The Washington herald., 1917-10-01
What the British Mission Is
Doing in the United
States. y

What is the British War Mission to
the United States doing? The ques-
tion is asked very often. Very sell
dom is it answered, says Hamilton
Fyee, in the Toronto Globe.
includes peers of the British
realm, several knights and baronets,
many distinguished officials from
England government departments.
many business men of note; hun
dreds, even thousands, would not be
beyond the mark. OF lesser lights.
What are they all doing?
Lord Northcliffe left his news
papers. tie London Times, the Lon
don and the Paris Daily Mail. and
many more, to cross the Atlantic.
The man who was responsible for
the smashing criticism which provid
ed the British army with the right
kind Of shells and artillery after they
had so long been suffering from the
wrong kind must have seen that
there was important work to be done
in the United States. Many millions
of people in England thought his
leaving the country at such a time
was a danger and might mean dis
aster. Yet he came. Evidently for
some weighty reason.
For Urgent Reasons.
Lord Northcliffe is not a man who
has ever done things without good
and sufficient cause. To have become
one of the best-known men in the
world at the age of little over so, and
to have carved his position entirely
for himself, indicates the possession
of striking ability to decide between
urgent" and mot so urgent activi-
ties. Of those who are assisting him.
Sir Hardman Lever. Sir Thomas Roy
den, Sir Frederick Black, Sir Steven
son Kent, Sir Charles Gordon have
given up their usual activities for the
period of the war. and are working
hard in New York or Washington.
What does it all mean?
Come with me to the second floor
of vast office on Broadway. Here
is whole range of big rooms taking
up 10000 feet of floor space. at a rental
of $22,5O0 a year. These rooms are
filled with busy workers. They are
fitted with the latest office appliances.
@NN soy AiiCy were the OllltSS
of some great industrial corporation.
Greatest Corporation.
So they are. The British Empire is
at present the greatest industrial COR
poration in the world, though the
United States will soon rival AID vt. \
likely pass 1t when the war indus
tries or this country are in full swing.
All these people on the second floor
OF that vast Broadway office building
are working out the Transportation of
enormous shipments of all kinds of
freight from American ports to Great
Britain.
Other branches of the mission-and
there are great many of them-are
buying all that this Shipping Depart
ment sends across the ocean. Buying
munitions of war, which means shells
guns, rifles, cartridges, explosives, at
the rate of s3,0OO,0O0 a day, 81, ,OOO, 900 a
week over N,Oo000o,OO0 a year. Buying
grain. buying cotton, buying hogs.
Lord Northcliffe and his assistants are
hrst, last and all the time spenders of
money. Their work has other i'm
portant sides to it, but this is a very
large part of it. They form the big
gest buying agency in the United
States and in the world today.
Vast Purchasing Machine.
II all the branches of the mission
with all those who are employed in
its operations, were housed together
in one building. it would have to be
building on the scale of the Equit-
able or the Woolworth. Lord North
cliffe himself estimates their number
as 10000. They are scattered all over
the American continent. Their pur-
chases put money into the pockets of
millions of producers Hundreds OF
factories are kept busy and prosper
Gus making munitions. Farmers are
getting good prices for their wheat
and oats. their horses and their hogs.
The Southern planters find a brisk and
profitable market for all the cotton
they can supply. The oil fields and
the refineries get their share of the
stream of gold which pours forth
continually from the mission offices.
Since the war began 5000. 900, 900
has been spent in the United States
by Great Britain on special war pur-
chases. You can guess what kind of
an organization is needed for doing
business on this scale.
tn ba continued foynorro~