The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-15
Premier Asquith
 Tears Field Marshal's
 "1914" to Fragments
Continued from Page seven)
 "Coutrnceors Terribly Behind"

IuSxrauon or what he calls the deplor- able apathy of the Home authorities he gives a wholly misleading account of tho answer which was sent him from the War office on January 1O Therefore. I must in justice to the War OGlco and to Lord Kitchener do what Lord French has not done cito textua1ly the answer of the War Onioo. The suggestion is that all this time we wepo living in sort of fools paradise, stopping our ears, shutting our eyes not listening to Lord Trench's appeals, doing nothing to provide our army with needed am rnunftfon. This is the War Office let ter,-
 T am commanded to inform you that the Army Council are fully alive to the urgent importance of increas- ing the supply of sun ammunition for the Expeditionary Force. and heve apared. and will spare, no effort to secure this end. Tn this connection the Council desires me to mention the serious labor questions to which the enhanced rates of output of all war materials have already given rise. It is hoped. for instance. that during the month of March many rounds of 1s-pounder ammunition will be pro duced in one week as would have petu III 10 HloIlLIlS III time of peace. This will entail Very considerable development of our labor resources. The Council desires to en- phasize tho fact that the orders for manufacture are not being limited by what they think 1t necessary 10 supply, but are entirely conditioned by the highest possible output of the ordinance factories throughout the Empire and the trade of England and the Allied and neutral countries of the world" (Cheers.)
 Do not let 1t be supposed that the Government at this time and in the 1 succeeding months were satisfied, or snythtng but dlsquieted. by the nun | ftions situation. The contractors had promised more than they could per form; they were terribly behind in their deliveries, particularly in the | matter of high explosives.
 I will give you one figure to snow you how serious these failures were. 1 The Army ought to have received. ac- cording to the contract, by May Is. | 4s1.00O high explosives 1s-pounder | shells; instead of which only 52.0O0, | very little more than one-tenth of the whole were delivered.
 On the other hand, the increase or | the forces in the field and the chang | ed character of the fighting led to | an expenditure of artillery anmuni- | ton far in excess of the authorizations | of >any expert authority in any of the | beuigerent forces.
 In the fighting in and about Neuve | Chapelle in the early spring of 1915, as Mir. Lloyd George pointed out in his speech. nearly as much artillery | ammunition was spent by our Army | as during the whole of the 3-4 years of the Bocr war. How had they | got such an enormous supply?
 Entirely through the efforts which the Government had made in the pre- ceedins weeks and months. So far from being inattentive and careless, 1 we were strnining every nerve and re- sorting to every expedient to fiiI the gap.
 A Trnvesty of History.
 Hero let me pause and dtEress from the main stream of my a-su- ment. It is high time it was dealt with---the legend long current in certein section of the Press. to which Lord French seeks % give the W ai.;ht of his author1ty---I will show you be- fore l sit down what that is worth the legend of an aEathetic Cavern ment with a lethn-gic head.
 I am represented in this pic+ ,ri1l | and romantic travsgty of h!srpr-. as | Npt1@lHB tune ttFllnE 1n an arm | char. occasionally arbitratIry oyer | disputes of different departments. | waiting on the chapter of accidents in the hope that somehow or other, and some way or other, the storm tossed ship might drift safely into | port. This is the picture which I be- lieve finds credence and acceptance | anoBK large numbers of ;he more | backward parts of our population. IL.aughter.)
 What Is ths fitct7
 I do not like. as you know 70 speak | very m.'h about myself. but I am | bound to do so. Clear. hear)
 It Is no congregation to say that | particularly fin these early months of ! the war-in the critical an1 decisive | months of the war-everythlug de- | pended on what was done then or | what was left undone-it is no exag- | geration to say that I was calicG upon | almost every hour of every day to | take on my own responsibility and in itia,ive decisions which might be, and | which often were. of the most mo- l mcntous consequence.
 had 10 deal, not only wi,h uIiIi- tnry and naval operations. the re- cruit.ng of the New Arn;y. trans | port. food supply, and Labor prob l Ieu1r, hut also with inter-AilieJ fin ance, and what at that time was n task of supreme difficu.. .' and deli cacy-AIlied diplomacy. Clear. hear.) |
 had the nose devoted help of the most loyal and efficient colleagues, l
 some of whom I am glad to sec sit | ting around me at this table There | is not ono of them who did not hab- l ftuafly come to me and get the last l even the first word ! fin casee-of dicu1ty or doff1ubt. And 1 in the meantime what had this su- pine Government of sluggards and paralytics been doing7 They had. in | time of peace. prepared for any war | on any scale that British statesman ship had ever contemplated. We were, l and we remained throughout the war. | perfectly secure. not only fin these is- lands but throughout the worldwide | Empfre, against any risk of invasion. | No foreign soldier ever set his foot | on one square yard of British ground. | (Cheers.) Our Expedftionary Force | was ready to start fully equipped and | with the necessary transport, at a mo- ments notice. as it did, to wherever |