In Part III I then proceed to the true purpose of the book—to indicate in broad outline what seems to me to be the only possible Labour policy for the future. It must satisfy, and be attuned to, the human qualities of the workers; Part III, therefore, starts with a description of the aspirations and sentiments of the workers as I found them in real life, and then proceeds to set out the principles that I think should govern the three greatest relationships in industry—that of the Government to industry—that between employers and employed—that between industry and the community. In my treatment of the subject I have tried to avoid academic disquisition, and to produce a discussion fitting as closely as possible to the actual realities of workshop life, as they came within my practical experience, first, as an engineer, and, later, in discharging for Government the duties of many war-time offices involving the control of labour. My own ascertainment of facts is opposed in many respects to what has been stated by other writers, but some three thousand close and intimate conferences during the war with employers’ organizations, Trade Union executives, district and branch committees, together with many mass meetings—at all of which careful notes were taken—to say nothing of having one’s finger daily on the pulse of over one million men, supply me with a groundwork of facts sufficiently convincing at any rate to my own judgment. That the Labour problem can eventually be solved with success by resolute perseverance along the line of principles suggested in Part III I feel certain. In the robust common sense of the British employer and the British workmen I have the utmost confidence. Of its ultimate triumph I am convinced. Time after time, during the war, when an industrial catastrophe seemed inevitable, I have seen common sense, acting on the national genius for compromise, serve to prevent both sides from going over the brink of the abyss that suddenly yawned. Along these principles a solution can be secured that will be stable and satisfactory alike to employers, the workers and the community. The first essential step to a solution is knowledge of the ingredients that make up the Labour problem, and there is no book, as far as I am aware, available to the general reader that states the matter plainly from a wide and practical experience quite as I have striven to do. That is my apology for publication of this book.