Part 18

The plan on which we have proceeded until recently I explained to the House in April. We recognized that the arsenals then in existence were quite inadequate to supply the new Army or even the old Army, giving the necessary material and taking into account the rate at which ammunition was being expended. We had, therefore, to organize new sources of supply, and the War Office was of opinion that the best method of attaining that object was to work through existing firms, so as to have expert control and direction over companies and workshops, which up to that time had no experience in turning out shells and guns and ammunition of all sorts. There was a great deal to be said for that. There was, first of all, a difficulty unless something of that kind was done of mobilizing all the resources at the disposal of the State. The total Army Estimates were £28,000,000 in the year of peace. They suddenly became £700,000,000. All that represents not merely twenty or twenty-five times as much money; it means twenty or twenty-five times as much work. It means more than that, because it has to be done under pressure. The sort of business which takes years to build up, develop, strengthen, and improve has suddenly to be done in about five, six, seven, or eight months. The War Office came to the conclusion that the best way of doing that was to utilize the skill of existing firms which were capable of doing this work. The War Office staff are hard-working, capable men, but there are not enough. There is one consideration which cannot be left out of account, and that is that men who are quite equal to running long-established businesses run on old-established lines, may not always be adequate to the task of organizing and administering a business thirty times its size on novel and original lines.

To be quite candid, the organizing firms--the armament firms--were also inadequate to the gigantic task cast upon them of not merely organizing their own work but of developing the resources of the country outside. They could not command the stock, and sub-contracting has undoubtedly been a failure. Sub-contracting has produced something like 10,000 shells a month. We have only been at it a few days, and we have already placed with responsible firms orders for 150,000 shells a month. In a very short time I am confident it will be a quarter of a million or 300,000. (Cheers.) It is a process of inviting business men to organize themselves and to assist us to develop the resources of their district.

We have secured a very large number of business men; many business men are engaged in organizing and directing their own business, business which is just as essential to the State in a period of war as even the organization of this office; but still there are the services of many able business men which are available, and we propose to utilize them to the full, first, in the Central Office to organize it; secondly, in the localities to organize the resources there; and, thirdly, we propose to have a great Central Advisory Committee of business men to aid us to come to the right conclusions in dealing with the business community.

I should like just to point out two or three of the difficulties, in order to show the steps which are taken to overcome them. The first difficulty, of course, is that of materials. There is, as I pointed out, material of which you have abundance in this country, but there are others which you have got to husband very carefully, and there is other material on which you have got to spend a considerable sum of money in order to be able to develop it at a later stage. With regard to this question, I think that it might be necessary ultimately for us to take complete control of the Metal Market, so that available material should not be wasted on non-essential work. (Hear, hear.) To a certain extent we have done that.

I should like to say a word with regard to raw material for explosives. We are building new factories so that the expansion of explosives shall keep pace with that of shells, and in this respect, again, I should like to dwell upon the importance of keeping up our coal supplies in this country. It is the basis of all our high-explosives, and if there were a shortage for any reason the consequences would be very calamitous.

Sometimes we do not get the best in these yards through the slackness of a minority and sometimes through regulations, useful, perhaps essential, in times of peace for the protection of men against undue pressure and strain, but which in times of war have the effect of restricting output. If these are withdrawn no doubt it increases the strain on the men, and in a long course of years they could not stand it. But in times of war everybody is working at full strain, and therefore it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of suspending restrictions which have the effect of diminishing the output of war material.

The fourth point is that the danger of having stoppages of work by means of strikes and lock-outs ought to be removed during the time of the war. (Hear, hear.) I should have liked to have seen strikes and lock-outs during the war made impossible in any trade, and I do not despair of getting the assent of those who object to compulsory arbitration under normal conditions to a temporary application of that principle during the period of the war.

The next step is one in which the Trade Unions are concerned. There was a very frank discussion between the leaders of the Trade Unions and myself, and I was bound to point out that if there were an inadequate supply of labor for the purpose of turning out munitions of war which are necessary for the safety of the country compulsion would be inevitable.

They put forward as an alternative that the Government should give them the chance of supplying that number of men. They said, "Give us seven days, and if in seven days we cannot get the men we will admit that our case is considerably weakened." They asked us to place the whole machinery of Government at their disposal, because they had not the organization to enlist the number. We have arranged terms upon which the men are to be enlisted, and tomorrow morning the seven days begin. Advertisements will appear in all the papers, an office has been organized, and the Trade Union representatives are sitting there in council directing the recruiting operations. I am not sure, but I believe my honorable friend Mr. Brace is the Adjutant-General. Tomorrow we hope to be able to make a start. We have 180 town halls in different parts of the country placed entirely at our disposal as recruiting offices. We invite the assistance of everybody to try to secure as many volunteers as they possibly can--men who are not engaged upon Government work now, skilled men--to enroll themselves in the Trade Union army for the purpose of going anywhere where the Government invited them to go to assist in turning out different munitions of war. If there are any honorable friends of mine who are opposed to compulsion, the most effective service they can render to voluntarism is to make this army a success. (Cheers.) If we succeed by these means--and the Board of Trade, the Munitions Department, and the War Office are placing all their services at the disposal of this new recruiting office--if within seven days we secure the labor, then the need for industrial compulsion will to that extent have been taken away.

CALL TO BRITISH WORKERS

_In a special cable dispatch to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES, _dated June 24, appeared the following:_

"England expects every workman to do his duty," is the new rendering of Nelson's Trafalgar signal which is being flagged throughout the country today. Lloyd George has issued an appeal to organized labor to come forward within the next seven days in a last supreme effort on behalf of the voluntary system, and if it fails nothing remains but compulsion.

The appeal is being put before them by advertisements in newspapers, by speeches from labor leaders, and by meetings throughout the country. A new workmen's army is being recruited just as Kitchener's army was, and only seven days are given to gather together what may be termed a mobile army of industry. It is estimated that a quarter of a million men well equipped for the purposes required are available outside the ranks of those already engaged in the manufacture of munitions. Nearly two hundred industrial recruiting offices throughout the country opened at six o'clock last night, and, judging by reports already to hand, the voluntary system seems again likely to justify itself.

"To British Workmen: Your skill is needed," runs one advertisement. "There are thousands of skilled men who are burning to do something for King and country. By becoming a war munitions volunteer each of them can do his bit for his homeland. Get into a factory and supply the firing line."

Posters and small bills with both an artistic and literary "punch" are being prepared and sent out for distribution. Newspapers with special working class clientèle are making direct appeals to their readers.

TEN THOUSAND MEN A DAY

_Mr. H.E. Morgan, of the War Munitions Ministry, said in an interview printed by The London Daily Chronicle on July 1:_

The War Munition Volunteers have amply justified their formation. During the last two days the enrolments throughout the country have averaged ten thousand skilled and fully qualified mechanics, who are exactly the type of worker we want. So far as the men are concerned, the voluntary principle in industrial labor has triumphed.

We have already transferred a large number of skilled mechanics from non-war work to munition making, and daily the number grows. London compares excellently with other places as regards the number of volunteers, but naturally most of the men are coming from the great engineering centres in the North and Midlands.

A REGISTER OF 90,000

_In a London dispatch of the Associated Press, dated July 16, this report appeared:_

After upward of a fortnight's work in the six hundred bureaus which were opened when the Minister of Munitions, David Lloyd George, gave labor the opportunity voluntarily to enroll as munitions operatives, closed today with a total registration of ninety thousand men. Registration hereafter will be carried out through the labor exchanges.

More men are needed, but the chief difficulty now is to place them on war work with a minimum of red tape. H.G. Morgan, assistant director of the Munitions Department, said today that this problem was causing some unrest among the workers, but that the transfers would take time, for the Government was anxious not to disturb industry more than necessary.

"The problem almost amounts to a rearrangement of the whole skilled labor of the country," said Mr. Morgan. "This, of course, will take considerable time."

THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUED

_A cable dispatch from London to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _said on July 15:_

The Daily Chronicle says that a campaign to urge munition workers to even greater efforts is to open today with a meeting at Grantham, and next week meetings will be held at Luton, Gloucester, Stafford, Preston, and other centres. In the course of the next few weeks hundreds of meetings will take place in all parts of the Kingdom.

The campaign has been organized by the Munitions Parliamentary Committee, the secretaries of which have received the following letter from Munitions Minister Lloyd George:

"I am glad to hear that members of the House are responding so enthusiastically to my pressing appeal to them to undertake a campaign in the country to impress upon employers and workers in munitions shops the urgent and even vital necessity for a grand and immediate increase in the output of munitions of war."

Professor Mantoux has been asked by the French Munitions Minister to keep in touch with the campaign and to report from time to time as to the results achieved. It is felt that what affects England affects France, and later a similar campaign may be inaugurated in that country.

Sixty members of Parliament have promised to speak at the meetings.

COAL STRIKE IN WALES

_Most of the coal for Great Britain's navy comes from South Wales, and the supply was reduced by the enlistment of sixty thousand Welsh miners in the army. The labor crisis was first threatened three months ago, when the miners gave notice that they would terminate the existing agreements on July 1, and, in lieu of these, they proposed a national program, giving an all-around increase in wages. The owners objected to the consideration of the new terms during the war and asked the miners to accept the existing agreements plus a war bonus. After a series of conferences the union officials agreed to recommend a compromise, which was arranged through the Board of Trade. The miners, however, voted yesterday against this, and the Government was obliged to take action._

_On July 16 the Associated Press cabled from London:_

The Executive Committee of the South Wales Miners' Federation, most of the members of which are opposed to the strike, came to London today and conferred with Walter Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, who, it is understood, made new proposals for a settlement of the trouble, which will be considered at a meeting in the morning.

There is no indication of any weakening on the part of the men. Even the men in one district who last night decided to resume work reversed their decision, and not a pick was moving today.

However, the impression still prevails that a few days will see an end of the walkout. It is not believed that the introduction of the Munitions of War act can force the men to return to work, for it is impossible to bring 150,000 men before the courts to impose fines for contravening the act.

In fact, the resort to this measure is believed rather to have made the situation worse, and the men's demands now include its withdrawal so far as coal mining is concerned.

_An Associated Press dispatch from Cardiff, Wales, on July 20 reported:_

Subject to ratification by the miners themselves through delegates who will assemble tomorrow, representatives of the Government and of the coal mine owners on the one hand, and the Executive Committee of the South Wales Miners' Federation on the other, agreed today to terms that, it is thought, will end the coal miners' strike, which, since last Thursday, has tied up the South Wales coal fields and menaced the fuel supply of the navy.

The terms arrived at grant a substantial increase in wages and involve concessions to the strikers which are considered by their Executive Committee as tantamount to an admission of the miners' claims on nearly all the outstanding points. Tonight the delegates were visiting their districts, canvassing the sentiment there preparatory to tomorrow's vote.

If tomorrow's meeting should bring a settlement of the strike the thanks of the country will go chiefly to David Lloyd George, the Munitions Minister, for it was his arrival here last night that paved the way for breaking the deadlock between the miners and the mine owners.

If the vote tomorrow is favorable to ending the strike, two hundred thousand men will return to work immediately and agree to abide by the terms of the settlement until six months after the termination of the war.

AMMUNITION IN FRANCE

_M. Millerand, French Minister of War, after the Senate had approved, on June 29, the bill appropriating $1,200,000,000 for war expenses of the third quarter of the year, reported as quoted by the Associated Press:_

From August 1 to April 1 France has increased her military production sixfold. The curve for munitions has never ceased to mount, nor that representing the manufacture of our 75s. I can give satisfying assurances also regarding the heavy artillery and small arms. From the 1st of January to the 15th of May the other essentials of the war have been equally encouraging. We are determined to pursue our enemies, whatever arms they may employ.

_Yves Guyot, the economist and late Minister of Public Works in France, said to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _correspondent on July 3:_

France can hold her own against Germany. She herself makes all the shells that play such havoc in the enemy's ranks, and she will keep on making all she needs.

The munitions problem in France is not so acute as in England. In France as soon as the war started we began turning out the shells as fast as our factories could work. So, in a short time, they were going full blast. We have been able to supply our army with ample ammunition and to have shells enough to shake up the enemy whenever we put on spurts.

It is vitally important that England has come to the realization of the need of equipping her own army with adequate ammunition. Up to now the English Army has been sadly handicapped, but with the energetic Lloyd George in command the munitions output in the near future is certain to bring a sudden change in the status of England in the war.

We in France being in such immediate contact with the horrors of war had a stern sense of the necessity of fully equipping our army forced upon us at the very beginning of the conflict. The only thing we have lacked has been steel, and we have been getting some of that from our old friend, the United States. France has steel plants, and they do a tremendous amount of work, but altogether they do not turn out enough for our ammunition works. So we had to turn elsewhere for some of this product, and it was America that came to our aid.

We have got the steel with which to make shells. Our workmen are well organized and the whole spirit prevailing among them is to help France to win the bloodiest war of her history.

_The London Daily Chronicle in an interview with Albert Thomas, French Minister of Munitions, quoted him as follows on July 8:_

It is our duty to organize victory. To this we are bending all our energies. The war may be long; difficulties may reach us of which we had no prevision at the start; but we shall keep on until the end.

We know how great are the resources of Britain. We know what immense efforts she has put forth, which have been a surprise not only to us but to the enemy as well, and we have every reason for believing and knowing that these immense resources will continue to be used in the service of the Allies.

Understand me, I do not say that our common task is an easy one, nor do I say that we are on the eve of a speedy victory; but what I do say is that be the struggle long or short, we are both ready to double, to treble, to quadruple, and, if necessary, to increase tenfold the output of munitions of war.

We have pooled our resources, and I, for one, have no doubt, that these resources are great enough to stand any strain which we may be called upon to put upon them; nor have I any fear of an ultimate triumph. All the great moral forces of the world are on our side. The Allies are fighting for the freeing of Europe from the domination of militarism; and that is fighting into which every democrat can throw himself heart and soul. Defeat in such a cause is unthinkable.

RUSSIAN INDUSTRIALISTS RALLY

_The Petrograd correspondent of the London Morning Post reported on June 11th the annual assembly of leading members of the world of commerce and industry, as follows:_

Speakers urged a general rally round the Rulers of the States, and proposals were made that they should express collectively to the Ministers the readiness of the whole industrial and mercantile class represented at that congress to place themselves at the disposal of the State for the purpose of making better provision for the war. The example of England in instituting a Ministry of Munitions should serve as a guide to Russia. A deputation, it was urged, should be appointed to lay at the feet of the Emperor the heartfelt desire of all to devote themselves to the sole purpose of obtaining victory over Germanism and to expound the ideas of their class for the best means of employing their resources. England had turned all its manufacturing resources into factories of munitions of war, and Russia must do the same.

Some speakers referred to the lack of capital for the proper exploitation of the resources of the country, saying that this would be especially felt after the war was over. The Congress, however, declined to look beyond the all-important need of the moment, namely, to direct the entire resources of the country to the achievement of victory over Germanism.

The final sitting was attended by the President of the Duma, M. Rodzjanko, whose speech was listened to with profound feeling. The Congress passed with acclamation various patriotic resolutions, its main decision being to establish immediately a Central Committee for the provision of munitions of war. It is expected that by this means Russia will be able to accomplish what England is believed to be achieving in the same direction. Every factory and workshop throughout the country is to be organized for the supply of everything needed by the armies in the field.

SPEEDING GERMAN WORKMEN

_A "Neutral" correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle, just returned from Germany, was thus quoted in a cable dispatch to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _on June 28:_

It is in towns, particularly industrial towns, where one sees how entirely the German nation is organized for war. Into these towns an enormous number of men have been drafted from the country to work in factories, which are humming day and night with activity to keep up the supply of all things necessary for the fighting line.

In general, the relations between capital and labor there have experienced notable amelioration. Indeed, the impression one gains in traveling about Germany is one of absolute settled industrial peace, but I know this has only been secured because all parties know that the first signs of dissatisfaction would be treated "with the utmost rigor of the law."

At some of the largest factories men are often at work fifteen, twenty, and even thirty hours on a stretch, with only short intervals for rest. Though it is said that there are ample stocks of all kinds of ammunition, there is noted daily and nightly a feverish haste in the factories where it is made.

The Government has not officially taken over the factories, but it is well known that all factory owners who want Government work can get it, and, as this is almost the only profitable use to which factories can just now be put, there is no lack of candidates for recognition as army contractors.

Whenever a Government contract is given out there is a clause in the contract which fixes rates of wages for every grade of workmen so that any questions of increases that the men might raise are out of the hands of the employer, and he points to the fact that both he and the workmen are in the hands of the State. Strikes are therefore unknown, a further deterrent being the knowledge that any man who does not do his utmost without murmuring will quickly be embodied in some regiment destined for one of the hottest places at the front.

In factories where Government work is being done wages are high, and even in the few cases where wages of certain unskilled workers have fallen, the men are allowed to work practically until they drop and so make up by more hours what they have lost by the lowered rates.

There is keen competition to obtain work in the factories working for the State, as the men engaged in these know almost certainly that for some time at least they will not be sent to the front, which seems to be the chief dread underlying all other thoughts and feelings.

For work done on Sunday wages are 50 per cent. higher than the usual rate. The men are encouraged to work on Sundays and overtime on weekdays and the prices of food are so high they need little encouragement. Where women have taken the places of men their wages are in most cases lower.

KRUPPS' IMPENDING STRIKE