My War Memories, 19144918
it. The war profiteer is a repulsive phenomenon, and he and the corruption of his influence have done us incalculable haranu
At the suggestion of G.H,Q, changes had meanwhile been made in the Ministry of War.
A " War Bureau " was established as the central office for the control of the whole of our war industry. In this the Recruiting and Labour departments dealt with all questions of man-power, the Raw Material department with raw materials, and the above-mentioned Munitions Production Office with all questions of manufacture. The hopes I placed in the War Bureau for obtaining all the available man-power were not fulfilled. Even this Office seemed to look at all such questions in the light of domestic politics, instead of putting war necessities first* 1 had also hoped that it would succeed in bringing employers and work* men into closer relationship* The desire for mutual co-operation existed in many quarters.
The problem of manufacture would have been much simpler if the War Bureau had been given control from the start of our whole war industry, including engineering material, motor transport and aircraft. That was not done, and as a result the problem was never really tackled.
Efforts were also made in the occupied territories and in Poland and Belgium to promote war industries, This was only possible [to a limited extent, owing to the fluctuations in the military situation, on which we had to reckon, and the shortage of labour. There were difficulties of other kinds at times, For example, the Belgian workmen in the huge email-arms industries of the Ltege district were only willing to work if they received an assurance that the weapons they manufactured should not be used by German troops on the Western Front. This assurance could not be given*
We were thus compelled to remove from many places the machinery which was required by our war industries and transport it to Germany, where good use could be made of it for war purposes.
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