Page:The humanizing of commerce and industry, the Joseph Fisher lecture in commerce, delivered in Adelaide, 9th May, 1919.pdf/36

 census of 1911 there are only twenty-three thousand people of independent means in Australia; the balance of us are all workers. It may be that our present organization throughout the community is faulty; it may be that some people receive more money or remuneration than they should; it certainly is true that there is much waste effort. Obviously, if we can eliminate this waste effort and direct it to productive channels there will be a greater pool of resources from which we can all draw our share. It is for Parliament, in accordance with the will of the majority, to adjust the basis of sharing, by taxation or by other means. It seems probable in most English-speaking countries that in the years to come there will be some limitation of profits; we have already seen the principle introduced in the coal trade in Great Britain. What other changes will follow time alone will show, but I suggest that by making the human factor the most important and the one to receive first consideration in commerce and industry, we will be taking the first great step towards the solution of our difficulties in this, the greatest transition period which the world has ever faced.

We are all members of the one big union the great Australian Union. It covers every man, woman, and child in our country. We want to help each other, but it is so difficult to find practical ways and means. Their evolution will be slow, and can only come from sustained thought, effort and planning. Therefore we must be patient. But we should seek to make our one big Australian union so real that all can achieve happiness, and only then can we demonstrate that we are truly one people with one destiny.