(2) that each trade should have a constitution;
(3) that labor should take part in the affairs of industry as partners rather than as employees in the narrow sense of the term;
(4) that closer contact should be set up between employers and employed.
A third report was prepared by the Ministry of Labor. This report deals with the constitution and operation of works committees in a number of industries. It is a valuable treatise on the objects, functions, and methods of procedure of joint committees.
Light has been thrown on the general questions treated by these inquiries in an able report by the Garton Foundation on The Industrial Situation after the War. This report is a study of the more permanent causes of industrial friction and inefficiency, and of the means by which they may be removed or their action circumscribed.
Mention of these several reports, taken at random, is made simply as indicative of the extent and variety of the study which has been given to the great problem of industrial reconstruction in England. All point toward the need of more adequate representation of labor in the conduct of industry and the importance of closer relations between labor and capital.
IV
A method of representation similar to the Whitley Plan, though less comprehensive, and which is constructed from the bottom up, has been in operation for varying periods of time in an ever increasing number of industries in the United States. This plan of representation is worthy of serious consideration. It begins with the election of representatives in a single plant and is capable of indefinite development, to meet the complex needs of any industry, and of wide extension, so as to include all industries. Equally applicable in industries where union or non-union labor or both are employed, it seeks to provide full and fair representation to labor, capital, and management, also taking cognizance of the community. Thus far it has developed a spirit of coöperation and goodwill which commends it to both employer and employee.
The outstanding features of this plan of industrial representation, varied to meet the special needs of each plant or company in which it has been adopted, are as follows:
Representatives chosen by the employees in proportion to their number, from their fellow workers in each plant, form the basis of the plan.