ole town or district--should
in the public interest be subject to the same rules as a public company.
Thirdly, in view of the amalgamation of industry, the linking up of
company with company, there must be reconsideration as regards publicity
in the case of subsidiary companies. Finally, I think we have been wrong
in assuming that a law applicable to a company with a modest little
capital is suitable to regulate the publicity of a great combine
controlling tens of millions of capital. Some attempt should therefore
be made to differentiate between what must be told by the big and by the
little concerns respectively. I am well aware of the myriad difficulties
that this demand for publicity will encounter. But difficulties exist to
be overcome. And they must be overcome, for of this I feel certain: that
if the system of private enterprise dies, it will be because the canker
of secrecy has eaten into its vitals.
A NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL
I have left very little time for dealing specifically with the question
of industrial relations, though much that I have said has a bearing upon
it. There has been great disappointment with the results of the Whitley
Council movement. Many thought they were going to bring in a new era.
But they have not lived up to these hopes, firstly, because they came
into being at a time of unexampled economic difficulty, and, secondly,
because they were introduced into industries where there was no
tradition of co-operative action--being established mainly in industries
lying between the entirely unorganised and the highly organised trades.
But we must persist in encouraging Whitley Councils, and still more in
the associated objective of encouraging works committees. The basis of
industrial peace is in the individual works. Co-operation cannot be
created by Act of Parliament, but depends upon the development of
opinion among employers and workmen. Starting from Works Councils up
through the Whitley Council, Trade Boards, or National Trade Union
machinery for the negotiation of wages, we arrive at the National
Industrial Council, which is the point at which the Government can most
directly assist the movement towards more cordial relations. The plan of
this Council is ready. It was proposed and developed in 1919, and I
personally do not want to change that plan very much.
But I think it is of the utmost importance that we should embody in our
Liberal programme the institution of a National In
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