other countries, and
the issue of advertising circulars has been subsidised by the Post
Office, which delivered them at a rate lower than that charged for
delivery of the letters, or even the postcards, of the poorest, though
the trouble involved is the same. The patent laws, again, have been
exploited to protect the large manufacturer, who fences some form of
production by taking out a string of patents often where there is no
meritorious invention at all. The rubbishy specifications are flourished
in the face of a poor competitor, and form a basis for threats which a
man who is not wealthy dare not resist, knowing the heavy cost of
fighting any patent action whether successful or not. "To him that hath
shall be given" ought not to be a maxim to guide legislators or any
department of Government.

To return from this digression. One great advantage of the councils
would be that those who represent the workmen upon them will probably be
men who are actually engaged in manual work in the trades concerned, or
have been so engaged, and who will look at each question practically.
The agitator who lives on grievances and disputes, the politician "on
the make," or the well-meaning and half-informed enthusiast from
outside, is not likely to find a place on councils whose object it is to
see how interests which investors, managers, and workmen have in common
can best be promoted, and how the share of each in the work and its
profits can be more fairly assigned and distributed instead of attention
being concentrated on matters in which their interests seem to be in
conflict.

Another difficulty of more direct importance with regard to the
proposed councils is already arising. The relative powers and position
of the shop stewards chosen by the men in each works and of the unions
representing industry as a whole in any district have to be settled.
There are also overlapping unions competing for influence and support,
and sometimes doing so by making excessive demands. The events of the
next few months may lead either to an accentuation or to a partial
solution of these questions which are perhaps the most serious at
present affecting industrial peace. It is better not to anticipate.
Prophecy might be falsified too soon and too palpably, and the position,
which changes from week to week, is too critical for anyone to discuss
unless he has full and exact knowledge of the facts and clear
understanding of the way in which undercurre