96 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
quarrel and pull in different directions. Clubs for the discussion of 
economic questions should be started all over the country, and every 
section of opinion should be represented in order that problems may be 
considered from every point of view. 
The wage problem is in essentials simple to grasp ; it is the problem 
of the division of the proceeds of industry between labour and capital. 
How are we to ensure that neither the capitalist nor the worker gets too 
large a share of the proceeds of industry? How are we to provide that 
one class of labour does not get too much in relation to another? How 
are we to secure that the consumer is not robbed by the exaction of too 
heavy a toll for services rendered? But if the problem is easy to state 
the solution is by no means simple. Some people would cut the 
Gordian knot by referring every dispute as it arises to compulsory 
arbitration. But there are certain difficulties which must be overcome 
before arbitration can be successfully applied. In the first place, the 
principle of arbitration must be generally accepted by both sides. You 
cannot compel large bodies of men to work for a given wage, for there 
is no penalty that can be enforced against them if they refuse. Nor 
can you force employers on a large scale to pay a prescribed wage if 
they prefer to close their factories. The right to strike and the right 
to lock out must always lurk in the background, and nothing can 
prevent the exercise of both if enough men feel sufficiently strongly on 
one side or the other. The time may come when public opinion will 
recognise so acutely the evils of the strike and the lock-out that both 
sides will be prepared to accept the principle of arbitration. It is not 
perhaps too much to hope that one day the principles of reason and 
justice will triumph over the prevailing theory that might is right and 
that the only effective criterion of justice is what a man is strong enough 
to take and to hold. But that day has not yet dawned, and any scheme 
of compulsory arbitration would, under present conditions, be fore- 
doomed to failure. Meanwhile, an important step in the right direction 
has already been taken. The Government has been given powers to 
institute an inquiry into any trade dispute and to summon witnesses. 
Hence, although the decision of any such court of inquiry will not be 
binding on the two parties, yet the proceedings can be published and 
the public will be enabled to pass judgment on the actual facts. The 
development of these inquiries will be watched with great interest, and 
there are strong grounds for hoping that they will exercise an effective 
influence on the side of peace. It is important to notice that these 
inquiries will only be held after the two parties have met and failed to 
reach agreement. For by far the best method of settling a dispute is 
that the representatives of both sides should meet and negotiate with the 
object of finding some solution that is mutually satisfactory. - It is only 
in the last resort, when all other means have failed, that recourse should 
be had to a higher authority. I must add that it is, in my opinion, 
regrettable that arbitration is not voluntarily accepted by both sides more 
often. There is a tendency at present for certain groups of employers 
to refuse arbitration, although the representatives of the Trade Unions 
concerned are prepared to do so, and I feel that this is a short-sighted 
policy. It must be confessed also that the feeling amongst employers 
