TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 601 



apprehension, it becomes the duty of all who possess influence to strive not 

 merely for peace, but to range themselves on the side of justice and humanity. The 

 great labour question cannot be solved except hj assuming as a principle that 

 private ownership must be held inviolable, but it must be admitted that there was 

 a time when capital had become arbitrary and some kind of united action on the 

 part of workmen was needed in self-defence. If, however, we turn to the action 

 of the leaders of trades unions in the recent lamentable strikes, we ai-e presented 

 with a picture which many of us can only view as that of tyranny of the most 

 close and oppressive kind, in which individual freedom cannot even be recog'nised. 

 There are hundreds of owners of works who long to devote themselves to the true 

 welfare of those they employ, but who can do little against the influence of the 

 professional agitator, and are merely saddened by contact with prejudice and igno- 

 rance. I believe the view to be correct that some system by which the workman 

 participates in the profits of enterprise will afford the most hope of putting an end 

 to labour disputes, and we are told that profit-sharing tends to destroy the work- 

 man's sense of social exclusion from the capitalistic board, and contents him by 

 elevating him from the precarious position of a hired labourer. No pains should 

 therefore be spared in perfecting a system of profit-sharing. 



Pensions for long service are great aids to patience and fidelity, and very much 

 may be hoped from the fact that strenuous etlbrts are being made by men really 

 competent to lead. The report of the Labour Commission which is now sitting 

 will be looked for with keen interest. Watchful care over the health, interests, 

 and instruction of the employed is exercised by many owners of works; and in this 

 respect the Dowlais Works, which are being transplanted into your midst at 

 Cardiff", have long presented a noteworthy example. Workmen must not forget 

 that the choice of their own leaders is in their own hands, and on this the future 

 mainly depends. ' We may lay it down as a perpetual law that workmen's associa- 

 tions should be so organised and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable 

 means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual 

 member to better his condition to the utmost in body, mind, and property.' The 

 words will be found in the Encyclical letter which Pope Leo XIII. has recently 

 issued on the 'Condition of Labour.' To me it is specially interesting that the 

 Bishop of Rome in his forcible appeal again and again cites the opinion of St. 

 Thomas Aquinas, who was a learned chemist as well as a theologian. 



Those of us who realise that ' the higher mysteries of being, if penetrable at all 

 by human intellect, require other weapons than those of calculation and experiment,' 

 should be fully sensible of our individual responsibility. Seeing that the study of the 

 relations between capital and labour involve the consideration of the complex 

 problems of existence, the solution of which is at present hidden from us, we shall 

 feel with Andrew Lang that ' where, as matter of science, we know nothing, we 

 can only utter the message of our temperament.' My own leads me to hope that 

 the patriotism of the workmen will prevent them from driving our national 

 industries from these shores, and I would ask those to whom the direction of the 

 metallurgical works of this country is confided, to remember that we have to 

 deal both with metals and with men, and have reason to be grateful to all who 

 extend the boundaries, not only of our knowledge, but also of our sympathy. 



The following Eeports were read : — 



1. Heport of the Committee on International Standards for the Analysis of 

 Iron and Steel. — See Reports, p. 273. 



2, Btport of the Action of Light iipon Dyed Colours. — See Reports, p. 263. 



3. Report on the Influence of the silent discharge of Electricity on Oxygen 

 and other Gases. — See Reports, p. 264. 



