The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-01
furbance has been caused by the war and how little distress there is.

.eA pahCc naa Dee0 Cau4G0 IY NnE WIT and how little distress there is.
 As a matter of fact. the government trade returns show only a slight decrease in the normal figures of unemployment, but this is rather misleading, as 1t takes no account of the lost time that is be- ing worked. especially in the cotton trade, which Is the blackest spot in British in dustry It must also be borne in mind that. what with the calling up of the regular army reservists, the mobiliza- ton of the teritorials and the recruiting for Lord Kitchener's new army more than a million men have joined the colors and are thus withdrawn from the labor market. Still bearing all these facts in mind trade Is amazingly good and in great part is due to England's unique position as an island state and to the power of her fleet, which has kept the sea routes fairly clear.
 War Workshop of Europe
 England today is the war workshop of Europe. Certain trades are working night and day turning out the supplies needed not only by England and her allies, but for the neutral states which are feverishly putting themselves into Q state of preparedness for the day when they may be dragged into the giant con fiict.
 The boot trade is a case in point With in the last three weeks orders for over i,000,00o pairs of army boots have been received in Nottingham, the great cen- ter of the British boot trade About a mil lion and half of these are wanted by Lord Kitchener for his men at the front and for his new troops. He has also served notice on the manufa acturers that he will want constant and steady sup ply of boots while the was lasts. Six weeks under campaign conditions, dur ing which they seldom leave the wearer's feet and are often immersed in water for days in the trenches doesn't leave much of a pair of fpots. France has placed an order for over half a mill lion pairs of boots in Nottingham and 750.000 in Kettering. Russia has ordered 5o0,000 pairs of boots from Bristol and Italy is inquirng for 250000 Greece, Bull garia and Roumania have all ordered boots, their aggregate demand coming to about 20e,0O0 pairs. All these boots are high class goods of the British army pattern, which cost s4 pair wholesale.
 Two Million Uniforms Wanted
 Then there is the item of clothing the army. Over 100000 uniforms are wanted at once for the new troops. Another 600,- 900 are wanted for the old troops and the territorials to replace those which are be- ing worn out under war and war training conditions. There is no need for any tailor hl England today to be idle. Clothing manufacturers are welcoming with open arms anyone who can sew and every fac tory in the United Kingdom is working overtime. The cloth mills, too, are getting their share and are in many cases work ing double shifts. About seven yards of cloth are required to make a uniform, so that the 100000 uniforms required at once represent 14,0000O0 yards of goods. In addition to this there are a couple of mill lion overcoats to be made, each taking nearly as much cloth as suit All the khaki in the country has been exhausted and the government is now clothing the new recruits in uniforms of blue serge, which will be replaced by khaki when they are ready to go to the front. There Is no unemployment in the wooden or tai lnring trades. Englands blanket stocks have been exhausted. The government bought every blanket it could hear of and then had to appeal to the people to send in their spare blankets to keep the new recruits warm at night. Orders have been placed at Whitney for 100000 pairs and more still will be wanted when these are delivered The blanket mills are working night and day.
 The war demand for goods manifesis It. self in all sorts of unexpected places. Shef- field, for instance, is rushed with orders for razors because most soldiers. must be supplied with raZors at the front. In ad- dition to this demand there is fairly large amount of trade coming from abroad which formerly went to Solingen. the Ger man Sheffield In Birmingham a number of sword and bayonet factories which had been closed for years have been reopened. Leicester Is Running
 < Leicester. the home of the underwear trade, is humming with activity again with orders from France and Russia as well as for the British troops and all the harness, saddlery, glove and other leather centers are similarly busy.
 Of course, it is hardly necessary to say that the trades making war ma terial proper such as ammunition, ex- plosives, rifles artillery. etc, are work ing at the highest pressure. The same applies to shipbuilding. Every yard in the country is full of work. All those capable of admiralty work are busy building and repairing, while the yards building merchant ships are already at work repairing the wastage caused by mines. hostiN cruisers, etc.
 Now for a glance at the other side of the picture. There is no doubt that ordinary retail trade, especially that in articles of luxury suffered severely at first, although that Is improving now with more settled conditions. The declaration of war was the signal for wave of economy, for people did not
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