comforts which
he rightly desires, as well as to obtain adequate remuneration for those
who manage businesses, and interest on their money for those whose
capital is to be embarked in them, increased production is necessary;
but it cannot be expected that workmen will realise this or desire the
result unless they know certainly that they will obtain at once a
benefit from it. It has too often been the case that where some new
invention has been made, or new machinery introduced, or the conditions
of trade have enabled an industry to be more profitable, the workman has
not shared in the benefits obtained until he has pressed for an increase
of wages, even to the extent of striking or threatening to strike. The
faults and jealousies leading to restricted production are not all on
one side. Cases have arisen when a manager has let out a piece of work
to a group of workmen at a price which has resulted in a larger output
in a given time at less cost, though the amount paid to each man has
been higher owing to increased diligence, yet the employers raised
objections, because the wages earned were "more than such men ought to
have."

It is essential if the workers are to make it their aim to increase
production and to use every effort with that object, that they should
know that of a certainty, and at once, they will get a benefit from what
is done. At present it is commonly the case that in order to obtain an
adequate wage the worker works overtime, and presses to have overtime
work, because the rate of pay for overtime is higher, and that during
the normal hours of work he does less. Cases have actually been known in
which the worst class of workmen play during the greater part of the
week, and then have gone, during the War at all events, to work for the
week-end, including Sunday, at a very high rate of wages at some other
place. In the short time of working at abnormal rates they have gained
as high wages as the steady and efficient workman who keeps steadily at
work through the normal hours. As long as such conditions exist we shall
not have the shorter hours which are necessary for healthy and happy
life, and we shall have the friction and irritation which arise from too
long hours of work. A higher rate of wages during shorter hours of work,
when the work is done with vigour and efficiency, and the certainty that
the wage will be increased if results are favourable, are necessary
conditions for industrial welfare and