The Six-Hour Day, and other Industrial Questions. By Lord Leverhuhne.
(Allen and Unwin. 12s. 6d. net.)—As a successful employer who practises what he preaches, Lord Leverhulme com- mands attention when he speaks of shorter hours of labour, co- partnership, piece-work, housing, and kindred questions. The most notable of these addresses, collected by Mr. Stanley Unwin, with a Preface by Lord Haldane, advocates a six-hour day, with two shifts, in all industries in which the "overhead charges " (interest, salaries of management, repairs, depreciation, and rates) are equal to or larger than the cost of weekly wages. Lord Lever- hulme's view is that the employees work better in a short working day and might produce as much in six hours as in eight hours, and that in any case the machinery could be utilized more profitably by running for the double shift Of twelve hours than for the single shift of eight hours. He emphasizes again and again the fundamental truths that increased production is the basis of prosperity, and that high wages and shorter hours are possible only if the employees honestly do their best while they are at work. The policy of " ca' canny " in a competitive world is as bad for the workman as it is for the employer. One reason why American industry has gone ahead by leaps and bounds is that the American Trade Unionists have known better than to restrict output.
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