Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-12-21

$4,000 SKILLED MEN
ARE NEEDED AT ONCE


I ONDON, Dec 2O.-(S.59 p. mD-
n David Lloyd-George, minister Of
munitions, gave an account Of his
stewardship in the house of commons
tonight Beginning with the oft-re-
peated story of the insufficiency Of
munitions i'm the early days of the
war and the history of establishment
of his department to remedy this sit
uation, the minister gradually
warmed to his subject and reached
the climax with the declaration that
the success of the allies i'm the war
depends on the attitude Of organized
whether it will allow the gov
eminent to recruit a sufficient num-
Der of skilled men for the factories
which the munitions department has
brought intc being
eve want eighty thousand skilled
men and from two to three hundred
thousand unskilled men for these
new factories" he said. 1--WE must
reduce the proportion Of our orders
which go abroad and develop our
home resources. pom the supply Of
labor depends, | think, our success
i'm this. Upon this depends whether
we can reduce the cost of the war
this depends whether we can supply
our troops with the right sorts of
guns and enable them to make next
years campaign success.
Labor Holds Balance.
Here only organized labor can
help us. We have done our best TO
get skilled labor by the system of
munitions volunteers. There is no use
oil my going into the question of why
We got only five on six thousand men,
although that story may have to be
told later
"Thc whole question depends on or
GaniZed labor Unless it allows us To
put uuskilled workers on the work,
which has hitherto been the monopoly
OF skilled labor, we cannot perform
this task. There can be only one APP
pCal-uamely, to patriotism. victory
depends on this Hundreds of thou
sands of precious lives depend ON Ia
boris answer.
"It is a question whether We are
going to bring the war TO an end IN
q year or liuger along in the blood
stained path Labor has the an
swer.'
Earlier i'm his speech Mr.. Lloyd
George admitted that there was a
bad shorta ye in the British munitions
supply in the first year of the war,
but declared that the present situa-
tiou was quite different matter.
Last May the British were turning
ont only . 800 high explosive shells
daily, against the Germans quarter OF
Il million.
Have Plenty of Munitions.
"IIerc is the situation now he
said: The quantity of shells fired IN
IN, recent September operations was
enormous. The battle lasted days,
oven weeks. vet there vas no short
acc of shells. This was the result Of
-four months CAREFUL husbandlns.
Yet we replaced the whole amount IN
q month and hope soon to be IN
position to replace like quantity III
a week. -.
Without giving definite figures the
minister forecast the output OF many
guns Of the largest size ana la'er uc
C1arpd that the output OF macnlhe
ouna had increased fiyefold since
lime and the output Of hand grenaues
fortyfold while more trench mortars
were produced every fortnight thah
in the entire first year of the war.
Continuing he said: ,,
"Tbere have been other develop
ments of orr great work which dare
not mention. There has been Nalu-
able experimental NOTh Ol Il hluu w
Ter not discussed. AS to explosives
we shall be able to continue to sup
plv ourselves and our allies
Cutting Expenses.
"As to economy | may cite as an
example new contracts for gun am
munition, which is the principal item
of exUenditure-th cost of eighteen
pounder shells has been reduced Az
per cent and of 4.5-inch howitzer
shells 80 per cent.
1T is too early to talk of the dan
ger Of over production. In the last
great battle, although there was a
tremer dous accumulation of ammunl-
tion. the generals stated that with
thrice the quantity of ammunition
they would have achieved twenty
times the result. Two hundred mil
lion pounds, or the cost of only forty
days of war, would produce an enor-
NOUS quantity of munitions. IL you
had that quantity at the right moment
the war might be won in forty days;
whereas without it the war might be
prolonged perhaps four hundred
days.