Our Industrial Problems. 
under medica} supervision; every week 
they are, weighed, and if it is considered 
that their work is unsuitable for their je- 
velopment there department is changed, 
Up to the age of (I think) eighteen, for 
8 certain period each day, and during 
hours for which they are paid, their or. 
dinary education is proceeded with under 
fully “qualified teachers. I remember see. 
ing one class of girls who had been doing 
their lessons out of doors in the playing 
felds; they were just starting a twenty 
minutes spell at “rounders” under a 
“gym” mistress, before going back to their 
work-in the factory, The management be. 
Lieves that the better educated and the 
more healthy their young employees are, 
the more efficient will thev be in the fac. 
tory. 
Inside the building there are twenty 
free dressing stations for casualties, each 
under a trained nurse, There are gymna- 
siums, recreation rooms, club rooms, dining 
and tea rooms, and a fine theatre, The 
employees have their own dramatic go- 
ciety, orchestra, jazz band, and a whele 
heap of other interests, 
Eack department has ity own committee 
for the well-being of that department, and 
woe  betide the small delinquent whe 
somes before the boys’ committee for be- 
haviour prejudicial fo the well-being and 
good order of his department. 
Outside are large playing fields where 
men and women, boys and girls, have 
their lawn tennis, cricket, football, and 
hockey clubs, as well a3 a minature rifle 
range. Lastly they have a fully equipped 
convalescent home at the seaside for any 
of the employees who fal] ill. 
Right through the whole scheme lies 
the principle that congenial environment 
cleanliness of surroundings, and healthy 
bodies and minds, spell greater efficiency, 
greater productivity, and, consequently, 
greater returns. The management told us 
that, although the clubs and other acti. 
vities were seli-supporting, the firm spends 
some £5,000 a year on this welfare work, 
but that it was repaid to them many times 
over by the increased efficiency of their 
employees, and on account of the entire 
absence of any kind of friction within the 
factory. } 
In Australia, the Factory Act, and other 
Industrial Acts for the good of the em- 
ployee are earried out, and that, I gather, 
is considered quite sufficient, but this ig 
not so. No legislation can alter the men- 
tal feeling of ome man towards another; 
the mere fact that it is compulsory will 
prevent that. It needs free and spontane- 
ous action, coming in the first instance 
from the employer, and T venture to sng- 
gest that here is a great fiold where the 
Rotary Clubs of this conntry wonld have 
ample scope for the fulfilment of their 
slogan “Service not Self.” 
.The Fruits of Industry. 
I do not suggest that welfare work ig 
zomg to change our mentality all in ga 
17 
minute; it wil take a considerable time, 
and even then there will be some dis 
contented people, It is not un- 
til the majority have had their 
minds influenced in the right direction that 
the next practical step ean be taken. go 
that all who take part in the building 
and maintenance of industry shall share 
in its fruits. 
The principal objection to all profit- 
sharing schemes has been that whereas one 
individual firm of a particular trade may, 
by good management or yp-to-date me. 
thods, he exceedingly productive and pros- 
berous, another firm in the same trade 
may, by bad management or other dis- 
ability, be making Title OF no profit at 
all, with the result that there immediate. 
ly springs up an inequality of conditions 
between two sets of employees—one draw. 
ing a good bonus for work done, and the 
sther nothing beyond the ordinary weelk- 
ly wage. 
This difficulty can, I think, be readily 
overcome if the employee's share of pro- 
its were paid into one central fund for 
the trade in question, and divided out to 
cach individual by some proper authority 
according to wages earned, but irrespecs 
tive of what firm the individual worked 
for. It is already compulsory for the 
amployer to keep a register of all em- 
ployees, showing the hours worked and 
the wages paid fo each. It would only be 
becessary, then, for an employer to for- 
ward a summary of the register, with ga 
certified copy of his balance sheet, at the 
end of each trading peviod—whether it 
be yearly or half-yearly—to the central 
authority, which I” would suggest should 
be a department of the Post Office, 
It is, of course, impossible to deal, here, 
with details; IT ean only sketch the out. 
line of what I believe to be an equitable 
and practical solution, 
In the first place capital must be safe- 
guarded. Interest on capital must be a 
tirst charge on profits, and, whereas labour 
runs no risk other than for work done, 
and for which the employee is paid woeelo 
ly, the provider of -the necessary capital 
risks, not only his interest, which _ ig 
equivalent to the employee's wages, bub 
also the capital itself, a reserve fons should 
be built up as a capital redemption fund 
to compensate for loss of capital in the 
avent of failure. 
Before a fifty-fifty per cent, division of 
profits is made between the employer and 
employee, a certain percentage of these 
should be placed to ordinary reserve for 
development purposes, a certain percen» 
tage to a contingency fund to provide 
against & bad year, and a certain per- 
centage carried forward for the next year, 
or half-vear’s trading. 
Each trade must be scheduled separate- 
¥ and stand on its own, and owing to 
lifferent local conditions, it might be ad- 
visable that each should be divided into 
listricts, a district comprising, say, a 
State 
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