ENGLAND'S EFFORT.*

Mits. HIIMTHRY WARD has a large number of readers in the United States, and she could not have. helped better towards an understanding in America—and, indeed, in other neutral or friendly countries—of the immense effort England is making in the war than by writing these letters to an American friend. We have often dwelt upon that effort as something which, under the given conditions, is unparalleled in history. Only our national habit of continually blaming ourselves has obscured its character from the eyes of neutrals and friends, and to a considerable extent from our own. We need not follow Mrs. Ward's admirable state- ment of the facts—the millions of men voluntarily recruited, the almost incredible overcoming of financial difficulties, the titanic expenditure not only on our own needs but on those of our Allies, the improvisation of huge Armies out of nothing, the organization of a network of munition factories, the adaptation of the well-established rules and customs of Labour, and the employment of hundreds of thousands of women which this adaptation has made possible for the first time. We want rather to pick out incidents and comments which make the high lights of the picture. Many things that Mrs. Ward says will be quite new even to her English readers. She has turned to excellent account the oppor- tunities, freely given to her by the Government, of visiting the Grand Fleet, making a tour of the munition factories, and spending some days in France, not merely at the base, but within the sights and sounds of battle.

Before we come to Mrs. Ward's letters, however, we must mention

Rnaig's nod : Sir Piton to an deserican Friend B Mrs Ham hry Ward the Bari of Rosebery, K.G. London ; YSmith, Mgr, and 09.

Lord Rosebery's suggestive preface. Lord Rosebery sees a new England arising from the dust and darkness of war. Men of all ranks will be united by memories of sublime endurance ; they will feel a new fellow- ship ; and the nation, led by such, will be braced by a new spirit to face its future. And if these effects are seen at home--in our politics, in the aims of Labour, and in religious life—what of the Empire ? Lord Rosebery thinks that if the opportunity of making Imperial relations " more intimate and businesslike " be lost we shall deserve never to have another. Then he turns to the great question of preventing 'War :- " Lastly we may ask a question which concerns all mankind. Will this terrible convulsion when it has subsided bequeath war or peace as Its heritage ? In any case ono would think there must be a generation of exhaustion. But will that generation bestir itself to find some guarantee against the recurrence of the curse, or will it silently pile up armaments for hoarded vengeance ? That is the question on which depends the future of the human race."

On that subject we will only say, for ourselves, that, though we lag behind no one in our desire for peace, we cannot believe that it will be secured by a mere political arrangement, as such, among nations. An aggressive and dishonest nation could easily turn any arrangement in the nature of a self-denying ordinance—and such an international combination against war of course must be—to its own advantage. An absence of all desire for conquest and domination seems to be the only basis for any pacific arrangement whatsoever. A change of heart, in fine, is necessary. If this comes about in Germany, it must come from the German people themselves. If there is no sign of a change of heart, it will be not only useless but monstrously foolish to trust to any international pact to which Germany is a party. We could trust the United States, on the other hand, for she has proved herself devoid of all acquisitiveness. By all means let us have treaties aimed at the prevention of war among the nations which are demonstrably satisfied with their possessions and position, but we shall simply be asking for fresh trouble if we admit to the circle any nation which confesses itself to bo " on the make."

Mrs. Ward's visit to the Fleet left her a profound admirer of the spirit of our naval officers, of their intelligence, and of their moderation :—

" And afterwards in the Admiral's pleasant drawing-room on board the flagship, with its gathering of naval officers, Admirals, Captains, Commanders, how good the talk was ! Not a shade of boasting—no more abuse of Germany—rather a quiet regret for the days when German and English naval men were friends throughout the harbours of the world. Von Spee was a very good fellow—I knew him well—and his two sons who went down with him,' says an Admiral gently. ' I was at Kiel the month before the war. I know that many of their men must loathe tho work they are set to do.' The point is,' says a younger man, broad-shouldered, with the strong face of a leader, ' that they are always fouling the seas, and we are always cleaning them up. Let the neutrals understand that It is not wo who strew the open waters with mines for the slaughter of any passing ship, and then call it " main- taining tho freedom of the seas." And as to their general strategy, their Higher CoR.mand '—ho throws back his head with a quiet laugh— and I listen to a rapid sketch of what tho Germans might have done, have never done, and what it is now much too late to do, which I will not repeat."

Mrs. Ward is a close observer ; every one will give her credit for having reproduced the precise impression which the naval officers made upon her. And what could be more reassuring ? Our seamen do not boast, but they are nevertheless convinced that the Germans would never have much chance against thorn in equal fighting. The sea-instinct is ours ; it does not as yet belong to Germany, though some day she may acquire it. The Jutland Battle proved as much. In staying-power and resource there was no comparison between the two sides. The Germans started with a finely thought out plan for collaring our Battle-Cruiser Squadron alone. At first their shooting was as good as their plan, but both withered away as the fighting proceeded. The Germans ended up with indifferent gunnery, and the impotent torpedo work by their destroyers of which we have all heard.

The most impressive part of Mrs. Ward's book is the account of her tour in the munitions area Justice requires us to quote what she says of the Clyde workers :-

" What's wrong with the men ! ' cried a Glasgow employer indignantly to me, one winter evening, as, quite unknown the one to the other, we were nearing one of the towns on the Clyde= What was done on tie Clyde, in the first months of the war, should never be forgotten by this country. Working from six to nine every day, till they dropped with fatigue—and Sundays too—drinking just to keep themselves going— too tired to oat or sleep—that's what it was—I saw it ! ' "

Again :- ` Those who have nothing but criticism for the men,' writes an old resident on the Clyde, well acquainted with all the conditions of work there, ought to realise the exhausting conditions, of noise from the hammers, and heat from the molten metal, in which the men have worked their 50 to 100 hours a week, since August, 1914. In some of these yards it is rare to find a " riveter " who is not deaf for life after 25, end sometimes earlier.' And finally the invasion of women has perhaps been more startling to the workmen hero than anywhere else. Not a Riegle woman was employed in the works or factories of the district before the war, except in textiles. There will soon be 15,000 in the munition workshops, and that will not he the end."

Similarly, she says of the workers in another district :-

" As to their thousands of workmen, Mr. C. has no complaints to make. They have been steadily working anything from 80 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 pub 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 note our members will continue to do their level best, believing that they are not working for themselves alone, but helping the Government, and helping oar soldiers to wage this war to a successful conclusion."' And the managing director adds his belief that this is the spirit which prevails among the workpeople generally."

As for the spirit of the quarter of a million of women who have been brought into the factories to " dilute " the skilled labour, Mrs. Ward confirms all that we have read in praise of this new form of labour, and adds something on her own account. She quotes the opinion of a manager of works who is not ordinarily easy to please :— " His view of his workmen is critical. It is the view of one consumed with realisation: face to face with those who don't realise." But the raid will do a deal of good,' ho says cheerfully. As to the women ! '—he throws up his hands= they're savinep the country. They don't mind what they do. Hours ? they work ten and a half, or with overtime, twelve hours a day, seven days a week. At least that's what they'd like to do. The Government are insisting on one Sunday—or two Sundays—a month off. I don't say they're not right. But the women resent it. " We're not tired ! " they say. And you leek at them !—they're not tired. If I go down to the shod and say- " Girls !—there's a bit of work the Government are pushing for—they say they must have—can you get it done ? " why, they'll stay and get it done, and then pour out of the works laughing ana singing. I can tell you of a surgical dressing factory near here, where for nearly a year the women never had a holiday. They simply wouldn't take ono. " And what'll our men at the front do, if we go holiday-making ? " Last night' (the night of the raid) the warning came to put out lights. We daren't send them home. They sat in the dark among the machines, singing—" Keep the home fires burning "—" Tipperary "—and the like. .1 tell you it made ono a bit choky to hear them. They were thinking of their sweethearts and husbands, I'll bo bound 1—not of themselves.' "

German science is marvellous in many ways, but it does not, as Americans say, " begin " to understand human nature. One wonders whether it never occurred to the German leaders that it only required a few Zeppelia raids to extinguish all the ugly difficulties in tho reconstruction of the English world of Labour. However, they have intensified the right spirit in our women—the spirit of rescue and the spirit of defiance combined—and it is too late for them to undo it now even if they should send over Zeppelins to drop packets of sweets and feathers for hats.

The reader must discover for himself the examples Mrs. Ward gives of the amazing speed with which factories have risen where bogs stool and burns flowed only a few weeks before. Even " out West " they do not raise cities quicker But what of the future effect on our industries of the now industrial revolution, as the present conditions may be called without exaggeration ? One of the largest employers of labour in the country told Mrs. Ward that, so far from " dilution " having caused ill-feeling, his relations with both his skilled and unskilled work- men were better than they had ever been before. This is startling, and encouraging too. Something must come of it all. Of couran the customs and regulations of the Trade Unions have been dropped temporarily without prejudice to the future, but the present experience can never be quite lost. For one thing, the intense accuracy requirel by munitions work will leave its mark. So will the emphasis laid on the fact that much " skilled " work was not really skilled, but could bo learned to admiration by a quick girl in a few weeks. Something, then, must come of it.