Economic and Social History of the World War

PREFACE

I HAVE deliberately sought to make this book impersonal and uncontroversial. I have attempted to leave the plain facts to speak for themselves, and I have tried to arrange them without bias, or without imposing upon them (so far as I could avoid it) any preconceived point of view. I have restricted comment to a point which may even lay me open to the accusation that I was unable to draw the obvious inferences from the events which I described. I had rather face that accusation than attempt to reach conclusions that could not but be tempered and twisted by the heat of events so recent.

But the price of impersonality has been that I have been unable to indicate the share in moulding these events taken by individuals. To ignore these entirely would be not merely ungracious, but would leave an actual lacuna. I shall not refer to what was done by Ministers. This is known, and is chronicled elsewhere. But the services of some servants of the State I will, if I may, mention.

First in the list must come Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith and Sir William Beveridge, the first General and Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions, who were the joint authors of the Munitions Code. With them must be joined Mr. C. F. Rey, to whose energy the War Munitions Volunteer Scheme owed its first impetus. Following them comes Sir Stephenson Kent, upon whom the whole burden of carrying the Labour Departments of the Ministry fell during the later years of the War, first as Director General of Munitions Labour Supply, then as Member of the Munitions Council, and finally as Controller-General of Civil

Demobilization and Resettlement. With him must be bracketed Sir Thomas Munro, first as Chief Labour Adviser through the same period, and finally Member of the Munitions Council. Sir Lynden Macassey was another outstanding figure, first in the Joint Committee of Inquiry with Lord Balfour of Burleigh, as Chairman of the Clyde Dilution Commission, as Chairman of the Special Arbitration Tribunals and finally as Director of the Shipyard Labour Department. Nor must Sir John Miles be forgotten, who brought more than his profound knowledge of law to the completion of the common task. If other names of those who rendered service, devoted and unremitting, are not mentioned, it is because it would be almost impossible to mention any without mentioning all.

At the same time, I must record my profound indebtedness to the Editor and the authors of the labour part of the history of the Ministry of Munitions; and finally, I desire to take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to Owen Hugh Smith, Esq., once Assistant General Secretary, Ministry of Munitions, without whose help the book could never have been written.