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 undercurrents are setting.




CHAPTER XI

LONG HOURS

_Our life is turned_
_Out of her course wherever man is made_
_An offering, or a sacrifice, a tool_
_Or implement, a passive thing employed_
_As a brute mean, without acknowledgment_