to establish is not conceived or applied in the equitable interest of society as a whole, but for the more profitable exploitation of a particular industry in the interests of the owners of its share capital. The elimination of the waste of competition between the business units which form a cartel or other combination for the profitable working of a particular industry does not normally accrue to the advantage of the consumer, though the employees of this rationalised industry may sometimes share in higher wages the advantages of a price-fixing economy.
This partial application of the process of rationalisation is, however, perhaps the best approach towards a study of the several problems involved in a rational government of industry. For it affords an insight into the nature of the existing misrule.
We may tabulate the fundamental defects of this industrial misrule as follows, beginning with the narrower settings.
1. There exists no equitable criterion for the rates of pay, wages, or salaries, for manual or mental workers in the various processes of production of goods or services in this or any other country. Neither risk to life or health, physical or mental effort, skill, initiative or responsibility, utility or other quality of product, determines pay or other conditions of employment to any appreciable extent in most occupations. Again, needs or standard of living, except so far as supported by a strong organisation with bargaining power, do not regulate
