IN THE SHADOW OF THE FACTORIES

places, protects them with tarpaulin and says: "We
are now in production." Now and again somebody
says to him: "What about the walls? And the roof?"
"Roof?" he will say, "what's the use of a roof? At
least, it's not indispensable. What we want in war-
time is guns. . . ." And three months and four days
after his first visit—I can vouch for this—the guns
leave the factory/

Relations with France
Mr. Burgin, Minister of Supply, speaks excellent
French:
*My relations with M. Dautry?5 he said (M.
Dautry is his counterpart in France), "they amount
to close, fraternal collaboration. Each time we meet
we have before us a catalogue of every war necessity:
raw materials, machine-tools, accessories of all kinds.
I ask M. Dautry: "What do you need?" He runs
through his catalogue and says: "Here it is. ... I
want so many tons of this raw material and so many
of that." If I can I reply, "You shall have it by
such and such a date." And then he in his turn asks
what I myself require and I say perhaps: "I want ten
thousand tons of scrap-iron to cover the two weeks
ending such and such a date." He replies: "I can let
you have it." This is more than collaboration: it is
fellowship. Since the beginning of the war French
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