436 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



we have diverted capital and labour into new channels of production, but that 

 these channels, unlike those connected with a good scheme of irrigation which 

 may make the wilderness to blossom like the rose, have emptied themselves in 

 the desert and the rvmnels are now dry and worthless. To put it plainly, the 

 warring Powers have, some entirely, others more or less partially, turned their 

 attention from profitable production, the output of wealth, the exchange or use 

 of which will produce new wealth, to the production of instruments of destruc- 

 tion. When these instruments are utilised they not only consume themselves 

 and leave practically nothing remaining, but they carry out a work of destruction 

 which entails the loss of other accumulations or possibilities of wealth. Nor 

 is the consumption of the instruments and munitions of war the sole or chief 

 material loss to the combatants. The men handling those weapons have to be 

 trained and transported to the field of action, fed during the period of their 

 service, tended when sick or wounded, and clothed and housed in eome sort. 

 All these operations consume a quantity of food, clothing, and other materials 

 of various descriptions, and ^there is absolutely nothing tangible to show for 

 this expenditure. 



To take our own case, five million men trained to industry, helping to carry 

 on the business and trade of this country, would consume almost as much food 

 and clothing and other materials as the men in the field and on the sea, but as 

 a return for that consumption there is more than corresponding production of 

 useful commodities, machines, ships, and railway stock, which in turn a.ssist in 

 the work of developing the natural resources of the world or of directly taking 

 part in the work of further production. Thus the position is that for two 

 years we have been consuming our wealth, and to that extent must remain the 

 poorer and be short of many of the goods and services we used to consider 

 necessaries of life, imtil we have, by renewed efforts and a return to the 

 industries and commerce of peace, taken measures to restore those useful things 

 which have been consumed. 



When the war ends, it will be incumbent on us all to redouble our activities, 

 increase the productivity of mill, factory, and field ; for, eo long as there is a 

 deficiency in excess of what we were accustomed to, so long must some of us, 

 and especially the poorer members of the community, feel the pinch occasioned 

 by this devastating war. 



But, it may be asked, how are we to increase our productivity ? The war, 

 in sipite of the suffering and loss occasioned, has not been all loss. As a 

 nation — nay, as an Empire — we have found ourselves ; but this thought, if 

 developed, would lead us into spheres foreign to the work of this Section. We 

 have taken measures which must result in improving the physique of our race. 

 Of the many thousands of men who have been trained to arms and submitted 

 to discipline the great majority happily will return when peace is made. The 

 self-sacrifice practised by these men will act as a leaven among our population — 

 it has already done so. We shall emerge from this war a better-disciplined, 

 a more serious people, better equipped mentally and physically to cope with 

 new conditions. We have learned what hitherto had only been suspected or at 

 most known to a few, that we have not produced anything like our industrial 

 maximum. 



An insidious element of friction threatening to develop into class war has 

 been sapping our energies. There have been faults on both sides, but daylight 

 is being thrown over the situation, and the waste and loss of this friction have 

 been laid bare. If we do not take to heart this great experience and alter our 

 ways for the better, then we desei'\'e to go down as a nation ; but I am persuaded 

 that the lesson is being learned, that the picture now visible of industrial 

 waste and loss — a loss that falls most hardly on the masses of the people — will 

 not pass before our eyes unheeded. 



Not only was there loss through friction between employers and employed, 

 but in many industries we were continuing to use out-of-date tools and methods 

 long after they should have been discarded. A long era of prosperity had not, 

 indeed, caused decadence, but was threatening to do so. The war has shaken 

 us np and shown us the realities of life, making the mistakes of the material 

 side with which we have to do here plain and unmistakable. 



To beat the national enemy we had to re-equip our workshops, and the new 

 equipment will be available to a great extent for future work. Moreover, we 



