Thirdly, More Financial Publicity. Secrecy as to profits, which always
suggests that they are as large as to make one ashamed of them, has been
the bane of the coal-mining industry. For nearly half a century wages
have borne some relation to _selling prices_, and there have been
quarterly audits of typical selected mines in each district by joint
auditors appointed by the owners and the miners. But over _profits_ a
curtain was drawn, except in so far as the compulsory filing at Somerset
House by public companies of a document called a Statement in the form
of a balance sheet, enabled the curious to draw not very accurate
conclusions. It is not easy for the plain man to read a balance sheet or
estimate profits, especially when shares are being subdivided, or when
bonus shares are being issued, or large sums carried to reserve. The
result has been continual and natural suspicion on the part of the
miners, who doubtless imagined the colliery-owners' profits to be much
larger than they were. The miners knew that whenever they asked for an
increase in their wages they were liable to be told that such an
increase would turn a moderate profit into a substantial loss, but the
amount of the profit they had to take on trust. Selling prices, yes, but
profits, no.
The war and coal control partly killed that, and it must not return. By
the settlement of June, 1921, for the first time the miners have
established the principle of the adjustment of their wages in accordance
with the proceeds of the industry "as ascertained by returns to be made
by the owners, checked by a joint test audit of the owners' books
carried out by independent accountants appointed by each side." That is
an important step, but does not go anything like far enough.
At least two good results would accrue if colliery-owners conducted
their business more in public: (i) a great deal of the suspicion and
mistrust of the miners would be removed, and they would realise why and
when their wages must undergo fluctuations, and the value of the many
other factors besides wages which went to make up the pit-head cost of
coal; (ii) publicity coupled with _costing returns_ would make it
possible to draw comparative conclusions as to the cost of production in
different mines and districts, which would be a fruitful source of
experiment and improvement. Publicity does not involve publication of
lists of customers, British or foreign.