But I say deliberately
that there has never been an unemployment scheme in this country or in
any other country which has worked with so little abuse, with so few
anomalies, with so little demoralisation to any one, and at the same
time which has met so adequately the needs of a formidable situation, or
given such general satisfaction all round as that Cotton Control Board
scheme.
I cannot describe as fully as I should like to do the various features
which made that scheme attractive, and made it a success. I will take
just one by way of illustration. It is technically possible in the
cotton trade to work the mills with relays of workers, so that if a mill
has 100 work-people, and can only employ 80 work-people each week, the
whole 100 can work each for four weeks out of the five, and "play off,"
as it is called, in regular sequence for the fifth week. And that was
what was done for a long time. It was called the "rota" system; and the
"rota" week of "playing off" became a very popular institution.
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