he moment and
of possible appliances that may be used is required, and prompt action
may be necessary. A man steering a boat in a storm would hardly succeed
if he had to consult a committee before moving the helm. The object of
the councils would not be to undertake the general management of the
business, but should be directed to the relation of workers and
management, to secure efficiency and greater production, a fair
participation in and distribution of the benefits derived from success,
and wholesome conditions for those engaged in the work, and to avoid
dispute by agreeing action beforehand wherever possible. Thirdly, in
this as in most other cases where power is given to representatives of
organised bodies, there is a risk of undue interference with the
liberty of those who do not belong to them or who are in a minority. A
dead level of uniformity may be secured, experiments and new lines of
action by enterprising and original minds may be interfered with. The
old problem of reconciling high organisation and corporate action with
individual liberty may present itself in an acute form.

Already before the War the tendency to crush out individuality was
becoming stronger and stronger, the private firms of manufacturers were
being squeezed out by highly organised combines, or tempted by high
prices offered to hand over their businesses to them. In banking,
similarly, the absorption and amalgamation of smaller banks has been
going on with startling rapidity. The personal relationship between the
customer and the banker, who would grant loans and overdrafts because he
knew the character and position of the borrower in each case, will no
longer exist. The business was safe enough when the manager of a country
bank probably knew whether a customer's butcher's bills were becoming
excessive. Now everything must be referred to London for decision
according to some fixed general rule. The convenience and the
accommodation of the man with a small account count for very little. A
more serious question is the effect which these amalgamations may have
on the relations between bankers and those who are engaged in
manufacturing business.

The old personal relationship between the mill-owner and his employees,
when his garden adjoined the mill yard, when they spoke of him by his
Christian name, and he knew their family affairs and was ready to help
in time of difficulty and distress and to take a lead in any local
effort or supp