AN APPEAL TO LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1915, Page 7

AN APPEAL TO LABOUR

TO SAVE THE LIVES OF SOLDIERS MUNITIONS OP WAR MUST BE INCREASED LONDON, 18th March. ' Mr. Lloyd ' George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, presiding at the Labour Conference, declared that it was essential that the output of munitions of war be increased in order to save the lives of our soldiers. The Government asks workmen to agree that there shall be no strikes where Government work is being done ', also to suspend all restrictions on the output during the war, and to assist the Government in dealing with the excessive minority of workers. Mr. Lloyd George said that every country engaged in the war found the expenditure on war material in excess of any anticipations. The General Staff in_ France met the difficulty by voluntarily organising the whole of the industries of the country. "We,", said Mr. Lloyd George, "have the additional difficulty of having to increase the personnel of the Army tenfold. The duration of the war, and even_ the Allies' success, depends on our increasing and accelerating output of munitions. Preparatory to last week's fighting there was the most tremendous j concentration of artillery witnessed at any point during the war. This not ! merely ensured success, but saved the lives of British soldiers." Mr. Lloyd George said that French officers told him that the concentration of fire on a particular spot would enable them to achieve their purpose with one-tenth of the loss of life otherwise required. DELAY IN OUTPUT MEANS LENGTHENING THE WAR. Mr. Lloyd George continued :— "Every month there is delay in the output may mean two or three months added to the war. Prior to the organisation of the British industries for war it is essential to have complete co-opera-tion between the employers and the workmen. The Government taking over tho works does not mean that there will be a general or admiral installed instead of the present managers. LIMITATION OF PROFITS. "The Government proposes to impose a limitation to the profits, because otherwise there would be a difficulty in any appeal to Labour to relax all restrictions and put out its whole strength unless it knew that the State was getting the benefit, and not merely a particular individual or class. If we merely assume control of the business and guarantee profits within a certain limit, the employers have not the same interest in limiting the expenditure. Consequently the Government desires an understanding with the employers, but the present purpose is to lay a certain point before the representatives of the workers at a moment when important work is liable to be interrupted by Labour disputes. "The Government does not say that workmen ought never to complain, but it does say that the work should continue while disputes are under adjudication. The Government, accordingly, proposes that there shall be no strikes or lock-outs during the war where Government work is proceeding; but the difficulties will be settled by an impartial tribunal, as the conference may decide. A LESSON FROM FRANCE. "The question of suspending restrictions on the output during the war is a difficult one for the workers ; but it is very, very important to state that there is a question as to the number of machines one man is to be permitted to attend to; also, as to the employment of semi-skilled labour, and the employment of women. French women are doing a vast amount of work in the ammunition factories. The way in which France has met her responsibilities is something whereof her democracy can be proud. We appeal to British workers to do the same. MUST HAVE SUPPORT OF LABOUR LEADERS. "Finally,- there is excessive drinking among a minority of the workmen. Tho Admiralty and the War Office report that it is very serious in some districts, and that it is gravely interfering, with the output and with the transport of munitions and other necessaries for the troops. The Government cannot take effective action without the support of the Labour leaders." Mr. Lloyd George concluded:— " At the end of this war Great Britain will be either the vassal of the German military caste, drunk with success, or will have broken militarism for ever. It is because I realise the importance of this that, as a democrat, I appeal to the leaders and to the workmen to assist the Government in this momentous undertaking." Mr. Balfour, Sir George Askwith. Sir Francis Hopwood. Sir George Gibb. and other officials representing the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Board of Trade, attended the conference. HOW WOMEN CAN HELP. „, ' t , , « LONDON, 18th March. Tlie Board of Trade invite women to register themselves at the Labour Exchanges as ready to do industrial, agricultural, and clerical work, and thus enable the Government to estimate the reserve force of v< omen's labour, trained and untrained, available if required. .The invitation adds that tho act of a woman who releases a man M service at the front Is an act that confers a national benefit. CLYDE ENGINEERS AND WAGES LONDON, 18th March. ' ■ The Clyde engineers, by 5616 votes agairst 1522, decided to Bubmit the wages question to the Government Arbitration Court. !