A Volunteer Army of Workers
By Lloyd George, British Minister of Munitions
Addressing the House of Commons on June 20, 1915, Mr. Lloyd George said, in part:
WHAT I want to impress not merely upon the House but on the country is that the duration of the war, the toll of life and limb levied by the war, the amount of exhaustion caused by the war, the economic and financial effect—and in order to understand the whole depth and meaning of the problem with which we are confronted I would state the ultimate victory or defeat in this war—depend on the supply of munitions which the rival countries can produce to equip their armies in the field. That is the cardinal fact of the military situation in this war. (Cheers.)
I heard the other day on very good authority—and this will give the House an idea of the tremendous preparations made by the enemy for this war and of the expansion which has taken place even since the war—that the Central European Powers are turning out 250,000 shells per day. That is very nearly eight million shells per month. The problem of victory for us is how to equal, how to surpass, that tremendous production. (Hear, hear.)
The Central European Powers have probably attained something like the limits of their possible output. We have only just crossed the threshold of our possibilities. In France I had the privilege of meeting M. Thomas, the Under Secretary for War, a man to whose great organizing capacity a good deal of the success of the French provisions of war is attributable, and I am very reassured not merely as to what France is doing and what France can do but as to what we can do when I take into account what France has already accomplished.
Let us see the position France is in. Her most important industrial provinces were in the hands of the enemy. Seventy per cent. of her steel production was in the hands of the enemy. She had mobilized an enormous army and therefore had withdrawn a very considerable proportion of her population from industry. She is not at best as great an industrial country as we are. She is much of an agricultural and pastoral country. It is true that we have certain disadvantages compared with France, and they are important. She has not the same gigantic Navy to draw upon the engineering establishments of the country. That makes a very great difference. She has more complete command over her labor. That makes an enormous difference, not merely in the mobility of labor and the readiness with which she can transfer that labor from one center to another, but in the discipline which obtains in the workshops. She has another advantage with her arsenals, which at the outbreak of war corresponded to the magnitude of her Army—a huge Army. We had a small Army to provide for. She, in addition to that, had undoubtedly a very great trade with other countries in the production of munitions of war. These are the advantages and disadvantages. Still, knowing these things and taking them all into account, the surplus of our engineering resources available for the materials of war is undoubtedly greater than that of France, and if we produce these things within the next few months as much as they are likely to produce the Allies would not merely equal the production of the Central Powers, but they would have an overwhelming superiority over the enemy in the material essential to victory. That is the first great fact I would like to get into the minds of all those who can render assistance to the country.
Germany has achieved a temporary preponderance of material. She has done it in two ways. She accumulated great stores before the war. She has mobilized the whole of her industries after the war, having no doubt taken steps before the war to be ready for the mobilization of the workshops immediately after war was declared. Her preponderance in two or three directions is very notable. I mention this because it is essential they should be understood in inviting the assistance of the community to enable us to compete with this formidable enemy. The superiority of the Germans in material was most marked in their heavy guns, their high explosive shells, their rifles, and perhaps most of all their machine-guns. These have turned out to be about the most formidable weapons in the war. They have almost superseded the rifle and rendered it unnecessary.
The machinery for rifles and machine-guns takes eight and nine months to construct before you begin to turn a single rifle or machine-gun. The Germans have undoubtedly anticipated the character of the war in the way no other Power has done. They realized it was going to be a great trench war. They had procured an adequate supply of machinery applicable to those conditions. The professional man was essentially a very conservative one—(hear, hear)—and there are competent soldiers who even today assume that his phase is purely a temporary one, that it would not last long, and we shall be back on the old lines.
I have no doubt much time was lost owing to that opposition. The Germans never harbored that delusion, and were fully prepared to batter down the deepest trenches of the enemy with the heavy guns and high explosives, and to defend their own trenches with machine-guns. That is the story of the war for ten months. We assumed that victory was rather due as a tribute from fate, and our problem now is to organize victory, and not take it for granted. (Cheers.) To do that the whole engineering and chemical resources of this country—of the whole Empire—must be mobilized. When that is done France and ourselves alone, without Italy or Russia, can overtop the whole Teutonic output.
The plan on which we have proceeded until recently I explained to the House in April. We recognized that the arsenals then in existence were quite inadequate to supply the new Army or even the old Army, giving the necessary material and taking into account the rate at which ammunition was being expended. We had, therefore, to organize new sources of supply, and the War Office was of opinion that the best method of attaining that object was to work through existing firms, so as to have expert control and direction over companies and workshops, which up to that time had no experience in turning out shells and guns and ammunition of all sorts. There was a great deal to be said for that. There was, first of all, a difficulty unless something of that kind was done of mobilizing all the resources at the disposal of the State. The total Army Estimates were £28,000,000 in the year of peace. They suddenly became £700,000,000. All that represents not merely twenty or twenty-five times as much money; it means twenty or twenty-five times as much work. It means more than that, because it has to be done under pressure. The sort of business which takes years to build up, develop, strengthen, and improve has suddenly to be done in about five, six, seven, or eight months. The War Office came to the conclusion that the best way of doing that was to utilize the skill of existing firms which were capable of doing this work. The War Office staff are hard-working, capable men, but there are not enough. There is one consideration which cannot be left out of account, and that is that men who are quite equal to running long-established businesses run on old-established lines, may not always be adequate to the task of organizing and administering a business thirty times its size on novel and original lines.
To be quite candid, the organizing firms—the armament firms—were also inadequate to the gigantic task cast upon them of not merely organizing their own work but of developing the resources of the country outside. They could not command the stock, and sub-contracting has undoubtedly been a failure. Sub-contracting has produced something like 10,000 shells a month. We have only been at it a few days, and we have already placed with responsible firms orders for 150,000 shells a month. In a very short time I am confident it will be a quarter of a million or 300,000. (Cheers.) It is a process of inviting business men to organize themselves and to assist us to develop the resources of their district.
We have secured a very large number of business men; many business men are engaged in organizing and directing their own business, business which is just as essential to the State in a period of war as even the organization of this office; but still there are the services of many able business men which are available, and we propose to utilize them to the full, first, in the Central Office to organize it; secondly, in the localities to organize the resources there; and, thirdly, we propose to have a great Central Advisory Committee of business men to aid us to come to the right conclusions in dealing with the business community.
I should like just to point out two or three of the difficulties, in order to show the steps which are taken to overcome them. The first difficulty, of course, is that of materials. There is, as I pointed out, material of which you have abundance in this country, but there are others which you have got to husband very carefully, and there is other material on which you have got to spend a considerable sum of money in order to be able to develop it at a later stage. With regard to this question, I think that it might be necessary ultimately for us to take complete control of the Metal Market, so that available material should not be wasted on non-essential work. (Hear, hear.) To a certain extent we have done that.
I should like to say a word with regard to raw material for explosives. We are building new factories so that the expansion of explosives shall keep pace with that of shells, and in this respect, again, I should like to dwell upon the importance of keeping up our coal supplies in this country. It is the basis of all our high-explosives, and if there were a shortage for any reason the consequences would be very calamitous.
Sometimes we do not get the best in these yards through the slackness of a minority and sometimes through regulations, useful, perhaps essential, in times of peace for the protection of men against undue pressure and strain, but which in times of war have the effect of restricting output. If these are withdrawn no doubt it increases the strain on the men, and in a long course of years they could not stand it. But in times of war everybody is working at full strain, and therefore it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of suspending restrictions which have the effect of diminishing the output of war material.
The fourth point is that the danger of having stoppages of work by means of strikes and lock-outs ought to be removed during the time of the war. (Hear, hear.) I should have liked to have seen strikes and lock-outs during the war made impossible in any trade, and I do not despair of getting the assent of those who object to compulsory arbitration under normal conditions to a temporary application of that principle during the period of the war.
The next step is one in which the Trade Unions are concerned. There was a very frank discussion between the leaders of the Trade Unions and myself, and I was bound to point out that if there were an inadequate supply of labor for the purpose of turning out munitions of war which are necessary for the safety of the country compulsion would be inevitable.
They put forward as an alternative that the Government should give them the chance of supplying that number of men. They said, "Give us seven days, and if in seven days we cannot get the men we will admit that our case is considerably weakened." They asked us to place the whole machinery of Government at their disposal, because they had not the organization to enlist the number. We have arranged terms upon which the men are to be enlisted, and tomorrow morning the seven days begin. Advertisements will appear in all the papers, an office has been organized, and the Trade Union representatives are sitting there in council directing the recruiting operations. I am not sure, but I believe my honorable friend Mr. Brace is the Adjutant-General. Tomorrow we hope to be able to make a start. We have 180 town halls in different parts of the country placed entirely at our disposal as recruiting offices. We invite the assistance of everybody to try to secure as many volunteers as they possibly can—men who are not engaged upon Government work now, skilled men—to enroll themselves in the Trade Union army for the purpose of going anywhere where the Government invited them to go to assist in turning out different munitions of war. If there are any honorable friends of mine who are opposed to compulsion, the most effective service they can render to voluntarism is to make this army a success. (Cheers.) If we succeed by these means—and the Board of Trade, the Munitions Department, and the War Office are placing all their services at the disposal of this new recruiting office—if within seven days we secure the labor, then the need for industrial compulsion will to that extent have been taken away.
CALL TO BRITISH WORKERS
In a special cable dispatch to The New York Times, dated June 24, appeared the following:
"England expects every workman to do his duty," is the new rendering of Nelson's Trafalgar signal which is being flagged throughout the country today. Lloyd George has issued an appeal to organized labor to come forward within the next seven days in a last supreme effort on behalf of the voluntary system, and if it fails nothing remains but compulsion.
The appeal is being put before them by advertisements in newspapers, by speeches from labor leaders, and by meetings throughout the country. A new workmen's army is being recruited just as Kitchener's army was, and only seven days are given to gather together what may be termed a mobile army of industry. It is estimated that a quarter of a million men well equipped for the purposes required are available outside the ranks of those already engaged in the manufacture of munitions. Nearly two hundred industrial recruiting offices throughout the country opened at six o'clock last night, and, judging by reports already to hand, the voluntary system seems again likely to justify itself.
"To British Workmen: Your skill is needed," runs one advertisement. "There are thousands of skilled men who are burning to do something for King and country. By becoming a war munitions volunteer each of them can do his bit for his homeland. Get into a factory and supply the firing line."
Posters and small bills with both an artistic and literary "punch" are being prepared and sent out for distribution. Newspapers with special working class clientèle are making direct appeals to their readers.
TEN THOUSAND MEN A DAY
Mr. H.E. Morgan, of the War Munitions Ministry, said in an interview printed by The London Daily Chronicle on July 1:
The War Munition Volunteers have amply justified their formation. During the last two days the enrolments throughout the country have averaged ten thousand skilled and fully qualified mechanics, who are exactly the type of worker we want. So far as the men are concerned, the voluntary principle in industrial labor has triumphed.
We have already transferred a large number of skilled mechanics from non-war work to munition making, and daily the number grows. London compares excellently with other places as regards the number of volunteers, but naturally most of the men are coming from the great engineering centres in the North and Midlands.
A REGISTER OF 90,000
In a London dispatch of the Associated Press, dated July 16, this report appeared:
After upward of a fortnight's work in the six hundred bureaus which were opened when the Minister of Munitions, David Lloyd George, gave labor the opportunity voluntarily to enroll as munitions operatives, closed today with a total registration of ninety thousand men. Registration hereafter will be carried out through the labor exchanges.
More men are needed, but the chief difficulty now is to place them on war work with a minimum of red tape. H.G. Morgan, assistant director of the Munitions Department, said today that this problem was causing some unrest among the workers, but that the transfers would take time, for the Government was anxious not to disturb industry more than necessary.
"The problem almost amounts to a rearrangement of the whole skilled labor of the country," said Mr. Morgan. "This, of course, will take considerable time."
THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUED
A cable dispatch from London to The New York Times said on July 15:
The Daily Chronicle says that a campaign to urge munition workers to even greater efforts is to open today with a meeting at Grantham, and next week meetings will be held at Luton, Gloucester, Stafford, Preston, and other centres. In the course of the next few weeks hundreds of meetings will take place in all parts of the Kingdom.
The campaign has been organized by the Munitions Parliamentary Committee, the secretaries of which have received the following letter from Munitions Minister Lloyd George:
"I am glad to hear that members of the House are responding so enthusiastically to my pressing appeal to them to undertake a campaign in the country to impress upon employers and workers in munitions shops the urgent and even vital necessity for a grand and immediate increase in the output of munitions of war."
Professor Mantoux has been asked by the French Munitions Minister to keep in touch with the campaign and to report from time to time as to the results achieved. It is felt that what affects England affects France, and later a similar campaign may be inaugurated in that country.
Sixty members of Parliament have promised to speak at the meetings.
COAL STRIKE IN WALES
Most of the coal for Great Britain's navy comes from South Wales, and the supply was reduced by the enlistment of sixty thousand Welsh miners in the army. The labor crisis was first threatened three months ago, when the miners gave notice that they would terminate the existing agreements on July 1, and, in lieu of these, they proposed a national program, giving an all-around increase in wages. The owners objected to the consideration of the new terms during the war and asked the miners to accept the existing agreements plus a war bonus. After a series of conferences the union officials agreed to recommend a compromise, which was arranged through the Board of Trade. The miners, however, voted yesterday against this, and the Government was obliged to take action.
On July 16 the Associated Press cabled from London:
The Executive Committee of the South Wales Miners' Federation, most of the members of which are opposed to the strike, came to London today and conferred with Walter Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, who, it is understood, made new proposals for a settlement of the trouble, which will be considered at a meeting in the morning.
There is no indication of any weakening on the part of the men. Even the men in one district who last night decided to resume work reversed their decision, and not a pick was moving today.
However, the impression still prevails that a few days will see an end of the walkout. It is not believed that the introduction of the Munitions of War act can force the men to return to work, for it is impossible to bring 150,000 men before the courts to impose fines for contravening the act.
In fact, the resort to this measure is believed rather to have made the situation worse, and the men's demands now include its withdrawal so far as coal mining is concerned.
An Associated Press dispatch from Cardiff, Wales, on July 20 reported:
Subject to ratification by the miners themselves through delegates who will assemble tomorrow, representatives of the Government and of the coal mine owners on the one hand, and the Executive Committee of the South Wales Miners' Federation on the other, agreed today to terms that, it is thought, will end the coal miners' strike, which, since last Thursday, has tied up the South Wales coal fields and menaced the fuel supply of the navy.
The terms arrived at grant a substantial increase in wages and involve concessions to the strikers which are considered by their Executive Committee as tantamount to an admission of the miners' claims on nearly all the outstanding points. Tonight the delegates were visiting their districts, canvassing the sentiment there preparatory to tomorrow's vote.
If tomorrow's meeting should bring a settlement of the strike the thanks of the country will go chiefly to David Lloyd George, the Munitions Minister, for it was his arrival here last night that paved the way for breaking the deadlock between the miners and the mine owners.
If the vote tomorrow is favorable to ending the strike, two hundred thousand men will return to work immediately and agree to abide by the terms of the settlement until six months after the termination of the war.
AMMUNITION IN FRANCE
M. Millerand, French Minister of War, after the Senate had approved, on June 29, the bill appropriating $1,200,000,000 for war expenses of the third quarter of the year, reported as quoted by the Associated Press:
From August 1 to April 1 France has increased her military production sixfold. The curve for munitions has never ceased to mount, nor that representing the manufacture of our 75s. I can give satisfying assurances also regarding the heavy artillery and small arms. From the 1st of January to the 15th of May the other essentials of the war have been equally encouraging. We are determined to pursue our enemies, whatever arms they may employ.
Yves Guyot, the economist and late Minister of Public Works in France, said to The New York Times correspondent on July 3:
France can hold her own against Germany. She herself makes all the shells that play such havoc in the enemy's ranks, and she will keep on making all she needs.
The munitions problem in France is not so acute as in England. In France as soon as the war started we began turning out the shells as fast as our factories could work. So, in a short time, they were going full blast. We have been able to supply our army with ample ammunition and to have shells enough to shake up the enemy whenever we put on spurts.
It is vitally important that England has come to the realization of the need of equipping her own army with adequate ammunition. Up to now the English Army has been sadly handicapped, but with the energetic Lloyd George in command the munitions output in the near future is certain to bring a sudden change in the status of England in the war.
We in France being in such immediate contact with the horrors of war had a stern sense of the necessity of fully equipping our army forced upon us at the very beginning of the conflict. The only thing we have lacked has been steel, and we have been getting some of that from our old friend, the United States. France has steel plants, and they do a tremendous amount of work, but altogether they do not turn out enough for our ammunition works. So we had to turn elsewhere for some of this product, and it was America that came to our aid.
We have got the steel with which to make shells. Our workmen are well organized and the whole spirit prevailing among them is to help France to win the bloodiest war of her history.
The London Daily Chronicle in an interview with Albert Thomas, French Minister of Munitions, quoted him as follows on July 8:
It is our duty to organize victory. To this we are bending all our energies. The war may be long; difficulties may reach us of which we had no prevision at the start; but we shall keep on until the end.
We know how great are the resources of Britain. We know what immense efforts she has put forth, which have been a surprise not only to us but to the enemy as well, and we have every reason for believing and knowing that these immense resources will continue to be used in the service of the Allies.
Understand me, I do not say that our common task is an easy one, nor do I say that we are on the eve of a speedy victory; but what I do say is that be the struggle long or short, we are both ready to double, to treble, to quadruple, and, if necessary, to increase tenfold the output of munitions of war.
We have pooled our resources, and I, for one, have no doubt, that these resources are great enough to stand any strain which we may be called upon to put upon them; nor have I any fear of an ultimate triumph. All the great moral forces of the world are on our side. The Allies are fighting for the freeing of Europe from the domination of militarism; and that is fighting into which every democrat can throw himself heart and soul. Defeat in such a cause is unthinkable.
RUSSIAN INDUSTRIALISTS RALLY
The Petrograd correspondent of the London Morning Post reported on June 11th the annual assembly of leading members of the world of commerce and industry, as follows:
Speakers urged a general rally round the Rulers of the States, and proposals were made that they should express collectively to the Ministers the readiness of the whole industrial and mercantile class represented at that congress to place themselves at the disposal of the State for the purpose of making better provision for the war. The example of England in instituting a Ministry of Munitions should serve as a guide to Russia. A deputation, it was urged, should be appointed to lay at the feet of the Emperor the heartfelt desire of all to devote themselves to the sole purpose of obtaining victory over Germanism and to expound the ideas of their class for the best means of employing their resources. England had turned all its manufacturing resources into factories of munitions of war, and Russia must do the same.
Some speakers referred to the lack of capital for the proper exploitation of the resources of the country, saying that this would be especially felt after the war was over. The Congress, however, declined to look beyond the all-important need of the moment, namely, to direct the entire resources of the country to the achievement of victory over Germanism.
The final sitting was attended by the President of the Duma, M. Rodzjanko, whose speech was listened to with profound feeling. The Congress passed with acclamation various patriotic resolutions, its main decision being to establish immediately a Central Committee for the provision of munitions of war. It is expected that by this means Russia will be able to accomplish what England is believed to be achieving in the same direction. Every factory and workshop throughout the country is to be organized for the supply of everything needed by the armies in the field.
SPEEDING GERMAN WORKMEN
A "Neutral" correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle, just returned from Germany, was thus quoted in a cable dispatch to The New York Times on June 28:
It is in towns, particularly industrial towns, where one sees how entirely the German nation is organized for war. Into these towns an enormous number of men have been drafted from the country to work in factories, which are humming day and night with activity to keep up the supply of all things necessary for the fighting line.
In general, the relations between capital and labor there have experienced notable amelioration. Indeed, the impression one gains in traveling about Germany is one of absolute settled industrial peace, but I know this has only been secured because all parties know that the first signs of dissatisfaction would be treated "with the utmost rigor of the law."
At some of the largest factories men are often at work fifteen, twenty, and even thirty hours on a stretch, with only short intervals for rest. Though it is said that there are ample stocks of all kinds of ammunition, there is noted daily and nightly a feverish haste in the factories where it is made.
The Government has not officially taken over the factories, but it is well known that all factory owners who want Government work can get it, and, as this is almost the only profitable use to which factories can just now be put, there is no lack of candidates for recognition as army contractors.
Whenever a Government contract is given out there is a clause in the contract which fixes rates of wages for every grade of workmen so that any questions of increases that the men might raise are out of the hands of the employer, and he points to the fact that both he and the workmen are in the hands of the State. Strikes are therefore unknown, a further deterrent being the knowledge that any man who does not do his utmost without murmuring will quickly be embodied in some regiment destined for one of the hottest places at the front.
In factories where Government work is being done wages are high, and even in the few cases where wages of certain unskilled workers have fallen, the men are allowed to work practically until they drop and so make up by more hours what they have lost by the lowered rates.
There is keen competition to obtain work in the factories working for the State, as the men engaged in these know almost certainly that for some time at least they will not be sent to the front, which seems to be the chief dread underlying all other thoughts and feelings.
For work done on Sunday wages are 50 per cent. higher than the usual rate. The men are encouraged to work on Sundays and overtime on weekdays and the prices of food are so high they need little encouragement. Where women have taken the places of men their wages are in most cases lower.
KRUPPS’ IMPENDING STRIKE
An Associated Press dispatch from Geneva on July 15 said:
A report has reached Basle that a big strike is threatened at the Krupp Works at Essen, Germany, the movement being headed by the Union of Metallurgical Workmen and the Association of Mechanics. They demand higher wages, the report says, because of the increased cost of living and shorter hours because of the great strain under which they work.
The workmen, according to these advices, are in an angry mood and threaten the destruction of machinery unless their demands are granted immediately, as they have been put off for three months with promises. Several high officials have arrived at the Krupp Works in an effort to straighten out matters and calm the workmen, the advices add, and Bertha Krupp is expected to visit the plant and use her great influence with the workers.
The Frankfort Gazette, according to the news reaching Basle, has warned the administration of the Krupp plant of the seriousness of the situation, and has advised that the men's demands be granted. Meanwhile, the reports state, several regiments have been moved to the vicinity of the works to be available should the trouble result in a strike.
A dispatch to The London Daily Chronicle, dated Chiasso, July 16, reported:
According to a telegram from Munich to Swiss papers, the German military authorities have informed the management and union officials of the Krupps, where disputes occasioned by the increased cost of living have arisen in several departments, that in no circumstances will a strike be tolerated.
On July 19 an Associated Press dispatch from Geneva reads:
An important meeting was held at Essen yesterday, according to advices received at Basle, between the administration of the Krupp gun works and representatives of the workmen, in order to settle the dispute which has arisen over the demands of the men for an increase in wages.
Directly and indirectly, about one hundred thousand men are involved. Minor cases in which machinery has been destroyed have been reported.
The military authorities before the meeting, the Basle advices say, warned both sides that unless an immediate arrangement was reached severe measures would be employed.
The Krupp officials are understood to have granted a portion of the demands of the employees, which has brought about a temporary peace, but the workmen still appear to be dissatisfied, and many have left the works.
A strike would greatly affect the supply of munitions, and for this reason the military have adopted rigorous precautions.
On the same date the following brief cable was sent to The New York Times from London:
A telegram to The Daily Express from Geneva says many men have already left the Krupp works because they are unable to bear the strain of incessant labor, and would rather take their chances in the trenches than continue work at Essen under the present conditions.
Some minor cases of sabotage have already been reported.
REMINGTON ARMS STRIKE
In a special dispatch to The New York Times, dated Bridgeport, Conn., July 14, appeared the following news of labor trouble in the American munitions factory:
One hundred workmen, twenty guards, and the Bridgeport police reserves took a hand in a riot tonight at the new plant of the Remington Arms Company, where it is planned to make small arms for the Allies. The riot brings to fever heat the labor excitement of the last week, which yesterday caused the walkout of the structural ironworkers at the plant and today a walkout of the millwrights and the ironworkers on the new plant of the sister company, the Remington Union Metallic Cartridge Company.
The three thousand workmen have been stirred into a great unrest in the last week by some unseen influence. Major Walter W. Penfield, U.S.A., retired, head of the arms plant, says pro-Germans are back of the strike. This the labor leaders deny.
On July 15 the spread of the strike was reported in a special dispatch from Bridgeport to The New York Times:
The strike at the giant new plant of the Remington Arms Company under construction to make arms for the Allies, as well as, it is supposed, for the United States Government, spread today from the proportions of a picayune family labor quarrel to an imminent industrial war which would paralyze Bridgeport, curtailing the shipment of arms and ammunition from this centre, and which threatens to spread to other cities in the United States, especially to those where munitions of war are being manufactured.
On July 20 The New York Times published the demands of the workmen at the Remington Arms plant, as outlined by J.J. Keppler, vice-president of the Machinists' Union:
Mr. Keppler was asked to tell concisely just what the unions wanted.
"There are at present," he replied, "just three demands. If the strike goes further the demands will increase. The demands are:
"1. Recognition of the millwrights as members of the metal trade unions and not of the carpenters', and fixing of the responsibility for the order some one gave for the millwrights to join the carpenters' union, an attempt on the part of the Remington or the Stewart people to dictate the international management of the unions.
"2. A guarantee of a permanent eight-hour day in all plants in Bridgeport making war munitions. This carries with it a demand for a guarantee of a minimum wage and double pay for overtime.
"3. That all men who go on strike will be taken back to work."
In addition, of course, Mr. Johnston demands that Major Penfield retract his charge of German influence being back of the strike.
A check, if not a defeat, administered to the fomenters of the strike was reported to The New York Times in a Bridgeport dispatch dated July 20, as follows:
John A. Johnston, International vice-president of the Iron Workers' Union, and J.J. Keppler, vice-president of the Machinists', were on hand to inaugurate the big strike. All of Bridgeport's available policemen were on duty at the plant.
As the whistle blew the crowd surged about the gates, where barbed wire and guards held them back. Five minutes passed, ten, twenty, and 12.30 saw Keppler and Johnston pacing up and down before the plant awaiting their men. At 1 o'clock not a machinist had issued from the portals. The hoarse whistle blew, calling back the two thousand workers to their task, and Keppler and Johnston and the rest were left in wonder.
A cog had slipped in this way:
Before the noon whistle blew, Major Walter G. Penfield, works manager of the plant, placed guards at all the exits to ask the machinists to wait a few minutes. They did. The foreman told them that, on behalf of the Remington Company, Major Penfield desired to assure them a permanent eight-hour day, beginning August 1, and to guarantee a dollar a day increase in pay.