The Telegraph Book of Readers' Letters from the Great War (31 page)

A responsible committee should be formed, either by the Government, or outside the range of politics, and make the national registration forms the basis of their work. With the co-operation of newspaper proprietors the public would soon become acquainted with the fact there was a central bureau (with branches) to whom to apply for work of any kind during the progress of the war.

The real work of decentralising into areas of cities or counties and corresponding with likely applicants, &c., could easily be carried out if office expenses were defrayed out of public funds.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Organiser

Bristol

Surely his argument was this: There is still a vast amount of energy in this country not being used directly or indirectly
against the enemy; let us then put our heads together and decide (1) into what channels that unused energy may be directed; (2) the best means of collecting and directing that energy in the channels chosen.

For example, all methods of increasing the food production of this county would economically strengthen us; I take it that practical suggestions to this end are invited from experienced and competent authorities. There are thousands of men and women who might be led on this line of attack. Are there not other lines along which we may harass, and thwart and harm and weaken our enemy?

Every ounce that we as a nation can put into the weight of our blows should be used now. Is not that what ‘Middle Class' means? We want to be shown and instructed in all possible weapons of attack. The personnel is waiting.

I am, Sir your obedient servant,

Basil Hood
88 St James's Street, S.W.

I was requested to put in my application in writing, which I did promptly. About a week afterwards I had an acknowledgment of this letter from the secretary, thanking me for the offer of services, and advising me to take no further steps until hearing from him. I had no further communication, I am forty-six years of age, and in my application to the War Office I mentioned that I had already seen service in Rhodesia during the rebellion, when I was in the artillery.

I next tried the anti-aircraft service, but was informed at the Admiralty that the lists were full. I then joined the Special Constabulary. With the advent of the Ministry of Munitions I applied there by letter, but was switched on to the Board of Trade, who wrote pointing out that there were no higher appointments open, but that the great need for the moment was for skilled workers, but that if I cared to put my name down on the engineers' war service register I could do so. Having been through all the shops in one of the largest shipbuilding and engineering firms on the Clyde, and also having done a good bit of pioneering work in the Colonies, I have kept myself proficient in the use of tools, so that I thought myself pretty useful in this way, and at once put my name down. Still nothing doing!

The only little consolation I can obtain is from the thought that I have produced a lot of chicken flesh, eggs and vegetables, and am keeping thirty-two laying hens and pullets, but I cannot help feeling that I could be doing greater things in taking an engineer's part in what has been termed an ‘engineers' war'.

I am, Sir, yours obediently,

C.E.

Sunningdale

To carry on this stupendous business successfully the whole of the organisation must be centred in the brain of one man who has had years of training and subsequent experience in organising and carrying on an extensive manufacturing business.

The most serious point is the utter want of complete harmonious organisation of the country for the purposes of the war. The organisation falls naturally into four great classes, as follows:

1. We have, say, 4,000,000 men in the Army and Navy, who must be provided with everything necessary to keep them up to the fullest possible state of efficiency.

2. To provide for all their wants an enormous army of men and women is required.

3. To maintain these providers another section of our people must work to produce enough of the necessaries of life to maintain the whole population.

4. Beyond these requirements we have to provide the sinews of war. This can only be done by keeping up and increasing our exports to such an extent as will pay for our imports, the cost of which, however, is very largely reduced by sums due to this country for interest on foreign investments, shipping freights and other matters; in short, every effort must be made to pay for imports otherwise than with gold.

Failure in one of these classes spells failure of the whole business. These four great classes would each be sub-divided, but not too minutely. Ever since the beginning of the war the nation has been fed with the ridiculous swaggering nonsense that our silver bullets would win the victory for us. Certainly, the Government has been firing off the silver bullets fast enough, but the victory is still far out of sight. It is time that we abandoned the silly silver bullet craze, and realised the
fact that victory depends on hard work, governed and regulated by the very best organising talent we possess.

At first sight the foregoing suggestion appears to be utterly impossible of realisation, but, fortunately, we have great organisations which readily lend themselves to adaptation to the object in view. The first, and by far the greatest, difficulty is to find the man, with great knowledge and brain power, in whom the whole scheme of organisation must be centred; there must be no divided authority at the very top. A head having been found, he gives to each member of the Cabinet a department of the organisation work. Each of the Ministers will employ his particular department in carrying out the duties assigned to him, but each must report to the head. The Ministers will further delegate to county councils, corporations and councils (urban and district) such further detail work as they can undertake.

All these bodies are responsible to their superior department, which in turn is responsible to the head. The necessity for
having an autocratic head is that the working of the organisation must be perfectly harmonious; in a multitude of counsellors there may be wisdom, but very seldom perfect harmony. As a matter of course, the head would receive many suggestions from the Ministers, but he must be absolute judge of the value of such suggestions in the matter of harmonious working in the great machine.

Such an autocratic head as I contemplate would not be a great speech maker; he would have known for years that ‘great talkers are little doers'.

Yours faithfully,

Walter East

I wrote on Tuesday to the Local Government Board, and pointed out that when the local tribunals began to hear appeals for exemption by employers, it would greatly ease the situation if the employers had access to extracts from information furnished under the National Registration from women of no occupation who professed their willingness to undertake work of any kind.

Such women would readily respond to appeals for their services, endorsed as they might be by the local tribunal, and feel they were doing a most direct, personal and patriotic duty in thus facilitating the release of men for the Army. The requests for service would come largely from local employers, and be directed to local residents, and would reach a class of women that would never see ordinary advertisements for workers because it does not look for work.

As regards the main question, why not a Parliamentary Employment Committee, working through the local Parliamentary associations and the local tribunal? This method of utilising the local agents, as your correspondent points out, has produced splendid results; the organisation is intact, it has the workers, and is thoroughly experienced. And why not an employment canvass to ascertain exactly the feasibility of utilising the services of each of the women who declared willingness to serve? Such a canvass working in close unison with the local tribunals should have the very best results.

As a member of an important London local tribunal, I should like to see all tribunals assume some responsibility for replacing labour recruited for active Army service, thus satisfying as far as may be both the needs of commerce and the necessity of filling up the ranks.

Yours,

T. Owen Jacobsen, JP