Mr. Runciman's conditions, after a week's strike had cost the country 1,500,000. The continued increase in the price of coal consequent on these events caused the Government to pass a Price of Coal (Limitation) bill, which was only accepted by Parliament with reluctance. The King made in July a tour of the munition centres in the Midlands to thank and hearten the workers of both sexes. Mr. Lloyd George was able in the debate on adjournment on July 28 to give a reassuring account of the success of his department, which had enrolled nearly 100,000 volunteers, had brought back thousands of qualified engineers from the ranks, and had set up some 20 national fac- tories. But, as a result of a recent conference at Boulogne, it had been decided to embark on a new programme of great pro- portions which would necessitate 10 new establishments and need further volunteers, and especially the assistance of women.
Once more he appealed to trade-union leaders to bring Trade- pressure upon their men to suspend trade-union Union practices restricting output, and he attended a con- and ference in the London Opera House on the following
Munitions, day with representatives of the coal-mines industry,
in which there was a general disposition to meet his views. But these practices continued; and yet once again Mr. Lloyd George, addressing on Sept. 21, by invitation, the Trade Union Congress at Bristol, pointed out that, while the Govern- ment had kept its promises, intercepted war profits, and taken control of the whole of the engineering works of the country for the benefit of the State, labour had failed in too many in- stances to reciprocate. Objections were raised to semi-skilled and unskilled labour in place of skilled; to women replacing men; to night work; to artisans working their hardest. It was a war, he explained, of material, and the Russian retreat of that autumn threw a heavier burden on England. " I beg you, do not set the sympathy of the country against Labour by holding back its might with the fetters of regulation and custom." The speech produced a great effect on the Congress and materially im- proved the conditions prevailing in the workshops.
The finance of the war was the next most urgent question for the Coalition to tackle. The Prime Minister moved on June 14
a supplementary Vote of Credit for 250,000,000, and
anticipated a war expenditure of three millions a day.
The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. McKenna, presently obtained Parliamentary sanction for a fresh War Loan, to be issued at 45%, at par, with special arrangements, through the post-offices, trade unions, friendly societies, and factories, for the encouragement of the small investor, who could obtain bonds of 5 or vouchers for 55. A great campaign was at once started in support of the loan and of war economy, beginning with a meeting of bankers, merchants, manufacturers and shopkeepers of the City of London in the Guildhall. Mr. Asquith and Mr. Bonar Law were the principal speakers. The Prime Minister commended the loan as the first great demo- cratic loan in British history, and he urged the imperative neces- sity of reducing all expenditure on luxuries. The loan was a great success, and realized nearly 600,000,000, including 200 millions from the big banks. At the end of July the Prime Minister had to apply for a further Vote of Credit amounting to 150,000,000. A Retrenchment Committee, with Mr. McKenna as chairman, was appointed to inquire into civil expenditure.
The formation of the Coalition Ministry did not abate the movement for compulsory military service, a movement which
was met by strong demonstrations in favour of re- tfejrfsJrs'- taining the voluntary system, including a pronounce- tiott Bill. ment in that sense by the Trade Union Congress in
the autumn. The Government adopted the inter- mediate measure of introducing a National Registration bill applicable to all persons between 15 (eventually changed to 16) and 65. This, though resisted by some Radicals and Labour men, was carried into law without much difficulty. They also passed an Elections Registration bill, postponing local elections and suspending registration of voters. But they could not bring themselves to take strong steps to secure the production of food, declining to accept the recommendation of a committee
of agricultural experts over whom Lord Milner presided, that there should be a guaranteed minimum price of wheat for the four years following the 1916 harvest.
The agitation for compulsory service increased in the autumn, and dominated the internal politics of the country and the proceedings of Parliament. Lord Kitchener, who had hitherto resisted the movement, confessed that Agitation the provision of adequate forces in the field caused scriptioa. him anxious thought. Independent members of Parliament pressed the compulsory solution upon the Govern- ment. While Radicals and Labour men and Irish Nationalist politicians deprecated the trend of public opinion, the unsatis- factory course of the war spoke loudly. Zeppelin raids had brought home the hard facts of war both to the Londoner and to the countryman; and the defence was clearly inadequate. Russia, on whose early successes optimism had fastened, had been driven back by the Germans. Before the autumn was far advanced, it was evident that some decisive action must be taken in regard to the gallant, but fruitless, Gallipoli adventure. Bulgaria, on a shrewd, but shortsighted, appreciation of the situation, came into the war on the German side. Greece, put to the test, declined, under the influence of her King, to honour her pledge to aid Serbia, which was in consequence heavily de- feated and overrun. In France the British offensive at Loos, and the French in Champagne, had seemed to promise well, but no real progress had been made; and Sir John French, after 14 months' incessant strain, gave up in October the com- mand of the British forces, and was succeeded by Sir Douglas Haig. In the effort to stave off a decision on compulsory serv- ice Lord Derby was asked, and consented, in Octo- ber to assume the direction of recruiting. He inaugu- Lord rated a most strenuous campaign, ushered in by a ^Icru'itiag spirited letter from the King. Men were divided Campaign. into various groups, and the unmarried men were to be taken in preference to the married men. Lord Derby spent himself without stint, and there was a great rush of recruits; but before the end of December it was clear that an adequate number of unmarried men would not be obtained. In November Mr. Asquith had said that, if Lord Derby's scheme were not a success, he would, " without the faintest hesitation or doubt," ask the House to sanction some form of legal obligation. The time had come. Mr. Asquith moved on Dec. 21 for an addition of a million men to the previous three millions voted for the army, and the Cabinet accepted the principle of compulsion, at the cost of losing Sir John Simon, the Home Secretary.
In the press the principal demand for compulsion came from The Times, which had throughout been a strong advocate for more strenuous prosecution of the war. Another vital matter, to which it called attention again and again Demand this autumn, was the necessity of entrusting the l **, l ,,, .
111 i r &IuatI War
uncontrolled conduct of the war to a very small Cabinet. Cabinet. This demand was echoed in the House of Lords on Oct. 26 by Lord Cromer, who said that what the public wanted to see was a small, strong, executive body chosen from men representing the best talent in the country; and on Nov. 2 by Sir Edward Carson, who had resigned office owing to dissatisfaction with the Balkan policy of the Govern- ment, and who said that responsibility could only properly be concentrated by the reduction of the Cabinet to five or six members. Mr. Asquith endeavoured to meet this demand by promising to commit the strategic conduct of the war to a committee of not less than three and not more than five mem- bers, having elastic relations with the Cabinet. Apparently the old War Council had been allowed to become obsolete. Mr. Asquith announced, on Nov. n, that, in the absence of Lord Kitchener, who went in that month to Gallipoli to acquaint himself with the situation, the new War Committee would con- sist of himself, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, and Mr. McKenna. The exclusion of Mr. Churchill from the conduct of the war brought about his resignation from the Cabinet and his departure for the western front as a British military officer.
