The trade of to-morrow

Front matter

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Contents

_ CHAPTER PAGE

AUTHOR'S NOTE - - - 5

I. CONCLUSIONS - - - - 9

Chapter I. Conclusions

“Get a really new world,”—LiLoyp GEorRGE.

_ FRANKLY, the subject to which I have the temerity - _ to return is overwhelming. It is not one subject ' at all: it comprises a thousand separate subjects. _ Every point in it is full of controversy, and little _ that one can say has any hope of finding general agreement. _ Yet my mission is a very simple one. It can be expressed in a sentence. It is to plead for the i organisation of the trades of this country in such a way that the three parties interested—(1) The State, (2) the workman, (3) the capitalist—may be able together to develop them to their fullest extent. The first question which arises is this: Why bother to organise trade at all? We have done very well in the past, and why not leave things ~ alone ?

There are many reasons why improvements must 9 o be made, some of them immediate and passing, others fundamental and more important.

Among the former are such matters as :

Raising revenue ;

Repairing the wastage of war ;

Providing work for all upon demobilisation ; and Foreign competition.

But among the fundamental and more important considerations to be reckoned with are these :— :

The increasing needs of the population demand more goods, and the march of civilisation demands less work, and the two can only be secured by better — ~ arrangements.

It is one of our elementary duties to see that in © our industrial scheme there is as little waste as — possible either of material or effort.

Trade is a very large subject, far too complex — for any one mind to grasp properly. It is a subject where one can very easily become lost in detail. The problems of trade cannot be solved by a few deputations to Ministers, or even by the hundreds of committees which the Government are reported ~ to have appointed. They call for the establish-_ ment of powerful and permanent machinery, © conceived upon a big plan. Industry should be admitted to a place in the Constitution.

There are 28,678 local authorities in the United Kingdom to attend to sewers, cemeteries, street lighting, and other such details. The control of our trade is surely worth at least as much attention. In these pages my object is to help a3 Be Sy

CONCLUSIONS II

_ in promoting the organisation of our trades under the protection of the State.

In developing my argument for representative Trade Unions, Trade Associations, and Trade - Councils, I shall refer to a variety of subjects, not

_ in order to express any opinion about them or influence the discussion of them in any way, but simply, and I think this is, for the moment, more important,

_ to show that they cannot be satisfactorily handled or discussed until our trades are made articulate, are given a corporate existence and a voice, which

‘is not the case to-day.

In inviting attention, therefore, to such questions as output, foreign competition, tariffs, labour, wages, profits, exportation, economical production, or any of the numerous aspects of the trading problem, I do so, not to dogmatise upon them, but only to insist that these problems are not capable

_ of solution by politicians or newspaper writers, and to emphasise the need for the creation of the proper authorities to deal with them. The development of industry sounds simple

- enough, and is simple enough if suitable machinery is secured for the purpose. The problem is easiest in its broadest aspect: it is in the details that it becomes embarrassing. We decide to multiply by

_ ten our output of shells, and a paper plan is made in a few minutes; but in practice it requires as many hotels, offices, and hutments as would make a respectable city, and a Defence of the Realm Act, and a series of Munition Acts to boot. Presently ay aaa aetal

RIE oe we shall require to multiply our output of more peaceful commodities, and there will be no Acts to help us. What plan can we, therefore, adopt ?

What are the ways and means that ¢ are necessary ‘ to effect our object : ?

When the war is over we shall be faced with the necessity of raising to its highest point the produc- — tive capacity of the nation. That is a proposition | which nobody will deny. Every citizen, worthy of — the name, will require to feel assured that he or she © is contributing the maximum possible to the relief — and removal of the burdens which the war has put — upon us. According as we arrange ourselves well — or badly, so will the results of our individual efforts — be great or small.

General statements of this kind are easy, and if the writing of platitudes and the expression of — pious hopes could effect the salvation of the country — and the Empire, then surely every Briton must feel — perfectly happy and safe to-day. As, however, this is not the case, it becomes necessary to do something —and that is when the trouble begins. A thousand meee voices are endeavouring to explain at the same — moment. Each voice has a message, each is worthy of a hearing, but among “the tumult and the shouting ”’ all are ineffective.

In the endeavour to gain a hearing amid such a © babel, I propose to adopt an unorthodox method — of argument.

I start with my conclusions. These can be stated quite briefly and plainly, and when the reader has a CONCLUSIONS | 13

_ studied the next few paragraphs he will have _ gathered the gist of all I have to say. The rest of _ the book is mere ‘“‘ chatter,” “‘ chatter,’’ which I _ venture to hope many may find of interest, upon

- some of the thousands of issues raised by this enormous problem of trade, industry, and production. The chatter is intended to lead the reader to

think, as I do; that the subject is too complicated and the interests involved are too great for any Government to attempt to handle, and that the only thing the Government can do is to adopt a bold scheme of devolution. The control of industry must be delegated to authorities in each trade.

British trade is capable of indefinite expansion. This is impossible on 1914 lines and equally impossible on the lines that we have adopted since 1914, _ great central Government schemes run by officials. It depends upon a proper balancing of the various forces engaged, the workman, the capitalist, the State.

Throughout this book I constantly refer to three _ parties concerned with industry. The rough divi-

sion into three is convenient, although it would be more correct to subdivide further and speak of (x) the consumer, (2) the nation, (3) the workman, (4) the salesman, (5) the management, (6) the employer, (7) the capitalist. All these parties - require special classification and separate treatment in any finished scheme. | Geers

In the ordinary way some apology and explana- ~ tion would be necessary for the production of two books on the same subject within the period of a sechalelanntieal year. “ Trade as a Science,” while it covered, so — far as the details of the subject are concerned, a — different ground for the most part from this present — volume, yet contained the same arguments and had © the same purpose. But, having regard to the importance of the subject and also to certain develop- — ments which will be apparent to the reader in the — writer’s views and plans, there is perhaps sufficient excuse for this further intrusion into the debate.

Since the publication of “ Trade as a Science,” — some scores of books have appeared, and numbers © of schemes have been put forward in the effort — to help along the reconstruction through which we — are passing. It is no disparagement to any of these © to say that most of them are concerned with what

I regard as the details of the problem, and all serve © to emphasise the view here advanced, that the only way for the nation to deal with the matter is to adopt some great scheme of decentralisation and set up in this way adequate machinery to undertake so enormous a task.

The following is, therefore, in bare rough outline the machinery which the present writer suggests — as necessary.

(1) A Minister of Commerce and Industry. A Minister of Commerce should be appointed for the purpose of fostering and facilitating the selfadvancement of British Trade.

To ask for another Minister at a moment when we

CONCLUSIONS 15 are so overburdened with this type of functionary ‘Tequires a very strong case, but that case is self- _ evident when it is remembered that in the whole crowd of statesmen who now look after our welfare _ there is not one who accepts any real responsibility for such matters as output, export, economical production, science in industry, or education as applied to trade.

The duties of the Minister of Commerce would be _ chiefly concerned with the setting up of Trade Councils within the different industries, and the regulation and assistance of these bodies when created.

(2) Trade Councils.

There should be created in connection with every industry a Trade Council to which the Government would delegate every question connected with that industry.

These Councils would relieve the Government of all details, in the same way that the County Councils undertake the detail work connected with their localities. They would be statutory bodies having a similar status to the County Councils. Powers should be conferred upon them from time to time by Act of Parliament or Orders in Council, placing in their hands necessary work as it arises, in exactly the same way that powers are now conferred upon local authorities as new needs come to light.

These Trade Councils should consist of elected representatives of the Trade Associations and the

Trade Unions, one-third of the members being drawn from each source, as explained below. The — remaining third would be composed of the official — element, representatives of Government depart-— ments, men of science, and nominees of other — bodies having an interest in the trade.

(3) An Industrial pane hice.

The one weak spot apparent in all attempts to deal with trading matters is the absence of repre- © sentative responsibility. This point will be argued — later. It can be overcome by an extension of — the franchise to cover trading interests. Every citizen now has the Parliamentary vote and the municipal vote, and he should be given in addition a — trading or industrial vote. This vote would be available for use in connection with a Trade Union © or a Trade Association. Thus each man and woman ~ would have a direct voice in the three great branches — of national administration: (a) Imperial Govern-— ment, (b) Local Government, (c) Industrial Govern- — ment.

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(4) The Trade Union.

The introduction of a new electoral principle as explained above would give to every working man — the right to be a voting member of some Trade Union, and the principle of compulsory membership of a union, over which labour has fought so strenuously in recent years, would thus receive a measure of acknowledgment. The unions themselves would

CONCLUSIONS 17 secure a semi-official status which need not in the least degree interfere with their independence. The Trade Union of an individual industry thus established upon a comprehensive and thoroughly representative basis, would elect periodically its share of the members of that industry’s Trade Council.

(5) The Trade Association.

In exactly the same way as with the Trade Union, the Trade Association would receive a measure of State recognition, and every employer in a particular industry would have the right of membership or a right to vote in connection with the affairs of the association. This need not necessarily mean full membership of the association. The Trade Associa- ‘tion could continue as at present to undertake special work which interested full subscribing members, _but it would assume a larger responsibility towards the whole industry. The full body of electors in that industry would have the right to vote in the affairs of the association so far as they concerned public functions put upon that association. These associations would then elect their proportion of the members of the Trade Councils. _ The creation of machinery on some such lines as these would provide the State for the first time with a means of ascertaining the views of the industry. It would also provide industry for the first time with a means of making its voice heard. It would remove from the sphere of politics dozens of questions which are domestic trade questions and not matters for

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Imperial Parliament. It would enable the State, through its Minister of Commerce, to take an active interest in and a proper responsibility for the © development of each industry. It would, in my judgment, give an impetus and a strength to trade and industry which is all that is necessary to enable fia pm Bes eg it to meet the unprecedented burdens put upon the © country by the war, and which must be met in the long run by the trading community.

This book is not a treatise on economics. The — only argument init is an argument for the admission — of industry to a place in the Constitution and its organisation upon a representative basis. It comes into the class of propagandist literature and expresses the somewhat incoherent views of that peculiar creature commonly known as the “ business man.” It will probably create a condition of confusion in the mind of the reader, and in that way will serve one of its objects. Ifit helps to show how confused, complicated, and immense are the problems of sein ies Aci RRR arab eam:

whys . 7 nity ie industrial development, it will strengthen the argu- © ment for decentralisation, devolution, and delega- — tion. It is for the economists and politicians to © study and criticise these proposals.

Chapter II. Advice To Reconstructors

STARTING with the Reconstruction Committee of the Cabinet, there are literally hundreds of bodies debating and discussing the problems of reconstruction, and it may not, therefore, be out of place to put down a few of the leading considerations which _ all these people should have constantly before them,

if their conclusions are to be of any value.

Some folk, especially those who have enjoyed a _ brief spell of authority—and these are tens of thousands—have become so used to war conditions and methods as to forget that this is the land of liberty. It is well to remind such that, when the needs of war are passed, this old country will not tolerate a continuation of anything in the nature of the numerous permits, controls, exemptions, licences, prohibitions, and badges, to which the ordinary civilian has willingly submitted since I914. _

In order to defeat Prussian militarism we have had - to adopt most of the evil methods against which we are fighting. We are subject not only to military despotism, but to a far worse civil despotism, which, nevertheless, we welcome as a means of winning the war. But if all the little Jacks-in-office who now control us imagine that their power will last when the war is over, they are mistaken. The nation has had enough forms to fill up and enough returns to make to last it for many years to come.

Most of the new ministries, which have sprung up like mushrooms, must come to an end when the transient need has passed. A cursory glance at the construction of these bodies is sufficient to prove this. The Prime Minister appoints some well-known man as, let us say, Minister of Building. Fifty leading architects and builders—recognised experts —immediately offer their services. An organisation has to be improvised within a few weeks. The Charity Commissioners, the Governor of the Isle of Man, the King’s Proctor, the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Lee Conservancy Board kindly lend the services of some of their derelict officials, and in order that the new office may live up to all the best traditions of red tape the Steward and Clerk of Halemotes of the County Palatine is installed as ‘“‘ Establishment ’’ Officer.

These persons then proceed to appoint a thousand clerks and messengers—a thousand is always the minimum. When they have exhausted the applicants with influence the public swarms in. There is no examination, no test of qualification. With this motley crew the Minister of Building manages somehow to accomplish the task for which he was appointed. The work costs five times as much as

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ADVICE TO RECONSTRUCTORS gi it is worth, hardship and injustice are scattered broadcast, blunders innumerable are made—but we are at war, and this sort of thing is the best we can do. |

As soon as the rush of work connected with the Building regulations is over, the army of officials in the Hotel Royal begin to think of the future. The quarters are pleasant, the pay is good, the work unexacting, and the taste of power delicious. Soa Reconstruction Committee is set up to prepare great schemes for the future. But when the war is over the fifty leading experts, who are mostly giving their services, will hasten back to their own affairs, and the brains and push and energy of the Ministry will be gone. This, of course, does not worry the professional official in the least: he will be glad to see the back of these hustling persons, so that he can establish himself and his minions behind a permanent parapet of forms and jackets, minutes and memoranda, imprests and precedents, all, of course, in triplicate.

Let us reconstruct by all means. Indeed, if we are to live, we must reconstruct, but at all costs the fatal blunder must be avoided of construction upon

_ the flimsy foundation of improvised war-time makeshifts. All these hurriedly conceived and badly constituted Ministries, Controllerships, and Directorates must be swept clean away, and if good is to be done a new start made upon surer and more solid foundations.

“ We are living,” says a leading manufacturer,

“under a condition of State interference such as no man dreamed of as possible before the war.’ Bureaucracy as we have got it to-day, and as it will remain after the war, is going to be a terrible danger unless controlled. Employers and workpeople are all going to be the slaves of the official.’”’

‘“‘ There is a danger which threatens freedom in the demand that the State should step in and take charge of branches of industry.... These are Prussian methods. We, as Liberals, desire to preserve independence and individuality.’’?

The latter-day alliance between Prussianism and Socialism is one of the most remarkable phenomena of these extraordinary times. Let us be quite clear that we want Reconstruction in order to repair the ravages of war, and to equip us the better for the march of progress, but not for the purpose of perpetuating the millions of war jobs which we have had to create in the last three years.

To the present writer this point is of great importance, because the scheme here suggested and already outlined in “ Trade as a Science’’ involves the appointment of many thousands of trade officials, and unthinking critics have been inclined to overlook the essential difference between a clerk in Whitehall and an expert trade commissioner in Pekin, and to dismiss the scheme with the old sneer —‘‘ Another army of officials!”

1 Sir Richard Cooper at Bradford and District Manufacturers’

Federation, April 16th, 1917. 2 Viscount Bryce at the National Liberal Club, March 20th, 1917.

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ADVICE TO RECONSTRUCTORS 23

For this reason I desire to put great emphasis upon the absolute necessity of wiping out at the earliest moment all war-time civilian appointments. _ The holders of these posts have no claims on the nation. The soldier will be demobilised without a -second consideration, and there is no reason why the man who has preferred to do his fighting in Westminster instead of Mesopotamia should have any greater claim to continuity of employment. He has enjoyed the market rate of pay, the soldier thas not. He has in most .cases derived material advantage from the war. Where there has been sacrifice it has been on the lowest scale and he should

_ be the first to go.

If it is essential that in a few cases these jobs must be perpetuated, then nine times out of ten there are better men in the Army who have stronger claims than the present occupants. It is, of course, obvious that here and there a piece of war work may have a permanent value and its continuance may be

highly desirable, but such considerations must come from outside and not from inside. There must be a definite demand from independent sources, and

little or no weight must be attached to schemes which come from interested inside parties.

Another fundamental consideration which Wouldbe Reconstructors should carefully study in attempting to apply war-time experiences to peace conditions is connected with the office of the Censor. Since 1914 the Government of the country, both civil and

military, has enjoyed an immunity from press

‘criticism which is unprecedented. Two causes have _ brought this about : first, the Defence of the Realm Act, and second, and even more powerful, a deep sense of patriotic responsibility on the part of the Press. It must not, however, be assumed that because some authority has been allowed to work its | sweet will without serious protest, the public or the —

Press is unaware of its grave blunders, of the injustice it has perpetrated, or of the damage it has done to all sorts of innocent interests. All this is recognised as the price of war, but nothing of the kind will be tolerated for five minutes for any other reason.

The Prussian is the slave of the State, but the State : is the servant of the Briton. This fundamental — distinction must never be forgotten. In the midst of war we are told that Germany has adopted ©

National Service, and we accept that argument as a good reason why we should submit to that stupid © | scheme for “‘ devitalising and misdirecting the — energies of the nation.’” But in peace time such an argument would have an exactly opposite application.

There is another point which Reconstructors — should be prepared to meet. The vested interests in some temporary war department may be relied upon to play the financial card very skilfully. We shall be told that we have spent many millions in establishing a department, providing it with buildings, plant, equipment, and what not, and that surely - this money must not be thrown away. That is

‘ADVICE TO RECONSTRUCTORS 25 a false argument. In making war we have deliberately thrown away thousands of millions, and whether it has gone in bricks and mortar in Westminster, machinery in Coventry, or powder in Flanders, it is all waste, and the only people who are entitled to annuities out of the process are those | who have suffered on the actual battle-field. We must avoid buying a lot of silly schemes on - the principles which guide the woman at the draper’s sale. The aim of Reconstructors should be to blot out the effects of the war as speedily and as effectually as possible, and not to perpetuate one of its most glaring abuses.

_ Reconstructors must also be very careful to see that their suggestions are financially sound. It is not uncommon to hear it argued that because we can raise a thousand millions for war, therefore we ought to be able to raise a like sum for a better purpose. But we have not raised any such sum in

reality. All we have done is to raise threepence

and send a bill for ninepence to posterity. I am reminded of an old merchant I used to know who carried on his business by means of bills. He became so accustomed to this system and so blind to its meaning that he developed the habit of saying whenever he signed a six months’ acceptance : “Well, thank God, that’s paid.’ That man’s successors had no such reason for thankfulness, as they found upon his demise that instead of a large estate, which they hoped to enjoy, there was a considerable deficiency.

os 3 1 26 THE TRADE OF TO-MORROW '

One of the worst—because the least apparent gy of the evils which war has brought upon us is a false prosperity, which is chiefly due to excessive inflation of the currency and the lavish creation of credits. :

It becomes, therefore, very necessary to insist that there is no vested interest in war profits, whether they take the form of extravagant wages, inflated dividends, high prices, or soft jobs.

A splendid example of the mixture of candour and > folly in this matter was provided by Mr. Neville Chamberlain in an interview with an American journalist reported in the Observer on April 29th, 1917. ‘‘ Another great service which the war has

Aik aes done to Britain has been to teach us all to view with j .

real complacency the expenditure of Government | money upon public works.’’ This sentence robbed — of its context is not quite fair to Mr. Chamberlain, i but it serves our purpose because it reflects the mind _ of many of those who have been called to rule over us in these latter troublous days. When the war is over we shall have to learn to view with real alarm and not complacency the expenditure of any — public money without good cause shown. If the — British Empire is to be worthy of its name it must be financially sound, and the devil’s dance in finance — set going to the order of the Kaiser must be stopped at the first possible moment. This is not to say that we cannot raise unlimited sums for necessary and essential purposes, but to énable us to do so the | present unthinkable waste in all departments must —

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ADVICE TO RECONSTRUCTORS 27

E absolutely stopped and there must be no “ complacency.”’

_ Reconstructors should also consider another series of important points, when they touch upon trading matters. We must avoid in every case great building schemes which begin at the top. The most general criticism which can be justly levelled against our war methods is that we have acted irrationally, always trying to build from the top, by means of huge central departments with swarms of officials. The rational thing is to begin building from the bottom. Whatever the problem, first find the unit and work from that.

When dealing with industry this is a vital point. Trade must be studied and arranged trade by trade, one trade at a time, and the unit must be a single industry.

_ The Reconstructor would also do well to get a clear idea of the proper functions of an official and the proper place for a business man. They are different types, with different spheres of usefulness, and the mixing up of the two is fatal. The official has always been known to be a failure in commercial and industrial matters, and since 1914 it has become apparent that the business man is not to be trusted in an official capacity.

~ Lastly, the Reconstructor should work in the daylight. Every theory, every idea, every draft should be available to all parties likely to be interested. When war is over we must give up the habit of setting a scheme in motion first, and discussing it afterwards.

Chapter III. The Case For Devolution

By far the most difficult task which confronts the industrial reformer is to define exactly the functions and duties of the Government. The developments of the last three years have not made this easier. We have on the one hand the extreme individualism of the past and on the other the alarming socialism | of the present ; for the wildest dreams of the wildest | socialist have materialised into amazing fact, and we are living to-day under a system of State control of production and State interference in trade that would have been inconceivable in 1914. | The battle of the immediate future will be between | those who think that the State should continue in the trading career which it has recently adopted, and those who believe that we should revert to unadulterated private enterprise. In the end neither party will win: because both systems are thoroughly bad and foredoomed to failure. Unrestricted individualism is admitted on all hands to be incapable of meeting the world crisis with which we are faced. State trading, on the other hand, 28 ae is s also an impossible proposition. Those who have experience of it will agree that it lacks certain vital elements which are inseparable from success in the realm of commerce and industry.

_ The endeavour of the writer is to find a scheme which will unite the best features of the two systems. The State must help in industry ; it must assume a measure of control: but without individual initiative and individual interest, industry can not and will not thrive, nor will the world secure the benefits which it is entitled to demand from it.