OXFORD. ENGLAND,
University of Oxford. Department of Physiology.
Sir Charles Sherrington.
i
When in Oxford I had a long conference with Professor Sherrington,
who was discussing his experiences on a commission which dealt with the
relations between labor and capital shortly after the war. He was more
or less the arbitration member, for the commission was ma.de up of two labor
representatives, two representatives of capital, and he was the fifth.
They were discussing the great importance of bettering the relations be¬
tween the two sides and cooperating in an extensive program to better pro¬
duction and meet competition. Discussing the various conditions to be met,
especially in the matter of competition, one of the labor men spoke up and
said, "We must not forget that America has gone dry." This impressed Sher¬
rington as a mute recognition of the importance of prohibition in labor
productiveness. He was sure that prohibition was best for labor, but he
thought it might have been met in another way than was done in the United
States.
Sherrington was discussing the relationship between the Socialists and
spoke about walking with Eddinger, a Jew, in Frankfurt, and discussing
the matter of economic waste. Eddinger pointed out the great paternalism
of the German government in buildings, bridges, and in instituting welfare
insurance, and stated that whem any workman moved from one town to another
he would have a transfer of his deposits and his policies and he would
know always just where he was. This he pointed out was the great benefit
of the German social legislation.
He also told of an incident when he went to visit Pawlow in St. Peters¬
burg. Sherrington's brother apparently was on some economic commission,
and they were invited to go out to the Czar's summer home. They were in-