The means of victory,a speechdelivered by the Rt. Hon. Edwin Montagu, M. P., minister of munitions, on the 15th August, 1916.

The Means of Victory

A SPEECH

delivered by

The Rt. Hon. Edwin Montagu, M.P.

MINISTER OF MUNITIONS,

on the \

15th AUGUST, 1916.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

T. FISHER UNWIN, Ltd..

U ADELPHI TERRACE, LONDON.

Price Sixpence.

Walter Clinton Jackson Library

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Special Collections & Rare Books

World War I Pamphlet Collection

THE MEANS OF VICTORY

A SPEECH

delivered by

The Rt. Hon. Edwin Montagu, M.P.,

MINISTER OF MUNITIONS,

on the

15th AUGUST, 1916.

T. FISHER UNWIN, Ltd.

I. ADELPHI TERRACE. LONDON,

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/meansofvictoryasOOmont

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

A Speech delivered by

THE RT. HON. EDWIN MONTAGU, M.P.,

MINISTER OF MUNITIONS.

I HAVE a very long, and if I could only express
it adequately, a very interesting story to tell
the House. I think there has been no Debate
on the Ministry of Munitions since December
last, when my right hon. Friend, who is now
Secretary of State for War, gave the House an
account of the marvellous work which has been
accomplished and outlined the work that still
remained to be done, and warned us that if the
nation did not throw itself heart and soul into
the struggle they might find themselves too late.
I should like to take the story up where he left
it, and I feel sure that I shall have the sympathy
of the House when I remind them that I have
only been in the office for a month, and that I
cannot pretend to know very much about it
myself. Even if I knew everything that was to
be known it would be impossible to describe the
whole Ministry and all its activities in one

3

(6536.)

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

speech, however long, and therefore I propose
to take one or two features of our work and try
and describe them.

THE OUTPUT OF AMMUNITION.

I will take, first, the question of output,
for it is by this first and foremost that the
House and the nation will ultimately judge
the Ministry of Munitions. I will begin with
shells. Figures have been given for some
other countries showing the increase in
the output of empty shell as a percentage of the
output at the beginning of the War. But our
output, which was only expected to supply an
Army of 200,000 men, was so negligible that
percentages on such a basis give quite fantastic
results. For example, the empty shell output
from home sources has increased since September,
1914, 170 times in the case of 18-pounder shells,
and 2,650 times in heavy natures.

I prefer to take as my basis of comparison the
average weekly production of complete rounds
up to the end of June, 1915, a year before the
Ministry of Munitions came into existence.
Compared with that, the rate of production of
18-pounder ammunition during the year 1915-16
was six and a half times that during the pre-
ceding year, and for the week ended 1st July,

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

1916, it was seventeen and a half times as great
as the average rate in 1914-15. The weekly
average production of ammunition for field
howitzers in 1915-16 was eight times that for
1914-15 and is now twenty-seven times as great.
The production of ammunition for medium
artillery increased seven and a half times in
1915-16, and is now more than thirty-four times
as great as the average weekly production up to
the end of June, 1915. The greatest increase of
all has been in the class of ammunition where
increase was most difficult. The average weekly
production of heavy shell was in 1915-16 twenty-
two times as great and is now ninety-four times
as great as it was in 1914-15. These figures can
be put in another way, and even, I think, more
graphically. The output which, in 1914-15, it
took twelve whole months to produce can now
be attained from home sources in the following
periods :

For 18-pounder ammunition in three weeks ;
For field howitzer ammunition in two weeks ;
For medium-sized shell in eleven days ; and
For heavy shell in four days.

That is to say, we are now producing every four
days as much heavy howitzer ammunition as it
took us a whole year to produce at the rate of

5

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

output of 1914-15. If we lump all natures of gun
and howitzer ammunition together, we are now
manufacturing and issuing to France every week
about as much as the whole pre-war stock of
land service ammunition in the country.

OUR BIG GUNS.

I come next to artillery, which is one of the
greatest features of development. Fifteen
months ago the Navy absorbed by far the
greater part of the factories suitable for manu-
facturing big guns. The armament firms of the
country had very little machinery or plant
capable of undertaking more than a mere
fraction of the Army gun programme, and it was
necessary to provide very large extensions of
buildings and to equip them with new machinery.
I am told that the area occupied by the new
buildings amounts to 1,000,000 square feet, and
it has been necessary to provide new machine
tools to the number of over 2,500 to cope with
the work. In addition to the armament firms,
hundreds of other engineering concerns all over
the country have been engaged in carrying out
the work of the programme, building gun
carriages, ammunition wagons, and all the
various accessories and spare parts required for
artillery. The result of these efforts is very
6

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

marked. We are now turning out in a month
nearly twice as many big guns as were in
existence for land service when the Ministry of
]\Iunitions started. The monthly output of
heavy guns increased more than sixfold between
June, 1915, and June, 1916, and the present rate
of output will eventually be nearly doubled. By
June, 1916, the monthly output of the 4.5-in.
howitzers had become three times as great as in
June, 1915. For every 100 18-pounders turned
out between the outbreak of War and the 31st
of May, 1915, about 500 were turned out in the
following year. As the equipment of 18-pounders
is now practically complete, manufacturing
capacity, except such as is required for repairs
and renewals, has been transferred to other uses.
I would remind the House that all this has been
done when, I think, something like half the
engineering capacity of this country is still
hypothecated to the Navy.

MACHINE GUNS AND RIFLES.

I turn to machine guns. The number of
machine guns accepted from the outbreak of
War to the end of May, 1915, was only one-
eighteenth of the number accepted in the next
twelve months, the weekly output having
increased, since the Ministry of Munitiops i^^as

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

founded, fourteenfold, and it is still increasing.
The total stock existing when the Ministry was
formed could be replaced in from three to four
weeks at the present rate of output. The wastage
of machine guns during periods of active opera-
tion is very heavy, and the demands of the War
Office are continually increasing both for ground
and aircraft work. But, notwithstanding great
increases, we shall very shortly have satisfied all
the requirements of the British Army. [An
Hon. Member asked a question which was
inaudible.] I said, although the requirements
are continually increasing, even the latest
increases we shall have satisfied in a very short
time, and I hope we will be able to turn our
manufactures to the benefit of our Allies.
Rifles are more difficult to increase than any
other munition of war. Nearly three times as
many new rifles of home manufacture were
accepted after inspection in the first year of the
Ministry's activities as were accepted from the
outbreak of War to the constitution of the
Ministry. In addition, many hundreds of
thousands of rifles have been repaired and
resighted. I understand rifles have always been
the chief factor limiting the number of men who
can be put in the field, and the best evidence
therefore of the progress of rifle output is the
8

TEE MEANS OF VICTORY.

size of the Army that we are now able to arm
and maintain overseas. It is a matter for con-
gratulation that the equipment of our whole
Army, both in machine guns and rifles, has been
accomplished from home sources alone. [An
Hon. Member : " America ! "] What I said is
true. The arming of our Arm}^ now overseas, as
regards machine guns and rifles, has been
wholly done from home sources.

In obtaining these results the chief credit
should be given to the Royal Small Arms
Factory at Enlield, which has done very good
work and turned out more rifles than was
thought possible, and has assisted and co-
ordinated the other factories. Without its help
I do not think the increase in British output
would have been anything like what it has been.
The home production of small- arms ammunition
is now three times as much per week as a year
ago. The output of small-arms ammunition has
necessitated the co-ordination of the brass and
cupro-nickel strip manufacture, and the results
have been so satisfactory that there has been
no shortage in supply. We have been able to
meet all demands for ammunition made by the
War Office and yet at the same time build up a
stock which should remove any anxiety for the
future. Additional supplies have been arranged
9 B

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

in order further to assist our Allies, and this con-
tribution will reach very important proportions
in the near future.

THE OUTPUT OF EXPLOSIVES.

As to explosives, the production of high
explosives is sixty- six times as large as
it was at the beginning of 1915, by far
the most of it being produced in Government
factories. The House may guess what work has
been needed to reach the present production of
high explosives when I say that the weekly con-
sumption of high explosives in ammunition of
all kinds is now between 11,000 and 12,000 times
the amount required for the land- service ammu-
nition manufactured in September, 1914. In
regard to trench warfare, in addition to the great
increase in the supply of guns and gun ammuni-
tion, special attention has been directed to
mortars and ammunition for trench warfare.
Heavy and light mortars are now coming forward
in large quantities with corresponding supplies
of ammunition. The output of bombs increased
thirty-three-fold between May, 1915, and May,
1916. If we compare the weight of contained
explosive, we find that 150 times the amount of
explosive was required to fill the bombs at the
later than at the earlier date. Before I leave the
10

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

subject of output, these figures, striking as they
are, do not by any means represent the whole of
our material contribution to the common needs of
the Allied cause. I say nothing of the assistance
we are giving in supplies of food and other ma-
terials not intended for the destruction of human
life, or the incalculable services of the Navy and
the merchant service. I am dealing only with the
services rendered by the Ministry of Munitions.

HELPING OUR ALLIES.

A substantial quantity of finished munitions
is being manufactured for the Allies in our
national factories and by private firms. They
include shells, field howitzers, heavy guns,
grenades, machine guns, and small -arms am-
munition. We are sending to France one-third
of the whole British production of shell steel.
This is one of our most important contributions
to the Allied cause. Steel is the basis of modern
war, and the loss of the Northern provinces of
France has robbed our Ally of nearly three-
quarters of her steel-producing capacity. There
are numerous other metals which, through a
system of common purchase which was estab-
lished some time ago and is now being developed,
this country is supplying to our various Allies.
These are metals either made in this country or
11

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

purchased in the Empire or in neutral countries.
They include copper, antimony, lead, tin,
spelter, tungsten, mercury, high-speed steel and
other less important substances. I can give
the House the best idea of the magnitude of
these metal transactions when I say that the
monthly value of those supplied to the Allies is
£6,000,000 sterling, while the method of pur-
chase adopted has already, under that limitation
of prices, secured a saving of over £41,000,000,
a benefit which is shared with the Allies. [An
Hon. Member : " Per annum ? "] That is what
has already been saved. We are also sending
the Allies the constituents of explosives in very
large quantities, manufactured at our national
factories mainly, or with the new plant which
the enterprise and initiative of Lord Moulton's
Department has established in many gasworks
throughout the country. We are supplying
them with millions of tons of coal and coke
per month, and with large quantities of
machinery. Machine tools, as my right hon.
Friend explained to the House last December,
are one of the most essential factors in the
manufacture of munitions, and 20 per cent, of
the present machine-tool production of this
country is destined for the Allies. After that,
I think the munition workers of this country
12

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

may flatter themselves that they have borne
some part in the glorious victories of Russia,
Italy and France. That is all I have to say of
quantities. I pass now to quality.

IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY.

The principle we go upon is that of endeavour-
ing to supply both our Allies and ourselves,
distributing to the best advantage the goods
that we obtain either from this country or from
abroad. I think it will be satisfactory to the
House to learn that, so far as one can judge, con-
currently with, I might almost say in spite of, this
remarkable increase in quantity, there has been a
substantial and satisfactory improvement in the
quality of the material which we are supplying.

THE WORK OF THE DESIGNERS.

I do not envy the responsibility of those
whose business it is to provide the design
of weapons and of ammunition. Eight months
ago the responsibility for design was trans-
ferred from the War Office to the Ministry
of Munitions, because in the belief of those
who were responsible for the Ministry at the
time you cannot divorce the responsibility for
design from the responsibility for supply.

This transfer has greatly contributed to

m

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

efficient and smooth working collaboration be-
tween officers responsible for the design and
quality of munitions, and those responsible for
supply. The former have worked untiringly at
their special task, and are to be congratulated
on the results of their labour. The problems
they have to deal with can only be referred to
in very general terms, but as regards the artillery
itself no secret is divulged in saying that our
new artillery material has acquitted itself during
the recent fighting to the entire satisfaction of
the British Army. I received yesterday a
special message from my great colleague in
France, M. Thomas, telling me that General
Gossot, the head of the technical departments
of the French Ministry of Munitions, reported
after a recent visit to the British front that he
had nothing but praise for our heavy guns and
howitzers. He had found them beautifully
made in every detail, most accurate and most
efficient. One of his colleagues. General Jacquot,
speaks equally highly of our new anti-aircraft
guns. Credit for this must be given where the
credit is due. Previous to the War we were not
a military nation, and it was only natural that
our designers of war material should pay greater
attention to naval than to military armaments.
It is a matter for congratulation that our
14

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

armament firms have produced types of heavy
land artillery at such short notice, which have
now stood the test of prolonged action. I want
to add — I must add — that the types of heavy
howitzers now being manufactured in such
large numbers were settled before the Ministry
of Munitions became responsible for design.
The War Office, and particularly the Depart-
ment of the Master-General of Ordnance, is,
therefore, entitled to share the credit with the
designers and manufacturers for this satisfac-
tory state of affairs.

Though I say that matters are satisfactory
in this respect, it should not be inferred that
the Ministry of Munitions is without its problems
on the subject of guns. Even when manu-
factured to the best design and of the best
material, guns wear out, and are damaged or
knocked out by the enemy's fire. The British
Army have suffered remarkably few losses from
capture by the enemy. The provision that
has to be made for repair, both in the field and
at home, is an increasing source of anxiety.
During the present offensive the difficulties
have been quite satisfactorily surmounted. We
are working in close touch with the Ordnance
Department of our Array in France, and there
is reason for expressing confidence that our
15

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

means will prove adequate for this great task,
but we shall have to mobilise for renewal and
repair increasingly as our ammunition increases.
Then, again, the conditions of the present
warfare continue to emphasise the value of
long range for modern artillery. Our unpre-
paredness for war has, at least, had one com-
pensation in this respect. Our weapons are all
of modern type with good range, when compared
with similar weapons in the hands of the enemy.
Still, the demand is ever for increasing range as
the value of long-range fire becomes more
apparent when combined with good aerial
observation. All I can say is that the Ministry
of Munitions has not been unmindful of this
tendency in the past and that it is keeping
moving with the times.

SHE LLC.

Now as to ammunition. It is within the
recollection of all listening to me to-day that
little more than a year ago the character of
our artillery ammunition was the subject of
much criticism. It is, perhaps, not too much
to say that the Ministry of Munitions owes its
existence to the urgent demand for an increased
supply of high-explosive ammunition that re-
sulted from the operations of the spring of 1915.
16

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

Two problems were involved — to increase the
quantity and to improve the quality. To a
great extent these are conflicting considerations,
as all changes in design, however trifling, react
on output. This task has been faced. It was
difficult lor the following reason : We had little
experience of high explosives. Our experience
was practically limited to one explosive, lyddite.
We knew little about a substance which has
become famous and is spoken of as T.N.T.
But it was quite impossible to fulfil the pro-
gramme on these two explosives, and the dilu-
tion of the latter with other ingredients was a
first necessity of the problem. So before we
could achieve a solid increase with high-explo-
sive ammunition a whole series of problems
involving much research and experimental work
had to be solved. These problems have been
successfully solved by the Ordnance Committee,
and by Lord Moulton's Department, assisted by
the staff of scientific chemists who work at
Woolwich under the Superintendent of Research.
The proportion of high-explosive shells to
shrapnel asked for by the Army is now being
provided, and although it must be remembered
that when you have an improvement in design
it is some months before it can be put into the
manufactured supply, and before it replaces the

TEE MEANS OF VICTORY.

stock of the old design, the results in this
country and the reports received from abroad
show that during the last few months there has
been a steady improvement in the quality of
this ammunition.

There is another difficulty that has to be
faced. Changes that improve the detonation
of high explosives are apt to introduce additional
risk. In fact, the artillerist who has to work
at this problem is always between two dangers.
He has to avoid premature explosions. We
have lost some guns through premature explo-
sion. I fear it is very possible that we shall
lose more. But in spite of our initial want of
knowledge of this subject, in spite of the very
rapid rise of output, in spite of the fact that
manufacturers without any previous experience
have been impressed into this difficult and
responsible service, our losses in guns and in
personnel from this cause have never been a
really serious consideration, and what I think
is eminently satisfactory is that the factor
of safety has continued to rise with the
improvement in detonation and the rapidly
increasing output. There may have been some,
there certainly were, who, when the Ministry
of Munitions was first formed, were doubtful of
the wisdom of entrusting such great responsi-
18

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

bilities to a body of civilian amateurs. They
feared disaster, and in certain cases openly
expressed their fears. Those fears may now be
allayed. There is room for further improvement
— that I am bound to acknowledge. Many hon.
Members no doubt still hear from their friends
at the front of " duds," and, according to their
temperaments or their actual experiences, their
friends tell them that our ammunition is better
or worse than the German ammunition. It is
not possible at the present moment to say
whether our ammunition is better or worse
than the German, We know that the enemy
has his failures just as we do. What the
Ministry of Munitions claims is a very distinct
measure of success in dealing with a very
difficult question and a justifiable confidence of
continued improvement in the future.

TRENCH WARFARE MATERIAL.

Far more so than in the case of artillery, it
has been necessary to improvise our trench
warfare material. In spite of very considerable
difficulties, success in this department has been
achieved. Types are becoming settled, and
output is very satisfactory. As regards trench
mortars, our light and medium types are stated
to have done admirable work during the present
19

TEE MEANS OF VICTORY.

offensive. A heavy type has been suggested
which has done well, but there is probably
more scope for the designer in this class of
weapon at present than in any other. I am glad
to be able to tell the House that the helmet
which is now being supplied in adequate quanti-
ties is very satisfactory, and is probably the best
in the fxcld. The Ivlinistry has carried out
much experimental work with body shields,
and we have now some results which are being
tested on a large scale in the field. A good deal
has recently been said on the subject of lights.
Comparative trials have been carried out with
our own and captured German lights, and there
is absolutely no justification for saying that our
own compare unfavourably.

Entrusted as I am with the responsibility
for one of the most important branches of
the conduct of this war, I do not want to give
the impression from what I have said as to
improvement of quality that the Ivlinistry is
inspired by a snug complacency on the subject.
Against such an enemy as Germany we can
never afford to stand still, even for an instant.
There must be continued progress, or we shall
get left behind. My right hon. Friend and
predecessor established in the Ministry a separate
Department of Inventions, the principal object
20

■^m^%.

TEE MEANS OF VICTORY.

of which was to encourage invention and
initiative. The aim of the Ministry ought to be
to carry on its research and experimental
work with such energy that whenever the
opportunity offers there is always a new and
improved design waiting to be introduced.

I have now told the House that the quantity
of munitions has increased and the quality
improved. I think we have all constantly
present before us a conspicuous proof of the
justice of my claim in the present offensive
on the Western front in France.

HOW THE MUNITIONS ARE USED.

I want, if the House will permit me, to indulge
in a short digression. I have tried to understand
for myself, in approaching this new problem for
the first time, the purpose and the mode of
accomplishing the purpose of this vast
expenditure of amrnunition in a modern battle.
I want to give the House the result of my
inquiries, in the hope that it will help laymen
to understand what is going on, and in the
humble hope that it will not arouse the contempt
of soldiers.

As I understand it, when an attack is planned
against a securely entrenched enemy, with
barbed wire everywhere, with elaborate com-
21

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

munication trenches, and powerful long-range
supporting artillery, the first necessity is to
break down the wire and smash his first line
of trenches. This means a heavy expenditure
of field artillery, shrapnel, and trench mortar
bombs for wire cutting, and heavy howitzer
shells for trench destruction. If this task is
inadequately performed, if the wire checks the
Infantry, if machine-gun emplacements remain
intact, the attack fails, and fails with horrible
results. When the bombardment has disclosed
to the enemy an impending attack, the enemy
tries to stop it by curtain fire. During the
bombardment the enemy, from his observation
posts, is constantly watching for the Infantry
assault. He concentrates a converging fire
from hundreds of long-range guns upon the
trench area from which the Infantry must
debouch. That fire has got to be subdued, or
the attack takes place under a perfect tornado of
projectiles ; hence the necessity for counter-
battery work. An immense expenditure of
shells from long-range guns, controlled from
the air, whence alone the fire can be directed
at the enemy's guns, goes on whenever aerial
observation is possible. The guns are well
entrenched, and this runs away with an
enormous amount of heavy and medium
22

0^-

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

ammunition. Next the attack takes place.
Its flanks have got to be protected, and while
the Infantry is engaged in facing the parapet
of the captured trenches the other way they
have got to be protected from counter-attack.
A counter-attack begins by the enemy's bombers
coming down the communication trenches and
bombing the captured trenches. They cannot
be seen — cannot be spotted from the Artillery
observation posts. The only means of dealing
with them is to direct a barrage fire which
sweeps every communication trench, leaving
nothing to chance. Later the enemy's more
formidable counter-attack comes along. It is
organised under cover of concentrated artillery
fire by means of massed Infantry from the
support trenches. The success of these attacks
has not only got to be prevented, but the
enemy must not be allowed to formulate them.
So the successful Infantry must be protected
on its flanks and front by barrage fire of shrapnel
and high explosive directed against the enemy's
support trenches, where the Infantry, unseen,
are organising for the counter-attack.

Finally, to be able to press on successfully

from one attack to the next, the resisting

power of the enemy must be worn down by

want of rest, of relief, of food. All day and

23

TEE MEANS OF VICTORY.

all night the approaches to his trenches must
be kept under fire to prevent relief coming to
his men, to prevent the replenishment of
ammunition supplies, and to prevent his
obtaining food and rest. If you add one more
detail, what I believe the French call tire de
demolition, which is directed by the very heaviest
howitzer guns against especially fortified nodes
which are dotted about the area of the German
lines, and consider all the operations which I
have described, wonder ceases that you want
so much ammunition.

OUR RESOURCES.

The only marvel that remains is that you can
ever produce enough to sustain the attack which
goes on week after week, day and night, with
varying, but always with sustained, intensity.
Writers in the German Press have endeavoured
to comfort the enemy by the assurance that
our heavy bombardments in the last few weeks
have made irreparable inroads into our resources
of ammunition — the ammunition which has
been laboriously accumulated for months past.
It is true that the expenditure of heavy ammuni-
tion during the last month has been more than
double the amount that only eight months ago
was thought to be wanted at the time. The
2-i

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

preliminary bombardment in the week before
the attack consumed more light and medium
ammunition than the total amount manu-
factured at home during the first eleven months
of the war, while the total heavy ammunition
manufactured during the same period would
not have kept the bombardment going for a
single day. It is, however, a great satisfaction
to be able to state that in the larger natures
the output of the factories week by week covers
the expenditure. If workers and employers
continue to play their part nobly, as they
are doing to-day, there is now no fear that
the present offensive will be brought to a pre-
mature conclusion by shortage of ammunition.

THE MINISTRY AND ITS GROWTH.

I have much more to say, even at the risk of
wearying the House. I have just said, as briefly
as I could, what has been accomplished, both
in amount and in quality. I should like to say
a little about the methods by which it has been
done. The Ministry of Munitions, although
it has only been in existence thirteen months,
already numbers on its Central staff over 5,000
persons, and it is growing till it bids fair to
become one of the largest Departments of the
State. I know there has been much criticism

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

and suspicion of this mushroom growth. 1
want, however, to ask the House to believe
that the growth has been inevitable in view
of the increasing variety, diversity, and
complexity of the work which we have been
compelled to undertake. It is not merely a
question of placing orders for a large quantity
of materials. My predecessor, when he addressed
the House in December last, referred to the
extensive organisation which was necessary
for following up and expediting the completion
of contracts. The Ministry of Munitions is
sometimes compared — to its disadvantage — to
the corresponding French Department, because
the latter is much smaller. But it must be
remembered, for one thing, that we have to
do a great deal of administrative work here
which my colleague in France is spared. Thus,
the problem of labour organisation in France
is far simpler than it is in England. They
have no Munitions Act to administer. They
need no such system of leaving certificates or
of munitions tribunals as we have had to set
up. They have not to administer the limitation
of profits in some 4,000 controlled firms. They
are spared many of the complicated problems
created by the suspension of trade union
regulations and the introduction of the dilution
26

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

of labour. The release of soldiers from the
Colours for munitions work can be far more
simply performed in France than in England.
I would ask anyone who is disposed to criticise
the size of our administrative staff to remember
that we have to control an expenditure of
far more than £1,000,000 a day. If you compare
the cost of the central staff with the amount of
its expenditure, the cost of the central admini-
stration is low, and amounts to less than
one-sixth per cent,

A MORNING'S WORK.

I want to give the House a trivial illus-
tration, if I may, of the variety of matters
with which the Ministry deals. When I
was told that I had to make a statement
on the Munitions Department, I cast my
thoughts back over the matters with which
I had to deal on that particular day, I began
with a friendly controversy with a Government
Office about the transport from near the Arctic
Circle to a neutral country of a mineral the
name of which was unknown to me, but which
I was assured was the limiting factor in the
output of certain indispensable munitions. I
went on to discuss the question as to whether
we should press the India Office, in the interests
27

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

of the munitions supply, to construct a certain
railway line in a remote part of India. There
was a question of certain measures affecting
the output of gold in South Africa. There was
a discussion as to the allocation of a certain
chemical, very limited in quantity, to meet
the competing needs of the Army, the Navy,
and the Air Service. There was a deputation
from an important educational institution asking
to be allowed to continue certain building
operations. There was a discussion about the
men deported from the Clyde. There was a dis-
cussion on certain contracts in America valued
at over £10,000,000 sterling. In the course of
the morning the Munitions Inventions Depart-
ment brought to see me some walking specimens
of exceedingly ingenious artificial legs. There
was a conference on the allocation of several
highly skilled workmen of a particular class
amongst competing firms. There was a discussion
as to the quickest means of manufacturing
gun carriages. There were a hundred and one
topics which must confront any body of men
who spend their whole days watching
curves which ought always to go up and
figures which ought always to swell ; read-
ing reports from all parts of the world,
and confronted always with the cry :
28

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

" More, more, more I " and " Better, better,
better ! "

SOME BRANCHES OF THE WORK : INSPECTION.

I can only choose, as I have said, one or two
aspects of the administration of which to tell
the House. The first one is the question of
inspection. Inspection grows, of course, and
the inspection department grows pro rata with
all classes of munitions. The whole programme
is dependent upon its work keeping pace with
the output. It is sometimes thought — until a
very short time ago I should have thought it,
if I had thought at all — that inspection means
taking one or two samples out of a number of
articles, looking at it, and telling by touch
or smell whether it ought to be passed or
rejected. As a matter of fact, inspection involves
the most careful testing and gauging of every
article that is passed, and that is a process in
production which involves a very large factory
staff. The average type of shell requires
30 gauges, a percussion fuse 100 gauges, and
a time fuse 240 gauges. As these gauges must
fit to within less than a thousandth part of
an inch, and in most cases one-third of that
figure, to obtain uniform results, it will be
understood why the supply of gauges has been
29

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

one of our greatest difficulties. An even greater
difficulty was the supply of adequate staff.
In France and other Continental countries a
large staff of officers, who had been trained in
the technical artillery schools, was in existence
at the beginning of the war, and was turned
to supervision of manufacture and to inspection.
The outside administrative staff of the Munitions
Department in France is, consequently, almost
entirely military. In England it is mainly
civilian, and it has been created during the last
eighteen months.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to the
small core of Artillery officers who alone,
at the outbreak of war, possessed the necessary
knowledge and experience for controlling inspec-
tion, and who have formed the nucleus round
whom the vast staff which has been formed has
grown up. A large body of engineers has been
specially trained in a school of instruction at
the Ordnance College at Woolwich, and these
men constitute the inspectors and assistant
inspectors throughout the country, and they
have a great deal of administrative as well as
technical work to perform. They supervise the
work of the examiners who handle the gauges
and carry out the actual operation of inspection.
The training of examiners for this inspection
80

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

work is also a matter of great importance,
and it is satisfactory to note that women are
now being largely and successfully employed
for this purpose. The staff employed by
the Department has grown during the past
three months from 19,000 to 30,000. Of the
total, 14,000 are women, 9,000 of whom have
been appointed in the last three months. The
Inspection Department have a great respon-
sibility in that guns, shells, fuses, and all other
munitions to be of value must not only be
dangerous to the enemy, but safe to the troops
using them, and to ensure this is by no means
an easy task, having regard to the immense
volume of all warlike stores now demanded
for operations in all theatres of war. Not only
have you got to preserve the morale of your
men by supplying them with munitions which
give neither "prematures," which kill them,
nor " blinds," which fail to kill the enemy,
but you have got to remember that
" prematures " very often destroy the guns,
and therefore safety of inspection is one of
the prime necessities of supply. I trust that
manufacturers will remember that when they
are disposed to chafe at the tedious and
elaborate processes of inspection, which are,
of course, a check on output, but an
31

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

essential and, I hope, the only welcome check
on output.

COMPLETION AND TRANSPORT.

The next Department to which I wish to
draw the attention of the House is the Depart-
ment which deals with marshalling and
completion of ammunition. The manufacture of
constituent parts of ammunition may be carried
on all over the world. These components come
from everywhere in an increasing stream by
rail and by sea. The stream has got to be
regulated so as to avoid congestion and, at
the same time, bring an adequate supply of
finished components for the filling factories.
It is like a highly complicated chess problem
to keep everything moving on a colossal scale,
and it is made all the more complex by the
fact that our supplies of components come
from all over the world. You cannot control
the supply in country overseas. Railway
transport is not subject to our regulations,
and the arrival of shipments is necessarily
irregular. So we have had to set up a special
Department formed to deal with home transport,
and a second to deal with overseas transport.
The latter is now handling, in co-operation
with the Admiralty, 1,300,000 tons of freight
32

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

monthly, including materials from Spain,
Scandinavia, West Africa, the Far East, Chili,
the United States, and Canada, and the quick
discharge of ships to enable freight tonnage
to be used to the best advantage, the expeditious
clearance of railway wagons — all these are
practical steps of great utility, and everyone
who helps to shorten up any one of the stages
of transport or handling of material is helping
the country at the present time. When the
components have been marshalled and
assembled, they are dealt with by the filling
Department of the Ministry, the development
of which has been one of the chief features of
the last six months. This development reflects
the greatest credit not only on the head, but
on the military and civilian officers assisting.
While the tonnage of completed gun ammunition
issued from the filling factories has risen in
six months nearly four-fold, the administration
expenditure per ton has been halved. This
increase of tonnage takes no account of the
enormous quantities handled by the Explosives
and Trench Warfare Departments.

THE NEW FACTORIES AND THEIR SUPERVISION.

Then I turn to another part of the machine.
The supervision and control of the Government

33

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

factories need a very large staff. Before the War
there were three national factories working for
the land service. Now there are ninety-five.
These factories include eighteen factories for
filling gun and trench-mortar ammunition, all
of which have been ordered, planned, and built
during the last twelve months, and all of which
are under the direct management of the officials
of the Ministry, One of them is filling nearly
twice as much as Woolwich, which, for the
first eighteen months of the War, carried
practically the whole of the burden of com-
pleting ammunition. There are thirty-two
national shell factories, which are managed
by local boards of management under the
supervision of the Ministry. I cannot mention
those factories without referring to the highly
efficient local area organisation of which they
form part, built up under the personal direction
of one of the captains of industry whom my
right hon. Friend roped into his net, with
the enthusiastic co-operation of the foremost
men in the engineering industry all over the
country. Some indication of the work accom-
plished by these Boards of Management in
organising new sources of supply is given by
the fact that between September, 1915, and
August, 1916, the factories for which they
84

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

were responsible, none of which had ever
handled a shell before, produced in certain
natures of shell four times the output of these
shells during the first ten months of the War.
Then there are twelve national projectile
factories in various stages of completion occupied
in making heavy shell under the management of
large engineering firms supervised by the
Ministry. These also are all in buildings which
have been ordered, planned, and built by the
Ministry of Munitions. They have just, to-day
as I speak, barely developed one-half of their
total capacity, but they are already sending
out 25 per cent, of the heavy shell produced
in this country. I have got some figures of a
form familiar to the House. I am told they
cover an area in buildings of seventy acres.
They consist of bays with an average breadth of
fourteen feet, and a total length of fifteen
miles. They contain 10,000 machine tools,
which are driven by seventeen miles of shafting
at an energy of 25,000 horse-power, and their
daily output would fill a train one mile long
composed of 400 trucks, and requiring eight
engines to pull it. They are very largely
operated by women's labour. The number of
women employed in them is already about
15,000, although a year ago we were told it
3B

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

was impossible for women to manufacture heavy
shell.

I think the nation is under a great debt
of gratitude again to the men who have been
responsible for the establishment of those fac-
tories, and to the courage, faith, and persever-
ance of those responsible for the labour policy
which has rendered these factories effective.

Of the remaining national factories twenty- two
are concerned with the manufacture of explosives
and their raw materials, six with the manu-
facture of cartridges and cartridge cases, while
one makes nothing but gauges, and another
nothing but small tools,

OUR INCREASING INDEPENDENCE.

They serve two purposes : first of all, they
render us independent of supplies from abroad ;
and secondly, their administration affords us
invaluable experience for controlling the whole
volume of munitions. As regards the first point,
my right hon. Friend pointed out eight months
ago its importance, and the Ministry has been im-
proving it. At the time the Ministry of Munitions
was started, the percentage of American orders
was 70 per cent, of the total output of light
shell. We are now able to do altogether without
any American supply of light shell bodies.

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

and these orders are in process of being dis-
continued. As regards heavy shell, American
supplies have been invaluable during the
development of the new factories, and the
orders are still required; but if home and
Canadian output comes up to expectation,
we ought ultimately to be able to do without
American shell altogether. I do not like to
pass on without saying that the House of
Commons is aware that Messrs. Morgan are our
purchasing agents in America, and without
expressing our admiration of the way in which
they and the American contractors have
organised a proportion of their great industries
for the output of munitions.

FINANCE.

As to the second point, that of controlling by
means of national factories the output of muni-
tions, I want to say a word as to the finance
branch of the Ministry. The finance branch
of the Ministry of Munitions, which con-
trols an expenditure of, as I have said,
over £1,000,000 a day, has been given
deliberately far greater powers than, I un-
derstand, is the case with the finance branch
of other spending Departments. It retains a
supervision over the financial clauses of all
37

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

contracts during their negotiation. It has not
had to use at all largely the power of examining
the costs of manufacturers conferred by the
Munitions Acts and the Order in Council. We
have made alterations in costs with the con-
currence of manufacturers.

The key to the problem of financial control
has been provided by the cost accounting
system introduced into our own factories. The
knowledge so gained has enabled the Ministry
to put their finger on the weak spots in admini-
stration and extravagance in the factories
themselves, and has afforded a standard to
check contract prices. The cost of the factories,
which was high at the start, has fallen rapidly,
and is now much less than the 1915 contract
prices. The reduction in home contracts which
has ensued represents a saving in the case of
shell of £20,000,000 a year. American shell
contract prices have been reduced 15 per cent. ;
Canadian shell contract prices 12| per cent.
Fuse, Gaine, and T-tube prices have been
lowered from 20 to 25 per cent., and trench
warfare munitions from 40 to 50 per cent.
Similar reductions have been made in the
prices of explosives, ammunition boxes, and
small-arms ammunition. It is worth recording
that the cost of the large explosive and pro-
38

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

pellant factories erected, or being erected,
in this country will be completely covered in
from six to twelve months by the difference
in the cost of their output and the price of
these articles imported.

COr^TROLLING TRADE.

Now I want to draw the attention of the
House to the extent and variety of our inter-
ference with the commercial and even with
the private life of the country involved in the
results which I have given. Germany, let us
never forget, was organised for war. Her
ceaseless and intelligent preparations had given
her the workshops, the arsenals, the machine-
tool factories, the chemical factories, the skilled
labour necessary to equip an Army of many
millions. We had no Army, at least com-
paratively none ; we had no intention of being
a military power ; and while our industries
were peace industries, Germany was able to
mobilise her second line of industrial defence
and to use her dye works and her fine chemical
works by turning them into explosive factories.
We followed her example after the War, but
we had to begin from the beginning, and the
demand for munitions of war has entailed
a most comprehensive disturbance of the
89

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

chemical and engineering trades of this country
and of their allied and dependent industries.
The State has had to step in and control them
to an extent which no one a few years ago would
have expected the country to tolerate for a
moment. For this purpose we have had to
establish an elaborate system for instructing
Government contractors as to the order of
priority which they are to assign, not only to
Government, but also to all private work
which they are asked to undertake. Again,
we have had to fix maximum prices for steel,
iron, and coke. We have had to regulate iron-ore
freights from the Mediterranean and from
Spain. We have had to prohibit speculation in
certain metals and to place others under
regulations whereby dealings are prohibited
without licences. Then there is the case of
the machine-tool department, which exercises
complete control over the whole of this section
of the country's trade. No machine tools
can be ordered from Government or private
works without the authority of the Department.
It controls the supply of machinery to all
Government contractors, as well as the Allies
and neutral countries and for private work.
It has exercised very freely the powers which
the Ministry possesses for removing existing
40

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

machinery and transferring it to places where
it is needed for the manufacture of munitions.
Again, our building programme necessitated
our stopping private building. We have 1,500
applications now under consideration which
we hope will lead to a large supply of available
building labour.

THE WORKERS,

I think it is on the side of labour thai
we have interfered most with the rights
of the individual. If I say that we are to-day
far better off in regard to the supply of
labour than we expected to be a year ago,
I hope no one will think the problem has been
solved, and it cannot be solved as long as there
is an Army in the field. Our task has been
to take the strictly limited supply of labour
and spread it as thinly as was compatible with
efficiency over the whole demands of the nation.
This has only been done by what is called
" dilution," and it is only by dilution and
further dilution that we can carry out the
programme we have set ourselves. There are
other expedients which have been helpful —
something has been done by bringing back
men from the Colours to supply skilled labour.
Forty-five thousand soldiers have been released

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

from the Army and are now employed in
munition factories. They have come from
4,000 different units, and have been distributed
•amongst 3,800 employers. These men have
:greatly helped to make possible the large
iHncrease in the number of persons employed in
munition trades. Then we have schools for
the education and training of skilled and semi-
skilled labour. Over 500 people have been
trained as tool-setters to work on one special
type of machine ; nearly 200 plumbers have
been trained as lead burners ; and 130 jewellers
have been trained as gauge makers. These are
examples of what can be done by our system
of training centres and university departments,
and I trust employers will avail themselves
more of the supply. Then there is the War
Munitions Volunteer scheme, which has yielded
13,500 skilled labourers who have actually been
transferred to war work.

By utilising these various resources the follow-
ing results have been achieved : When the
Ministry of Munitions was started the number
of persons employed was 1,G35,000. By June
of this year this number had increased to over
2,250,000. Of these about 400,000 are women,
which is nearly double the number employed a
year ago. The proportion of women is increas-
42

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

ing rapidly. In 1914-15 it rose from 9 to 11 per
cent., and in the last year it has increased from
11 to 17 per cent. But in spite of all these
advantages, I have to say once again, not-
withstanding that men have been brought
from the Colours and that men have been
specially trained, the only real way of meeting
the diflQculty is by an increased application
of dilution.

OUR DEBT TO LABOUR.

Now I have shown how we have increased our
output, improved its quality, how we have done
it and disturbed trade to do it, and I want to
complete the picture by expressing our debt to
those people in particular to whom, I think, we
owe it. We could never have secured this de-
velopment unless the whole heart of the people
was in the cause. Wherever we have asked for
help we have got it. Wherever we have de-
manded services men and women have laid aside
their own interests in order to serve the cause.
I need not enlarge upon the services of the staff
who have been working without intermission
at the highest pressure in the offices at the centre
and in the district areas into which the country
is divided. But I want the House to consider
for one moment the debt we owe to labour,
4.3

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

skilled and unskilled. For forty years organised
labour has been endeavouring, through the trade
union movement, to win recognition for certain
principles which are held to be necessary to
secure a proper recompense and an equitable
share in the control of industry. When the War
broke out there were disputes in progress, and
many grave industrial questions seemed likely
to arise in the near future. The declaration of
war required that a truce should be declared,
and from that moment the time which might
have been used as a period of preparation for a
contest between capital and labour was conse-
crated to the services of the whole nation against
the common enemy.

But the cessation of disputes and the postpone-
ment of the reforms which slowly emerge from
the clash of conflicting interests do not exhaust
the full measure of the sacrifices which organised
labour has made. The trade unions placed on
one side the whole armour of trade union regu-
lations upon which they had hitherto relied.
For all the weapons slowly forged during long
years of struggle — rules and customs relating
to hours of labour, overtime, the right of entrance
to trades, demarcation of industry, the regu-
lation of boy labour, and the exclusion of women
from certain classes of occupation — all these
44

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

directly or indirectly might have tended to reduce
the output during the War. The Government
asked Labour to put all these on one side. It was
a great deal to ask. I doubt if any community
has ever been asked for greater sacrifices, but
with a loyalty and statesmanship which cannot
be' overestimated, the request was readily
granted. The trade unions required, and they
were right to require, a scrupulous record and
recognition of what they were conceding. It
was promised to them as a right, but they will
receive more, not only the restoration of the
system they temporarily abandoned, but the
gratitude of the Army and of the nation, and
they will, I trust, place the nation still further
in their debt by playing an important part in
devising some system which will reconcile in the
future conflicting industrial interests.

THE WOMEN'S PART.

Now I want to say a word about women.
Women of every station, with or without
previous experience of the difficulties, or of the
strain and monotony of munition work, have
proved themselves able to undertake work
which before the War was regarded as solely
the province of men, and often of skilled men
alone. Indeed, it is not too much to say that
45

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

our Armies have been saved and victory assured
largely by the women in the munition factories,
where they helped to produce aeroplanes, how-
itzer bombs, shrapnel bullets, shells, machine
tools, mines, and have taken part in shipbuilding
— ^there are, I believe, some 500 different munition
processes upon which women are now engaged,
two-thirds of which had never been performed
by a woman previous to twelve months ago. I
do not want to elaborate this point, because it is
well known to the House, but I ask the House
to consider this, together with the work done by
women in hospitals, in agriculture, in transport
trades, and in every type of clerical occupation,
and I would respectfully submit, when time and
occasion offer, it will be opportune to ask :
Where is the man, now, who would deny to
women the civil rights which she has earned by
hard work ?

A WILLING NATION.

We have also had to call on employers and
capitalists to make sacrifices. Those sacrifices
have been equally heavy and their patriotism
equally marked. It has not infrequently hap-
pened that employers and workpeople have had
the exceedingly galling experience of bein;^
pulled up short when production was just getting

46

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

into full swing. I can assure the country that
the Ministry does its utmost to prevent irregu-
larity in its demands, but war does not run
according to schedule. New phases of the War
create new necessities and demand changes, and
recognising, as I do, how unpleasant this ex-
perience is — particularly when the work has been
undertaken not from a sense of profit, but from
a sense of duty — I am certain workpeople and
employers alike will continue to put up with
the inevitable in the same cheerful spirit which
they have shown in the past. Our achievement
really is explained by the simple fact that the
nation was willing. You cannot govern an un-
willing nation, but there is nothing you cannot
do with a willing nation. The response to our
appeal for a postponement of Bank holiday is a
very good example, and it has been cheerfully
accepted on both occasions by the workpeople.
We have decided to inaugurate a period of rest
at the end of September for certain munition
works where relay holidays have been found to
be impossible. I trust that this will notHbe
transformed into a national holiday, because it
is only intended as a recognition of the fact
that machinery and men, and still less women,
cannot be worked for ever without a halt for
repairs.

47

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

THE CREATOR OF THE MINISTRY,

And now I want to pay one other tribute,
and perhaps it is the most important. When
the War began, the work which our staff of
5,000 people in London alone is now doing was
done by the War Office. A nation which had
enjoj'-ed a century of security and was defended
by an incomparable Navy had always grudged
expenditure of money on military preparations,
and the soldier had to plough his lonely furrow
without the sympathy of the civilian. Is it to be
wondered at that it took some time for the War
Office to realise that in this War it was not a
soldier's or a civilian's war, but the whole nation's
war, and the whole nation for the first time were
eager and anxious to co-operate in producing all
that was necessary? But apart from this, it
must be remembered that the War developed
slowly, and that even the soldiers who were
responsible for the conduct of operations, and
upon whose advice the supply of munitions must
ultimately depend, could not be expected at once
to formulate their final requirements and to
anticipate the vast scale and the endless variety
of munition supplies which were to confute the
teachings of professors and exceed the vision of
prophets. The controversy between high ex-
48

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

plosive and shrapnel was a controversy settled
after much discussion in the fields of Fiance.
The knowledge of high explosives which was
wanted was not forthcoming until it was crystal-
lised by trench warfare in the Spring of 1915.
The great lesson of the early months of the War
was that munitions cannot be obtained merely
by ordering. You have got to see that the man
who takes your orders has the plant and the
labour ; you have got to follow up the work
process by process ; you have got to provide
from the beginning to the end everything that is
necessary. That is the cardinal principle of the
Munitions Department. That is the lesson
learned in the first months of the War, and it wa
this main conception with which my right hon.
Friend left the Treasury to build out of nothing
the Munitions Department and the wonderful
output I have described. Everything I have
said of our success is a tribute to him. He chose
the great leaders of industry who formed the
pivots of our machine. He formulated the needs
of the moment to Labour, and persuaded them
to agree to meet our necessities. He realised
the scope which our operations should embrace
in all the essentials of the production of
munitions, and his tireless energy and vigorous
personality were the inspiration of the whole vast
49

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

fabric. He set himself to do more. He realised
how much of our prospective supply of big guns
was hypothecated to the Navy. He realised
how long it took to collect the raw materials and
to train labour. It is no secret to say that he
ordered far more heavy guns than was then
thought by the War Office to be necessary. It is
no secret to say that before he left the Ministry
of Munitions he had the satisfaction of receiving
new requirements from the War Office, which
showed that he had not ordered too many, but
too few ; and yet, notwithstanding that, it is due
to his foresight that the surplus guns will be all
ready in or about early spring of next year. For
this one courageous feat alone and for the
Ministry as a whole — in saying this I do not for
a moment underrate the help which he has re-
ceived— the country owes him the greatest debt
of gratitude.

THE NEAR FUTURE.

When I say that, I hope the country will
not think that all has been accomplished,
that our task is complete, and that the end
is in sight. Much remains to be done. Our
home resources are not yet fully developed.
Our dependence on foreign supplies still exists.
We have got to keep the organisation up to
50

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

its mark. We have got to extend it. We have
got to overcome difficulties and shortcomings
which have been revealed. We have got to
anticipate and remedy new difficulties. We have
got to devise improvements and achieve a still
greater output. The success of our Army is
bound up with the supply of big guns, and,
though the figures which I have given show that
much has been already accomplished, our
programme of guns will not be lulfilled till
the Army's equipment of heavy Artillery is
raised to many times its present strength, and
our supply of ammunition must not cease to
grow till we are in a position to maintain
indefinitely along the whole of our front the
present expenditure of ammunition on the
Somme. The output of Germany is still
increasing, and the end will not be in sight
until we have established an Artillery superiority
everywhere. The resources of Russia and
Italy are insufficient to enable them to establish
this superiority for themselves, and I think
we must look forward with pride to the fact
that a considerable proportion of the further
munition-producing capacity next year will be
required for them. In war it is as great a
thing and as profitable a thing to arm and
equip oar Allies as it is to arm and equip our-

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

sdves. Thanks to our Navy, our resources are
unimpaired and our shores are inviolate.
Invaded France, despoiled Belgium, temporarily
occupied Serbia, gallant Russia — ^with its ports
of entry limited by ice, by distance, and by
the Dardanelles — all these must find part of
their supplies here, profit by our organisation,
and be assisted by our munition workers. And,
if I may say so, particularly for Russia, the
achievements of whose gallant soldiers are at
this moment filling every Allied country with
pride, particularly for Russia, whose wonderful
and self-sacrificing heroism did so much to
stem the invasion of the Germans into France
in the earlier months of the War, whose success
this year helped so much in the Italian victories
over the Austrians, and who is now engaged in
putting the finishing strokes to Austria-Hungary,
particularly for Russia ought we to redouble our
efforts and to prove not only our willingness,
for that is certain, but our capacity to help.

THE FURTHER FUTURE.

Then, is there nothing else ? I trust that
I shall not be accused of travelling beyond my
functions when I ask this question : Is that
all ? We have organised British industry for
the production of munitions. This organisation

52

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

covers the country and touches our daily life
at a thousand points. Scarcely any of the
articles which it is the object of this organisation
to produce are simple in construction. Some
are as complicated in their mechanism as the
finest watch and yet are put together only to
be blown out of the end of a gun. We have
learned in this process that where the enemy
had an advantage was first and foremost in the
application of thought to business results.
Old-fashioned machinery and slip-shod methods
are disappearing rapidly under the stress of
war, and, whatever there may have been of
contempt for science in this country, it does
not exist now. There is a new spirit in every
department of industry which I feel certain
s not destined to disappear when we are at
liberty to divert it from its present supreme
purpose of beating the Central Powers. When
that is done, can we not apply to peaceful uses
the form of organisation represented by the
Ministry of Munitions ? I am not thinking so
much of the great buildings which constitute
new centres of industry, planned with the
utmost ingenuity so as to economise effort
filled with machines of incredible efficiency
and exactitude. I wish rather to emphasise
the extent to which all concerned — and each
53

THE MEANS OF VICTORY.

section is vital to our objects — are co-operating
to obtain the best results from the material
in our hands. We have the leaders of all the
essential industries now working for us or
co-operating with us in the Ministry. The
great unions render us constant assistance in
the discussion and solution of difficulties,
whether with our officers or within their own
body. On technical questions of the most
varied character we have the advantage of
the best expert advice in the country.

We have in being, now that British industry
is organised for war, the general staff of British
industry. I am sure that we should sacrifice
much if we did not avail ourselves of that staff
to consider how far all this moral and material
energy can be turned to peaceful account instead
of being dispersed in peace time. What are
we to do with our machines and our factories ?
How are we to demobilise our labour ? How
are we to carry out our undertakings to those
who have earned our recognition ? How, in a
word, are we not only to restore the conditions
of peace, but to make peace more real and
precious to all concerned ? In the solution of
these riddles, which we fail to solve at our
peril, we shall need the continued help of all
that intellect and experience which has rallied
54

THE MEANS OF VICTORY,

to us for our country's sake. But we must not
take our eyes off our immediate purpose. If I lay
stress upon the Ministry of Munitions in its
achievements, no one will accuse me of claiming
any personal credit. More than that, I am
sure that my predecessor will agree with me
in saying that anyone with our responsibility
must feel that his duty lies> not in denying
that it is possible for his Department to make a
mistake, but in an unwearied endeavour to
eliminate a larger and larger proportion of the
errors which must arise so long as men and
materials are what they are. It is for us to
invite and accept criticism, to welcome sugges-
tions, and to encourage inventions until the
day when the finest and most flawless material
is unfailingly and amply supplied to the finest
Armies in the world, until the day when we
have rescued civilisation from the menace and
treachery of our enemies, when we have avenged
honour, punished barbarity, restored security,
and established peace by the final and lasting
d cfeat of those who have sought this war.

Printed in Great Britain by W. Speaight <fc Sons, London.

T^amphlets on the War.
The Soul of France.

By Mauricb BarrAs.
Crown 8vo. 42 pp. Price Twopence.

The Destruction of Poland.

By Arnoi:,d J. Toynbee.
Demy 8vo. 32 pp. Price Twopence.

The Gathering of the Clans.

By J. Saxon Mii.i,s.
Crown 8vo. 52 pp. Price Twopence.

Some American Opinions on
the Indian Empire.

Crown 8vo. 32 pp. Price Twopence.

Italy our Ally.

An Account of the Visit to Italy
of the Prime Minister.
Crown 8vo. 24 pp. Price Twopence.

T. FISHER UNWIN, Ltd.,

1, ADELPHI TERRACE. LONDON.