The Ministry of Labour has always the General Council to consult, which represents the whole of organized labour, and the National Confederation of Employers’ Organizations, reinforced for consultation with any employers’ organizations outside that Confederation. If a joint conference with employers and Trade Unions is desired by Government such can always now be easily arranged. Regulation of Combinations and Monopolies Combination is inherent in industrial progress; this is fully recognized by Labour. The addendum to the Report of the Committee on Trusts (_Parliamentary Paper_, 1919, Cd. 9236) signed (amongst others) by such stalwart members of the Labour Party as Messrs. Bevan and Sidney Webb, stated: “We have to recognize that association and combination in production and distribution are steps to the greater efficiency, the increased economy and the better organization of industry; we regard this evolution as inevitable and desirable.” This fact compels the Government to protect the consuming public against exploitation by combinations and monopolies. The principles along which such protective action should proceed are indicated in the Report of this Committee, which has received the official approval of the Federation of British Industries. Shortly put, they throw on the Board of Trade the duty of inquiring into any reasonable complaints, of referring any questions arising out of their inquiry to a special tribunal for investigation and report, and of recommending to the Government action for the remedying of any grievances found to exist by the tribunal. The Federation properly insists upon two safeguards: first, avoidance of any restriction prejudicing the position of British industry in the export trade, and, secondly, caution against any communication to foreign competitors of information regarding British trade associations or combines. There have been suggestions made by some public men that statutory limits should be placed upon dividends of industrial concerns. Such restrictions have in the past been imposed upon the payment of dividends by companies supplying, under powers of statutory monopoly, public necessities like gas and water, but economic history shows conclusively that anything in the nature of a statutory limitation of dividends for concerns not supplying a monopoly but marketing its product in a competitive market is seriously destructive of efficiency and enterprise. CHAPTER XXIV THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED 1. CONTENTMENT IN INDUSTRY (_a_) Provision against Unemployment—Equalization of Demand for Labour—Insurance against Unemployment—Need of a Job-Finding Organization—Insurance by State or Industry—State Insurance—Insurance by Industry or Industries—Reform of Present Out-Door Relief System—Unemployment Insurance by Firms.