A Special Report.

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 6, 1 February 1920, Page 722

A Special Report.

During the latter -part of 1918 and the early months of 1919, Mr S. Beeby, as Minister for Labour and Industry in New South Wales, personally investigated industrial conditions in Great Britain and the United States of America.

The full text of the report presented to the New South Wales legislation has recently come to hand, and in this and the following issue of the "Industrial Bulletin" extracts will he quoted from this interesting report.

Under the heading of "The General Post-War Problem" the report says:— - "One conclusion seems-to be beyond dispute. Except as to Oriental countries, none of the civilised nations will in the future possess any material'advantage over others by reason only of- low industrial standards. An international levelling of wages. and hours of employment is being brought about with ffreat rapidity. Trade advantage in the future will depend much more on superior equipment," scientific management, effective co-operation, between the different factors of .production; and the more intelligent organisation of ; productive ' farces, than on the use of;cheap labour. <\- .;.,■: '■'.', >\ ; : ;": J ~ , »

Even in such countries as the Argentine Kepublic, one of Australia's principal competitors in the wheat and wool markets, industrial ferment is leading to serious economic changes. Its Parliament is beginning to devote attention to the regulation of hours of employment, payment of minimum wages, and the general protection of its artisans and agricultural labourers.

- To-day the demands of labour go right to the root of things. - Concessions and compromise, readjustments of wage bargains, charitable doles to unemployed, all the palliatives which have done service in the past, fail to satisfy even the most docile groups of workmen. The whole existing social system is challenged, not only by theorists, not only by professional agitators, not only by the destructive agents of anarchy, but by the intelligent workers of the world. The system of capitalistic production, the wage system, is on its trial. It must justify itself., It must adapt itself to the new outlook. It must prove itself capable of meeting the reasonable aspirations of all classes, or it will surely be superseded by some general scheme of socialisation. Vague generalisations no longer avail. Action, courageous, and comprehensive, alone will save even democratic countries from communistic experiments, which threaten to overwhelm them before human nature is sufficiently developed to base social relationships on altruism, long before the race has so developed mentally and spiritually as to make the success of common ownership remotely possible. The question which English statesmen are considering today is not. 'Can we avoid any radical change?'—but. 'How much of the present system of production is it possible to save? How much of it is worth saving? To keep the Anglo-Saxon race clear of the crumbling ruins of Europe to what extent must the foundation of things be reset? How can we. preserve sufficient individualism to ensure the .futuire progress of the race, and to save us from that drift back to barbarism which inevitably must follow premature communism?' One of the ironies of civilisation is that it took, a great war to give to the industrial woirld a measure of comfort which it had never previously enjoyed. For the first time in history the worker was relieved of the fear of unemployment; for the first time he received wages which left him some margin above his bare necessities; for the first time he found that the State looked to him-as a vital force necessary to save it from destruction. All these experiences have left a lasting impression. The worker to-day has in a ; rough-and-readv way reasoned the thing out in his own mind. He asks many pertinent questions :►— Iffolr purposes of war it is necessary suddenly to raise my status, why is it not necessary for purposes of peace to see that my status is maintained? If nations can spend- billions on war, why cannot thev devote millions to. keep me in at least as good a position as was granted me during the war? If it' were discovered during the war that bad housine and squalid surroundings reduced ray efficiency and degraded mv class, should not' Parliament complete' its: discovery,, and go on doing the things which ; were thought necessary to keep me working.at high pressure If the Government found it necessary Awhile- T was mat-

ing munitions to see I had decent factory surroundings, proper sanitation, and food, and proper leisure, why has the war terminated that necessity On this reasoning the industrialists of Anglo-Saxon nations are building a new code. They want to realise their new aspirations by peaceful methods, but having discovered their power, and their indispensability, . they will surely achieve them by other means if the promises made during the war aire not honestly redeemed." J • ■ - ■