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Page 17
An afternoon train takes me on to another great town, with some very
ancient institutions, which have done very modern service in the war. I
spent my evening in talking with my host, a steel manufacturer identified
with the life of the city, but serving also on one of the central
committees of the Ministry in London. Labour and politics, the chances of
the war, America and American feeling towards us, the task of the new
Minister of Munitions, the temper of English and Scotch workmen, the flux
into which all manufacturing conditions have been thrown by the war, and
how far old landmarks can be restored after it--we talked hard on these
and many other topics, till I must break it off--unwillingly!--to get some
sleep and write some notes.
Next day took me deep into the very central current of "England's
Effort"--so far as this great phase of it at any rate is concerned. In
this town, even more than in the city I had just left, one felt the throb
of the nation's rising power, concentrated, orderly, determined. Every
single engineering business in a town of engineers was working for the
war. Every manufacturer of any importance was doing his best for the
Government, some in connection with the new Ministry, some with the
Admiralty, some with the War Office. As for the leading firms of the city,
the record of growth, of a mounting energy by day and night, was nothing
short of bewildering. Take these few impressions of a long day, as they
come back to me.
First, a great steel warehouse, full of raw steel of many sorts and kinds,
bayonet steel, rifle steel, shell steel, stacked in every available corner
and against every possible wall--all sold, every bit of it, and ready to
be shipped--some to the Colonies, some to our Allies, with peremptory
orders coming in as to which the harassed head of the firm could only
shake his head with a despairing "impossible!"
Then some hours in a famous works, under the guidance of the managing
director, one of those men, shrewd, indefatigable, humane, in whose
company one learns what it is, in spite of all our supposed deficiencies,
that makes the secret of England's industrial tenacity. An elderly
Scotchman, very plainly marked by the labour and strain of the preceding
eighteen months, but still steadily keeping his head and his temper,
showing the signs of an Evangelical tradition in his strong dislike for
Sunday work, his evident care for his work-people--men and women--and his
just and sympathetic tone towards the labour with which he has to
deal--such is my companion.
He has a wonderful story to tell: "In September, 1914, we were called upon
to manufacture a large extra number of field-guns. We had neither
buildings nor machinery for the order. However, we set to work. We took
down seven dwelling-houses; in three weeks we were whitewashing the walls
of our new workshop and laying in the machinery. My idea was to make so
many guns. The Government asked for four times as many. So we took down
more houses, and built another much larger shop. The work was finished in
ten weeks. Five other large workshops were put up last year, all built
with lightning speed, and everywhere additions have been made to the
machinery in every department wherever it was possible to put machines."
As to their thousands of workmen, Mr. C. has no complaints to make.
"They have been steadily working anything from 60 to 80 hours per week;
the average is 64.29 hours per week, and the average time lost only 3.51
per cent. A little while ago, a certain union put forward a claim for an
advance in wages. We had to decline it, but as the meeting came to an end,
the trade-union secretary said:
"'Of course, we are disappointed, and we shall no doubt return to the
matter again. But whether you concede the advance of wages or not, our
members will continue to do their level best, believing that they are not
only working for themselves, but helping the Government and helping our
soldiers to wage this war to a successful conclusion.'"
And the manager adds his belief that this is the spirit which prevails
"among the work-people generally."
Before we plunge into the main works, however, my guide takes me to see a
recent venture, organised since the war, in which he clearly takes a
special interest. An old warehouse bought, so to speak, overnight, and
equipped next morning, has been turned into a small workshop for shell
production--employing between three and four hundred girls, with the
number of skilled men necessary to keep the new unskilled labour going.
These girls are working on the eight hours' shift system; and working so
well that a not uncommon wage among them--on piece-work, of course--runs
to somewhere between two and three pounds a week.
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