on of the workers in the
control of industry, whatever the scope of such participation. On the
contrary, by creating mutual confidence between the wage earners and the
directors of industry, and by giving both the wage earners and the
employers training in the art of mutual agreement, it should prepare the
way for the growth of such participation.

These principles of wage settlement would, it is believed, form a sound
and forward looking policy of wage settlement for industrial peace.
Nevertheless, they are not put forward with the idea that they, or any
similar set of principles for the settlement of wages, would be workable
in practice without many hitches, and without the need for constant
adaptation to the facts encountered. Nor without a suspicion of the hard
blows and unexpected eventualities which fate usually has in store for
fine proposals.

3.--Ultimately, of course, behind any proposals for industrial peace
there is a striving to catch sight of a future industrial society more
content, more generous and creative than that of the present time. To
the ordinary observer no such ultimate question appears to be involved
in an ordinary wages dispute. Yet it is there. The trade union leader
fighting for a wage increase does not always see his demand as a plain
group claim for greater reward; it frequently appears as an act of
justice to his class, a step towards improving their position and power
in industrial society. To the employer more often the struggle is merely
to protect his profits. But beyond that in many cases there is a fear
lest industrial growth and extension be obstructed. Any policy of wage
settlement that is more than a weakly supported truce must throw some
rays of hope into the future. What type of future industrial society may
be envisaged if any principles of wage settlement similar in substance
to those discussed in this book should be adopted? What suggestions for
the future are contained in them? It is not easy to see. Only a few
features of the future can be discerned and those sketchily.

Industry would still be carried on in the main by private enterprise and
competitive activity. Particular industries, as for example, the
railroads, may become government owned or government operated
enterprises. But even so, wages in those industries would be, in all
probability, determined by the same principle as wages in other
industries, and by the same agency. The function of capital accumulatio