L'ENVOI
"La Mort n'est rien,
Vive la tombe,
Quand le pays en sort vivant,
En avant!"
Surely no one will deny to M. Paul Déroulède, that eminent and talented
French _homme-de-lettres_, to whose inspiring enthusiasm these lines
are attributable, the right of his assertion that Death in the
conditions which he mentions is a negligible quantity? Supreme as has
been the sacrifice of those well-nigh countless scores of officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men, who now "in glory shine," bitter
too and crushing as undoubtedly is the sense of void occasioned by
their absence beyond recall to those of their relatives and friends who
remain, "where is Death's sting?" it may well be asked, "where, Grave,
thy victory?" when the Country, struggling for all that she holds most
dear, finally emerges triumphant, renascent, from the darkest hours of
her existence; for underlying all, there is in this straightforward
challenge a tinge of pride unquenchable, a ring of scorn unmistakable.
Granted then the truth of this dogma, granted too that nothing is more
"dulce et decorum" than "pro patria mori," one cannot but bear in mind
the fact also that Death is not infrequently a happy form of release
from some lamentably pitiable condition of mind or body to another and
altogether brighter degree of existence. "La douleur est un siécle, et
la mort un moment;" one may even assume that the act of "passing away"
is comparable to that merciful dawn of returning consciousness, to
which the dreamer wakes from the vividly realistic, albeit imaginary,
torture of some agonising nightmare. For who at one time or another
of his or her enigmatic existence has not experienced this imaginary
torture, of which the crazy sequence of headlong unreasoning realities
wracks in topsy turvy torment the momentarily unbalanced brain, until
in a frenzy of despair and faced with some climax, unprecedented
and unparalleled, the dreamer wakes, bathed in profuse and clammy
perspiration, breathless and bewildered, yet infinitely grateful to
an all-powerful and protecting Deity that imaginings of so cruel and
fantastic a conception should prove to be but phantoms of the night?
Yet of all the myriad atoms of trivial humanity who have survived the
nightmare of Armageddon-up-to-date, what is the proportion of such
who can honestly say that the life to which we have been restored is
either brimful of promise or bright indeed with prospect? "Forward"
undoubtedly must be the watchword; "en avant;" but whither?
Selecting as a suitable title "Plain Speaking," the writer of a leading
article in the _Times_ of August 13th, 1919, urges that "Ever since
the Armistice Day they (the people) have been living in a fool's
paradise, as though the cessation of armed hostilities had opened the
door to a state of pure enjoyment according to every man's fancy....
The inevitable result is that Europe is drawing near, not merely to
bankruptcy and financial ruin, but to actual starvation."
So pessimistic a pronouncement lends itself to the assumption that
we are merely jumping out of the frying-pan of international strife
into the fire of internal or domestic disruption. The writer of this
article is, however, not quite so pessimistic as to be unable to offer
any remedy, for as an alternative he insists that "this mad orgy of
spending must cease from Government Departments downwards. All classes
must turn to work.... Employers and employed must give up quarrelling
and work together. Economy and work are the two watchwords for the
nation."
"En avant," then. But first of all "let us examine things," as Mr.
Lloyd George would have us do, "in the spirit of comradeship which
has been created by the war, that spirit of comradeship which arose
from a common sacrifice," and then, "let us demonstrate to the world
once more that Britain, beyond all lands, has the traditional power of
reaching a solution of her most baffling problems without resorting
to anarchy, but merely by appeal to the commonsense of most, and in
a spirit of fair play." Unhappily enough everybody was, however,
"suffering from the terrible strain of the war; nerves were jagged and
sore; the world was suffering from shell-shock on a great scale." The
position, therefore, if not indeed dangerous was none the less serious
and fraught with difficulty. Put in a nutshell, "we were spending
more, we were earning less; we were consuming more, we were producing
less; we were not paying our way. Before the war our National Debt was
£645,000,000; to-day it is £7,800,000,000" (cp. the _Times_, August
19th, 1919).
"En avant!" But how to remedy the state of affairs? How to straighten
out the tangle? What invariably happens when the blind lead the blind
seemed bound to occur if the Coalition Ministry continued leading or
misleading the people. "I make this indictment against the Ministry
of the day," exclaimed Sir D. Maclean when addressing the House on
August 12th, 1919, "that in this supreme financial crisis of the nation
they are failing wholly in their duty to put a stop to extravagant
expenditure." The Chancellor of the Exchequer estimated the then daily
average expenditure at no less than £4,442,000; the Army, the Navy, and
the Air Force accounting for £1,491,000 of this amount, notwithstanding
the fact that since the Armistice a total of 3,087,973 of all ranks had
been demobilised (cp. the _Times_, August 13th, 1919. Statement issued
by the War Office).
There can be no doubt but that the opinion prevalent on all hands was
that the great ship of State was in danger of being swamped in the
maelstrom of Ministerial mismanagement; yet in spite of this we read
that the Transport Bill (to take one solitary if salient instance) was
proposing to "create a new and costly brand of bureaucracy, headed
by titled dignitaries, and naval and military officers, with a whole
Milky Way of attendant satellites" (cp. the _Times_, July 17th, 1919),
and truth to tell, this "new and costly brand" seemed likely to afford
as great or as little hope of salvation to the man-in-the-street
as would a stone if thrown to a drowning man; it could but let him
down. According to the Gospel of Experience, "State Control has never
yet resulted in economy," and the present was certainly no time for
"legislative megalomania."
Admittedly no inconsiderable amount of ink has been spilt over the
question of transport, covering as it does so obviously wide a range.
The railways, as we know, during the war and since the armistice have
been run at the expense of, and under the nominal control of, the
State; but even so democratic a chieftain as is the versatile Prime
Minister had to confess that he had not noticed any apparent harmony
under this particular régime, and the subtle note of irony is by no
means lacking when he reminds his hearers in the House of Commons "we
have had, I think, a few strikes; and so long as strikes are prevalent,
where," he asks, "is the promotion of harmony if you have State control
and State ownership? I do not see the harmony that is to come under
State control" (cp. the _Times_ August 19th, 1919). No sooner had
the outburst of cheering which greeted this remark subsided, than an
Hon. Member (Lab.), chipping in, was heard to opine "these things
will happen under private ownership," a theory which impelled Mr.
Lloyd George promptly to retort, "I do not say it will be any worse
under State ownership, but I say it will not be any better." To the
average and impartial intelligence, therefore, the most satisfactory
and logical Q.E.D. to this little argument might be summed up in the
three words "as you were"; indeed, the "pros" in favour of so patent
a usurpation of private interests as is embodied in State control or
nationalisation of railways may be said to be far outweighed by the
opposing "cons." During the period in which the nation was fighting
for its life, there was evidently no time "for renewing machinery,
there was hardly time for repairing, and there was quite inadequate
time for cleaning," but the fact remains that during this period of
State control the railways were run at a loss; and that loss, largely
attributable to enormous increases in wages, diminution in working
hours, and mathematically proportionate reduction in output, came
straight from the taxpayers' pockets. Why then, it may be asked,
this persistent demand for Ministerial megalomania-to-be? What the
reason for this "new and costly brand of bureaucracy," which assuming
the proportions of an octopus threatens to crush every vestige of
individuality and private enterprise which happens within the deadly
orb of its encircling and insatiable tentacles?
The explanation is not far to seek--"Sir Herbert Walker and his
colleagues on the Railway Executive Committee have been too modest,
the public do not know what they achieved" (cp. _Engineering_, January
17th, 1919, "The Railway Problem"). Further, unknown to the average
man-in-the-street, "the individual organisations of the Railway
Companies (during the war) remained intact, and the Boards of Directors
continued to be responsible for the conduct of their affairs. The
desire was to get the work done"--to deliver the goods--"with as
little disturbance of the existing machinery as possible. The changes
which were introduced and the high efficiency which was witnessed in
the working of the traffic of the railways during the war was due far
more to a patriotic determination on the part of all concerned to do
their utmost to assist the country in a time of national emergency,
regardless of corporate or personal interests, than to the direct
imposition by the Government of its will upon the railway companies."
Ministerial axe-grinders, and disgruntled Labour members, were well
aware of all this; they were faced, too, with the fact that "the
control by a Committee of General Managers has really resulted in
freeing the railways from the 'blighting effect' of State control,
and the successful operation of British railways during the war is
really a tribute to the efficiency of private (as distinct from State)
ownership." Not only this, but a further fact which undoubtedly
redounds to the credit of Sir Herbert Walker and his little band of
colleagues could not be disregarded, for as we learn from the _Times_
of July 17th, 1919, "the Railway Executive Committee controlled the
whole railway system of these islands during the war from a few
shabby rooms at Westminster with a staff of about eighteen clerks.
The Committee was so modest that they did not commandeer a single
hotel, or angle for the smallest honours, but they achieved wonders of
transportation with steadily diminishing resources." Finally, and as
voicing the opinion of the business community at large, we have only
to observe that the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce emphatically records
its belief that "Nationalisation (of railways) would be a national
misfortune."
One misfortune not unusually leads to another, and logically enough it
may be argued that one of the more immediate of the "blighting effects
of State control" likely to become apparent is what may be termed "the
passing of ingenuity," resulting in lack of incentive to individual
enterprise, or, in a word, an inevitable stalemate. "Committed
irrevocably to mass production, to specialisation, to rigs and jigs
and standards, to gigantic industrial combines, to the suppression of
individual merit, and the apotheosis of mass merit," a writer in the
_Engineer_ of April 25th, 1919, deplores the fact that "skill is being
transferred from the man to the machine; knowledge is being replaced by
the schedule; organisation by rule is taking the place of organisation
by mother wit." Plainly too, but none the less regretfully, the same
writer conjectures that "in another fifty years these things we now
foresee dimly will be the commonplaces of industry"; and "oh tempora!
oh mores!" let future generations beware, for "brought up in standard
crèches on standard feeding bottles with standard milk, we shall pass
through a course of standard education, be dressed in standard clothes,
carried in standard conveyances, live in standard dwellings, behave
like standard citizens, and in due course be carried in standard
coffins in a standard hearse to a standard crematorium."
Undoubtedly every one is entitled to his or her own opinion, _apropos_
any particular subject of debate; but without prejudice it may be asked
whether any one in his legitimate senses is capable of viewing this
"standard" perspective, these "blighting effects of State control,"
with feelings other than of revolt and dismay. "Victory is nothing,"
so Napoleon is reputed to have declared, "if you do not profit by
success"; and having achieved success regardless of the cost, having
won through "non pour dominer"--to use the words of that great
Commander of the Entente Armies, Marshal Foch--"mais pour être libre,"
in what way are we endeavouring to profit?
"There is evidence of slackness; the effort has got to be quickened;
all must put their backs into it to save the country. Our international
trade is in peril, and our home trade is depressed by reduction of
output and the increased cost of production. Words must be translated
into action unless thousands of lives are to be sacrificed to hunger
and cold; this is no hyperbole."
Such, as we know, are specimens of periodic if unpalatable pessimisms
provided by prominent personalities. The experience of Sir Edward
Grey, as he tells us, is that the difficulty is not so much to tell
the truth, as to get the truth believed. Were we then really living in
a fool's paradise? Could it truthfully be said that we as a community
were consenting to become a "League of Dupes," as the Nations have
been banded together as a League? Heaven forbid! for just as it would
be idle to imagine that there will be no more strikes, no extremist
incitement to anarchy, so too in the considered opinion of Mr. Lloyd
George "it would be folly to assume that human nature will never give
way to passion again, and that there will be no war. A nation that
worked on that assumption might regret its conduct." Unfortunately,
there is no denying the fact--as a captured German naval officer
once tersely put it--that although they (the Germans) could never
be gentlemen, we (the British) would ever be fools! Hence it comes
about that at a time when "the most pressing interest of humanity is
that the profit and loss account of a barbarous bid for world-power
should show an impressive balance on the wrong side," it is open to
argument whether the policy embodied in the Treaty of Versailles, of
"tempering justice with mercy," was altogether prudent; mercy, that is,
which "could not speak more eloquently than it does in the unmutilated
landscape of German agriculture, and in the immunity of her civilians
from all the horrors of her own practice as an invader" (cp. _Pall Mall
Gazette_, June 28th, 1919).
Be that as it may, "once bitten" is proverbially and habitually "twice
shy," so that it would seem well-nigh inconceivable that a lesson of
such magnitude as the Nation has learnt during the long-drawn-out
agony of the world-war can readily be forgotten; and whatever the
future all unknown may hold in store for us, undimmed in the minds
of succeeding generations will most surely shine as a guiding light
the splendid record of private enterprise and of individual endeavour
as exemplified by the great railway companies of the British Isles,
amongst which pride of place can scarcely be withheld from the London
and North-Western Railway, to whom the country, without doubt, owes a
deep and lasting debt of gratitude.
"En avant!" then, as surely those who gave their all would have us do.
"En avant!" that their sacrifice supreme shall not have been in vain.
"En avant!" and may our thankfulness and pride go out to them in that
"great unknown beyond," where they--
"... shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them."
[Illustration: WAR MEMORIAL, EUSTON.
"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will
remember them."
[_To face p. 210._]
APPENDIX A
THE SYSTEM OF CONTROL APPLIED TO THE ARMOURED TRAINS MANUFACTURED IN
CREWE WORKS
Fitted with standard vacuum brake, the train was also driven by an
ingeniously devised vacuum system of control, which could be operated
from either end of the train or from the footplate of the engine. On
the smoke-box side, and intermediate between steam chests and main
regulator valve, was fixed an additional regulator valve, actuated by
a small vacuum cylinder. A 3/4-inch vacuum pipe acting in conjunction
with the vacuum brake pipe and running the whole length of the train
was connected to three pairs of vacuum control valves and gauges
fixed, respectively, one on the footplate and one at each end of the
train. When all these vacuum control valves were placed at the "shut"
position, the ports were open to admit air, and no vacuum could be
created; consequently the brakes remained on, and the additional
regulator valve shut, so that no steam could reach the steam chests
even if the main regulator valve was open.
When, however, the vacuum control valves were placed in the open
position, the air ports were closed, and the driver, supposing he was
at the end of the train, signalled to the fireman on the footplate
to "blow up" with the usual steam-ejector, a vacuum being thereby
created not only for releasing the brakes, but also for operating the
additional regulator valve which the driver controlled and by means
of which he started the train. Conversely when he wished to stop, all
that he had to do was to bring his control lever over once again to the
shut position, when the air-ports opened, the vacuum was destroyed,
the regulator-valve shut, the brakes went on, and the train came to a
standstill.
APPENDIX B
EXPLANATORY OF THE GAUGE
Gauges may be divided into two categories known as "working" and
"inspecting" gauges; again each category is further divided into two
sub-categories, designated in approved munitions' parlance as "to go"
and "not to go." "Working" gauges being in more or less constant use,
and subjected, not infrequently, to a certain measure of rough usage,
were allowed a slightly less "tolerance" or margin, plus or minus,
high or low, than were "inspecting" gauges; that is to say, given a
certain specific measurement for any specific part of a shell, the
gauge in proportion as it was "working" or "inspecting" was limited to
a tolerance of a minute fraction of an inch either above or below the
finished dimension; this was in fact considered the _beau idéal_ of
good workshop practice.
Let us take for the sake of argument a shell body. If after being
turned to presumably the required and finished diameter it was found
to slip through the hole of a "not to go" working gauge, there was no
alternative other than that of scrapping it then and there, because
obviously once turned to too small a diameter, not "all the king's
horses nor all the king's men" could ever increase that diameter by one
single iota again; as a biblical parallelism one might even add that
it would be "easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle"
than for a "not to go" shell to enter into bond. If, on the other
hand, the shell would not quite enter the "to go" hole of a "working"
gauge, or even if it was a tight fit in this hole, it followed that
there remained a certain tolerance or margin whereby the diameter could
still be reduced to a trifle, and the shell _per se_ qualified as a
candidate for the final examination of the "inspecting" gauge. Picking
up, then, our "inspecting" gauge we find that this, in like manner, has
two holes, one "to go" and one "not to go"; but the gauge-maker has
perforce been wily enough to leave the tolerance of these "inspecting"
gauge holes a minute fraction of an inch greater, above and below the
required finished dimension, than that allowed in the "working" gauge
holes, his purpose being to ensure the inspector something up his
sleeve in the way of control over the machinists who use the "working
gauge" only; hence the "not to go" hole of the "inspecting" gauge is
slightly less in diameter than the "not to go" hole of the "working"
gauge; the "inspecting" "to go" hole is a tiny trifle larger than
the diameter of the finished shell than is the "to go" hole of the
"working" gauge.
The accompanying diagram scaled to convenient fractions of an inch will
perhaps help to illustrate the meaning of these tolerances.
Suppose for instance that the correct finished diameter of our shell
is 5-31/32 inches, the tolerances allowed by the Government (_i.e._
the final "inspecting" tolerances) can be represented by the two
semicircles and dimensions shown below the centre line, which, as will
be seen, are further from the finished dimensions than are the two
semicircles and dimensions shown above the centre line, these latter
representing the "working" tolerances, the difference between the two
sets of figures representing the amount of margin kept up his sleeve by
the Inspector by way of control over the machinists using the "working"
gauges only.
In actual practice of course the fractions of an inch representing
these tolerances are infinitely smaller than those shown above for the
purpose of illustration only.
Some idea of the infinitely small fractions representing the tolerances
allowed may be gathered by taking a sheet of ordinary thin note-paper,
the thickness of which is about 3/1000 parts of an inch, or ·003
inch; try to imagine this sheet of thin note-paper made ten times
thinner still, and you will find it reduced to a minimum of tissue
thickness, 3/10000 parts of an inch or ·0003 inch; remember now that on
good artillery depends not only the lives, maybe of your nearest and
dearest, but the honour of the nation too; and you have firstly some
idea of the imperceptible fractions of an inch to which a shell-gauging
instrument is made; secondly the reason for the proportionate degree of
accuracy demanded in the manufacture of artillery ammunition itself.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: MANUFACTURE OF A HOB-CUTTER, IN "RELIEVING" OR
"BACKING-OFF" LATHE. [_Appendix C_]
APPENDIX C
THE THREAD-MILLER, AND THE "BACKING-OFF" LATHE, AS APPLIED TO
SHELL-MANUFACTURE
The action of a thread-milling machine is as follows:--The cutter
fixed on a mandrel, and the shell in the milling machine, revolve in
opposite directions to one another. The teeth of the cutter, contrary
to expectation, are simply a series of parallel rings cut the correct
pitch of the thread required; consequently all that is necessary is
that the shell shall travel longitudinally the distance of one pitch of
the thread during one complete revolution, and the job is done.
Particular interest centres, perhaps, in the little thread-cutter
itself, and in the amount of ingenuity evinced in the method of its
manufacture.
In the first place a rotary form-milling cutter regulated by a dividing
head is run across the eventuating hob thread-cutter in a series of
spiral lengths. The profile of this form-milling cutter forms both a
rounded clearance for the cutting edge of the hob cutting teeth and a
"gash" or groove necessary for the clearance of the chasing tool when
cutting the teeth.
The reason for these spiral gashes is that each separate tooth shall
come into play individually and consecutively instead of collectively
and simultaneously, the life of the teeth being in this manner very
materially prolonged.
We notice then, that instead of adhering to a uniform circumference,
the teeth, or series of teeth, are what is known as "backed off" from
the cutting edge, a clearance being in this wise imparted, the true
form of the teeth being thereby maintained in subsequent grinding
operations.
This clearance is obtainable by means of the "backing-off" or
"relieving" mechanism of a lathe especially designed for the purpose.
A geared shaft running parallel with the bed of the lathe causes
to revolve a cam. This cam, by virtue of the eccentricity of its
face, imparts a transverse movement to the lathe rest through the
intermediary of a transverse spindle on which is fixed a second cam
also eccentrically faced.
The revolving face of the one bearing against the stationary face of
the other causes the latter to draw the lathe-rest inwards against
the compression of a spring; no sooner have the cam edges passed one
another than the spring relaxes, allowing the lathe-rest to jump back
again to its former position.
It is during the inward movement of the lathe-rest that the
form-chasing tool cuts the required clearance behind the hob miller's
teeth, finishing into the cross-cut spiral gash; the outward movement
has the effect of pushing the chasing tool in the nick of time clear of
the succeeding row of teeth, ready to repeat a similar operation. The
eccentric profile of the cam faces, needless to say, is responsible for
the curved relief, or clearance, behind the edge of the hob miller's
teeth, and the cams can be changed at will according to the curve
required. The delaying action of the lathe-rest necessary to coincide
with the spiral gash is imparted by means of a slide set diagonally
to the requisite angle of the spiral; as this was a series of rings
and not a screw thread, it was necessary, when cutting the teeth, to
disengage the leading screw from the backing-off gear to enable the
teeth to be cut while the saddle of the lathe was in a stationary
position.
Far from falling within the category of those employers on the portals
of whose workshops may have been inscribed the fatal words "too
late," Mr. Cooke was early in the field as a purchaser of the hob
thread-milling machine.
Delivered with the machine was a hob cutter, but strangely enough
instead of being spiral this cutter was straight fluted. The occasion
of a visit to the Works of a certain Government Tool Inspector was
productive of an amusing little comedy. Noticing the backing-off lathe
above referred to, and being in urgent need of a supply of spiral hob
cutters, he expressed his intention of commandeering the lathe for the
exclusive manufacture of these particular hobs for Government purposes,
heedless of the fact that the lathe was and had been continuously
employed for locomotive purposes. Being under the impression too
that only one firm of expert tool makers in the country was capable
of cutting spiral hobs, great was his astonishment and delight on
discovering that Crewe was not only equally capable of doing so, but
previously had been performing this very class of work; the net result
of this little episode being that the lathe in question was immediately
requisitioned for a continuous supply of spiral hob cutters which were
to be sent to shell manufacturing firms, and a second backing-off lathe
was speedily forthcoming, in order that the Company's own locomotive
requirements should be in no way impeded.
THE END
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES,
ENGLAND.
Transcriber's note:
-Applied the errata to the text
-Whole and fractional parts displayed as 3-1/2
-Made several silent typographical changes for mismatched
single/double quotes
-Italic text display as _text_
-Spelling and word usage have been retained as they appear in the
original publication, except as follows:
-Page viii: Changed "Psychologigues" to "Psychologiques".
-Page viii, 40: Changed "Enseignments" to "Enseignements".
-Page 26: Changed "the same control has" to "the same control as"
-Page 88: Changed "6 percent" to "60 percent". (The total
composition of brass should add up to 100%.)
-Page 89: Changed "are slightly taper to" to "are slightly
tapered to".
-Page 183: Changed "Rang-de-Fliers" to "Rang-du-Fliers" and
"Etaples" to "Étaples".
-Page 189: Changed "the the railway" to "the railway".
End of Project Gutenberg's Deeds of a Great Railway, by G. R. S. Darroch