under Mr. David Lloyd George; as to its achievements, here are
figures which shall speak plainer than any words.
In the time of Mons the army was equipped and supplied by three
Government factories and a very few auxiliary firms; to-day gigantic
national factories, with miles of railroads to serve them, are in
full swing, beside which, thousands of private factories are
controlled by the Government. As a result the output of explosives in
March, 1917, was over _four times_ that of March, 1916, and
_twenty-eight times_ that of March, 1915, and so enormous has been
the production of shells that in the first nine weeks of the summer
offensive of 1917 the stock decreased by only seven per cent. despite
the appalling quantity used.
The making of machine guns to-day as compared with 1915 has increased
_twenty-fold_, while the supply of small-arm ammunition has become so
abundant that the necessity for importation has ceased altogether. In
one Government factory alone the making of rifles has increased
_ten-fold_, and the employees at Woolwich Arsenal have increased from
a little less than _eleven thousand_ to nearly _seventy-four
thousand_, of whom _twenty-five thousand_ are women.
Production of steel, before the war, was roughly seven million tons;
it is now ten million tons and still increasing, so much so that it
is expected the pre-war output will be doubled by the end of 1918;
while the cost of steel plates here is now less than half the cost in
the U.S.A. Since May, 1917, the output of aeroplanes has been
quadrupled and is rapidly increasing; an enormous programme of
construction has been laid down and plans drawn up for its complete
realisation.
With this vast increase in the production of munitions the cost of
each article has been substantially reduced by systematic examination
of actual cost, resulting in a saving of L43,000,000 over the
previous year's prices.
Figures are a dry subject in themselves, and yet such figures as
these are, I venture to think, of interest, among other reasons for
the difficulty the human brain has to appreciate their full meaning.
Thus: the number of articles handled weekly by the Stores Departments
is several hundreds of thousands above fifty million: or again, I
read that the munition workers themselves have contributed
L40,187,381 towards various war loans. It is all very easy to write,
but who can form any just idea of such uncountable numbers?
And now, writing of the sums of money Britain has already expended, I
for one am immediately lost, out of my depth and plunged ten
thousand fathoms deep, for now I come upon the following:
"The total national expenditure for the three years to August 4th,
1917, is approximately L5,150,000,000, of which L1,250,000,000 is
already provided for by taxation and L1,171,000,000 has been lent to
our colonies and allies, which may be regarded as an investment."
Having written which I lay down my pen to think, and, giving it up,
hasten to record the next fact.
"The normal pre-war taxation amounted to approximately L200,000,000,
but for the current financial year (1917-1918) a revenue of
L638,000,000 has been budgeted for, but this is expected to produce
between L650,000,000 and L700,000,000." Now, remembering that the
cost of necessaries has risen to an unprecedented extent, these
figures of the extra taxation and the amounts raised by the various
war loans speak louder and more eloquently than any words how
manfully Britain has shouldered her burden and of her determination
to see this great struggle through to the only possible
conclusion--the end, for all time, of autocratic government.
I have before me so many documents and so much data bearing on this
vast subject that I might set down very much more; I might descant on
marvels of enterprise and organisation and of almost insuperable
difficulties overcome. But, lest I weary the reader, and since I
would have these lines read, I will hasten on to the last of my facts
and figures.
As regards ships, Britain has already placed six hundred vessels at
the disposal of France and four hundred have been lent to Italy, the
combined tonnage of these thousand ships being estimated at two
million.
Then, despite her drafts to Army and Navy she has still a million men
employed in her coal mines and is supplying coal to Italy, France and
Russia. Moreover, she is sending to France one quarter of her total
production of steel, munitions of all kinds to Russia and guns and
gunners to Italy.
As for her Navy--the German battle squadrons lie inactive, while in
one single month the vessels of the British Navy steamed over one
million miles; German trading ships have been swept from the seas and
the U-boat menace is but a menace still. Meantime, British shipyards
are busy night and day; a million tons of craft for the Navy alone
were launched during the first year of the war, and the programme of
new naval construction for 1917 runs into hundreds of thousands of
tons. In peace time the building of new merchant ships was just under
2,000,000 tons yearly, and despite the shortage of labour and
difficulty of obtaining materials, 1,100,000 tons will be built by
the end of 1917, and 4,000,000 tons in 1918.
The British Mercantile Marine (to whom be all honour!) has
transported during the war, the following:--
13,000,000 men,
25,000,000 tons of war material,
1,000,000 sick and wounded,
51,000,000 tons of coal and oil fuel,
2,000,000 horses and mules,
100,000,000 hundredweights of wheat,
7,000,000 tons of iron ore,
and, beyond this, has exported goods to the value of L500,000,000.
Here ends my list of figures and here this chapter should end also;
but, before I close, I would give, very briefly and in plain
language, three examples of the spirit animating this Empire that
to-day is greater and more worthy by reason of these last three
blood-smirched years.
No. I
There came from Australia at his own expense, one Thomas Harper, an
old man of seventy-four, to help in a British munition factory. He
laboured hard, doing the work of two men, and more than once fainted
with fatigue, but refused to go home because he "couldn't rest while
he thought his country needed shells."
No. II
There is a certain small fishing village whose men were nearly all
employed in fishing for mines. But there dawned a black day when news
came that forty of their number had perished together and in the same
hour. Now surely one would think that this little village, plunged in
grief for the loss of its young manhood, had done its duty to the
uttermost for Britain and their fellows! But these heroic fisher-folk
thought otherwise, for immediately fifty of the remaining
seventy-five men (all over military age) volunteered and sailed away
to fill the places of their dead sons and brothers.
No. III
Glancing idly through a local magazine some days since, my eye was
arrested by this:
"In proud and loving memory of our loved and loving son ... who fell
in France ... with his only brother, 'On Higher Service.' There is no
death."
Thus then I conclude my list of facts and figures, a record of
achievement such as this world has never known before, a record to be
proud of, because it is the outward and visible sign of a people
strong, virile, abounding in energy, but above all, a people clean of
soul to whom Right and Justice are worth fighting for, suffering for,
labouring for. It is the sign of a people which is willing to endure
much for its ideals that the world may be a better world, wherein
those who shall come hereafter may reap, in peace and contentment,
the harvest this generation has sowed in sorrow, anguish and great
travail.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors;
otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's
words and intent.