16
In the Shadow of the Factories
\2ist February', 2,940]
BY 1938, there was no intelligent and well-
informed person that did not know that the
growth of Germany's output of war material
was such that if Great Britain and France were
not to be annihilated, they must smother their
repugnance and begin in their turn the labour of war.
In England the adaptation assumed two forms.
Entirely new factories were set up, while in the
shadow of the peace-time industries, war factories
were made ready which could take their place when
the moment came. They were an ingenious idea,
these shadow-factories, for while the obvious course,
if one wants to build tanks for example, is to utilize
the experience and workmanship of the motor
industry, it is far less irksome to create a system of
machine-tools that is new in all its phases than to
adapt as best one can a system designed for other
purposes. By placing the new factory within range
of die old, the Government could say to the big
manufacturers: Tou will be permitted to continue
a very small proportion of your normal production
on your dormant system, but the remainder of your
"5