February 27, 1919J 



NATURE 



507 



never see its repetition. Civilisation has at length 

 risen, as never before, to the conception that 

 such a method of settling national aspirations or 

 international disputes is an affront to the common 

 sense of humanity, and that it ought not to pass 

 the wit of man to devise some mure rational means 

 oi composing them. What the method is to be 

 is the great problem, for a solution ol which tin- 

 whole world waits with anxious expectation. 



In analysing the conditions and circumstances 

 which have determined the issue of this great 

 Struggle the historian must necessarily have 

 regard to the genius, mentality, and characteristic, 

 attributes of the contending nations, for, in the 

 long run, they a-e the main factors which tell 

 for success. In this age of printing and of 

 meticulous care in the preservation of public docu- 

 ments he will nut lie -ravelled for lack of matter. 



We have already almost countless memorials and 

 mimoires fmir servir. Among them we may cite 

 a stimulating paper by Mr. F. ('■. Kellaway, M.P., 

 <>n "Some Developments in Industry during 

 the War," addressed to the Industrial and 

 Reconstruction Council, and published in an 

 abridge 1 form in Nam ri of January 30. Even on 

 its own subjects it is by no means exhaustive. 

 But c.v pede Herculem. We may judge of the 

 whole from the specimens. And Mr. Kellaway's 

 specimens are admirably typical and illustrative 

 of the point which we desire to enforce : that it 

 was to the inborn qualities of our race, its courage 

 and tenacity of purpose, its resourcefulness and 

 power of initiation, its inventiveness, adaptability, 

 and stead} determination to "win through," in 

 spite of every obstacle, setback, or difficulty, that 

 broughl us victory in the end and crushed the 

 greatest crime against humanity the world has 

 ever known. 



The war, in the Prime Minister's phrase, quoted 

 by Mr. Kellaway, has been as "a star-shell illu- 

 minating the dark places in our national life." 

 It has "revealed with pitiless accuracy the 

 defects in our industrial equipment." It is the 

 purpose of the paper to show how, as the result 

 of the war, many of these defects have been over- 

 come, and that the United Kingdom, as a con- 

 sequence, is now first in the world in almost every 

 sphere of industrial effort. As we have already 

 oduced the main part of Mr. Kellaway's inter- 

 < sting paper, it is unnecessary to go into any great 

 detail now concerning its contents. Its author 

 shows how we have incidentally wrested from 

 Germanv her predominant position in electrical 

 industry, and once more secured the control within 

 our own Dominions of such vital materials as 

 mica, tungsten, and chromium (for the manufac- 

 ture of high-speed steel, armour-piercing shells, the 

 wearing puis of aeroplane engines and gears in 

 motor vehicles, stainless cutlery, and rustless 

 steel). Tungsten and chromium were among the 

 non-ferrous metals of which Germany had 

 managed to capture the main sources of supply. 

 We are tofd that before the war the British 

 Kmpire produced 40 per cent, of the wolfram ore, 

 but so sua essfully had Germany secured the trade 

 XO. 2574. VOL. I02] 



that no British manufacturer had been able to 

 establish the industry in this country. "At the 

 outbreak of war ore of the two firms endeavour- 

 ing to manufacture in this country was only able 

 to keep going with difficulty, and the other only 

 si! eeded in keeping its works going by entering 

 into a contract to supply the whole of its output 

 to Messrs. Krupp, ol Essen." We have changed 

 all that. British manufacturers are now in a 

 position to deal with all the ore produced within 

 the British Kmpire, and could, if necessary, con- 

 vi. n 1 lie whole world's output into tungsten metal 

 hi ferro-tungsten. A similar result may — and, if 

 we ue wise, certainly will — follow in the case of 

 zinc, which occupies the third place in importance 

 among the non-ferrous metals, and of which Ger- 

 many, owing largely to the control she had 

 secured over the Australian concentrates, was the 

 largest European producer, 77 per cent, of that 

 which we needed being imported by us from her. 

 Australia will no longer supply Germany with her 

 zinc ore, and the British Empire bids fair to share 

 with America the bulk of the zinc production of 

 the world. 



Even if space had permitted, it is unnecessary, 

 for the reason already given, to dwell in any detail 

 upon the other instances which Mr. Kellaway 

 adduces of England's "wakening up" and of the 

 rousing of her energies as the consequence of the 

 call to arms. Official control, co-operation, and 

 combination of effort unquestionably accelerated 

 and facilitated the introduction of improvements in 

 organisation, management, and practice, and have 

 exerted a permanent influence upon industries 

 which have been pressed into the service of war. 

 It is seen in its effect upon the manufacture of 

 machine-tools ; in a vast improvement in 

 machinery ; in increased accuracy of work as a re- 

 sult of the necessity for organising the production 

 of interchangeable repetition work ; in improved 

 methods of shop transport; and in a wider appre- 

 ciation of the value of scientific knowledge in 

 machine construction. 



In no department is this more marked than in 

 aircraft work. The experience of the war has 

 effected nothing less than a revolution in this 

 industry. A single instance must suffice. As Mr. 

 Kellaway states, modern warfare, no less than 

 much of modern transport, and, indeed, of modern 

 industry in general, is dependent upon the mag- 

 neto. " In the air it is an essential source of 

 power and movement." Our position in 1914 with 

 regard to the production of magnetos was ex- 

 ceedingly grave. Practically everything needed 

 to make them in sufficient quantity was not pro- 

 curable in the British Isles, and it required months 

 — nay, years — of effort to surmount our difficul- 

 ties. But they have been surmounted. "Instead 

 of one firm producing only 1140 magnetos in a 

 year, as was the case in 1.914, we now have some 

 fourteen firms producing 128,0 57 magnetos in a 

 year. ... It is not only that we are producing- 

 in quantity which makes us independent of outside 

 sot ces ; the quality of the British magneto is the 

 highest in the world. It is lighter in weight and 



