COPARTNERSHIP.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 411, 21 January 1909, Page 9

COPARTNERSHIP.

MRI BALFOUR-ON THE PLEASURES 01? \ ! .-> X. ;; ; r /HARD /WORK/ ? ./' ' ■ '/', ; / '/' Mr. Balfoiiry. as. president, delivered a.) sug- '■■ .gestive speech .to the Labour Copartnership Association .at a; meeting, at-Church House; London, over.which/Mr. Shackleton, M.P., pre/sided,. and to which Mr. Asquith sent his .wishes for /success.; -■'. -::. . "': . ,i'. Copartnership,- said 'Mr. Balfour, had.produced happy: results'. Their ideal was complete: copartnership—-that all. those;, who' car-; ■Tied.'.on the- work should be associated/ as partners;' in" all 'that' the work brought in— but-they recognised ;that the ideal might not be earned out with advantage in every industry.- It was'impossible to carry on a diffictllt business requiring-initiative, courage,' risk to be taken, the instant; adaptation of moans to. ends, by means of a-committeo. Really good work 'of an:original kind' was always carried on 'by an individual. In his belief the abler, the;committee the more, inefficient..it would ; :be.::-(Labghter.) :.:,.„ ; i .'. ';'■>■:,. -■.': The true system * was luce the management 'by ;a- Cabinet of'..the institutions of a great Empire.:: The head. of. .an office managed that J office,' but in questions' of doubt or'difficulty; consulted' tho ; Prime' Minister,of. the whole. Cabinet;- but it must ;be' one man who did the thing, riot the committee. ;-'■ ; ' '. Copartnership would not prevent that initiative which depended on men and transfer ij^to'the/incompetent hands of. a committee. It could most efficiently be carried out in the first: instance in, well-established industries which had little of the speculative element; We lost a-great deal, by talking as if: the labour of a man was in itself an oyil .whioh became tolerable because ;liewas paid for it. ■. He did -not say that. labour, was a ■ pleasure, but unless'the work wp\did-in lifo could-be inherently interesting w.e had not got to the root of any social: problem.\ The art of life was to ;make uninteresting parts into an interesting whole. No-man's work was rait--self of-an exhilarating character.... _' . , Professor'Pigpu.Baid _ he believed, in copartnership largely for its-'moral "good;- "It will encourage what' I will call the spirit of the '■ college, the spirit of fellowship and comradeship and loyalty. It will make.men."/ -