INDUSTRIES TRADE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2955, 15 December 1916, Page 26

INDUSTRIES TRADE WAR

PRESSURE IN ENGLAND CAN GERMANY DUMP AFTER i WAR? Ony - the people living in manufacturing districts can have any idea of the sensational developments in British workshops. In "The "World's Work" Willianf Leighton touches 011 some of these activities, and truly amazing are the facts he produces. From one spot in the north you can see the smoke of about 500 munition factories, one being on a site ten or twelve miles long by one mile broad. Wing after wing is being added, and by now 8000 workers will be filling shells. At least 80 per cent, of the operatives are women and girls. Work is found for 60,000 people on another estate in another district. The boot manufacturing areas have expanded at the same rate. .Russian alone placed an order for 9,000,00.0 pairs of army boots, worth £12,000,000. These are being turned out at the rate of 55,000 pairs per day. A considerable portion of the textile trade has been taken over by the Government; manufacturers must supply yarn for the making of drawers, the price being settled on the basis of detailed costs. Industrial France. There appears in "The English Review" an article, by Andre Lebon, on similar lines, entitled "Industrial France Since the War." French officials completely failed to estimate the number of shells required, but fifteen months after the outbreak of war 110,000 women were at n-.»rk. As a typical example Of the initiative displayed' •and of the obstacles to be overcome, the following story is worth retailins = — , ... The manager of a certain factory which had fallen into tho hands of the Germans found himself alone in Paris without the support of a single one of his directors, all of whom were retained as hostages by the eneuiy, but in a Paris bank stood £4000 belonging to the company. There was Jio one to give orders, no one of whom he could ask advice except one of the company's largest shareholders, who was living' near him. This did not trouble him. Strong in tho approval of the single shareholder, he decided to use the £4000 in the construction of a shell factory. But with an eye on the future he fitted up this factory with machinery of a superior typo to that strictly necessary for the immediate object in view, in order to utilise later these machines for the production of goods whitih France needed before the War, and which are thfe normal complement of the ordinary work which this company produces. An intelligent, de-. tcrmined, and far-seeing man, this manager; lior is he the only one of his kind.

France lias set herwlf to produce daily twice the number of shells that Lloyd George can turn out. Her increase ol shells is from 1 to 3-5.7; her increase of heavy guns is from 1 to 54.5. The writer concludes by saying it would be foolish hot to utilise this new industrial Franco to re-establish as quickly ns may be tho former standard of comfort. Can Germany Dump? This is the question which James Armstrong deals with in his usual vigorous manner in "The World's Work." It is. asserted that Germany possesses merchandise worth £300,000,000, produced for very little as a side line, which is to be dumped upon the world's markets, regardless of cost. LastHvinter the shell crisis passed, and her surplus men and machinery were, turned over to their respective trades to pile lip reserves of fuel for commerce. Germany is completing hor largest electrical contract. After reading what Mr. Armstrong lias to say about the activities of hor shipping agents, there will be no doubt as to how it was obtained. German 'merchants are accumulating stocks of dye-stuffs, textiles, electrical plant, and heavy goods.. Will patriotism be able to withstand the test of cheapness when the pocket again becomes the determining factor? Tho only tt'ay to combat Germany is to meet her Oil equal temis, to flcod the neutral markets also, to light her with her own weapons.