PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 451 



further, that the minimum spent on research work should be at least one per 

 cent, of the turnover, and that the amount it is advisable to spend is three per 

 cent. Unless a firm makes good profits it cannot keep up to date, and will 

 sooner or later go to the wall. 



But the workman says that he should have his share. What is his share 

 under the present state of things ? The average capital expended in engineer- 

 ing works per individual employed is about 2001. An investigation the writer 

 made some years ago gave this figure, and it was confirmed by an investigation 

 of shipbuilding yards, which gave 1851., and of the Census of Production, which 

 gives a capital of 1,500,000,000/. for 7,000,000 workers, or 214/. per man. An 

 investigation of the dividends paid shows them to be about 4 per cent, on the 

 capital employed. Here it must be remembered that firms paying 10 to 15 per 

 cent, on their ordinary capital have often a large preference and debenture 

 capital, on which a much lower rate of interest is paid, and also that often 

 part of the ordinary capital was issued at a premium. Also account has to be 

 taken of the large number of companies that do not pay any dividend on their 

 ordinary stock, and often none on their preference. Little is as a rule heard 

 of the finances of such companies; it is the ones paying good dividends th;it 

 public attention is drawn to. 



It thus means that the shareholders get about 8/. per year per individual 

 employed. 



On the other hand, the average wages for men and boys, skilled and un- 

 skilled, is about 7()l. per annum in normal times. This means that the worker 

 gets between eight and nine times as much as the capitalist, and shows on 

 what a very small margin the capitalist works. And without the capitalist, 

 under our present system of individualism, there would be no factories erected 

 and run, and therefore no work for the working-man, a thing it is well for 

 him to remember, and also that without profits the capitalist will not invest 

 in engineering and other works in this country, but will seek for a more profitable 

 field for his capital elsewhere. Every 200/. invested in this country in a factory 

 means work and livelihood for one British working-man. 



At the same time I am sorry to say the employer does not look after the 

 welfare of his workmen as he might. In a small factory the head of the 

 firm, as a rule, knows all the leading men among the workmen, many of them 

 having been with him for years. As the place grows he loses touch with his 

 men, and as an actual fact knows fewer of those under him when he has 1,000 

 or more employees than he did when he had 40O or under. This state of things 

 gets worse when the place is turned into a limited liability company, as nearly 

 all large places are at present. The result is that a most deplorable state of 

 things has come to pass. The workman says, ' Put not thy trust in employers ' ; 

 the master says, ' Put not thy trust in Avorkmen ' ; and the official who is 

 between the master and the workman says, 'Put not thy trust in either.' 



It is difl^cult to say what is to be done to remedy this state of things, bat 

 one cannot help feeling much might have been done in the past to have pre- 

 vented such a regrettable state of affairs as there is at present. Much of this 

 trouble might have been avoided if employers had shown more considera- 

 tion for the welfare of their workmen. Of course there are some notable 

 exceptions, but they are few and far between. An example is the necessity 

 of the Factory Acts to ensure proper light and air and other arrangements 

 necessary for the health of the workmen. But much more should be done. 

 Why is it that canteens are being rushed up all over the country, and why 

 were there so few before? In many works to this day the provisions for 

 getting food and drink warmed are most primitive and inefficient, and as to 

 getting anything to eat if one has to work overtime unexpectedly, it is in 

 most works impossible. As a rule the only thing available w.as a drink at the 

 public house outside the gates, and even this is now closed at five o'clock. 

 Why if a man works overtime should he also starve ? And how can efficient 

 work be expected under such conditions? Why also should there not be 

 provision for drying clothes after walking to work on a wet morning, and 

 each man be provided with a cupboard where he could keep a change of boots ? 

 Why are not sanitarj' arrangements decently private, and why are they not kept 

 clean and wholesome? They are often in a disgraceful state. These are only 

 a few samples of the directions in which much might be done., 



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