442 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



this policy without uncertainty as to the result. Our entire induetrial history 

 is one of the best examples of steady and on the whole well-ordered evolution. 

 We have shown our ability to adapt ourselves to the needs of the moment. 

 As a race we are healthily conservative without being reactionary. That is to 

 say, we know how to preserve what is good in the old and amalgamate it with 

 the new. In other wordsj our organisation enjoys that useful quality of 

 elasticity which enables us to keep abreast of the tunes. 



Bearing this in mind, where are the defects of our business man, and to what 

 does he need to give attention in order to come into line with the most recent 

 requirements ? 



As I have just said, our business man's qualities emphasise his defects. 

 For generations our business men have worked as units, and individualism has 

 become almost second nature. The call now is that the individual shall sink 

 a part of his personality and become, so far as one side of his activities is 

 concerned, a member of an association. We have had Employers' Alliances, 

 Federations, and Associations. Some have failedj some have managed to keep 

 afloat, others have had a certain amount of success. None have hitherto quite 

 attained to what is required. To the onlooker it would appear that when our 

 employers meet as an association there is a lack of sympathy among the 

 members, and if this should persist it would be fatal. Each individual knows 

 his own business ; he does not know, and perhaps it would be true to say he 

 does not care to know, his neighbour's concerns. At any rate, as a result there 

 is a lack of cohesion ; there ie a lack, too, of that co-operation which is required 

 if the association is to be really successful and accomplish the objects for which 

 it has been formed. This working in co-operation, the large organisations of 

 capital, and the working together in associations, are comparatively new things 

 to our business community. Time and experience will put things right ; at 

 present we have not accustomed ourselves to a newly-developing condition of 

 affairs. Our business men, then, need to focus their attention on these early 

 ailments of the movement and get them removed as soon as possible. 



A second group of defects arises indirectly but almost inevitably from that 

 which has just been considered. Some alliances, rings, and associations have 

 failed and come to an end. And in certain cases the cause has been unmistak- 

 able, for there has been a lamentable want of loyalty, and even in some cases it 

 must be said honesty, to the agreements entered into by the association. 



Only to mention one group as an instance of this — the New Trades Com- 

 bination Movement, which caused quite a considerable stir during the late 

 'nineties of last century, especially in the Midlands among the metal trades. 

 Articles appeared in the journals, and a book ' was written explaining the 

 movement and great hopes were entertained that a new era had opened out 

 before both Capital and Labour. But all ended in a failure. There was for a 

 time a kind of Syndicalism — a syndicated industry enabling employers to increase 

 their profits, and the workpeople to earn abnonnally high wages. So long as 

 competition could be kept out of the market, things went swimmingly and a 

 specious prosperity developed. But the consumer was being exploited — ^the 

 increased prices charged for such goods as metal bedsteads gave would-be 

 competitors and unscrupulous members of the alliance their chance. The cheap 

 wooden bedstead, however, made its appearance on the one hand, and on the 

 other there were such things as secret discounts and conunissions, and this 

 special alliance ended in failure. The history of that short, but industrially 

 instructive, movement has yet to be written. Its cardinal facts should be 

 known to those who now have an opportunity for shaping the industrial future 

 of this country. 



Three lessons stand out from this experience : — 



(i) We must learn to work together in association. 



(ii) All members of an association must be absolutely loyal and honest to their 

 engagements, either written or implied. 



(iii) Such associations must be regulated or the community will be exploited. 



Nor is it impossible to suggest a method by means of which this may result. 

 When Employers' Associations have justified themselves it should be possible to 

 obtain State recognition for them, and it would be practical politics, when both 



* TH New Trades' Cojnlinafion Movement, E. J. Smith. Bivingtons. 1899, 



