Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World WarHopkinson, Alfred, Sir
History
Rebuilding Britain: A Survey of Problems of Reconstruction After the World War
Hopkinson, Alfred, Sir
Reconstruction (1914-1939) -- Great Britain
But knowledge and training are not all that is wanted.
It is essential that all classes connected with industry should realise
that increased production in established and well-understood industries
is essential, and that it can only be obtained, first, by willing and
vigorous work on the part of the workman, aiming at producing as much as
possible in the hours during which labour can be efficiently carried on
without detriment to health or depriving the labourer of the
opportunities of enjoying a life outside his daily routine; and,
secondly, by the increased use of the best machinery and labour-saving
appliances and working such machinery to its fullest capacity. Instead
of that, it has often been the policy to restrict the production of each
man's labour, one reason being lest there should not be enough
employment to go round, and also to view the introduction of machinery
which might displace labour with hostility and suspicion. In order to
give the leisure which the workman needs for a full and healthy life,
and to provide a wage which will enable him to secure the 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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