Badsing.
if the demand on this group had remained at the pre-war stand- ard, whereas in effect it was increased out of knowledge.
The situation accordingly was grave. The shortage of muni- tions was causing acute apprehension, and early in 1915 it had attracted general public attention. The first step, therefore, taken to deal with the matter was to provide some form of pro- tection from recruiting for men engaged on munitions production. As early as Sept. 8 1914 Messrs. Vickers had suggested the possibility of the issue of a badge which should protect men from the recruiting officer on the one hand, and from irresponsible persecution on the ground of shirking on the other; but through- out 1914 nothing on a systematic or even considerable basis had been attempted in this direction.
In Jan. and Feb., however, the matter was seriously taken in hand by the War Office, and a special branch was set up to deal with the " badging " of indispensable work- men engaged on munitions. A scheme was brought into operation in March 1915, under which contractors were classified according to the importance and urgency of their work. Similar action was taken by the Admiralty, and in May of that year instructions were issued to recruiting officers that men in certain categories were not to be accepted for enlist- ment, but this action was in itself almost nugatory. The pa- triotic impulse to join up among the younger men was still too strong to admit of artificial restriction, but the lists were not really drawn up on any scientific basis. In fact, they were directed rather to protect the manufacturers of the finished product, i.e. shells, guns and ships, while making no real en- deavour to cover the sources of supply, e.g. machine tools. The action taken by the Admiralty was probably more effective than that taken by the War Office.
The original war service badges issued by the War Office were accompanied by a certificate signed by Lord Kitchener.
" In token that his services are urgently required in the manu- facture of ordnance war material for the defence of the realm, in which service he is required to exercise diligence and faithfulness."
By the end of July 1915, 79,738 badges had been issued, over 60%, however, to a very limited number of firms.
At this stage (Aug. 1915) the Ministry of Munitions comes upon the scene. It was clear that one of the first duties of that department would be to organize labour supply. This meant, as a first step, the protection of workers engaged on the output of munitions from further recruitment. Speaking generally, when the Ministry of Munitions took over the work, one-fifth of the males employed in the industry specially concerned with recruiting had joined the forces. As a first step, to regulate the position and to take powers, a provision was introduced into the Munitions of War Act, in July 1915, enabling the Minister of Munitions to make rules authorizing the wearing of badges by persons engaged on munitions work or other work for war purposes. 1 Provisional rules under this section were made on July 23, and became statutory on Oct. 9? Before this date, however, namely on July 26, the Ministry of Munitions took over the administration of the badges from both the Admiralty and the War Office. Letters were immediately sent to the firms on the War Office and Admiralty lists of exemption, informing them that the basis of protection would be badges. At the same time letters were issued to firms on lists prepared by the supply departments of the Ministry of Munitions, in particular to firms such as machine-tool makers, iron and steel firms, principal electrical power stations, gas works extracting toluol, and chemical firms which had not been previously protected.
In order to keep this list up to date and to extend it where necessary, the Ministry of Munitions kept in constant touch with all the supply departments concerned and with employers of labour throughout the country; but from the first, and throughout, there was an almost inevitable conflict of interest between the points of view of the Ministry of Munitions as the department protecting labour for munitions work, and the fighting departments who were in urgent need of recruits.
1 Munitions of War Act, 1915. Section 8.
2 Statutory Rules and Orders, 1915. No. 1001.
The scheme was by no means a complete success. In the first place, there was the conflict of interest already mentioned. In the second place, it was difficult to obtain a scientific list of the firms to be covered, particularly when, as was the case, the types of munitions urgently required varied almost from week to week. In the third place, it was a matter of difficulty to decide to what class of men within protected industries or firms badges should be issued. Finally, at this stage the actual distribution of the badges was not in the hands of the department, but of necessity in the hands of the employer who alone knew the requirements.
Concurrently with the work of the issue of badges a new method upon which industry could be more scientifically pro- tected was being provided by the National Registra- tion Act of 1915. The registration undertaken on Aug. 15 1915 had among its objects that of discovering t f * a * what proportion of men of military age were still eligible for service and what proportion of those were employed on work vital to the output of munitions. When the results were supplied special arrangements were made for writing the account of men in industries vital to the continuance of the war upon starred forms, and when at the end of Oct. the figures were reported by the Registrar-General and the Scottish Office it appeared that 29-4% of the whole available labour was in " starred " industries. Of that more than 50% was on munitions production, the remainder being on railways, mining and agriculture.
It was becoming apparent while these two steps were being taken to protect industry that the existing method of obtaining recruits for the fighting forces was not merely producing an in- adequate supply, but was, by its indiscriminate nature, severely handicapping the output of munitions. Accordingly, in Sept. 1915, the question of an immediate adoption of compulsory military service was seriously weighed, but on the balance of considerations it was decided to make a last appeal on a voluntary basis the Derby scheme. The essential aspect of the Derby scheme, from the point of view of limitation of recruitment, was the establishment of the local tribunal for giving exemption, which formed the basis of the tribunals which functioned under the Military Service Acts when they came into force. The question arose whether all men should be submitted to these tribunals, or whether those protected by the Ministry of Mu- nitions and the starred lists should be automatically exempted. After discussion the question was settled by the issue, on Nov. 16 1915, of the following notice on the enlistment of munitions workers, signed by Mr. Lloyd George and Lord Derby:
No man officially badged or starred for munitions work may be enlisted for immediate service in the Army. Men so badged or starred may be " attested " for the Reserve on condition of return- ing to civil employment. They will receive the khaki armlet, and will not be called up for service unless at some future time the Ministry of Munitions decides that they are more urgently needed in the Army than for munitions work.
Provision at the same time was made for the release from the colours of starred and badged men wrongly enlisted.
On Nov. 19 the Local Government Board issued the first instructions to the local tribunals, and in a public announcement the list of starred occupations subsequently reserved was set out as follows:
List A. Occupations required for the production or transport of munitions supplied by the Ministry of Munitions.
List B. Coal-mining.
List C. Agricultural, railway, and certain occupations in mining, etc.
List D. Occupations (reserved occupations) of cardinal im- portance for the maintenance of some other branches of trade and industry.
Supplements to List D. were issued on Nov. 29 and Dec. 20 1915.
By this means, for the first time after the outbreak of war, something like a basis of a scientific protection for workers required for the output of munitions, and the main- tenance of civilian necessities, was laid down. se'r'v/T
The Derby scheme did not produce the necessary Act. number of recruits. The facts were, as Lord Derby's report, made public on Dec. 19 1915, stated, that 1,029,231 unmarried men had not offered themselves for service, of whom
