those classes of labour above the casual grades, on the other. Those classes have, of course, felt the rise of prices too. But beyond this they have had specific, but perfectly curable, causes for unrest, the remedy for which lies in oiling, not in scrapping, existing machinery.
The first of these causes has been the vigorous effort made in recent years by English capital to improve its industrial organisation, so as to be not merely abreast of the world but ahead of it.
For instance, as a member of the recent Committee appointed by the Board of Trade to investigate and reorganise the published accounts of our railways, I have realised the extent to which, since 1902, our railways have speeded up their methods of handling traffic, a process which has necessitated stricter supervision of the men and insistence on better working. Hence active discontent.
Another cause of unrest is the recent severe fluctuation in industry caused by the South African War, succeeded by the American, or rather the world-wide, crisis of 1907.
For example, shipping, after some few years of most acute depression, became unusually brisk and profitable in 1911. Now that prices were higher, the seamen and firemen expected more. It is true that during the last fifteen years their wages had risen by about 6 per cent, but this was not much by comparison with greater advances in other trades, and was also wiped out by higher prices. On the side of the owners was the
