NEW LIGHT ON MUNITIONS SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 150, 26 June 1915, Page 6

NEW LIGHT ON MUNITIONS SUPPLY

Thft speeches of Mr. Lloyd George, unlike those of some of his colleagues, generally tell something, and that which he delivered in introducing the Munitions Bill is full of important and inspiring | facts. To many it may seem a strange thing that any Government ever hoped to inspire a people without taking them into its confidence as to the real nature of the crisis confronting them ; but as the success attending Mr. Lloyd George's candour has already morally killed the old policy of false optimism, reticence, and soothing syrup, the point need not at tho present stage be laboured. Approaching the national problem from tha new angle, Mr. Lloyd George is able to tell us that "speaking quite frankly, the armament firms have been inadequate to the gigantic task thrust upon them." With another turn of the searchlight he reveals the fact that in securing the mobility of workmen — & vital point of the industrial reorganisation — the difficulty was not the workmen but "the employers, some of •whom actually demanded compensation for allowing their workmen to go." Moreover, there are "indications of holding up of supplies in certain quarters, in view of higher prices . . . causing serious delay." These things speak for themselves, and the public has as much right to know them as that the workmen drink or otherwise lose time and efficiency. No better proof is required of the fact that the national crisis called for a Minister with sufficient courage to throw a. 'eteady light upon dark places, without fear and without bitterness. Where mutuality of sacrifice is essential, and where the men have conceded a suspension of union restrictions, it is elementary justice that the State, and not the employer, should profit thereby; and therefore, in factories to be controlled under the Munitions Bill, the State practically takes charge of the allocation of profits. "The trade union leaders," remarks Mr. Lloyd George, "very properly Insisted npon their share of the bargain." On the other hand, the Bill has a whip for delinquent workmen, as habitual absentees from work may be fined by a special Court on which employer and employee are represented. This leads up to the question of an arbitration tribunal, concerning which it was lately argued in these columns that | the existence of statutory machinery with powers of compulsion would, had it existed at the outbreak of war, ha,ve been of extreme value to the Imperial Government. In a passage banning strikes and lock-outs, Mr. Lloyd George states that those responsible for the output of munitions have assented to compulsory arbitration and have arrived at j "a substantial agreement" (embodied in the Bill), but he regress "the absence of similar assent on 'the part of the coalminers and the cotton operatives. Coal, in particular, is the motive power behind munition-making just as all other manufactures, and the new era of cooperation of master and man under the State will not be complete until the coalminers eutirely participate. Since tho war broke out the mind's have freely volunteered (involviug a. displacement of

ing), and their temperament is such that the eloquence and, above all, the frankness of Mr. Lloyd George should speedily make them as enthusiastic to do their work in the mine as in the trench. Efforts are now being made to secure the return to the factories of engineers whose patriotism has placed them in the army ; and by measures such as this, including the "mobility" scheme— under ■which enrolled men are to be transferred to the point where- their work is most required— the labour supply for muni-tion-manufacture will quickly he placed on a very much better footing. Certain it is that the machine has begnn to move, and the seven days of organising /effort have commenced most auspiciously. Important points in the Minister's speech are the threat to control the metal market if there is further restraint of trade, and the statement that < the next few w-eeks will see a big increase in the output of machine guns, which have "almost rendered the rifle unnecessary." For the present, Sir A. B. Markham's criticism of Lord Kitchener's Ws£ Office administration may be left in abeyance. Mr. Lloyd George's retort was no reply, and Lord Kitchener has still to be heard. The great fact is that past and present shortcomings are being made good by a. national alliance including such diverse elements as Mr. Balfour, Mr. Lloyd George, and Mr. Henderson, with Mr. Ben Tillett and Mr. Tom Mann at one end of the skirmishing line and the employers and the Church at the other.