242 
POLITICAL ECONOMY 
adopted recently to meet an exceptional 
case. Successes are achieved by preventing 
temper and misunderstanding from causing 
a premature breach in negotiations—by 
holding together in dispassionate discussion 
the representatives of the parties to disputes, 
who, with their knowledge of the trade, 
may be regarded as capable of expressing 
the considerations by a due balancing of 
which the right wage is reached—and, more 
over, by making, out of a large experience, 
helpful suggestions. Where their organisation 
is far advanced it has become usual for opera 
tives and employers to enter into a compact 
to allow neither strike nor lock-out until a 
joint meeting has been held. It might 
conduce incalculably to industrial peace if 
to these compacts a clause were commonly 
added that, on the failure of the joint meeting 
to reach agreement, strikes or lock-outs should 
be still further deferred until reference had 
been made to the Board of Trade ; and if, 
moreover, unorganised labour and weakly 
organised labour and employers who are not 
at present direct or indirect parties to such 
compacts could be induced to fall in with the 
proposal. Prompt action would, of course, 
be essential. Canada has legislated to further 
such a reference to the State. In other