October 30, 19 19] 



NATURE 



]8= 



his output, and his remuneration should correspond 

 with his economic value. The rule is simple, its ap- 

 plication would solve most of the problems which 

 vex the present generation, but no scheme has vet 

 been evolved to make its application possible. 



There can be no doubt that in this respect our 

 present system is a complete failure. It has been 

 built up casually in the course of the industrial war- 

 fare of the last tw-enty years, and each side, regard- 

 less of consequences, has entrenched itself in any 

 position won. The result is a system nearlv perfect 

 from the point of view of offence and defence, well 

 arranged for mutual destruction, but, like the trenches 

 in France, unsuitable for use in time of peace. 



The minimum wage is beneficial in so far as it 

 prevents sweating, but in two other respects its con- 

 sequences are most unfortunate. Under the operation of 

 thisrule the man whose value is a fraction below the 

 minimum is unemployed and economically unemploy- 

 able. Further, the minimum wage becomes the 

 standard wage, and the better men are inadequately 

 paid. Both causes lead to decreased production. The 

 weaker or less skilful men drift into enforced idle- 

 ness, and become a charge to the communitv under 

 the heading of charity, poor-law, or some newly 

 invented euphemism The better men, finding e.\tra 

 effort uncompensated, drop to an ever-decreasing 

 minimum. Small output is in most cases the result 

 of inadequate incentive rather than active restriction. 

 Promotion by seniority is an example of a similar 

 cause, producing similar effects in other classes of 

 the community. 



.'Vmong the professional and business classes the 

 remuneration is proportional to the skill and to the 

 effort; a barrister, an engineer, or a merchant has 

 neither minimum wage nor fixed maximum output, 

 and, the vagaries of chance excepted, generally 

 speaking gets what he is worth. At the two extremes 

 stand riches and starvation, and the economic? world 

 can offer no stronger motive forces than the allure- 

 ments of the one, the fear of the other. There is 

 no absolute reason why the working man should not 

 be offered the same incentives to hard work and 

 progress, but up to the present most efforts have 

 tended in the opposite direction. .Anv form of pa\- 

 ment by result is viewed with indifference or distrust 

 by the unions, and past experience w'ith piece-work 

 explains that attitude. There has been a disposition 

 for employers to make large individual earnings an 

 excuse for cutting rates. Errors in rate-fixing may 

 easilv arise, and in certain cases special investigation 

 rnight be necessary, but the advantages of high in- 

 dividual production are so great to both emplover 

 and employed that in all cases of doubt the higher 

 rate should be maintained. In this connection the 

 method of time-study first developed bv Tavlor in 

 -America and the various svstems of pavment by 

 results which have been successfullv applied deserve 

 careful consideration. 



_ Another important but difficult subject is the dis- 

 tinction drawn between skilled and unskilled labour. 

 The experience gained during the war has proved that 

 manv operations scheduled as skilled work could be 

 effectively performed by women who had received onlv 

 a few weeks' special" instruction. The oft-repeated 

 demand for equal opoortunitv for all becomes a 

 senseless parrot cry if it does not implv that an 

 individual has the ric'ht to undertake better- 

 remunerated work if qualified to do so. It is a mis- 

 conception which leads the skilled worker to believe 

 that such a concession would reduce his earnings. 

 Just a-s it is clear that if labourers and skilled men 

 were grouped together at a uniform wage, that wage 

 would necessarily be lower than the present minimum 



NO. 2609, VOL. 104] 



for skilled work, so also the separation of tasks 

 which require but a nominal period of training would 

 increase the rate of remuneration available for the 

 really skilled man. 



I have directed attention to some of the difificulties 

 which must be solved if the country is to emerge 

 from the present crisis prosperous or even solvent. 

 There is little doubt that an elucidation is possible, 

 but it can onlv be evolved by the honest and intel- 

 ligent collaboration of all parties concerned, a task 

 rendered difficult or impossible by mutual distrust 

 and class hatred. Class differences there are, and 

 always will be ; they exist as the result of breeding, 

 education, and environment, but they do not extend 

 to the fundamental characteristics of humanity. 

 Many dukes and many miners are lazy ; most 

 capitalists and most trade unionists are greedy; all 

 men, with a few exceptions, are selfish. The war 

 has shown that lazy, greedy, and selfish men will 

 die, or even work, for their country in a great 

 exigency, but there is a limit to. and a reaction after, 

 any profound emotional stimulus, and the present 

 unrest and dissatisfaction are but normal symptoms. 

 .\ satisfactorv economic system can be based only rn 

 natural human impulses, and of these the most funda- 

 mental is self-preservation, or, more generally, self- 

 interest. Increased production is at the present 

 moment the most pressing national need, but it will 

 become effective onlv when for every man increased 

 production becomes the talisman by which his paper- 

 wages can be turned to gold. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — .V massive bronze medal has been received . 

 from the L'nivcrsity of Paris in commemoration of the 

 manifold services rendered during the war by the uni- 

 versities of the -Mlied nations and " in token of a 

 friendship henceforth indestructible." It bears in relief 

 on the obverse the figure of " Scientia Instrumentum 

 Justitiaj— Libro—Ense— MCMXIV-MCMXVIII," and 

 on the reverse the old court\ard of the Sorbonne, with 

 the inscription " Fidelissimae Sorori Universitas Paris- 

 iensis dicavit." 



The thanks of the Senate have been accorded to 

 the W'orshipful Company of Drapers for renewing for 

 a further period of two years their pre-war grant of 

 Sool. a vear to the biometric laboratory of the Depart- 

 ment of Applied .Statistics and Eugenics at L^niversity 

 College ; and to the London County Council for a 

 grant of 6000L for the erection of temporary buildings 

 for the Department of Engineering at King's College. 



The following doctorates have been conferred :■ — 

 D.Sc. in Chemistry: Mr. E. K. Rideal, an internal 

 student of University College, for a thesis entitled 

 "The Svnthesis and Thermocatalytic Combustion of 

 .Ammonia." D.Sc. in Botany : Mr. H. Wormald, an 

 external student, for a thesis entitled "Researches into 

 the Biologv. Morpholog\'. and Mode of Parasitism of 

 the Species of Monilia Occurring on Fruit Trees." and 

 other papers. 



.\ course of advanced lectures on (a) "The 

 Energy Balance of the Human Body," (6) "Elec- 

 trical Signs of Emotive Phenomena," is being given 

 bv Prof. A. D. Waller, professor of physiology in the 

 University, at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, November 5, 

 12, ig, and 26. and December 3, ii the physiological 

 laboratorv of the University, South Kensington, 

 S.W.-. The lectures are addressed to advanced 

 students of the Universitv and to others interested in 

 the subject. .Admission is free, without ticket. 



