Our Industrial Problems 
Introduction. 
From all over the Commonwealth tnere was.a ready response to the invita- 
tion -of “¥le West Austreltan” to, -essayists to discuss “Our Industrial Prob- 
lems.” Prizes of £50, £10 and. £5 were offered for the three best essays on 
the subject. But the allotting of prizes was merely incidental to .the main 
purpose. of the ‘competition; which was to stimulate constructive thought m 
regard’ to the most pressing of Australia’s. industrial problems—that of the 
strained relations existing between employer and .emiployed.. In. this purpose 
it may be sald to have succeeded. . Tt is not a small thing that over 600 per- 
sons, representing every tate in. the Comr™ wealth should have thought it 
worth their while to coniribute to such a symposium. There is evidence, too, 
that the compelling. motive In scores of cases was not the hope of winning a 
prize, but a genulne desire to contribute sofaething useful to the discussion of 
a grave problem which leaves no member of the community unaffected. That 
600 persons should have been actual contributors is not all, for it may be ac- 
cepted that many times that number were set to thinking earnestly and dis- 
passionately on-a subject which, toe-frequently, is discussed in terms of passion 
and preiudice. 
“The a.iging impression left by a perusal of the essays submitted is of their 
unanimity—and of their wide diversity. There. was unanimity for the view tha’ 
from industrial conflict no party emerges winner, and that the community al- 
ways loses. The diversity lay in the means suggested for substituting concord 
for conflict. No thoughtful person—with a mind receptive to new impressions 
—can read the fifteen published essays without a deepened appreciation of the 
conxplexity of the whole problem. The essays for publication. were deliberately 
selected with the object of presenting as many different points of view as pos- 
sible. They were not, necessarily, the best fourteen, but each was adjudged to 
be the best of its particular class. The solutions ranged from extreme Soclal- 
Ism to equally extreme individualism. The majority of writers, however, con 
tented themselves with less heroic remedies,. though In these there was infinite 
variety. It the immediate result should be to produce confusion of thought in the 
student. to bring bewllderment rather than enligl tenment, that also is not to he 
deplored, for convictions too easily formed. with too little mental travail. are 
rarely to be irusted. 
The heartening lesson to be learned from a study of the essays received. 
is that the will to industrial peace exists among the thoughtful in all sections 
of the community. From the ‘working of this leaven there is much to. hope. 
Without the cultivation of. the. right spirit, mere mechanical change is little 
likely to bring relief from industrial troubles. Happily there are not lacking 
signs that Influential leaders in all ranks of industry are becoming disposed to 
think in terms of peace rather than in terms of war. A significant development 
is the acceptance hy the Australian Council of Trade Unions of’ the invitation 
from the Associated Chambers of Manufactures to attend a conference for ‘the 
discussion of peace in Industry. That discussion will advance or retard the cause 
of peace according to the spirit in which it is conducted. “What is needed 
above everything” (wrote Mr. G. N. Barnes in discussing “The Madness of Indus- 
trial Warfare”) “is that employers and employed should take large views based 
on citizenship. It is true that they have Interests which conflict, but they have 
also interests which harmonise. The hope of industry lies in building on the lat- 
ter.” It is in that spirit that the overwhelming majority of our essayists have 
soight the solution of “Australia’s Industrial Problems.” 
“The West Australian” Office, 
Julv 27-1998