Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1916-12-26

John bull spent q gOOdly portion OF
this year applying the lessons he /
learned last year.
The mistakes of 1915 we're rather /
distressing at the time, but they !
proved excellent teachers. Being a |
backward pupil. as always, John Bull (
had TO be driven. and the process was
necessarily painful
From the Dardanelles 10 Mesopo-
tamia from Neuve Chappello to Loos,
from Sofia to Athens. he blundered
along but, as subsequent history has
demonstrated, all the time acquiring
merit. Out OF every strategic failure,
every unfulfllled expectation, both
military and political. he managed TO
learn something-an the lessons
stuck
First of all, the lesson OF centra-
LIED power in the direction OF war,
OF internal government, Of domestic
economy and Of efficiency. thoroughly
learned, led him to put the man. who
above all others, has done most for
England-David Lloyd George-into a
practical dictatorship over all these
branches Of British activity.
The Asquith Cabinet, with It's mud
dlings along" fell because British
public opinion. almost solidly aligned
behind the little Welshman,' de-
manded supreme efficiency in Eng
lands fight for life. II was charac-
terlstic OF Lloyd George the breaker
Of precedent that he should sweep
away nearly all the old ministerial
machinery. and substitute for the
loosely knit, slow moving. over-offi-
cered Cabinet, a small, compact, war
council of five members-and take
this step with the eager acquiescence
OF John Bull And John Bull. who
usually has to be driven, and who
usually hates new-fangled things.
showed the Transformation in his
character which the war has wrought
by standing behind Lloyd George.
BY reason OF his early unsuccessful
adventures in the Near East he gath
cred valuable knowledge in the mat
ter OF organization and equipment,
which he has this year applied in
other quarters. AS a result Of the
failure OF his troops in the West in
| the spring and fall Of 1915, 10 attain
| their desired objective he made GER
tain changes in personnel, vastly inn
! proved his organization behind the
lines, and above all, learned that the
only way seriously to dent the Ger
man front was with preponderating
supply OF shot and shell.
In the field OF diplomacy wherein
the Germans at first cut circles all
around him. he is steadily improving
He lost Bulgaria to the Allied cause
but the experience he acquired in
that process enabled him to gather in
Rumania Just now, by the fortunes
OF war. Rumania appears to be a
doubtful military asset, n not a liza
bility: but at the time unquestiona-
bly, the enlistment OF this country
with the Allies was a diplomatic
stroke Of first importance.
IL was entirely characteristic OF
John that although he knew Fritz
had a 40-year start of him in this
military game. he ignored Fritz's
methods until they were forced upon
him. But now. thanks TO the hare
knocks Of 1915, there is very little
more that Fritz can teach him.
Early in 1916 he adopted conscrip
ton. Had II been introduced a yea
before, the war might have been owe
today. Englishmen have Responded
! III uMNlNNNAGNiNu Ad0nAOn W AANA
| King and country's call. under tn
voluntary system. but It was Onl,
the certainty Of ultimate conscrptiol
that finally brought the cnrollmen
up 10 FIVE million men. The moldinl
Of this huge lump of hurlan raw ma
terial into an efficient military ma
chine has been a gigantic task. bu
It's proper equipment has been
greater.
Little less than miraculous ha
been the development of the mum
tions industry in this country durin
the last year. From the start Brit
ain has been the treasury of the Al
lies; now IL has become thei
armory. When Lloyd George bega
turning England's factories into al
senals the Germans were manufaC
turing and shooting about ten shell
to the Allies one. There was a tim
when, on certain sections of the bal
tlelines, British gunners were Unite
to four rounds per day. Upon Amer
lea and Japan, Britain was dependin
for the most part for its supplies {
machine guns, heavy artillery an
high explosives. Now these cond
tions are all reversed. More tina
1000 private firms in England,
per cent of whom, before the wa
had never produced a gun, a shell,
a cartridge. now are turning oil
munitions OF one sort or another.
Just after the Munitions Act We
passed. Lloyd George startled II
country by announcing that eleve
new Government Arsenals had bee
provided for. Today there are mol
than ninety, most of them producir
big guns. howitzers, or high expl'
, sives The weekly output of .SC
] cartridges is now greater by million
than England's entire annual outp'
: before the war. A new type OF mi
chine gun is being turned out by q
hundred every week in one factor
built In the last year. The gener
output Of heavy artillery has increa
ed by several hundred per cent. TT
total number Of war workers has il
creased TO nearly four million.
whom half a million are women.
Practically the whole of England
vast industrial resources, except tho
necessary for the supply Of the civ
population. have been mobilized 4
war purposes. Every factory in q
! land, II called upon. is required to d
vote at least part Of its activities
turning out war material. The pr
portion Of munitions now furnished