experiments the final and successful solution of the problem was the establishment of a strong Dilution Department, manned largely by engineers, with a central and local organization. The work of the Department, which had a large travelling staff, had two objects the first to convince employers of the possibility of dilution on a scale hitherto unimagined, and the second to see that conviction was followed by practical effect, which meant in innumerable cases prolonged and delicate negotiations with local trade unions. It is not proposed here to discuss the in- dustrial disputes, such as those on the Clyde early in 1916, which were occasioned by opposition to the dilution policy. It is suffi- cient here to say that, when the intense feeling necessarily engendered in workpeople by a policy which appeared permanent- ly to mortgage their future is appreciated, the comparatively slight nature of these disturbances was a great tribute both to the dilution officers and to the patriotism of the workmen.
If ever it were true that it was the first step that counted, it was true of dilution. It will perhaps therefore be sufficient here if a brief reference is made (a) to the admirable work performed by the Clyde dilution commission, which in effect broke the back of the opposition to dilution in the area where it was most actively resisted, and thus gave an admirable start to the campaign ; (b) to the attempt at a later period to introduce dilution on private work, and (c) to the principal characteristics of dilution.
The Clyde dilution commission was appointed on Jan. 22 1016. The Minister of Munitions, on the advice of the trade-union leaders, had visited Glasgow and made a speech on Dec. 25 1915, at St. Andrew's Hall, to a meeting of shop-stewards. The shop-stewards, who represented what was subsequently known as the rank and file movement in labour circles, were embittered opponents of dilution. Though the meeting was stormy, and followed by a strike and the seizing of an advanced labour organ known as The Forward, yet it was not without its practical results. The opponents of dilution had been faced on their own ground, and though a noisy section had broken up the meeting, the mere appearance of a minister, prepared to face such opposition, had driven home to good and doubtful citizens alike the vital issue in controversy. Mr. Lloyd George had prepared the way for the Clyde dilution commission, and though the greatest storm was yet to break, it cannot be doubted that his action had rallied not only public but labour opinion to the side of the Government.
The commission started its work immediately at Messrs. Beard- more's, and proceeded at the same time to deal with Messrs. Lang, of Paisley, and Messrs. Weir. This action was almost immediately followed by a strike at Messrs. Lang's, which was settled after an interpretation had been given of a point in dispute in the circular governing dilution. A further trouble arose when at the beginning of Feb. another labour organ, The Worker, was suppressed, and various persons connected with it were arrested. A strike followed which ceased when the men, who were subsequently duly convicted and punished, were admitted to bail.
In spite of this beginning the commissioners persisted in their work, and on Feb. 22 a circular letter was addressed to all controlled establishments on the Clyde, with the result that by Feb. 29 the commissioners were able to report that schemes of dilution were in operation at ten establishments, which provided for the release of 740 men and apprentices for more difficult and responsible work and the introduction of 1 ,333 persons, the bulk of whom were women.
This promising start was interrupted by the strike originating at Beardmore's on March 17, which lasted for a fortnight and led to the deportation under the Defence of the Realm Regulations of the ringleaders. The strike did not, as might have been expected, leave great bitterness behind it, and the commissioners were able to continue their work with such success that at the end of Aug. 1916, after having arranged for the employment of 14,000 women, they were able to hand over their work to the administrative machine which was now actively functioning.
The work of the Clyde dilution commission exhibits on a large scale the work carried out from day to day with always increasing success and facility by the dilution officers of the Ministry of Munitions. How many women they directly introduced cannot be said. It would of course be absurd to claim that the officers were responsible even to an appreciable extent for the influx into industry of 1,659,000 females referred to above. There were in the first place the Government establishments themselves with 223,000 more females than pre-war, and the vast majority of these were intro- duced without the direct intervention or indeed in many cases with- out any intervention by the Dilution Department. Then there were some 158,000 females in the Civil Service and some 600,000 females in occupations with which the Department were not concerned. But allowing for all this it is not open to question that in controlled establishments their work was of the highest importance, and that without it the introduction of women could never have approached the figure it ultimately attained. It should be added that the responsibility of dilution for Admiralty establishments was trans-
ferred from the Ministry to the Admiralty at the beginning of 1917 when the Admiralty Shipyard Labour Department was established. Thereafter the two departments worked side by side following common principles and closely similar methods. Later when the Ministry of National Service was reconstituted in Aug. 1917 the possibility of transferring the executive work of dilution from these departments to the Ministry of National Service was mooted. But it was ultimately decided that the work could not be better per- formed elsewhere, and the Ministry of National Service therefore confined itself to requiring an account of the progress of dilution and to developing substitution in areas not covered by the Admiralty and the Ministry of Munitions.
The interest for the present purpose of the attempt to introduce dilution in private work is not in the success that attended the effort. For it had none, and from this source no contribution to the man-power of the nation was made. The importance of the effort is the indication which it gives of the change in the objects of dilution. When the scheme was first canvassed in 1915 it had for its only object the increased output of munitions. It was generally under- stood, and indeed pledges were given, that no skilled men should be released for the armies in consequence of dilution. But during 1916, and particularly after the first battle of the Somme, dilution came to be regarded at least as much as a means of securing men for the colours as of increasing munitions production. As 1916 drew to a close and the army's need for men was more acute than ever, it was decided to extend dilution, hitherto strictly confined to munitions work, to ordinary commercial work. The result of the attempt, combined with the abolition of the Trade-Card scheme, produced the great engineering strike of 1917, and the proposal was deferred, never to be taken up again. The trade unions were prepared to part with what they regarded as their industrial liberties in the national cause; they were sternly and finally opposed to part with them in what seemed to them the interests of private profit.
Before judgment is passed on the unions for their attitude, it is desirable to have in mind what in fact dilution really meant in practice and how deeply it cut into the cherished safeguards against unemployment and underpayment which years of trade unionism had patiently built up. Dilution involved four things all inter- connected; subdivision of processes, the installation of specialized automatic machinery, the upgrading of existing labour, and the intro- duction of new labour. Each of these four aspects of the system was bound to modify not only temporarily, but in some degree perma- nently, the whole organization of industry. It was plain that when employers had once realized the success of mass-production, which was rendered possible by subdivision of processes, and the introduc- tion of the automatic machine, they would be slow to abandon on private work what had proved so eminently successful on war work. It was true of course that with thS disappearance of war orders for immense quantities of standardized articles the possibilities of mass- production would be seriously curtailed. But the employers had learned a lesson, and the unions realized that when the war was over it would not be forgotten.
Moreover, the subdivision of processes combined with upgrading tended to blur, if not to obliterate, the sharp line drawn between skilled men and all other workers. To appreciate the feelings of trade unions on this change it would help to consider what would have been the feelings of the medical profession if the Government had insisted that they should admit herbalists to their ranks.
Finally, the introduction of huge numbers of possible competitors was in itself a grave consideration, particularly in the engineering trades which were no strangers to a high rate of unemployment. Indeed the engineering trade was one of the six trades compulsorily insured under the Insurance Act 1911 against unemployment, as being specially affected by periods when work was not plentiful.
If, therefore, in spite of the natural reluctance of the trade unions and of the employers to accept dilution, and in spite of the great technical difficulties of its introduction in practice so great a measure of success was attained, the result is a high tribute not only to the dilution officers but to the employers and workpeople.
Finally, before leaving the measures adopted to reenfprce the labour supply it is necessary to refer briefly to the training of munition workers. We need not explore the long history of negotia- tions with trade unions and education authorities which preceded the launching of the scheme of July 1915. It will, however, be some indication of the success which attended the scheme if it is stated that up to Aug. 31 1916 about 22,500 students received certificates of proficiency from the technical schools, of whom not less than 18,000 were placed. Moreover, at that date a great step forward was taken by the establishment of the first instructional factory. Messrs. Straker Squire's establishment at Twickenham was taken over and the foundations were laid for a scheme which not merely proved of immense service during the war but which was developed on an even greater scale after the war for the training of disabled ex-service men. By the end of the war about 50,000 persons had graduated through training establishments. Here once again war necessity had pointed the way to what may well develop into a permanent addition to the industrial resources of Great Britain.
(C) THE INTENSIVE USE or LABOUR. It is a mistake to suppose that working-men, as a general rule, any more than any
