Britain's Expanded Munition Production, 29th June 1917

On 29th June 1917 a speech by Dr. Christopher Addison, then Minister of Munitions, was reported celebrating the success of his department in the huge expansion of the output of shells, machine guns, tanks, etc.

“MIRACLES OF OUR WAR FACTORIES.

“BRITISH GENIUS & RESOURCE.

“WONDERFUL RECORD OF OUTPUT.

“Dr. Addison in his statement on of the work of the Munitions Ministry, said that when the story of the Department came to be told it would be a story of the courage and uncanny insight of Mr. Lloyd George, of the labours of a band of helpers of a unique and splendid character, and the untiring and patriotic efforts of men and women, employers and employed, who by their collective efforts had provided an imperishable tribute to British genius and resource. Here are some points of the speech:

“The capacity for the production of high explosives last March was four times what it was in March, 1916, and twenty-eight times that of March, 1915.

“We have reached such a production of shells that some of the new national-shell factories have been diverted to other purposes.

“The national filling factories employ 100,000 persons. The cost has been reduced 40 per cent. compared with that of a year ago.

“The inspection staff alone number 40,000, of whom 61 per cent. are women.

“The number of prematurely exploding shells was fifteen times greater a year ago than it is to-day.

“The small arms output at Enfield has increased tenfold; the weekly output of machine guns is twenty times what it was two years ago.

“Woolwich employed 10,008 persons in 1914; it now employs 73,080. The women at Woolwich in 1914 numbered 125; they now total 25,000.

“Two thousand miles of railway track have been supplied in complete condition. Canada alone offered to tear up 800 miles of track and then and there.

“The tanks — male and female created he [sic] them — are fruitful and multiply, and the end of their story is not yet written.

“POTASH AND NITRATES.

“There were other large tracts of the Minister's speech which betokened surprises of another order for the enemy. Among the permanent results of the work of the Ministry of Munitions are the following:

“1. Thousands of trained chemists and engineers will be at the disposal of British industry after the war. Sir William Pearce laid special stress on this in his subsequent speech.

“2. All the engineering shops and factories are full of splendid up-to-date machinery. The old stuff is scrapped.

“3. We shall no longer be dependent Germany for potash. Our scientists have learned to make it for themselves. . This will be a cruel blow to the Germans, who have been gloating over the prospect of holding us to ransom for this indispensable product.

“4. So, too, with optical glass. We imported 90 per cent. of this glass before the war. Dr. Addison assured the House that we were now able to challenge any comparison with out [sic] home-made product.

“5. We have hitherto been dependent on foreign sources for our supplies of nitrates and pyrites. There is now good prospect of our being able to dispense to a large extent with the huge imports of nitrates from Chili [sic].

“We have enormously increased our production of basic steel from home ores, and our production of tungsten, aluminium, and ether necessary metals.

“In short, we have largely made good our pre-war weakness, viz., our deficient application of scientific research to industry.

“PRAISE FROM LABOUR.

“Dr. Addison also dealt in detail with the labour side of his department, and showed how erroneous the,view was that there was perpetual friction between the Ministry and its employees. The very contrary is the fact. The number of working days lost in the first five months of this year was but a third of what were lost last year, arid perpetual conference and adjudication are going on to make the vast machine work smoothly.

“One of the most welcome features of the discussion which followed was the tribute paid paid by Mr. Duncan and by Mr. Anderson to the Munitions Department for their distinct advance in labour policy. “The way was now open,” they said, “for new and cordial understanding between Capital and Labour.” This was a cheering statement and the Minister himself spoke hopefully of finding a method whereby the two “thoroughly poisonous” features of our industrial life might be eradicated – the cutting of piece rates, on the one hand, and the restriction of output on the other.

“The Ministry will not be reduced in size during the war. On the contrary, it is quite likely that it may grow, as new duties continue to be thrown upon it, and in his most suggestive speech, Mr. Montagu clearly foreshadowed the Ministry of Munitions remaining as a permanent institution. For with great weight he urged the desirability of concentrating into one single department all responsibility for the ordering of all machines for all the Services, and begged the Government to rid the Ministry of Munitions and the Admiralty of their special Labour Departments and transfer them bodily to the new Ministry of Labour.

“He urged Dr. Addison to create the nucleus of a permanent departmental staff, and consider carefully whom of his numerous helpers and advisers he would invite to remain with him during the period, or rather during the process of reconstruction.”

'Nottingham Evening Post', 29th June 1917.