es would be vested with responsibility for
negotiations. They would be able to use the personal knowledge derived
from contact with the questions arising day by day. They would develop a
sense of independence and a sense of just dealing, so that the doctrine
of "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work" should apply not only to
the wages but to the work to be done, a thing which sometimes does not
occur. These committees could check the driving methods of some persons
in authority, and, whilst getting the best from those who are above
them, they could give the best, as I am sure they would provided the
spirit is created, from the workmen in return for the fairer treatment
they would enjoy. These committees could deal not only with manual
service and ordinary work and wage questions; they could develop a
better use of industrial capacity and technical knowledge in matters of
workshop life. But the spirit is everything, and the best desires of
equitable workshop management could find expression through those
committees if they were created. The committees would give a chance to
the many workmen who now talk a great deal about democracy to express
that democracy through the persons of the workmen themselves. I fear
there are many of our friends in the labour movement, as we term it, who
are given freely to talking of democracy without clearly understanding
all that is covered in that term. It is a term which, it is a pleasure
to see, has recently found its way not merely into the phrases of
statesmen, but into the King's speech itself. We are now speaking
commonly of all the sacrifices that are being made, of all the blood and
treasure that is being spilt, in order to have a wholesome democratic
system of world government. Well, we must begin in the workshops, for
you cannot have peace on a large scale the country over, or between
nation and nation, unless you have peace in our places of employment.
They are the starting points and there it is that your contented
millions must first be found. If they are not happy and if they are not
at ease in connexion with their national service, you cannot expect any
of those larger results for which highminded statesmen are seeking the
world over.

Upon two main lines, in my judgment, democracy will require the most
sane guidance and most sagacious advice which its leaders are capable of
giving to it. It will not do for leaders merely to say that the future
of the world must be decided