to keep a record of the profits return in
industry. It would be dreary, and of a type demanding specialized
knowledge and disinterestedness. Furthermore, any such plan would
probably have to be put through in the face of the resentment of most
business men. That resentment, however, is likely to flash out against
any proposals that look forward to securing industrial peace by giving
the wage earners a more assured position in industry, and ready access
to the facts of business operation. The standpat temper of those
business men who argue that their business is entirely their own
private concern would make impossible any policy of wage settlement
that did not throw the balance of industrial power in their hands.
Unless they visualize their position in different terms than these,
little hope can be entertained that any proposals calling for a record
of profits will be supported by them. But then it is the normal role of
the peace-maker to seek concessions that contestants are not ready to
make; to plead general necessity where contestants see only their own;
to represent each side to the other in its best light.

8.--Besides these difficulties of a precise and practical kind, certain
weaknesses of a more theoretical nature may be urged against the
measure. First, it may be argued that since the policy exerts no direct
control over profits, there is little reason to believe that profits
will be kept down to an approved level. This criticism would or would
not be justified by the event, according as industrial competition were
effective; according as employers acted up to the purposes and spirit of
the policy of wage settlement, and gave the general interest a place
alongside of their particular interests; according as government
regulation of industry was competently carried out; and lastly,
according to the measure in which public opinion made itself felt on the
subject. Any such plan as the proposed, by clarifying ideas on the
subject, would do much in the way of making public opinion more decisive
than at present. It would serve to inform the community that wages can
be increased without equivalent price increase, whenever the possibility
exists. It would provide employers with a code of honor in industrial
relations. And lastly, it must be remembered that the alternative to
some such policy of wage increase is a system of direct profits control
(leaving out of consideration the possibility of more general and
fundam