. But come now, let us look
at these clauses. You are surely not standing for them all, or for them
all alike?"

"Why not, then?" said McNish, angrily.

"I'll tell you," replied the minister, "and won't take long, either." He
proceeded to read over carefully the various clauses in the demands
of the allied unions, emphasizing and explaining the meaning of each
clause. "First, as to wages. This is purely a matter for adjustment to
the cost of living and general industrial conditions. It is a matter of
arithmetic and common sense. There is no principle involved."

"I don't agree with you," said McNish. "There is more than the cost
of living to be considered. There is the question of the standard of
living. Why should it be considered right that the standard of living
for the working man should be lower than that for the professional man
or the capitalist?"

"There you are again, McNish," said the minister. "You are not up to
your usual to-night. You know quite well that every working man in my
parish lives better than I do, and spends more money on his living.
The standard of living has no special significance with the working man
to-day as distinguished from the professional man. We are not speaking
of the wasteful and idle rich. So I repeat that here it is a matter of
adjustment and that there is no principle involved. Now, as regard to
hours. You ask an eight-hour day and a Saturday half-holiday. That, too,
is a matter of adjustment."

"What about production, Mr. Matheson?" said Maitland. "And overhead?
Production costs are abnormally high to-day and so are carrying charges.
I am not saying that a ten-hour day is not too long. Personally, I
believe that a man cannot keep at his best for ten hours in certain
industries--not in all."

"Long hours do not mean big production, Maitland. Not long hours but
intensive and co-ordinated work bring up production and lower production
costs."

"What about idle machines and overhead?" inquired Maitland.

"A very important consideration," said the minister. "The only sound
rule governing factory industry especially is this: the longest possible
machine time, the shortest possible man time. But here again it is
a question of organisation, adjustment and co-ordination of work and
workers. We all want education here."

"If I remember right," said McNish, and he could not keep the bitterness
out of his voice, "I have heard you say something in the pulpit at times
in regard to