The principles of industrial welfare / by John Lee.

  • Lee, John, 1867-1928
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The principles of industrial welfare / by John Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pension systems and the like, in the hands of unit indus- tries, give too great a power. There are far too many cases to-day, to be quite healthy, where men with exceptional skill and qualifications are being retained by industries under terms which are quite definitely below the market value. It may be, on the other hand, that the acceptance of any method of welfare to some extent at least modifies the whole theory of market value, and that industry in its methods of remuneration will approximate to the methods which are inevitable in the Civil service and the Municipal services. It may be, too, that in order to ensure mobility, such wages would have to be paid as would enable men to establish a personal fund as a stand- by. What seems to be plainly certain is that the accept- ance of any doctrine of industrial welfare whatever must modify, to an extent even greater than we already have examined, those theories of payment for work done which have seemed to lie at the roots of industrial development. Naturally, therefore, all welfare methods, in their applica- tion, will have some irksomeness for particular persons and for particular types of persons. These, too, will be the best types. Granted that in civilization there are many tendencies which are conserving mediocrity it must be admitted that welfare methods, in many respects, are in the same direction. They are based upon the principle of mediocrity. To say this is not to speak slightingly. After all it may be that human nature is mediocre. It may be that certain men and women have stood out as being especially capable, not because of their own merits but rather because of onerous con- ditions which unjustly have depressed the others. It is no answer to the Socialist that his scheme would tend to make men equal. We have to be quite certain that it is not the truth that Socialism would disclose an equality which our present system has masked. It may further be said that if some men and women are to stand out as leaders it is just as well that the level from which they
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