striction or prevention of the importation of cheap manufactured goods produced abroad under worse labour conditions than those at home. Reviewing the work of the Congress as a whole, it may be observed that no strong line of policy was decided upon in any sphere. Vagueness and indetermination seemed to characterise the Resolutions which were passed. It appeared as though the war had unsettled much of the former pronounced convictions of the labour movement, and that no new convictions of corresponding strength had yet been evolved. The ideals of labour were undergoing a change. The atmosphere of war was highly unfavourable to the realisation of their doctrines, and it was hard to prophesy what new beliefs and new spirit would ensue from the comparatively vacillating and weakened position of the movement.

During the first half of September considerable public annoyance was caused by the action of the Army Authorities in what was called "rounding up" of men of military age, who for some illegitimate reason had escaped the operation of the Military Service Acts. All over the country-at theatres, railway stations, football fields, public parks, and other places where the public were gathered together-bands of soldiers and police would appear closing up the exits and stopping everyone who appeared to be of military age, and demanding documentary evidence of their exemption. If no such evidence were forthcoming, the man was taken to the nearest police station for investigation to be made. The cause of this action was a belief, or a suspicion, that a certain proportion of men had failed to register under the Registration Act of the previous year. This revival of the Press Gang, however, quickly disclosed the small basis of fact that existed for such a suspicion. The number of men actually obtained in this manner was exceedingly small and altogether out of proportion to the inconvenience to which the public were put. A clamour was raised against what was considered to be an illegitimate extension of militarism and interference with individual liberty, and after a few days the Military Authorities, in deference to the clamour, and to the small results accruing from these unpleasant raids, abandoned their policy, at all events on a wholesale scale, although from time to time afterwards up to the end of the year minor raids were carried out in various parts of the country.

This policy was at all events a symptom of the fact that the question of men for the Army would again soon come before the public attention. The great majority of the men furnished to the Army by the two Military Service Acts had now been secured, and it was clear that either the Army would have to put up with a reduced intake of recruits or else that a new source of supply would have to be tapped. The question of raising the age limit to 45 began to be considered. The extension of Compulsory Service to Ireland was advocated in many quarters. Finally a gradually increasing demand grew

up for the "combing out" of men of military age who were engaged in civil occupations under the Government or in reserved trades. At length it was announced in The Times on September 21 that a "Man-Power Distribution Board" had been appointed under the Chairmanship of Mr. Chamberlain, the other members being Lord Midleton (Vice-Chairman), Mr. Arthur Balfour, J.P., of Sheffield, the Rt. Hon. G. N. Barnes, M.P., and Mr. Stephen Walsh, M.P. The duty of the Board was to determine all questions arising between Government Departments relating to the allocation or economical utilisation of man-power for the purpose of the successful prosecution of the war, and, in order to give effect to its determination, to direct the Government Departments concerned to create the machinery necessary to co-ordinate their activities in regard to the distribution or utilisation of men and women."

66

After taking evidence from the Board of Admiralty, the Army Council, the Ministry of Munitions, and other Government Departments, the "Man-Power Distribution Board" announced in the beginning of October their first measures in the direction of "combing out." In their memorandum they said that it had been proved that fresh supplies of men were urgently needed for the Army and munition factories in order to maintain our forces in the field at the numbers already fixed for them, and at the same time to maintain the supply of munitions essential for their equipment and proper utilisation. The first decisions of the Board were to declare certain classes of men ineligible for exemption badges. Highly skilled men of certain trades might be claimed by the Ministry of Munitions; dilution of labour must be extended, and applications and appeals for exemption must be expedited and closely scrutinised. These instructions of the Board were fortified by a speech delivered on October 4 by General Sir William Robertson at Dalderby in Lincolnshire, in which he spoke with confidence of our steady progress to victory but earnestly appealed for the release of more men, and for the utmost national effort by men and women of every age. On October 5 it was further announced in a notice to farmers from the President of the Board of Agriculture that before the new year a census would be taken of men of military age still engaged in farming.

In addition to the programme for combing out, the possibility of applying conscription to Ireland was continually discussed, though without much hope that any real step could be taken in this direction. On October 6, Mr. Redmond, speaking at Waterford, said that "he could not believe the Government would be insane enough to challenge a conflict with Ireland in the matter of conscription. Conscription would be the most fatal thing that could happen in Ireland." On October 8, the Lord-Lieutenant declared that opinion in Ireland upon the subject was divided. There were some Unionists, he said, and not a few Nationalists who thought that compulsion would be

the making of Ireland. He adhered, however, to the principle that national service in any community was not practicable without a measure of general consent, and there was no good ground for asserting that such a measure of general consent existed at present in Ireland. The Irish Unionist Members of the House of Commons, however, meeting on October 11 under the Chairmanship of Sir Edward Carson, passed a Resolution placing on record their opinion that the Government should. extend the Military Service Act to Ireland. This group in the House of Commons further expressed its readiness to assist the Government in whatever measures might be thought necessary for increasing the strength of the Army in the field. The maintenance of recruiting for the Army was at the same time anxiously discussed by the two War Committees of the Liberal and Unionist parties. Soon afterwards the discussion passed once again into the arena of the House of Commons itself. The debates which took place will be referred to shortly.

It is perhaps natural that the line of action taken by the United States in their diplomatic intercourse with Germany was not widely appreciated in this country. Occasional hints were heard of a possible American intervention towards the conclusion of peace. All such hints, however, were somewhat warmly resented by the great majority of the British people, and this sentiment received definite expression in an interview which Mr. Lloyd George accorded to an American journalist and which was published in the newspapers, both of England and of America. In the course of this interview Mr. Lloyd George declared that Britain had only begun to fight. The British Empire had invested thousands of its best lives to purchase future immunity for civilisation, and this investment was too great to be thrown away. The British soldier, he said, was a good sportsman. He enlisted in this war in a sporting spirit, he went in to see fair play to a small nation trampled upon by a bully, and having made all these sacrifices the war could not be ended except by a complete victory. "The fight must be to a finish-to a knock-out." This declaration of the War Minister excited much attention among the neutral countries to whom it was addressed; and had the effect, at all events, of making quite clear the futility of any attempt on their part to terminate the war until the victory of the Allies had been established.

We have already referred to the establishment in June (v. p. 15) of a Board of Trade Committee on food prices, under the Chairmanship of Mr. J. M. Robertson, M.P. The first recommendations of this Committee for mitigating the rise in prices of meat, milk, and bacon were made in an interim report issued on September 29. The most important decisions unanimously arrived at were the speeding up of mercantile shipbuilding, the extension of the restrictions on the importation of superfluities, the development of the Government meat purchase policy, the imposition of

conditions on merchants and retailers of Government-bought meat to secure sale at reasonable prices, the empowering of local authorities to open municipal shops for the sale of milk, meat, bacon, and other food-stuffs, where retailers were taking excessive profits, the revision by employers and public bodies of their pay-rules in favour of the lower paid workers. Finally, the Committee unanimously suggested that the public should voluntarily refrain from the consumption of meat for one day in every week. In a supplementary memorandum signed by seven of the twelve members of the Committee, more far-reaching Government action was recommended, including the establishment of a State Monopoly of meat-buying from abroad where possible, and the fixing of prices for home-produced meat, bacon, and milk.

CHAPTER IV.

THE RECONSTRUCTION.

PARLIAMENT reassembled after the Summer recess on October 10, when an important statement was made in the House of Commons by Mr. Runciman on the control of wheat supplies. He affirmed that this could not be left during the coming year to private enterprise. The Government had endorsed the conclusion of the Cabinet Committee on food supplies to the effect that they must now provide for a further development of importation by the State. A Royal Commission had been appointed under the Chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Crawford to give effect to this decision of the Government. It would be the duty of this Royal Commission to undertake the control of the importation of wheat into the United Kingdom, and the experience of the Sugar Commission would be available for its guidance. Mr. Runciman further announced that a very large purchase of Australian wheat had been made, and that steps had been taken to provide all the tonnage required for the conveyance of wheat bought by the Government.

The more general question of food prices was debated, though somewhat inconclusively, on October 17, when Mr. Barnes, from the Labour benches, brought forward arguments in favour of stronger Government action. He contended that, speaking generally, the Government had moved so haltingly that most of the opposing interests had been given time to neutralise largely the benefits which would have accrued to the public. Among his concrete suggestions were the fixing of the price of bread, and the maintenance of the supply of milk at a reasonable price. Finally he advocated the conclusion that a Food Minister should be appointed. Further speeches were made by Captain Charles Bathurst and Mr. George Lambert before a second Labour speaker, Mr. Anderson, expressed his view that unless the Government did something, not merely to

steady food prices, but to bring them down, they would have to face very considerable wage movements in the coming winter.

The reply of the Government to these arguments was made by Mr. Runciman, who put forward the general proposition that the true explanation of a great deal of the rise in prices was that the consuming capacity of the people had gone up, while the sources of supply had been curtailed. He declined to accept any of the remedies suggested by his critics and set aside the idea of the appointment of a Minister of Food. With regard to meat, he pointed out that the Government had spent altogether over 60,000,000l. in the purchase of meat, and declared that the meat control so far as it had gone had been effective.

Mr. Runciman then turned to the shipping operations of the Government. He explained that the bulk of the mercantile marine was under control, and that all except a small part of the controlled shipping was running at blue-book rates, that the remainder was running at fixed rates which bore no relation to the open market rate, and that only a small fraction was running at free rates. He argued that the real thing from which we were suffering now in shipping was a deficiency. We were doing our best to put vessels into the water as quickly as we could, but he reminded the House that we had actually lost by enemy action and by marine risks two million gross tons of shipping since the war began, or more than the whole mercantile marine of France, or Spain, or Italy. That loss represented nearly three million tons dead weight. Finally, Mr. Runciman dismissed the idea of instituting bread tickets, meat coupons, or other artificial arrangements, which were, he said, harmful to those who had the least with which to buy. He wished to avoid any rationing of the people in the future.

We have now to record the further progress of the discussions on the available man-power of the country. The subject reached the House of Commons on October 12, when Mr. Lloyd George insisted that there was no doubt of the existence of large sources of available man-power in this country. He defended the Military Service Acts on the ground that they had already produced a very considerable number of men, and would continue to do so through the lapsing of the many temporary exemptions which had been granted. Without those Acts the forces of the country would have been insufficient to enable the Government to carry on the war. The War Minister expressed the opinion, however, that the exemptions had been far too numerous; whereas in France and Italy the exemptions ran to hundreds of thousands, in this country they ran to millions. The Government were dealing with this question, and hoped that it would not be necessary to have any legislation, as they believed that they had sufficient powers in the two Acts already passed. He asserted once more that the one determination of the Government was that all the resources available in this country of wealth and man-power should be utilised to the