eement upon a
practicable ideal of industrial society does not exist in the United
States to-day. And, therefore, that the process of debate and conflict
in industrial affairs,--as we know it to-day--must continue for a much
longer time before the country will be ready to agree upon any policy of
wage settlement for industrial peace. In short, that more heads must be
broken in order that reasonableness and light may enter into them.

Still, various reflections should encourage us to go ahead in the search
for some policy of wage adjustment for which the necessary general
consent can be won. First of all, there is the fact that there is urgent
need for industrial peace; that great suffering, and the constant
disruption of industry, will be an accompaniment of a continuation of
industrial conflict. And it is essential to the settlement of most
economic issues, as well as political, that the members of a society do
take heed of the needs of the society. It is the origin and
justification of the habit of political compromise.

Secondly, it is not easy after all to be cocksure as to what men will or
will not agree to until they are directly faced with the task of
decision. It is not easy to tell at what point in the conflict of
"opposite convictions" an end may be made of the conflict.[151] It is
usual that doubt be present in many men's minds when a grave decision
is made by society. The constitution of the United States was adopted in
the midst of a struggle of ideas, so violent that all agreement seemed
to be precluded. The chances of agreement can rarely be certainly known
until all possible grounds of agreement are explored.

Thirdly, the belief that the continued battle of ideas will ultimately
lead to agreement, and eventuate into policy is an optimistic belief
which is not always supported by the facts. Sometimes, indeed, it does,
as in the case of woman suffrage. Sometimes, however, it ends in the
resort to force. And frequently not even the resort to force produces a
solution of the difficulty. The conflict goes on even after the use of
open force is surrendered.

Lastly, it is possible, and indeed necessary so to frame policy, that
even while it maintains peace and produces cooperation between
conflicting interests and ideas, it does not stereotype forever the
terms of peace and cooperation. Agreement is often obtained for an
economic or political policy in the knowledge that it can be changed if
different ide