ARMAMENTS AND PROGRESS
[To the Editor of the SrEer.vrow]
Snt, —May I please remind the denouncers of Armaments of a few of the good things we owe to the makers of guns, pro- jectiles and armour ? The armaments industry has resulted in something more than cost and destruction. The world has received many of its greatest benefits from the work of armament makers.
I know a forge in which, before the War, we produced seven units of a certain peace-time article on a nine and a half hours shift, and the labour was severe. Since the War thirty-two units have been made on an eight-hour shift, and the labour has been easy.
Our Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers has reported to the League of Nations that the War-time demand for munitions had the effect of " improving immeasurably the equipment and efficiency of British steel works."
'' The greatest metallurgical discovery on record," to quote Sir Robert Hadfield, was made by Bessemer when seeking to improve the quality of steel for guns. That discovery, or in- vention, cut down at a single stroke the cost of steel from £70 to £.7 per ton, and it gave the world steel and engineering industries which have revolutionized the conditions of civilized life. It caused steel to be cheap enough for big bridges, ships, railway equipment, &c. It gave us not only cheap steel, but easier labour and vastly quicker, cheaper and safer travel and transport. We owe improved sanitation, cheaper and fresher food, easier labour, more luxuries, and vastly increased safety in mining, railway travelling and sea- faring to the results of the arts and crafts of the armament makers more than to all other groups of inventors put together. The wonderful engines, tools, implements and instruments we use are daily testimonials to the researches .and inventions of men engaged in making armaments. The armaments industry has saved the world vastly more money tl it has cost.
Moreover, sound and cheap steel has resulted in more life- saving than all the wars on record have resulted in life-losing. besides which men would have killed one another in war if never a gins or sword had been produced. There is something more than destruction involved in armaments, or the word armaments.
In offering this reminder, I say no word against the well- meaning folk' who advocate limitation or abolition of arna- 'ments. I merely beg to point out that we have derived great industrial efficiency, and greatly improved wealth, comfort and safety from the work of the makers of modern armaments.
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