at least £2,400 per acre in 
 building, and that this would improve the whole trade 
 of the borough, we may safely claim that owners of 
 the existing property would be more than compensated 
 by these advantages, and by the stimulus the adoption 
 of such a policy would give in drawing to the city an 
 increased population. 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 161 
 
 What is it that is making Birkenhead prosperous at 
 the present time ? We shall possibly be told that it is the 
 magnificent docks she possesses, or the manufactories 
 that have been established in her midst ; but I venture to 
 assert that her real prosperity has sprung from her in- 
 crease in population. It is true this population has been 
 attracted to Birkenhead by the employment to be ob- 
 tained at the docks, the manufactories, the shops, and 
 elsewhere, but this does not affect the question that it is 
 to the increase in population that Birkenhead owes her 
 prosperity; therefore, the adoption by Birkenhead of a 
 policy which would still further increase her population 
 must still further increase her prosperity. I know of no 
 city in the United Kingdom that has such opportunities 
 as Birkenhead for the adoption of such an enlightened 
 policy as the one I have outlined. The real wealth of 
 Birkenhead is her inhabitants, and the prosperity and 
 capital which have been attracted to her. Stimulate the 
 increase of population. Offer inducements for more 
 capital to be spent in the erection of houses in the 
 borough, and you apply the soundest and most powerful 
 stimulus you could possibly apply for still increasing her 
 prosperity. In the case of Birkenhead, two special bene- 
 fits would accrue, namely, increased traffic on the ferries 
 and increased traffic on the elctric trams you will soon 
 have running. Of course, it would be wise, and neces- 
 sary, to allow on both of these special low rates for the 
 convenience of workers at certain hours of the day. 
 But experience has always shown that such low rates 
 are really more remunerative than high ones. In addi- 
 tion, you have done a noble work in lessening the over- 
 crowding of the centre ; for as the better class of workers 
 are drawn away from the centre to the outside dis- 
 tricts by the inducements you would be able to offer 
 in reduced rents, by facilities of transport by your elec- 
 
162 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 trie cars, so the overcrowding at the centre would 
 cease. 
 
 I have occupied your time already too much on the 
 financial aspect of the question. I feel confident that you 
 will agree with me that if we were to confine ourselves 
 solely to the financial point of view, we should be taking 
 a very narrow one of our duty. Far greater than the 
 financial aspect is the improvement that such a policy 
 would bring about in the condition of the people. I speak 
 from experience when I say that nothing elevates and 
 raises the man, his wife, and family, so much as placing 
 them under the most favourable conditions with regard 
 to their homes. This is especially true with regard to 
 the children who are growing up. It is, in my opinion, 
 simply ludicrous for us to spend millions a year in edu- 
 cating the young, whilst at the same time a very consid- 
 erable proportion of them are compelled to live in houses 
 and under conditions which, as Lord Shaftesbury has 
 pointed out, absolutely neutralize all the benefits to be 
 derived from education. We hear it sometimes said that 
 the result of our free education is not everything that 
 we expected, or that we were justified in looking for. 
 May not the cause be, not in our system of free educa- 
 tion, not in the people themselves, but the method in 
 which the majority of them are housed? To raise the 
 tone of the mind by education, and to cultivate the intel- 
 ligence by reading, then to force both body and mind 
 to live amidst squalor and under the most wretched con- 
 ditions, can only have one result — the neutralizing of 
 any good effects that would otherwise have resulted from 
 our well-intentioned but misdirected efforts. Until we 
 have dealt with this great question of the housing of 
 the people, evangelists, temperance reformers, social re- 
 formers may rest assured that they are simply attempt- 
 ing to clean out an Augean stable, and that, despite all 
 
HEALTH AND HOUSING 163 
 
 their efforts, the state of those they are attempting to 
 elevate will not be better, but worse, as each year rolls on. 
 I must apologize for having occupied your attention 
 for so long a time, and taxed your patience in listening 
 to this paper. My excuse must be the importance of the 
 subject. For, believe me, it lies at the very root of the 
 future prosperity and happiness of our country. Let us 
 face this question boldly. The money is a mere bagatelle, 
 as compared with the benefits that would accrue. We are 
 the richest nation in the world. We require fresh out- 
 lets for our capital. Nothing that could possibly be sug- 
 gested would give a greater return to the nation than 
 the one I have indicated. 
 
SHOP COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 
 
 I think the first fact that we must recognize is that, in 
 the coming days, the employer will not be considered to 
 be the sole arbiter of the conditions of employment, nor 
 will the employee. The time is coming — and coming 
 very rapidly — when both employer and employee must 
 be more subject than they are to-day to control by the 
 State. It is not merely a question of the rights and 
 duties of employer and employee, but we know now that 
 the public, the consumer, and, in fact, the well-being 
 of the State and of the Empire, have also to be consid- 
 ered. We have not yet developed to the point that we 
 can be trusted, any of us, to be unselfish from the highest 
 motives of enlightened self-interest. The education and 
 health and training in efficiency of the whole nation de- 
 pend upon the hours of labour and the conditions of 
 employment. 
 
 I know that there is a preconceived false idea in many 
 minds that welfare work in factories is largely a ques- 
 tion of canteens, model villages, free libraries, and so on; 
 but, in my opinion, welfare work in factories is much 
 more a question of wages and hours, of ventilation in 
 the factory, of cubical air space, of heating and lighting 
 and sanitation, than it is a question of any of the so- 
 called welfare work of canteens and so on. Every fact, 
 circumstance, and condition of employment affecting the 
 workers engaged in a factory or office — mentally, physi- 
 cally, or materially — must come within its scope. 
 
 164 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 165 
 
 Our modern problem in considering industrial de- 
 velopments is merely one of size. The metallurgical lab- 
 oratory you have shown to me this afternoon is prob- 
 ably many times larger than the largest engineering works 
 in Sheffield a century and a half ago, and yet it is only 
 an experimental and training college for students. A 
 bigger development in industrialism than that made in 
 the last fifty years will be made in the next fifty years; 
 and yet the progress and development made since, say 
 i860 to the present time, are probably greater, in science 
 and industrialism throughout the world, than achieved 
 in all the centuries preceding that time. Up to now, 
 the creation of our machinery with due suitability to the 
 work it had to perform has been the only item in a fac- 
 tory that has received full consideration. The men and 
 women operating the machines have been entirely for- 
 gotten and neglected. I need not enlarge on these points 
 here; I am speaking to those who have become aware of 
 this outstanding and appalling fact in the course of their 
 study of welfare work. It is quite sufficient merely to 
 mention this fact and to pass on, and I will, therefore, 
 at once plunge into a consideration of some methods of 
 standardizing welfare work in factories. 
 
 Before the employer approaches the consideration of 
 welfare work for employees, the first care of all must 
 be the factory building itself and its ventilation, lighting, 
 and sanitation. Its position is much better in suburban 
 or rural areas than in the town itself. The factory build- 
 ings must be well lighted and well ventilated. Canteens 
 are a necessary part of the equipment, but appliances 
 intended to produce the good health of the employees 
 have not received in the past sufficient attention, and 
 they are entitled to the fullest consideration. 
 
 Now that we have women workers doing the work of 
 men away on war service, the factory clothing has been 
 
166 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 adapted to their new employment. Now, baths are an 
 essential in factories. Rest-rooms are an essential as 
 well as clothing and other items; but of the greatest 
 importance of all in these matters is the prevention of 
 accidents — a movement called " Safety First," which, I 
 believe, originated in the United States. But before I 
 can explain a working system with regard to the pre- 
 vention of accidents, I would like to explain to you a 
 system of Works Committees, because it is through the 
 Works Committees that the scheme for the prevention 
 of accidents is carried on. 
 
 I am constantly being asked the question whether the 
 rank-and-file workers cannot sit on Boards of Directors 
 and engage in the highest policy of business management 
 as Directors. Now, may I put the problem to you thus: 
 As one who knew nothing at all about the business of 
 soap-making thirty years ago, I had to begin in a small 
 way. Each of our Directors has been a member of the 
 staff, with one solitary exception, and it was only as I 
 and my colleagues acquired knowledge and experience 
 step by step that we were qualified for the larger business 
 and ever-increasing business. That rule must apply 
 throughout the whole of the staff, and therefore we must 
 begin with a system of Works Committees. 
 
 Now, one system of Works Committees, that I pro- 
 pose to describe may be briefly defined as follows: It 
 commences with the formation of Divisional Works Com- 
 mittees; these Divisional Works Committees are sub- 
 sidiary to a General Works Council, which, in its turn, is 
 subsidiary to the Works Control Board, so you see there 
 are three lines of committees — Divisional Works Com- 
 mittees, General Works Council, and Works Control 
 Board. The constitution and duties of the Divisional 
 Committees are as follows : Each department of the 
 works appoints its own Divisional Committee, consisting 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 167 
 
 of ten members. That is, each department of the works, 
 remember ; and in the example I refer to there are twenty 
 of these Divisional Committees, which means a total of 
 200 members. Of the ten members of each Divisional 
 Committee, five represent management and five represent 
 the staff, and the chairman is, elected from the five mem- 
 bers of the management. The members of the staff, as 
 well as of the management, must be co-partners, which 
 means that they must have- had at least four years' serv- 
 ice with the firm. They are nominated and elected by 
 the employees of the department they represent. Em- 
 ployee representatives sit for six months only and then 
 retire, but are eligible for re-election after twelve months. 
 This system is to obtain as wide an interest as possible. 
 Where males and females are employed, separate com- 
 mittees of females may, if desired, be appointed. 
 
 The duties of Divisional Committees are : (a) Dealing 
 with suggestions made by the staff. These suggestions 
 cover a wide field: they relate to improvement in the 
 conduct of the work, suggestions with regard to the 
 safety and health of the employees, and any matter about 
 which a member of the staff may desire to make a sug- 
 gestion, (b) Suggestions can be made for the better- 
 ment of the division, or the works as a whole, (c) The 
 third duty is to see to the observance of the rules and 
 regulations and to suppress waste and irregularities. 
 (d) To inquire into all accidents, (e) To hear appeals 
 against dismissals — that is a very important matter ; and 
 (/) to make general recommendations on any subject. 
 Meetings may be held alternately in the Company's and 
 in the employees' own time ; therefore, you see, half the 
 meetings may be held in the Company's time, say morn- 
 ing or afternoon, and half in the employees' time, in 
 the evening. No fees or payments attach to member- 
 ship. 
 
168 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 As I said before, there are twenty of these Divisional 
 Committees. Of the duties mentioned, it is found that 
 dealing with and investigating suggestions and making 
 suggestions for betterment and prevention of accidents 
 occupy the largest portion of the time and attention of 
 the Divisional Committees. With regard to the first two, 
 Suggestion Boxes are installed in conspicuous and con- 
 venient places throughout the works, containing neces- 
 sary stationery forms and envelopes. An employee 
 wishing to make a suggestion does so on the form pro- 
 vided for that purpose, signs his or her name or not, 
 as either may wish, places it in an envelope, and puts it 
 in the letter-box. The secretary of the Divisional Com- 
 mittee, on receipt of the suggestion, enters it on the 
 register, gives a number to it, and sends a receipt for it 
 to the suggestor. The Divisional Committee can, after 
 discussion, recommend its adoption or rejection or modi- 
 fication, but has no other power, and then it passes on 
 to the General Works Council. 
 
 With regard to accidents : When an employee meets 
 with an accident, however trivial, he or she must imme- 
 diately report to the foreman or forewoman, who in turn 
 reports to the Divisional Manager, in order that a notice 
 may be sent to the Safety Inspector. It is the duty of the 
 Divisional Committee, after hearing evidence on the ac- 
 cident, to record the cause of the accident. Arising out 
 of the inquiry, the Divisional Committee make recom- 
 mendations for prevention of similar future accidents 
 by the installation of suggested safety appliances. There 
 is no branch of welfare work in factories that is so neces- 
 sary and, in fact, so essential to efficiency as the installa- 
 tion of a Safety First Committee and a Safety First 
 Inspector, and, in connection therewith, a surgery or first- 
 aid room. Accident prevention pays. Prevention is not 
 merely a question of guards. The education of the em- 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 169 
 
 ployee on lines of safety is most important. The axiom 
 of all of us must be that it is always better to remove 
 a source of danger than to set guards around it. Guards 
 are of great value, but they are not the only means of 
 protection. Careful and systematic education of the 
 employees in the principles of Safety First are of, at 
 least, equal importance. Now, there are Safety Museums 
 in France and in the United States; we have none in the 
 United Kingdom. Our lack in this has been pointed out 
 to the Home Office. The Home Office does nothing be- 
 yond expressing its blessing, but takes no action to 
 grant the blessing of a Safety Museum. Now, safety 
 and prevention of accident must not be merely a putting 
 up of placards. I could give you an instance of a sug- 
 gestion from the employees to show that mere notices in 
 themselves are not as important as the education and 
 arousing the personal interest of the staff. In the case 
 of a machine operated by women serious accidents were 
 continually occurring, and all attempts to adequately 
 prevent them failed. A suggestion of a safety appliance 
 to be fixed to the machine was made by one of the em- 
 ployees. It was so applied, and no accident has since 
 occurred. The time taken up by these Divisional meet- 
 ings is not large. 
 
 We have throughout the works a number of what are 
 called " Safety Bulletin Boards." These are placed at 
 the entrance to each factory building, and on these boards 
 is exhibited a summary of the various safety notices, so 
 that the principal ones are at all times on view to the 
 employee. These occupy one-half of the board, and on 
 the other half any special notices for the day or week 
 are exhibited from time to time. When new notices are 
 put up, a cut-out finger, printed, is pointed to the notices 
 and placed above them. Mottoes are hung in various de- 
 partments to get the various employees interested in 
 
170 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 reading the notices, and new mottoes are continually 
 gathered and added to the list. The most frequent 
 source of accidents is the neglect of employees to replace 
 the guards on machinery after cleaning or oiling. To 
 prevent this there has been originated a system of small 
 tablets, printed in red, and so fixed as to come into view 
 only when the guard is removed, so that if the guard is 
 not replaced this tablet announces the fact to the oper- 
 ator. To superintend all this finds full employment for 
 what is called a " Safety Inspector," who devotes the 
 whole of his time to the duties of " Safety Firs,t." He 
 makes a systematic inspection of guards and sees that 
 they are maintained in an efficient manner. Now, I will 
 give you the opinion of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of 
 Factories for the North-Western Division. In review- 
 ing the cases of accidents that came before him, he sug- 
 gests " the adoption of a scheme in force in a very large 
 works in his district which he thinks would do more to 
 reduce accidents than any Act of Parliament or an army 
 of inspectors." He then proceeds to describe the scheme 
 I have just outlined to you — the Safety First scheme- 
 but, of course, without naming the firm or giving any 
 clue for identification. 
 
 I will now give you some figures. I have got here a 
 Safety Inspector's Report for last August. It reads as 
 follows : — 
 
 Since my appointment as Factory Safety Inspector of 
 these works the number of accidents has been reduced to 
 almost a minimum, and to achieve this end it was first of 
 all necessary to educate our employees to the knowledge 
 that " Safety " was for them. Safety Notices and Bulletins 
 were freely exhibited on special Bulletin Boards throughout 
 the factory, and at the commencement of this campaign the 
 employees wondered what was meant by the steps taken. 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 171 
 
 After accidents had occurred and safety devices had been 
 installed to prevent their recurrence, they were quick to 
 realize and appreciate the precautions taken to eliminate 
 accidents, however trivial. Our employees are now almost 
 as enthusiastic as myself, and from day to day I am in 
 receipt of suggestions as to the treatment of what they them- 
 selves consider " danger zones." 
 
 It is evident to all that the number of accidents since the 
 inauguration of our campaign has been materially reduced, 
 as compared with the number reported during the cor- 
 responding period of the year 1916. This, in face of the 
 fact that a very large proportion of our workpeople are 
 new to our class of work, consequent upon the dilution of 
 male labour entailed by the calling of our men to the 
 Colours. Hundreds of women are now engaged on work 
 previously executed by these men, and although working 
 at abnormal pressure and under conditions which tend to an 
 increased accident roll, I am happy to be able to report a 
 reduction in the number of reportable accidents of 64 per 
 cent. During the first six months of 1916, 113 accidents 
 were reported to H.M. Inspector ; during the first six months 
 of 1917 this number was reduced to 41, whilst the amount 
 paid in compensation showed a reduction of nearly £100, 
 and in loss of wages to employees of fi6o. 
 
 Notices for our bulletin cases are changed weekly, with 
 the exception of those appearing in the left-hand portion of 
 the case, which are of a permanent nature. 
 
 In addition to these bulletins and permanent notices we 
 have also " Warning " Notices posted conspicuously 
 throughout the factory, such as : — 
 
 " Crossing." 
 
 " Railway Track." 
 7 " Look Out For Trains." 
 
 " Transporters." 
 
 " Speed Limit," etc. 
 
172 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 A copy of our " Safety Rules " is also posted at frequent 
 intervals throughout the works. 
 
 For a considerable time we had great difficulty in edu- 
 cating our employees in the use of goggles and respirators. 
 Notices were therefore posted, and cases containing goggles 
 and respirators fixed in the various departments in which 
 the use of these safety devices was desirable, with the result 
 that there is now no hesitation whatever on the part of the 
 employee in using these, or in making application for the 
 renewal of those worn out. With this enthusiasm on the 
 part of our employees the efficiency of these safety devices 
 has been proved by the fact that there has not been a 
 single accident reported since their introduction. 
 
 The question of accident prevention is occupying much 
 attention, and I am sure that, considering the short time 
 the campaign has been in vogue, great and satisfactory re- 
 sults will be obtained, both as regards accidents through 
 " machinery in motion " and accidents arising through other 
 causes. 
 
 I would like to draw attention to some of our perma- 
 nent notices on machines, particularly to one relating to 
 " machine running." Many accidents have occurred owing 
 to the machine-minder being called away from the machine 
 and leaving it running, and to the interference of other em- 
 ployees who had no knowledge of its working. All ma- 
 chines worked by young people have a small card of instruc- 
 tions fitted into a tin frame, and the operator, after having 
 been thoroughly instructed as to the machine's manipula- 
 tion and the use of Safety devices in connection therewith, 
 appends his or her signature to the card, which is then 
 suspended from the machine in a prominent position. In 
 the event of operators being moved from one machine to 
 another, the same routine is again gone through. No 
 operator who has occasion to leave a machine now allows it 
 to run during his or her absence, and thus, through the 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 173 
 
 notice under question, the risk of innumerable accidents 
 is avoided. Another notice, referring to the question of 
 men working on " shafting," is placed on the starting gear 
 by the oiler whose duty it is to attend to the oiling of shaft 
 bearings, and the person responsible for the starting up 
 of the machine makes certain that all is clear before starting 
 up. A warning notice is attached to every electric motor 
 throughout the factory. In the past, many accidents have 
 occurred in consequence of workmen removing guards and 
 neglecting to replace them. The warning notices are now 
 placed under each guard, and are not visible while the guards 
 are in position. Immediately, however, a guard is removed, 
 the notice is quite prominent, and reminds the worker of 
 the necessity of carefully replacing the guard before 
 starting the machine. We have not had a single acci- 
 dent from this cause since the inauguration of these 
 notices. 1 
 
 Another innovation is our Waste Campaign. Anti-Waste 
 Bulletin Notices have been prepared and are placed in 
 prominent positions throughout the factory. Permanent 
 notice boards are fixed in all the main passages leading to 
 the different departments, whilst portable notice boards are 
 placed in the workrooms, and can be moved from one part 
 of the room to the other, so that the bulletins are always 
 kept fresh in the minds of the workers. 
 
 Now, from the Divisional Committee all reports and 
 recommendations are passed on to the General Works 
 Council. The General Works Council I wish to describe 
 to you is composed of the chairmen of the various Di- 
 visional Committees. Its meetings are held monthly, 
 and its chairman, in turn, is the General Works Man- 
 ager. Its chief functions are: (a) To review recom- 
 mendations from the Divisional Committees; (&) to re- 
 
 1 For statistics see next page. 
 
174 
 
 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 The following Port Sunlight Accident Statistics for 1916 and 
 1917 illustrate the results achieved by the " Safety First " Cam- 
 paign which came into operation in the middle of 1916. 
 
 
 Number of Accidents 
 
 Nature of Accidents 
 
 1916 
 
 1917 
 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 Slipping, stumbling, falling on floors . . . 
 Slipping, stumbling, falling on gangways 
 Trapped in Hand Stamping Machines.. 
 Trapped in Machinery in motion, Winch 
 and Crane, Ropes and Slings, Belting, 
 
 3° 
 I 
 I 
 
 16 
 
 s 
 
 10 
 23 
 
 13 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 II 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 6 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 18 
 I 
 I 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 IS 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 Trapped in Wagon Buffers, etc 
 
 
 Tripping over Railway Metals 
 
 1 
 
 Self-inflicted through cutting, striking 
 
 3 
 
 Falling of tools, fittings, materials, etc. 
 
 Scalds and burns from acids, steam, 
 
 caustic soda, etc 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 Slipping of tools, breaking of lifting 
 gear, rope lashings, etc 
 
 
 Strains and bruises from lifting, stack- 
 
 5 
 
 (Many doubtful cases. See below.) 
 Giving way of roofing, tilting of stag- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Other foreign bodies in the eye — as 
 acids, soap, dust, etc. 
 
 1 
 
 
 152 
 
 49 
 
 68 
 
 33 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 175 
 
 DEGREE OF INJURY 
 
 1916 
 
 Fatal 
 
 Severe 
 
 Moder- 
 ately 
 Severe 
 
 Slight 
 
 Total 
 Accidents 
 
 Per cent. 
 to Total 
 Employ 
 
 Males 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 146 
 48 
 
 152 
 49 
 
 5-99 
 
 1.66 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 194 
 
 201 
 
 3.67 
 
 1917 
 
 — 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 66 
 32 
 
 68 
 33 
 
 2.56 
 
 
 0.89 
 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 98 
 
 IOI 
 
 i.59 
 
 view accident recommendations from the Divisional 
 Committees; (c) to consider questions of repairs and 
 renewals to the plant and buildings and to prepare esti- 
 mates of the cost of same; (d) to discuss generally any 
 matter which members may bring forward; and (e) 
 other matters. Having expressed its views on sugges- 
 tions and recommendations and added recommendations 
 of its own thereto, the General Works Council passes 
 on the various matters to the Works Control Board. 
 
 The Works Control Board consists of the Managing 
 Director, who, as Director, has special charge of manu- 
 facture and of the works, with the General Manager and 
 with such of the Divisional Managers as may be co- 
 opted. The Control Board has full power of adoption 
 or rejection, but if the adoption entails capital expendi- 
 ture over a very small and limited amount, the approval 
 of the full Board of Directors is required. The final 
 decision having been obtained, instructions to manage- 
 ment are given out on forms: provided, and the work is 
 proceeded with. Awards to the suggestors are made 
 annually for suggestions made and adopted. 
 
176 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 In addition to the above committees, there is a syj 
 tern of conferences composed of the Head Management, 
 managers, heads of departments, foremen, and staff, foi 
 the purpose of encouraging suggestions and establishing 
 closer co-operation between the various departments, 
 The General Conference sits every four or six weeks, 
 when matters of interest affecting the industrial position 
 generally, or the firm in particular, are discussed. There 
 has been also instituted a system of periodic visits of 
 the foremen and managers of each department through 
 the whole of the rest of the works. Nothing that has 
 been introduced has given better results than that. Many 
 of the foremen and managers only see their own depart- 
 ment, and in going around other departments they make 
 suggestions to the managers of those departments as to 
 things they have found useful in their own experience, 
 and what they have done in their own department in im- 
 provements, and they receive many suggestions from the 
 departments they are visiting. These visits have been an 
 unbounded success, just these little periodic visits to the 
 other departments by the foremen and managers. 
 
 The managers, heads of departments, and foremen 
 have formed a club called " The Progress Club." This 
 club has a room and a special library of technical books 
 and periodicals for the use of its members. It meets 
 once a month for hearing papers read by the members, 
 and discussion follows. The Progress Club is a thor- 
 oughly live institution, and has justified its existence and 
 name. 
 
 Another institution which the employees have started 
 for themselves is the " Co-Partnership in War-time Com- 
 mittee." The staff were anxious to do what they could 
 during the war, and started this committee to consider 
 on what lines they could best work under war conditions. 
 It has been a thorough success, on lines similar to the 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 177 
 
 Progress Club, but Co-Partners only are eligible for 
 membership. I would like, if time had permitted, to say 
 something on the great question of Co-Partner ship. I 
 am positive it is a binding and stimulating force through- 
 out the whole organization of business, and represents a 
 very long step in advance on the mere wages system 
 alone. 
 
 Now, springing out of Co-Partnership, the firm I am 
 taking as an example have had a body of men who have 
 started themselves to work on their Co-Partnership 
 motto, which is, " Waste not, want not." I have brought 
 specimens of the notices of these, but I do not think it 
 would serve any useful purpose to attempt to exhibit 
 them, as they would nQt be seen, and, with your permis- 
 sion, I will not do so — but these mottoes are very helpful, 
 and they are inspired by the Co-Partners themselves. 
 Well, then, there are many other institutions, such as 
 Long Service Awards. These are intended to encourage 
 men to remain with the firm. The staff have got their 
 own Sick, Funeral, and Medical Aid Society. There are 
 an Employees' Benefit Fund, a Holiday Club, and a 
 Savings Bank, and, with regard to Savings Banks, my 
 own ideal, though I have never heard of any firm who 
 have put it into practice, is that the wages of the rank- 
 and-file worker ought to be paid to his credit in a bank 
 in just the same way that the salaries of the managers 
 are generally paid to their credit with their bankers. I 
 believe the system of his going to a pay-office and wait- 
 ing his turn and drawing his wages in cash and slipping 
 it into his pocket accounts for the excessive spending 
 that takes place when wages are high. I believe that if 
 the employee's wages were paid into his bank to the 
 credit of his own private account, and he had to reverse 
 the process and go to the bank when he wanted money 
 for himself or for his wife, he would be inclined every 
 
178 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 week to leave a little in the bank. I have mentioned thi 
 suggested method of wage-paying to workers, and I fim 
 that more than half were most favourably disposed to it 
 The only objection I heard was from one man who said 
 " I like to see my wages in my hand." 
 
 Well, now I come to the question of education. Th< 
 firm I am using as an example had for many years madi 
 it a condition of employment that all young persons oi 
 eighteen years of age and under, of both sexes, shoulc 
 attend the evening classes for certain nights each week 
 That was found to be a failure. Take the case of boyi 
 and girls of fourteen years of age leaving school and 
 commencing work. They have been going to school a< 
 9 a.m., they have had a quarter of an hour break for 
 play, have gone home at twelve noon, going back again 
 at 1.30 or 2 p.m., with another break during the after- 
 noon, have gone home at four o'clock. To take them, 
 at fourteen years of age, from such conditions and 
 plunge them into work in a factory or office side by side 
 with adults, and after working them during the whole 
 day to expect these young boys and girls to attend eve- 
 ning classes never was likely to prove a success. They 
 have not the strength, and are tired out. They are not 
 then in the mental or bodily condition to receive educa- 
 tion, and you will not be surprised to hear the results 
 were most unsatisfactory. So this method has been 
 discarded, and the firm have got what they call a " Staff 
 Training College." It was only started experimentally 
 this year. Young people under eighteen in such de- 
 partments as the firm are experimenting with- — and the 
 firm are experimenting with as many as the class-room ac- 
 commodation will permit — take their education in the 
 firm's time; they do not take it in the evening. It is 
 hoped in this way to give them a much better education. 
 The firm have a great many volunteers from amongst 
 
COMMITTEES AND SHOP EFFICIENCY 179 
 
 their own staff who are undertaking the teaching, all ex- 
 penses in connection therewith being paid by the firm. 
 
 Now I come, lastly, to what many people would place 
 first, and that is the provision of a model village. There 
 is much to be said in favour of such welfare work; but 
 my own opinion is that the employer ought never to be 
 in the position of landlord to the employee; still, if the 
 employer has to choose between being in the position of 
 landlord and the people being badly housed, then the 
 lesser evil is for him to build suitable houses and be 
 landlord; but it is not the right relationship. There are 
 various institutions spring up in such a village. I would 
 like to give you some statistics, which I can readily do, 
 as to the number of births and deaths. The death-rate in 
 the village in 1916 was 8 per thousand, and the birth- 
 rate 19.55 per thousand; the highest rate we had reached 
 before the war for births was 52.71 per thousand in 
 1903. So that if one has to choose between good homes 
 built by the employer, with a high birth-rate and a low 
 death-rate, and the objection to the employer being in 
 the position of landlord, I think the lesser evil is that he 
 should be in the position of landlord. 
 
 Of all welfare work in factories, a proper apportion- 
 ment of the time is the one that will yield the best re- 
 sults. 
 
 A six-hour working day would give all that we require 
 in production from our workers, so that we can pay to 
 the workers the same rate of pay for the reduced hours 
 that they receive for the longer hours : it would solve the 
 education question for the boy and girl on first leaving 
 school; it would solve the question of physical training; 
 it would solve the question of military training, so 
 that we could have a trained citizen army ; and it would 
 solve the question of the outlook on life of our workers. 
 
 It was never the Creator's intention to send us into 
 
180 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 the world so many "hands " — He sent us with imagina- 
 tion, He sent us with the love of the country, He sent us 
 with ideals and outlook, and these are simply stifled un- 
 der our present industrial system. 
 
XI 
 
 INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The answer to the question, " What is the employer's 
 position at the present time ? " depends, like the answer 
 to so many other questions, upon the point of view that 
 this position is regarded from. You will remember the 
 story of the painter who was explaining to his sitter for 
 a portrait that he could only paint his portrait as he saw 
 the sitter, to which the sitter promptly replied, " But, 
 unfortunately, I can only see my portrait ast you paint 
 it." However, I may, perhaps, better answer the ques- 
 tion by adopting the answer given to the question, " Is 
 life worth living ? " — the answer to which was, you will 
 remember, that " It all depends upon the liver." If the 
 employer's liver is out of order he is apt to take the view 
 that "the times are out of joint"; and it is not impos- 
 sible, under similar circumstances, that the workman, 
 even when working in good conditions of employment, 
 might, if he was told, as was the Irishman, that he could 
 not do too much for a good master, give the answer, 
 " No more will I." However, we shall all agree that 
 to-day it were wise if both employer and employee ex- 
 amined their relationships in the past and looked well 
 ahead into the future. 
 
 And the first point in the near future that will present 
 itself to both will be the consideration of after-war con- 
 ditions. The experience gained by both employer and 
 employee during this war makes it impossible for either 
 to resume work after the war with conditions quite the 
 
 181 
 
182 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 same as they were when the war broke out. For 01 
 thing alone, the war has added nearly one and a ha 
 millions of income-tax payers to the previous numb 
 who came within the net of the Chancellor of the E: 
 chequer, which of itself is a revolution. This increas 
 in numbers is not only the natural effect of lowering tli 
 limit of exemption, but mainly, as far as is ascertainabl 
 at present, from actual increases in wages and salari 
 This is a grand fact and, if the employer can take a fai 
 sighted view, is an immense gain to the strength of in 
 dustrial production. 
 
 Statistics of incomes and income-tax payers, whei 
 carefully examined, reveal this great truth, that to brinj 
 a larger body of wage-earners within the scope of tb 
 income-tax collector has the undoubted tendency to in 
 crease the efforts of each to earn a larger income out o: 
 which to pay the tax. Equally, every raising of the rati 
 at which income tax is levied has been followed by in 
 creased efforts, successfully made, to increase income! 
 out of which to pay the increased tax. Therefore th< 
 effect of placing one and a half million additional in- 
 come-tax payers on this higher platform has been tc 
 place an increased number of employers and employees 
 side by side as income-tax payers, and give them one 
 common object to strive for, viz., to maintain and to in- 
 crease incomes. We are all inclined to say, with the 
 Irishman, " Be jabers to the tax, if you will give me 
 the income," and having got the income, we are all in- 
 clined to make increased efforts to make the income suf- 
 ficiently large to stand the contribution demanded by the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the form of income tax, 
 without diminishing the balance remaining for the in- 
 come earner. 
 
 To ensure the highest degree of efficiency in plant, ma- 
 chinery, and all the mechanical utilities required for pro- 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 183 
 
 duction and distribution, the employer requires good prof- 
 its; and, equally, to ensure the highest degree of effi- 
 ciency for employees, high wages and reasonable hours 
 of employment are necessary. Good profits for the em- 
 ployer enable the prompt scrapping of old plant and ma- 
 chinery, and the installation of better equipment, to be 
 successfully accomplished. Equally, high wages and 
 reasonable hours for the employee react in increasing the 
 physical and mental tone and efficiency of the worker. 
 Therefore, the tendency of modern conditions is to bring 
 the interests of employers and employees nearer and 
 nearer together, if these interests are rightly understood, 
 but not otherwise. 
 
 And what are the problems to be faced ? The biggest 
 problem the employer has to face, and one that is always 
 present with him, is to surround himself with a perma- 
 nent efficient staff, happy and contented in their employ- 
 ment, who will not only work for him, but, what is much 
 more valuable, will work with him. I knew a manufac- 
 turer in America, a very successful man, who was once 
 asked which he would prefer — a fire that burnt out his 
 factory, his buildings, machinery, and plant to total ex- 
 tinction, or some plague or epidemic that killed off his 
 staff. There was no hesitation in the answer, which was 
 prompt and quick, that he would prefer the fire ; because 
 he could sooner replace the factory, buildings, machinery, 
 and plant than he could get together another staff; be- 
 sides, with his staff remaining to him, he declared, he 
 could worry through all right without the factory, the 
 plant, and machinery, until he got the same replaced. 
 And the reason for this preference is obvious. An effi- 
 cient staff is a staff trained to their duties, and this 
 training depends upon constant repetition in perform- 
 ance of the same duties, and in solving the same problems 
 of the business. Repetition is the basis of efficiency, 
 
184 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 which can only be achieved as the result of long service 
 Therefore, one of the principal objects of the employei 
 must be to attach to himself an efficient staff; but, tc 
 ensure this, it is absolutely essential to convince the em- 
 ployee working for salary or wages that the welfare of 
 the employer and employee are identical. We are all 
 agreed that, to ensure ideal conditions and an ideal rela- 
 tionship between employers and employees, employment 
 must be so organized that profits earned shall not only be 
 sufficient to provide good living conditions for the em- 
 ployees, and a reasonable return on the capital invested 
 for the employer, but shall be such as to ensure the ad- 
 vancement of the industry and the contentment and sat- 
 isfaction of both employers and employees. Mere desire 
 to attach a staff to a particular industry, and to ensure 
 long service, is not sufficient. The solution of this prob- 
 lem can only be found in the actual working conditions 
 themselves, and until these working conditions are ac- 
 ceptable to both employers and employees, neither are yet 
 prepared to surrender their weapons of attack and de- 
 fence, or to " beat their swords into ploughshares and 
 their spears into pruning-hooks " in order the better to 
 cultivate a larger and richer harvest. 
 
 The gulf at present separating employers and em- 
 ployees is very largely a misunderstanding of the condi- 
 tions affecting each. The employee has an exaggerated 
 idea of the volume of the profits produced under ordi- 
 nary normal conditions of the industry in which he is 
 engaged. The employer, faced with demands for higher 
 wages and knowing the competition he has to face, is 
 nervous in granting advances for fear his small margin 
 of profit shall be turned into an actual loss. As you 
 know, a minority of employers, myself included, hold 
 very strongly the view that only under a system of actual 
 Co-Partnership can the spirit of greed and fear be elimi- 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 185 
 
 nated and a just division of profits as between employer 
 and employee be obtained. 
 
 But I propose that we devote ourselves to the consid- 
 eration, not of Profit-Sharing or Co-Partnership, which 
 subject I have dealt with elsewhere as fully as my limited 
 capacity has permitted me, but rather of what, for want 
 of a better name, I propose to call " Industrial Adminis- 
 tration," and of those principles that must be recognized 
 if there are to be any profits available for division. But I 
 would here again repeat that under no scheme of Co- 
 Partnership can the basic principle of industrial adminis- 
 tration be ignored without entailing serious injury to the 
 employers and employees, and serious limitations to the 
 expansion of industries and actual curtailment of both 
 wages and profits. 
 
 Now, what are a few of the principles that, combined, 
 must form and under all circumstances include both the 
 employers' point of view, viz., good profits, with the em- 
 ployees' point of view, high wages and reasonable hours ? 
 The chief of these basic principles are increased produc- 
 tion with consequent reduction of overhead charges and 
 reduced operating costs, combined with shorter hours for 
 workers, resulting in better working conditions, leading 
 to greater efficiency and producing higher wages and bet- 
 ter profits. To ensure the attainment of these aims and 
 objects and of these sound economic conditions, and as 
 part of the control of labour, the words " Scientific Man- 
 agement " have been applied. Unfortunately, much that 
 is preached and sometimes practised by this school of em- 
 ployers is neither scientific nor worthy of the name of 
 management. But underlying all the error of this school 
 of thought are some good, sound, wholesome practices. 
 But perhaps a less stilted and less irritating title would be 
 " Industrial Administration." The supreme spirit of 
 scientific management worthy of that description must 
 
186 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 be that of administration. " Management " rarely con- 
 siders the workman other than from the point of view of 
 control, and to thrust the antagonizing spirit of control 
 to the front place, as so-called " Scientific Management " 
 would appear to be doing, is not to make the relations 
 between employers and employees less irritating, but 
 rather the contrary. The whole idea associated with 
 " Management " is that of control, which idea has em- 
 balmed itself, and its meaning, in the name " boss." 
 But workmen have grown and developed much during 
 the last quarter century, and are no longer blindly con- 
 senting to be " bossed " or controlled as if they were 
 children. Workmen have become responsible human be- 
 ings, and claim some just and sane share in the manage- 
 ment of their own lives and conditions. The workman 
 to-day claims rights, and does not deny that the exercise 
 of rights will bring with it the responsibility for the 
 performance of duties, and these duties he is willing to 
 undertake. But to show how inapplicable the word 
 " Management " is, it is obvious that you cannot have 
 management of rights nor management of duties. To 
 show the better applicability of the word " Administra- 
 tion," you can have administration of rights and ad- 
 ministration of duties. Therefore, if employers and em- 
 ployees are to be brought to work together, and if all 
 suspicion and distrust, not to say actual and active op- 
 position, are to be abolished, then the idea of " Manage- 
 ment " as " bossism " must be surrendered by the em- 
 ployer. 
 
 At this point, I think I can read the thoughts of many 
 in the room, who will be wondering whether I am advo- 
 cating the surrender of all discipline in Industrialism. 
 Nothing of the sort. There must now, and for all time, 
 be authority and law in Industrialism as in the Army, 
 and as in all places where communities have to live and 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 187 
 
 act and work together. Both employer and employee 
 must agree fully and without reserve in this, otherwise 
 Industrialism and the working together of an organized 
 system for production would be impossible, and mankind 
 would degenerate into a mob. 
 
 We must have authority and law and due observance 
 of discipline in the factory and workshop as on the 
 steamship, and as for the nation and State. But do not 
 let us confuse ourselves over this essential. The question 
 is, Has the authority to be autocratic? If so, have your 
 management as " boss," and endeavour to make it as 
 scientific as possible. Or shall the authority be demo- 
 cratic? In that case, let us adopt the description for the 
 authority we must provide that best fits our aims and 
 intentions, viz., administration. You will find that whilst 
 the dictionary gives " control " as one of the meanings 
 of management, that word does not appear as one of the 
 meanings of administration, but the words "to direct," 
 " to dispense " ; and the word " guardian " is given as the 
 meaning of the word "administrator." These latter all 
 form a good democratic basis, and the necessity for 
 authority, law, discipline, and obedience, under these con- 
 ditions, is at once admitted, and can be accepted without 
 humiliation or loss of self-respect, when " bossism," even 
 if called " Scientific Management," would raise a spirit of 
 opposition founded on the resentment we all feel to that 
 very idea when applied to ourselves. 
 
 Scientific Administration we would all welcome as ap- 
 plying to established principles supporting the laws for 
 the working together of hundreds, or thousands, or mil- 
 lions of men and women in productive enterprises for 
 the combined benefit of employers, employees, and of the 
 whole community. Scientific Management is apt to be 
 viewed as entirely designed to increase the profits and 
 advantages of the employer at the expense of the em- 
 
188 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ployee, whereas Scientific Administration would be wel- 
 comed as merely the science of production in the simplest, 
 easiest way which would secure the highest wages and 
 the greatest prosperity for employers and employees. 
 Scientific Administration can be honestly based on the as- 
 sumption that the interests of employers and employees 
 are identical, and opposition thereto can only be pos- 
 sible on the assumption of the obvious error that these 
 interests never can be honestly identical. 
 
 Scientific administration will make clear that restric- 
 tion of output is not only immoral for the man who 
 might have made two articles, but who only made one, but 
 that he has thus robbed his fellow-man even more wick- 
 edly than the thief who had stolen one out of any two 
 articles one of his fellow-men might have made; for 
 whilst, in the case of the robber, there would still be the 
 two articles, and both would be of service, there would 
 be only one article in the case of restriction of output, 
 and the lapse in production could never be made good. 
 
 Parliament has intervened to prevent the thraldom of 
 labour by passing Industrial Acts, limiting hours and 
 conditions of labour, fixing rates of wages, providing for 
 employers' liability for the safety and health of em- 
 ployees, and the employers' responsibility for accident, 
 ill-health, or death the direct result of employment. And 
 just as Parliament has made these laws for preventing 
 the thraldom of labour, Parliament may also be forced to 
 pass laws to prevent restriction of output as an act of 
 robbery against the common weal, and, as an act of 
 adulteration of service, just as wrong as the adulteration 
 of milk or any article of food or commerce. 
 
 Just as attempts by combinations of employers to cheat 
 the public in quality and price have been met, when and 
 where attempted, by laws to prevent the same, so simi- 
 lar attempts by combinations of Labour to cheat their 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 189 
 
 fellow-men by restriction of output must, and can be, 
 prevented by laws directed to that end. 
 
 Such a state of affairs, however, need never arise, 
 and ought never to arise, if the whole position of in- 
 dustrial administration is properly understood. 
 
 The employers' contribution to the world's progress 
 and betterment is organization of mechanical utilities 
 and machine efficiency, in order to give enormously in- 
 creased output. Industrial administration, by providing 
 the means for intensive mechanical production by in- 
 creased steam-power and more efficient plant and ma- 
 chinery, demanding less and less exhaustive strain on 
 the employees, has unlimited opportunity for increased 
 output at reduced cost after paying wages on the high- 
 est world's scale; and this can all be accomplished pro- 
 vided the fallacy of restriction of output is not permitted 
 to spoil the working of these economic principles. Me- 
 chanical utilities, mechanical horse-power, and stand- 
 ardization of products are the keystone of the arch of 
 better conditions for employer and, still more so, of 
 better conditions for employee. 
 
 High wages cannot be paid without correspondingly 
 increased output by employees. Surely the employees' 
 point of view must be the amount of wages received, the 
 length of hours worked, and the strain of mind and 
 muscle involved. If opportunity of earning high wages 
 can be assured in a reasonable eight-hour day without 
 strain or exhaustion, then the amount of product need 
 not worry the employee. The employee cannot in his 
 own interest wisely assume an attitude of approval of re- 
 striction of output. 
 
 Under these conditions, industrial administration 
 scientifically applied will provide that the profits result- 
 ing from the enormously increased output are not all to 
 go as dividends on the capital employed, but shall be 
 
190 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 shared in fair and equitable proportion between both 
 Capital and Labour. 
 
 Let us see if practical examples of the effect of a high 
 scale of output with high mechanical horse-power per 
 wage-earner can be given as showing the direct bearing 
 and connection on high wages and shorter hours for the 
 workman. The lowest output and the longest working 
 hours per wage-earner in the world are to be found in 
 China and India; and in these countries there is also the 
 lowest mechanical horse-power per wage-earner and the 
 lowest wages earned per wage-earner. The example of 
 the highest of all these will be found in the United States. 
 Let us compare these with the same in the United King- 
 dom. Mechanical horse-power per wage-earner in China 
 or India is so low as to be negligible. The mechanical 
 horse-power per wage-earner in the United States, as 
 given in Government records of industrial production, is 
 two to three times that of the United Kingdom. The 
 value of the product per wage-earner per year in the 
 United States is also found to be two to three times that 
 of the wage-earner in the United Kingdom. And how 
 do the wages paid per wage-earner compare under these 
 conditions? In India and China the average wages do 
 not exceed, for unskilled labour, 4s. per week, and for 
 skilled labour 6s. per week. The weekly wages in the 
 United Kingdom and the United States for the year 
 1912, being the latest year available for comparison, are 
 stated to be: — 
 
 U.K. 
 
 Carpenters £2. o o 
 
 Foundrymen £2. 1 o 
 
 Builders' labourers ... £1 6 o 
 
 Other skilled labour . . £200 
 
 Other unskilled labour £1 20 
 
 U.S.A. 
 
 
 £g 
 
 
 
 £g 
 
 
 
 £6 
 
 
 
 £6 4 
 
 
 
 £2 11 
 
 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 191 
 
 Of course, the rates of wages vary in different parts of 
 the United States, as in various parts of the United 
 Kingdom, and these figures are merely quoted as illus- 
 trations, and subject to such variations. Hence, whilst 
 in the United States the mechanical horse-power is two 
 to three times per wage-earner of that per wage-earner 
 in the United Kingdom, and the output is also two to 
 three times of that per wage-earner in the United King- 
 dom, the wages in the highly skilled trades in the United 
 States are over four times per wage-earner of those paid 
 in the United Kingdom, and in the less skilled trades 
 over three times, and the unskilled labour two to four 
 times that of the same grade of wage-earner in the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 Now let us see if we can find a direct example of re- 
 duced output per wage-earner in the United Kingdom as 
 compared with the same industry and increased output 
 in the United States. We can find this example most 
 readily in the statistics relating to coal, and whether this 
 reduction of output in the United Kingdom has been 
 brought about by the "ca' canny" policy in the restric- 
 tion of output or not is quite immaterial to the point it 
 illustrates. I do not know, not being connected with the 
 coal industry, how the reduced production in the United 
 Kingdom is to be accounted for, and I make no attempt 
 at guessing ; but whatever the cause may have been does 
 not affect the resulting injury to the consumer and the 
 industries of this country in competition with the rest of 
 the world. 
 
 Tons of Coal Produced per Wage-Earner per Annum 
 
 1886-90 
 191 1 .. 
 
 U.K. 
 
 U.S.A. 
 
 312 
 
 4OO 
 
 26b 
 
 613 
 
192 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Value at the Pit Mouth 
 
 1886-90 4s. iod. 6s. 4d. 
 
 191 1 8s. id. 5s. iod. 
 
 So that we see in the United States by increased me- 
 chanical horse-power, combined with increased output, 
 the cost of coal to the consumer has been reduced, and 
 the employers have been enabled to pay more than two 
 to three times the rate of wages per wage-earner in 
 mines,, as in all other industries in the United States, 
 that can be paid in the United Kingdom. Let me point 
 out that these rates and statistics are all pre-war rates 
 and subject to pre-war conditions. This increased cost 
 of coal does not benefit either employer or employee, 
 and certainly injures the consumer. In fact, under these 
 conditions, the employer (or capitalist) in the United 
 States also makes better returns on his capital than his 
 fellow-employer in the United Kingdom. But the trag- 
 edy of it is that it makes the cost of cooking, heating, 
 and lighting oppressive for the wage-earner, and creates 
 a handicap to every British industry that uses coal, mak- 
 ing the cost of production of all articles higher. It 
 threatens our iron and steel industries and, with them, 
 our world supremacy in shipbuilding and our mer- 
 cantile marine, upon which we absolutely depend for our 
 very existence as a nation. 
 
 And now let me give you figures of our greatest na- 
 tional industry of all — a national industry which is even 
 greater than the iron, steel, and coal industries added 
 together, viz., agriculture. In this industry restriction of 
 output is unknown. The farmer has a free hand in the 
 cultivation of his crops and the rearing of his live stock. 
 If we examine the pedigree of the live stock that is most 
 highly prized all over the world, whether of horses, 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 193 
 
 cattle, pigs, sheep, or whatever it may be, we find the 
 pedigree of this stock British; and if we turn to crops 
 per acre we shall again see that British farmers, un- 
 trammelled by restriction of output, hold the highest 
 place in their productive enterprise of any nation in the 
 world. We will compare the four leading agricultural 
 products in the three leading nations. 
 
 Quintals per Acre, 1913-14 
 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Potatoes. 
 
 United Kingdom . 
 
 10.0 
 
 8.4 
 
 7 .6 
 
 64 
 
 United States .... 
 
 44 
 
 5-5 
 
 4-4 
 
 29.4 
 
 
 8.0 
 
 8.0 
 
 8.4 
 
 54 
 
 And we must not overlook the fact that, in obtaining 
 this high production, our agricultural industry has had 
 to submit to the handicap of underpaid, underfed labour, 
 backward position in mechanical appliances, and lack of 
 knowledge of the science of chemistry as applied to 
 soils and fertilizers. 
 
 Just as we have seen that the highest proportion of 
 mechanical horse-power per wage-earner, aided by 
 science in administration, has raised the rate of wages 
 in all industries, so when we get these modern aids ap- 
 plied to British agriculture, so surely will the cost of 
 production be reduced by still further increased output, 
 with greatly increased wages, to labour and better re- 
 turns to the farmer. The low wages of labour in 
 agriculture have been a handicap in every way to the 
 farmer by greatly reducing the efficiency of his labour 
 and the attractiveness of farm work to the wage-earner. 
 He has had to stand impotently by and see his best 
 labour leave the country and seek the higher rate of 
 pay obtainable in the town and city. 
 
194 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 We see clearly what an awful blunder for the Em 
 pire the policy of restriction of output proves itself t 
 be. Where high mechanical horse-power per wage 
 earner is found, there the greatest output per wage 
 earner exists side by side with the highest scale of wages 
 Restriction of output is not only an economic fallae 
 but is the robbery, by the worker, of his mates of thei 
 rightful due in wages, food, clothing, houses, and wel 
 fare conditions. It is the duty of every Trade Unioi 
 official to fight this false doctrine with all his strengtr 
 and might; and I say this because I know, and I air 
 convinced by a lifelong friendship and acquaintance 
 with Trade Unions, that they have one sincere aim and 
 object which they pursue with devotion — the welfare of 
 the wage-earner. 
 
 There is nothing in mechanical horse-power, new and 
 improved machinery, producing enormously increased 
 output, to incur the opposition and enmity of Trade 
 Unions. If it pays, as it does, scientific administration to 
 scrap obsolete plant, buildings, and machinery (and we 
 know that there is no scrapping and destruction of ob- 
 solete property which will not, in the long run, prove 
 immensely profitable when it represents the price to be 
 paid for superior and more efficient methods), then 
 similarly it may be said with equal truth that it will 
 pay the wage-earner to scrap obsolete, false economic 
 methods and worn-out policies. And first of all of 
 these policies to be scrapped ought to be that of re- 
 striction of output. 
 
 There is a much broader sphere for the operations of 
 Trade Unions, providing ample work for many years 
 to come, in bettering the industrial conditions, of this 
 country. The scrapping of the policy of " ca' canny,' 
 or restriction of output, will give all the more liberty and 
 power for the advancement of these higher aims and 
 
INDUSTRIAL ADMINISTRATION 195 
 
 activities; and, in addition, this broader, better outlook 
 and higher activities for Trade Unionism will prove to 
 the world that Trade Unions are fighting not only for the 
 betterment of the workers, but are considering the in- 
 terests of the consumer and of the British Empire in com- 
 petition with all other nations in the world. 
 
 When the British public are convinced that the good 
 of the community as a whole, and the progress and 
 strength of the British Empire in competition with all 
 nations of the world, are also receiving the attention and 
 special care of Trade Unions, then woe to the capitalist 
 or employer who attempts to oppose any just demands 
 made for the furtherance of these aims and objects. 
 
 The times are changed, thank God! from when, in 
 1858, Ruskin addressed these sentences to a British 
 audience as being the then thoughts, of Capital and of 
 the general public towards Labour : — 
 
 " Be assured, my good man," you say to him, " that if you 
 work steadily for ten hours a day all your life, and if you 
 drink nothing but water, or the very mildest beer, and live 
 on very plain food, and never lose your temper, and go to 
 church every Sunday, and always remain content in the 
 position in which Providence has placed you, and never 
 grumble, nor swear, and always keep your clothes decent, 
 and rise early, and use every opportunity of improving 
 yourself, you will get on very well, and never come to the 
 parish." 
 
 Ruskin's biting sarcasm passed without effecting any 
 material change; but what biting sarcasm has failed to 
 bring home to the intelligence of employers and the 
 public may, perhaps, be learned by both from our com- 
 mon necessities in the evolution of industrialism. 
 
 When peace comes, bringing us victory over our 
 
196 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 enemies and giving us rest from the clash of arms, we 
 shall still have to enter the field of struggle for com- 
 mercial position amongst the nations of the world. It 
 is unthinkable that we and our Allies, proving victorious 
 in this cruel war, fighting for right and liberty, justice 
 and freedom, should be defeated in the struggle for in- 
 dustrial position by our present enemies and Neutral 
 nations. And yet defeat is certain if our industrial or- 
 ganization is founded on attempted oppression of Labour 
 on the one hand or restriction of output by Labour on 
 the other hand. 
 
 Our victorious Army has been drawn from all classes, 
 from the highest to the most humble in the land, who 
 have been loyal and true comrades in the trenches, and 
 it is unthinkable that when the war is over industrial 
 antagonism should prevent the Empire maintaining her 
 former proud commercial position. Let both employer 
 and employee scrap their old, antiquated, false ideas as to 
 their mutual relationships, and work with a better under- 
 standing of each other's rights and duties, recognizing 
 that this good old world is far too small to hold any 
 more than two classes in the classification of people, viz., 
 those who do their duty and those who fail to do their 
 duty. It is certain that in the next world there will be 
 only these two classes, whatever artificial divisions be- 
 tween employer and employee may have existed in this 
 world. 
 
XII 
 
 THE WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 
 
 We have all of us ideals, and the following of our ideals 
 brings us into contact with many aspects of life, but we 
 are conscious that the only part worth living of our lives 
 is following those ideals; and I know every one of us 
 in this room realizes that fact, and that we are all 
 anxious to do everything we can to realize our ideals. 
 We recognize, fully and completely, that present con- 
 ditions are not right. When we talk of Labour Unrest, 
 then I say, if Labour were quiet under present condi- 
 tions it would be a bad look-out for this country fifty 
 years from now. The healthiest signs we have got 
 to-day are Labour Unrest and all the aspirations of 
 Labour — and I may be allowed to use the word " la- 
 bour," because I think I have worked as hard as any 
 one in this room, and have done so all my life. 
 
 As an ideal, we see urged on some hands that the 
 confiscation of all the wealth to-day, the cancellation 
 of all the war loans and so on, would be a short-cut 
 to a more equal enjoyment by Labour of all that wealth 
 can place within the reach of each of us. Believe me, 
 that is a delusion. If all the money possessed by each 
 of us here in this room to-night were placed on this table 
 and pooled and divided out equally to us as we left the 
 room, the only result that such division could have 
 would be this, that those who had been thrifty and 
 worked hard, and had saved a little money, would be 
 asking themselves to-morrow, knowing that the same 
 
 197 
 
198 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 process would require to be repeated over and ov 
 again, Why should they live laborious days and dei 
 themselves enjoyments and luxuries when this was tl 
 only result? And, equally, those who had receivf 
 money that they had not worked for would feel that th 
 and future divisions would abolish the necessity of the 
 working to-morrow and their practice of thrift to-mo: 
 row, so that both sections of us in this room would g 
 away discouraged from the exercise of our full abilil 
 for work and thrift. 
 
 There can be no other way in which we can get greate 
 comfort and happiness for each of us than by produ< 
 ing more goods. That is the keynote of all, and the: 
 is no reason why in the production of more goods w 
 should not do so on such lines as will ensure a mor 
 equal distribution of the result of our labour, becaus 
 that is what we do want. Well, we are apt to think tha 
 unless there is going to be a more equal distribution o 
 wealth, there is something in the distribution at faull 
 and we are quite right in considering in what way w 
 can deal with the problem and rectify abuses. Now, th 
 only way in which we can increase wages — because tha 
 is the first step to advancement — is by increasing pro 
 duction. The only way in which we can soundly in 
 crease production is by employing more machinery. Th 
 only way in which we can make a demand, a consumin| 
 demand, for this increased production is. by cheapeninj 
 the product, otherwise, no matter what the wages are 
 the price of the product is so high that, as we are feel 
 ing now in war-time, the extra wages are of very littli 
 increased value. And, finally — and here is where I warn 
 to lay great emphasis — you cannot increase demanc 
 greatly, notwithstanding that you have raised wages, not- 
 withstanding that you have cheapened the product, unless 
 you have elevated and increased the wants of the people. 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 199 
 
 You have to increase wants. You can only raise their 
 wants by giving them more leisure. I believe that re- 
 duced hours of labour and more leisure for a proper 
 outlook on life are as essential to an increased consump- 
 tion of articles that can be produced as is a cheaper cost. 
 Now, we will imagine, for instance, that away in the 
 Congo we talked of greatly increasing the production 
 of, say calico. I have been through the Congo; the na- 
 tive there has few or no wants. A piece of calico the 
 size of a towel makes a full dress suit for the husband; 
 another piece the same size makes the full dress suit 
 for the wife, and the children need no dress at all. Now, 
 if we were to produce any quantity of calico, as soon 
 as these simple wants were satisfied there would be no 
 demand for the remainder. We would have to start in 
 the Congo by first of all inspiring in men and women 
 a love for more clothing — blouses, skirts, trousers, coats, 
 and so on; and for houses that required table-cloths, 
 sheets, curtains to the windows and all the rest that 
 makes for comfort, and then we would find that with 
 these new wants came such a demand that however much 
 calico we could produce in reason, it would be all re- 
 quired and all be sold. Now, I believe as firmly that 
 the workmen of this country — I have endeavoured to 
 practise it in my own limited way — have as much right 
 to an artistic home, a comfortable home in a garden, 
 with all the amenities of life, as their employer. Now, 
 I say that that is the first essential to the enjoyment of 
 this leisure. What use is it talking to a workman about 
 a nice artistic home with pictures or engravings on the 
 wall, taste shown in everything, when he only comes home 
 to sleep and to rest for the next day, leaves early, and 
 his only time at home is an occasional Sunday? You 
 won't raise a taste for an artistic home under these 
 conditions. Art flourishes only where there is leisure and 
 
200 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 all that art means, in increased demand for books and 
 everything that makes for comfort, and, believe me, re- 
 duced hours of labour are essential for increased de- 
 mand. 
 
 Now, if we have such a production that wages can be 
 raised, a greater volume of articles produced, costing 
 less money, and increased demand to sell them off as 
 fast as they are produced, that is an ideal and it is worth 
 striving for. We can only achieve this with machinery. 
 There must be no antipathy to enlarged output by ma- 
 chinery, and believe me, wage increases then would be- 
 come quite a matter of secondary importance. You know 
 that there is automatic machinery in which the wages 
 of the operator, however high, are a very small part of 
 the cost of production. The great part of cost of pro- 
 duction is interest, depreciation, repairs and renewals, 
 and the cost of the central power station for running the 
 machinery. Now, we have these machines, and if we are 
 wanting a greater increased output we are simultane- 
 ously wanting more ships and we are wanting more 
 machinery for the ships; and how can we in the 
 next few years duplicate our machinery for factories? 
 All our men will be wanted on shipbuilding, house-build- 
 ing, and repairing of the devastation of war; but we can 
 run our existing machinery double time, and it will not 
 cost us anything more for interest, for depreciation; only 
 a little more for raising steam in the boiler, a little more 
 for oil, a little more for repairs, and we get all that in- 
 creased production, with just those trifling expenses. 
 Labour working six hours a day, as has been proved over 
 and over again, can produce in six hours the maximum 
 it is capable of in monotonous occupations. We shall, 
 therefore, be able to pay for six hours' work at least the 
 same rate of pay as we pay for eight, because labour will 
 be capable of as much work in six as in eight hours. The 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 201 
 
 machinery will produce more, and out of this combined 
 effort, the human element working two shifts of six hours 
 each, the mechanical element working twelve hours, or 
 more, we shall have two funds created, one for reducing 
 the price of the article and another for increasing the 
 wages on the top of the reduction of hours. 
 
 These results are certain, provided we have the demand 
 for the goods when they are produced. Apart from ex- 
 port trade, which we shall be bound to cultivate, and 
 which is an enormous trade and one which we can 
 make still greater, we must have the increased 
 demand from the home trade, and that I believe the 
 six-hour day, by giving us more leisure, will ensure 
 to us. Now, why do I talk so positively about this ? Do 
 you know that we find all over the world that wages are 
 the highest where, per capita of the people, the greatest 
 amount of machinery is in existence and in employment 
 — the wages are the highest there — and as a result the 
 wealth invested in machinery in these countries has al- 
 ways an ever-increasing force compelling it to still fur- 
 ther similar investment in that direction because it pays. 
 In the United States the capital per head in machinery 
 is the highest of anywhere in the world, and wages there, 
 as we know, before the war and maybe even to-day, were 
 the highest also. In China and India the amount in- 
 vested in machinery is the lowest of any countries in the 
 world, and the wages are the lowest. And, curiously 
 enough, it was India, where the cotton is grown, where the 
 men in the cotton-mill get pence a day — eightpence and 
 ninepence a day — and where native engineers when I was 
 last in that part of the world were only getting nine- 
 pence a day — it was India, that grows the cotton, and 
 where labour works long hours for these low wages, that 
 within this very year, only a few months ago, appealed to 
 the British Parliament to be protected — from whom? 
 
202 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 From people working longer hours and being paid less 
 money? No; but from Lancashire, where the workers 
 receive more shillings per day than the Hindoo receives 
 pence, and where they work less hours, and. where they 
 have to pay freight on the cotton from India to Lanca- 
 shire, make it into goods, and again pay freight to send 
 it back to India. So that higher wages go with machinery 
 and lower cost of production, and lower wages and less 
 machinery go with higher cost of production and strangle 
 any attempt to raise and uplift labour, as we see in 
 India. 
 
 Now, I think we can claim at this point that all em- 
 ployers must abandon their idea that low wages mean 
 cheap production and high profits, and I think the work- 
 man must equally abandon his idea that limited produc- 
 tion means more labour employed and at higher wages. 
 They are both wrong, and two wrongs do not make 
 one right. 
 
 Now then, can we arrive at a prospect of some direc- 
 tion in which we can work to lift the workers? We want 
 more capital invested in labour-saving machinery to give 
 us increased output, higher wages, shorter hours, reduced 
 cost of production, and we want to eliminate the element 
 of fatigue by the reduced hours of labour as well. 
 
 Now, there is a theory, and you know the theory as 
 well as I, that labour produces all wealth. It was started 
 by Adam Smith, and is worshipped by many to-day. 
 If that were true, don't you think that the Manchester 
 Ship Canal, and other undertakings that I could mention, 
 would be veritable gold mines? In the making of a 
 canal the cost is practically all labour — digging — it is 
 practically all labour, and yet we know that the original 
 shareholders in the Manchester Ship Canal, instead of 
 making wealth, have never seen a penny return on their 
 capital in the last thirty years. If the theory were true, 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 203 
 
 not only would the Manchester Ship Canal be a veritable 
 gold mine, but the mere act of loading a ship, which is 
 the greatest labour, I imagine, in connection with ship- 
 ping, and the mere act of shovelling the coal on the boiler 
 fires, which is, perhaps, in many parts of the world a 
 still more laborious piece of work, ought to ensure a 
 profit on the voyage, but we know they do not. We know 
 that profits are not made because of the labour of load- 
 ing the ship or merely putting coal upon the fire. The 
 men who can make money are few. They are less than 
 one per thousand who can make money at all other than 
 by the receipt of wages for employment. They are less 
 than one in a hundred thousand in the very high under- 
 takings, and in the highest undertakings of all they are 
 fewer than one in a million who can organize large under- 
 takings to make money. This good old world has only 
 produced one Ford, one Rockefeller, one -Carnegie. I 
 know these men are held up to odium because it is the 
 fashion. Let us see if they deserve it. Don't you think 
 it was just as sensible of the old man who blew the organ 
 to say that he produced the music as to say that it is 
 labour that is the source of all wealth? I like this illus- 
 tration, because it is quite obvious that if the man ceases 
 blowing the organ there will be no music ; but it is equally 
 true that he may blow the organ as much and as labori- 
 ously as he likes, and that unless there is some one there 
 to play and touch the notes with discrimination and skill 
 there would be no music. And when we search how these 
 fortunes have been made by the three men I mention and 
 by all others, what do we find? We find that fortunes 
 have only been made by producing goods cheaper and 
 selling them cheaper, and by increasing the rate of wages 
 paid to the worker and reducing the hours of labour. 
 
 Take Ford's cars, for example. Ford started as a 
 young man, and I think his first occupation was on a 
 
204. THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 farm — his father's farm. Then he got an idea that he 
 could make a motor that would do a lot of the farm 
 work; just the idea that he is putting into practice now, 
 thirty years later. He had thought on the farm, and he 
 wondered if he could not make a motor to do a lot of the 
 work on the farm, and he told his wife he would go to 
 Detroit and see some of the machines; so he went. He 
 was a fairly successful farmer and he was making a fair 
 sum of money. He closed down his farm, and he and his 
 wife moved to Detroit, and he engaged himself as engi- 
 neer on the night shift to look after the Edison plant for 
 lighting the city of Detroit, at something like a quarter 
 of what he had been making as a farmer. He was quite 
 content; he had made up his mind he would get to the 
 bottom, as far as he could, of the electrical problem; 
 he found he would have to acquire a knowledge of elec- 
 tricity to make his motor, and he worked on and on, and 
 you know the result. Now, does any man begrudge Ford 
 his five millions sterling a year that he is making? 
 Fancy, that is £ 100,000 every week. Does any one be- 
 grudge it? If any do I could imagine them saying to 
 themselves — they would say it truthfully, I know — some- 
 thing like this : " It is true Ford serves the public with a 
 cheap car and, for the price, a good car. It is true Ford 
 serves his workers in his factories well, because he pays 
 them double wages; in fact, he starts a boy fresh from 
 school at a pound a day. But, but, but, Mr. Ford, you 
 make too much money; you give the public cheap cars, 
 you pay double wages in your factories, but you make 
 too much money for yourself; that is our objection." 
 Well, what would happen? Would other men be en- 
 couraged to emulate Ford's example if, after all this toil 
 of leaving the farm, working for a quarter of the wage 
 while he mastered the subject, all this laborious work, he 
 and his wife (a loyal and true wife, as every successful 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 205 
 
 man has always had) working together— if the result of 
 all that was to be told that he was making too much 
 money? You might as well tell some of his men who 
 were drawing double pay that they were making too much 
 money. The result would be the race of Fords would die 
 out, cars would cost the public more money, the wages to 
 workmen would fall to the lowest Trade Union rate- 
 that is, to half the rate Ford is paying — and the future 
 Fords would have hard work to make bare in- 
 terest on their capital. It would operate against all 
 three. 
 
 Now, let us imagine a scene at Ford's works. We will 
 imagine that his 20,000 or so operatives — I am not sure 
 how many he has, but we will say 20,000, it may be 
 40,000 — read in the paper, the local paper, that Ford 
 has made five million pounds sterling, twenty-five million 
 dollars, the year before, and they have discussed that 
 fact the night before, and they have come to the con- 
 clusion that Mr. Ford is making far too much and have 
 decided that they will go and interview him, because 
 " labour creates all wealth," say they, " Adam Smith told 
 us so, and, therefore, this money is not Ford's ; we make 
 that money, we ought to have it." They go and wait on 
 Ford and they lay their case before him fairly, perfectly 
 fairly. Now we will imagine his reply. Now, Ford I 
 imagine would say this : " Now, my men, I don't want 
 you to make a penny of this money for me. Go right 
 away and make it for some other motor man, one of my 
 competitors, who cannot make money for himself, who is 
 perhaps losing money. Leave me right away and go and 
 engage with that man; he will give you nearly all the 
 profit ; he is losing money now or making none. You can 
 make your own terms with him. He will give you at 
 least nine-tenths of the profit, because if he got a tenth 
 he would be content. You go and make him five millions 
 
206 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 and he will give you nine-tenths, or he will give you even 
 more — perhaps he will give you nineteen-twentieths, per- 
 haps even ninety-nine one-hundredths of it; but you can 
 make your own terms with him. You will get splendid 
 terms from him ; in fact, you can dictate your own terms. 
 As to myself, those men who will be sacked from this 
 motor man who is not making money, why, I will engage 
 them; it will be merely a change over. You men who 
 are making my money will go and make it for these 
 other people ; their workmen will come and work for me 
 and I will pay them double wages as I am paying you, and 
 I will see if I cannot make as much money without you 
 as with you. I will put them in my factory and they can 
 work for me. I do not want discontented men. I will 
 engage these men, who will be perfectly contented as soon 
 as they come to me, because they will be drawing the 
 double amount of what they are drawing to-day; I will 
 pay them double wages. But I want you to be sure," he 
 would say to them with a twinkle in his eye, " when you 
 engage with your new masters you stipulate to receive the 
 double wages whether he makes the profit or not — the 
 same as I am paying you now ; do not trust yourselves or 
 him to make profits for you ; insist on having the double 
 wages I am paying you, and then, of course, make your 
 claim for the profits in addition, because you say labour 
 creates all wealth. Now, if you draw double wages from 
 my competitors, it will make it easier for me ; for, paying 
 only half my rate of wages, their cars are already dearer 
 in price than my cars, and I shall have the trade more and 
 more in my hands. This, of course, you will be able to 
 do easily because you create the wealth; out of that 
 wealth you will draw the double wages, and you will 
 draw the ninety-nine hundredths of the five millions you 
 will be making for your new master, because you say you 
 create it; you make it; it is yours, and take it and do 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 207 
 
 not delay for a moment; start right away, and I will swop 
 employees with these men." 
 
 Now, let us see, dismissing that picture — I will just 
 leave it at that to you — what is the wealth that the mas- 
 ters make in the United Kingdom per head of the popula- 
 tion and per head of the workers, because it is estimated 
 that only three out of every five are workers. In the 
 three I am including the wife — you will understand I am 
 including all workers. Now, it is only pre-war income 
 tax figures I can take, but on the top of pre-war figures 
 we can add excess profits. If you will take the returns for 
 1913-14 you will find the income from land and houses, 
 which I am quite willing to throw in because we are going 
 to divide everything else ; let us divide all there is. We 
 cannot divide salaries, because we shall always want some 
 one to do the work, and they will always want salaries 
 paid in proportion to their appointments; and the salaries 
 paid to Government officials and Corporation officials 
 also will have to be paid. I am merely speaking of the 
 profits in business which we are proposing to confiscate; 
 and see how they work out. Now, the income from 
 business, worked out per head of the population, is 
 4j^d. per head per day of the people, of the income 
 from land and rents of houses is 2%A.; total, 6^4 d. 
 The excess profits tax divides out at 3d. per head per 
 day of the people — that is what the Government take. 1 
 The Government began by taking 50 per" cent., then 60 
 per cent., and now it is 80 per cent. There is another 
 2j^d. per head per day of the people that the maker of 
 the excess profits is permitted to retain — total, is. per 
 head per day; now, dividing this over three out of every 
 five, it is is. 8d. per head per day of the workers. Now, 
 that would not eliminate poverty if we took it all, if we 
 did not pay a penny to employers in England; if we could 
 
 *In 1917. 
 
208 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 get employers for nothing, that would not remove 
 poverty. In fact, since this war began, covered by the 
 period when these excess profits have been made, wages, 
 as you know, have risen from 2s. 6d. in some industries 
 for unskilled labour to 5s. in others for skilled, and in a 
 few, 1 os. per day per head; so that in dealing with this 
 money in the sense of confiscation, or any name we like 
 to give it, all the wealth of the country would not relieve 
 poverty or lift the workman much. No scheme of con- 
 fiscation or redistribution can do that. The only way 
 is the one we mentioned — increased production. This 
 will enable wages to be advanced as I mentioned, hours 
 of labour to be reduced, cost of production to be 
 reduced. 
 
 A policy of " ca' canny" defeats its own end. We 
 can see in the building trade the policy of " ca' canny" 
 can only increase the cost of building; and whether the 
 houses are built by the municipality or the State, or by 
 private enterprise, wages will have to be paid in the 
 building, material will have to be bought — and material 
 is largely labour cost right up to the point of being on 
 the job where the material is going to be used — and the 
 amount of rent, either directly as rent or in rates and 
 taxes, will be in proportion to the cost. If " ca' canny" 
 is in the coal mine, then coals will be dearer. If "ca' 
 canny " is in the factory, then boots, shoes, and clothes 
 will be dearer. No " ca' canny " policy can produce 
 wealth; it is a robber of wealth and of fellow-workmen 
 and reduces and lowers the level of every workman. It 
 is not an uplifting force, it is a suffocating poison; but it 
 has its devoted disciples in many industries throughout 
 the land, mistaken — don't think I am judging these men 
 hardly; I believe they are as honest in their efforts by 
 " ca' canny " to help the working man as I am honest 
 in my conviction that " ca' canny " is a blunder. All I 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 209 
 
 want to endeavour to show is that the policy is wrong, 
 not that the men's motives are wrong. If it was mere 
 laziness, I would say it was a wrong motive; if it was to 
 save their own backs, I would say it was the wrong 
 motive; but when it is a belief that " ca' canny " will em- 
 ploy more labour, will make wages go up, and so on, 
 then I say it is a mistaken policy. 
 
 Now, it may be thought that we could get relief from 
 A'cts of Parliament. A noted man said — I think it was 
 Herbert Spencer — that he had inquired into thirty-two 
 Acts of Parliament that had been passed to benefit the 
 worker and to relieve poverty, and twenty-nine out of the 
 thirty-two Acts had produced exactly the opposite effect. 
 Why, the so-called People's Budget, for which I voted 
 with great pride and pleasure in 1909 — and I am not 
 ashamed of having voted for it, because that Budget 
 was sound so far as its taxation of wealth, its graduated 
 income tax, its graduated death duties, and so on, went, 
 all of which taxation ought to make us look gently on 
 such clauses of the Bill as have failed to achieve the 
 objects intended — now, that Budget has discouraged un- 
 doubtedly the building of houses for workmen through- 
 out the land; it has discouraged the landowner in 
 developing his land ; it has not made prospective builders 
 eager to buy building land; in fact, for the scarcity of 
 houses the workman is suffering from to-day the Budget 
 of 1909 is partly responsible — not entirely responsible, 
 but it has tended in that direction. 
 
 When the war first broke out, we thought employment 
 was going to be very bad for the workman, and the 
 Prince of Wales's Fund was started and five million 
 pounds subscribed at once to assist the unemployed. 
 People were urged not to discontinue any work that em- 
 ployed labour, but to start fresh work that employed 
 labour — anything that employed labour. We all expected 
 
210 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 that the war was going to make employment very bad. 
 The war has proved us all to be very bad prophets. Wages 
 have risen, employment is to-day in the position that there 
 are two jobs for one man. Now, why is this? Why 
 should a Bill called the People's Budget have failed to 
 achieve the building of more houses, that part of the Bill 
 which was intended to so achieve, and war has produced 
 employment when it was expected that it would reduce 
 employment ? Why is that ? Well, in the first place, the 
 one has discouraged and, in the second place, not only in 
 munition factories but in all other occupations, the war 
 has been a stimulus and an invigorator to both men and 
 women. From patriotism, from every motive, we have 
 all worked harder in munition factories and in our ordi- 
 nary occupations since the war. This has increased the 
 wages fund, this harder work, greater employment, men, 
 women, and girls employed who were formerly not em- 
 ployed. This has produced more wealth, not Acts of 
 Parliament. It is our determination to win this war, the 
 high, patriotic effort we have put forth, that has increased 
 wages. Of course, there has always been the destruction 
 of property in the form of shells, cartridges, guns, battle- 
 ships, and ordinary ships, and so on — that is going on all 
 the time — but the big factor has been the stimulus to us 
 to work harder, the opportunity to work harder. With 
 equal stimulus to work and without war, the demand for 
 munitions would have been a demand for more boots and 
 shoes, more houses; but it has been the stimulus behind 
 us to do our bit, and without that stimulus we would have 
 been in chaos in this country, as many nations are. No; 
 we cannot increase our wealth by Acts of Parliament, 
 because we cannot see far enough what are the cross- 
 currents and under-currents that we have to face; but we 
 can organize our time and our work so that all shall have 
 equal opportunities and none be overworked, and on that 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 211 
 
 line, with increased machinery and a six-hour working 
 day, higher wages, reduced cost and improved leisure, in- 
 creased consumption can be attained. 
 
 Now, who are the employers to-day ? You think I am 
 one — great delusion. You think Ford is one — another 
 delusion. We are not employers ; the people who employ 
 myself, and every one who works in the business I am 
 connected with, are the consumers. Let consumers buy 
 other products made by other firms, and where are we all 
 at our works ? Let the consumer of motor-cars buy other 
 cars than Ford's, where are Ford and his workmen? 
 The employer of Ford is the consumer. The employer 
 of every master in the country to-day is the consumer, 
 and 90 per cent, of the consuming power of products 
 made by machinery in this country are the workmen 
 themselves. Therefore, 90 per cent, of those that em- 
 ploy me are working men and their families. I want you 
 to bear that fact in mind. My employer is the con- 
 sumer, and 90 per cent, of the consumers of my article 
 are working men, and so with all the articles made in 
 cotton-mills, boot and shoe factories, and so on. Well, 
 now, don't you see that the real employer is the con- 
 sumer, and not the capitalist — the so-called employer? 
 Don't you see that the consumer's own best interests must 
 be to see that whoever is the nominal employer he shall 
 be stimulated to bring out the best that is in him? If 
 you choose a chairman for any of your committees, you 
 choose one who has your confidence, and who you con- 
 sider is likely to give the best results. If the capitalist 
 is a Rockefeller, the consumer practically employs Rocke- 
 feller on the understanding, and only on that condition, 
 that he shall bore oil wells, build oil refineries, lay pipe- 
 lines, and build tank steamers to transport the oil, and 
 that he does this work cheaper than any other capitalist 
 can do it. That is the only basis on which Rockefeller 
 
212 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 was ever employed. If the capitalist is a Ford, the con- 
 sumer says to him that he can make motor-cars on con- 
 dition that he build them better in quality for the price, 
 and lower in price than any other capitalist can build 
 motor-cars for. But that is the consumer's bargain with 
 the capitalist. There is not one of your wives going into 
 a shop to-day who must not be satisfied as to the quality 
 and the price before she purchases an article, and she will 
 buy where — I know you have all got good wives — she 
 gets you the best value for your money always. But the 
 workman, how does he approach the capitalist ? Labour 
 says to Rockefeller or to Ford that they will only work 
 for him on condition that he pays them the maximum 
 wages ; Labour in effect says, " We are going to reverse 
 this process on which we buy our goods, and we are 
 going to apply our rights as consumers in buying goods 
 on that principle ; but when we come to sell our labour we 
 are going to sell it to the capitalist who gives us the most 
 wages for our work, and we claim our right to both these 
 privileges." And Labour can honestly claim the right 
 when spending wages to get the best value obtainable, and 
 when seeking employment to get the highest wages for 
 producing articles bought at lowest prices. It is as if 
 Labour said to Capital : " You are only our agent or 
 broker. If you can give us the highest price for what 
 we have to sell and sell to us the products of our own 
 labour at the lowest price we can obtain the same for 
 anywhere, then we will pay you a commission for so 
 doing; but if you lose money over the transaction you 
 go down and out and into the bankruptcy court and you 
 must not look to us for help." 
 
 And what is this brokerage or commission? I have 
 shown you that the profits on trade would be 4^d. per 
 head per day of the population : the excess profits re- 
 tained by the capitalist 2%d- per head per day; total, 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 213 
 
 6}id. (for the purpose of this illustration we are now 
 dealing only with profits in trade, therefore I am leaving 
 out, at the moment, land and houses) or about nd. per 
 head per day of the workers. But from this we ought 
 to deduct certain items that do not appear in the income 
 tax returns. The bankrupt employers — employers who 
 reach the bankruptcy court — their losses are not deducted 
 from the income tax of the successful; there is no de- 
 duction for interest on capital. Income tax returns in- 
 clude interest on capital. Whether our factories and 
 machinery are State-owned, or whether they are owned 
 by private enterprise, we shall always have to employ capi- 
 tal to pay out wages to the workman whilst building our 
 new factories and new machinery. If we had obtained 
 all our existing factories and machinery by confiscation, 
 in twenty years we should have just as much capital raised 
 to pay workmen to build new machines and build new 
 factories. We could not get away from capital and in- 
 terest. Now, if you deduct interest on capital and losses 
 of bankrupt capitalists, you will find that the net profits 
 do not work out at more than 3d. per head per day of 
 the workers; in other words, a most modest commission 
 on the basis of the bargain, which is the highest wages 
 for the workman and the cheapest selling price for the 
 product of his labour. Abolish private enterprise, and 
 you would not save the nd., you would not save the 3d. 
 For competitive capital you would get State Civil Service; 
 every Government department, it is essential, must be 
 run on what we call the lines of red tape. Wages would 
 become nominal, not real, and whatever wages were 
 nominally, they would always represent reduced pur- 
 chasing power to the consumer. 
 
 Now, all I want us to ask ourselves is this; whether 
 working on lines such as we have hitherto worked con- 
 sistently has not increased wages solidly and substan- 
 
214 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 tially? Every opportunity for advancing wages — and, 
 believe me, the prosperity of a country depends as much 
 upon high wages as upon any other element that can make 
 a country prosperous — must be taken advantage of. But 
 this means more machinery, and it has to mean, also, 
 cheaper production. Wage increases must not be sham 
 increases; they must be real increases, with increased 
 purchasing power, as well as increases in amount. I want 
 us to realize that, and then on sound lines we can, I be- 
 lieve, realize all our ideals. 
 
 But behind all this is the ambition that I rejoice at 
 of the workers to control their own industries. I think 
 that is one of the healthy signs of the day, and I can 
 see it and feel it in the very fibre of my being, because, 
 as I mentioned at the beginning, I began in a modest way 
 and I have worked up, and I can realize your desire, the 
 desire of every healthy man in the kingdom to raise him- 
 self and become pilot of his destiny. How can this be 
 done? The greatest attraction to me of the six-hour 
 working day is the education of the young. I ask my- 
 self, Why should not the sons of the workman have the 
 same education as the sons of the master ? They must 
 have, if they are going to control industries in the next 
 generation. Do not think for a moment that control can 
 be achieved on any other lines ; but, with better education 
 and with the same ambition to control industries, who can 
 say nay to Labour ? But merely a desire to sit on a 
 Board of Directors, without a knowledge of all that that 
 position means, can help neither the workman, nor the 
 industry, nor the country; there must be a period of 
 training. 
 
 But if we get this training we shall be a better nation 
 physically, we shall be better in brain power; and note 
 well this, and I say it without any hesitation : sons and 
 daughters who are trained with hand and eye as well 
 
WORKERS' INTEREST IN PRODUCTIVITY 215 
 
 as brain will make better educated men and women than 
 the mere University bookworm — infinitely better; and, 
 you may depend upon it, the control of industries in the 
 future will go to those who can work them to the greatest 
 advantage. The circumstance that gave Ford his to- 
 day's position was that he was thirty years ahead of 
 anybody else when he was working on a farm, and he 
 set himself to realize his ideals and gave up the farm 
 to obtain a bigger field for his energies. The circum- 
 stance that made Rockefeller was that he had the con- 
 viction that single oil wells and single oil refineries, put- 
 ting oil into casks and sending it on the train at high 
 freights, was stupid, and he bought a number of oil 
 wells; he combined big oil refineries, he laid pipe-lines 
 from the refineries to the coast, he put tankers on the 
 ocean to bring the oil to England, and he brought the 
 price of oil down from is. to 4d. a gallon, and in that 
 process he made a fortune. Now, that is the way it will 
 be for your sons, for my son, if they have to make 
 money, if they have to raise themselves, have more com- 
 forts for themselves and their children than we have 
 had. We can only achieve these ideals by increased pro- 
 duction. 
 
 Education, the consideration of which I have left to 
 the finish as the crown of all, is the keynote of the situa- 
 tion, and I would rejoice, as every one of you would, that 
 the sons of the workman should be the equal in education 
 of the sons of the master. But behind the master, behind 
 the hollow title of employer, is the consumer, and 90 per 
 cent, of the consumers, as I have stated, are the working 
 men and women. Through education the whole mass of 
 the consumers of the country will be elevated and raised, 
 the whole of our industries in which they are employed 
 will be elevated and -raised, and we shall march forward a 
 proud nation to further achievements undreamt of even 
 
216 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 to-day; and Great Britain, at home and overseas, the 
 largest Empire the world has ever seen, will contain a 
 people whose joyous lives are spent in such happy sur- 
 roundings as are unknown to us in this room to-night, 
 where life will lengthen and joy will deepen, and where 
 happiness will be assured for all. 
 
XIII 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 We are living in strenuous times, and are making sacri- 
 fices of life and treasure on a scale that we are apt to 
 believe is greater than our forefathers, even in their most 
 difficult wars, were ever called upon to endure. But this 
 is obviously only true of dimensions. It is not true of 
 proportions to scale with the resources or wealth of the 
 present British Empire, as compared with her former war 
 periods ; nor is it true in relation to the resources Science 
 has placed at our disposal for our more rapid recupera- 
 tion from the effects of this war, by the exploitation and 
 development of the nascent wealth that Nature, with 
 lavish hand, has stored up for us within our boundaries. 
 To realize the natural strength of the British Empire, 
 let us think of it in the words of the poet : 
 
 As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
 Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 
 Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 
 
 Our most cruel and deplorable loss in this war is the 
 awful sacrifice of human life. The irreparable, disastrous 
 consequences to civilization and the progress of the 
 world that must result from so many of the flower of our 
 manhood having been taken from us it would be impos- 
 sible to overstate. This welter of blood has made the 
 world one huge sob and stifled moan. There is not one 
 single family group in the whole of the peoples of the 
 
 217 
 
218 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 belligerent nations that has not to mourn some loved dear 
 ones lost or returned mutilated and torn, blinded or crip- 
 pled — the wreck and shadow of their former selves. No 
 loving care nor patient toil can restore these or make good 
 to us their loss. 
 
 But for the rest the loss can, on certain well-known 
 and proved established lines, be fully recovered, and, most 
 speedily of all, the money wastage. Many worthy good 
 souls are worrying themselves and the nation as to the 
 undoubted load and enormous burden of national war 
 indebtedness we shall have to carry when this war is 
 over, and are worrying still more as to our ability as a 
 nation to repay these debts. In their alarm, and suffer- 
 ing from an attack of nerves and cold feet, some openly 
 advocate unblushing repudiation of our war debts, and 
 call the same by some such specious name as Conscrip- 
 tion of Wealth. And in their haste to propound this 
 " cure all " for our ills they cannot even wait until we 
 have won a decisive victory on the battlefield and obtained 
 the unconditional surrender of our enemies, but must 
 needs weaken the national credit by advocating this im- 
 possible policy even whilst the necessity for further bor- 
 rowing still continues. 
 
 There are seven pillars of national and individual pros- 
 perity and happiness. These are : — 
 
 Justice 
 
 Science 
 
 Truth 
 
 Art 
 
 Labor 
 
 Leisure 
 
 Capital 
 
 
 The unit of the Empire, as of all democracies, is the 
 home and fireside, and along the lines defined by the seven 
 pillars of prosperity, individual nations and the home 
 units have progressed from slavery to fullest liberty. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 219 
 
 What were the conditions of life in Great Britain in, say, 
 Oliver Cromwell's time, when we experienced our great- 
 est advance towards our present ideal form of Govern- 
 ment — a Constitutional Monarchy? London, even then, 
 was the largest, the richest, and most populous city in the 
 then-known world. Yet it was indescribably dirty, over- 
 crowded, insanitary, badly lighted and worse drained, 
 and neither health nor life was safe from attacks from 
 disease, pestilence, or robbers and footpads. The then 
 death-rate was over 49 per thousand in ordinary years, 
 and much higher in years of special visitations of plague. 
 In Oliver Cromwell's time, close to the then London, were 
 25 square miles of swamps, which to-day are absorbed 
 within the boundaries of the Metropolitan area, drained 
 dry and made healthy and built over. In wet weather the 
 streets and roads were impassable, a quagmire of mud, in 
 which chariots, wagons, and carts sank to their axles. 
 Robbers, footpads, and highwaymen made it dangerous 
 to travel in daylight, and impossible at night to do so 
 without being under convoy of a guard. In the United 
 Kingdom at that time there were 34 counties without 
 any, even the most primitive, form of printing press. 
 The master flogged his apprentice, and the husband 
 flogged his wife. The stocks, the ducking-stool, and the 
 whipping-post were national institutions in the most 
 public centres of every town and village. Even a century 
 later we were very little improved in our social life. 
 
 What has changed all this to conditions such as exist in 
 the United Kingdom to-day ? It has been the discoveries 
 of science and the inventions of mechanics. About the 
 close of the eighteenth century, Watt, Arkwright, Har- 
 greaves, Crompton, Cartwright, and others invented vari- 
 ous of our most important "key" mechanical utilities, 
 such as the steam-engine, the spinning- jenny, the mule, 
 the power-loom, the carding-machine, and scores of 
 
220 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 others. It is said that as a result of these inventions, 
 twenty-five men and fifty women and boys can produce 
 to-day as much cotton goods as could have been pro- 
 duced by the hand labour of all the men, women and boys 
 that were engaged in the cotton industry in Lancashire 
 in Oliver Cromwell's time. 
 
 And what is the condition of London to-day? The 
 population is more than a scorefold what it was then, 
 and it has become the cleanest, most healthy and sani- 
 tary, the best lighted and the best drained city, as it is 
 also the largest city in the world. And all traces of 
 special visitations of plague or pestilence have ceased, 
 and the death-rate is the lowest of any of the largest cities 
 of the world, being no more than 15 per thousand. 
 
 And corresponding progress has been made in every 
 city, town, and village in the country, and in the social 
 betterment of the lives of the people, and the British 
 Empire has become the greatest Empire in the world, not 
 by repudiation of the Napoleonic War debts, not by Acts 
 of Parliament, but by the steady maintenance of the 
 beneficent support of the seven pillars of prosperity, and 
 by the labour of employer-capitalist and employee-work- 
 man. These, as inventors, manufacturers, merchants, 
 explorers, and shipowners, have often been handicapped 
 in the march of progress in competition with other na- 
 tions by stupid Acts of Parliament and ignorant states- 
 men; but in rectifying this handicap of progress let us 
 be careful that we do not commit still greater errors of 
 government in the future. Our best hope for the future 
 is that the whole of the difficulties to be overcome, and 
 of our social betterment to be achieved, shall be fully 
 considered in all their bearings, shall be fully discussed 
 and understood, before we enter upon the putting into 
 effect of immature and ill-considered new and experi- 
 mental policies. We must approach the consideration 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 221 
 
 of the problem with minds free from thoughts founded 
 on prejudice, hatred, or temper— free from taint of sel- 
 fishness or injustice. Above all we must dismiss from 
 our minds and souls any idea of what, for want of a 
 better name, we call " class against class " antagonism. 
 In all countries, throughout all ages, there have been 
 numerous divisions of peoples into so-called " classes," 
 but this good old world, large as it is, has never been 
 big enough to contain more than a division into two 
 great classes — the class that is doing its duty and the 
 class that fails to do its duty. These two great divisions 
 are wide enough and deep enough to include the whole 
 human race, and all other distinctions are purely artificial. 
 But we have got into a slipshod way of thinking of man- 
 kind as existing in " classes," and nothing, in the present 
 temper of the world, is more unjust or dangerous. Peer 
 and peasant, employer-capitalist and employee-workman, 
 have fought side by side in the trenches, and laid down 
 their lives side by side on the battlefield in this great 
 war, and as comrades in this war they honour and respect 
 each other as never was possible before, and we have 
 learned that in about equal proportional numbers there 
 are included in all the artificial " class " divisions the 
 industrious and the idle, the intelligent and the stupid, 
 the brave and the cowards, the honest and the cheat, the 
 truthful and the liar, the virtuous and the vicious, the 
 temperate and the drunkard, the strong and the weak, 
 the healthy and the sickly, the thrifty and the spend- 
 thrift, and that so long as these opposites of characteris- 
 tics exist there will always be the rich and the poor. Let 
 us uproot this habit of thinking of individuals according 
 to certain artificial so-called " classes." Nothing is more 
 unjust, and nothing could be more dangerous. 
 
 Long before this war began we were experiencing the 
 influence in politics of a new Parliamentary Party, whose 
 
222 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 leaders scorned the beaten tracks of old-school politicians, 
 and who called themselves the Labour Party. The em- 
 ployee-workmen, through their Trade Unions, have also 
 become more active, and have rightly and properly — so 
 long as they respect the just rights and liberties of others 
 — organized to improve their position. The betterment 
 of the condition of the employee-workers is declared, and 
 I believe truly so, their sole objective and goal, but so 
 far as my knowledge goes the employee-workers have 
 not yet unanimously decided upon what might be the 
 best methods for them to adopt to realize betterment and 
 advancement. In short, whilst their aims, ideals, and 
 ambitions are clear and definite, their proposed methods 
 for realization are most indefinite and hazy. 
 
 When the dissatisfied colonists in North America won, 
 under the leadership of General Washington, their sever- 
 ance from Great Britain nearly a century and a half ago, 
 they declared as their ideals — and in these the whole 
 English-speaking world agrees to-day — that all men 
 were endowed by God with certain inalienable rights, 
 amongst which were life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness. Washington and his co-founders of the United 
 States believed and trusted that, if all men were given 
 an equal opportunity, and if the citizens of a country 
 could frame their own laws and levy their own taxes, the 
 inequalities in wealth that existed in the Mother Country 
 could never exist in the United States. This was the 
 view held in 1776, and the founders of the United States 
 were convinced that the rich and wealthy were rich and 
 wealthy in consequence of some unfairness in the laws 
 of the United Kingdom. But after nearly a century and 
 a half, in spite of the Declaration of Independence as 
 to equality, in spite of universal manhood suffrage, there 
 are greater inequalities of wealth in the United States 
 to-day than there are or ever were in the United King- 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 223 
 
 dom, and it is clear that neither Acts of Congress nor 
 the Constitution of the United States have been able to 
 make all men equal in wealth any more than in health, 
 weight or stature, brains or muscle, piety or morals, 
 character or worth. But this inequality of wealth, al- 
 though infinitely greater in 19 16 than in 1776 (at which 
 time, as often is the case to-day, it was thought to be the 
 cause of all the poverty of the poor), has been proved to 
 have relieved the extremes of poverty and wretchedness, 
 and to have greatly raised the average of comfort and 
 betterment, and to have resulted also in actually a better 
 distribution and more plentiful supply of wealth amongst 
 the employee-workmen. The United States has produced 
 millionaires in greater number and of greater individual 
 wealth than ever the United Kingdom produced, and yet 
 the employee-workman in that country receives the high- 
 est rate of wages known in the world. In 1776 it was 
 believed that in the United Kingdom the Government had 
 somehow interfered with some great principle underlying 
 all social well-being, and that in the United States, under 
 the Constitution adopted in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, wealth would be more equally distributed and 
 poverty would cease. But the result has clearly proved 
 that, so long as some men are stronger, or more healthy, 
 or more intelligent, or more industrious, or more virtu- 
 ous, or more self-denying, or more thrifty than others, 
 there will be inequalities of wealth, that the employer- 
 capitalist was not responsible for these, nor was the em- 
 ployee-workman to blame, and that, if either changed 
 places with the other by Act of Parliament, that change 
 over would constitute no remedy for acknowledged in- 
 equalities nor be a stimulus to social betterment for all. 
 Employer-capitalists in acquiring their wealth by hard 
 work of brain and energy of body have benefited not only 
 themselves and their families, but have, even if unwit- 
 
224 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 tingly, conduced to the betterment of the employee-work- 
 man and also to the progress of the whole of the indus- 
 tries of the United Kingdom. 
 
 And now I venture to assert, notwithstanding that all 
 the above circumstances are inevitable and normal and 
 natural, that still no employer-capitalist with a true feel- 
 ing of brotherhood can be quite happy in the fullest sense 
 in the enjoyment of wealth (the product of his own hard 
 work, intelligence, self-denial and thrift, every penny 
 earned without committing injury to any man, and the 
 acquisition of which has resulted in enormous benefits to 
 his employee-workmen) without feeling a sense of dis- 
 satisfaction with present industrial conditions and a 
 strong desire to improve them so that the employee-work- 
 man may be raised to a much higher level in social well- 
 being. 
 
 But this ideal cannot be achieved by an Act of Parlia- 
 ment for the conscription or confiscation of wealth. 
 
 The men and women of British stock who crossed the 
 Atlantic and founded the United States did not state in 
 their Declaration of Independence that all wealth must 
 be confiscated to the State. What they did declare was 
 that man was endowed by God with certain inalienable 
 rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Do 
 these rights mean that Government should conscript or 
 confiscate the fruits of the industry of one man who had 
 led a thrifty, wholesome, industrious life in order that 
 Government might use the same for the benefit of men 
 who had lived lives of exactly the opposite type? That 
 was certainly not what the citizens of 1776 ever intended. 
 What was meant was that every citizen had the fullest 
 liberty to live his own life and to make his own livelihood 
 in his own way so long as that was honest and true, and 
 that he was entitled to the full enjoyment of the product 
 of his labour, whether of muscle or brain, and for the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 225 
 
 pursuit of his own happiness — also within honest and 
 true limits — in his own way. 
 
 And what was meant by liberty? One of the best 
 definitions of liberty has been stated by — if I remember 
 correctly — a French Convention in the following words : 
 " The liberty of one citizen ceases only where it en- 
 croaches on the liberty of another citizen." And as to 
 the pursuit of happiness, John Bright has given us one 
 of the best definitions of happiness in the following 
 words : " Happiness consists in a congenial occupation 
 with a sense of progress." In addition, this Declaration 
 of Independence laid down the axiom that Governments 
 were instituted to preserve these rights to the people and 
 that the people themselves were the source of all the 
 power that Governments possessed. The force that has 
 created the United States has not been Congress, nor 
 was the British Empire built up by Parliament. There 
 would have been no United States and no British Empire 
 without the labour and toil and sweat of the people of the 
 two nations. Governments create no wealth as such, 
 and possess no money but what they receive from the 
 taxation of the people. All Governments are paupers, 
 and only exist in free democratic! nations by the con- 
 sent of the governed. All Governments being paupers, 
 they have only two means for raising money — by taxa- 
 tion and by borrowing. In times of war or for great 
 public undertakings such as waterworks, or municipal 
 developments, such as docks, etc., borrowing has had to 
 be resorted to in the past years as in the present years, 
 and will have to be resorted to in the years to come when 
 this war is over. The power and ability of a Government 
 to borrow and the rate of interest to be paid depend en- 
 tirely on the credit of the Government concerned, and on 
 the assured belief of the lenders in the borrower's ability 
 and good faith for the due payment of interest and the 
 
226 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 repayment of the debt. Our British Imperial and Colonial 
 Governments and our municipalities have hitherto en- 
 joyed the power to borrow all their requirements at the 
 world's lowest rate of interest. This advantageous posi- 
 tion is entirely due to public confidence in the honour, 
 honesty, and good faith of our Governments. If we once 
 shake confidence in either our ability or our willingness 
 to repay our indebtedness, then our credit, our power to 
 borrow, is either seriously damaged or may be hopelessly 
 destroyed. And with this destruction of credit and con- 
 fidence would come equally the ruin of our industries, 
 and unemployment and hunger would be our chronic 
 condition. If we, as British citizens, cannot realize these 
 truths, then we are in greater peril than if the Prussians 
 had landed on our shores and were marching through an 
 undefended country on defenceless cities and towns. The 
 British Empire might recover in time from defeat in 
 war, but the British Empire never could recover from its 
 own default to repay its war loan indebtedness. The 
 credit and confidence enjoyed by the British Empire is 
 the one and only foundation on which stand, foursquare 
 to all attempts to overthrow them, the prosperity and 
 stability of British industries and ability to provide full 
 employment at full wages for the British workman. The 
 repudiation of debt, or the so-called conscription of 
 wealth, would be an assassin blow at the very heart of 
 the British Empire. But even if it were a practical and 
 honest policy, there would be two questions still that 
 would arise and require to be answered — how could such 
 conscription be accomplished, and what would it yield? 
 The suggestion is that we conscript sufficient of the 
 wealth of the country on some graduated scale to en- 
 able us to repay at least £4,000,000,000 of war loan in- 
 debtedness. How would our Government collect this 
 £4,000,000,000 and convert the same into cash?— for 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 227 
 
 it is obviously only as cash that wealth could be used for 
 the repayment of war loans. At present this wealth ex- 
 ists in the form of furniture, pictures, china, works of 
 art, houses, land, workshops, factories, machinery, ships, 
 horses, cattle, sheep, and the thousands of other forms 
 of wealth, including debentures, shares, mortgages in pub- 
 lic railways, industrial companies, municipal and dock 
 loans, Government War Loans, deposits in banks and 
 building societies. And this wealth includes the savings 
 of the frugal father for his widow and children equally 
 with those of the millionaire. We know the depreciation 
 that takes place when trustees are forced to sell some 
 portions of an estate in order to pay death duties. But 
 only some £30,000,000 a year are paid in death duties, 
 and much of this we know has been received by the 
 trustees in hard cash from banks and insurance com- 
 panies. It is only a cautious estimate to assume that not 
 more than two-thirds had to be raised by forced sales — 
 say £ 20,000,000 a year. But to realize even this modest 
 sum each year has tended to depress the market value of 
 securities. So that it is clear that no market could be 
 found for £4,000,000,000 of conscripted wealth at what 
 I may call par value, and as practically every one with 
 wealth would be sellers and there would be almost no 
 British buyers, it is only reasonable to say that the 
 £4,000,000,000 of conscripted wealth would not realize 
 in cash as much as £400,000,000. It would be almost 
 valueless and unsaleable, and therefore not available for 
 the purpose intended of repaying war loans. The con- 
 fiscation of wealth would carry the country icebound be- 
 low zero. Left to fructify in the pockets of its owners, 
 we should have its yield in income tax and death duties 
 to the State, and in employment for employee-workmen 
 not only of the then existing factories and workshops, 
 but still more important, of extensions and additions 
 
228 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 thereto, and for the provision of capital for working 
 and building the same to be obtained on the credit of the 
 security available. But conscript 10 per cent, or 20 per 
 cent, of the wealth of the country, and not only would the 
 conscripted portion be unsaleable, but the balance would 
 be depreciated as security for credit to finance our in- 
 dustries to the lowest level of the conscripted portion. 
 This would be like cutting out the roots of the tree to 
 anticipate the next year's crop of fruit. 
 
 But this cutting out of roots is certainly not what wise 
 men would do. They would guard the roots, fertilize 
 them, prune the dead roots, support the limbs and 
 branches, protect from frost the blossoms, and finally 
 reap an abundant harvest — growing larger in quantity 
 and better in quality each year of patient care and cultiva- 
 tion. Therefore, our course for repayment of war loans 
 lies in cultivating our industries and fertilizing them 
 — root-pruning by death duties and collecting the harvest 
 by means of income tax graduated so that all citizens 
 with incomes of £80 a year and over contribute accord- 
 ing to their means. In no other way can we realize so 
 large a cash income to so speedily and quickly pay off 
 our war loans, maintain British shipping and industries, 
 find ever-increasing employment for British labour, and 
 maintain British credit and the pre-eminent present posi- 
 tion of our world-wide British Empire. 
 
 It may be asked how steeply can income tax and 
 death duties be graduated ; the answer can only be, that if 
 our needs require them, the only limit can be that point 
 at which they yield the largest return to the State with 
 the least injury to our industries. If income tax at 5s. 
 in the pound and death duties at 20 per cent, yield the 
 largest return to the State with least injury to our in- 
 dustries, and if income tax at 10s. in the pound and death 
 duties at 50 per cent, would yield actually less to the State 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 229 
 
 and would also threaten our industries with ruin, then the 
 lower figure without risk to our industries would be 
 proved to be the only practicable rate. In other words, 
 at the higher rates you would be killing the tree that 
 bears the golden fruit. 
 
 Every farmer and gardener knows that such a hint 
 from Nature as to the limits of cropping as a decreased 
 yield would, if disregarded, sour the land and the plants, 
 with ruinous results. The reduced yield from the higher 
 rate would also prove that trade and commerce, house- 
 building, shipbuilding, and our manufactures were suf- 
 fering from being denuded of capital by excessive taxa- 
 tion, and that unemployment would soon be stalking, with 
 famine and sickness, through our land. And we should 
 find that a just, fair, and reasonable scale of graduated 
 taxation would not only yield the largest amount of cash 
 to the State, but that the remainder, left to fructify in the 
 pockets of its producers, would act as a stimulus to the 
 production of ever larger and larger taxable incomes, 
 and to the employment of an ever-increasing num- 
 ber of employee-workmen by employer-capitalists, to the 
 expansion of British shipping, trade, and commerce, and 
 to the maintenance of our present pre-eminent position 
 amongst the nations of the world. So graduated income 
 tax has its zero-point. 
 
 All that Freedom's highest aims can reach 
 Is but to lay proportion'd loads on each. 
 Hence, should one Order disproportion'd grow, 
 Its double weight must ruin all below. 
 
 No! there is only this one way available to enable us 
 to repay our war loans, to re-establish our mercantile 
 marine, our trade, commerce and manufactures after this 
 welter of a World War, and that is to stimulate the pro- 
 
230 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 duction of wealth and to tax the annual income to the 
 limits of utmost yield, but always so that the producers 
 of wealth are encouraged, stimulated, and left with the 
 necessary means for the production of more wealth. This 
 production of increased wealth will demand and necessi- 
 tate that every adult man and woman of all classes shall, 
 up to the limit of their abilities and capacities, work hard 
 and strenuously for its production. But human strength 
 has its economic zero-point also. If in the production of 
 this wealth either the employer-capitalist or the employee- 
 workman is over-fatigued by working a longer num- 
 ber of hours than the limitations demanded by health and 
 strength, then the result can only be disastrous to the 
 production of wealth. But if all adults, of both sexes 
 and of all classes, peer and peasant, employer-capitalist, 
 and employee-workman, work each a reasonable number 
 of hours per day, then, without over-fatigue of any, we 
 can produce a wealth of products sufficient for our own 
 home markets and wants and for overseas exportation far 
 in excess of anything we have ever previously accom- 
 plished. The exact number 'of hours that will produce 
 overstrain and fatigue, with resulting lower production, 
 will obviously vary with the nature of the occupation 
 and with the conditions under which the work is per- 
 formed. On the farm, for instance, and on board ships, 
 surrounded by green fields or green ocean and fresh air, 
 the hours worked may presumably be longer than would 
 be possible in factories, mines, workshops, foundries, 
 offices, or stores, where perfect ventilation is never quite 
 attainable and where the occupation is more or less monot- 
 onous. But in every kind of work and employment there 
 must be some limit to human strength and endurance, and 
 experience has taught us that between eight hours a day 
 as a maximum and six hours a day as a minimum, the 
 safety-point may most probably be found to rest. These 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 231 
 
 hours of daily toil are what may be called the income- 
 making period — the remaining hours are available not 
 only for sleep, eating, recreation, and leisure, but also for 
 education and public service and all the refinements of 
 life. St. Paul has told us that he "laboured with his 
 hands that he might be chargeable to no man," and we 
 know that he was by trade a tentmaker. The hours of 
 labour for tentmakers were, I am told, at that time from 
 5 a.m. to ii a.m., that is, six hours per day, and the 
 remaining hours St. Paul devoted to his life's work — 
 service to his fellow-men. Let us organize our time bet- 
 ter. At present all our time is devoted to gathering in- 
 come for maintenance, as if we were so many cows and 
 sheep, all of whose time we know is devoted to the work 
 of maintenance. Our factories, foundries, mines, work- 
 shops, stores, offices, and farms, throughout the British 
 Empire, are full of men or women with ideals and ideas 
 for utilities and inventions and who, in addition to their 
 capacity for the work of income-earning for maintenance 
 and support of themselves and families, are capable of, 
 and keen for, work of enormous social value to their 
 fellows and the Empire. What a wealth of inventive 
 genius and ideas have we there running actually to waste 
 through our bad organization of their hours of work 
 and their subjection to overstrain and fatigue in the 
 performance of the daily round of routine duties for 
 income-producing ! Under our present system, each day 
 has to be fuily occupied beyond the fatigue-limit in work 
 of income-earning for maintenance, with the result that 
 our machinery is underworked and our workers are over- 
 wrought, giving us less wealth, produced at greater cost 
 than need be the case. Thought and ideas for new in- 
 ventions and processes require intelligence, alertness, and 
 leisure — all impossible under conditions of over-fatigue 
 during long hours of laborious toil. Then see how the 
 
232 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 wage and salary fund is impoverished. We can only 
 work our machinery and mechanical utilities longer hours 
 by working human beings fewer hours. We have already 
 exceeded the limit of human endurance from schoolage 
 to dotage. But we can reorganize our factories so that 
 by working a number of change shifts of employee- 
 workers six hours each shift we can run our machinery 
 twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four hours each working day. 
 The wages paid at present for longer hours would require 
 to be paid for the fewer hours, and in order to do this 
 the total cost of production, which is partly interest, de- 
 preciation and repairs for machinery, all of which would 
 be little if at all increased by the additional hours worked, 
 would on an increase of from 50 to 200 per cent, in the 
 output give us lower costs out of which wages could be 
 increased and selling price to customers reduced. And, 
 believe me, it is impossible to lay too strong emphasis on 
 this crux of the whole proposal, which is the one and 
 only basis which would make reduced hours and higher 
 wages possible, namely, reduced final costs and lower 
 selling prices for the consumer, with more wages to the 
 worker and fewer hours of toil. The employer-capitalist 
 could, of course, work with a lower percentage of profit 
 and yet realize on his increased production a larger in- 
 come to meet the demands made upon him for higher 
 graduation in rates of income tax. 
 
 But in addition to a better organization of time in our 
 industries, we require to still further advance in the direc- 
 tion of a more logical basis in the relationship between the 
 employer-capitalist and the employee-worker. There 
 must be some consideration given to the division between 
 these two of the profit resulting from the joint labour of 
 both. The wages system alone is not sufficient, but the 
 wages system must of necessity remain the basis for the 
 employee-worker. It is a system that has stood the test 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 233 
 
 of time; it is convenient; it is logical and practicable. 
 Under the wages system the employee-worker practically 
 says to the employer-capitalist : " I cannot undertake to 
 bear any of the risks of this business. I must receive a 
 weekly or monthly income, regularly, upon which I can 
 absolutely rely and depend for my household expenses: 
 therefore, if I engage with you we must mutually first 
 agree on a sum which you shall pay me as wages or 
 salary in exchange for my services. If after paying this 
 sum of money to myself and also after your payment 
 of all other expenses of the business there is a profit 
 remaining, I agree that profit shall be yours. If there is 
 a loss, you must make good that loss yourself alone, even 
 to the extent of bringing ruin and disaster upon yourself 
 and your family. I cannot share with you your losses, 
 and I agree to make no claim upon you to share in your 
 profits." This, I repeat, is the logic of the present wages 
 system, and it is perfectly sound and just in its basis and 
 principles. 
 
 The admission to Co-Partnership is not a right that 
 the employee-worker can of necessity claim. It is obvious 
 that there must always be the right with each of us to 
 choose our partners by mutual consent if the true Co- 
 Partnership spirit is to be maintained. The employer- 
 capitalist can choose his partners, and does choose them, 
 from those who can give him the best help and can best 
 strengthen his business, either by contribution of capital 
 or assistance in the management of the business; and in 
 making this selection of partners every care and effort 
 is directed to avoiding entering into a partnership that 
 may prove undesirable in practice. The happiest and 
 most successful relationships in business life have been 
 realized under the partnership system, and it is equally 
 true that occasionally, from various causes unforeseen at 
 the time, private partnerships have proved disastrous, 
 
234 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 both from the point of view of prosperity of the busi- 
 ness and the happiness of the partners. But the intention 
 has always been the same, namely, to help and strengthen 
 the business and to share the responsibility and risks of 
 the business between the partners. I am confident that, 
 viewed in this light and not as a profit-sharing device, 
 which in my opinion would be wrong, a Co-Partnership 
 relationship with the employee-worker would be an added 
 source of strength to any business to which it could be ap- 
 plied, and increase the prosperity and happiness of both 
 the employer-capitalist and the employee-worker. The 
 principles of Co-Partnership between these two would be 
 as logical and as sound and practical a business arrange- 
 ment as between any body of partners, and one that might 
 be just as wisely entered upon. 
 
 Under the operation of our modern industrial develop- 
 ments, capital is generally raised from a body of share- 
 holders, in the form of ordinary shares. These ordinary 
 shareholders divide amongst themselves the total remain- 
 ing profits of the business after payment of all claims for 
 salaries, wages, interest, and other prior charges. The 
 ordinary shareholders of a company are practically the 
 partners who control the destinies of the company by their 
 vote, but it is very rare for any of them to be engaged 
 actively in the business as employee-workers. It can 
 never be a source of strength to the business that the 
 whole of the surplus profits, after paying a reasonable 
 and proper rate of interest, should be entirely devoted to 
 dividends to ordinary shareholders. I am convinced that 
 the best interests of the ordinary shareholders would be 
 better served, both in regard to the rate per cent, of their 
 dividends and the security of their capital, if the surplus 
 profits could be divided, under some scheme of Co- 
 Partnership, between the employee-workers and the ordi- 
 nary shareholders of the business. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 235 
 
 It is not in the best interests of the success of any busi- 
 ness nor the progress and development of British in- 
 dustries as a whole that the entire surplus profits should 
 take only one channel, and that channel a direction away 
 from those most interested in the business, and upon 
 whom must depend the continued success of the business. 
 It would not be right to view this question of Co-Partner- 
 ship from any benevolent point of view. There can be no 
 philanthropy in business. But the cultivation of a spirit 
 of Co-Partnership and of a keen interest in the firm in 
 which the employee-workers are engaged is not philan- 
 thropy but sound policy. The whole of the goodwill of 
 any business, which goodwill is often of greater value 
 than the actual bricks and mortar, plant and machinery, 
 depends on mutual confidence. The employer-capitalist 
 and the ordinary shareholders to-day view the employee- 
 worker solely as a liability. Employees are not liabili- 
 ties, but the most valuable asset of any business. 
 
 An objection often raised to Profit-Sharing, and I 
 think rightly raised, is that there can be no Loss-Sharing. 
 Under the system of Co-Partnership, Loss-Sharing can 
 be linked up with participation in profits. After all, what 
 are the losses of capital for the employer-capitalist? His 
 losses of capital are that certain shares that he holds, by 
 purchase or original application and payment, have be- 
 come valueless because they have ceased to have earning 
 capacity. One has often heard of shares in some com- 
 pany that have entirely lost their earning capacity being 
 only fit to make into spills to light cigarettes with — their 
 capital value has become nil. Equally, the Co-Partnership 
 certificates issued under a scheme of Co-Partnership to 
 the employee-workers would be only so many specimens 
 of printing and absolutely valueless, if the power of the 
 business to earn profits had ceased, notwithstanding all the 
 efforts of employer-capitalist and employee-co-partner. 
 
236 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 It is* quite obvious that under a system of Co-Partner- 
 ship, whereby an employee-worker receives each year an 
 allotment of Co-Partnership certificates, in proportion to 
 the amount of his salary or wages and the length and 
 value of his services, and which Co-Partnership certifi-' 
 cates are, during the Co-Partner's connection with the 
 firm, entitled to dividends in proportion to the dividends 
 paid to the ordinary shareholders, the Co-Partner would 
 see the number of Co-Partnership certificates growing 
 each year. He would experience the fact and realize the 
 cause why dividends in some years were higher than 
 others, and why in some years, from unavoidable causes, 
 dividends might fail to be earned or paid. He would 
 realize the direct connection between profits and all the 
 problems that the Management have to solve in a business, 
 and in this way the employer-capitalist would have se- 
 cured a partner whose brain would be at work as well as 
 his hands in effecting economies and avoiding waste in the 
 business, and in making suggestions for the improvement 
 of processes and improvement in the organization of the 
 time of himself and comrades, so that profits might be 
 increased and higher dividends be paid. 
 
 I claim that the employer-capitalist is not reasonable 
 if he expects, in exchange for wages, any more than the 
 performance of the services which he has contracted 
 for. But in addition to services that could be rendered 
 on a wages system, there is that constant thought and 
 care outside business hours equally as during business 
 hours for the good of the business which the employer- 
 capitalist himself does constantly manifest, or his capital 
 would be in danger and his profits might never material- 
 ize. 
 
 Under a system of Co-Partnership the employer-capi- 
 talist would have all his employee-workers who had been 
 with him a certain number of years as Co-Partners, now 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 237 
 
 realizing that their interest in the business equally with 
 that of the employer-capitalist ran along the lines of in- 
 creased output and of cheaper costs of production, and 
 there would come what I may call " team-work," which 
 in the Army is, as you know, called esprit de corps, and 
 which results in a spirit of comradeship in overcoming 
 all obstacles, and which spirit is specially manifested in 
 times of difficulty and danger. 
 
 And now let me say a word on the value of a better 
 organization of time devoted to income-earning in its 
 effect on education of brain, body, and mind, and the 
 power it would give the State for training citizens for 
 military service. In all change shifts the shift workers 
 who one- week worked in the morning would the next 
 week work in the afternoon, so that there would be for 
 every one the morning or afternoon free each week alter- 
 nately. From fourteen to eighteen years of age there 
 would be for boys and girls two hours morning or after- 
 noon each day required by the State to be devoted to 
 higher grade education and physical training. From 
 eighteen to twenty-four the State would require that these 
 two hours be devoted each day to technical and higher 
 education, such as is provided to-day only in our Uni- 
 versities, and for physical training, and from twenty-four 
 to thirfy years of age the State would require that these 
 two hours each day be devoted to military training and 
 preparation for National Service. After thirty years of 
 age the citizen would have completed his period of com- 
 pulsory attendance under State Regulations, and would 
 be fully equipped by education and training for all the 
 duties of citizenship, and might reasonably be trusted to 
 make, as did St. Paul, but in his own way, his own volun- 
 tary contribution to social advancement and betterment. 
 
 But whilst my endeavours have been to record the 
 
238 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 views I hold, and hold very strongly and sincerely — that 
 Governments of themselves cannot create wealth, and 
 that the power of Governments to confiscate or tax wealth 
 is strictly limited within the range of such rates as will 
 produce the largest cash income for the service of the 
 State without danger of check or hindrance to the pro- 
 duction of wealth and opportunities for employment — 
 and whilst I have endeavoured to show that we shall 
 require the labour of all adults of both sexes and of 
 all classes, from peer to peasant, to repay our war indebt- 
 edness and to provide products for home consumption 
 and for exportation overseas; and have, further, endeav- 
 oured to show that work also has its limitations of 
 profitable production, and that to overstrain employee- 
 worker or employer-capitalist is not to produce the best 
 results from either, I hold equally strongly that Govern- 
 ments can render such services of the State as will furnish 
 opportunities and facilities, encouragement and stimulus 
 for the creation of wealth by the citizens who have en- 
 trusted the State with powers of government. The State 
 should and could make concentrated and well-considered 
 efforts to provide every facility for honourable enterprise 
 and honest industry. Our mercantile marine must be 
 protected at sea and provided with ample harbour and 
 dock facilities in the ports of the Empire. Shipowners, 
 manufacturers, and merchants must be encouraged and 
 helped by an efficient Consular and Foreign Office service 
 so that our ships may sail over every sea and our flag be 
 flying in every port. The State can improve our banking 
 system by encouraging and stimulating our bankers to 
 render increased credit facilities for the manufactures, 
 trade, commerce, and mercantile marine of the Empire. 
 In our Crown Colonies our Government can construct 
 roads and bridges, build railways, open up new and rich 
 territories of virgin forests, fertile soils, and rich minerals 
 
PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION 239 
 
 to developers, planters, and traders on terms that would 
 encourage and justify private enterprise in the invest- 
 ment therein of capital. The State can improve the sani- 
 tation and healthiness of our villages, towns, and cities 
 at home and in the Colonies, and so not only lengthen 
 human life but reduce the toll on productiveness caused 
 by ill-health. Government can protect child-life and see 
 to its welfare, and can improve our educational system 
 so that we get the utmost in the finished product for the 
 many millions we spend upon education, so that the child 
 of the employee-workman can have the opportunity of 
 becoming as well educated as the child of the employer- 
 capitalist. Government can remove all incidence of taxa- 
 tion and rating, local or Imperial, from improvements 
 on land such as houses and buildings of all kinds and 
 from machinery, and provide that all such taxation and 
 rating shall, in future, be provided from local and Im- 
 perial income tax source and on site values. All obsta- 
 cles, in short, for the development of the resources of 
 the Empire at home and overseas must be removed and 
 every facility, encouragement, and security be given to 
 stimulate the production of wealth, otherwise what right 
 or title have we members of the British race at home and 
 overseas in the possession and enjoyment of a world-wide 
 Empire on which it is our boast that the sun never sets ? 
 If our Government is not sufficiently far-sighted or so 
 wise as to foster facility and encourage great industries 
 capable of producing enormous surplus wealth by the 
 enterprise of her citizens within this world-wide Empire, 
 which would not only find employment for all but pro- 
 vide a basis for taxation of incomes that would enable us 
 to repay our war debts, then the British Empire is suffer- 
 ing from the palsy of old age, and we shall soon cease to 
 exist as a World-Power. Empires rise and fall as they 
 are well and wisely or badly and stupidly governed. 
 
240 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 Under wise government they become rich and powerful, 
 their ships sail over every sea and carry the national flag 
 into every port; their Colonies cover whole continents; 
 their peoples are happy and contented, well housed and 
 well fed, and not overwrought to maintain themselves 
 in comfort in homes where, with wife and children, 
 life lengthens and joy deepens; their rulers and statesmen 
 are honoured and respected by surrounding nations, who 
 can view without bitter feelings of wrong to themselves 
 a world-wide Empire wisely governed with every facility 
 and opportunity, and where welcome is given to all right- 
 minded citizens of all right-minded nations. Nothing can 
 be better for the progress of civilization and the well- 
 being of the whole world than such a government of 
 such an Empire. And it must with equal truth be stated 
 that there can be no more pitiable sight in the whole world 
 than such an Empire held and possessed by a nation 
 that has neither the vision nor the intelligence to wisely 
 develop or justly govern. " Where there is no vision, 
 the people perish." 
 
XIV 
 
 SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 
 
 It has always appeared to me that the question of Social- 
 ism or Individualism resolves itself very largely into a 
 question of Day-work or Piece-work. We require to pro- 
 duce commodities for mutual consumption, and Socialism 
 would appear to be a question of whether these can best 
 be produced by a system of Day-work, and Individual- 
 ism to be a question as to whether it would be more profit- 
 able to the community as a whole to produce them by 
 what may be called Piece-work. We all agree that evils 
 exist in the great extremes of wealth and poverty in the 
 world to-day, but when Socialists propose remodelling 
 society on a very high plane of intelligence, they do so 
 without first endeavouring to find out what are the lines 
 on which society can best make progress. If Socialists 
 would content themselves with pointing out the goal 
 which we are all aiming for, namely, the greatest possible 
 amount of social well-being and comforts for all, and 
 then if they would join in concentrated efforts to the dis- 
 covery of what direction ought to be taken to ensure these 
 benefits in accordance with the principles underlying all 
 society, I venture to think that we should make greater 
 progress in the future than we have done in the past. 
 Sometimes we can see, say in Switzerland, &■ beautiful 
 mountain whose summit is clothed in perpetual sunshine, 
 but if in attempting to reach that summit we disregard all 
 the precipices and ravines that have to be crossed — make 
 no effort, in fact, to discover the only road that can safely 
 
 241 
 
242 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 be taken — in all probability we shall never arrive at the 
 summit. 
 
 So with a higher civilization we cannot disregard the 
 constitution of society, nor can we disregard the very 
 slow rate of progress we can make in the future, as we 
 have made in the past, during the countless ages man- 
 kind has taken to develop to our present not very high 
 state of civilization. 
 
 Now, before we come to the question of its distribu- 
 tion, let us consider what are the elements that enter into 
 the creation of wealth. The principal elements are three: 
 Labour, Capital, and the Employer. It is not a question 
 of Labour and Capital alone; the Employer is as essential 
 as the other two, and the Employer may be a private 
 individual, or a Board of Directors, or a Government 
 or State. Labour is wisely represented when organized 
 by Trade Unions working on their own individual lines. 
 Now, in the production of commodities the payment of 
 wages to Labour is under the present conditions the first 
 charge which has to be met. The next fixed charge is the 
 payment of interest on capital. The payment to the em- 
 ployer comes last and is not fixed : it is variable. In fact, 
 all that the employer can get for his labour is the leavings 
 after Capital and Labour have received what has been 
 agreed upon. 
 
 Sometimes there will be a loss ; that is to say, not only 
 no leavings at all, but an actual loss, in which case, after 
 the employer has been exhausted, Capital may share in 
 that loss. But under the present conditions not only is 
 it a fact, but it is a law of the land, that the payment of 
 wages must not suffer loss under any circumstances 
 whatever. Therefore, under the present state of society, 
 payment for labour is a first charge on production, equiva- 
 lent to a first mortgage or a debenture bond. 
 
 Now, what do the Socialists propose ? They propose 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 243 
 
 to nationalize all the implements of production and to 
 make the State the owners of all capital, and therefore 
 the one and only employer. But, by nationalizing the 
 implements of production they will not have abolished 
 capital : they will have altered the nominal ownership of 
 capital, but they cannot abolish capital, and for this reason 
 — that capital is essential to production. Now, let us 
 suppose it was considered that as a first step towards 
 nationalizing the implements of production, mills, tools, 
 machinery, and railways should all be confiscated. I 
 don't suppose that this is seriously proposed by Socialists 
 or by any one, but we will imagine for the moment that 
 confiscation would be carried out and private ownership 
 cease. That would not abolish capital. Railways would 
 wear out, mills would become old-fashioned as to ma- 
 chinery, and would want renewing; and how would this 
 wearing out be remedied and machinery be renewed ? It 
 could only be by the employment of labour to build fresh 
 mills, to make fresh railways, and for this work labour 
 would have to be paid. To provide payment for labour, 
 loans would have to be raised on the credit of the nation 
 as a whole and interest on them would have to be paid. 
 Therefore, although temporarily, for a few years only, 
 by the confiscation of all the means of production, the 
 private ownership of the capital of the country might 
 cease, this would not be permanent. From the very 
 moment the nation took over the implements of produc- 
 tion there would be decay going on, renewal would be- 
 come necessary, and capital would again assume its posi- 
 tion and would again be a charge on the undertaking. 
 
 Neither would Socialists have abolished the employer, 
 whose salary is at present a variable quantity. The em- 
 ployer would still be required just as much in the na- 
 tionalized industries as when enterprises were carried on 
 by private individuals, but under the new conditions the 
 
244 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 employer — that is, the State — would be represented by 
 managers, who would have to be paid fixed salaries. 
 Then we should have effected this change only: that 
 whereas formerly the employer took for remuneration 
 only the leavings (if any) of Capital and Labour, the 
 employer would now take, as manager representing the 
 State, a fixed salary to be added to the cost of produc- 
 tion. 
 
 We have still got Labour to consider. Now, we have 
 seen that under the present system Labour receives wages 
 whether production is successful or ndt, and we have 
 also seen that under the altered system proposed by 
 Socialists, managers, representing the employer, would 
 require to receive fixed salaries, whether production was 
 successful or not, and would rank equal with Labour as a 
 prior charge on production. When accounts came to be 
 balanced in these nationalized industries, they could only 
 be balanced by advancing the prices of the articles pro- 
 duced, at the expense of Labour, because Labour is al- 
 ways the greatest consumer. The consumption of prod- 
 ucts being mainly by Labour, it would result that the 
 wages of Labour would cease to be real and become nomi- 
 nal; that although wages had apparently not been re- 
 duced, their purchasing power had been reduced, and that 
 therefore Labour would actually be receiving less in real 
 wages, although the same in nominal wages: conse- 
 quently, under the system proposed by the Socialists, 
 Labour would have changed places with the employer. 
 
 Now, with regard to the employer. Management, to 
 be really effective, must have a direct interest in the re- 
 sults of its labour. There is a peculiar quality, call it 
 temperament or what you will, about management, that 
 is produced under the present system by which manage- 
 ment is the employer and is compelled to take risks, in- 
 culcating that alertness and activity of mind, that perfect 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 245 
 
 mingling of caution with audacity, that grasp of possibil- 
 ities, opportunities, and contingencies, which make all 
 the difference between success and failure. Therefore, 
 Management, being paid a fixed salary, would not be 
 brought into that state of tension, that bending of the 
 bow, as it may be called, which is so essential to good 
 management. Not being controlled by Labour, because 
 Management would still have to control Labour; not 
 being controlled by Capital, because Capital would still 
 be a fixed charge on the business, but being controlled 
 perhaps by some elective body, taking the form probably 
 of a council appointed or elected for the purpose, the 
 whole temperament of Management would be changed, 
 and I venture to say it is not in that way that we can 
 improve the position of Labour. The bow would be un- 
 bent and useless. 
 
 The profits earned by employers are not great, if aver- 
 aged over the whole of the industries of the country. 
 If we include those undertakings which, instead of mak- 
 ing profits, are making losses, and take the average over 
 all, I venture to say that employers as a body would make 
 more money as managers under a system of fixed sala- 
 ries than under the present system, and that the produc- 
 tion of goods would not be cheaper but dearer under the 
 system advocated by Socialists than under our present 
 system, imperfect as that system is and wasteful in many 
 directions. 
 
 One of the most clearly defined of our human aspira- 
 tions is a desire for Equality. It is upon this yearning 
 of humanity for Equality that the Socialist, the Anar- 
 chist, and the Bolshevist found their hopes for the realiza- 
 tion of their ideals as to the re-organization of Society. 
 
 But they are following a mirage of the desert — a will- 
 o'-the-wisp — that can only lead them into a waterless, 
 barren land, where hunger and famine are the constant 
 
246 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 accompaniment of life, or into a quaking bog where man- 
 kind would sink into slime and ooze and death. 
 
 For let it be noted that this yearning for Equality is 
 never coupled with any basis of Equity. It is a desire 
 for an equality that would divide the wealth of others 
 amongst those who consider that such division would 
 bring gain — not loss — to themselves. 
 
 The Trades Unionist, Artisan, or Socialist desires to 
 share with his employer, but will not agree that his la- 
 bourer should share with himself, nor even receive the 
 same rate of wages as himself. His interpretation of 
 Equality is that he should say to his employer, " I am 
 equal with you," but not that he should also say in Equity 
 to his labourer, " You are equal with me." When the 
 Socialist wears khaki he has to accept the gradations of 
 rank and pay that follow from Private to Corporal, from 
 Sergeant to Lieutenant, from Captain to Colonel, and 
 so on up to Field-Marshal, but in industries the Socialist 
 claims equality with all above him, whilst denying equal- 
 ity to all others beneath him. We all wear khaki through- 
 out our lives, invisible to all eyes but our own, but our 
 own conscience sees our uniform, and we appoint our- 
 selves to our own rank, and no man chooses for us. 
 
 The basis of all social conditions and advancement is 
 the law of service to others, and in this only can we 
 realize Equality and Equity with both the man above 
 and the man below us. The earliest manifestation of 
 selection amongst most primitive men was that they chose 
 as their King Ruler the man most distinguished by prow- 
 ess in defending them from their enemies, and right down 
 to the present day Kings are looked up to to serve their 
 peoples. When Kings cease to make service to their 
 peoples their title to Kingship, and demand instead serv- 
 ice from their peoples, that moment Kings have them- 
 selves signed their own abdication. Neither King nor 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 247 
 
 Priest, nor politician, nor people, nor capitalist, nor em- 
 ployer, nor employee-worker who has ceased to serve can 
 survive, and no Socialist " cure-all " can produce equality 
 in value or fruits of service until our Creator sends us 
 into this world all equal in health, strength, energy, and 
 ability. There will always be gradation of rank of serv- 
 ice from King to peasant, from Field-Marshal to Private, 
 from Admiral to Jack Tar. Equally by service and by 
 service alone in Business, Science, or Art come gradations 
 in rank and advancement. 
 
 Gigantic combinations, whether called Trade Unions or 
 Trusts, or Labour or Capital, which are solely concerned 
 with their own selfish, narrow aims and ideals cannot 
 succeed or continue any more than a one-winged bird 
 can fly. Their continuance depends on their fulfilling 
 the eternal law of service. That great truth is as im- 
 mutable as the law of gravitation, and service means, to 
 work for and to serve others. It does not mean "ca' 
 canny " by a " Trade Unionist," or slackness and com- 
 petition dodging by the Employer-Combine; nor does 
 service for others mean overstrain or work beyond limits 
 of continuance in frenzied competition with fellow-man 
 — that is War, not Service. The Employer-Capitalist or 
 Employer- Worker, or Socialist, or Anarchist, who thinks 
 only of Equality and ignores the Equity of service, will 
 stand no chance of survival under modern social con- 
 ditions of life. Life is a game that must be played with 
 scrupulous fairness. The outstanding law of life is serv- 
 ice to others and just and equal rights and liberties for 
 all. Life will not surrender a bishop for a knight, nor 
 a queen for a rook. However alert we may be we shall 
 never catch Equity napping in that way. 
 
 Either by ourselves directly, or by our fathers or fore- 
 fathers, the corresponding service must have been ren- 
 dered. We can inherit good health or ill-health, strength 
 
248 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 or weakness, strong mentality or feeble-mindedness, 
 energy or slackness, application or inertia, with their 
 corresponding rewards or punishments " to the third or 
 fourth generation of those that serve." No typewriter 
 or calculating machine more correctly records the key we 
 ourselves or our ancestors have struck than does Life 
 record our service, be it high or. low, noble or mean. 
 Equity is depicted as silent but scrupulously just and 
 pitiless. Nature or Equity — call it what we will — knows 
 no pity. The game of life is difficult and our antagon- 
 ist Equity is wary and adept, but victory always rests 
 with the man whose life conforms most successfully to 
 the rules of service. Equity or Nature is always more 
 than willing to be checkmated by the man of boldness who 
 brings courage and efficiency and noble service to the 
 game. And equally true it is that Equity will exact the 
 fullest price for every false move and for every error 
 and blunder of ourselves or of our forefathers. Nature 
 or Equity — call it what we will — is absolutely infallible. 
 Judas thought to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of silver 
 and make a profit on the deal. But he only sold himself 
 and brought about his own suicide. Cain sought his 
 own happiness by killing Abel, but he only achieved 
 his own misery and undoing. And these truths are writ- 
 ten large through all the pages of History. All down the 
 echoing vaults of time there comes only one recorded note 
 as the basis of success, and that note is — service to others. 
 It is quite out of the power of any one of us to escape 
 from our ego any more than we can escape from our own 
 shadow in an open field on a sunny day. Our ego is 
 the central force of our very life and being, and con- 
 sequently we are all by nature Individualists and not 
 Socialists. We are all egoists just as surely as snow is 
 white and coal is black. All snow is not alike in white- 
 ness, but all snow is white. All coal is not alike in black- 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 249 
 
 ness, but all coal is black. And so we may each of us 
 differ individually, but we are all egoists — we cannot 
 avoid being so if we would and we would not if we could. 
 But rich or poor, high-born or low-bred, saint or sinner, 
 peer or peasant, philosopher or fool, wolfish or lamb- 
 like, bold or timid, courageous or cowardly, we are all 
 egoists. 
 
 Even whole nations are egoists. The Germanic nation 
 are egoists in their ideals of " Mittel Europa " and world 
 domination. Great Britain, France, Italy, United States 
 and their Allies are egoists in opposing this Germanic 
 ideal. All our best Heroes, Statesmen and Citizens have 
 been egoists, and believing in themselves have worked 
 for human happiness, have saved mankind from disaster, 
 or have deluged the world with blood, suffering, hard- 
 ships and misery according to their ideals and ideals 
 of their ego. Lincoln, Washington, Cromwell, Pitt, 
 Wellington, Nelson, Napoleon, Caesar, and Alexander 
 were all egoists of different ideas and ideals. An ignoble 
 idea of self, a weak, feeble egoism is the root of all 
 evil more surely than any other cause. 
 
 As is the compensating balance to the watch, or the 
 safety valve to the boiler, so is the power of self-criticism 
 and self-valuation to our ego. The power of self-criti- 
 cism must be as true and exact as a beam scale with just 
 balances founded on accurate self-knowledge. It is when 
 our ego is self-judged by the power of self-criticism that 
 it leads us to power and dominance over all the forces 
 which oppose our aims and ideals. We can only fulfil our 
 full and useful service when we have impartially sub- 
 jected our ego to the searchlight of self-criticism. 
 
 The unique attribute of the successful man, who does 
 accomplish results as compared with the mere dreamer, 
 is this power of self-criticism. The great power of an 
 ideal is not so much in the ideal but in the balanced ego- 
 
250 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 ism of the idealist. If he be a true egoist then he pos- 
 sesses the inward strength to realize his ideal. Without 
 this inward force of the egoist the ideal will never pro- 
 gress beyond a dream. 
 
 The world owes its position and advancement to-day 
 not to self-distrust and self-effacement, but to the self- 
 centred individualists, well-balanced egoists who, with 
 confidence in themselves and faith in their ideals, have 
 dared and done all for their realization and achievement. 
 It has been said that the British are a nation of shop- 
 keepers; that the Americans are thinking only of the 
 dollars; and Bismarck had a saying that Germany was 
 a nation of servants. Her soldiers are drilled units of 
 humanity. Her workmen are dragooned into service, 
 but they are consequently, as rank and file, not equal in 
 ego to the rank and file of other races. They lack the ego 
 of individualism and its power of initiative. 
 
 We are egoists because we are human. We serve with 
 our ego the happiness of others because we are Divine as 
 well as human. It is the Divine in us that triumphs al- 
 ways and ever ; it is the base in our ego that lowers and 
 destroys us. But through it all our ego is to each of us 
 what the sun is to Nature, and we can no more triumph 
 without our ego than Nature can produce food and 
 flowers without the central radiance and power of the 
 sun. 
 
 But whatever we call ourselves — Individualist, Social- 
 ist, or Anarchist — we cannot escape by adoption of any 
 name or badge the obligation laid upon us of service for 
 others. That must be our highest ideal and the goal to 
 which we travel in our national and personal aims and 
 ambitions. And let us consider the joy of ideals founded 
 on service to others. First, there is the joy of the ideal 
 itself, the inspiration. Then our inspiration to achieve 
 that ideal. Then the joy of tireless and ceaseless applica- 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 251 
 
 tion to overcome all obstacles and difficulties, and, lastly, 
 the final joy of realization. 
 
 But we so often fix our attention too much on the goal 
 of our ideals rather than on the best methods to adopt to 
 make sure of reaching that goal. The point is not how 
 high we can climb or how far we can travel each day, or 
 year, or life-time, to reach our goal, but to see that our 
 methods are true and right for ourselves and posterity. 
 If we are to concentrate solely on our ideals and not 
 equally concentrate on methods that will stand the test 
 of all conditions of time, then we are no more likely 
 to reach the summit than would be an Alpine Climber 
 who, with eyes fixed on mountain peaks, ignored the 
 ravines, precipices, rivers and glaciers he had to traverse 
 and overcome. 
 
 The Socialist would look to attain a higher state of 
 civilization by the giving of all power to Governments. 
 The Anarchist would hope to attain the same ends by the 
 denial of any power to Governments. There have always 
 been two types of Government — one nearest to Socialistic 
 ideals, and the other nearest to Individualistic ideals, but 
 there is no record of social life in communities without 
 Governments. From the days of ancient Egypt and 
 ancient Rome there have been Governments that pauper- 
 ized the people ; that gave doles for a cheap loaf ; doles for 
 house-building that the workman might pay less for his 
 bread and less rent for his house than he had received 
 for his labour as the cost of their production. This type 
 of Government is considered by Socialists to be the 
 protector and guardian of the people, and is said to live 
 and exist for the people. The other type of Govern- 
 ment gives no doles for cheap bread or cheap houses. 
 It believes that the individual should be a freeman and 
 self-supporting. It concentrates on Justice and Equity 
 and equal rights for all ; favouritism or pauperizing for 
 
252 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 none. This Government is proud of its reputation that 
 its policy is to encourage the people to live for them- 
 selves. 
 
 Every act of the Socialistic Government makes each 
 man's penny — the penny of those who receive Govern- 
 ment doles equally with the penny of all others — worth 
 less than one penny. Every act of the Individualistic Gov- 
 ernment makes each man's penny worth more than one 
 penny in the comfort, health, and happiness it places 
 within his reach. 
 
 Reward must be linked to effort, and without effort 
 there can be no reward. It is only when we play the 
 game of life, not on the basis of asking and looking for 
 doles and grants from Governments, not on the basis of 
 " ca' canny " or cunning, but on the basis of whole- 
 hearted service for others, that we can reach the sublime 
 heights for ourselves, and make it the easier for all 
 others to reach there and to attain to a full and complete 
 life of happiness. 
 
 Who can set a limit on the influence of a human being 
 for good or ill ? But we are poor and feeble whatever 
 may be our wealth or health, if we lack the leisure to 
 satisfy healthy wants of mind and soul as well as of 
 muscle and body. Material, individual, and national 
 progress is inseparably interlocked with the progress and 
 development of men, women, and children as individuals. 
 We have seen in Russia the collapse of hopes for better- 
 ment founded on the fallacies of Socialistic theories. We 
 are a democratic nation living under the finest and most 
 sane and stable form of Government the world has ever 
 known — a Constitutional Monarchy — and it would be 
 nothing less than a scandal if we, a democratic nation 
 and empire, could organize successfully for War at short 
 notice, as we have done, and could not equally success- 
 fully and rapidly organize for Peace. 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 253 
 
 There is a saying amongst sailors that if the wind 
 were always south-west by west then children might take 
 ships to sea. But we British with our brave Allies have 
 for over four long years on individualistic, democratic 
 principles successfuly weathered the tornado hurricane 
 of this present World War, and surely we can success- 
 fully navigate in the calmer winds of Peace. Our only 
 ally that has dropped out has been the Ally misled by 
 Socialistic fallacies, but that Ally will, let us all hope, 
 yet turn from these fallacies and, rejoining her friends, 
 achieve liberty and freedom. 
 
 Our greatest hindrance for betterment reconstruction 
 after the War will be that we always find it difficult to 
 shake ourselves clear of prejudice and preference for 
 former habits and lines of thought. The inertia of 
 former habits of thought and habits of action is difficult 
 to overcome, and inertia makes cowards of us all. But 
 science was making rapid progress, and moving with 
 accelerated speed during the War, and will move with 
 still more rapid strides immediately Peace follows on 
 War. 
 
 It is true that as marked by figures on a calendar there 
 is a greater interval of time from the days of Adam to 
 the days of Sir Isaac Newton than from the days of Sir 
 Isaac Newton to to-day. But as marked by the progress 
 of science, civilization and of the unlocking of the secrets 
 of Nature by man, and his acquisition of correct knowl- 
 edge of the universe and of the infinite power of such 
 natural forces as electricity, there has been a greater span 
 and interval from the days of Sir Isaac Newton to the 
 present time than in all the preceding centuries since the 
 foundations of this world were laid. 
 
 It is Science, and the wealth of Capital and mechanical 
 utilities made possible by Science, that have raised man- 
 kind from a race of cave-dwellers clothed in skins of 
 
254. THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 beasts into house-dwellers clothed in scarlet and fine linen. 
 And yet it is these very modern conditions of life that 
 have given us power for increased production, accom- 
 panied by lessened exertion, that are viewed as powers 
 that can be made to produce greater well-being if they 
 are accompanied by a policy of " ca' canny." The work- 
 man fears the mechanical utility, believing it reduces em- 
 ployment, and is obsessed with the fallacy that Capital 
 and the Capitalist, which have made Science and ma- 
 chinery possible, are the sworn enemies of the workers, 
 whilst a closer examination of these operations would 
 prove that both are the best friends the workers and 
 mankind have ever enjoyed for the service of man. But 
 to the ignorant or partially informed the truths of knowl- 
 edge and facts of history do not exist any more than 
 if they were not. The present-day attitude of Trades 
 Unionists to labour-saving machinery is just as logical 
 as if our cave-dwelling ancestors had decided that the 
 first inventors of bows and arrows, canoes, and fishing 
 nets or clubs and spears for the men who hunted, fished, 
 or fought, were likely to bring about periods of dis- 
 tress through over-production by giving increased facili- 
 ties for securing more game and fish, and better defence 
 from attack, involving social danger that might bring 
 ruin in its train if not " cabined, cribbed, and confined " 
 by " ca' canny " methods. 
 
 We are told that the cave-dweller had a shallow, reced- 
 ing skull fashioned like an inverted saucer and which 
 skull held little more than a spoonful of brains. He did 
 not worry about Socialism or any other " ism "; and let us 
 thank God that he had brains enough to see that the in- 
 ventor who invented for him the mechanical utility, crude 
 as it was, of a bow and arrow that enabled him to kill 
 the fleeing deer without the necessity of running himself 
 off his legs on foot chasing after the deer, or who in- 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 255 
 
 vented the mechanical utility of the canoe and nets which 
 enabled him to catch more fish in an hour than he could 
 take in a month without them, or who invented the club 
 and spear that enabled him the better to defend his wife 
 and children from attacks of enemies, and so live in 
 greater security and comfort, could not possibly be other 
 than his friend; and that every mechanical utility that 
 enabled him to produce more food and clothing with 
 less exertion, and in greater safety for his wife, children 
 and himself, was something to be sought after and to be 
 employed without hesitation or doubt as to future ill 
 effects. 
 
 The greatest of our utilities to-day for the production 
 of more food and clothing, with greater safety and com- 
 fort for our wives, our children and ourselves, is Capital; 
 for Capital is the result of the developed heart and mind 
 of man which has enabled him to produce more than he 
 consumes. Hence we get stored-up Capital. Capital 
 to-day is mankind's best friend, which with magic wand, 
 harnesses the waste forces of Nature into the service of 
 mankind, making the desert places and wildernesses of 
 the earth to blossom and bring forth food and clothing 
 and to provide comforts for our sheltering homes. And 
 yet Capital and the so-called Capitalist system is the most 
 abused, the most misunderstood and probably the best 
 hated of our institutions. Without Capital and the Capi- 
 talist there could be no machinery, no mechanical utilities, 
 or opening up and development of our Colonies or of the 
 distant waste lands from the frozen North or South poles 
 through the torrid tropics and temperate zones. Unless 
 some one had rendered service to others by self-denial, in 
 order to save up Capital with which to purchase machin- 
 ery and mechanical utilities, our feeble physical strength 
 could not produce one-hundredth part of the food, cloth- 
 ing, shelter, and bare necessities of life required to main- 
 
256 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 tain our highly civilized modern life at one tithe of its 
 present level of comfort, health, and happiness. 
 
 Capital, machinery, and mechanical utilities, plough, 
 sow, cultivate, and harvest our fields ; milk our cows and 
 prepare our food ready for consumption; spin, weave, 
 and make our clothing; dress our leather and make our 
 boots and shoes; make our furniture and carpets, and 
 erect our houses, build our ships, locomotives, and en- 
 gines; and by electricity can light and heat our homes, 
 cook our food, clean our knives and our boots. A vacuum 
 cleaner will sweep our floors, carpets, and curtains. Ma- 
 chines typewrite our letters, add, subtract, and multiply 
 our calculations for us, set up the type for and print off 
 our newspapers, and, in fact, perform for us, without 
 entailing strain or overwork on ourselves, thousands of 
 services too numerous to describe, which, without the aid 
 of Capital, machinery, and mechanical utilities we could 
 never by our own feeble strength accomplish. 
 
 Capital, machinery, and mechanical utilities bear our 
 heaviest burdens for us and prevent our own backs from 
 being broken under the heavy load we would otherwise 
 have to bear, or be forced to return to the misery and 
 discomfort of the life of our ancestors, the cave-dwellers. 
 If Capital, machinery, and mechanical production were 
 withdrawn from the world to-morrow, or their service 
 to mankind curtailed, or hindered, or arrested, this would 
 cause millions of our fellow creatures to perish, and 
 force the remainder to exist in abject misery and wretch- 
 edness. In awe and wonder we exclaim this is a machine 
 age, and that it is all too wonderful for us to understand 
 or realize, or adequately appreciate. 
 
 But the modern street-corner orators and Socialists, 
 and large masses of employee-workers, and ill-informed 
 Trades Unionists attack what they are constantly de- 
 nouncing as the " Capitalist system," and they speak of 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 257 
 
 " Wage Slavery," " Capital," " Machinery " as the cause 
 of each and every ill that a distorted imagination can 
 depict. Even religion and Christianity are described as 
 part of the Capitalist system of "Wage Slavery." If 
 our Christian religion and its Founder teach us that our 
 own well-being and happiness are absolutely dependent 
 for realization on the extent of our own services and 
 the services of our fathers and forefathers to our fellow- 
 man, and that service to our fellow-man is a duty we can 
 never disregard without bringing suffering also on our- 
 selves, then revolutionary orators declare that religion is 
 a device of the so-called "Capitalist system" for the 
 enslavement of mankind, and is " fundamentally " wrong, 
 and one that must bq abolished by the "proletariat" 
 as the enemy of the people. Talk to the man who would 
 carry the "Red Flag" through the land, talk to the 
 Socialist or Anarchist of increasing production, or of 
 volume of output and its relation to the costs of pro- 
 duction, and you receive a vacant stare from out their 
 bloodshot eyes and a scornful reference to " Capitalism " 
 and " Wage Slavery." They hold all increases in pro- 
 duction as solely the exploitation of the workers, and they 
 view machinery and mechanical production as part of a 
 " Capitalist System " and " Wage Slavery " to be met and 
 defeated only by Trades Unionist secret rules for limit- 
 ing output by " ca' canny " methods. Abolish the " Capi- 
 talist System," abolish " Payment of Interest," abolish the 
 " Wage System," confiscate all wealth, let all the indus- 
 tries of the country be run by Committees of Workmen 
 without Capitalist heads to guide, direct, and control, and 
 they declare we shall then have discovered the secret of 
 "Perpetual Motion" in our industries, the "Philoso- 
 pher's Stone " of Government, the " Elixir of Life " for 
 social well-being, and the "Transmutation" of baser 
 metals into gold for every employee-worker, and finally 
 
258 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 that but for the so-called " Capitalist System " and so- 
 called " Wage Slavery " mankind would bask in the 
 perpetual sunshine of satisfied wants and realized ideals 
 without any corresponding labour. 
 
 This mental outlook of the Socialist and Anarchist has 
 been cartooned by a satirist in a French journal, who 
 depicted some Bolshevik workman reading a poster put 
 out by the Bolshevik Russian Government, which reads, 
 " Our soldiers and citizens are without bread and all 
 other necessaries. Let every citizen do his duty and 
 work " — the Bolshevik workman's comment being, 
 " Work ! ! Our Government has betrayed us. The Capi- 
 talists have triumphed." 
 
 But "if a man will not work, neither shall he eat" 
 must always be the law of the universe, and instead of 
 Capital, machinery, and mechanical utilities being the 
 foes of the worker, making his laborious task the harder, 
 they are just as much his friends and more surely im- 
 provers of his condition, and are even more necessary 
 to his civilized existence than were the first club, spear, 
 bow and arrow, canoe, and net invented for the use of 
 our cave-dwelling ancestors. 
 
 Who and what are the Capitalists? Every man or 
 woman with good health, good character, common sense, 
 who exercises self-denial and practises the essential law 
 of service to others, can become a Capitalist. 
 
 Capital and wealth or health are the results that Equity 
 records in the game called Life, when we strike thd 
 keyboard letters and figures with habits of industry, econ- 
 omy, attention to duty, service to mankind, and hard, 
 concentrated work. Every man or woman lacking in 
 these qualities will become bankrupt in Capital, wealth, 
 or health, even if he or she inherited the same from father 
 or remoter ancestors, who had possessed and had prac- 
 tised them. Nor can Capital, wealth, and health be f raudu- 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 259 
 
 lently acquired and retained. Poverty and ill-health are 
 the record of Equity in the game called Life when the key- 
 board letters and figures of fraud or of idleness, extrava- 
 gance, slackness, selfishness in regard to others have been 
 struck by ourselves or our fathers. But when we see 
 Capital, wealth or health, poverty, or ill-health, we view 
 them as causes not as effects. It would be as reasonable 
 to view the rosy flush of health or the pustules of small- 
 pox as the cause of health or disease. But with these 
 manifestations we do not fall into any such error. We 
 know they are not causes, and we recognize them as 
 effects, and as the outward and visible sign of good health 
 or ill-health. 
 
 It would be just as logical and productive of service to 
 mankind to declaim against health and strength as it is to 
 declaim against Capital and Wealth. The more we desire 
 to produce conditions that result in rosy cheeks of health 
 and strength, the more we find ourselves dependent on 
 the conditions that equally are necessary for the produc- 
 tion of Capital and Wealth. Do we wish mankind to 
 become each succeeding year the possessor of more Capi- 
 tal and of more Wealth, Health, and Strength, then we 
 must make easier the practice of the qualities that lead to 
 the acquisition of either and both. We must do nothing 
 to discourage the acquisition of Capital and Wealth, any 
 more than we should discourage the acquisition of health 
 and strength; otherwise we shall bring suffering and dis- 
 tress on the whole human race — on ourselves equally with 
 all others. 
 
 If we could bring greater prosperity and happiness on 
 mankind by preventing the fertile valley from yielding a 
 more plentiful and a richer harvest as compared with 
 less fertile soils, or by preventing the cow that was a good 
 milker, the hen that was a good layer, from producing 
 more than the poor milker or poor layers, we might then 
 
260 THE SIX-HOUR SHIFT 
 
 achieve prosperity and happiness by preventing or dis- 
 couraging the man or woman of exceptional powers for 
 the acquisition and the production of Capital, Wealth, or 
 Health, from producing more than was produced by those 
 of feeble powers for the acquisition of either. Any at- 
 tempt at limiting the powers of the individual to acquire 
 wealth is like endeavouring to lower some one's standard 
 of health because it is higher than the average. The 
 healthy of a community are a source of strength to all 
 others, and so are the wealthy. What we require to do 
 is not to weaken the strong or impoverish the wealthy, 
 but to show to the weak and the poor the way to become 
 healthy and wealthy. 
 
 Our hope for the future is a deeper and wider knowl- 
 edge and a broader outlook, a frank discussion without 
 prejudice or temper. We are, in our industrial and 
 economic conditions, merely like a healthy, strong child 
 that has grown faster than it could be provided with new 
 clothes. No blame attaches to Capital for this, and no 
 blame attaches to Labour ; both have become entangled in 
 the strong currents bearing along the drift weeds of pre- 
 vious growths. The strong and wealthy are as helpful 
 and generous as the sickly and poor would be if they were 
 to change places. Men work and are saving and frugal, 
 not only for themselves, but for their wives and children. 
 If we abolished distinctions between men there would still 
 be the strong and the weak, the healthy and the ailing, 
 and consequently the rich and the poor. The healthy and 
 strong of to-day may be the sickly and weak of to-mor- 
 row, and the wealthy of to-day may become the poor of 
 to-morrow, and the children of the poor of yesterday will 
 then take their places. The brightest hope for the future 
 is our ever-increasing healthy wants and ever-increasing 
 desire to live and enable our children to live in 
 greater happiness and comfort. The old wage will 
 
SOCIALISM, OR EQUALITY VS. EQUITY 261 
 
 not supply the new wants, and science and the better or- 
 ganization of our industries enable us by increasing pro- 
 duction to reduce the hours of toil, increase the wages, 
 and cheapen the product. 
 
 On these lines our future happiness lies, and not on 
 dreams of an impossible Socialism. Already we see 
 the coming of a new day, and are warmed by the glorious 
 rays of its rising sun. 
 
 The End. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Accidents, precautions against, 
 
 168-75 
 Agriculture as an example of 
 
 unrestricted output, 192-3 
 " All Electric " scheme, the, 35. 
 America, labour, conditions in, 
 50-1 
 production in, 13, 35, 50-1 
 machinery and wages in, 201 
 inequality of wealth in, 222 
 Australia, working conditions 
 in, S3 
 
 Birkenhead, prosperity of, 161 
 Borrowing, 97, 255 
 Boy Scout movement, 41 
 British national debt, 19 
 Business, 132 
 
 truthfulness in, 139-40 
 
 overconfidence in, 142 
 
 " Ca'canny " policy, the, 1, 7, 13, 
 
 17, 53, 191, 209, 254 
 Capital — 
 and Labour, 56 et seq. 
 dependent on management and 
 
 labour, 93 
 its obligations, 107 
 and Henry Ford, 203-5 
 as agent or broker, 212 
 basis of prosperity, 253-61 
 greatest of utilities, 255 
 attacks on, 256-8 
 Capitalists, defination of, 258 
 Capitalist system, results from, 
 
 118-19 
 Certificates, Lord Leverhulme's 
 
 scheme of, 97-9 
 Combines, 247 
 Comfort of employees, 8 
 Commercial supremacy, 44-5 
 Competition, go, 106 
 Co-operative system, 120 
 Co-partnership, 63, 69-84, 133, 
 144, 177, 232-6 
 
 and management, 85-112 
 and efficiency, 113-30 
 at Lever Brothers, Limited, 
 109-11 
 Cotton industry, 72 
 Courtesy in business, 139 
 Crompton's and Arkwright's 
 spinning-looms, 219 
 
 Daylight saving, 135 
 Day-work versus Piece-work, 
 
 103 
 Death duties, 46 
 Democracy, 48 
 Divisional Committees, 166-8, 
 
 173 
 
 Education, 40-3, 178-9, 215-16, 
 287 
 
 Efficiency, 113 et seq. 
 
 Egoists, 248-50 
 
 Employers, capable and incapa- 
 ble, 75 
 
 Employers and employees, 16, 
 18, 183-4 
 
 Employment, regulation of, 92 
 
 Equality, not based on equity, 
 246 
 sincere claims for, 222 
 
 Equity, 246-8 
 
 Evening classes, 41, 178 
 
 Excess profits tax, 207 
 
 Factory Act Legislation, 28-9 
 Factory Acts Amendment Bill 
 
 debate, 26-7 
 Factory buildings, 165 
 Factories, shortage of, 39 
 Ford, Henry, 203-5, 211, 215 
 Free land for housing, 155-8 
 
 George, Henry, theories of, n 
 Golden Rule in business, 116 
 Government, its powers and du- 
 ties, 239-40 
 dependent on labour, 225 
 
 263 
 
264 
 
 INDEX 
 
 types of, 251-2 
 socialistic, 252 
 
 Hadfield, Sir Robert, quoted, 
 
 33-4 
 Happiness, 5, 12 
 John Bright's definition of, 
 225 
 Health and housing, 145-68 
 Health insurance, 47 
 Health of munition workers, 32 
 Home, importance of, 6 
 
 love for, 48 
 Housing of working classes, 
 146, 162 
 in London, 21, 1515-6 
 
 Income tax, 46, 88, 182, 207, 228, 
 
 230 
 " Industrial Administration,'' 
 
 185, 191 
 Industrial system, flaws in, 88 
 Imitation, 135 
 
 Jeans, Miss Victorine, quoted, 
 28 
 
 Labour — 
 
 British attitude toward, 4 
 conditions in America, 50-1 
 as a Debenture Holder, 69 
 eligibility of, for Boards of 
 
 Directors, 43, 107-8 
 laws ineffective, 209 
 relations to capital, 58 et 
 seq., 1 18-19 
 
 under Socialism, 251-2 
 " Labour the source of all 
 wealth," fallacy the, 202, 205 
 and production of wealth, hu- 
 man factor in, 77 
 Labour and Capital, 56-67 
 Labour unrest, 9-1 1, 40, 64, 68, 
 
 "3, 197 
 Land, division of, 105 
 Leisure, importance of, 109 
 Liberty, definitions of, 225 
 Liverpool, overcrowding in, 148 
 London, in Cromwell's time, 
 219 
 
 overcrowding in, 148 
 
 death-rate in, 151 
 Loss-sharing, 89, 101 
 
 Machine power versus human 
 
 energy, 14-16 
 Machinery increases wages, 201 
 Management and Labour, 86 et 
 
 seq. 
 Manchester Ship Canal, 203 
 Monotony, deadening effect of, 
 
 8, 20-1 
 
 National debt, 19 
 National prosperity, seven pil- 
 lars of, 218 
 
 Output, maximum, 33 
 absorption of, 36 
 and shorter hours, 190-2 
 of English-speaking races, 
 52-3 
 
 Output, restriction of, 7, 13, 49, 
 
 57, 189, 194 
 Overcrowding, 147-52 
 
 Partners, sleeping, 134-5 
 
 active, 136 
 People's budget, the, 209 
 Philanthropy not desirable, 103, 
 
 147 
 Port sunlight, statistics of ac- 
 cidents, 174 
 births, deaths, and marriages, 
 179 
 Preference shares, 99 
 Problem, employer's greatest, 
 
 183 
 Production, 17 
 quality of essential, 37 
 after the war, 37 
 increase of, 189, 198, 215 
 Profit-sharing, 71-132 
 
 defined, 87 
 Prosperity-sharing, 80-1 
 
 Raw material, 39 
 Rents 154, 159-60 
 Rockefeller, 212, 215 
 Ruskin, quoted, 195 
 
 "Safety Bulletin Boards," W, 
 
 189 
 Safety Inspector's Report, 170 
 Self-interest in business, 85 
 
INDEX 
 
 265 
 
 " Scientific Management," 185-6. 
 Service the law of life, 44-7 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, speeches in 
 
 1844 and 1866, 29-30. 
 Sharing of capital, drawbacks 
 
 in, 95-7 
 Shop committees, 164 et seq. 
 Six-hour day, 23, 36-7, 39, 179 
 and education, 40 
 gain by adoption of, 54-5. 
 Six-hour shift, the, 20 et seq. 
 Socialism, 243-6 
 Socialist criticisms answered, 
 
 103-5 
 Society, interdependence of, 9- 
 
 10 
 St. Paul, cited, 231 
 " Staff Training College," 178 
 Strikes, 91 
 Supply and demand, 200 
 
 Taxation, proper basis of, 22 
 
 fair proportion, 46-7 
 Ten Hours Bill, 36 
 Tenements, 147-50 
 Trade, fluctuations of, 44-5 
 Trade unions, 194-5 
 
 in British colonies, 53 
 
 and co-partnership, 67-8 
 
 and profit-sharing, 71 
 Trades Unionist, the, 246 
 Training essential, 14, 42-3 
 Trust and distrust of Labour, 4 
 
 Vernon, Dr., report of, 32 
 
 Wages — 
 wartime demand for increase, 
 
 17 
 after the war, 18 
 relation to output, 20 
 under co-partnership, 22 
 and cost of living, 25, 51 
 logic of present system, 51 
 adjustment of, 91 
 increase of decreases earnings, 
 
 "7 
 
 and better conditions, 128 
 
 in America, 191-2, 201 
 
 in agriculture, 192 
 
 increased by machinery, 193 
 
 in China and India, 201 
 " Wage slavery," 257-9 
 Wages boards, 127 
 Walton, Cecil, quoted, 34-5 
 Waste, avoidance of, 19, 49, 136 
 Wealth, 11-13 
 
 inequality of, 45 
 
 and labour, 205-7 
 
 conscription of, 224-7 
 
 production of, 230 
 
 confiscation of, 197 
 
 necessary to human welfare, 
 
 259 
 Welfare work, 21, 165-79 
 Work, blessings of, 45 
 
 necessity for, 258 
 Works Committees, 166-9 
 Workers, intelligence of, 6 
 
 in United Kingdom, 20 
 Working day, 20, 230 
 Workmen's dwellings, 156 
 
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