Cu.nt-ll Un.vti^j.ly L.bi.ity 
 
 HD9715.G5G24 
 
 The industrial council lor the building 
 
 3 1m:m do? 282 063 
 
 H3 
 
 9715 
 
 65 
 
 G24 
 
THE 
 
 MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL 
 
 OF 
 
 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR 
 
 RELATIONS 
 
 AT 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002282063 
 
THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL 
 
 for the 
 
 BUILDING INDUSTRY 
 
 THE GARTON FOUNDATION 
 3b liean's Yard 
 Westminster 
 London, S.W.I 
 
This instructive and suggestive 
 pamphlet is published under the 
 auspices of the Garton Founddtion. 
 The Managers are not responsible 
 for the facts stated^ although they 
 have no reason to doubt their 
 accuracy, or for the deductions 
 drawn by the writer. 
 
 A 2 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I.- 
 
 —The New Idea 
 
 5 
 
 II.- 
 
 —The Great Adventure 
 
 15 
 
 III.- 
 
 —The Reception of the Scheme 
 
 45 
 
 IV.- 
 
 —The Inauguration 
 
 ... 58 
 
 V.- 
 
 —The Constitution 
 
 66 
 
 VI. — The Structure of the Building 
 Industry ... 
 
 73 
 
 VII. — The Building Trades Parliament at 
 Work 
 
 100 
 
 VIII. — Organised Public Service in the 
 Building Industry : Interim 
 Report 
 
 115 
 
 IX. — The Reception of the Foster Report 142 
 
The Industrial Council for the 
 Building Industry 
 
 I.— THE NEW IDEA. 
 
 A BAD idea can only be conquered 
 by a better. That is the kernel of 
 this story. It is essentially the 
 story of an idea — its birth, its 
 challenge, its triumphant onrush, its first 
 achievements, its future possibilities. Per- 
 haps it would be truer to call it a fresh 
 blending of old ideas for they are none of 
 them new, and all of them are so simple as 
 to be almost axiomatic. Mainly they are 
 these : — 
 
 (i) That our industries must be rebuilt on 
 a new plan. 
 
 (2) That the best people to rebuild them 
 
 are the people who actually carry 
 them on. 
 
 (3) That we can mobilise for this purpose 
 
 the greatest forces in human nature — 
 the forces of constructive goodwill. 
 
 We could easily elaborate this list, but there 
 is no need ; the elaboration wiU come best 
 in the story to which we will now proceed. 
 
 The curtain rings up on the London 
 building trade dispute of 1914. In common 
 
6 THE NEW IDEA* 
 
 with most of the other great staple industries, 
 the building trade had, for some years, been 
 passing through a good deal of industrial 
 unrest. Nor were the causes far to seek. 
 The rates of wages had failed to keep pace 
 with the ever-increasing cost of living; the 
 gulf between employers and operatives was 
 growing wider — suspicion had become so 
 ingrained and so strong that almost every 
 proposal, no matter what its real merits, was 
 only regarded as a tactical move in a great 
 strategic struggle for mastery. 
 
 The very atmosphere of industry breathed 
 a spirit of tug of war, which was reflected 
 in countless publications of the time. 
 " Workers," said a Labour newspaper, " your 
 worst enemy is the man who pays you your 
 wages." ^ " Let it be understood once and for 
 all," declared a prominent national guildsman, 
 "that the interests of capital and labour 
 are diametrically opposed, and that, although 
 it may be necessary for labour sometimes to 
 acquiesce in ' social peace,' such peace is 
 only the lull before the storm. . . . The 
 normal condition of the world of industry 
 is one of suppressed war."^ Vigorous aggres- 
 sion and stubborn resistance became the 
 
 1 Daily Herald. 
 
 2 The World of Labour.— C D. H. Cole. 
 
THE NEW IDEA. 7 
 
 policies of both camps, and coercion the 
 only method that was considered practicable. 
 Nor was the thunder by any means confined 
 to the Labour side. At the beginning of 
 that fateful year, 1914, the London Master 
 Builders' Association, in its Annual Report, 
 issued a proud rejoinder. " Recent events 
 have strongly emphasized the necessity for 
 complete unity in the defence of employers' 
 interests against legislative oppression and 
 labour aggression. . . . Apparently fur- 
 ther labour troubles are ahead, but they 
 wiU be faced with the confidence and equa- 
 nimity which springs from a sense of power 
 as weU as from a sense of justice." 
 
 The trial of strength soon came. The 
 storm broke out at the new building then 
 being erected for the Pearl Assurance Com- 
 pany in Holborn, and the immediate occasion 
 was the old question regarding non-union 
 labour — probably one of the most fruitful 
 of the causes of industrial dispute. The 
 organised operatives demanded a monopoly 
 of labour — the organised employers refused 
 it. On the building in question the whole of 
 the Trade Union operatives withdrew their 
 labour in protest against the employment of 
 two non-union electricians. 
 
 The usual reference to the Concihation 
 
8 THE NEW IDEA. 
 
 Board resulted in deadlock, and the sub- 
 sequent decision of the arbitrator appointed 
 by the Board of Trade — against the Unions — 
 was promptly rejected by them. The London 
 Master Builders' Association then retaliated 
 by a lock-out of all operatives who refused 
 to sign an individual undertaking to work 
 peaceably with non-union men — and the great 
 struggle began. It dragged on all through 
 the spring and summer, inflicting immense 
 losses on both sides, and so impossible was 
 it to obtain an agreed settlement, that 
 the National Federation of Building Trades 
 Employers, at the request of the London 
 Master Builders, decided upon a national 
 lock-out of all building trade operatives to 
 be commenced on August 15th, in order to 
 force the issue to a conclusion. 
 
 The outbreak of war, however, rendered 
 this desperate course unnecessary. The Lon- 
 don building trade dispute was settled upon 
 what was very largely a return to the status 
 quo ante, in the face of a great national 
 danger and a universal desire to help the 
 country at a time of unparalleled crisis. But 
 the struggle had done its work. Its incredible 
 futility and wastefulness had been brought 
 home to very many thoughtful men, not only 
 amongst the operatives but amongst the 
 
THE NEW IDEA. 9 
 
 employers too. Along with this came the tre- 
 mendous challenge of the war, and amid the 
 quiet determination of millions that it must 
 never occur again' the new idea was born. 
 
 Amongst the employers who had been 
 drawn, against their will, into the vortex 
 of the London building trade dispute, was 
 a young director of a large joinery works near 
 WiUesden. He had always been a keen 
 student of industrial and international affairs, 
 but his keenness was greatly accentuated 
 by the great problems of the strike and the 
 war, and, in common with many others, he 
 resolved to do his utmost to discover some 
 solution that should be " big enough," as 
 he put it, " to break through the old barriers 
 of hostility and suspicion, and carry all before 
 it." 
 
 Recognising that some of the strongest 
 roots of war are to be found in the economic 
 structure of society ; with its struggle for 
 markets, and for the exclusive control of 
 materials, he very soon perceived that the 
 key to the problem must be sought for in 
 the world of industry. 
 
 Face to face with the evident failure of 
 coercion— both in the sphere of industry 
 and in international affairs- — his mind re- 
 bounded ahnost automatically to the opposite 
 
10 THE NEW IDEA. 
 
 extreme — the conception of the organised 
 service of the world built up through the 
 mobilisation of goodwill apd expressed in a 
 vast system of industrial self-government — 
 embracing every man or woman who was 
 capable of giving service whether they called 
 themselves employers or employed. 
 
 In view of the immense developments that 
 followed the launch of his proposals, it is 
 of interest to quote from his first essay on 
 the subject — a little paper written for a 
 group of social students early in the second 
 year of war. After reviewing the industrial 
 position, the failure of coercion, and the need 
 for radical change after the war, he con- 
 tinues : — 
 
 " We have all allowed ourselves to be influenced 
 by such phrases as ' the Law of Supply and Demand,' 
 and all the elaborate and cold and calculating 
 technique which the economists would have us 
 believe is in the nature of things. Economic science 
 has forgotten or has overlooked the vital fact that 
 men have a higher side to their natures and will 
 respond to influences that have nothing to do with 
 its so-called laws. 
 
 " If anyone ever doubted this, surely the war 
 itself has proved it up to the hilt in the inspiring 
 spectacle of men of all classes rushing into military 
 service at what they felt to be the call of a high 
 ideal. . . . 
 
 " Now it will be said ' if coercion is a failure what 
 
THE NEW IDEA. II 
 
 are we to put in its place ? Surely chaos would be 
 even worse ? ' The question is a very reasonable one, 
 and I will try, with considerable diffidence, to 
 answer it. . . . There is one method of attack 
 that does not induce resistance but calls forth 
 immediate response, and that is the appeal to the 
 best instincts of the other side. It has very rarely, 
 if ever, been seriously tried in industry, but 1 
 believe it is almost irresistible. It seems to me that 
 at the close of the war Capital and Labour should 
 frankly say to each other ' We wUl never reveit to 
 the Peace of yesterday. Antagonism and coercion 
 are at an end, and we appeal to you to co-operate 
 with us in the reorganisation of the world. . . .' 
 Hitherto aU social reform has onlj' gone forward 
 by permission of the vested interests — henceforward 
 the motto must surely be ' Humanity first and 
 money second.' If the world is to be reorganised 
 for humanity certain things must be done which, 
 in the present circumstances, the capitalist alone 
 can do. 
 
 " The problem of cheap Chinese and Japanese 
 labour, tlie foreign concessions in Persia, Morocco, 
 and elsewhere, those seeds of future wars, can be 
 solved with goodwill by capitalists and by no one 
 else. The problems of ca-canny and of scientific 
 management, those seeds of future strikes will go 
 down before the combined onslaught of employers 
 and employed united by goodwill and a common 
 purpose. 
 
 "It is not easy to sketch the machinery, but a 
 great international organisation, a Federal Parlia- 
 ment of Industry seems clearly called for. This 
 body would be elected by National Parliaments of 
 Industry, which in turn would be drawn from every 
 
12 THE NEW IDEA. 
 
 trade in every country. Their purpose would be 
 the reorganisation of the whole social structure for 
 the service of humanity. Of course there would be 
 honest divergence of opinion, but there would be 
 no class divisions. There .would be those who 
 thought that progress was not fast enough and 
 others who wanted to move more cautiously for- 
 fear of a false step, but all would rally to the same 
 watchword, ' Goodwill in the service of humanity.' 
 It seems to me that the tremendous faith and 
 courage required for such a movement would, in 
 themselves, create a great wave of enthusiasm in 
 its support, and backed up by the power of the 
 press its possibilities would be incalculable. 
 
 " To draw up a programme for the new Parlia- 
 ment of Industry is a task beyond my scope, but i t 
 is clear that their task would be continuous and 
 would require an immense amount of scientific 
 study. They would summon to their aid aU the 
 genius, all the leaders of progressive thought, aU 
 the skilled investigators that the world could offer 
 and would thoroughly sift their views. There 
 would probably appear to be no ideal system ready 
 ior adoption on a world-wide scale — but while expert 
 investigation was in progress, an immense amount 
 of overdue reforms could be introduced. 
 
 " For instance, it would be obviously essential as 
 a first step to abolish unemployment completely 
 throughout the civilised world, and this would lead 
 up to the establishment of a full international code 
 of minimum conditions, the standard minimum wage 
 for all adult labour, the seven-hour daj', standard 
 minima of housing, child nurture, education and so 
 forth. 
 
 " These reforms as soon as authorised by the 
 
THE NEW IDEA. I3 
 
 Industrial Parliament woTild, where necessary, 
 receive the form of law at the hands of the govern- 
 ments concerned. With these minima established 
 the whole outlook of the industrial populations 
 would be changed, and in the new and clearer 
 atmosphere it would be possible to see the next 
 step. 
 
 " It has been said that scientific management is 
 the complement of the industrial revolution. 
 Perhaps ' Goodwill in the service of humanity,' is 
 the complement of scientific management." 
 
 Except for an hour's discussion by the 
 group to which it was read, this paper aroused 
 no interest whatever, and was never pub- 
 lished. Indeed, the whole industrial situation 
 was so difficult, and the barriers of hostility 
 and suspicion so great that for several months 
 the author was at a loss as to how to find 
 an opening for the message that he felt he 
 had to give. 
 
 He had no journalistic connection, and in 
 any case he did not think that a purely 
 academic discussion in the public press would 
 advance his proposals very far. He believed 
 that in building the old industrial order upon 
 a basis of antagonism, coercion and resistance, 
 we had ignored altogether some of the most 
 powerful forces that actuate men ; that it 
 was possible, by an appeal to the finer 
 instincts, to enlist these forces for the creation 
 
14 THE NEW IDEA. 
 
 of a better system — to mobilise constructive 
 goodwill for active service, and to harness 
 into one team, for a common purpose, great 
 human energies hitherto opposed in tug of 
 war. But no amount of argument would 
 prove or disprove his theory. What was 
 needed was an actual test on the field of 
 industrial negotiation. 
 
 It soon became clear to him that if hos- 
 tility and suspicion were to be disarmed at 
 the start, the first great constructive move 
 must come from the labour side. Action 
 by a government department or by an 
 association of employers would be liable to 
 misinterpretation. It would be regarded by 
 its labour critics either as a sign of weakness, 
 or as some subtle form of treachery — Trade 
 Unions would be warned to have nothing to 
 do with it, and the whole conception would 
 be side-tracked perhaps for a generation. 
 
 On the other hand, if organised labour would 
 become positively constructive, as weU as 
 critical and defensive, and would boldly 
 launch a great proposal on the lines that he 
 had in mind, he believed that a new chapter 
 in our industrial history would be opened, 
 and that the foundations of a better social 
 order would be weU and truly laid. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 15 
 
 II.— THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 Having seen clearly that the condition 
 precedent to a real success lay in the support 
 of his proposals, right from the very begin- 
 ning, by the labour side, he was still in 
 considerable uncertainty as to the best course 
 to take. Outside the building industry he 
 was unknown, and inside it his position as 
 an employer who had been involved in the 
 recent trade dispute would naturally tend 
 to prejudice the Unions against him. 
 
 But by great good fortune, circumstances 
 conspired to force his hand. In February, 
 1916, the principal Trade Unions in the 
 London Building Industry suddenly gave 
 notice again to terminate their Working Rule 
 Agreement with the Employers' Association, 
 and presented a long Ust of fresh demands. 
 Thinking that this might be the prelude to 
 another futile struggle, he decided that an 
 appropriate moment had arrived for the 
 discussion of his scheme. A little careful 
 thought convinced him that the boldest 
 course was the safest, and he therefore wrote 
 in the first instance to the London District 
 
I 6 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 Committee of the Amalgamated Society of 
 Carpenters and Joiners — the very men who 
 had been his opponents in the recent trade 
 dispute. And as he was then no longer a 
 member of any association of employers, he 
 felt quite free to do this. 
 This is what he wrote : — 
 
 " The Secretary, 
 
 " The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and 
 Joiners, 
 " 58, Theobalds Road, W.C. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Stennett, 
 
 " Although I am now writing to you in my 
 private capacity you will remember me as an em- 
 ployer who has more than once crossed swords with 
 you and your colleagues across the conciliation table 
 of the London Master Builders. 
 
 " Now, although your committee has sometimes 
 sat in judgment upon me, yet I venture to hope 
 that you will write me down as a friend of all that 
 is best in the Trade Union movement, and will rank 
 me amongst those employers who are trying to lead 
 the way in the matter of fair treatment and im- 
 proved conditions. 
 
 " Concede me this, and I am full of hope for the 
 result of this letter ; otherwise I fear its chances 
 can only be described as slender. 
 
 " I rejoice that you have decided to revise your 
 working rule agreements. I want to see you win 
 your increased wages and improved conditions, and 
 I believe that there is no fair-minded employer who 
 does not share this view. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. XJ 
 
 " But the future is heavily veiled and full of 
 menace, and already we hear ominous mutterings of 
 the ' inevitable struggle between Capital and 
 Labour ' that is to follow the conclusion of the war. 
 
 " That struggle is not inevitable ; our country 
 and our brave comrades at the front alike demand 
 and deserve that a better way shall be found, and 
 that the wonderful spirit of unity and goodwill in 
 the nation's service that has hushed our discords 
 and banished our quarrels throughout this time of 
 trial shall be preserved and extended in the social 
 reconstruction that is coming. 
 
 " The peace of to-morrow must be a far finer, 
 far more generous thing than the peace of yesterday. 
 Vast new problems mU demand new methods of 
 solution, and it is in the hope that the great building 
 industry of England may lead the way that I wish 
 to place a constructive proposal before you. 
 
 " I want to suggest that : — 
 
 " (i) The National Executives of the Trades 
 Unions in the Building Trade shall invite the 
 National Federation of Building Trade Em- 
 ployers to co-operate in setting up a National 
 Industrial Parliament for the building industry. 
 
 " (2) Members of this parliament shall be 
 elected on democratic Unes, each district return- 
 ing one representative for the employers and 
 one for the operatives. 
 
 " (3) The function of the parliament would 
 
 be the progressive and continuous improvement 
 
 of the building industry, and, when desirable, 
 
 'its decision, subject to the approval of the 
 
 Board of Trade, should have the force of law. 
 
l8 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " (4) Amongst the many subjects requiring 
 its immediate attention would be : — 
 
 " (a) A national advance in wages and 
 conditions. 
 
 " (6) Organisation for the prevention of un- 
 employment. 
 
 " (c) Organisation for the employment of 
 disabled soldiers. 
 
 " (d) Technical training and apprenticeship. 
 
 "(e) Research and experimentation along 
 suggested lines of improvement. 
 
 " These matters would be entrusted to special 
 committees of investigation, and action would be 
 taken on receipt of their reports. 
 
 " Now, in considering the scheme thus very 
 briefly outlined, I want you to note certain out- 
 standing features. 
 
 " In the first place we make a definite attempt to 
 get rid of the old antagonism that has for so long 
 embittered the relations between employers' federa- 
 tions and trade unions, and to substitute a real 
 spirit of goodwill and mutual trust devoted to the 
 ' progressive and continuous improvement of the 
 industry,' in the hope of making it the finest in 
 the world, and an important contribution to social 
 progress. 
 
 " Note secondly that, whereas all our organisa- 
 tions have hitherto been defensive and concerned 
 primarily with disputes and their adjustment, under 
 the new scheme disputes would be merely occasional 
 incidents, and, I hope, very few and far between. 
 
 " If the scheme should meet with the success that 
 I hope for, the industrial parliament would divide 
 itself into those who wished to go forward very 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. IQ 
 
 rapidly and those who preferred more cautious 
 progress — but (and here is the important point) we 
 should find employers and operatives side by side 
 in the ranks of each of the parties instead of in 
 two hostile camps as heretofore. 
 
 " I am con-vinced that its possibilities are enor- 
 mous. Take, for instance, this national advance 
 in wages and conditions. No good employer is 
 opposed to high wages, but as long as advances are 
 put forward sectionally instead of nationally he 
 has often no alternative but to oppose them, 
 because of the competition of districts not subject 
 to proportionate advance. 
 
 " Scientific organisation, backed up by goodwill, 
 will solve many problems hitherto regarded as in- 
 soluble ; will solve them easily and smoothly, and 
 in a manner that will arouse enthusiastic pride in a 
 big job well done. 
 
 " For it is a big job that we have to face, and it 
 is the more attractive because it is so big. 
 
 " I hear you say : ' These are Utopian dreams,' 
 but I reply that ' I am convinced that what I can 
 see others can see, and nothing will persuade me 
 that the world is not ready for an ideal for which I 
 am ready.' " 
 
 " The scheme is all right," said the foreman 
 of the works to whom he showed it, " but 
 the Unions are not at all likely to consider 
 it. They will probably put it into the waste 
 paper basket, and tell you to mind your 
 own business." 
 
 Several of the operatives declared it to 
 
20 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 be far too Utopian, and that no association 
 of employers would ever look at it. 
 
 " You have asked too much," they said, 
 '' things don't move so quickly in this sordid 
 world." He himself, however, was by no 
 means so pessimistic, although he recognised 
 that everything depended upon the atmos- 
 phere in which his proposal was considered. 
 If it was looked at fairly on its merits there 
 was hope — but if its real potentialities were 
 obscured by the bitterness engendered by 
 the recent struggle, and were over-ridden by 
 the antagonism and distrust inseparable from 
 the conception of class war, then, he admitted, 
 its chances would be practically nil. But 
 there were some wise men on that London 
 Committee of the Carpenters and Joiners, 
 and they did not keep him waiting long. 
 Mr. Stennett's reply was prompt and en- 
 thusiastic : 
 
 "My committee," he wrote, "were very favourably 
 impressed with your scheme for a National Industrial 
 Parliament for the Building Industry. They ap- 
 preciate your efforts and instructed me to send on 
 your letter to our National Executive in Manchester. 
 . . . I shall see our general secretary to-morrow, 
 and shall suggest to him to call a conference of the 
 whole of the building trades to consider the 
 matter." 
 
 Within a month the Carpenters and Joiners' 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 21 
 
 National Executive arranged to meet him at 
 a special conference in London, attended by 
 four of their number and four of their General 
 Council, including Mr. S. Hunter, their chair- 
 man, and Mr. A. G. Cameron, Assistant 
 General Secretary. And it was at this little 
 meeting that he realised for the first time 
 what had happened. He found that by 
 some miracle that he has never been able to 
 explain, the old barriers of hostility and 
 suspicion which so many had thought to be 
 impregnable were utterly swept away, and 
 that he was welcomed as a comrade by men 
 who had hitherto regarded him as an oppo- 
 nent. He had gone to the conference 
 expecting to be cross-examined on his letter 
 and his motives, and intending to support 
 his proposals to the best of his ability. 
 
 But he found the meeting had already 
 decided in his favour. The discussion was 
 not as to whether, but simply as to how 
 to push the scheme forward. The greatest 
 possible keenness was evident throughout the 
 meeting. Some members were in favour of 
 bringing it forward for preliminary discussion 
 in the local branches, but this was felt to 
 be premature. After full discussion, it was 
 firially decided to support the proposal, and 
 to send it forward to the next meeting of 
 
22 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 the National Associated Building Trades 
 Council — a body set up in 1914 for the 
 purpose of co-ordinating and eventually of 
 federating into one great industrial union 
 the principal Trade Unions in the building 
 industry. " If the Council decides to adopt 
 this scheme," said Mr. A. G. Cameren, in 
 moving the resolution, " it will make a name 
 for itself second to none in the industrial 
 history of England," and the proposition 
 was carried by unanimous vote of all present. 
 
 It came before the Council at Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne in June, 1916, but full discussion 
 was prevented by lack of time. It was, 
 however, resolved to print the letter in the 
 Council's Report, and to arrange for its 
 author to open a full day's conference at 
 the next quarterly meeting. The letter was 
 then circulated to the twelve Trade Unions 
 affiliated to the Council, and was also printed 
 in their journal. 
 
 In preparation for the coming conference, 
 a small Committee met in Manchester in 
 September, and drew up the scheme in more 
 detailed form for discussion by the Council 
 point by point. The conference took place 
 on the i8th of October in the "Bee" Hotel, 
 Liverpool. It was well attended, twenty 
 two delegates being present out of a total 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 23 
 
 twenty-four. Mr. S. Hunter, Chairman of the 
 National Associated Building Trades Council, 
 presided. It is impossible to include here 
 the whole of the opener's address, but it 
 was printed in full by the Council, and several 
 parts of it were embodied in the subsequent 
 Trade Union Memorandum to the Building 
 Trades Employers, whence they found their 
 way into the actual constitution of the 
 Builders' Industrial Parliament ; but a few 
 extracts are essential to a proper under- 
 standing of what follows. 
 
 " I feel," he said, " that it is a great honour 
 to be here — the more so as I fully recognise 
 that I am talking to men whose experience 
 of industrial problems is infinitely greater 
 than my own. . . . 
 
 " The study of these matters has always 
 attracted me, but I am afraid I used to allow myself 
 the very comfortable belief that progress could 
 only come by slow and almost imperceptible stages, 
 and that in about two thousand years' time the 
 "world would be quite a nice place. This complacent 
 attitude received a severe shock when I realised 
 that, in spite of increasing trade union activity, 
 both direct and political, real wages were declining, 
 that organised employers were becoming more and 
 more firmly entrenched, and that the gulf between 
 management and labour was apparently growing 
 wider. 
 
24 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " The situation was profoundly menacing and 
 fundamentally wrong. It could only lead to a 
 terrible collision of forces, which would inevitably 
 make matters worse, for whatever the result of the 
 dispute, the prize of victory for either side must 
 perish in the struggle. 
 
 " I began to ask myself these questions : — 
 
 " Is it possible that the coercion of either side by 
 the other is a mistake and a failure ? 
 
 " Does it not create a resistance that otherwise 
 might never have arisen ? 
 
 " Is there not an appeal to which there is no 
 resistance — namely, the appeal to the best instincts, 
 the goodwill of the other side ? 
 
 " If such an appeal were tried, would it capture 
 the imagination and carry all before it, or would 
 itfaU? 
 
 " And if it appeared to fail, would it really fail 
 in the long run ? 
 
 " Is not goodwill reaUy a far more powerful force 
 than selfishness if only it can be mobilised ? 
 
 " These are serious questions, and I do not feel 
 that I can fully answer them, but they started me 
 on a train of thought which has finally brought 
 about this meeting. 
 
 " It became clear to me that this great force of 
 goodwill had never been really applied to industry 
 in a practical manner, and further, that the idea 
 of management and labour setting up a joint council 
 for the continuous and progressive improvement of 
 their industry appeared to be entirely new. . . . 
 
 " With my letter to Mr. Stennett and its subse- 
 
 . quent developments you are already familiar. It 
 
 has materialised into the programme and proposals 
 
 before us to-day. The time is ripe and the problems 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 25 
 
 ot industrial reconstruction are pressing upon us 
 with ever-increasing urgency. . . . 
 
 " Now, before we consider the proposals in detail, 
 we must make up our minds that they are really 
 what is needed, both in principle and as to the 
 direction in which they will develop. We are all 
 agreed, I think, that the time has come for im- 
 portant changes." 
 
 After carefully examining three other pro- 
 posals for Industrial Reconstruction which 
 had been widely advocated in the press, he 
 continued : — 
 
 " But now we come to a point at which our own 
 proposals definitely part company with aU the 
 schemes we have just reviewed, and I want to state 
 this divergence as clearly as I possibly can. 
 
 " The three schemes we have dealt with all aim 
 for the same thing — the avoidance of strikes and 
 the establishment of industrial peace. That is their« 
 main objective. The idea of real constructiveness, 
 just foreshadowed in a sentence or two of Professor 
 Kirkaldy's report, is only a secondary object. All 
 three schemes preserve the idea of the two hostile 
 camps, with the terribly unstable equilibrium of 
 the armed peace, and its vast machinery of coercion 
 and resistance. 
 
 " The scheme we are to consider to-day is an 
 endeavour to outflank the whole position. We 
 propose to set up a new council, drawn from both 
 sides, and constituted for the express purpose of 
 progressive and continuous industrial improvement. 
 It is constructive and nothing but constructive. 
 
26 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " Disputes are excluded from its programme, 
 and industrial peace, if it comes at all, follows as 
 an inevitable by-product — but as a by-product 
 alone. . . . 
 
 " This is by far the strongest argument I can 
 find to support the scheme. . . . 
 
 " Mr. Bradshaw said to me at Manchester : ' You 
 will never get the lion to lay down with the lamb,' 
 and I think I agree with him. I am not quite 
 certain which of these headings is intended to 
 cover the employers — but I am quite sure that I 
 have no desire to get any one to lie down at all. 
 
 " The old conception of peace as a truce between 
 wars, and symbolised by doves, olive branches and 
 recumbent animals must give place to the vision of 
 justice at full gallop with her outstretched sword, 
 and the moment we conceive it thus, I believe it 
 wiU make an irresistible appeal to our imagination 
 and enthusiasm. . . . 
 
 " I referred just now to the conception of organised 
 labour as a great constructive force in industrial 
 progress. You are numbered amongst the leaders 
 of trade unionism at the moment of our country's 
 greatest need. 
 
 " I suggest to, you that the time has come when 
 your organisation should cease to be merely defensive 
 and resistive, and should begin to participate 
 actively in the development of industry. Whether 
 this conception is new or not I do not know. I do 
 know that it has never been tried, and I earnestly 
 appeal to you to give it a full trial. If I can 
 render any service you will always find me ready 
 — but the leadership must be your own. 
 
 " The Times correspondent suggests that ' Labour 
 must be made a party to every step in the national 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 2/ 
 
 process.' I feel convinced that the condition 
 precedent to a real success is that labour itself 
 should make the first great constructive move. 
 
 " And I long that the building industry may lead 
 the way. It is enormously important, and is not 
 directly affected by foreign competition. The 
 spectacle of its management and labour co-operating 
 in the development of a bold constructive pro- 
 gramme would be a most inspiring object lesson, 
 and would- profoundly change the whole industrial 
 atmosphere. It would create a new pride in 
 industry as a splendid service, and would pave the 
 way for many other industries to follow. 
 
 " With the actual proposals before us to-day you 
 are already familiar, but I wish to say a few words 
 upon the work of the Improvements Committee 
 and the Voluntary Code, because I think this is of 
 very great importance and teems with possibilities. 
 
 " The fact that any proposal brought before the 
 assembly may always be placed in the voluntary 
 code if it cannot yet secure a majority for the 
 compulsory or agreed minimum code will, I think, 
 have the following effect. 
 
 " It will enable the parliament to discuss im- 
 portant lines of advance, entirely on their merits 
 and without ulterior motives. This will inevitably 
 raise the discussions to a very high plane, and will 
 gradually accustom public opinion to thinking out 
 problems in terms of humanity as well as in terms 
 of material advantage. 
 
 " Such discussions will also give a tremendous 
 stimulus to the development of progressive thought 
 on all questions of social development, which again 
 will accelerate our rate of progress. 
 
28 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " And it will be impossible to overrate the 
 immense public service that will be performed by 
 employers who are willing to give full experimental 
 trial to such recommendations in the voluntary 
 code as they themselves approve. 
 
 " One more question. To what may this move- 
 ment lead ? I think the answer is already fairly 
 clear, although at the time I wrote my original 
 letter to the Carpenters and Joiners I knew nothing 
 of it. 
 
 " The natural and logical end will surely be 
 something very much akin to the great national 
 guilds so ably conceived by Mr. Cole and the Editor 
 of the New Age, but approached by a different road 
 and by a fimdamentally different method. . . . 
 
 " I believe that we stand to-day on the threshold 
 of a great adventure, big with vast possibiUties of 
 true national service. And when in the fulness of 
 time your council merges its identity in the larger 
 organisation of the National Guild, I think that 
 those famous words of Matthew Arnold will again 
 come true : — 
 
 " ' Therefore to thee it was given 
 Many to save with thyself. 
 And at the close of thy day, 
 Oh faithful shepherd to come. 
 Bringing thy sheep in thy hand.' " 
 
 The discussion which followed was opened 
 by Mr. W. Bradshaw, the Secretary of the 
 Operative Stonemasons of England. He 
 declared that until quite recently he had been 
 hostile to the scheme, beheving that the 
 interests of the operatives were necessarily 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 2 9 
 
 and inevitably opposed to those of the 
 employers, and that the only thing to do 
 was to develop their fighting organisation 
 until they could dictate their terms. But 
 during the last few weeks his opinions had 
 undergone a change. He did believe in the 
 power of goodwill, and was certain that 
 if we got the right institutions we should get 
 the right men for them. Moreover, the 
 scheme appealed to him as being something 
 that could be achieved at once ; and after 
 careful perusal of its details and of -the argu- 
 ments set forth in the Garton " Memorandum 
 on the Industrial Situation After the War," 
 he had come to the conclusion that it was his 
 duty to put his shoulder to the wheel and push 
 it forward to the best of his ability. The 
 courage and honesty of this utterance were 
 not without effect upon the conference, and 
 after a full discussion, a resolution, approving 
 of the scheme in principle, and referring it 
 to the several executives for consideration 
 and report, was carried without a single 
 dissentient. 
 
 The full detailed scheme was then published 
 in the Council's reports and in the Trade Union 
 journals, and the twelve executive committees 
 were requested to report upon it within a 
 month. 
 
30 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 The Council reassembled in Manchester in 
 November, and the report from the affiliated 
 executives being favourable, an interesting 
 discussion arose as to the best method of 
 approaching the employers. 
 
 It transpired that the Employers' Federa- 
 tion had just refused to recognise the Council 
 and several delegates expressed annoyance at 
 this refusal, and said that the employers' 
 policy was always to keep the operatives 
 divided. Another urged that, as Malcolm 
 Sparkes, the originator of the scheme, had 
 secured the approval of the Operatives' 
 Organisations, he should now turn his atten- 
 tion to the Employers' Associations, and try 
 and win them too. 
 
 Sparkes, whoi was present, pointed out 
 that this suggestion had been made to him 
 several times before, but he had always felt 
 it his duty to refuse. The scheme must be 
 theirs, and not his, and he could not act 
 as their ambassador. He believed that it 
 was absolutely vital that the scheme should 
 be brought forward by organised Labour, 
 acting through their own appointed leaders. 
 But at the request of Mr. Cameron (Assistant 
 Secretary, A.S.C. & J.) and Mr. Parsonage 
 (Secretary to the Council), he had had two 
 informal conversations on the matter with 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 3I 
 
 Mr. A. G. White, the Secretary of the National 
 Federation of Building Trades Employers, 
 and Mr. White had expressed the keenest 
 interest in the idea, and had said that ii 
 a conference to discuss the scheme were 
 ofl&cially asked for by the Trade Unions 
 concerned, he would certainly use his influence 
 to ensure, so far as he could, that such a 
 conference should be held. 
 
 After some discussion, it was agreed that 
 the Council was the proper body to present 
 the scheme, and that the circumstance of 
 non-recognition should not deter them. It 
 was accordingly resolved, again by unanimous 
 vote, to forward the draft scheme to the 
 National Federation of Building Trades 
 Employers, and ask for a conference thereon. 
 Messrs. Bradshaw, Hunter, Parsonage, Went- 
 worth and Sparkes were appointed to prepare 
 a special Memorandum for the purpose. 
 
 Thus ended the first phase of the great 
 adventure. The great Trade Unions of the 
 building industry had put their hands to 
 the plough, and the following documents 
 speak for themselves : — 
 
32 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " Manchester, 
 
 " lyth January, 19 17. 
 
 " A. G. White, Esq., 
 
 " The National Federation of BuDding Trades 
 Employers of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 " Koh-i-noor House, 
 
 " Kings way, London, W.C. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Industrial Reconstruction. 
 
 " I am directed by my council to forward you 
 two copies of our memorandum setting forth a 
 proposal for the establishment of a National Indus- 
 trial Parliament for the whole of the building industry, 
 and to ask you if you will kindly lay them before your 
 executive committee at the earliest convenient date. 
 
 "It is of course obvious that a far-reaching 
 proposal of this kind cannot be seriously entertained 
 untU a great deal of preUminary investigation and 
 discussion has taken place, and I therefore wish to 
 point out that we bring this memorandum forward, 
 merely as a basis upon which such discussions may 
 commence and not with any idea of finality or 
 completeness. 
 
 " There are doubtless many important modifica- 
 tions and contributions which your Federation is 
 especially well qualified to* rriake, and, for this 
 reason we consider it essential to invite your co- 
 operation at this stage. 
 
 " If, therefore, your executive committee views 
 the general principle with favom: and is disposed to 
 co-operate in its discussion and investigation, I am 
 instructed to propose a small conference for a 
 preliminary exchange of views. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 33 
 
 " I shall be glad to supply further copies of the 
 memorandum, on request, and awaiting the favour 
 of your reply, 
 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 " for the National Associated Building Trades Council, 
 " (Signed) J. Parsonage, 
 
 " Secretary." 
 
 " PROPOSAL FOR A BUILDERS' NATIONAL 
 INDUSTRIAL PARLIAMENT. 
 " A Memorandum addressed to The National 
 Federation of Building Trades Employers of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, by the National Associated 
 Building Trades Council, representing : — 
 
 The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and 
 
 Joiners. 
 The General Union of Carpenters and Joiners. 
 The Society of Operative Stone Masons. 
 The Amalgamated Society of Woodcutting 
 
 Machinists. 
 The Operative Bricklayers' Society. 
 The Manchester Order of Bricklayers. 
 The National Operative Painters' Society. 
 The Amalgamated Slaters and Tilers' Society. 
 The Electrical Trades Union. 
 The National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades 
 
 Association. 
 The National Association of Builders' Labourers. 
 The United Builders' Labourers' Society. 
 
 " By direction of a special meeting of the Council, 
 held at Manchester, on Tuesday, November 28th, 
 1916, and in accordance with the instructions of 
 the National Executives affiliated. 
 
34 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " Introduction. 
 
 " This memorandum is the outcome and ex- 
 pression of a desire on the part of the leaders of 
 organised labour in the building industry to render 
 their full share of service towards the creation of a 
 new and better industrial order. 
 
 " By general, consent, the old system has proved 
 itself unworthy, and the reasons for its failure are 
 not far to seek. From the days of the industrial 
 revolution the relations between employers and 
 employed have been based upon antagonism, 
 coercion, and resistance. 
 
 " Throughout the whole of the civUised world the 
 story is the same. The parallel rise of Trade 
 Unions and Employers' Associations in mutual 
 opposition has reached a point where it is generally 
 recognised that the ' normal condition of the world 
 of industry is one of suppressed war.' 
 
 " Under such a system many a forward move on 
 the part of labour towards improved conditions is 
 opposed almost as a matter of duty by the Em- 
 ployers' - Associations, and, conversely, many im- 
 provements in the direction of increased production 
 and efficiency are countered by the restrictive 
 regulations of the Trade Unions ; both sides acting, 
 as they believe, in the interests of their members. 
 
 " The two sides rarely meet except to make 
 demands of one another or to compromise con- 
 flicting claims, and negotiations are inevitably 
 carried on as between two hostile bodies. In this 
 way great powers of leadership and willing service 
 are diverted from constructive work into the sterile 
 fields of largely useless controversy. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 35- 
 
 " Both employers and employed have been the 
 unwilling victims of a system of antagonism that 
 has organised industry on the lines of a tug-of-war 
 and permeated the whole national life with sectional 
 habits of thought and outlook. Wherever coercion 
 has been applied, by one side against the other, it 
 has called forth a resistance that otherwise might 
 never have arisen, and has led to much sterility 
 and waste. 
 
 " "Whilst the total elimination of such conflicts 
 may be quite impossible, the hope of the future 
 undoubtedly lies in the intimate and continuous 
 association of both management and labour, not 
 for the negative purpose of adjusting differences 
 but for the positive purpose of promoting the 
 progressive improvement of their industrial service, 
 from which alone the national prosperity can be 
 derived. 
 
 " Industrial peace must come, not as a result of 
 the balance of power with a supreme Court of 
 Appeal in the background ; it must arise as the 
 inevitable by-product of mutual confidence, real 
 justice, constructive goodwill. Industry needs no 
 truce, no compulsory arbitration, no provisions for 
 postponement of disputes. 
 
 " What it needs is confidence and a courageous 
 forward movement, supported by the constructive 
 genius of both sides in common council. No one 
 engaged in constructive work can fail to respond 
 to the tremendous call of the big job, and the task 
 to be faced to-day is the greatest problem in social 
 engineering that the world has ever seen. 
 
 "It is believed that the common interests of 
 industry will be found to be wider and more 
 fimdamental than those which are still, admittedly, 
 
36 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 opposed ; and it is upon the broad basis of these 
 common interests that the fabric of the new indus- 
 tricd order may be confidently raised. 
 
 "It is willingly acknowledged that this com- 
 munity of interest is already being recognised by 
 the Employers' Federation. The composition of 
 the National Housing and Town Planning Council, 
 the new apprenticeship proposals, the various joint 
 deputations to the Government departments are 
 all evidence of this. 
 
 " It appears, therefore, to be eminently desirable 
 that a proposal involving a great development of 
 this principle should receive fuU consideration ; 
 and believing that the appropriate time has now 
 arrived, the National Associated Building Trades 
 Council submits the following scheme to the National 
 Federation of Building Trades Employers of Great 
 Britain and Ireland as a basis for preliminary 
 discussion : — 
 
 " A National Industrial Parliament for 
 THE Building Industry. 
 
 " Argument. 
 
 ' The interests of employers and employed are in 
 many respects opposed ; but they have a common 
 interest in promoting the efficiency and status of 
 the service in which they are engaged and in ad- 
 vancing the well-being of its personnel. 
 
 " Proposal. 
 
 "It is proposed that there should be set up, 
 for the building industry, a National Industrial 
 Parliament, representative of the Trade Unions and 
 the Employers' Associations, which would focus 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 37 
 
 their combined energies upon the continuous and 
 progressive improvement of the industry. 
 
 " Name. 
 
 " The proposed body would be called the Builders' 
 National Industrial Parliament of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 " Objects. 
 
 " The objects of the parliament would be to 
 promote the continuous and progressive improve- 
 ment of the industry, to realise its organic unity as 
 a great national service, and to advance the well- 
 being and status of all connected with it. 
 
 " Programme. 
 
 " The parliament would not concern itself with 
 the adjustment of differences or the settlement of 
 disputes. Means already exist for conducting such 
 negotiations and settling such issues. The function 
 of the parliament would be constructive, and nothing 
 but constructive. 
 
 " The agenda would be determined from time to 
 time according to circumstances as they arose, and 
 would naturally include such matters as the 
 following : — 
 
 " I. Regularisation of Wages. — The provision of a 
 graduated scale of minimum rates designed to 
 maintain real wages as nearly as possible on a level 
 throughout the country. Subsequent advances to 
 be on a national basis. 
 
 " 2. Prevention of Unemployment. — {a) To acquire 
 a fuller participation in the control of the Board of 
 
38 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 Trade Labour Exchanges, and to supplement their 
 work by improved organisation special to the 
 building trade for the decasualisation of labour ; 
 and (6) to minimise the fluctuation of trade by 
 inteUigent anticipation and the augmentation of 
 demand in slack periods, in co-operation with the 
 National Housing and Town Planning Council and 
 the Local Government Board. 
 
 " 3. Employment of Partially Disabled Soldiers. — 
 To regulate the employment of partially disabled 
 soldiers and to ensure that the pensions granted by 
 the nation shall not become the means of reducing 
 the standard rate of wages. 
 
 " 4. Technical Training and Research. — To arrange 
 for adequate technical training for the members of 
 the industry, the improvement of processes, design 
 and standards of workmanship, apprenticeship, 
 research, and the regulation of the conditions of 
 entry into the trade. 
 
 "5. Publicity. — To issue authoritative information 
 upon all matters whereon it is deemed desirable that 
 leaders of public opinion, the press, and the general 
 public should have exact information. 
 
 " 6. Continuous and Progressive Improvement. — To 
 provide a clearing house for ideas, and to investigate, 
 in conjunction with experts, every suggested line of 
 improvement, including, for example, such questions 
 as : — 
 
 Industrial Control and Status of Labour. 
 Scientific Management and Increase of Output. 
 Welfare Methods. 
 
 Closer association between commercial and 
 iPsthetic requirements. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 39 
 
 " Method. 
 
 " The parliament would set up committees of 
 enquiry (with power to co-opt experts) to investigate 
 and report on each of the foregoing matters, and 
 would deal with their recommendations as and 
 when presented. All proposals before the parlia- 
 ment would be fully ventilated and discussed 
 through the medium of joint district boards, works 
 committees, the trade papers and the general press, 
 in order that the opinion of the members of the 
 building trade and of the general public thereon 
 might be accurately gauged before final decisions 
 were taken. 
 
 " Result. 
 
 " The result would be the progressive develop- 
 ment of two codes : — 
 
 {a) A compulsory code, probably involving legal 
 sanction of agreed minimum standards ; and 
 
 (h) A voluntary code, bmlt up from the recom- 
 mendations of the improvements committee 
 for the voluntary, and perhaps experimental, 
 adoption by progressive employers. 
 
 It would thus embody all proposals of which the 
 principle was generally approved, but for which it 
 was not yet possible or advisable to ask for com- 
 pulsory powers. It would greatly stimulate the 
 advance of public opinion on matters of industrial 
 and social improvement. 
 
 " Legal Sanction for Compulsory Code. 
 
 " This might be accomplished by a special Act of 
 Parliament, giving power to the Board of Trade, or 
 
40 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 a Ministry of Industry, to ratify the decisions of the 
 industrial parliament, and apply them to the whole 
 of the industry, subject to adequate safeguards for 
 the interests of consumers. 
 
 " Status of Industrial Parliament. 
 
 " There is at present no recognised body with 
 which the Government can communicate in regard 
 to matters concerning the building industry as a 
 whole — employers and employed. The parliament 
 would exactly meet this need, and would become 
 the mouthpiece and executive of the industry as a 
 whole. 
 
 " Suggested Constitution. 
 " Membership. 
 
 " Pending the establishment of more elaborate 
 electoral machinery, it is suggested that twenty 
 members should be appointed by the National 
 Federation of Building Trades Employers of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, and twenty members by the 
 National Associated Building Trades Council. 
 
 " It might be advisable that the representatives 
 of the above organisations shoiild be appointed in a 
 manner to ensure, on the one hand, the inclusion of 
 actual operatives in addition to trade-union officials, 
 and, on the other hand, of representatives of the 
 managing staffs as well as the actual employers. 
 Either side would be at liberty to change its repre- 
 sentatives to suit its convenience. 
 
 " Chairman. 
 
 " To be chosen by ballot by the whole assembly. 
 To be independent and advisory only,' and to have 
 no casting vote. 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 41 
 
 " Secretary. 
 
 " The routine work of the pariiament would 
 largely devolve upon the secretary, who shouTd be 
 an impartial salaried administrator of proved 
 experience and capacity. 
 
 " Meetings. 
 
 " The parliament should meet at such times and 
 intervals as would allow of members stiU devoting 
 part of their time to their ordinary occupations. 
 
 " Remuneration of Members. 
 
 " This would be restricted to the refund of 
 expenses and compensation for loss of earnings. 
 Financial provision for this would be arranged by 
 each of the two organisations independently. 
 
 " Voting. 
 
 " In order to secure a basis of absolute confidence, 
 it is suggested that rules be drawn up to ensure 
 that the number of employers' representatives and 
 operatives' representatives voting upon a measure 
 shall always be equal. 
 
 " Suggested Auxiliary Assemblies. 
 
 " Joint District Boards. 
 
 " These would be set up by local units of the 
 two organisations for the discussion of the proposals 
 of the industrial parliament and the furnishing of 
 local facts and statistics as required. They would 
 also perform a valuable service by preparing and 
 forwarding suggestions for consideration. 
 
42 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 " Works Committees. 
 
 " These would be small groups representing 
 •management and labour, set up for the same purpose 
 in particular shops. 
 
 " Conclusion. • 
 
 " The scheme, briefly outlined above, strikes 
 out a new line of administrative devolution, namely, 
 devolution by occupation as compared with devolu- 
 tion by geographical area, as in the case of the 
 County Councils. 
 
 " It represents, in fact, the distinctively British 
 Imperial tradition of justice and self-government as 
 applied to industry, and stands out clearly against 
 the rival industrial systems of which so much is 
 heard. 
 
 " And it will have this important result. Hitherto 
 industrial legislation has always been imposed from 
 without, and has encountered strenuous opposition 
 on the part of organisations concerned to defend 
 what they held to be their interests. 
 
 " Now the process would be reversed. The 
 industry itself would first agree on its conditions 
 and would then submit them to the Board of Trade 
 for approval and sanction. In this vyay the House 
 of Commons would be relieved of an immense mass 
 of highly controversial work and set free for the 
 larger National, Imperial and International 
 problems. 
 
 " Nor is this the only advantage that would 
 arise. The spectacle of organised management and 
 labour, uniting their constructive energies upon a 
 great programme of reorganisation and advance, 
 
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 43 
 
 might transform the whole atmosphere of our 
 industrial life. 
 
 " The increase in efficiency and output, consequent 
 upon the substitution of constructive co-operation 
 for the old antagonism and suspicion, would be very 
 great. But the change would bring even greater 
 benefits than this. It would raise the whole 
 status of the industry and give to its members a 
 new pride in their work as a splendid public service. 
 It would tend to break down the barriers that have 
 so long confined and impoverished the national life 
 and would promote the development of a real team 
 spirit. , 
 
 " The building industry is one of the largest and 
 most important of the staple trades. If it wiU give 
 a united lead with a constructive proposal on the 
 general lines suggested, we believe that its example 
 will be of great service to our country as she faces 
 the immense problems that confront her at this 
 time. 
 
 " Signed on behalf of the National Associated 
 Building Trades Council, 
 
 " S. Hunter, Chairman. 
 " J. Parsonage, Secretary." 
 
 Whilst the negotiations just chronicled were 
 passing through their final stages, matters 
 began to move rapidly in other quarters also. 
 A short article on the Industrial Parliament 
 Scheme, published in The Venturer for Decem- 
 ber, 1916, attracted the attention of the 
 Right Hon. J. H. Whitley, M.P., Chairman 
 of the Government Sub-Committee on the 
 
44 THE GREAT ADVENTURE. 
 
 Relations between Employers and Employed. 
 At his request, Sparkes prepared a special 
 " Memorandum on Industrial Self-Govern- 
 ment," setting forth his views in some detail, 
 and recording his progress down to date. 
 
 But at this point Sparkes himself dis- 
 appears from the story for over two years. 
 
 Believing, as a lifelong Quaker, that War, 
 no matter how high its motives, was wrong, he 
 had decided that he could take no part in 
 military service, either in person or by 
 proxy. He had therefore refused from the 
 first to accept any war profits, had refused the 
 protection of a war service badge as works 
 manager, had resigned his directorship, and 
 severed his connection with .his firm as soon 
 as its volume of civil business no longer 
 required his personal attention. 
 
 On January 29th, 1917, he was arrested 
 as an absentee. But his work was done. 
 The scheme had been launched by the twelve 
 Trade Unions, and the " Memorandum on 
 Industrial Self-Government " prepared for 
 Mr. Whitley had reached the printers the day 
 before. 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 45 
 
 III.— THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 SCHEME. 
 
 Mr. J. Parsonage, who signed the Memo- 
 randum on behalf of the twelve Trade Unions, 
 was himself the Secretary of the Amalgamated 
 Society of Operative Painters and Decorators. 
 Always an enthusiastic supporter of the 
 scheme, he lost no time in approaching the 
 National Association of Master Painters with 
 a view to a conference of the two executives 
 upon the subject. This conference took place 
 at Salford Town Hall on December 21st, 
 1916, the mayor. Councillor Jas. Higson, 
 J. P., presiding. And it was this little meeting, 
 unobserved and almost unrecorded, that was 
 the pioneer of the great Industrial Council 
 movement, a movement that within three 
 years has secured a footing in over forty 
 industries m Great Britain, and is already 
 being studied in almost every country in the 
 world. 
 
 It began with a resolution — modest, but 
 significant : — 
 
 " The Executive Committee of the National 
 Association (of master painters) appreciate the 
 
46 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 spirit in which they have been approached, and 
 trust that this meeting may be the forerunner of a 
 permanent committee to consider mutual interests." 
 
 From this sprang the first Industrial 
 ParHament, the National Painters' and 
 Decorators' Joint Council, set up in February, 
 1917, with seven members elected by the 
 Operatives' Union and seven members elected 
 by the Employers' Association above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Its constitution and programme are taken, 
 almost verbatim, from the Memorandum of 
 the twelve Trade Unions, but the following 
 extracts from the " Introduction " are of 
 interest, for they breathe the spirit of demo- 
 cracy : — 
 
 " One point must be emphasised, for it is vital : 
 if the hopes that are based on this joint council are 
 to be realised, it is absolutely necessary that local 
 joint committees should be set up and the formation 
 of these should begin at once. ... All who 
 earn their living by the pursuit of the painters' 
 craft are asked to help to make this effort at unity 
 a real and permanent success. . . . 
 
 " There is reason to hope that, at any rate, the 
 day is past when employer and employed could 
 never meet except for the express purpose of dis- 
 agreement, and when the many matters, in which 
 interests were mutual, were overlooked in the discord 
 incidental to the discussion of differences. 
 
 " All who live by the decoration of buildings. 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 47 
 
 have a common interest in putting the craft of the 
 painter ... on a better basis. We believe 
 that the new Painters and Decorators Joint Council 
 will help to that end. ... It represents a new 
 effort for the common good of the trade, and in this 
 belief the Council looks confidently for the support 
 of all craftsmen who love their calling, whether they 
 pay or receive wages." 
 
 With such a spirit as this, it was, of course, 
 a great and immediate success, and, although 
 planned to meet every quarter, it speedily 
 found it necessary to double, and then to 
 quadruple, the number of its sessions in order 
 to deal with the volume of constructive work 
 that came before it for attention. 
 
 In all its two-and-a-half years' experience, 
 it has never had a " party " vote, and, as 
 one of its members has well said, " they were 
 not on the Council either as operatives or 
 employers, but were all intent on lifting 
 up the Trade." Already it has done most 
 useful pioneering work, and has provided an 
 important and instructive example of the 
 value of a specialised Craft Council, as 
 distinct from the larger Industrial Council of 
 a group of crafts. The whole subject of the 
 relations between Industrial and Craft Self- 
 Government is full of great possibilities, and 
 will be examined more completely, in the 
 
48 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 section on the structure of the Building 
 Industry. But to return to the story. The 
 great associations of the Building Trades' 
 Employers were no less progressive than the 
 Master Painters. Writing in March, 1917, 
 Mr. Parsonage, the Secretary to the Council 
 of the twelve Trade Unions, reported rapid 
 progress. 
 
 Recognition of his Council had already 
 resulted, and " with regard to the Industrial 
 Parliament scheme," he wrote, " we are 
 getting on fairly well . . . and have 
 made so many converts to the scheme 
 amongst the members of the National Federa- 
 tion of Building Trades' Employers that I 
 have no doubt we shall be able to secure a 
 meeting to discuss it. On March 6th we 
 had a meeting with the North-Western 
 Federation of BuUding Trades' Employers to 
 discuss the matter. This was at their re- 
 quest, after I had supplied them with over 100 
 copies of the scheme. I have also had requests 
 for supplies of copies from the Yorkshire 
 Master Builders' Federation, and the National 
 Association of Master Slaters, so that we are 
 getting on. I think the time has now arrived 
 when the ' Memorandum ' may be publicly 
 mentioned ; in fact, I think the more 
 publicity it gets, the better." 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 49 
 
 At the meeting referred to, the N.W. 
 Federation (which is the largest in the 
 country) resolved to ask the National Federa- 
 tion to " give their favourable consideration 
 to the scheme," In the charge of such 
 powerful sponsors, the project went swiftly 
 forward to its triumph. The Memorandum 
 of the twelve Trade Unions ran through 
 three editions, so great was the employers' 
 demand for it. On June 4th, 19 17, Lord 
 Henry Cavendish Bentinck, in an able letter 
 to the Times, called the attention of the 
 Government to its proposals and their notable 
 success. The following day, a great London 
 newspaper^ published the scheme m detail 
 with an appreciative leader. Yet, so in- 
 grained is the habit of regarding industry as 
 a pitched battle between employers and 
 employed, that these first press notices merely 
 described the proposed Industrial ParUament 
 as " a great project for Industrial Peace." If 
 it was reaUy that, it was also far more than 
 that. Indeed, it is true to say that the idea 
 of Industrial Peace as a definite goal had 
 never entered the minds of the promoters 
 of the scheme. They had declared in un- 
 mistakable language, for a new industrial 
 
 I Daily News, June 5th, 1917. 
 
50 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 order — a new conception of self-governing 
 public service — a new spirit in Industry ; 
 and the Industrial Parliament they desired 
 to set up was designed as the instrument to 
 achieve these things. Moreover, the com- 
 plete exclusion of disputes from the purview 
 of the Industrial Parhament clearly shows 
 that they regarded Industrial Peace, not as 
 an end in itself, but as they themselves 
 expressed it — only as the inevitable by- 
 product of their great objective — industrial 
 revolution by goodwill. 
 
 The Industrial Parliament scheme, intro- 
 duced by a deputation from the Operatives' 
 Unions, was adopted after fuU discussion by 
 the administrative Committee of the National 
 Federation of Building Trades Employers, 
 at a conference held in London on June 20th, 
 1917, in preparation for the half-yearly 
 delegates' meeting of the Federation. 
 According to press reports — 
 
 " The conference was of an amicable character 
 throughout. From the first it was apparent to the 
 men's leaders that the employers took the scheme 
 quite seriously. It was amended in parts on 
 suggestions from both sides, and some of the em- 
 ployers' proposals for improvement were seconded 
 by the men's representatives." 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 51 
 
 Mr. James Storrs (Chairman of the Em- 
 ployers' Federation), who presided, said at 
 the close of the conference :— 
 
 " To my mind . . . the result is very satis- 
 factory. I think an excellent spirit has been shown 
 on both sides in order to overcome the difficulties 
 that have been met with in the trade. The only 
 way to solve these is by such a parUament as we 
 have had under consideration. The scheme is 
 adopted and recommended for adoption throughout 
 the country." 
 
 Mr. William Bradshaw (Operative Stone- 
 masons' Society), who acted as Vice-Chairman, 
 said : — 
 
 " We are quite satisfied with the deliberations 
 to-day. There are great prospects in the building 
 industry, and I think we shall improve our status 
 by this scheme. The work of this industrial parlia- 
 ment wUl be constructive. It will arouse public 
 spirit on both sides to take the right view of things. 
 It has been made possible by the times through 
 which we are living for there is more disposition to 
 render social service than for some time past." 
 
 The half-yearly delegate meeting of the 
 Federation, held at Liverpool a month later, 
 was no less enthusiastic. 
 
 Mr. Smethurst (employer, Oldham), in 
 moving the adoption of the scheme, charac- 
 terised it as the most important matter ever 
 brought before the National Federation. It 
 
52 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 marked the beginning of a new era in the 
 relations between employers and employed. 
 For many years both sides had been fighting 
 chiefly for their own hand and at great 
 national loss. Why this senseless and foohsh 
 policy ? . . . 
 
 In the future they must bring about co- 
 operation in place of conflict, and the human 
 relation must be brought more and more into 
 the activities of business life. The largest 
 and best employers were entirely in favour 
 of such a change. 
 
 Mr. Dove (employer, London) seconding, 
 said that this was the first weU-considered 
 scheme for bringing all parties concerned in 
 the building industry into line for their 
 mutual advantage, and for the benefit of 
 the whole community. 
 
 The resolution was carried unanimously. 
 
 A Committee of five representatives of 
 the Employers' Associations and five repre- 
 sentatives of the Operatives' Trades Unions, 
 was then appointed to elaborate the details. 
 It is here of interest to notice in parenthesis 
 that the now famous Whitley Interim Report 
 on Joint Standing Industrial Councils (Cd. 
 8606) was issued to the public in the same 
 month, thus establishing clearly the historical 
 precedence of the Builders' Scheme. And 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 53 
 
 When, three months later, the Whitley 
 Report was adopted by the Government as 
 the centre of its Industrial Reconstruction 
 policy, it became clear that the Builders' 
 Iildustrial Parliament was not going to stand 
 alone, but was destined to form a part, and 
 a very important part, of that great network 
 of Industrial Self-Government with which 
 we are now familiar. 
 
 It soon became evident to the Committee 
 that the Builders' Industrial Parliament must 
 include representatives, not only of the Trade 
 Unions and the nine Regional Federations of 
 General Builders, but also of the various 
 Associations of Specialist Employers, each 
 embracing one particular craft, such as the 
 Master Painters, the Master Plumbers, the 
 Heating, Domestic, and Constructional Engi- 
 neers, and the Electrical Contractors. 
 
 A representative conference was accordingly 
 held at the Ministry of Labour, and it was 
 agreed, that all these craft associations should 
 be represented through the Confederation of 
 Building Trades Sub-Contractors, to which 
 they were affiliated. To these were added 
 the Institute of Builders, and the Scottish 
 National Building Trades' Federation, which 
 — unlike the English Builders' Federations — 
 is a Federation of craft associations, and not 
 
54 
 
 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 of associations of general builders embracing 
 every craft. 
 
 To each of these organisations, the Com- 
 mittee allocated a quota of members, based 
 approximately upon the number of operatives 
 each section normally employed — the total 
 number so allocated being sixty-six. The 
 Operatives' Federation, which had now re- 
 placed the Council of the twelve Trade 
 Unions, was then asked to provide a similar 
 number of members, based approximately 
 upon the numerical strength of each affiliated 
 union. In this way the following table 
 was drawn up, and each organisation was 
 left free to decide upon the most convenient 
 method for the election of its quota. 
 
 ; COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL. 
 
 Employers. 
 The National Federation of Building Trades 
 Employers, comprising : — 
 Name. Representation. 
 
 Northern Counties Federation 2 
 
 3 
 7 
 4 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 — 32 
 
 Yorkshire Federation ... 
 North- Western Federation 
 Midland Federation ... 
 London Federation 
 Eastern Counties Federation 
 Southern Counties Federation 
 South- Western Counties Federation 
 South Wales Federation 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 55 
 
 The Confederation of National Associations of 
 Building Trades Sub-Contractors, comprising : 
 
 Name. Represeniation. 
 
 National Association of Master House Painters 
 
 and Decorators of England and Wales ... 4 
 National Association of Master Plasterers ... 3 
 National Federation of Slate Merchants, 
 
 Slaters and Tilers 3 
 
 Institute of Plumbers, Ltd 4" 
 
 National Association of Master Heating and 
 
 Domestic Engineers 2 
 
 Electrical Contractors' Association 2 
 
 London Constructional Engineers' Association 2 
 
 — 20 
 
 Institute of Builders 4 
 
 Scottish National Building Trades Federation 10 
 
 66 
 
 Operatives. 
 
 The National Federation of Building Trades 
 
 Operatives, comprising : 
 
 Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, Cabinet- 
 makers and Joiners 8 
 
 General Union of Carpenters and Joiners ... 4 
 
 National Amalgamated Society of Operative 
 House and Ship Painters and Decorators... 4 
 
 Operative Stonemasons' Society 4. 
 
 Amalgamated Society of Woodcutting Ma- 
 chinists 4 
 
 United Operative Plumbers' and Domestic 
 Engineers' Association of Great Britain 
 and Ireland 4 
 
 National Association of Operative Plasterers 4 
 
56 
 
 THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 
 
 Name. Representative 
 
 National Association of Builders' Labourers 4 
 
 Operative Bricklayers' Society 
 
 United Builders' Labourers' Union 
 
 Manchester Unity of Operative Bricklayers 
 Amalgamated Slaters' and Tilets' Provident 
 
 Society ' 
 
 Electrical Trades Union 
 
 National Association of Operative Heating 
 
 and Domestic Engineers 
 
 National Union of General Workers (Building 
 
 Trade Section) 
 
 United Order of General Labourers of London 
 Navvies', Builders' Labourers' and General 
 
 Labourers' Union 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 Scottish Operative Unions- 
 Masons 
 
 Painters 
 
 Slaters and Tilers 
 
 Plumbers 
 
 Plasterers 
 
 2 
 
 -56 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 — 10 
 
 66 
 
 At the request of the Ministry of Labour 
 the proposed title was altered to The In- 
 dustrial Council for the Building Industry 
 (Building Trades' Parliament), and the Com- 
 mittee's report concluded with a striking 
 appeal for the assembling of the Council at 
 the earliest possible date. 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 57 
 
 Such is the story of the rise of Industrial 
 Self-Government in the Building Industry. 
 In the brief space of two years, the idea had 
 won a complete victory, and old barriers of 
 prejudice which many had thought to be 
 impregnable had gone down like chaff before 
 it. And now, for the first time in Industrial 
 history, we have the spectacle of a great 
 Industry — through its representative assem- 
 bly — quietly setting out to put its house in 
 order, and it is by the test of its achievements 
 that its worth must henceforth be judged. 
 
58 THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 IV.— THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 The Industrial Council for the Building 
 Industry (Building Trades Parliament) to give 
 its full official title, held its inaugural meeting 
 at the Central HaU, Westminster, on May 29th 
 and 30th, 1918. It was supported by twenty- 
 two Trade Unions, seventeen Associations of 
 Employers, and attended by three ministers 
 of the Crown. Sir David J. Shackleton, K.C.B., 
 of the Ministry of Labour, presided at the 
 opening session. 
 
 After addresses by Mr. W. Hayes Fisher 
 (President of the Local Government Board), 
 Dr. Addison (Minister of Reconstruction) and 
 Mr. G. H. Roberts (Minister of Labour), the 
 council proceeded to the election of its officers 
 and Administrative Commitee. And here came 
 the first real taste of the new spirit in action. 
 The provisional Committee brought forward a 
 proposal (based probably on the time-honoured 
 practice of conciliation boards) that the Em- 
 ployers' and Operatives' Federations should 
 each elect their own quota of ten members 
 for the administrative committee in such 
 proportions as to reflect in miniature the 
 
THE INAUGURATION. 59 
 
 composition of the Council itself. But Mr. H. 
 Piper, President of the National Federation 
 of Building Trades Operatives, expressed the 
 desire of his members to take part in the 
 election of the employers' quota, and con- 
 versely invited the employers to vote with 
 them in the election of the operatives' quota. 
 
 He therefore moved that the election, both 
 of the committees and of the officers of the 
 Cotmcil should be taken by vote of the whole 
 house sitting together. 
 
 This novel and far-reaching proposal met 
 with immediate support, and was carried 
 without a dissentient, and decision by vote 
 of the whole Council has become its regular 
 practice with regard to every question that 
 comes before it. In this it is at present unique. 
 
 It was also decided that if an employer was 
 elected as Chairman, the vice-chair should go 
 to an operative and vice versa. The elections 
 resulted as foUows : — 
 
 Chairman : Mr. James Storrs (Employer, 
 Chairman of the Building Trades National 
 Conciliation Board). 
 
 Vice-Chairman : Mr. A. G. Cameron (Opera- 
 tive, Secretary of the Amalgamated Society 
 of Carpenters and Joiners). 
 
 Treasurer : Mr. J. Batchelor (Operative, 
 Secretary of the Operative Bricklayers' Society). 
 
60 THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 Secretaries : Mr. A. G. White (Secretary of 
 the National Federation of Building Trades 
 Employers) ; Mr. W. Bradshaw (Secretary of 
 the National Federation of Building Trades 
 Operatives). 
 
 Mr. Storrs, on taking the chair, struck the 
 true note at once. " If they were to be of 
 that service to the country which they ought 
 to be, then every one must look at the matter 
 presented from the view of the interests of 
 the country, and not from the view of any 
 individual interest." 
 
 The election of the Administrative Com- 
 mittee resulted as foUows :— 
 
 Employers' 
 
 
 Operatives' 
 
 
 Associations. 
 
 
 Unions. 
 
 
 Northern Counties 
 
 I 
 
 Carpenters and 
 
 I 
 
 Federation. 
 
 
 Joiners. 
 
 
 North- Western Fede- 
 
 2 
 
 Bricklayers... 
 
 . I 
 
 ration. 
 
 
 Plumbers ... 
 
 . I 
 
 Master Plumbers ... 
 
 2 
 
 Painters 
 
 . 2 
 
 Master Painters 
 
 I 
 
 Stonemasons 
 
 . I 
 
 Midland Federation 
 
 I 
 
 Slaters 
 
 . 2 
 
 Scottish Federation 
 
 2 
 
 Plasterers ... 
 
 . r 
 
 Institute of Builders 
 
 I 
 
 Labourers ... 
 
 . I 
 
 The table is of interest as showing the 
 determination of the Council to get the best 
 men for its administrative committee, entirely 
 irrespective of the size or importance of the 
 particular organisations they happened to 
 
THE INAUGURATION. 6l 
 
 represent ; and it provides an instructive 
 example of that growing sense of comradeship 
 in common purpose that has become such 
 a notable feature of the Council's work. 
 
 But of aU the discussion during these two 
 opening days, the highest level was reached at 
 the final session, which was devoted to the 
 consideration of the ideals of the council. 
 Mr. Thos. Foster (Chairman of the N.W. 
 Federation of Building Trades' Employers) 
 pointed out that the estabhshment of the 
 Building Trades Parliament was due, not to 
 the Whitley Report, but to the Operatives' 
 Memorandum, upon which the Whitley Report 
 had to some extent been modelled. 
 
 " It was," he said, " to the eternal credit of the 
 operatives in the industry, that they had brought 
 forward proposals in 1916 which had now eventuated 
 in the present gathering. He thought it would be 
 well to recall parts of the memorandum and pro- 
 posals, for they were of a distinctly ideaUstic 
 character, while at the same time thoroughly 
 practical. The memorandum opened with the ex- 
 pression of a desire on the part of the leaders of 
 organised labour in the building industry to render 
 their full share of service toward the creation of a 
 new and better industrial order. That was a 
 sentiment in which they all could share, and he 
 would like to see the Council work in that spirit. 
 . . . The following paragraph in his opinion con- 
 tained the crux of the whole matter : ' Industrial 
 
62 THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 Peace must come, not as a result of the balance of 
 power with a supreme Court of Appeal in the back- 
 ground ; it must arise as the inevitable by-product 
 of mutual confidence, real justice, constructive 
 goodwill.' If they could get that . . . they 
 need not trouble about the rest. If the spirit that 
 underlay their aims was right, they might safely 
 leave the details to settle themselves. ... He 
 would remind them that it had been suggested that 
 in future they should enter upon industry in the 
 spirit of national service and that if that was so, 
 some of the material good resulting from increasing 
 output should go to the nation." 
 
 Mr. W. Bradshaw (Secretary, National 
 Federation of Building Trades' Operatives) 
 welcomed the spirit of Mr. Foster's remarks. 
 Speaking for the operatives he said : — 
 
 " They had a feeling and a strong hope that the 
 Building Trades Parliament would . . . tend to 
 develop that communal spirit which they regarded 
 as essential to the success of the industry. 
 
 " The men he represented were seeking to change 
 the whole environment of industry, they wanted to 
 get rid of the old idea that they were simply working 
 for their employers, but that instead, they were 
 working with their employers for the benefit of the 
 whole nation. 
 
 " The idea of increased output — which was in the 
 mind of the Government — would never take root to 
 any extent unless the workman was made to feel a 
 real joy in the service he was rendering. They 
 wanted to get rid of the old idea that labour was 
 simply a commodity to be bought and sold like 
 
THE INAUGURATION. 63 
 
 bricks and mortar. He trusted that the spirit 
 enunciated by Mr. Foster would dominate the 
 deliberations of the Council, for it was on those 
 lines that it would be a success." 
 
 Mr. R. Wilson (Operative Slaters) paid a 
 graceful tribute to the memory of Mr. J. 
 Parsonage, who had " worked and dreamed for 
 the time when such a body as this would be 
 set up," but had not lived to see the fruit of 
 his labours. He hoped that, once inaugurated, 
 the Building Trades Parliament " would go 
 on until it became fully representative of the 
 whole Industry — a feature in the national life 
 and a means of uplifting the character of every 
 man engaged in it." 
 
 Mr. Barrow (Carpenters and Joiners) said 
 that : — 
 
 " High ideals were all right in their way, but 
 they must remember that their feet were on the 
 earth and they must tackle the very real problems 
 before them at the moment. They all knew that 
 the question of improved output had got to be 
 faced. He would ventme to suggest that they 
 would not get increased output until they could 
 secure that the man who was exerting himself 
 would have a continuity of emplojonent but also of 
 comfort. That was the practical way of ensuring 
 an increase of output. . . , Had it never 
 struck the employers — ^it had struck the workmen — 
 that a man might be engaged in doing the finest 
 artistic work for other people, yet went home at 
 
64 THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 night to dwell in a hovel ? Until they faced that 
 problem they could not expect artistic work to be 
 done properly, or the workman to take a real 
 interest in his labour. He hoped that one of the 
 first duties of that parliament would be to ensure 
 that some vision should be given to those who were 
 responsible for the erection and planning of the 
 houses of the future." 
 
 After Mr. Butterworth (Master Painters) had 
 given some valuable evidence on the successful 
 working of the Painters' Joint Council (referred 
 to elsewhere), Mr. J. Jones (United General 
 Labourers) raised the question of the share- 
 holder. 
 
 " ' It was no use,' he said, ' talking about a new 
 heaven and a new earth, to a man who lent you 
 money. How many shareholders would be satisfied 
 to be told there was not the same percentage of 
 profit as before : " But look at the much better 
 buildings we are putting up " ! For that matter 
 how many co-operators were pleased to hear that 
 the dividend had gone down because the wages of 
 the employees had gone up.' 
 
 " Whilst one might have ideals it was necessary 
 to recognise the things that one was up against. 
 The building trade was not in itself master of the 
 situation, but was co-related and intertwined with 
 every other industry in the country. It would be 
 necessary to fight the ground landlord .... 
 while we had the present system it was useless to 
 talk about artistry and idealism. 
 
THE INAUGURATION. 65 
 
 " But if one result of their meeting was to convert 
 employers to the view that the present system was 
 a rotten one and ought to be altered, then the 
 Building Trades Parlieiment would do some good." 
 
 The Chairman finally concluded the meeting 
 with the hope that " these inaugural proceed- 
 ings would result in something that the 
 building trade would have cause to be very 
 proud of in the future." 
 
66 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 v.— THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The draft Constitution, prepared by the 
 Administrative Committee, was adopted after 
 sUght amendment by the CouncU at its second 
 meeting in Birmingham on August ist, 1918. 
 It is a very remarkable dociunent, both in 
 the immense breadth of its scope, and in the 
 ideaUstic note so clearly sounded in its Preface. 
 Indeed, the Preface is taken almost verbatim 
 from the now famous " Introduction " of the 
 Memorandum of the twelve Trade Unions 
 (page 34) . It has been quoted in many articles, 
 both in England and in America, and has 
 been described by Mr. Whitley as the model 
 statement of the true aims of an Industrial 
 Council. 
 
 The following extracts from the objects and 
 programme wUl serve to indicate the wide 
 field of operation that is in view. 
 
 "The Council is established to secure the largest 
 possible measure of joint action between employers 
 and workpeople for the development of the industry 
 as a part of national life and for the improvement of 
 the conditions of all engaged in that industry. 
 
 " It will be open to the Council to take any action 
 ihat falls within the scope of this general definition. 
 More specific objects will be : — 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 67 
 
 (a) To recommend means for securing that indus- 
 trial conditions affecting employers and 
 operatives, or the relations between them 
 shall be systematically reviewed by those 
 concerned, with a view to their improvement. 
 
 {b) To discuss and formulate opinion upon any 
 proposals which proffer to those engaged in 
 the industry the means of attaining improved 
 conditions and a higher standard of life, and 
 involve the enlistment of their active and 
 continuous co-operation in the development 
 of the industry, and to make recommendations 
 thereon, including such questions as : 
 
 " (i) Regularising production and em- 
 ployment. 
 
 '■ (2) The provision of a graduated scale of 
 minimum rates designed to maintain real 
 wages as nearly as possible on a level 
 throughout the country. 
 
 " (3) Minimising the fluctuations of trade 
 by intelligent anticipation and the aug- 
 mentation of demand in slack periods. 
 
 " (4) Scientific management and reduc- 
 tion of costs. 
 
 " (5) Welfare methods. 
 
 " (6) Closer association between commer- 
 cial and aesthetic requirements. 
 
 ' (7) The inclusion of all employers and 
 workpeople in their respective associations. 
 
 " (8) The revision and improvement of 
 existing machinery for the settlement of 
 differences between different sections of 
 the industry, or for the provision of^such 
 machinery where non-existent, with the 
 
68 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 object of seeming the speedy settlement of 
 difficulties. 
 
 ' (9) The better utilisation of the practical 
 knowledge and experience of those engaged 
 in the industry. 
 
 " (10) Securing to the workpeople a 
 greater share in and responsibility for the 
 determination and observance of the con- 
 ditions under which their work is carried on. 
 
 " (11) The settlement of the general prin- 
 ciples governing the conditions of employ- 
 ment, including the methods of fixing, 
 paying, and readjusting wages, having 
 regard to the need for securing to all 
 engaged in the industry a share in the 
 increased prosperity of the industry. 
 
 ■' (12) Ensuring to the workpeople the 
 greatest possible security of earnings and 
 employment. 
 
 " (13) Dealing with the many difficulties 
 that arise with regard to the method and 
 amount of pajrment apart from the fixing 
 of general standard rates. 
 
 " (c) To collect and circulate statistics and informa- 
 tion on matters appertaining to the industry. 
 
 " (d) To promote research and the study and im- 
 provement of processes, design, and standards 
 and methods of workmanship, with a view 
 of perfecting the products of the industry. 
 
 " (e) To provide facilities for the full consideration 
 and utilisation of inventions and improve- 
 ments in machinery or methods, and for 
 adequately safeguarding the rights of de- 
 signers or inventors thereof; and to secme 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 69 
 
 that the benefits, financial or otherwise, 
 arising therefrom shall be equitably appor- 
 tioned among the designers or inventors, the 
 proprietors or lessees, and the operators 
 thereof. 
 
 " (/) The supervision of entry into, and training 
 for, the industry, and co-operation with the 
 educational authorities in arranging education 
 in all its branches for the industry. 
 
 " (g) The issue to the press of authoritative state- 
 ments upon matters affecting the industry of 
 general interest to the community. 
 
 " (h) Representation of the needs and opinions of 
 the industry to Government Departments and 
 local authorities. 
 
 " (i) The consideration of any other matters that 
 may be referred to it by the Government or 
 by any Government Department. 
 
 " (j) Co-operation with the Joint Industrial Councils 
 of other industries to deal with problems of 
 common interest. 
 
 " (k) To provide, as far as practicable, that im- 
 portant proposals affecting the industry shall 
 be fuUy ventilated and discussed through the 
 medium of committees of enquiry (with power 
 to co-opt experts), joint district boards, works 
 committees, the trade papers, and the general 
 press ; in order that the opinion of members 
 of the industry and of the general public 
 thereon may be accurately gauged before 
 definite decisions are taken." 
 
 Then follow the twenty-five clauses of the 
 Constitution, of which a brief summary must 
 
yo THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 sufl&ce. After providing for a membership of 
 132, elected half by the Employers' Associa- 
 tions, and half by Operatives' Trades Unions, 
 in the manner already described, it is laid down 
 that each representative shall continue " for 
 a minimum of twelve months and thereafter, 
 until his successor is appointed by the body 
 responsible for his election." Any organisa- 
 tion wishing to retire must give six months' 
 notice, and must pay up arrears (if any). The 
 Council is to meet quarterly, or oftener, if 
 required. The annual meeting (held in August) 
 elects from the members a chairman, a vice- 
 chairman, treasurer and administrative com- 
 mittee of ten employer and ten operative 
 representatives. 
 
 The secretaries are also appointed by the 
 annual meeting, upon the recommendations 
 of the Administrative Committee. The 
 quorum of the Council is thirty representatives 
 present, and for the Administrative Committee 
 nine representatives present. 
 
 Special meetings of the Council may be 
 summoned within fourteen days of the receipt 
 of a requisition signed by at least twenty 
 members, or by the Administrative Committee. 
 Votes are taken by show of hands, unless 
 otherwise determined. Clause 13 empowers the 
 Council to delegate special powers to any 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 7I 
 
 committee it may appoint. This is an im- 
 portant feature, and will be dealt with more 
 fully in the next section. 
 
 The Council may also set up committees 
 of enquiry, and allow them " to co-opt such 
 persons of special knowledge, not being 
 members of the Council, as may serve the 
 special purposes of the Council." 
 
 The financial arrangements are very simple. 
 All expenses of representatives are borne by 
 the organisations which elect them. All ex- 
 penses of committees are borne by the Council's 
 funds, which are raised by periodical levies, 
 half upon the Employers' Associations, and 
 half upon the Trades Unions. 
 
 The Government recognition of the Council 
 is contained in Clause 23, which reads as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The Council is the recognised official standing 
 Consultative Committee to the Government on all 
 questions affecting the industry it represents, and 
 is the normal channel through which the opinion 
 and experience of the building industry wiU be 
 sought on all questions with which the industry is 
 concerned." 
 
 Provision is made in the next clause for the 
 setting up of Regional Industrial Councils, to 
 be linked up with the main body, and the 
 document concludes with a proviso for three 
 
72 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 months' notice of amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Attached to the Constitution are the Council's 
 standing orders governing procedure in debate, 
 including provision for questions addressed to 
 officers of the Council, chairmen of committees, 
 and members in charge of motions, and facilities 
 for the admission of strangers upon the intro- 
 duction of a member. 
 
 The whole document forms a very important 
 landmark in the development of a new system 
 of government — ^industrial self-government — 
 not for aggression or self-protection, but as 
 the instrument for the realisation of the new 
 idea ; each industry as a great self-governing 
 democracy, organised for the public service. It 
 wUl therefore be useful at this point to examine 
 the present framework of the building industry, 
 in order to estimate, if we can, the probable 
 lines upon which the new programme vnH 
 develop. 
 
STRUCTURE OF BUILDING INDUSTRY. 73 
 
 VI.— THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 BUILDING INDUSTRY. 
 
 The National Federation of Building Trades' 
 Operatives embraces some seventeen Trade 
 Unions, all wholly or partly engaged in build- 
 ing. It is definitdy industrial in structure, 
 and hopes to secure the adherence of every 
 operative in the country who is engaged in 
 building. It is also taking steps to sub-divide 
 itself into regional federations, which shall be 
 co-terminous with the regional Federations of 
 the Building Trades' Employers. This geo- 
 graphical sub-division forms the basis of the 
 Conciliation and Demarcation Schemes, which 
 must be briefly described here. 
 
 The Conciliation Boards. 
 
 The Building Trades Conciliation Boards 
 were estabUshed in 1904, and the code of rules 
 has been amended and developed on various 
 subsequent occasions. There are now four 
 Centre Conciliation Boards established, namely, 
 the Northern Centre, embracing the areas of 
 
STRUCTURE OF BUILDING INDUSTRY. 75 
 
 the Northern Counties' Federation of Building 
 Trades' Employers, the Yorkshire Federation 
 and the North- Western Federation ; the 
 Midland Centre, co-terminous with the Mid- 
 land Regional Federation ; the South-Eastern 
 Centre, embracing the areas of the Eastern 
 Counties, London, and Southern Counties' 
 Federations ; and the South-Western Centre, 
 embracing the areas of the South-Western 
 Counties and the South Wales Federations. 
 
 Each of these Centre Boards consists of two 
 representatives from each of the Trade Unions 
 party to the scheme, and a Uke number of 
 employers elected by the Federations which 
 form the centres. 
 
 Within these centres are the local Concilia- 
 tion Boards, set up in all districts where 
 employers and operatives are sufficiently 
 organised, and drawing their representatives 
 from the areas covered by the local working 
 rule agreements between the local organisa- 
 tions of employers and operatives. 
 
 The London Federation, for example, has 
 an elaborate code of working rules, drawn up 
 in agreement with each of the Trade Unions, 
 and governing the standard rates of wages, 
 the normal day, and other conditions of 
 employment over an area within a twelve-mile 
 radius from Charing Cross. 
 
y6 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 Any dispute or question — other than an 
 alteration or termination of these rules, for 
 which proper notice must be given — ^resolves 
 itself therefore into a difference of interpreta- 
 tion of some particular rule or rules embodied 
 in the agreed code. 
 
 And if such a difference cannot be settled 
 by direct negotiation between the parties, the 
 case is referred to the Local ConciUation 
 Board, which must meet within ten days, 
 and pending its decision no stoppage of work 
 is to take place. 
 
 The voting power of employers and opera- 
 tives is equal in aU cases, and decisions are 
 carried by majority vote of those present. 
 If the attendance on each side is unequal, 
 a unanimous vote of the operatives, or of the 
 employers shall coimt as a tie, and no decision 
 can be reached. If, however, cross-voting 
 takes place, the decision is given in favour of 
 the side securing a majority of cross- votes. 
 The chairman votes as a member of the Board, 
 but has no casting vote. 
 
 If there is no local Concihation Board 
 available, or if the local Board is unable to 
 reach a decision, the case is referred to the 
 Centre Conciliation Board for the district. 
 The local Board may, however, make a 
 provisional arrangement — to preserve good 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. "J^ 
 
 relations between the parties and prevent 
 stoppage of work — ^without prejudice to any 
 ultimate decision of the question at issue. 
 
 The Centre Board meets quarterly — sixteen 
 days in advance of the National Board's 
 quarterly meetings, and if it is unable to 
 come to a decision, then either side may 
 appeal within seven days to the National 
 Board. This National Board of Conciliation 
 consists of twenty-four employers elected by 
 the National Federation of Building Trades' 
 Employers, and a like number of operatives 
 elected by the Operatives' Unions. Should the 
 National Board be unable to come to a decision, 
 it may decide by majority vote, to caU in one 
 or more arbitrators, and where this is done, 
 the award is to be final and binding. The 
 refusal of any member to abide by a decision 
 is to be dealt with by the Association to which 
 he belongs. 
 
 There is one rule in the Conciliation Code 
 that is of such interest, in view of subsequent 
 developments, that it deserves to be quoted 
 in full. 
 
 " 17. Although the principal objects of the 
 Conciliation Boards are the settlement of disputes, 
 it shall also be within their province to meet and 
 discuss any question of trade interest, at the request 
 of any of the parties to this agreement, provided 
 
78 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 that a fortnight's notice in writing has been given 
 to the joint secretaries of the Board setting forth 
 the matter it is desired to discuss." 
 
 This rule, though very little used, really 
 contains the germ of the great Industrial 
 Parliament of Building whose future we are 
 now examining. But it was so buried beneath 
 the weight of the "principal objects" — the 
 settlement of disputes— that its vast poten- 
 tialities remained unnoticed for nearly twelve 
 years. 
 
 It was only when it threw aside the meshes 
 of conciliation and arbitration in which it was 
 entangled and stood forth boldly on its merits 
 — an industrial parliament to promote the 
 continuous improvement of the industry — to 
 realise its unity as a great organised public 
 service — to be constructive and nothing but 
 constructive, and, excluding disputes com- 
 pletely, to build the road to a new industrial 
 order — only then did it break through the 
 barriers of prejudice, and carry all before it 
 with a swift steady rush that is full of hope 
 and promise for the future of our industries. 
 
 The Demarcation Committees. 
 
 Side by side with the weU-organised network 
 of juridical machinery for the investigation 
 and settlement of disputes between employers 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 79 
 
 and operatives that we have just described, 
 there was set up in 1915 a very similar organisa- 
 tion for dealing with the disputes that arose 
 between craft and craft, when the members 
 of more than one craft claimed the exclusive 
 right to perform any particular piece of work. 
 Between such Unions as the Stonemasons and 
 the Bricklayers, the Plasterers and the Tilers, 
 the Plumbers and the Heating Engineers, there 
 are sometimes cases in which the members 
 of one craft union are found to be employed 
 upon work which is claimed by the members 
 of the other. 
 
 These differences are dealt with by the 
 Building Trades' Demarcation Committees — 
 the dispute being referred first to the Local 
 Committee, consisting of two representatives 
 of the local operatives' branch of each Trade 
 Union party to the scheme, and an equal 
 number of employers elected by the Employers' 
 Associations of the district that are also parties 
 to it, these employers' representatives being 
 also chosen so as to represent each trade as 
 far as practicable. 
 
 The whole code of rules is very similar to 
 the Conciliation Code — the Local Committee 
 must meet within eight, days, work must 
 continue without stoppage, and provisional 
 arrangements may be made without prejudice 
 
8o THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 to an ultimate decision. If the Local Com- 
 mittee fail to reach a settlement, the matter 
 goes to the next quarterly meeting of Centre 
 Committee for the district — the areas being the 
 same as for the Centre Boards of Conciliation. 
 If the Centre Committee cannot settle it, 
 either side may then appeal to the National 
 Committee, which consists of two representa- 
 tives of each of the Operatives' Unions and an 
 equal number of employers elected by the 
 National Federations and Associations who 
 are parties to the scheme. The voting clause 
 is of interest as, contrary to the Conciliation 
 Board practice, the employers and operatives 
 vote by themselves, and a majority of each 
 side is require to carry a decision. This plan 
 may, however, be varied by desire of a three- 
 fourths majority of the Committee. 
 
 Implications of Geographical and Vocational 
 Subdivisions. 
 
 We have now seen how both operatives 
 and employers are organised — 
 
 (a) In Local Federations embracing the 
 
 whole building industry within a given 
 
 area. 
 (6) In National Craft Associations embracing 
 
 the members of one craft, irrespective 
 
 of locality. 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 8l 
 
 And we have seen also how the Conciliation 
 Boards are based mainly on the former system, 
 and the Demarcation Committees, as is natural, 
 mainly on the latter. 
 
 And while it is true that the equalisation 
 of wage rates between craft and craft, the 
 development of the industrial union idea in 
 the building industry, together with the pre- 
 vention of unemployment, will soon remove 
 the cause of demarcation difficulties altogether 
 — ^it is still of the utmost importance that this 
 dual system of sub-division should be fully 
 recognised and retained, and that the industry 
 should be represented in its Industrial Council, 
 both by districts and by crafts. 
 
 Craft Industrial Councils. 
 
 The general builder, employing operatives in 
 every craft does not usually belong to any 
 association of craft employers, such as the 
 Institute of Plumbers, or the National Associa- 
 tion of Master House Painters. He attaches 
 himself instead to the local Association of 
 Building Trades' Employers, af&Uated in turn 
 to the Regional and National Federations, 
 as we have already seen. 
 
 The specialist employer, on the other hand — 
 the master plasterer or master slater — attaches 
 himself very naturally to the appropriate 
 
82 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 National Association of Employers in his 
 craft, which is affiliated in turn to the Con- 
 federation of National Associations of Building 
 Trades' Sub-Contractors. And in both types 
 of organisation the idea of industrial self- 
 government has taken firm root, and Industrial 
 Councils of Employers and Employed are 
 being rapidly formed. The whole develop- 
 ment is extremely healthy and extremely 
 vigorous. The members of the different Craft 
 Associations are not content to leave the 
 working out of their own craft questions to 
 the Parliament of the whole industry — even 
 though they have their own craft representa- 
 tives there, and can form Craft or Trade 
 Committees. They demand recognition for 
 their Craft Industrial Councils, and already 
 this demand has led to an alteration in Clause 13 
 of the Constitution of the Building Trades' 
 Industrial Council, mention of which has 
 aheady been made. 
 
 In its original form, the Coimcil was to 
 refer to a Trade Committee composed of 
 members of the Council, who were also represen- 
 tatives of such trade, all questions affecting 
 that particular trade alone. 
 
 The amended form, of which notice was 
 given at the fifth quarterly meeting of the 
 Council, held at Bath on May 6th, 1919, 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 83 
 
 was finally agreed to at the annual meeting in 
 August, and reads as foUows :— 
 
 " Rule 13. — The Council may delegate special 
 powers to any committee it appoints. 
 
 " The Council shall, at the request of a majority 
 of the representatives of any particular Trade 
 represented on the Council, appoint a Sectional Com- 
 mittee for such Trade. Such Committee shall 
 consist only of representatives of that Trade and 
 shall have power to come to final decisions on any 
 matters of interest to their trade, including matters 
 referred to them by Government Departments, 
 subject to the right of the Industrial Council for 
 the Building Industry to veto any decision that 
 may be found to involve the interests of any other 
 part of the industry, provided that — 
 
 " (i) The Council may, in lieu of appointing such 
 sectional Committee, recognise as fulfilling the 
 functions of such Committee, any existing National 
 Joint Trade Council, the constitution of which is 
 approved by the Ministry of Labour, and which 
 contains among its members, the representatives 
 of that Trade on the Industrial Council. 
 
 " (2) Copies of aU communications to and from 
 Government Departments to such sectional Com- 
 mittee or Trade Council shall be sent at the same 
 time to the Industrial Council. 
 
 ' (3) Copies of the agenda and the signed minutes 
 of every meeting of the Sectional Committee or 
 Trade Council, shaU be forwarded to the Indus- 
 trial Council within fourteen days of each 
 meeting." 
 
 This clause gives a definite constitutional » 
 
84 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 status to any Craft Industrial Councils that 
 may be formed on the model of the Painters' 
 National Joint Council already described, and 
 while linking them up with the work of the 
 Building Trades' Parliament itself, still enables 
 them to obtain recognition or approval from 
 the Ministry of Labour (hitherto withheld). 
 Thus developments of special interest to the 
 painting trade will be dealt with in the first 
 instance by the Painters' Council, and, as the 
 representatives of the master house painters 
 and of the operative painters (four of each) 
 upon the Industrial Council, are themselves 
 members of the Painters' Cotmcil, it will be 
 seen that there is a very intimate connection 
 between the two bodies. 
 
 Already there are other Craft Councils fore- 
 shadowed by the plumbers and the heatitig 
 engineers, and the whole movement is big 
 with possibilities of swift and wise develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Regional Industrial Councils. 
 
 On the geographical side also, matters are 
 already moving rapidly. By clause 24 of its 
 constitution the Council proposes the establish- 
 ment of Regional Industrial Councils in order 
 to secure that the special interest of the 
 building industry in different localities shall 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 85 
 
 find full opportunity for investigation and 
 discussion. A draft constitution for these 
 councils has already been adopted, and referred 
 to the Administrative Committee for the 
 working out of details. The appropriate areas 
 originally proposed for these regional councils 
 were simply those of the four Conciliation and 
 Demarcation Centres, with Scotland added as 
 a fifth — and, while there is much to be said 
 for this arrangement, considerations of ex- 
 pense, both in travelling and in time, would 
 seem to caU for smaller sub-division. 
 
 The Council therefore decided for the present 
 to leave the actual delimitation of the areas 
 to be determined by the local organisations 
 that desired to set up the regional or district 
 councils. The Scottish Building Trades, for 
 instance, are known to desire a regional 
 council of their own, whUst much useful work 
 could also be accomplished by a district 
 coimcil for London or for Birmingham. 
 
 The wisdom of this decision wiU hardly be 
 questioned, for it is of the utmost importance 
 that these Councils should spring up spon- 
 taneously from the desire of the local organisa- 
 tions themselves, rather than that a majestic 
 but ready-made scheme should be issued for 
 them from the larger body. 
 
 The relations of a regional council with the 
 
86 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 Industrial Council for the Building Industry, 
 are defined in the following clause : — 
 
 " Rule 23. — The Regional or District Council is 
 the recognised official standing Consultative Com- 
 mittee to the Industrial Council for the Building 
 Industry on aU questions affecting the industry 
 for the area it represents, and is the normal channel 
 through which the opinion and experience of the 
 Building Industry, for such area, will be sought on 
 all questions with which the industry is concerned. 
 As the Industrial Council for the Building Industry 
 is similarly recognised by the Government, all 
 communications addressed to Government Depart- 
 ments by Regional or District Councils must go 
 through the Industrial Council for the Building 
 Industry. 
 
 " A Regional or District CouncU may consider 
 and come to final decisions on any matter of interest 
 to its District including matters referred to it by 
 Local Committees (if any) within its District, subject 
 to the right of the Industrial Council for the Building 
 Industry to veto any decision which may be found 
 to involve the interests of other Districts. 
 
 " In any case where the Regional or District 
 Council is in doubt as to whether its decision would 
 involve the interests of other Districts, it should 
 consult the Industrial Council before coining to a 
 decision. For the information of the Industrial 
 Council, copies of the signed minutes of aU meetings 
 of Regional or District Councils shaU be forwarded 
 to the Joint Secretaries of the Industrial Council 
 within 14 days of each meeting. 
 
 " Rule 24. — A Regional or District Council may, 
 if the area of the district makes it advisable. 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY 87 
 
 formulate a scheme for the formation of Local 
 Committees to be linked up with the Regional or 
 District Council." 
 
 Recognition, in the case of a regional or 
 district council therefore is given by the 
 industrial council for the whole industry, 
 and not by the Ministry of Labour, as in the 
 case of craft industrial councils. 
 
 Works Committees, 
 
 We have now seen how the Industrial Council 
 for the Building Industry is being linked up 
 on the vocational side with specialised craft 
 industrial councils, and on the geographical 
 side with localised regional or district councils. 
 We have now to examine the Works Com- 
 mittee, which must ultimately form the broad 
 basis of the whole structure, and by bringing 
 its principles and possibilities of service right 
 down to the actual daUy life and thought of 
 the operative at the bench and on the building, 
 will do so much to hasten the orderly develop- 
 ment of a real living industrial democracy of 
 organised pubUc service. It is impossible to 
 over-rate the importance of these Works Com- 
 mittees, not only for the discussion and 
 application of the recommendations and de- 
 cisions of the Industrial Council itself, and 
 its local and craft councils, but also for the 
 
88 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 actual pioneer work that they will do in 
 countless directions. 
 
 Already the building industry has several 
 works committees in existence. These have 
 sprung up spontaneously, and have done 
 excellent work, both in bringing together the 
 representatives of various departments with 
 a sense of common purpose, for the discussion 
 and improvement of their daily work, and for 
 keeping them in constant touch with the 
 management and its problems. Constitutions 
 vary greatly, and should naturally be adjusted 
 to the special conditions of each case, for no 
 hard and fast rule can be given. 
 
 But as a Unk in the chain of representative 
 institutions that is being so rapidly developed, 
 it would appear that the ideal Works 
 Committee should represent management and 
 labour in equal numbers, that the term 
 " management " in this connection should 
 include the foremen and the clerical and 
 technical staffs, and that -the workers' repre- 
 sentatives should invariably be trade 
 unionists. The shop stewards' movement — 
 which is already being developed in the 
 building industry, on the lines of the engineers 
 — ^would seem to provide the very basis that 
 we need. But here, a difficulty arises, because 
 the shop stewards' movement is at present 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. ■ 89 
 
 frankly opposed to the Industrial Council 
 movement, and is naturally unwilling to co- 
 operate with it unless convinced of the sound- 
 ness of its methods. It is a difficulty that 
 cannot be ignored, and we must therefore 
 turn aside for a moment in order to face it 
 squarely. 
 
 The Two Roads to Industrial Democracy. 
 
 Although the conception of each industry 
 as a self-governing unit of organised public 
 service, is only a few years old, it is already 
 becoming clear that there are at least two 
 distinct hnes of approach to the ultimate 
 end in view — ^the real democratic control of 
 the industry, by the workers by hand or 
 brain in that industry. One is the shop 
 stewards' movement, with its Workers' Com- 
 mittees on the Engineering model — the other is 
 the Industrial Parhament, with its Associated 
 Councils and Committees on the Building 
 model. The end is the same in each case, 
 but the methods are different. 
 
 The first is based frankly on organised 
 antagonism. Its watchword is " encroaching 
 control," and it aims at the gradual elimination 
 of the capitalist employer, first from the 
 control of the workshop, then from the whole 
 factory, and finally from the offices and 
 
go THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 counting house. By rendering the present 
 industrial autocrat " socially functionless," it 
 hopes to secure his downfall, and to replace 
 him by the freely chosen leader of the new 
 industrial democracy. The Industrial Parlia- 
 ment, on the other hand, has been described 
 as the method of organised voluntaryism. 
 Having laid down in its constitution that its 
 goal is a " new and better industrial order," 
 it provides a clearing house for ideas, and 
 an unrivalled platform for the free discussion 
 and adoption of big proposals on their merits, 
 by the people who reaUy matter — the people 
 actually engaged in the industry itself. The 
 idea of a democracy of self-governing pubUc 
 service is believed to be so splendid and 
 inspiring that it can win upon its merits, and 
 may even be retarded by the menace of 
 coercion with which it is sometimes presented. 
 And the object of the proposed voluntary 
 code is to secure a nucleus group of pioneers — 
 men who are determined to build a real 
 industrial democracy — ^not for what they can 
 get out of it, but because it appeals to their 
 creative impulses as a fine thing to do. In 
 view, therefore, of the conunon aim and 
 purpose of both methods, it should not be 
 impossible to secure the co-operation of the 
 shop stewards upon the works committees 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 
 
 91 
 
 that are to play such an important part in the 
 transition from the old industrial order to the new. 
 
 But it is rapidly becoming recognised, 
 amongst far-seeing members of the Building 
 Trades' Parhament, that the development of 
 these district and craft councils and com- 
 mittees throughout the industry must be 
 paralleled by a systematic overhauling of the 
 whole system of representation in order that the 
 recommendations and decisions of the sections 
 may be properly presented to the central body. 
 
 It would seem possible therefore that the 
 electoral system of the industry might ulti- 
 mately follow — either wholly or partly^ — the 
 lines of the accompanjdng diagram. 
 
 Geographical Vocational 
 
 Subdivision. Subdivision. 
 
 {All Crafts and Labourers 
 .together) 
 
 Works Committees 
 (for each firm) 
 
 District Councils 
 (for each district) 
 
 Regional Councils 
 (for grouped districts) 
 
 (Each Craft 
 separaidy) 
 
 Craft Committees 
 
 Local Craft Councils 
 
 National Craft Councils 
 
 Building Trades Parliament 
 
92 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 Pioneering by Craft and Regional Councils and 
 Committees. 
 
 Undoubtedly one of the great features of 
 the new system of industrial self-govern- 
 ment that we are describing, will be the 
 pioneering that will constantly be undertaken 
 by the different types of councils and com- 
 mittees. 
 
 Works committees, for instance, may con- 
 duct experiments in improved processes and 
 methods, both technical and administrative, 
 reporting their successes and discoveries to 
 their appropriate district or craft industrial 
 councils for further examination and exten- 
 sion. District and craft councils may, in 
 their turn, investigate new methods of indus- 
 trial control and development, either on their 
 own initiative, or at the desire of the Building 
 Trades' Parliament itself. 
 
 Progress in this way will be achieved both 
 from the centre, outwards, and from the 
 circumference, inwards. Already a good 
 deal of valuable work is being done 
 on these lines, but space forbids the 
 inclusion of more than two interesting 
 examples. 
 
 The Building Trades' Parliament, at its 
 Edinburgh meeting m October, 1918, formally 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 93 
 
 endorsed the principle laid down in Object 7 
 of the Constitution — ^namely, 
 
 " The inclusion of all employers and workpeople 
 in their respective associations." 
 
 The Administrative Committee then re- 
 quested the National Federation of Building 
 Trades' Operatives " to confer with the various 
 adherent employers' organisations, and pro- 
 pose practical means of carrjdng it into effect 
 as soon as possible." And, although no general 
 scheme has yet been formulated, the North- 
 East Lancashire Painters and Decorators 
 Joint Council (a regional sub-division of the 
 Painters and Decorators National Joint 
 Council already described) has already put 
 the principle into practice under what is 
 known as the " Associated Shops' Rule," 
 and by acting as a pioneer in this way has 
 accumulated much valuable experience which 
 is now available for those who follow. 
 
 The rule referred to states that : — 
 
 " Trade Union operatives shall work only for 
 Associated Shops {i.e., firms associated with the 
 recognised organisations of Master Painters and 
 Decorators) and these shops shcdl employ only 
 Trade Union operatives. Exceptions shall be made 
 only with the consent of the Joint Council." 
 
 This has already achieved the desired result 
 
94 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 in the area in question, even co-operative 
 societies who employ painters having joined 
 the employers' organisation — a development 
 that is perhaps unique. 
 
 A similar movement is also on foot in the 
 South Wales area. 
 
 Another example of most useful pioneer 
 work is the practical establishment of a 
 uniform real wage (Object No. 2 of the 
 Constitution) by the North-Western Area 
 Joint Council for the Building Trades, a 
 body that has not yet been recognised by 
 the Building Trades' Parliament as a district 
 council, but which might very possibly secure 
 such recognition, especially in view of the 
 fact that a similar development is now in 
 progress in each of the nine regional areas 
 of the national federation. 
 
 The North- Western area has been divided 
 into ten district areas, each of which has 
 a joint district area council composed of 
 one representative from each of the trade 
 unions affiliated to the National Federa- 
 tion of Building Trades' Operatives, and 
 an equal number of employers from the 
 local associations affiliated to the North- 
 western Federation .of Building Trades' 
 Employers. 
 
 From these areas, the Central or North- 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 95 
 
 Western Area Joint Council of 56 members 
 is formed thus : — 
 
 6 employers and 6 operatives from Area No. i 
 4 .... 4 „ .. ., 2 
 
 3 .... 3 .. ,. „ 3 and 4 
 
 2 „ „ 2 „ „ „ 5, 6, 7. 
 
 8, 9 and 10. 
 
 The objects of the council are : — 
 
 " The establishment and control of uniform real 
 wages, uniform hours of labour and working condi- 
 tions in the building trades throughout the area 
 covered by the North- Western Federation." 
 
 Four grades of wages are established both for 
 skilled craftsmen and for labourers, namely : — 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Grade A 
 
 ... I 8 
 
 Grade C 
 
 ... I 6 
 
 .. B 
 
 ... I 7 
 
 ,. D 
 
 ... I 5 
 
 The labourers have two rates in each grade, 
 and are ^^d. and 4^. below the craftsmen. 
 The distribution of the grades wiU be readily 
 seen by the accompanying table, and the 
 rates were all brought into full operation on 
 May ist, 1919. 
 
96 
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 Table showing the Uniform Real Wage for Craftsmen in 
 THE North-Western Area. 
 
 (Labourers 3ji. and ^d. lower m each grade.) 
 
 * 
 
 A rate, 
 
 B rate. 
 
 C rate. 
 
 D rate, 
 
 Area. 
 
 IS. &d. 
 
 15. yd. 
 
 IS. (,d. 
 
 IS. sd. 
 
 No. I 
 
 Manchester 
 Ashton- 
 under-Hyde 
 Altrincham 
 Stockport 
 Bury 
 Rochdale 
 Oldham 
 Heywood 
 Radcliffe 
 Middleton 
 Wigan 
 Bolton 
 Warrington 
 
 Leigh 
 
 Westbough- 
 ton 
 Glossop 
 Alderley 
 
 Edge 
 Horwich 
 Adlington 
 Blackrod 
 
 
 
 No. 2 
 
 Liverpool 
 St. Helens 
 Widnes 
 Runcorn 
 Birkenhead 
 
 Southport 
 Ormskirk 
 
 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 Burnley 
 
 Accrington 
 
 Blackburn 
 
 Darwen 
 
 Rossendale 
 
 Valley 
 Todmorden 
 
 
 
 No. 4 
 
 
 Preston 
 
 Longridge 
 
 Leyland 
 
 Chorley 
 
 Lytham 
 
 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 
 
 97 
 
 Table showing the Uniform Real Wage por Craftsmen in 
 
 THE North-Western Area — cont. 
 
 {Labourers ^id. and ^d. lower in each grade.) 
 
 Area. 
 
 A rate, 
 IS. 8d. 
 
 B rate 
 IS. jd. 
 
 C rate, 
 IS. 6d. 
 
 D rate, 
 IS. 5(f. 
 
 No. 4— 
 cont. 
 
 
 St. Annes 
 Blackpool 
 Fleetwood 
 Lancaster 
 Morecambe 
 
 
 
 No. 5 
 
 
 Macclesfield 
 Buxton 
 Congleton 
 New Mills 
 
 
 
 No. 6 
 
 
 Chester 
 Frodsham 
 Wrexham 
 Ka-st Flint 
 
 
 
 No. 7 
 
 
 Northwich 
 
 Crewe 
 
 Nantwich 
 
 Middlewich 
 
 Whitchurch 
 
 Winsford 
 
 Tarporley 
 
 Knutsford 
 
 
 No. 8 
 
 
 
 
 Kendal ^ 
 
 Windermere 
 
 Penrith 
 
 No. 9 
 
 
 
 Colwyn Bay 
 West Flint" 
 Llandudno 
 Holyhead 
 
 Bangor 
 Carnarvon 
 
 No. lo 
 
 Barrow-in- 
 Furness 
 
 West Cum- 
 berland 
 Carlisle 
 
 
 Fumess 
 
gS THE STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 In the more backward districts these rates 
 involved in some cases an advance of over 
 50 per cent, in wages — a result which speaks 
 volumes for the possibilities of the new 
 method, for hitherto, the low wages of the 
 country districts where trade union organisa- 
 tion was weak have often retarded advances 
 even where it was strong. Indeed, it is 
 difldcult to see how such a result could have 
 been achieved by coercion at aU, or by any 
 other method than by discussion on its 
 merits, by a council set up for the purpose. 
 
 The wage rates are to be reviewed each 
 January, and any decisions arrived at wiU 
 come into force in the following May. 
 
 The district area councils may form rules, 
 consider local disputes, discuss the re-grading 
 of their towns, subject to the ratification of 
 the central council, and carry out the 
 decisions of the central council. 
 
 All adjustments of wages are to be upon 
 an area basis, and any alteration in Grade A 
 is to become a general alteration throughout 
 the areas. A normal working week of 46^ 
 hours in summer, and not more than 44 hours 
 in winter, have also been agreed upon. 
 
 Failure to agree is to be referred to 
 the centre and national conciliation boards 
 as ^heretofore, and six months' notice of 
 
BUILDING INDUSTRY. 99 
 
 withdrawal is required from either of the 
 parties. 
 
 The whole scheme is strengthened and 
 completed by its recognition under the Wages 
 (Temporary Regulation) Act, which provides 
 that rates of wages, agreed upon by associa- 
 tions of employers and operatives who are 
 sufficiently well organised to represent the 
 industry in question, shall, when approved 
 by the Ministry of Labour, be applied to the 
 whole of the industry within the area covered 
 by the agreement. The experiment is, there- 
 fore, of the greatest value, for it provides 
 a real example of what can be achieved in 
 the direction of uniform real wages and 
 conditions, and also a very workmanlike 
 instalment of the legalised compulsory mini- 
 mum code, foreshadowed in the original 
 Memorandum of the twelve Trade Unions. 
 
100 THE BUILDING TRADES 
 
 VII.— THE BUILDING TRADES' 
 PARLIAMENT AT WORK. 
 
 The first year of the Industrial Council's 
 work is now completed. It has held meetings 
 in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Man- 
 chester and Bath, and it has done well. 
 It is, in fact, not too much to say that it has 
 exceeded the expectations of very many, and 
 that the principles upon which it is based 
 are already showing themselves to be sound. 
 Its greatest need, however is, without question, 
 the need for pubhcity, both within the 
 industry itself and throughout the com- 
 munity at large. Although it is the only 
 Industrial Council that makes definite pro- 
 vision, in its standing orders, for the admission 
 of the public to its sessions, on the introduc- 
 tion of a member^ — and although it invariably 
 extends a cordial invitation to the press — 
 yet its intensely interesting discussions are 
 still almost unwitnessed and largely un- 
 recorded. An exception must be made, how- 
 ever, in favour of the regular trade journals 
 of the building industry. These are already 
 stepping into their proper place as the 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. 10 1 
 
 recognised organs of the new industrial 
 politics. A very useful precedent was estab- 
 lished towards the end of 1918 when The 
 Builder published a valuable and suggestive 
 series of articles upon the newly-formed 
 Industrial Council, its programme and 
 possibilities of service. Many of the craft 
 journals have also done very useful work in 
 championing the cause of the craft industrial 
 councils that we have described in an earlier 
 section. All this is immensely to the good, 
 but it is not nearly enough. 
 
 The general press is still inexplicably silent. 
 The great newspapers and reviews have not 
 yet realised the vast importance of the new 
 system of organised industrial self-govern- 
 ment that is arising so swiftly and so surely 
 in this country. In their absorption in the 
 poUtics of governmental institutions based 
 vertically upon where we live, they have 
 overlooked the politics of the newer institu- 
 tions based horizontally upon what we do. 
 Yet already it is not easy to say that one is 
 more important than the other. 
 
 The Building Trades' Parliament, as was 
 to be expected, has spent most of its first 
 year's work in committees, and has only 
 just begun to reap the harvest of their 
 reports. No less than a third of its members 
 
102 THE BUILDING TRADES 
 
 are actually serving on these committees, 
 and it is impossible to read the records of 
 their work without becoming aware that 
 a great new tradition is being created, and 
 that an orderly industrial revolution, big 
 with splendid promise for the future, is 
 being actually fashioned by skilled hands 
 that know their work. A most valuable 
 system of liaison officers has been set up 
 by the government to act as links not only 
 between the various industrial councils and 
 the Ministry of Labour, but also between 
 the different committees and the appropriate 
 Departments of State. The Building Trades' 
 Parliament in this way has already been 
 furnished with several liaison officers, and 
 the whole system is most useful. These 
 officers have, of course, no votes, but their 
 presence is of unquestionable value, for they 
 bring to the assistance of the Council or 
 Committee, their knowledge of the progress 
 and experience of all the other councils 
 that may have been engaged upon similar 
 problems, and generally keep the whole 
 movement in close touch. 
 
 The Ministry of Labour also renders a 
 great service by allowing the various com- 
 mittees the use of its buildings for their 
 meetings — ^both in Whitehall and at the 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. IO3 
 
 emplo3mient exchanges throughout the 
 country. The Building Trades' Parliament 
 has now five committees actually at work, 
 and will probably set up several more in 
 the near future. But it is already apparent 
 that the different sides of the industrial 
 problem are so closely interlocked that too 
 much subdivision may tend to become waste- 
 ful. Problems of demobilisation for instance 
 are bound up with plans for education, 
 apprenticeship, and continuous employment. 
 Education instantly concerns itself with the 
 status and future prospects of the operative, 
 arid touches the great question of Scientific 
 Management. Welfare attacks the very same 
 problems from a rather different side ; and 
 Scientific Management, rightly understood, 
 embraces not only all these, but also brings 
 up the linked questions of industrial control, 
 the purpose of industry, and the proper 
 allocation of its earnings. This danger of 
 duplication and overlapping might perhaps 
 be effectively removed by the establishment, 
 by the Council, of one or more fuU-time 
 officials whose business would be to attend 
 all committees, as ex-officio members, keep 
 their records, and co-ordinate their work. It 
 seems clear that this is a task that should 
 be under the direction of the Industrial 
 
104 THE BUILDING TRADES' 
 
 Council itself, and cannot be properly per- 
 formed by liaison officers appointed by the 
 State, or under State control. Industrial 
 self-government for the public service must 
 be real autonomy within the proper limits. 
 
 We must now conclude our story with a 
 short review of the work of the committees. 
 
 The Administrative Committee. 
 
 The Administrative Committee has already 
 appeared so frequently in the narrative, that 
 very little remains to be said. It consists 
 of ten employer members and ten operative 
 members, and has a liaison officer furnished 
 by the Ministry of Labour. It meets monthly, 
 and is the standing committee of the Council, 
 the body to receive suggestions as to matters 
 requiring consideration by the Council, and 
 to prepare recommendations and agenda for 
 the Council meetings. One of its resolutions 
 passed at a time of grave industrial crisis 
 in January, 1919, is of some historic interest : 
 
 " That in view of the serious unrest in industry, 
 and the dangers due to sectional action, it is desir- 
 able that representatives of all well-organised indus- 
 tries, both operatives and employers, should be 
 called together to consider the question of working 
 hours, rates of wages and other matters relative 
 thereto, with a view to their co-ordination as 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. I05 
 
 between different industries, and having regard to 
 the reciprocal obligations of producers and con- 
 sumers ; and, further, that the Ministry of Labour 
 be asked to convene a conference for the purpose 
 referred to." 
 
 This resolution was confirmed by the Council 
 at its meeting on February 6th, 1919, and 
 forwarded to the Ministry of Labour, a 
 week later. The National Industrial Con- 
 ference, as is well known, was actually held 
 on February 27th, and, although it seems clear 
 that the Government had already decided 
 upon this course, the resolution is of interest 
 as showing that the Administrative Committee 
 did not fail at the appropriate moment to 
 call for a National Congress of Industry, the 
 logical development and co-ordination of the 
 whole Industrial Council movement. In this 
 way it fulfils some of the functions designed 
 for the Improvements' Committee in the 
 original scheme, but the principal objects 
 of that Committee are already being carried 
 out with great success by the various special 
 committees that have been set up. 
 
 The Resettlement and Demobilisation Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The Resettlement Committee was appointed 
 at the first meeting of the Council, and marks 
 
I06 THE BUILDING TRADES* 
 
 a new and interesting departure. It was 
 set up at the request of the Goyemment 
 with a haison officer furnished by the Ministry 
 of Labour, and ranks as a Government Com- 
 mittee, drawing its expenses from the Treasury. 
 But its personnel was elected entirely by 
 the Building Trades' Parliament, and it has 
 now replaced the old Building Trades Central 
 Advisory Committee which was set up during 
 the war in connection with the Emplojnnent 
 Department of the Ministry of Labour. The 
 Resettlement Committee, originally consisted 
 of eight employers and eight operatives, 
 and it was set up to co-operate with the 
 Government with regard to — 
 
 (i) Demobilisation of members of H.M. 
 forces and the resettlement of civil 
 war workers. 
 
 (2) The training and employment of dis- 
 
 abled sailors and soldiers. 
 
 (3) The problem of apprenticeship inter- 
 
 rupted by war service. 
 
 The question of apprenticeship has since 
 been taken up very fuUy by the Education 
 Committee. 
 
 In October, 1918, at the Manchester meet- 
 ing of the Council, this Committee was 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. I07 
 
 enlarged by the addition of four more opera- 
 tives and four employers, and was given 
 powers to co-opt additional persons from 
 outside, in order to deal with a further 
 problem, namely — 
 
 "To consider ways and means of accelerating the 
 building of working class dwellings after the war." 
 
 On the recommendation of this Committee, 
 the Council in February, 1919, passed a 
 resolution urging the Government to advise 
 the local authorities to expedite housing 
 schemes by placing contracts " in the hands 
 of federated building contractors or sub- 
 contractors ... in accordance with the 
 recommendations of the Colwyn Committee ; 
 that is, by pa57ment to the contractor of an 
 agreed fee or percentage of the estimated 
 cost ; " but recommending also that " The 
 local authority should take powers to deter- 
 mine such contracts in case of unsatisfactory 
 supervision, bad workmanship or high cost." 
 
 The following month the committee con- 
 ferred with the Director of Building Material 
 Supplies in regard to the output of bricks, 
 timber and other essential raw niaterials. 
 After hearing what had been done, they 
 drew attention to the fact that both Scotland 
 and South Wales produced stone in almost 
 
I08 THE BUILDING TRADES* 
 
 every county, and pointed out that local 
 authorities would be well advised to use 
 stone whenever it showed an advantage over 
 brick. 
 
 At the same time the Administrative Com- 
 mittee addressed a very strong resolution 
 to all the Government departments con- 
 cerned, expressing dissatisfaction at the delays 
 that were occurring in connection with the 
 housing scheme, and calling for greater atten- 
 tion to the output of raw materials. 
 
 In July the Committee had a conference 
 with the Director of Housing, upon the 
 augmentation of labour supply for housing, 
 and undertook a comprehensive enquiry upon 
 the following points : — 
 
 (i) The amount of housing to be done, 
 and by what date. 
 
 (2) The number of men required. 
 
 (3) The number of men available — 
 
 (a) In the building industry now ; 
 
 (b) qualified men not at present en- 
 
 gaged in building. 
 
 {4) Hindrances to full use of available 
 supplies — 
 
 (a) Wages and labour agreements. 
 {b) Transport facilities. 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. I09 
 
 (c) Distribution of contracts. 
 
 (d) Model contract form. 
 
 (e) Inducements to contractors to give 
 
 up existing schemes, for- the 
 Government scheme. 
 
 (5) Estimate of augmentation needed. 
 
 (6) Methods of augmentation. 
 
 This resulted in a valuable interim report, 
 which was presented to the Council in August, 
 1919. 
 
 The Education and Apprenticeship Committee. 
 
 The Education Committee was set up by 
 the Council at its Edinburgh meeting in 
 October, 1918, and consists of ten operatives 
 and ten employers, with a liaison officer fur- 
 nished by the Board of Education. 
 
 It commenced its work by taking as a 
 basis for discussion a very practical and 
 suggestive questionnaire submitted by its 
 liaison officer, in order to determine the steps 
 that are necessary to attract capable boys 
 to the building industry. 
 
 The questions covered a wide range, and 
 included such matters as rates of pay, working 
 conditions, prospects of promotion, continuity 
 of employment, holidays, and pensions. The 
 present systems of elementary and secondary 
 
no THE BUILDING TRADES 
 
 education were then brought under review, 
 with special reference to the kind of educa- 
 tion needed for boys attending full time 
 classes up to sixteen years of age. Then 
 followed the whole question of apprentice- 
 ship, technical training, and facilities for 
 higher education for boys of exceptional 
 ability. Unskilled occupations, open to boys 
 in the building industry were also considered, 
 with particular reference to the possibilities 
 offered by the " Welfare " Movement with 
 regard to such boys, and the provision of 
 opportunity for unskilled boys to enter the 
 skilled branches of the trade. The associa- 
 tion of design and craftsmanship, improve- 
 ments in technical education, research into 
 methods and materials, and the removal of 
 hindrances to progress, are the concluding 
 items in a programme of investigation which 
 opens up an altogether new vista along the 
 road of industrial advance. 
 
 The first Interim Report of the Committee 
 was presented to the Council in February, 
 1919. It dealt mainly with apprenticeship. 
 
 " Rates of payment to apprentices must be on a 
 much more liberal scale than has obtained in the 
 past. 
 
 " Working conditions should be improved in all 
 branches. Opportunities must be given for study. 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. Ill 
 
 Apprentices should receive greater encouragement 
 from employers and given the best possible facilities 
 to learn their ciaft. 
 
 " Prospects of advancement must be given both 
 in regard to specialisation and study where 
 exceptional ability is displayed. In this connection 
 it is proposed to approach the Government in an 
 endeavour to secure that a large proportion of 
 Govermnent appointments to departments relative 
 to the buUding industry shall be reserved for 
 competition amongst apprentices and others follow- 
 ing various branches of the industry." 
 
 It also recommends that manual classes in 
 schools should be increased in number, and 
 that physical exercises and games should be 
 a definite part of school training. And it 
 concludes with a desire for a University 
 course and a Degree of BuUding, which, as 
 it very rightly says, would raise the status 
 of the building industry. 
 
 The Committee has also drawn up a 
 definite scheme for apprenticeship which has 
 now been adopted by the Council as the 
 standard scheme for the building industry, 
 and pressed upon the Government for recog- 
 nition and assistance. 
 
 The Safety and Welfare Committee. 
 
 The Safety and Welfare Committee was 
 appointed by the Council in February, 1919, 
 
112 THE BUILDING TRADES 
 
 on the suggestion of Mr, Bellhouse, Deputy 
 Chief Inspector of Factories. It consists 
 of three employers and three operatives, and 
 has a liaison officer furnished by the Home 
 Office. ■ 
 
 It decided to deal first with the dangers 
 attendant upon the use of woodworking 
 machinery, and recognising that machinery 
 of this tj'^pe is also widely used outside the 
 limits of the building industry, it secured the 
 co-operation of representatives from the joint 
 Industrial Councils for the furniture industry, 
 the saw-milling industry, and also from the 
 National Federation of Saw MiU Proprietors, 
 and from the Amalgamated Society of 
 Wood-cutting Machinists. After formulating 
 preliminary proposals for safeguards on wood- 
 working machinery, the Committee invited 
 the principal British manufacturers of such 
 machinery to meet them in conference thereon. 
 This conference took place in Manchester in 
 May and June, 1919, and marks a most 
 interesting and suggestive stage in the develop- 
 ment of industrial government. 
 
 In their Report to the Council in August, 
 1919, the Committee say they are — 
 
 " Much indebted to these firms for the valuable 
 assistance rendered by their representatives in 
 discussing safeguards, and warmly appreciate the 
 
PARLIAMENT AT WORK. II3 
 
 spirit in which manufacturers approached the 
 problems under consideration." 
 
 At the Conference the proposals of the 
 Comnaittee concerning safeguards were dis- 
 cussed in detail, and in some respects 
 amended. 
 
 " The amended proposals . . . having been 
 passed without dissent by the enlarged committee, 
 are now submitted for the approval of the Indus- 
 trial Councils concerned. If approved, it is 
 assumed that they will be submitted to the Home 
 Secretary with the suggestion that he should give 
 legal effect to them by means of regulations." 
 
 Here, clearly, is another example of the 
 development of the great compulsory code 
 of minimum standards laid down by the 
 industry itself and legalised by the State, 
 which was foreshadowed in the original 
 Memorandum of the twelve Trade Unions. 
 The Report goes on : — 
 
 " The Committee are of opinion that makers of 
 woodworking machines (whether British or foreign) 
 should be required to supply adequate guards with 
 aU such machines as are delivered to users in the 
 United Kingdom. The British makers represented 
 at the conference in Manchester agreed with the 
 reasonableness of such a requirement. The Com- 
 mittee are informed that, at present, there is no 
 power to compel manufacturers of machinery to 
 supply guards with machines but, if so, the Com- 
 mittee consider that such power should be obtained.' ' 
 
114 BUILDING trades' PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Then follows a thoroughly practical ap- 
 pendix giving a detailed description of the 
 types of guard proposed for circular saws, 
 band saws, planing, moulding, and mortising 
 machines, together with general recommenda- 
 tions concerning the guarding of belts, the 
 removal of chips and dust, the spacing of 
 machines, and lighting and heating of shops. 
 
 The Management and Costs Committee. 
 
 The Committee on Scientific Management 
 and Reduction of Costs was also appointed 
 by the Council at its February meeting. It 
 consists of eight employers and eight opera- 
 tives, and in recognition of the crucial 
 importance of its work, the Ministry of Labour 
 detailed a special liaison officer to assist it. 
 In any event, the proposals of this Committee 
 would have been very interesting, because it 
 is the first committee that has been set up, 
 by any Industrial Council, to investigate this 
 very important subject. 
 
 But its first Report is more than interesting 
 — it is a veritable landmark in industrial 
 history, for it has frankly recognised that 
 the end in view — a permanent improvement 
 in production — cannot be fully attained except 
 as the corollary of democratic control and 
 organised public service. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. II5 
 
 VIII.— ORGANISED PUBLIC SERVICE 
 IN THE BUILDING INDUSTRY, 
 BEING THE INTERIM REPORT 
 OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIEN- 
 TIFIC MANAGEMENT AND RE- 
 DUCTION OF COSTS, APPOINTED 
 BY THE INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL 
 FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY. 
 
 THE COMMITTEE. 
 
 The Committee consisted of the following members : — 
 Employers. 
 
 Mr. R. B. Chessum London Federation of Building 
 Trades Employers. 
 
 „ J. P. Cox, J. P. Institute of Plumbers. 
 
 „ T.Foster ... North Western Federation of B.T.E. 
 
 „ T. Graham ... Scottish National Building Trades 
 Federation. 
 
 „ H. T. HoLLOWAY London Federation of B.T.E. 
 
 ,, S. Smethurst, North Western Federation of B.T.E. 
 J.P. 
 
 „ J. F. Turner... Scottish National Building Trades 
 Federation. 
 
 „ F. G. Whittall Midland Federation of B.T.E. 
 
Il6 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 Operatives. 
 
 Mr. J. Armour ... Operative Stonemasons' Association 
 
 (Scotland). 
 „ W. Cross ... Amalgamated Slaters Society of 
 
 Scotland 
 ,, J. H. Edmiston* Operative Plumbers and Domestic 
 
 Engineers. 
 „ T. Gregory ... Manchester Unity of Operative 
 
 Bricklayers. 
 „ R. Jones ... United Order of General Labourers 
 
 of London. 
 „ H. J. Walker... Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, 
 
 Cabinet Makers and Joiners 
 „ W. Williams Operative Stonemasons' Society. 
 
 Councillor R. Wilson Amalgamated Slaters and Tilers 
 
 Provident Society. 
 
 Co-opted. 
 
 Mr. Malcolm Sparkes was co-opted a member of the 
 Committee on April 9th, 19 19. 
 
 * Mr. Edmiston retired owing to ill health, and was consequently 
 present at none of the meetings. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. II7 
 
 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 To J. Storrs, Esq., J. P. {Chairman), 
 The Industrial Council for the Building Industry. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We have the honour to submit the following 
 Interim Report on Organised Public Service in the 
 Building Industry. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 1. This Committee was appointed to consider the 
 question of Scientific Management and Reduction of 
 Costs with a view to enabling the Building Industry 
 to render the most efficient service possible. 
 
 2. The terms " Scientific Management and Re- 
 duction of Costs " do not at first sight suggest any 
 very far-reaching enquiry, but we decided unanimously 
 at our first meeting that if we were to do any really 
 useful work we must review the whole structure of the 
 building industry in order to bring forward recom- 
 mendations that would be of real service. 
 
 3. Although in the fabric of our industrial order, 
 the material and the human sides are so intimately 
 interwoven that it is impossible completely to 
 separate them, we found it useful to set up two sub- 
 committees to specialise respectively on the twin 
 subjects of production and distribution of the product. 
 The recommendations of these two groups have been 
 
Il8 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 reviewed by the full committee, and are combined 
 in the document we now present. 
 
 4. As our investigation proceeded, we became 
 more and more impressed with the immense possi- 
 bilities lying latent in the new system of industrial 
 self-government implied in the constitution of our 
 Industrial Council, and we believe that, given the 
 vision, the faith and the courage, our industry will be 
 enabled to lead the way in the industrial and social 
 re-adjustments that are imminent. 
 
 We have glimpsed the possibility of the whole 
 Building Industry of Great Britain being welded 
 together into one great self-governing democracy of 
 organised public service, uniting a full measure of 
 free initiative and enterprise with all the best that 
 applied science and research can render. The whole 
 trend of modern industrial development is already 
 setting in this direction. We have now much 
 valuable experience of control by the State, by the 
 municipality, by the co-operative organisations of 
 consumers, by the joint stock company, and by 
 individual private enterprise. Most of these forms 
 of control offer advantages, but each of them pre- 
 sents serious defects. 
 
 5. We believe that the great task of our Industrial 
 Council is to develop an entirely new system of 
 industrial control by the members of the industry 
 itself— the actual producers, whether by hand or 
 brain — and to bring them into co-operation with the 
 State as the central representative of the community 
 whom they are organised to serve. Nothing short 
 of this will produce the full development of the 
 " team spirit " in industry, which is the key to the 
 
INTERIM REPORT. II 9 
 
 whole problem of production ; nothing short of this is 
 worthy of the high ideals for which our Industrial 
 Council stands. But such a reconstruction of our 
 industrial fabric cannot be achieved in a day. There 
 are many problems that require patient experiment, 
 and experience must be purchased in the school of 
 trial and error. Our hope for the future lies in the 
 liberation and right direction of men's true generous 
 qualities of goodwill, enthusiasm and adventure. 
 They must be our constant guide, and no fear of 
 risks that seem to be involved must allow us to 
 deny them. 
 
 6. The recommendations that we now bring for- 
 ward are therefore based upon their immediate 
 availability, and are designed to lay the foundation 
 of an industrial system which, while giving full play 
 to individual enterprise and complete freedom from 
 the benumbing hand of bureaucracy, shall yet tend to 
 develop that sense of comradeship and solidarity that 
 is so essential for efficient service. 
 
 We believe that they will be much improved by 
 full discussion and frank criticism in the Council, and 
 we submit them in the belief that if our industry will 
 give a clear and courageous lead in the direction we 
 have tried to indicate, its example will be of the 
 greatest possible service to our country at this critical 
 time of transition. 
 
 The Problem Stated. 
 
 7. It became clear at a very early stage that there 
 are four main factors that tend to the restriction of 
 output. They are : — 
 
 {a) The fear of unemployment. 
 
I20 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 {b) The disinclination of the operatives to make 
 unrestricted profit for private employers. 
 
 (c) The lack of interest in the industry evidenced 
 
 by operatives owing to their non-participation 
 in control. 
 {d) Inefficiency, both managerial and operative. 
 
 8. We begin then with the question of employ- 
 ment. 
 
 In a report such as this it seems unnecessary to 
 elaborate the well-known seasonal difficulties with 
 which our industry is confronted. We therefore 
 immediately proceed to indicate the lines of remedy 
 
 The RegularisatioH of Demand. 
 
 g. The aim we have in view is the development of 
 the highest possible efficiency in a well organised 
 building service. To this end we consider it essential 
 that the A^hole productive capacity of the industry 
 should be continuously engaged and absorbed, and 
 that a regular flow of contracts should replace the old 
 haphazard alternations of congestion and stagnation. 
 
 It is well-known that the proportion of public to 
 private work is very considerable, and that it is well 
 within the powers of public authorities to speed up or 
 to delay contracts. We therefore recommend : — 
 
 (a) That the Industrial Council shall set up a 
 permanent Committee entitled The Building 
 Trades Central Employment Committee, with 
 the necessary clerical staff. 
 
 (d) That each Regional Council shall similarly set 
 
 up a Building Trades Regional Employment 
 Committee. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. 121 
 
 {c) That each Local or Area Council shall 
 similarly set up a Building Trades Area 
 Employment Committee. 
 
 (d) That each Committee shall consist of an 
 equal number of employers and operatives 
 with one architect appointed by the local pro- 
 fessional Association of Architects or by the 
 R.I.B.A., as may be most appropriate. 
 
 lo. The first duty of these committees would be to 
 regularise the demand for building. 
 
 («) At the approach of slack periods, by acceler- 
 ating new building enterprises, both public 
 and private, with the co-operation of archi- 
 tects and local authorities. 
 
 {b) Conversely, at periods of congestion, by 
 advising building owners to postpone the 
 construction of such works as are not of an 
 urgent character. 
 
 ir. Except when modified by special arrange- 
 ments we recommend that the Central, Regional and 
 Area Employment Committees should co-operate 
 with the appropriate State, county or district 
 authorities. 
 
 Although we propose that these Committees should 
 consist of producers only, we contemplate the fullest 
 possible co-operation with the Government and local 
 authorities at every stage, not only because they are 
 important customers, themselves, but also because 
 they are the duly elected representatives of the 
 consuming public. 
 
122 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 12. We recognise that such a scheme would 
 involve some measure of restraint upon individual 
 employers and realise that the small non-federated 
 employer would be an obstacle to its ordered 
 working, but we are convinced that combined 
 pressure by members of the Building Trades' Parlia- 
 ment or its constituents should eventually overcome 
 this obstacle. Such spreading over of work from 
 year to year and season to season will not of itself 
 solve the whole problem of providing a steady stream 
 of work. 
 
 The Decasualisation of Labour. 
 
 13. We recommend that the second main function of 
 the Local Employment Committee shall be the 
 decasualisation of labour, and the difficulty of pro- 
 viding employment during wet and bad seasons has 
 yet to be faced. We feel that a certain amount of 
 investigation is still needed in this direction and 
 venture to suggest that the Building Trades' Parlia- 
 ment should approach the representatives of other 
 industries and public authorities with a view to 
 investigating the possibility of "dove-tailing" or 
 seasonal interchange of labour. 
 
 There would appear to be a large volume of 
 national and private work which could be undertaken 
 when the industry itself could not usefully employ all 
 its available labour, for example : — 
 
 («) Afforestation. 
 {V) Roadmaking. 
 
 {c) The preparation of sites for housing schemes. 
 id) Demolition of unsanitary or condemned areas 
 in preparation for improvements. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. 123 
 
 14. The question of the method of paying men so 
 engaged in other occupations in bad seasons will be 
 considered later in relation to. the ' scheme we are 
 recommending for the provision of unemployment pay. 
 
 15. When all other methods of providing steady 
 and adequate employment for the operatives have 
 been exhausted, then the industry is faced with the 
 question of its responsibility towards its employees 
 during possible periods of unemployment. We are 
 convinced that the overhanging fear of unemployment 
 must be finally removed before the operative can be 
 expected whole-heartedly to give of his best. Con- 
 siderations of humanity and efficiency alike, there- 
 fore, demand that provision shall be made by the 
 industry itself adequately to maintain the operative 
 and his family during any period of unemployment 
 arising from causes outside his control. 
 
 This accomplished, we believe that the whole 
 atmosphere of industry will experience a great and 
 vitalising change, and that efficiency of production 
 will be much increased. 
 
 16. We accordingly suggest that termination of 
 employment upon any job should be subject to one 
 week's notice instead of one hour (except in the case 
 of a strike or lock-out) and that the local Employ- 
 ment Committee should be immediately notified of 
 such approaching terminations and also of all 
 vacancies occurring. 
 
 The machinery for filling vacancies already exists 
 in the trade union organisation and should be 
 developed to the greatest possible extent, in order to 
 supplement the State Employment Exchanges, so far 
 as the building industry is concerned. 
 
124 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 Unemployment Pay. 
 
 17. We further recommend that in cases of un- 
 avoidable unemployment, the maintenance of its 
 unemployed members shall be undertaken by the 
 industry through its Employment Committees, and 
 that the necessary revenue should be raised by means 
 of a iixed percentage on the wages bills and paid 
 weekly to the Employment Committee by each 
 employer on the joint certificate of himself and a shop 
 steward or other accredited trade union repre- 
 sentative. 
 
 1 8. The amount of the percentage charge necessary 
 to raise funds for the maintenance of members 
 unavoidably unemployed will naturally depend upon 
 the amount of the State subsidy for the purpose, and 
 also upon the efficiency of the Employment Com- 
 mittees in the matter of: — 
 
 {a) Regularisation of demand, and 
 (b) Decasualisation of labour, 
 
 but it is already evident from past experience that 
 the percentage will certainly be small, and that a 
 charge of S per cent, would probably be more than 
 ample. An estimate of the revenue required for the 
 coming year should be laid before the Industrial 
 Council annually and the rate of percentage fixed 
 accordingly. 
 
 19. While the collection of this revenue should be 
 carried out by the Employment Committees, the 
 payments should be made by periodical refund to the 
 trade unions, who would thus become an important 
 integral part of the official machinery and would 
 distribute the unemployment pay in accordance with 
 
INTERIM REPORT. 125 
 
 the regulations prescribed by the Industrial Council 
 and its Committees. 
 
 20. Every duly registered member when prevented, 
 for a period to be fixed, from working at the proper 
 craft at the full standard rates of the district, should 
 be entitled to unemployment pay, whether the cause 
 be sickness, accident, shortage of work, or stress of 
 weather. In all cases the amount would be inclusive 
 of any benefit under the State and Trade Unions 
 schemes. 
 
 21. We further recommend that every registered 
 member should be entitled to one week's summer 
 holiday pay per annum, and at the same scale and 
 from the same fund as the unemployment pay. 
 
 22. For purpose of this scheme " Members of the 
 Industry " would be trade unionists engaged therein, 
 including the clerical, technical and managerial staffs, 
 who register with the Employment Committees for 
 participation. 
 
 23. During unemployment all men should receive 
 half their full wage, supplemented in the case of a 
 married man by one-tenth of his full wage for his 
 wife and each of his children up to four children, 
 under sixteen years of age. When the industry 
 becomes responsible in this way for unemployment 
 pay, apart from the contributions which it already 
 has to pay under the State Unemployment Schemes, 
 then two essential conditions must be fulfilled, (i) 
 The workers by more concentrated effort must in- 
 crease efficiency beyond the present standard ; and 
 (2) Management and Capital must consent to a 
 limitation being imposed upon their earnings, and 
 
126 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 should be prepared to adopt methods on their side 
 which will lead to greater out-put. 
 
 We have attempted thoroughly to explore all 
 possible objections to the scheme which we are 
 advocating, but the difficulties are not sufficiently 
 serious to shake our conviction that with increasing 
 goodwill will come higher production, and with 
 better management increasing surplus will be avail- 
 able. 
 
 24. The Unemployment Scheme recommended 
 will, perform two functions at least. It will go far to 
 secure the complete goodwill of the operative and 
 make unnecessary certain restrictions which exist, 
 either tacitly or otherwise, on output ; and, secondly 
 by absorbing a certain amount of the surplus earnings 
 of the industry, it should tend to meet the disinclin- 
 ation on the part of the operatives to make un- 
 restricted profit for private employers. 
 
 25. It has already been recommended that during 
 bad seasons operatives should be encouraged to 
 accept work in other occupations rather than unem- 
 ployment pay. The question of remuneration under 
 such arrangements requires further consideration, 
 and we hope to deal with this in a later report. 
 
 26. It is hoped that this scheme will be so satis- 
 factory that it will be finally possible to relieve 
 employers of their liability under the Workmen's 
 Compensation and the Employers' Liability Acts, 
 and to supersede all Trade Union Sickness and 
 Unemployment Benefits, and that the industry will 
 obtain powers to contract out of the State scheme. 
 The danger of fraudulent claims upon the Unem- 
 ployment Fund has not been overlooked, but we 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I27 
 
 believe that ample safeguards will be found in the 
 utilization of the trade union organization for the 
 payment of the money and of the existing employ- 
 ment exchange facilities for registration of the 
 unemployed. Moreover, fraudulent claims cannot 
 easily be put forward, laecause unemployment will 
 only result when the scheme for the regularisa- 
 tion of employment has failed to absorb any more 
 labour. 
 
 The principle of Joint Committees to act as 
 trustees for such a fund does not appear to need any 
 defence. 
 
 27. We frankly recognise here that we are again 
 faced with the fundamental difficulty that there still 
 exist in the industry large numbers of small non- 
 federated employers, and on the other hand operatives 
 who are not trade unionists. Nevertheless, we feel 
 that the benefits of such a scheme will have a very 
 material effect in inducing employers and operatives 
 to come into their respective associations. 
 
 The Wages of Management. 
 
 28. At this point it is necessary to state that the 
 first question discussed by the Committee was the 
 possibility of the adoption by individual firms of 
 some scheme of profit-sharing or co-partnership 
 which would abolish the second factor limiting out- 
 put. It immediately became clear, however, that 
 such schemes secure no backing, either by the trade 
 union representatives or by the majority of the 
 operatives. All such methods of payment are strictly 
 forbidden in the rules of most trade unions in the 
 
128 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 industry. Hitherto the reasons of this objection have 
 been : — 
 
 (i) The fear of increased unemployment. 
 
 (2) The fear of disintegrating influences being 
 
 introduced among the workers, thus weaken- 
 ing the authority of the trade unions. 
 
 (3) The difficulty of applying most methods of 
 
 payment by results to the peculiar conditions 
 of the building industry. 
 
 29. But it was found that the trade unions in- 
 volved would be prepared to reconsider their attitude 
 if the surplus earnings of the industry went not to 
 individuals but to some common service controlled by 
 the industry as a whole. 
 
 30. This brought us immediately to the con- 
 sideration of the wages of management. Here we 
 were immediately faced with the peculiarly difficult 
 organization of the building industry. The ease 
 with which small businesses can be started with 
 little or no capital, makes it possible for many 
 employers to carry on in the dual capacity of 
 manager and owner. Many of these men have no 
 proper system of accountancy or audit, and would 
 be quite unable if asked, to differentiate between the 
 wages of management and the interest on their 
 capital. Many of such concerns are exceedingly 
 unstable and, as is well known, are often a source of 
 considerable discredit and danger to the industry. 
 In the larger firms the managers are again usually 
 principally concerned in the ownership of the 
 business, and, therefore, in view of the limitation 
 of the rate of interest on their capital, which we 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I29 
 
 recommend in the next section, they are directly and 
 intimately concerned with the salaries they would 
 receive as managers. Thus, in any attempt to fix 
 some scale of remuneration for the different types of 
 management we are at once faced with the difficulty 
 of the proper determination of an adequate salary. 
 
 31. In parenthesis, we would here like to remark 
 that no opposition to an adequate remuneration for 
 management is likely to be offered by the trade 
 unions, who may discuss this scheme. We feel sure 
 that no fair-minded operative will hesitate to support 
 an adequate scale of salaries. The workman demands 
 from the management, as does the management from 
 , him, the highest possible efficiency, and respects it 
 where he finds it. When that is rendered his whole 
 tendency is to insist that such service shall receive 
 adequate remuneration. 
 
 32. Various alternative suggestions were discussed, 
 and rejected, for example : — 
 
 (a) To fix salaries in a definite proportion to fore- 
 men's wages. 
 
 {6) To fix them in a definite proportion to the 
 profits of the business or its turnover. 
 
 (c) To ascertain what the ordinary market value 
 of a manager would be. 
 
 33. We finally decided to recommend that the 
 salaries of management might first be ascertained by 
 each " Employer-Manager " declaring what salary he 
 has received or what he regards as his due. These 
 declarations should be periodically reviewed by the 
 Employment Committees appointed under this 
 scheme, the first review to ascertain data for possible 
 
T30 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 revision in order to develop a recognised standard of 
 remuneration. 
 
 The Hiring of Capital. 
 
 34. It will already have become evident that the 
 whole conception of organised public service that we are 
 developing, demands the acceptance of three main 
 principles as an essential preliminary to that increase 
 of efficiency without which the cost to the community 
 cannot be reduced. 
 
 {a) Regular rates of pay to the operatives that 
 will ensure a real and satisfactory standard of 
 comfort. 
 
 {b) Salaries to owner- managers commensurate with 
 their ability. 
 
 {c) A regular rate of interest for the hire of capital. 
 
 35. These established, the whole atmosphere will 
 be clarified, the interdependence of the different 
 sections will be better understood and the "team 
 spirit " will rapidly develop. 
 
 The investigation of the hire of capital was, there- 
 fore, one of the most important, and, at the same time, 
 one of the most difficult sections of our enquiry. 
 One of the many unsatisfactory features of the 
 building industry hitherto, has been the precarious 
 nature of the employers' position and investments. 
 There is no need to enlarge upon this — it is well 
 known to those engaged in the industry. Recognising 
 then that confidence on the part of employers and 
 operatives alike, is essential for efficiency, we bring 
 forward proposals to secure that end. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. 13I 
 
 In the first place it is necessary that the earnings 
 of employers should be clearly and definitely 
 separated under two headings : — 
 
 (a) Wages of Management or remuneration paid by 
 the business for personal service. 
 
 {b) Interest or the charges paid by the business for 
 the hire of capital. 
 
 Wages of management should depend on ability. 
 Interest on capital should depend on security and on 
 the market price of money. 
 
 The principle of the limitation of the rate of 
 interest on capital has already met with wide accept- 
 ance in the industrial world, for example, by 
 debentures, preference and loan stocks, as well as the 
 ordinary shares of public utility societies. But 
 limitation demands security, and security can only be 
 given in return for a measure of control. Super- 
 vision, limitation, guarantees form, therefore, the triple 
 keystone of the plan we now propose. 
 
 36. We recommend that approved capital, invested 
 in the building industry, and registered annually after 
 audit, shall receive a limited but guaranteed rate of 
 interest, bearing a definite relation to the average 
 annual yield of the most remunerative Government 
 Stock. The fixing of the ratio will have to be 
 worked out by further investigation, but we recom- 
 mend that once determined upon, the guarantee shall 
 apply to all firms in the industry, except where 
 failure to earn the aforesaid rate is declared by the 
 Committee on the advice of the auditors to be due to 
 incompetent management. 
 
132 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 37. The granting of loans for development — a 
 necessary corollary of the scheme — will be dealt with 
 in connection with the surplus earnings of the 
 industry, which forms the subject of a later paragraph. 
 
 Accountancy and Audit. 
 
 38. The regular employment of qualified accountants 
 for the service of the building industry is not only 
 essential for the working of this scheme, but will add 
 greatly to the efficiency of every firm engaged 
 therein. Moreover, as we shall show in a later 
 section, our Sub-Committee on Production came 
 independently to the conclusion that some such 
 system of periodical accounting was absolutely 
 necessary in order to place the conduct of the whole 
 industry upon a more scientific and efficient basis. 
 
 39. And, just as the professional quantity surveyor 
 is becoming recognised as the qualified assessor as 
 between the builder and the building owner, so the 
 professional accountant will become the recognised 
 assessor as between the builder, the whole body of 
 producers and the larger community of which they 
 form a part. 
 
 The Surplus Earnings of the Industry. 
 
 40. While it may be urged that the measures so far 
 projected do not take any direct cognisance of the 
 public interest, we believe that a solution of this 
 problem may be found in the control of the surplus. 
 We therefore recommend :— 
 
 (a) That the amount of the surplus earnings of the 
 industry shall be publicly declared every year 
 
INTERIM REPORT. 133 
 
 and accompanied by a schedule of the services 
 to which the money has been voted. 
 (b) That it shall be held in trust by a National 
 Joint Committee of the Building Trades 
 Industrial Council, and shall be applied to the 
 following common services, which will be 
 developed under the control of the industry 
 as a whole. 
 
 (i) Guarantee of interest on approved capital as 
 
 outlined in par. 36. 
 (2) Loans to firms in the industry for purposes 
 
 of development. 
 {3) Education and research in various directions 
 
 for improvement of the industry, both 
 
 independently and in co-operation with 
 
 other industries. 
 
 (4) Superannuation schemes for the whole regis- 
 
 tered personnel of the industry. 
 
 (5) Replacement of approved capital lost through 
 
 no fault of the management. 
 
 (6) Such other purposes as may be thought 
 
 desirable. 
 
 41. We believe that this safeguard of complete 
 publicity will not only be very effective in creating 
 public confidence in the organised service of the 
 building industry, but will also pave the way to the 
 scientific adjustment of prices, by providing the 
 requisite information for the use of the Building 
 Trades Industrial Council. Every rise in prices 
 disturbs public confidence, restricts demand, and thus 
 depletes both the unemployment and guarantee 
 funds and reduces the surplus ; while every fall in 
 
134 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 prices increases public confidence, stimulates demand, 
 and relieves both the unemployment and guarantee 
 funds. 
 
 And, while we hold that the creation of these 
 common services, financed by the surplus earnings of 
 the industry, is necessary for the development of the 
 " team spirit " throughout its personnel, we are con- 
 vinced that the public will not only recognise their 
 value, but will reap a distinct benefit from an im- 
 proved product. Industries are so intimately inter- 
 dependent that any increasing well being in one must 
 ultimately lead to the benefit of the others and to the 
 consumer in particular. 
 
 Conditions of Entry into the Industry. 
 
 42. It is obvious that the important improvements 
 we have outlined, will tend to make service in the 
 industry more attractive, and while the interests of 
 this public service emphatically demand the enrol- 
 ment of every member who can be trained and 
 utilised in the building industry, we fully recognise 
 that indiscriminate enrolment must be prevented by 
 careful regulation. 
 
 43. We therefore recommend that the development 
 of the industry should be kept under constant review 
 by the Employment Committees, and that these 
 committees should periodically notify the trade 
 unions as to the number of new members that may 
 apply for registration under the employment scheme, 
 after a suitable trade test or evidence of previous 
 service in the industry. 
 
 44. In anticipation of such periodical notifications 
 we further recommend that the trade unions should 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I35 
 
 establish waiting lists and that the periods of waiting 
 should be utilised for technical training, approved by 
 the Building Trades' Parliament. 
 
 45. Similarly the entry of new employers into the 
 industry will require careful regulation by the Em- 
 ployment Committees, in order to ensure that a high 
 standard of efficiency is established and maintained 
 in this connection. We recommend that no loans 
 should be made from the Development Funds 
 (suggested in paragraph 40) to new firms conducted 
 by private enterprise. New private enterprise should 
 always provide its own initial capital. 
 
 Scientific Management. 
 
 46. Our recommendations, so far, have dealt mainly 
 with the development of the " team spirit " in in- 
 dustry — that subtle change in the industrial atmo- 
 sphere that will engender throughout the whole 
 personnel of the building industry the confidence, 
 enthusiasm and sense of common purpose, that are 
 the necessary conditions precedent to the full develop- 
 ment and operation of really scientific methods, on 
 what might be termed the material side of the 
 industry. To the consideration of this we now 
 proceed, 
 
 Costing. 
 
 47. An accurate system of costing is the only found- 
 ation upon which the whole structure of scientific 
 management can be safely erected. Without efficient 
 costing no estimator can frame quotations with the 
 reasonable certainty that he is not heading straight 
 for disaster. We believe that it should be possible for 
 
136 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 the industry to adopt some simpliified scheme for the 
 use of builders who, at present, do not undertake any 
 proper costing. It was generally agreed that many 
 builders, especially those managing small businesses 
 with a very limited capital, rely almost entirely on 
 rule of thumb methods, with the result that their 
 estimating is blind, faulty, and quite unscientific. In 
 many cases no proper books are kept. Such methods 
 are a danger and discredit to the industry. More- 
 over, this constitutes a great draw-back from the 
 point of view of organisation and efficiency. 
 
 48. It is not proposed in this Interim Report to 
 give a detailed analysis of the whole of the evidence 
 collected from witnesses, but to summarise all that 
 seems germane. 
 
 Evidence was taken from Mr. Malcolm Sparkes, 
 formerly of the firm of Messrs. H. G. Cleaver, 
 Limited, regarding labour costing by diagram. Mr. 
 Danels, of the firm of Messrs. Higgs and Hill, 
 Limited, gave evidence regarding costing methods 
 which enable his firm to ascertain the costs of the 
 various factors concerned when determining con- 
 tracts on a large scale. Mr. Chessum and Mr. 
 Whittall, members of the Committee, also submitted 
 evidence regarding methods of costing adopted in 
 their firms. Papers were read by Mr. C. F. Chance, 
 of H.M. Factory at Oldbury, and Mr. H. Vale of the 
 Quantity Surveyors' Institute, with regard to a bonus 
 scheme, based on constants of labour. Every one of 
 these witnesses strongly emphasised the value of 
 accurate costing, especially at the present time. 
 Fluctuations in wages and the cost of material make 
 this an absolute essential of any modern business. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I37 
 
 Moreover, a standard minimum system, adopted by 
 the whole industry, will preserve it from the errors of 
 those builders who are prone to accept contracts at 
 less than cost price owing to their negligence in 
 estimating or keeping proper costs. 
 
 Essentials of a Minimum System. 
 
 49. As a result of considering the evidence, it became 
 clear that some simple but generally applicable scheme 
 of costing and accountancy is not only essential, but 
 possible. And if such a system be made part of the 
 conditions of approval suggested in par. 36, we 
 believe that it would be universally adopted. 
 
 Jo. We therefore recommend that the Building 
 Trades Council should promote such a scheme or 
 schemes which will fulfil the following conditions : — 
 
 («) Simplicity — i.e., not too unwieldy or detailed to 
 
 be available and useful for prompt results. 
 {b') Elasticity. 
 ic) Accuracy. 
 
 (We would here point out that the investigations 
 and recommendations of the Sub-Committee on Dis- 
 tribution, make it essential that the industry should 
 endeavour to place such a scheme upon' a proper 
 footing, for, without proper accountancy, their recom- 
 mendations would be of no avail.) 
 
 51. Further, we recognise that any such system 
 would involve routine, but the experience of those 
 who have given evidence, testifies to the value of 
 such routine, and to the small additional outlay in 
 skilled staff which it involves. Moreover, any such 
 outlay more than repays itself by increased efficiency. 
 
138 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 52. Such a scheme should also provide some 
 method of determining with speed and safe approxi- 
 mation and at any stage : — 
 
 {a) The proportion of the cost of the various items 
 of labour to the total cost at any stage. 
 
 {b) The proportion of establishment charges to 
 total costs. 
 
 (c) The proportion of the other factors involved. 
 
 {d) Departmental costs. 
 
 53. We were aware, however, that the improve- 
 ment in managerial or office routine was of itself not 
 sufficient. We therefore invited criticism, by opera- 
 tives engaged in the various crafts, of existing 
 works organisation. Here we found a remarkable 
 unanimity of view that whatever mechanical re- 
 adjustments are adopted the greatest increase of 
 production will come from mutual esteem between 
 management (in the wider sense including foremen) 
 and operatives. 
 
 54. The bulk of the evidence led us to the follow- 
 ing additional recommendations : — 
 
 («) That there should be more inducement to the 
 most talented operatives to increase their 
 efficiency, and to undertake positions of 
 greater responsibility. 
 
 {b) That every care should be taken, especially in 
 sub-contracting work, to provide a sufficiency 
 of plant. 
 
 {c) That production can be considerably increased 
 by organising the position of scaffolding and 
 the disposition of material, in order to 
 arrange a continuity of employment for the 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I39 
 
 ultimate handler of the material. It is better 
 for the material to wait for the men than the 
 men for the material. 
 
 {d) Workshops should be specially built or adapted 
 for the purpose in view, and should contain 
 the best devices for ensuring the easiest 
 possible manipulation of material. (Very 
 strong criticism was directed against many 
 of the existing workshops, which were con- 
 sidered quite unfit for the nature of the work 
 to be carried out in them.) It is clear 
 that a detailed study of processes and a 
 variety of experiments would afford in many 
 cases considerable increases in output. 
 
 {e) A better output will be obtained if the personal 
 comfort of the operatives is provided for by 
 canteens, sanitary arrangements, &c., whether 
 at the works or on jobs. Where such ac- 
 commodation is provided the operatives 
 should make fuller use of such facilities. 
 
 Works Committees. 
 
 55. We realise that no uniform arrangements or 
 recommendations beyond a minimum can be made, 
 as local conditions vary so considerably, nor can we 
 presume to advise the individual employer how to 
 organise any particular operation. But we realise 
 very strongly the value of useful suggestions by the 
 operatives. We therefore recommend that this can 
 be best utilised by the establishment of Works 
 Committees upon which management and labour 
 may interchange their specialist knowledge and 
 discuss questions of mutual interest. Other benefits 
 
140 INTERIM REPORT. 
 
 would undoubtedly accrue. The value of joint 
 organisation would be brought more nearly home to 
 the whole of the employers and operatives alike, and 
 thus the work of the Building Trades Industrial 
 Council would be more keenly and nearly appreciated 
 in all localities and workshops. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 In summing up the conclusions that we have 
 reached, we would again lay special emphasis upon 
 the keynote of our work ; the development of the 
 " team spirit " in industry which we believe to be the 
 only real solution of the whole problem of pro- 
 duction. 
 
 This analogy of the athletic team conveys our 
 meaning more accurately than any other form of 
 words we can devise — implying as it does, a funda- 
 mental basis of loyalty, enthusiasm and efficiency for 
 a common aim. 
 
 It sounds across the whole industrial arena the 
 trumpet call of a new idea — the conception of our 
 industry as a great self-governing democracy of 
 organised public service. 
 
 We have endeavoured, we hope successfully, to 
 outline the true foundation for such a consummation, 
 namely : — 
 
 Freedom and security for initiative and enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Complete removal of the fear of unemployment. 
 
 Salaries to management commensurate with 
 ability. 
 
 Hire of capital at the market rate of good 
 securities. 
 
INTERIM REPORT. I41 
 
 Provision of common services controlled by the 
 whole industry, and financed from its surplus 
 earnings. 
 
 We have not hesitated to make great demands, 
 for the emergency and the opportunity arc also great, 
 and this is no time for dalliance. 
 
 We believe that the spectacle of organised manage- 
 ment and labour, uniting their constructive energies 
 upon a bold scheme of reorganisation and advance 
 will transform the whole atmosphere of our industrial 
 life, and that the force of a great example is the 
 only thing that will lead the way to the common- 
 wealth that all men of goodwill desire. 
 
 We have the honour to be. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servants, 
 
 THOS. FOSTER, Chairman. 
 
 W. CROSS, Vice-Chairman. 
 
 J. ARMOUR. 
 
 J. P. COX. 
 
 THOS. GRAHAM. 
 
 T. GREGORY. 
 
 R. JONES. 
 
 MALCOLM SPARKES. 
 
 H. J. WALKER. 
 
 W. WILLIAMS. 
 
 R. WILSON. 
 
 Messrs. Chessum, Holloway, Smethurst, 
 Turner and Whittall, while agreeing with some 
 of the proposals contained in the Report, do not see 
 their way to sign it without important reservations. 
 
142 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 IX.— THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 FOSTER REPORT ON ORGAN- 
 ISED PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE 
 BUILDING INDUSTRY. 
 
 {a) By the Building Trades' Parliament. 
 
 The sixth quarterly meeting of the Building 
 Trades' Parliament was held at the Institute 
 at Hampstead Garden Suburb, on the 14th 
 and 15th of August, 1919, and was attended 
 by nearly all the members. 
 
 The debate on the Foster Report took 
 place on the first day, and marks the begin- 
 ning — and only the beginning — ^^of one of 
 the greatest discussions in industrial history. 
 For it opens the serious investigation — by 
 the members of the industry itself — of the 
 greatest problem of our time, the problem 
 of industrial control. The Foster Report on 
 the Building Industry, and the Sankey Report 
 on the Coal Industry have been ranked 
 together as the " two boldest and most 
 far-sighted attempts which have been made 
 to reorganise industry since it became plain 
 that drastic reorganisation was inevitable." 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. I43 
 
 It is therefore interesting to contrast the 
 methods under which they were produced. 
 The Coal Commission was a semi-judicial 
 enquiry, set up by the State at a time of 
 grave industrial crisis, and it did its work 
 with the rival associations of mine owners 
 and miners drawn up in battle array. The 
 " Management and Costs " Committee set 
 up by the Building Trades' Parliament, on 
 the other hand, was a committee of employers 
 and operatives set up by the industry itself 
 in order that it might be enabled " to render 
 the most efficient service possible." And, 
 like every committee of the Building Trades' 
 Parliament, it resolved itself into a single 
 group of men, all eager to do their share in 
 building the new industrial order, and all 
 anxious to get the programme right. It is 
 true that the report was not unanimous, 
 and that five of the employers did not see 
 their way to sign it, but it is equally true 
 to say that the document is indebted, in 
 many places, to the helpful suggestions of 
 the minority, who were unable at the finish 
 to go the whole way. The cleavage should be 
 clearly understood, for it is not between 
 employers and operatives as such, but be- 
 tween two rival conceptions of the motive of 
 industry — both held with perfect sincerity — 
 
144 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 the incentive of gain, and the incentive of 
 service. 
 
 The adoption of the Report was moved 
 by Mr. Thos. Foster, of the North-Westem 
 Association of Building Trades' Employers. 
 After pointing out that the problem submitted 
 to the Committee was the greatest problem 
 with which industry as a whole was faced, 
 he referred to the constitution of the BuUding 
 Trades' Parliament, with its definite call for 
 a new and better industrial order, based on 
 mutual confidence, real justice, constructive 
 goodwill. The urgency of the situation 
 demanded the presentation of new ideas 
 and new motives to all concerned. The 
 Committee, therefore, presented an Interim 
 Report, the principles of which, if approved, 
 could be referred back for development. 
 Capitalist organisation and control tended 
 to eliminate goodwill and without goodwill 
 the most efficient administration would not 
 give results. Much could be done by giving 
 the operative the sense of security that was 
 conferred by the unemplo3n:nent pay, without 
 which security the best work was impossible. 
 But this was iiot enough. Workmen were 
 reaUsing that inside a system of mere wages 
 they became, relatively, no better off, but 
 moved in a vicious circle of higher prices. 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. 145 
 
 higher wages, still higher prices. They be- 
 came suspicious when they saw evidence on 
 every hand of great profits being made. If 
 labour was to have any appreciable improve- 
 ment in the standard of living the relative 
 share of the product now falling to the owner 
 of capital must be curtailed. He repudiated 
 the suggestion that employers would only 
 do their best work in the hope of gain. The 
 operatives had set their faces against pay- 
 ment by results and no employer would 
 accept the implication that he was on a lower 
 moral plane than they. The newer and 
 finer incentive was that of leadership and 
 creative service. If the Report was adopted, 
 the workmen would have no reason for . 
 withholding their best service and great 
 incentives to give of their best. He appealed 
 to employers. They demanded a high 
 standard of conduct from the workman. 
 The Committee agreed that it could be got — 
 at a price. A big thing was asked, and the 
 price might seem big, but efficiency in service 
 and the claims of humanity required that it 
 should be paid. He appealed to operatives. 
 It was being said that workers were " slow 
 to introduce new processes, new inventions, 
 new machinery," and were unfitted to take 
 " a share in the commercial management of 
 
146 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 businesses employing them." It was for 
 labour to rise to the occasion that the 
 report provided. Service was the whole 
 spirit of the Christian ethic, and was also 
 proved to be the only sound economy. 
 
 Mr. W. Cross, of the Amalgamated Slaters' 
 Society of Scotland, seconded. He appealed 
 for constructive criticism, and was anxious 
 to secure a real measure of goodwill in 
 industry. Men were urging that the promises 
 of better conditions that had been made so 
 often during the war should now be met. 
 
 Mr. S. Smethurst moved the following 
 amendment : — 
 
 " That the Council receive the report, but, before 
 taking any action thereon, requests the Committee, 
 augmented, to go into and report on : — 
 
 (i) The question of the effect upon production 
 the proposals will have if carried into effect — 
 
 " (a) By the withdrawal from industry of a large 
 non-productive staff such as wiU be required 
 to work such a huge organisation. 
 
 " (6) By what is essentially a bureaucratic treat- 
 ment of the building trade, having regard 
 to the complicated nature of the industry. 
 
 " (c) By the destruction of initiative and responsi- 
 bility for results, by the removal of incentive 
 by way of gain for well-doing, which would 
 seem to be the natural result of applpng 
 the principle of the report. 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. 147 
 
 " (2) To enquire whether all classes of the 
 community will not be benefited and best served 
 by maintaining our present competitive system of 
 carrying on enterprise and industry unhampered 
 by a paralysing control. And if it is also not 
 true to say it would produce the best results for 
 the nation with the least waste of labour and 
 effort. 
 
 " (3) To enquire if it is not the fact that the 
 best interests (as far as material things are con- 
 cerned) of all classes in the community will be 
 best secured by everybody producing to their 
 utmost capacity, consistently with not suffering 
 physical harm ; and, conversely, if it is not a 
 fallacy to assume that the real interest of any 
 large class can be served by limiting production ; 
 and further to enquire whether any large class 
 has not had a fair share of the produce of their 
 industry, arid if so, to report on the best means 
 of providing a more equitable way of remed3ang 
 such unfairness. 
 
 " (4) To enquire how far a limitation of output, 
 by creating scarcity, is responsible for the present 
 high prices of the commodities in common use 
 and whether such high prices, although being of 
 no advantage to the worker, may not put in 
 jeopardy our overseas trade, upon which the very 
 life of the nation depends." 
 
 Mr. Foster's Committee had no monopoly 
 of the desire to better industrial conditions, 
 but he was convinced the only way was to 
 retain our present method of carrying on 
 
 K 2 
 
148 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 industry, which allowed the fullest play of 
 initiative and enterprise, and kept alive the 
 personal responsibility of the individual for 
 success or failure. That in his judgment was 
 the only stimulus that would succeed in pro- 
 ducing plenty for all. But they must see that 
 what they produced was properly distributed. 
 
 Mr. R. B. Chessum seconded the amend- 
 ment, but paid a tribute to the able report 
 of the Committee, and regretted he had been 
 unable to attend all the meetings. He desired 
 much fuller consideration of the whole matter. 
 
 Mr. T. Graham, of the Scottish National 
 Federation of Building Trades' Employers, 
 supported the report. The motive of material 
 gain had led us into the morass of the present 
 time. Mr. Smethurst knew that " love of 
 money was the root of all evil," and yet he 
 would make it the mainspring of effort. Had 
 he forgotten that it was " more easy for a 
 cainel to go through the needle's eye than for 
 a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God ? " 
 Gain was not the real incentive to effort. 
 There was another and greater incentive, 
 and that was service. 
 
 What was it took the young men of this 
 country by their thousands to France ? The 
 incentive was not gain — it was service. Yet 
 when a further great national effort was 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. I49 
 
 required — and one involving no risk to life 
 or limb — we were asked to appeal to man's 
 lower nature and not to his higher. 
 
 " Love of gain says to the strong man 
 ' Take,' and compels the weak man to the 
 wall. It leaves us in the same old slough 
 of profiteering and cheating, of cunning and 
 lying with all their accompaniments of pov- 
 erty, disease and death. . . . 
 
 " The times are critical, the road we are 
 on leads to ruin. . . . But looking along 
 the road the report invites us to enter, I can 
 see a new Britain, liberated, free from oppres- 
 sion, misery and crime, a Britain greater, 
 grander, more glorious than ever before, 
 leading the nations in the new era of civilisa- 
 tion. Let us enter that road." 
 
 Mr. W. Bradshaw, of the National Federa- 
 tion of Building Trades' Operatives, acknow- 
 ledged the work of the Committee. The new 
 change that had been foretold was now 
 developing before their eyes, the cleavage 
 between those who wanted to go forward 
 boldly and those who did not. The present 
 system of industry was wasteful and ineffi- 
 cient. The discussion commenced that day 
 would ultimately revolutionise industry, not 
 only in the building trade, but in the whole 
 industrial life of the nation. 
 
150 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 After a little further discussion, the amend- 
 ment was put to the vote and defeated by 
 overwhelming majority. 
 
 The following amendment was then 
 proposed by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. 
 Chessum, and carried without dissent. 
 
 " That the Council receive the report and ask the 
 Committee to further examine the possible effects 
 of the application of the principles it sets forth, in 
 the light of the criticisms which the present dis- 
 cussion has evoked." 
 
 {b) Reception by the Press. 
 
 Daily Telegraph. — " An elaborate interim report 
 . . . . whose recommendations, if adopted, 
 would amount to a complete revolution in the 
 organisation of the building industry." 
 
 Daily Mail. — " The Team Spirit and Fixed 
 Profits. — Some admirably honest things were said, 
 and said in the best of temper, about both employers 
 and employed at . . . the Building Trades 
 Parliament yesterday ... A Committee of 
 sixteen, has brought out an interim report reviewing 
 ' the whole structure of the building trade.' It 
 was hotly debated in the ' Parliament,' and deserves 
 every attention from all concerned, for it is a most 
 extraordinary document, very imaginative, very 
 thoughtfid and varying amazingly between practical 
 proposals and abstract dreams. It is honest, 
 original and most suggestive." 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. 151 
 
 Manchester Guardian (by Mr. R. H. Tawney). — 
 " The report entitled ' Organised Public Service in 
 the Building Industry,' which has been prepared 
 by the Committee of the Industrial Council of the 
 Building Trade, is one of the most important 
 documents on industrial reconstruction which has 
 appeared during the last five years. ... It 
 should not need any prolonged argument to 
 convince an impartial student that no man wiU 
 work harder if one result of his exertion is to give 
 increased wealth to men who do not render any 
 obvious service in return for it. Nor will any 
 system produce efficient work unless it offers power 
 and responsibility to those upon whose active co- 
 operation efficiency in the long run depends. The 
 problem of industrial reorganisation is, in short, 
 moral, not purely economic, and it is because they 
 appreciate that it is a moral problem that the report 
 of the employers and workmen in the building 
 industry deserves the most careful consideration. 
 
 . . . It will be seen that it involves a drastic 
 breach with the industrial traditions of the last 
 century. It involves the limitation of interest, the 
 conversion of the employer from a profit-maker 
 into a manager remunerated by a fixed salary, 
 publicity as to costs and profits, the maintenance 
 of the workers during times of unemployment, the 
 responsibility of the whole industry for the standards 
 obtaining among the firms composing it, and an 
 effective share by the workmen in responsibility for 
 its conduct. Such a scheme is not equally applic- 
 able in all its parts to all trades. It is practicable 
 in building because in building the management of 
 industry and the ownership of capital are still 
 
152 THE RECEPTION OF THE 
 
 usually in the same hands. Where, as in the highly 
 capitalised industry, ownership has been attenuated 
 to a pecuniary lien upon the product of industry, 
 private ownership cannot so easily be reformed, for 
 the mere capitalist unlike the employer in the 
 building trade, is already almost functionless. But 
 even such industries may learn much from the 
 report, in particular the necessity for complete 
 publicity, for limitation of profits, and for the 
 maintenance of workers during a period of un- 
 employment." 
 
 Daily Herald (by Mr. G. D. H. Cole).— " The 
 Industrial Council for the Building Industry, better 
 known as the Building Trades' ParUament, is in 
 some respects a considerably different body from 
 other Whitley Councils. It was set up quite apart 
 from the Whitley scheme, and very much bigger 
 ideas went to its making, especially the idea of 
 organised pubUc service. . . . It is difficult as 
 yet to judge this body by its works ; but I have 
 before me the first important fruit of its labours — 
 the majority report of a committee set up to deal 
 with Scientific Management and Reduction of Costs. 
 This report is certainly the most remarkable ever 
 issued by an official representative joint body of 
 employers and trade unionists. . . . What 
 would the scheme achieve ? It would eliminate 
 altogether speculative profit — what is ordinarily 
 called in these days ' profiteering.' It would leave 
 intact interest on actual capital ; but it would 
 transform the employer into a salaried manager 
 working under the orders of the industry as a whole. 
 It would guarantee the workers against unemploy- 
 ment, and ensure them, through their trade unions, 
 
FOSTER REPORT, ETC. 153 
 
 a real share in the control of the industry. This 
 is by no means all that Guild Socialists or any other 
 real Sociahsts are out to achieve ; but it would 
 certainly be a very great improvement on the present 
 position, and the Committee of the Building Trades' 
 Parliament which has put it forward can certainly 
 claim every credit for doing so." 
 
 Labour Leader (by Mr. Fenner Brockway). " I 
 write with reserve about this report, but I must 
 confess that the scheme it outlines, if it could be 
 generally accepted and applied does seem to me to 
 contain a real hope that we may pass from capitalism 
 to socialism without upheaval and conflict. I 
 state this despite the fact that I approached its 
 consideration very much prejudiced against schemes 
 of such a kind. . . . 
 
HARRISON AND SONS 
 
 PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY 
 
 ST. martin's LANE, LONDON, W.C.2 
 

 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . ■ • — rt ' 
 
 09 
 
 QB 
 
 te^;-;iBfc= 
 
 #^e^=^ 
 
 Srn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTEDIN U-5 A. 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 HD9715.G5G24 
 
 The industrial council for the buildini 
 
 3 1924 002 282 063 
 
1115