Page:The humanizing of commerce and industry, the Joseph Fisher lecture in commerce, delivered in Adelaide, 9th May, 1919.pdf/25

 say, "We give everybody the basic conditions of happiness which insure to them at least a minimum, and we leave everybody free, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others, to go on and develop to the fullest, the capacity within them."

If we reach such a time, what will the duty of the individual be? If the community is warm-hearted, generous, and thoughtful of the individual, will the individual give a return in kind? I feel sure of it. In our Australian community at least eighty-five per cent, of our people are decent, clean, white Australians, and with our majority rule they must always prevail. At the same time we have to do a little clear thinking on the question of equality. No matter what social system we are living under, we must realize that our industries will necessarily be organized in much the same way as they are at present. If you are to get high production you must have organization; if you are to have organization you must have discipline. The idea that an industry could be run by a committee of workmen is absurd. I have frequently pointed out in discussions with representatives of employees that every man in a community has two capacities. In the business in which he is engaged he has a position according to his capacity, and most of us find that owing to superior intelligence, or training, or knowledge, there are many people who occupy higher positions than we do. If we sought to alter these conditions and reduce all to an equality, we should in any organized industry where high technical knowledge is required, reduce our production to about one-tenth, and possibly to zero. For instance, in such a business as the Smelters of Port Pirie, there is a highly-trained staff of metallurgists, superintendents, and experts. These men have had a training from their early years in this particular business; if they had to commence to learn at their time of life to-day they would find it impossible to acquire the required knowledge. If a committee of workmen owned the Smelters and ran them, and, say, twenty experts were withdrawn, the production of lead would probably total not more than ten thousand tons a year. If the twenty experts then returned and took charge with exactly the same plant and exactly the same labour force, their production would be what it is at present about a hundred and fifty thousand tons a year. We see, therefore, that the direct product of the labour force, uncontrolled and undirected, would possibly be ten thousand tons a year, but controlled and