Evening star., 1941-01-22
b the Associated Press.

| 6S Inc ASSOClAteu FISoS.
| LONDON, Jan. 22.-The teri oj
Prime Minister Churchilrs remarks
in Commons today on man poDer
and the ,Ddr follo,Us:
At the root Of all questions Of mar
power lies the size of the army. The
navy and air force make gigantic
demands upon US, but the great
customer for man power Is the army
The size of the army was settled
within few weeks of the outbreak
OF the war. We have not altered
that decision except to the extent Of
providing equipment for 10 more
divisions. The scale of the army is
the same as that in November, 1899
I am not going to say how many
divisions 1t amounts to, but it Is q
very large and formidable force, both
for fighting overseas and for defense
Counting the home guard, We have
about 1000, 900 armed men. At the
time when the scale of the army wa,
settled in 1899 vast series Of fac
tories, plants and establishments
were set on foot, sufficient to provide
this army of the size set with all the
equipment it required in continuous
action on the continent Of Europe
against the German enemy.
The bulk of the new plants are just
coming into production. Many are
structually incomplete. As these
plants come into operation, con-
structing services, including those
who lay on water, light, power, and
munition workers have to be as
sembled All this takes time and you
cannot go faster than a certain
speed.
Perhaps you can 60 little faster
but the stages cannot be omitted.
1918 Figure Surpassed.
1t is not possible to make a war
ship go to sea and fight against the
enemy until fires have been lighted
and the water in the boilers changed
from cold to tepid to warm to hot.
The steam is generated and the vast
power is given. While this Is going
on there is no use rushing about
uttering alarming cries. 1t Is not
a very good thing to do if you hap
pen to be one Of the people who did
not start warming up the boilers In
good time. naughter)
I was the Minister of Munitions
in July, 1918. and am therefore able
to measure more or less the intensity
of the munitions production then
going on. I was greatly encouraged
when I learned some weeks ago that
in the 18th month Of this war we
have already surpassed by several
hundred thousand workers the num-
ber of persons employed in NUM-
tions and aircraft production in the
48th month Of the last war. I knew
that productivity per pair of hands
was greatly increased in the in
terval.
have kept myself constantly in
formed of the great tide of new
factories rising to productive level.
say that in the next six months
we shall have for the first time an
intense demand on manpower and
womanpower. This is the problem
that lies before us. We are now
about to enter for the first time in
this war 4 period OF manpower
stringency because for the first time
we come to have the apparatus and
the layout which this rnanpower
and womanpower will be required to
handle. That is the reason for the
far-reaching declaration OF which
the Minister of Labor thought 1t
necessary to apprise the House and
the country in his statement yes
terday.
Fewer Women Employed.
Now is the time when the full war
effort will gradually be able to be
realized as plants come into being.
1t is quite true there are not SO
many women employed as in 1918
There are two reasons-one, that so
many more were gainfully employed
before the war situation began. the
other. that those usually engaged in
the shell-filling factories. which is
the front line of munition works,
are only just coming into it.
I, of course, am aware that an
army mechanical makes an enor.
nous additional drain upon the ad-
ministrative branches which lie be-
hind the fighting vehicles, but
have thought, nevertheless, for some
time that the army and the air force,
the navy not so much, have great
need for what 1 may call combing
their tails in order to magnify their
teeth.
I have sometimes thought there
was considerable scope for saving
Of man power in the rearward and
preparatory services.
I look for considerable combings
and scrapings in the air force and
the army, not to cut them down,
but in order to reduce their demands
on the manpower market during the
coming stringent months, so that
we shall be able to man the new
factories and shipyards and till the
new fields which are coming into
production.
Both the fighting services engaged
in this process at the present time
and the army in particular are
making a great saving in their rear
ward services in order to forward
and sharpen the expansion which Is
necessary.
In all this the army has been
greatly eased because in the mercy
of God we had no slaughter or
vastare comparable with the last
war.
$4,000 Have Lost Lives.
1t is amazing that after l6 months
war with the greatest state armed
with the most deadly weapons, not
more than 10000 British folk, nearly
half Of whom we're civilians, have
lost their life by enemy action.
That is a terrible figure, but it is
far less than the lives lost in a single