Most  attractive  are  the  workers'  homes  and  these  are,  of
course,  immensely  helped  by  the  remarkable  cleanliness  of
the  atmosphere.  This,  in  turn,  is  due  to  the  very  up-to-
date  plan  whereby  practically  all  the  local  factories  buy
their  power  of  the  city  electric-light  plant — at  an  extremely
low  cost.  From  the  huge  stacks  of  this  establishment — ■
called  by  leading  citizens  'Hhe  most  efficient  electric  plant
in  England" — not  a  wisp  of  smoke  is  to  be  seen.  The
Labor  party's  proposal  for  cheapening  production  and  im-
proving life  throughout  the  industrial  cities  of  the  country
by  locating  such  plants  at  mine  mouth  certainly  look  good
after  weeks  in  such  places  as  Swansea,  Glasgow,  Middles-
brough, and  Sheffield — not  to  mention  Cleveland,  Pitts-
burgh, South  Chicago,  etc.
Coventry  is  said  to  set  the  pace  for  the  country  on  wages,
though  considered  more  or  less  of  a  law  unto  itself  with  so
much  emphasis  on  piece-work,  skilled  men,  and  exceptional
living  and  working  conditions.  Certainly  there  is  an  ex-
ceptional looking  lot  of  men  in  the  plants  visited.  If  any
outstanding  unhappiness  is  peculiar  to  the  place  it  might
come  from  that  feeling  that  the  pay  for  the  skilled  men  is
unduly  low  in  comparison  with  the  unskilled — especially
likely  where  as  here  a  threat  is  being  constantly  made  upon
skilled  jobs  by  the  rapid  advance  of  the  machine  tools
which  permits — in  fact,  favors — the  increasing  use  of  non-
skilled  or  semi-skilled  men.  Of  course,  a  careful  labor
diagnosis  might  discover  unreasonable  or  unfair  employers.
