THE CONDITIONS OF REFORM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 210, 30 May 1919, Page 4

THE CONDITIONS OF REFORM

A particularly frank admission that business men must change their outlook in order to meet cffec : lively the conditions of the epoeli that is now opening was made by Mb. J. G. Harkness in his presidential address at the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce .yesterday. After picturing Capita] and Labour as standing on the brink of a precipice—one reluctant to forgo its privileges, the other armed with a- suicidal policy of "gosiow''—he observed that the first step in any satisfactory solution was that the capitalists, that term embracing all employers, must look beyond their own personal interests and regard the necessities and demands of the community as primary. It is possible to agree very heartily that in the new order of affairs service to the community must be regarded as the first essential and as an altogether worthier object in life than the accumulation of a big income. The only reservation called for—Mr. Harkness, of course, did not overlook it—is that a more enlightened outlook and policy on the part of wage-earners are quite as essential as anything the capitalist and employer can do to bring about an improved, organisation of industry and commerce. It is unfortunately true that employers who strive to boldly reform industrial conditions very often find themselves engaged in a thankless task, and one in which there are poor hopes of substantial pro-, gress. Positively destructive tactics are confined chiefly to the least instructed sections of organised Labour, but in its ranks generally there is a widespread and suicidal tendenev to discount (.he services of those who, though they arc not manual workers, are engaged in vastly more productive activities than the subordinates whom they direct and control.

The sweeping reorganisation of industry and the social betterment it would make possible will never be achieved until organised Labour recognises unreservedly that organising power and skilled direction are essential factors and. cannot be obtained unless due incentives are offered. Labour's habitual refusal to face and admit these vital facts is perhaps > the greatest of all obstacles to industrial reorganisation and social reform. It means in practice that attempts by capitalists and captains of industry to promote reforms are commonly regarded not as the friendly approaches of a kindred interest, ibut as evidence of the guile or the weakening of an enemy. The fear of being misunderstood in this way and of engaging in absolutely futile, efforts accounts a good deal for the conservative attitude of most employers and business men. The extent to which employers and wageearners are respectively responsible for this state of affairs is a question that does not at this stage warrant any waste of time in speculation. All that really matters is that such a state of affairs exists, and that its existence makes the problems of industrial and social reform immensely more complex and difficult than they need otherwise be. Although, however, tho disinclination of capitalists and employers to embark upon a boldly enterprising policy of reform is understandable, it remains true that the duty devolves primarily upon them of bringing about better conditions. The disordered fabric of industry cannot be restored and made, sound without active and unsparing effort by the directing brains of industry. Even though they are abused and' disowned by their subordinates,, it must still rest with the skilled directors of industry to guide it in its onward progress. They must be prepared, not only to show bold initiative, but to persist in constructive effort in spite of all' discouragement and vilification, upheld by the faith that sooner or later honest endeavour will serve its intended purpose. The alternative is to submit oravenly to forces of disorganisation and decay which cannot be overcome, or even checked for any longfch of time, by merely passive resistance.