offer for sale factories, buildings, and lands as well as plants and machinery, furniture and equipment, huts, and building materials. Announcements as to the results of these offers have been made from time to time, but no complete statement is yet available. It is known, however, that many factories have been sold; for example, a projectile factory at Templeborough has been acquired by a Sheffield company for the manufacture of cutlery, a shell factory at St. Philip Marsh has been purchased by a firm of manufacturing stationers, a projectile factory at Glasgow has been bought by a farm-implement corporation for the manufacture of motor tractors, and an aircraft-engine factory at Edmonton has been bought by a firm of automobile manufacturers.

In the House of Commons on June 24 the following announcement was made as to the use to which certain other factories were being put by their new owners:

The national factory at Gateshead was being fitted out for the making of dog-chucks, a trade which up to the present had been almost entirely in the hands of American firms. The Liverpool National Shell Factory would now be used for repairing trams. The Bootle National Shell Factory was being used for the repair of lifeboats. The Bootle National Gun Factory was to be devoted to general engineering. The Workington National Shell Factory was to produce mechanical toys. Bacup National Shell Factory had been converted from a 4.5-inch-shell rectification shop to a weaving shed. The Trafford Park Factory had turned over from billet-breaking to constructional engineering. The Bradford Munitions Factory, which had done shell and fuse manufacture, was to be used for dyeing and finishing processes.

CONVERSION OF PRIVATE FACTORIES.

The problem of utilization of private factories after the war early engaged the attention of the owners, as is evident from the reports of the various "company meetings" published from time to time in the financial press. This is a matter that in many cases involves considerable expense, provision for which has been difficult because the heavy excess-profits taxes depleted the sources from which financial reserves might be set up. The physical adjustments that must be made before a factory can be reestablished on a peace basis are many, because of the change of emphasis from quantity and rapidity of output to economy of production. Thus existing machinery must be differently balanced, and different machinery must be installed. Such changes involve delay, even when the needed machinery is available, as is frequently not the case. Many months will yet be required before the factories of England are wholly transformed to the new physical basis required for normal times, but with the experience of the war period, the improvement of processes and methods, and the larger plants and improved machinery, marked advance over pre-war standards of production is to be expected.

A special news article in the London Times of April 19, 1919, shows the way in which British industry is meeting the new situa

tion:

If swords are not being beaten into plowshares, there is at least one firm in the south of England which has turned from the manufacture of Stokes bombs to the production of plows and spare parts for agricultural machinery. Other munition factories in the southern counties are now turning out dynamos and electrical fittings, "art" bronzes, drop stampings, oil engines, and even lace. From the extreme north of England a report is received of a firm which has

cleared out its shop, used in war time as a cast-iron shell foundry, and refitted it for the manufacture of railway material, castings for marine engines, and colliery plant. Another munition factory is fully occupied with the manufacture of wire-rope machinery, and there is a firm which has reverted from bombs to railway appliances and signaling apparatus.

From Yorkshire comes news of a turnover from bombs and shrapnel shell to gas and steam pipes, general shipyard castings, and builders' ironmongery; and from shellwork to the manufacture of railway wagons. Bottle-working machinery is absorbing the attention of another ex-munition firm in this area, while standard clothing for civilians has replaced the weaving of khaki cloth in the Yorkshire mills. Factories in the East Midlands are going back to the production of woodworking machinery, the making of pumps, sewing machines, cranes, agricultural machinery, and electrical plants. In other cases German industries, such as the manufacture of sugar machinery, boot laces, paper doilies, and fishplate papers, have been undertaken.

In the northwest area there is an abundance of work at the ports in connection with ship repairs and general wheelwrighting. One firm has passed from the making of 18-pounder high-explosive shells to the manufacture of propellers for motor launches and small steamers, and another firm previously engaged on similar war work has dismantled the special machinery for shells and is now manufacturing oil cake. There is a firm, too, in the district which is specializing in brickmaking machinery and is likely to establish an industry of some importance, which should ultimately provide considerable employment. One factory in the northwest area is converting fuse cases left over from war contracts into ornaments. This is accomplished by the addition of three legs and a coat of electrocopper.

In the metropolitan district a manufacturer of small arms is producing a hay and straw baling press, and another firm, until recently busy with munition work, has settled down to the manufacture of food machinery. Aircraft companies in the area are hoping to develop the aeroplane industry on commercial lines.

Scotland is actively engaged in turning from war to peace industries. One firm is specializing in the manufacture of internal-combustion engines suitable for fishing boats, a class of machinery which before the war was mainly imported. In the northeast of Scotland a factory has turned from munition work to the production of chocolate machines, an industry once claimed by Germany, while in Glasgow war output has been superseded by toy making, which gives employment to a number of discharged soldiers. An instance of adaptability is recorded in South Wales, where a firm is utilizing machinery, associated with the finest precision in war work, for the manufacture of micrometer gauges of an improved type.

RAW MATERIALS.

SUPPLY.

One of the first matters considered by the Ministry of Reconstruction was the nature and amount of raw materials that would be required during the transitional period immediately after the cessation of active warfare, the sources from which they might be obtained, and the nature and extent of control that might be necessary to restore industry to a normal basis. To obtain information upon this subject, in both its domestic and imperial aspects, reports were asked from a number of organizations, some of which were created for the purpose while others had been already created as control bodies. These organizations need not be specifically mentioned here. It is enough to know that they submitted (unpublished) reports dealing with the various nonferrous metals and ferroalloys, iron and steel, leather, wool, and cotton. To take such administrative action as might be required, a Cabinet Committee on Raw Materials was set up. Upon the basis of the various estimates of requirements the Ministry of Reconstruction, after conferences with the Ministry of Shipping and other branches of the Government concerned, was able to put a concrete program into operation immediately after the signing of the armistice. Unfortunately no public announcement has been made as to the nature of this plan or as to its practical working.

CONTROL AND POST-WAR PRIORITY.

At the beginning of the armistice period, Government control as a war measure had become practically complete over the supply, distribution, and prices of raw materials. The Ministry of Munitions had become a great buying, manufacturing, and, incidentally, selling organization, with control over ores, metals, and chemicals. Wool, cotton, hemp, flax, jute, hides and skins, tanning materials, and other basic raw materials were also strictly controlled by either that ministry or the Admiralty, the War Office, or the Board of Trade.

It was the plan of the Ministry of Reconstruction that control of the distribution of raw materials should be continued, with necessary modifications, beyond the period of hostilities, so as to insure that they would be made available to those particular branches of industry upon which the prosperity of the country primarily depends. To this end the section of the advisory council having to do with matters of production and commercial organization prepared a report on post-war priority setting forth the principles that should be followed, the purposes to which allocation should be directed, and the necessary machinery of control. Recommendations based upon this (unpublished) report were submitted to the War Cabinet.

The Government thereupon established a Post-War Priority Committee of the Cabinet, as a policy-making body, and also a Standing Council. "The Standing Council was to be responsible for consultation with, and securing the advice of, representative trade bodies, and for furnishing the Cabinet Committee with considered counsel and

assistance in the detailed execution of the policy decided upon. The council was composed of representatives of industry, commerce, and labor, with the addition of certain Government departments directly concerned." To make the plan effective the War Cabinet gave instructions that after the declaration of an armistice the Post-War Priority Cabinet Committee should be the central authority for the control of raw materials.

It was also a part of the original plan of the Ministry of Reconstruction, and the declared policy of the Government, that as soon as the war urgency should be relieved, such control as might still be necessary for reconstruction should pass, so far as possible, into the hands of the particular industries affected, and that all other domestic controls should be removed. Accordingly, on the cessation of hostilities the Standing Council directed that the various control bodies should "deal as sympathetically as the circumstances permitted" with applications. As a result control was removed or relaxed in the case of many commodities, including iron and steel, certain nonferrous metals, flax, and paper. In the case of commodities, control of which was continued, the standing council gave instructions that the control bodies should get into touch with the representative trade bodies in order to ascertain the relative needs of each trade and to lessen the embarrassments incident to control.1

As a further step toward the removal of domestic restrictions, the Standing Council undertook to bring about a modification of the war priority system, and on March 1, 1919, the system was suspended, although the Ministry of Munitions retained authority to issue special directions or regulations in its discretion.

Although there was a considerable relaxation of control in the early months of 1919, the remaining restrictions upon domestic trade were made the subject of vigorous protests by the commercial and industrial interests, who professed inability to carry out plans of reconstruction. "What is paralyzing industrial and commercial initiative in this country is just one thing, Government control," wrote Sidney Brooks in the London Sunday Times of March 23, 1919. "What alone can unshackle enterprise and bring back confidence and normality is also just one thing-freedom from Government control. There is at this moment a bureaucratic stranglehold on all forms of industry." Finally, on April 26, it was officially announced that all controls over the domestic sale and distribution of commodities exercised under the Defense of the Realm Acts would be removed on May 31, with certain exceptions. The raw materials named as exceptions were Egyptian cotton (until July 31), flax, leather, and leather materials (partial), tungsten ore, turpentine substitute, and Australian and New Zealand wool. Leather was finally removed from control on June 30.

GOVERNMENT SALES.

When hostilities ceased the Government held large stocks of wool, and it was committed to contracts calling for the purchase of the Australian clips of 1919 and 1920. On March 30, 1919, the army

1 "It is contemplated that there shall be an Imperial Board to consider, in relation to the problems of the Standing Council, the supplies obtainable within the Empire."Ministry of Reconstruction, Raw Materials and Employment, 15 (1918).

council orders controlling the domestic trade were revoked. The problem before the Government is to arrange for the importation of oversea supplies and for resale to the trade in a manner that will produce the least confusion in distribution and in prices. This has been done through pro-rata issues of war stocks at fixed prices, and also through auction sales of trading stocks, which were begun in April.

A system of allocation of Government purchases of leather was inaugurated in April. All motor spirit purchased by the Government for civil consumption was handed over to distribution companies early in May. The Ministry of Munitions still holds large quantities of nonferrous metals, and other branches of the Government are loaded up with a great variety of stocks, the release of which necessarily involves much negotiation; for such stores do not pass to the jurisdiction of the disposal board until they are declared to be "surplus." However, it was announced on September 3 that since the signing of the armistice (November 11, 1918) stores to the value of £185,000,000 had been sold, £80,000,000 representing surplus stores proper while the remainder was on trading account.

The policy of the Government governing such sales was announced to the House of Commons on March 10, 1919:

The general policy is this, to endeavor to get down the price-the market price of the raw material to a level not higher than the anticipated post-war prices of that material. That is the policy which the Government is following with regard to the disposal of the stocks of materials which it holds, and as a safeguard where it holds large stocks of material it is proposed to retain sufficient reserves of that raw material to enable the Government to defeat any attempt at a hold-up by merchants. There is a further instruction that, where agreements permit, the departments are to do everything they can, in disposing of their surplus stock, to help British industry. There are certain of the goods which we hold on Government account as to which there are elaborate agreements which the Government can not infringe, and in these cases the raw material is to be dealt with in accordance with the terms of the agreements entered into. * * * Obviously, as the post-war price is a matter that lies in the future, there can be no absolute certainty that the price gauged is going to prove correct. It is quite clear that if the prices were dropped now a long way below the future price, production would most certainly be checked. Our stocks which are held are not sufficient to cover a long period of years, and it will be a great danger to this country if any action now taken by the Government should lead to a check of production.

* * *

IMPERIAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

Even before the war Great Britain was becoming concerned because of its dependence upon foreign sources for many of the raw materials essential to its economic life; and in 1912 the Dominions Royal Commission was appointed to consider, among other subjects, the natural resources of the self-governing Dominions and the requirements of those Dominions and of the United Kingdom, together with the available sources of supply. This commission in its final report, submitted February 21, 1917, presented, as its first conclusion, "It is vital that the Empire should, as far as possible, be placed in a position which would enable it to resist any pressure which a foreign power or group of powers could exercise in time of peace or war in virtue of a control of raw materials and commodities essential to its well-being," and it recommended a most careful inquiry in regard to those materials that are mainly produced and controlled outside the Empire, notably cotton, petroleum, nitrates, and potash.