Industrial Reconstruction in Great Britain

Abstract

A STATEMENT on “A National Policy for Industry” has been issued by a group of 120 industrialists in Great Britain as a contribution to the discussions on reconstruction (The Times, November 11). The statement, while urging that, as a producer, industry is by far the largest contributor to the material welfare of the nation, recognizes that industry has a three-fold public responsibility: to the public which consumes its products ; to the public which it employs ; and to the public which provides the capital by which it operates and develops. The underlying conviction of the whole document is that the spirit which should animate industry is service to the community as a whole, and emphasis is laid on four principles: (1) that the primary duty of industry is to the consumer ; (2) that industry should acknowledge by accepting a code of performance towards the workers the partnership of labour in industry ; (3) that in any central or sectional organization of industry special steps should be taken to safeguard the interests of small producers ; and (4) that whatever form the further organization of industry may take should be and should remain a matter for the determination of Parliament.