Sir Robt. Hadfield and Labour's Demands

Progress, Volume XIV, Issue 10, 1 June 1919, Page 529

Sir Robt. Hadfield and Labour' s Demands

Sir Robert Hadfield, chairman of the great Sheffield firm of steel makers, which employs 15,000 men, says, in the "Weekly Dispatch," of "Labour's Demands":—

"My own opinion is that there is nothing very extreme in the demands of Labour, as some employers seem to think. Nationalisation of all vital industries is, of course, a vast proposition, and I cannot agree about this, nor do I think Labour asks for it. Nationalisation of railways seems to v be a commonsense way of settling some of the difficulties. I do not want to quote or represent my own works as a paragon for others to copy. But facts speak for themselves. Twenty-three years ago Ave introduced in Sheffield a 48-hours Aveek, and I tried to persuade other employers to do the same. Very few would listen to such a scheme. We have made other concessions. The result of our policy has been harmony and pleasant relations all the the time between employer and employee. The employer must take risks and make experiments that are likely to conduce to beneficial results all round. I am no prophet, but I believe that before the end of this year Ave shall see our way through this great crisis in human affairs,"